skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Recruiting is a hard problem in itself. It seems like these methods are no longer a good solution to the problem. These interviewing methods at MS and other similar companies are more like a tradition, a process among so many other bureaucratic steps to get things done or drag things to completion.

They haven't evolved, and they are easily hackable. Spend some time researching on the internet and you will run into all questions you will be asked. The Same set of questions, reverse string at Microsoft, design parking lot at amazon, binary search tree problem at Google etc no originality from the interviewers, not all of course.

Some guy wrote a set of reference questions to ask in phone interviews 10 years back when he was at Amazon and even today people ask those exact 5 questions for phone interviews. It is so sick, the last time a guy asked me these, I felt sorry for myself, I called him a tool and I am now in process of bootstrapping.
You're right, we probably weren't going to disentangle the insurers. That is not an argument for handing them the keys to the nation for the sake of "doing something". Doing nothing would have been better. At a guess, doing nothing would have resulted in attempts to reform at the state level, like Massachusetts. I'd have preferred that outcome by a long way.

What's on the table will, on paper at least, ensure that startup entrepreneurs like me can actually buy insurance on the private market. We didn't have that ability before, at all. That's a win, from what I can see.

I do not have employer provided insurance. I buy private insurance on the market today. It costs me about $6000 a year to insure my family of four. I expect the cost of insurance, post-reform, to converge on the national average, which is around $13000. That's a loss of $7000 a year for us. Maybe somewhat less because of subsidies (we won't get much there). Maybe more, if the cost of insurance rises post-reform as it did in Massachusetts under their similar reform.

It is not out of the question that we will actually give up health insurance altogether and pay the penalty instead. This would not be a win for us.

If you aren't able to get individual coverage for around $6000/year now (national average), and would like to, then this bill will indeed be a win for you. Of course, if you don't like the coverage you get at that price, pay it anyway or get fined.

This is getting too long, but does it seem thinkable to you that this reform might accelerate the increase in health care costs? I think it quite likely myself. If it does, too bad for everyone. We're locked in now.
For the original Chatroulette piano improv video by Metron, see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32vpgNiAH60
A lot of what we now call software engineering should really be sociological experimental design.
Ask HN: Breaking the Blank Canavas
How do you start you designs?

Do you have a template?
Do you start from another design and modify it?
Do you start from nothing?
or other
That is astounding that that many service techs wouldn't know how to drive a "standard" transmission. It's like when you go into Best Buy and the guy whose whole job is one tiny little corner of the store and yet he doesn't seem to have any clue about even the basics of what he sells. If you want to move up in the world, learn how to do your current job well.
My thoughts on this from a few days ago: http://martin.drashkov.com/2010/03/nexus-one-as-halo-product...
Once as a kid I attempted to make an "electro-magnet."

It made perfect sense to take my huge speaker magnet, trim an AC cord, then tape each exposed wire to a side of the speaker magnet. Before plugging my awesome whatever-the-hell-I-was-trying-to-make in, for added coolness I placed a large ball bearing on the side of the magnet to see if it would spin around.

I plugged it in and BOOM.

I learned a lot that day. None of my later mishaps involved loud noises or explosions. A lot of melting, though.
These criteria shouldn't be limited to investors. I would have titled this "How I Judge Everybody"!
Ask HN: Domain Name Dilemma
I am confused b/w choosing a country specific TLD (ccTLD) or the Dot Com TLD (gTLD) for my domain.My website/blog will only cater to a specific country.What would be better from SEO and "end user perception" perspective. Also, ccTLD for the Domain Name I like is available and gTLD is not.
Ask HN: How to sell?
I am an engineer. I have a startup and a co-founder. We have a well-developed product line and an ever-increasing amount of customers.

The nature of the business makes it heavily reliant on offline sales and offline salespeople. In the beginning of our business, I handled product development and my partner handled sales. We have now gotten to the point where my employees can basically handle future product development and maintenance and our biggest bottleneck is our sales process. I've been hesitant to move away from being an engineer, because I love engineering - in fact, I've been procrastinating for quite some time now - but my partner has quite rightly pointed out to me that the area where I can add most value to our business is in the sales process. We both believe my procrastination has helped a competitor catch up to us a bit. I am determined to make the transition to a salesman, because that's what we need right now.

The problem is I really don't want to sell things. I have no background in sales. I don't like being around people - I've been an introvert my whole life and talking to strangers (or even friends) physically exhausts me. But, due to some peculiarities of my business, from a sales perspective I am a unique asset - something my competitors cannot easily copy. In many ways, I should theoretically be the lead salesperson, not my partner.

Do you guys have any recommendations - perhaps books and techniques - on how I can gain confidence and become a good salesman?
Hackers, architects, and superheroes: 3 ways to be an excellent programmer
You know, you can set a maximum heap size for JVM processes. It defaults to 1/4th of the physical memory or 1GB, whichever is the smaller.
I think the combined CA + US tax burden might reduce marginal angel investments. It probably won't affect VC investments, but doubling my tax burden on a win means I'd need to double the odds of a win, or the size of the wins, and that might not be feasible as an angel, who could otherwise spend the money on a new boat.

I am unconvinced the health care result of this will be good enough for someone with a family to be comfortable going on relatively inexpensive insurance.

As a healthy, single, 20-40 year old guy with no risk of children, I'm fine with an $80/mo catastrophic plan, and I suspect a lot of people starting startups are the same, or have health care from a spouse's job. A single parent is not in a great position to do a startup for a lot of reasons, and someone with a lot of chronic health issues requiring expensive medical care probably isn't either.
As an aside, what does everyone think of my new StackExchange site? I'm rather surprised that there wasn't one already for this topic, so I set one up. I have no clue wtf I'm doing when it comes to building a community, so any tips are appreciated.
It would have cost $14,000 to insure my family of four (adults in our 30s, kids in single-digits, no pre-existing conditions). I say "would have" because dollar figures didn't come into it: we were flatly denied coverage, first for our daughter, who had been hospitalized several years earlier for a freak seizure, and then for my wife.

(Note: we tried to obtain coverage ourselves, using the Internet and a telephone. When that failed, we worked with an insurance broker friend of the family. Neither worked.)

There was no dollar amount that would have bought us private insurance. We got around it first by getting Erin a job that offered group coverage, and then by setting up group health insurance at Matasano. I'm happy to say we now subsidize coverage for all our employees.

The numbers are a red herring. COBRA vs. private health insurance costs are not the issue that should be scaring entrepreneurs. The possibility of getting stranded with no possible coverage option is what should be scaring them.
The alternative is some dead or imprisoned google employees, so yeah, I'd say it's better for them to be nice about it.
I think I prefer the Youtube dumbed down (ie no cocks!) edit of Chatroulette.
I've seen java apps commonly take up a whole rack of servers, not just one

Ok, and I've seen Java apps not do that. Argument by anecdote is bankrupt.
By your own definition, software clearly isn't engineering. Most programming languages aren't representations of a computer at all - in fact, one can argue that programming languages have become more powerful the more they've distanced themselves from the underlying working of the computer.

But it's the "in order to achieve a desired result" that your argument really falls down. Engineering works because the end result can be clearly specified - that's almost never the case for software. The goal of most software is to make the users happy. And there's no way you can engineer happiness. Instead, you're faced with a design problem - and design is by it's very nature is iterative.

As software development has gotten more iterative, it's also actually gotten more effective. In fact, it seems like the more we embrace that software ISN'T engineering, the better off we are.
It doesn't take ongoing chronic health issues to become uninsurable. For instance, having an unexplained seizure when you're 4 appears to do the trick, as does having a functioning female reproductive system.

I think there's a lot of room for reasonable people to disagree about whether this bill will help or hurt startups. But I don't think there's room to disagree about whether the status quo retards entrepreneurship. It does. Health insurance could have screwed me out of my company. Health insurance kept at least 3 candidates I can name off the top of my head from accepting a role with us in the early days of the company. There's no countervailing argument about how the status quo encouraged someone to start a company.
This point of view is also maintained by D Crockford[1] who is supposed to know JavaScript's background.

[1] IIRC eg in this presentation: http://www.infoq.com/presentations/The-State-and-Future-of-J...
I don't dismiss these concerns: I've lived them. I spent months contracting for a little startup helping them out for a little pay so that I could try to plant the seeds for my own startup so that it would look legitimate enough to the immigration people that I could get a visa for it. It's risky and scary and tenuous, and it's hard work, and I didn't have a home at the time, either: I couch surfed with a variety of very generous friends.

My point is that there are certain risks one can take on the way to success. I'm not arguing that these risks shouldn't be mitigated, I'm saying that you, personally, shouldn't consider them as different in kind of the other risks that you face as an entrepreneur. Such limitations are too easily transformed into excuses.
Ah, the joys of childhood. I once bought a string of battery-powered Christmas lights, cut off the battery connector, and attached it to 120 volts of AC wall outlet. Boom, indeed.
I phrased that incorrectly - the techniques are all there in CS, but if anything they are too formal. It's the practical benefits of applying formal methods that are missing from general development (usually for good reasons).
That's a good post for a technical founder. If you cant do all of the stuff in the post, you need a partner who can. And just like a non-technical founder picking a technical founder, picking a non-technical founder is difficult. A salesman once told me that even a lousy salesman can sell himself to an engineer.
Absolutely; I don't assert that being kicked out is a good thing, but it's likely a requirement for the bill to pass, and the relevant effected parties would, like me, prefer to be able to choose. This is just one more slightly less risky channel through which entrepreneurs, if they accept the risks, can travel.

You would deny them this because you wouldn't be willing to take those risks yourself? It's that which seems unamerican.
Honestly, I think this is all too complicated. In Javascript, when you look at a line like this:

a=1

you have to guess in which scope it changes or creates the variable a. I prefer the way PHP is dealing with scope. You simply know that "a=1" is only affecting the current scope.
These guys can't. They're over 40 and we all know that unless you're 20-something you cannot do anything startup-related.
Exploiting hard filtered SQL Injections
I was just there a few weeks ago, and the locals were expecting an eruption in the not too distant future (months or years); they were talking about evacuation plans, gathering points and such.
Strange, for me that would be a sign of alarm when immigrants take ALL the top positions in competitions. Kind of a ponzi scheme, where here the scientists of the next generation are all imported. As long as people are will to come, the system appears to work - but it really does not. Those who look at the surface will be blinded by the achievements, without seeing that the achievements are based on imported brains and there is a structural problem.

It's not that the US is a small country - it should be possible that some of the not so recently arrived families have competitive children, too. Let the families live two generations in the US and they are no longer competitive or no longer motivated enough? How attractive is it really to be in the US, when the 'dream team' is all imported from 'hungry' countries... what is with the rest of the people? The need education, too. Jobs. Well paid jobs.
Again: you use this word "sugar daddies" as if the role was foisted onto the insurers. It wasn't.

The insurers colluded with the providers to set artificial, market-oblivious standard prices for procedures on a region by region, hospital by hospital basis. From what I understand, prices were often set by allocation schemes negotiated between the payers and the providers, with no apparent regard to the actual cost, supply, or demand for the procedures. At the same time, even as they managed to drastically distort the pricing of health care, insurers apparently negotiated special payment processes directly with providers, thus creating not one but two artificial tiers of pricing.

It's meaningful to talk of "sugar daddies" and "insurance" only when there's a real market for health insurance. But no such market exists. For mainstream medical procedures, for the standard of care that Americans expect (a visit to a doctor, completion of the lab work the doctor requests, some form of radiology, and then a procedure or perscription to resolve whatever comes out of that diagnostic work), unless you are either willing to play chicken with the providers and say "no" when they try to collect debts, or willing to pay incredibly, drastically inflated prices for basic procedures, there is no way to get care without involving your insurer.
Easy. Do both. Domain names are cheap and you can have multiple pointing to the same site. Definitely you want your ccTLD because it fits your market, but if you can also find a good .com, take that too, particularly if you are doing international sales.
Interesting. But somehow a "decentralized nervous system" seems more appropriate. ;)
The status quo of health care definitely retards entrepreneurship. Increased taxes also retard entrepreneurship (in a historically well documented way, although maybe the effect between 15-23.8% isn't a well tested range).

I am not sure which has a larger effect here.

I definitely would like to see some health insurance changes, just not the ones in this bill, and not by taxing capital to pay for services to individuals. Actually reducing costs would be my #1 approach -- politically unpopular, but I'd be fine with subsidized or free basic care for everyone, but no free advanced care for those without private insurance. Private insurance purchased by individuals, with or without a tax deduction, and totally decoupled from employers.
Will Blippy be huge?

With a name like Blippy, the language snob in me insists I answer, "Good lord, I hope not."

The privacy advocate in me has no comment.
I agree that there's too much expectation that people will like your work enough that they'll support you full-time in it. People need to expect to support themselves, not to live off of album royalties.
Kind of a ponzi scheme, where here the scientists of the next generation are all imported.

It's so much worse, except for a very few native Americans ALL others were imported, the scheme goes back hundreds of years!
This plus iTunes U equals win.
What's "advanced" care?
Related: there's really something to that bank locally campaign. Everyone should at least consider it, I think. The big banks are NOT looking out for you. In fact, they're trying to hit you with as many fees as they can.
Although it's fake, the Wyoming incident is pretty interesting:

(Possibly NSFW and a little creepy) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBHkW0aKHRc

It's like an internet campfire ghost story about a hijacked broadcast.
"We should treat software more like engineering projects and design and build it to last."

No, we shouldn't. If you build a bridge to last 200 years, it will remain unchanged for 200 years.

What piece of software can you possibly imagine still be useful if it remains unchanged for 200 years? 50? 10? Hell, can you name a piece of software that was last updated 5 years ago that you still find useful?

Most software becomes obsolete by the changing digital landscape within a year or two if it isn't updated to keep up with the times. That's a major difference compared to physical objects - the physical landscape doesn't change nearly as frequently. That said, we still don't build most physical objects to last 200 years except for the very largest of a projects - and we frequently demo small buidings to put up high rises as the city landscape changes.
Thanks but don't you think that having 2 domain names point to same site would lead to confusing brand? What name will I put on the site?
Summary (from the bottom of the page):

Sleep is important for learning! Sleep deprivation results in intellectual deprivation!

Sleep as much as you feel you need

Avoid alarm clocks

Forget about trying to fall asleep at pre-planned time! Let your body decide!

Forget about trying to fall asleep quickly! If your body decides it is the right time, it will come naturally!

Do not try to make yourself sleepy! It is enough you stay awake and keep on working/learning long enough!

It is much better to eliminate the source of stress rather than to try to forget stressful situations right before the bedtime!

Learn the details of your sleep timing (how many hours you sleep, how many hours before you need to take a nap or go to sleep again, etc.). Use this knowledge to optimize your schedule.

Adjust the timing of intellectual work to your circadian cycle (see Fig. 5)

Stick with good people! The bad lot will often ruin your slumber

Be careful with caffeine. Drink coffee only upon awakening (or after a nap if you take one)

Do not go beyond a single drink of alcohol per day. Drink it at siesta time

Quit smoking!

Use siesta time for a nap if you find it helpful

If you cannot fall asleep in 30 minutes, get up! You are not yet ready for sleep!

If you experience racing thoughts at the time when your body calls for sleep, the best method is: get up and use ... SuperMemo for 30 minutes! Few other activities can be equally taxing to your tired brain (do not expect this to work before your circadian timing though)

If you sleep it out and still not feel refreshed, be sure you do not sleep against your circadian rhythm. Try free running sleep. Remember that you may need 1-2 weeks to synchronize all bodily functions before this starts working!

If you cannot get refreshing sleep even in free-running conditions after at least a month of trying, consult a sleep specialist (see: Sleep Disorders). Remember, however, that a bad night is a factor of life. Few can avoid it. Do not get alarmed even if it happens weekly

I'd be interested if a qualified person could corroborate these recommendations.
U.S. Rig Count Surpasses Prior Bubble Peak (Chart)
I once tried to turn myself into a salesman, but I coulnt. I think that an engineer has to love selling to sucessfully make the transition. One thing that worked for me was to use an intelligent, personable woman to do the initial setup. Then I would come in for the in-depth pitch. It was a lot more comfortable for me. It is important, however, for you to learn the sales process from a good book or, better, a good coach. Engineers tend to over pitch and over promise. There is a non-obvious point in the process to shut up and take the order.
There is only one reason I would log into chat roulette - and that would be to 'chat' with Ben Folds.
Sure that's funny. But what's with the generations that are in the US long enough? There was a huge brain import during and before the second world war. Lots of jewish scientist found a new home in the US. They had a reason to leave their home. Chinese people may want to leave their country, because it is based on a communist one party dictatorship...

But the US now has 300 Million people living there and it still has to import 'brains'? There may be less 'brain' import from Europe - since Europe now has lots of competitive science (LHC, ...). Now the current generation are immigrants from China. But what next?
I think it's about context, really. At a restaurant or hairdresser, you already expect to pay and you already have money out. It's usually not too difficult to slap on an extra few bucks for the waiter. (The tipping model makes much more sense at a restaurant, by the way, where there a lot of people involved in your food prep, not to mention the food cost, vs. a barber where the one person cuts your hair and takes you to check out, and they take turns as broom jockey.)

If I want to "tip" Wikipedia, for instance, I have to go find my credit card, type in lots of numbers, possibly setup an account, worry about the individual handling of my card information by Wikimedia, etc. That's way too much effort for drive-by donations a la those at the restaurant.

I assume that's what tipjoy and some of these other startups set out to fix. I don't think simplification of and success by tipping is particularly a lost cause, I just think that it wasn't easy or prominent enough. Was there a browser extension? If I only had to enter my info once, and there was a button on my browser where I could send any registered site a tip while I was on the page without any special effort, I think I would be prone to tip more often.

By the same token, I think that you're much, much more likely to make some money if you follow the more conventional "x costs x, please pay me" model, even if you surreptitiously proliferate content outside of the paywall to increase exposure.
James Randi comes out of the closet at 81