skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
while Israel's airport security method is second to none, it is not scalable, and therefore not applicable to the US (or many other countries), at least not without major restructuring.

The restructuring in the article didn't sound massive.

The Israeli methods focus on identifying terrorists by their behavior rather than their methods (box cutters, PETN, etc).

The biggest cost thus seems to be training staff to identify behavior, rather than spending millions on fancy technology that should identify methods but in reality don't work (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003744097...).

Make no mistake, airport security in Israel is no McJob, it is a prestigious, well-paid position, manned by the top classes of society.

source?

America is relying on cheap, unskilled labour for these jobs, and transitioning to an Israeli employment profile will bankrupt the system.

source?

---

In 2006, I flew El Al from LA to Toronto (which then went on to Tel Aviv). I've never felt safer on an airplane. The security wasn't theater and, FWIW, our flight left on time.

El Al security at LAX consisted of:

* the El Al check-in area being patrolled by soldiers (thanks to this, i'm told: http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/07/04/la.airport.shooting/),

* being questioned in line by the types of professional interviewers mentioned in the article,

* LAX (TSA) security, and

* El Al security at the gate (a metal detector and carry-on luggage was checked thoroughly)

I don't see why at least these precautions wouldn't be scalable.

There are 599 airports in the US that are certificated to serve commercial air carrier aircraft with nine or more seats (http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2006-09-26-airport-nu...). 38 of those are international airports: http://www.pacificcoasttravelinfo.com/airports.asp).

The 2009 TSA budpest is $7 billion (http://www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=PressReleases&PressRe...).

Assuming $4B of that goes to airport security, that's $6.7M devoted to securing each airport. The power law dictates that most of those 599 will need a lot less, and a few will need a lot more. But the numbers don't seem crazily out of whack.

I don't believe any of us are airport security experts (would love to hear from one on this). But it's clear the current methods aren't working. If we are to improve, why not take cues from people who are doing better, run some experiments, and see what we can figure out?

It sure beats:

a) the current ridiculous security theater at US airports,

b) relying on passengers to fix flaws with current security by jumping would-be bombers mid-air, and then

c) dealing with the ensuing airport chaos as the TSA decides what regulations to implement to try and prevent the previous bombing attempt from happening again

[edit: fixed list spacing]
I think you're right. I also don't see the point declaring something a dead duck before it has been seen (or even announced!). Apple understand what a good consumer product is, the only not stellar product they've had in a while was the Apple TV and even that did not bomb. I definitely think it is wise to wait and see.

Personally with a laptop and a smart phone, I'm interested to see how they can make it appeal to me, but I'm willing to let them try.
Interesting how AT&T is saying we need to kill landlines... mayhaps they have a side-goal of getting more people onto their (expensive, like all other options) cell networks?

I have no landline, but until we get nearly 100% cell coverage (far from it, currently), better networks, and better prices, no killing landlines. Oh, and significantly better upload rates on DSL, as VoIP will eat it up.
>Collective punishment with close relatives is better than racial profiling, massive inconvenience for everyone, etc.

It's also better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. So what? We don't have to have any of those things.

Also, collective punishment is not better than massive inconvenience. Convenience is never an excuse for doing something immoral.
Google’s New Year’s Eve Tricks
I've been having some discussions with people lately about the concept of 'banking as a service.' Enable people to make a co-op of credit unions, and pool the resources together for things like online banking, iPhone ATM finding apps, and similar things...
Upvoted, for making me chuckle.

But I'm pretty sure that typing speed and programming ability are not-correlated, most definitely not inversely related.
There's always optical image stabilization. Adding electronic image stabilization plus face detection could help out; sort of a "software steadycam".
When I was in the 3rd Grade (1976) - which would have put me at 8 years old) I started walking to school when the weather was good - http://bit.ly/info/3rdGradeCommute is a rough approximation, but imagine crossing over the farmers fields instead.

That circle (about 1 1/2 miles) from my house, was my world to explore for several years - I don't recall anyone suggesting I shouldn't - actually the opposite - someone would usually tell me to "go outside an play" - and would hopefully not see me until dinner time. Farmers Fields, streams, cattle, trees - are kids even allowed to climb trees these days?

I wonder whether if all the structure is going to have some type of negative impairment on kids imaginations or elements of their IQ (per the HP article on rapid email negatively impacting IQ)
This is an excellent summary on this topic. It's also big and imposing :-)

Probably the best thing I got from it was the summary of how different sites (Posterous, Tumblr, et al) keep a "conversation" going about how far you are through the early stages of the site, making recommendations about what to do next. It's neat to see different sites doing this, and I don't think there's an existing standard method.
In 2010 China will become the world’s second-largest economy
Aaron Wall: Is SEO Science or Art?
I agree about opportunity, online banking is my #1 reservation about going with smaller local banks.

If there were a super-secure, super-stable, fully-featured product for smaller banks out there to leverage as their online banking platform it would be such a game-changer
So... when does YC China launch? :-)
My source for Israel is my impressions as someone who grew up in Israel, flew through Tel-Aviv many times (last time this morning) and had quite a few friends who worked in airport security. I think it's quite reliable.

My source of the TSA is just my impressions from travelling from the US, so it's probably not that reliable.
Petition: Oracle can have Sun but not MySQL
Did you even read the original article? It's a goal to move passengers from parking lot to gate in 25 minutes. Half-hour interviews aren't a part of the process.
Here's a pointer to the last job thread, from last month: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=952915

The positions I posted there are still open.
He had some things incorrect that have been mostly fixed now. Don't worry too much about it.

FYI, I suggest leaving tabstop=8 if you indent with spaces like a good boy.
A sensitive subject to say the least.

I find it mind boggling that anyone would want to emulate Israel in any capacity concerning security. They've had suicide bombers in cafes, night clubs, school buses, etc.. and no matter what side of the fence you're on it's pretty obvious that whatever they're doing is not working.
> You can be certain that the TIDE list is going to be aggressively reviewed, and the list of 14,000 or so people currently targeted for selective screening is going to grow dramatically in the next few months.

They really need to make this a list of names/photos instead of just a list of names. The idea that we can target terrorists with a 'no-fly list' based entirely off of someone's name and not the mugshot is absurd.
Okay, as he says, nzmsv was half kidding. But really, this kind of attitude just touches a nerve with me. I work in corporate IT and in most places I've been, I'm seen as weird because of how fast I type.

I mean is it so unusual to actually to have facility with the tools of your trade?

Seriously, the curly brace doesn't even require you to move your hand from the home position. Anyone should be able to do that, unless you have problems with your pinky finger.

This reply is degenerating into a rant, so I apologize, but so many times I've been tagged as "the fast one", with the implication being that I'm not thorough. Guess what? Speed means more iterations, means I'm doing more in less time. And it doesn't preclude "thinking things through" either.

</rant>...back to your regularly scheduled, pre-new year's eve reading.

EDIT: Oh, and I hate the mouse.
kinda old
How is this in any way taking advantage of people? Cha Cha is offering an opportunity to make money from doing simple online tasks. People wouldn't do it if they thought the money wasn't worth the time.

As a side note, the evidence against minimum wage as an effective policy is staggering. The only reason it persists today is because it is politically convenient.
"That's a bet I won't take. I guess I meant a physically exposed bus with a connector I can use."

Of course not. It's only an imaginary bus, present only in the chipset and required by the UARTs that drive the serial ports.

A 3.5 USB adapter may suffice. You would have to match the cable for a 5.25 drive (usually it is within the computer box that has the drive :-P )

As for the keyboards... I still want to build some "classic" keyboards respecting the lay-out of some old and badly missed computers. Tooling would be a problem.
So, can I get it merged into my shell somehow?
There is obviously no need to complain about HN turning into Reddit if you compare the differences between /classic and the normal HN frontpage. The differences are minor. Most of the articles on the front page are the same ones that established members approve of.
Uh, they paid for it, they can have it.

http://journal.dedasys.com/2009/12/13/mysql-oracle-and-the-e...
Why would you have to combine the liquids into one reservoir? Couldn't the N passengers just make N bombs from their 3x 3oz, each independently capable of going off, but intended to be detonated together for maximum effect?
Apple Orders 10 million tablets? Sounds fishy.
Formula 1 teams are like startups because they also have a "limited budget"? Perhaps only in the sense that the amount of money available to them is finite, but c'mon. Toyota spent $445m on their F1 team in 2008.

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2008/09/22/toyota-has-biggest-f1-...

Even so, that book would still be an interesting read.
Getting to Plan B by John Mullins and Randy Komisar is another good book from 2009. It provides a framework to arrive at a business model that works with lots of analogs from successful companies. A nice addition to the customer development genre.
I didn't vote either way on it. That said, I can see a few reasons why it might be downmodded.

On the surface side, its use of profanity and the attitude that I read from the comment aren't useful for criticism. A more useful way of phrasing it might have been along the lines of, "Focusing on the intent of the traveler may help sometimes, but it can also lead to events such as this one where an innocent person's laptop is destroyed based on a feeling." NOTE: I can't actually watch the video because my laptop has no sound right now. The way one phrases something matters and, at least to me, it seemed like more of an emotional attack than a response to procedures that may or may not be good.

On the deeper side, one event does not a trend make. The comment author provided a video about an event. It's somewhat like linking to a video of an NFL game where the Chief's won and saying they're a good football team - or linking to a video of the Saint's loss and saying they're a bad team. Sure, it is evidence of badness, but it's one piece among 15 this season and the majority of evidence points the other way. Now, going back to Israel, I'm not making a claim that the majority of evidence goes either way. I am trying to say that Israeli security deals with hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people every year and to judge whether they have their act together or not cannot hinge on one piece of evidence.

And, to be frank, that's part of the problem with your reading of the comment: it isn't part of Israeli standard procedure. If one has reports of it happening in a systemic way, that's important. Heck, it's important that it happened even once. However, an isolated incident can be tragic without being indicative of anything. It was a bad thing that happened. It was good that it got press (as I heard she got monetary compensation from the government). However, a report from an organization that looks into this stuff and spots trends is a more persuasive thing than one incident.

Although, if it were phrased more pleasantly, the author might not have been downmodded. Then it might be seen as someone offering alternative evidence arguing that the situation isn't as rosy as the original article implied and that it's a more complex situation. However, the phrasing makes it seem like the original author wishes for us to throw out all other evidence because of one piece they have chosen to present and have that one piece preferenced over others.

If I had wanted to bring that video into the discussion, I would have said something like:

"The article paints a rosy picture of the situation, but it's one that turns on human intellect and 'gut feelings' which isn't a great way to run a security system. People sometimes have gut feelings (conscious or not) that are biased on things like race, religion, gender, etc. and might single out people not because of what's in their eyes, but something else. Likewise, it could mean that sometimes people have gut feelings that are wrong - people might be legitimately nervous not because they are planning something bad - and that can lead to situations like [the video]. . ."
I'd say its fun and a challenge to find things by exploration. In some cases, such as poll posting, they are deliberately left unpublicized to prevent over abuse.
Why not just memorize them like terminal commands?
True enough.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=206683
It is a pretty fascinating idea and I like that it allows you to see a running history of all the things you have searched or queried. I tried using the login feature and it accepted my Google credentials but didn't seem to do anything. Hope I didn't just feed my password to a phishing site.

Goes off to change password proactively.
DocumentCloud is looking for a JavaScript maestro in NYC to help develop an archive of primary source documents for journalists, in conjunction with the New York Times. Everything you work on will be released open-source (our projects so far have been Underscore.js, CloudCrowd, Jammit, and Docsplit).

jeremy at documentcloud.org
Not I am in favor of emulating the security model for other reasons, but when it comes to air travel security, is there anyone more effective than El Al? According to the timeline on Wikipedia, there hasn't been even a semi-successful terrorist attack on one of their airliners in 40 years.

I really am curious if there is any contrary information out there, as I've been unable to find any.
Two issues with the $12 tileboard:

(1) ghosting: they erase well when new, and when the ink hasn't been there for long, but over time they get murky.

(2) mounting: it's not easy to cut to size; it has enough thickness and weight that mounting tape or small tacks are iffy (and prone to failure sometime after installation).

The same issues come up for other surfaces short of fairly-expensive true glass.

If this 'clearphane' continues to be cleanly erasible after a while in use, or with ink that's been present for days/weeks, then this is a really neat idea I hadn't heard before. I'll definitely be trying it out.
Interesting article but it doesn't address the root issue. Israel has real threats to deal with on a weekly if not daily basis. They're forced to take security seriously and it shows in their procedures. Their security employees deal with regular, serious threats and one would assume numerous close calls have made them self-motivated.

On the other hand, North American countries only have one real threat every 10-odd years or so. In fact, the most recent attempt didn't even go through North American screening. Since we don't have real terrorists often enough to matter, I doubt American security will ever come close to the Israeli model.

What if you were building a software package that you knew would never have any users? Could you motivate your team to care enough to make the software great? Could you yourself be motivated to do a good job, or would you just go through the motions?
I didn't accuse you of any of those things. I just pointed out that you were objecting to their low wages, and presumably you felt that this was the moral position, even though you don't lose any workers, and you don't lose your job. You might be a right-wing do-badder who loves business and hates a welfare state--I have no idea. I do wonder about your opinion. Can you clarify.

Do you think that a) workers will be better-off if they're not allowed to take the jobs they want if those jobs don't pay as well as you'd like? b) Chacha would be better off if they didn't hire super-unskilled laborers?
> As a side note, the evidence against minimum wage as an effective policy is staggering

You realize that 197 countries use a minimum wage, right, not just us?

Of course there's evidence against it -- just like there's evidence for it -- and the fact that it's a hot-button topic should have made me realize before the fact that people would go through and downvote all my comments. I really couldn't care less if HN supports the idea of paying US citizens $2.50/hr. I'm certainly done arguing about it.
Happy new oscilloscope year, HN
We created a sexy setup with plexiglass, glass fogging spray paint, and mirror hangers. We get lots of compliments.

It cost a hell of a lot more than $4, but it looks a lot better too.

Here's a few pics (pardon the sweet coloring from the iPhone camera): http://drp.ly/8Az8f

You can also get plexiglass pre-fogged, but it costs more. We liked the subtle background paint color showing through.
He only had a one way ticket from Ghana to Nigeria. From Nigeria --> Amsterdam --> Detroit it was a round-trip ticket.
And I still do not have an answer to my #1 USB 3 question: Have they solved the CPU utilization and data pipelining / overhead issues?

The biggest advantage of Firewire over USB has been the controller which alleviates CPU usage on the host machine, and allows for pipelining of data that makes the protocol more efficient than a given USB connection with the same base data rate.

I equip all my Windows machines with Firewire ports for this reason, and use external firewire hard drives for extra storage and for backup. I also have a significant investment in Firewire camera gear, because USB just doesn't cut it for streaming live HD video. However, I would love to abandon Firewire in favor of an optimized USB, if for no other reason that USB has wide industry support, and Firewire seems to be fading away due to its licensing issues.
Aardvark: Ask I Did
But not in airports, so clearly they're doing something right there. At the very least, blast-proof glass and bomb-proof boxes for suspected bombs are a great idea - making the airport more modular, so only tiny areas of it have to be evacuated, instead of the entire thing, if something does go wrong.
How to Backup Social and Online Accounts Easily
thanks, I'm ordering the book.
You're assuming a few things:

1. Covering up the screen is a problem.

I can see how it could work to cover the screen while manipulating but move your hands to the side when you aren't.

2. A drafting setup is terrible from an ergonomic perspective.

Is there a history of overuse injury in people that work at drafting tables?
Fine idea, but using 3rd party cookies limits its compatibility.
Tell HN: Google Vanilla, Google before Universal Search.
Do you really think that they would tell the suicide bomber that he/she might fail?
I wonder if those could be in an iTunes/iPod-friendly format.
It says 'down' meaning it predicted going down. But every bet is down...? What does that mean?
Tell HN: A recent project, the Narcissist Quotient
You are wrong, it is working. The controversy is over the cost. There are countless instances of identified and disabled devices. Who knows how many deaths the metal detectors/security check at the entrance to nearly every point of public gathering (malls, movie theaters, parking decks, etc.) have prevented. Their inconvenience would not be acceptable in the US but I'm just saying it does make a difference. Just last week, an explosive device made from a gas canister and fireworks was found on Highway 443. Its a major road between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, a road I have used several times since my arrival here for my winter break.

Despite the record of suicide bombings in clubs et al, the Ben Gurion airport has experienced no such acts of terror. None.

Israel is a technology hub, it attracted Warren Buffet's first investment outside of the US, and its citizens live everyday normally despite the threats. Israel's defense forces do what they deem as necessary.

It is working. But many ask at what cost.
Third party Apple repair fraud
The tone of all of your comments makes it clear that your beliefs about minimum wage are unchangeable. My guess is that people wouldn't downvote you if came across as more willing to hear another side.

This is clearly something you feel very strongly about (which is interesting to me personally, because I see no substance to the argument in favor of minimum wage), but discussion is more productive if you are open-minded.
These posts seem to be a pertinent and continuously ongoing occurrence on HN. Perhaps a non YC-company job board is required on hackernews?

Why not modify /jobs to include other job postings but just keep YC companies at the top, or in bold? Perhaps this will increase traffic and exposure to the page, increasing the visibility of YC-companies job postings at the same time? Win-win
AFAIK, El Al screeners in NYC make about $30k/year. I suppose they might make more if they do more shifts, do holiday shifts etc.

Having a few years as a screener on your resume doesn't hurt, but more because it means you've passed a pretty difficult filtering process and worked a few years in a high-standard and high stress environment than due to any ideology. If the TSA had similar standards, its alumni would probably have similar reputation.
Mozilla has lots of engineering, marketing, finance and other jobs open:

http://www.jobvite.com/CompanyJobs/Jobs.aspx?c=qpX9Vfwa

Come help us make the Internet better!
Wesabe has actually done just this, with their Springboard product. http://www.wesabe.com/page/springboard
I think he did both. What a great day for him!
Perhaps if you're a local it's quick. But they also recommended to show up three hours early for a reason... Long interrogations are quite common. If you fit a profile they will drill you like you have Osama on speed dial. This was a puff piece for how awesome El Al is, but the reality is their method only works because of the small number of passengers (and their willingness to accept racism).

http://www.elal.co.il/ELAL/English/AllAboutYourFlight/AtTheA...
What AQHQ knows about the odds of success for a operation are and what some shmuck is told about the odds of success are two different and unrelated things.
Oh, and if you need a co-author, I'll be glad to discuss that. Just in case we both want to write about the same thing the same way.
My view: a newspaper reader. Everyone reads the news. No one reads books anymore. Expect a content deal so that I can get major newspapers, in a pleasant format, and read them on my couch when I come home.

Plus a web browser, video player. That should be good enough to make a very interesting product.

Pointing out issues with the current iPhone software that wouldn't work as is on a larger screen is calling Apple engineers stupid. I don't think they are.
I have used plexiglass. It is quite subject to scratching.