skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
(Assuming life as we know it)

Early stars needed to die before there was enough atoms above helium to form rocky planets. You need to stars close enough together so that the dead stars can be formed from these remnants. There is a narrow band of stars capable of having rocky planets let alone planets in the habitable zone. It's unlikely to form stable planetary orbits in binary star systems and stars must be small enough to last long enough to allow life to form. etc.

There may be millions of planets capable of supporting life in the Milky Way, but I don't think many of them are much older than the earth.
NDA's don't help you there....they can still compete with you usually if all they signed is an NDA. You have to have a non-compete to get them to not compete....and no way I'm signing that without a HUGE additional payment for the NC.
If you double click it it will kill Chrome. AW SNAP.
20 Stunning YouTube Video Sketches for Design Inspiration
I think the gap here is that while WR (and apps of its ilk) may not be particularly 'pleasant' in the sense of sweet-smelling, pretty, etc., pleasantness is not a virtue one really looks for in a tool for work. It's novel but not needful, and I think the fact that it's kind of orthogonal to the many problems of writing means it will have little impact in the long run.
"How did Google find out the other companies were being targeted?"

Google runs data centers, and probably sees a lot more traffic than for its own services. Also, who is to say these companies are not using Google products (Gmail, Docs, etc.)? In other words, I think Google might be in a position to know.
Yes, that is it. That is exactly what was going on. You hit the nail on the head.
I recommend getting over it. You are almost certainly the descendants murderers and conquerors.

http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=7819&...

That's just how humans roll.

Western Europe had lots of problems, but countries that operate in the European tradition are better places to live. (At least, when you look at the immigration patterns between third-world and first-world countries, it's clear that first world countries export idealism, which is then processed into jaded realism and returned. Meanwhile, poor countries send their top .1% to join the Western world's top 10%; a good deal for both sides).
It's a cultural myth. Western religions have dealt with "outsiders" and "aliens" for hundreds of years and have done just fine with it. New life forms, intelligent or not, will not change much of anything.

In fact, for a religion to have been successful over the millenia implies a high degree of adaptability. Otherwise we wouldn't have just gotten through celebrating Saturnalia, I mean, er, Christmas.
It's interesting to see that, but not being a follower or a reader of his it's difficult to put that into context.

Are his savings dwindling because his business is struggling and he is not making a profit, forcing him to live on his savings? Or are they dwindling because he's pumping more money into his business to make it grow faster?

On what basis is he extrapolating his experience to all entrepreneurship in general? Entrepreneurship is a complex and difficult field, being a VC doesn't make you qualified to be an entrepreneur any more than being a programmer, engineer or manager does.

Seems like he's having a rough day, and I sympathize having been through a very similar process of watching my savings dwindle to zero. However I believe it's important to realize that effect happens primarily due to a lack of understanding of the process of starting a business and is generally not representative of a good startup.

If you are really interested in entrepreneurship, I highly recommend taking a look at the lean startup concepts - they are specifically geared toward helping people to avoid exactly this cycle.

Entrepreneurship is not about taking the plunge, living on your savings, and hoping you become profitable before you run out of money. That's just a wing and a prayer.

Anyway, sorry for the longish rant, but I get tired of these types of posts.
Sure you do, it just gets filtered into the spam folder.
Yeah, might be a good time to get out of US dollars. They're going to be painful to hold, if China decides to make the US uncomfortable.
When you see a pig dance it is impolite to comment on the quality of the dance, but you can express amazement at that it dances at all ;)

Let's give them a bit and see how far they take it. With a bit of luck they get some help from a nifty jit for js and who knows what might happen.

The evil .swf might turn in to a standard component after all, if only via a somewhat roundabout way.

I really wonder how they're going to do audio though, and capture devices and such are probably out (I can see a route to do video via the canvas, it's going to be bloody slow though unless js gets sped up a lot compared to where it is today).
NDA != non-compete or am I missing something?
Actually, he started doing that recently. He let people trial the TV before they decided whether they want to commit to a purchase or not.

The only downside (since he has only 2 staff) is alot of backwards and forwards in terms of delivering the TVs and keeping tabs on who owes what. But it DOES work
There's plenty of people that enjoy doing things but don't do it very well. Enjoying something helps you stick to it more, but it doesnt' make you better at it alone.
I agree. It's practically a declaration of war. And someone on their PR team deserves some kudos for writing a release that makes some damning accusations very clear without ever stating them explicitly.
I agree with this statement, I tried doing it from scratch with Yaws; I also tried three different Erlang web frameworks. Installation was impossible on one - it just wouldn't work, the others had out dated documentation and the API was confusing...

It is way too immature at the moment, no doubt.
I am in a similar position, but I very much make sure they have a VERY specific confidentiality marking requirement (including a "must send a follow up communication within 24 hours after voice communications enumerating specific confidential items disclosed within the voice communication") .

If they want super secrets and don't just trust us to show discretion, they can clearly mark what is super secret, just like the Government does with it's secret information.
even the Nexus One is made in Taiwan

How long do you think Taiwan is going to last as an autonomous entity, now that it can no longer rely on the US for military support, because the US is in hock to the PRC?
(1.0+2.0)+((3.0+(4.0-5.0))/(6.0-((7.0/8.0)-9.0)))
I don't think this is possible with FBJS. You might have to put some old gallery and give users a button to reload. I am not sure but I have heard that after a mouse over, JS will be allowed to run.
We have basic non-compete language in our NDAs.

After some thought I guess it's all about who has more money. If you're dealing with Intel or MSFT then I'm not sure how effective one of our NDAs would be.

Still some level of protection might be better than 0.
"(Assuming life as we know it)"

That's also one hell of a sampling bias!
Do established companies ever sign your noncompete NDAs? (One reason we read them carefully is because people occasionally sneak noncompete language into them).
"The thing that's amazing is we don't have to worry about attracting people into the Boston community, [...] The challenge is to retain people."

I would say that challenge might exist because unemployed people are desperate enough to take jobs in Boston, only to find the job isn't worth it.

To be fair, I've worked in MA and NH for over 30 years now (yes, you can call me a geezer) and indeed there are a lot of tech companies of varying maturity and markets. But there are a lot of techies here too. I've got a pal with 20+ years experience, good C/C++ coder, does great Eclipse plug-ins, unable to find a job for over a year now. And I've known other guys (C/C++ coders, mostly) who have made (downward) career changes for the same reason: no jobs.

This is kind of a rah-rah article and maybe we can excuse the author because those numbers might be real. But don't infer that companies here are hard up for employees -- like most-everywhere nowadays each advertised job opening invites a thousand applications.
Database Capabilities in a High-Volume Environment
Curious why this is dead the instant I submitted it.
The most recent things that have hurt religion are the web and 9/11. This will be the third.

We are talking about the greatest discovery that could be made. It is one that will make billions rethink their role in the universe. It will make them wonder about evolution, whether their God guided it and if so to what degree.
Google's Legal Options Scant, Company Mulls China Pullout
'who will rid me of this turbulent priest?'
How frequently does this happen ?

A surefire way seems to be to load the top 10 submitters history, those are pretty big, since only the last 300 can be used to build pages anyway maybe you can do a digest there and not load the whole thing ?
For the reason I talked about in my third paragraph, for starters?
In the time since you made that comment, someone gave birth, and that made them rethink their role in the universe. Vague discoveries of space bacteria won't do it.
I have to agree with you that those that are interested in what the world values are the most blessed, but no practice 100% enjoyable. Risking misquoting him, I remember reading in one of Kasparov's books "I only love 80% of chess. I do the other 20% so that I can do the 80%".

In Ericsson's book about deliberate practice, he shows thru multiple studies that practice for world class performers is usually painful and not enjoyable at all. He even says that 'if you're sailing thru it, you're not practicing' (or I read this on an article about it).

In the end, liking what you do helps you put up with the practicing you need to do to perform what you like

edit: wrote 80% where I was supposed to write 100% (facepalm)
This is interesting:

they did manage to get some "account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line."

That's because they apparently were able to access a system used to help Google comply with search warrants

This implies that Google handles gov't requests for information through a filtered system that can only access meta-data. If this is true, I appreciate that protection.
Because the CIA isn't part of the State Department?
Could you explain 12?
Now will someone please scare them into supporting S/MIME?
Amazing how many of them have made it in to modern Dutch / Flemish.
Just in case anyone was wondering about the project name and is not too familiar with classic science fiction:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_gordon
It's funny you talk about argument from authority. Perhaps you don't realize this, but the steady ad hominem undercurrent of your commentary doesn't make you seem very convincing. "I must be right because Graham isn't humble, intellectually honest, and confident." And, of course, "confidence to abandon the occasional overeager metaphor" is a sneaky way to assert that you've proved an overeager metaphor, which you haven't.
Wiretap systems are breach-by-design
The thought of writing desktop apps using web technologies is weird but appealing. I've struggled with XULRunner, which I found to be powerful but difficult to use and lacking on documentation.

I've tried Adobe Air which is nice, but has too much sandboxing and restrictions. (no ability to shell out to another program, for example)

What I really would like is a simple webkit-based client that exposes its api to a higher-level language like Python.

I actually started building one based on the Chromium Embedded Framework but temporarily put it on the shelf.
hee hee, so true
Yes but they are smaller companies, between 5-20 million annual revenue, and none of them made competitive products. We're a software company, they were device manufacturers.
I doubt we'd ever get a fortune 500 company to sign one of our NDAs though.
Companies the size of Intel for example feel they have a right to everything in the tech domain even if they don't have competing product lines and they're the type to sue just to intimidate.
-----
After a while you start thinking of languages as API's. You don't think about the problem in Java, or Lisp you figure out how to solve the problem abstractly and then find out how to use the language to make it as easy as possible. This is why learning new idioms / languages can be helpful even if you always implement in the same language. You also start to implement an add hock solution that mimics other languages in your language of choice. (Which can confuse people not used to the concept.)
The demos don't work at all in IE8.
Have you ever looked at the 1secondfilm project? http://www.the1secondfilm.com/

Seems like something that might interest you - you should get in touch with them.
7a. Write out your mental cache at the end of the day. I always type up a quick todo list (or update the one on the current mental stack). It reduces my boot time in the morning.

there will be bad days. Some days just aren't meant for programming. Do something else those days or you'll cause more harm than good.
Only as good using the usual large margins for error people use when judging art. E.g. I'm willing to say that Leonardo was better than Parmigianino. I'd think twice before saying he was better than Rembrandt. Or vice versa.

This isn't some idiosyncracy of mine. Most art historians make comparisons at about that level of precision.

I'm willing to concede the point on anything that (a) I actually wrote, and (b) that's been refuted. E.g. I pointed out what I actually wrote, and invited you to refute it here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=985662

Though you claim to be an expert in art history, mistakes on the scale of the one I quoted in the link above make me think you haven't studied it as thoroughly as I have. I'm not trying to be snarky by emphasizing your mistakes; there's just no other way for the "technical people" you mention to decide who to believe.

It's actually an interesting question which fields are cumulative, and to what degree, and why they differ. E.g. math is entirely so, which is why I'd be very reluctant to compare different mathematicians from different eras. Whereas progress in the "soft" sciences is less cumulative, and in the arts much less.
A-Life Lab Co-evolving Psychic Networked Artists in Ecology Sim with Physics
Question to HN readers who are sympathetic with this article: If you could wave a magic wand and "undo" all that was done, would you do so? So imagine all those who perished in the 1500's would be revived from the dead and restored to their ancestral lands, all those living in the Americas now would be sent back to England, Ireland, China, etc, with a one way ticket and $10K in cash to start a new life. Would you wave your wand and cast this spell?
This is why I dropped all my atheistic pretensions a long time ago:

Life on Mars?

Now, that'll really sock it to those lousy Christians.

...the priorities are all wrong.
It's called bootstrapping. I am sure you already know it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneurship#Financial_boot...
I voted this up, even though I think it's wrong, because it is a valid point. I don't think it's going to happen though, because it would screw up their own economy as badly as the US. Maybe if things weren't already so tight everywhere right now, but probably not even then.
I doubt that lie detection voodoo actually works when the person being interviewed is new to the whole being on TV thing.
Click Fraud Inflates Conversion Rates and Tricks Advertisers into Overpaying
"I'd say emergent, especially intelligent life would make the stats pages"

Very human-centered viewpoint there. Maybe all they care about is how much like 'ssevh5' the patterns of galaxies are, or any other ineffable measure - like us with our car drag races.

"(where intelligence is measured by awareness of the universe/capability of affecting it etc.)"

Dinosaurs couldn't affect things, and when they avoided eating some plants that was just ... luck? Again, you're defining things in a vague human way so only humans fit your description.

"I would assume that most of that is just "noise" and would be filtered out leaving the bits of information put out by humanity as a statistically interesting anomaly."

Unless we aren't a statistically interesting anomaly. Have you reminded yourself how big the universe is lately?

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2004/07/ (Hubble Ultra Deep Field).
"Dispatch war rocket AJAX to bring back his body!"
I'm Working 12 Hours a Day. How I'm Getting Through It.
huh? No real change over the last 10 years?

As a rule I try to shy away inflammatory criticism, but this was a very poorly researched post.

There has been TREMENDOUS change over the past 10 years! You have to remember that until Deng's reforms in the late 80s, China was a completely closed society that was just beginning to heal from decades of strife and instability (almost 100 years!), including the cultural revolution which literally turned society upside down and placed a freeze on societal progress.

Since the early 90s China has made leaps and bounds in regards to reform and progress. YES they are still MANY problems, but the changes have been very substantial. China will surpass Japan this year as the 2nd largest economy in the world. Outside of the US and Russia, it holds the third largest stockpile of nuclear arms. The accolades are many...

That said, its unfair to really compare China with South Korea/Japan, who've not only had a huge lead time, but also don't have 1.3 billion people to feed, provide jobs for, and yes control.

All of this growth and sudden change has caused problems, corruption and protectionist economic policies (not to mention the increasingly dangerous heights of nationalism the CCP is stimulating among the populace, especially the youth). To say however that Chinese society is corrupt and have been "meddling in business for thousands of years" is absurd and frankly a bit fox-news in rhetoric.

One of the things I love most about HN is that the community here is in general "smarter" than more general-interest social news communities. That said, I wish people would take a more balanced view on China. Yes there are problems and the CCP is no benevolent big brother but as the poster above me has pointed out the issues are not black and white. There are many many many nuances in uplifting a nation of 1.3 billion people into modernity. I'm not convinced that an open, free-market system is the best solution. Perhaps down the road, but not now.
"But in this case the metaphor is conscious and precise: this is the story of European engagement with the native peoples of the Americas."

One planetary race driving another into extinction is a universal, cookie-cutter sci-fi plot device. See Independence Day or Ender's Game. I suppose this was the only one where the victims had some sort of aboriginal-sounding accent, but I wouldn't take it as social commentary.
Pasting just the good part:

* Samsung, by far has the greatest variation in terms of quality between its range of models.

* Sony TVs are artificially expensive

* Plasma TVs are ridiculously high on power consumption

* Panasonic (for me) still has the best Auto Setup and Menu Interface

* Panasonics, on the whole have the better sound quality

* Backlit LED is better than EdgeLit LED

* Samsung is most generous with its feature set

* Your choice in Manufacturer brand of TV has a real effect on what people think of you

* Manufacturers tend to (generally) optimise one type of external interface more than the other. Eg. HDMI better tuned than Component output. This is down to the way they manufacturer the circuitry, and not necessarily due to the type of technology itself
I am now on my second business, and I am a student of lean startup...which by the way perpetuates this graph, not prohibits it. lean startup would argue that you find product/market fit before capitalizing a company and paying yourself a salary. this graph is a result of bootstrapping my first business, taking a half salary after capitalizing it with VC/Angel money, failing at that business, and now bootstrapping my new business until we can prove product/market fit and raise at a 3-4x step up in valuation (as well as prove to ourselves that this is worth replicating/scaling)...

I'm not having a bad day at all...I'm having a great day and time in life in general...I think you missed the point of the post...I sort of laugh when I look at this graph...money is just money my friend...
How long do you think Taiwan is going to last as an autonomous entity, now that it can no longer rely on the US for military support, because the US is in hock to the PRC?

The PRC owns many pieces of paper. Attacking Taiwan would be an excellent reason to repudiate the value of that paper.
This is even worse than your earlier point about Chinese dumping dollars. The PRC would barely be able to invade Taiwan right now even without US aid. Worse for your point is that the US could screw over the PRC without firing a shot simply by repudiating the debt the Chinese hold.
Your interviewers were non-technical but your authority chain (hiring manager?) knows enough about the situation that he/she sent the previous person on his way. They may not know why the guy was asking for so much money but they should be able to tell you how much it was and what he represented as business value for said money.

If you can't get frank, direct honesty from that person I would consider not taking the position. If you can, and your perception is that the previous director was not creative commensurate with the requirements of this type of position, or worse, was an empire builder, then it's probably no problem.
I'm sympathetic to the plight of the native American, though this article is poor, but no, I would not. It's an unfortunate but necessary part of human progress.

It's no worse than the Romans, or Gauls, or Saxons, etc. By that logic you'd have to keep waving your wand until we were all back on the Savannah tossing spears at antelopes.
The Amazing Power Of Branding
You seem to be criticizing pg for arguing from authority, but your (poorly toned, impolite) rant claims authority 1) by your claim to know about art history 2) the cornered art historian.
My personal favorite is that there are approximately pi * 10^7 seconds in one year.
The Lost Google 'I'm Feeling Bored' Button
If only Yahoo had HTTPS available at all after login... Kind of fond of that address.
To a certain extent, you already inherit his old enemies when you take over his role.
Samsung NB30 is rugged netbook for kids
I did have more observations, but i didnt want to bore people.
Isolator - Free Mac utility, helps keep you focused.
Who do you think will lead this revolution?

Students at the elite schools in China care about getting jobs with foreign multinationals, not democratic reform...
Of course it's damn impressive, but it doesn't seem very useful to me.

Nobody uses Flash for the language (actionscript is a terrible mash-up of javascript and Java, and haXe is not a lot better), or because we think the virtual machine is awesome in some way. Simply, we use it to bridge the gap between what web browsers can do and what native apps can do (access to webcams and microphones, local files, real tcp/ip sockets, etc, etc).

Having said all that, who knows - maybe web browsers really will eventually bridge those gaps themselves, and this will just be used to run legacy Flash code. It's possible I guess.
The Promising Future of the Unlicense
If the new HTML5 <device> element gets implemented they could use that for capture devices: http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/...
1.3 billion people. All strains in China derive from that parent strain.

Not sure you can really pin that blame on the CCP although certainly Mao's lets-all-have-babies ideas would account for some of it.