skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Ask HN: 6 months runway, what to do?
Should I look for contract work ASAP? There are so many projects that excite me at the moment, so many things to do. But I have no idea how to make money off them, certainly not within a short time frame of several months. Also, I tend to waste my time when trying to work from home alone. Wish I could find a way to stay focused.

I am not sure how difficult it is to find contract work where I live, as I have only moved here a year ago and haven't looked for work since. Guess I should try to find out. Problem is also that I used to be a Java contractor and I desperately want to do something else. I am not an expert in anything else yet. Guess I could live with developing Java for Android, though.

Oh yeah: at this point, I am not thinking about applying for YC. I would love to, but atm I am looking at simpler projects that don't seem YC worthy. Also, I have applied two or three times before, each time just with an idea. Next time I would like to at least have a demo and some proof of my capabilities.
A Hint of Hubris
Leverage Haskell in Your Ruby code...
As someone pursuing a PhD, I can tell that you that if you say "I'm doing a PhD in computer science" or "I'm doing a PhD in human geography," you still get the follow-up question, "so what exactly are you studying?" It's natural for people to want to engage you in conversation about your career, even if you both know that the minute nitty-gritty details are going to be far more involved than anyone would really want to hear about at a social gathering. I give my "elevator pitch" about my research, just like any founder would about his startup. If they are genuinely interested, then I talk about it, if not, I move on without getting hung up worrying about it. I also think that in this area at least, the "founder" vs. "normal" distinction is a bit unhelpful; many of the points you raise can be applied to most occupations.
5 Excuses to Get Out of a Date Without Sounding Mean
While lying is never good, sometimes you dread a date so much that you'll do anything to get out of it. The only thing is that you don't want to be blunt and hurt feelings. Therefore, the best approach is to get out of it immediately and then deal with it later.
I talked to an 8th grade teacher recently as I was evaluating applications for education. The main concept I took away, is they would really like more data, faster. They have several programs/applications etc that produce data but its always a few months old.

This is a relatively easy problem to solve technologically, but its more difficult to implement. As I was coming up with solutions, I soon found a few barriers to entry that one might not consider. The first being that older teachers are very resistant to change that is on a fundamental level. Second, funding in this particular district is very very very low. The computers they had were about 8-9 years old, and in extremely bad shape... an alternate source of funding would need to be located, as it was unlikely the district could afford it and that taxpayers would vote to increase taxes to pay for it.

After an hour of I soon came to the "chocolate covered broccoli" ideas, this is where she became more receptive. I came up with a quick application of augmented reality, that would be a fun, and maybe educational experience but ultimately doesn't help push eduction into a more interactive data oriented learning style. Basically my point is the problem is as much political as it is technological.
Perhaps a rotating set of charities?

In between quotes (or every few quotes) a call to action and link to a charity could come up.

Does anyone else like that or have suggestions?
A little advantage of knowing Computer Science
Exactly. I'm surprised this didn't come up more in the comments and that even Joel Spolsky, when commenting himself, didn't mention it. He was not saying that StackOverflow is in a similar situation as Starbucks', just that Starbucks was one of these cases where it makes sense to take VC money.
Webapp for using a deck of cards for steganography
He was detained and released, not arrested.

Still, pretty ridiculous.
Plasma TVs may very well be banned. It has been talked about in California and the EU.
I don't believe it either. Readers digest oozes out of its every sentence.
For your situation, I'd:

Look at you, most of all. Your character, and savy in things technical, business, etc. Experience (which can be traded off for willingness to listen (my first startup was in 1982)). Etc.

Pre-funding is probably going to be an individual thing, you'll not be able attract some people without it, but you can make the deal sweet enough to attract others (some of whom might not have other good options at the moment).

Technology makes a big difference. If it's something that I find unpleasant to use for the requirements I wouldn't take the job unless desperate. (Perl is about the only thing I've decided is in that category for almost all requirements, after a decade of using it every once in a while.) This also shows if you're savy in technology.

Culture and personality have to be a "works well with others" sort of thing. I look for reasonably professional and tolerant types. I'm also politically conservative and libertarian; if the workplace environment is uncomfortable for people like me, well, obviously I wouldn't find it desirable (one reason I left the field of biology).

Cash is king, stock is pie in the sky. I'll maybe believe that you can pay my salary, but there are so many unknowns WRT to equity that I'd only look for a fair deal and then forget about it. (This was true long before the 2001 technology crash, after which the prospects for equity payouts became pretty grim.)

Mostly: will you pay me (enough and often enough (I'm willing to work for a while without a paycheck I can cash)), do you look like you've got a fair chance of succeeding, will the work have enough fun and challenge (I also expect to sweep floors, do backups, do some of this technology generation's COBOL ... whatever is needed, it's a startup), etc.

Good luck!
Hate Mail from Third Graders
I love the example of moving the printers. For me, every time I get up from my desk for a couple of minutes, I get a little refreshed, and I come back more productive than before. Having to walk a little ways to get a print out is a great recharge to my mental batteries. A shorter walk would translate into less of a recharge.

Of course, I could also easily see how if you were focused on something, walking a long ways to the printer might be just enough of a distraction to make you lose your focus. I imagine short "breaks" like walking to the printer would effect everyone a little differently.
Hey, I know a guy who's doing something just like...oh, right, hi. Is that script up on the server at the moment?
Anyone have a video link to the TED presentation? All I can turn up is the original G-Speak demo from 18 months ago. From the TED stills, it looks like they've done a lot in the interim.
I've seen it a couple of times over the years and always wondered. Its not on snopes either way. Think I'll submit it and let them sort it out.
It turns out that a lot of our assumptions about raising our kids to appreciate diversity are entirely wrong

Our assumptions, which have no evidential basis but we adopted anyway on pure faith because they sound nice and make us feel good about ourselves, are wrong? Say it ain't so!
//"The student acknowledged that a few of the vocabulary words, including "bomb" and "terrorism," may have alarmed authorities, but he also said he needed to learn them in order to understand the news of the day in Arabic-language newspapers."

How is this about arabic then? He would have been detained if he were muttering those words in any language.
Then the lab wouldn't be too useful anyway and the existing keycard system would also be up a creek.
thanks for this...maybe you're right re: founder v normal...maybe its more just distance btwn your and the other party's worlds
Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity? (TEDTalks Video)
I think that the difference here is that Google, publicly at least, says lots of the right things about privacy. They seem (again publicly) at least genuinely concerned about privacy. Whereas FB (and Zuckerberg in particular) has made many public statements about how annoying people's privacy is.

That's why I think Google's apology is coming from a sincere place, and the mistake was simply driven by an abundance of ambition and a lack of caution (cause by hopeless naivete). FB's apologies always rang hollow because we know Zuckerberg is tremendously aware of the issues (because he's informed of them in nearly every interview) and simply doesn't care.
This is great. I need to get this!
i like the sentiment of all your comments...i just tried to articulate challenges, not at all justifying them...
It's getting pretty ridiculous that "Arabic language + 'bad' words + literature that doesn't 'tow the party line'" is grounds for detainment (in cuffs no less, I don't think they put the Ron Paul campaigner guy in cuffs when they detained him over his wad of cash).

Of course, most people will hand-wave all this away because everyone knows that terrorists are Arabic so everyone that is Arabic, says the word 'Arab', or just looks Arabic (e.g. an Indian person in a turban) should be under suspicion or just outright shot in the head for the greater good. Because it's physically and mentally impossible for a terrorist to be non-Arabic... and even doubly impossible for a terrorist to be Caucasian. </cynical-sarcasm>
Wweb sites that have two sentences and then a link to actually read the article drive me nuts. I just can't understand why anyone would want to do that. I barely understand articles that split the content into two pages, let alone ones like this. Dear Web Sites: I have scrolling capabilities :-/

(No offense to the submitter Hunchr who was just submitting the information. I don't want this to sound like a complaint aimed at you. )
Yes, some of CPUs mentioned in article are reproducible, and everyone can make it :-)
Hi tichy, let me play the devil's advocate and recommend that you get a job ASAP. I know its soul crushing(most jobs) but it will take your mind off of the money equation, and allow you to do good work on the side. If your cash-flow is tight it puts a lot of stress on your work be it contracting, building apps, starting a start-up. Since you are just starting out start doing these things on the side and get your feet wet. Once you have a steady stream of cash coming in and are sure that you can take a plunge you'll have the option of quitting your job. However take care while choosing a job, if you do decide to go that way. See that it leaves you with enough time to work on the side. All the best.
What about not just cook, but grow it at your back-yard? :-)
He didn't mutter the words though. They just happened to be on flash cards. Should I be detained just because authorities find the word 'bomb' or 'terrorism' on an object in my possession? I guess I can't take a newspaper through screening then, huh? Do you really think that he would have been detained if the words 'bomb' and 'terrorism' had been in French-English flashcards? One would hope that they would apply these things equally, but I have my doubts.
Good point. But why were they carrying the suckage forward for so long?
Google: Android now shipping on 60,000 handsets per day
Four hours though. Can a police officer detain you for so long without arrest? How far does that go?
Saying that money buys time is not really true. It can buy, but it all depends on how you want to live. For example, if you are fine with living on the streets, you don't even need money: become a homeless and you will have all the time you ever needed. To live as a middle class person you need some more money, but how much money you need to live like Michael Jackson? Not even him was able to make that amount of money.

So, basically what you are buying with money is a lifestyle. You shouldn't think in terms of time you are buying, but what kind of life you want to live.
Virtual Appliances Offer Fast Sandboxes, Production Environments
Nowhere does it say he was saying the words "bomb" or "terrorism" out loud in an airport. He had flash cards. That's it.

You're not allowed to scream fire in a crowded building but you're certainly allowed to have a book in which one happens to be described.
Anyone know what is going on in Cuba? Do they get all of our recycled/broken boxes down there and need help fixing them?
Type a foreign name, click 'Images', see if that's male or female.

When you work in a multinational company like me, that's handy.

Both tricks are quite obvious. I've used them for years.
If you want a more slick package there are devices made just for this. Here's a Bluetooth lock controller for example: http://www.smarthome.com/70470/ECKey-EK2-Bluetooth-enabled-V...
Very nice read but is it true ?

It seems for want of a better word - just too pat.
Yeah, and did you know that ignoring an issue will totally save it?
What if you're trying to learn a new, popular language and you can't come up with one plausible construct, let alone two ?

The gutenberg project may be of help: if books are available in both a language you know as well as one you're trying to learn, it's highly probable you'll find your expression there, and the translation is next to trivial.

This is better than googling, for the reason stated above, but also Not Implemented Yet.
Besides understanding the growth of a particular market, it's also important to understand the motivations of a VC.

It depends on the overall sharkiness of the particular VC, but in general, VCs like to have entrepreneurs poorly estimate their revenues early on when funding milestones and the price of shares depend on those estimates.

More than one founder has gotten into bed with a VC, blown the revenue plan, and found themselves a minority shareholder in a VC-owned company. It's not that amazing how many founders will give away tons of equity, confronted with lack of revenues and a need for cash to pay all the employees they dazzled with their dream.
If those words were just 2 out of a million, like if he had a dictionary or newspaper etc, why is the article even mentioning it? The special mention of those words in the article makes it look like he was muttering them or trying to memorize those words in particular etc
"That ought to prompt some reconsideration of social policy."

You should check out the book The World We Created at Hamilton High. It's a really quick read, and I think you'd like it. Here is the first chapter as a PDF:

http://www.alexkrupp.com/Hamilton1.pdf

As for reconsidering social policy, the government has basically known about this since the Coleman report was issued in 1966. But they've (mainly the Democrats) been covering up their own research since the day it was released, so it's not likely that change will happen any time soon.
I find that for me, the biggest efficiency gains are not necessarily changes that save time but rather changes that reduce cognitive overhead.
Best PC Freeware (Gizmo’s Version)
What's hard to believe about mobile banking? Poor people are using their phones to pay for stuff. It's safer since they don't have to carry around what little money they have. It's going to be a huge market over the next decade.
What struck me with this article was the requirement to "pull" the data. Take the waterfall example (someone buzzes about a cool waterfall they find). That is great, but for it to be useful to others they have to be hiking in the area, be a buzz user, AND have Buzz open. I think many of these location apps are missing the discovery piece and need someway to push content. If you are hiking and your phone vibrated and told you about the waterfall it would be much more useful.
Doesn't grammar evolve with time ? I don't think any grammar is authoritative in english, and that's one of the reasons english has thrived as a language because it has evolved with time !
Ask HN: How many of you look at http://news.ycombinator.com/newest?
I recently submitted the same (reasonably interesting, IMO) story twice.

The first time, the story didn't get any upvotes; the second time, I asked some friends (in the interest of, erm, "science") to upvote it immediately after posting. The story appeared on the frontpage and gathered ~20 upvotes (in line with my "expectations"). In terms of clickthroughs, the ratio is probably 1:100+.

Don't consider that a real experiment; I didn't control for anything (time of day &c.), so it's almost purely anecdotal. Nevertheless, my preconceptions were strengthened to the point of almost making them hypotheses:

- a. "Kick-starting" a story by asking friends or followers to upvote it _dramatically_ increases the chances of it being read, without any inherent difference in "story quality" (if we assume that inherent story quality is a reasonable notion at all).

- b. A very small fraction of HN readers check out http://news.ycombinator.com/newest.

Do you?
The one that says not to write back in cursive because she can't read cursive yet is cute. Though the one with the six-year-old 'polling' people and such seems more like the entire thing was orchestrated by the mother.
I think the point of said question has been missed. Very rarely do people actually care about the answer being given; it's just so that you provide enough context for (a) small-talk and (b) so that you can be pigeon-holed.

In non-business settings (i.e. not including startup mixers and the like) I give as simple an answer as possible: "internet stuff", usually. If people care, they'll ask.

The worst is when someone starts into a 10 minute monolog, oblivious to the fact that the other person is looking for an excuse to walk away.
Unskilled and unaware of it
For justin.tv,

Internet Explorer: 50.36%

Firefox: 33.01%

Chrome: 8.91%

Safari: 5.29%

Opera: 1.45%
Our world is in danger, not of becoming too dangerous but of becoming too safe?
Data Serialization + RPC with Avro & Ruby
Do all third graders have weird line justification issues?
perl -e 'print map(pack("B*", $_), qw(01000010 01100001 01110010 01100010 01101001 01100101)), "\n"'
So you want to be a consultant...?
Ask HN: How to beat the chicken egg situation with user-content driven website?
We’re working on capitalizing on craigslist’s weaknesses, and while we have a good grasp on what we’re doing; we aren’t sure how to attract users to a fresh classifieds website. Users tend to leave when they see a website without much there, and obviously new ads won’t list themselves. How can we go about creating real incentive for sticking around when there are still not many listings?
Exactly! It is the highly labor intensive nature of this process (and Apple's greed for money as in the iPhone Store incarnation) that prevents this from happening in mainstream OSes.

It's really quite a phenomenal achievement and I think it will begin to be broadly recognized very soon.
Am I the only one that saw the number 42 and checked the date on which the article was written?
"We can eat to starve cancer"
A quote from my favorite book:

"Good morning," said the little prince.
"Good morning," said the merchant.

This was a merchant who sold pills that had been invented
to quench thirst. You need only swallow one pill a week,
and you would feel no need of anything to drink.

"Why are you selling those?" asked the little prince.

"Because they save a tremendous amount of time," said the
merchant. "Computations have been made by experts. With
these pills, you save fifty-three minutes in every week."

"And what do I do with those fifty-three minutes?"

"Anything you like..."

"As for me," said the little prince to himself, "if I had
fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I should walk at
my leisure toward a spring of fresh water."

"The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Chapter XIII
What's the rational behind this? Are they hoping that people won't abuse it because the quality isn't that great? Or are they just making more of their money off data than voice now to justify this?

Hard to believe, in any case, perhaps Skype is giving them a kickback now that it is an independent entity and can make disruptive progress again without being held back by the bureaucracy that is ebay.
Actually 'unlucky' if I remember correctly.

The 'lucky' ones were unreachable.

Didn't Teela end up as the protector?
My best literal-ish interpretation "In the fields of observation (testing?) chance favors only the prepared spirits." It's interesting to me the explicit "only" construction, as opposed to the implied version in the typical English versions.
"A household that invested $90 in changing 30 fixtures to CFLs [from incandescent bulbs] would save $440 to $1,500 over the five-year life of the bulbs, depending on your cost of electricity. Look at your utility bill and imagine a 12% discount to estimate the savings."

http://www.usnews.com/money/business-economy/articles/2007/1...
In the US it's two days before they must charge or release.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detention_of_suspects
This is awesome, I can't wait for the apps to start really rolling in. I've got a Droid right now and I love it, but it's a work phone and I'm starting a new job on Monday so I have to give this one back. Luckily, my new Android phone is in the mail right now and I should have it before the week is out. I'm really glad Android is doing so well and I hope the trend continues. Now I just need to make that killer app for it and I'll be a millionairez!
Where does the article make the suggestion that he was muttering the words 'bomb' and/or 'terrorism?' Even then, why would someone be walking through an airport saying "bomb" or "terrorism" disjoint from any sort of context? (And how does that necessarily make them any more or less dangerous than anyone else? When was the last time that an actual terrorist was caught because they said, "bomb," and someone tackled them?)

As to trying to memorize the words, yes that is the point of Arabic-English flashcards, but how does one become dangerous (or a terrorist) because they are trying to memorize the words "bomb" or "terrorist?" Am I now dangerous because I've just admitting to knowing both of those words (by virtue of using them in this comment)?
Wired iPad app video demo
Well, to be fair, the ultimate goal is for everybody to ignore it, right? That is pretty much the definition of the end of racism. Stands to reason that ignoring it in front of your kids could teach them the same, but perhaps a more active approach turns out to be better.
Alternative Data Structures in Ruby
I only check it out sometimes, when I am very desperately in need to procrastinate. At times it will be several times a day, at other times I don't look at it for weeks.
Am I the only person who hates this imagined dichotomy between "founders" and "normals?" It assumes that non-founders are somehow lesser beings. And perhaps that's where the reluctance to talk about your business comes from: why discuss it with someone you've already assumed won't care or understand?

Look, if you're starting a business, discusss it with everyone who asks. If nothing else, it gives you practice explaining it and just maybe, that bored guy may turn out to be an expert in the field or a valuable contact. If you can't explain it, the problem is most likely you not them. Find a way to simplify the explanation without being condescending.

Honestly, I don't see how this is any harder than explaining what you do to a non-programmer.
you can pay users, or offer incentives give aways or prizes. If they like the site, they will stick around.
obviously the guy had his rights violated, but your ridiculous comparisons aren't helping anything.
R&R World: IDrecordings's profile
And I should add, to your use of the word "publicly", I'll admit that there's no way to know what's in their hearts, but if they all at least behave as if they were sincere, it's all I could really ask for.
Net-eval - Dead Simple Distributed Computing for Clojure
Textorize: Pristine font rendering for the web