skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
to those complaining about Mozilla trying to monetize: did you (ever) make a donation to the foundation?

Now it is a good time to show your support to the project.
OP here. A small clarification: there are some legitimate criticisms of the Register piece that I cited in the first tweet, but I merely cited it as an example of why I think the hype is calming down. The arguments I make are independent of that piece; the limitations I point out have always been there, rather than something new that happened in 2018.

I also wanted to add a couple of points that I didn't get to in the Twitter thread.

Economics. Blockchain technologists seem to overestimate the extent to which new insights in economics are needed to understand cryptocurrencies and blockchains, as opposed to applying basic principles from economics and game theory. For example, a recent paper shows that thinking about miners and attackers in terms of stock and flow exposes important limitations of the security of Proof of Work. [1] I learnt of many other such examples at a recent conference on the economics of blockchains. [2] So I think a lot of the "cryptoeconomics" hype is misplaced.

Privacy. It's often taken for granted that decentralized architectures will improve privacy. This seems obvious given everything we've learnt about Facebook, but a better way to think about it is that decentralized systems exchange one set of privacy problems with another. I coauthored a paper a few years ago skeptical of the "decentralization ==> privacy" story in the context of social networks [3], but I think many of the arguments in that paper apply to blockchain/dApps that are being built today.

[1] http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/eric.budish/research/Economi...

[2] https://bfi.uchicago.edu/events/cryptocurrencies-and-blockch...

[3] http://randomwalker.info/publications/critical-look-at-decen...
Technologies for mass scale customisation is being developed by several big players in the market. However, also consider that there are already hundreds of thousands of different shoe styles in the market, so finding a pair of perfectly fitting shoes can to a large degree be considered a search problem rather than a customisation problem. With appropriate 3D scanning technology, this can be done today.

Disclosure: I work for a technology provider in this field.
NYE Resolutions
I think it's a more general problem. My guess is that it's not 99% of users going to the site posting that one specific issue, yet the small vocal minority of users has decided to plaster it all over the site.

One solution could be to maintain a karma for every user and update it when their text is overwritten or erased. That way a user that constantly writes the same garbage everywhere that gets erased would have a low karma and couldn't keep doing it, whereas a user that writes things that visitors want to see would have higher karmas.
Maybe HardMod or SoftMod of a games console to run homebrew and play pirate games. That's usually a one off process though.

Some of the emulators have some settings that people can noodle around with, and so if you're running it on limited hardware (RPi, RPi Zero) they can be useful to get better performance.
It's ironic that "AR Insider" is saying this because they are a source of the duckspeak that causes people to grow earflaps.

Their favorite word now seems to be "XR", which I've also seen people using in connection with 5G and Telecoms.

It seems that most people roll their eyes when they hear about "AR" and "VR", are baffled if you ask them what "MR" is, but there just might be some corporate executive who sees blather about "XR" and wonders if they need to get an "XR Strategy".
If Firefox proved they could survive with less money, they would likely be given less money. What's their incentive to do that?

Firefox exists partially outside the regular market, so normal strategies may not apply quite the same way.
I have read that we would see different mineral and metal deposits due to mining activities of an advanced civilisation.
My job is applying a rigor of thought to unclear and sometimes conflicting specifications, and figuring out what users/clients "really" want. It'll take strong AI to be able to do that.

A less-capable AI may be able turn clear and unambiguous specifications into working code - but someone needs to create those clear and unambiguous specifications.

By analogy, creating a perfect camera will not put artists out of business.
I’ve maintained my Mac project for 20 years for free (despite paying $99/year these days) and I can say quite a bit about the experience.

It is a tremendous amount of work, far more than most people would imagine, just to keep up (i.e. zero features, just keeping the code base in sync with the platform). I ported the entire code base from System-6-style to Mac OS 8, complete with fancy Appearance support and a lot of different callback mechanisms and other OS features of the day. I ported networking code away from deprecated layers. I ported from 68K to PowerPC, to Intel 32-bit, and now 64-bit is required. I ported file management code multiple times to entirely different APIs. I added tons of Objective-C. I migrated compilers from MPW, to CodeWarrior, to GCC, to LLVM. I replaced, painstakingly, thousands of lines of Carbon-style code with entirely different Cocoa idioms. I redesigned interfaces that were once described by Rez input files, to use Interface Builder (multiple times, as IB kept changing). I added code-signing. I split a single-application architecture into sub-processes with OS services. And these are just things I can pick off the top of my head; I am sure there are many more. Again, this is just to keep the damn code working as a nice modern app, before you even add work to make it do whatever it’s supposed to do.

Also, in every single case, it is noteworthy that the OS features I worked so hard to adopt were eventually thrown out by Apple anyway. This means I fully expect 10 years from now that even today’s code isn’t going to “last”. Some of the changes were particularly insulting, I would add, since Apple at the time made bold statements about those APIs being “the future”, and such; for instance, after completely redesigning an application to use the Mac HIToolbox “properly” in every possible way, it really hurt when Apple just decided they didn’t give a damn about Carbon to the point where it wouldn’t even compile anymore a few releases back.

I am fine with this because this is the kind of thing I like to work on. I do wish though that more people would realize how much effort software maintenance really is. Unfortunately, a heck of a lot is hidden behind simple-looking UIs and most programs will be a lot more effort to build than they appear to be.
His points about blockchain are compelling but I disagree with “blockchain/decentralisation” part. Blockchain is a decentralised ideal, but so is BitTorrent, so is Tor, and so on, to some significant extent. To say that decentralisation failed because blockchain failed ignores all the other technologies which are serving people well.

I think the distinction between “decentralised” (i.e. federated) and “distributed” is important (as decentralised is often used as an umbrella term to cover both).[0] There are tons of federated projects out there from Matrix to Mastodon, and there are initiatives to make federated networks more decentralised (such as the integration of Kademlia DHT in BitTorrent).

No need for pessimism I think. :)

[0]: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jason_Hoelscher/publica...
> I listen to quite a few pieces composed about 300 years ago

Where did you find these pieces? How was it recorded?
I didn't mean to imply that, if I did. That said, Atom and VS Code did gain a big market share of the text editor/IDE space pretty quickly, and the author called out Atom as something built on a web platform that was slow and bad because it was built on the web platform, and further implied that we could build better a better version of it if we abandoned the web platform.

My point was just that the new editors were successful in the ways that they were (e.g. for web developers working with a quickly evolving language) precisely because of the fact that they were built on an extensible platform, and in spite of the performance issues.

I was an Emacs user a few years back. Then I started writing more Javascript than lisp and picked up React. IIRC the point where I switched to Atom was when the emacs syntax highlighting packages were choking on es2015, but I could get support for JSX and stage-0 ES extensions if I used Atom. If Atom had been built with a focus on performance over extensibility, those features wouldn't have showed up as quickly as they did and I wouldn't have had any reason to consider switching. Atom was extensible (and not uniquely so) because it was built on a browser and didn't have to reinvent the language and concepts that browsers already had for building basic UI features. I'm not sure we're going to see a new, successful IDE for quickly evolving languages that does reinvent that wheel, as it seems the author is suggesting that we do, in the name of performance.
deep learning for computer vision by pyimagesearch
They should try fixing Android so the power button reliably turns it on and and off, also so that it really charges when you plug it in. At that point they can start thinking about CPU Affinity and such.
I think we are entering a cryptocurrency winter for much the same reason the first AI winter happened: too much promised too fast, and hand waving away really massive unsolved problems.
I'd be so excited if Superman ever entered the public domain. Then I'm convinced we'd get much better adaptations than the drivel we've been seeing for the last several years.
You should try using `map_err` and the `?` operator, with your own error enum defined using the `failure_derive` crate, for example:

foo().map_err(|e| MyError::FooError(e))?
.bar().map_err(|e| MyError::BarError(e))?;
It's a mistake to conflate "decentralization" with "blockchain". One is not necessary for the other and decentralization has not fallen apart. I'm not even talking talking about mastodon either. I don't use it. The many to many relationship that torrenting is the epitome of decentralization, is very effective and has been around for nearly two decades at this point.

I'm just a random guy on the internet but who is this guy to talk about these subjects in such broad terms? Lay off the misused hyped up tech, please.
In the current insane copyright system? That's absolutely soon.

Anything is sooner than never, which is what it looked like for a long time.
that's a fair point, but it still doesn't help the newspaper analogy i was responding to.

i don't like ads either, but i'm ok with mozilla experimenting to find more privacy-respecting revenue streams and lessen their reliance on google.
No. Defense spending is spread through all 50 states because they all have two senators.
For really big files, I like glogg (https://glogg.bonnefon.org). It's just a viewer not an editor but it handles files larger than the available RAM with ease (multi-GB log files).
For now, field prep. But not like in regular primary and secondary tillage which is broadcast tillage.
Then you'll be happy to know he's already there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_(1940s_cartoons)
Enabling reader mode in safari fixes.
There are rational geometry libraries which are precise (edit: I mean that answers are "exact"): http://www.algorithmic-solutions.info/leda_guide/Geometry.ht...

Quilez's concern with how the number fits into 32 or 64 bits may be necessary for performance, but using arbitrary precision numerators and denominators is the only way to achieve the robustness he was initially pursuing.
Nothing I can discuss right now, unfortunately.
I need to ask a really stupid question: Do we have sufficient evidence that there is definitely no genetic aspect to intelligence, or is that just one of the possible explanation and one that we hope is the case (because then we could do something about it).

Because I've always repeated the same point whenever confronted with racist talking points. Am I misguided?

Because consider that:

* It seems that the scientific community is willing to have an open dialogue about the possibility of some ethnic groups having HIGHER intelligence due to genetic reasons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jewish_intelligence

* Therefore the idea of genetics affecting intelligence isn't outlandish.

* It is natural that there would be a double standard for doing similar research with regards to ethnic groups that have faced hundreds of years of history of racial discrimination - with remnant ripples in today's age (as well as new types of systemic racial discrimination). (And yes, I realize of course that the Jewish community has also faced hundreds of years of discrimination also, but in this case the genetic evidence is POSITIVE)

* So it seems that before we can have a real wreckoning with the idea of some ethnic or racial groups be genetically predispositioned to lower intelligence, we have to first establish a truly post-racial society so that any findings do not exacerbate the progress.

* But until we get there we have to be honest about the reasons why some scientific research may be dangerous and why some conclusions can cause genuine harm to the wellbeing of millions of human beings in their quest for prosperity, or even basic survival.

Where I'm leading with this is I think we should be able to have the conversation with people like James Watson without ostracizing them, shunning them, and ruining their lives in the process. We should also not write articles like this with condescending dismissal of the very idea as backwards and racist.

I think instead we should be honest that this is a highly complex and highly charged topic, and there are so many variables at play that we are unlikely to get a definitive answer either way. But until we do, and until our civilization can handle realizations that put one group of people at a disadvantage (and specifically individuals without that group who would be harmed by association), we should invest all our efforts into the nurture/societal aspects of the equation to mitigate any possible inequalities on measures like IQ tests.
> I built a Chromium-based browser and it doesn't sync data with Google.

AFAIK Chromium, by default, syncs data with Google as well unless you can disable it by some custom compile flags or something. Do we seriously expect (the majority of) users to compile their own browser?
Culture can be one of the challenges, and it is different once you get out of high school. This area (Nevada County) is far less hostile overall.
Mozilla's in a weird spot. I understand they need to be profitable but springing these types of "experiments" on users is eroding trust and is damaging long-term. There's got to be a better way to manage these changes so that it doesn't feel like adware is being surreptitiously injected into your web browser.

The Wikipedia method of getting in your face begging for money seems unpleasant as well but at least that doesn't leave you questioning their motives and judgement.
Thanks for posting this. I've been planning for some time to move abroad. I want to live somewhere with (much!) lower population density than the south-east of England, with a temperate climate (though I don't mind cold winters), and with mountains.

It's realistic that financially I'll be where I need to be within the next couple of years. Sweden, along with Norway, has been on my list of potential destinations, so it's helpful to hear this perspective from somebody born and raised there. It's not going to stop me from continuing to consider, but rather make me dig a little deeper.
This is why I love being a Windows programmer. Microsoft really does take backward compatibility seriously, and the last breakage worth mentioning happened when Vista started to enforce roles and permissions.
For a single person, sure. A single parent with 2 kids? Very scary.
No, because the ruling didn't say that they can't have any regulation of the term "engineer", just that their regulations were too broad. They are allowed to regulate "professional engineer" or regulate using "engineer" in specific commercial contexts, but they can't just prevent someone from calling themself an engineer regardless of context.

A law saying that you can't refer to yourself as a "judge" would almost certainly also be unconstitutional, but a law saying that you can't present yourself as a Federal judge is probably specific enough to pass muster.
So, that seems to say that differences factually do exist in IQ results, but there's disagreement on how to explain them. And that Watson has jumped to the most offensive and biased possible explanation?

There are a number of plausible environmental explanations ... for example, questions on IQ tests having cultural biases.
I understand people like BBEdit, and this article is more than just about the popular editor. FWIW, I tried it, but for me, BBEdit just can’t “defeat” vim, even on mac. Vim is now 27yrs, and actively maintained, and once learned, its power is unmatched imho.
As for graphics conversion, I’ve never used the app mentioned in the article, rather always turned to netpbm, which is available in homebrew on mac.
Still. Much respect for developers sticking to, and maintaining their well liked apps for the long haul.
In search of lost screen time
Totally. I also struggle to do intense workouts in the AM, but 20 min or so gets me in the right headspace for the day.
Vanguard has recently moved to require[0] some form of 2FA for online account access, probably in an attempt to either improve security (optimistic) or shift liability for phishing to consumers (cynical). They do this by forcing[0] you to sign up for SMS 2FA initially, which as informed readers should know, is total crap for 2FA and frequently hijacked by bad actors. I'm not a fan of this policy.

[0]:

> When it comes to account security, everyone has a role to play. So we're now requiring you to sign up to receive security codes. These codes provide a type of 2-step verification that adds an extra level of security to your accounts.

You can avoid signing up for 2FA after login by clicking "Get started," then "Cancel" without marking that you agree to the terms, and then manually navigating to your desired URL, e.g., https://personal.vanguard.com/us/myaccounts/balancesholdings .
Sketchfab (https://sketchfab.com/store/3d-models) and itch.io (https://itch.io/game-assets) both have healthy asset marketplaces as well. Unreal also has a decent asset store and Epic has released high quality assets for free (https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/paragon, https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/open-world-demo-col..., https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/infiltrator-demo) and Unity has done the same for some of their high-end demos. Unity asset store also has small prototyping kits for cheap. I like https://www.oryxdesignlab.com tilesets for small roguelikes and RPGs as well.
What's wrong with talking about something? We can't figure anything out without being able to talk about it openly.
Thank you for agreeing with me that cabaalis' statement that "all laws are enforced by violence" is incorrect. I would agree with "most". I disagree with "all".

Here's a couple others:

38 CFR 38.630 - Headstones and markers. - "VA will furnish, when requested, a memorial headstone or marker to commemorate an eligible individual whose remains are unavailable." - https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/38/38.630

Who is threatened with violence for breaking that law? At most, a VA employee can be fired, yes?

36 U.S. Code § 106 - Constitution Day and Citizenship Day - https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/36/106

That's another completely voluntary law ("are urged"), and the Supreme Court didn't get involved.
Programmer as wizard, programmer as engineer (2018)
>There are places with cool climates, where you don't have to deal with all of those issues.

Relatively few in the US. The Bay Area is something of an outlier for having generally temperate summers and having no or rare snow in the winter. If your priority is "nice" weather year-round, it's hard to beat Northern California. The Pacific Northwest mostly qualifies too but, of course, it's wetter and grayer for much of the year which many find off-putting.

The western end of Western Europe also qualifies.
Is there data to support that? I'm not arguing who is wrong or right, but science has never been a democracy.

Most experts agreed our solar system was geocentric until Copernicus came along.
I think that most great Mac apps are made by developers that have only a single app. There are only very few companies that manage the jump to multiple apps (I can only think of Panic and the Omni Group).

Oh, and there's also Rogue Amoeba, with their line of audio apps.
Or that Francis Collins jumped to the least offensive possible explanation :)
Are the costs of immigration really that enormous? We pay 15-20 billion SEK/year in bribes to the craftsmen sector in the form of ROT-avdrag, for example. How many non-working immigrants do you think that would pay for per year? There are plenty of immigrants who are capable of performing any number of jobs that can't get them because they wait forever to get into Swedish language classes and then they wait forever before receiving permanent residency here (why would a company hire you if you could be deported tomorrow?).

Do you know how many truck drivers we're going to need in 5-10 years for example? We're talking mid-five digit numbers. That's not unskilled labor as such but it's not a massive insurmountable obstacle either to educate these people to become truck drivers for example.
Assuming your Starbucks habit is daily, you're looking at closer to $30/week, or $1500/year.

If you are making $100k a year, your take home pay is probably closer to $70k. Assuming you are financially responsible and saving a decent amount, that means you are spending generously maybe $50k/ year. At 2% cash back, that comes out to $1000/year.

Same order of magnitude.
I dunno. They'll still have the TM and copyrights on later works with the characters. And there's already plenty of unlicensed Mickey et. al. stuff out there even with the copyright. I doubt this is really that threatening to their bottom line. (plus in the case of Disney, they probably have more IP then they can effectively market anyways, if Snow White goes public, they'll still have like two dozen similar princess characters they can push)

On the other hand, picking a fight over the issue risks a public backlash that might go the other way and weaken existing copyright law in a way that really would hurt them.

So I'd bet Snow White will enter the public domain.
Can the downvoter explain his/her decision? What is wrong with my post?
Splendid, thanks! Should've thought of looking in plugins.

Though, from the description it sounds like it's still rather awkward compared to Vim's transparent handling. But I'll have to try it and see.
If you disagree with what Mozilla just did, now is a terrible time to show your support for them; given their data-driven philosophy, they'll conclude that running ads on the New Tab page led to an X% increase in donations and do it again in the future.
I'm not an expert, but I'd think Snow White would be one of the most likely, as it's not really a cash cow these days. In fact it might backfire if they tried to push it in the modern climate.