skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Excellent advice. Nobody ever wished on their deathbed that they'd spent more time at the office working.
In principle, gmo is a fine idea--why not hack nature to suit our needs? In practice, the genetic modifications are often used to enhance resistance to pesticides (not pests). Then, more pesticides can be sprayed without endangering the health of the plant. But no one has modified us to tolerate the pesticides, which we then consume.

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

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-disappearing-male/
The devil wears hoodies
I'm all for listening to contrarian arguments, but this seems a little inconsistent:

"Organic farmers won’t use Roundup and other herbicides, so they plow the weeds under, which kills a lot of small animals"

In other words: herbicides are good, farmers should use them.

"Standard industrial cotton has Bacillus thuringiensis (“bt”) genes mixed in and these kill pests, cutting the need for sprayed pesticides in half."

In other words: pesticides are bad, farmers should not use them.

"Organic farmers won’t use standard fertilizer, but only manure from cows, which means we’ll need a lot more cows running around"

By the same argument, recycling is bad because we'll need a lot more garbage to recycle.
One k a month is at best a studio, by the way, in Manhattan. And that would be way uptown.
I'm a guest, so I like listening in (and participating at times) to the community. As a guest, it's a privilege to be here.

But I have a very simple rule about websites: the site should do things that I naturally expect. If I provide a credit card, I don't expect that credit card to be used for other purchases. If I provide an email, I don't expect to be spammed. If I cancel a membership, I don't expect to be able to access the site.

And if I provide a comment that appears to be legit, I expect other people to be able to read it. When I vote something up, I expect that vote to make a difference. In short, if you provide what appears to be a way of communicating with others, it had damn well be a way of communicating.

When website owners violate that standard of fairness, sorry to say, I find it unethical. They are presenting me with a picture of the world that they know not to be true. Not as bad as using my credit card to make other purchases, but bad.

The "needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" argument is fundamentally flawed. It's the obnoxious protester who turns out to be right every now and then. It's the guy pleading for an unpopular cause that manages to sway public opinion. In short, we desperately need diversity of opinion and manners.

What happens is, people change and sites no longer serve them. Whatever the intent of the "feature", the effect seems to be preventing folks from changing. To enforce group homogeneity.

Like I said, I'm happy to be here and follow whatever rules there are. But this hellbanning shit is way fucked up. I don't care how many millions of users you have, screwing over folks for the greater good -- and lying to their face about it -- isn't a good thing at all.

How many hours of people's lives do you get to rob them of, pretending to let them publicly comment, before it's a bad thing? 10? 100? 1000? If a thousand people were actively commenting and nobody could read them, where do they go to get that part of their life back? Who says it's okay to lie like that? Just because you are a guest in somebody's house, they should treat you this way? I don't think so.

We act as if people are simply cogs in some great machine, the machine of the site. Not precious humans.

My opinion, for what it's worth. A bit over the top and theatrical, sure, but I exaggerate to make a point. Hopefully folks are able to read and understand it. There's no bright line between "I hellbanned this guy for being that .01% of folks who are impossible to deal with" and "I didn't like Joe, so let's just let him think he's contributing" You start down this road, there is no turning off. It's either acceptable or not. To me it's not.

These are tough problems, yes. But simply because you have something that works doesn't mean that it is the right thing to do. EDIT: Note slowbanning is fine. Nobody says you have to have a responsive site, just an honest one.
Understanding MeeGo: it is not just handsets and tablets
NYC is an excellent place to find work as a developer. You have a ridiculous selection of awesome startups and larger companies to choose from. The last Brooklyn.js meetup I went to had more people looking to hire front-end developers than people looking at a ratio ~5:1.
Extremely little (none?) actual science or evidence presented in this article. If this wasn't from the Harvard domain it wouldn't get a second glance.
> I personally loath meta answers like "why are you doing X and asking Y" instead of wasting the equivalent typing of explaining why X and Y is a bad idea.

That's funny; I'm more often annoyed by the second response because often X and Y are only generally bad, not universally bad. Even though the supportee should probably have an up-front justification, it's reasonable to check for one and avoid handing out an unfair critique.
> There are many stable oligopolies which can either resist, tamp down on, or co-opt new upstarts and maintain a status quo for themselves.

Can you please point out some of this many oligopolies that somehow force me to do business with them? I can not buy from pretty much anyone I don't like, if I avoid paying taxes I will probably end up in jail.
Oh man, nothing like the hurt feelings of the structured data guys. They've been pushing various designed by committee, magical taxonomy of the universe, semantic web hooey for years.

I especially love the statement from @manusporny that RDFa has grown 500% in the last year... So, 5 people using it now?

I say good on the vendors for jumping out of the analysis paralysis and making something work. We'll improve on it as we go, but a working, living start, is better than a never ending W3C working groups. [see html5 vs xhtml 2.0 and json vs xml]
They'll only eliminate compiler bugs because there is no compiler. Assembler, linker, and loader bugs will still be there.
I've also been hellbanned before. I totally deserved it. I decided to shape up and play nicer with others. I also tempered the controversial, wildly politically incorrect conversation pieces. Now I think I'm a model HNer! Hopefully this account does not become hellbanned. Given my invitations to startup school I think I'm doing OK.
Java is way more complex than it should be, specially after badly botched features like generics were added.
throughout history we consumed organic and we were fine so the by experimentation we know organic produce is generally safer (if handled cleanly).

GMO on the other hand maybe causing many things (jury is still out) and we won't know that for a while probably so I wouldn't risk the entire human population just so that we can have more food which kills us rather than enough food which sustains us.

and comments on that forum have listed that organic can have enough/comparable yields just that its labor intensive sounds like a job creation plan no body is mentioning :)
I imagine the hellbanned users' comments get some random upvotes to keep them extra-clueless, no?
Yahoo News Beta Unveiled
Being "invisible" for a year surrounded by people would be an interesting experience, I think.

Besides, of course, the practical problems such as how do you buy food. Do you have to steal it? (Easy, as nobody "sees" you)
I can see an investor with half a brain buying a company with a P/E of 2147 - heck, some newer companies with lots of potential have negative P/E. What you need to make up for it is a really nice growth story.

Now, LinkedIn has an okay growth story, don't get me wrong. The problem is it's just not good enough. Let's do some back-of-the-envelope comparisons. Consider a relatively low-risk investment: an intermediate-term corporate bond fund. You can get about 4% yield these days. At the current market cap of $7.4 billion, that's earnings of roughly $300 million a year. That's roughly in line with LinkedIn's revenue, but they also need to pay for things like engineers and server farms.

In other words, you're going to need a heck of an earnings growth story just to break even against a safe investment - and LinkedIn is nowhere near as safe as a corporate bond fund.
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I'll freaking hire you right now.

Just kidding, but yeah, if you're good and you're in NYC, you'll be slurped up by the startups here. Everyone has problems hiring in NYC.
> JavaScript can't do multiple inheritance

JS's object modell is prototype based, so there's no traditional inheritance, just the chain of prototypes. And you can monkey patch it any way you like at any level. (Adding currying to Function.prototype is a nice and scary example of this.)

Directly defining functions into the prototype chain doesn't even require copying and you can put an arbitrary number of functions there. And you can just redefine the Enumerable mixin's functions, or wrap then into your functions, so extending isn't a problem.
Personally, I find that this was unnecessary:

> Who knew that “sustainable” would mean a polyester
> shirt and a bag of Fritos?

What does a bag of Fritos have to do with organic vs non-organic produce?

That said, 'sustainable' is a lot more just 'how efficient is our growing process?' A few things that he fails to mention:

- Dealing with run-off from industrial pesticides and fertilizers into our water ways (including the 'dead zones' that form at the mouths of rivers due to this pollution).

- The amount of energy that we waste in raising livestock. A good portion of the land that we use for growing (i.e. not grazing land) is used to grow corn/etc that is used exclusively for livestock feed. How much energy does it take for us to grow all of this food and then funnel it into the mouths of livestock? What is the amount of energy that we get in return for the amount we invest? How does this differ from just growing vegetables/fruits on that land and foregoing livestock?

- The amount of food that we consume that is totally unnecessary. If 100% of the people on earth ate as much as the average person in the US did, that wouldn't be sustainable. That 'bag of Fritos' is unnecessary. How much essential nutrition does it actually give you? If you really want to talk about sustainability and efficiency in our food supply chain, maybe we don't need to spend so much focus on comfort foods. Or at least focus on comfort foods that provide us with more than just fat + sugar + salt.

- The under-handed, rent-seeking tactics of GMO companies like Montsano. <sarcasm>Forcing farmers to remain dependent on a single company through technological means[1] and legal means[2] seems like a pretty efficient use of our time and resources to me!</sarcasm> (Read the full Wikipedia page for all sorts of nonsense -- e.g. toxic waste dumping, suppression of damaging studies, etc)

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto#Terminator_seed_contro...

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto#As_plaintiff
In what way is Java more object oriented than Ruby?

In Ruby, everything is an object. There's nothing like Java's glaringly out of place "primitive data types". Not to mention that late binding is one of the qualities Alan Kay listed as being central the the meaning of the concept "Object Oriented Programming".
I have sent dozens of those emails over the years. It's only a small fraction of the [dead] productive comments I find, but not that many people have contact info or googleable usernames.
Java is the new COBOL. In practical terms, there is little real difference.
Generalist engineer (employee #1) wanted at Venuetastic (YC W11)
Ask HN: No intrinisic motivation to build stuff
Dear HN crowd,

I'm not particularly happy in my life. My main problem is lack of intrinsic motivation to create stuff, in the widest sense. For example, I don't contribute to open source projects. I don't have any own programming projects. I don't have a personal web site or a blog. I'm not a member of a political party trying to change the world. I find the start-up scene thrilling, but as long as I don't change, I will probably never be part of it.

I think the underlying problem is that it's quite easy for me to find things that interest me, but very hard not to get bored after a day. For example, think about topics like lock picking, composing electronic music, web development, functional programming languages, [insert random technology here], etc.

As soon as I understand the basics of X, I lose interest. After I had managed to open a very simple lock, I stopped practicing. After I had roughly figured out what the knobs on a synthesizer do, I stopped trying to make electronic music. After I understood which technologies are required to build and deploy a modern web site and how to get a basic "hello world" running, I stopped building web sites. After a few hours of "Learn you a Haskell for Great Good" and seeing the main differences to other programming paradigms, I stopped reading (same for the Erlang equivalent). I've had a look at so many different programming languages in my life, but after I understand syntax and basic design principles, I lose the motivation to actually build something with it.

As such, I have no chance to become an expert in a particular field. It's frustrating.

I perform very well at university, though. It's easy to see what you have to do to get the reward (a good grade), so I do just that. Actually, (graded) university projects are the only projects I've finished in my life. Why do I need grades to motivate me? What the fuck does optimizing for good grades matter, while others actually do and learn useful stuff in their free time?
Why don't I feel the urge to build kick-ass stuff, while so many people here do? Why can't I stay focussed on a single thing without external pressure (grades)? I'm close to graduation now. I could know far more than I do, if I had learned past what is required for getting an A.

Something needs to change. I already see myself decaying at $BIG-CO, the monthly pay-check as my only reward. But what other option is there, without any passion.

PS: HN is very inspiring for me, though. My brain loves the rush of information. It's typical for me to open 40-something tabs of news stories, just to skim through them, without reading a single one in detail: Read the introduction, read the conclusion, close tab, read top HN comments. Understand what it is about and what smart people think about the subject. Then go to next story, repeat. Maybe it's ADHD. Medication (stimulants) did not really help, though.
In Ruby you can write in a functional style. Can't do that as easily in Java. Java enforces a more pure OO style.
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actually 'follow the money' is a strategy based on finding the one who gained the most from the certain action, it doesn't have to be 'money' literally.

but yes, I was suggesting that FJ could also generate content by himself, because: 1) why not? 2) he didn't remove all oatmeal material 3) he got all agressive about the idea, I mean, what's the problem, if it was his user's work he could just remove it, take down the karma and that's it.
You seem to think that the hellbanned masses are all trolls, and that is absolutely not the case.

Many of them were just too passionate about a particular issue one day. Quite a few seem to have done nothing untoward at all.
Agreed, but their problems are memes AND security. They could have had the bastard image and still established a secure infrastructure (like, for example, the TSA).
A lot of knowledge seems hardwired. Infants who can barely see already knows things like inertia and persistence of invisible objects, and then there's the whole Chomskyian linguistics argument that kids learn language too fast and well.
Why do people think spam techniques like this are worthwhile? Are there people who actually fall for this?
Yes, Cyc was what I was thinking of. A 3 year old knows an awful lot.
And eventually, a few kinds of pests evolve to resist those pesticides.
>>And so what happens to the version of Excel that’s running in the background when you unplug the mouse and keyboard and go back reading an e-book on the device as a tablet?

Total protonic reversal!
Certainly true that they should have better security, but at a point when so much stirred up, no amount of security will protect you from the havoc of thousands of determined hackers. Its better, at that point, to try to quell the storm than build stronger walls.
It's from a particular person who is recognizable to the HN community. That's why it got a second glance. Agree that it's a worthless article.
The point is being up front and to the point, in spirit with "don't ask to ask, just ask". Most of these meta-answers are founded in the belief that the asker doesn't know what they are asking. And by supplying another set of questions instead of just bluntly stating what you think, you are feebly trying to guard yourself from being wrong - which is something people hate to admit on IRC.

The better being that you explain that "X and Y is a bad idea" and getting a quick "No" in response (assuming the asker knows what he/shes asking), instead of having the asker having to going in to more (often unnecessary) detail.
Exactly. Last year I had to choose between a 600 lawyer and a 6k lawyer, guess whom I went with?
The 6k lawyer, because even though I am not a lawyer, I could tell the $600 dude was just rambling and did not even understand the seriousness of my case (or maybe he just didn't care)
Fighting to keep their system closed, to keep users from something as innocuous as installing Linux on their hardware is not worth the trouble at this point. Learn when the winds have changes, and go with it.

Just to play Devil's advocate...

Perhaps Sony is taking the "maximize shareholder revenue" avenue. What is their financial loss for months of PSN downtime? A few people switch to xbox live? They have to provide a few free accounts?

For their other hacked services, they can simply shut them off as failed experiments, fire all the developers, and save even more money.

Because there is not some huge fine for leaking all the credit card information, this doesn't affect Sony at all, financially. But allowing people to run Linux means they may take a loss on a lot more devices (and if they don't take that loss, people will buy Wiis or Xboxes instead), and it makes piracy a lot easier. If piracy becomes too rampant, developers will stop targeting the Playstation, killing the entire line of business.

So while it makes them look dumb to keep getting hacked over and over again, maybe it isn't hurting them at all.
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i certainly agree - people can have off days, for which the punishment of permanent non-inclusion in the community (so long as they don't find out) is really harsh and unfair, worsened by the fact that there seems to be no method of recourse for anyone it's inflicted upon..

alas i find myself agreeing with tptacek in that, i have no idea how a democracy of this would work, or even that we have any right to demand such a thing..

opens safari and checks comment is visible..
As another data point, you can find some great deals with a 30ish minute commute in Brooklyn. Yes you can easily pay as much as UWS/Tribeca but there are more deals out here.

Another pro tip: ride a bike and save $5/day on your commute!
This is no way comparable to a USRP. Receive only, 80Khz bandwidth, and who knows how long lock time for frequencies. It's a barely software defined radio- more of a wide band scanner.

It's a cute receiver. You can't build a GSM base station with it.
I think this was a productive discussion three years ago.

I didn't write my side of it as linkbait, and I don't think the DHH did either.

the truth is we are both right.... you can do a lifestyle business or you can go all in. my style is all in and as fast as possible.

other folks like slow and steady.

sometimes life deals you cards that dictate your approach (i.e. yo have a kids, your dad gets cancer and the Panda update cuts half your traffic... all in the same year).

it's true that some folks work 100 hours a week and get less done than folks who work 40.

it's true that there are folks who work 100 hours and get 2x as much done as someone who works 50.

the fact is, you have to do what is right for you and your goals. me? i love to build shit... and i do it hard and fast with a lot of mistakes and passion.

the video:
http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2219-jason-calacanis-vs-david...
This is a total side note, but I find the reference to Fritos as something non-organic or unnatural amusing, because they're one of the most natural snack foods on the martket. Look at the ingredients on a bag of Fritos sometime. IIRC they are corn, corn oil, salt. Now compare that to something like Doritos.
> [To be popular, a new language] needs to accommodate all these wonky developers with their weird ideas of what's necessary and what's not.

So, popularity requires bad design decisions. Put it bluntly, most programmers are ill-educated. Fine, let's fix that problem, then.
If you're already in NYC for the summer you'll have no trouble finding a job. Plan on spending your non-internship time building relationships with startups that are getting things done. This is tough because they don't necessarily hang out at the more prominent meetups but you will find them.
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For my wife to go to the US, she has to spend hundreds of dollars, travel to various US embassies, submit to a medical examination, and spend lots of time waiting.

[citation needed]
Or actually, maybe if it was just in the top bar -- between "submit" and my username.
I think thats a good argument, but it doesn't take into account the long term effect of brand destruction. Yes they can save money with a few games of organization, but the permanent damage your customer relations will hinder your production adoption, maybe irrevocably.
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This Way Out is the best book for college-level self-study I have used. The book is in 3 parts, the last 2 Experimental Colleges and Foreign Study are too dated to be useful since it was published in 1973. The part that is particularly to the point here is that they also discuss the absolute essential for self-education - you must love to read, if you don't, then stay in college where they will force you to read.

http://www.amazon.com/This-way-out-alternatives-traditional/...

Also, I would add, for technical fields you need to be interested enough in math to study it on your own as well.
Over simplification.

There are alternate strategies to reduce the impact of pests or to fertilize fields, or to just make those fields deplete at a slower rate. In some cases we would need the very useful pesticides or chemical fertilizers but right now they are just used by default. A lot of those GMOs aren't to make things have better nutritional value, or make it that you need to use less external help to grow produce, they exist to make the farmer buy more of something else. The roundup ready seeds are the best example of that; they make it possible to use herbicide by default, without having to mind it too much.

For some produces, organic growing is actually cheaper, its just dumb that they still charge us extra for it.
I agree that by acting smarter they could have limited their exposure, and by limiting their exposure, avoided being hacked so many times (i.e. http://throwingfire.com/security-through-obscurity/), but a company as large as Sony really should've gotten their security auditing act together a decade ago. All of the vulnerabilities that were exploited in the past few days were scriptkiddie-things -- SQL injections and archaic versions of Apache. I mean, come on.