skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
people too blind to realize their syntax is hardly better

That's exactly the kind of categorical statement I'm so tired of hearing from lispers. Other syntaxes score better on every metric (terseness, readability, expressiveness) except flexibility. Lisp makes the same design tradeoffs the other dynamic languages do but bets the farm on macros. Over 40 years of historical evidence suggests that most programmers do not find the power of macros adequate compensation for a syntax they find highly unpalatable. It takes a special kind of arrogance to dismiss all of these people as blind.
I find it good for exploratory programming, fiddling around with finding a solution to a difficult problem and coming up with new ideas.

There are many coding tasks it's not that great for for me, primarily those that make heavy use of longer-than-short-term memory :P
If he doesn't, I'm working for the wrong company.
Affordable Market Umbrella
A market umbrella is used for decorating outdoor areas and help to create the perfect outdoor space.
It's pretty forgiven across the board these days. There are states / areas in states where it is absolutely not, but the majority of law enforcement members, in the majority of areas, don't give a shit about some kid cheefing away on a spliff while typing a lot, or playing music, or whatever it is they like to do.
Even Marketeers don't like marketing. Its a tedious pain in the ass. You shouldn't absolve you self of all marketing responsiblities. Read some marketing books and blogs. At present no one will know your product better than you.
What in the world are you doing in California if you hate the smell of pot smoke?
You will definitely like this Riddle STORY..
Learning Chinese online is a quick way to gain fluency in the language. You can easily converse with people using everyday terms and phrases, ask for directions or read signboards and notices.
Ok, this guy wins major Awesome Dad points. That costume is amazing.
If you have anywhere near a reasonable volume your payment processing shouldn't cost more than a few percent, nowhere near 30%.

Hosting costs aren't going to go away, you will still need a web site, you might be able to save a little download bandwidth but that hardly breaks the bank nowadays.

I don't think Apple are being greedy, I'm sure that is a reasonable reflection of their costs, I just wonder how it will add up for developers like Panic or Omnigroup. If their volumes double then it makes sense, if they only increase slightly or not at all then it doesn't.
For all the flack vets/servicemen get, it's not their war. Policymakers such as Bush determined what servicemen would do. Servicemembers can save lives in Katrina, and they may be ordered to carry out bombing missions--a lot of people were commissioned/enlisted during 9/11 after being moved by the collapse of the twin towers: it is a case of bait and switch, when we were sold the falsehoods of the "War on Terror."

What the military does is not a binary answer. The public chooses the commander in chief and the policy (Congress). It's a system that has endured for the last three centuries. You have the power to change it, and if you don't like it and don't speak up, remember V for Vendetta: "If you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror."

I sometimes remember the story of my girlfriend's grandpa: He was a Japanese soldier drafted in the Second World War. Around the same time, my maternal grandmother was serving as a provincial administrator of the Republic of China version of the IRS as one of the first college educated female accountants. She had to dress up as a man, cut her hair short to avoid being summarily raped and shot in Nanjing, then-capital of China. So now you know I'm of Chinese ethnicity dating a Japanese girl. My girlfriend's grandpa on a China mission was ordered by his commander to shoot one of the prisoners. If he refused, he would most likely be shot (most militaries allow this; the UCMJ allows this in combat). It was a choice between his life or somebody else's. If you watched Dark Knight, you know it's never a black or white answer. It's always a cruel decision to make. Just ask any Vietnam vet who saw combat. If my girlfriend's grandpa didn't shoot the man, my girlfriend might not exist. If he did, he would be a conscientious objector at the expense of his life, and I would not meet my girlfriend. All the while it's awful 40 million Chinese people lost their lives to the Japanese. There are your obvious offenders, the ones that do enjoy raping and killing people, but they are not normal and are present even in civilian society. A lot of them are likely decent people, and would secretly free Chinese prisoners if they had the opportunity.

I wish we could all be pacifists, but should we eliminate the military? I'm sure that's a resounding no, and I realize my sentiment may not be the most popular on HN, but we would be looking at anarchy without the men manning the silos too.

War is awful and thankfully the Internet seems to be eliminating 99.9% of armed conflicts. There is no point in senseless loss of life. But we still need a good defense--maybe not as much power as we have now, bur nonetheless something to protect the border.
Pixar using Azure to render movies would be like Microsoft building Azure on top of Amazon EC2. Pixar and Microsoft probably could do these things, and arguments could be made for the economic advantages, but they'd be giving up opportunities for competitive advantages, and letting outsiders get them by the short and curlies in the context of crucial aspects of their businesses.

I could see Pixar working with Microsoft to make Azure-hosted Renderman available for other groups doing rendered projects. For a small film project, I'd think that could be really useful.

Then again, Photorealistic Renderman was in NeXTSTEP 3.0, and you could split a rendering job among local NeXT machines as easily as choosing render hosts from a GUI list. That didn't mean Pixar was rendering their Listerine commercials on 25Mhz 68040 boxes.
It's a part of it though. Why can someone who is 20 in the US get married, have children, join the military, and vote, but not drink a beer?

I agree with hugh3 in any case. This is an article about politics, and no matter how much we may want to cheer paul on, I am not really sure it's germane, and that it might encourage others to submit things they feel 'rah rah!' about.
The argument isn't convincing if you rephrase it as "If there is even the tiniest amount of demand for something, it should be legal."

That isn't at all what he said, though. He was talking about the issue of partial decriminalization vs. full legalization+regulation.

The real argument is, "If we believe something is benign enough to make partaking in it legal, it is yellow-bellied inconsistency to make providing it illegal."
http://achewood.com/index.php?date=05192006

I've been waiting for an opportunity to bust that out...
Of course it is unfortunate. Apple had two choices; stop distributing it, or distribute it in a way which complies with the license. The FSF would prefer the latter; they are disappointed when people choose the former. Telling people to stop distributing it because it is infringing copyright to do so is the stick, and the software distributed under the proper license is the carrot, to try and promote software freedom. The FSF would much rather have people be able to run GNU Go under the terms of the GPL, than not be able to run it at all.

Why do you think this is ridiculous?
These already exist! No claim of efficacy on my part.

http://www.rockyflatsgear.com/mens-brief-radiation-blocker.h...
Stop Distributed Version Control Diaspora
RDBMS vs. NoSQL: And the Winner Is . . .
>If the laws were as bad as you say in the US, the police would be waiting outside the homes of those people.

Nope. There are many other possibilities. The law could be that bad, but enforcement could be inconsistent. The law could be that bad, but certain classes might be relatively immune. And so on.

And correlation is different from causation, but in this case, it's deductively provable that prohibition acts as fuel for these things. It's not merely correlated in some indirect way.
Making people afraid to attend football games or parties is a lot less costly than making them afraid to fly. Shut down the airports and you shut down the economy--look what happened with the Iceland volcano. And they have trains.
I'll up it one further and repeat what I said in the previous diaspora thread: Their architecture has bigger problems than mere security holes.

The idea of basing a distributed social network (solely) on "fat hyper-peers" is flawed.

Apart from the countless organizational issues there is simply no way to establish trust (in the cryptographic sense) in such a design. End-to-end trust can only be created when the users run their own nodes that hold their own private keys. And no, these nodes don't have to be always-online for such a system to work.

All I can see in the diaspora architecture is a strong case of "When all you have is a hammer then everything starts to look like a thumb".

If you want to see a more realistic approach then look at FreeNet. They have pretty much everything in place that would be needed for a distributed social network, but they burdened themselves with the requirement of anonymity.

Rip that part out of their codebase and there you have the first (and fundamental) half of your distributed facebook.
Clang compiles all of FreeBSD
So, you would rather have Apple win, and everyone else lose, by allowing Apple to simply distribute any software the want under their own terms, without regard to the licensing terms its creator licenses it under? You would rather have Apple win, and users lose, by Apple getting free software to distribute on their platform while still being allowed to lock their users down?

The FSF (and the VLC developers in question) would rather have their software distributed in the App Store, as long as Apple complies with the terms of the license. The Android Market has no problems with this (and even if it did, you can install apps that you don't get from the Market on an Android phone).

By locking users down, not allowing them to install their own software except through the App Store, and not allowing applications to be distributed under licenses of their creators choosing in the App Store, Apple is limiting the software that users can use on their phone. Apple seems to have a policy of ignoring free software licenses in their app review process, until the developer actually complains, but the fact that they ignored and violated the license despite their draconian review process, and only pulling software once someone complains, seems calculated to allow them to blame the developers for the app's removal (as you are doing) rather than the blame being placed on their own policies, which are the real reason that users's freedom is restricted.
Could anyone please explain why I'm being downvoted? A compiler/interpreter which can compile/interpret two versions of a language is out of this world? I think it's the most pragmatic approach: let people use old libraries while allowing them to develop with the improved language.

If I'm not mistaken, ISE Eiffel (now EiffelStudio) can compile both C/C++ and Eiffel sources to make a single executable. ISE Eiffel however is an industrial-strength compiler backed by a great software engineer.

Current Common Lisp compilers can compile source code as old as fifty years ago with little or no modifications. Now, that's backward compatibility.
Twelve-Year-Old Awarded $3,000 for Finding Critical Firefox Flaw
>It seems to me that you've started with a conclusion and found facts that fit your thesis. That's the wrong way to go about reasoning.

So let's look at it logically then. In nearly every example I gave, did or did Apple not make a promise to developers which it then broke later, costing those developers time and revenue?

And did or did Apple not recently make a promise to developers regarding the availability of an existing, long-standing technological alternative, that being direct downloads of application binaries?

Would a reasonable person extrapolate from those past observations that Apple would behave in a similar manner when circumstances similar to those that I mentioned arose?

If not, then either you don't believe that people's future actions have anything to do with their past actions, or you disagree with a series of easily verifiable facts.
So what, exactly, are these terrible effects? Wikipedia lists collapsed veins, pneumonia, suppressed liver function and infection as long term risks. Which seem pretty bad until you look at the long term risks of alcohol: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_effects_of_alcohol
The GPLs rules are only about preserving end-user freedom (including the freedom to modify and redistribute software). Saying that the GPL has "strict rules" and is thus the same as the App Store is like saying that putting someone in jail for kidnapping is just as bad as kidnapping in the first place, because you're restricting someone's freedom. Yes, laws and jail for kidnappers restrict their freedom, but they only constrain you from taking someone else's freedom away.

Likewise, the GPL only restricts you from things you do that take away other people's freedom. If Apple just allowed its end users to have the freedom required by the GPL, there would be no conflict.
Great story. As a developer-but-not-sysadmin, it's interesting to read how someone more knowledgeable does this sort of analysis and remediation.
"Regarding "if you seem to have done everything correctly", I don't think that any honest scientist can claim that his/her study had no limitation or flaw."

Right, that's what I was getting at. The scientist might believe they've done everything right, after checking and re-checking their work, but be missing some flaw or limitation in their work, their model, whatever.

I recall hearing once of an experiment that couldn't be reproduced, and it turned out to be due to some chemical property of the entirely normal laboratory glassware that one lab had used. Switching to another manufacturer removed the problem. (I'm probably messing up the details, like the consequences of the chemical properties of the glass. But the gist is correct. Different manufacturer of glassware cleared up a problem that was unexpected.)
New Crop of Self Hosting IDEs: RedCar and JRuby, Cloud9 IDE and Javascript
> We can shut down the drug cartels in Mexico, like we did in Columbia, but the drug trade will be next be passed to another country like a baton.

Sounds like an argument for legalizing drugs.

> legalizing marijuana will not stop drug cartels just like legalizing prostitution does not stop the flow on human traffic

Why not? Legalizing alchohol did seem to stop the flow of moonshine.
In this case, that's true.

But his/her question was: "but why/how does money affect creation of laws in the US?"

The ruling allowed corporations to fund candidates in any candidate election. These candidates then have a better chance of winning (though certainly not guaranteed) through sources of funding that they hadn't had before. By influencing who gets elected, corporations have a better chance of influencing which bills are created and passed.
Haven't had a chance to read the article yet, but I was under the impression that the lethality of pancreatic cancer (and a few others) was mainly due to the fact that it's so damned hard to identify until it's beyond the point of treatment. For example, during the period when the tumor is small, contained and treatable, it (again, AFAIK) doesn't tend to manifest any symptoms, or the symptoms which exist are identified as some other, more common issue.
I hope MS doesn't use this as an opportunity to put even less resources into MSDN and Help.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I used to be able to hit F1 to get context (good) sensitive help in Visual Studio - this hasn't worked for ~5 years for me. Luckily, it doesn't matter that much because of all the non-official sources...but I'm just curious why MSDN and help seems to not work, at all.
Talking about the direct health risks of heroin is like talking about the speed of a missile that is coming at you. Sure, a high-velocity object will kill you, but even if someone brought the thing in on a wheelbarrow, it's still packed with explosives and will do its job quite well.

This is why I'm not talking about heroin's direct health risks and instead focusing on the bigger picture. Heroin's terrible effects are a consequence of physiology and behavior, not necessarily of cellular toxicity. The way that heroin makes people feel is so powerful that it outcompetes all other motivators. Therefore, heroin has the habit of dominating the lives of its users, enslaving them to itself and its pursuit.

The addictive potential of alcohol is nothing like that of heroin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substance_dependence#Addictive_...
Except syntaxes die. Syntaxes tend to encode what is possible to describe in a particular language. Eventually people decide what a language expresses is not adequate, they write a new language w/ new syntax to describe a new thing. Lisp adopts the new thing with little in the way of syntactical change.

How do you account for that?

* Over 40 years of historical evidence suggests that most programmers do
not find the power of macros adequate compensation for a syntax they
find highly unpalatable. It takes a special kind of arrogance to dismiss
all of these people as blind.

No 40 years of historical evidence suggest that your syntax will die. C and C++ have survived because of their intimate nature w/ popular operating systems. Lisp has survived because it can evolve. How can you not chuckle that C and C++ are just now getting lambdas and closures?

In anycase Alan Kay says it better than I, http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1039523.
While I don't believe in that, I do think it's odd that Kickstarter accepted their proposal despite being very clear that they don't accept startups and they are catered towards the creative arts.
Stellar Partition Manager Advanced Software
Morally questionable to who? You?

Yes I think starting a cannabis related startup is a good idea. I live in Colorado where we have over 100,000 medicinal patients and a dispensary on every other street in the Denver area. Combine that with a staggering amount of people that consume cannabis recreationally, unaffiliated with the medicinal program, and you can see how there's a pretty enormous market in this state alone. Now take into consideration the relative size of California and the fact that every single one of its citizens of legal age could potentially be buyers of this product.

Nobody would advertise on it? The Denver Post disagrees with you mightily ---> http://www.denverpost.com/news/marijuana ... oh yeah, the Westword Magazine disagrees with you too ---> http://www.westword.com/directory/marijuana-dispensaries/

Do you have any idea the amount of shops that are going to be offering cannabis products? You don't think, I don't know, that THOSE people would like to advertise? Or the glass blowers that make a living making pipes, bowls, etc? Or the vaporizer manufacturers like http://silversurfervap.com or the web developers that make most of their money designing sites for dispensaries in medicinal states? What about grow light suppliers like http://www.sunlightsupply.com or the nutrient companies like http://www.generalhydroponics.com/ or the full hydro/grow stores like http://www.thebigtomato.com/ ?? Consider the seed banks like http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/ that will be bringing their business to California. Think of the apparel companies that sell cannabis related gear. Think of the music industry when it finally adopts weed in out in the open. Think of the electricians that specialize in wiring grow rooms from small all the way up to the warehouse sized ones that dispensaries run around here.

Edit: You know what, I'm not even done. Here are some more people that "wouldn't advertise" -- cannabis edible makers and drink makers like http://www.keefcola.com/ , online communities like http://www.icmag.com , cannabis breeders like DJ Short, companies that sell point of sale software to dispensaries, credit card processors, etc etc etc.

This is so much bigger than you'll ever know, and it makes me sad that you have such a negative attitude towards it. This is bigger than the gold rush and bigger than silicon valley.

And we're only talking about California. Think of when the next state adopts it. And the next. And the next.

I also find it ironic that you think nobody would "buy" a cannabis related startup when this very thread is about a very wealthy individual investing $100,000 already, and the law hasn't even passed yet. Imagine the projects he's got his eyes on for when it actually DOES pass.

Mark my words, if legalization takes hold you're going to see your first cannabis entrepreneur break the Forbes 400 in a very short amount of time.
Explore Mac Partition Manager Software – Create/Resize/Remove Mac Volume
I've had more problem with that from UPS. Both my wife and I were home all day, hell I even at one point went to the porch and waited outside for the package to arrive. UPS truck never came by and driver claimed "nobody home". Had to go to UPS center and pick up the package at the guard shack and there were about 12 other people. The guard said, "Wow that's funny you're all here to pick up packages from the same truck/driver."
Cue fond personal memories of living in South Africa in the 80s...

Used to be so bad you made sure to not wear jeans&t-shirt if you were going to fly just so you didn't get pulled off the line by the Uzi wielding thugs and miss your flight.

Then they freed the great terrorist Nelson.

Yeah, that's right... Here in .za we felt exactly the same way about him as you yanks do about the great terrorist Osama.

Fast forward sixteen years later and guns are rarely visible in the airport, check-in is smooth as silk (though we seem to have inherited the idiocy with the water bottles from you) and the last time anything got blown up here was when I forgot an aubergine in the oven for too long.

They're having y'all on. The thing with tyranny is that until someone says "no thank you" it grinds on relentlessly becoming more and more expensive to stop with each passing year.
Herve Leger,herve leger bandage
So? Lots of people are irresponsible, shallow and opportunistic. I've seen Americans complaining loudly about prices and the lack of English while touring Italy, but nobody seems to want to ban the Duomo.
irb(main):002:0> 0.1 + 0.2
=> 0.30000000000000004
This is pretty cool, it seems just like the Lego Mindstorms[1] set I had as a kid, but without the rounded edges and nice connectors.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Mindstorms
It means that we have to focus on the things that really matter (e.g. drug smuggling aliens) and make ICE more efficient so that coming through immigrations isn't a farce that takes a decade and $50k and so that they have the manpower to go after the people out there committing crimes.

That said, I sincerely wish you'd remove the word "amnesty" from your vocabulary. It's a stop word, just like "Republican", "Democrat" and "terrorist." People see those words and they stop thinking and start getting upset.

It so happens that I'm none of those things, if that helps you any.