skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I'm just one data point, but I did spend one semester in law school (at Columbia) before taking a leave of absence (in good academic standing, B's in everything) and enrolling in a PhD in engineering (Berkeley).

Law school was not hard. At an elite school, it's very easy to get B's in your courses, which won't get you on law review, but will generally land you a job at a top firm from an elite school. Failure rates are astoundingly low. I would guess 97+% of the class gets a B or higher, and failing out is almost unheard of (again, at elite schools). Lower ranked schools, from what I've heard, do grade on the harsher scale you mentioned.

My PhD program at Berkeley, on the other hand, was a horror show of attrition and failure. It was so much more brutal than law school it's completely silly to compare the two. My dept at Berkeley said that 40% fail to get the PhD, but that's not counting people like me who were awarded masters degrees and so are considered to have achieved their degree goal. I'd guess that the failure rate is well above 50% - and keep in mind, this is for a very elite program that is extremely selective.

Graduate programs in math, science, and engineering are littered with the broken dreams of exceptionally smart people. It's exceptionally unusual for med, law, and mba students to fail out at elite programs. It's commonplace in top PhD programs.
At my school, it wasn't intro programming courses that weeded out so many CS students, it was sophomore level discrete math. That class had a 50+% failure rate.

In classes that have brand new or complex topics the teacher matters a lot. Intro programming and discrete math 1 were the weed out classes at my school. Many people failed both. I managed to get an A in the intro programming only because it was all old material to me. The now retired teacher was horrible.

I go an F in the discrete math course. On the last day of class the teacher admitted to being horrible and then failed everyone. The weirdest thing was I actually felt like I understood the material, but was lost on every test. I had alway done well in math until that class with that teacher. When I retook the class with a different teacher I got an A. The same goes for discrete 2 and every other math course I took in college.

Now, to your question. I don't think the classes need to be more socially relevant, but teachers need to figure out ways to connect the material with students. The problem is you need a teacher who deeply understands the material and cares enough to figure out various ways of teaching it. A good teacher is akin to a good artist. They can take the same base concepts and materials that every other teacher receives, but can weave them into a coherent lesson.
You haven't provided enough information to be sure, but $3k might just be what's required for the scope of your project.

If you put your email in your profile I'd be happy to contact you and discuss more (or feel free to email me).
... and the idea is that there are advertisements which generate revenue on the second, third and fourth page in the site that they visit. So his 99.5% metric is that 60% or so of that screen is trying to drive traffic to other articles on the site.
That's an awesome first attempt. Definitely amazed at the polish of it all. Would you mind letting me in on your secret on how you got it so polished? I'm a developer so I haven't a clue how to make it look as nice as you have.

P.S. Don't have my iPad with me but I'll let you know when I do get home.
I love this part: "Creativity and drudgery are not mutually exclusive, Richards deduced as he toiled away. Instead, they enable each other. A good idea can come from anywhere. Expressing it in a way that jumps off the page—fresh, elegant, exciting—requires, first and foremost, relentless hard work."
Luddite legacy
Less vs Sass (SCSS) discuss.
A mouse occasionally, usually when doing graphics work. When coding, no. And I've never felt the need to use another keyboard. The built-in one is great in my opinion.
Investing In Silver - Anarchy & Precious Metals
More than that being a self-proclaimed "hustler" also feels sleazy. It's sort of like combining an "idea" guy with somebody whose only goal is to sell the product, not to add quality or make something cool.

This is just what I associate with the word "hustler" and not a reflection on the article, on which I have no comment at the moment.
The purpose of the MBA isn't the degree, it's the connections.

This is why the best MBAs are also the biggest partiers and social butterflies. Networking is far more profitable than learning.
"Don't worship the code." Well put. I've personally witnessed a situation where a startup was paralyzed by code narcissism. The business was asking for features they couldn't get because implementing those features would mean violating the lovely design patterns chosen by the architecture astronauts. Every developer wants to believe that someday their code will be released as a heroic open source project that solves everyone's problems but in the meantime they neglect to solve the problem their customer is having right now.
Histofme.com - Write and Share Your Own History
Two interesting things jumped out at me:

1) Even Jackson says that "Reds eat color".

2) Two guys can sit next to each other and draw the concept art for the right and left eye of a 3d shot, just by looking at what the other is drawing. Thats freakin' superhuman.
The Impossible Question: Just Who Is The Middle Class?
An open source piece of software to do this would be greatly appreciated.

Does anything like this exist?
It is WAY more expensive to do later than it is to keep this sort of thing in mind up front. I've done a lot of work with product startups that have dug a massive tech dept hole that is actively affecting their bottom line. Rickety foundations.

TDD fully supports the concept of prototyping. You don't unit test a prototype. The trick is to STOP that prototype when the concept is proven and move onto something you can really build on.
Yep. But I think that was just a fortuitous side effect, not the original reason for the split.
Liberal arts PhDs get tuition wavers and stipends from being TAs. That's how universities staff intro writing and language courses.
How dangerous is a wet server room floor
"directly" is a little bit of an exaggeration
I suppose the answer is something along the lines of, "find a partner who knows something about designing and manufacturing hardware (or learn it yourself)". But yeah, I've wondered this myself on those occasions when I came up with an idea that involved some kind of hardware device.
It will (hopefully) turn out that way but right now you're being a bit selective in your consideration of the STEM contributions.
I identify with Rule #2.

I often "lose" days making code look just a little better, after making it do what it needs to do.
I think "no one" is a bit strong there. The article cites one company who walked away from a profitable $1B deal for a dressed up version of "but this is lame"
FYI, medicine has a very bad expected value for time input. MBA and engineering are decent -- not great, but OK. The probability of making decent money is pretty good, while the probability of making a lot of money is small.

If you're smart (and I mean really smart), finance is generally a good bet. Once again, adjusted for time input it's not great but it does have a higher expected value.
Besides, unless you're rewriting literally all of your tests, the ones that you don't change help make sure that your other code isn't broken by your new abstraction layer.
Looks like the nytimes got scooped by the onion on this one... almost a decade ago

http://www.theonion.com/articles/national-science-foundation...
> haven't felt this strongly about shorting a stock long-term in a long time. But I don't know how long the short-term irrational exuberance is going to last - will it wipe out my investment before the stock crashes down?

I'd be more worried about the borrowing costs killing you.

Small float, check
Hedgies got their pop and exit, check
Lots of short interest, check

it's going to cost you dearly to short.
Empower Network Rocks Our World
My first iPhone & iPod touch app - feedback appreciated.
I think "idiot" is a little harsh. You can definitely be too earnest in writing unit tests, but I think there are places in almost any program that would benefit from them. For example, in a GUI app chances are you have some sort of model of the data; tests could help ensure that the model is well behaved. This way, if you have an odd GUI glitch you can be confident it's actually in the GUI code rather than in the data underlying the interface.
The irony of seeing this link on HN nearly killed me.
I think 3k is reasonable for some of them given the quality of their work. However I don't need an amazing visual design, just something "good enough". I'm having trouble finding that middle ground.

Thanks for the offer to discuss, I'll email you shortly.
the first euler's identity tattoo looks terrifying. is it a tattoo, or some kind of scarification?
> Give them the problem the patent purports to address.

Recognising the problem is often the innovation.

As Henry Ford said, "If I'd asked customers, they'd have said that they wanted a faster horse."
"How much money do you think an IE6 user has? the browser is like a decade old. It's why we target iPhone and not Android in the mobile world. ( because iPhone users out spend android users. )"

So your solution to the IE6 problem is to ignore it and to repeat the same mistake again for developers to have to deal with again in the future?

We have the IE6 problem because that's where the money was back in it's day. It was the winner of the browser war, and thus became the interface to the substantial source of profit. Very much like your perception of the iPhone.

What you need to consider is not just what's profitable right now, but what will be profitable tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, and next decade. IE6 won the browser war; the iPhone browser is nowhere near that dominant in the mobile world.
I'm surprised you see the issue in such black and white terms. Certainly some of Mr Assange's comments might lead some to suspect he sees conspiracy where there is none [1] and that his judgement is not impeccable. Wikileaks and Assange have also turned on their partners, notably the Guardian, when circumstances have suited them [2] and their concerns for the safety of those mentioned in their releases have not always appeared sincere [3].

I'm not saying that these pieces of evidence point towards Mr Assange being guilty, evil or anything else, but they do suggest he's human and fallible, and perhaps not 100% pure in his intentions. I don't mean this as a criticism of him, but it does make me question any entirely polarised assertion about the man.

I've not been able to spot anything untoward in the way the UK courts have treated Assange, and I can't help but feel that if the charges are 'clearly false' they can be demonstrated as such in Sweden - a country that Mr Assange himself has in the past admired [4], but now seeks to label as the 'Saudi Arabia of feminism' [5]. Clearly going through such a procedure must be harrowing for all involved, and I'm not dismissing the stress lightly, but accusations of criminality being investigated is a key principle of society and in the Swedish legal system formal charges occur after extradition and questioning. This seems reasonable.

If Wikileaks' cause was noble it does not mean that Assange is automatically innocent, or that any investigation of him is a conspiracy.

[1]: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/mar/01/julian-assange-j...
[2]: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/09/wikileaks-un...
[3]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14765837
[4]: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/02/assange-...
[5]: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2011/02/why-is-julia...
It may not be conscious for you, but until you are dividing things between "your country" and "someone else's", I will consider your statements xenophobic. We are both in agreement about honoring one social contract, the main difference is that you don't think that others should have any choice of which contract to establish in the first place.

Also, it strikes me as odd for you to defend all the progress made by your ancestors in bringing freedom to people, but not realizing that there is more that could be done. My "complaining and throwing names" about immigration law today would be equivalent to your ancestors complaining about them being exploited by some feudal lord.

More importantly, you don't realize that isolating people based on their country of origin (instead of their potential to contribute to society) is the opposite of progress.

You may think that Britain is one of the most progressive countries, but oddly it has been surpassed in many indicators of quality of life by Canada and Australia. These countries have far saner immigration policies. What's stopping your generation to try to bring this level of progress to Britain? The unwritten contract of "pay it forward" also applies to you, doesn't it?

I'm sorry if you feel offended by any of what I said, I just wish there was a way to disabuse the notion that "country of birth" is some valid parameter to assess an individual. It could have been true a couple of generations ago, but the world of today can (and should) get away from these physical barriers.

P.S: I just realized my bad wording on the original comment. I'm not in the US as an undocumented immigrant. I wanted to say that even being in the US with a H1B visa, I still will not get access to what I paid to Social Security.
"I was trying to memorize equations, and engineering’s all about the application, which they really didn’t teach too well" - Matthew Moniz from the article

He's absolutely right, and no first year design project is going to fix this if the rest of the degree is structured the same as before. I think the bigger problem is simply that university is the wrong way to teach engineering.

I graduated 10 years ago with an EE degree (power systems major) and have worked in the field since, so I'm going to pick on EE here. During my degree, I was mainly taught theoretical models of electrical systems, interspersed with contrived lab experiments.

Very few 18 year old kids are going to appreciate the standard equivalent circuit of a transformer or a synchronous machine, less so more abstract things like Fortescue's symmetrical components. Because no kid has ever had much of a chance to look at power transformers or machines in service. Sure, they've seen power lines, but how many have seriously looked closely at them? Or maybe even asked themselves why there are strange, ceramic looking things connected to them?

So the first time I saw a real synchronous machine was in a lab. But looking back, it was really a contrived situation, with everything looking like it came out of a Bob the Builder toy set, alligator clips and all. You would never see a machine hooked up like that in real life... but only work experience has taught me that.

When I graduated, I was clueless. And in the intervening years since, I came across countless graduates just as clueless as I was. It's almost surely a systemic problem. I only met one graduate who really had a clue, and it turned out that he was a qualified electrician before he did his degree.

Which brings me back to my point - IMHO the pure university system is the wrong approach to train engineers. Their premise is that you learn the theory first, then apply it in context after you graduate (with some lame attempts at "practical" teaching in between). This works for some, but I'd wager that for most, it's a waste of time and you'll end up having to learn it all twice.

I would prefer to see a hybrid apprenticeship - university system, similar to the way you train tradespeople, but with more coursework components. The work is aligned with the study (or at least the student-apprentice gets exposure to real environments) and modules don't necessarily have to be done in a set order. It could potentially even be set up on a competency basis (like Western Governors University).

I don't know if this scheme would work, but I sure know that universities conceived for training academic researchers do not do such a good job of training practicing engineers.
>> the disclosure part of the agreement is not satisfied

Again, a software patent is not about the software. It is about that technical description of the concept. That concept is what carries the invention (while the software itself carries a copyright). Written language is indeed full of ambiguity and uncertainty but the language of patent claims is not (some separate comments in this thread talk about this). When deemed necessary, source code is included in a patent application. Flow-charts are also often included. But all of that is out -- the core part of a patent are the claims, written in a well-defined unambiguous language that defines the concept of invention as clearly as possible and it does not need diagrams and source code.

Edit: Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.
Both Dapper and Tracelytics borrow ideas from the X-Trace project, which has a bit of source available, though not much.

http://x-trace.net/wiki/doku.php
Syrian Blogger Kidnapped by Govt: This Week in Online Tyranny
Vim's :lcd command
The way they're using the gravitational lensing here blows my mind. From what I understand they're using a distant galaxy as a part of the telescope itself to resolve objects behind it. Insane.

Surely this constitues the largest scientific instrument ever?
Flashcards Deluxe by OrangeorApple is a great one, not only because of its great use of SRS and fantastic interface, but also because it has the massive and active Quizlet library behind it: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flashcards-deluxe/id307840670...

I've used it to great success in a few classes in the last year. You really have to be dedicated in the first few weeks though, and not skip a day in your SRS routine. That first bit of grind really pays off down the line though, as you have to spend less and less time studying from then on. Skip though, and it'll come back to bite you.
Who decides what's "useless," and on what timescale? Even within the STEM fields, should studying or researching string theory be subsidized? What about atomic physics? Astronomy? Pure math?
I can't help but agree. I went through a pretty grueling 4-year engineering program and felt very much the same. The only times I've actually enjoyed the experience was in project-based courses where I can actually go out and build.

The rest of engineering is just an endless series of lectures, tutorials, and labs, with little relation to reality. Even when the applicability is obvious, the crushing courseload of your typical engineering program means you can put little of it to real use.

In the end I decided my "education" was more important than "school", so I actively sought to minimize the impact of some courses (read: I skipped a lot of classes) so I can give myself time to, well, build things. And thank heavens for that - I could've ended up being just another clueless engineering grad. Head full of theories and zero experience applying any of it.

Funnily enough, generally speaking, the people who aced their way through an engineering program were also the ones that spent the least time building things, and at the end of the day are the last people I want working on my team. There are exceptions of course - insanely smart, superhuman people who were able to ace the courses and find time to apply it, but they are exceedingly rare. Whenever a company throws up some high "minimum GPA to be considered" on a job posting I have to chuckle. They are probably filtering out the best candidates.
My undergrad in EE is from Rose-Hulman where we spend most of our time focused on applying things to the real world. Every year except freshman, we worked on real projects from local companies, alumni, etc, etc. As a junior, I was assigned to a senior ME project because they needed some understanding from our area. I wasn't the only one drafted either. That term we spec'd out a new workflow for CDs returned to Columbia House (their main facility was in town).

I had a prof (that looked like Santa Claus) and told us point blank that the half life of our studies was about 3 years and that his goal wasn't to focus on the facts but to make sure that we learned how to learn.
How To Avoid Being Broke and Stupid -Jim Rohn
Como Exitar Una Mujer: 3 trucos F�ciles Para Exitar Una Chica
How do you attach them without damage? Glue/Caulk?
If the offered number of shares are that low, maybe supply and demand mechanics are in play and that might result scarcity in the market and drive the price upward further in the coming days or even weeks. If they did offer that much less intentionally may be they will be able to sell other shares with higher prices slowly. What do you think, does this scenario make sense?
The video does not explain why the product is great, and jumps straight into feature details. I think the video also assumes familiarity with the desktop product, which I don't have. I lost interest quickly.
As a proud owner of a physics masters degree, I say that this is a load of elitist, prejudiced, confused nonsense.

> This, of course, will never happen. But it's nice to think about.
I strongly disagree. It's horrible.

Mathematics isn't the only 'hard' subject. What is hard to one person may be easy to another. I'm absolutely sure that you haven't even tried Semiotics or Gender Studies, and I'm also sure that the skills needed to study in those fields wouldn't come as naturally to you as mathematics does.

Also, just because you don't see the relevance in those fields, it doesn't mean that there is no relevance. Gender Studies, for example, has a place in sociology, psychology, politics.

And of course, wealth is not the ultimate objective of everyone. My peers who wanted to persue a scientific career certainly aren't loaded. In fact, those with art degrees made more contacts at university and many have managed to land well paid jobs.
Who knows if the 'insurance' file actually has any content or if it is just /dev/random to try to guarantee that they wouldn't be assassinated.
Speaking as a contractor, I have a bias/tendency to eventually "fire" any client that takes too long or is too sketchy about paying me. Too much risk on my part. I work, I get paid. With all bullshit set aside, it should only take on OOM of about 1 minute to write a check, put in envelope, put stamp on it, and put in outbound mailbox. Anything longer than that is self-imposed bureaucracy, not physics.
I have a stock Late 2010 (C2D, GeForce 320M which supports OpenCL, unlike Sandy Bridge) Air 13" and it's awesome.

The thing is, 13" Air and 15" Pro are both 1440*900 so don't worry about screen size.