skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I never realized until recently how hard something like this is. People do not want to move. People that hear about your job post usually have some reason to have heard about your job post, like they can't program at all and their last employer finally figured it out. Unfortunately, you can't know this until they show up and you ask them a few questions about Perl. (I love how one candidate tried to BS me on a basic Perl question. "Do you know OO Perl?" "Yes." "What's the first argument to a Perl method?" "$_". "Don't you mean $_[0]?" "They're the same thing." Congratulations, you have clearly never written any Perl.)

I work at a bank, and we need Perl programmers too. We can afford to pay a lot better than booking.com, but we can't find anyone, either. It's very odd. (And it's not just Perl, we had the same problem with Java and C#, and are having the same problem with C++. Might as well rewrite our app in Haskell... at least those languages have a community.)

The other thing that I see as being difficult for booking.com is that people don't want to work with 40+ other people. Between learning "the rules" from the people already there and teaching the new folks how to program, there is never any time to get anything done. (My second "real job" was like this; I was not even a "team lead" and yet all I did was teach other people basic Perl + Database stuff. We got exactly no work done. At least if I was by myself I would have been able to do one person's work.)

In fact, I find the other Perl team in my office to be too big -- and they only have 4 people!
Yes it's really great that OkCupid take the time to put together those stats and give their results to the public.

Another interesting stats that they release is about how the user profile photo affects the message they get:

http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/your-looks-and-online-dati...
Presumably this was beaten into the comptrollers office with a cluebat over the sound of uhaul trucks emptying all the data centers that had been built in Texas
Look for a public clarification on this soon (very soon) -- it's not intended to affect webhosting according to the Comptroller's office. See my previous comment.
As a newbie to Rails 3 this looks great. Been using Sinatra this whole time and I'm ready to make the plunge with the RoR 3 improvements. Thanks :)
The interesting thing about this video is that he says "We dont invest in people we invest in markets". This statement is the antithesis of the PG / YC strategy of investing in people and not products / markets.
No you got it all wrong. These are dutch people after all.

They are looking for 40 grams of "perl".. You know what I mean? Shmoke it wiff a pancake.
KSA is the least influential in the region, culturally. Anything Saudi is synonymous with inflexibility. Even religious extremists go to Kuwait, UAE and the UK for their meetings. King Abdul Aziz University is a good thing, but KAUST blows it out of the water! I was skeptical at first then did a little research. KAUST is not exactly the MIT of the middle-east, but it's up there with Cornell and CMU. Not only is it the second co-ed institution in Saudi Arabia (the first is the Ka'bah in Mecca, where Muslims go for pilgrimage, side-by-side, but you already knew that ;-) but it's also a place with a strong theoretical bias.

I heard the complaints from right-wing groups when they said "it's a place for boys and girls to sit side by side and learn useless abstract mathematics that will server neither God nor the nation", and I thought ... FUCK YEAH!

My younger sister finished medical school only a few years ago, but because she speaks 4-languages and has a master's degree, she went on to manage an entire clinic, and soon after that the investors sent her to training in hospitality and gave her a hotel to manage, then a second. This is in Oman, btw. I know it's anecdotal evidence, but you couldn't imagine a 27 year old woman managing hotels and hospitals with a staff of several hundred. (I was worried they might be framing her for "something", but I went over her paperwork and it's all kosher; she answers to a board of directors and has clear rights, responsibilities, budget, and reporting procedures. She has been at it for 3 years now.)

Similarly, when dealing with companies in Gulf, I have seen a few repeating patterns in management. You have the national institutions headed by tribal/military chiefs, you have the domestically owned companies headed by foreign expertise, then you have this new breed of "agile" companies headed by women and young people that don't seem to respect the traditional order and hierarchy. Ten years ago, a Request for Proposal was a joke; a formality to waste people's time before the contract was given to the CEO's cousin.
Finally! I've been waiting for a long time to install KeePass 2 (MONO) cleanly on my Mac.
I completely agree, the way I've always perceived mark zuckerberg is as someone just pretty obsessed with building & tinkering.

Sure maybe the initial spark that seeded the first build of facebook could have had something to do with emotions, but that couldn't possibly motivate someone long enough to continue running & noodling with a product long after its proven to be a multi-billion dollar company.
I kinda agree with the article but is like Microsoft saying: "Who needs Java when you can have .NET?" They would say that wouldn't they?

I can't figure out what they are trying to get at with this article. I can't help but feeling that they sound a little desperate.
We recently started to migrate a number of CentOS servers to Ubuntu LTS.

We found that stability to be on par with CentOS, with the primary advantage of Ubuntu being that we have more up to date packages in the main distribution.

We have a number of people running Ubuntu on their workstations which was another benefit of "unifying" the underlying platforms.

BTW, yes apt is awesome
You're right that 1000 pages might be a little crazy. As I noted in another comment, that total included the pagecount of the Rails 2.3 Tutorial book, which comes for free with any PDF or bundle purchase. The Rails 3 Tutorial book itself is only around 500 pages. I've updated the descriptions on the Rails Tutorial website for clarity.
Can't the other distros (and the kernel developers) just take these patches and apply them upstream if they are so wonderful? I'm not sure how having patches to a GPL'ed kernel gives you a competitive advantage..
Yep. And RHEL MRG already includes a 2.6.32 kernel on top of regular RHEL 5. This probably even uses the same .config file.
Wow google alert picked this up fast. Let me give readers some more information:

FormLis is a Business to Business product that I've created for a problem I think businesses have with with 'little data'. There are systems in place for big things like accounting, but when it comes to day-to-day things, like tracking vacation request days, or survey results, or incident reports, mechanical failures, etc then they are on there own. Furthermore, a lot of a company practices and policy is undocumented, outdated and/or hard to reach (i.e. you'd have to email around the company to find out who has it).

So I've created what I think helps solve this problem: a combination wiki and database. This provides an office-wide, group writable, and secure website on which to put common practices, meeting minutes, to-do lists, client information, phone numbers, email addresses, etc. While the integrated database portion makes it easy to make scalable data tracking systems and reports (so you don't have to play 'pass the excel file'). Best of all, you've always got an up-to-date useful resource, that can scale with the company.

Right now I'm in the processes of trying to get warm leads to meet with various businesses and find out if they really do have this problem. Thanks for reading!
Video Gaming Prepares Brain for Bigger Tasks
This is anecdotal evidence but in western Europe[1] Ubuntu Server seems to be vastly more popular than either CentOS or RHEL.

[1] With the exception of Germany, where SUSE Enterprise appears to be most popular.
Why Are You So Angry?
I wrote my first commercial Objective-C program back in 1988 on msoft DOS -- 22 years ago. I am guessing it would probably be a dead language by now if it had not been for NeXT/Apple.
Default to English just because there is ONE person who doesn't understand? Come on. Be proud of your native tongue and speak it. This is how languages die. Are the dutch willing to have their language replaced with English in 50 years?

All I'm saying is... if that one foreigner is motivated enough to stay in the Netherlands, he better damn well learn the language. He/she will have to anyway, in order to adapt in social settings.
I assign no stereotype to any OKCupid users (I am not even sure I have heard of it before), I do feel perhaps that some peoples insecurities about using a dating website are causing them to take this out of context (I accept my wording may not have been delicate enough). In 1995 I dated a girl I met through IRC or a similar such service, and the few single friends I have I often encourage to at least investigate online services, so I don't fall into any category of people who judge people who use these services. I would say that (at least in the UK) probably a slight majority of the people I know are still uncomfortable with the idea of meeting someone online. It is likely that online dating will become more and more prevalent, will it ever totally eclipse other ways of meeting people, I don't know - and yes I am a dinosaur in that I honestly hope that finding love doesn't come down to a computer metric and getting along via a few emails. The spark of meeting someone special in the flesh, eyes meeting across the room etc is something I hope is never replaced by a computer matching you to someone with similar interests (my wife is amazing, we have an amazing relationship and I am pretty sure no computer would ever put us together - zero interests in common, that is what keeps it interesting).

As for no data, I did write my comment with no data to back it up. I would imagine less than 10% of comments I see on HN are made with solid information to backup someones thoughts. Most people on here are smart people that can make up their own minds and provide information from the world they see around them.

Did you have any data to back your comment up? Here's a start, OKCupid claim the median number of partners for both men and women, gays and straights is 6. I've just gone out and googled for such numbers, and whilst I didn't find anything definitive, I didn't find one median or average as low as 6, in fact looking at 18-35 as another commentator points out as OKCupid being representative of, 9 would appear more likely (my guess would have been 8). So that probably supports my assumption that there is a bias to some degree - OKCupid users appear to be getting less than the average. I have no idea where OKCupid falls in the spectrum of dating sites, I have no idea how many active users there are in the world of dating websites, but I would be staggered to see statistics that extrapolate to the user base of a singles website being indicative of overall society. In 10 years time, maybe, but at this point in time I doubt it. This article is trying to claim it has real facts, all I am saying is take those facts with a grain of salt.
Angry Birds: 10 things you probably didn't know
There is a little bit of over-simplifying going on in this article, but it was an interesting read, especially for an anti-dentite like myself. The problem is that people don't go to the dentist just to have cavities filled. My first trip to my current dentist happened due to a severely painful toothache (to call it in ache is like calling a broken leg a paper cut). I had my bride do some research of local dentists (whatever she could cram into 5 minutes on google) and went with the guy that I perceived as having the best technology (but really the main criteria was the most open schedule).

What followed was a great experience: after 2 hours of patching things up, my pain was almost completely gone. After a few days of antibiotics, it was gone. The shot required to numb the area didn't hurt (it may have under normal circumstances, but ... "broken leg"). That single correction brought me back on schedule. I had a filling that was sensitive. He replaced it with a "new material", it was more sensitive, so he replaced it again with a different bonding (Neither I nor my insurance were charged) and that sensitivity went away. No cavity filled since then has been sensitive.

I've had a handful of cavities, and I return, reluctantly, but my loyalty lies more in the fact that I had a tangible, identifiable problem (excruciating pain, and later sensitivity) and he troubleshot it until it was fixed to my satisfaction. I wouldn't see another dentist simply because I believe this particular dentist to be predictable. I'll have a problem, he'll fix it. I, like other commentators, have a dentist who uses more than just X-Rays to diagnose cavities. At the moment, I have three spots on the X-Ray and DIAGNOdent that he has said he'd like to "wait on" because he wasn't sure. I had thought -- due to my past experience with tooth pain -- that "waiting on" something like that was asking for trouble, but now I'm wondering if I have a Dentist who understands the limitations of the technology he uses.
Do any of these vid casts cover comet & rails? I don't see it on the ToC.
Listing few that stayed 'on my mind' for multiple days

- E=mc2

- Genocide in Darfur http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Darfur and

- Wealth controlled by top 1 percent of population in US http://www.slate.com/id/2268872/
Investing in the Unknown and Unknowable - Richard Zeckhauser
> It's true that, back at the panel box, neutral and ground are connected together.

Only if you have only one panel. If you have multiple panels (aka pony panels) the connection from neutral to ground (aka the 'bonding connection') is made in the panel where power enters the premises.
nvm I think I found an ajax example! http://railstutorial.org/chapters/following-users#sec:a_work...
Sure, my office and showrooms are in New York, my factory is in Texas but my company is a brass plaque in Grand Cayman - so I'm not paying any taxes!
I've done db work for mom&pop stores, small-town hardware shop, etc. You would be surprised how much of inventory is digitized even at a small place.

The major work wouldn't be in manpower, but in hooking up the db to something that can index it.
Startup Insurance
Seagate Momentus XT hybrid is very cool. Probably the best bang for the buck at the moment.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3734/seagates-momentus-xt-revi...
tl;dr a glorified affiliate merchandiser.

One tremendous asset papers have left is trust. They should leverage this trust to offer deals on high-quality products to their readers. If they vet the products to ensure they are high quality, they retain trust. If they retain reader trust, the goods producers benefit from association with the newspaper. Thus, they can offer good deals.

Papers already do this, inn a half-assed way. But leveraging their history of goodwill, built up over decades with readers, has to a great way forward for them.
Not only is the UI bad and filled with popups, frames and java-based security features, a friend of mine had to take a web-based test through the blackboard system and the test was all based on JavaScript - You could actually find out the correct answers by viewing the page source!
When Britain and France nearly married
There are three requirements on an invention to be patentable -- It "must be new, non-obvious, and useful". All three clauses are important there.

The proposal handles the "new" part only, and as IgorPartola suggests, it has issues. IgorPartola's argument "prior art has nothing to do with it" is still incorrect though since the "new" is still important. If the "new" part has difficulties, they can be more readily handled via litigation, provided both parties are given balanced opportunity to litigate (http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/eff_apache_software_fou...)

A lot more difficult is to judge the "non-obvious" part. Many patents that should not have been issued fall in this category and would remain hard to handle even with litigation.

Anyone has ideas on how to handle non-obvious part?
Startups, Leanness and MIT's Building 20
Interesting, but [citation needed].
frankly I think this is b.s., doesn't interstate commerce fall under federal jurisdiction anyways?

why should internet companies have to deal with this B.S. for all 50 states?

Frankly i think this is just a way for them to soften everyone up for an internet sales tax. "Oh you don't like filing 50 different tax forms? Well good news, we now have an internet sales tax of 3%"
Obviously a management issue. 40 Perl developers is overkill on many levels.

If I were a Perl developer who wanted to live in Amsterdam, I would be scared of a place looking for 40 people - it means that their management is doing something nonsensical.
Do you want to fight it?

Do your customers, shareholders, managers, investors want you to fight it?

Or would you agree to buy MSFT's product if it included a promise not to sue you?
I listen to the audio still while commuting or around the house, but often read the transcripts if I don't have as much time.

For some guests I really like to watch the video as it helps connect with the guest and Andrew.

I don't think I would have even started using mixergy if it wasn't for the video and the visual connection with Andrew and the guests though.
Seems to me like you are inviting trouble with a name like that.
That's your foot though, mine is smaller.
So, are you saying that firms like Spreedly which don't have as high costs are not offering PCI Level 1 compliance and poorer support? What are the liabilities for Spreedly and its customers for non-compliance?
I have zero experience in deploying Linux in a commercial environment, only home / hobbyist usage; but I wonder why Ubuntu is ahead of Debian?

(I assume we're not talking desktops here.)
If you search on indeed.com, perl has more hits than python and ruby combined by a solid margin. Certainly many of these are for sys admin positions, but I still think it's a pretty telling statistic.
I have about 5 dentists in my immediate family (grandfather, dad, dad's wife, aunt and uncle). My dad is the head of the Perio department in the Hadassah Dental School in Jerusalem. Naturally, I had my teeth checked twice a year like clockwork all my life. I have some gum issues, but never needed a filling.

6 month after moving to the bay area, I went to a local dentist for general checkup. He used the "laser thingy" to find cavities and found no less than eight cavities that required filling. He also took XRays that showed no issues at all. I asked him for copies of the records and XRays so I can send to my father for second opinion. He immediately agreed, but despite weekly reminders, he never sent me the films.

On my first visit back home, I got my teeth checked by my aunt again. I need one filling.

Lessons learned:
* US diet accounts for one cavity.
* Dentist greed accounts for seven more.
* Always ask your dentist for copies of XRay and files and don't return if he will not supply them. It is your right to have those copies of your dental history.
* If the XRays don't show the cavities, there are not at a level where you need to treat them yet. You can safely wait until they show up. If you maintain high level of dental hygiene they may never get to the point where they need filling.
Odd to see this on HN now. I took the job with Booking, just finished packing and will be flying out to Amsterdam tomorrow. See http://blogs.perl.org/users/aevar_arnfjor_bjarmason/2010/10/...

For anyone considering this I can tell you that their whole relocation package (including the assistance they give you) is very impressive.
Well apparently Intel is totally unaware of this fact, so it's news to somebody.
It's from a letter from the TTARA -- it's currently behind a paywall (hence the reason for only excerpting it) but should be public very soon. [Edit: website - http://www.ttara.org/ ]
19 Epic LEGO Guns That Actually Work
But there is a direct mechanical link! In some conditions, this mechanical link is activated - that engine is turning a shaft with some gears on it, which turns another gear and shaft, which turns an axle and two CV joints, which turns two wheels.

What people thought they were getting was a car with an engine + giant generator without a transmission geared to or hooked up to the wheels directly. Then people (or GM, in a future model) could rip the engine, gas tank, etc. out and put a bigger battery in there! Instead, what we're getting is just another Prius, only more expensive and with a crappier more plastic-y interior.
If computers are so fast how come I'm waiting for them as much as ever?
This is why we can't have nice things!

I'm kidding, obviously, but this is a very common phenomenon. Developers optimize their algorithms based on real-world performance instead of theory.

I wonder what impact this has on the world, would the cost of computing be dramatically lower (making computers more accessible) if we didn't do this?
yes |
When I was 14 years old, I went through a growth spurt and often passed out when I got up too quickly. One day, I got out of bed in a hurry, passed and and came to lying next to a broken (UK) plug, with a very sore head. It appeared that I had fallen head first onto the prongs of the upturned plug. Looking back, I was lucky not to have done myself a serious injury. A disadvantage of UK plugs versus those in other countries.
App Hub for Windows Phone 7 & Indie Game Developers
I am not saying it does not make sense for Microsoft to pursue a patent like this; I am saying that the fact that it does illustrates how out-of-touch the patent system has become.

Patents were meant to protect Patents have by themselves become a source of revenue, used by big corporations to sit on their lazy ass. They no longer hold any value for the small inventors they were meant to protect in the first place.
I'll bet you don't have showrooms, a factory or a brass plaque, not even in Grand Cayman :)
You also can't just look at the owners of major company's and think their background was the only thing that mattered. Drawing from a large, stable, educated workforce is a requirement for any large technology company to succeed.

PS: China and India both have huge public education systems.
You're sexist.
Ask HN: How would you write a web-friendly tax code?
With the recent Texas change, how would you write a web-friendly tax code?

Personally I think it would have to be something where you just deal with one entity, with one set of rules.
1000 pages really isn't that much, Django's documentation is about 800 pages printed last I checked.
This happened to me once. I figured it was flagging by members of HN. So, I decided to test it out. Using my two accounts, I flagged something that was rising quickly but wasn't HN material. And it went from about 4th to 48th.

If you interpret it, just think two renegade HN members did this.
No, the main challenge is calling every mom & pop store and getting them indexed. You are also unlikely to convince a mom & pop store to do any extra work, especially if it involves something they don't understand (computers).

There's a reason Milo is starting with big-box and national retailers.
i really like the suggestion to add "Create Account" next to "Sign In". i'll see about getting that in sometime soon.

cool mockup. perhaps we'll try it out and see how the conversions look.

thanks!
I miss having you at the live interviews.

I'm having a hell of a time getting enough bandwidth in my new office. I can't believe I had a better connection at Regus's Argentina office than I have at their DC office.
Looks amazing. I'll definitely be recommending this to everyone I know getting started with Rails.
Woah there, thanks for the hint :) Will be quite useful for me.