skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Is that normal?

I think the rule of thumb is for your monthly housing expenses to be 1/52nd of your income -- so around 23%. I, however, would gladly pay 38% if it meant I could live in a 2 million dollar mansion for the rest of my life. Sounds like a good deal to me.

The sad reality is that once you have a house and the government guarantees your interest rate won't increase, you don't need to pay off your credit cards anymore. So if you need to spend beyond your means, you might as well do it -- you don't need the credit for anything else.

(It scares me when I think what would happen if people didn't self regulate with "moral beliefs" -- the only thing that stops me from buying a house I can't afford and maxing out as many credit cards as I can get a hold of. If everyone acted in their own self-interest instead of in the interest of a stable society... well, it would be scary. Perhaps this "credit crunch" and the associated bailout is the beginning. "Wake up, sheeple." :)
Watch dexter season 3 episode 8(s03e08) online
http://github.com/bard/mozrepl/wikis/home
is a cool little project I've been watching on github; it to provides emacs integration, now it's just a matter of learning emacs. ;_; Here's a neat screencast of it in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v78HRi-J2ek
Honda have a series of TV ads (here in the UK anyway) that don't seem to be about any one particular product. There's a chap with a moustache who sings to dream, an impossible dream (don't know the actual name of the song) while operating various Honda technologies, motorbikes to hot air balloons. They seem to be investing considerably in getting the message out that they are a company where good people can do great stuff, rather than just selling things.
Linux Weaktops Poised for Death by Smartphone
Alleged confusion, judging by the latest reports. It looks like the story's source doesn't actually exist and has pulled similar hoaxes in the past.

Not that I like Palin, but then again I'm a fan of disliking politicians based on the merits of what they have really said and done.
Guitar Hero forces you to perform at peak capacity motor-coordination-wise. First person shooters do not - although if you play something with a high pace and rankings (like the Gun-game mod to Counter-Strike) you can get pretty much the same effect.
That guy should pay more attention when I'm coding!
My bad. That probably didn't get as much coverage on this side of the ocean, so I missed it.
it sounds like hyperbole, but I honestly believe there are two types of people in this world. engineers and everyone else. a smart country would put the engineers in charge and reap the windfall of profits.
Are Google engineers reading YCNews? Here's a feature request: a Gmail notifier
I guess that's better than being the Paris Hilton of YCombinator.

However, I wouldn't call any YC founders "famous".
I love the existence of "alpha librarians".
A smart country?

It is better to think smaller here: put yourself (and possibly other engineers) in charge and reap the windfall of profits.

I am. Well, still working on that "windfall of profits" part. ;)
...yet has about 2/7x the people.
I'm a passionate under-consumer. I've recently made an attempt to better understand economics and I'm trying to tackle supply-side theory right now. I understand the Laffer Curve at a basic level, but one thing that seems to leap out at me is the idea that encouraging the supply of goods through subsidies that were not sufficiently encouraged by demand for those goods would lead to a situation necessitating "demand creation" (aka, marketing). It would seem healthier and more sustainable to me to focus on allowing people to determine their own demands more directly and let supply innovate on price and quality according to those demands, letting niche remain niche and letting expensive lifestyle wants remain as such.

But this is all new to me. I've been poking around for a counter-argument to this, so I'd welcome any input.
Xeroxing the brain
i read this quite sometime (approx 12 years !!!) back: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.21.7...

may give you some general ideas.
ditto that. this is probably the wrong crowd to be recruiting php coders from.
> What this means it that few countries have the funds for large and capable enough security forces to exercise control over the whole of their territory.

Through the majority of US and Canadian history, the same could be said of both countries. (Canada did send the mounties out in advance of the settlers, but there weren't enough of them.)

Let me suggest that the problem is not the lack of security forces but the need for them, especially since they tend to turn into "thugs, rebels, criminals and assorted other unsavoury types".
It would mean we could implement neurons on hardware like the neuromorphic engineering guys do:

https://neuromorphs.net/ws2007/wiki/float

... but on our laptops.
There is a short SciFi story from Asimov on the difficulties to get young, brilliant people to work for large engineering companies. The wind up exploiting a mishap with a robot to make the whole business sound dangerous and thus challenging, attractive.

Honda, though, seems to be building trademark.
Most operations courses in B-schools use the "Benihana of Tokyo" case (http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/common/...), which is all about maximizing profit per square foot. I was sort of shocked by the times they gave in this article, after recalling that article. Clearly the restaurants talked about are more upscale.
I found it very frustrating and disrespectful when people said they would buy a commercial license (I dual licensed), and then took three months to buy it. I clearly wasn't a priority - they didn't need to do anything; I was dependent on their goodwill.

That is probably just the length of time to crank the paperwork through at their end. At some companies, taking only 3 months to buy something is considered quick! I appreciate it was frustrating but I'm sure no disrespect was intended.
His comparison of EmacsLisp and Javascript is pretty helpful (scroll down for a while).
Can you put in pre tags as well? Many people set white-space: pre; for code tags in CSS, but other people actually use code tags within text to distinguish they are talking about the function or programming construct error, not a specific instance of an error.
Wolfram's rule 34?
> Patent trolls serve no useful function. There already is a secondary market for innovation.

Are you saying that independent inventors should not be compensated or that they should only be compensated when they sell to practitioners?
7610 memory card corrupted
7610, 7610 memory card corrupted, corrupt, corrupted, memory card, memory card ways, Nokia, ways
Old School Clock with CSS3 and jQuery
That's because PHP is installed on a huge number of web servers out of the box, and thus at the disposal of nearly any Joe Blow who uses shared hosting.

PHP has done one thing right in it's history; they made it extremely easy to deploy.
Java class files can be decompiled, but is it really a cause for concern?

At least someone has to go out of their way to decompile your stuff.
My dad likes his Dash (http://www.dash.net/). It appears to have most of the benefits of this research project and it's available as a real product.
Perhaps we can stop the language flaming. I build my stuff in a combination of PHP, C++ and javascript on a LAMP stack. Feel no need to justify it to people who aren't making architectural decisions.
Out of curiosity, does anyone use Ruby who doesn't use Rails?
http://netflixprize.com

Statistical language processing is also cool:

http://nltk.sourceforge.net/index.php/Main_Page

http://norvig.com/spell-correct.html
Dumb people don't know they are dumb. Is there a simple explanation for this?
I thought this was going to be about Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Turns out it was natural language processing, so the rest of it became tl;dr.
Not quite right. One on-record verifier of the story was a hoax. The original source has not yet been outed.
> In terms of measuring impact, I think we need a new form of accountancy, which rates social and environmental impact as importantly as financial impact.

That assumes that the "social and environmental impact" are going to be measured honestly and not just used as an excuse for control.

For example, even if you believe all of the AGW stuff, the "account for environmental costs" tax is around $2/ton of carbon. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi...

That's a large pile of money, but it isn't going to have the "side effects" that the AGW people want. Those will require much higher taxes on "bad" things. So they'll have to either give up on the rant against said bad things or go with "sin carbon" taxes, which pretty much proves that they're not interested in carbon but sin.
Why Yahoo Still Matters for You
A win for Twitter users: Johnson & Johnson apologizes for Motrin ad
keep in mind that the Peter Schiff they interview is the guy in this video: http://youtube.com/?v=2I0QN-FYkpw

I would give his words a much larger weight knowing his record.
i don't see any flaming here, just a misdirected appeal. i'm not arguing people's use of php, i'm just saying there aren't many of that type of people in this particular crowd.
Seeing your body parts coming into and out of view is critical. That's subtle but necessary to really fool your brain. I've always been amazed how much first-person games are more like a camera moving through space than a body.

That said, you can do a decent job hacking the brain without body parts, but they're really powerful. I remember testing a VR elevator that lifted me 100 feet into the air. I felt like I was off the ground but when looking down I didn't see my feet. That lack of reality ruined the illusion. It created a representational void where there shouldn't have been one.
For what it's worth:
http://atlas.wolfram.com/01/01/34/
JoeThePlumber.com Worth 800K | TechJaws
Ask YC: Preparing for a pitch contest
Tomorrow I'm pitching my startup GeekStack (http://geekstack.com) at the Chicagoland FastPitch Competition (http://www.chicagoeweek.com/fast_pitch_competition.asp). I've got my 3 minute script mostly memorized and I'll be videotaping myself tonight. Does anyone have any other tips for preparing for a pitch contest?
In regards to 2) above, many publishers do include this information. It's called "CIP" (cataloging in publication, I believe). Many of the cataloggers that I've known scoff at using this info though--it rarely meets their needs. University libraries often adopt the Library of Congress classification while public libraries commonly adopt Dewey Decimal classification. Even within each classification there can be room for disagreement or "doing it differently" for reasons that are relevant to your library, but not necessarily relevant to another library.

Disclaimer: I am not a librarian, but I worked in library automation for 18 years. The libraries that I worked for were all OCLC members. I've never catalogged, but I have loaded MARC tapes from OCLC and worked with cataloggers over the years. A good catalogger is anal-retentive, detail-oriented and cares very passionately about their work.
Who wrote this title? Is there some guide out there to getting attention on social news sites which states that every submission needs to contain the word "amazing" or "secret"?

What's the "secret"? That Mirror's Edge will make you vomit? That's no secret -- in fact, the first line of the article is:

By now you have probably heard the warning: Playing Mirror's Edge will make you vomit
Converting from Prototype to jQuery
It's too early in the morning for Rule #34.

Speaking of which, what the hell is this octopus doing to my refrigerator?
Open Social Networking software and thoughts
Malo - CSS Library
I think he meant to make fun of a political figure who was recently running to become vice president of a country and did not know Africa was a continent.
Keeping the Users in Line
If numerati were a word, it'd be a plural. I'm reasonably sure the correct singular forms would be literatus (male) and literata (female).

Oh, as for your actual question? I can't think of anything.
I'd avoid memorizing a script. Memorize and push bullet point phrases, rather than a full 'story'. You'll be so familiar with the project that you should easily be able to recount the story.

Focus on what the judges want to hear, eg if they are investors then make sure you cover:

1. business model
2. market trends / size
3. how your startup solves a problem or fulfils a need
4. your team
5. what you need to implement
6. and how you plan to execute.

Good luck.
Why Windows is not a good server OS
I had an equal-area projection map on my wall as a teenager ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_area_projection#Equal-are... ), so this didn't come as news to me.
http://nltk.sourceforge.net/

it's not that hard; you just have to know when to use it.
Where do the scientists fit in?
Summary: NLP is hard. There are lots of complicated academic concepts involved in parsing natural text that I don't understand. I have failed at using NLP in some indeterminable way. Please don't use NLP because you probably can't do anything with it either.
> It also made me think about the potential wealth of Africa.

Not really... before seeing this map, I've long known that the Sahara desert is larger than the continental U.S. Besides the logistics problems mentioned in other comments, this large block of non-producing land, which separates the fertile parts of the continent from Europe and Asia, is a key reason why the continent has historically been disadvantaged. (It's quite possible the creation of the Sahara is what encouraged the first proto-humans into leave the continent to colonize the rest of the world.)
No tips, but good luck! I didn't even hear about this until today. From a fellow chicago suburbanite!
Ask YC: What is your backup in case your startup fails?
PG mentions that not having a backup is probably a good strategy (desperate to succeed), but I'm interested in hearing what range of backups are being considered.

There is always "everything else," but I'd be interested to know if folks will just try again, go to university, or join a BDC, etc.
I wonder if this was the map Larry Niven was thinking of when he put a "Map of Earth" on the Ringworld?
> Your typical hacker is usually not the best manager or leader.

Is your typical biz guy?
I think I agree with your sentiment, but the mindset can be dangerous.

Engineering - if viewed most generally - is simply a pragmatic way of looking at the world, with an eye for improvement. If you use this broad definition, I think there are people who are try to create actionable change, and others who simply are greedy or uninterested.

Its dangerous though to put yourself on a pedestal (I assume you are an engineer)... I have I heard the same comment said about entrepreneurs, and my stomach turns a little from hubris...
Usually I go read the comments on YouTube. That's where the real brains are.
Fair enough :) I'm going to make it a task to document, clean up and possibly remove some of the magic.
Porsche just made a few billion from VW stock. (http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/28/business/views29.php)

Bill Gates made his fortune from one deal with IBM.

These are the type of deals that get made when people are in the middle of a disruptive cycle.
because they are dumb.
A plea for the future, now.
Look at graduate programs in statistics.
Way to misinterpret the article...
Intriguing headline and interesting content, but where's the calculus? I mean, not in terms of rates of changes and piecemeal and aggregated effects, but it was really all quite fuzzy.

Enjoyable nonetheless. Is it possible to get some sources? In particular, 2-3 weeks for tolerance build up, and 5 days to "adenosine normality"? 5 days is a surprisingly small figure, and I would guess there is a rebound effect if it's just a short relapse. No expert here though, but coffee is my buddy so I want to care :)

Actually, would it also be possible to get a source regarding the attentional fluctuation throughout the day?
Always run your web app past the dumbest person you can find (or a few).

As DA once said:

"never understimate the ingenuity of complete fools"

They will find errors, bugs and dead-ends that would never have occured to you (or your semi-savvy testers) in a month of Sundays :)
Keep it Simple and Stupid: JSONML?
http://www.amazon.com/Where-Wizards-Stay-Up-Late/dp/06848326...

Also, long hair and drugs doesn't make you "cool". (If it did, meth heads would be cool.)
Is that you, Socrates?
NLTK uses statistical approach, which it seems he doesn't consider to be "NLP". TF-IDF is also part of that statistical approach. He seems to be talking about the old school rule-based natural language understanding.
Yeah, the post is pretty unscientific / unacademic as a whole, even though the results are reinforced by my own anecdotal observations.
I wouldn't have started tarsnap if Google hadn't offered me a job; that gave me the confidence that if tarsnap didn't work I would be able to get a well-paying job in silicon valley.
This post proves the article's point, unfortunately.
Is Western Europe one of the "named countries"?
High-Def conference startup Vapps acquired
The white paper from their website has some technical information: http://www.conveycomputer.com/Resources/Convey%20Architectur...
Surrounding yourself with people who are smarter than you is easier if the person doing the hiring is dumb.
> Somehow I don't think our past experience with trying to get roads, power, plumbing, and the Internet into rural areas agrees with statement.

"trying" is the important word. And, the federal govt didn't have much involvement in most of those things.

And, even if it did, do you really think that they explain or justify 30+% of GDP?
Agile Development Projects and Usability
The reason for the script is the 3 minute time limit. It took me about four hours to get the pitch down to 3 minutes while still covering all the points they wanted covered. These are the criteria:

1. What is your technology, product or service? Briefly describe what you sell and the need it fulfills.

2. Who is your target market? Briefly state who buys this product or service and the size of the market.

3. How do you expect to make money? Describe the source(s) of revenue and how you will sell.

4. Who is your competition?

5. What is your competitive advantage? How can your company provide this product or service better than the competition?

6. Who is behind the company? Share your and your team’s background and accomplishments. Explain how your background gives your business credibility.
Why we suck at business
UK identities sold for £80 online
Thanks. The choice of ;=) as the operator did make me suspicious.
I get the same feeling of malaise after watching too much youtube as I do when watching too much traditional television.
Google, 10 years ago
I think my perception of Africa's size comes entirely from the fact that it's only worth 3 armies in Risk.
Dunning-Krueger's findings are, unfortunately, overly generalized (perhaps because people overestimate their abilities to accurately draw inferences). In fact, the bias exists for very smart people as well: Dunning found that 94% of professors consider themselves above-average.

Re breily: compared to other professors. (thanks!)
Wolfram's Rules are, as I understand it, a sequential enumeration of cellular automata. Rule 110 was found to be universal -- i.e. it could be used to implement a Turing-equivalent machine as the narrator of the comic does. "Rule 34" is a 4chan meme.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_110

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_rule_34
Above-average compared to other professors or compared to the general population? I haven't read anything about their findings but I'd imagine 94% being above average compared to the general population would be on the low side.
http://www.google.com/ig

Add the Gmail, Gcal and Sticky Note apps and set it as your home page.
A prefix notation programming language
The Other Reasons To Raise Money From VCs
i like french fries.
You need to ask a biologist, a sociologist, or an epidemiologist.

Or you could take up statistical process control. Useful skill, and applicable to many things besides semiconductor manufacturing. Here's a hilarious quote that I've remembered for years, from http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2003/pulpit_20030925_0004...

"I taught over 300 courses for industry where we designed cars and electronic devices, but it wasn't until one day I took over my wife's kitchen and used Taguchi to perfect my recipe for vanilla wafer cookies that I realized how broadly it could be applied," Kowalick recalls. "It took 16 batches, but by the end of the afternoon I had those wafers dialed in."

Go forth and bake some cookies.
Interesting comparison, but it's not really the same situation. In the case of the US and Canada there were large border regions that were essentially frontier societies with little protection offered by the state, but the major population centres and the areas between them were generally safe. And as time went on, the expansion of both countries were driven in large part by the expansion of their armed forces and the gradual extension of control over more and more of the country. Aside from a few hardy settlers, there were no large population groupings living in areas in which the state had not yet established a basic level of control. The societies expanded their territory only as the security umbrella which protected them grew larger.

For many African countries, such as the DRC, this is not the case. They have inherited borders and population groupings that date from colonial eras and have more to do with arbitrary lines drawn on a map than the actual ability of each country to enforce or protect them. As a result there is seldom a single point of origin from which to begin the creation of a security umbrella and then expand outwards; instead they have to individually try to secure a number of cities and towns situated far apart from each other while trying desperately to get a hand on the largely undeveloped and un-patrolled areas in between. To use the DRC as an example, the national army has virtually no control over the land between Kinshasa, the capital, and cities like Goma and North Kivu. There is no proper level of internal security.

To be fair, your point about the quality (or lack thereof) of African security forces is valid. There's no doubt that if more African armies were well-trained, disciplined and professional they would be able to make far more effective use of the limited resources available to them. Unfortunately, most are as useless and corrupt as the political hierarchies governing their countries. But my point was that even with well-trained forces, the vast distances across which many African countries stretch make an already difficult situation so much harder to deal with on the tiny budgets most African countries have available. And that even those who do attempt to get their act together are dragged down by the fact that trade, the one thing that could lift them out of poverty, is often severely restricted by geography.
Ask YC: Can you recommend a Wordpress Designer?
Hey - we're looking to redesign our blog and I'm looking for a Wordpress theme designer to help us out. Any suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks.
I really like the idea of CSS frameworks and pre-defined cross-browser css libraries. I currently use Bluetrip for most of my stuff.

The idea of having something <1kb is also super rad.

But, unless I am missing something, this is basically a CSS sheet with 6 pre-defined widths for columns. As such, it doesn't really help me out all that much.
If you sell a great idea to someone who ensures it will never be realized (patent troll), you should not be compensated--you have caused the destruction of a great idea from the world of possibilities, which is akin to vandalism.

Patents are intended to spur innovation, but when there is no production, the greater good suffers.