skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
How likely is Paul Allen doing this as an attempt to weaken software patents? MS is trying the SCOTUS in an effort to make it more difficult to assert claims. Wonder if this might be part of the same strategic play. Doubtful, I know.
They could raise some corporate/government grants. Maybe partner with schools, universities and libraries.

Again showing ads to people who are fine with it is better than showing their own ads, which are quite annoying!!!
This is correct, but the seedier side of it is belonging to a cartel that works to legally limit the competition: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/nyregion/23caribbean.html?...
The PayPal Guide » How To Create A PayPal Invoice In 10 Simple Steps
Here in the States, it generally gets considered as part of the Easter holiday, for the same reasons the eight days of Hanukkah do, or New Years Eve and Day.
>I keep hearing this argument that Google simply has to assemble a crack team of UI experts and they'll inevitably match or surpass Apple's offerings.

Android is already matching iOS in many areas, exceeding it in some (a superior, and more functional, notification system, and a much better messaging system, though that is subjective). With each iteration it keeps improving and improving, not by changing actual function but mostly just by decorating in a manner that iPhone users are more accustomed.
I was talking what people usually refer when they say "theft". Not a legal notion which is by definition arbitrary.

For me, you can't own something that is not material, ie that can be replicated at no cost. The question of those who actually make a living of IP is one of business model. They more than probably can keep a healthy profit without IP, as they are countless example of around the internet.
Unsurprisingly some of these are just Fermi questions. Many others are just designed to see if you can actually analyse and talk.
http://www.google.com/search?q=headlines+linkbait
p.s.
up-voted: you're right on the off-topic and vitriol part.
Googlers, get a privacy screen for your laptops
This board is supposed to have started as a place for hackers to hang out and talk about startup and hacker stuff. Most times, startups don't pan out. The odds are against you, the culture is against you, the only thing you have going for yourself is your ability to dig in and keep going.

Why would we express negativity and criticism for what somebody else considers valuable enough to do? Caution, honest critique, our own experiences, encouragement? Sure. Even tell folks they are smoking crack if that's what you think -- just do it like you would to a friend, not like you're hiding behind a wall of internet anonymity and trying to see how snarky you can be.

I'm the first person to tell people I think what they are saying is messed up. Hopefully I do so by asking them to explain themselves, rather than trying to beat them down with words and then climb on top as the victor. That kind of behavior is petty juvenile bullshit and lowers the conversation and board quality overall.

We're supposed to be helping each other, not proving who can make the cutest joke, snarkiest comment, or most glib putdown.

If the conversation becomes whether somebody is "worthy" enough to do X, you can count me out.
Interesting, no category at all for Programming Languages.
I'm really curious how Google (and other search engines) solve this problem.

Do they maintain a massive list of query parameters to ignore? JSESSIONID and the like are easy enough, but there are many others

I would imagine when google crawls a page, they analyze the content and compare it to other pages with similar URLs. If the content is identical to another page with the same URL, they look for a canonical URL and index using that. If not, they pick one URL to represent the many identical pages. Over time crawling a site, they would know which parameters to ignore.
What says they don't?
Boy, that brings back fond memories of IBM 360 mainframes in big, noisy, cold rooms.

I remember the transition from cards to online terminals, when hacking (as a high-school junior) at the Naval Electronic Labs computer center in Point Loma (San Diego) in the early 70's as a part-time systems programmer. (Don't remember how I got a job there, but I do remember adding some small features to their WATFOR Fortran compiler over one summer.)

TSO (time-sharing option) was a huge upgrade at the time, running as a permanent "job" under OS/360, and virtualizing the job partition to run separate sub-jobs per terminal user. After using punched cards for a while, the thrill of actually typing in programs directly (mostly assembler and PL/I in my case), running, and DEBUGGING them interactively was nirvana.
American Companies Are Hiring (Overseas)
I work a 4 day week on my day job and am switching to half-time in 2011. Funny thing is: I'd say I work something closer to 60 hours a week with the side-projects. I found it easier to adjust to the new standard of living by slowly weaning off the teat: first 80%, then 60%, then ...
PG has said on several occasions that when someone applies to YC, he does look through their comments on HN, but I haven't heard anything about total points having any weight.
Are you suggesting that once a news story is 'huge' it outweighs any claim to privacy involved individuals might have? Neither Wired nor Greenwald believes that.

I gave examples of the kinds of personal info that might justify privscy-preserving selective log publishing: sex life, discussion of uninvolved peers, and medical/psychological details. Your imagination should be able to fill in the rest.

Wired has explained themselves and no part of their explanation talks about being 'good loyal friends'.
Nonsense. While many hackers treat women equally, there are also a lot who apply double standards. Women (and feminist guys) working together to highlight this will lead to less sexism and increased respect.

And the article is the exact opposite of perpetuating the myth -- it's highlighting women hackers.
Seems like there are two distinct type of questions in the list.

The first are math-based and seem to have real value, like this one from amazon:
"If you had 5,623 participants in a tournament, how many games would need to be played to determine the winner?"

The rest (in significant portions) fall in the more philosophical "how would you move mount fuji". I've never been asked this type of question, I hope I never am. I don't plan on wasting time trying to answer...just give a "no clue" and move on. I find these question to be total BS and super arrogant. Supposed to see how you approach problem solving...seriously the best way to do that is to provide a stupid problem? I honestly think it made sense to ask this when you were the only one...made you look cool. Now it makes you look like a "me-too".

Does anyone know of any real value with this 2nd type of question which couldn't be served by something more straightforward (which isn't to say easier)?
right, and the victim has generally been labels/publishers and not producers. producers, people who produce wealth. we're witnessing the death of a certain class of middlemen who are no longer necessary, not the death of the production of art.
The reality is that this is exactly how we as a species define "right": we do what we want to do, and eventually we invent justifications and frameworks to make what we already do the "right" thing.

Eventually, when enough people don't want to do something anymore, that becomes "wrong."

I'm not saying this is how it should rightly be, I'm just saying this is how it is.

I bet you eat animals that have been tortured and killed in factory farms, and you have a bunch of a really great justifications for that. QED.
I would say salaries are good, comparing salaries and cost of living (comparing to London or Paris for example).

I also heard contrary statements to yours regarding venture capital (may not be at the level of the US though).

And, there are a bunch of technology companies (TomTom, booking.com, Hyves...).

Companies seem to have a hard time hiring locals though, and there are quite a lot of foreigners working in IT. So that seems to corroborate your point about Dutch going abroad (or maybe simply not interested in software)
Not sure if you'll see this, but a great message board (sorta like HN for fitness) is forums.jpfitness.com. A great site with good, knowledgable people.

Check it out sometime.
I would love to do this. I'm on the no debt, small house end of things. However, most employers in US (at least in my experience in the midwest) are still in the factory mindset. Meaning they want you in your seat by start time and there until end time. Working from home or working less hours is still looked on with suspicion (but the work from home situation is starting to improve).

I just don't think many employers are enlightened enough to allow a 30 hour week for knowledge workers (in the US and at this point in time).

Totally agree with your lifestyle though. I would trade big house/car for more free time any day.
I'm sorry, what has Sebastian hacked on lately?

Lets look at a list of recent subjects on his blog.

Letter: Gaming and Reading

Letter: New Year’s Resolutions

The Neurosis of Long Term Habit Change

Comment: “The Last Blow to Human Hegemony”

A Transformative Power of Perspective

On Improving When Your Friends Aren’t

Unorthodox Strategies for Winning

Comment: “There is more to it than just the choice of
whether to ship. There is also whether you even get
something ship-worthy made.”

Some Side Upgrades

Studying Patience

Twitter? Yes indeed

I don't think he's the kind of person we need to be worried about giving moral support.

We need to be encouraging productive people into doing more for themselves and their careers, not cheering on charlatans.
Tech outlook for 2011 – Blades
Dead End Jobs: Are You Suffering from Stockholm Syndrome?
> You have to remember this isn't about sexism. It may well be sexist ...

i.e., it's about sexism. what is it about the subject that makes otherwise-logical people say things like this?
You are on Techcrunch!!!!

I will pray for you.
WP7 will become a major player in 2011.
PgrMgr to start offering $150/month quarter rack Colo
Zirn says that when meeting new male hacker acquaintances, an intense interview-style process often follows. "It’s like they don’t believe you, they have all these questions, they want to know what Linux distribution you use."

I'm not sure^, this is typical of guys in any field. Men tend to argue more about the mechanics of any given field more than women. There's a definite sub-population of guys being all about "the gear" that doesn't exist in the same technical population of women. It's quite similar to photography, where there are a lot of both men and women practicing, but really only men get nuts over the hardware.

Besides, when I meet new hackers, an easy conversation entry point is on operating systems and opinions of tech to get a feel for the other person.

Maybe it's more of a body language thing that isn't getting conveyed through the article's text.

^edit from I don't agree with this
Nope, once I reply to you, I can't downvote you.
> Basically, Allen got an omnibus patent that covers all these characteristics

No. He didn't. And regardless of whether software patents need to go, ignorant media coverage certainly needs to go.
I think we've gone a little crazy with the censorship word. This guy can print his book somewhere else and distribute it.

Amazon (a private company) has decided they don't want these books on it's platform (for whatever reason).

Now if the gov't said Amazon had to take these down, that's a problem. But that's not what happened.
Wanted: Letterpress Made of Legos Creates Charming 8-Bit Prints
I'm just saying that it was more than I expected out of a totally free account, that's all.

I have yet to use them at higher loads. We shall see.

Also, it's my understanding that they're still less expensive than something like EngineYard, and still generally cheaper than paying for a sysadmin. Dedicated hardware will of course outperform any of this stuff, but I also don't have to think about it at all. Even VPSes involve spending initial setup time and then periods of upkeep, you can't just install and say "done."

Then again, I'm coming from a mostly theoretical standpoint. I don't have real world experience at true scale.
Has the text changed since you posted this? You're all but quoting them in your first paragraph, except they say it more emphatically.
> Browser defaults are ugly and inconsistent.

These defaults are extremely consistent within the same browser, and wast majority of normal people tend to use on browser for the most of their browsing.
The majority of the questions that I looked at where applications of binary search.
This reminds me of this humor blog post from a few years back:

http://www.geekologie.com/2009/05/a_day_in_the_life_viewed_e...
It seems the internet has gone crazy on entitlement recently.
You are a foo.
Mom, this is how Twitter works.
Now you can see why the government wants to privatize everything. If it's a private institution they can infringe upon your rights however they like.
Somehow the use of "Moosejaw" and "French Kissing" in the same picture just isn't doing it for me.

But great idea, good luck with it.
Anyone else notice that he seems to have forgotten the names of the ones that weren't quite as attractive?
Software Patents should be allowed, however the rules on them need to be heavily modified so that the real spirit of the patent can reward resourceful hard working innovators.

Patents were meant to protect programmer, however since programmers tend to work for big businesses and the big businesses absorb all the rights to the code, the software patent is only protecting businesses. I propose a change.

Software patents should have timeouts that increase and decrease depending on the amount of genuine innovative breakthrough contained in the code. If I make a new website that does something people like that never has been done before, then I get so many cents for anyone else using it for so many weeks (something like this would need to be strictly enforced).

Now suppose some programmer created a new bit of software that takes Human DNA as input and outputs a list of instructions on how to reverse aging on that version of the human genome. In this case the software patent would be Longer, with more of a payoff for others who copied it and used it inside the time frame.

Software Patenting isn't evil, it was meant to protect US, the programmers, it is just a completely broken system so that it isn't helping at all.
It's still censorship, and some would prefer not to support businesses that arbitrarily censor speech.
This isn't censorship. They are not suppressing his speech, they are choosing not to disseminate it.

Another thing, if the title of your book talks about raping someone, some people are going to find it offensive and some businesses are not going to want to put it on their shelves.
Hiya, fellow front-ender here. I'm guessing you're going for a junior position? Agency or in-house?

I've found that if the person interviewing you knows what they're talking about, you'll spend most of the interview discussing you're overall philosophy, future goals, and how you'll fit in with the company because they've already reviewed you code and determined you have the skills they need (that's why they brought you in).

If they're not sure on what exactly it is you do, prepared to discuss hows & whys of things you've done, and brush up on your buzzwords and industry lingo.

Overall, prepare to discuss your process (how you approach, plan and execute a project).

How do you handle a very aggressive deadline? Do you push for a more realistic timeframe or cut corners to get it out the door and go back and fix it (no right answer here, btw :)).

Are you comfortable working with someone else's code/framework? When should you write your own javascript, and when should you use a framework? Why JQuery instead of Prototype (or vice versa)?

Be able to defend your decisions (without getting defensive,that's a big red flag) and articulate your position. Don't wear a suit (unless it's a law firm or somewhere where everyone wears suits). Bring a few copies of your resume. Above all, relax. If you got in the door, chances are it's your job to lose :)
"Censorship is suppression of speech or other communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the general body of people as determined by a government, media outlet, or other controlling body."

It's not censorship.
Very unlikely. He targeted everyone but Gates. His attack is legitimate.

However Allen can feel just, I guess, given that he has dedicated most his wealth to charity after he dies. So he's essentially playing Robin Hood.
That's the kind of country I want to live in too.

With the wave of opposition to the TSA and legislative battles over the Internet Wiretapping bill, COICA, and the Patriot Act renewal, 2011 will go a long way to determining what kind of country we'll be. So articles like this are a great opportunity to ask yourself ...

Are you going to get involved and help?
Most people, including myself, cannot actually read patents. Being told that the summary is irrelevant does not help at all. What are we supposed to do, ignore the patent because we don't understand it?
http://cd34.com/blog/scalability/mysql-query-optimization/
http://cd34.com/blog/scalability/mysql-5-1s-query-optimizer/
The problem with this attitude is that absolutely everyone, including the RIAA lawyers and Microsoft programmers, "pirated" and "stole" music, software and other digital "goods" at some point. I'd like to see someone who can rightfully pretend to be unilaterally a "victim". This is a fiction, like "digital piracy".
Maybe they were meant to protect the inventor. But if they cause more harm than benefit, that is no excuse to keep them.

Results matter, not intents.
Unless they don't speak a foreign language.
yes excellent restatement
Those questions can show you if someone is willing to call out an interviewer for asking a stupid question. I doubt the people asking these kinds of questions are looking for that sort of answer however.
That's interesting... What if there are more than 36 links?
I'd like to go back to a country where I can keep my shoes on before I go on a plane.
Based on the titles alone I was tempted to side with Amazon on this, but if you read further, you find that these are novels that probably have redeeming value. I don't know about the quality of writing, but the content isn't any more pornographic than a romance novel or slasher flick.
The blonde in my story above isn't an accessory. She's an accomplice.

The Russian gals on the other hand are definitely accessories though. That's sketchy. That said, more than a few will take advantage of their opportunity and do something great with it.
> Software Patenting isn't evil

Except that it is.
I read that before I posted. Amazon's the controlling body in this case. The controlling body need not have authority over the censored, e.g. media outlet.

People have been complaining about Walmart censoring media for years. I don't see how this is any different.
I liked your post, niyazpk, because it moves from the implicit comparison to looking internally for the reasons one is stuck in such and such a place.

Friends are not bad/good people as much as certain relationships are destructive while others are healthy. But this is not a permanent state - and ultimately says more about oneself than one's friends.

This pruning off of friends is perhaps a necessary step in some cases - reminds me of the '12-step program' idea of not associating with the people you drank/smoked/particpated in unsafe sex with/etc. But ultimately it says more about the person themselves than it does about the goodness/badness of those friends. There are people who can drink and not have it ruin their lives... If you are not one of them but you are hanging around people who can socially drink - they are not the problematic ones.

When we are stuck we tend to look outwards for reasons that we are stuck and place blame externally.

There is one of Montaigne's essays that I enjoyed since school days, #4 in book 1 called something like "the soul discharges its passions on false objects when the true ones are wanting". There are some very funny anecdotes - some classical and some more contemporary of people essentially finding external causes for their griefs or gouts. The essay builds to a climax with an example of Ceasar defying Neptune after being shipwrecked and the author ends with a brilliant single sentence paragraph:

"But we can never enough decry the disorderly sallies of our minds."

This is one example in literature of a remarkable turn from external to internal - a moment of crushing realization that you create most of your own pain and discomfort and the first step to freedom from this is this realization. Whether is it Buddha's Fire Sermon, Eliot's "Waste Land", Rilke's "Headless Torso of Apollo" - this is the answer. Not ditching friends.

We move to Portland because we are not doing well in New York (or vice versa). The change in scenery will do us well for 6 months and that might be enough to set on a new track. But more likely you find out you are still the same person internally - that will creep back in.

I have had moments in my life where I have been in a magnificent place and yet for whatever reason i happened to be miserable that day. Firenze, Mongolia, Cat Ba Islands in Vietnam. Beautiful striking places and on those days struck with deep blueness (i will not use that oft-misused word depression here). And being in those places intensified the self loathing:

"... you asshole - how could you be miserable here!..."

And the answer is always the same - because I am miserable. Not because my girlfriend is 8000 miles away (and p'raps not so faithful :-0 ); not because of friends or lack of friends or type of friends.
Tips memilih EO Wedding
You don't think getting rid of all IP would hurt producers?

It's unclear to me how one would make any money with movies and books when anyone can replace my name and give it away as theirs.
He keeps people in his "repertoire" and gets to know them via the amazing mutual interest in "hot women", then protests that he is completely different from all those networkers because he doesn't use people and has shared interests. Riight.
Reactive versus proactive captures the notion perfectly. I'm not content to be reactive. I was that way for too long, but I realized it was a cover for fear. It is hard for me to relate to the reactive mindset now. I feel like codependent-prone individuals smell the change and try to follow you around.

I want to be able to relate to everyone well, but there's a point at which the mismatch emerges, and it is unfortunate. It just means my interests are changing.
It's not entitlement.

Now, hear me out. If I'm going to spend money somewhere, I'd like to know that the company I'm spending it with is acting in a way that I find ethical. In fact, I'd like to hold them to a higher standard, since it's so much easier for companies to have moral failings than it is people.

> Censorship is suppression of speech or other communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the general body of people as determined by a government, media outlet, or other controlling body. - Wikipedia

Amazon is acting as a censor. Now, it's not illegal. But I do find it to be distasteful. So I'd rather not support them. This article is one of a few lately that lets me know that Amazon and I are apparently looking at the world in a different way, and so I shouldn't patronize them anymore.

Finally, it's incredibly important to hold these companies to a higher standard as they grow larger, because they become more and more influential. Most of my local bookstores have closed, and while there are other places to buy books online, I don't have the same relationship with them as I once did with Amazon. Now I'm in the process of checking out alternatives, but still: Amazon has become synonymous with "buying a book on the Internet."