skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
The blogger reports that bit.ly updated their page, to explain why a link may be disallowed. He doesn't accept their explanation, but it does make a lot of sense:

- Some URL-shorteners re-use their links, so bit.ly can't
guarantee the validity of this link.
- Some URL-shorteners allow their links to be edited,
so bit.ly can't tell where this link will lead you.
- Spam and malware is very often propagated by exploiting
these loopholes, neither of which bit.ly allows for
Isn't the problem bigger than a small number of people not paying attention to their Twitter client re-shortening links when it's not necessary? Aren't people intentionally re-shortening links they get from others, so that they can track their own reach/influence? If I have a big following and I re-shorten your link, I can then go to Bit.ly or (anywhere else I have an account) and exactly measure how that link was spread across the net, regardless of whether any RTs mention me. "I'll take your short link and raise you my own..."
It's a Nokia E72. The website was http://www.gerlinea.fr/. :)
Musings on "Genius"
Care to blog about your experiences?
Itertools - Iterator functions for efficient looping
This is the immediate thought one gets, I can guarantee you that Twitter considered this. It surprises me that parent was deemed insightful.

Should what parent suggests be announced I expect it would be in place for about six minutes (+/- 5) before we'd see the first Tweet with the actual message in the form of a URL.

http://example.com/Hi_this_is_a_tweet ...

And as someone else stated, long messages are clearly against Twitter's concept/principles/idea/whatever.

The interesting part about this is that instead of URL shorteners we'd end up with domains that would just act as decoders of the link you clicked on. Good or bad, who knows.

And while we're at it, let's think of the next step: It wouldn't be long before someone implemented a packer/cruncher on these messages to be able to squeeze them into a 140 character limit so that it can fit into an SMS. Then we'd realize that this is a remarkably stupid thing to do and start sending un-shortened links to blog posts again. Profit!
It's consistent, but consistently plastic. I feel like I have no hope of figuring out how the site works except by trial-and-error, because everything looks encapsulated in white plastic that might cover what's just underneath.
This is more than a 'sweet' technology. It is a big step forward for the web, because it means that all the documents uploaded to Scribd are now fully indexable!

They're now all accessible by crawlers, and will start showing up in search engine results. I believe the vision they craft (all the world's documents living online as part of the fabric of the web) is a very powerful one.
> firing a fill 1/3 of those you've hired is going to be very debilitating for the organization.

Exactly, hiring the right people is good for the employees (they have steady jobs in an environment where not all the faces are new all the time) and for the company because of the high cost associated with new hires.

The cost of bringing a new employee up to speed is usually taken as anwywhere from 6 to 12 months of their gross pay, assuming they're engineering positions (and that's what we're talking about).

For other work the cost can be lower or higher depending on how much time and effort needs to be invested by the company to get a new hire up to speed on the company procedures, code base (in case of software), work out team issues and any in-house training programs.
Very interesting. And it agrees with the one unique piece of advice I give people who are considering whether to go to work at a new firm, "Try to determine if they can fire people."

One quibble:

"It takes time to glean an employee's pithy attributes: work ethic, intelligence, attention to detail, enthusiasm, even personal hygiene."

You should be able to judge at least initial enthusiasm in your interviewing process or you're not doing a good job of selling your company or it's an impossible sales proposition. Either of which you should do something about at a high priority.

But I'll admit that sustained enthusiasm is what really counts and of course only time will tell WRT to that. And I'm not sure what you'd do with people who take some time to warm up to a situation (ADDED: well, make sure they've been enthusiastic about at least one prior job; if they're too young to have any/many and are already cynical you'd probably best pass on them :-).

For programmers you should be able to get a reading of intelligence and attention to detail in the interview as long as you do minimal testing (perhaps Fizzbuzz, my preferred 3 tests of reverse a linked list (pointers), recursive factorial and find error in this block of code, etc.).

Having them work out loud with you a relevant design problem is also good, although recognize that only 1/5 of programmers "get" abstraction (according to the Antipatterns book and my personal experience); if you need/can afford having programmers who don't get it, you'll want to gauge their ability to follow orders and "do it this way" "just because" the architect says so.

(There are potentially lots of slots in an organization including a startup for all sorts of competent people, e.g. look at the 2nd Coders at Work interview Brad Fitzpatrick, the Live Journal Founder. They had an older employee who produced awful code, but they loved him since his forte was quickly figuring out difficult integration problems which no one else liked to do or was good at. He handed them messy solutions filled with duct tape and bailing wire and they mined the interfaces from them and made clean versions that fit with their system.)

Anyway, my advice is to pay close attention to what this author says, just don't let it cause you to significantly relax your hiring system since hiring, working with and then firing duds is always debilitating for all concerned.
ACTA is megalomanic masturbation of the political and business elite.
What do you think guys ? is this real ? i have ordered a zenpad last week and i am not sure if going for a refund now.
This is what they state on their official blog http://www.enso-now.com/blog/
How to remove Google Search new left sidebar
I find the left sidebar annoying. I wish there was a feature do enable/disable the sidebar like in the old interface.
It should be a LAN party.
Exactly. It wouldn't be Google if they hadn't a/b-tested the hell out of this.
Google has been slowly putting more information in to that same space over the years and hardly anybody noticed. The reason why people noticed this is because google bit the bullet and changed a lot of stuff in one go because these changes are tied in to each other at a level that if they did it gradual the site would not look consistent.

It was a very brave thing of them to do this because they must have realized it would lead to some backlash, but I really can't see how they could have done so differently anyway.

They needed to 'get with the times' again in a way that gives them room enough to get back to small changes, think of it as a spring housecleaning. Give it four weeks and everybody will be used to the new site and this problem will go away.

As things come on the web google is still minimalist, only a little less so than last week.

A bigger issue with google is the creeping pollution of the search results for 'web' searches with more and more non-relevant links to googles own sites and/or paid links.
I'd be happy with new design if it either hides the sidebar by default or gives me all the options by default. On most of searches, I see only 'Everything' and 'More' options. I'm already seeing 'Everything' on my search, what's the point of always showing the bar when I have to click once to see all options, making it entirely pointless.
I just use Keyboard Shortcuts experiment (http://www.google.com/experimental/), which hasn't been updated to a new version. I can't image searching without it.
well, this topic has been discussed too much on HN. Please stop this topic. GOD!!!!

Well, follow this discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1329784
Also, the best remedy is here: http://goo.gl/qzlL
I find the left sidebar annoying and very rarely use it. I wish there was a feature do enable/disable the sidebar like in the old interface. Other than this, I love the new visual tweaks.
How long before all tweets are in fact bogus links, you think?
Agreed. But you link to HBS's "Working Knowledge" in the YC library. Is there much good stuff there? HN voters don't seem to think so.

(That link in the YC lib broken now, btw. It's redirecting to their front page. You want this now: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/topics/entrepreneurship.html)
Also go here>> http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=all for the classic interface
Does anybody else consider the new page number highlights less usable and intuitive than the old ones?

For example, on the old version of the site, navigating to Page 2 highlights the second 'o' in red, and the number 2 in red.

On the redesigned site the same scenario shows a number 2 with the same color as the other numbers and bold as its only distinguishing attribute.

At a glance I find it harder to quickly identify the current page, and I suppose this would give less experienced users even more trouble.
Is MySQL Doomed to Extinction?
No, it's just those who disprove are typically much more vocal.
The difference with a BB gun is I think mostly the length of the barrel, I'm surprised he could get that much accuracy out of such a short barrel.
- Appcelerator Titanium has not received official word, but appears to be OK due to recent app approvals. (http://developer.appcelerator.com/blog/2010/04/steve-jobs-an...)

- PhoneGap has the official word (as of April 13) from Apple that they are fine. (http://blogs.nitobi.com/jesse/2009/11/20/phonegapp-store-app...)

- AppMakr and other app generators are conceptually OK from what I've heard, as long as the apps they produce are actually unique and not "cookie-cutter." (http://help.appmakr.com/entries/116672-changes-to-apple-poli...)
They are approving apps from appcelerator, phonegap etc. Look at their twitter feeds.
I can't speak for others, but to me the not-so-obvious was simply understanding/exploring the mental models Charles Munger uses to view and manipulate the world.
The egg splattering on to the keyboard would not happen because there is not enough kinetic energy in that small bullet to make it splash back very far, the lightbulb though for sure put some fragments in to his keyboard because the shards bounce off each other and will cause some shards to go in the opposite direction of where the bullet came from.

See here for some more 'bullet impact' video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfDoQwIAaXg
What's missed here is that being fired, for a lot of people, has real consequences. I don't think I'd take a job where I thought there was a 1/3 chance I'd be fired in the next 6 months.

If you're a startup, you're hiring people who understand the lack of job security. If you're a large company, there's no excuse for firing 1/3 within 6 months: you can move people around until they fit. If you're getting rid of more than 10% in the first 6 months, you're doing something wrong.

My thought: we should have a real safety net (including universal healthcare and a basic income that everyone gets, even the gainfully employed millionaires) and then allow companies to hire and fire whomever they want, because no one's life gets ruined by the loss of a job. But this would be a radical departure from the society we currently have.
I would be happy with shortening any time when the short URL is not longer than the original...
Urk, I had forgotten about the problem of enticing people from good jobs. Many of them will be your best employees, but if you have this sort of "fire 1/3rds" process and are up front about it you'll lose this entire talent pool.

And it won't do anything good for you company's reputation. Read Death by Lethal Reputation http://www.asktheheadhunter.com/halethalrep.htm; I'll also note that failed startup Thinking Machines (the Connection Machine company) had absolutely the worst hiring practices of any Cambridge, MA area company in the '80s (details upon request).
I was in a blind panic all morning. I went to the shops based on this (now found to be bogus) news item. I will be forwarding the receipt for the flowers, chocolate and petrol to the submitter of the post.

It wouldn't hurt to adjust the title to "Mothers day in some localities", with a list of gps co-ordinates ;)
This might be helpful:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1315406
Backbreaker Football for iPhone App Video Review
I’ve been on the lookout for high quality, cheap (99 cent) games for a while now, and am pleased to present to you my latest pick – Backbreaker Football for iPhone. This game contains graphics that we rarely get to see within this price range. Is it worth your time and money? Check out our video review below!
Populism 2.0

Waiting for the semantic one.
It'd be interesting to know how many users click past page 1.

My behavior is more usually to look at page 1, and if what I'm looking for isn't there, adjust the search terms.

I think the new numbers are pretty easy to see though.
The device looks real, the video is a bit blurry, I suggest to wait a couple of days and see if any major blog receives a unit.
Nope, it's fairly obvious which is the current page, that's just nitpicking.
Ask HN: Measuring the Aesthetic Quality of a Set of Colors?
For a side project I would like to automatically determine the aesthetic quality of a set of colors. I was wondering if there are metrics by which I could measure it.

For instance if I had these two 'color schemes':

http://beta.dailycolorscheme.com/archive/2006/09/20
http://beta.dailycolorscheme.com/archive/2006/09/19

could I objectively (for some value of objective) tell which one is 'better'? The only metrics I found on the net so far seem to be rather ad-hoc measurements of how well the set of colors is 'analogic' or 'complementary'. Since I want to write a program to make the measurements, a more structured apporach would help me.

Do you have any pointers or ideas for this problem, HN? Thank you!
The Beaver is a Professional Loggers
Based on job ads I read XSLT still has a future--in the enterprise. :|
No problem. I'm not trying to convince you one way or the other (heck, I use vi too), but I figured a video might help.

Also, for you or anyone else reading this thread, http://emacswiki.org/ is the place to go for info.
I'm mainly interested in hearing if any new Unity3d games are being allowed under the new ToS. The last we've heard from the Unity team is this from two weeks ago: http://blogs.unity3d.com/2010/04/10/unity-and-the-iphone-os-...
It's not exactly cause for alarm, but something concrete would be nice.

edit: whoops, april 10 was a bit more than two weeks ago.. and there was another (brief) post since then, but my point remains.
Stereoscopic Images Inspiration
Is there any hire at will (which as a term of art includes firing and leaving at will) European country with socialized medicine and the dole?

I told that plenty that make it so difficult to fire a person that they have high youth unemployment rates (e.g. France), but the above three with a strong "Protestant work ethic" might work out well. Or the incentive structure, if a lifestyle on the dole is too good for too many people, might be disastrous in the long term.

I'm inclined to think the latter will be the outcome but wonder if we have any tests of the proposition.
Semantic Image Browser for Twitter is Live
Well, it would probably create more jobs for actual technicians to go around and fix things properly. So, overall, it would be beneficial for everyone.
Lauren's been playing the net game for a long time, but I agree, even for a minimalist style it has no style or worse.

It's being served from a slow AT&T "commercial" grade DSL line to his home so his outwards bandwidth is limited, but you can still do a lot better even at dialup speeds.
Here's a dumb question: most *nixes come with vi as the text editor, but the shell uses emacs keybindings. Why is that?

(btw, if you learn emacs well enough, you're commandline-fu goes through the roof)
It seems a little shaky to me, because:
1) bit.ly could reject the link at submission time, instead of at the time of usage. This would eliminate the whole problem.
2) bit.ly could follow the link, unshorten it, and then shorten the original link. This would eliminate these concerns.
But, if the other shortener is returning a 301 'permanent redirect' isn't it fully within the letter and spirit of the http spec to forget it and remember the target.

If the shortener was only returning an 302 then removing from the chain would be suspect, but they are saying 'this link always points here, use it'
You hit the nail in the head, in my career I have fired 3 people (managed thousands). In the interview game to many people focus on the how long have you used X technology instead of the person themselves.

It is real easy people, interview the person and look for passion, seriously it overcomes all else. As long as the person has no obvious glaring personality flaws and passion, the rest will fall into place.

People in tech careers are for the most part self driven and want to do what they do.

If you (anyone in general) have had a problem with more than 5% of the people who have worked for you, then you may be the problem. Trust me I have meet far more incompetent tech managers than I ever have tech employees.

Who by the way are generally skeptical people who don't follow leaders that they do not respect. Given the grandparents cavalier attitude about firing tech people and the authors I would suspect that they are failing to position themselves as a leader in their technical talents eyes, and loosing their trust with every termination.

Seriously firing people does psychological damage to those that remain, it shows a lack of investment in people that resounds in their mind, it should be reserved for those that refuse to work for whatever reason.
Brookings Institute publishes preview of 2010 Census data
Lagu Indonesia
LAGU & MUSIK INDONESIA : AKUSTIK ROCK BAND SPIRIT ONE lahir di Surabaya dengan lagu -lagu bertemakan motivasi dan pembangkit semangat hidup.
PUPUK ORGANIK CAIR
Pupuk organik cair : pupuk pelengkap cair fertilindo. Melipatgandakan keuntungan hasil pertanian anda.
Kandungan unsur hara lengkap dan berimbang :
1. NPK 10-10-10.
2. Dilengkapi dengan trace mineral : Mg, Fe, Mn, Co, Zn, B, Cu, Mo.
Praktis tanpa ruwet :
1. Cukup disemprotkan, penyerapan unsur hara melalui stomata daun jauh lebih cepat.
2. Sangat mudah larut dalam air.
3. Bisa dicampur dengan pestisida dan insektisida.
4. Satu dosis untuk semua fase (pertumbuhan atau perkembangbiakan) dan untuk semua jenis tanaman.
Regarding the doom bunker: it's very impracticle since in a doomsday scenario it won't be easy to take a plane etc. A better idea would be a rescue/support service that in case of a disaster like hurricane, earthquake or civil unrest will come in helicopter and evacuate you (or drop supplies etc).

Related to the homeless page, we see in reddit sad stories of people in desperate situations asking for help. Sometimes they are true and sometimes they are fake, so an idea (non for profit) would be to have a network of volunteers checking out the stories (with web, phone or even in person)
A third seems like an awfully high ratio; as someone else has pointed out, there are real (and immediate) repercussions from firing.

I've fired someone before, and I'd do it again. But it was a horrible experience; and I would want to avoid that kind of experience, especially for 3-6 months.

One thing that gave me a lot of confidence was to set up a peer review system. Once I saw that the group had the same instincts I had, it was a no brainer. (Peer reviews are so much more interesting on many levels, actually. I don't know why this never occurred to any of my bosses.)

Other than this, the "one week trial period" proposed in Rework (http://37signals.com/rework/) seems like a good way to avoid a "several month realization of uh-oh". Has anyone ever tried this out?
Weirdest Trees - Blood vs Fruit Tree vs Eucalyptus
There are a lot of weird and unusual trees around the world, so we decided to show you some of them.
125 Grants, Loans and Scholarships for Women
I missed it and I'm actually really happy it got reposted.

What a beautiful little machine.
Now we're into patching design errors by applying work-arounds.

That always ends well.
The FCC puts broadband under political control
Research Paper Cover Should Make Positive feeling
While writing an essay or a research paper you need to create a good looking, impressive and attractive research paper cover. One can think that this is an easy task but it is not so and many of the students have difficulties with it.
Sounds ridiculously expensive and incredibly entertaining. Thanks for alerting me to something I need to read about :)
First you need to understand the domain, then you can automate it:

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

Another challenge is what is it you want to achieve? Do you want people to say "ah, nice", or do you want them to "react" (click something for instance). Those two may be mutually exclusive in some instances, as generations of neon signage, "sales" banners and similar are living proof of.
What difference would barrel length make? Most BB gun barrels aren't rifled, and that's the only thing I can think of that would make a longer barrel more accurate.
Marc Andreesson wrote (about hiring suits, not engineers): "if you know what you're doing, the odds of a given executive hire working out will be about 50/50. That is, about 50% of the time you'll screw up and ultimately have to replace the person. (If you don't know what you're doing, your failure rate will be closer to 100%.)" http://pmarca-archive.posterous.com/the-pmarca-guide-to-star...

From my own experience, the best team I ever worked on was one where we had a rigorous interview process... and fired 2 of the first 6 engineers, i.e., one third.
It depends a bit on what iteration they are on, it's been changing like mad for me over the past couple of days. At some point during all of that I had the knee jerk reaction of landing on a spam site and to overcome the instinct of navigating away, which was awkward.
I agree. The latter part was ok though.
Every day is (should be) Mother's Day. If you don't already keep in touch on a more frequent basis, why not start today?
Being rifled imparts spin to a bullet, being long compared to the length of the bullet gives you the ability to align the barrel with the target. The shorter the barrel the bigger the chance of mis-alignment.

Barrels were long before they got rifled. Rifling is mostly to keep a bullet on its trajectory once it leaves the barrel, it doesn't do much good if you can't aim the gun.

A longer barrel definitely makes it easier to do this though.
Really miss the simplicity of the old Google. Hope they don't go the way of Yahoo :/
That's mostly because Google chooses to do only things that are highly parallelizable. Given the number of servers they own, I can't say that's a bad choice, either.
Also note, IIRC tattoos are forbidden in judaism (http://www.myjewishlearning.com/practices/Ethics/Our_Bodies/...) and possibly other religions. (Although there's a halachic "out" for forbidden practices where the intention is to save lives, so this might be negotiable for medical emergency access to a pacemaker.)
Why is the ball going up?
Haven't used it myself, but a company I interviewed with mentioned using Zendesk too. It's gaining quiet a following!
What if they reverse a linked list using a language like ML or Haskell where pointers aren't required?
Taig lathe and mill:

http://www.taigtools.com/mmill.html

Brass:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#brass/=70iaxr
When I saw the title of this post my brain brought up mental images of 'minigun' and 'autocannon' and sort-of combined the two, and as such this really wasn't what I was expecting... neat, though.