skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
What you said about guys with huge recall ability getting wrapped up in some kind of minutia really rang true with me.

When I first started at the place where I work now, I encountered a couple of guys who are excruciatingly smart, and seemed to know every little detail about a thousand random topics. They wrote excellent code, and I was really glad they were on the team since they were part of a very small group of guys who seemed to be the only ones who knew what was going on in terms of our code and the direction it was going in.

But they were extremely intimidating to be around. Don't get me wrong, they were very nice guys, but their seemingly immense intellect was scary and humiliating. I regularly felt like a dumbass -- and I was the only one there with a PhD (in astrophysics, no less).

Over time, I saw that these two guys regularly got caught up in the minutia of some abstract aspect of a problem, so much so that they became annoying to have around, and were somewhat of a hindrance in the decision-making process. I was surprised to discover that I wasn't the only one to have noticed this. I also noticed that neither of these guys never really seemed to produce anything huge out of their massive intellects, and most of the big jobs were tackled over a long period of time, with a lot of comparatively "dumb" guys doing most of the work.

Everybody does have their flaws.

I suppose what could be taken away from this observation is that you shouldn't waste time comparing yourself to the "genius" types. Don't put yourself down because you're not as quick or as all-knowing as someone else. What matters more is that you get stuff done, and that you always desire to improve yourself AND work towards that end. You may not become "all-knowing" or develop a huge recall ability, but the other skills that you do possess will get better and better, and you'll be worth more than the motor mouth "geniuses" whose ability to talk outshadows their ability to get stuff done.
Humans are the Routers
Incompetence isn't criminal. I think the core problem is the incentives, like someone said. It's even in the design of the system, the DA is supposed to try to convict the suspect.

What about the jury that convicted him? I know that's not criminal, but they're supposed to be the last stand of justice. I find it incredible that they would unanimously discount what his family said and find him guilty. It's a pretty sad evidence of the prejudices of members of society.
#2 - Perhaps a reasonable starting point would be improving the look of the project's documentation.
minor typo: discreet -> discrete
Apple wises up by sharing its Mac OS X Lion code with hackers
plinkplonk - I respect your opinion, so asking this question in earnest. Mind pointing to the best advice in the thread? I could look at the most up-voted answer, but group think is not always right.
I've got some mixed reactions to their reaction.

1. Yes - great, they replied publicly. While others may have complained before, at least they're finally replying in public.

2. "Suggestions like his are critical in helping us improve our products and processes". Why should things ever be as remotely bad to start with as what the OP was describing? Downloading an installer program that just copies an ISO to a folder? SDK and Simulator only available as separate downloads? Repeated data entry on multiple screens? Does no one at RIM sit down before things are released and say "OK, let's test this end to end and see if it really makes sense."?

Again - great that they responded, but having multiple poor experiences rolled up together gives the impression that RIM just really doesn't care that much, and can't be bothered to make the process for developers remotely straightforward.
It's interesting to see the reasoning and the regret (most people wish they had finished). However, I wonder what sort of bias is introduced looking backward. Are these the real underlying reasons for dropping out or just surface excuses retrospectively used?
The reason to record at sampling rates higher than 44.1 is to be able to pitch and tempo shift with fewer annoying autotune-style artifacts. 2.8 MHz 1-bit audio, clean, may not be distinguishable from 16/44, but add enough signal processing and you'll be happy to have the extra bits around.

This is similar to the 8 bits-per-channel problem with GIMP. It's not that you can see the difference; it's that when you factor in post-editing, it's nice to have the extra bit depth.
Unconfirmed physical evidence of bigger screen for iPhone 5
On the other hand, maybe we should make designers want to use Git.

This might be not as crazy as it sounds, as I recently learned:

A few weeks ago, there was a short presentation about Git, targeted at non-programmers such as graphics and web designers. After the presentation, one of the designers (who apparently already knew about Git) stood up and criticized the presenter for not going deeper into branches and auto-branching.

Of course, the presenter intentionally left that topic out, in order to not confuse all those Git newbies.

However, the designer argued that this is what would make Git interesting for designers. He said that all this diff/commit/push/pull stuff was boring for designers where a "diff" between graphics files is neither readable nor meaningful, and where automatic merges are impossible anyway. But branching has the power to reflect the natural work-flow of a designer who permanently goes back to previous versions in order to try different variants. Reflecting this via "Save as ..." (and naming files accordingly) is very cumbersome.

Although I personally think this guy overrated the power of branches, this might change once the Git user interfaces becomes simpler to use, more targeted to designers (rather than just software developers) and better integrated into graphical tools like Gimp, Inkscape or even Photoshop.
24-bit 192khz

No-one will tell the difference between that and Redbook CD quality in a double blind test. For recording, and intermediary files, sure, knock yourself out. For the final master 16/44.1 is plenty.
papers is going to be killed by mendeley - mendeley works on windows, OSX, linux, AND the cloud, it's free, and everyone in our lab is already using it.
I though Singapore, Japan, etc. have government managed schools that seem to be doing rather well...I can't even argue the locality issue because Switzerland seems to be doing rather well also. I think one of the difficulties in US schools is brought up by the author--we try to teach everyone and we believe in 2nd and 3rd chances. Many countries begin tracking rather early, so their teachers don't have some of the same special needs issues (I'm not arguing right or wrong here, just fact) that teachers here face.

Then, there is the family component. In a number of industrialized countries, education is highly prized and parents are deeply involved in their kids' education. Here, that is again not necessarily the case in many schools--and there is a limit to how much teachers can do to overcome that.

Also, I think that in many other industrialized countries, teachers are respected and paid reasonably compared to other professions. This draws talented people into the field (passion is important, but so is economics).
10.7 Lion drops support for PowerPC applications
Well, the change that prevents this from happening again is DNA evidence.

Definitely the human factors that caused this will still complicate things, but at least the most egregious kinds of cases can be prevented.
Subatomic Particle Zoo Plushies
RockBand & mHealth: Why FitBit, WiThings, and Wakemate Should Worry
A good place to look is professional athletes where careers are very short on average and the amount of money they earn seems absurd. I think in football I heard something like average pro career being 6 months. It's no wonder the contracts are frontloaded/bonus based. In a sport like hockey where salary is guaranteed no matter what, you don't see the same bonus but frontloading occurs on really long contracts to circumvent salary caps. Back to CEOs, it just looks like rational behavior given average job length and amount of money needed to maintain a lifestyle.
When getting into these discussions of bit depth and sampling rate, the debate is endless among audio engineers about the differences. What really makes a difference is the specific gear you use (mics, preamps, processors, a/d converters, clocks, etc.).

Debating the numbers without discussing the signal chain is somewhat ridiculous. A fantastic (great gear) 16/44 chain will sound a lot better than a crappy 24/192 chain. The concept of a signal chain "only being as strong as the weakest link" is of great importance.

That is only the tracking side of the equation. Eventually, individual tracks get mixed down. Your summing bus is the flip side, and there is a lengthy debate over mixing in the box (digital summing) vs. analog summing, which can be done with a traditional mixing console, or with the recently invented category of gear known as "summing boxes." (There are of course many further variations and permutations.)

On top of that, the skill of the engineer will also make a large difference. Those interested in the details may wish to visit a site such as gearslutz.com where these topics are discussed and debated in great detail.
I wouldn't do any business with Mediatemple. They wanted me to purchase a hosting service just to do a 301 redirect whereas GoDaddy or Name.com do it for free.
Clojure struct constructor needs keywords badly. Right now it's position-dependent and only way to know what each sub-expression is doing is to look up the definition of the structure.

(struct person 6.3 63 63)

What do the magic numbers mean? Dunno, you need to look up defstruct definition. In Common Lisp, it's:

(make-person :height 6.3 :age 63 :weight-in-kg 63)
;; or better :weight (kg 63)

Then

"Clojure doesn’t have the parse-integer function, but I was quickly able to implement something that did the job by calling out to the Java parseInt method."

This has to be remedied. You need to have native control over basic reading/writing; don't offshore that to another language, even one your language is implemented on-top of.

I agree with the sentiment against ASH (Arithmetic-SHift); seriously, division/multiplication as 2^N shifts is a performance hack, and a useless one at that (smart compilers already do this, and stupid ones are bytecode compilers.)

Common Lisp already has about 9 division operators (yes, NINE) and it would have been a good opportunity to introduce them and their various uses. They are: /, floor, ffloor, ceiling, fceiling, truncate, ftruncate, round, fround -- for integers and floats respectively[1], along with MOD and REM

[1] excellent candidates for removal in future CL with CLOS-based type hierarchy; type-dispatch ftw! With ML-style type annotations it would even be feasible to do type hints inline, like (values (/@double-float 22 7) (/@int 22 7)) using @ because colon is a package separator.
I would up the internal SSD to 256 minimum. You'd be surprise how fast the hard drive space is going to be used up between programs/apps, along with everything else you use.
What would be the alternative then? If apple can't field a 4g phone what would they have to do to get one? Relax app store standards? (That doesn't seem very likely) I seriously doubt that they will never have a 4g phone ever and not releasing one doesn't seem to be an option.
If this interpretation of the rules correct, then by the same logic all carrier-locked-down Android phones would surely also be affected.
Steve Jobs gave the 2005 Commencement address there. He went briefly to Reed College in Portland. I don't believe that he ever matriculated at Stanford.
It is funny how all content farms say they aren't content farms and that their content is 'high quality'.
And with the iPad selling 15 million copies, and the iPad 2 coming out Tuesday, they need to get the damn thing out the door and into the hands of customers.
I also thought it was very low quality content.

Tutorial: "How to use Drop Box to back up your files"
Instructions: Save your files to your drop box folder

Tutotial: "How to host your website on amazon S3"
Instructions: Save your files to S3 and point a web browser at them.

I feel like "Content Farm" is putting it nicely.
Really, all problems in the US come down to this, racists that dont want there tax money going to help black people.
New StartUp. Facebook Alternate Project
Is it possible for web developer to work in a bank?
All the IT roles that Banks need requires knowledge of C++,C# or Java. I don't really see any opening for web developers at all.
VC List pivot / new startup modeling Angel List?
OK, I'll bite... The article states that the only way to improve the user experience is to bring in a Designer (loosely defined as somebody who doesn't code.) I'd argue the opposite: Having a programmer who really understands user interfaces and user interaction is the critical, missing piece.

Now that I'm in deep, let me go further... A motivated programmer can learn the basics of interaction design very quickly, and get the user interface to a point where it at least doesn't suck.
The reason why Marvel vs Capcom 3 disappoints
Nice idea. Usually you see blog posts with the latest success or the code you are proud of but showing mistakes and errors is not that common. I'm dreaming to see the academic papers where instead of all the wonderful results you'll see the errors path to reach the final result.
I didn't have Prime until very recently. My rationale was that I pretty much always got free shipping anyways (Super Saver is free if you purchase more than $25 at a time, which isn't hard, and I don't care about the delivery date).

However, the free movie streaming actually convinced me to sign up for Prime (comparably priced to Netflix streaming, plus I get free two day shipping on all my Amazon purchases). I think that Amazon could potentially get a lot of new people to buy prime if they give away a free Kindle, which would probably be a net win for them.
The word is "definitely".
I don't exactly see how this is great news. While some may enjoy seeing Apple squirm, what about the consumers who prefer the iPhone over any android offerings?
There's a video of Ira Glass floating around that I was sending to all of my friends a few years ago, on the nature of creativity and self-criticism.

One of the great points he made was that if you ever finish a project of any kind and think it's really great -- just perfect, and just what you wanted to achieve -- it's time to hang up your hat and go home, because you're done. You aren't going to improve from there, and you won't learn anything new (though there's always more to learn, in any field).

The harsh self-critique just means that your skills still don't measure up to your taste, and if you find yourself doing great without much trouble, that just means you have really poor taste.
Talk about propaganda, please provide any evidence that dailykos is funded by soros.
Since I have no way to know what you do with what I give you, and no way to verify how you store what I give you, other than "take my word for it", I would never utilize your service.
Demand Media Lives On: The Moral of Google's "Farmer" Algorithm Change
Also.

In the UK at least, get designers get paid a lot less.

The work they do get paid to do is restrictive and dull.

Designers are generally driven by the desire to create and make 'pretty' things.

Most spend all day in meetings discussing why that shade of pink isn't good for the 99th design iteration of the same icon.

So I highly doubt they would rush to do this kind of work for free.

Most design work open source projects need are quite 'boring' from some designers point of view.
How does this compare to a service like 1Password? While I get the convenience of having access to it anywhere on any machine since it seems like it's web based, I'm not a huge fan of web base password storage. Most people would not trust you to store their passwords. Some will, but there will be a huge number of skeptics.

I like services on my local machine. While it is true I can't access all my passwords when I'm not on my main device, two things come to my mind right away:

1. I rarely if ever use any other machines. When I do, I easily memorize my passwords for common things I like to check. Usually these days I check them on my smartphone.

2. There are ways to get 1Password to work with Dropbox which in turns allow me to replicate what you guys are doing without having to exclusively use an online service.

Having said that, I believe you can still garner userbase, but my original question stands, what added benefit do you guys offer?

PS Site design is a bit hideous, a change may help.
With so many SSH accounts all over the place, I've started using color-coded prompts for all my connections:

http://i.imgur.com/KKQHj.png

This way I can be sure I'm typing `halt` into the right box, because it's easier to spot the wrong color than the wrong hostname in 10pt text.
Computer audio is broken? News to me. I'm happy with the 44.1Khz @ 16-bit.
Stars Could Have Wormholes at Their Cores, Say Astrophysicists
Mildly interesting list. I would much rather see a short review / recommended use of the tools that are listed here. A couple of tools I would recommend would be Dropbox (great file sharing tool). Google apps (great way to setup a corporate email server and various other things). I have use Balsamiq to prototype interfaces and it was a pleasant experience. Github is great for sharing code. Heroku was very easy to setup and use also.
Replicatorblog's response made very good points. Though I think the FLOSS community should start by appreciating the huge differences between developing code and developing design.

I am a designer and a FLOSS guy and I have actually researched this subject a lot, both in practice, in writing and in teaching. The essay I written for Smashing Magazine a few months ago might be relevant in this context, it is called "The Case For Open-Source Design: Can Design By Committee Work?"
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/09/01/the-case-for-open...

I identified three major challenges:
1. Scratching an Itch
2. Granularity
3. Encoding/Decoding

I go through a few interesting positive examples for collaborative design processes and then try to propose some tips to making it work. Finally it's about a mix between leadership and openness, but this leadership has to be respected even if it does not translate to algorithmic metrics (like Google's A/B Testing of 41 shades of blue, more: http://stopdesign.com/archive/2009/03/20/goodbye-google.html)

If you prefer to go through this essay as a 20mins video presentation, you can check it here:
http://vimeo.com/18761002

I start at 00:27:50

I realize this is a pretty long and complex answer for what sounds like a simple question, but in my experience this is really revealing the boundaries of the Open Source collaborative process as we know it and it will not change unless we help this model mature.
The paper that started Google. What got your startup started?
I think the core problem is the incentives, like someone said.

Agreed.

It's even in the design of the system, the DA is supposed to try to convict the suspect.

In and of itself that's not a perverse incentive. The system is adversarial: the DA is supposed to try to convict, and the defense is supposed to try to acquit. Plus the defense has a huge advantage, because the burden of proof rests with the prosecution; the defense only has to establish reasonable doubt about the suspect's guilt.

You could argue with it, but it's not an obviously terrible design. The problems are with the implementation, chiefly: (a) the prosecution almost always has vastly better resources than the defense; and (b) judges and juries totally ignore the burden-of-proof rule.
Yes, as the article points out, if you don't go mad and apply far too much compression like so much recorded music does. Over compression is hideous...
Eliminating the Laptop Charging Brick
> As an outsider looking in, the thing that really shocks me about American schools is the consistent, persistent denigration of teachers and implication that so many are only there because their greedy, too-strong unions are protecting them in spite of incompetence and laziness while demanding outrageous salaries and pensions.

As an "insider", the thing that really shocks me about outsiders' comments is their assumption that they know enough to comment intelligently about what's going on in the US.

Actually, it doesn't shock me at all because it's SOP.

We get that you watch US media, but don't confuse that with information.

Helpful tip - don't expect warm water at LA's beaches, let alone SF's. Yes, we know that bay watch suggests otherwise, but ....
I believe you are talking about the inverse, as opposed to the contradiction. Consider a * b

Contradiction: a * -b

Inverse: -a * -b

In the theorem that he provides us, H(X) = H(-X), it could be argued either way as to whether he meant contradiction or inverse. However, his example of "we should work harder on correct proofs; we should work harder on incorrect proofs" very clearly uses two variables, and the form of the second is of a contradiction.

EDIT: Wow did I screw my terms up. Changed Negation to Contradiction, and Contrapositive to Inverse. Thank you barrkel for pointing this out.
Saudi King to buy Facebook for $150 billion to end the revolt
Social Networking's Newest Friend: Genomics
I read a story about Cameron Willingham in the New Yorker a while back:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_...

There's also an article about him on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Todd_Willingham
I'm sorry but I strongly disagree (btw, I'm not the one that downvoted you; I don't have that option).

Why should I contribute to an open source project when I can do something like design a simple killer wordpress theme that may gain major adoption and use that as reference for my work than a single open source project catered to a single developers open source work that may or may not get used heavily. That or is only used in parts. There are tons of free designs out there, how often have you or anyone you know hiring designers reference how awesome or widely adopted their one off icon kit has been or something similar? Not happening.
Maybe it's time for the State Department to revisit technology export restrictions to China?
Facebook ‘Like’ Button Takes Over Share Button Functionality
Coca Cola's performance is about the brand and the distribution, not the product. They also own and successfully operate much healthier product lines. At this time, they aren't what the market wants for the most part. Most place a higher value on the extremely low cost and good taste of sugary fizzy water. When that changes, whether for cultural, regulatory or other reasons, the Coca-Cola company will still be in an excellent position and possibly make even more money from its healthier products.

Also, as a private consumer, I don't really appreciate attempts to protect me from myself.
Good point that illustrates the mess of politics: The claim is common, but I have zip, zilch, zero for solid evidence. Standard situation in politics.

In politics, we don't have much. If keep only the solid information we may have nothing at all.

Sorry about the mess of politics. Maybe the Internet can make solid evidence more important.
But most of us are "hackers" so yes, really.
Related article from last July by Kenny Meyers:

Where are the open source designers? copywriters? information architects? interface designers?

http://thenerdary.net/articles/entry/the_open_source_designe...
This link doesn't load unless you include the apostrophe in "Blackstone's", but HN seemingly does not allow posting of URLs which include an apostrophe (well, a single-quote, that is).

Bug?