skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Spray foam insulation in attic and basement (cellulose based).

Mini-split AC system (multi-zoned Mitsubishi or LG).

CAT-6 wired, RJ-45 connections (two in each room).

Electrical, instant-on hot water heater (no tank).

Graywater system to save on toilet flushes.

Double-gang outlet boxes (so you can have 4 outlets, instead of 2).

Air-to-Air heat exchanger (they are called many things - it replenishes stale, indoor air with fresh outdoor air without changing the temperature too much).

Steam shower.

Wiring closet.

CAT-5/CAT-6 to outside eaves of house for CCTV streaming network cameras.

Mutli-zone sprinkler system with soil moisture monitoring.

Rain-water fed cistern (for irrigation, toilet).

Laminar flow fountain with LED color-changing lights.

Green roof (it grows plants on the roof to absorb the sun's energy and reduce rain water runoff).

Natural pool (it uses plants to filter the water, not chemicals).

A mote.

A portcullis.
>> That a fundamental human right is being denied to a company? Which one?

>The right to freely trade with whoever they want on terms that are mutually agreeable to both parties with no coercion involved.

This is, as is your final paragraph, succumbing to the fallacy of the consequent. They don't have that right- that's the point. A baker is not allowed to not sell goods to Chinese people.

I'm afraid we are going to have to agree to disagree, and let this go. Thanks for the thread- I found it enjoyable and refreshing.
Hi, this is not a "what would you do" type of answer, but rather a quick observation. I like your site rapidefs.com (btw, you're missing a dot between www and r in your post). It's fast, it's useful, it looks good. But it's not really anything new. It's a dictionary just like many others. Or have I missed something?

Also, I have clicked on fb like, and then noticed "US patent pending" in footer. Nothing personal, but I immediately unliked your site. I do not claim I know what the patent is about, nor do I care. I'm just, in general, against patents. Too many ridiculous ones out there, wouldn't you agree?
I faced this choice when I bought a new house and opted for PLC. As much as I like wired ethernet, I'm glad I went with PLC. It was cheaper in the long run and more flexible because I can use any power outlet in a room without having to grab an extra long cable. Wireless has improved so much, I only use PLC for legacy devices like network printers or old laptops. I also inherited a mess of telephone and security cables with the house and the basement is an incomprehensible tangle. Be nice to future owners and avoid adding cables whenever possible.
I'm having trouble understanding how exactly graph databases differ from relational databases, especially seeing as how graphs are isomorphic to relations.

All the examples on this page look equivalent to how I'd model them in SQL: http://wiki.neo4j.org/content/Domain_Modeling_Gallery

The best I gather is that graph databases are schemaless (big whoop, more room for error), and that their implementations tend to perform well with transitive closures. I'm not seeing anything that can't be solved with materialized views in an RDBMS.

I'm tempted to think that just represents NoSQL folks coming to realize that relations are actually a good thing. Soon they'll be talking about how wonderful it is to take the Cartesian product of two graphs.

Someone care to enlighten me?
One of the best passive solar methods I have seen is to use plants and trees to obstruct the Southern view of the sun.

As fall approaches, the leaves fall off of the trees, allowing sunlight to pass, and warm your home.

As spring approaches, the leaves return, blocking the sun, and keeping your house cool.

ALSO, a green roof would be awesome AND a "natural pool".
I love starting in photoshop because I can play with an idea visually without taking my eyes off of what I'm working on.

For me photoshop is a really fast way to develop ideas and sell people on my dreams. I can mock something up that looks real and get feedback very, very quickly. Then once I know what I want to build I move to the text editor.

Photoshop is pen and pencil for me.
I never understood why people are buying proprietary, expensive stuff like Photoshop just for mock-ups.

First of all, vector graphics tools like Inkscape are a lot better suited for that task.

Second, even if you don't like vector graphics, there are great Free Software projects like Gimp and Krita that deserve our attention and our support.
I'd just go ahead and renew it. Gaddafi is not going to wage a significant part of his war with your $25 and the US Govt is not likely to send the black helicopters after you over it either. This isn't something worth worrying about.
This is a pretty ignorant comment. Try reading those conference proceedings sometime and you'll realize who's responsible for your fast query speed.
Thanks!

I was reading that the switch to generating 25 BTC at a time instead of 50 will happen very soon.

Even then, if you were only earning $7/day with a single 5970 rig, the payback period is not that long. It seems obviously worth doing, unless you think there will be a run on Bitcoin within the next 6 months or that a sudden move to ASIC will make GPU mining obsolete. I think I'm going to go for it. I might even take the risky investment and hold my bitcoins.
My idea was that the private,non-SAAS tool could track your total purchases on a particular category (food, gas, restaurants), or even a specific store, and inform you when you are blowing your budget. ("Hey, that latte put you over for the month. Better cut back").
Hot and Sexy Arab Girls Pictures Wallpapers 2011 – Best Girls Wallpapers
Sounds like the sort of domino-effect I'd like to have.
Make the roof a lighter color (aka, a "cool roof") -- especially if you're in a warmer climate -- to reduce energy consumption: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_roof

A cool roof energy savings calculator from DOE:
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/roofs+walls/facts/CoolCalcEnergy.htm
Have you any citations to back up that statement?
I wrote my own. http://github.com/thurn/ackbar. If an article gets popular, I've paid up to $5, but below 6000 hits, it's all free. Latency could be better, but there's a lot of factors there (Clojure might be one of them?).
C#/ASP.NET/SQL Server, all out of the box, running database and web server on a single machine that would have been a middle of the road dev box 4 years ago.

That box is running about 20 sites, some big, some small, usually no more than one of them getting TechCrunched/Redditted at a time.

Here's a writeup of one particularly heavy day in the life of that box:

http://expatsoftware.com/articles/2008/03/6-million-hits-day...
Site is in flash, but they have many "secret" doors and vaults.

http://hiddenpassageway.com/ (I think this was previously mentioned on HN).
I can recommend BBC Radio 4's "Museum of Curiosity"

Its a humorous discussion programme where guests who range from comedians to eminent scientists donate hypothetical exhibits to a virtual museum. It's both amusing and informative, and it's great to see people with such honest passion and excitement about matters intellectual and aesthetic.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/museumofcuriosity.shtml

You can download the episodes at all the usual places. The same goes for most of the BBC's radio output.

When you guys get the international iPlayer you're all really going to like radio 4 :)
Dybvig's expository style reminds me very much of K&R, for some reason. Chapters 3 and (in this edition) 12 are probably the most fun to work through to gain an understanding of the language.
The Perfect Setup: Rails on Screen
PBDCS - Phoneme-based Digital Communication System - new concept?
Thanks for the reply, and for taking the trouble to point out the missing dot (now fixed).

>I'm just, in general, against patents. Too many ridiculous ones out there, wouldn't you agree?

Certainly agree and we're sailing (more or less) in the same boat on this.

Please check my posts in the thread below. While I don't know if this would be adequate for you to fb like RapiDefs again or not ;-), I'm sure it'll clarify my stand on this at least somewhat: :-)

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2254680

Edit: Minor changes
The Ultimate Physical Limits of Computation:

http://arxiv.org/pdf/quant-ph/9908043
A Toto Washlet.
The switch to 25 BTC will happen at block 210,000, which will happen in January 2012. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/File:Total_bitcoins_over_time_gra...
Just like how GPU mining made CPU mining unprofitable, something else could come along and make GPU mining unprofitable. Probably couldn't happen before you've gotten your hardware purchase paid off though. Of course, if the exchange rate drops significantly, like the scenario pointed out here: ( http://mtgox.com/blog/?p=262 ) and doesn't recover for a while, you could end up never covering the cost of the equipment for your rig.
indeed, link to the original video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE_USPTmYXM
You wrote:

"Personally my impression is that work in description logics, databases and such has been held back by a focus on mathematics."

and

"highly descriptive representations"

These two remarks were very popular during the hype period of 'artificial intelligence' (AI). The dream was that we could avoid math, use your

"highly descriptive representations"

and some magic dust, and, presto, get great results. We didn't.

Instead, it remains: To build something solid, we need solid specifications of (1) what the thing is to do and (2) what we have to work with and then actually design the thing so that we are fairly sure from the design that we will get (1).

E.g., to build a bridge across the Golden Gate of SF, we still need solid specifications of (1) what the bridge is to do and (2) steel, concrete, the bedrock, etc. Otherwise you won't want to drive across the bridge.

Well (1) is a 'specification', and so far we still need one. AI, etc. just wanted to say, I won't have a specification and, instead, will know I like it when I see it. Doesn't work well enough.

When my team and I gave a paper at an AAAI IAAI conference, nearly all the good work was from solid, traditional engineering with careful design as I have outlined.

For problems such as you mention,

"Captain Kirk is a person is the Star Trek universe"

a specification is difficult to write. It remains, for this difficulty, the only hope we have is math, but, yes, the math for such a specification is difficult and likely needs some advanced prerequisites and maybe some original work.

Possible in some seemingly challenging cases? Yes. Easy? No. Doable for all such problems now? No.

Without the math, with a lot of effort, some human 'domain expertise', some heuristics, a lot of fitting ('machine learning') to a lot of empirical data, a lot of testing and revision, we can build software that can do well, say, playing chess or answering questions on TV.

Still, you wouldn't want to drive across a bridge built that way. If the bridge had stood for a year, then maybe you'd try it. But you wouldn't want to be a test pilot for an airplane designed that way.

If constructing solid math specifications is too difficult and just "I will know I like it when I see it" is too sloppy, then we could use some new 'paradigms'. Here's a quarter, and it's worth more than a pair of dimes!
Can you indicate where your company is located? (This really does not sound like a telecommuting job)

Edit: Looks like SF.
Not Your Average iPhone Screencast
I see, thanks. If you don't mind, how come you pay? The free tier seems very large for a simple blog, which resource did you run out of?
I don't think (mostly) self sustaining outposts on the Moon and Mars are technologically infeasible. See for example the studies Robert Zubrin did for NASA.

Whether there are sufficient economic incentives to actually build them is unfortunately a different question.
Printing, as a technology for creating duplicate images (eg, with wood blocks), was in use at least a millenium prior to Gutenberg in many societies, including parts of late Rome. Moveable type came much later, and it was Gutenberg's incorporation of this with a whole slew of engineering improvements that led to the printing revolution in Europe.
Indeed, but clay tablets could have been thinned, they could also have used organic material (with fired pieces it burns away, cf paper-clay) to lighten the resulting tablets without much loss in ruggedness (paperclay is stronger than clay alone, like concrete vs cement).

I think such a development would lead naturally to think "damn this epic of Gilgamesh needs a few camels to transport, perhaps instead of impressing back in to clay I can press it on something lighter" and then possibly with the realisation that pressing on a damp cloth with an unfired tablet impression produces a great serviceable print ...
Yes, I was thinking of the deciduous tree thing when I was writing my post. It's very rehab-friendly, unlike some passive solar techniques.
I tend to think that whatever allows the designer to create and communicate their vision the fastest is what's best suited for the task. For many designers, its the tool they've been using for over a decade. It imports and exports a wide range of formats, so even the case against proprietary is a non-issue. And when the project moves from the mock-ups stage to the creation of the graphical assets for the launch, Photoshop is still good for that too!

Without question, Photoshop is the most versatile tool I've used in my professional career as a web developer.
> It's a dictionary just like many others. Or have I missed something?

Perhaps, you're a very fast typist and typed the whole word before RapiDefs had had a chance to show its thing. :-) Please try typing only a few (beginning) letters of any word to really see it in action.
Perhaps I should have done some research before opening my fat mouth ... but duplicate images only or was it extended to duplicate "written" works?

Ex post facto lots of this sort of thing (block printing images -> movable type) seem pretty straight forward, doesn't it.
It's amazing that Windows hasn't got even a tiny back-to-basics PDF viewer included by itself. (Or maybe the more recent versions do?)

I've been using evince (or whatever it is that ships with Ubuntu this year) for years and never even considered that there might be a case where one would want to install a separate PDF viewer. Before that, xpdf was the standard reader and it was enough, too. Maybe Linux desktop isn't that bad all together.
An induction plate will probably be more expensive than a gas stove (depending on where you live). What I like about them a lot is the fact that they are a lot easier to clean.
Exactly. Within 60 seconds I can have screenshotted another site whose template might be vaguely close in structure to that I'm thinking of, delete their text and write in my own.

No way you can get anywhere close to that kind of speed with code.
Apple shares Mac OS X Lion with security experts
>I never understood why people are buying proprietary, expensive stuff like Photoshop just for mock-ups.

People have been using Photoshop for years (like myself), and personally these people feel that open source equivalents like GIMP are still way off in terms of competing with Photoshop.

>First of all, vector graphics tools like Inkscape are a lot better suited for that task.

I have used both Inkscape and Photoshop for quite a few years. It's unfair to even compare them. And, frankly Photoshop _is_ far more powerful if you want to go for high fidelity mockups.
Ethernet everywhere, and more than you think you need, even if you don't terminate every connection. Put in Cat-6, as it's easier to pull, and future proof.

Everywhere you think you might need one cable, put 2, need 2, put 4. In fact, 4 strands/room might not be overkill.

Where everything comes back to, put a patch panel - you can buy panels with 24 square slots and a bracket to hook it into the wall. I'd put this in a closet or utility room (laundry room/garage/etc.). Make sure that power and your other utility terminations (cable/phone/etc.) go there as well.
It's been hashed out over years on the Python-dev list.
Decaf:Administer your infrastracture on Amazon EC2 from iPhone (9apps.net)
Get Kernest Font Combos for Life
You could argue that a great deal of the technological advancement of the later 20th century is a direct result of the CIA's paranoia and inability to correctly assess the real capabilities of the USSR (and the attendant fervor and fear of the public, which enabled the vast level of government expenditure on the Space Program). A content and secure populace would surely have preferred the money to have been spent elsewhere (on, eg, feeding the poor).

What does it mean for technological innovation if the 'complex mix' of factors it depends upon includes the enthusiasm of a propaganda-fueled public? After all, the (relatively) content societies of contemporary northern Europe have never produced anything like the level of innovation seen in Cold War America, despite their unusually high appreciation of scientific rationalism. Uncomfortable thinking...
Wiring conduits are great. A good sized basement to attic channel will cover most things, but dedicated conduit to likely locations is good too for the unforseens. (e.g. AT&T U-verse needing its own ethernet because it can't live behind the firewall.)
Online: Watch Manchester United vs Wigan live stream 26.feb.2011
I think it's a bootstrapping problem. Gold was bootstrapped eons ago because it was shiny and rare (and survives because it remains rare to this day). Fiat currencies are bootstrapped by governments (you can pay your taxes in them and governments pay their workers and contractors in them).

I'm not sure how Bitcoin is going to be bootstrapped, how one might conclude if/when it becomes a stable currency or if it is even possible. I think a significant proportion of the market might need to receive some benefit to switching before they will buy in, much like any new product in a traditional economy.
>But when did the idea of slowly floating towards your fortified, gun-toting enemy in a giant gas filled balloon seem a good idea?

You don't fly in the balloon your soldiers do. That is what makes it as good an idea as trying to climb to the battlements whilst having rocks, hot pitch, arrows and sword blows rain down on one from above.

Even if the balloon simply diverts attention from your siege ladders then it might give enough advantage, it could also probably be used at distance to gain information vital to a successful siege - can you starve them out quickly, how strong are the numbers, where are cannon or arsenals located, etc..
Do instant-on hot water heaters work well? What are the best brands. I'm in an apartment with a small tank that I would like to replace.
How One Startup Will Prioritize Your Social Inbox & Personalize the Web
How to get your movie listed on IMDB
Imitation With Innovation Reduces Risk in Startups
Romans had paper/papyrus by the late republic period (Caesar, Antony, Cicero, Cleopatra)
You can open PDFs displayed in Safari in Preview without saving them to the disk. (There is also a button that puts the document in the Downloads folder.) Chrome’s PDF viewer is better than Adobe’s plugin but worse than Safari’s PDF viewer.
Why programmers find it so hard to be Christians
Hi, checkout http://spencerfry.com/on-focus

Besids that article, what to do in this situation obviously depends on your context of-course. Make sure you a 360 degree view of the situation, the pros and cons of either decisions. The regrets that either decision might bring. I always advice people to think about the regret minimization framework when making major life decisions.

Also the hypothesis is success could come by either route but the "by-product" has higher probability and a shorter road to product. Please try and validate this assumption as soon as possible, just so your not building castles in the air and taking a decision on unfounded hunches.
I love comments like this, because if you truly believe in yourself (and your product), it will only spur you even more to prove everyone else wrong.
Well, technically you can, but you’re right about the speed:

javascript:document.body.contentEditable='true'; document.designMode='on'; void 0
In transactional / middle-men businesses, it's more standard to only report your percent take as "revenue", rather than including pass-through dollars (e.g. PayPal only reports their fees as revenue, not all dollars that flow through PayPal). But I suppose it's unclear if Groupon is that kind of business; arguably they could be more like a retailer, where it is standard to include all dollars flowing through as revenue.
FYI, if you're concerned about this issue with any Apple product and Firewire DMA, turning on the firmware password can block this kind of attack:

http://www.mactech.com/articles/mactech/Vol.21/21.02/Securit...

(halfway down, "Disabling Fiewire Direct Memory Access", EFI passwords on x86 do the same as OF passwords on PPC machines)
Reasons You Should Enter the MassChallenge
Imagine someone putting coaxial for lightning-fast 10Mbit back in the 90s. It might have seemed an overkill back then..

Anyway, if you stream from a local server (e.g. a NAS in the basement), it might totally make sense even today.
It's not he who has an idea first that wins, it's he that executes it best.
That definitely makes sense, but on the other hand it doesn't answer the question if they took a detour. Nice picture by the way, thanks.
Congratulations on finding a technical solution to a handling problem.

It seems to be quite common for posters here to invent elaborate ways to limit their environment as a result of not being able to limit themselves.
I think one of the hallmarks of any truly revolutionary technology is the ease and speed with which it spreads, becomes assimilated, and soon seems 'obvious' to those who were born after its adoption. The wheel being the archetypal example.

I'm no expert on printing presses, but the Wikipedia page on Moveable Type has some good material, including the suggestion that Gutenberg's most important innovation was a greatly improved method for casting letters. I find the elegance of this quite inspiring -- that Gutenberg did not invent 'the printing press' out of thin air but rather made this seemingly minor, but in fact absolutely crucial improvement that almost immediately propelled it from a niche technology into a cornerstone of intellectual life. There are many contemporary parallels...

(Incidentally, printing's rapid adoption was surely in part due to its usefulness not just for intellectuals, but also for the ever-present propaganda efforts of government officials.)
Yes, I've seen it the first time. You type a few characters and get a list of matching word/phrases/definitions in your database. My question is still: so what? (or am I still missing it? :) )

Please understand, I like it. I'm trying to give you a feedback in light of your original question, and that's whether you should quit (or slow down) work on your main product, and focus on by-products, of which this is one example. In that light, I really do not see anything worth pursuing.

Or, ask yourself this question: can you make money of it? is that money greater that your main product?

If those kind of answers are yes, than and only than would I ever consider changing my focus.