skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I honestly wonder if leaving the country helps in situations like this.

Seriously.
I would have thought inadvertent trademark infringement is unlikely to lead to any damages. I would feel the other party would have to show continued use after some prior cease and desist (or agreement between the parties a year ago) and also shown they had financially suffered a a result.
Where do you get bottles for free?
Everyone should tweet about this and make sure to include their twitter handles: @WhosHere and @lightbank
Show HN: MNDR's MIDI Synced Rainbow Box
Prismatic Integrates Google Reader
General advice for legal questions: it's fine to ask these sorts of questions, but please, for the love of god, don't listen to anyone who isn't a lawyer or who hasn't gone through something very similar to what you're going through. And, even in those cases, take their advice with a HUGE grain of salt. (If you disagree, please see below, where OP is variously advised to (1) commit unlicensed practice of law [serious repercussions], (2) commit fraud, (3) waste money, and (4) likely destroy his own case.)

As a lawyer (who doesn't have anywhere near enough facts to give you anything close to competent advice), my advice is to find a lawyer to represent you. If you can't afford one, try the EFF or similar organizations. If they won't take you, find a legal clinic nearby. If you're in the bay area, you have have two of the best lawschools in the country within bicycling distance of you (UC Hastings isn't half bad either...). They have legal clinics, generally led by highly respected and knowledgeable faculty that are happy to have cases like this.

Unless you really don't want to fight this, go get a lawyer who knows what he's doing. If you don't want to spend a lot of energy, possibly a lot of time, and likely some money, just roll over now. But, don't half-ass it and try to do this yourself. By blowing at least two deadlines, you've already shown you're not up for it.
You've posted two negative comments thus far. Your point is valid that one must hear both sides. Are you affiliated with either party?

Disclaimer: I'm a random HN reader who has done work in the area of location aware computing. I have no connection with either party.
And that's why it's not a business. Just a temporary solution for movie lovers until content owners get their stuff straight.

In the meantime, it's still a great product building experience for us, even if we make $0 out of it.
Well, unless Mom and Pop are running a secret nuclear facility in their basement.
What is your revenue model, how do you plan on paying said layers?
REMOTE/NYC, INTERN

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Combat Summer Learning Loss
Heh, I went back and forth between highlighting the "can" in my post. I think you can make a great case that they do not do all the things they could be doing, and there's been rather more focus on the sort of things that have produced bloatware rather than better virus scanning.

But it should be pointed out that in the arms race it should generally be expected that the mid-level underground is always pretty much exactly one step ahead of Symantec etc. It's the nature of the arms race that they are in that the attackers have the temporal advantage. The question is less about whether a given technique works today and more about how long it works. The big advantage an intelligence agency and a large attacker has that doesn't apply to the mid-level underground is that their malware won't (or shouldn't) be detected by the various early-detection techniques that the anti-virus companies have, because they aren't necessarily just going to release their stuff into any place the antivirus company will see. Ideally, they'll simply never see it, which is why its interesting when these "escape".
A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy [2005]
I'd pay 5-10 bucks for a high-quality mp4 or mkv, even if the site's interface was terrible. Right now I rent movies, about once a year. I find myself wanting to buy them online once or twice a month.
Carolyn Everson: Facebook's Secret Weapon
Online Commerce Group is looking for a PHP developer in Montgomery, AL.

Job Description and Responsibilities
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Desired Technical Skills

+ Object oriented design, design patterns, and data structures

+ Experience with PHP

+ Strong demonstrated RDBS experience with at least one of the following: SQL Server, Oracle, or MySQL

+ Working knowledge of at least one JavaScript framework (eg: Prototype.js, jQuery) along with strong Ajax experience is a plus

+ Experience working with a version control system; GitHub is a plus

+ Experience in releasing a software related package

Ideal candidates are those who possess the following attributes:

+ Those who are PASSIONATE about their work and desire to learn and grow in their craft

+ Those who think outside the box of conventional thinking

+ Those asking and answering the question: “How can we make this easier to use?”

+ Those who love semantics and well-structured code

+ Looking to bring networking and connectivity to the current team

+ Those with great character who are servants to those around them

+ Those who believe the impossible is possible

E-mail justin@onlinecommercegroup.com if interested.
SEEKING WORK - San Francisco, CA or Remote

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Not sure where you're situated but I met a founder of upcounsel.com last night which specialize in affordable outsourcing of startup legals. It seems timely that I just came across these guys, so may be worth a try?
Full-Time/Part-Time Co-Founder Dynamics
Anarchist isn't a slur, it's a family of political philosophies. People call themselves anarchists, but "complete and utter morons," not so much.
In pypy, __del__ isn't called at all for this example, unless you force the garbage collector to run with gc.collect(). Very interesting post!
Definitely. We're thinking of open-sourcing it, but we want to clean it up first.

Just a Github button away...
The Facebook, Twitter, Google.. buttons hover over the text. Not everyone is surfing the web on a 32' monitor in full screen you know!
Monetize your social network enough to defend against threats like this. Otherwise, someone is going to steal your lunch.
The number of observed full moons is significantly greater than zero. In addition any prediction of the next full moon is verifiable within a few days. Finally, observations of the full moon do not depend on access to equipment not accessible to the general public.

In other words, in regards to the full moon I am not required to place my trust in others based upon their ritualistic training or privileged access to an unseen world.
The short answer is this: It's possible, but hard to pull off.

First, you would have to do some basic research on court filing procedures. It's not rocket science, but you can't just pop an envelope in the mail addressed to the judge.

Once you figure out how to file documents for the case, you need to determine what type of documents to file. E.g. a motion to dismiss might be appropriate if you think the claim is utterly bogus.

It can be "plain English," as Smattiso suggested, and indeed, judges always appreciate clarity. Legalese isn't required, but valid legal reasoning is. Contrary to popular belief, "legal reasoning" doesn't have to be arcane. It's pretty much just a matter of using everyday logic to apply legal principles to the facts of the case.

It's a lot like learning to program. There's no magic involved. It's just a matter of reading the relevant documentation, looking at examples, and using your innate reasoning abilities to put something together in accordance with the rules. And yet, as with programming, reasoning and writing about the law take practice to do well. You can hack together a simple CRUD app with zero programming experience and a lot of motivation. But you wouldn't want to bet your entire net worth on it. Likewise for legal writing. You can spend a few evenings of hard work learning the anatomy of a motion to dismiss and the basics of trademark law, and then you can write your motion. But I wouldn't do it if my personal finances were on the line.

In a situation such as the OP describes, there is an additional challenge. According to the OP, the plaintiff is using and perhaps abusing quirks of court procedure to his advantage. (I'm referring to the bit about default judgement and the alleged absence of certain documents.) That, too, could in principal be dealt with by a non-lawyer, but it would be quite difficult. You'd have to learn a great deal about the finer points of court procedure. This is especially difficult because it's not uniform across jurisdictions.

EDIT: You would also need to determine whether this would constitute unlicensed practice of law in your jurisdiction. Generally, you're allowed to represent yourself in court ("pro se.") But the rules about representing your business are a little more complicated. Sometimes it's OK, sometimes it's not.

So, yes, you can sometimes write something up and get a case dismissed without hiring a lawyer, provided you're willing to learn a great deal very quickly. But you'd be taking a tremendous risk. Probably not a good idea.

Just to be clear: I'm not at all recommending that the OP do this. I'm just answering the question posed in the parent comment. The OP really does need a lawyer, especially considering the plaintiff has allegedly shown a willingness to play procedural games.
This isn't battle-chat, jumping in is called a conversation. :)

I do not dispute anything you've said: enrichment is happening, Iran's government is adept at aggressive rhetoric, and Iran would be far better off militarily as a nuclear power. It would be rational for them to be one.

But nothing I have said is incorrect or an opinion. They do not have a nuke, they don't have remotely enough infrastructure or capability to get there anytime soon, and their enrichment activities are not resulting in weapons quality product. That multiple nations and media interests are claiming otherwise is unacceptable.

Their energy policy is not of any interest to me. I am interested in ending this war for the sake of peace.
I am not a lawyer but have been involved in various trademark registrations and disputes.

The trademark is for the concatenation 'whoshere'. Given that both are common words obvious to the topic I would have thought the interpretation would be very narrow and 'who's near me' is suitably different. I certainly don't think you should give in to their somewhat extortionate demands.
When you click on the Genre labels (like on the Moon page, for example), they don't take you anywhere. Is this feature in the works? I was expecting to be taken to a page listing all Thrillers or Dramas. The Genre titles look like links, too.
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`if not... else if not...`
Sounds like you could simplify that a lot by reversing the order of those statements:

http://i45.tinypic.com/votkcw.jpg
It concerns me that I'm attacked personally for advocating for common sense when it comes to the law. Being sued? Shut up. Don't post to HN. Don't comment on the case. Don't challenge the other party to Quake 3 on Twitter. Don't give people legal advice after saying "I'm not a lawyer and this isn't legal advice". Stop being stupid.

This advice transcends my allegiance, which is to nobody involved in this discussion (and which doesn't matter at all, frankly), and I'm annoyed that you think I'm stupid enough to involve myself in something I'm personally vested in.
Open a PayPal account for donations. We, the community, will help you out. Do not let this LightBank scare you.
Look, the "45 minutes" thing is total clickbait. I've been in an anechoic chamber and it is a little disconcerting and weird to suddenly find yourself hearing nothing at all. I only spent a few minutes in there, and it's not uncomfortable at first, but it feels good to get out. It's basically just a feeling of disorientation.

But I have no doubt that, properly motivated, you could easily spend an hour in there. Hell, if I had access to one I'd go do it right now just for dumb internet bragging rights.
We used to go to theatres, and see live performances of plays. It's hard to copy that.

A digital movie, however, can be copied a thousand times in a few seconds for next to no cost, and will be an exact copy.
WhosHere exist by about 5 years!
This is what bothered me about the whole post. He never once said how old the other company is. A critical (purposeful?) omission.
Atlanta is enjoying an exhibit ("Passages") of a very large collection of very rare Bibles. From fragments of early/original texts (ex.: Dead Sea Scrolls) to definitive works (first-run King James Bible) to remarkable renditions (illuminated works) to unusual associations (mother-of-pearl encrusted cover Bible given by (!) Yassir Arafat) to notable errors (Wicked Bible, named for the single typo "Thou shalt commit adultery"), the soon-ending exhibition is for this thread a testimony of the importance of physical copies.

Per that last example, consider that the "Nooked" War and Peace could be considered a "great typo" someday sought after by collectors - except that, being ephemera, the digital copy will either be lost or copies unverifiable due to ease of replication.

I certainly appreciate the benefits of e-books. At the same time, physical presence carries a lot of meaning beyond just content. Alas for those notable books lost in a sea of bits...
Err, I think you mean "why DON'T you get ...". :-/

I guess this has to do with the way the gaming industry works. The smaller game companies have maybe two or three big hits until they go under and/or the talent is bought out. The bigger ones are just wrappers for financial purposes nowadays. Yes, there are a few exceptions (no point in listing them). But overall, there's little continuity.

Sponsoring is an investment into the future. Most game companies drown in their daily business and never get to look beyond that. Making the next deadline is all that counts. Après nous le déluge.

Ok, so maybe this is just my personal impression and I'm all wrong. In fact, I'd love to be corrected ...
Definitely in the works.
I think zipdog hit it on the head, and it's the PR-spin that turns it into seeming untested, unproven "no one can stand" bit.

Have they had open competitions? I feel relatively certain that people would endure in there effectively indefinitely: People can tolerate remarkable things.
You cannot effect much control over a signal that you cannot distinguish from random noise. There are so many factors that affect the likelihood of terrorism, and yet even in a bad year that likelihood is insignificant.

Our ridiculously outsized counterterrorism efforts are akin to putting a shroud around the Earth to block out cosmic background radiation. It would cost more money than we can fathom, and in the end we probably couldn't even measure the benefit. Meanwhile, the radiation you absorb from living near a nuclear plant or an old testing site is orders of magnitude greater, and yet you probably won't ever suffer a harmful effect from it.

My argument isn't that terrorism isn't real, or it isn't a threat. My argument is that it's such an insignificant threat that it fails to justify our existing efforts, nonetheless ever-more-expensive new efforts.
It lets you quickly jump to the definitions of the variables, their types, and their uses. (And then back to where you were.)

It's not going to do all of the work for you, but it'll reduce some of the cognitive load.
Consider how many distinct items are sold by Apple compared to Samsung, Dell and a grocery store and Apples feat seems less impressive.
Usage of goto is fine (the effects are easily understood) when the destination only points to lines ahead of the goto, within the same block.

In this case, it makes the control flow more readable.

http://www.kerneltrap.org/node/553/2131
I'll bite.

Why do you think this "clearly unethical"? I don't think it's clear at all.

Everyone I know pirates movies, TV shows, and music. Everyone I know also jaywalks. I also know people who use drugs illegally, as well as participate in or facilitate underage drinking, and I don't have a problem with any of it. Are these unethical? Someone clearly thought so. Do I care?

You know what the truth is, for me, and everyone I know, at least? The truth is, we don't care about "other" people's opinions on ethics (where "other" people=people on the internet, in the government, in anti-piracy ads, etc). The fact is, it's socially acceptable, among my social circles, to pirate, to use drugs, and to {participate in,facilitate} underage drinking. So I have no qualms with people I know doing so, nor if I were to do so myself.

You don't pirate, ever? Because it's "clearly unethical"? Do everyone in your social circles hold similar opinions? Do you jaywalk? Have you ever used drugs, or facilitated illegal drinking?

Those aren't rhetorical questions, I'm genuinely curious.

I guess my point is, I don't think ethics matter. I don't think about whether what I do is ethical. I don't hurt people, and I don't steal (physical things), because I have empathy. I guess you could say I have ethics in that if you asked me why I don't, I'd say "it's wrong", but I'd never say something is "clearly unethical" and try to argue why. I'd say it's wrong because it's hurtful, and I don't like being hurt.

Is this just me?
I agree completely. This is coming right after I get the 'add to instant queue' button in there.'
Maybe I misunderstood how the xml/xslt-paradigm works, but my idea was that you have a serverside api serving up raw data, and the display is controlled by some code on the clientside that can be easily customised. So the server could serve up something like
<shoe>
<images>
<image>foo.com/x.jpg</image>
<image>foo.com/y.jpg</image>
</images>
<description>This shoe is very advanced bla bla bla</description>
<fancyintroanimation>foo.com/intro1.swf</fancyintroanimation>
</shoe>
<shoe>
....

and the client could use the default xslt if they were happy with that, and a custom otherwise.
I agree, the second style is infinitely more readable. It clearly shows the hierarchy. Unfortunately it seems to be rare compared to the second one, as most people seem to want to hide the opening braces or something. Maybe because they come from ugly languages without braces, like Assembly, Python, Fortran, or Ruby...
I wish your comment was the only one, frankly, and we could really use a "you are not a lawyer, stop pretending to be one" guideline.

Edit: I've made a "Ask PG" to ask for just that: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4055661
I wish you were right, but I don't think Johnny Law agrees with you.
The problem is that you might not get to walk away scot-free from this even when you want to.

One thing I can gaurantee will help you: make no attempt whatsoever to profit from this. Don't put up any ads. Don't have any affiliate links. Profiting from a (potential) crime or infringement makes it 100x more dangerous.
How messed up is it that someone can't share what they know (or think they know) because they don't have a credential?

Edit: I'm convinced. Don't give or accept legal advice over the Internet. Establish a relationship with an attorney and only discuss it with them. If you don't like the answers they give you, you can find another attorney.
1. Purchase tasty beverage.

2. Drink beverage.

3. Free bottle!
Set up a bin anywhere people go that says "recycle" and you'll get plenty.
That's exactly what I was getting at. Thanks gyardley
In this case, there are legal repercussions and serious consequences to doing most of things on this page. This is stuff to talk about with a lawyer, not the fucking Internet, and the person I replied to is already giving frighteningly bad advice.

You know how in criminal proceedings, they say "anything you say can and will be used against you?" It's the exact same for civil actions like this, which is why Public Relations 101 (which should be of interest to most in this audience who want to do their own startup) says "being sued or otherwise challenged legally? STFU. No comment."

This isn't about credentials, it's about being smart when it comes to threats that can genuinely hose your business, and not listening to a bunch of armchair lawyers on HN who think they have the best course of action without any sort of context.
Sheryl Sandberg: A New Metaphor for Your Career
First steps with dblink on Postgres
> Maybe so, but what happens when you need to do something before returning the value, say like closing a connection?

Then your choices include a try...finally block, a "using" statement if you're in c#, or ... limiting yourself to only 1 return. Multiple returns don't fix the problems in all cases, just most of them.

I'm assuming that this is on a language that has automatic garbage collection. The 1-return rule came about in C, which does not and so has a lot more cases where manual clean-up is required.
You are (were) right - though 5 minutes offline is arguable better than "launching soon" :)
Me too. Seriously.
How long has WhosHere been around for? (Okay, I read an update, 5 years and trademark since 2 years - still, irrelevant) Seriously, this news sickens me, your app name is a common phrase, a big f you to WhosHere from me to be honest :)

They can't trademark "Who's", surely.. I hope this makes big news, you deserve to win this, which is really obvious in my eyes. Good luck!!!
Unusual, another post appeared from another user pointing to the creators portfolio website just a moment ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4050690
It tickles me to see a post on Hacker News decrying the ethical issues of creating a UI for a torrent tracker. If this attitude had prevailed 50 years ago, we wouldn't have Apple. This is Hacker News.
To the contrary of the snark, throwing this out there on the internet may have been about the only way for the post's author to get attention of a Nook team member. It wasn't B&N's fault (they're just retailing what they're paid to), so getting someone knowledgeable to look at the issue via nook.com may have been ... unlikely.

It was posted, it got discussed on HN, within a few hours we have a good relevant answer from an insider.