skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
So for 90k employees, we have an average fanout of pow(9e4, 1/13) == 2.4 direct reports (assuming no duplication) per manager. Yikes.
Determination is a good thing, but determination without direction is not. If you're good at design, and bad at programming, why insist on doing the programming yourself? A designer-programmer team will almost certainly kick your ass.

If you have a particular skill that seems to be part of a generalized skill set (for example, if you're good at meeting new people, you're likely to be good at sales), you can test it. If you know that you're bad at math, bad at logic, bad at working on one task for more than a few minutes at a time, and bad at spotting your own mistakes, you might not want to try programming (or architecture) just to prove to yourself that you have the willpower to overcome your character traits.
"It’s easy, in the yin/yang of Hacker News and proggit, to forget that most developers are not even aware of what DVCSes are or what they do."

It's also easy, in the yin/yang (what?) of Hacker News and proggit, to forget that there's plenty of developers RIGHT HERE who do not grok DVCS. I sort of know what they are, and that they making branching suck less or something.

Hello, I'm nollidge, and I don't get DVCS. Where do I start?
How many of those were people trying to tap on a video and being sent to Adobe's page? I've had it happen a few times, because of poorly-designed pages that smush onto the screen with multiple overlapping elements, or trying to double-tap but doing it poorly.
Or just increase the base salary.
i thought he mentioned matt as somebody easily capable of duping him in the interview
The largest hurdle I see in electoral reform is broadening people's expectations of a ballot, which is all I'm really trying to do with this app. Approaching the problem from a legislative angle is hyperbolically analogous to asking a dictator for fairer representation. People need to see that other systems aren't all that difficult firsthand before anything happens.
Can Greece reform?
Big Record Labels Bailing on Spotify for U.S. Launch?
Well, the P in LAMP suggests that learning to code is a part of learning the LAMP stack.
Does it? Any data?
sourceforge, github, nyt, ea, disqus:
http://www.mongodb.org/display/DOCS/Production+Deployments
I loved the way Paul seems to concentrate on his strengths and works with other people who have strengths where he doesn't. He can concentrate on turning a startup into a winner, knowing he's got good legal advice and someone to judge people in 10 minutes flat.
There's also darcs-git, which is a python script that allows you to run darcs command in git. http://git.frugalware.org/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=pacman-tools.g...
here's the docs page he mentioned: http://ycombinator.com/seriesaa.html
by this logic outlawing condoms will be even better :)

the idea is not to make more people to productive age, but to increase the span of this productive age. and decrease/prevent the suffering at the end.
It's way easier to compute betweenness centrality? Eigenvector centrality requires inverting a potentially giant link matrix -- a notoriously expensive operation, which says nothing of the additional code complexity needed to do it properly.
It doesn't matter if it isn't the least bit representative.

Being 43 times slower is going to make a noticeable impact on latency especially when the templates are likely to be larger than the example shown.
This certainly does qualify as disturbance in the Force :-)

On the other note, I do hope that Hollywood would embrace this as an opportunity not as a problem.

However, if anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, it is that you can expect big media to cling to the old ways of doing business for as long as they can...
A bunch of large sites use it for specialized tasks, and business insider uses it for everything. They have a list here: http://www.mongodb.org/display/DOCS/Production+Deployments
Justin.tv infinite recursion
Foldl and foldr considered slightly harmful
Twitter Uses BitTorrent For Server Deployment
ICFP09: Organizing Functional Code for Parallel Execution by Guy Steele
Cross-site Scripting is gonna HTTP GET you
Yep, and that's why I think it's still a great idea to partner with people who are good at those skills. But if you are stuck at the finding a partner phase because you don't have friends with those skills and don't have any money, why get stuck? Just going through the motion of learning something you don't even want to learn is likely going to put you into circles of people WHO DO HAVE the passion in doing those things.

I've met dozens of people stuck at that finding someone else phase. Maybe they should look at it with a Zen attitude "to find a partner, become independent". I think many people dating and looking for others recognize that already. Needy/desperate people have a hard time finding those people they need and are desperate to meet :) So make yourself independent and those relationships will come easier.
4chan's Response to Verizon
> "To allow others, whose passion is cooking, cleaning, or assisting in various ways to help me — while I supported them by giving them income to do what they loved."

If you really want to think about your maid, cook, chauffeur, etc this way, sure... For the majority I'm pretty sure cleaning, cooking, and driving all day wouldn't be top of their to-do list if they had the means.

Don't get me wrong, I outsource plenty of things in my life, but I think it's incredibly out of touch and pretentious to think that you're doing someone a favor, and that your maid is really fucking passionate about cleaning. IMHO when you start spouting things like this, you probably lost touch with reality.

Like mattm commented, there's a line between outsourcing the menial things and outsourcing things that give your life purpose. I wouldn't mind outsourcing my laundry, but outsourcing my Facebook profile may just defeat the purpose of using Facebook.
How to download a free trial version of Windows Seven
I wonder how many songs would be in a fifty-year playlist
On most manufactured goods the labor component is not as high as people think. Assume an industry where the labor portion is 30%. By a combination of a lower dollar value as well as better efficiencies and better automation it is not unlikely to end up with a product which is perhaps within a 15% difference of a comparative Asian one. A 15% difference will easily be marketable for a better quality product. (If you factored transportation costs it even looks better).

I don't mean slavery, I believe in a living wage, but I am sure if one does the sums there are a lot of industries that could be rejuvenated if policy could be redirected properly.

One of the problems of the US is its large internal market which resulted in the average US firm not to be geared for exports. This also needs to be addressed. Let me give you an example, I worked in Dubai three years back (large construction industry) on an average quote for machinery that typically goes into large buildings say Fire Pumps the range of prices would be:

US 100K (non-negotiable)
US 90-105K (European very negotiable)
Asian 85K (negotiable)

Order placed normally with European firm for US 88K

Any factory with not a full order book could marginally cost the products and have a full order book.
Operating System Independence in the Cloud
TechCrunch: Hulu Could Still Launch On The iPad
Google Buzz: Is it Project, Product or Platform?
That is an orthogonal issue.

I actually spent 3 years doing research on the other side of the paywall. It is one of the things I'm "vocally critical" of. Here's me calling it evil just a couple of days ago: http://bit-player.org/2010/yet-another-spam-update#comment-2...

At any rate, there's not a single scientist who believes that publisher copyright for papers is a good thing. Unfortunately we can't change the system overnight. At least in CS, as I pointed out in that comment, it has already become a non-issue.
People who give up too early, for any reason.
I see a few suggestions for languages. I would avoid languages; instead, go with something like the Scratch project if you want to demonstrate concepts programmatically: http://scratch.mit.edu/

I recently researched languages for a programming curriculum that was to be taught to Latino high school students, and concluded that Scratch was the best choice. My reasoning is that most students you teach at such a young age will never pursue programming again, and bombarding them with the syntax that 'practical' languages use quickly leads to frustration. I'm sure a lot of people here will say, "I learned such-and-such at such age," but this is a self-selecting group for interest and natural ability in programming. Given a choice between high-level languages, you can choose Alice, Greenfoot, Stagecast, Lego Mindstorms, etc. but Scratch is the clear winner.

In terms of high-level concepts, I think understanding the logic behind software third graders use every day is important. Talk about how Internet requests are routed and returned; how social networking software interacts with a database; how cell phone calls are made; how keyboards poll for input. Understanding these algorithmically requires no programming expertise and not even a lot of expertise on your part to explain. It's simply a matter of breaking down the problem and thinking about it systematically. Your example explaining hash tables with filing cabinets is fantastic. Sorting can also be explained with filing cabinets. There's also the classic "how to teach a robot to make a PB&J sandwich," of course, to get their thoughts flowing.
And I would say that if you are looking at what CURRENT-employees are saying, you are looking at rose-colored glasses or people who are too afraid of reprisal.
Very nice. The developer's responsiveness to bug reports is what makes this the best form-styling solution for a side project I'm working on at the moment; this should be pretty well-vetted. Josh, thanks for your efforts!
I've felt that Excel is the best software for managing finances for a while, but feared the scorn of more 'savvy' geeks. It's nice to see that I'm not alone.

It's easy, yet completely flexible, and it doesn't hide anything from you. I really think it is the best desktop app Microsoft ever created.
Wil Wheaton: in which the impact of twitter on my life is examined
yeah, jeez, i'd sell for 1/2 that!
I am for a small, new site (all aspects of the site's data needs). Haven't had any troubles since I started using it last summer.
We are using it in production, currently replicating across multiple datacenters. We're mainly using it as a CRUD datastore with advanced stored procedures and atomic update capabilities. At peak moments our MongoDB servers are handling around 10,000 operations / second.
The Coming Government Data Flood
The variable cost of selling broadband is extremely low.
Sorry, I missed the front page! Yes I mean more technical details, people purchasing complex technology like lots of information. PDF will work better. (you can have both HTML + PDF)

I thought you targeting small businesses use real examples. What would be the benefit for example to a small Architectural firm working in three Cities. Why is it better than just storing documents up in the Cloud and using ftp etc... Use a story it is the number one rule of copyrighting. Better use a professional copyrighter.
Sometimes I try to make a sandwich, and drop the meat on the floor. Then I'm sad.
There are a lot of good tutorials on the net. Just search for them.
Aquinas Router, anyone?...
I actually had this exact problem. I started out in print design - newspapers to be exact - 5 years ago. About 3 years ago I realized a lot of the ideas I had and wanted to pursue needed a web developer, and a web designer. But I was surrounded by copy editors and press guys (not that there's anything wrong with that...)

So I learned Flash. Programmed some terrible, which-button-did-I-attach-that-code-to games, then took a programming class at the community college. Learned about loops, and iteration and general object-oriented theory. I made better flash programs and built a portfolio that got me a job building websites. After which I learned how to actually build a web site using CSS and XHTML instead of flash.

Now, I'm surrounded by web developers, DBAs and generally tech-savvy folks, and I'm building one of my ideas with a very talented java-programming co-worker.

It's taken longer than I wanted, but I'm still learning, and it's insanely rewarding, even if our product ends up being a complete bust. I'll never stop learning and trying new things, even if I'm not so good at them. It opens doors and creates opportunity.
Facebook Chat supports Jabber now
Some good tips but pretty basic - if you don't know anything about AdWords and you're running ads then take a look.

On that note, the #1 dumbest thing I've seen wasting money on AdWords is running an ad for a local business across the whole world. Oops :)
I don't think it's an orthogonal issue. I think there's genuine snobbism in academia, and the PhD system is one great part of it. The paywall is symptomatic of the fact that academics value guild credentials (PhD's, tenure, publications in prestigious journals) over equitable, open discussions.

Furthermore, people are ludicrously impressed by 'PhD's' from 'top schools' with 'impressive publication records.' Even a former academic with no institutional affiliation falls off the radar screen, and so those who want to be taken seriously in science are goaded into a costly, inefficient, and decades long rat race, just so that people will take them seriously.
Preach it, brother! :) That's exactly what's been driving me off from gaming -- vast quantities of filler that just pad out the total play time.

I'd have to add something else: the propensity for filler, especially "filler quests" in RPGs, degrades the quality of the main game. I really enjoyed _Knights of the Old Republic_ and _Jade Empire_, but their storytelling -- especially _Jade Empire_'s -- was a large step back from _Final Fantasy 4_ or _Final Fantasy 6_; neither of the Square RPGs had the hero wandering off to close a dam and kill an inn full of cannibals as opposed to progressing the story and/or interacting interestingly with the other major characters.

I believe the genre that you're looking for, and that I am, is called "hardcasual" -- short, high-quality, high-content games, not casual games at all but completely free of filler, aimed at people with lives and jobs but still a keen interest in games. (For total time to play, expect 3 hours at the low end, 10 hours at the high end -- and note, you can fit a _large_ story into ten filler-less hours.)

Unfortunately, hardcasual games appear to be rare; in particular, the mainstream games industry doesn't touch them...
Good suggestions! I think "how social networking software interacts with a database" might be a little over their heads -- most of them don't have computers at home and are too young to be using social networking software anyway.
We'll operate an "open access" network, giving users the choice of multiple service providers.

I'm confused. Won't Google be the sole service provider of its own network?
Social Media Revolution
Dude, you're talking about expending extra effort and thought to be able to do something cleanly which the new tool lets you do effortlessly and mindlessly all to avoid something that the new tool is EXCELLENT at.
Niceness is not the same thing as determination. Also, trying to flatter someone described as a good judge of character doesn't seem like a good idea to me. /serious
It's the people like this that are retarding the progress of software. I understand the need for protections but for something so basic and widely used I don't see how suing someone who uses a similar system helps anyone but the lawyers.
But connections above 10 mbit/sec exist in many places outside and inside the u.s.
This makes me wonder, has there ever been a successful YC company like WakeMate, ie that was more than just a web application? Maybe it's just a problem of WM having teamed up with an ill-suited process?
Honestly, if Swift had published "A Modest Proposal" on a blog, he'd have been hammered in the comments for ignoring that French children are obviously tastier.
Is Inkling using market scoring rules for liquidity? I've been wondering about that for awhile, and the Hanson reference makes me wonder more.

(The LMSR is the only way I've managed to get a market work; I'm still totally stuck in automated market makers).
You think people can't take pride in taking a mess and making it look good? Or you think that only writing software is a noble enough work to take pride in, whereas those other occupations are all inferior?

It's true the many people in manual jobs do them out of need, not love. I can also find you a lot of software engineers who hate their jobs. And I can find a maid who loves what she does - it's easy to see when one goes above and beyond what was requested to make things neat and accurate.
Seamlessness vs. Powerlessness
yeah, i am starting with python. the whole stack is my 5 year plan. i am ambitious like that.

but on a different note, as far I can tell (and granted I am brand new to this) does "coding" as a general term necessarily imply a scripting language? can you not "code" a database or is there a different verb for that ("implement")?
btw, if you just run 'git fetch', it will just grab any new commits - it won't modify your working directory or try to merge automatically. i believe 'hg pull' is the same - it just gets the new heads, it doesn't try to merge. you shouldn't need to stash/shelve just to get the new work.
1) Light/easy to hold.

2) Long battery.

3) Great touch UI/apps that use it.
Actually,

4) cheap enough
"Last weekend saw the launch of Google's privacy-busting Street View in Norway"

Because what you see driving down a public street is private.
HUGE Collection of Free Valentine Wallpapers.
Video Game Industry isn't Recession Proof
Ask HN: A/B Testing?
Does anyone have any suggestions for where to start with learning A/B testing? I'm hoping to start doing some tests on the landing page we just designed but would like to find the best literature on this subject.
Are you serious? The only reason any car companies do recalls (ever) is if the cost-benefit analysis favors it.

cost of recall < possible bad publicity + lawsuit damages
Third graders are 7-8 year olds. They are probably reading Beverly Cleary's Ralph and the Motorcycle. Their ability to comprehend negative numbers does not yet exist (for the vast majority of them).

At this age, children learn best with a story. They can follow a clear linear path from beginning (statement of characters), through their problem, and unto conclusion. If you want to have an impact beyond having everything go over their heads, make a show and tell (everybody loves pictures and something to look at), and if you want to wow them, show them something they haven't seen before. That part won't be hard. Let them touch it, if you bring something in.

Explaining anything more abstract than locations will probably fly over their heads. Sure, some are precocious and will grasp a hash table, but any collection of children, especially urban kids, is bound to be difficult to get them to understand anything more complicated than a toaster.

My suggestion is to start with something physical, like a breadboard if you have one, and show how changing wires can influence the lighting of LEDs.

Doing this will be far easier to capture their attention than something like decomposing the web stack in a console (which is fascinating if you have the background to appreciate it).
Why not JavaScript? It requires no command line knowledge and runs in any modern browser. They can create games, easily install libraries or frameworks by including another JS file, etc.
I have a little trouble understanding this. First off I've never learned a foreign language. Second, I learned programming early.

For me, programming was never a really difficult problem. I suppose this is because I learned to use DOS and BASIC at an early age. I some basic (pun not intended) programming before I learned algebra. I learned html and javascript when I was 12 and didn't really get the point. Nobody had told me that html was generated.

I didn't use any of my programming skills until I went to college and starting playing around with linux. It wasn't difficult for me to pick back up.

I suppose fluency with programming could be similar to fluency with language. If you start early, it's a lot easier.
Actually, Norway and Sweden has a lower population density than the US has; we've got even more land mass per person.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependenc...

I think it has more to do with that we don't leave infrastructure development squarely in the hands of the market.
U.S. Businesses Would Save $750 billion a year by going virtual
False dichotomy I think, but depressingly common thinking that really strikes at the core of the problem: in most corporations, advancement means management.

In a company where advancing means going into management, you do end up with what you are describing: no room for advancement, or too much management.

Thankfully there are companies out there where sticking to the technical track is a viable way to advance.
All cars have lots of "known bugs", many of which could cause loss of life but are not subject to recall.

Why? Because there is a cost benefit equation that car companies use. If the cost of doing a recall is less than the possible bad publicity + lawsuit damages.

Toyota is no different, if anything, that they decided not to mention it suggests it's a low risk (if the cars killed even a few dozen people the cost the recall would have been obvious from the beginning).
It means writing code, period.

On your original note, "learn the LAMP stack" is, IMO, not especially ambitious for 5 years. Get a good CS degree (3-4 years) and actually try to learn the material instead of just passing, and learning the specific technologies is just a matter of skimming the manual as appropriate. Yes, it is entirely possible to get such a degree and have no practical clue, but that's a symptom of never doing anything outside of class.
I think you're right, but there's a third situation that works even better:

A great designer and a great programmer will work better than a great designer who has picked up some programming, but both will be put to shame by the team of a great designer who understands the challenges the programmer has, with a programmer who understands the challenges of the designer.

In other words: It's important to learn new disciplines, even if you never get near a professional level with them, because you'll work better with the people specializing in that area.