skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
If you assume the problem is "Where will we find energy to sustain our current consumption rate?", then you're right: air-cars aren't a solution. Such a solution might not even exist.

But if you assume the problem is "How can we relieve market pressure on our most constrained resource?", air and electric cars are a solution. The hope is that by diversifying the sources of energy used for transportation, we can continue to use oil for other purposes that we haven't found cost-effective replacements for yet -- like plastics and jet fuel.

So while the cars won't solve the energy crisis by themselves, maybe they'll buy us enough time to reach the "then a miracle occurs" discovery that does solve it. Or, failing that, maybe they'll help civilization make a slow transition to reduced consumption, rather than a sharp crash.
Yes. The Internet of yore collapsed in a singularity caused by the excessive concentration of cluelessness. We are all presently living inside this event horizon.
the more people you'll encounter with average coordination who will trip and fall when trying to run away from your product demo. Some of these people will buy while still in a semi-dazed state. Voila! You have customers.

I just had to say -- hilarious.
I don't think he's saying that little actions have no effect, just that the little actions that have an effect aren't always the ones you'd think.
This has someting to do with there being no record of him (Bill Gates) ever saying that: http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/1997/01/1484
The machine gun is a much overrated weapon; two per battalion is more than sufficient.

If you're talking heavy machine guns, and non-mechanized battalions, then this is probably about right.
Coming from someone who has been involved in Biochemistry research and software development - I prefer software development. Here's why: in both fields, you get to explore and break new grounds, but you move much faster in software development.

To do anything interesting self-directed work in the life-sciences, you have to get a PhD and by then, your hands are still tied down to the government because you have to write grants to NIH. Unlike programming, where you hatch a idea, Google sample code-sources, dive into a hackthon and build a prototype after one evening of intense programming. Biochemistry takes months of patience, where you micropipette and shake test-tubes, use the PCR machines. It is hard to deciper the details, you can't step-through the codes of DNA (at least yet) or trace the memory stacks of the cells that you are studying. Coming from a programming background, I was so frustrated in Biochemistry.

Also you should know that the life sciences is slowly being transformed into a information sciences (Bioinformatics). There's a movement in the field called System Biology, that treats the body/a cell/macromolecular as a finite automata, the DNA the source code, and the protein products it makes the output. Sounds familiar?
My personal favorite:

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."

- Charles H. Duell, U.S. Commissioner of Patents, in 1899.
Nice code, but that's not a compiler.
Why? Software patents suck regardless of whether or not they are novel. Each one slowly kills our profession.
I looked at the title of the article. I said "I'm certainly not clicking that. Linkbait city."

Then I said to myself: "You know, I bet the top-rated comment on this link is something like 'I am shocked, shocked to find this on the front page of news.yc'." So I had to click through, just to find out.

And now I feel kind of dirty. If first-order porn is, well, porn... and second-order porn is trolling (posting links to porn and watching eagerly as people self-righteously denounce them) what the hell did I just do? Third-order metaporn. Eeeeewwwww.
Any software patent is 'non-obvious' to a non-programmer. That's the problem with them.
I know, and it is funny. Just couldn't resist getting my armchair sociology pokes in. Bad Habit.
The room-sized computer's ability to carry out different tasks - without having to be rebuilt - has led some to describe it as the "first modern PC".

Definitely a landmark achievement for humanity, but hardly a "personal computer".
them = patents, or non-programmers?
Obama Dogs vs McCain dogs
Dupe: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=222520 (which is in turn a "dupe" of http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=217682)
O emacs wizards and fellow wizardly aspirants: Should I be using this instead of Carbon Emacs?
we are desperately in need of nuclear energy. burning coal is just not acceptable and I'd like to see the anti-nuclear people sing the same tune after looking at the total output of a coal plant vs a nuclear plant.
they wonder why their systems are bug ridden, poorly thought out, and require gargantuan amounts of effort to fix.

I think the problem is that nobody wonders about this. They think it's normal for software to be broken and very expensive to maintain.

If you watch a novice user use software, you'll notice that they blame themselves when the software fucks up. If they're in a building that collapses, however, they blame the engineer. I'm not sure how we convinced users that bad software was their fault, but it's not something I'm proud about. "Civil Engineering" means something. "Software Engineering" is meaningless.

The other problem is that programmers don't know what users want, and users don't know what to ask for. So we guess, and they're unhappy, but they don't know why.

sigh.
It is everything I thought it would be, in both the good ways and the bad.

In the big corporate world, there are places where bureaucracy replaces the beauty of the code. You sit in meetings discussing what the code should do, often for longer than it would take to actually write it. I was in a meeting to discuss a prototype once which degenerated into an hour long discussion on the label of the 3rd text field on the screen. The bottom line is that in some big companies, the goal is to work as little as possible. If you want to write code (or maintain sanity) , avoid these at all costs.

I'm now working at a NASA contractor, and the work is considerably more interesting. Still, we are plagued with drama but at least there's always something to do.

In short, just like any career there are the boring, stressful and tedious aspects. There is also the pleasure of imagining how code should function, then immediately seeing it come to place. I'd rather be in control of what I'm working on, but until that day comes I'm happy.
Actually, it doesn't anymore. That was recently turned off.
Sorry, but Windows has had the ability to generate summaries of privacy settings ever since NT and the creation of NTFS w/ ACL configuration. It's called "Effective Permissions" and tells you - bottom line, all settings and configurations taken into account - what each user can access and what they can't.

Obviously MS hasn't contested this patent yet, but I wonder what they'll do when they read it up....
It isn't novel. See my reply above.
Love the office pics.

Been hosting with them for over a year, no problems and great documentation.
Facebook Tries to Blaze a Path in Russia
I used Aquamacs for a while, but reverted to Carbon emacs, because it was easier to make similar to emacs on Linux that I also use regularly. If you don't use emacs anywhere else, Aquamacs would be fine, I think.
I will suggest Scribd talking with Macromedia or some PDF style company; they should just convert documents in PDF like format instead of trying to reinvent the toothbrush.
Yes. The fonts looks much better in this version. The new tabs are cool, especially if you spend the rest of your day in Safari. It also uses the keyboard in a much more Mac friendly way.
do you have to use javascript and an iframe for this? splash in something like php and you can scrape the information you require.
I don't tend to post stories. :) If I were looking for posts, I would likely post it in a personal blog then write my own interpretation, using effective argumentation, re-presenting the arguments targeted to a more critical audience.

That is a lot of commitment, though. However, an argument can do more harm than good if it is not written for a general audience.
This is a joke right? I mean, it sounds like the patent for a web form. Get info, use info, deliver it back to user. Replace privacy summary with almost anything else and you have a basic function of most websites.
I use the exact same Emacs environment on my mac with Carbon Emacs as I use on Unix systems and my windows machine at work. I can't speak for the unportability of Aquamacs, but Carbon Emacs works exactly as I expect so good 'nuff!
Now You Can Have a Great Facebook Profile and Have Fun Too!
That's a misquote.

http://everything2.com/e2node/Everything%2520that%2520can%25...
There is a big difference between being profitable and being worthy of huge valuations (and eventually delivering on them).
The fonts are easily adjusted in Carbon Emacs too.

How is it friendly to a mac keyboard?
Wow, could you imagine the security implications if this was possible? Put up an invisible IFRAME that links to a major credit card's account page, scrape the account number, and hope that lots of people are logged in. Or set the IFRAME to GMail, scrape the e-mail links, and read each one to look for passwords and confidential info.

Assume it's not possible, because if it is, the web has a massive security problem.

(If you control both ends of the IFRAME, it is possible to pass small amounts of data back, but I think the exact technique used falls under the confidential information of one of the startups I've worked with.)
And it was good. As I know from personal, recent experience, it is danged hard to learn Rails with my normal surf-around-the-intrawebs method. (I eventually find great content on blogs and message boards, but there's a dearth of good entry-level stuff readily available. *Edit: And good general docs, which this site addresses more directly.)

This looks like a giant step forward for train-kind. Looking forward to using it a lot.
Most light infantry platoons carry at least one GPMG (general purpose machine gun).

Generally, heavy machine guns usually mean vehicle mounted, which isn't something that would be employed at all by early 20th century infantry. (No vehicles back then)
I don't know why some other coders are loathe to fix bugs.

It's because they think that somehow their first revision is going to be perfect, and they've failed if there's a bug in their code. Also, it's annoying when a "bug" is a change in the spec.
How not to approach an investor
Wasn't this posted yesterday?

EDIT: Yes. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=222424

If you don't read this site, why submit to it?
As someone who has published research on protein folding, trust me: compiler optimization is about a thousand times more useful.

Protein folding is the biochemical equivalent of string theory. It's fun to talk about, but the practical applications are perpetually 20 years away.
Again, the patent isn't for "ability to generate summaries of privacy settings". The patent is for systems/methods to do so. Consider a patent for systems/methods of flying. Such a patent doesn't infringe on attempts of flying, just on systems/methods described by the patent.
Friends of mine in neuroscience, who do electrophysiology, love the instantaneous gratification of it: patch onto a cell. Watch/listen to it fire. Treat it with chemicals. Treat the cells innervating it with chemicals. Make them fire with external electrodes. Etc. Do this multiple times, over a period of months/years, until you have dissected some local circuitry properties. Pretty cool, if you get off on listening to neurons fire, day in and day out.

I think the key in science is to do something that is interesting and pleasurable in both the long and short term. My electrophysiologist friends like it day-to-day, and also like the long term agenda of it. Sounds like you liked the long-term agenda of biochemistry, but not the day-to-day.

Probably similar lessons apply to hacking. For me, I got out of it: I didn't like how I felt after looking at a glowing monitor for 12+ hours a day, week after week. I like programming this intensively when I feel like it, but not when I'm pressured to do so for some business goal.
Top 8 firms to get startup capital in OC
Is physical presence any more instantaneous than a phone call or e-mail?
Not all of us burn stuff to make electricity. In BC, all our power is hydro.
Adult websites are made by Web entrepreneurs and hackers not too different from those who make Facebook and Myspace. I'm sure you need a different set of connections and background though.
I think your statement lacks nuance and insight I came to expect from ycnews.
I might not like Bill Gates, but i do respect some of his qualities. Microsoft is going to die even faster with out him. But the dieing beast is even more dangerous.
Brilliant essay!

Rethinking the prevailing view on work is key to future success. Being driven by interestingness is more important than title and money.
Patents, of course.
And that, in point of fact, it was that Apple refused MS the permission to write software for the Mac that originally motivated MS to get in the OS business at all.
Internet addiction is a 'clinical disorder
Oh, nice. When was that?
Lets all say it the way it should be: this is a joke!!
A patent for a high school level process programming? Come on!

Sorry I had to post another comment after actually reading the whole stuff.
I hate to say it, but this sort of reminds me of the comments here when someone proudly posts their brand new website.
There doesn't seem to be anything new in that respect. In general though, Aquamacs better supports native mac shortcuts like Apple-S, Apple-F, and so on.
There's also the issue that people submitting the link to HN rarely own the copyright to the content, but HN will silently ask Scribd to make a copy anyway and serve it to the internet at large. Needless to say, there are authors who dislike that approach:

http://notes-from-a-sticky-wicket.blogspot.com/2007/12/scrib...
Letters to Philip Zimmermann on how human rights groups used PGP to protect against death squads
Fair argument, but I'd recommend using TextMate then.
Really? What about Yahoo! Pipes?
I can actually see a viable business from this (in my head of course, the business plan is different). Great job.
Thief caught on camera courtsey Justin.tv
What makes a Guru?
Repeat after me, kids: SMTP != email. You need MX records, local MTAs, and client protocols (POP, IMAP, proprietary Exchange/Notes/etc.) at least to make a full email stack.

Furthermore, XMPP makes no provision for server-side storage and organization of messages. I for one consider that a huge step backwards, at least in terms of functionality.
This is the only Android book I'm aware of. I haven't read it though so I can vouch for it's quality.

http://pragprog.com/titles/eband/hello-android

The only supported language on Android is Java, so I'd stick with that.
You tested a theory you had. You wanted some evidence about whether it was true, or not. I'd called that 'satisfying curiosity' or some other positive term.
IMHO, MZ as inventor of said patent makes this funny*scary^2.
Why does HN emit "Unknown or expired link" messages
I can't count how many times I've hit the reload button while browsing Hacker News, only to see "Unknown or expired link". I understand there are myriad technical excuses for this, but it still has a significant effect on user experience.

Am I supposed to just forgive this, because I'm a technical person and can easily get out of the jail that his error message puts me in?
New code execution security vulnerabilities discovered in Ruby 1.8/1.9
Programming has its ups and downs, but on the whole it's what I love to do. It's like each program is a little baby; making it is lots of fun (;))and seeing it grow up, even better.
Advice on Running a Board Meeting?
I'm Chairman of the Board at my startup, which is about to go from 3 people (2 others I know well) to 7 people (4 others I don't know well). Any advice on running a board meeting?
Drew Yao at Apple found these. They're bad. Array and String both have integer handling problems; here are some fun diffs:

http://svn.ruby-lang.org/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/trunk/array.c?r1...

http://svn.ruby-lang.org/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/trunk/string.c?r...

We'll write up more on them later, right now just trying to nail down some exploits.

You're going to want to update soon.
The Underhanded C Contest - 2007 Winners
Google jumps into the website traffic comparison game with Google Trends for Websites
Not to mention sleep at some point.
http://searchyc.com/expired+link

especially: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=163696

[edit: Thanks for the reply aston. My mistake]
By multitasking, I assume. :)
You might not like the idea but Windows Mobile is reasonably well represented as a phone platform and that gives you a reasonable choice of languages (probably) targeting the .NET Framework - certainly C# and Visual Basic. At least that would be a well documented and feature rich platform (although it does have it's lumps and bumps).

Attractive though Android is there is no shipping phone and thus a zero market (at the moment anyway) [We have developed an Android app but it's sitting on the shelf while we wait and see what happens].
I'd imagine it's because anyone who's paid a gas or electric bill in both summer and winter for the same dwelling knows how much heating and A/C cost. Thus, individual expenditure of comfort-related energy depends not on awareness but on willingness; and a TV news item certainly isn't going to make me turn off the A/C at night and wake up every morning with sweat-soaked sheets and a parched throat.

Devices that drain power while doing nothing useful, on the other hand, are an awareness problem. If a news platform can inform people of small power drains that are avoidable at nearly nil personal cost, the aggregate effect could easily be greater than a moral harangue about the social inequity of refrigerated food.
Does my brain look fat?
If this actually Jeremy... Welcome to hacker news!
How to make a corporate butt pucker
Rick is a class act, and just technical enogh to be dangerous... especially to founders who sling buzzwords without the least idea what they are really saying.

I couldn't resist posting one his best:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=223021
After reading the discussion I have to point out the obvious: it's an application not a patent.
Intel is up to this with a C/C++ like language. Apple stands a good chance of making something like this easier to use.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/development/sho...
I thought it was going to be about a system of being a dick to everyone you've ever done business with or who helped you early on, but this is almost as obvious.
Full-screen mode + tabs == happy coding/writing space, for me at least.
What does this have to do with technology???
The punch line:

The split second you get any traction, any success at all? Look over shoulder, they’re coming. You are already ‘the old way to do it.’
Nostrademons, when you mention "control both ends of the IFRAME" are you referring to controlling the severs on both ends of the iframe?
Well the real problem is the patent examiners probably aren't programmers, thus won't have a good idea of what should be patentable.
Say it loud! more details please.
Urban Congestion and Wireless Networks
Materials science needs to get on the ball and invent Adamantium, from Marvel Comics. Then we can have compressed air-powered airliners.
Yeah, I opened an account with them a few months ago based on some recommendations here, and I've been VERY impressed with their service.
Python and Vim
No kidding, it could have been so much more.
Special Discount on Divans | Duvet | Roller Blinds | Bedding
Good point.

One depressing thing that I've noticed is that most of the best people I know in the field are seeking to leave it. This community is for an exception, although it probably has a lot to do with the fact that I was in the DC area for most of my career, and most of the work there is government-related in some fashion, even in the startups.

Still, the fact remains that because people are willing to accept crappy software, the bar for entry is low, and the industry has a tendency to drive out the good people by treating them the same way that they treat the bad ones, which is to say, like peons.
Ii was, for a while, thinking about trying out emacs, simply because it clearly had superior scripting capabilities... Since apparently Vim can be scripted in pretty much any language though, I no longer see a reason!
Interesting way to block some attacks early. I'm curious to hear how many people use .htaccess like this for security. Seems like these attacks would be blocked regardless if you keep your server patched and use good application design/development principals (like never trusting user input, not using GET queries for destructive operations, etc.), no?
Sorry, Okeumeni, I thought this was a place where one could post things of interest to techies. My bad. I will remove, if it is wasteful, etc.
No, you're not supposed to "forgive it," you're supposed to use Google or SearchYC, and see the reasons it's there and why it's hard to get rid of for yourself.
thanks, heh
There's a difference between making revenue and making a profit. While I won't argue your assertion that it's easy to find revenue sources when you're popular, I'd appreciate seeing some hard evidence that it's also easy to pay all the bills. That del.icio.us, flickr and YouTube were all acquired and were all at one point rumored to be bleeding money for their parent company doesn't bode well for the average "free" service.
It's a very tough problem. Queries such as "square", "blue", "fast", etc... will yield very poor results.

PLSI tends to perform very well on more specific queries, such as "Paul Graham", "silicon graphics", etc...

The problem with PLSI is that it is extremely computationally expensive -- which is why most internet-scale search engines don't use it.

Our innovation was figuring out some tricks that have allowed us to improve performance dramatically. However, there is obviously still room for improvement.

Our goal is to satisfy 80% of the queries with decent results -- and to leave the other 20% (square, etc...) to someone else.

The interesting thing about PLSI is that it's able to rank documents from the text alone -- ignoring the link structure and other metadata.

Therefore, we're thinking our algorithm will make the most sense in situations where there is lots of textual data without web-like link metadata.

The two scenarios that come to mind where people need to text-mine documents outside the metadata-rich web are:
(1) windows file shares on corporate intranets
(2) large volumes of legal documents inside law firms

Text-mining wikipedia is a proof-of-concept at this point
Facebook Passes Myspace Worldwide
You could just stop using HN if you can't "forgive this" :).
Who Would Kick Ass? Digg or Reddit?
Facebook Passes Myspace
i found when providing a comment of depth, i'll usually do a quick copy and paste of what i wrote, go back and post it quickly.
I'll go ahead and disclose this for you:

YOU are the one filing this petition for cancellation of the "Facebook" trademark.

After a brief look at your company's press releases and submissions to Hacker News it appears you're on a mission to either profit from Facebook's success, or destroy them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/01/technology/01facebook.html...
About your proposed solution of "clusters": Getting people to explore outside of their comfort zone, and letting them encounter ideas that challenge their faith-based views, is actually a good thing. Insular clusters do sound "safe" but I would not assume that is a net positive.
Non-tinied URL:
http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Ruby-Novice-Professional/dp/...
Facebook Blows past Myspace
Thanks for posting this. I've been trying to track down that quote about rail travel and asphyxia (by Dr. Dionysus Lardner) for ages...
I'd be surprised if they'd have much luck with Macromedia, as it's now part of Adobe -- essentially a direct competitor.