skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
"Elaborate rituals and strange requests that provide no benefit to them and only seem to inconvenience the people who are in fact still alive."

Exactly the other way round. The rituals are solely for the benefit of those still living to better deal with their grief and loss.

I suppose strange requests could become an inconvenience. But Hunter Thompson's request that he be sent up as fireworks for his friends to observe and enjoy, for example, seems less an inconvenience and more a thoughtful gesture to those he left behind.

So it all depends on the request, I guess.
The diagram has omissions. Either:

1. There is a floor that the weights (and the man) are standing on.

2. Weight C is dropping whether he pulls the rope or not.

I think that the diagram is meant to show all the weights resting on a floor, and all the confusion is due to misunderstanding of that. In the other case, the diagram neglects to mention something to the effect of "supports have just been removed".
My favorite quote in that article:

I found an interesting culture full of contradictions and struggling to combine its past with its future and desperately wanted to learn about them. Don saw an SUV and thought he knew some shit.

True, considering' Zed's experience (1.5 years as soldier stationed there, spending lots of time integrating and studying the culture.
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I'm happy they haven't resubmitted it. I have the Easter Egg enabled and would rather keep the volume button shutter.

Of course, it would be stupid for them to not ramp that revenue stream back up.
UTorrent Linux Server Released, Client Coming Soon
How do we know Neanderthal society was "secular"?
My friends at Mendeley in London are looking for a good sysadmin.

http://careers.serverfault.com/Jobs/8284
Complexity is also laziness on the part of the customer. The story about the customer who thought a product wasn't up to par because it was simple, tried it, and then found that it did everything needed is illustrative of this.

Marketing rules in business, but that's really too bad. It's too bad because marketing is pandering to the lowest common denominator. If someone wants something stupid, marketing means indulging their stupidity. Marketing never, ever uplifts anything.
Is the person currently pulling, are the weights on the ground, are the weigths currently moving to get into a stable position? Friction, weight of cord, acceleration, etc. etc. Any combination of the previous?

Depending on your level with maths/physics you'll probably give different answers and make different assumptions.
I agree that core strenght tends to be undervalued, but you will not see a top marathoner with a leg that is quite this size:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fabian_Cancellara_-_Tour_O...

Form, effecency, and power are important for both sports. However, cyclists focus more on power output.
This tricks people because it doesn't start out in static equilibrium. For it to look like this, the weights would have to be resting on a table to relieve the tension in the rope.

If the man does nothing, the heaviest weight will fall and the lightest will rise. If it's frictionless and he starts pulling, the same thing will happen, only the lengths will lessen.
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Choosing the Best Lighting for Your Kitchen « Lighting Universe
Because:

- each dependecy makes it harder to build your project

- and makes it more brittle (libraries goes obsolete, changes versions, occasionaly have non-backward-compatibile changes, on different systems different versions of libraries are available, etc)

- most of the time you use only small fraction of each library, it is also common (at least in static typing world) that libraries enforces data structures on you, so sometimes it's easier to reinvent wheel, than to integrate your app with some library

- when you need to add some feature to library you often have to go throught hoops (inherit some class, make some wrappers and use it instead of what you'd use normally) - it is much easier to keep things simple, when you have controll over interfaces and can just change what you want, also architecture is simpler without proxies, wrappers and delegates

- static binaries on linux don't work after a few years

- dynamic linked binaries works as long as somebody worries about dependency problems - and this means you

- you can keep all dependencies in VCS together with your project, but often it's not legal (LGPL)

- not really important for most apps - dependencies bloats your app

Dependencies in programming are like moving parts in enginering - there should be as few of them as possible.
From another post by the author:
"it is interesting to note that small amounts of alcohol (the occasional drink) is associated with reduced levels of markers of chronic inflamamtion like IL-6, CRP and leptin."
Don't have any sources of the research, but it seems like he may post it soon.
SlideShare's massive monetization: Itunes for Slides and more
"Extremely skilled photographers can get better results on film". Not just skilled. Extremely skilled. Doesn't sounds like me. But I love that old tech still works in the right hands.
This one took me a bit by surprise. I've been using Plex for a few months but I thought of this project more as a hobby (not for me, for its developers), the less famous, successful sibling of Boxee's. Basically, it felt like it was a second step from Boxee: one would have heard about and tried Boxee, and then been told to try Plex instead.

The developer documentation is almost inexistent, some of their plugins (e.g. Pandora) don't look very good; but still their interface and plugin library are great.

I'm interested to see how much of the current Plex will live in these LG products: will I be able to play Netflix and hulu for example? Overall, I'm pretty excited about this.
Assumptions:

pulleys: idealized, massless, frictionless

rope: idealized, massless, doesn't stretch

weights: resting on ground.

As tension is applied to the rope, Weight A will be lifted first, until it is lifted to the ceiling. Then Weight B, and finally Weight A.

It helps to visualize Weight A as being massless. In that case, there would just be extra slack in the rope, and B&C would not move until the slack was taken in.
Checked out your product last night. Wishing for more inventory!
Quicklisp does have a centralized location for archives (hosted on S3), and it statically extracts a lot of useful metadata about project contents and relationships. I'm trying to work with what's available without asking for cooperation from authors.

I have lots of ideas for more metadata that can be gathered automatically or semi-automatically. It should be straightforward if time-consuming to set up automatic testing, even if it's as simple as "Does library foo compile and load on implementation bar on operating system baz?" Same with gathering data to answer questions like "What foreign libraries are needed for this project?" or "What is the license for this project?"

If you'd like to give the early version a try, drop me an email (xach@xach.com) or visit freenode #quicklisp.
"The complex expensive toaster? I bet it sells well."

His whole argument basically comes down to this comment. Instead of guessing whether complexity sells well, he should continue his research and find out for sure.
Thanks for the encouragement! (Boy do I need it)

- On lots of test problems: that's exactly what I intend to do. New test problems will be introduced into the private/paid queue and after they have been delivered enough times, they will be moved to the open/free queue.

- Of a fast-forward movie of the candidate coding: I'm a bit skeptical of this one. I'd really rather let people code on their own computers (in their favourite editors) first. Also, if I were the candidate, it'd annoy me a bit to be judged negatively on, for instance, typing errors and private comments while I'm fleshing the code out. But that's just what I think; if enough people ask for it, I'll add it.
Well in Italy at least you aren't really FORCED to drink more and more during a night out with friends.
Vail Resorts Links RFID Lift Tickets With Social Media
Women on the STD Issues – Symptoms and Awareness
I'm dumbfounded that they're using iTunes as the platform for this thing. Not having it exist as a website is retarded beyond belief. I really hope this isn't the fruit their Lala acquisition is bearing, because if it is it makes me even more angry that they killed one of my favorite web apps. They should have just rebranded lala as Apple Ping and been done with it. Huge fail so far.
Our results show that some words commonly used in programming languages do not relate well to the concepts they are meant to describe. For instance, in our tests, we tested words that meant "doing something zero or more times." We found that, for nonprogrammers, among the words rated lowest for describing this concept were "do", "foreach", "while" and "for."

This makes me feel a lot less stupid for having struggled with these concepts (maybe not these exact concepts, but similar ones) myself.
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The whole article seems to be more of a style argument then a complexity argument. It presents the false dichotomy that things that are simple to operate, must have less controls. There is no reason why you can't have all the controls and a button that does everything very simply. First page of the manual should say, use the "auto" button, if that doesn't work for you, keep reading.

We've also been trained to want a manual override switch. When I think of simplicity in UI, I think of Apple. I remember when Apple stopped putting eject buttons on their Mac disk drives. A also remember constantly having to find a paper clip when the machine refused to eject the disc(often).

Secondly, there are always special cases where you need some extra control. It's hard to believe that the manufacturers software has accounted for everything. When I find a "bug" it's very frustrating to not be able to manually override the behavior.

Another case for complexity is if some sensor breaks, the appliance becomes useless. I remember shopping for a car in the early 90s (with my parents), and wanting manual windows because everyone I knew with electric windows had broken motors with windows that didn't work anymore. The situation is drastically improved now, but then, manual ruled. Sooner or later your "automatic" appliance won't work the way it did when it was first purchased. Having manual controls should extend the life of the appliance.
More speculation... but if a comet exploded in the upper atmosphere these microparticles could have been trapped up there for while. Still would expect winds and such to spread them around...
Whether or not that's a joke I laughed out loud.
> Haven’t you ever compared two products side by side, comparing the features of each, preferring the one that did more? Why shame on you, you are behaving, well, behaving like a normal person.

i'ma geek I like complex programmable stuff. But this is still BS. I buy the $19.99 toaster oven cause after a year or two they're all nasty inside and It's nice to chuck it an buy new one. $20/yr is worth it to have toasty things. $250 is not.

If I made $200k I'd proly buy the $250 toaster and never use it cause I ate out all the time.

I recently was absolutely shocked shopping for vacuums. they went from $60 to over $500. WTF! The $200+ ones were filled with retarded, do nothing "features". I went to thrift store and bought a $30 one.

My points are 2

1) purchasing decisions have many more factors than simplity or complex.

2) the biggest factor is manipulating the buyers psychology, simple/complex is a symptom of that. Apple has made it a cool/hip lifestyle choice to own "sealed", low-featured, slick and overpriced electronics. Complex == status for Koreans. Do nothing technical sounding features == I don't know what? but something to convince people to pay $500 for $200 vacuum. Monster Cables.
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Probably if you substitute Lisp for Forth, and Java for C, it would be more "modern" and still true.
Would you participate in a class with 2300 other online participants?
Clone software to start my own business. Is it ethical? (discussion)
There is a huge gap between the US and the second best military in the world. After a 15% cut in DoD budget we would still maintain that #1, so the real question is how much of a lead do we need to feel safe? Must we be able to crush #2 - 5 at the same time?
Looks clean and succinct. Is there a forum/google-group that one can join to learn more about Kona?
To be fair, they published a paper in 2006.

While slow, I can see how something like this would need heavily evidence-supported data to be even remotely non-laughable in even scientific communities.

Now I'm not disagreeing in saying that proving something "simple" like, say, the ability for the cells to reproduce at 121C could be somewhat easily verified, but usually with things like this just verifying something like that isn't grounds for publication by any means.

It's not that it's not interesting, but we're trying to prove that these are extraterrestrial life forms here. They're going to definitely want to prove, independently, the whole (likely) bundle of proposed theories, such as the fluorescence possibly linking them to (in the article) the Red Rectangle, plus verification that they do not have any type of DNA or RNA (harder than you'd think), plus other behaviorial/evolutionary traits not yet discovered before they consider it "proven" or otherwise.

To say that since one cannot be verified, thus it is all irrelevant or false is just impatience. Work with a grad student sometime who is pursuing their dissertation, haha.
A light cyclist has a huge advantage in non-flat terrain. He needs strong legs and light everything else. A runner needs core and back muscles to run in a way that does not waste a lot of energy and prevents injuries.

In my experience running is harder on your entire body, cycling just on legs and lungs.
Flat is better than nested only when you're dealing with limited space. You can put as many buttons on a washing machine as you want, but an iPod needs to maximize its real-estate. Therefore, nesting becomes the optimal choice, but it has to be intelligent nesting. Features need to present themselves when it makes the most sense based on the current context. On your GF's iPod, shuffle is very easy to access when you're currently listening to a song. Otherwise, it's hidden away.
Yeah, can you imaging hauling around 2,000 glass plates on your next vacation? Or a professional photographer lugging 5,000+ plates and trying to get some candid shots at a wedding? Digital helps people take better shots. Resolution isn't everything!
Yah, we're working on it. More inventory will definitely be key. We'll be doing some marketing starting next week to get the word out about the $500 incentive we'll pay people for listing their apartments. In the meantime, if you let me know what you're looking for I'd be happy to keep an eye out and let you know first thing when something matching gets posted.
Apple now building 2M iPads per month to meet demand
To answer the title, I think I'd have a much better idea after I lurked in a class first. Once I've experienced how it works I'd be able to make a more informed decision.
Rural outsourcing helps Arkansas compete with India
I'm not sure linking to an editorial is a good way to present this story...
I agree. Simplicity sells, but only when needs are met.

I only ever use 1 heat setting on my toaster. All the others are useless. If you sold me a toaster that only heated on that setting, I'd be perfectly happy. But how many other people are happy with my taste in toast? The product simply would not sell well enough.

It's the same with all the other products listed. Sure, maybe a few 'features' are unused, but without extensive market testing, you can't know which ones they are.

Digg recently removed some features... Apparently they were useful features to the community, and there were a lot of complaints about that. (Among other things.)

Facebook recently added some features... These features didn't have enough features on them, and there was a revolt. Facebook would have been fine without more features, or by adding enough new features, but they stopped somewhere in-between and paid for it.
Sure. If I had to guess, I'd say that Apple's stretched extremely thin, their products are worked on by surprisingly small teams, they were under time pressure to get this out the door, the culture of secrecy kept them from doing some user testing, and (given the number of small details Ping got wrong) this particular project didn't have strong product leadership with experience in the space.
absolutely a must!
> Even if you take fewer pictures people assume you're the more serious photographer.

Or that you're a pretentious rich kid.
I'll take the downvotes, but HN is the best medium I have to express appreciation where I think someone from the Wave team or otherwise involved in the decision might actually see it. I just wanted to say thanks, without any further qualification.
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I'd be surprised if the average person who's been out of school and programming for at least a decade, let alone moved mostly on to managing programmers, could still remember the difference between an NP complete problem and the halting problem at an "can explain it to your grandmother" level.
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> Most cash-cows are really complex beasts. See Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, Oracle

I would argue that these products are cash cows not because they're complex, but because they were created and marketed at the right time and place. In fact, I would argue that these products became complex after having become cash cows, after which adding features was no longer constrained by time or budget. Microsoft Office is amazingly bloated, for instance. I would argue that 95% of its users only ever use 5% of the features.
MPMoviePlayerViewController: Check yourself before you wreck yourself
It looks at first glance like, while there are fewer periods where the whole system is stopped, those periods are substantially longer. Why would this be the case? Was the "old" generation previously being collected every time?

The pause is still very short; it doesn't look like it will cause problems for anything but the most time-critical software. Still, it's an interesting difference.
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I was chatting with Simon about this a few weeks ago. He's definitely in this for the long haul, but is really looking forward to getting back to writing about science, not libel.
Sadly the merits of prime lenses and the subtleties of optics are lost on the masses. Show up with a hasselblad medium format film camera and a Zeiss prime anywhere amateurs assemble and be met with confused stares
Thanks! I was aware that Joan also is an author but unaware of the rest.