skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Mobbing is a common gang activity. But the whole point of a gang is absolute trust, violently enforced. You can't do that with a collection of random strangers.

However... mybe you could start a riot this way, or mass disobedience of traffic laws, or a hate crime against an unpopular minority. That's a scary thought.
Gary Vaynerchuk Takes on 'Yes We Can' Attitude for Startups
The future of small business IT starts with SaaS
Social Media's Greatest Hits as an OPML File
Yeah. It's happening slowly, but it's beginning to dilute.

Just recently, I saw the first attempt at a pun. It was up at 2 points, though it got voted down. And stories like this bring back memories of Reddit 2 years ago.

I think that Hacker News has one thing going for it: the restriction on up/down-voting. It encourages people to at least be slightly inducted into how the site works before they begin having an effect on ups and downs.
I wonder if he makes much off Google Ads? This has been on Reddit a few times before.
For some reason, programming "pure" C instead of C++ gives me more satisfaction.
[Kill in self defense] "yes"

And yet not everyone agrees - pacifists for example. They also thought about it, and came to the opposite conclusion. The only reason you think it's OK is that you live in a culture where that is the norm. Live somewhere else and you'd think something else.

In neither case can you point me to universal principles that would help you decide. I'm not looking for the answer, I'm looking for how to pick the answer.

"If they're ten random people that some madman ordered you to murder for his own reasons, at the cost of your own life if you do not, then morality cannot apply here. There can be no right and wrong in the case of someone who is acting under coercion."

Yes, 10 random people. You say morality cannot apply - yet you have to make a choice: do you kill them or don't you? Which do you choose? And more importantly how do you decide which to choose?

"no" to killing someone not harming you to keep yourself alive:

You said no. But thousands upon thousands of people throughout history chose different. Some people would hold that keeping yourself alive is your utmost responsibility, and trumps anything else. Even today people are not that troubled by killing someone outside their group.

I don't agree - but I can not prove it beyond saying that probably civilization would do better that way - but even that is not necessarily so. Some civilizations are based on strength of arm (and your allies arms). Those might do better then one not based on such - look at Tibet.

Both of the choices you listed match those of american norms and those of the bible (which is where they originated).

"I'm not so bored as to write about it in detail"

But that was the entire question - the examples listed don't need an answer, they are just a point to example how two people might come up with totally different logical answers.

I'm not going to read Atlas Shrugged - I had enough with philosophical books disguised as novels when I read The Sword of Truth series (it started great, then got horrible) - and it's based on Ayn's works.

But, I read a wikipedia summary, and I know for sure that many disagree with her. If she can really come up with a morality from first principles - how can you disagree?

I say you can't. You either pick randomly, or you let someone above you pick. Most people do the second - they do what they grew up with, and their parents did the same, etc, if you go back, for almost the entire world it's ultimately based on the ideas of the bible.
For me, space exploration is one of those things that has some intangible benefits that regard pushing the limits and doing something to be proud of. I don't really care who funds it, but exploration often seems to be funded by governments... because in its early stages, it's sort of "basic research": you don't know what, if any benefits will come of it.
One thing that seems to get people is 2 finger to scroll divs/iframes in safari. Pretty intuitive when you think about it, but some don't. Especially when the scrollbars aren't obvious.
4 Open Source Code Review Tools
That thoroughly fascinated me when I first read this (also, if you liked this, there's more like it in Salmon of Doubt). I've used it before in religion arguments, both in defending religion against people who think it could be easily disposed of, and in arguing why religion's affecting society isn't the same thing as proof of a god's existence.

Unrelated: why WERE there so many atheism posts today? There was definitely a surge, but why? New users? The Mormon issue?
Merb 1.0 released
Al Gore: The Climate for Change
> Not too much compression going on here.

Perhaps the files just remain individually compressed when uncompressed? A .zip file full of .pngs isn't going to be much smaller than the .pngs themselves.

Also, as far as I can tell, you didn't really purchase anything "from Broderbund." Broderbund is now just a brand for Ubisoft to release titles under; your e-commerce terror is likely repeatable with any of Ubisoft's products.
Coverage of economic issues is shallow at best in most media. The reasons for this are probably a combination of factors:

- Economy is hard and the fact that not even economists agree on cause and effect, predictions, indicators, etc. doesn't exactly make it easy being a journalist faced with the task of writing about it.

- The medias sources all have more or less obvious interests. When you interview a banker or a stock broker he will have an agenda, and often want to talk the market up or down. The media should rely more on academic sources that are presumably less biased.

- Economic issues don't lend themselves to being explained in a one column article digestible by normal media consumers. It's a difficult subject full of intricate dependencies and difficult words.

These things mean that most journalist go pretty lightly on the economic coverage and are easily influenced by banks, brokerage houses and other actors that have an interest in setting an agenda. And I think it's a huge problem.
They're probably smart enough to get "things beyond programming" from other sources wouldn't you say?

Discussing religion (again), why women are cold, what 'adolescence' means, is not hacking IMHO. There is more than enough of that sort of thing elsewhere.
That's a pretty good answer (the best so far from all the people I've asked) - but it's also a non-answer. Which you acknowledge, which is why is's a good answer.

You are right that most of the time that's enough. But I disagree about the fact the edge cases don't matter.

They matter because they happen, and they happen a lot.

You can not just ignore them - you have to pick something.

And people do, and other people argue, and ultimately the person with the most power (or numbers) wins.

And then of course you have lot of yelling, like right now in california. People are very happy with the democratic process - until they loose.

And since I'm talking about it - that's not an issue of allowing people to do what they want. It's an issue of forcing other to recognize something they don't want to. That's one of your edge cases - can you do that? Can you go against someones will and make them do something because you think it's better?

A few decades ago black-white marriage went through the same process and said "allow it", but this time we get a different result. It seems pretty random to me. Which is what I expect because there is no guiding principle you can look to.

Anyway, getting back on topic.

You always have to "break others consent" - I don't want trucks driving by my house, the gov says they may. You just broke my consent.

I don't want to go into quarantine - but I have to. Again - one of those edge cases when you have to balance the consent of multiple people.

They happen a lot. I can understand saying "I don't know" - but you can not call your code complete without them.
Best. Game about a president-elect. Ever.
The blogosphere is alive, well and kicking
Microsoft's Security Intelligence Report Highlights Email Threats
Will Ivan Demidov Be the Winner of WSOP 2008
This 27-year-old Russian sensation is an Internet poker star poised to become the first Russian World Series of Poker champion in history.
Researchers Hijack Storm Worm
You're lucky to be a hacker. There's almost no other profession more suited to unusual sleep schedules. The place where you were working sounds very anti-hacker. You'll have to find a better place. It will not be as hard as you think, just be up-front about your condition.

I have a co-worker who prefers to work on a 28-hour schedule. (I don't think he has a sleep disorder, he just decided he liked it.) His office hours are unpredictable, but he gets his work done and nobody cares.

There's even another team on this floor that's adopted a "results-only" management style, which means that people are discouraged from insisting on things like office hours. Those people are practically never even in the office.

I don't think it's absolutely required that you be a contractor, and in lots of places contractors have even less leverage than regular employees in defining the terms of their work. But if you go this route it's not particularly hard either. Just say you are one, print business cards, get a job in the normal way, and then cash their checks. Maintain your own computer equipment and count the depreciation as an expense. Charge more than you would make in wages to make up for the lack of job security. You don't even need to incorporate, or even talk to a lawyer, although this is sometimes advantageous once you're really raking it in.

If you happened to be offshore, your sleep disorder might even be an advantage, since every few weeks you'd be in sync with headquarters. I assume you are in the USA? Maybe you should consider moving to Australia or something.

P.S. It sounds like you've managed before? Management of offshore operations is one of those things that corporations constantly struggle with. So if you were cycling in and out of both time zones, that might be a real advantage.
Why develop new products during a recession
"delayed sleep phase syndrome", so that's what its called! I didn't realize it had a name or was even a condition. I've had this for all my life it seems. How did I deal with it? For starters I was able to negotiate a better deal with my workplace and I figured out other ways to deal as well, email me at janak at kahoots dot biz and I'll tell you more about my experiences.
Penis enlargement products are ideal for spam because they are embarrassing to buy elsewhere, they are very cheap to manufacture (e.g. sugar pill) and they don't work. The last part is important, if they did work there would be a non-spam market for them.

For this reason, I believe that we do not see hair loss products marketed extensively through spam. There are good hair loss products (minoxidil and propecia) that have clinically shown effects.
Ask HN: What should happen to your gmail account if you die?
So I've been thinking about death a lot recently and I thought of a question that I don't know anything about. If you die, what happens to your gmail account? By extension, what happens to all your electronic accounts? Normal physical property is handled in probate court, which sorts out your will (if you have one) and the next of kin, etc, etc.

These days more and more of our "property" is digital, what happens to your flickr account or your blog? These could have been a big part of your life when you were alive....

A related question is: What should happen to your digital property? I'm not sure I want my gmail account to be given to anybody?
If they can get people to use it, and get them to put up with ads, perhaps.

It's as if "location-aware" is some magic buzz word these days.
Wow. I just read some of your other comments, and you rock. Thanks!
these guys were our early boso.com competitors
The best and worst Windows versions of all time.
exactly. funny to be modded down on a hacker forum for pointing out the obvious: the lack of free GUI development tools is a mark against doing GUI development in a specific language.
I think you should make explicit provision in your will, including instructions on how to access passwords.

Thinking about it, I would be quite tempted to leave my wife a 'to be opened in the event of my death' envelope containing (among other things) the master password to my Mac's Keychain.
I can't find the exact case... But I recall reading that a family was able to get the courts to compel Yahoo to hand over their son's account (he'd died in Iraq) -- So there seems to be some precedent. I'm sure there is a lot of other case law around on this already.

Edit: Found the reference: http://news.cnet.com/Yahoo-releases-e-mail-of-deceased-Marin... ... According to that article policies vary. e.g. AOL release accounts to next of kin.
One thing I have noticed is that more and more providers are requring valid reverse lookups for your mailserver's IP. About a month ago Sweden's largest ISP activated that feature late on a Friday night without any prior notice, causing mass panic and consulting opportunities.
More Ammunition for People Who Hate Daylight Saving Time
This came up before regarding Adsense and death. In the event of a death, the next of kin has to send off a copy of the Death Certificate of the account holder to Google, and that account can be transferred. I assume this can be done for most online services.
A very interesting user generated content website
let me know what you think
Same... I remember printing out certificates and other artistic masterpieces using a daisy-chained 9 pin printer. Wild days.
Not really sure why.

This piece is something that I find I want to share with people a lot. He had a great way of thinking about things. And while this is simple really, it has had an effect on how I think about this issue. It's not often I can say that.
The reason for the low birth rates in eg. Italy is probably not primarily because people want cars and vacations, but rather that society is structured such that if a woman gets a child, she have to give up her career and become a housewife. Therefore many women defer having kids or choose not to have kids.

In Scandinavia birth rates are relatively higher - definitely not because Scandinavians don't like cars or vacations, but rather because the society makes it easier to have children and a job at the same time (e.g. kindergartens available and so on).
We're holding off until 2,000 more articles have been written on the subject, just to be sure. Don't want to spook the guy.
Dealing With Your Ocean Freight Vendor
Import and export companies rely on transportation vendors for the delivery of their products. They use the services of these vendors and trust that the service provided is the service they has been contracted to be done at an agreed upon price.Government investigations and audits have proved a multitude of overcharges being billed to companies. However, it is impossible to completely regulate the services these companies provide due to the large volume of shipments.
Intuitive? I'm not sure you understand that word.
Yeah, they've been around quite a while. I remember them starting to acquire book-selling companies right around when me and a few friends had a really popular one starting at MIT. We abandoned that space 'cause it looked like there was no money in it. I'm doubly impressed, though, since 1) they stuck around and 2) they actually managed to run into a really sick business model. Maybe pg was right about startups succeeding by not dying...
To contract, make your website, advertise what you do and start emailing people. Could not be easier.
I had the exact same reaction. I seem to operate on 20-22 hour waking cycles, been that way all my life...
Nice to give it a name.
Force yourself to get up at a constant hour (e.g. 7am) and go to bed at a constant hour (e.g. 11pm for 8 hours of sleep) every day even if you're not tired.

Don't go out clubbing/drinking/etc for a few weeks until you have this sorted out.

I have the same delayed sleep pattern, but this works fine, sure-fire, every time.

Another few tips:

1) Stop staring at computer monitors for about 1 hour before sleep-time

2) Try reading a not-too-exciting fiction book for 30 minutes before sleep-time (That's from 10:30, not from 11). Big classics (Dickens, Tolstoy, etc) do well for this.

3) Don't do anything in bed other than prepare to sleep and sleep.

I can guarantee that you'll start feeling really tired around 10:30 and fall asleep like a baby by 11:15 within 2 weeks - probably even faster.

Just make sure you stick to those times as if your life depended on them. In bed by 11, out of bed at 7.
Ask HN: Why no 2-factor authentication for web apps?
More and more I find myself keeping data on webapps (like gmail) that is really sensitive. I don't doubt that someone could successfully impersonate me or steal my identity if they shoulder surfed my password and had intent.

Why is there no open and easy to implement 2-factor authentication system? Is it just because nobody has built one and championed it?

Obviously this won't work on Gmail unless Google implemented it - but maybe this could be the killer app for OpenID (yeah right).
I have worked on a Ruby MUD. I think this is probably a good suggestion, along with bk's suggestion to get the hang of balancing and populating a game first. Thanks.
On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity.

Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or egregiously offtopic, you can flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.)

http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Baseball statistician tries politics and bats almost one thousand
Why don't you just accept the fact that he's no good at estimating how long it will take him to accomplish something, then just add a number of extra days to his estimates so you're not disappointed any more?
This is hilariously awesome:

When we took him to preschool one time, we dropped him off, and he announced, ‘Today, I’m a numbers machine,’ and started counting, Brian Silver said. When we picked him up two and a half hours later, he was ‘Two thousand one hundred and twenty-two, two thousand one hundred and twenty-three...’
Team Leadership Secrets of Sun Ra and Lope de Aguirre
Yahoo didn't do it, only after a court ordered them to do it. (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/25/yahoo_opens_inbox/)
Coding: It's Just Writing
Find en ny kæreste
Vi på E-kontakt vil gerne formindske antallet af singler i Danmark. Her får du nogle tips til, hvordan du kan finde en kæreste..
I don't have any sleep disorder and never really paid much attention to the duration of my sleep or the time to go to bed. After watching this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hAw1z8GdE8 ( Dr. William Dement on Healthy Sleep and Optimal Perfomance ) I'm going to bed at 11 and waking at 7 with excelent results.
Seen It All Before
Homoiconic - the new blog of Reg Braithwaite (Raganwald)
OK, what other method could you have to scroll a div/iframe?
It was the first one that I thought might work, so I tried it. Unless I'm mistaken that made it intuitive for me.

I do get your point though - for some people it's not obvious...
Bridge Support
Bridge Support – Staging Concepts for all of your stage needs including portable stage platforms, stage risers, mobile stages, portable concert stage, and stage rentals!
Yahoo's policy is different from GMail's. In GMail's terms it says they will hand over the account to the next of kin if you send them the death certificate, or if you have power of attorney over that person. Yahoo won't give access under any circumstances, although that's obviously over-ridden by the court's decision.

I found out about this was thinking about social media sites and how they're affected by death recently, which I did as a BarCamp talk and wrote up here:

http://www.paulsilver.co.uk/blog/2008/10/death-and-social-me...

I think there's stuff that should be in web applications that we miss because we don't think about death, i.e. should we have an extra e-mail for the next of kin of a user? (or effective next of kin in this context.)
Nokogiri even has a HPricot emulation mode, if you need to port HPricot code.
As I understood, you could not register. But I really don't know what is your problem, because other users work with application without trouble. Please tell me what browser do you use if it is not difficult for you
Evince is fine for me. What does xpdf do that Evince doesn't?
New Google help forums
The post I was replying to made the point that unskilled jobs should not be automated, but given to the "less able" to make them feel good about themselves.
The killer combination for programming languages or why I like F#
The title "finance guru" automatically disqualifies anyone from an opinion.
Edinburgh Hacker Meetup (Nov) wednesday
Hi all,

The November Hacker (Tech) Meetup at Edinburgh is on Wednesday, 12th November at 6:30pm at 6th Floor Appleton Tower. Please email me (arnav (at) yadster (dot) com) if you would like to come along and meet other techies around Edinburgh, Scotland and Northern UK...

Here is a writeup on the last meetup where we had about 70 hackers/techies attending:
http://arnavk.blogspot.com/2008/10/second-tech-meetup-another-success.html

Arnav
I have this exact condition and am in a very similar boat. Two things helped me a great deal: medication and training. The training I am sure you've heard before, and if it worked by itself you wouldn't have this problem. I've found that a combination of Provigil (an anti-narcolepsy drug) and Strattera (a non-stimulant ADD drug that has the side effect of early awakening) helps a tremendous amount. Throw in some Ambien once or twice a week, and I'm able to edit my sleep cycle to be much more in line with normal work hours.

There are those who say this is excessive. Those people obviously do not face what you and I do.
What does [dead] mean? I am writing this comment, so it means the thread is still alive. Or is it a bug?
Top 10  Weirdest Green Technologies 
You know how it goes; It’s Sunday night, you’ve had a beer (or four) and somehow the conversation turns to the oddest green technologies. Well, this happened to Greenbang’s D. Lorenz this weekend, here are his conclusions.
NUTRITIONALMART PROVIDING TOP NATURAL HEALTH PRODUCTS,BEST NUTRITIONAL,WEIGHT LOSS
Online natural health store for discounted natural health products with supportive health supplements,nutritional supplements,herbal supplements and weight loss supplements
Nutritional Mart is an online store that carries many different nutritional supplements for a healthier and longer life.
Nutritional Mart is spam.
Thanks for posting this. A very enjoyable article that demonstrates how the broader application of entrepreneurial behaviors to a problem, that Nate clearly has a passion for, can blow the incumbents clean out of the water.

I doubt we've heard the last of Nate Silver.
Aveda Beauty School Los Angeles
Preparing students for successful careers in the beauty and personal care industry, we are Aveda Institute Los Angeles, a cosmetology school and esthiology school.
Some banks -- mostly in Europe -- have started using two-factor authentication. But so far the biggest problem with "something you know and something you have" is an unavoidable one: "something you have" costs money.
Yes, I use Barclays and have one of their nifty chip and pin devices.

What if the "something you have" was your mobile phone?
Codegear is no longer part of Borland it's a new ball game, worth another look imho