skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Molecules don't age, but any collection of molecules with distinguishable states will eventually relax spontaneously to a higher entropy configuration. Keeping a system a certain way requires an input of energy, and eating can satisfy this up to a point, but I think the complexity of the central nervous system in certain animals eventually makes this impossible.

It isn't hard to keep any particular process 'alive'. Stars burn for a long time. The hard part comes with maintaining a process that also requires memory of the past. What would seem to be the difference between a star and biological life is that life maintains a record of some information of its past states in its DNA. However, even on top of this, many animals, especially birds and mammals, have to teach their young and train an incredibly complexly connected brain.

So I think what you end up with is an optimization that trades off between these two complexity drives: a mind and a body. An organism that has invested a lot of time into training its nervous system does not want to completely regenerate it and lose all of that information. However, from a bodily perspective, being able to regenerate would be quite useful. However, making processes more reversible comes at a price (notably, thermodynamically, it would take infinite time. computationally, reversibility requires n^2 steps for some irreversible computation done in n steps), one that is no longer worth the tradeoff if the mind cannot be usefully regenerated.

I guess my point overall is that the brain, since it wants to store information, is inherently destined for breakdown. Regenerating it might be possible, but the interconnections might be so complex that it would be energetically infeasible to maintain this complexity. In humans, the brain already utilizes 20% of our energy budget. As the organism as a whole is being optimized through evolution to do evolutionary favorable things with its energy budget, this means that energy spent maintaining itself physically indefinitely is not worth it, as compared to something like a lobster, which ostensibly doesn't have the sorts of pyramidal neurons needed for a truly, truly complex nervous system and thus might as well live forever.

I assume that people will disagree with the idea that the brain is destined to break down, but if you were 10000 years old today, would you still consider yourself the same person that used to hang out with the pharaohs, having learned and forgotten hundreds of languages, names, families? It just gets absurd at some point, and the energy cost of it all is not worth it compared to reboot(strapp)ing everything from the ground up by having a child.

It is interesting the the mole rats are so long lived, and that they are also eusocial. Since institutional memory may be very important to the colony's survival, having long-lived individuals may be very helpful for an animal incapable of writing things down for posterity.

I would still say that this is all very firmly grounded in thermodynamics.
Intel Microcode Revision Guidance, February 20 2018 [pdf]
cool, i ported them to rust here http://gph.is/29o9CkY
different problems require different tools. functional has its place and imperative has its place. that's why i was so snarky in replying (even if i did get the timeline wrong): prescribing one over the other is dogmatic and pretentious.
The Rise of Virtual Citizenship
I once bought a sheet of uncut $2 bills from BEP [1]. They go for much more than a face value, but it was a nice souvenir from America.

[1] https://www.moneyfactorystore.gov/2currencysheetsbeptestshee...
In Montreal, we have the largest underground complex called "The Underground City". It's a series of tunnels of a total of 32 km that allow going almost everywhere downtown (add to that the subway and soon the electric train, we could say almost everywhere in the city) without going outside.
...using tools and weapons developed by the last regime.

If we're that worried about abuse of power, we need a better conversation than "that guy is bad; vote for our guy". We need to talk about actually reforming systems, laws, and norms.
TBH I am starting to hate the subtle box-shadow on card components, including the example they provide as "better" [1]. It's getting to a point where it's hard to see the edges, especially if I have f.lux on or need to clean my glasses.

A regular border is easier to spot and more definite. It's not skeuomorphic but it's more functional.

[1] https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*qH-2RAS3rbnql-vpP8...
Technology Change Not the Culprit in Wages Falling Behind US Productivity Gains
MeltdownPrime, SpectrePrime: Exploiting Invalidation-Based Coherence Protocols
Yea, I suspect they have a significant bias as suggesting you stay in heavy traffic makes it seem like the App is useless.
I have a hypothesis that a lot of less-than-savvy internet users think filling out those pop-ups is just akin to a login form. "Oh, I have to fill out my email to see this, sure!" That doesn't explain the efficacy of increased sales though :)

The experience _can_ be ok, if it's easy enough to dismiss. The pattern that drives me a little nuts is the "intent to close tab" event trigger. I just wanted to switch tabs, calm down, I'm not leaving your site.
Sure... most people familiar with zippers know that it can be thought of as the algebraic derivative the underlying type.

What’s perhaps less known is that this is the same as ‘differentiating’ the traversal of the data type.

The continuation monad is a sort of ‘derivative’ of a computation in that it nearly captures the ‘infinitesmal’ difference between two steps in a computation.

If your computation is the traversal of your tree, list, or text markup, then you can make a zipper from that without having to declare new data structures. This is isomorphic to declaring your own data structure. Its only advantage is convenience (that I know of at least).

Oleg Kiselyov goes into great detail with this idea and has lots of example code: http://okmij.org/ftp/continuations/zipper.html
Yeah Toronto has the PATH system and you can get around much of the downtown core that way (though I prefer not to...). Toronto itself is really quite walkable for hours in most directions if you live downtown. However to get to anything in further reaches of the city—Scarborough, Etobicoke, or Vaughn—it's far better to have a car. Living downtown and visiting the zoo on transit is a long stretch ;)

Calgary also has a skyway network (called the Plus-15 http://plus15.com/). Living there one winter was odd to me after Toronto—you'd never see anybody on the streets. And downtown Calgary is reasonably quiet on a normal, nice day. That said that town is also quite walkable—though it's best parts are relegated to certain parts of the city that are separated by less interesting areas.

Victoria, BC is one of my favourite walkable places so far. I also really enjoyed my time in Montreal, but I'm a little conditioned to the cold.
How are they not getting replaced by chinese manufacturers?
From a naive point of view those don't seem to hard to manufacture.
Three ways to open up closed code
Thanks. A quote often attributed to Dijkstra is "Object-oriented programming is an exceptionally bad idea which could only have originated in California," but the article you refer to makes quite clear he was aware of its Norwegian origins, and that he considers it a small and oversold addition to imperative programming, rather than a bad idea.

I note he wasn't very keen on functional programming (6.1) or logic programming (6.2) (and by implication non-imperative languages in general) because they don't fit well onto the hardware currently available. But that limits you to imperative languages, whose code is much more difficult to test for correctness. I accept that preventing programming errors is important, but also think that languages should be designed for the problems they're intended to solve, whether or not that's a good fit for current hardware. If it isn't a good fit, I'd argue that the problem is with the hardware.
A Perfect Crypto-Storm Is Brewing in the Philippines
This article is disingenuous. The background check bill linked to from 2013 that got shot down? It also included an "assault weapons ban." Other background check bills shot down in the past have had similar problems. Other background check proposals would have prohibited lending a gun to someone even at the range or adding an additional tax on each transfer.

Unfortunately, the people who push these bills seem more interested in pushing law that upsets gun people rather than working with gun people to find a compromise that works for everyone.
Where can you get custom printing on keycaps? I have an Ergodox but what I really can't get used to (even after 2 years of full time use) is the lack of labeling for the special keys. I've looked for years for ways to do custom printing or labeling but all methods I found suck.
Definitely. I find myself using Waze primarily for that sort of hotspot detection, when I know all/almost all potential routes, but want to know how bad the best/worst case travel times are. If Waze reroutes me onto surface streets, best call in to my first meeting, that sort of thing.
I love the data of Waze, the UX of Google Maps and the iOS integration of Apple Maps.

If only we could have all three benefits out of one solution.
JPMorgan Plans New Manhattan Headquarters for 15,000 Workers
Quick Web Searches Using the Terminal
That looks like nothing but thinly-disguised money laundering. Hack an Amazon account, buy some cash, repeat. Why else would someone buy $20 for $32?
> How long before we get to a situation where this is a realistic proposition for many people?

the FIRE (Financial Independence / Retire Early) movement is showing how most people can do this in a matter of 20 years instead of 40, with those who are highly-compensated doing it in 5-10 years.

20 years of drudgery is much better than 40-60, so I'd say we're at least making progress. The hard part of realizing that goal is the much more difficult skill than the math: establishing what is "enough" for a good life.
If your eventual goal after learning the basics is programming questions for interviews, there are a tons of resources like leetcode, interviewbit, geeksforgeeks. I started writing some of the FAQ with explanations here[1], check it out to see if it is of any help for you.

[1] : http://letstalkalgorithms.com/
I like most of these, especially the different ways of making a hierarchy stand out. But I would say that if you're going to use gray text, pick out the exact shade using a really crappy LCD screen, maybe on an old phone, to make sure it's legible. Sites that use very light gray make me think the designer picked the color on a 5k iMac with the lights off.

Also, make your buttons look like buttons.
I mean, it sounds nice, there's nothing wrong with the description, but as a remote worker with a self-employed wife…why would I go there? I am living like that already where I am.
This kind of thing seems perfect for group buys like massdrop, etc. Low production runs of these have got to be expensive. after all, they need to create the design, molds, form them, QA (hopefully), etc. Honestly that much money for some little plastic squares kinda makes me do a double-take, even though I realize why they cost what they do.
I think this is a little narrow but perfectly valid. People get all squingy in my program when I bring up the idea of what value a college or program creates. They assume I'm being arch-capitalist about it.

The schools don't create value for students because they are bad at teaching. Having all the materials online is not learning, and its not good education.

But, the fact that students can create a better learning environment themselves than can a faculty member who knows the content and works at a university teaching the conten should be shocking.
Reintegrating scholarly infrastructure: ambiguous role of data sharing platforms
DataFramed – A DataScience Podcast
But Haskell’s execution model has no underlying support for continuations, and yet there are perfectly efficient implementations.

You actually can not implement delimited continuations in languages like c++, javascript, or go, unless you write your own execution environment at which point Id argue you’ve left the realm of the language. In c++ at least, such an implementation would certainly use undefined behavior
I think you're referencing bingocardcreator.com, which made software for diy bingo cards. Also it never made a living, let alone a good living. It ended up selling for low 5 digits IIRC.
Colombia’s two anti-coca strategies are at war with each other
Interviews with the likes of Jake VanderPlas, Robert Change (AirBnB), Emily Robinson (Etsy), Claudio Perlich (DStillery).

itunes link in case it's useful: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/dataframed/id1336150688?...

Note: this is made by my coworker, Hugo Bowne-Anderson for DataCamp, but I've been enjoying listening to it on commutes.
Depends what it is. I don't normally respond to marketing email, but appreciate email from Steam that a game on my wish list is on sale.
Thank you, I went straight to the paper where the definition was a bit more hidden.

That is interesting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_drink
Spectre can never be trully fixed though. What we have are mitigations.
Whoa. Why is this post so buried?
*Abusing alcohol is strongest risk factor

> Most reviews point to a possible beneficial effect of light-to-moderate drinking on cognitive health... By contrast, heavy drinking seems detrimentally related to dementia risk, whatever the dementia type.
It is not okay to design your site such that it requires permission to use browser features that are not necessary for the presentation.

Asking for script permission to display text is as bad as asking for microphone permission for an app that does not use audio. Presentation of text has always been possible in HTML without the use of script. You don't need script permission. Don't ask for it. Don't require it.

Just because a lot of people do it doesn't mean we should ever stop complaining about it (bandwagon fallacy). It is wrong. The people who do it are doing it wrong. They may not be aware of it, so someone needs to mention it. Every time.
If you've got a high growth rate and you're improving process quickly enough, this is essentially an ethical Ponzi scheme.

Previous_gen_users << current_gen_users

Ergo, take a one-time charge to upgrade your previous gen users to current, with the revenue from your current gen growth.

Key points here are probably: (1) that it's unexpected & doesn't create an expectation (unsustainable), & (2) that it's unannounced & properly timed (manage the Osborne effect & avoid screwing customers who choose to pay to upgrade themselves ASAP)

It won't fit all business models / products but seems practical in most cases.
Graham addresses that in the TED talk. It'd encourage you to watch it - it's a short 15 minutes.

Bertrand Russel, not a religious man by any means, said that "It's in our hearts that the evil lies, and from our hearts it must be plucked out."

Einstein said it's easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man.

Whether we humans are inclined towards evil, or we are inclined towards good but become corrupted, the end result is the same.
This is going to be huge. I've been tracking this work for decade. One of the last pieces needed to realistically simulate a living person in video or real time.
I agree, I would say there is a strong second order effect for parents to see their siblings to reproductive age. As more generations stack up, any longevity effects quickly become negligible, maybe with the exception of hiper-social species with a learned culture like ourselves. Since this development is very recent, I don't think it could affect such a fundamental thing like aging.

Per Google, our closest living relatives, chimps and gorillas, very rarely display grandparenting behavior and have comparable lifespans.
Do you see GM crops as a short-term or a long-term problem then? As technology improves and the barrier to entry decreases, that should also help with the ownership/leasing issue.
The Malicious Use of Artificial Intelligence, written by 26 Authors
They want an office that matches their personality. And apparently, that means beer on tap and lots of it.

The office looked like the lobby of a hipster hotel.

Over the next few weeks, we showed up each day and tapped away on MacBook Airs to the sounds of Portuguese house music and old-school hip hop piped in through speakers. (“Rap is urban, and so is WeWork,” the company explains online. “But more profoundly, the common themes of rap are in tune with the company’s mission.”) While we created, cleaning crews in WeWork T-shirts quietly restocked the citrus water and wiped up our spilled drinks.

If this is the future of tech work, then I guess I'd better find another career--perhaps gardening or wood-working?
Half of this advice hinders usability.

#2.1: Reducing the opacity of your text makes it harder to read.

#4: Borders help logically separate areas of an interface. Throwing in more white-space is wasteful.

#4.3: Gratuitous white-space is wasteful, especially if you have limited screen real-estate (i.e., mobile).

#7 is a major pet-peeve of mine which I cannot agree with. If it's a button, make it look like a button. Nothing is more confusing than a button that just looks like some text label.
But it's pretty much just tourist stuff: casinos, a mixture of crappy and mostly high-end restaurants, souvenir shops, bars. I'm not sure I can think of having seen a grocery store outside of rundown convenience stores. And the transit is fragmented because most of it only runs between hotels with the same owner.

So the Strip is walkable but mostly in the same sense that a big shopping mall with tower or two of apartments is walkable.
Will China Succeed in Memory?
Ask HN: Coolest digital watches?
I was obsessed by digital watches as a kid in the late 70s & early 80s, to the extent of drawing designs for imaginary multi function timepieces in my school exercise books. Pretty nerdy, no? I owned a few as a youngster, and can remember wanting a Seiko Digital Chrono. Remember how they always read 10:08.42 in the ads? More recently I've had a Garmin GPS watch, and a Casio F91W. I guess, to paraphrase Douglas Adams, I still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea. What cool old or new digitals would you recommend?
How We Bootstrapped Our Mailing List to Ramen Profitability ($2000 / Month)
How Mobile Network Operators Can Help FinTech Startups Scale
I've worked in finance for several SaaS companies and you're 100% right. Infrastructure is never the biggest cost, it's sales and marketing and most of that spend is a mystery in terms of attribution, so blended CAC is not terribly useful.
Getting mixed messages here! Also today: http://www.newsweek.com/drinking-alcohol-tied-long-life-new-...
Dropbox following the tried and true path of taking credit for tangentially "enabling" the contributions of others. Kind of reminiscent of Apple's statements about the massive impact of their company on the economy and job creation in other industries.

Heck, as long as the bar is this low, Microsoft could write a similar sounding PR statement to put some lipstick on their file system patent trolling -
"At Microsoft, we have an unwavering commitment to the fight against poverty. Our storage technology has been crucial to the success of the one laptop per child program."
> WeWork offers freelancers a chic workspace and beer on tap—but are people productive?

Not really. That was my experience at a WeWork space in London. It was not quiet (glass walls), it was hard to focus, social events starting at 4pm (who finishes work at that time?), and if you end up being close to the common spaces, near the kitchen… well, I suggest you get a good pair of sound cancelling headphones.
Hey, thanks for inquiring.

> Curious, how're you finding founders to interview?

Pretty much just scouring the internet and emailing people cold. Reddit has been a great source of finding interviews (it's how I found this one).

> Anything you've learned building out StarterStory.com that you didn't expect, and if so, what did you learn?

Man, it's really hard to drive traffic to websites these days. Facebook organic reach is pretty much dead. SEO is really hard to build up, especially if you have a site based around interviews. I've had some luck with posting on Reddit. This HN post is definitely my first big break! Super excited to hit the front page.

I've also been doing monthly blog posts about my progress so far if you want to check it out - https://www.starterstory.com/blog
roel_v just buy some right sized blanks in your profile and use a paint pen to label them, or get some relegendable caps in your profile and make little paper labels.

That or just dump the ergodox when you realize that it's just a pale sad imitation of a kinesis advantage.
One thing I've not seen mentioned here is how Amazon created an opportunity for fraud by making their customer support number harder to find.

This is a common tactic - heck, some sites require you to do a knowledge base search before giving you any means to do direct contact. Keeping humans around to answer calls is expensive so companies nudge customers towards passive support.

All of which creates an opportunity for fraudsters to make their fake contact info easier to find. I wonder how many fraudulent numbers for Google support exist...
Some are, some aren't (e.g. KeyCool). Lots of these have low production counts.
Some Code I Deleted
It's unclear if China will--yet
I've been really wanting to get into the artisanal business world as an entrepreneur for a while now, it always seems so full of potential, and I've had good experience on the other side as well (having purchased a hand-made Atreus keyboard from @technomancy). And it fits inline with my philosophy of quality craftsmanship being very important, especially in this age of disposable low-quality goods and services. The hard part is finding something that is pretty low-risk to jump right into. That's part of what drew me to software, because there's almost no costs except what you'd already have at home (electricity bill, computer, rent). So it's just a matter of finding a software niche that's low-risk enough to bootstrap without VC if possible, and in a very small time limit. That's probably why I started making Mac apps 10 years ago and have kept doing so since. Mac apps used to be known for their fine craftsmanship and attention to detail as well as niche market.
The color picker site they link to which limits choices is great for me- I will admit to spending hours trying to pick the perfect color scheme.

https://dribbble.com/colors/eee966
> I would say it is. They have similar calorific content, they are similarly portable and they are similarly stuffed full of sugar.

Exactly - they're superficially very different, but what they provide to the buyer is very similar. Just as with Roombas and cleaners.

> it probably shouldn't be based on a model that makes 4 really reaching assumptions, each of which are completely unproven and quite likely wrong

So put up or shut up: which assumption do you think is wrong, and what do you think the appropriate replacement is?

> This is reminding me of the conversation I had with my vicar who asked me to disprove god's existence if I thought I was so smart.

It's reminding me of the tortoise who denies modus ponens - if you deny the ability to make inferences then where do we even go from there?

> I disagree. I think it's very constructive to dismiss unproven assumptions that are probably wrong, but neatly fit into some kind of groupthink. It's how a lot of science is advanced.

Saying "groupthink" as a meaningless buzzword isn't constructive either. Science advances by questioning assumptions but you have to actually do the work of considering an alternative; science doesn't advance by people introducing a question like "but what if effects didn't follow causes" and then just stopping there.