skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Reminds me of joelonsoftware's recent Architecture Astronauts post.

A relevant quote:

"The hallmark of an architecture astronaut is that they don't solve an actual problem... they solve something that appears to be the template of a lot of problems. Or at least, they try. Since 1988 many prominent architecture astronauts have been convinced that the biggest problem to solve is synchronization."

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2008/05/01.html
Realtime and near-realtime is hard in practical terms, not mathematical terms. I work on the latter, and some days I miss working on the former.

If it were easy to get it right, and profitable to execute correctly, I have to imagine that a competitor would have done so by now. But given the time and resource constraints, it seems that the problem remains difficult to manage, and I've always enjoyed that sort of challenge.

Developing heuristics for increasing statistical power, robustness, or informativeness is a mostly cerebral pursuit. Operations is more bloody in-the-trenches mud wrestling. And sometimes I look out from the ivory tower and I miss it.
It seems like there wouldn't be a lot of room for false positives in what you're suggesting. Assuming that the pictures aren't all passport photos (face-on, high resolution, uniform lighting), there would be a lot of hand-holding required on the part of the user to get high accuracy on the matches.

You could make the user interaction straightforward, with some iterative attempt at matching face A with profile picture B (if the user nixes the match, the program would note that and try again), but that's still non-trivial. I don't know that it'd be worth the trouble.
Staying Sharp
Gears 0.3 released
Um. Duh. Is this a surprise to anyone? Really? There are really otherwise bright people who think facebook apps are going to be bigger then iphone apps? Really? This is like saying dark blue is a darker blue then light blue. OF COURSE.

Think of the best thing a facebook app can do.

Now think of 100 places where your interaction with an aspect of your environment could have improved UI (in a broad sense of what UI is). Now think how easy it would be to replace the UI on everything with your iPhone. Now think about how much better the UI would be if it were as elegant as iPhone.

In one corner. FunWall. In another, the sci fi future we all spent our childhood dreaming about. This isn't a nailbiter, folks.

Like when a circle jerk is interrupted by an orgy, the facebook devs and their VCs are going to look stunned and out of place with their useless dicks in their hands when the real sex they aren't a part of starts.
Nice article, but provocative title.

Essentially it comes down to that TDD works mainly because it forces you to think about the implementation more clearly before you begin coding, while the various benefits of automation come as a bonus.
twitter+sms?
Hi Matt Maroon.
Mr. Graham,

You write in your "cliff notes" follow-up to this essay,

"My guess is that this is an instance of a fairly common Internet phenomenon. People are reacting to what they imagine I'd say in an essay on this subject—that an essay comparing startup founders to corporate employees would say that founders are great and corporate employees suck."

Is it wise to waste your precious time explaining yourself to any "reader" who hopelessly injects his own peeves and anxieties into what others say, muting intelligent discussion on any topic that Mr. reader happens to have strong opinions about? I guess it is easier to thoughtlessly fire back than take any of your suggestions under consideration.

You know this essay touches more than a few hot buttons. When you chisel away at the social creed surrounding the safe job in our society, you're asking many people to call into question a lifetime of decisions. Ones, I suspect, that were made mostly out of fear of veering too far from a well-paved super social highway promising happiness and fulfillment through Conformity rather than Individual Desire. You're calling the bluff their life is literally based upon, stripping away some of that veneer of dignity. If they fire back, it's because they have nothing left to say and need to fill the emptiness inside.

If people worship the mavericks and company founders, it's because such individuals exemplify attributes very far removed from the cowardice that most people face in thesmelves even before their feet touch the floor out of bed each morning. They may feel the energy of their own great potential, but have painted themselves into a corner with what they regard as "acceptable" behaviour and risk. So they stand in awe of the achievers and gawk at those who try to be achievers, secretly praying for the day when it might someday be their turn.

Thank you for sharing your thoughtful essays.
There are a lot of complaints about Groovy's performance in the past year. Check out some bench marks before you decide to use it for anything other than simple scripting jobs.
Re: your last paragraph...I'm concerned. I think you need to step away from your computer and your iPhone and go out on a few dates. Shocking as it may seem, "real sex" is not an iPhone app. You'll understand what I mean, in time.
Writing Maintainable Code Considered Harmful (2)
I typed this comment on iPhone while I was waiting in line and lost it to a dead link. So I retype it.

No you misunderstand the level I am speaking to.

I know I exist before I know anything else. A prerequisite for existence is DNA, because DNA underlies the process that underlies consciousness.

I'm not saying rerunning everything in a near identical situation would cause it to happen the same way. I'm not saying anything at all like that. I'm saying, for anyone with consciousness (which requires DNA), immediately, from I exist, and existence requires DNA, we should judge there is a hundred percent chance there is evolving DNA. The math that suggests otherwise is true enough, but the argument that the math gives the actual odds is flawed.

It's just a sort of meta question about how being conscious and it's implications should impact the value we assign to the mathematical truths. The mathematician should say "To my necessarily incomplete formal system, the chance is low, but because I have direct evidence I am conscious, and this consciousness requires DNA, I have other, prior evidence that the chance is extremely high." I'm not denying the math, I'm pointing out that it's not the whole story in addressing questions like how DNA evolved.
You mentioned Rent A Coder.

I used Rent A Coder for a bit, but their system is terrible. I now use eLance to freelance and it's MUCH better. I've already made $10k on the side with this, with a cumulative coding time of less than 100 hours. However, the searching might've taken 10 hours, as it's hard to find projects that are worth it (but once you hit one, it's jackpot).

Not to mention, I always do projects which involve some new framework/language I've never used or some task I've never tried, so I can learn as well as make money! It's so great. Some might call it irresponsible, but I do my homework before even starting the project, and we all know it doesn't matter what tools a great programmer is given.

P.S. I'm 17, but no one has to know that. ;-)
When I say "facebook apps are to iPhone apps as circle jerks are to orgies" I'm not actually saying iphone apps are orgies.

Shortly after people acquired the capacity to represent objects with words, they acquired a higher order of symbolic thought. One feature of this higher order language is analogy. Analogy is a way of talking about relationships between things in the same way that words are a way of talking about things. You pick four concepts, and structure them A is to B as C is to D. You use these concepts to compare the relationship AtoB and the relationship CtoD. If AtoB is less obscure, and CtoD is more obscure, analogy can be used to explain things.

Analogy works particularly well when one of the components is somehow linked to our drive for survival, because everyone relates to that. Sometimes, a writer will use analogy, but in a looser form. An implicit analogy.

I'm concerned you don't seem to understand this concept of analogy and implicit analogy.

In this case, the analogy gets bonus points because sex and iPhone apps are both (different) pretty pure expressions of universal evolutionary principles, while facebook and circlejerking are weaker in their evolutionary significance. In this way, my analogy conveys more then one meaning.

Also, and a more poetic level, real sex is everything because real sex breaks down the ego and then all thats left is everything.
Opera 9.5 released (with "DragonFly" JavaScript, CSS & SVG debugger)
That's a sneaky trick with plenty of scope for abuse. If I postdate the copyright on a book by five years then, after 20 years or so, it will be harder to determine the true copyright expiration date.

I'm not a lawyer but I've got a countermeasure for this type of legal abuse. Copyright is intended to be for a fixed term but I don't recall any details that allow or prevent this period to be deferred. Therefore, if a book has next year's copyright then it may not yet be in copyright.
Wah NirmalBhai, wah.

Btw, There s one minor bug. If I click the bookmarklet more than once, it adds "|SPLIT VIEW |" more than once.

| SPLIT VIEW | SPLIT VIEW | SPLIT VIEW | SPLIT VIEW | SPLIT VIEW
Claire used my book as a source for a lot of the article. In turn, you can see my sources here:

http://www.thinkpress.com/authoritas/resources.html
The day my family tries to make me watch a detailed replay of their vacation to Buttfuck, Ohio on google maps is the day I burn all my technology and try to live with the Amish.

Giving this to the people who actually use it is like giving a drum kit to the kid of a friend. Everyone is going to hate it but the person using it. Never mind what dilbert dude wants, who wants to be constantly asked to look at crap like that? Isn't their enough distracting debris in our lives.

Invent something to solve a real problem.
That is a kick-ass recruitment method.

If I ever get a company I want to try that.

I'm sure (bright) highschool kids pick stuff up a lot faster/easier than beer-drinking, weed-smoking college kids.
101. Luminotes: A personal wiki notebook for organizing your notes and ideas.

http://luminotes.com/

(Probably best filed under the "Getting Organized" heading.)
Programmer Insecurity
In the cold light of day, Mark has done nothing more than anyone else would, there are sharks everywhere 1) waiting to steal your idea 2) to claim you stole their idea. What counts is ideas first then a whole lot of other skills and elements but in the end, what happens in the market is the only law there is. The moral of the story is, if you have the idea and the skills to make it happen, do it. Don't for one second rely on legal tenets to protect you after the fact. They don't work and never have. This is the cold sober fact. If you have what it takes prove it.

Mark did nothing wrong here. There was nothing really novel about FB, it was clean and doing what others do. FB does not claim Ning and everyone else are coping them... The only thing that is wrong is the assumptions that others made about how the real world works and that they are now sour grapes is absolutely no surprise. It won't be the first nor the last case where someone strikes gold and the rest of the world claim they helped hold the torch and then want a cut.

This comes from someone who has had millions in ideas 'directly' (drawings off the desk) stolen from him...

I don't cry about that, I play by the rules of the world, it's tough out there and to play you do so by the real ruthless rules of survival of the fittest or you will be a looser in a court claiming your owed a living.

Sure I had loads of ideas stolen, but I'm also a realist and know that I also borrow from others whom I stand upon their shoulders when I make my way in my ventures.

Next time if you have a good idea, don't talk about it do it....
Ask YC:Python and Dual core Processors
I used to use a single processor system and i noticed that i could not call up 2 instances of the Python interpreter. But on my dual core processor system, I can call up a maximum of 3 instances of the Python interpreter at any single time, after that, all i get is an error message.
I would like an explanation on this, in the light of the Global Interpreter Lock (GIL) that Python has.
Thanks.
Wow do I wish I had the time to read all of that. As a former physics nerd, I enjoy well-written pieces that explain complex principles simply (though I'm not averse to some calculus).

Maybe someday after I leave startupland.
I also work at a startup in the location space. If you're just looking to play around and have fun, I'd definitely recommend avoiding the "feature phones" (J2ME and BREW) and focusing instead in Symbian and Blackberry.

Most Windows Mobile devices in the US don't allow access to GPS or have it deliberatly crippled (The Sprint Mogul and AT&T Tilt are the only two I know of with user accessible GPS).

iPhone is still an unknown, as I doubt Apple will open up its app store to every developer and every app. Right now it's probably best to wait and see.

Android is, well, not out yet. Wait for a device to make it to market.

WHERE is also a fast easy way to get one shot fixes and rapidly deploy an application to the millions of "feature phones" out there already, but it won't give you background updates or complete control over the user experience.
For me, my notecard is my mind
How Firefox Outran the Hounds
Thanks for the lecture, LPTS. That was fascinating.
Also, if someone has an idea, who'd be the first person you want on your team if you like the idea? The person with the idea. Without knowing the facts, the onus would have been on Zuckerberg to be upfront and try to include Greenspan as much as possible, I think.

"Hey, I like your idea so much that I actually want to execute on it. Sorry."

At least Z's guilt can dissipate if it turns into a success.

Personally, I've seen people use my ideas and thoughts. Their error is not to include me.

Blog Nation I think could've started on the back of my prototype site (I'm not totally sure), but it has now crashed and burned, and I emailed the founder with a link before BN started. At first I was somewhat peeved, and now it's somewhat amusing.

People with ideas and executive ability are rare perhaps. Some people can spot a good idea but not generate one, and they are always on the lookout for ideas. Others generate but can't separate the wheat from the chaff.

For the former, one might want all the credit and glory and leave the latter in the cold and isolated as much as possible. Both need to reconcile with each other as best as possble, as is happening now in the Facebook saga.

Greenspan has learned the hard way perhaps. Sometimes you have to know when to move on.
Geocities 2.0: Website Creation Tools for The Social Web
Robofish: autonomous, cooperative underwater robots
The winky face meant I was extra serious. ;-)
Dilbert on late client payments
Woz hacks Kathy Griffin's iPhone...on TV
Citi Mortgage
An in-depth analysis of the Citi Mortgage company
1. Make cool stuff. Examples of truly cool stuff include http://www.anybots.com and http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~adamwb/ (although stuff vastly less cool that that still counts as cool for purposes of finding a job)

2. Post it on your website in such a way that it is obvious that a) it is cool, and b) you are therefore the shit.

3. Cold-email (as opposed to cold-call) people you want to work for. If you have done 1 and 2 correctly, and the people you want to work for are in fact good people to work for, they will hire you.

It worked for me, and the stuff I made was hardly cool, and it was hardly well-posted on my website. I now have basically exactly the work situation I would define given complete freedom.
http://www.thesixtyone.com/static/jobs/

we're very open to internship opps if there's a good fit (we've got one under our belt).

concerning open source (a great opportunity), you should consider contributing to the multiple database support project. not particularly sexy, but it's going to be a key element and a great learning opp as django spreads and matures.
Copyright is automatic and enforced when you register it. Having the (C) notice is actually optional once you register it.
The Weebly guys are destined for greatness. How can you not succeed with 600,000 (and growing at a mind-blowing pace) registered users making websites through your system? The opportunities for upgrading them to premium products (even super cheap ones), getting a cut of products sold (if they go the route of enabling product sales), getting a cut of ads, and selling related services, are just overwhelming.

I find it really interesting to note how much less popular all of the others in the space are. It goes to show how much execution matters (Weebly is the best of the lot, and Synthasite is a reasonable second place, and their growth indicates that). Timing also matters...Weebly was launched a few months before the others, as far as I know.
That's not how things work.
Brilliant. We should take this show on the road.
Charles (http://www.charlesproxy.com/) is also great for HTTP debugging and performance testing. It's got a cool "throttle" feature that lets you simulate slower connections.
> He — an Xer — was running late for a meeting, and

Let us all learn to be responsible adults, like Generation X!
In high school I was always able to find people who needed basic websites coded up. Of course most of it will probably be boring static HTML and CSS type stuff.
That's strange. I can quite happily run multiple Python interpreters on my ageing (single core) 12"PB. Perhaps it was more of a memory usage issue?
Is Clean Room Software Development orthogonal to Test Driven Development or not? Clean Room minimises tests; Test Driven maximises tests. Clean Room minimises side-effects when code is written; Test Driven minimises side-effects when code is changed.
I also read that they were thinking about having entrance exams as well.
The old system was a 256MB ram with a Celeron M processor.
What error message?
I will really like to know how the Global Interpreter Lock really works in relation to single and dual core processors.
Thanks
The error is "IDLE's subprocess didn't make connection. Either IDLE can't start a subprocess or personal firewall software is blocking the connection"
I always ensure that the Python interpreter is part of my firewalls exceptions so it is never blocked.
Ah, so that sounds more like a problem with IDLE than with Python itself.

You shouldn't have any issues running Python interpretors normally.
100 Awesome Webmaster Videos on YouTube
YouTube is full of educational tools for just about anyone, webmasters included. These 100 videos for webmasters include clips with subjects ranging from SEO to domain buying.
I've had the same thing happen, no support in class, then afterwards people come up to me and ask me about further reading on the subject/unpopular opinion.

try this on for size in a government class sometime: the founding fathers were terrorist tax evaders and democracy is a stupid idea. People have no idea how to react, it hurts their brain to go that far outside "normal thinking".
I forget what the cognitive bias is called, but the gist is ignoring similarities and magnifying differences. It's a prime motivator in negative race relations too.
> But Zed would know what to do.

WWZD?
MySpace is a Good Website and You Should Stop Complaining About It
how do you stay number one?
by competing like you're number two.
Intel shows off 70 different research projects — mostly not chips
For me, both sites conjure up visions of number two.
the AI and Bayesian stuff is OB's strong suit. I don't think they've made their pet QM case very well.
LinkedIn Could Replace Outlook and SalesForce
AMD releases R600 GPU spec to open-source radeonhd X.org driver
Nice graphs. I like how he swaps the colors between them, just to make it extra-confusing.
Exam Results
The most popular entrance blog .
> it took a little fidgeting to get the actual distances right because of the weird curvature of the earth issue; but it should get you close for reasonable distances.

Probably can't tell you how we solve it at work, but the very much publicly-available book Computational Geometry: Algorithms and Applications, Third Edition by de Berg, Cheong, et al., mentions something about the robustness of geometric algorithms using inexact (floating point) vs. exact arithmetic. :-)
On the other hand the dead but immortal No.1 LSD Dealer and life long consciousness pioneer Timothy Leary did switch to teachings similar to those of Kurzweil for example in is book "CHAOS & Cyber Culture" written in '94. So maybe you need to get past acid to understand that Kurzweil is a lot closer to the source of consciousness than any drug will ever get you.
Damn - why did you have to post it this early? It's going to slip off the front page before Sunday.... and I won't remember!
You could celebrate by sleeping for 8 or 9 hours in a row, something I won't be able to do:-)
> for what it's worth, a toy example is just a classical computer simulating everything in our universe we've yet seen.

I suddenly feel the need for much, much more RAM...
First, make sure that your remote cofounder is a human, and definitely not an unfriendly AI. ;)
It's an IDLE IDE problem as lilspikey mentioned rather than Python itself. From what I can tell, IDLE listens on a fixed port on localhost in order to communicate with the actual Python interpreter, so starting multiple IDLEs may not work.

If you run multiple instances of just "python" from the shell (assuming UNIX), there is no problem.

GIL is not involved here, it only comes into play when you have multiple threads in a single process.

I don't use IDLE, but http://mail.python.org/pipermail/patches/2006-July/020329.ht... suggests there's some "-n" switch you can IDLE with that alleviates the problem somehow.
This one is just too easy: No, it couldn't.
Jott.com
I live in a small town and the main industry here is coffee shops and that's the default summer job for the area. So my summers are usually boring. Its too hot to go outside(curs you SUV's), to boring to work and smoking pot isn't as cool as it was when i was 16 so im bored as hell. So i was thinking about starting a project on my own. The drawback is that there is no money in it, and being a bartender or a dish washer pays decently for the local standards. All of my friends are going to be studying(most of my friends are ambitious), or working this summer so i have only my pc and a few ideas.
Pure Electric Car For 10k? (Hopefully)
on ubuntu it doesn't work as well as the beta 2 (for me anyway)
Yahoo= Massive Destruction Of Shareholder Value, Employee Morale and The Health Of The Internet
I'm better at realizing most of my code is shit than I am at producing great code so I'm hesitant to share because that could "promote" bad programming and people might be misled about my taste. That also means I don't need reviews that much, I'm already busy improving my skills/codebase for things I know are sucky.
LSD solves everyone's individual problems but it's definitely not the carrier of some ultimate truth. LSD can bring some buddhism into someone's life and it can free from buddhism some other person.
Wow, so they've taken direct evidence that the new iPhone doesn't support 3G and used it as the only support for saying that it does. That's just silly.
Simple, but effective. Awesome.
Same here, but PostIt Notes are my best friends (instead of note cards) :)
Internet A Preferred Tool To Research About Financial Products 
"More than half of people do their research online when looking to find information about financial products."
Doesn't work for me on Firefox 2