skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I feel the author failed to address the crux of why people argue that "non-statistical" bias is bad – that we should be judged by our actions, and not by factors out of our control such as race, class, the family we were born into, or where we were born.

If we included every aspect about a person in some statistical model, we may discover "uncomfortable truths" that hold true for the general population. But these truths, while statistically correct, may fail our test for what we consider to be philosophically fair, and ultimately undermine an individual's agency to act independently.

So perhaps in your experiment, the problem is that our feature selection is not reflective of the values we'd like to uphold, and that aspects like "had lead poisoning as a child" is not a sound feature to include in our model because it measures aspects of a person outside their control. Instead maybe our feature set should only include aspects that measure facets that are under the individual's control such as community service, whether they still associate with other criminals, whether they have or are pursuing education, whether they have children to care for, etc. (or some other feature set that's more thought out and sound, but you get the gist)

This still may not have as good accuracy as a model that included other features about the person, but it's arguable that this system would be more fair, especially over a model using more features but was artificially fudged to satisfy some prior about what we consider fair/unbiased.
Love @aral and his aims. But privacy must not be only for the rich. (See Zuck having bought all houses in the street to ensure privacy)! But having discussed with Aral, Apple is available only for people that have the $$$.
I was playing with that thought in my head. Would be neat to highlight some examples of good simplifications.

Databases come to mind. Collections libraries do not. :(
I always do this with automated voice menus, 50/50 it works or the program immediately hangs up on me.
Right, that was one of the obviously-correct representations at the time. When the pioneering major Unicode-based systems (later Mac OSes, Windows NT, Java, etc.) were being built, the Unicode consortium thought code points were just 16 bits, so two-byte characters were a fine solution, trading off some memory but retaining "normal" string characteristics like O(1) indexing and easy size calculation. Pretty much everybody went with that, except Plan 9, which nobody was paying attention to as they invented UTF-8, which is now saving our bacon--thanks!

Then after all those runtimes and APIs were established, the Unicode consortium realized 65,000 characters wasn't actually enough and blew up all those assumptions. Since then, things have been very uncomfortable in those systems, string-wise.

Next-generation systems are incorporating the semantics of modern Unicode, but it'll take a long while to fix this--you can't just redefine a primitive type like "string" in an existing giant codebase.
Ask HN: Best corporate travel management for (small) startups?
This is very Stoic in its philosophy. If you agree with it, you may enjoy reading 'Meditions', a collection of writings from the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, from aprox. 170 C.E. which explore many Stoic ideas.
Nope. Big drop days where always sold out in minutes if that. The main thing we would do is add additional capacity before launch or for certain releases limit the amount in any one particular basket. Other than that we'd ban IPs that were hammering the site but didn't look out for anything automated. If the money cleared for the transaction then we delivered.

We never saw anything particularly weird (like a whole size run shipping to one address) from 2008 - 2013. The site itself ended up sold to ASOS after that and they took it all in-house until they eventually killed it [1].

[1] https://www.drapersonline.com/news/asos-closes-footwear-etai...
Location: Texas

Remote: Yes

Willing to relocate: Yes

Technologies: HTML, Python (Pandas, Numpy, Seaborn,
Matplotlib), R, PostgreSQL, C++, MATLAB, Excel (Advanced), Tableau, Mode Analytics, Jupyter Notebook. Looking to learn more...

Résumé/CV: http://bit.ly/2gD2TsH

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/randall-hall-18036752

Email: randallhall [at] icloud [dot] com

GitHub: http://www.github.com/mathcoder3141

While I do have a math degree, I have a good amount of coding experience. I'm open to any and all opportunities where I can use my math background as well as expand my programming ability.
Spot on. Looks like the few bad apples are the leaders who created such a system that incentivized employees to mess with customer accounts.
Maybe we should stop thinking taxes are the solution to inequality. "Cutting all the high trees so the forest looks even".
Pair Programming Decreases Developer Efficacy
There are many ways to protect yourself from inflation. And inflation has also devastating consequences to all assets and incomes.
Instagram registers Doxagram domain names in wake of data breach
I'm currently playing with Reflex, a wonderful functional reactive programming library that lets you compile the same code into into webapps with GHCJS (a JavaScript backend for GHC) or into standalone desktop apps (using WebKitGTK).

It's wonderfully expressive and doesn't feel like you're painfully imitating C++ in Haskell. On the contrary, it's very idiomatic.

https://github.com/reflex-frp/reflex

However, FRP is ... unusual, and takes a bit of time to get the hang of.

Here's a stripped-down todo app "tutorial" in Reflex:

https://gist.github.com/mrkgnao/1a5c06cc1e188f2238c8c11cb74e...

And this is a full-featured TodoMVC in Reflex:

https://github.com/reflex-frp/reflex-todomvc

--

FLTK is a GUI toolkit that has Haskell bindings. It's a very C++-like API, but the library is in heavy development.

https://github.com/deech/fltkhs

The developer is also quite friendly, and I believe there are good docs. Here are a few demos:

https://github.com/deech/fltkhs-demos

Also, GHC does have a C backend, afaik, although it's deprecated nowadays and only available if you build it yourself in "unregisterised mode", which people do when porting GHC to a new architecture.
To be fair. Good desktop applications pretty much require teams and are more about user acceptance than metrics you can capture in the type system. Or tests.
That's not passive voice.
If "Show security notifications" is enabled in security settings then they'd get caught, so I don't think Facebook is going to start doing that. The address book and metadata they have access to are more useful to them anyway.
BNF and EBNF: What are they and how do they work?
gumby is deliberately interpreting the word character to mean grapheme cluster (whereas the author meant code point) to make a point.
It's just nobody is interested so those stories don't tend to get told that much.
In general there is no way a C program(apple to apple, comparing to its similar c++ version) will be larger than C++, be it static, shared libraries included, or whatever.
FWIW, Donald Knuth was a proponent of using C over C++ at the time it first came out. He equated C++ with the use of frameworks in writing programs which he thought were a bad idea for the profession as it would dumb it down. C++ does make code reuse a lot easier.
>Did you ever use a taxi before uber?

Almost every day.
On Borges, Tzahi Weiss, and Kabbalah
I only scrolled through TFA (added to read later list). I am Dutch though.

A lot of these systems require enormous (and growing) up-front investments, not feasible for small independent operations. There are a lot of family business in Westland, but they require massive mortgages and/or loans to keep up with the times (and the investments that they require). There are fewer and fewer small farms and more and more 'mega-barns'.

Little space is needed, but a lot of it is high carbon and high capital.
> or have somehow entered into an alternate fairytale land where everyone is honest

This won't likely be a popular answer, but more likely than what you described above is simply that you don't know how to weed out the bullshit a candidate might spew without shoving a code editor or dry erase marker in their hand.

It's perfectly understandable that many don't have this skill as it's rarely ever taught before you start doing interviews at an employer.
Inheritance taxes are always avoidable, and they could also have devastating consequences. Even if you could effectively prevent a single coin getting to the hands of your children, that would mean lavish expenditures, not investment.
Engineering the Perfect Astronaut
"Facebook User" is what used to show up on my inbox, for deleted accounts.
I don't know if I'm right or not but I tend to use the word "transpiler" to talk about something that transforms into the same language as before.

So for example Babel is a transpiler since it turns JavaScript into JavaScript - it just allows you to use certain features (usually of a later version, or a draft) in earlier versions. So I write es8 and use babel to turn it into es5 compatible javascript, I'd call that transpiling.

However, sticking with JavaScript, I'd say that coffeescript -> javascript is compilation since coffeescript is not the same language and very syntactically different.

So I guess converting one language into another syntactically different language is a compiler. While converting a language into the same language but transforming specific parts for whatever reason (such as interop or backwards compat) is a transpiler.

That's how I tend to think of it anyway.

But I agree, probably could just use compiler for all of them, especially if not using it means added ambiguity.
The answers are simple to pose, difficult to even consider implementing, and troublesome in general. The problem in general is that we need more resources, or fewer people, but most rational people recognize the pitfalls in pursuing a "solution" to the latter, the and the former requires innovation or luck.
Also, if you could, would you direct me to the sources of some of your readings of history so I can better understand the perspective you presented, especially regarding the 70s and 80s.
Why I left Aeternity
It's pretty obviously bank tellers had perverse incentives. But I'm not sure it's so very different than a company that pays the QA a bonus for every bug found, then wonders why the bug tracker is filled with crap.
I agree with this approach a lot, being able to speak about code intelligently is very important. But live coding by fire on some esoteric random brain teaser is not effective, imho.
Show HN: Backend development tutorials | YouTube | Open Source | GitHub | enjoy
I'm afraid Netherlands is only good for food that's over-engineered, cardboard-tasting and geneticaly modified for quantity. But that's future I guess.
Are you sure?

The earth has finite resources. Wealth is a zero sum game. Even if you want to look at things like entertainment that can be reporduced cheaply, musicians and directors need fed, food is limited, therefore even films/music are limited.
>Do nonprogrammers not pick up on those patterns?

I really think they don't. Thats a big part of the problem. Lay people are being tricked into thinking that their Facebook feed is a reflection of reality rather than a highly curated set of articles designed to appeal to their specific sensibilities. They have no concept of what goes into the platform behind the scenes. They have no concept of the fact that there is a building in California full of thousands of world class scientists whose sole purpose in life is to get them to check that notification on their phone. They have the illusion of choice when it is pure psychological manipulation
As Crypto Market Sheds Billions, One Analyst Sees Buying Opportunity
If you look for it, you could probably also cherrypick a modern contract janitor that learned how to code in her spare time and now works for Goosoftbook. Especially if you choose a decade-long time period.

Gail's story may be inspiring but it may also be unique, even in the 80s.
>And every year prices go up it's your currency losing more value, more purchasing power.

This is only true if wages don't go up to match it, and if they don't, then we should be asking why not. People should be insisting on raises at least in line with inflation, and if they're not able to get even that, then it suggests a power imbalance.

And besides, currency devaluation isn't some secret conspiracy, or even an inherent property of fiat currency, it's the explicit and stated aim of our monetary policy. Most economists seem to believe a constant low level of inflation is a good thing and so that's what we do. If you disagree, you should argue with that directly. And if you want a stable currency value, I would suggest monetary policy would be far more effective at achieving that than the gold standard.
It runs everywhere because it's really old and popular. So you could just call it momentum. I for one would never choose technology based on momentum alone.

And you might get PHP running in almost all servers, but that says nothing about all your dependencies such as mail servers, message queues and the like. So the fact that it runs everywhere doesn't actually mean that much.
The total value of all cryptocurrencies has dropped 11 percent since Saturday, declining from a high of nearly $180 billion to under $160 billion today.
+1 for coderpad. Seems to be the best.
Suppose he was forward about that though; anyone interviewing he would let them know and it'd be all the more important to make a positive impact in order to secure your job. Especially if you liked it or generally have a go-getter attitude, you'd want to enable the company to do better and get another client.
This is written so full of admiration and superbole that it reads like a story from some ex Soviet dictator's personality cult pr department.
Having a mimimum wage law is one thing, but going further than that and mandating how much who gets paid beyond what the market decides is venturing into the wild west of law making -- you never know what you're going to end up with.
You can do a wealth tax by targeting the big ticket items. Rather than invade everyone's home with tax collectors to guesstimate how much every couch cushion you have is worth, you can hit probably 98% of wealth by just taxing the calculated value of owned land and buildings (which is already being appraised for property taxes in most states) and stocks, bonds, and options.

So we already invade your privacy to appraise the former, and the later has to be be public because companies need to know who owns what shares and the trading platforms need to associate users to shares they own. Both can be used by government to provide ownership details.

You would also want to wealth tax companies for total global cash-on-hand assets they have as well. Those are also required to be public record already. That way private business executives cannot tax haven their own stuff under an LLC, and companies like Google / FB are punished for hoarding hundreds of billions in offshore accounts they have no intent to spend or bring back into the states.

Of course, this is all saying "government should do X" which is just for entertainment, pretty much. The US is in no condition to act in the will of the people at all right now anyway, so its all speculation - you would have to fix the broken democracy first.
As a Dutchman I had no idea it was going to be about us. We feeding the world? Mkay, that's new. Anyway, +1 on making it less clickbait.
> Investing in things that help society.

People tend to invest in things with a high rate of return. That high rate signals it is doing things that people want done and are willing to pay for. I.e. it helps society.

> a way to provide capital to people who need it

That's exactly what banks do. My bank branch is plastered with posters trying to sell a loan to everyone who walks in.

> passively invested in banks and things like index funds

If you're arguing those are not productive investments, I don't think that's very defensible.

> how much is not really doing that much.

If you're arguing that rich people tend to invest in low performing investments, that doesn't make much pragmatic sense. People get rich by investing in highly performing investments, not dogs.
Assessing the North Korean Hazard
There are a couple of interesting books about metaphor for people with autism.

It's raining cats and dogs was written by someone with autism: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Its-Raining-Cats-Dogs-Expressions/d...

And here's another book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Asperger-Dictionary-Everyday-Expres...
> There's too little profit to fund clinical trials and FDA approval.

People think they can have their cake and eat it too with the FDA. The administration likely kills many people through opportunity cost. People really need to ask themselves if the FDA are the ones who should be making the decision whether something is risky enough that you shouldn't have access to it. In my eyes, if drug companies had standard product liability, then drugs would be safer and cheaper.
Sun also bought Cobalt Networks (for $2 billion), the company behind the Cobalt Qube, soon after their successful IPO. The Qube was a cool Unix server appliance, targeted at ISPs, etc. [1] I worked for a short while at a startup that used one of them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt_Qube

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt_Networks

[1] Sun's buy of Cobalt had bad timing, since the dot-com bust happened soon after.
While I agree with a lot of the comments and the article, can we just point out that they say Kodak's former janitor became CTO?

That would be commendable had the company done well, but perhaps having a janitor CTO contributed to their downfall...?
I meant that, for KJU, he is less concerned about the ability to cause destruction than he is about preserving his seat of power. I believe KJU is more rational than he broadcasts, in that his motivations for acting the way he does comes from a plan to keep everyone at arm's (or rocket's) length and not out of some crazed all-or-nothing brigade. It doesn't seem sustainable in the long run, I agree. It's a matter of time until something off-the-wall happens.

I also find it hard to believe that the US, China, and Russia don't all have sophisticated countermeasures in place in case a rocket is launched with a trajectory toward something important. It may still cause horrific damage, but not on the level of a megacity.

Your primary concern is not his. That is my wager. Let's hope my optimism wins out...
The Naturalistic Decision Making Approach
In the past there wasn't as much pressure on capitalism to be sustainable at a global level. This pressure has increased without anyone doing anything. Which means you just have to wait for one or two more 2008 level meltdowns.
I remember one of those sysadmin stories, where a multi-terabyte `cp` command had seemingly completed all of its work, but was sticking around for days; slowly and pointlessly free()ing the 17GB hash table of hardlinks that it had built up; when it could have just exited and let the OS reclaim the memory.

https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/coreutils/2014-08/msg0001...
Ugh, the amount of f*ckery you have to wade through to cancel an account is astounding. What's sad is, I've come to expect it.

I unsubscribed to an email newsletter recently and was shocked it only took one click. I didn't have to check boxes or "update my profile".

In a time of fake on-line Houston Relief charity sites and endless massive account hacks it made me suspicious it was so easy.
I completely mis-read the first "one" - oops. Guess that's why I was downvoted to 0 :-D
This is a tough call. As far as I can tell, the original title isn't misleading or click-bait so we've put it back. Unfortunately it looks like there's no redemption for this predictable generic flamefest that took the place of an actual discussion, though.
Because you can only send this case to a jury once without triggering double jeopardy, so the state has an interest in sending the strongest case it reasonably can.
Valid point, so here is a similar, but different reason: patents.

They may fear releasing the source opens them for patent lawsuits or may have patents they aren't willing to give up, and fear that open sourcing it without any patent clause will not give them much goodwill.
It's a well known fact. Just by including some headers from the standard library the compiler has to go over huge chunks of library template code, and it usually needs quite a few complicated phases to slowly morph those templates into executable code.
What Looks Good with My Sofa: Multimodal Search Engine for Interior Design
ISP lobby has already won limits on public broadband in 20 states (2014)
Ask HN: Where to find WebGL/Three.js open source developer?
I'm working on a hobby project and one of the next major steps is to use WebGL/Three.js or related to build a component which allows users to create maps (think water, cliffs, hills, etc.).

I host the project on GitHub, and as it's just a side project there is no money involved. Does anyone have tips to find such a co-developer? Have you encountered a similar issue?
I'll be honest, the post originally came off as fluffy, though not enough to say anything about it, but your comment made me reread it.

I really don't think you guys disagree that much. You're talking about different perspectives (not behind yourself vs not behind others) and a different focus (you on regret, him on forgiveness). Otherwise you both have some great wisdom in what you've said, don't think it's necessary to put him down so thoroughly.
Wasn't there a law passed fairly recently that allows otherwise terminal patients to try risky not-yet-approved treatments?
Back then there was the "Schriftzeichengesetz" which offered protection roughly similar to a design patent called "Geschmacksmuster" (but with its own registry). It has since been subsumed by the "Designgesetz".

Typeface protection has always been weaker in Germany than copyright protection, but it existed and exists.

As an aside: Fontshop used to claim at every opportunity that they had achieved a verdict in a lawsuit that gave fonts full copyright protection. That only worked because nobody on the forums and the web had ever seen the verdict. It wasn't secret, just behind a paywall of a legal database. A friend who's a lawyer retrieved it for me and I was much amused: The verdict said precisely the opposite!