skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Yes, it's supposedly inspired by Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, which are both excellent books. However, the letter shapes of those two books are closer to each other than they are to Comic Sans. It seems the font creator relied more on his intuition of how comic letters should look than on observation. There's a good comparison of the three fonts here:

http://kleinletters.com/Blog/?p=3599
Call me an opensorcerer or a rastafarian
Umm... With EC2, which is what they often use, powering up and configuring 1000 machines can take 10 minutes or so, give or take a ramped boot. :-)
Very kind. Thank you.
oswd.org
10 Steps to Starting a Business in Toronto
last.fm vehemently denied giving data to the RIAA however just a few months later 3 of the founders all quit (Felix, Martin & RJ) which splashed fuel on the rumour fire as to what had really happened.
I agree 100% - I use it to decide which movies to see in my area. I end up seeing a wide spectrum of types of movies (e.g. from Toy Story to Let the Right One In), but they are mostly all very good.
A counterpoint from a comment on the blog post:

I'm not any more convinced it was innocent just because you say motherfucker as much as I do.
I don't see any reason why one couldn't put a ratcheting hub in the crankset, allowing backward pedaling...
The post by 17-year-old Pearce Delphin that brought chaos to Twitter
The quickest path to some income would seem to be to find a co-founder that has the exact skills that you need, together you should be able to go from concept to working prototype in a couple of weeks.

Sound out your pilot buddies if they want to be your 'pilot' ;) customers.
in the comments section it says the site doesn't accept credit cards. it uses "webmoney" and moneybookers to charge someone.
Yes. I had a colleague apply for TechStars and her takeaway from the interview was "he was really focused on where the business was." Doesn't seem in line with what I've heard about YC's primary interest (it's not the business model).
Why is this post receiving so much attention, just because DHH wrote it? It has basically no content and is extremely fluffy. I find the 37signals blog in general is often like this.

Sometimes I wish HN stories could be downvoted.
Github hosts open source software. You can browse through all kind of projects written in a wide variety of languages.

One way of approaching this, would be to pick one language, read about it, and then look for other projects on Github written in that language. That'll teach you a lot.

Let's say for instance, that you've heard about Python, and would like to learn a bit about that language.
You can start by Google's Python class [1]
Once you've grasped how python works, and written a few scripts on your own to get familiar with the language, you can learn about Google App Engine, which is a platform for running python scripts on Google's infrastructure. They have a very nice introduction to App Engine. [2]

Then once you've played with it, and deployed your first 'hello world' program, you can search github for small projects which run on App Engine. [3] Clone them and run them on your local server, read the code, tweak it, break it, fix it.

Within a week, you should be able to write a simple and fun little service. Then go learn about Ruby [4]. And see how it compares to python. Write a bunch of ruby scripts, install sinatra [5], deploy to Heroku [6]. Now, try to write the same simple and fun service you've previously written in Python in Ruby. Then go read about other scripting languages (javascript, PHP) and once you've made your mind about which one you prefer, stick with it for a few months.

You can learn and deploy sites/apps without spending a cent.

[1] http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/python/gettingstarted/

[2] http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/python/gettingstarted/

[3] http://github.com/search?langOverride=&language=python&#...

[4] http://mislav.uniqpath.com/poignant-guide/book/chapter-3.htm...

[5] http://www.sinatrarb.com/intro

[6] http://blog.heroku.com/archives/2009/3/5/32_deploy_merb_sina...
Rewrite with OOP and MVC" is an easy, whiny, pointless suggestion

Separating the design from the code would make it a lot easier for designers to create themes without having to worry about PHP. A proper templating system like Smarty would make a huge improvement with its built-in modifiers. For example:

<?php
$title = the_title( "<h1>", "</h1>", true );
if(strlen($title > 80) {
echo(substr($title, 0,80)."...");
}
?>

Would be this if Wordpress used Smarty:

<h1>{{$TITLE|truncate}}</h1>

This makes any display logic in the templates more portable when switching themes as well, because designers will be less prone to putting that code in header.php or single.php.
Didn't mean this particular piece.

I was referring to the style of all lowercase, and to when I started noticing business people stop using initial caps. I used to catch myself doing it too after using a Sidekick and Moto Q for email on the go; still happens sometimes.
That was one of the things that destroyed NCR after AT&T bought it. AT&T had no technical career path, and effectively cut its own head off.

As a result, AT&T bought NCR for something like $9 billion, and ended up spinning it off for something close to $3 million. My mother was at the time an IBM exec (since retired), and she was ecstatic -- IBM was much bigger in the US, but until AT&T bought it, NCR dominated the international big iron market. AT&T effectively killed off IBM's biggest competitor, and a major part of that was the fact that the entire company culture was optimized around funneling talent into management or out the door.
What benefits were better? Google's benefits seem pretty generous to me.
Safety critical software is absolutely not the thing to get involved with (especially off the bat)... That and security critical software have mountains of approval to get through before they can be used. The FAA is notoriously old fashioned.

Also, I'd personally hate to be responsible for some crash because my flight planning assistance SaaS had a minor, off-by-one bug in it somewhere, or misinterpreted "thar be tornadoes" for "light and variable winds".

(I am an embedded software engineer. I was also a private/instrument pilot.)
Exactly. It's the start-ups that make super angels 'super angels', ignore them for a year or so and the situation would change dramatically. Some of them are so well connected that people would consider giving them some equity just to get them and their network on board.

It also serves as validation to some extent, if 'X' is on board that validates your start-up in the eyes of others.

Nice example, plenty of the YC companies would never receive so much as a byline on the major tech / news sites but as soon as YC invests they're headline news.
Many people do in fact love music or painting though specifically because of the admiration others give them for it.

You're getting awfully close to a "no true Scotsman" fallacy. I know I'm not going to evaluate whether the guy who paints for himself or the guy who paints for a spot on the museum wall has a higher degree of "pure" love for an action.

It's irrelevant, really.
The "Free SEO Analysis" tool is pretty cool - although surely that required some amount of programming development, and it's not mentioned in the blog post.
Haha - yea me too. I've actually wanted a gEdit plug-in to text highlight for huge cells. I actually love programming in Scheme because the parenthesis are so like Excel's sort-of functional style.
Facebook’s Gaming Event
the_title() writes to the page. If you want to use the title in a variable, there is get_the_title()

Actually, within The Loop, you would us the_title('','',false)
I was under the impression that Ellison pays for the sponsorship out of his pockets but puts the Oracle logo on the sailboat. Also, it is the BMW Oracle team and the total amount spent was "reported" to be around $200 million.
Google "iPhone pilot logbook". There's at least one app already out there. Find out what they do and do it better.
http://www.payscale.com/research/US/All_K-12_Teachers/Salary

(Neither have most teachers.)
I think you've possibly hit on a fundamental difference between learning styles that people have.

I've learned probably 95% of all my programming from doing.

I do take issue though with the idea that the learn by doing crowd is somehow less accomplished. It smacks of baseless elitism.
I can't think of a time when Arrington was seriously wrong. His leads get in way before the news breaks and his stories have even altered what was to be announced.

I doubt Mike just made this all up. Especially how everyone in that room has feed him stories for the past 5 years. Do you think Mike (a lawyer) would seek legal advice unless this was real.

Funny enough, both sides of this story are trying to win over startups! Either way, we win.
IIRC Oracle doesn't pay anything, they're name is just on the boat because Ellison wants it to be. He's the one paying for it. But I'm sure the boat is actually owned by a corporation that gets its own write offs.
It doesn't have to be safety critical to be associated with flying.

I've written code for the aviation industry (fuel estimation programs, one thing you really don't want to mess up with) so I fully understand the ins and outs of that, but a pilots log book has already been mentioned and that would be a nice thing to start out with.
FWIW Endomondo allows others to track your ride in the free version. They can also send you messages: eg They type in the webapp "Keep going! Go faster", and your phone cuts the music out and does text->speech of 'Message from <user>: keep going! go faster' It's quite cool :)

http://www.endomondo.com/login
So, the windows part provide absolutely no control input into the system? Including no operator control input from PC?
SaaS Metrics Guide to SaaS Financial Performance
Congrats to Andrew, Toby, and Dan for making such a great hire. It bodes well for the next months!
Limpid a simple app for p2pu
Limpid is a simple gtk application coded in python, as there was a requirement for the course named Scripting-101 which i'm mentoring on Mozilla P2PU. The app has a window with a split screen, where in the first part of the split is a simple webbased IRC and the other part is a virtual GNU/Linux terminal.
Miglu.com - International Phone 2 Phone Calls
Wasn't calling meant for the phone? It came to the computer, only because of the $$$ saved.

Miglu.com tries to do that by allowing us to leverage Phone2Phone calls at the same low cost.
www.miglu.com

Whats your opinion?
To be clear it isn't Tornado, it's a custom server inspired by Tornado. It sounds like the framework is fairly tied to the implementation of the server (most likely where routing, pipes, etc are all hooked up)
Sungevity: the Amazon of solar electricity? (With lessons from Google Earth)
Something being deductible on federal is nowhere near the same as a tax credit. You don't get a tax credit for state/local taxes. You get a deduction (which doesn't apply under AMT). So, if you're in the 25% bracket, you can deduct your 10% state taxes, which reduces it from 25+10% to 25+10-(0.25*10).

California's 9.3% is the top regular marginal income tax rate. There is also an 8-10% state/local sales tax. There is no way around the analysis that California and New York are relatively high tax states compared to Nevada and Washington.
Last interesting project to still be kept in Subversion.
the title should be Lucene should be the 1,000,000th commit on the apache svn repo
For people going for the lightest bike possible, the spokes in the driving direction of the wheel are a smaller gauge (heavier)-- not one side or the other, as the hub is a single piece. The frame is reinforced slightly on the chain-side of the bicycle. But these modifications are for racing bikes, normal bikes have no special reinforcement because the weight difference is a couple ounces.

The current system has no problems and most parts are interchangeable.
I'm a Mac user, and I probably wouldn't like it terribly but since most of my non-Xcode work is with vim and Terminal I would probably be ok (I can get by with web-based services for everything else).

I would definitely miss things like Homebrew though: http://github.com/mxcl/homebrew
Why Does Spicy Food Taste Hot?
I agree. It seems likely that at least some of the people in the meeting might just be talking about things that would benefit them without fully realizing that the whole setup and the conversation they were having was actually collusion. Under that premise, I can believe that both Arrington and McClure are telling the truth, but only Arrington saw a spade for a spade.
Suggestion: After you have a reasonable facsimile of a working log for pilots (if you choose to go this route), consider generalizing/expanding for scuba divers - Same kind of honor-system log-book for dives performed. I would imagine there are other disciplines that would benefit, as well...
as a product manager, this is great for me. I can alter my ideas and see how they feel with the real product. It's a great step on top of Axure. You should sell to them for $500k today.

nice job with the demo video.
Cyclists and Motorcycle riders are most often killed by the oncoming left turn. It's one of the most dangerous scenarios for a rider as you cannot react until it's nearly too late. If you see a driver doing something stupid (like speed past you with the right turn blinker on) you can slow down and allow them to make a right turn and avoid a collision.

A car slowing to make a left on the other hand looks like a driver acting properly. Slowly to a stop... waiting for cars to pass.... waiting for yo... and then the driver jerks the wheel and speeds across attempting to beat the next oncoming car. Turns out you're trapped halfway across the intersection with a 3000 lb vehicle crossing your T.

Or worse yet they just assume you're going to yield to them because you're on a bike. In that case, no amount of visibility will change the fact the other driver hasn't ridden a bicycle in 30 years and has forgotten the rules of the road.

Riding a motorcycle creates another issue in that drivers have trouble immediately identifying something small oncoming at twice the speed limit (relative). You end up with a dead rider and a driver confused because they saw the motorcycle, but their subconscious driving habits were not trained to deal with it properly. I think that is called beta reaction? e.g. absentmindedly braking when you see a red light without consciously connecting the red light with stopping.

6. In the multiple vehicle accidents, the driver of the other vehicle violated the motorcycle right-of-way and caused the accident in two-thirds of those accidents.

7. The failure of motorists to detect and recognize motorcycles in traffic is the predominating cause of motorcycle accidents. The driver of the other vehicle involved in collision with the motorcycle did not see the motorcycle before the collision, or did not see the motorcycle until too late to avoid the collision.

8. Deliberate hostile action by a motorist against a motorcycle rider is a rare accident cause. The most frequent accident configuration is the motorcycle proceeding straight then the automobile makes a left turn in front of the oncoming motorcycle.

source: http://www.motorcycle-accidents.com/pages/stats.html

PDF of Study: http://isddc.dot.gov/OLPFiles/NHTSA/013695.pdf
What a coincidence, I was hit by a car while commuting in to London on my bike today and ended up in A&E via an ambulance. The first thing I did was upload the data to connect.garmin.com to see the vitals during and after the event.
I am an X-Googler. It's a great company to work and what you see and learn there will definitely add a lot of value to you for future.

Also, the actual money you will make at google will be more than your base pay. The bonuses are good (I am not sure I can reveal the exact numbers here, but read your offer letter carefully and make some min-max calculations, It won't be hard for you to land up with an average).

Then there's free food and other benefits that you can google around to find out.
How Gaming Affects Your Productivity and Why Is It Awesome Anyway
Is the Web heading toward redirect hell?
EpicMIX: Ski Resorts Implementing Game Mechanics
Starting this November five ski resorts will start tracking statistics to create a real-world game environment associated with skiing and snowboarding.

The tracking is done by a physical pass the rider wears which is scanned via an RF scanner at the lift station. From this they can determine how much elevation the player covers and how quickly. Points are attributed appropriately and pushed to the web.

Mobile apps are also being created for the iPhone and Android platforms.

Players will unlock achievements and level-up according to their real-world accomplishments.

Video: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid597204651001?bctid=598987864001
I’ll Take 2 MasterCards and a Visa, Please
" they own a great processor (Sparc)"

I'm not so sure about that.

For years x86 has been chewing up the market for Sparc processors, and one of the reasons that Sun had such poor finances is that it was selling x86-based servers more than Sparc based servers (they cost considerably less, and perform better).

Fujutsu's Sparc implementation significantly outperforms Sun's.

Contemporary Xeons outperform both these days.

Besides, Sun has had a long history of massive screwups -- and they put "don't tell anyone we screwed up" clauses in their support contracts. One company just gave up when they got their UltraSPARC3 rig, found that not only was it not nearly performant enough to meet expectations, but also in order for it to function reliably, they had to disable the 2nd level cache on every CPU, or else a cache glitch would bring down the entire server (32 procs).

It's not a great processor. It hasn't been for a long time. Sun has been the "flock of chickens" vs the POWER "bull" as a result.
I don't get why technical people who don't want to go in management sign on as permanent employees. Why deal with all that career review nonsense, etc. when as a technical person you have no track anyway?
updated! The author was trying to pull in the facts, but yes all these tweets could be wrong as well.
Ask HN: Review our startup, fairbooks.com
We just launched our new startup, and were hoping for some feedback. It's a textbook buy-back company.
...and now you're a discriminatory hirer.

Don't get me wrong. I love to build things. I love writing programs that improve my life in some way. I love that I can see a difficulty in someone else's life and tangibly improve it (for free if it's easy and you're a friend, or for a fair fee otherwise). Programming is fun.

What is not fun is the mental masturbation of keeping up-to-date on all the latest-and-greatest languages and frameworks. What is not fun is building something with no tangible benefit. What is not fun is being insulted and dismissed by people who expect everyone to have the same interests and motivations as themselves.

In your list of "balance", not once do you mention friends. I have a few groups of friends (totaling probably 30-40 people) in my city that I hang out with a couple times a month, some of them a couple times a week. I have more friends from my hometown that I visit once every month or two. I have other friends in other cities that I see a few times a year. If you subtracted all of that from my life, I would probably have an extra 50 hours per week to spend hacking. No deal.

Just because I don't like spending my leisure time hacking doesn't mean that I don't genuinely enjoy the time that I do spend hacking. It doesn't mean that I don't have grandiose plans for things that I want to build (and make money from!). Your attitude about what constitutes a balanced life and a good hacker is very shortsighted and frankly offensive.

I have several friends who are musicians. A couple of them make up one of my favorite bands, having a really cool and unique sound. In my time hanging out with them, we watch movies, grab something to eat, lounge around, party, and generally enjoy each other. We don't spend much time at all playing music just for fun. When they are "doing music", they are either writing a new song, improving an old song, recording, performing, practicing something new and useful, or rehearsing for an upcoming gig. All of their musical work leads to money in some form. Why do we expect hackers to work for free in their leisure time?
Clickable: http://www.fairbooks.com
Without rss/atom feed it's not very practical...
For real,

"That bent Gosling’s resolve like a wishbone in the hands of two eager siblings in mid-pull after Thanksgiving dinner, but even that didn’t break it."
Other than the aforementioned DB2, the only other competitor out there for Oracle is SQL Server.

That has some big customers -- a large part of Disney's online infrastructure relies on SQL Server, for example.
GOG hoax: “we could not miss a chance to generate some buzz”
The teal bubble's contrast is bad and is hard to see. Is it intentional?
Does anyone else with a large monitor find that page difficult to read because of the dreadfully small font size?
I also like that people could totally re-skin Hacker News to look like a site related to actual work. I bet there is a monetization model in selling bland versions of sites (ie: espn.com to look like an excel sheet).

Is there a way to share your design for others to see?

Can the combined css be exported as one style sheet?
مسلسل سيلا الحلقة 20
I forgot to mention in my AT&T diatribe... when they ended my contract there, in customer support (where believe it or not, our phones did not work), the person that they brought in to replace me was internal. Internal transfer displaced contractors, and since we were getting many calls (which the phones not working, that wasn't a surprise), rather than expanding staff, they cut the contracts.

Shortly after I'd been informed but before my last day, my replacement showed me two screw drivers and asked me which one was the FLAT head. At least I could have understood if she'd asked which was the Philips head (is Philips the flat one?), but no.
...In common use on 37Signal's signup pages, in fact. I don't blame 'em (because coupons work), but it certainly doesn't perfectly jibe with their "consistent pricing" mantra.
BTW: please submit this blog post! It's fascinating, and many on HN would appreciate it. I just checked, and it hasn't been submitted before (or, at least, it accepted the submission - which I quickly deleted.)
Melissa, there are a ton of SEO resources on the web. SEOmoz's Ranking Factors is a great place to start: http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors

SEOmoz.org(and seobook.com) also has free tools and other resources.
>>We don’t want to be one of those companies that has a "who you are determines how much we can charge you" pricing model. We find those models unfair, dishonest, and flat out unappealing.

Using moralistic language like this to describe non-profit pricing is a bit too harsh.

Would it be dishonest to donate their product or offer a discount to a single non-profit ? If not, why would it be dishonest to offer the same deal to 10 non-profits or all non-profits ?

I wonder what the blogger would say about freemium plans and tiered pricing. Freemium pricing always means that the paid customers subsidize free customers (many of whom will never become paid customers).OTH the absence of freemium may reduce the number of paid customers making the product un-viable.

Is it unfair and dishonest to do freemium pricing ?

[disclosure: All of our iPhone apps are registered in Apple's "education pricing" discount program for students and faculty. I see nothing dishonest about this.]
It is a bit like iMacros? https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/deckhobdafgddagl...