skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Great point. To coincide with others, I have a feeling our car-centric lifestyles are a huge reason for this kind of eating (Apart from all the marketing shoved in our faces.)

If you look at the majority of cities in North America they have under 500,000 people, are very widely spaced out, and generally have poor public transit. I'm moving to a city with pretty good public transit and I look forward to leaving my car at home on a more common basis. In my current city, it takes me 2 hours to get to work on public transit for a 27km trip.

Educating people on cooking their own food is a problem that I think many people are trying to solve but how do you beat the efforts of multi-billion dollar corporations marketing all these efficient, easy, and un-realistically "healthy" products?
It's always nice to see technocracy is alive and well.
I think one of the first points made in this article was that the author was not criticizing the iPad's lack of current features, but rather the philosophy behind it and the implications that arise from its widespread adoption.
Unless that 'build tool' is Maven, which wants to be build tool, dependency resolver, project manager, SCM, and very likely the Pope. Maven really doesn't like being cut off from its network repositories.
Ingenious. Where can I get them for my next trip?
Regardless of what tablets are being aimed at, or who their target market is, it's hard to deny that they have an affect on the computing industry.
1. storing state in the module, or the singleton pattern in general, is not going anywhere for a long time.

Agreed. I think his general point was to avoid them as much as possible, though - which is generally good advice.

2. I'm not a python programmer by day, but I found the @route('/') decorator kind of cute.

That was actually not one of the nasty parts but inherited from the underlying Werkzeug framework. This is how it's really done in many python frameworks.

3. Similarly, I imagine that ruby-minded folk would not find the idea of automagic function detection and liberal introspection to be so horrifying.

Yea well, you are right, it gets religious at that point.
Goes to show that even proper bad code is hard to write, I guess. ;-)

Introspection is generally heavily used in python, too, he's just carrying it a bit too far by looking at stack frames and such. This may indeed be a philosophical difference to ruby where the shortest code generally beats everything. In python we usually draw the line at the point where it would become hard to follow or debug a certain kind of magic.
Perhaps he wanted to build from source, for whatever reason?

Certainly a 'build tool' should make this, well, easy.
Edit: I'm asking a serious question here - the article itself mentions that the poorest people aren't able to get access to birth certificates or get their home connected to municipal water unless they pay bribes they can't afford. This seems pretty brazenly criminal to me. And the death penalty is legal. So...

Maybe a naive question - how hard would be to just have the government announce they're going to hang anyone who asks for a bribe, then make a big show about hanging 100 corrupt bureaucrats? Wouldn't that drastically cut corruption down?
Great point.

Thanks.

but how do you beat the efforts of multi-billion dollar corporations marketing all these efficient, easy, and un-realistically "healthy" products?

You give them something genuinely superior and let them choose on their own to vote with their feet? (so to speak, as someone who tries to promote a pedestrian lifestyle :-D )
Maybe you don't need it, but people want it. Reading on an iPad is a superior experience compared to a laptop. The iBooks app is outstanding. In a way it's like watching Avatar at an Imax theater. Sure, it's not required but it's a better experience.
Einstein's Dreams. Written by a physicist. A great fiction on the nature of how time could be. My favorite example from the book is about how one scenario says that time slows as we go up the mountains and most people stay there to preserve their youth and when they go down to the foothills, they go there for work!
What's wrong with werkzeug (the one this joke was based on), bottle, cherrypy, or one of the other micro'ish frameworks that have existed for a long time?

I personally don't see the point in going more micro than those, because for simple stuff they are syntactically mostly identical to this joke-framework, and once your stuff grows out of the "trivial"-stage you'll be glad anyways that Cookies, Auth and all that are right there, without requiring you to reinvent them.
I have used it for prototype projects, but nothing that I have been completely serious about yet. I know that http://www.shoesofprey.com uses it and I believe it is working well for them and scales when it needs to.
There seems to be a parabolic decrease in mental fitness past a relative threshold of studying. Assuming topics are studied from most to least relevant, the more time spent after the threshold will come at too great a cost to overall memory recall during a test. This is why I cram all the most important topics first, sleep, then cram the subjects least likely to appear on the test an hour before in the morning.
What would be his legal status while he is doing that ? Or does he have to create his company in his home country and move it to US to get a green card.
You can pretty easily set up your build to package up your app and all it's dependencies as a tar.gz/zip/whatever during the package phase. This is what you can export to your sandbox environment. Or does what you would want to test in the sandbox include the building and dependency resolution phases?
Learn the basics and go and work for a hedge fund or a bank. There's a huge amount of knowledge which just isn't written about and the easiest way to learn about it is to work with people who know about it. Plus you'll get much better datasets to work with then you'll be able to get on your own.

Check out the forums on wilmott.com for suggestions on books and the like as that's where a lot of quants hang-out.
I'd have bet on the lack of a generalized "good eating culture", which automatically makes ready made food more acceptable.
Acid3 update for :link/:visited privacy changes
Thanks for the link! I'll be interested to take a look.
Wow, doesn't that seem to sum up the institution of the Big Pharma industry?

I was just on a plane to New Orleans on Monday and sat next to a former high-level employee at a pharma company who even said "we were in the business of managing sickness, not curing it."
I think punitive measures generally do not work. What is great about this is that it breaks someones sub-conscience, snaps them out of their behavior (hopefully), at the very moment of corruption.
Yeah it should. And the project should make sure it's easy to build from source as well. I just tried to download Antlr source from the site and build it and I get errors about how they've configured a plugin which needs to connect to their SCM but they haven't configured their part.

I can see that Maven has a sharp learning curve, and that it can be frustrating when you want to get just one task done - I think it shines when you are working in an environment with many projects with inter-dependencies between them - but some blame should be pointed here at the Antlr project authors, who haven't made sure that you could cleanly build the source on their site.
There are plenty of practical reasons to think that the iPad (or a device like it) will be a large success. I completely agree that there is a target market that wants a slick looking device that just works, and Apple is positioning itself to go after that market. Most of those people don't care in the slightest if they have to go to Apple to get a battery replaced, they'd probably want to buy a new device at that point anyways.

I think the concern here is the precedent that Apple's success in this market would mean. Apple is notoriously hostile towards their development community, and is providing increasingly locked down platforms which make them the gate keepers for certain types of innovation (want integrated voice recognition on the iPad - wait for Apple to do it). If Apple succeeds here, others will feel they can create the same sort of locked platforms. You can already see this happening.

There's also a concern] for the future developers. If their homework requires a word processor and a web browser, then their parents might never see the need to buy them a general purpose computer.
"... and you’ll have to buy and download the app every single week."
Nerd, Dork, Geek, Dweeb: What’s the Difference?
The Fortune 400 are generally people who found an early niche and exploited it in a way that created barriers to entry. That could be in software, but it could be in dominating natural resources in a country, government-sanctioned monopolies, or excellence in squeezing efficiencies out of economies of scale.

It's more proscriptive, I feel, to try to find people around you who you think are successful, and ask them, not the outliers in a magazine.
Sigh, another iPad story?
maybe something you can do with wikileaks, and actually get the real news out instead of the bullshit we see on the tele every day.
Whether it's software, or natural resources... the path to riches begins with an idea. It begins with creating something that people want. And I don't think that's something that an MBA program teaches you.
Maven, of any version, is fiendishly idiotic. The fact that the now almost extinct jellyscript is considered a good thing by the author gives me pause.

Really, I can't fathom why anyone persists in using any ant-based system when there are many better choices (like suicide).

If you'd like a short chuckle, look up the origins of ant.
Can't the major complaints be addressed by just moving all this to the bottom of the file?

# foo.py: objects that manage the interaction between foos and bars
# (see eof for license and detailed description)
When I was 14 years old I worked in a grocery store with a deli and butcher shop. How would you deal with that?
The Forbes statistics are misleading, firstly they only represent a tiny percentage of businesses and secondly most people in that list made their money before MBAs were widespread. The Forbes 400 in 40 years time is likely to be considerably different.

Thirdly Gates, Jobs, Ellison, Dell also all dropped out of school, it doesn't mean dropping out of school makes you more likely to succeed at business. It's a classic case of selection bias. You need to look at the whole population otherwise there might be a million technology founder businesses that fail for everyone that might succeed.

What you need to do in order to have a fair test is take the graduating classes at an MBA course versus say a CS course, look at the number of graduates who start businesses and then analyse how many of them succeed from each each group.
I suggest you become part of the solution and start hiring people.
Principle.

Principals are people. Principles are ideas.
Ask HN: Design tips?
Hi HN,

This is my first real attempt at a professional website. I'm just looking for some feedback on the design.

It's not complete yet, (needs a good logo), but the content is all there.

Furthermore, does anyone have some good design references or articles (or books)?

Thanks!
It would reduce corruption - temporarily, at least, even though the killings would probably end up being very political (a bad thing! Consider how many would take it as a chance to get rid of their enemies). It would also scare bunches of people, and corruption would merely go underground as long as the hangings were enforced, before reappearing when enforcement slips. Not to mention the difficulties with getting the government - assumed to be filled with corruption - to do it. It is basically infinitely easier to educate the populace, make them refuse to give bribes when asked, and give them a way of responding to bribes which both refuses to do so, lets them feel part of an anti-bribe community, and reminds the officials that bribes are illegal.

Also, I doubt that anyone would argue that murdering anyone who asks for a bribe is better than eliminating the environment which makes people feel like they can ask for bribes.
I started out with zero technical skills and have learned a little (x)html and css along the way, enough to run my own sites. I now have larger goals. I got completely free technical support initially by spending my time in places (on the web) where people wanted what I had to offer (in my case: information, wisdom about specific topics).

Good luck.
5% of the sailboat market is pretty significant - as is 5% of the computer market. In fact, iirc, Apple has been making solid profits from round about 5% of the laptop market.

Anyway, I was merely illustrating that "the future of" does not mean "the sole replacement of".
Discussed previously on HN:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1077548

Again, I'm finding that SearchYC recently is better at finding articles on the same subject (this earlier one from a different source) than a site-restricted Google search is.
Logo Designs #2
Here a fresh new set of cool logo designs. I hope these logos will get you inspired. Don’t be shy, let us know what you think by commenting below.
I personally think there are more CS graduates that start businesses than MBAs. From what I have seen, most MBAs become consultants or executives of existing companies. I could be completely wrong here though as I am speaking based on people I have met and not actual statistics.

I think the point that's trying to be made here is that you don't need an MBA to make it in business, which I think is a very valid point. You just need the entrepreneurial spirit and drive, along with the technical expertise (if you're in software), not the MBA.
For the geeks and alike, it's a matter of choice.

And, for those who are not technical, yes they surely need it if they want to go up the ladder. This means aiming for a managerial level position -- better pay.
I don't agree with most of this. Yes it is pointless to include the filename within the file itself, but it's still a good idea to retain the copyright statement and author names/email addresses. In an ideal world everyone would use version control all of the time and nobody would ever swap individual source files between projects having incompatible licenses, but in the real world of software development things don't always happen that way. Having the license within each file makes it unambiguous exactly what rights are being asserted, and if someone wants to change the terms they have to make actual modifications to the code (they can't just claim to have changed their opinion, or whatever).

If you're running a large project with thousands of files license changes can be automated with some trivial amount of coding, so this isn't a major issue. In large projects the license terms don't change very often anyway.
I still don't understand the hyperfocus on cost savings without looking to increasing income.

For a startup, saving costs allows you more time to try to develop product-market fit and thus increase income. In the long run I'd far prefer a $10m revenue, $1m costs business to a $100k revenue, $10k costs business, assuming I have the same percentage ownership.

Same thing with life -- if I can make much more money by living in a place like SF or NYC, it's more tempting than living in the midwest and making much less. iPods still cost the same in NYC and rural Iowa.
The question I ask is "What problem are you trying to solve?", which more unambiguously states what I mean.

In a tutorial, like the book referenced in the article, the reader is being demonstrated things that they might need someday.
Funny, I see the solution as being avoiding the attachment to begin with. His argument applies whether or not you have cancer. Relying on another person for happiness is a foolish move. It is a much better idea to learn to enjoy solitude.

Very Zen.

On the other hand:

Ten no atauru o torazareba, kaette sono toga o uku ;

Toki itatte okonawazareba, kaette sono wazawai o uku.

Not to take what Heaven gives is to incur Heaven's calamity; not to act when the moment comes is to incur Heaven's misfortune.

(Miura, Isshū and Ruth Fuller Sasaki, The Zen Koan. San Diego: Harvest/HBJ, 1965. 119. Print.)
Your Highest Uptime(record: 14 years)
Figure out why they are resistant and find some means to reduce their resistance. For example: Did they write the code? If so, they may feel you are 'attacking' them/their competence in some way and you would need to find a means to reassure them that you respect them (yadda yadda) while still arguing for improvements. In many cases, ego and other personal stuff gets in the way of productivity. When that happens, the most effective thing to do is address the two issues separately.
Isn't it somewhat paradoxically, that a teacher should ask for hack-how-to-learn recommendations?!

No offense meant. Just struck me. Being a teacher myself I know no one really knows the ultimate learning hacks.

Actually I'm in a similar process of brushing up my knowledge. For now I'm doing some meta reading:

How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0671212095/
Just a couple of questions.

So if I see a file lying somewhere around the internet, how do I tell who owns the copyright? How can I tell when it expires?

And if I find an executable, say, lying around in a coffee shop, how do I tell who it belongs to?

The berne deal doesn't require you to label these things, but without them, how can someone else tell?
Why the iPad and the iPhone don't support multitasking
Yes. Goldman knew the contract was fraudulent.

Do you have any evidence for this?

Also, expecting an AAA rated multinational corporation to pay their debts is hardly a "miracle".

Second, if Goldman did not expect bankruptcies, then why did they buy insurance for bonds they did not own?

Home "owners" defaulting on mortgages is not the same thing as AIG going bankrupt. Goldman expected the former, not the latter (at least according to the article).
It makes me think of the Salt March

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

where many small acts of non-violent protest brought about great change.
Renderer 2.x - Basic 3D algorithms
How come all Maven criticism is completely off the mark?

@mml: Maven is in no way ant-based. It has an ant-plugin but that's pretty much all.

@dustin: The release thing? It's called the 'release-plugin'.
A reduction in the bribe amount bureaucrats are willing to pay for the right to receive bribes themselves would be a great indicator of success.

As an aside, I'm an American who worked last week in the US with a guy from my company's Indian office. Because India apparently has high import duties on watches, he decided this trip would be a good opportunity to purchase a watch for his wife. When he asked me where to to to buy a Swiss Army watch, I suggested Amazon.com. I'm a Prime member and offered to use my account so he could get free 2nd day shipping. I ordered the watch while he observed. "That's all you had to do?" I hadn't even used 1-click! When it shipped, I emailed him the tracking number. Over the next couple of days, he checked UPS.com in semi-disbelief and seemed amazed when the watch showed up as expected.

Apparently, according to my co-worker, there's little online purchasing of physical goods in India. While credit cards are becoming increasingly common, delivery systems are seen as too corrupt to be trusted. "You'll order a watch, but only an empty box will be delivered." It probably also doesn't help that a product purchased by a middle-class Indian might be worth months of lower-class wages.

It's the hidden, non-physical infrastructure that's so important. Layers and layers of laws, enforcement, responsible government, etc. are required to produce a system where an expensive item can be delivered to my house reliably.
We may need comprehensive immigration reform, but we will never get the immigration re form we need.

The entire immigration debate: Mexicans vote Dem. Dems want to import votes. Reps don't want to allow this. Everything else is just post-hoc rationalization for this power struggle.
I'm extracting a jQuery plugin from my go program, it's here:

http://github.com/raganwald/iGesture

Note that when I use the word "gesture," I am using it the way the HCI community uses it, to refer to strokes and combinations of strokes. iGesture is useful for implementing features like deleting things by "scrubbing" the screen, navigation by swiping the screen, and so forth.
IPhone Apps: Why closed is better
Visual design is only an art if you're doing it wrong. It's no coincidence that design is a synonym for fate. The goal of design to force the user to do something or feel something, and you can only do this if your design is incorporating predictable elements. Which is pretty much the opposite of art, where you're testing novel elements to see what change they produce in people.
The way to think about this is that anyone can die unexpectedly at any time - even people who appear to be completely healthy. If you have an illness which is likely to end your life prematurely, this just gives you a degree of forewarning about your own mortality which most other people don't have access to.
The key to progress - motivation
Watch TEDxCMU LIVE
Another good example that can be more performant than a hash or a trie on a given alphabet is a directed acyclic word graph. Think of it as a trie that reuses edges, but has no cycles. This makes it very compact.

There's an implementation of one here that I've messed with, but it's a little expensive on the setup side.

http://www.pathcom.com/~vadco/dawg.html

The final result is that each node is stored in a 32bit word with the possible characters limited to a 5 bit field. 1 bit flag for word endings and I believe he employed offsets with the rest of the bits to perform the directed lookups of the other characters in a limited A-Z uppercase only alphabet.
These types of graphs tend to extremely fast at runtime, but like I mentioned, the setup is costly. However, if you were embedding this in a device this would definitely be a worthwhile investigation. This is one of those cases where a data structure fits a very constrained, but well defined requirement.
"But you DO need a copyright notice to collect damages for infringement."

Really? I would need some kind of source for that claim.
I've been involved in some discussions in this area. My guess is that most companies are saying, lets keep prices where they are and we can always move down if uptake is slow. To be fair people think nothing of paying $4.99 for time in an airport news shop and leaving the read mag on the plane. Is it that hard to believe someone would pay the same for a download that can be read offline/In the air? Also, at least in this case you can keep the old issue as an archive easily. I'm sure prices will come down at some point, but its hard to argue with the logic of trying for a high price when it is so easy to change later.
[My response became a blog post]

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1240254
Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge:

http://www.computer.org/portal/web/swebok/htmlformat
Alan kay might not be correct in this case .
The correct factor between 1979 and today's computers is not 1000x , is something between 10x-50x. and with the right compilers you get a factor of 3x-10x[1].

[1]http://lists.canonical.org/pipermail/kragen-tol/2007-March/0...
how hard would be to just have the government announce they're going to hang anyone who asks for a bribe, then make a big show about hanging 100 corrupt bureaucrats? Wouldn't that drastically cut corruption down?

Thanks for asking a specific factual question. The policy you mention has not worked in China, where it is widely seen as a way to kill off lower-level officials who are insufficiently cooperative with the highest-level officials. China regularly has publicly announced executions for corruption, but it still has pervasive corruption.