skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Amazon’s Kindle and other methods of online reading have revolutionized how Americans consume text. Fifteen years ago, people typically owned the books and magazines they were reading. Much less so now.

The statements about books are not accurate. Ebook sales are still just a fraction of print sales in many genres - NPD data indicates ebooks are less than 20% of total unit sales for nonfiction, children, and young adult titles (self-published ebooks excluded). Total ebook unit sales were 162 million in 2017 from the 450 publishers tracked by NPD, down from 180 million units in 2016.

Source: Publishers Weekly, "Ebook sales fell 10% in 2017" https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content...
Of course, historically you could look up the address for most people through the white pages.

But that doesn't change the basic point. If you were to ask if you should be able to look up anyone's physical address by typing their name into a web page, I suspect many people would say no. Yet, here we are.

(I also suspect that many would be really shocked at the amount of info available about them from "deep web" searches much less via a $20 online background check.
Turkey’s Lira Crisis Tests Erdogan’s Authoritarian Approach
The main difference is cultural in fact. The legal / constitutional aspect entirely derives from cultural underpinnings. If you remove the cultural, you remove all support for the existing constitutional protections and the politicians in DC will promptly begin revoking rights at will. The reason China can't support a rights based Constitution as in eg the US or parts of Europe, is due to the lack of a culture that overwhelmingly believes in the premise. There are pockets of resistance in China, that push back against the tyranny, the problem is that they're modest and fairly easy to contain. If Trump passed an executive order to revoke freedom of speech tomorrow, he'd be impeached by his own party, and there'd be tens of millions of people protesting in the streets across the country. Trump would be lucky if his own military didn't coup him at that point, their first oath is to the Constitution, not the Presidency or a party. That's an intense cultural underpinning, which China is lacking.

To overly simplify it: if you have cultural protections, then the people revolt and get very pissed off, when politicians try to take away rights. The culture is the real shield for a constitution, without which it's just worthless paper that can be shredded. The people have a viseral reaction, it's instantaneous, because the culture is in their blood so to speak. Politicians in the US constantly test that live wire to see what they can get away with. They typically have to be extremely sneaky about what they do, or use emotional events as cover, if they want to take some ground on rights (eg the Patriot Act et al.).
Stuff is cheap. Attention is dear. This trend will continue for a long time.
They really just have an incentive to make sure that on average you pay more than enough to make them a profit over the expected lifetime of your fridge. They also have an incentive to get you the least expensive fridge with the longest lifetime, regardless of power consumption or any other factors.

You already have something very close to this with home warranties and the providers tend to be awful in my experience. The goal is just to extract money from you and keep costs down.
Blade starts rolling out Shadow high-performance cloud gaming in North America
Prices back then were really high...

I won an AT&T Safari NSX/20 laptop [1] in 1992 in the ACM Programming Competition. RRP was $5749 then, for a 386SX processor running at 20MHz, 4MB RAM and a monochrome screen. $10,200 in today's money. It was actually a beautifully made machine.

A year later, I switched to a Dell with 386DX and a 387 math coprocessor because my PhD needed the number crunching. That cost twice as much (i.e. around $20k in today's money), paid by the military lab sponsoring my research.

In our current times of cheap compute, it is easy to forget how much top-end computers cost 25-30 years ago.

[1] https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=AoKUhNoOys4C&lpg=PP142&o...
+1 for interviewbit. But it cannot be completed in a week if OP tries to solve all the problems. Instead focus should be on solving few questions from each category.
It's not a prime location, but beats not having enough housing.
So, generating less waste is a reason to be nervous?
fuck off.
The only problem here is the immense power (out of control) of those companies, not everything going to the cloud.
>Imagine the leading social network weren't facebook but vkontakte or weibo and they imposed their own standards on billions of people communicating with each other.

I would argue that their standards vs Facebook (which isn't that great) are exactly why they aren't the leading global social networks with billions of users.
Quote from that article:

"Statistics data from the second quarter isn’t available yet. Two quarters might be too early to gauge the tax bill’s effects on wages."
I have always wondered this.
Why should someone who only has a decade or so of expected life have a vote if someone with numerous decades of life does not get a vote? Why should those who face the potential of being drafted by the next president get no say? It gets down to the question of who really deserves a vote and why don't minors get one, but I've found the arguments for minors not voting fall apart when examined.
Every time I refresh the page the title (count) changes, what a tragedy!
>smart gunships in Half Life that learned to shoot down RPGs on their own

I want to know more about this.

was it just preprogrammed ability/method that was unlocked after a time or was there some sort of machine learning?
Single? I just gave two.

This not the only anecdata. Friends, family, and a family business. It’s not a scientific study.

I was trying to give practical advice. If things are hunky dory in your neck of the woods great!
Theres also the burden on Microsoft that nothing can break. Meaning: anything that used to work before (in an earlier incarnation of Windows) must continue to work in later versions. I don't think Linux has this burden. They are more free to break stuff and so more free to innovate.
>>Sure you can write a for loop to iterate over a data set, but will you fall on your face when that data set is petabytes in size?

I understand what you are trying to say here. But how many candidates are capable of inventing path breaking algorithms in 45 minutes, just to crack a job interview? I guess only a countable people in the world could achieve a feat that amazing, where they could invent a totally new novel algorithms from the scratch in 45 minutes. If I'm not wrong the very people who invented these algorithms went through years of research to publish them.

Now if you are not testing this, and just testing if the person knows an existing algorithm. Then really this a scaled version of testing the ability to memorize multiplication tables.

There is nothing novel in merely knowing an algorithm. And you also have not tested a person's ability in inventing an algorithm either.
For me, using wrists supports makes all the difference. I switched to an 'Ultimate Hacking Keyboard' today which has wrist supports as an option; before this I've used an Ergodox for years which I used foam wrist supports with. I think the key to wrist supports is using a split keyboard, and setting it up for negative tilting (i.e., sloping away from you).
Here it is with subtitles (you may need to turn them on): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wEiXUanPfg
"They'll all be too busy with their bread and circuses and the 2 minutes hate or whatever."

Is that really it, though? I mean, that seems really weird on its face... "I'd like to own my own copy of this movie rather than just stream it, but I really have to get back to hating Republicans." That doesn't seem all that plausible.

Personally, I am happy streaming things I don't care to own. At this point, most of the things I watch, I want to watch once. The world is so abundantly overflowing with good video content that I have little reason to return back to something. Those few things, I frequently will buy. Some of my "season DVDs" I'm quite glad I hung on to... some of them were on Netflix for a while, but are no longer, and are still fairly expensive to buy.

If the stream services went away, ultimately I'd be slightly inconvenienced.

Music, by contrast, I tend to listen to a given track/album that I like quite a bit, and I take possession of. YMMV. I'm very music oriented compared to most people.

And Stallman's arguments about software are yet again something different; there are reasons for having the source and using open source that have no media equivalent, because software isn't just media, it's a machine.
Then what about the cases with which you were born? What is the definition of normal then?

If I inherited some form of respiratory condition at birth which persists as an illness, living with it is maintaining the status-quo; yet it is very much an illness. There is no loss of function per se, it was simply never there.
I'd agree young Americans are less interested in owning their media and there does seem to be a general trend away from materialism and towards spending any extra income on experiences over objects. However, I reject the notion that the younger generations are less interested in owning property. Young people do want to have a stake in the system, but most places young people are living (especially where they're moving to) it's nearly impossible for most of them to get into the property/housing ownership game to begin with due to housing price inflation and stagnant wages.

If you took millenials and plopped them in the economic context that the young generations of the 50s (or even 70s/80s) had I think this would be a very different story.
As someone in the payment industry, find a processor/payfac that specializes in this. They handle all that complexity, they will have multiple processors/banks in the backend to find out who will accept the card. Your frustration is due to lack of who to use, all the pros use such processors. It's pretty much transparent, they also have massive fraud systems, and since they process for tons of sites, if they notice a card doing fraud/multiple chargebacks across different sites, they put a stop to it quickly.
This is exactly what critics were warning would happen once we started deleting pages on the basis that their political content was somehow Russia-adjacent.
The issue is that ownership used to constitute a form of wealth, but now it constitutes a relentless financial drain.

When I got stationed in Northern Virginia, I thought about buying a condo. But almost everywhere I looked, there were absurd HOA fees, some as much as $400/mo. Considering I could rent a room for $750/mo, it didn't make sense to buy. If RENT < HOAFEES + MTGINTEREST, you're better off investing the money instead of pouring it into equity.

As for physical possessions, they all cost money (in rent!). Sure, I could own my own kayak and ATV. But it'll cost me $150/mo for a storage unit to keep them in. So until such time as I spend $1800/year on quad and kayak rentals (not even counting the amortized purchase prices), its more financially sound for me to rent them.

There are exceptions. I own my truck, which I bought used, and I know I'll drive it for years and years until it's beyond fixing. In the long run, it's cheaper than renting.
Maybe? I feel like interacting with lawyers is a losing proposition. I never consulted one to see what was possible.

I am not the kind of person who uses the legal system to make a point.
I share the observation that we are living in a "rent economy" of the things we pay for, especially intellectual property or creative works.

I've noticed it happening slowly over time, but there are dangers[0] even if you believe you "own" your media.

There are no good solutions, people are willing to trade ownership for convenience because /mostly/ you're getting the same value- why do you care if you can't access that song you liked in 30 years?

Personally; I fight this notion as much as possible; if I buy digital media- it's backed up. I do not give my custom to anyone who wishes to own my digital rights (thus, I avoid DRM) and, where possible, I buy physical copies of goods.

However, I work in an industry which is moving towards providing "service", namely; I work in video games. And we have a new concept: "Game as a service", the idea being that the game lives and grows and dies, rather than being a static art which is subject to the non-decay or altering hand of time immemorial. Thus, the games we played in 1995 can be played to day, but the games we played in 2010 are much less possible, and the games we play in 2018 will be impossible to play 10 years on.

I don't have a particular point, I'm more frustrated with the state of affairs. Also: Apple Music can sincerely fuck off.

[0]: https://blog.dijit.sh/importance-of-self-hosted-backups
You are on their property. If you refuse, you’ll be forced to leave. Does that make what they did ethical, no, but it’s 100% within their legal rights. Same goes if I was a guest at your house, even if I was paying to stay there.
Excepting laptops w/ Nvidia Optimus stuff & power management. Easier than stock, but still arch. Thank goodness for the arch wiki.
>How many here would give up their leased 2018 BMW for a used Toyota Yaris?

If someone gave me a BMW, assuming it wasn't a close friend or someone I had to worry about offending, I would sell it and continue using my old car.
I'm sure it's intentional, but I think it's still strange given the implications. The author is on to something, but I think they need to keep going on this line of thought. If market forces are driving companies to work against the notion of property ownership, and the idea of capitalism is predicated on the notion of property ownership, the current trend doesn't seem tenable.

At what point does capitalism stop being what it is and evolve into something else entirely?
An essentially never discussed option is also that the fridge could be open source. Now when it breaks there is both motive and opportunity for third party repair companies to offer upgrades and fixes.
Swig – Tool for interfacing between languages
Fighting Conspiracy Theories, Sandy Hook Parent Is Thwarted by Online Policies
"not what I'm used to" != "bananas"
Definitely. Not a gaming box; more for pros.
well one bad trend recently in HVAC services is companies trying to get people to lease the units for their homes. this then prevent easy sale as the HVAC leases usually allow the leasing company to require payment in full for the units or credit check the buyer to insure continuance of the lease.

So I disagree with your premise based on the example you gave. I would say it would be fine with items you only keep a few years and not long term appliances. I really do not think it encourages them to create units that fail because many companies still want their reputation to be built upon longevity. Simply put, the sales volumes are already great enough to not require shenanigans like what you suggest
I don't think replacing one bad thing with another is the right solution. Planned obsolescence should be illegal, plain and simple.
Implementing SIP Telephony in Python (2008) [pdf]
My experience comes from continental Europe. Most people I know here switch at least between their local national keyboard layout and the US layout.

US layout lacks the characters necessary to write in the local language. European layouts often make it awkward to access punctuation common in English (e.g. you need Alt-Gr combos to access). Many people need to use both English and their local language (and perhaps a third European language!) in day-to-day business, hence the need for switching between layouts.
Well, it's trivial to strip the DRM from Kindle books and and back them up.
GPL licensing edge-cases
The firmware has long made the NUMA topology available to the OS through ACPI tables.
I'm quite sure Linux has the same burden. Here is what Linus Torvalds has to say: https://lkml.org/lkml/2012/12/23/75
Fortnite: Ninja won't play with female gamers
Don't let the healthcare issue scare you. I've been on high-deductible Marketplace plans for the past few years, having gone through a pregnancy and delivery with complications, among a few other health concerns.

As long as you have the cushion to cover the high deductible (~$6000), there's probably not much to worry about. I had the same deductible at a previous employer, so the current situation feels identical to me.
I'm glad it's all on a hard disc these days rather than having to flip through CDs or vinyl all the time, but I still like knowing that the bits are under my control. Ongoing availability is a lot better with music than video to be sure. And I might feel differently if I didn't already own GBs of favored music. But I still wouldn't feel comfortable just flushing all my music and trusting in Apple, Spotify, or Amazon to permanently provide me with everything I want.
how does it produce negative distances?

cosine similarity is [1,-1], so add one [2,0], now halve [1,0] now take logarithm [0,-inf] finally negate [0,+inf]

?
"My house" is rented, so everything I own is a liability. I'm currently getting ready to move again (to find work), and selling off some of the few things I accumulated since the last move (~3 years ago) since there won't be any space for them.
I think it's more subtle than that. Needing less stuff gives freedom. Renting stuff instead gives less freedom... you have many of the same expenses as ownership, but if you ever stop paying your useful stuff disappears. Owned objects of utility provide insurance to ride out times with limited income.
>You should only do politics once you have done something in your life.

So a test to whom is allowed to be in government other than someone the voters choose? How is that different from me suggesting banning demographics from being allowed in government because I personally think they don't deserve it, despite what the voters actually say?

I say there should only be a single test for who can govern, that they are picked by the voters. If the voters pick a 14 year old over anyone else then someone saying they don't deserve the position because of some demographic they can't change is no different than saying a woman, someone poor, someone childless, or a Muslim doesn't deserve the position.
Instead of you owning the fridge, now the service company does. It'll just buy you a new fridge every time some little thing goes wrong; because it's cheaper to pay for delivery of a new one than to pay skilled labor to come and fix it (multiple times, usually).
Even owners/founders get discarded these days... It's full on Game of Thrones on all levels.
Big city. There are reams of them to choose from I just don’t invest much time in it because I am mostly healthy.
You’re making the common (and fatal) mistake of evaluating a government on the terms of a private business entity.

Governments are of the people so long as the people maintain them as such.

When you treat a government like a business, it falls behind on it’s maintenance schedule, and begins to resemble one. There are a lot of people who wish the government was their business, and will encourage you to play along. These people work night and day to lower your expectations of what you’re capable of.

Stop falling for it!

The USA had some ingenious (and flawed) founders who set in place some rights and traditions that reserve at least a small finger hold which resembles democracy, by which the people can mobilize effectively.

But, in any nation, that fingerhold can exist when enough people come together en masse.
On the note of bridge resonance, one can not forget the Tacoma Narrows Bridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-zczJXSxnw
[video] the tragedy of systemd
Most fridges are repairable modulo buying one with a complex motherboard. Even then they're still fixable just spendy to do so. Also most aren't complex enough that you couldn't just reverse engineer the Mobo easily. People do this for cars and computers.
I avoid having to deal with crosswalks if I can. I also regularly make a 1/2 mile drive to a fast food restaurant.
Do 'Traditional” Design Principles Still Apply to Software Design?
The Machine doesn't fix the problem. Just some problems off the top of my head:

1) Some groups will just use the resources of the Machine, while others will work on improving The Machine. Over time, Machines in some areas will be vastly more capable than other areas. This will create haves and have-nots, urge migration and give rise to a system very similar to the current worlds (first-, second-, third-).

2) In your utopia, the corporation has no incentive to build a long-lasting Machine, especially since the Machine can build it's own parts. The corporation may also upgrade Machine capabilities (a new XBox/PS) that make it desirable to upgrade, forcing the town to pony up more money or resources. And what about the people who work at those corporations? Do they not live like the folks with the Machine? Why do they have to work, for money presumably? Again, haves and have-nots.

3) Resources in a local area are finite. What happens when the water runs out?

4) If the Machine removes the need for money, how do the townsfolk pay for the Machine? How does it all start?

You are a technological optimist. Like other technological optimists, there is a basic human psychological need that is not being acknowledged in this solution. That is, the desire to be better than your fellow man: Whether this is at an individual level, family level or society level is less relevant, but so long as this need exists, no amount of technology can fix the problem, as any new technology can be bent to increase, not decrease, disparity.
Anecdotal, but every reader I know (including me) flirted with ebooks and then switched back to paper.

For me, it’s less strain on my eyes, it always works even without electricity, I can lend it out to friends easily, and I like to expand the aesthetic of my bookshelf. I’m also more likely to reread all or part of a physical book. Ebooks are simply inferior.
https://www.tccsecure.com/Products/voice-fax-data-encryption...

in the us these are standard in scif locations.
You would be in the minority.
> The nation was based on the notion that property ownership gives individuals a stake in the system.

Why is the fact that people without property were not given the right to vote because they "didn't have a stake" as our nation was founded being lifted up as a good thing? It's such a bizarre thing to say that this ideology was a good one. The author can't really believe that renters have less a stake in the system as property owners?
I think there is a difference between “owning stuff” and “owning assets” that this post is clouding. It is the owning of assets - that are worth more than what you paid for them - that seems to form the backbone of American entrepreneurship in the way that the author wants the owning of “stuff” to do in his setup.

There is of course value (to me) in owning a library of books - but for different reasons than, say, owning intellectual property or real estate.
We are starting to recognize that we don't need alf the things we buy. We are getting to the point that we don't own things, things own us. A sugestion, if you want to get rid of stuff, do it because you don't need the oject, not to get more stuff.
> They also have an incentive to get you the least expensive fridge with the longest lifetime, regardless of power consumption or any other factors.

Sure, as long as you assume higher power consumption doesn't increase the cost of operating the fridge.

If you're not willing to assume that, then "regardless of power consumption" doesn't make a lot of sense.