skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Less (kids do sports on their own).

Less (by making it easier to fire incompetent teachers).

Unknown.

Less (textbook companies are almost as bad as the teachers' cartel -- I learn more from old books, anyway).

Unknown (what do you mean by staff?)

Less (I have never walked into a school's administrative building and thought that these people seemed too busy and that what they did was important).

Unknown (some trips are great, some are a waste. Maybe trips geared towards different sets of interests would be better -- e.g. don't send dumb jocks to a play if they're just going to make things miserable for the drama kids).

Less (gifted programs tend to suck. Ideal gifted program: let them hang out in the library after hours, and maybe pester interested teachers).

Less (counseling is counterproductive. We were a safer, saner country when we didn't diagnose temporary moods as medical problems).

I don't understand how you spend money on science fairs. The ones I have been to involved students doing projects and displaying them at school. Who pays how much for what?

More (for kids who aren't interested in athletics, music programs are a good way to participate in a team. They also teach some math, which is nice).

Less (I've seen no evidence that preschool helps anyone).

Less (high school is too expensive because too many people feel obligated to attend. A 14-year-old American who paid a little attention in school has enough knowledge to function at an acceptable level, so someone who could work for four years instead of staying in school should do so. Unless high school is worth more than the $20K/year they could get doing blue-collar work and learning a trade).

Less (too many people go to college. Again, time value of money).

Less (useful stuff is subsidized by the private sector. PhDs in the semiotics of of Star Trek / Harry Potter crossover slash are paid for by truculent taxpayers like me).

Less. Above.

Less. I don't think we should impose an anti-drug culture. Let kids learn at home whether or not it's okay to spend their time getting high, and of course to learn which drugs have which effects.

Less. There are more efficient solutions.
Yes, but the more important question is: do urologists keep their phones on their belt or in their pockets?
The best thing to do is to be the HN you want to read. Submit good articles, make intelligent comments, and (possibly most significantly) vote up the articles which are really worthwhile. It still doesn't take a whole lot of votes to get something moving up the front page.
Evolution of a new anti-evolution strategy
Web Dev job at MocoSpace (mobile internet startup)
Mobile internet startup pursuing world domination seeking awesome web developer with experience coding XHTML using JSP.

MocoSpace is the third largest mobile Internet site in the US and we are seeking a
Web Developer to join our team. The position is full-time and based at our office in downtown Boston. This position has the opportunity to help build and enhance one of the most popular mobile Internet applications in a dynamic and fun environment.

Responsibilities:

Create web applications using Java Server Pages (JSP)
Implement web interfaces using XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript
Develop new features and optimize existing ones
Work closely with, and incorporate feedback from, product management and engineering team
Rapidly fix bugs and solve problems
Pro-actively look for ways to make MocoSpace better

Requirements:

B.S. Computer Science or related field
3+ years developing with Java
Knowledge of relational databases and SQL
Strong command of web standards, CSS-based design, cross-browser compatibility
*Knowledge of Web service APIs and Flash are a plus

Compensation: Competitive salary, 401k, flexible spending account, health and dental insurance with the premium paid entirely by the company plus vacation.

Send resume to jason [at] corp.mocospace.com
I hate to nitpick but I wrote a very similar series of how to posts detailing pretty much the same thing, with the same motherboard, a few months ago:

http://paulstamatiou.com/2008/01/25/diy-200-dollar-pc
http://paulstamatiou.com/2008/02/01/diy-200-dollar-pc-part-2
http://paulstamatiou.com/2008/02/09/diy-200-dollar-pc-part-3
Ask YC: Sites and Apps with excellent User Support and Help pages/documentation?
Working on building out a user support and help section and am curious if there are any shining examples of how to do it correctly out there? What things does a good user support section need to include?

Integrating things like screencasts, faqs, tips, and documentation all into one central place etc...
Why Yahoo's Yang Is Holding Out
Neither do i. And i'm not arguing that FreeBSD should adopt git or another dvcs. But the time to learn them is imo not an argument against them.
They occasionally have good content... Maybe a way to aggressively bury TC content would be nice?
Live cheaply while you can (SV is not cheap)

When you are ready to start hiring and getting outside investment move here.

There are also other more local startup hubs, don't forget that last.fm was founded and still is in london. If your idea has wings I don't think a US company would care where the offices are.
Python, reasons follow:

1) Django
2) App Engine
3) Highly expressive
Pouring a glass takes what, a minute?
fatwallet.com does a lot of that. I used to spend a good amount of time on their "Hot Deals" forum.
The Associated Press: New report identifies dangerous Web domains
It's much more common than you would think though.

I've been guilty of it myself, and it is a lot harder than it sounds to pick the right partner.
If you do stick with Perl, they have a NumPy/SciPy equivalent called PDL.
Ok, do you have any research to back up those assumptions? It's easy to have an opinion about such things but on what basis are you making such assumptions. Across the US there is a huge range in how much we spend on each of these. Anyway, the Staff is everyone involved that is not teaching and not an administrator such as janitors, lunch ladies, school buss drivers etc. There is a wide range in cost for each of these across the US and at different points in the educational system. If you averaged each of these based on cost of living per area you would find many schools spend well under the existing average do you want to cut them to zero or bring them up to average and cut out the big spenders.

PS: I don't understand how you spend money on science fairs. Every activity from printing a single scrap of paper costs money. I have known schools which stopped doing science fairs because the cost to much (under 1000$) and I know schools that spend a that much or more per student to give them access to the tools they need to do high level experimentation. (AKA access to an electron microscope etc.)
We use Ruby on Rails for the web app, and our sys admin scripts are written in Ruby as well, as they can easily integrate with our DB via our Rails setup.
Good compromise on MacBook Air case
Most of the sugar in wines is fermented away, but some remains. Depends on the wine.

I'll point out though that there is no sugar in Coke, only high-fructose corn syrup.
By all means take a year off before University, but I'd highly recommend going. You'll find that lots of places won't even give you an interview if you don't have a degree, no matter how smart you are.

However, here's something to think about. The degree doesn't need to be Computer Science/Software Engineering. Take a technical degree that interests you. Speaking as a Computer Science graduate, the typical Computer Science degree course is fairly tedious. Take a mathematics degree, or a science degree, or even a mechanical engineering degree. Whatever your interests you most.

During your holidays get some decent software engineering internships in, and you'll be set up.
One can only hope. With all the furor over the quality of interpreters that SquirrelFish has kicked off in the community, the MzScheme interpreter is looking pretty good. It's extremely fast and also very lean, and the plt-scheme is a very good language with a competent FFI, multi-platform support, and a lot of advanced features.
Even without the ability to downvote, doesn't the position of the article indicate that there isn't a better article?
"View Source" was good for today's laugh.
Navies of Landlocked Countries
Annotations from the creators is nice, but what I want to see is annotations from users. "Create a caption" contests could be brilliant when applied to video.
How I hacked Digg
Firefox 3.0 RC2 Now Available for Download
Your comment made my day - thanx :)
I'm not sure I buy all of those arguments. Power supplies (cheap ones, anyway) are, indeed, of pretty mixed quality. But their failure rates show (in my experience, anyway) a distinct "bathtub curve", essentially failing within the first few months or not for several years. For a part like that, a used one can actually be more reliable than a new one, because you're essentially getting the "burn-in" for free.

And while, again, it's true that off-brand memory has higher error rates than premium stuff (which, generally, is coming out of the same fabs but testing at higher tolerances), the error rate is (1) still very low, I've only seen one bad DIMM over the last 10 years or so, and (2) trivially easy to test with memtest86. Got a bad stick? Yeah, it sucks, but you just replace it (for $20 or whatever) and move on. It's not a reason to triple your memory cost, IMHO.

And disk drives, in my experience, simply don't have a premium/bargain distinction in quality at all. Instead, these things fail in batches. Some 4500 RPM clearance models will churn for years, while some models of 15k RPM SAS monsters like give up the ghost within a few months. You can't win with drives.
And yet we have a sensationalist article about brain surgeons' cell phones shoot to the top spot?

Good luck getting people to be picky.
You might be on the right track, except I think that those brain surgeons just want to reduce any chance of getting a brain tumor themselves, because each one thinks he's the only person with god's gift to remove the tumor :)
Dymaxion Man - The visions of Buckminster Fuller
Yahoo opposed Google deal before Microsoft bid
While expensive by American standards, SV is still cheaper than Amsterdam. Of course, if you're still iving with parents or have a house purchased decades ago, then things are very different.
Or Pylons @ pylonshq.com is a better alternative to Django for most projects.
Wait. He's treating Crucial like it's some unheard of offbrand of memory? Seriously?
No. I have done research, but I cannot point you to a specific source that rigorously defends the assertion that kids play sports even if you don't make them do it in P.E.

Fortunately, the burden of proof is on whoever wants to spend billions of dollars on a system that is less and less effective as it gets more and more expensive. Right?

* Every activity from printing a single scrap of paper costs money.*

Right. I would not expect the cost of paper to increase from a teacher saying "There will be a science fair this Friday."

schools that spend a that much or more per student to give them access to the tools they need to do high level experimentation. (AKA access to an electron microscope etc.)

That isn't a cost specific to a science fair. Perhaps it would be a learning experience for kids to do a science fair within a budget. It's certainly a learning experience for them to see adults cave in when asked to underwrite arbitrary profligacy.

Edit: I'm also unfamiliar with this use of "AKA". "... to give them access to the tools they need to do high level experimentation (also known as access to an electron microscope..." doesn't make sense to me.
Four years since starting my organization, Press@NeoSmart.net still redirects to my email address (as the founder & Director). As if TechCrunch doesn't know that's what small companies & organizations do!
Somewhat off-topic, but is there any chance we'll get to see the results of your work in an alpha/beta version soon?
You may be right, but I'd rather err on the side of caution.

(Being a non-American who's absolutely sick of the 24/7/365/∞ circus you guys call "politics" has probably affected my opinion somewhat)
The Stupidity of Dignity
Not to bag on RP, who is a very interesting candidate, but those fundraising numbers are pretty misleading.

Let's look at the totals (http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/)

Barak Obama - $265,439,277
Ron Paul - $34,442,643
Veronica Belmont to host Sony’s Qore | Tech Jaws
Gupta is a neurosurgeon like the other two doctors quoted; what field could possibly be better for a story about cell phones and brain cancers?

Gupta was CNN's medical correspondent long before facing off with Michael Moore, and with regard to 'Sicko', pointing out Moore's omissions and distortions is a public service.
You think if a woman doesn't give out sex within a couple weeks of meeting a guy, she has emotional problems? I'm pretty sure it's the exact opposite.
“The plural of ‘anecdocte’ is not ‘data’.”
09/26/08
"New syntax" doesn't necessarily mean replacing parens with something else. I wouldn't count on a popularity boost from any of this. (I assume by "compete" you mean in terms of popularity, since that's the only area where all Scheme implementations are behind Python and Ruby.)
Hey Language Snobs: Don’t Pinch Pennies
A lot of people would disagree with me about this. Take that as you may.

To talk about the issue of an interviewee not being able to write out code with pencil and paper: Do you paint with crayons?

If you are an amazing digital artist in Photoshop, say Burt Monroy for example, then you should be able to paint with crayons right? If you work for Lucasfilms as a top-tier 3D artist who works in Maya, shouldn't you be able to chip Michelangelo out of stone then?

What most NON-CODERS, which I am assuming includes you, do not realize is that a programmer's brain is wired to work in a certain environment. We have learned for years how to code in particular ways, whether via a straight text editor(Textpad for me!) or an integrated IDE(Eclipse or Visual Studio for example).

So you take someone who's already stressing about making a good impression during an interview and then ask them to write down code on a piece of paper. That's the absolute worst thing you can do. You're asking the person to use a different part of their brain to tackle a problem that hasn't been trained for that job.

Put the person in front of a computer, such as a laptop in the interview room put there for specifically this purpose, and THEN give them a problem to solve.

If the person still can't pull code out of their ass at this point, then you're right. They're morons. Otherwise, you will be surprised at what some of these people can do that you've looked over.
To the inverse question is also very interesting.- Specifically, what if a city does not send a message? To me that is the same as a company that can't get its marketing message and corporate culture right. The city, like the company, flounders and "fails". I used to live near Detroit. That city never recovered from the 1968 race riots. It could never re-discover its message of success.

If a city as a culture (not just a political entity) does not value something, then it provides no guidance to the immigrant ("new hire"). The resources to be successful are not visible nor readily available.

In SV, I would say the message is not "power" but action. Specifically, "Great idea. Have you built it yet?" This is why Cambridge as an "idea" center will not overtake SV. SV is about doing - and more importantly accepting failure as a step toward success.
Sleepless in Chicago | ServiceLive Blog
If it's largely an execution play, then yes, they do. Otherwise, they don't.
Gmail, Hotmail, AOL Mail, Windows Live Mail and Amazon.com Now Available on JetBlue
It indicates that that isn't an article with broader appeal. That's not the same thing as "better".
"what field could possibly be better for a story about cell phones and brain cancers?"

A cancer researcher?
Python, of course.

#2. Python usually wins: http://www.alrond.com/en/2007/jan/25/performance-test-of-6-l...

#3. Django was written with Postgres in mind.
I like how people that write these types of stories always justify it as trying to help out... "In the hope that digg would now listen, I sent them a second email."

So digg was supposed to jump on this problem and not worry about anything else apparently.

It always seemed akin to saying

"I saw an unlocked vehicle today and I think its important that all vehicles remain locked. Since they didn't come running out when I told them to lock the car, I put it in neutral and let it roll down a hill so that they will now heed the warning"

While warning about possible vulnerabilities is helpful I have a hard time believing exploiting them is as well.
Rich towns with high tax revenue tend to have good schools. Poor towns with low tax revenue have worse schools. It's often obvious just in the building and materials.

There are a thousand ways that schools could be improved--giving up on students and sending them to flip burgers full time at 14 is not one of them. That only serves to perpetuate the self-feeding cycle of poverty, crime, and poor education. Breaking the cycle is going to be hard and expensive.

Education needs more money and smarter money.
I've been using the pre-release versions for a while now and there are some nice improvements. Some of the syntactic sugar is really nice to use, like the new module and require forms, and the generalized lambda forms (combined lambda, opt-lambda, define/kw,...).
Move now (assuming that you're audience/customer base isn't clustered elsewhere AND assuming that you're envisioning funding/VC).

Reasons:

-You'd rather deal with moving/visa issues before your startup launches.

-You'll have smarter startup geeks to talk to here, which will make your product better. Read: http://www.unionsquareventures.com/2008/06/the_spooky_econ.h...

- In the likely event that your startup fails (most do), you'll have had months of building a network which will help you find a cool startup to join or help spin up a new idea.

If you're going the lifestyle biz route, then you don't need funding and you don't need to be in SV (unless your target customers are startups).
And Python can be easily extended with C or even Assembly.

Here's the story of the guy who successfully optimized web app bottlenecks in C:
http://fi.am/entry/the-limits-of-django-the-answers/
Wise Old Man: "You don't go into a partnership because you want to, you go into one because you must."
Another thing they fail to tell you is that there isn't necessarily a tradeoff between success and fun. When I started college, the idea of majoring and working in "engineering" appalled me -- grind away my youth in a cubicle, then retire just as family obligations and gradually declining health take the fun out of travel? No, thanks. So I took a B.S. in math (rebellious, no?), and the two jobs I've had since then have been as a lone software developer and pseudo-engineer for companies with things to do overseas. Not that I knew it would turn out this way, but I like the result -- occasional several-week trips to places I wouldn't have thought to visit, on an expense account, and thrown in with a group of locals who I already have some connection with.

From what I gather, it's easy for engineers to spend a career like this if they want to. School advisors tell you to make yourself valuable, but they emphasize it with a stick -- if you don't, you'll be poor -- instead of a carrot -- you can cash in on your own value anytime. As PG mentioned in one of his essays, success is easier to tap if you stay upwind of it.

(Incidentally, I'm going back to grad school soon -- being a pseudo-engineer isn't as upwind as I'd like. That's one get-out-of-a-rut-free card with pretty low risk.)
All I'm saying is the outcome of a presidential election is a legitimate exception to the politics rule. The rest, sure, it's irrelevant to hacker news. I stand by my downvoted opinions.
What's wrong with that quote? That's true of many things in science; we know the existence of a relationship but not the cause. For example, charge separation between the sky and ground is a very poorly understood phenomenon, but we know that it happens since we have lightning.

Twenty years from now, we may find that cellphones cause horrible brain problems or that they have no effect at all. What the scientists are saying is that the data we have now doesn't allow us to make a call one way or the other.
How can you cram your programming (i.e. creation process) into pre-defined hours every day? It's like saying "I am funny from 8 to 12, then I get creative from 1pm to 5pm and I get 'Eureka' moment usually around 7pm"

I am honestly jealous. I have days when I just throw away weeks of work and redo everything in a couple of hours, or days when nothing gets done simply because I am stuck. Your description of coding sounds more like you're in construction/manufacturing business.
Well everyone knows it's a common problem, the thing is there is no solution to the problem. Everyone tries to pick their partners well, some just do it better than others.
6 Qualities of a Top Producer
You have enthusiastic users and you think you're going to sneak up on an incumbent?
(suggest reading: http://www.unionsquareventures.com/2008/06/the_spooky_econ.h... )

I'd add a donate (or tipjoy!) button. Or a bounty page where people can buy their favorite feature request to the top of the list.

If people want to help, maybe you could release an API? Or open-source your software?
My quality of work would suffer for those few hours, I wouldn't be able to go at 100%.
"Ron's first law: All extreme positions are wrong." -- Ron Garret

(Naturally that only applies in some cases, but here I think it's pretty apt.)
I back the api idea. If anything, this helps you seperate logic in the app which will probably allow growing a dev team more efficiently. More importantly, though, is if customers actually do extend your app via an API you be empowering creativity outside your vision while still in your control. Letting users change the scope of your site is about as close to mapping your site to their needs as you can reasonably get.
True, but I find my ability to code significantly diminished after even one glass. I'm all for finding some time to unwind with a glass when you can, however...
The brilliance was that TuneCore got all this publicity from rebuking Arrington. Maybe that is the key to making the front page of TC: be politely rude to them.
I think it's that the term "programmer" is so loose in the PHP community that good programmers have gone away from PHP. I know that it makes looking for jobs intolerably annoying.

In interviews, you're talking about programming as people who know how to customize WordPress talk about how they can do whatever needs to be done in PHP. Heck, look at WordPress itself - it's a blog engine that takes 10x longer (or more) to render simple pages than it should. And that's the problem. A PHP programmer can simply be someone who knows how to make bad decisions and hack WordPress a little - and the salaries are often reflective of that.

So, while you may pay more, so many of us have just left. Yeah, there are bad design decisions (like having a million functions in the global namespace), but it isn't as big a deal as many make it out to be (since, as a web-only language, it's limited to web functions and they're usually quasi-namespaced as, for ex., mysql_*()).

The fact is that, because PHP programmers can be idiots who know how to guess and check, real programmers have left - the jobs available, money around, codebases to work with, coworkers to work with, etc. all reflect the fact that so many PHP programmers are really guess and check hack artists.
I think there are two potential skills being evaluated here. The first is whether someone can think about and write code without being in front of a computer. The second (and more valuable, IMHO) test is whether they can code without resorting to copying-and-pasting from a tutorial or forum thread.