skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I happen to be one of those. After I left my manager left to a different team, and my most senior member got promoted. He actually offered to try and get my job back at a 30% salary increase because I was too damn useful to get laid off (with a hefty severence). Fortunately for me I had another job and I actually wanted to stay at that one (I liked the old job quite a bit, but I didn't trust the company enough to even consider going back).

I ended up with a large bonus and a shiny new job with a higher pay. So I ended up on top :). Its skill and mainly lots of luck. So polish your luck skills! How? I duno but damnit you need to do it!

In any case, to upper management you are a number, to the people who know you, if you are good then your value is known, but to upper management you are a title and a salary. Unless the CEO knows you by name management does not know about how great you are, what you did, and how much they are going to miss you.

Unfortunately not all companies have you, your manager, his manager, and the CEO. At some point its you, your manager, his manager, his manager's manager, (go 4 more levels up), CEO. And after his manager's manager nobody will know you, about you, or anything good/bad you did.

This is especially true when you have a team of ALL excellent developers (I was fortunate) and they have to lay a few off.
NASA delays next Mars mission by two years.
I assume you're using "Western" to mean something very racist and vile, like "analyzing the data rationally and coming to the most sensible conclusion." You are unfairly assuming that only Europeans can look at the correlation between IQ and income, or IQ and crime, or whatever.

You assume wrong. I did not make the assertions or assumptions you assume.

How is "Western" racist? People of all races (except for, perhaps, those of certain indigenous peoples) make up the West and hold Western opinions. And since when were all Western people "European"?

It's disturbing that HN has gotten to the point where people are unfairly assumed to be making "racist and vile" statements with nothing to back it up. Shame on you.
Work out??? Oh no no no no no. If you get hired because you look good, either you are incompetent (work out and do it man) or you should not take the job. ALL jobs I interviewed for dug deep within my brain to get a taste of my problem solving skills and knowledge of programming. Good people skills help, if you can get along with the interviewers (a few laughs to ease the tension) then you have a better shot than someone else, but that's where it ends.

If it is a choice between a weak candidate who looks good, is fun, and has a ton of linked in buddies, or a strong candidate who is worse at all of the above, I doubt the pretty face is going to get the job.
Better idea might be to just fire all the koolaid drinking college professors.
Ask HN: Translating your website?
We'd like to translate our English language website into Spanish.

Anyone been through translation process for their site and can give some pointers where to start?

Low cost pls, bootstrapped startup here..thanks!
Anyone who doesn't take credit cards is "nuts". This is total nonsense.
That is true. May be the govt should print notes for minor denominations too. They are the government they can legally launch a new currency note, can't they ?

The govt seems to be losing a lot more money with the shortage, like people forced to give free rides on subway.
Is money spent online really one category? Why should money spent at malls increase?
Wow. Talk about a faulty premise.

So google floods the pipes cheaply with the stuff that everyone wants but we all have to pay extortion prices to local monopolies to crack the little valves at our houses and eek out the barest minimum to get it...and this makes google the villain in this situation how exactly?
AT&T to cut 12,000 jobs due to economic downturn
Is this the level right before JavaScript Martyr?
Hey, we faced the same for our site.. imho:

1. Show the features, so people have some anticipation of what they get if they register / upgrade. Suggest you mark them differently graphically so people get an idea that this is "pro" or "vip" only.

2. Haha..we agonized over this for a full 5 mins! We settled for "Sign up" and "Log in", not "Sign in"

3. We let them login directly on home page - for your returning visitors its a massive saving every time. Your users will thank you

4. no idea :)
It's all about Heroes, Warriors, et al now.

Wanted: Wizard, Level 14 or better with INT 18, WIS 16+. Please submit current character sheet including THAC0 and base armor class.
A mathematical coloring book
perhaps you've heard that two wrongs don't make a right?

if a company screws you over, you don't try to screw them back. that makes you just as bad as they are. the right thing to do is walk away, think about the warning signs that were almost certainly there from day one, and don't get into a situation like that again.
I agree with Paul's point, but it seems like the flip side of the equation is that most startups these days don't have the kind of big exits that internet giants like Amazon, Ebay, Yahoo and Google had (or even the mass market penetration that MySpace and Facebook have gotten for that matter). If a these new startups truly had the potential to capture huge markets, they would need the funding, because 3 guys in an apartment simply can't go after a $5bil opportunity. I think the phenomenon Paul describes is the result of 2 trends, not just one: 1) it's cheaper to start companies and 2) most startups are going after small markets (or whatever is left from big markets that bigger companies have already captured).
If your website is better suited with real usernames (eg - not a entertainment virtual world or game etc) then suggest go solely with Facebook Connect.

It will simplify development for you and make it clean for your new and existing users.

If Facebook changes the policy, you can always adapt at that time (as will lots and lots of other people). Better spend coding cycles on user features not planning for unknown future permutations?
I think pg's right in regards to web startups. The only role I see for VC is in scaling sales and marketing. If you get your business to a point where you can spend $10 million on sales and marketing and turn it into $30 million, then taking VC makes a lot of sense. It gives you a lot of extra leverage.

I do hope VC thrives in other sectors - clean energy, hardware, automobiles, biotech - etc. If Kleiners-Perkins can make money off its CleanTech investments, the world will be a vastly better place.
Biotech, greentech and embedded systems are a few areas that look poised to keep growing and need a more significant amount of capitalization to get off of the ground.
not having to write getter and setter methods seems like a really big deal. I hate doing that passionately.

I'm surprised he didn't mention having a GC. Does the iPhone not have a GC? I hate doing memory management.
I'm sorry my sarcasm was not more apparent. My point was that raising IQ would do a lot of good for those people -- more than reducing their pain, in the long term. High IQ groups tend to create stable states and nice places to live, and they're also responsible for a lot of technological advancement.

My sub-point was that often the same people uncomfortable with this kind of talk are down on Western culture in particular.
I've not really been able to absorb much detail yet... but this seems like an excellent resource. Great find.
So someone explain Canada to me, where they got rid of $1 and $2 bills, and visitors regularly complain about how they end up with pockets full of those coins.
No GC on the iPhone, but it does have all the other features.
I like your site; it's a good idea.

imho though I think you still need to use another css template. Other than that it seems useful to me
Until reading that article I thought this experiment was doomed to fail but it does have some potential. I hate signing up for new sites and it is cool to see friends' activities (if they choose to share them). My only concern would be sending my login information using plain text through these third party sites. It appears that Facebook uses https for login but its the strength of the weakest link that matters, and in this case if my credentials are passed via plain text to an outside site and then routed to Facebook that is no good.

Of course I have not tried it out yet so maybe they route you to a (secure) fb page to login, which is perfect.
Crockford on Morse Code
Douglas Crockford's sense of humor is an intensely serious matter.
My point was that raising IQ would do a lot of good for those people -- more than reducing their pain, in the long term.

Would you argue, then, that instead of sending food and medical aid to poor countries, we should send teachers?

I'm not buying your argument. Raised IQ does correlate with improved quality of life but the poorest people in the world have more serious problems we could be helping with first such as actually staying alive.

And accusing someone of holding racist and vile views is sarcasm - the lowest form of wit? I wish I could call that a good defense.
Just an opportunity for someone else I guess... I'm willing to bet niche adult social networking sites are capable of generating good revenue.
IPhone Application Marketing: What Every Developer Needs to Know
There's been a highish profile attempt in a town called Lewes in the UK: http://thelewespound.org/

The problem is that the currency has become a collectable item, so people have been buying the currency (even on eBay) and just holding on to it as a memento.
Would you argue, then, that instead of sending food and medical aid to poor countries, we should send teachers?

Teachers do not raise IQ. Proper nutrition does.

And accusing someone of holding racist and vile views is sarcasm - the lowest form of wit?

Okay, read through the comment I made. I am sorry this is unclear, but I am being very sarcastic. I know you are saying that it is Western to want to raise IQ rather than reduce pain; I am saying that this is, in fact the right thing to do and thus that you are using "Western" to mean "logical and sensible" -- and then I say what I'm guessing you would say to someone who said "His views are very Western -- that is, logical, and sensible, and not driven by emotion or ignorance." That is the joke: that you accidentally said something nice about Western culture, and that had someone else said that to you and meant it, you would likely have been annoyed.

I am sorry about that. Frog dissection, etc.
Not bad points to take on board, but they're generic, and suited to product marketing in general - not specific to iPhone application marketing, alas.
Would be possible to build a google/facebook/linked-in all the way to profit without significant cash up front?

Any business relying on network effects is going to need upfront cash. Since these types of business tend to become the fund-making "homeruns", I think VCs will stick around, doing what they are best at - chasing the big hit.
People love high numbers. They don't want to hear that they buy cable but their packets get the same priority as anyone else. They will sue saying "You promised me 1mbps I can't reach that".

Remember how time warner doubled or more their up/down speeds, but put major caps in place making users cap out their monthly quota in a matter of hours if downloading at the given rates?

Prioritize by pay. If I pay more, my packets are of higher priority than someone else's but as long as noone starves the internet will be fine. If the server is 50% free, and I have enough bandwidth to use the other 50%, why not? HOWEVER if someone needs it, they will bump down my usage.

What I never understood is why people like computers to be IDLE? We have a server that runs at 50% capacity, we want 50% capacity free just in case... No, we want a system where every bit of capacity is used, just tasks that are low priority get bumped down when resources are needed. It makes no sense, we are not dealing with water buckets where filling it prevents more water from going in. HOWEVER upper management likes to see the fact that they are always "safe" even if safe is stupid, expensive, pointless, and not safe.
Soon it will be time to start over, again
"we got a record number, up 40% from the same cycle a year before."

I agreed with much of this article, but not that line. A lot more people have heard of YCombinator since a year ago, so all else equal, you'd expect applications to rise over that period. So comparing the number of apps with the corresponding value from a year ago isn't a fair comparison.

Indeed, looking at http://siteanalytics.compete.com/ycombinator.com/?metric=uv we see that the number of unique visitors to ycombinator.com is up 3x from a year ago. But applications are only up 40%. To be fair, we probably can't expect applications to grow 3x since many of those visitors are international, or otherwise unlikely to apply to YC. But to make the statement pg wants to make, I think we need a better metric than raw growth in applications.
TicketStumbler, like any other marketplace, definitely relies on network effects. And, Google arguably doesn't rely heavily on network effects. Google's value to me (in the short run) is unaffected by how many other people use it.
Sure, but any given test is normalized to a particular population, not to the whole world.
Adult Friend Finder?
This sounds really silly ... mainly because people are using cash less and less every year to make purchases. They use credit/debit cards more than cash.

On the other hand, I think it's important to support local businesses (when they deserve it) and the idea of a co-op of local businesses sounds like a good idea. In fact, I think there could be a startup idea in there. Something like:

1. A business creates a co-op group online and other local businesses can join.

2. Consumers can go to the group's page online and purchase a gift certificate/voucher that gives them $1.10 credit on the dollar.

3. Consumer prints it out (has a unique code on it) and can use it at any of the member stores

4. Member store would just need internet access to enter the code and debit the voucher and could transfer their money out later

Thoughts?
What if walmart accepts the currency?
The Next Frontier of Economic Efficiency
and thus that you are using "Western" to mean "logical and sensible"

No, no, no... I'm not saying that! :) That's how you're interpreting it. You are putting words into my mouth which is why the sarcasm made no sense. I do not agree that raising IQ rather than reducing pain is "logical and sensible" at all - and just because you think it is does not make it universally so.

Taking someone else's words and then telling them what they really meant can never be a valid form of discourse. Indeed, that very behavior is "Western" in style because you are assuming that what you think is good is good for everyone else too.
Appears it's not entirely due to the economic downturn:

However, like most telecom companies, AT&T has been seeing many customers defect from landline phones to wireless services

This has been a growing issue for some time now. I know people who don't even have landlines anymore. While AT&T does have wireless services, they don't enjoy the localized monopolies they used to back in the day.
This is the best summary of where the tech cycle is at so far, IMHO.

Dave has been through a fair few cycles (remember, he was professionally developing software in 1979!) and regardless of some of his other views, I think his analysis is going to be some of the most accurate you'll see in the software / tech industry on this topic.
Will Facebook Connect Kill OpenId?
Facebook launched a service similar to OpenID that would allow users with facebook id to sign-on to other websites as well. Given the visibility of Facebook and near ubiquity of an Facebook id, are the days numbered for OpenId?
Can you make the read links darker? I'm having some issues seeing them on my new laptop because the screen is glossy and the contrast isn't as good.
True, but this is definitely one of the cutest ways I've seen of memorizing morse code!
only problem with this is that it is illegal

a business can reserve the right to refuse service to anyone, but in the US they can't tell you that you can't use US dollars
Yeah, I log in a few times a week, and read whatever posts are on the first page. That's about it.
So since bus fares have more than doubled, maybe it's a great time to be a taxi driver?
mainly because people are using cash less and less every year to make purchases. They use credit/debit cards more than cash

credit cards are cash...someone else's cash (namely a bank) that is being loaned to the card user. nonetheless, the transaction is in the local currency at the point of purchase and paid back in the local currency of the bank and user
His company, which will book just $75,000 in revenue this year, was apparently worth $11 million. "It was flattering," Monsef says. "I've figured we're worth maybe a couple million dollars, but maybe I'm selling myself short."

Best paragraph of the article. He's astounded the tool considered his company worth 146x revenue, but 26x revenue is seemingly rather realistic :)
No, no, no... I'm not saying that! :) That's how you're interpreting it.

You're almost there. I understand that you, yourself, do not think that raising IQ is rational and sensible -- that if we just give Nigeria a few billion dollars more in aid, it's going to look like Westport, Connecticut. The joke is that when you condemned something as Western, the thing you condemned was actually a pretty good idea, so calling it Western really sounded like Western was a nice thing. Maybe a different example will make it clear. If two American political partisans are arguing, and you hear:

"Raising taxes on the rich is so typical of liberals,"

and then "But when Clinton did it, our economy performed incredibly well. So you must mean that liberals are typically pretty damn awesome!"

You can follow the joke, right? That is the joke I'm making.

Indeed, that very behavior is "Western" in style because you are assuming that what you think is good is good for everyone else too.

I notice it's been pretty good for the rest of the world, actually. Lots of countries have adopted market systems and the rule of law to some extent, and they've really benefitted from it (not to mention Western technological advances -- the West, of course, has done plenty of the same in the other direction). And when we adopt communitarian values, or try to support collectivist compromise over individualism, it tends to lead to stagnation at best and disaster on average.
You've been unusually prolific lately.
two points:

1. investors are entering a period of risk aversion that is just starting, and will likely last a decade or longer.

2. the next market, energy tech, will require funding on levels very few if any VCs can deliver (billions per investment). this is why the govt is likely going to be more pivotal in funding energy work through the DOE etc
I'm pretty sure facebook was __started__ without significant upfront cash. Obviously they got to a certain point where they needed more, but the key thing is to have lots of momentum when you get there.

See, for example, digg.com. ~ $15 k upfront, $50k angel funding 6 months in, VC around month 10.
Latest breakthrough gadget: your brain turned into a remote controller
you're a decade late
Recession and the War on Drugs - Historic Parallels
Two out of the three testers were pretty clueless.

Many users are clueless when it comes to Web sites, computers, and what not, but it's nothing to do with their IQ. I'm useless when fixing a car, a lawnmower, or getting the timing right when cooking, but that's not a reflection of my IQ. It's because I don't have domain specific knowledge, I haven't practiced enough, or whatever.

I know plenty of intelligent people I've had to guide through very simple tasks on the Web or their desktops. I don't think their IQ is suffering because they're ignorant and unable to quickly understand the metaphors a computer throws up.

The sort of results you're getting from these "clueless" testers should actually be very useful! If you can actually get a Web site to be easily usable by these "clueless" people then that Web site's popularity will be through the roof!
Can't say how true this is say.

"at a company called Emotiv, where a few dozen scientists have developed the gear and software that quite literally read my mind, allowing me to play a sort of video game with nothing but sheer thought."
but greentech will require more funding per instance than any VC firm will be able or willing to put up. show me the VC firm that is going to put over $1 billion into any single investment...when it comes to nuclear or hydrogen, a billion might only bootstrap the company. these industries are going to need massive amounts of funding. only one entity can do it - uncle sam, DARPA and the DOE
"This sounds really silly ... mainly because people are using cash less and less every year to make purchases. They use credit/debit cards more than cash."

Hmmmm. Assuming each store has a wireless internet connection available to them (possibly at the cost of a wireless router), using off-the-shelf hardware for magnetic cards and an embedded system, a server on the internet, and some programming time, how much money would it take to set up an alternate local currency with full plastic card support? Not much.

Probably still too much. But not much, and the thing that's really expensive initially, the custom programming, can be re-used well.

The custom programming could do some clever stuff, too; automatic backing to a standard credit card? And you'll need full transaction capabilities; I need to be able to send some other user the money for not much extra cost.

I don't think full plastic card support is anywhere near out of the question. In fact, this is far more practical than it was in the 1930s... if it doesn't happen this recession, I wouldn't be surprised it does in the next one...(!)
It's curious that so many domains could sell for reasonable six figure sums, yet as someone who spends half his life online, I haven't heard of any of them.

That's not to entirely detract from their value, sure, but it really shows how much money there is floating around in the domain game.. even if very few people get mass market success with them.
Hastings Property Management
Hastings Property Management – working with tenants and buyers to find a home or new construction they dream of in Hastings Minnesota. Property Management Company, Property Rentals, Home Rentals, New Construction in the Minneapolis Minnesota area.
Viable is determined on exit, right?

Anyone reading this is welcome to the game. And if you want an excuse to move to Boston, tipjoy is hiring: http://tipjoy.com/jobs
Perl 5 Programmers Are Dying
Start & Grow a Healthy Business in a Recession on Vimeo
Curious, I thought that people who did this cooked the meals prior to freezing. Cooking is usually what takes a while, prep can be done really quickly (especially if you do it often). I guess it all depends on the recipes, but it doesn't seem like a real time saver to me.

Either way it's not for me, cooking is my release. I gladly get off the computer and onto the cutting board.
The press about this will probably have a bigger impact than the script
Right now this question is far too broad. Are you looking for help from a technical perspective (i.e., a localization framework) or someone for a translator? If you need technical help, is it a static or dynamic website? If it is dynamic, what framework/language do you use?
Does Amazon's iPhone app go too far?