skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
As to opposed to what? Being a poorer pleasant farmer dying of various diseases and having no access to modern health care?

Business interest are violating rules of law by taking away people's homes and properties for the sake of commercial development. That is what happening in China. Or when companies keep polluting with no regard for people down the river and killing them with cancer. That is also another situation in China.

Now, I don't care about equality and stuff like that but I do care when people's lives are being run over. However, I do not care when people are taking dangerous job voluntary and improving their lives because of taking said job.

I don't even care about the whales unless people are starting to be affected by the damage of pollution and people are dying.

Now, there are tons of problems that people face everyday. There are not enough money to go around. People are not generous. But at least, we should get the problem right.
Don't really get the point. Is the idea to get it up in the Google rankings and then add ads?
Mice that eat at the wrong time of day get fat
I think it's because all of the points relate to saving time of the reader. If something can be said in less and clearer words, do so.

People who read a lot eventually hit texts that could have been way shorter and clearer, and develop a bullshit-detector to avoid such time wasters again. The reverse of this is that texts with high "signal to noise" are highly appreciated.
I second watching the WePay talk.

One of the best pieces of advice I heard at Startup bootcamp came from Bill Clerico (WePay CEO) when he described building software as a community process. It seemed like an elegant way to say users are what really matter and it applies equally well to commercial, open source and personal projects.
For me too, here's the google cache http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:3-yV7X4...
The read from the Oracle lawsuit is that using any of those will get you sued.

Wait - what users of non-Oracle/Sun JVM implementations have been sued by Oracle?

Oracle sued Google as the maker of a non-licensed (and supposedly copyright infringing) Java Virtual Machine. To my knowledge, no one has been sued for merely using a non-Oracle JVM, have they?
On the first launch VS is slower.

Disclaimer: I am using custom gnu/linux built entirely form sources.
I disagree with the statement. However, you need a good team to work well as a team, and when you're at the stage of trying to pinpoint faults, the team already failed.

That doesn't mean that all teams suck, though. The one I work with certainly doesn't, and I'm more productive as part of this team than I ever was alone.
The #1 Goal of Your Website – Slides from my Business of Software Talk
Phone call with ReturnPath :)
The Rails Tutorial screencasts, together with the Rails Tutorial book, represent the culmination of nearly a year of effort. Hacker News readers can get a 10% discount on any combination of products at http://railstutorial.org/screencasts, including the recommended PDF/screencast bundle, using the coupon code

hnscreencasts

Be sure to apply the code on the checkout page to get the discount. The code expires at the end of the month.

As always, the HTML version of the book is available for free at http://railstutorial.org/book. Now that both Rails 3 and RSpec 2 are in their final releases, I'm also gearing up for the planned Creative Commons licensing to encourage translation of the book. I already have volunteer translators for half a dozen languages; email me at the address in my HN profile if you'd like to be part of the translation effort.
Just last Friday I went to place my iPhone 4 in my back pocket, missed, and shattered the back glass. I live very close to a shop that replaces the glass. Five minutes and $100 later, the iPhone 4 is fixed. The owner of the shop said he's fixing about 7 iPhones a day.
In reality it is so difficult to identify honest-to-goodness plagarism in comp sci. For instance, in my algorithms courses, wikipedia was super useful. Most significant algorithms (e.g. quicksort) have a pseudo-code implementation, and when you look them up, it's really hard work to NOT make yours look identical. How do you deal with that situation?

Answer: you deal with it in the way my algo prof did. We implemented algorithms so we could compare performance. So he'd say, for instance, "write libraries in C to implement a binary, ternary, and quaternary heap. Then, write code to track how many data accesses there are, run all three on test input, and compare results". It doesn't matter if you're copying the algorithm from online; if you don't understand the algorithm then you won't know exactly what you're tracking.
A long time ago I was working on a data conversion project that involved taking what was essentially a 10 dimensional data set and reordering it. The easiest way to achieve this was to load everything into a ten dimensional array and read it out in another order, but I was sure this would take too long. So I spent some time trying to get a sparse array implementation working until I finally sat down and worked out that the entire 10 dimension data structure would require 63 megabytes of RAM (not giga, this was a long time ago.) The Sparc server in the next room had 64 megs of RAM. It was a simple algorithm with quick results and I moved on to the next problem. I think that was the last time I really really cared about performance. I'd spent the previous 15 years getting closer and closer to the hardware, caring about every register and every byte. I've spent the 15 years since then on the slow slide to letting the computer worry about everything. I currently live in Python land and love every minute of it. I hear that string concatenation is slow but honestly, it's never been an issue for me. Computers really are fast.
Sun licensed OpenJDK under the GPL. With that, it waived any right to sue its users for violation of any patent it held. Oracle bought that obligation with the rest of Sun and can't change the terms under which it is distributed - because anyone can redistribute it under the original terms.

From http://openjdk.java.net/legal/gplv2+ce.html

"6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein."

and

"7. (...) For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the Program"
Oh man, I <3 Perl...

If it weren't for the whole family/rooted thing I would go for it - plus not to mention I already speak Dutch.
This is exactly right.

The job ad is about the company. Your resume is about you. The cover letter is supposed to highlight how one matches the other. These examples are fabulous.

A generic cover letter is worse than useless.
Agreed. IMO, the only thing that needs to be done to make a plain text RFC more 'usable' is to perhaps add anchor links where needed, such as when other sections are referenced.
Is the mentioned Rough-cut available anywhere? These are the first clips I've seen of the 5-week proto-version, and I'd love to hear more, particularly with dialog.

I know that there may be issues with contracts and the like, but I'd really love to see it.

Edit- According to another website, it may be included on the new DVD. Here's hoping that's accurate.

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/10/eric_stoltz.htm...
If, for no other reason, we should love the GPL for rendering Oracle toothless. :-)
It's a curious result, but as a debunking it's a bit of a strawman. Someone (whom I don't agree with, should be noted) wishing to keep gays from teaching don't do so because they worry about the quality of the lectures, but because they don't want their kids to have a gay role model, acting as an endorsement for homosexuality.
It'd be great is the canvas api returned the context object whenever you made a change to it, so we could do chaining without an extra library.
Maybe you can still try to get in touch with them. They are apparently struggling a bit (why I posted) to hire that many people; maybe they would agree to see some remote work at some point (just extrapolating!).
I really hope WePay destroys PayPal. They have screwed myself and my friends too many times.

The homepage layout is all wrong though. Poor element placement, messy typography, and the color scheme is off. It looks amateur and unpolished. All those SEO'd subpages are worthless if they don't convert.

Also:

- Upgrade to Nginx 0.7.67, there was a lot of bug fixes in 0.7.65 and 0.7.66.

- Limit the number of login attempts to prevent brute forcing.

- Don't show "That email address was not found" when someone tries to recover a password. You are giving out too much info, which can be used maliciously.

- Block scraper/vuln scanner/curl scripts by user-agent to keep away the script kiddies and botnets.

- Don't host your Javascript on Google. This gives hackers another possible point of entry. It's probably safe, but you're better off limiting points of entry.

- Use mod_rewrite as an additional layer of security. You'll need to slightly modify it to make it work with Nginx.

- Remove "access info anytime" and "post to my wall anytime" when signing up with Facebook.

- Limit SSH access by IP address.

Feel free to contact me if you need help.
I/O is one of my biggest daily pains. Spend some time in Process Explorer on Windows and you can see just how much disk-based I/O the average app is doing. Anti-virus software makes the bad problem worse. It's just like pouring sugar in a gastank. Why isn't more software designed to take advantage, where appropriate, of large amounts of RAM?
Thanks for the submission! Unfortunately, the title of the post is rather generic; this is the Ruby on Rails Tutorial screencast series, not just some generic Rails tutorial screencasts. Please upvote this story instead:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1784463
> Lots of young applicants write this strangely informal email and attach a completely generic cover letter that doesn't even have my name in it.

As a Word document?
Well, something that surprises me is why hasn't this post been upvoted at least once (after 25 minutes) ?

I'm pretty sure it can be interesting to many more people (I would be if I loved perl, but I don't practice it).
Good point. The last time I was updating my cover letter, I invented the following workflow:

-copy/paste in the last email template I had used

-start editing sections that are relevant (intro, relevant experience, why I am interested in this position)

-read the entire email as a whole, look for inconsistencies

-touch up any sections that don't make sense, or are weak

-walk away for an hour, do something else

-come back, read it over again, tidy up any sentences, or add any gems I had come up with.

-optionally have a friend read it.

By the end of the process I usually had changed at least 50% of the format, and found that my cover letter was rapidly evolving, until I found out what worked. Sharing cover letters with friends in the industry also helped to root out some weak sections that I hadn't seen myself.

The main disadvantage of this method is that if you're not careful when reading, you can miss a reference to company name you had previously applied to, or include the wrong url. Always, always, always double check any links, names, or other identifying language.
Someone I know recently told me about her nightmare when she was collecting money for a class reunion via PayPal last month: she had to register as a non-profit, and PayPal wanted her water bill to prove that they were indeed a non-profit despite being recognized by the government as one. So much hassle; I wish I had known she was going to do that so I could have told her about WePay, especially with this kind of customer service:

A call to WePay's customer service department quickly
sorted out the problem. Plus, the company gave him $20
for the inconvenience.
Something I like thinking about: Your computer can (probably) perform a few dozen arithmetic operations or a few stores/reads in the time light leaving your monitor takes to reach your eye balls.

edit: not to mention GPUs
I remember hearing a lecture many years ago given by Seth Putterman, the researcher in this study. Unless I'm confusing him with another researcher, he claimed in the lecture that the underlying mechanisms behind static electricity were not understood. I've asked other scientist now and then but have never found anyone else who would confirm that claim.

The idea is that by rubbing a balloon on your head, you add energy of a fraction of an electron volt to each electron on average, yet you can generate potential difference of 1000s of volts, so how does the diffuse energy input get concentrated to the small fraction of electrons at the high potential. Someday I'd like to hear an expert explanation.
It's a pretty well-established fact that female sexuality is more "fluid". If you listen to any episode of Dan Savage's podcast, it'll probably come up.

Society reinforces this because women are much more able to make out/hook up without it being considered gay (and often with it being considered hot), but there seem to be physiological reasons as well.

For example, a Northwestern study showed men and women gay male, straight, and lesbian porn and measured their sexual arousal. Men tended to only be aroused by the porn that their sexuality would suggest, but women tended to be aroused by all of it http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/06/030613075252.ht...
They buried the money quote, and I paraphrase: "FYI, iPhones are far better than most other devices like blackberries."
Bringing Smiles to the Faces of MacOS developers - Miguel de Icaza
I didn't write anything about doctors. I just submitted the link. Each comment here is submitted by a different hacker news member.

The reason why I submitted the link is because over the past few days there's been a lot of articles on hacker news about how to work as a freelance coder. One of the routes they spoke about on those articles was to apply to craigslist jobs for freelance work.

http://ryanwaggoner.com/2010/10/how-to-become-a-freelance-we...

They mention quite specifically to avoid jobs that have very few details on the job page (or the follow through page) and especially wary of ads that offer shared ownership.

Since your ad matched that criteria I thought it would be interesting to submit it to the community and get the general thoughts in it.

FYI - Hacker news is a community where thousands of coders hand out. They use this site to find and promote articles they are interested in.
Dentists can be complete crooks though.

All my life I went to two dentists. Both were pretty good, and I had cavities pretty rarely.

Later, my parents had to switch insurance, so we went to another dentist with a much nicer office. He takes a quick look at my teeth and says, "Oh yeah, looks like about eight cavities. We should drill them etc etc"

My parents are shocked and take me back to our most used old dentist for a second opinion. He examines me closely with a pick and tells us the other guy is full of shit, and that behavior is really common in dentistry.
And if it does not fit, don't reduce whitespace. A light two page layout is better than a dense one pager. And cutting the less interesting parts to get down to one page should be even better.
Wow, "ssh wepay.com" works. Turn that off.

Once again, "cloud" doesn't mean "lol, we don't need to know about servers!"
I think there is a huge opportunity for exploiting the fact that the market clearing price of 1 hour from someone with a graduate school degree is currently zero if she is also a stay-at-home mother. I do it on small scale. Demand Media does it industrial scale. Both of us put together can't absorb even a sizable fraction of the woman-hours available for sale in a single Midwestern town.
I never bought a car. How do you make it take multiple hours and really unpleasant?

I image, if I was to buy a car, I would look up interesting models on the internet (including price information), perhaps ask my friends for advice. When I am ready knowing what car I want, I'd go to the dealership, see if their price is right, and buy it (or leave it).

I might phone around before hand, to find out their prices and compare with other dealerships.

How does it work in reality? How do you make it last long?
The official release name is Ubuntu Y.MM (10.10 just came out, replacing 10.4 released in April). The... err... fanciful names are development codenames.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DevelopmentCodeNames
> So yes, it's the expectation of the courts that people will continually monitor granted patents and appeal them as necessary.

I dunno about that. My sense is that a patent owner's counsel would not try to argue that the accused infringer had a general duty to monitor pending applications or issued patents. The argument would be, instead, that the circumstances suggest that the prior art in question wasn't so good after all.

Keep in mind that jurors are usually non-technical. Therefore, patent litigators try hard to find understandable indirect- or circumstantial evidence that can get the message across to the jurors. EXAMPLE: If someone walks into the courtroom in a dripping-wet raincoat, that's indirect evidence of rain. EXAMPLE: Widespread imitation of an invention, or praise for it, is regarded as indirect evidence of nonobviousness.

In this hypothetical, the patent owner's counsel argues that the defendant's failure to bring the supposedly-killer prior art to the attention of the patent examiner is indirect evidence. Of what? That the prior art wasn't so good after all, and that the defendant is trying to put one over on the jurors.
This is the second time I've had to post in one of these Squaretrade threads. Please, people -- Squaretrade is a company that makes profits by hedging selling 'warranties' for 3rd party products. If you don't cash in the warranty within a certain window, they make money. It's in their best interest to portray popular electronics as less reliable.

Let me repeat that.

It's in their best interest to portray popular electronics as less reliable.

They want to sell you a warranty for an expensive item that you won't need.

There is no reason they couldn't have just completely made these numbers up.

The last time, this was about MacBook Pros failing.

Stop voting up these garbage Squaretrade links. Jesus.
If I want to access google (which is pretty damn rare), there's DDG's !g, and the "No more matches found, check google." link at the end.

For me, it is easier to prefix my search string with !g than to hit the back button. Especially if I already navigated a few pages through DDG results.

The back button is also an annoyance when, for example, I had an open tab, wrote a search string into the address bar and hit enter by mistake: I'd want to get back to the page I originally was at, so I hit back, and I get your search engine selection screen.

Isn't that intuitive in that case, I'm afraid.

The idea is good, but... I don't think it'd work well for this kind of thing.
I wonder how much of the benefit (in technical jobs at least) can be had by actually sticking to the scoring system you decided on before the interviews (let's say X% technical questions, Y% resume, Z% fit) rather than going through the whole process and then just fudging it to go with your gut feeling.

That said, this article specifically mentions "a setting where it was clear that companies were not just hiring women for PR reasons" whereas I've been on hiring committees with specific instructions to favor non-white or non-male applicants here, so the arbitrage opportunity is likely less.
My stupid ways to draw the attention of Techcrunch
For several months I've been trying to get coverage from Techcrunch, I'm not good at PR and honestly I spent very few time mailing about my startup (an online game). The site has been available for 2 years and practically 95% of my time is spent on development (the fun part)

What's not so fun is doing PR... I only like to write code, and after sending some mails to Techcrunch trying to get some coverage for my startup and not getting any response I tried a different way... coding.

1st try- Create a site and give it as a present to Techcrunch. So I developed a small site to rank websites by just sending a tweet. The site would read the tweet and depending on the content of the tweet (using simple Natural Language processing) and depending if the site was already covered in Techcrunch it would give some points of the tweet and rank it. You can check it at http://crunchmysite.com

I sent a mail about this site and told Techcrunch it was a gift to them, domain, code, maintenance, etc. I though it could attract some attention from them and maybe I could also pitch about my site,... but I didn't get any reply.

2nd try- Create a simple game related to Techcrunch and Michael Arrington. So again, I developed a game trying to atract the attention from Techcrunch. This time I used one of my previously developed games I did some time ago, a kind of Guitar Hero, but I changed the song (to one I found covered in Techcrunch and related to the AOL-Techcrunch adquisition), added the notes to sync it with the song, changed the image to add Michael Arrington face and voila... you may find it at http://www.tengaged.com/techcrunchhero/
I was sure this time I could gather their attention... but again, no responses.

After a few days I see probably these ways to attract their attention are just stupid, but at least I had some fun while doing them.
One million and more
First autistic presidential appointee's call to us who work in technology
I often browse HN on my android phone (as I am now) with no problems. Page automatically resizes to fit the screen, works nicely.
Seeking a lawyer well versed with food laws in US
I'm looking for some advice from a lawyer well versed with food laws in the US. I do not have much funds to go to a big firm. The questions which I'm seeking answers to are going to help us decide whether I should even open a start up or not.

Any pointers will be appreciated.
That's totally nutty. Not sure how they passed a PCI audit like that. In fact, I don't see that they are PCI certified on their site?
Come on guys, I didn't say that women are dumber than men. I just said that this is the single most convincing piece evidence for that.

Well, I think we need to spend a little time agreeing on the definition of "dumber." Does it mean IQ? General knowledge? Something else?

If we can agree on a test of some kind that we can apply to a single person, how do we determine whether a group of people is smarter or dumber than another group of people?

For example, let's say Test "A" is to ask a single question, whether the Sun is larger than the Earth. Let's say that 90% of group "M" gets this question right, while only 10% of group "F" gets this question right. Is group "M" smarter than group "F?" That doesn't make any sense because the group isn't an organism, it isn't smart or dumb.

And we can't extrapolate much about members of "F." What if "F" consists of 100 people, 90 of whom are illiterate and the remaining 10 are Astronomy PHds, while "M" consists of 100 high school seniors. Is "F" now smarter than "M" because ten of its members are more educated than all of the Ms?

Selection bias matters. Remember that the OkCupid sample consists of people who are dating online. The information is interesting, but might be skewed. Perhaps a lot of educated, intelligent women are in monogamous relationships and not dating?

We see this phenomenon in job hunting, where a random sample of programmers looking for a job is a terrible representation of programmers overall.