skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Yes, you can have different sorts of puzzles to measure different sorts of intelligence. It would make a fascinating experiment to see the impact of the puzzle type on link and discussion quality.

In fact, my next puzzle-based social news site will involve a word-based puzzle, which may reward users more who have high "verbal intelligence".
Would love one, thanks!

kdw at spathis dot com
The problem with home schooling is that one cannot benefit from specialization and the division of labor as one can in a school-institution. While the average parent might be a better teacher than the average public school employee, there are probably others out there who are even better teachers than they.

Still, a step in the right direction.
across the bridge from philly
I agree wholeheartedly, and it's why I brought them up--I think they're a perfect example of what I had in mind. They're absolutely steadfast (in the best possible way).
Just a guess, but I think domain specific knowledge testing would work best. I know enough grouchy "intelligent" people to go for the raw intelligence option, but if people were tested on their general knowledge of the sector that the site is based on, that's going to result in, hopefully, more informed discussion and links.

Indeed, perhaps this is why sites like Reddit and Hacker News were / are such high quality sites at the start of their lives, because only the most informed people knew about them. Once the less informed get involved, it all goes to pot. So testing how "informed" someone is might, effectively, resolve it all.. but I can't help but feel a lot of people would be turned off by such "testing"!
That quote (or variation) if often attributed to Bill Gates? is it? or is it older wisdom of some sort.
His description of credit cards and electronic "money" was spot on too. Once again - was mostly a technical problem.
Human societies have had much variety in family structure, from polygamy to promiscuous monogamy. I don't think the suggestion that loosening up on the Judeo-Christian rooted idea of strict monogamy is absurd.

However, I am quite tired of discussing Paul's most recent piece. I've already digested the point and I haven't seen much merit in the criticism. Moving on to parody is a step in the right direction, perhaps, but there has to be other ideas to explore.

Anyone else on Hacker News young, beautiful, smart, and interested in exploring the possibilities of clan marriage?
Neato, and thanks :-)
So testing how "informed" someone is might, effectively, resolve it all.. but I can't help but feel a lot of people would be turned off by such "testing"!

So why do people visit this site?

http://mightyquiz.com/

Imagine turning MightyQuiz into a social news site.
Large areas of the sea being are indeed beds of "protein-rich" algae - fed by nitrogen in industrial and agricultural waste.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/oceans/la-me-ocean30jul30,...
That's true about specialization. One could get private tutors, but that's expensive. One could also find helpful people on the internet (like you can definitely get free programming help of higher quality than a school would offer). Anyway I just wanted it counted as an option. It would keep the child safe and is worth some consideration, especially in such an extreme case.
I posted on the other one, but here's my twitter again:
http://twitter.com/hooande
PreferenceFu - easy way to add user preferences (boolean ones)
Yeah, But He Didn’t Predict The iPhone, Did He?
There are other societies who force this issue through a rite of passage. Though that can be just as crippling.

I don't have to imagine the crippling effects of this. I've met a few people whom I can see it happen. As for myself, though I've never been bullied to the extent this kid has, I have had bad life strategies that took me years to disassemble.

At the same time, some of the gifts I've been given are things that'd help even with crippling damage. As cheesy as that sounds. And assuming I remember if after suffering the damage.

Civilization is what lets people behave like ... people ... without going around bashing each other on the head. Yet at the same time, you cannot let the civilized abstractions separate you from your survival instincts. We are not just the identity we form with other people; we are each in these fragile sacks of water called the human body. I may try to increase the general level of civilization to ensure the safety of the people, yet just as importantly, I'll also try to pass on survival skills that I have learned. Including surviving crippling damage.
Let's assume there exist two groups of people. The members of group A think that some improved product is better because it tastes great. The members of group B, on the other hand, believe that the same product is better because it's now less filling. Keeping in mind that the product is better because it both tastes great, and is less filling. Which group is mistaken? Which group would benefit from changing their minds?
I fall into the camp "To each his own". Some people get their kicks at startups, some don't. If anything I would say there are corporate prides and solitary tiger entrepreneurs.

And those that can do both without whining are ligers...bred for their skills in magic.
This is the only hacker-focused startup that I've seen from YCombinator that I really understand the market for. I consider it most likely to succeed among the hacker-focused startups. It exists in a growing market niche (rails developers) and solves a crucial problem (easy rails deployment).
Did you get the post-prediction idea from a scientific journal article, and if so could you provide a link?
http://twitter.com/Adrian_H
At least for me, those two were exactly the same thing. If you don't have a prototype, that should be one of the very first steps in your business. If you do, great - you have everything you need to apply.
I hope he was insured.
http://twitter.com/igrigorik
http://twitter.com/dstillz

I got it a long time ago but started using it very recently.
The bottleneck seems to be energy. Electronics don't really require that much power compared to transportation and living space, and have been able to make "futuristic" advancements even with our reliance on primitive power sources (i.e. fossil fuels).

Not that this has necessarily been a bad thing; perhaps better for human evolution to have the free worldwide communication system that boosts our intelligence before we get boundless energy potential.

As far as medical advancements go, well, it's hard to hack yourself. I'll expect the flying cars well before the intelligence pills.
In regards to browser testing, a screen shot isn't enough to ensure complete compatibility. You need to make sure things interact accurately (ex CSS Drop-downs, or javascript). To do a 'complete' test, you should install all major browsers on your machine.
http://twitter.com/IdeaShower
No time to think [video](long one too)
Do you guys face this problem too? How do you folks try to overcome this problem?
Still, they're in danger of establishing an intellectual monoculture, and those tend to get wiped out when environments change.

I'm interested in seeing whether the same mix of staff and company structure can prosper in a recession.
I'm still holding out hope for autonomous cars within a decade. Technology-wise we're pretty much there. The hard part will be convincing the public and government regulators to accept them.
The Psychology of Entrepreneurial Misjudgment, part 1: Biases 1-6
That might be true. My sister just got a new laptop (won it from a raffle) and she refuses to download any software that's not from a major company that she trusts. She's too scared of getting viruses so she just uses it for web apps/sites.
Some people are so close to that futuristic 2008, yet most people in the world are so far away. We really should figure out a way to fix all that.
Note: "barbies" is Aussie for "barbecues". That headline really confused me for a minute.
Winter or Summer Funding
What are the pros/cons of winter funding or summer funding.
I am trying to decide which one is better to apply to in terms of my personal situation.
Are rents better on one coast versus the other?
After the summer session do a lot of the startups end up moving to San Francisco anyways?
We looked at few solutions at our startup and we decided to go with git instead of Hg after we launch (we'll use svn until then). I actually liked both and liked Hg a bit more due to its simplicity but since the Rails world has adopted git and everyone's distributing code using git and github, the decision was basically made for us.
Imeem Media Platform - Access licensed music and social graphs
Thanks Paul and everyone here for such thoughtful responses to my post. I got a lot out of reading them.

It does look like the presence of large acquisition-minded companies means that no matter how you push the YC companies, to work toward acquisition, toward a next round of funding, or even toward small business--if they are successful someone will make them an offer.

It was interesting to hear from the people here who were taking so many different routes with their companies. Kudos.
>That depends on the nature of the puzzle. Not many people can solve Rubik's Cube no matter how determined they may be.

Sure they can. It's algorithmic. Anyone can be taught the algorithm. Learning to solve it without any help would be different.
It's not fud. People who share a single line (i.e. homes, small offices, wireless coffee shops) in the presence of other people's torrent clients often report diminished responsiveness if there isn't some traffic shaping set up.
France, some of western Europe, and Japan have already 220+ mph transportation, but in a train, and with heavy goverment subsidies, but still it is much safer, faster, and reliable then get stuck in a car in trafic. So, a goverment can actually achieve something good. The thinking back then was so car centric, that even in intercity traveling you had to had a car. Since cars would not be allowed into cities anyways (according to the prediction), wouldn't it made sense for trains?
Facebook is more than just a marketing channel
I mean discovering an algorithm to solve it on your own is very hard.
FriendFeed moves into TwitterSpace
Online economics textbooks
For those concerned about steroid usage: http://www.sparkminute.com/?p=275
not gonna happen. People Just wont trust it. Just like mass trasport with "flying cars" are not going to happen this century. High speed rail (200+ mph), and smaller cars for city transport will prevail. Wait until gas hits 6$/gallon, and then you will see the change on american attitudes to transport.

I remind you that the population density of USA is about 31/km², while europe's is about 112/km², and appart NYC, there are no really very dense areas in this country. Even SF has about half of the density of the average European city.

So even if the population doubles in the next 50 years, current technology (or the model of life you see in Europe), will be enough. Anything else too drastic, will probably be too expensive to develop.
Patterns for concurrent, parallel, and distributed systems
If we all had a 4hr job day, then people will be getting 2 jobs. In a consumer markets, where how much you pay for housing determines the schooling of your kids, or the "want" for plasma tvs, nicer cars, more shiny things will make people work as much as they can.

The only way to enforce a 4 hrs work day will be thru law (goverment mandate not to work more than 4hrs a day, ala EU's 37.5 normal workweek),

Or, if something like that star trek machine that can create everything (you press a button, and food just comes out from it, or any electronics/material need you need).
Then people will be working only to teach, design new things, entertain, as material needs will be superflous.
The unfortunate thing about a 4 hour work day for traditional (read: non-technical) workers is that the advancement of technological tools allows them to accomplish the same amount of work in less time, meaning that if an individual (or entire company) wanted to get ahead, they would still use the entire 8 hours (arbitrary number. Many use even more) to accomplish much more work.

Technology hasn't shortened the amount of work we do, it has raised the standard for everyone to accomplish more.

This is mostly meant to apply to non-technical workers. People who deal with technology have a different and unique set of standards.
Their ideas don't really contradict. But they think they do because, apparently, both sides have the mistaken view that a product has to be better for exactly one reason.
Imeem Makes Its Own Platform Play For Music Apps. Who’s OpenSocial?
That's a really easy question. I'd forecast zero revenue, do nothing, and make out like a bandit with my perfect forecast.
Facebook To Launch Preferred Application Program
Inequal distribution of resources
>- Probably, about 50% of the fault lies with Billy. He will never get out of this hell if he doesn't accept a big part of responsibility. There's a reason he's the only one that gets beat so much and so hard.

I agree with you on all but one point. The solution is not to "make Billy accept a big part of the responsibility". The solution is to put him in a different environment, one where his confidence is allowed to grow. Then, after he feels better about himself, you could talk about what sort of behaviors are likely to attract bullying. I get the feeling that if you told him that he was to blame for his bullying, he would just feel more oppressed.
You weren't meant to program computers either...

... nor, I daresay, were any of us meant for great wealth; which, as Graham may yet demonstrate, is just a much a corruptor of character and insight as poverty (if not more so...) Just as large corporations tend to stifle, indeed put a halt to, the generation of ideas, so to does the imposition of large sums of money. If that were not true,
then the startups trajectory wouldn't bend towards acquisition... (or, despite Grahams elisions, shall we call it 'surrender'? )

The whole point of evolution is to adapt and mutate and so there is no such thing as 'normal' or 'meant to.' An interesting aspect of evolution is that we get to thumb our noses at the very idea of 'normal' and that we get to shrug off the very idea of 'meant to'.

Paul Graham has argued eloquently and succinctly this very line of reasoning heretofore. It comes, thus, as a shock to read this essay, coming, as it does, from the programmer who advocates bottom up design in opposition to top down mandates. Of course, the point of evolution often contrasts harshly with the point of cynicism: which is simply to justify any childishly satisfying, but nonetheless, foul mood or thought. Or, as Mencken put it, ``The cynic is the man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.''

So much of this essay strikes me as the worst form of 'sophistry at a distance' that I scarce can credit Graham as the author. Surely some philosophy undergrad, still pink and slightly damp behind the ears, has stolen into Graham's study and slyly substituted his/her unfinished term paper for some valuable slice of Graham wisdom. Perhaps a wily hacker is having sport of Graham, and us, by subtly crafting an HTML parser that cleverly distorts, ever so slightly, essays fed to it... The world waits, with held breath, for
the un-masking of the villain.
IMHO there is something wrong with the boy:

1.- Not being able to physically defend himself.

2.- Not being alert of his surroundings.

3.- Not being able to have friends who would look after him.

4.- Even having a behavior that exasperates other students.

I may even ask the question: What is he getting out of this? Is he getting more attention? Is he getting to feel like a victim? Is he getting the right to feel sorry about himself? Is he able to justify his low grades?
Is that a picture of Gabor from Xobni?
Rails Powered by the GlassFish Application Server (builtin load balancing, clustering, no mongrels)
Wondering what the Rails-using community is doing with JRuby technologies like this. Seems that deploying with this method might solve some of the scaling problems... ?
I am one of the new users and I'd like to comment on the average tone in comment threads is slightly less polite remark.

I am not entirely sure if polite meant not rude or if it meant a pat-in-the-back encouraging. However even a casual glance shows a lot of modded up comments that are of a latter kind. Especially in the Ask YC/HN articles. While reasonable encouraging is good, there's also a plenty of great job and looking good comments for pre-launch projects that are a plain junk .. with an emphasis on pre-launch. In my humble opinion these are extremely damaging comments regardless of how polite they are.

Perhaps this is a part of the site social culture. Or perhaps I'm misreading the meaning of "less polite". I just hope I'm wrong on both counts.

Now, mod me down if you agree :-p
I think he meant not rude. The idea that you should only say something here that you would be willing to say to someone face to face.
The punchline:

>The interview was going swimmingly until I met up with one interviewer who was apparently anti-military. Using the Google "Do No Evil" mantra as a pretense, he asked me how many people I'd killed when I served. When I explained to him that I was MI, he then asked if I could estimate how many people were killed because of the intelligence I'd gathered. The implication was I was either an evil, efficient killer or an incompetent one - a real no-win situation.

The right answer would be to talk about all the military and civilian lives that were saved because of the intelligence gathered. The comments on the post talk about how such a question was a huge violation of US labor law.
I personally think it's the wrong approach to learning a language. Plain memorization is not how languages are learned. There is a lot of context and structure that must be learned that isn't apparent in the lessons (just listen to someone with a foreign native language speak English. They will construct sentences with English words but will do so incorrectly. They are putting them together how they would if they were using their own language's words).

I certainly think this is a problem ripe for hacking, but I think the application won't stick. What I've seen so far is a decent supplement to a traditional course for those who want to broaden their vocabulary repository, but not (IMO) a complete way to learn a language.

Another note: What about for people who already know a portion of a certain language? Maybe you could implement a test that checks where they are and provides lessons accordingly.
It's all about quality of content. High-quality will get readers, whether that's in print or online. The problems newspapers face are:

a) Most of them don't have much high-quality content. The majority of their content is syndicated from other sources.

b) It's expensive to produce high-quality content. And expensive to disseminate it as well. It may be cheaper to do so online, but the ad revenues are lower.

My startup is helping to solve both problems. We'll enable news publishers to increase the quality of their content, with fewer people.
Rebels Without Cause
Dunno if you made this, but if so, cool. One thing, though: JPEG's with EXIF data specifying that they need rotation shouldn't be displayed as they come out in the file. Lots of sideways pictures...
The Chinese control the weather...
If u want to advertise, please check this video
Whew, finally hackers are learning not to use LEDs in anything; after all, all bombs have to be covered in LEDs in order to blow up, and therefore any strange object with LEDs all over it has to be a bomb.
I cannot even imagine there being valuable information in my cell phone bill. But, no one would spend months building a business around the idea if there was really nothing there, right?
I get your point from a sister thread. "Don't waste time on your application - build your product"

But I disagree. Here is why: expressing your idea is one form of product development.

Writing down your idea in a way that other people understand is absolutely essential. Similarly, practicing for demo day means getting the exact phrasing of a 7 minute talk absolutely perfect. That might seem like a waste of time, until you realize that you'll be able to pitch at the drop of a hat for the life of the company as a result.
Paul Graham's writing is radically aphatic

What does that mean? No online dictionary I regularly use lists "aphatic". Google turns up a geology term here[1] with a different spelling.

[1] - http://www.greengonzo.com/dictionary/Aphantec.html
... as well as 37,000 part-time workers--mostly peasant farmers--who are on call to blast away at clouds with 7,113 anti-aircraft guns and 4,991 rocket launchers.

Well, let's hope we never have to attack China...
I doubt that Bezos invested in 37Signals to make a lot of money, or at the very least, I doubt it was the primary concern.
Monitor mainframe sessions remotely using Linux
HOWTO setup Atheros AR5007EG wireless on Feisty Fawn (with ndiswrapper)
I believe that, but it's the internet as a whole that we should be concerned with, not individual connections.
http://twitter.com/jdg
Wish I could upvote this one, weather modification has always fascinated me. I suspect the Chinese aren't concerned about global warming because they expect their weather modification technology to have caught up by the global warming is a problem. I wish the US and China would get in a weather modification contest in the style of the old space race; it would be really good for humanity.
Patriot Act haunts Google service
"He was a wise man who invented beer." - Plato
It's a pretty cool buiding to be at.
Ringside to Unveil Open Source Social App Server
Hardware Virtualization: Xen, VMWare and Others Explained
Comparing lightweight threads between Haskell GHC, OCaml, Erlang HiPE and Mozart/Oz
From Investor Carl Icahn: If at first you don't succeed, sue!
It seems as though Linus (he wrote git right?) has successfully performed his coup of the version control systems. Ok, not really, but its surprising that he could change what was thought to be an essentially solved problem with cvs and then svn. I would have never thought that someone could come up with a better CVS, but then SVN came out. Then came Git, and then this. Just goes to show that even problems that seem "solved" might have better solutions given a different set of situations.
You would think that the parents would have enrolled the child in some sort of self defense class or program. Teaching the kid how to defend himself from the bullies would have been the most effective way to handle the situation.
Check the Relative view, as opposed to defaulted Absolute:

http://www.indeed.com/jobtrends?q=ruby%2Cpython%2Cperl&r...
Please critique my movie collection based social network
We're looking for some critiques and suggestions about our movie/dvd collection based social network that we've created. You can check it out at http://www.iheartmovies.org
To see a user's profile page example, you can check out this page: http://www.iheartmovies.org/user/MikeDavis

Be as harsh as you need to be, we're looking for the best possible solutions and criticism.

Thanks so much.
"The hook is the serendipity the service creates in your life."

Could you give some detail?

Doesn't Twitter demand at least some time and attention? From what I've seen, most of what shoots past is astonishing in its lack of content and value.

So, while some posts may be useful, I don't see that the results justify the attention required.

Is there some preferred way to avoid the drivel and catch only the good stuff?