skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I would actually agree that his Facebook scraping should get him kicked off, but not due to some terms of service crap. But think about it. Whose data was he scraping? Maybe Facebook's, maybe the user who entered it should own it. But I don't think it's fair for anyone else to grab all that data and use it for other purposes.

I'm glad that Facebook protects me from someone trying to do that with the data I give them.
Because the last thing I want to do is worry about managing my mail server, I have better things to do that ensure that have spam and webmail configured as nicely as Gmail.
If you read the first sentence of the article you linked to, you'll see its in the US, not the UK the same one that's the subject of the current discussion. The UK climate would not lend itself to long term storage of aircraft.
You're aware that there's an entire profession based around the taste of wine, right? And that wine prices are based on their taste not their alcohol content? I don't understand how it's possible to be incredulous about people liking the taste of alcohol. I think most people like the taste of alcohol. Certainly haute cuisine is about taste. There's no section in Escoffier about getting shwasted.
Zuckerberg's 2012 personal income tax bill: $1.5 billion
The middle way
Link Building Mistakes, Pitfalls and Traps
I'm not historian enough to argue about WW2, but I think there was some context to those wars, even if technically one country can be blamed. It didn't come out of nowhere.

In any case I seriously doubt there was more free speech in earlier times than now (off the top of my head, what about those commie hunting days?). SOPA has not yet been passed, either.

People don't care for each other yadda yadda yadda. Sorry, that is just ideological bullshit. I don't think people are less emotional today than they used to be. And people will never change, complaining about that is just a waste of time.

As for the economic problems, wake me when Apple (a company that has 60% markup on their products) is no longer the most valuable company in the world. Poor people don't buy iPhones.
I would be ok with that if the owners of such a company also worked only for the happiness and not for the profits - in which case, they would forgot any personal compensation over about 60k.

But... you and me know that there are no such business around. Even people like the Google founders claim that their major goal is job happiness, but they don't think twice before buying a huge yacht with their billions. In other words, they have just talk and no attitude.

Why do you think that employees should be happy with getting only a base salary, without raises?
If you ISP provides SMTP for their e-mail (almost all do), then barring outbound From address filters, you can set up your SMTP server to treat the customer facing mail server as a smarthost.

The ISP doesn't need to do anything specific to support it.
Wrap Your SQL Head Around Riak MapReduce
> The point being, it is really, REALLY, hard for someone to be invisible while browsing the modern internet.

Agreed. If anyone is interested in a bit of (slightly terrifying) evidence, take a look at evercookie: http://samy.pl/evercookie/
Campus Party Brazil 2012 hackers
So, I think it would be AWESOME to meet somebody that reads hackernews there. Anybody? :D
It's quite simple: "self-respecting hackers" care more about getting shit done than futzing around with their email service. Gmail (for the most part) Just Works.
You were not kicked off of Facebook because of "running a script to try to save the common web".

They kicked you off for running a data scraper in violation of the terms of service you agreed to when signing up an account.
by time you will learn that coding and building sustainable software product are not same thing
there are ton of code monkeys but they will not produce product
"Series A investors are now looking for real businesses with real potential."

When were they ever not saying that? We can say that "this time" it's different, but I don't remember "series A investors" ever saying "well, we're just looking for some BS project to flip in 6 month - we don't care if you're actually going to make money or not, but we don't want to tell you that to your face".

So if they're weren't saying it years ago, and aren't saying it now, how else do you judge what they're looking for? Do you look for what they're investing in? color.com, anyone? Yes, that's a below-the-belt blow, but no moreso than comparing every new startup to facebook/google in terms of potential revenue/marketshare/eyeballs/etc.

Yes, "build something that people want and make revenue from it". Yes, we get it. That's sane business sense. But we don't see enough of those smaller success stories in the press. Billion dollar valuations of projects that haven't even opened yet suck most of the air out of the room, and everyone else who gets to ramen-profitable (or before) seems they need to get heard by stating (what should be and is the) obvious, but they're largely preaching to the choir here.
They also work. The Tesla valve allows a fair amount of bleed through, and unlike valves with moving parts you can't prevent that from stacking them. In other words it becomes less efficient as the presser differential decreases.
I have come to suspect that all the free beers/macs/ping-pong exists so that the line between work and home gets blurred and you can work longer hours. But if you are applying to work in a startup you probably already know about the long hours.

The apply-via-API could backfire since the company loses talent that isn't motivated to jump through all those hoops. It should be interesting to see the results of their API hiring.
I think what I was trying to get at is that when I was younger, I looked up to certain bearded "wise men" and professors as archetypal "guides" or role models or whatever, but that was a mistake. Now that I am a bit older, I realize that it was wrong for me to look up to such men while ignoring others because by emulating the "wise man" directly I might have "skipped" a very important stage in a man's life: adulthood, when you're strong, aggressive, competitive, and otherwise awesome.

It is my philosophy that one should go through all stages in life in order, otherwise one will never be happy, though timing is not as important as order. I've seen old people get bitter and resentful when they see youth partying and going out -- because they themselves had never done so when they were young.

One of my favorite quotes from Nietzsche (though this guy also had a messed-up/nonexistent sex life): "Man is something to be surpassed, but only a buffoon thinks that man can be overleapt." Surpass but don't skip.
Dropbox has shown the huge need people have for their services. Why wouldn't the big guys (Apple, Google, MS) be compelled to now get in the game and make the investment in treating platforms other than their own as first-class citizens?
Ну ты даёшь! Ж)
For the most part, this didn't really start to shift until the late 80's I think.

I remember coming home from school to no parents till 7:30 or 8:00, running around as I wished (within some very loose limits several miles across), playing with friends etc.

"Be home by dark" and "let us know where you'll be" were pretty much the only rules.

When I was in middle school my parents moved from the apartment complex I grew up in to a house in the country...sometime in the late 80s, but my school was back in a local small city. The first day at school, I left school to walk to the local mall where my parents would pick me up after work and the principal nearly had a heart attack. "But he has to cross 4 or 5 intersections!" "What if something happened?!" My parents were non-plussed, but unfortunately relented, and for the rest of the year I paid $5 for a taxi to drive me 4 blocks to the mall. It felt ridiculous.

None of the other parents thought it was unusual.

Today? There's two bus stops on my street. One for the middle school that's less than a quarter mile away and one street crossing over, and for the high school that's less than a half mile away and one street crossing over -- both have clear pedestrian walks and lights.

They stand there, 20 or 30 minutes waiting for the noisy bus to pick them up, then make 3 or 4 more stops, then drive the quarter of half mile to their schools where they're dumped off.

I don't even know what to say when I leave for work and see the lot of them huddled there waiting to be shuttled the minimal distance that they all run and walk and play after school anyways.
I like what you're saying. I'll investigate his claims with more patience and read around some more. Thank you.
It's a cool idea, but you might want to just build it with a traditional valve. I think the Tesla valve relies on moving fluid. If you just submerged it half way water would leak out in the wrong direction. So it won't work well for applications in the style of Maxwell's Demon.
I, too, am young, with a couple years of experience at Well Known Company, hacking away on a somewhat cool project, working at 25% potential, paying my bills and saving some cash. But I am adopting a whole different mindset when thinking long-term future. Wife, children, cars, house, tuition, vacations, etc. There's a whole lot that doesn't make sense about working at Well Known Company for some salary. It's one of the reasons why I spend most of my nights programming and building things that will hopefully generate passive income, or even spawn a business. That's the only way I can see being able to work at 100% potential. That's what makes sense.
Maybe if your life is so awful that you want to obliviate it, you should change it instead of drinking.
I have the gotten the same impression from my wife, who is British. While the typical Brit doesn't go through the same sort of binge period in college, they tend to get drunk much more often throughout life. It's pretty much the norm to go to a family social gathering where everyone gets drunk or near drunk (including the 60+ year old grandfather). In fact, it's considered very odd (even anti-social) to not drink.
I think your brand of humor is a little too subtle, haha.
What about Facebook is not open? Facebook.com can be reached from any computer with an Internet connection. The content is standards-compliant HTML, CSS, and Javascript, delivered via standards-compliant TCP/IP. Anyone can create an account. Anyone can interact with anyone else, provided they mutually agree to do so.

The content is not indexable by search engines--true. But, while that is obviously a problem for search engine companies, that doesn't mean it's not "open."

In terms of getting data out, I had every piece of data I entered into Facebook before I entered it. I have my personal info. My photos and videos were on my cameras, phones, or computers before I uploaded them. The links I posted were in my browser history first. My comments were in my head before I typed them out.

Sure I don't have an easy way to export my friends' data, but that is not my data--it's theirs. Anyway if they are really my friends I can just ask them for their email address or phone number or whatever.

What am I missing? Facebook is a website that requires authentication to use certain features. So is scobleizer.com.
Also, nostalgic about mad men? Like when you were still allowed to treat women as things and get drunk at work? Quite the sob story.
Once a week there is a post on HN where I fail to understand how it got so up-voted. This is that post. If not for the moderate condescension and proselytism, I wouldn't think much of it; instead, I've become inspired to comment.

OP probably does feel more "fun" in a given month than most of us. But the article comes across as though the reader has never experienced such a life.

A lot of us have - in our teenage years. The life of skinny dipping, cross-dressing, and acting like an idiot, all without the aid of alcohol, aptly describes my own. Sure, those times were fun, perhaps among the most fun of my life. But a lot of that fun came from both their novelty and ignorance of the perhaps more enjoyable adult fun (alcohol, sex). Unfortunately, as life went on, those activities grew mundane. (Besides, one seeks higher levels of happiness as he ages, for instance the self-actualization that comes with building a successful business). In a sense, I envy the author's enjoying such activities at 30 as much as a teen would. Why he thinks he is able to would make a great follow-up blog post. Most of society after all shifts to the "adult fun".

On another note, the extremism of the post bothers me. The author equates drinking alcohol with getting drunk. Which of course excessive consumption causes. But I can certainly remember everything if I consume just a few shots, but those said shots certainly make the world around me seem much more entertaining.
Dear god no. As an employee, learn how to negotiate and get raises. Ramit Sethi's book I Will Teach You To Be Rich contains an excellent guide to asking for a raise, which I personally used to secure an 80% raise at a previous job.
I know - I mean they had an Atomic Energy Lab for kids, how cool is that? http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/atomictoys/GilbertU238Lab...
Cool, I have my own stalker! And a grumpy old white man at that!!
A browser extension would be really useful.
Similarly, we concatenate our JS with sprockets[0] -- so what's on line 50 of module.js in the pre-compiled code base may be on line 1350 of app.js in the browser.

0 : https://github.com/sstephenson/sprockets
Thank you for taking the time to share your advice. Let me see if I can summarize your main points, and reply to them under my summaries.

1) Think of yourself as a startup, not a freelancer preparing for a startup.

Agreed! I think on hacker news people get touchy if you call yourself a startup when you're really just starting consulting. However, in my mind, I see my company's product as myself, and I'm trying to create a minimum viable product this year.

2) Don't grok HTML/CSS or Linux, but do learn enough to get by. Do learn JS really well.

Point taken.

3) Move somewhere cheaper.

I might be wrong on this, but I'm determined to make it while living in SF. Others have done it, I will too. If I am wrong, I will go back to temping, save again, and maybe consider moving to Tahiti the second time around.

I'm curious to know your story of starting up in SE Asia, what you did, what it was like, how things worked out.

4) Consider ditching Python web apps, learn PHP and how to configure CMSes like Wordpress, Drupal, etc. It's faster route to getting paid.

Half the people I've talked to say "PHP + CMS!". Half say "Python and Framework!". I suppose I have some time to think about this more, while I get focus on building the fundamentals of my site.

6) Hustle, not programming language, influences pay most. So hustle.

Definitely.

7) Consider skipping portfolio-building, start making and selling small products to turn immediate profit instead.

Definitely keeping that in mind. My ultimate goal is to build products anyways, but I don't yet have the confidence to trust that I can build my ideas, let alone than anyone will want them. However, I do feel like I can build little websites for people, and sell those. So that feels like a safer option. But I am keeping myself open to other approaches, my plan is merely an outline and a starting point. I'm sure as I become more proficient, I'll start seeing product ideas within my means to execute that might be worth risking a little time to build.

8) Be flexible and creative with business models e.g. consider outsourcing.

I understand what risks I'm comfortable taking, and which I'm not. I'll only feel comfortable outsourcing work that I can do myself. That way I can take responsibility in case the work isn't done correctly, by fixing it myself, esp when there isn't money to hire someone to fix the mistake for me. But that is a quibble. There would be situations where such an arrangement could work out, and I agree with the spirit of what you're saying.

9) Consider joining a web dev shop

That's an interesting suggestion. Would a web dev shop would take someone without a portfolio? Honest question, I've never tried to join one.

There are temp agencies in SF that specialize in placing web developers. I've considered going to my current temp agency later this year, and asking them to place me in whatever work they can find, on the basis of my fledgling portfolio. Not the same as joining a web dev shop, but similar idea of joining an agency that finds clients and matches my skills to projects in exchange for a cut.

Thanks again for all your advice, I really appreciate you taking the time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion_Markup_Language
(((0!)+(0!))^((0!)+(0!)))!
=(2^2)!
=4!
=24
Every search I try it gives me the colours for Hacker News :(

I can see why this would be very useful (instead of trawling through the CSS with dev tools or using a colourpicker)

- On closer inspection, it looks like it's always returning the colours for the first search I made, whichever that is..

(Chrome latest on Mac)
>doesn't use internet

Linus Torvalds warned you: This man is insane.
tl;dr: "They're all using H1-B visas to take jobs away from citizens! Well, except for me, that is. My case was special. But the rest of them are all job thieves!"
+1 for alerting me to the term "grinfucking" with references. Excellent post!
Imagine the Roger Ebert of programming...
Why the false dichotomy? The author seems to imply that the alternatives are 1) never touching a drop of alcohol, or 2) getting blind drunk, being incapable of controlling your actions, and blacking out. There are some good points in there about how you shouldn't "need" alcohol, and arguments against getting totally wasted, but he seems to be completely ignoring a huge, huge middle ground.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm

Also, you might want to look into some of the studies which show the link between one's inability to recognize sarcasm and dementia.
Not only that. I've met 'old' (as in, 50+) programmers that were incredibly good.

These guys were programming assembly at the same age we started programming in BASIC (or Python/Ruby or whatever kids start programming in nowadays). I've never heard one of them complaining about how confusing pointers are, or wondering why is it that, although their structure is clearly X bytes big, allocating Y consumes more than X*Y memory.

Age in engineering is a completely irrelevant topic. Sure, old timers are more unlikely to adopt Node.js as their framework, but in general they don't because of the right reasons, not just because they are being backwards.
What if your startup sells something besides ad impressions?
I'd respond to the author if I could but the article is from 2007 and comments are closed.

The author tends to cite jobs in law and finance as better routes of work. I'd disagree. Only graduated recently (2010) but I went to a T[op]14 school. I've since worked at two small law firms (personal injury and foreclosure) and also abroad as a financial analyst for a real estate division of a conglomerate in Asia. I'll try to be short about my points.

1. While law and finance don't necessarily suffer from the same knowledge turnover rate as programming, they do suffer typecast-inducing problems. Lateral movement among subfields is extremely difficult. This becomes a bigger problem if the first field you land in is meant to be a stepping stone.

2. Prestige is bullshit. I've associated with V5 lawyers and Bulge Bracket bankers. Very few of them are not socially awkward. You may hear rumors about "models and bottles," but rest assured, it's mostly just bottles.

3. Foreignization is a growing concern for law and automation has been a huge concern for finance for a while. There are various work arounds to the rules regarding unauthorized practice of law. As for finance, there are a few small documentaries lamenting the fall of the floor trader. Guess who's been replacing them?

4. Management roles are nearly ubiquitous. That said, you do get escalating responsibilities in law. The problem is, will you last the grind leading up to it? A good friend of mine once messaged me while I was working abroad. It was 2a.m. in NY at the time. He told me his entire week was spent indenting, printing out, and placing into a folder a table of contents for a case. Among my friends, he's at the best law firm out of all of us.

5. Conditions in law and finance are part of the golden handcuffs you graduate with. They're good, no doubt, but they come at the price of lots of hours. Those who work in law are at the mercy of clients. Same could be said about finance in some areas.

I responded to this, not to say that a career in computer programming doesn't suck. It might. But the grass is always greener on the other side, and from where I'm standing, my lawn is looking pretty brown. I responded because I disagree with the underlying message: you are better off getting a law or finance job through a law degree or MBA. Degrees aren't measures of success and they aren't golden tickets to it either. There are pros and cons to every career path. Just have to figure out where, for you personally, the former will outweigh the latter.

TL;DR: law and finance sucks too. But in the end it all comes down to personal preference.
I think it was less based on the actual Mad Men tv show, and more based on vague cultural ideas about what the 50's and 60's were like.
Similar views here. For me it's beer - I've just never, ever liked the taste of beer. I think I've have 3 beers in my entire life, generally as the result of awkwardly forced social situations where it was easier to have a few sips than to make a bigger issue out of it than I wanted to.

Wine? A glass now or then with a particular meal, it's OK. Spirits? Some vodka with OJ can give me a small buzz which, in some ways, can be relaxing for a while. These are the '1-2x a year' sorts of drinks, but never really for the taste of it.

But... beer. Of any sort. I've just never understood the fascination with it. It all tastes gross. It's probably saved me a small fortune compared to some of my friends over the years, and I'm sure I'm (a bit) healthier because of it, although I still eat junk food, so it's not all unicorns and rainbows on that score :)
Question about rss feed
When I click on a link from the hacker news rss feed in my feed reader, it goes directly to the site someone submitted for a url. Is there an rss feed that goes to the comments for a post instead? Like how reddit works?
Yet another sass/css converter and minifier.
There are worse things:

http://www.jwz.org/blog/2012/02/confiscating-your-ice-cream-...
The Programmer's Bias
How we sent 1.2 million pixels to players of our HTML5 game
On the other hand, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosy_retrospection
Regulating food safety might be reasonable, but none of the regulations being discussed are related to food safety.

(At least, I don't think they are. Is a toaster in a coffee shop somehow unsanitary?)
Cl-active-variables - Common Lisp variables with read/write callbacks
Sure, I'll do a post like that :) Seems like a good idea, thanks for giving it to me.
If it's a Windows machine, I would recommend Microsoft Security Essentials. It's surprisingly good.
I’d make the case that it’s better to hire the 27-year-old because he is still at the stage of his career where he enjoys the stuff and is therefore more motivated to learn and work harder, while the 60-year-old is surely bitter about the fact that he’s getting paid less than the younger programmers.

When do you think was the last time the author actually spoke to a 60-year-old?