skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
It seems to me that the GPL is used more as a weapon than a shield.

Either for some kind of selfish moral superiority, or in cases like this, where one person with a questionable agenda can shut down someone else's project:

"Before anyone grabs a pitchfork and/or torch and starts marching toward Cupertino, it's worth noting that VLC's removal from the App Store has nothing to do with Apple's preferences. Rather, it's a direct result of one man's misguided crusade... a man who, (perhaps) coincidentally, is an employee of Nokia, one of Apple's competitors in the mobile space."

http://www.tuaw.com/2011/01/08/vlc-app-removed-from-app-stor...

For most application code, I think the non-copyleft licenses do a great job of preserving the spirit of open source software without shackling developers to a rigid doctrine they may not fully agree with.
I am constantly amazed that people on news.ycombinator.com are surprised that YC companies get lots of votes. There are a lot of people here that are YC fans and are more likely to upvote something if it's about a YC company.

And I'm one of them. I don't just upvote anything about any YC company, but I'm a huge fan of Notifo, Heroku, Dropbox, Posterous, and a bunch more.

I'd be very surprised if the "preferential treatment" that you claim YC companies receive is in code, rather than in the minds of many of the voters.

Also, if you look at any recent thread about Notifo, you'll see some comment along the lines of "Notifo is great ... but it'll be a lot greater when we get an Android client." There's been a lot of people waiting for this.
Does anyone know what machine learning algorithms they use?
I'm pretty suspicious of Robb Wolf's stuff, because it's almost entirely anecdotal and based on microscopic studies rather than actual data about what's going on inside a human body. He criticizes studies that disagree with his assertions (like The China Study), while promoting studies that are far less convincing that happen to support his opinions. Several of the studies he cites about "leaky gut syndrome" seem to be based on watching chemical reactions in a petri dish, which is nearly nonsensical when trying to understand a system containing billions of organisms.

"Leaky gut syndrome" is, historically, an alternative medicine diagnosis, and conventional medicine doesn't really have much science on the subject. That's not to say it's completely fabricated, just that whenever someone is a "leaky gut syndrome" expert, as Robb Wolf is, there will be tons of people who will go see him, get his "treatment" and feel better for a while because of placebo effect. Everybody in the chain believes in the disease and the cures, so it tends to work a lot of the time, at least long enough for it to be considered a successful case study for Wolf's purposes.

That said, where there's smoke there's often fire, and there does seem to be a lot of smoke around grains in the human diet, and some of the fire may be caused by gluten. So, in the interests of keeping things simple, I've cut gluten out of my diet during the week. On "cheat day" I eat plenty of grains, mostly brown rice, as it's a food I love (with curry and such), but also pastries and breads and beer.

I don't really buy the leaky gut syndrome argument, as wheat has never caused me intestinal distress, while numerous other foods have due to always having had a sensitive stomach, but I'm willing to take a chance on the idea that wheat and gluten might have negative outcomes. Also, eggs are shown to help burn fat and build muscle, so I eat a lot of organic eggs from free range chickens (4-6 per day), and I've also added mussels and shrimp back into my diet (the first meat I've eaten in 17 years, and the only meat I can feel ethically comfortable eating).
Wikipedia security policies
I'm looking for just 4,500 Euro to finish / launch this. It's got some impressive technology running underneath.. Any ideas where do I look for the money? These are really just to finish off the prototype and launch. (jparicka(at)gmail.com) Thanks!!
Of course, the link http://alpha.beepl.com:8889
Traffic Squeezer - Coalescing/Multiplexing Techniques
I'm under the impression that certain units within the armed forces do, in fact, have somewhat decentralized job assignment systems. Dick Couch writes in The Finishing School, for example, that SEAL platoon assignments result from individual platoon OICs and Chiefs picking people from the entire Naval Special Warfare community.
It's trivial. One used to have to pay thousands of dollars for a compiler. On some platforms, you still do, because gcc is substandard on the platform.

The GPL can't impose on third parties.
"Also, once a developer has produced their iOS-based product - they are forced to sell through one marketplace"

They know that going in. Nobody's putting a gun to their head and forcing them to write iOS apps. If they finish their app and only then figure this out, they're too stupid to be writing software.
Umm, what is Notifo, and why would I want to beta test it?
I get that and understand that (if they're on a debian based system) they can probably just apt-get install rythembox and test it for themselves (I don't use a debian-based system, but I imagine I can get it just as easily with yaourt -S rythembox). That would be the easiest. But, for whatever reason they cannot or will not install it and I don't think we can criticize them for that decision.

Anyway, since you were saying that it is definitely not rythemboxes fault, I would suggest you 1) show the dbus-monitor trace of the d-feet so that they can see that rythembox and d-feet do work perfectly and 2) show them, again, the dbus-monitor output for qdbusviewer, in as much detail as you can and clearly highlighting where it diverges from the expected.

If that isn't enough for them, then they definitely are being stubborn... The sad thing is, even if you do as they ask and write a Qt program, it really won't give them anything over what they'd have if you give them logs, since, as you say, the problem is not with rythembox. Sigh.

In any case, good luck.
No GPL Apps for Apple's App Store
US congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords shot in Arizona
I welcome healthy discussion on the Story's role in shaping, sharpening, and healing minds (especially as we grow up and then grow older). At the very least, it's a big change from the "I have empirical evidence that degrees in English and the people who major in it are absolutely worthless" threads/links that run through HN from time to time.

Remember, all, those great characters and classic tales you've ever read and heard/seen are spun by someone who studied the language and the past storytellers just as intently as a software engineer studied the merge and bubble sort.
He's talking about the Lean Startup Methodology, not just being lean in general. Either way, don't think for a second that it's a good idea to avoid reading books and learning from other people's experiences via podcasts and blogs. That, in my humble opinion, would be a huge mistake.

By taking the time to learn about the lean startup methodology, you save yourself the hassle of having to learn these things the hard way. And by "the hard way," I mean "through your own company."

Yes, you do indeed have to read and/or listen to some podcasts, but you'll benefit in many ways that far outweigh the time you spend reading.

One of the core principles of the lean startup is to learn from customers so that you can build a product that people actually want and are willing to pay for. It gives you ideas on how to do this. It also tells you to stay lean and be ready to pivot; to not be hard-nosed to press forward on your original path, because that may not be the best thing for the business. Does this sound like advice that you should be ignoring?

The lean startup methodology isn't the only way to success, but it does seem to be helping people. And to "cut the fat" of learning of any sort (if you want to call it "fat") isn't a good thing. You should always try to learn from other people's experiences because it can save you lots of time and frustration.
The pointless wars did not make them leave the military? Like invading Iraq based on lies and then making a complete mess in Iraq because of total lack of planning? Or the daily UAV attacks in foreign countries which are outside of US and international law? Military prisons in foreign country to be able to torture and prosecute people without access to lawyers, etc.? The military sucking in about a full trillion (military budget + war budget + nuclear weapons + + + +) of tax payer money?

That did not make the military officers think?
All My Faves | Bookmarklet
The prize is a Redis shirt with the new logo and the tagline "all the allocations are belong to me".

Maybe not quite as good as fame but a prize nonetheless! :-)
Oh come on, would this be a "story" if she'd have had a regular alarm clock that malfunctioned?
> Apple pulled it unilaterally yesterday, after more than 2 months of silence, after refusing to help people, notably me, to solve the matter.

Of course they did. It took them two months to process the complaint after one of the VideoLAN developers made it, but they followed through on an action that "a VLC developer" initiated.

With respect, if a developer representing VideoLAN complains to Apple, and another developer representing VideoLAN and claiming to be in charge approaches and tries to "work it out", Apple is not going to step into what appears to be an internal dispute. I am never an Apple apologist as I think they're a bit heavy-handed with the App Store, but in this case, how would you expect them to act?

This is what "a VLC developer" wanted, and he got it. I don't think Apple is the bad guy here in the slightest. I hope you're not trying to shift blame from the developer who initiated this to an easy target, Apple, because your original comment in this thread would make it appear that way.
The bookmarklet might assume they were there on initial load.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=notifo
Congresswoman, 6 Others, Killed By Gunman
Best Cydia Applications For Your Ipad | InfoMov.Com
When I think about it, I think he was an enlisted man in the Marines for Vietnam, then an officer in the Navy. He left the military service somewhere in the 80s.

This is a much older brother that I am not close to.
I use a spreadsheet. Why not start with Google Docs for same (online requirement) to get started?

I found that getting a read on financial affairs for a couple of months was good enough for me to create personal budget expectations, arrange my income accordingly, project future income/savings, etc.

I just check back in occasionally, and do the project again. I have too much on my plate already to add another daily/weekly ongoing requirement. ymmv...
Password Database Dumped to Pirate Bay Bit-Torrent Site
I don't, whenever possible. I certainly never use GPLed code that I know I'll need to modify later (for example, I probably won't ever modify the MongoDB source code).

It's also the reason I stopped hacking on Diaspora after the initial excitement wore off and I actually read the licensing terms. Well, that and their ill-advised copyright aggregation policy, which was apparently set up to allow for future dual-licensing (which I thought was pretty hypocritical).
I suppose much of this rests on whether you believe Apple is operating a 'store' or a marketplace.

It's complicated - I realise where the law currently stands; however, I feel that the law might need to be amended.

I believe the AppStore is a privately regulated marketplace operating within the free-market. This type of scenario is likely to become more commonplace in the future.

I can understand how the subject of the free-market (and possible government intervention) is at odds with a lot of people's politics, but I think the potential for abuse from the private sector is too great to ignore.
"And, you don't see people from VLC complaining."

But you say there is no VLC ("Who is 'you guys'?") from which people could complain.

This just looks slippery, and is the sort of thing that is likely to discourage businesses from working with GPL code at all.
She's since died. Several others (last report I saw was 12) were shot as well; no word on their condition.
Another use is removing warts. Why it works I don't know, it could be a placebo effect, but many people report success with it.
It's not a contradiction, you don't understand. Faith is the serious belief that something can happen or is real. When a scientist embarks upon a hypothesis, he does so because he has faith that something valuable may come from experimenting on that hypothesis, which is a hope for value not yet seen. Faith is not just a belief or hope, but it is a set of works accomplished in the attitude of that hope, so the scientist, by faith, continues his experiments on a hypothesis.

The same process occurs in the spiritual and religious realm with regard to faith. Religious people hear that certain information and/or manifestations are available to them, and they have faith sufficient to follow the path outlined. As they do so, they find their initial faith validated, and then they continue to have faith on the next point outlined in the scriptures, and find that faith validated, and so on.

Faith is not knowledge; faith is a stopgap on the way to knowledge, and it's a principle necessary for healthy or reasonable conduct in all forms, which is part of why religion requires such an emphasis of faith. If a man obtains all knowledge, there is no more need for faith, because he knows everything of himself and has no need to believe something without a formal proof, as he has already received a formal proof of every true thing, which can only happen as that man has sufficient faith in true things to experiment and learn of their truth with help from God. He has no faith because he no more has a mere hope in things not seen; he now sees all things.
I trust them, i trust them 100 times more than facebook,
She died, along with 6 other people. http://www.npr.org/2011/01/08/132764367/congresswoman-shot-i...

[Edit] Perhaps not... NPR just added:

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head by a gunman at a public event on Saturday. There are conflicting reports about whether she was killed.
NPR says 6 others died.
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/08/132764367/congresswoman-shot-i... She died along with 6 others.
From their website:

Notifo is a free and powerful way to receive super-fast notifications
of the things you care about, straight to your mobile phones and computers.[1]

[1] http://notifo.com/
http://gawker.com/5728501/arizona-congresswoman-shot-outside...

Rayle helped hold the gunman down while waiting for the sheriff to arrive, about 15-to-20 minutes later. The EMS came about 30 minutes later

This was a Tucson. Plenty of cops. I have this theory that police are actually really afraid of the more dangerous criminals and don't want involved in shootouts.
Orem company creates genealogy game for Facebook
I'm paying close attention to this story. So is basically everyone else. We don't need to cover it here. There is nothing "hacker news"-y about it, and there are endless opportunities for pointless message board enmity.

Flagged.
Startup Quote: Warren Buffet, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway
A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.

- Warren Buffet

http://startupquote.com/post/2655305437
Stop Reading. Start Doing.

Good god thats a long list.

Ok ok, you should never stop reading and never stop learning but I just want to convey my firm stance of balancing that out with doing stuff.

And that's exactly what came to my mind when I looked at this list. A more academic minded person might feel like he struck gold - "all I need to do is read these books and I can unlock the secret formula!"

The good news is you won't have to read all those books.
The bad news that secret formula doesn't exist.

I get that there are certainly valid strategizes that improve your chances (customer development) specific to a given goal, but the key takeaway for me has always been that that the strategy is and will always work insofar as it pertains to your situation. I.e. everyone's situation is different and when it comes down to it, in the words of Russel Simmons you gotta "do you". (can't believe i know that quote)
Is it Constructivism in mathematics that you would like more information about? If so, try this...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructive_mathematics

Or are you looking for more about transforming a proof into a constructive one?
as a little l libertarian, I agree completely with what you wrote. Anyone who makes that analogy is basically a shill for state-sponsored protection and regulation of intellectual property.
If VW actively encouraged tens of thousands of people to form businesses developing and selling harnesses, perhaps there should.
Maybe you might want to change your goal from "getting the idea implemented" to "learning what you can from the project." More chance for success, and if the project continues past the previous fail points, you may have a winner.

Similar to enjoy the journey, rather than focusing on the destination.
OK, agreed. And did that guy just get up one day and decide to do this out of the blue? No way -- he fantasized about it first. Thoughts lead to actions -- it's always worked that way. Granted, not ALL thoughts lead to ALL actions, but no action ever happened before the thought. Encouraging or feeding a _destructive_ fantasy doesn't have any positive outcomes (neutral at best).
For sale: 1998 Sea Harrier "flight condition with minimal work" ($1M)
I don't trust them at all but they're too pervasive to avoid. It's like trusting your local water utility. You can probably filter enough for drinking and cooking, but not enough to shower with or water the garden.
Site looks really good. A few minor observations:

- Details page: Policosanol is listed in the table as 23mb instead of 23mg.

- Blue box around product photo is distracting.

- Main body font feels a little too small generally.

- Possibly too many parentheses on Detail and Contact page.

- A few punctuation errors, e.g. "The possibilities are endless and the potential is unlimited." should have a comma before "and" whereas "Buy now, and" lower down should not.

- Front page: I found the "swallow 8 more pills per day" to be confusing. It would be clearer if you listed the # of pills per day that you'd have to swallow using the separately-purchased products and total those up in the table above that pitch.

- Odd that the 110% guarantee is referred to on the Contact page and nowhere else that I can see.

- The chat plugin floats onto an awkward space on the iOS Safari.

Again, terrific job. Good luck with this and the main startup.
Apple can change (and has changed) the terms and conditions of entry to the AppStore without notice.
I agree with cookiecaper. I've never seen mars. I believe (blindly) that the books, pictures and lectures I've seen are real, and that other people's pronouncements (from NASA, etc) are real too, so I believe (ie have blind faith) that mars is real. I _assume_ (ie have faith) that I could do some research and become a little more sure.

Heck, that goes for atoms, electricity, just about everything. All I KNOW (without getting existential, etc) are things I've personally experienced. Everything else is pure belief (and blindly at that) based on trusting the sources.
So Rémi Denis-Courmont is basically putting his open software principles ahead of the utility users would get on their iPhones. Very noble indeed...
What is interesting is that according to the Salon article, Twitter responded by requesting permission to disclose the existence of the subpoena to their customers, leading to the unsealing order that allowed for this document to be published.

I think they should be applauded for that.
This article is so spot on.

If you discount its success on Android, Search, etc and high-performing stock, Google has pretty much been a failure.
About CoverSutra, the Mac App Store and Sanity
Oh, for pete's sake, wait until Facebook IPOs before crowning Zuckerberg. Ridiculous linkbait.
Zed Shaw & Dan Kaminsky Talk About Autho.me on Twitter
I have been intrigued by the autho.me project. Last night it was great to see a conversation between Dan Kaminsky and Zed Shaw about specifics of autho.me.
You're welcome to fork & change - we'll gladly merge good suggestions in!
One guy has been picking winners to design hardware products, build new software that is radically different, and build new product categories for what, 30+ years? He also recognized the potential of Pixar and bought it from George Lucas, helping it get to be big and significant enough that ABC/Disney bought it.

The other guy built MySpace v2.0 .
All simple proofs which have contradiction at their center can be rewritten using the contrapositive. The contrapositive is the statement that A implies B is the same as not B implies not A. (The equivalence can be seen from the fact that both statements are equivalent to saying that you cannot have A and not B true at the same time.)

For a formal version you can search for Gödel's 1933 proof that intuitionistic and classical logic are equiconsistent. Meaning that a contradiction in one would have to be a contradiction in another.

Half of this is easy. Every proof in intuitionistic logic is a proof in classical logic. So a contradiction in intuitionistic logic is a contradiction in classical logic.

The reverse is much harder. For this he created a procedure that can take any proof in classical logic (where proof by contradiction is allowed) and convert it into a proof in intuitionistic logic (where proof by contradiction is not allowed). In the conversion the statement being proven may change (classical logic and intuitionistic logic very much do not prove the same statements).

The interesting thing about the procedure is that the converted proof is a proof in classical logic, of the exact same statement that the original proof proved. But it doesn't use contradiction.

That procedure is the source of the principle that is mentioned.

(Incidentally this proof is a large part of why constructivism came to be abandoned. A major argument for constructivism was that being careful in your reasoning might avoid potential paradoxes around infinity. Gödel's proof showed that all of the extra effort gave no such reward.)
Pure link-bait. There's absolutely zero chance of this happening. If anything it will be Jonathan Ive or Tim Cook.
Grand Finale: Shweta Tiwari locks Big Boss 4 winner tag, other awards goes to…
Oh the irony. Re-read the guidelines tptacek: http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did.
Because of what happened to him, this could never be the case.

No, not because of what happened to him, because almost nobody thinks that way in our society so there's no reason why he would.

Is there anything in your life which hurts to think about? Have you ever dedicated yourself to working out why it hurts and how to stop it hurting, or do you continually avoid thinking about it? I'm guessing that there is, and that you avoid it because it's never even crossed your mind that it might be fixable.

And that it's almost certainly not crossed your mind to start by assuming it is fixable and then try as many techniques as you can find and keep trying hard and practising them and looking for more and not giving up until you have found one that works. Because, you know, everyone suffers and suffering is normal. Isn't that sad?
In the "too soon to tell" category, he suggests that YouTube looks overvalued, and that MySpace could be one of the BEST acquisitions of all time. Oops.