skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Fair enough, looks like we're in agreement. Oh, and I'll be stealing some of your arguments here next time I'm talking to my swiss friend who supports the Socialist party (not sure how socialist they actually are, but anyway that's what they're called). :)

I too think it would be a good idea to have every individual required to have their own insurance (or the government pays for those who can't) in the US, but first something has to be done about the corruption. I didn't deal with a lot of insurance companies while I lived/worked there, but from the ones I did, more than half tried all kinds of things to get out of paying claims.
Be careful - if you hose out early model Elements, you'll short out the engine computer (which isn't in a sealed container even though the floor looks hoseable).
No, we don't, but maybe we should. Why should somebody who can't afford software not be allowed to have it?
Why should someone who can't afford to have a house not be allowed to have it? Oh wait....
A Christmas iFart explosion: Nearly 40,000 downloads and $30,000 net
Digital TV Standards: DVB-T, ATSC, ISDB-T
I agree. And universal subsidies for care without addressing the incentive problems in the markets aren't going to help matters.
Plus they must get a decent amount of traffic from mistyped URLs in IE - I've ended up at live.com a couple of times while trying to test some XHTML/CSS/JS in IE.
It's very simple: for bigger company piracy is more like a form of advertising, but for a small one it can actually hurt and kill the small guys.
I spend money on movies and games and don't pirate software, but...

There is a finite patent of prescription drugs so over time they go to their marginal cost. Anyway, I see little advantage to extending copy write on games over 7 years. The idea that you can make money selling copy's of something who's author died 65 years ago seems stupid. Society decided to extended copy write protection to promote people making things, pretending it has value beyond that is silly.

PS: I hereby copy write every number from 1 to (12345 ^ 12345)^ 12345 converted to binary, which covers every software that is ever going to be produced until the end of time. Now pay me money.
These insights were key pieces of the reasoning behind the HSA program, and most of the Republican Presidential candidates' health proposals, all of which were roundly ridiculed because team Red is out of fashion this year.
I think it's easy for people to grow complacent with their habits and lives. You never know what you're missing until it's gone, or so the saying goes.
Pirating software is not 'stealing' by legal definition or any other one. It is also not an issue of morality or ethics. If you cannot make money selling your software because everybody pirates it and nobody wants to buys it you are not a victim. You have simply chosen a failed business model.
The poster's profile suggests that he lives in Phoeniz, AZ, so snow isn't an issue unless he skiis. Heat, however, is.

For pure transportation, it's hard to beat the old model Scion xB. It's cheap, reliable, good on gas (I average 35 highway and city unless I drive 80), and has insane amounts of space. If you want more 50% power, get the newer model. (It's geared higher so you don't lose a lot of gas mileage.)

Yes, the old xB is fun to drive.

You can get the newer one new for well under $20. The older one used should be around $10k or maybe less.

So if you insist on spending $50k, you'll have $30-40k left to spend on a toy, your biz, a down-payment, etc.
That's interesting. The reason I wrote a post about it, though, is because it seems somewhat disturbing/alarming to me. I think many first time startup founders have a very visceral, almost animal-like feeling that if they make it big and become a multimillionaire, their problems will be solved and they will have won the game.

It doesn't appear this is the case though. In fact, some of the people I have met have told me they felt worse after succeeding the first time. To quote one of them, who said he got bored:

"I actually learned this lesson even before I had any disposable income by playing the Sims. I cheated and had loads of cash. Made my house amazing, etc. But everybody was still unhappy and there was nothing left to do in the game."

It's good to see the post below by lionhearted, but I get the feeling that isn't a common occurrence.
Probably because the whole world is tired of listening to RMS blather on about what he thinks is ethical (the rhetoric on his website) and what he thinks is not ethical (every other opinion).
I used to work in automated surveillance.

Studies show a trained operator will miss 90% of events looking at a single feed after just 20 minutes. It's even worse over a longer time and over multiple camera feeds.

No one is really watching.

Once automated surveillance gets better, that won't be the case at all. The systems are only currently useful for after-the-fact forensics.
It's not technically called "stealing", but license infringement.

You should tell all brick and morter retail stores to get rid of their cameras, security and other security measures. If people are not willing to pay for their products and instead chose to just steal them they have obviously a failed business model.

Seriously, are you taking the piss?
He is Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Web sites count as media.
In response to the blue/pink thing, there's always some set of societal discriminators between boys and girls (and later, between men and women), and to a one, they seem to me to be completely arbitrary. Shoulder pads, now a staple of women's fashion, didn't use to be such http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoulder_pads_(fashion) , and long hair used to be seen as dreadfully un-masculine.

Frankly, I like to try and buck this kind of thing. I have long hair (longer than most of the women I know), and carry around a pink DS... not much, but it's a start.
I agree, the design for these pages are all excellent.
mod_fcgid (note the 'd' at the end) actually worked, and works pretty well. I only just now migrated away from it in favor of Passenger, which is easier to configure and has most of the same advantages, as well as being more actively developed.
INTJs are like that too, but they see the whole picture and still want to push the product to completion. Contrary to INTPs, they are not satisfied with just solving the technical problem, they want some elegant closure as a whole through deployment. But they still have a hard time completing those last little tasks to cross the finish line, because it's already crossed in their head through their vision.
They monitor(ed) the CCTV footage on the spot?

Jesus, that makes it even worse. The only places I've heard that at is high-security corporate and military locations. Certainly not town squares.
I see your point and I agree that inefficient resource allocation doesn't suddenly turn into a benefit just because not everything that has come out of a bubble is completely worthless. It's less efficient than it could have been.

But the question is whether some of the good things that are created inefficiently in a bubble would have been created at all without a bubble. Some things might never have happened without bubbles because only competely reckless behaviour could lead to the kind of massive momentum needed for some kinds of changes.

Would web applications be mainstream today without the .com bubble? Or would we have this debate inside Microsoft Outlook?

What about revolutions in general? Can every revolution be replaced by evolution?
> For example, in the UK anyone can challenge a patent without having to go to court.

As can anyone in the US. One of the procedures is a petition for reexamination.

The US patent system has problems, but if you're going to suggest changes, it's good form to know how it actually works.
If it's just as easy why doesn't it happen? From what I've seen, companies seem to only challenge patents in court.
All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection http://www.dmst.aueb.gr/dds/pubs/inbook/beautiful_code/html/...
I believe in competent government. I believe in getting what you pay for. I believe that I have huge advantages as an American because of past capital investment in this country, but those advantages are becoming more and more likely to disappear as capital becomes global and mobile and the cost of doing business here increases.

Finally, I believe that any business that can afford to do so can instantly increase its profit by 25% simply by moving to Ireland. That's my strongest belief of all, simply because it's based on running the tax numbers.
i like trout for older products / media and godin for newer
I don't think beating Google is all about "server hardware efficiency". I'm not sure how they sold VCs on this concept.

It is about creating result sets so amazing that you pick up your phone and tell your friends and family about it.
> This is submarine-ary of the first order.

The term submarine patent is typically used for a patent application where the applicant delayed issuance and kept amending the application until a worthwhile target appeared. Without looking at the application, I can't say whether that's true in this case.

However, US patent law changed some time ago to limit the value of this strategy. It used to be that the 20 year term started when the patent issued. Now patents expire 20 years after application, even if they're not issued until 10-15 years after application.
>"But more importantly, he fails to aknowledge the roads he takes to work, the water he drinks, the electricity, the schools he went to.... you get the idea."

All paid for by local taxes and usage fees.

Now what, exactly, does he get for the 40% of his income that he sends to the federal government?
That's an interesting question too, but not really related to what I was asking and probably off-topic for this thread.

I'm serious.

If somebody has no money and wants to use some expensive commercial software, what is the cost to the copyright owner of letting them use of that software for free?

None at all? Maybe even less than that?

Now what is the benefit to that person and to society in general?
How World of Warcraft Translates to Social Media Prowess
The McCain plan was an attempt to equalize the tax incentives facing individuals and large businesses looking to buy a health insurance plan, thus severing the tight link between employment and health care which hinders potential startup founders. Obama's plan, as far as I can tell, is "more subsidies".
What, pray tell, is this "PC establishment?" It is odd to see such a concept invoked to defend a set of societal stereotypes, when "PC" is intended to raise images of, well, societal stereotypes. As other commenters have pointed out, the blue/pink thing is relatively recent, so it can't be "anti-PC" to insist that blue and pink are somehow inherently tied to gender.

Really, what it comes down to in my book isn't that people are equal because it's politically correct, or even that people are equal at all. It's that we should judge people for their acts, not their gender, race, sexual orientation or whatever else. If a particular woman is worse at mathematics than average, then so be it. If another particular woman is better than average, let's celebrate that for what it is.
Not true - their results would need to be substantially better than google to get people to navigate away from their iGoogle pages, add firefox search widgets, etc. Acceptable doesn't change user behavior.
Ogilvy on Advertising. It's the Kernighan and Ritchie / TAOCP of advertising.

http://www.amazon.com/Ogilvy-Advertising-David/dp/039472903X...

David Ogilvy came up with a lot of the ideas, terminology and concepts of modern ad compaigns. He's also the one who said "The consumer is not a moron, she is your wife." - a truth that technical people are often slower to pick up than the rest of the population.

And this gem: "Always hold your sales meetings in rooms too small for the audience, even if it means holding them in the WC. 'Standing room only' creates an atmosphere of success, as in theatres and restaurants, while a half-empty auditorium smells of failure."

Ogilvy also coined a hundred slogans you know - 'only Dove is one quarter moisturizing cream'. His surname's already in your spell checker.

If you're interested in examples of inspiring communication created by advertising experts, check our Paul Arden's works, such as 'It's not how good you are , it's how good you want to be'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ogilvy
Meh, in the case of music and games, I know a lot of people who pirate as a "try before you buy" type of thing, and then shell out the cash for the product if they think it's worth it.

I do this with music (I recently dropped illegal art a sum of money equal to what I've downloaded due to Girl Talk and a few other awesome artists on that label).
Exactly. My goals are more modest than yours so it is harder for me to perceive failure.
A group of us had a space in Seattle and the cost ended up being $150 / month / person. That got us maybe 2000 sq feet of basement space. People used it as a project space, party space, and work space.

I think a few things in particular made it work:
- A bunch of people who wanted to work on projects together and could come down for weekly meetings.
- A few people willing to take on administrative responsibilities (collecting rent, thinking about organizational structure, etc).
- The cool-factor of having a hacker space (there weren't many others at that point)

We eventually closed it down when everyone's lives got busy but it was a great run.
I guess it's the best piracy policy precisely because it totally ignores piracy.
Well, this is the problem. There is the cost and the perceived cost. And, right or wrong, the perceived cost ends up costing a lot of people. Usually the ones who are actually paying for the product (that useless country code thing on DVDs has got to be one of the most asinine wastes of time ever).

I don't know what the answer is. Personally if the software does what I need but is more then I can/am willing pay I seek a free alternative. If that didn't exist, I'm not sure what I would do since as far as I remember that situation hasn't happened to me yet.
>The members of Cuil have profited, learned and lost nothing - in other words, they are in an enviable position.

that's exactlythe problem, imho. the world is fucked up.
everyone should watch the movie idiocracy....that's where we are heading at breakneck speeds
Tools To Use - Tip’d, a Financial Social News Service
Fairpoint Pledges To Violate Net Neutrality
I started playing SimCity and Lemmings when I was just a sprite (my mother was as obsessed as I was at two), which put my best foot forward in systems thinking. Then I was on to SimEarth, the Island of Dr. Brain, the Incredible Machine, Railroad Tycoon, Theme Park and Civilization. I played Nethack: it was exciting because the graphics were simple enough (heh) that it seemed like I could do it on my own.

Then there was a 'game maker' video game that I forget, and the I played Cyberstorm but my first experience really doing coding was in making levels in Warcraft 2 and Starcraft with heavy use of the trigger system. Then I got 3D Studio Max, and learned MaxScript as my first serious programming language, but my machine was so underpowered I didn't end up making many scenes, just models. (I learned a lot about NURBS, though!)

The games that really had the most effect on me were Alpha Centauri and Sacrifice. Alpha Centauri was amazing from a game standpoint, but what really hooked me was the science, philosophy: in essence, literary merit. Every technological advance was at least plausible, but included a wonderful quote from one of the main characters, or a famous philosopher or scientist from our past. It was this game that really immersed me in our intellectual history, and held me fast to science.

Sacrifice was a beautiful game. There was a big map making contest run, and I poured myself into it. I couldn't legally compete (I was 12) but Shiny let me anyway, despite the objections of some of the other competitors. Of the 21 finalist maps, 4 of my maps were there :-) I got fourth place, and I won a nice sound system which I gave to my brother. It was the first creative endeavor where I competed and won against those much older than me, and it was a lot of fun to make things and win something. And people played my maps for a looong time :-)
Everything I Know About Business I Learned From Poker
>You can be sure that the $33 million of VC will get put to good use - new swimming pools, private jets, etc.

so, that's what you call "success"? It almost seems like, by your standards, Google's founders, who took in less money and worked their asses to buy themselves a plane after 10 years of incredibly hard work, are probably the ones who "failed"...
I'm wondering how accurate this article is. I'm an iPhone developer, and the iTunes connect website where you monitor your download statistics has been down since the 24th for a 4 day scheduled outage. It's still down now: http://itunesconnect.apple.com/. I can't see any possible way they could know how many downloads they've had.
I suspect the revenue will continue to spike over the next few weeks as new iPhone/iTouch owners get acquainted with their devices.

I also suspect that with these numbers an iBelch app must be in the works.
I have to say that the security feature of the app appeals to me somehow. If I had an iPhone I might buy iFart just for that. It certainly gives new meaning to the phrase "someone ripped off my iPhone..." anyway.
Agreed. But I sure wish I had their marketing team working for me - 5 million views the first month for a piece of crap like that is no small achievement.
For that I wouldn't call them failures. Slow learners maybe.
I sure do. In fact I'd written GND in my mind. But much like trying to write 'Linus' and not 'Linux', you have to really concentrate not to follow capital g, capital n, with capital u. :^)
Well, it does happen sometimes. It's very cheap and easy to file a patent reexamination. You just need to dig up some prior art, pay about $2000 and you're good to go. You can even do this as a defense against an infringement allegation and if you're lucky the court will suspend proceedings pending the outcome of the reexamination.

The hard part is knowing in advance what frivolous bullshit patent the trolls are going to throw at you.
Good catch; nonetheless, they aren't saying we're spending less on Christmas presents than we did in say, 1950.
Too bad they weren't working for you because I think Cuil would be better off if no one had heard of them yet. Five million people now know they are really shitty. They have to work extra hard to get those people back. It's like having a store's grand opening event with empty shelves.
I'm now 21, but I got started on computers mostly from the gaming, I started playing The Adventures of Ducktales when I was 8 or so. I also played Codename Iceman, Ultima, King's Quest, and a lot of older games. I got further hooked by Westwood Chat and their games, like C&C and Red Alert. By the time I was 9 or 10 I started doing HTML on an Angelfire. I thought IRC was pretty cool, so instead of pulling the wings off butterflies, I went around randomly k-lining people when I was about 11 years old ;) I made a terrible sysop/server admin.

Eventually got into programming with a friend in middle school with a Borland C++ compiler. I got caught in middle school trying to get into the grading system and changing admin passwords (I actually didn't get caught, a friend ratted me out who got caught). I took a break from the stupid connotation of "hacker" (the 'Zero Cool' sense that is) and resorted back to online game hacks and web coding. Started looking towards entrepreneurship at about the time I was leaving high school, when I started doing contract work.
Customers proactively chase mint.com for UK version.
You want to move to Iceland with me and do some economics? We're going to need 5 or 6 really nice aluminum briefcases full of cash.
One way to gauge whether you're doing well: customers are chasing you for product.

Scroll down a page. Since September, the thread has been taken over by people interested in Mint submitting their details for a (completely unannounced) UK beta release, asking themselves to be added to the list if and when it happens.
It's an inside/outside effect. From the outside, business success / influential job / speaking at conferences / being a published author / whatever looks glamorous and amazing, if not a little touched by destiny.

Then you get in there and realize it's full of regular people who are petty, short-sighted, don't work very hard, make mistakes, have personal issues, got where they were with lots of luck, and so on. Just like you. And it doesn't really change your life that much. From the inside, it's not nearly so amazing as it seemed to the outsider you were.

But while disillusioned you is no longer an outsider, there are tons of other outsiders remaining, gazing at you the way you once gazed at your now-equals -- and because you now know that this jealousy/esteem/worship/whatever is unfounded, you feel unworthy of these emotions directed at you and seek to justify or earn them.

It's kinda like finding out that the hero you idolize is in fact an alcoholic and kicks his cat, only that hero is you.

Taken to extremes, this totally normal phenomenon becomes a psychological condition called "imposter syndrome."
There's going to be some growth due to population increases.
Selgin and White wrote some papers in defense of the gold standard. Hayek was sympathetic to a commodity standard, though not the classical gold standard per se.

The gold standard, having been around for 2,000 years, is the constant subject of serious study by economists.
The New York Times Rolls Its Own Map Mashup: Represent
We are the water cooler we want to see: 2009 will be the end of the echo chamber.
you ever notice how people who save others and are interviewed afterward are so humble? "oh no, I'm not a hero. I just did what anyone would do" after pulling babies from a house fire or something. Now I know they do this partly because it is expected. But screw that. If I ever do something that is widely recognized I will be just like Mike Tyson on the subject. "Thank you for the acclaim that I've always known I deserve! You should all feel grateful to be in the same room of someone as awesome as me!"

This might be part of the reason that I won't be successful. My personality type does not often become successful (at least not wildly so).
Cringely: The Missing Link
Roads are about 1% of all taxes... Your tax dollars are paying for a massive war and a massive bailout.
Yes, and you should read a little less Ayn Rand and broaden the thoughts you allow yourself to think =P.
Yes, they blew a huge opportunity - they would have benefited from waiting. But, assuming they haven't burned through their $33 million nest egg, if they spend wisely they could bring their numbers up and at the same time work on improving their algorithms. They still potentially have a huge cushion. The judgement they have displayed until now does not bode well for a comeback however.
they might have bought it next year.
>Caffeine, sugar, salt and all unhealthy foods are now banished from my diet.

I hope he meant "unhealthy levels of salt" and not just "salt".
"If successful, the experiment will mark the first step towards building a practical nuclear fusion power station and a source of almost limitless energy."
When I was 5, my dad bought a TRS-80 Model III. He bought several programming books and I'd pick out a program and he'd type it in for me.

I made the connection that typing in programs equaled fun.

Eventually, he found a book for me that had very simple programs and I start with my first print/loop program -- and I was hooked immediately. The programming became more entertaining than the game!

I could control the computer. I loved it. And have continued to love the "game" ever since!