skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Thanks very much for this.

I can see that quite a few people are struggling with the playing of the tour - we will have to make this more obvious. I don't think Prezi offer an easy autoplay option.

You are right with regard to the user experience and this is something that again we are rolling out in the next two weeks. We have made a video of a user bookmarking, discovering and doing other bits and pieces to do with the site. We will post this somewhere on the site (still to be decided!) and hopefully this can solve this issue as you are right from the homepage you still don't get a complete feel as to what Favilous does.

May well take you up on the email option - thank you for this. Also, we are offering a yammer style service to the worker (see my comments below). Would like to know what you think of this?

thanks
The Browser Choice Screen for Europe: What to Expect, When to Expect It
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
It was super-generous of Chrissie Brodigan to mention me in her article. Her final product doesn't even appear to use any of the code from my plugin!

I would be really interested to see how she did the speedometer.
Thanks, that sounds right. That said, I have 3+ years invested in Rails, so it is difficult to make a commitment to another stack. I am doing a small (non web app) project with Clojure right now, which is fun and educational.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NN7UGWYmBY
This is really good. He does harder and harder stuff, ending with a 208 pin chip.
jasonlotito does have a point. Just today, this from the Aardvark guy hit the front page: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1136504

The bit that struck me is in the third paragraph:

So it seemed foolhardy to think that I might build a new destination site. Instead, my cofounders and I decided to build something that could be accessed from the places where people already spend their time online.
That's the killer point for me in many cases - not to mention that in my neck of the woods there are lots of content that are just plain old unavailable in ANY legal way (I understand that in the US it is sometimes the case with Japanese stuff, well, over here it happens with stuff from all over the world).

I don't even bother to try buying music online because the muddy law behind it means it's probably still illegal even if I do buy it - because I'm buying it in the US, most likely, and consuming it in Uruguay. My father already had some legal trouble with the BSA arm because he had a legally purchased copy of Norton - but he had bought it in the US, not Uruguay.
Big Scary Laser: Best warning sign ever [funny]
I found it difficult to visualize the relationships between projects -> lists -> task. I think this could be easily fixed with some design polish. Perhaps move the overall look to more of an application feel by defining the left sidebar. I like the sparseness just need to firm up the frame some.

Finally I want an API so I can make my own applications that plugin to this... for example a Thunderbird plug-in that converts an email to a task... or perhaps I could tweet a task update (this would give you quick and dirty mobile access)

Either way nice work!
Jones wants criticism delivered within the comfortable confines of the peer review process because he is skilled at how the game is played and knows who to talk to to get papers he does not like killed. Seriously, this is a man who should be sentenced to having his words quoted in every mention of him for the rest of his life.

Example: Professor Jones, who once wrote to a colleague "I will keep them out if I have to redefine what the peer reviewed literature is", criticized bloggers for "hijacking the peer review process."
GHC Haskell switches to an LLVM backend
Software patents are the problem not the answer
If you're going to think about something, then please make the attempt to do so clearly.

The standards you are applying to 'communism' here are ones that would damn 'capitalism' as well -- there have been plenty of atrocities committed in the name of both, and neither philosophy has abstained from advocating violence. Not to mention that you'd make most major religions illegal as well!

Step one in thinking clearly is to define and use terms precisely. What seems to be your working definition of "communism" is more or less "all the bad things done by people that the US disagrees with" -- if you're trying to make value judgements, a near tautology.
Q&A: Google’s Green Energy Czar

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/qa-googles-gree...
dup: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1136984

also appeared in http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1134342
Yep. They all knew I did it because I told them a breakdown of what I discovered the next day.

As I said, there was nothing sinister in the questions, and they all knew me well enough not to be surprised by a little surprise sneakiness.
It was rhetorical question. Build your app fast. Then optimize later, when you have scale.
Very true. This is probably just so they can negotiate for cheaper power for their datacenters, and sell excess power if they build their own plants.

Here's to hoping they can cut through the nuclear red tape and build a LFTR reactor. If they can get one of those off the ground and powering one of their datacenters, it would prove to the world that nuclear power shouldn't have the stigma it does.
Amit said "his research shows" but a quick look at his publications doesn't show that that is his research area at all.

There's been a lot of actual research showing that people working in certain fields (i.e. Wall Street) have certain characteristics (risk-taking) so unless someone can come up with the papers to show otherwise I wouldn't be convinced.
Your comment about aerodynamics is interesting. Generally, time trialists use a disc rear wheel and a minimally spoked front wheel (typically with bladed spokes, or even a tri-spoke composite wheel). While these designs have proven to be the best for pure aerodynamics, they are obviously very susceptible to cross winds--the reason why racers don't use two disc wheels on the road. I suppose this design could make sense for a course that is buffeted by cross winds (even with a minimally spoked wheel, steering is compromised).

As for comfort, this would be more of an issue for recreational riders. The deep dish or disc wheels that racers use for speed already give a fairly rough ride.
True bespoke clothes are quite expensive, but you can get made-to-measure clothing for only a small premium over off-the-shelf. (And once you factor in alterations, perhaps not any more expensive).
I obviously can't speak for anybody else's experiences, but every time I've gone into a cave, the group has spent several minutes in the pitch dark, being quiet. I can't really imagine anybody not doing that; going into a cave without experiencing the dark and the silence would be a much less interesting experience.
A Big Victory for F/OSS: Jacobsen v. Katzer is Settled
It's multithreaded, so can take advantage of more CPU mores, unlike squid.

It has total disk cache persistence, so it won't lose any cache if the server crashes, traffic server crashes, unlike varnish.

If you've got cache spread over multiple spindles and one of the spindles dies while in production, it'll just keep on going, skipping that spindle. Squid does this, varnish does not.

It does run on linux. Actually it's what it was built on, originally, IIRC.

I have used TrafficServer (at Yahoo) and I'm willing to bet that it will overtake both squid and varnish as time goes on.
(see my post above) :)
In the early 80's, Michael Crichton published a discussion and example of a keystroke intervalometer to verify identity.

The method was sufficiently accurate that when a full pass phrase was used, loose matching could still distinguish the original typist from others who knew the phrase.

The breathless http://www.physorg.com/news67710818.html raves about the "inventors" behind a patent granted 16 years ago for the concept, well after Crichton's idea and working example was published.

More recently, http://jdadesign.net/safelock/ was named SMU's 2009 "best implementation", perhaps for also including pressure and hold time.
There's nothing I love more than having fun with something most companies try to convolute and make impossible. Great, honest mechanisms that in some cases reverse the negative process.
I thought it was so they could better buy energy from renewable resources. They've always put datacenters in locations with excess electrical capacity, but this makes it possible for them to offset their potentially dirty (coal) electricity usage with cleaner energy elsewhere.
At some point the extreme conclusion of what happened to the lady with the violent ex will happen. Once you pass a certain number of users you need to expect people using your service aren't that computer savvy and really aren't going to spend the time doing more than the bare minimum to use your service (e.g. check e-mail, post a picture for friends). After all, a lot of people are put on these services by their tech savvy children or siblings who spend the bare minimum of time setting up a todo list or basic tutoring on how to use this service for its basic purpose. It seems pretty much a bad idea to change the rules and not think of the implications to a more public revealing of data to world for these people. Particularly when you take what is generally regarded as a private service (e-mail) and turn it into a public service.
Either your shirts don't fit, or you're tightening your tie more than you need to.
Furthermore, the Government, who has a lot more data and can do a lot more damage with it, will be a lot more hard pressed to listen to any silly laws you pass.
At least someone can't shove a stick into your spokes and make you flip over the handlebars. Oh wait, it's the rear wheel, where that can't happen anyway.

I agree with rimantas that this doesn't make much sense. The reality is that the average mass-produced $10 rear wheel is lighter and stronger than this thing. Maybe if they made the rim out of carbon fiber... but then going over a rough road is going to shred your $500 novelty wheel and send you to the hospital. (And speaking from personal experience, a failed wheel is no fun. Walking home in cleats sucks...)

The bicycle wheel is a really elegant design. There is not a whole lot of improvement to be made.
Unfortunately it seems you can copyright numbers.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1045150
In an early 80s programming article, Michael Crichton published a discussion and example of a keystroke intervalometer to verify identity. (He referenced the idea again in his recent book Prey.)

His BASIC implementation was sufficiently accurate that when a full pass phrase was used, loose matching could still distinguish the original typist from others who knew the phrase.

The breathless http://www.physorg.com/news67710818.html raves about the "inventors" behind a patent granted 16 years ago for the concept, well after Crichton's idea and working example was published.

More recently, http://jdadesign.net/safelock/ was named SMU's 2009 "best implementation", perhaps for also including pressure and hold time.
I like the idea of easy registration, but I am not really sure that No Registration Required is all that attractive to me (as a buyer or seller) for this type of application.

Other user goods marketplaces give an idea of seller's histories, in form of ratings, reviews, and so forth. I think that can be really helpful (and I do tend to avoid Amazon marketplace sellers with low ratings). Is that a feature you will want to provide?

Currently book listings have a Contact Seller link. I have not yet come across multiple listings for the same book (different sellers). How will you effectively distinguish those listings from each other?

Some smaller items that stood out:

http://beta.mrtextbooks.com/browse (Buy link) is broken.
On Buy|By ISBN,By Author, By Title all links point to the same search page. Each time though the Title filter is selected.
http://beta.mrtextbooks.com/search - if no matches are found (which could be due to filtering or simple title mismatches), then the same form is displayed again. It would be really helpful if you showed some message indicating "No results were found - try broadening your search" or something to that effect. Otherwise it may be hard to tell if search is simply not working or if there just aren't any matches for a given search.
The Lesson of Anthem Blue Cross
23andme -- Google Genemods.
I would not do this. Several years ago, an investor was putting together a team and offered me 30% salary and some equity - with a 1 year commitment to see if the business would fly. Because the business plan seemed so good, I was going to go for it but then promptly backed out when I was asked to forgo salary for slightly more equity.

If you are not a full-on partner, then require some salary.
Snow Day The 6 Worst Winter Storms in US History
Personally, I would skip the loafers. IMO, grown men tie their shoes. Instead, have a pair of wing-tips and a pair of unadorned or cap-toe oxfords.
The rim squashing problem can be solved by having a point of contact immediately above where the rim touches the ground as in the Peugeot concept bicycle [1] linked from the Reddit page [2]. You can then have a light-weight rim.

[1] http://www.carbonfibergear.com/peugeot-redefines-the-bicycle...

[2] http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/b2g91/spokeless_...
I'm getting a 404 on that.
Whatever all the nuts have mailed in to them.
"Firm users typing cadence to punish people that pay for their service."

Sounds like a plan. If you're trying to go out of business, that is...
Not airing out; but it does get the wrinkles out.
> memorialize the agreement

Absolutely, that's the primary reason. It also clears up unnecessary misunderstandings. (E.g. one party may assume preferred stock, while the other founders will assume common stock.)
Startup banks on Twitter for online payments
Waiter, There's Pseudo-Science in My Soup
The entire site is down right now: http://www.groupon.com

Sucks when something goes viral and I can't visit the site to find out more about them.
Here's my reverse causality analysis: perhaps it's that those predispositionally disposed towards happiness -- optimistic, for example -- tend to go to college more often (and finish) than unhappy people.
I disagree. I wear a fedora somewhat frequently, and everyone says it really suits me (not lying/puffing- just trying to convey that it's not just me). I think the key is venue. Don't wear a fedora to work or every damn day. Wear it out occasionally, and match your outfit to it carefully.
Endorsements are another issue entirely, but there's something very wrong with the legal system if there are any limitations on accurately stating that $athlete used $product during $event.
The Delocalization of Events
On speed reading:

I read faster than anyone I've ever met, and I definitely disagree with 1+2. I don't read linearly- most words are superfluous to understanding the subject at hand, and you really only need to scan the whole paragraph for important nouns and verbs to understand its meaning. Reading while pointing my finger at the line would slow me down a whole lot.

And before people go off on me for not understanding what I'm reading, or not properly enjoying a good book, fine, it's possible. But it doesn't seem to have hurt me. I was always the best English student as a kid, got 99th percentile on both the SATs and GREs on the verbal section, did well on my exams, went to an Ivy League, etc.
Don't copy the lost teenager guy (obviously).
What is the antecedent of "them" in your quote of Jones?
First of all, please don't be uncivil in this way.

Second, grellas didn't say this company was worth $1B. He said that based on the founders' track record there was a "reasonable prospect" of it. "Reasonable" here presumably means in the judgment of experienced observers. Like who? Maybe like grellas, who has been a startup lawyer for decades and consistently posts some of the most informed comments on this subject. The point he was making is nuanced, and the example was obviously chosen to illustrate that.
On a normal wheel, the bearings travel a much shorter distance than the wheel.

On this wheel, the bearings travel the same distance as the wheel. That makes me wonder if the friction due to bearings is much larger in this type of wheel. I have no idea if that's an important factor or not.

(A normal wheel is, say, 700mm diameter and the bearing race maybe 20 or 30mm, so the bearing surfaces move 20 or 30 times more slowly than the bicycle. On this spokeless bicycle, the bearing surfaces move at about the same speed as the bicycle.)
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Flash
brilliant marketing
one to copy cat in some form for sure
Another thing left out is solder flux. Some surfaces might be too small or too hard to reach and heat with the iron so I put flux onto the surface first and it causes the solder to flow into that area more easily. For instance, if you want to solder a thin wire into a small hole getting the solder to flow into the hole around the wire is difficult. If you put some flux onto the wire first and then slide it into the hole the solder will flow along the wire and will fill the hole nicely.
The Seduction of Low-Hanging Fruit
http://eastangliaemails.com/emails.php?eid=419

The other paper by MM is just garbage - as you knew. De Freitas again. Pielke is also
losing all credibility as well by replying to the mad Finn as well - frequently as I see
it.
I can't see either of these papers being in the next IPCC report. Kevin and I will keep
them
out somehow - even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is !
(0 unread) Yahoo Mail, kano19862000
> What you have done is simply redefined communists to be communists who advocate violent overthrow and declaring that is the only type of communist there is.

But that's actually, legitimately the definition of Communism. That's how Marx defined it. Second sentence from Wikipedia: "Karl Marx, the father of communist thought, posited that communism would be the final stage in society, which would be achieved through a proletarian revolution"

Here's a map of everywhere that tried Communism - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sino-Soviet_split_1980.svg

Violence in every single place. Lots of it. Horrible stuff.

> Your comment is a piece of trite propaganda.

The book that laid out Communism - the Communist Manifesto - directly calls for violence. Every significant attempt at Communism has included violence. At this point, Communism includes violence. If you're not in favor of rioting and violence and re-education, you're doing something other than Communism as was written by the founder of the movement and every real life implementation of it.

Pointing this out is not propaganda, and it's not trite. Trying to make Communism happen has literally created more misery and destruction than any other movement in history, and it's not even really close. People need to know about and remember the Khmer Rouge killing fields, they need to know about the Great Leap Forwards and Cultural Revolution, they need to know what Marx actually wrote in his books, they need to know where Communism leads and what it really is. It's a horrible thing. Putting it down is not trite - it's important that it's remembered for what it is, and never allowed to surface again, for the same reasons it's important that fascism doesn't surface again.
I'm looking forward to seeing that being copied excessively all over the place so much that it becomes cliché and boring...
Great point about lack of realtime coverage. Usually my wife and I postpone normal life an enjoy the Olympics 24x7 (almost :-) In the past, the non-realtime coverage would have been awful.

However, since I have less free time right now (consulting and writing a book), recording the material on a DVR and watching it a little later to skip the commercials works very well for us.

It is pain to avoid any news at all so we don't know results as we watch the recordings.
It's less about speed as it is about size. A general framework is just that, general. You're paying in bytes for stuff you don't necessarily use.
"Aren't most of us making a living (or trying) by selling bits?"

The same could be said about the creators of fake (malware) 'tune up utilities', fake AV and spyware tools. Do you defend them too? What Ubisoft are doing is unethical, and I will not defend their doing it simply because its profitable (and even that is questionable).
FCC Wants Universal Services Fund to Help Broadband Instead of POTS
Google Shopper for Android
Its nice to see such incubators coming up in India. This is the way to promote the entrepreneurial zeal of young India. Just wondering how many success stories will come from such ventures and how it compare against other such initiatives in India like iAccelerator program.
Is this a big deal? (not a rhetorical question!)
As a technical person, I care about technical merit, not whether or not something is a cash cow for the manufacturer. I use Windows at work, and I watch it waste hours of my own time and my coworkers time. Just yesterday, my friend had some random problem with his roaming profile -- it started taking 25 minutes to log off. We tried various things that the support folks recommended -- the result was a wasted day (costing our employer hundreds of dollars in lost time), and the problem still persists. Maybe reformatting his machine and removing and re-adding the account in AD would fix the problem. The fact is, nobody really knows. Nobody knows why this is happening, and nobody knows how it can be fixed. That's what you pay hundreds of dollars for -- software that is so unmaintainable that even Microsoft can't fix it. At least with Linux, you can read the source code and figure out how to fix something. (I can't think of any problem with Linux that can't be fixed, given time. But there are a lot of Windows problems that can never be fixed.)

Back on to the topic of version control, Subversion has a major flaw -- its common operations throw away your data. It deletes your fucking work! That's exactly what a version control system should never do.

Git may have overly-sugary frontends that require a lot of manpage perusal, but one thing it doesn't do is lose your work. (Even "git reset --hard" is relatively safe; just "git checkout HEAD@{0} and it's reversed!)

I don't get how Subversion is simpler, either. Common operations:

To create a repository with Subversion, you have to find some central place to store it, setup permissions, add users, and finally you can import your files. With git it's just "git init; git add .; git commit -m 'initial import'". You can deal with replication later -- right now you can just work.

To checkout a branch with Subversion "svn switch <some long http URL that has to be exactly right or it fails>". With git, "git checkout <branchname>". To merge a branch, "git merge <branch>". To push your changes to the server, "git push". To pull changes from the server without losing data in your working copy, "git pull --rebase". (That operation is not possible with Subversion, "svn update" brings your working copy into an inconsistent state that can't be reverted -- it creates a local branch, but without any tools to manage it.)

Anyway, Subversion is not good. Git is comparatively not that bad.

From a software engineering perspective, svn is probably better. But it's a well-engineered bad design. Git is a poorly-engineered good design. Good designs always beat good implementations. (Darcs is a great example of this -- great code quality, bad model. Still better than Subversion on both counts, though, of course.)
it looks more like a random blog post than an article dedicated to a new Django 1.2 feature.

It's not a 1.2 feature -- FastCGI has been supported since before 1.0, and the 0.96 docs[1] show how to use FastCGI.

[1] http://www.djangoproject.com/documentation/0.96/fastcgi/
No way, California and money problems.. Never saw that one coming. </sarcasm>

downvote away but you know its true.
How to Make Virus/Trojan Undetectable
Visualizing Parallel Haskell Programs with DTrace