skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Suggest to HN: A Hacker News Amazon Affiliate Link
I post a fair lot of Amazon links when talking about books. I don't have an affiliate link, as I don't recommend enough books to bother with one, and I don't want any appearance of conflict of interest when I recommend books on a public, community site that I'm just a guest at.

But grinich just wrote in a thread:

> Will you post an affiliate link? If you recommend a good book to me, I'd like you to get a kickback.

Maybe he's got a point - I mean, my no affiliate link links just mean a waste of a small percent that somebody could be getting. To Paul and the rest of the Hacker News/YCombinator team, do you guys want to register an affiliate link or have one already? I'll add it to my posts here, and you can do whatever you like with the credit you get. Use it to buy books to read or to stock a startup library for your funded startups. I don't mind taking a minute to append it to any book recommendations I make, it gives a little coin or resources back to a great site, and I suppose it is a waste of potential revenues not to use Amazon's affiliate program.

You don't need to append it automatically or anything crazy - just let people choose to use it if they want to. If you've got one, I'll use it, and be happy that you guys are getting a bit of extra coin or free books to benefit what you're doing.
Herman Hesse - The Glass Bead Games (though I would hazard to say any of his famous five are worth reading - haven't got round to them all myself yet, though)

I read The Glass Bead Games after I happened across Timothy Leary's "The Politics of Ecstasy" (a good read but not great - his ignorance/arrogance get's in the way all too often). The thing that switched me onto HH was TLs insistance that the man had achieved enlightenment: I figured that was not to be missed!

HH won the Nobel Proze for literature shortly after it's publication, and I cannot overstate the majesty of this book - it is simply awe inspiring. Easy to read, with a persuasive storyline that seduces the reader into an abominably utopian world of intellectual rule (Epistocracy?).

I won't ruin it for any readers. The basic thrust of the tale is the student becoming the master in a world where the highest grand masters (of "the game") are revered with something approaching religious zeal.

It changed me. Fundamentally. Before reading it I was naive and starry eyed about what education could achieve, now I'm more aware than ever that humanity, educated or not, is still just a many faced beast. All these trappings of wealth, power, and intellect are just reigns temporarily thrown around this rampaging behemoth.

It's not so much an epiphany of despair or futility, strangely it is somehow quite the opposite. It's a realease. I can't quite explain it. It's something that sends me into wild flights of lyrical rhetoric about the nature of humanity and my own part in it. I don't think there is anything better that you can ask from a book.
I just hope they don't follow the example of the British Navy(installing Windows XP in nuclear subs).

P.S. A BSoD would indeed really become a Blue Screen of Death.
The really galling thing is how they spin this as a feature, using the most convoluted corporate doublespeak I've seen in a while. The phrase "Don't piss on me and tell me it's raining" comes to mind.
If you'd like to understand a little bit about how our brain might process and understand numbers, get "The Number Sense" by Stanislas Dehaene
Interesting thought. I just posted "Suggest to HN: A Hacker News Amazon Affiliate Link" -

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1227254

Basically, I don't recommend enough books to bother with an affiliate link, but if someone on the HN/YCombinator team would register a link, I'd voluntarily add it to my recommendations. It is a bit wasteful to leave the potential affiliate commission on the table when it could go to something valuable. People can discuss in that thread.

And Paul, if you're reading this, what's your take? I figure a bit of extra resources in the way of free books couldn't hurt, and it might add up. I reckon a lot of the community would be happy to give back that way.
I can't speak to the HN consensus, but on some comment areas/lists I've moderated in the past, we generally tried to allow ones that were there in good faith. It's a fine line, though. It's ok with me if someone was going to recommend a book anyway, and throws in their affiliate link rather than giving the exact same link without an affiliate code. But does this subtly induce people to include more Amazon links than they might have otherwise? To recommend books that are only sort of apropos, or even kind of a stretch? To link Amazon when the author's site about the book, a Wikipedia article on it, or a relevant Google Books excerpt would otherwise have been the obvious links? In book-related discussions, does it induce people to recommend books they think will be popular or eye-catching (or at least get clicks), as opposed to ones they genuinely think are good?

I think the answer is probably yes to all of those, but with the right people/context/community it probably isn't bad enough to be fatal. And I agree that if someone does recommend me a book that I do end up buying, it seems fair to give them 4% or 6% or whatever, especially since if they didn't get it, that amount would just go to Amazon.

I guess in summary: previous experience leads me to believe "maybe, it depends".
But why should she compromise for him? By your wisdom shouldn't there be mutual compromise?
It was a known limitation, not a "bug".

That pretty strongly implies that all known strange-behavior is not a bug. Also, all known bugs are not bugs, as they can be known and worked around.

If you had to shut down your computer during the year cross-over, would you consider it a bug? Or what if you couldn't go on your business trip because of the year cross-over.

And a bug in the spec is still a bug. Oversights in specifications are equivalent to oversights in programming.
Do you really think that either are a healthy choice?

No, not necessarily.

You're comparing two poor choices ...

Of which one is most certainly less poor. Granted, neither might be optimal, but if you've reached the point that you're reading the nutrition information, chances are you've already chosen where you're going to eat. Are you saying that making the slightly healthier choice would somehow be sub-optimal given the situation?

Also, you're making the assumption that people can make a proper choice after reading a nutritional label.

Yes, and that might be the wrong assumption when given the choice between apples and oranges; however, when contemplating a large fry vs. a medium fry (or a large anything vs. a smaller version of the same thing), the proper choice should most definitely be clear.
I'll consider that, but I don't think netbooks generate enough traffic to be truly relevant yet.
Do they have TD Commerce out there? They have been absolutely wonderful for me.

Reasons:
- 1st year free checking, $50/year afterwards,

- they generate debit cards on the spot in the branch,

- 7-day banking, branches open late 4 days out of the week,

- 24-hour customer support number, always answered by a human

[ long story warning ]

Why do I really love Commerce?

When I started banking with them, I was spending a lot of time with a client in DC. I'd drive down to DC for the week, and drive back to NY. I'd park in a garage that was $10/day. It wasn't 24 hours, but it did the trick.

This one particular Friday, I left the client's office late (about 7:45pm). The garage was cash-only so I had to go to the ATM. My Citibank card had some sort of fraud block on it, so I couldn't take money out, and I had forgotten my newly-issued Commerce PIN.

So I had a bum card from Citibank, and the ATM ate my Commerce card because I tried so many times in desperation. I called Citibank, and after navigating the IVR, a rep said they could not help me until Saturday morning when a branch opened. Overnight hotel stay? I'm on ramen money at this point.

Next option was Commerce: I'd been a customer a total of probably 3 weeks at this point, so I didn't expect much. I called Commerce, who transferred me to the local branch which was still open (they close at 8pm). I explained the predicament I was in (garage closes in 5 minutes, don't want to do overnight hotel stay).

Commerce promptly blew my mind. The person on the phone said if I could make it there in the next 5 minutes, she'd withdraw $100 from my account and have cash waiting for me at the branch so I could be on my way.

I jumped in a cab, got to the branch, collected my $100, paid the taxi. The rep issued me a new debit card on the spot, set my PIN (to something I could remember this time). Caught a taxi back to the garage, and arrived there at 8:02pm.

The garage guy left a note saying I should call him on his cell if I arrive back before 8:15pm. I called him, paid the garage, and set out on my journey back home.

So, if it hadn't been for Commerce, I would have had a really bad weekend. Instead, I had hands-down, the best clutch performance by a bank for someone who was too new to fall into the "loyal customer" category.
Two scifi books about turning rationality into a religion: Anathem and Altered Carbon

My all-time scifi list started out in a reddit comment: http://akkartik.name/blog/2006-06-02-08-13-58-soc
Fine Collection of Curious Sound Objects [Processing+Arduino]
Picasa Web experiencing outage.. blogger blogs affected too.
There is a simulcast option
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=d...
They follow vim's keyboard conventions...
My understanding was that a lot of the "benefit" of more concentrated laundry detergent was that people think it's 3x was valuable when they buy it, but they put far more than a third as much in each load -- so they buy & use more. (in this case, I'm pretty sure "them" includes me)
I've got some 50% discount codes for this event, courtesy of Microsoft BizSpark.

Contact me for details.
Tell HN: are you a hot eCommerce startup?
If you are a hot eCommerce startup, I'm putting together a private event on April 19th in Silicon Valley, where you'll get to forge what could become a key partnership with a major player. Please drop me an e-mail with a quick pitch as to why you'd want to attend such an event at alain@fairsoftware.net.

I hope this can be a great opportunity for an early-stage startup (even at the concept/demo stage), to get ahead of the pack.
EC2 + S3 sounds great! Unfortunately server self-management is rather over my head at the moment but perhaps I could start out with S3 + shared hosting first, then switch to EC2 when I'm confident.
I started working around Times Square a few months ago and have walked past this guy daily. One day I had a half sandwich I didn't want so I give it to him. I now get a friendly smile and hello every time I walk by him.

While I was hoping this article would have more information on his background, I am glad to now have a name that I can say hello to when I walk by.
Marketing Lessons from A/B Testing a Homeless Man's Sign
We're using names of cities right now. In the previous company I worked we used names of countries for the conference rooms. Pretty boring & completely disfunctional.
i'm not. the parent i first replied to suggested we should remove all regulations, and DUI laws are a regulation.
Why can't they just leave the man alone, if it's what he wants? The man's practically an institution now--he's adapted to the lifestyle and Times Square has adapted to him. Where's the harm?
When I read articles like this I think about all those FEMA trailers that went unused because of bureaucratic nonsense, incompetence and corruption.

This country has and owes a lot of money but we waste a sh--load too.
An old trick for a lot of forums posters is to include both links, one with .. and one without and give users a choice (if you trust me use the affil link, if not the regular). Although I cringe in recommending this practice overall as I can easily foresee HN being overrun by stealthy affiliate marketers.
I like this science book about the elements so much I wrote a blog post about it:

http://zachaysan.tumblr.com/post/315148493/the-elements-a-pe...
Thank you! That was very enjotable
Noted, thanks for the search link and suggestions.
And have been used in other Google navigation, like Reader and Buzz.
> We need a picture of both/all sides' dirty laundry, and Wikileaks doesn't really give that.

Just don't expect Wikileaks to be a one-stop-shop for leaked documents.

And, BTW, I doubt Al Qaeda has such a document. That's not their style to document everything. One may interpret that as one of their major tactical strengths.
The reason I suggest government funding is that unlike a private investor, the government can make a huge return on a business that simply breaks even, assuming all of the employees pay income taxes.

If government is funding the business, they're providing the payroll. E.g., If, I, as the government owe you $20 in payroll and you owe me $10 in taxes; my net is -$10. There is no huge return. I'll grant, however, that there is a potential for the government's constituents to be satisfied with merely breaking even.

Plus you have the ripple effect on vendors to the company, and the benefit of reducing unemployment.

Keynesian multipliers don't work. They are offset by the government taking money out of the private economy before they can put it into their make-work programs. E.g., Say I start a business under this plan called "Running for Fun". Sales at ShoeMart, SportsPlex and SpandexLand all go up. However, the lady that was taxed to pay for my program had a business called "Enviro-Maid". She would've spent that money with her vendors, Eco-Detergenze, RecycloScrubs and SolarVacs but now she can't. It's a zero-sum game.

If it did work, the government could hire one set of people to dig ditches and another to fill them in (it's a health program!). The problem is that no actual wealth or value is created although you might create some bureaucratic positions to keep track of the 'progress'.

If the government is involved, there are no insurance issues because a government can simply make it a law that you can't sue it.

This is actually a good idea. But instead of (literally) expanding the government into everybody's business let's extend that same protection against baseless claims to non-government entities.

Overall, I agree with Adam's general sentiment of utilizing 'net technologies to organize opportunities against underutilized skillsets. I'm just not sold on the government involvement--especially in education where programs like Khan's Academy and the concepts surrounding OCW are poised to overthrow the public indoctrination monopoly.
I don't get it, am I the only hacker that ever has problems with relationships?

I've done more than my fair share of stumbling (including one divorce) and at the age of 32 only now do I feel like I am "getting it".

Nonetheless, I'd recommend the book _Conscious Loving_ by Gay and Kaithlyn Hendricks.

Instead of the superficialities preached by the Venus books, etc they get to the heart of the matter by having us examine ourselves for personal projects, secrets that we are hiding and other subconscious developments that lay at the root of our psyche. We our worlds truly are in our head and our relationships are manifestations of those thoughts. I finally found a book that helps me peal back those layers and helped me figure out why I had been fucking up over so many years...
In Scotland 17 year olds start University. I had a debit card account when I was 16 (quite a few years ago) and it's quite common for teens (14+) to have part-time jobs even if they're still in full-time education.

Kids tend to get allowances and spending money as gifts for birthdays, Christmas, Easter, etc. in the UK at least.
Pitch your game concept to Sony; if they approve it then you'll be allowed to buy a ~$10K devkit. (Or if you're a wildly successful indie game developer, they'll give you a devkit for free.)
Moby Dick is one of my all time favorite classics. Should appeal to engineers and entrepreneurs as well as being a great read. The form is very unlike other classics of its period.
I'd say go for it. We can downvote ones we think are not acting in good faith.
Why Am I Trying To Build A “Pre-Market” For Home Rentals?
It seemed ok, up until the point where he said "this has never worked for me when dating"!
Static typing isn't a replacement for testing, either. You can get away without static typing. You probably can't get away without testing.
Why use this extension for HN? There's a RSS feed for new items.
This is true, but not for the reasons given in the article. VCs largely follow each other's lead - they're interested in deals that others are interested in.

If one VC refers you to another, but that first one isn't investing, you're automatically damaged goods. You can and should be getting better referrals into investors than that. Entrepreneurs who have made the investor money in the past or are doing well for the investor in the present are the best.
He actually talks about that in the post, if you read it. He's making a Firefox plugin to validate JS before it's run, it's a bit down near the end.
Quick Tip: How to Target IE6, IE7, and IE8 Uniquely with 4 Characters
Of course there's a downside to the asker - the VC might actually make the referral. "Hi, I passed on this guy but you might want to take a look at him" is not how you want to go into a first meeting with an investor.
Sputnik a JavaScript 3 conformance test suite
> What I personally took away from it was that you should run your ad for two days, and then not run similar again for a month or so.

Yeah, we try to tell people that. The problem is that once someone acts on your ad, we don't show it to them again. So your impressions are expected to drop off rapidly.

We need to do a better job of communicating that.
Yeah this is not a fully bullet proof system, it is just an experiment, something that I use and thought I would share, if you want to play around with the technology check out the urls on the about page.
Shameless plug ahead

I may need to write up something on the subject, but you can use envbuilder[1] to simplify working with the pip and virtualenv part. This works especially well if you have several chunks of code you need to check out from VCS.

[1] http://github.com/jasonbaker/envbuilder
Good point that I forgot to mention ;) .
Has anyone used both Linode and EC2 before? Any comments on the 2 services?

Did a prelim computation for the EC2 fee equivalent of Linode 360 with 16GB storage and 200GB transfer. Assuming these limits are maxed out, it seems EC2 is more expensive by 10 bucks.
> This comment, however, isn't helpful, and obviously isn't true.

Sure it is true. We would love to run the site without ads. There are other business models besides straight ads, and we are working on moving towards those.

They just aren't profitable yet.
I would suggest, as I have seen heavily used on forums, that you provide two urls for readers. One would be a direct link, and the secondary link contains the affiliate id. I personally like to think of it as along the same lines of a "contribute" paypal link on low traffic blogs.

I tend to manually remove affiliate URLs from links if I was not given a choice. I tend to be more favorable of signing up or purchasing with affiliate URLs when:

* I was given a decision to opt in

* I was notified that the link contained an affiliate code up front.
I thought this was a great analogy. One of my favorite teaching techniques is to introduce a new concept as a variation of something you know, vs. presenting it in an vacuum.
HN could do what Metafilter does and automatically rewrite all affiliate links to their own. If they don't want/need the money, they could donate it to charity.
What a facinating if terrifying idea! I'd love to see a study that repeated the game for several more sessions to see if the initial biases faded with additional experience or not.
Google INTERCAL style guide
Are there any general-purpose languages that actually follow an aspect-oriented paradigm? Would such a language even be possible or desirable?
It was just trying to teach you about short-selling and credit default swaps.
Maybe it's the naive and hopeless romantic in me, but when I read the part about "devising a strategy to prevent people from encouraging his homelessness," I couldn't help but feel a gentle pang of indignation. I almost feel like it's too bad that they can't accept this man for the "iconic" symbol that he seems to be, according to locals.
While I think it's great what these outreach organizations have accomplished, the tone of this article is a perfect example of how journalists poorly depict homelessness.

It's de-humanizing.

For a second there I did a double take because it resembled an old article from The Onion, which was pointing out how journalists do this so often that nobody notices.

Do a search and replace on the article, replace the homeless man's name "Heavy" with "animal", and the article still makes perfect sense, except instead of being about sociology, it's now zoology, like one of those fluff local news pieces about some wild animal that ended up in the city limits and was causing a nuisance. Except it's a man.
Rappers.in - Top Hiphop und Newcomer Charts
We Are Full Stop
"Shoehorning javascript (a prototype based language) into a class model might have seemed like a good idea before jQuery came around. But now jQuery exists and I don't see why I should settle for less. Modularity and consistency are strong in jQuery land, too. JS code doesn't have to look like java to obtain these properties."

YUI doesn't shoehorn JavaScript into a classical model. I'm curious why you think it does. Is it just because the namespacing makes it look like a classical model at a glance?

"That's wrong. Normally you want that one monolithic chunk because it will be fetched once and then be cached. You don't want each page to fetch various bits of javascript for the same reasons why performance-obsessed sites combine their images into a single sprite-file."

There are very few absolutes in the web performance world. In some cases, using a single monolithic JS file will be beneficial. In other cases, it will not.

I speak from experience, having worked on Yahoo! Search for the last 3 years (using YUI, no less) where we have a single page (the search results page) which has millions of possible feature combinations that depend entirely on the results for a specific query, and which can even vary for different users searching for the same query. If we loaded a single monolithic JS file, it would be many many megabytes huge, and even when cached, parsing and execution would be painful. Worse: changing a single character in a single component would require pushing a new version of the file and invalidating every cached copy (and we push changes very frequently).
I'll simply point out that supporting good governance for the common people of China, backed up by a free press and free and fair elections, is not an "anti-China" policy but a pro-China policy. Currently the Communist Party of China seems to think that advocating removal of prior restraint on the mass media and allowing free elections for the national leadership would be anti-communist, but if that's so, then I guess I'm an anti-communist, because I am pro-China.
Assuming we're assuming SSL, then a string in the URL could be more secure than a password because it could be longer than a human could comfortably remember. Longer = harder to brute force, plus you can block (or teergrube, or whatever) any IP's that try to guess a URL and fail.

You can add an option to delete/rekey the image too. At that point the URL is exactly as secure as the method you use to send the URL -- just like a password.