skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
In principle, the usual response to your type of question is that it's a problem that could be solved if all the parties of interest could agree on a standard to follow. For SQL DBs, there is an ISO/IEC SQL standard (1992,1999,2003,2008,2011), so it's not that there is a lack of a standard. If you look at the various issues brought up in this thread and other postings, you will find long standing bugs (and waves of duplicates & complaints) that have been filed for all of them on bugs.mysql.com, so it's not that there isn't interest in fixing MySQL; likely it's just not been a high priority for the project, and the value added for existing apps that already "work" with MySQL isn't there. Also, what motivation is there for MySQL--which is arguably the most popular open-source DB--to change to be more compliant?

To answer your question concretely, which I read as: "Why can't we easily change out a SQL RDBMS as if it were a common component?" I would say:

(1) Lack of standards compliance; in this case the SQL standard being the relevant one that MySQL doesn't follow.

(2) DB specific extensions that many apps have become to rely on, often also caused by the previous point: apps having to rely on non-standard extensions due to the non-existence of a standard feature that could have otherwise been used. An earlier poster pointed out a few of these above (INSERT IGNORE, ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE, INSERT REPLACE, ...).

(3) Due to a combination of both points above, supporting software in your favorite language or ORM either doesn't exist, is incomplete for a particular DB, or lacking in cross-platform support (e.g. the mylang-pgsql driver for Linux works but doesn't on Windows, OS X or some other major commercial UNIX OS like Solaris or AIX).

(4) Finally, for open-source DBs there is practically no code re-use that matters; I see this as very unfortunate, because it could be a unique strength that only open-source projects can take advantage of. One reason for this is legal: different open-source DBs have different or conflicting licenses. But regardless of that (putting on flame suit now) much of the reason for a lack of code re-use is due to the fact that C and C++ make it pretty difficult to do well--which is a point I find true across all codebases in general (i.e. different C, C++ codebases share very very little code).
I currently run a online ticketing startup (Voost) for another side industry, athletic events (think bike/running/triathlete races), but I've also owned a fairly large night club in San Francisco. I've had the fortune of seeing a few sides of this industry now.

You have a great explanation. I think the key point is getting venues to agree to switch to something else because Ticketmaster/ClearChannel truly owns the market. Heck, they own most of the venues too. One time, I ended up losing a ton of money on a Bone Thugs & Harmony show because a ClearChannel radio station advertised 'accidentally' that we were sold out and tickets wouldn't be available at the door. Nobody showed up. The games they can play are amazingly creative.

This time around for Voost, we are trying to buck the trend with ticket sales. We force the promoters to always absorb the ticket fees themselves. The athletes love it because it is one simple price and we've done our best to keep our fees at a minimum. We'll see how it works out in the long run for us, but so far it's been good.

Sure, you can make the tickets $1 and charge a $50 fee (which gets kicked back), but eventually people are going to catch on and start complaining.

For venue ticketing, I honestly can't fathom someone in a startup really upsetting the industry without playing the same games as ticket master.
I've got the complete opposite experience. I use it so rarely that keeping it charged has become a hassle. Why? Simply because I work from home and my laptop is right there. It does everything quicker and better the iPad does (for me at least).

I've only found it useful when travelling for entertainment, light web browsing etc. Basically a toy.
I usually cringe when I come across self-help for entrepreneurs. It makes me feel like I'm watching Oprah; there's nothing wrong with that, but... you know.

But this one actually made me smile.
The system that people here would like to see disrupted is a system that may be going away by itself. Publishers see that it is going to be too hard to sustain a revenue stream by selling books in the future --- they have been moving to services for quite a while.
Students are too good at getting books. My students buy foreign editions at 10% of the US price. They download pdf scans from torrents. There are many ways to find used books. Stupid measures like the "useless new edition every 3 years" are just delaying tactics.
Instead, publishers are selling services, like online testing and homework grading (cf. Pearson partnering with Coursera). These require students to purchase access codes keyed to individuals, and may be harder to get around. (The textbooks are often thrown in for prices around $20. That should tell you where the money is.) The publishers know they have a great market here. Professors hate grading papers, it hardly counts at all toward professional advancement, and it takes time and energy away from research, which does count.
All that said, the circumstances described in the original article are appalling.
Sure it is. Priority queues are a common example of this behavior, and they're still queues.

chj's question is interesting. It's not obvious how to build a lock-free code in the original article's framework if you aren't representing your queue as a list, but many queues are not represented this way. If you need this 'insert in the middle of the queue' operation, you probably aren't representing your queue as with a linked list since insertion will be inefficient - chances are you're using a heap.
Only for those of us who still primarily use a CLI. Clicking (tapping) has been the lowest common denominator for a few decades now.
In many ( most) cases it's impractical for people to buy tickets at the venue. Even leaving out situations where tickets sell out quickly the costs associated with going to a downtown box office tend to exceed the fees annoying as they are--and even in person there tend to be various facility fees and the like.
I've been posting for a month and a half, two posts a week on average, and now I'm starting to get discouraged

Would it be possible for you to blog not for the traction, but for the sake of blogging?

I think my blog was closed to everyone but me for the first couple of years I was posting - I just did not want my employer to stumble upon it by random chance, I had no idea what the reaction could be. But I found out that it was still useful - a number of times, when I had to remember something about the way I solved some particular problem, I searched my own blog and found it.

Now it's almost a habit - whenever I do something even remotely interesting, it pops into my head - wait, I could write a short blog post about it in 10-15 minutes. So I do.
Precisely. Lugging around all the amenities from the article has a huge fuel cost, and they don't compare to the quality of their stationary counterparts.

I feel like the OP article's "futurist" has a decent grasp on HOW, but completely disregards WHY.
You'll probably collect energy with solar panels or similar. You'll expend energy with rocket thrust, and all else being equal, rocket thrust is most efficiently used for orbital maneuvering when done over a short time.

So you have energy collected over a long period of time, then released in a short period of time. That means you need to store that energy. It's not feasible to ship batteries up from the surface with current battery technology, since the energy/mass ratio is awful, so you'll need some other way to store the energy. Chemical storage would be one way. Use local materials and transform them into new materials with more chemical potential energy. Chemical storage tanks can be reasonably light. When the time comes, you can reverse the process and transform your stored chemicals back into electricity.

But wait, we don't actually want electricity, we want thrust. A traditional rocket engine is a great way of transforming chemical potential energy into thrust. So let's skip the electrical middleman, and burn our chemical energy storage reagents in a rocket engine.

All that's left to do is choose the chemicals. If there's water, then it's easy to make oxygen and hydrogen from it using electricity, and hydrogen is a great rocket fuel.
I wish it was that easy. The reality is that there are early birds and night owls (see, e.g., http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080126-sleep...). There is no question in my mind that I am a night owl. My "nap time" is around 4-5pm, which, if I succumb to, will keep me awake until 2-3pm. I am also completely useless before 10am, regardless of whether I get up at 5am or 9:55am.

It sucks to be a night owl in an early bird world.
A similar project that I created a couple years ago:

http://viddyjam.com

The idea was to create a classic MTV meets Youtube meets Pandora.
I'm amazed that universities ALLOW their professors to make payment-required textbook-tied online exercises part of their courses.

You're already paying tuition, you shouldn't have to pay extra just to do the homework. That's insane. It's no different from having to pay additional money to take the midterm.

After all, the professors and publishers make money from this, not the university. As far as I can tell, it can only reflect badly on a university -- so why don't they have policies in place against this? Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like a blatant abuse of power for financial gain on the part of professors.
Reminds me of this successful Kickstarter I just saw[1]; I didn't realize portable thermal printers had so much potential.

[1]: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1953425088/mprinter-an-a...
Getting in before the cynics; This is great! You've done a wonderful job. Looking forward to see this evolve.

EDIT: One area for improvement would be contrast. There is a lot of white, making it hard to distinguish between elements.
Forgive me if I've said it here before, but I believe that there are "spiritual" geniuses in the same way there are literary, musical, and mathematical geniuses. I believe these folks (like Jesus and the Buddha) are exquisitely tuned in to what makes humans happy. I don't believe in God (or god, or the FSM), but I do believe that there are certain 'truths' that resonate with mentally healthy humans, and these folks have a keen insight into them.

On that note, the Dalai Lama made a very interesting point that pertains to your 'jet-setter' observations: many people confuse happiness and pleasure. There are things that will give you pleasure but that can lead to unhappiness (like sex) and things that are unpleasant but can make you very happy (like charity work under miserable conditions).
I don't care about the food or the service in your story, it's irrelevant to my point. I care about you having different standards for the two parties. Standing on principle over a measly $1.25 is 'single-transactioning'.

If you were really concerned about your lifetime transactions, you'd take the blip and keep on running. You've already said that the eatery has 'high quality food and higher quality service', so it's clear that this behaviour is not the norm. So what you're saying here is that at the sign of the first mis-step, you're out the door? That means you see it as a series of single transactions.
Now that you mention it, the idea of a computing device being ready for casual use by those one might affectionately term "lusers" but not for heavy-duty professional use by computer people is so backwards it makes my head spin. Things sure have changed.
Shamelessly going to plug my app, YouTunes Live, which lets you create YouTube audio playlists on iOS, as some readers may be interested: http://youtuneslive.com/download
Some universities take it a step further and include the cost of textbooks in tuition. Be glad that isn't happening globally. That's the worst case scenario here - students are just billed for course materials without having any say in the matter.
Honestly the best way to handle that would probably be to simply not mention it.

If directly asked about it, just start spewing jargon at them until they get bored and walk away. Just don't give them something that would make a good soundbite.
I'm a bit surprised at this article - I studied Physics in the Tel Aviv Univesity (Israel), and I could borrow every course book from the library. Those weren't even necessary, all of the course materials were available from the course website as summaries, formula handbooks and so forth.

U.S universities don't stock their libraries with multiple copies of their course books?
Can the videos be made available after hours? I'm not able to get time away from work those 2 days. thanks
Interesting, from that link:

"I have published a textbook on Compiler Design. Designed with undergraduates in mind who have difficulty with the so called "Dragon" book, it was first published in 1994 by Wm. C. Brown Publishers, and was then distributed for a year by Richard Irwin Publishers. I have recently obtained the copyright and am now distributing this book myself."

Copyright to the Dragon book or to his own book? Cannot be parsed unambiguously :-)

That said did people really have trouble with Aho and Ullman? It seemed liked an incredibly approachable book when I took my undergraduate compiler class.
For ENG 205 at UMaine, my professor required us to purchase his own novel for the class, and offered extra credit to anyone who reviewed the novel on Amazon...

http://www.amazon.com/Tartabulls-Throw-Henry-Garfield/dp/068...
Have you ever helped someone figure out how to do something with their computer by just asking them questions? "What program did you use to do this last time? Good, start that program. What do you mean what do I.... [sigh] Okay, where do you go to start programs? Great. Yes, go there." They know everything but sometimes they seem incapable of putting it together. Life's like that for some people. You make a pot of coffee at 8pm, you skip a workout, you work when you should relax and relax when you should work. You avoid activities that make you happy and spend your time on things that just make you tired. You procrastinate paying a parking ticket (non-negotiable, takes five minutes) because reloading the national news seems more urgent. In some sense you know everything you need to know. You're like a befuddled computer user who seems completely helpless but who only needs a couple of simple reminders to get back on the right track.

There are many ways to characterize or explain why people who can describe a clear path to a better life have trouble following it. One way is to label it a deficit in executive function. To me it doesn't feel right to call it a deficit. I think of it as chronic interference with or co-option of the executive function by other factors. But either way, whether you think of it as weak executive function or a normal executive function overpowered by interference, the inmates are running the asylum, and your executive function is the asylum director cowering in his office mumbling, "I am in control. I told them to set the mattresses on fire; that was my idea."

The purpose of self-help writing is to put the executive function back in charge. For a lot of people, all they need is a brief reminder and a little injection of optimism, and a five-minute read like this blog post is useful for that. It's also important to grapple with the psychological factors that hijack your executive function in the first place, but if a few minutes of fluffy reading can do the trick for right now, there's no reason to say no to it.
> 23.8% of the cost of your Big Mac is also charges and fees ... people don't like transparency when it comes to pricing.

In the UK, the sticker price is what you pay at the till.

To my knowledge, in the US the sticker price plus a known, standard percentage of sales tax is what you pay at the till.

I still don't really understand why US places don't include sales tax like we include VAT.
Typically there are 1-2 copies on reserve at the library, but you can only check them out for a couple hours at the time. With a class of 50+ students that's not a workable solution for most. And most don't even try anyway..
My most productive hours are between midnight and 6am, then I usually nap 'til 10am or so and then grab another 2hrs from 9-11pm. I've tried more normal schedules, but this is what works best for me and where I sort of naturally end up if I don't try and force the issue of sleeping at night.
Going out on a limb here, but I think "for" is a looping function.
Haven't played it, to my regret.

Seems like, loosely speaking, chasing down sunken treasure, or possibly wildcatting for oil can offer precedent in some form. The notion of 'international waters' perhaps can apply to space. However, someone, sometime owned the treasure that was lost and may lay claim to it.

My real question is, apparently, nations can not claim ownership of asteroids. But they will have to mutually define the legal ways any citizen or corporation on Earth can acquire ownership. What is the most likely method, once they all agree on it?

Planetary Resources is at the same time forcing the issue by proceeding with their endeavor, and, making a pretty big bet that when the laws are in place, they will have legally acquired their booty.
During my contracting days, I typically required certified funds (wire transfer, Paypal, money order, cashier's check) unless the client was, say, in the Fortune 500, in which case a business check would suffice.

The one time I broke my rule and accepted a personal check, I got burnt. I'd advise you to only accept certified funds.
Brown Paper Tickets is excellent up-and-coming ticketing company that I've used multiple times for alternative events in the pacific northwest. I'd love to see more companies take on the ticketmaster empire. https://www.brownpapertickets.com
I'm the same, for exactly the reasons you say - it's the calm that helps, there's no temptation to be distracted because there's kinda nothing to do.
Another way:

Have a standardised battery pack, that can see duty in a multitude of applications, for example: part of a home solar installation, or in a car. Have a control system that allows multiple batteries to be combined, in a hot swappable manner, within a single installation.

Advantages:

1) Economies of scale allow lower battery price, since the same pack is used everywhere.

2) Common form factor allows batteries to be physically swapped (instant recharge for a car).

3) Redundancy, if one battery breaks, the system can keep working, with reduced capacity, until a replacement is bought.

4) With the right control system it should be possible to transfer energy between batteries as required, allowing the car to be charged in-situ from the house, or the house to take energy from the car, if needed. The car can even be used to transfer energy from an external source into the domestic setting, the electrical equivalent of an oil tanker.

5) More efficient use of available capacity, by combining all batteries into a single system, they will be used more often, rather than sitting unused while people sleep or drive.
Thanks, that was a very interesting talk.
Thanks Mark :)
Wow. We had dozens of copies of the important books, and you could borrow it for 2-4 weeks at a time (depending on the book).
My dad and a friend used to transmit TI-BASIC programs to one another late at night over the 2-meter HAM band back in the mid 80s. They both had TI-99 computers with "tape drives" (really just a regular tape player set next to the computer) and microphones. One would key the mic on the HAM radio and hold it next to the tape player's speaker and the person on the other end would hold the radio speaker next to the TI-99's mic input. They shared code and collaborated on a few projects this way.
I'm an Android user and bought an iPad some days ago. Overall it feels pretty weird and unintuitive from my point of view.

First thing I tried was uploading some images on it, but can't upload files via USB storage, have to use iTunes for that. I'm a linux user, so had to install windows on VirtualBox and then forward the USB por to virtualized iTunes. After doing that I realize that can't just place files on the filesystem, files are bound to a particular application, so I have to upload the images to an image viewer, and that program "owns" the files. Also apps seem to be isolated from each other, when on Android they often communicate via "intents".

Then I went to the App Store to get some apps to get started, and it asked me to create an Apple Id, I entered the info, then it asked me for credit card number.. I just wanted to get some free apps and skip the credit card part, but it didn't let me continue without it. So cancelled the Apple Id creation, went googling, and after a few tries managed to create the Apple Id account without registering a credit card (you need to download a free app). Seems that it's persuading you to enter a credit card, since the "none" payment option wasn't visible by default. After browsing the store for a while, most of the apps are paid and it's pretty hard to get free apps. You can't really get any decent app without paying, on Android 90% of the apps you'll use everyday are free.

So, overall it feels limited, there is no contact with the underlying filesystem or OS, most apps have very poor or zero configuration, and trivial tasks (like uploading files from your PC) require extra cumbersome steps. Seems to be designed as a device for consuming, a toy, not something you're gonna work with. My desktop computer is far superior than an iPad.
That's pretty awesome, and it works exactly the same way in Chrome.

I just modified the concept for my own use by making a custom search engine for

https://www.google.com/search?btnI=lucky&q=%s+site:developer.mozilla.org+docs

linked to the keyword "mdn".

So I can type "mdn settimeout" or "mdn border radius" and I'll be taken to the respective pages!
Yeah, or just heat the water into steam and shoot it that way, saves a lot of work. There was an interesting paper done on turning a comet off course by basically throwing a supercritical mass of uranium at it. If you can set it up with a 'cool' side (perhaps leading non-metal penetrator cover) and a 'hot' side (the fissioning core) then the thing tries to dig into the comet by vaporizing ice at the back and shoving it out the hole that it made when it went in. Poof, instant rocket engine changing the orbit of the comet (hopefully in a good way)
Yes, we worked on it for about a year bootstrapping. We ended up putting in about $50k between the three cofounders somewhere during that period of time.
Travel and events are the major ones. Why do you ask?
Under settings on the iPhone there's the option to completely wipe the phone. Before you give your phone to someone else you should do this. Otherwise you were still logged in to his iMessage account.
It's not the transparency that annoyed him, it's the slow reveal. If the site announced upfront that the total price is $60, and provided a footnote with a breakdown of where the money goes, that would be fine.

General rule, don't tell customers "oh by the way the price will be twenty percent higher than we said it would be." If you're going to piss people off, do it for more money than that.
Really, in order to complete your coursework you need a one-time-use "access code" that came with your textbook, and no one can share books with anyone else or borrow them from the library?

It boggles my mind that Stallman went out and spelled out a totally crazy-sounding future in "The Right to Read" (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html), and yet somehow bits and pieces of that future keep arriving.
I'm working on something similar at the moment. Looks great!