skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
There a few traps in the question, leading to different refutation or explanation.

The first is the ambiguous definition of surprise. This lead to easy explanation of the paradox. The teacher might as well hand out an exam on a red piece or paper and claim that that is a surprise.

The second is that the teacher invalidly presumes to be able to predict the mental state of his students. This can be stated simply: over the weekend, all his students die unexpectedly. The following week, none of his student are surprised since the set of surprised students is empty.

We can work around those two flaw by ignoring the no-student case and assuming that "surprised" is replaced by a more exact formulation: "on the day the exam occurs, nobody would be able to say ``I knew the exam was today''".

In this formulation, I contend that nothing can be concluded.

The reason for this is that induction can only be applied on facts. The future is not a fact, so to apply induction on a sequence of future events is an error. The only conclusion that one can reach is the contrafactual: if we were Friday then the exam cannot occur on Friday. This is because the reasoning does not rely on any inductive argument but rely only on things that would be facts inside the contrafactual: if we were on Friday now, it would be false that the exam cannot be held on that day and that nobody could say that the exam is to be held that day.

A contrafactual of this nature cannot be built for Thursday, since in that contrafactual ("if we were Thursday...") one would have to reason by induction about teh future. Of course, in the Thursday-contrafactual, one could state the Friday-contrafactual, but you can't build inudction on contrafactual (i.e. non-fact).
Think Like a VC
you're an early stage startup. you're not selling to the general public yet.

you're selling directly to people you find who have the problem that you're solving.

it's exactly that mentality of getting way ahead of yourself before you've even validated and honed your value proposition that I take issue with.

fuck the general public. go solve a real problem for 10 people - it's 1000x more difficult than creating something that looks and feels awesome.
Inspiration For The Day
I came across this website today, and this is hands down one of the most inspiring stories I've ever heard. Worth spending 5 minutes to read it.
Google (and Youtube, which they own) obviously have a vested interest in seeing SOPA fail. I think it was important for him to note that he's not a representative of their corporate interests. In his own expert opinion, SOPA is a bad idea.
The book title is a pun. The implications and sexual connotations are purely a fabrication of your imagination. Don't project your hangups onto other people.

EDIT The meaning of the word "obscenity" is quite clear, just saying something is obscene does not make it so. If you are asserting there was obscene content you should support your assertion and say what the obscenity was.
Builders and Syncing and Artists Oh My
I do not support violence, but you raise an interesting point in your explanation.

So, allow me to offer a condensed set of your listed problems there, and please correct me if I miss/misrepresent something:

1. No mechanism for holding politicians accountable exists.
2. In the event where a politician is found accountable, no meaningful mechanism for punishment exists.
Galaxy Nexus proves Android is just not quite good enough
That doesn't make any sense. Javascript libs are just as blocking as any python or ruby lib.

"no big existing libraries of blocking code" (for js) just translates to "no big existing libraries", period.

It's not like javascript has any special support for non blocking code --or that any code that does anything useful and specific (ie. not just handling out work to be done and callback/returned but actually doing the work) can ever be non blocking.
You went to the hospital because you died?
Hackers hate it, but there are more programmers than "hackers". Think about middle aged family men, career men. They aren't all going to care as strongly or be able to quit.

Also even if you could convince all american talent to boycott it, there's a whole world of people out there who don't care at all, and just like America has been happy to sell censorship tech to the rest of the world for years, I'm sure the rest of the world would be happy to repay :)
I don't think Indian or Russian programmers are going to give a toss about it if it pays bills.

Ha or you could just buy back equipment already sent to Chian and Iran.

Which sort of raises the point that American talent has already built this equipment and been selling it for years now. It is way past too late for this boycott to work.
I find it doubtful that General Dynamics or some other massive government contractor will get a contract for $x million, look at it for a minute, and turn it down because of the ethical ramifications. Not only is that not a factor, but it would mean giving business to a competing government contractor. Everything about this would be against the contractor's shareholders, so it won't happen.

Unfortunately, someone, somewhere, will be happy to take money to build it.
On Error Handling and Closures [PHP]
I think before any fixing takes place.. a lot of people still need to be convinced that something is broken.

Identify and visualize the "broken wheels". And no vagueness either: Name names, quote figures and compare track records to campaign platforms then get that information out there in clever, "viral" ways. Large, detailed infographics might seem popular with us nerds but general population needs very specific, dramatic examples of just how fucked up things are.
Unique Metrics for Measuring Your Startup
"You're Fired"

that one is pretty famous
1. Check to see if the trademark is even taken. If not, register it. It'll cost you about $325 (assuming you file online and this is in the US) for at least one class (but that's all you need for now. If it is already taken, change your company name). It's not going to end well if you keep the name and the trademark exists.

2. Assuming its not trademarked, I can't say whether or not you believe the .com is worth the price or not, whether you'll even succeed or not, but I have enough proof from my own set of domains that the lost traffic to a .com can be staggering if you grow. Personally, I would try to get the .com if you have the money to spend (or wait). That said, keep negotiating on price.

All told, you guys should be more concerned with whether you can get traction and if the idea even works. If not, it might be a waste of time and money.
Even Groupon, the King of Conversions, Battles Clutter
Sure ! Coding without good engineering and system design skills is learnable and reachable. But i can't see them not together in the context : build and launch a new web product.

Also there are 2 factors that make a good coder :
-Commitment to the practice
-Ease to understand & do complex stuffs fast.

The lack of the second factor have a big negative impact on the first. Those who can play on both are way more capable than those who only have commitment.

But the conclusion of the post is all about that : you have AT LEAST to commit to the practice to work in that industry. I know basic things for example : HTML/CSS, basic PHP, even have done some RoR tutos... but that doesn't help me build all that things that i have in my mind.
<lil jon>Hwhaat??</lil jon>
Some youtube comments look like people pointlessly post their stream of consciousness to the text box below the video. A lot of search engine queries look like people are just addressing the text box as if it were a person; just like Apple is getting people to think of Siri as a personal assistant. Some day we'll have good enough AI that this will be a viable interaction method (though not nearly optimal without some learning on both ends).
"What are Go's ancestors?

Go is mostly in the C family (basic syntax), with significant input from the Pascal/Modula/Oberon family (declarations, packages), plus some ideas from languages inspired by Tony Hoare's CSP, such as Newsqueak and Limbo (concurrency). However, it is a new language across the board. In every respect the language was designed by thinking about what programmers do and how to make programming, at least the kind of programming we do, more effective, which means more fun. "
source: http://golang.org/doc/go_faq.html
Facebook has a new suicidal behavior reporting tool
I honestly don't think the law would distinguish between the two. Maybe implementation would be more difficult across two infrastructures; however, in the eyes of representative X and Senator Y, communication from one electronic device to another is the internet.
Samsung took a really long time to update Galaxy S to Android 2.3

To make matters worse, not all countries / mobile operators benefited from the update at the same time. The update for my mobile carrier was released on Sep 26th - less than 2 months ago.

So after almost a year (since December 2010) waiting to get the update - I finally tried upgrading. It doesn't work. I probably have another version than the mobile carrier's norm (it was on sale, maybe that's why). Now I have to go through their service department and yell at them. And they'll probably pass the blame (mobile carrier blaming Samsung, Samsung blaming the mobile carrier).

So if Samsung does update the S line, then maybe they'll surprise me for next year's Christmas.
First off, thanks for writing something like this in the first place. I do believe that overall it is a helpful addition to the vast collection of instructional material that is available online.

Regarding the tone of the text, it's not the word hell specifically - it's the overall tone, which is echoed elsewhere. You could've said "Shut your yap..." and that would have been just as bad. Why are you browbeating or scolding your readers as though they are misbehaved children? Telling someone to shut it is condescending, dismissive, offensive, and simply rude.

It's like you're trying to help me, but you've been pushed into it and are now pissed off. And god damnit we're going to get through this one way or the other and if you have to beat me into submission and force my hand then that's what you'll do.

It's just a personal opinion. I find it makes the experience less pleasant with that kind of writing.
Different Ways on How to Get Free Facebook Credits
Different Ways on How to Get Free Facebook Credits
A Brief History of the 'Gay Gene'
Why you should sell your iPhone 4 and buy a Galaxy Nexus
Maybe a general strike would work better. Everyone should just stop writing code for their employers on Monday.

EDIT:

I made a submission about this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3361689

text

'''
The world depends on software. We, the world's programmers, write the software. SOPA threatens many things we believe in and care about. Letter writing and traditional means have not worked to stop SOPA. The only alternative is direct action.

In the 1960's direction was sitting on buses and swimming in pools. During the industrial revolution it was strikes in front of factories and rail roads. Occupying may get a lot of news coverage but protesters can be removed by force. No one can make us write code. If we stop, no one can do it for us.

I call for a General Programmer strike. We should set a day.
'''
Fiscal Q1 2012: Apple's biggest earnings blowout in history
Yes, they could make a groundbreaking phone, but to make it profitable would require a miracle.

BlackBerry OS can't compete with IOS or Android, it's too specialized and too crappy.

I think their only way to save themselves is to fire 85% of the executives, which will never happen. They are in charge, and they are getting paid extremely well, while driving company into the ground. They are just trying to squeeze as much money as possible from the dying company, that's why their CEO makes these ridiculous statements.
Poetic, but trust me it wouldn't work. All it would do is push 90% of the country to back the government more. The average Joe already fears the amount of control computers systems have over his life. Both parties would play that fear like a piano.

It's one thing to strike when you are the "poor downtrodden factory worker", it's entirely another thing when you are a bunch of "rich white collar smarties trying to control the world".
Ask HN: Share hosting/domain account for friend's website?
I'm making a basic website for my friend's company, but I have a few questions.

Should I use Wordpress, Tumblr or other easy template website? All he needs is a nice professional theme and some basic pages (Home, About, Services, Testimonials, Contact), possibly a blog.

Also, should I use my hosting account and my domain registration account or keep everything completely separate? Am I required to put myself on as the admin of the domain?
You need to surround yourself with the sort of people whom you want to emulate. And no matter where you are, there's sure to be a community of programmers who are interested in getting together and talking about their trade.

Colleges are obvious hotspots for this sort of activity, but also consider approaching some local tech companies for possible internships (even if they aren't looking for any). Seek out people online and get in touch with them. Most of them are quite friendly and will usually be happy to help any way they can.

Lastly, get involved in some open source projects. Sometimes, finding a smaller project with fewer contributors will give you the opportunity to build a relationship with them. Generally, contributing to open source projects will give you easy, real-world experience without any of the overhead/commitment of having a job or internship.

If you're interested in moving to South Florida, I know a few internship opportunities that I could point you toward as well that would be right up your alley!
It's good that they acknowledge politics, but I'd still be very worried.

The U.S. is more lax than Europe or the South American countries I know in that regard - Uber or AirBnB would have been shut down as soon as they showed up on politicians' and unions' radars.

Software for taxi dispatch works reasonably well, here in Uruguay the main taxi fleet has GPS and a maximum of 3 minutes for showing up.
> They want the lowest price that they can comfortably take their 30% profit from.

I don't think this is an accurate characterization. Apple [apparently; I have no inside view of their pricing policies] is happy to sell a 99 cent song, and is perfectly happy to feature free e-books. What they did NOT want is to sell a book for $9.99 while paying the publisher $12.50.

Of course, a free e-Book is also effectively sold below cost by Apple, but that's as far as their flexibility goes.
This really happened to me in the last month. I was contracted with a company that has a contract to build a company for a bigger client with customers.

PM: We need you to fix a bug. One of our client's customers couldn't complete the form.
Me: What error did they get?
PM: I don't know, but it's very important we fix this.
Me: Do we have steps to reproduce it?
PM: No, can't you just fix it?
Me: Did they retry the submission process?
PM: I don't know.
Me: Does it happen often?
PM: Just this one customer as far as we know.
Me: Well, do we at least know when it happened so I can find it in the logs?
PM: Sometime last week. Look, this is really important to the client, can you just make this top priority? We want it fixed ASAP.

The "bug" has not been fixed because the devs still don't even know what the error is. We had another high-priority bug shortly before this because the client didn't understand that something wasn't allowed according to the access rules in the spec they (theoretically) helped write.
Very smart people have built nuclear bombs, nerve gas bombs, and weapons of plague.

People with the same ethics will be hired to build censorship and be happy to take home the paycheck.
I wrote the pixel tracker for a big corporation, which tracks a ton of hits for many top sites.

1) Using Math.random() to generate a UUID, is not a UUID. There are plenty of JS uuid generators out there. Please use one.
2) Why are you returning a header with what is being tracked?
3) Please please please use coffeescript.
It's based on IronPython/IronRuby/DLR. I've been to a few PyCons and the CPython-based developers never seemed all that interested in it due to library support, and the majority of work happening on UNIX platforms. At the same time .NET developers didn't know what to do with this great set of tools.
If you aren't already depressed enough following these SOPA hearings, check out this interview with Mr. King:

http://www.rightsidenews.com/2010120612252/us/politics-and-e...

Choice bit:

RSN: Cliff Kincaid recently had a National Press Club conference where he called for resurrection of the Congressional internal security committees along the lines of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Would you support recreation of such committees?

King: I would. Something similar. If we called it the House Un-American Activities Committee, that would be lighting up the history of McCarthy in a way that wouldn't be necessary, although I am often quoted as saying "McCarthy was a hero for America." He was. He was right far more times than he was wrong. It is a historical fact. But I would submit a different committee name so that we don't have to deal with the history, and move forward. I think that is a good process and I would support it.

My inner cynic isn't surprised by this, but that little hopeful light that typically keeps the cynic in check is flickering out.

(Nota bene: Under SOPA, RSN could take down Hacker News for this comment, no?)
Nothing in these languages prevents them from being event-based or non-blocking. All these languages have perfectly fine callback architectures. Javascript wasn't magically designed to be event-based, its just that the DOM APIs (which have nothing to do with JavaScript) were written in an event-based way because it really couldn't have been done in any other way.

Similarly, if you were to put Python or Ruby in the browser you would necessarily need them to have some sort of DOM APIs (or there wouldn't be very much they could do in the browser). Those DOM APIs would once again be written in an event-based way.

The "big existing libraries of blocking code" would be inconsequential since they would for the most part have nothing to do with the kinds of things you are doing on the web. Who cares if theres some file reading code in Ruby that is blocking? You don't read files in browsers. Think of the opposite proposal: if I went and implemented these same libraries in the same blocking fashion in JavaScript, it wouldn't all of a sudden become a worse language for the browser.
Actually I went to the Documentation and clicked the link there, which actually takes you to the github source. Completely my bad, having a license header is not abnormal. I jumped the gun because the Open Web Apps shim wasn't minified for quite a while.
When I was debating whether or not to keep or return my Galaxy S (the most recent Android phone I owned), the crux of my concern was whether or not I had faith that Samsung/Google/T-Mobile was going to fix the laundry list of problems I was having, and if so, how long it would take.

I ended up deciding to return the phone, because I didn't actually believe that it would be upgraded in a timely fashion, and it was sort of my breaking point. I felt like an idiot for buying something that was a POS on the promise that eventually it would be fixed and would be great.

Over the years, I've amassed piles of kit that at the time I bought them weren't very good, but would be made "better" over time (drawer full of Maemo tablets; I'm looking squarely at you).

I've had to become more cut-throat now. I don't buy something unless it actually works and does what I want it to at the time I buy it.

If the thought of your Android phone (or any device) never being updated (or not being updated quickly) makes you not want to buy it, then don't buy it. I know it's made difficult by the fact that presently there's an arms race in mobile phones, and things are still getting better frequently; but I really think you'll be avoiding frustration if you just base your decisions around what the device does here and now.

Odds are; they aren't going to stop drinking, or get in shape, or resolve their childhood issues, or become a dog person. If you don't love them as they are, you're just setting yourself up for disappointment.
Have you tried going to tech events in your neighbourhood (http://www.meetup.com/) to find a mentor? This has worked very well for me.

I'm not a developer so I don't think I would be a good mentor for you. However, if you ever want someone to bounce business/marketing stuff off, I'm always happy to help.
@daniellicht
A lot of places rent out physical hardware, meaning you won't have to buy it. It might take more time if you have specific needs, but some providers can deploy hardware in minutes.
I know of a few opportunities here. I'll shoot you a quick email.
"Rep. Lamar Smith, a SOPA-loving Texas Republican who's the chairman of the committee"

Didn't Lamar Smith write SOPA? And he's the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee overhearing this debate? How is this ok?
How many of you would keep an employee who did this during an engineering meeting?

My issue would be that they couldn't be polite to their colleagues, not that their being bored by someone speaking means they're doing a bad job.

In this case, the politicians aren't supposed to love each other, they're from different parties. Yes, you want them to be able to work together, but saying that one person is boring you doesn't mean you aren't able to do your job and make the decisions you're there to make.
You're misinformed - electrocution does not imply death
Jingle Tweets - A Social Festive Guide
SOPA would have a much harder time to pass if we had some kind of Constitutional Amendment or at least some strong Human Rights regarding the Internet. Because right now it seems that when something important to the infrastructure of the Internet clashes with the ability to enforce copyright, they say that the copyright side should win. This is possible because there aren't that many defenses set-up for the Internet itself besides the 1st Amendment.
I've been a longtime Eclipse / Vim (when I'm ssh'ing) user. However, my Vim usage was really press i and then use arrow keys all over the place. I was even that guy that pressed i, arrowed to the right to the end of the part that I wanted to delete, and then pressed the delete key on my shortened Mac keyboard (that really behaves like a backspace) roughly doubling the keystrokes every time. When I switched jobs a month or so ago, I made it my goal to learn to use Vim the right way. All I can say is that it took me a much shorter time than expected, and the gains are greater than I could have anticipated.
Shameless plug:
I recently beta launched http://exquisitejobs.com/ a job board where all jobs are hand picked, and only the best hackers/freelancers/applicants get in (invite only) to ensure the highest quality for all parties involved.

Corresponding HN discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3244078

If you're interested, feel free to email me (in profile) I could probably offer you some early bird discounts or something.
Maybe, but it's a little silly that they can't take a second to listen to what you said.