skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Unfortumately HR people are as lazy as all other corporate drones. They just want to get it over with so they can go home.

That's the sad reason, and it is all there is to understand about it.
Well, I can't really speak to the facts about a resume being there to offer an excuse for rejection; but I can speak anecdotally about resumes over the course of my career.

For the past 5 years or so, I haven't had to touch a resume or even interview for any of the gigs I've worked at. At a certain point in a hacker's career, your reputation should precede you enough that people either know you, or know someone you know. At least, that's how I've found things.

The development field is a fairly small community due to the amount of job-changing people do.

That being said, until people know who you are, you'd better have an amazing resume ;)
85% of all Spam Comes from Only 6 Botnets
The Adventure of Leadership by Hap Klopp is a great weekend read.
I don't like this argument. For one you're on "Hacker News," a forum for hackers who hack with (mostly) computers.

Keep in mind also that a lot of what we regard as essential today, say, the foundations of computer science (bits, formal language theory, algorithms) were once the trivial ejaculations of bearded professors in some ivory tower.

We need people dicking around in masturbatory enclaves solving puzzles, just as we need agitators and activists. I think it's unfair to say one group works at the expense of the other.
Alright then, let's just say they're rapidly gaining irrelevance status. Happy?

81% market share is not very spectacular when you used to have 97% a few years ago.
Loved the read! I can relate to some of this. Usually, my (unorthodox) creativity in coding and data management does not go over very well with others.

I've learned (been somewhat conditioned) to give a canned response when asked for my (mostly crazy) thoughts nowadays:

"You're not going to like what I have to say and you're definitely not going to like how I say it."

After this, they usually don't like what I've said nor how I said it.

I keep marching on though, knowing that I need to work on those communications skills of mine.
bare minimum to have wireless-N networking? built-in bluetooth 2.0? scalable trackpad? I wouldn't call OSX 10.5 a bare minimum OS either, and the bundled apps Apple gives you when you buy a new machine rivals any PC laptop on the market hands down no discussion. Love my Macbook, I didn't buy it to be cool, I bought it because I'm a diehard Mac user and my old Powerbook G4 was getting long in the tooth. I didn't see a reason to spend $500 more for the Pro 15" monster either, but I did get the black Macbook because I wouldn't ever own a white laptop, I needed more hard drive space, and the faster chip was icing on the cake.
But blowing off an installed base is nothing Microsoft hasn't done before. There are Internet Explorer versions (5.5 and prior) that are effectively end-of-lifed. No web developer has to think about the 5.5 hacks anymore, and any corporate intranet that relies on 5.5 hacks is screwed. Has this been a problem? I get the feeling that it has not, because a good MS-based IT department can spin the cost of rewriting its websites as part of the MS upgrade treadmill... as part of the cost of upgrading to .NET, or .NET 2.0, or Vista, or Sharepoint, or Windows Server 2008, etc. (And any business that has decided to get off of this treadmill is no longer among MS's paying customers.)

On the other hand, Microsoft's piecemeal approach to web standards is starting to hurt it. The de facto web development best practice is now "Develop for a standards-compliant browser first, then hack it until it looks right in IE." This hurts Microsoft because it means that most new webpages only work incidentally in IE; if a corner case of some new feature is accidentally missed in the IE rewrite, the workaround might well be: "Try using Firefox until we get a fix out."
81% market share is still spectacular - even if you used to have 97%.

However you look at it they are the largest player, and you have to design for it. Having a website that doesn't work in IE is like having a store where you have a guy at the door telling 4 out of five people that they can't come inside to buy your stuff.

I don't particularly like MS, and I don't agree with their tactics but that doesn't mean I make the naive mistake of dismissing them or thinking that in a few years they'll be gone. They won't, so be a little pragmatic.

IE is in no way irrelevant, nor is it becoming so in the near future.
Real hackers can use tools at their disposal, they have preferences for a particular computer but really... does it really take all this effort, blog posts and commentary for a $1000 dollar computer?

How is this not in any way but masturbatory? Is there any arguments about the perceptions that exist in either market segment? Any explanation of user interaction differences? Is there anything relevant for a computer software developer to chew on and discuss? No. This is a blog post about whether or not a Macbook it too trendy for web browsing.

I'm not quite sure where you're venturing off to in your last paragraph so I'll just ignore it.
BusyBox Developers Agree To End GPL Lawsuit Against Verizon
Stunning overuse of the verb "to stun" stuns stunned onlookers
Must every single noun phrase include the word "stunning"? How about a startup that suggests alternate words with similar meanings? Sadly, thesaur.us is taken.
By most accounts some (not all) but some primitive people had quite pleasant, stress-free lives. The African pygmies, for instance, supposedly only hunted a few hours out of the week and otherwise lolled about, quite happily. But most Africans of that type were wiped out by the Bantu.

The problem, of course, is that the survival (and expansion) of the fittest kicks in. Eventually, the people willing to putter around in an open boat are bought out, undersold, or otherwise replaced by fishing companies. Then, land by the shore hits 500K per quarter acre as people with hardworking jobs push up the price.
The Rank-Link Imbalance
smacks forehead

Because, of course, just because something is provided for you gratis and libre means that it isn't without value.

"The headaches from removing pirated libraries from your desktop app code?"
LINQ Framework Design Guidelines released
Has Seth ever had to hire anyone?

Is he actually going to review 800 people by hand? Mr. "no one has time anymore"?
A New Type of Game Turns Web Surfing Into All-Out Information Warfare
I like Macs and Thinkpads about equally. Both are expensive compared to the average Dell, but the difference in quality is obvious the moment you touch one. If you're replacing your computer yearly, it's probably not worth the extra cost, but if you carry your laptop around regularly and want it to last a few years, it's worth it.
St. Pat’s Day Special: 12 Steps to Finding Founder’s Gold
That's pretty similar to my startup. When we're both working solely on code, he outproduces me at least three to one. I've written plenty of code in my life, and I still write quite a bit of code, but my priorities are mainly support, packaging, documentation, marketing, website maintenance, etc. while he builds the products. Mostly those are still technical skills, however...and when we bring in a third person later this year (not really "founder" status, but plenty of equity and a salary), it will be another technical person to help off-load some of the support and handle some of the ongoing UI and design work. Though I may hire a part-time assistant to deal with the books and such before then, but no serious equity will be involved. The fourth real hire will be an enterprise sales person who will see mainly commission-based compensation with some equity so that the long-term health of the company has some sway on their decisions. Those hires will probably come pretty close together.

But every company is different. Companies building much smaller web apps that require a lot more marketing, sales, PR, and evangelism than ours does could probably make use of a non-technical person much earlier in the process.
This excites me. If they become common, people are going to spend a lot of time exploring the world -- an antidote to sitting behind your laptop all day.

These things would make great pack animals. When you go hiking, you'll be able to toss your gear into one of these things and have it trot along behind you. You'll be able to take more risks because robots will be able to rescue you from tight places. If you get tired or sick, you'll be able to ride them.

It's funny to think that the streets of San Francisco in 2100 might superficially look like a town in a developing country. ("Oh, those aren't mules in the street, they're robots.")
That's when the hackers here step in, right?
I just think it's unfair to say something is "masturbatory" when you're using human life as your measuring stick.

You can't expect everyone to devote themselves to your idea of worthwhile work, and you shouldn't begrudge their momentary diversions.

I don't begrudge you for closely following an internet comment thread when there are people suffering.
Skynet became self-aware at 2:14am EDT March 28, 2008.
reminds me of Steve Pavlina's latest article: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2008/03/the-most-direct-sol...
As long as hacking without a license remains legal.
And then I can make one called CheapCompiled<x>.com and charge $10 per download, undercutting both...and then some jackass gets the great idea to make a bittorrent of it...and then it gets included in the next Fedora release...and then some jerk decides to fix the worst bugs and forks off Super<x> and starts a project at Google code...and then the damned thing has 20 million users who aren't paying us a fuckin' dime.

Actually none of these things sounds all that bad to me. But I also understand the GPL license and its relation to business extremely well. (My company sells a dual-licensed product that has a GPL variant, and we actually like the "and then the damned thing has 20 million users" aspect of Open Source.)
See? This is what happens when Steve Yegge moonlights as a writing coach.
Microsoft eyes iPhone with Adobe Flash smartphone deal
Don't trust Microsoft's promise
I would venture that most people reading this site are looking to join companies that haven't had to create an HE department yet. (side note: one of my personal factors for determining when a company is no longer worth joining is when HR becomes a specific department/person, there are exceptions to this, but they are few).

I agree with the spirit of what Seth is saying here. My last several jobs found ME, based more on the reputation factor than on the "read my blog" or "look at my portfolio" factor, but they weren't from sending a resume into a black hole.
Something I've always wondered, is if the biggest requirement for being an internet entrepreneur is a computer and internet connection, are there a lot of hackers/programmers living in Mexico/the Caribbean?
The bongos were only a small part of what made him Feynman.

When The Feynman Lectures were published, a picture of him playing the bongos appeared in the preface. Feynman was a bit mystified as to why they used that picture, but he let it slide.

A few years later, a Swedish publisher wanted to use the bongo photo in an encyclopedia article about him. Feynman was pretty upset by this, saying:

"The fact that I beat a drum has nothing to do with the fact that I do theoretical physics. Theoretical physics is a human endeavor, one of the higher developments of human beings - and this perpetual desire to prove that people are human by showing that they do other things that a few other humans do (like playing bongo drums) is insulting to me.

I am human enough to tell you to go to hell."
(letter to Tord Pramberg, 4 January 1967)
Ask YC: Can someone explain this JP Morgan buyout of Bear Stearns for me?
Here is what I understand. Bear Sterns did not have enough liquid capital to distribute to investors seeking to withdraw their money, a bank run like in "It's a Wonderful Life". And now the Fed has helped or guaranteed those investments so that JP Morgan can buy them for $2 a share. I probably have something wrong there. My question is 1. Is what I just said somewhat right, and 2. What is the impact on the tax payer? Did the Fed provide any money to JP Morgan to buy Bear Sterns? And if they did is it a loan that they will have to pay back or a free handout?
Back in the 90s in Japan at least a lot of the Nomura and LTCB execs and so on had the decency to off themselves after they wrecked the financial system and were exposed as crooks. Somehow I doubt they'll find Alan Schwartz in a motel room with a note of apology. We should import this fine Japanese tradition!
not all open source code has a viral gpl on it. none of these headaches would have occurred with bsd-licensed code.
For comparison, hikers on rough terrain usually bring a hiking staff and aim to keep at least two points of contact at all times.

I can see two legs being more efficient than four, but wheels are usually vastly more efficient than either..
One thing that struck me was when it was kicked or almost fell, I felt a little bad for it. I can see where the general public might someday award robots rights because we instinctually anthropomorphize them. I felt silly--I "know" it's just software, but what about the rest of the world with the same instincts and no understanding that's it's mindless code?
Last time, investments went way down -- but that was at a time when technology startups were perceived (somewhat inaccurately) as being part of the economic problem.

It doesn't appear that this will be an issue this time.

Even during the Dot-Bomb, some notable startups were able to mature and flourish; the ones that come immediately to mind would be Google and Flickr.

I think all is not lost. At least not until we're all fighting over who gets to eat the last mudcake.
What 'unexpected' everyone is talking about? Everyone has been pointing at US imbalances like low saving rate leading to dangerous dependence on consumption for growth (and consumers in turn depending on low rates to borrow) for 5 years at least.

What's unexpected is that it took so long to unravel.
I think that's his point... He's NOT going to review 800 people by hand. He's going to review 50 people that actually put forth the time and effort to apply via a non-traditional channel.
What's scary is how much this comment reminds me of Reddit...
10 Ways to Anticipate and Survive a Power Outage
So I guess then that Union Square Ventures doesn't count as a real company:

http://www.unionsquareventures.com/2008/02/were_hiring.html

And neither does Blue Whale Labs:

http://www.socialtwister.com/2007/01/27/a-few-good-mammals-w...

And don't even get me started on these guys:

http://www.ycombinator.com/
Does this have something to do with this thing they call "spam" that is supposedly a problem for a lot of people on those intertubes?
perhaps DHH is justified in saying "fuck you" to all those people who don't know better...

But I do agree with you - to a point. There are all sorts who liken Rails to the pixie dust of the year ("BUT IT'S BUILT IN RAILS SO IT MUST BE COOL!!"), but I just ignore them and go back to what I was working on.
right, because EU startups are doing very well now... cheaper credit/more foreign investment doesn't change the fundamental dynamics at play when starting a company, like how rigid the laws are, or how cheaply one can build a startup.
More Previews Than Open Source at HP IdeaLab
macbooks might be a standard for web design/development, but its overkill for grandma down the street who still uses the AOL dialup.

for a niche profession, they can be considered bare minimum, but for population-at-large, they're pretty fancy.
Not at all. If somebody is not skilled enough to build a quality application, what do I care? I only need to be worried about what I know, not with what others know. If somebody wants to take the initiative to write ANY application, then it is up to them to take the responsibility that they understand what they are getting themselves into -- this is THEIR responsibility, not mine, not DHH's, and probably not yours.

Furthermore, I do not need to be concerned with the underpinnings of ActiveRecord. I know I like it for what I need to do and more importantly I know how to use it properly (otherwise I would have no reason to jump into it). NOTE, knowing what to do is entirely different from the why of how it does what it does. An even better example is CookieStore: because I like to think I have a solid understanding of what constitutes a secure interaction using this default mechanism in Rails, I feel that I do not require a deeper understanding of how it performs its magic, unless of course there is something that is causing a systemic issue for my app; chances are somebody else is having the same issue and I'd rather let others spend time finding these flaws for me instead because I got other things to do (see a pattern emerging?). If all else fails, then I can spend time/energy in fixing it myself, at which point I become a contributor to Rails (yay!).

If somebody else is foolish enough to not know the general concepts of building an application responsibly (which does not translate into becoming a downright expert in whatever framework they are using) then this is a shortcoming in their approach/attitude towards success in the future and not an inherent issue with the framework they are using.
And the standalone sentry machine-gun came out from Samsung a while back:

http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/samsung_develops_machine...

Forget the headcrabs -- what about those flying chainsaws in HL2?

Also: will the high school curriculum ever catch up? One of the wackiest 'long bets' offered:

"By the year 2150, over 50% of schools in the USA or Europe will require classes in defending against robot attacks."
http://discuss.longbets.org/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=86
Is fragmentation bad?
"Do note that the "total" time spent (e.g., time spent in Ruby, instead of waiting on IO) is much lower for Sphinx than for Solr. For both of them, the socket overhead is a constant penalty, and won't increase."

Hey, why not write a pure Ruby indexing and search engine?

Oh right, because Ruby is too slow.
i don't disagree with that argument, however, it comes down to value for the price point, and we as web designers/developers need a higher level computer to do our work. the things that make macbooks better are worth the money for us, by far.

however, as someone who has tried to convert people to macs, the main argument is something along the lines of "XYZ is a great feature but i don't and won't ever need it, so why should i pay for it".
I guess it doesn't even work if you are applying somewhere. Rather, to get by without a resume, you have to be so great that people approach you, instead of you approaching them.

For once I think he has a point.
Maybe it would be possible to turn this around to your own advantage:

I agree that I wouldn't want to work for a company that doesn't bother to look at the links that you provide in an application or a CV - it shows they are not engaged in what they do.

Now suppose you put up your projects (or whatever you want your potential new employer to see) and monitor who is looking. With large companies it should be possible to trace the IP adresses so that you will know exactly which companies have enough interest to actually click the links and look at what you have done.
The form contains main tough questions which are worth confronting. It is worth filling out for this reason alone. After you're done, then decide if you think you might stand a chance.
Somebody set us up the moneybomb!
All your basis points are belong to us.

Bear is an investment bank, and does not have direct access to borrow money from the Fed. Lat week JP agreed to act as a kind of conduit for loans backed by some of Bear's more toxic assets.

Sounds stinky, eh? The thing is that the Fed and everyone else is scared stiff that Bear would default. That would set of a ricochet all through the banking and trading system. This buyout is actually the lesser of two evils, and the price is so low because no one really knows what liabilities and losses are to come.
One of the problems with this article is that Joel tries to divide the argument into the idealist side and the pragmatist side. But there's never just two sides. For instance, there's long-term pragmatists and short-term pragmatists. I think the pro-MS people are mostly short-term pragmatists.
YHBT. YHL. HAND.
Let me get this straight. JP is taking a loan from the Fed to buy Bear?
Postel's advice is not to blame for IE's problems. If that were the case, it would only be non-standards-conforming pages that displayed differently on IE.
There's great discussion about this in this thread if you haven't seen it: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=138508
Wrong article, perhaps?
This is an adaptation of the short story "Anecdote on the Decline of the Work Ethic" (German: "Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral") by Heinrich Böll.

I would highly recommend the original over this, but I unfortunately can't find a good translation of it. Still, for those who read German...
There are only two real advantages to bipeds:

1) Height
2) Use of spare limbs for tools

Height doesn't seem to be much of an advantage for robots at this stage, and I think that robots could have 6 limbs with no problem. Therefore, biped robots are really only a novelty.
Thanks and best of luck!
I disagree.

It depends on the company and the applicants career maturity though.

Someone just coming out of college probably needs a resume to list the basic stats, because they're still 1 of 1,000,000 people out there. But once you've been around a bit and have contributed something to the area in which you're looking to be employed, letting "others" speak for you is highly efficient. By "others", I mean blogs, the web, colleagues, professional profiles, etc.

You can put almost anything you want on a resume and it's hard to really know how accurate it is. Saying "Google my_name + some_project" is way more "real", as is saying "check out my blog on scaling fortran applications running on TI-83's configured as webservers", or saying "check out my project on _foo.com, which implements a fully-compliant webserver on a PCjr."
Yes & No. JP is buying Bear with its own cash. It's only $230-odd million. The Fed allowed an unusual transaction in which $30B of Bear's toxic assets were put up as collateral for Fed loans in order to keep its (Bear's) operations and trades going. The Fed took some of the pressure off of Bear's balance sheet to make it more attractive to JP and reduce the damage to JP's balance sheet once the entities merge.

Bear: "Mein Leiben!"

Fed: "Holy sh*t, this can't happen! You, JP! You hold a lot of Bear's paper already. We need your help, and we'll sweeten the deal, ok?"

JP: "I'm gonna make you an offer you can't possibly refuse..."
Like those ED-209 bloopers...
No loan, but if things go badly and JP can't back Bear's bad loans, the Fed has got their back.
Programmer’s Toolbox Part 3: Consistent Hashing
One of the reasons is Immigration issues if you are working in other country (USA). Having H1B visas and pending Green Card (permanent residency) application are most common reasons of not able to leave your current employer. These laws are so strict and complicated, that it's not easy to leave the job and start your company.
I worked on the original hopping/jumping/running robots at CMU and later MIT with Marc Raibert. I can assure you that everything done was above-board, published, and open. Dr. Raibert is one of those rare scientist/engineer/entrepreneur types who is interested in progress for people. He was asked by DARPA to develop this vehicle, so he wanted to help them out.

The Sci-Fi stuff in these comments are, well, crazy.
C'mon guys, I complained about the xkcd "manual RSS feed" we have here, but this one was good and relevant. Let the pain and backlash die down, then let's submit the appropriate ones. Lots of them get 2-3 upvotes, this one got 24. The system IS working.