skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
someone should write a guide on how to buy up your own debt for 1/30th of the cost
i always got the implied "we dont' care who you vote for"
not just vote without being informed.
I agree. I am with this bank, and after seeing this was curious as to what information they actually have about me. Looking at the "My Details" section of the site shows only the following info:

- Name

- Phone

- Email

- Address

- Tax File Number (not unlike a US social security number)

I came to the same conclusion that its probably based on census data.
Ask HN: Soundproof headsets?
I'm on a plane, and the woman in front of me is so loud I can barely think. Does anyone know if there are headsets that block all noise? I'm willing to look like someone on the deck of an aircraft carrier if necessary. But the headset has to block all sound, not merely attenuate particularly loud sounds.

(I have Bose noise-cancelling headphones with me. They are no match for this woman. In fact, it's better without them, because they cut the noise of the plane more than they do her voice.)
I'm not an expert on automotive engineering, but I don't think removing any electrical component from your car will increase fuel mileage. Most cars have the serpentine belt on the engine also connected to the alternator, so the alternator is always spinning, regardless of how much electrical juice you are using. However, if you have a hybrid, I can see where using less electricity would increase your fuel economy, this is why the new Toyota Prius has solar panels.
Just spraying seawater into the air (from ships) would increase albedo (white clouds reflect much more incoming radiation than black seas), lowering temperature, in a pretty benign way.

There's also iron seeding (to make algae).

Bill Gates is funding it. I still think his work on Polio eradication is more valuable, but this is pretty awesome too.
So, what would prevent me from going into a massive amount of debt, not repaying it, and asking everyone else to foot my bill?

This seems like OWS is saying, "Well, corporations got greedy and were bailed out. Now it's the people's time to do the same thing." Why is something, when supported by a corporation, immoral when the same thing, supported by "the people", is righteous?

This seems like it's just encouraging bad behavior all around. Debtors get some money, people in debt get a massive discount, and people who play by the rules are even more at a disadvantage.

We need to restore trust in the system by educating people and holding corporations accountable for fraud - not by undermining the loan system. This move by OWS sickens me.
Vortex is a scripting language that compiles to Lua
Do you have a rough set of guidelines for how fast we should request from HN? For a side project, I was thinking of writing something that scraped the HN frontpage and all the associated comment threads every 10 minutes or so, and I'd rather not cause performance issues or get banned. I'd be happy to rate-limit requests to whatever is convenient.
This is a pretty interesting idea, economically speaking. Does anyone know what is necessary in order to become a debt broker? Being able to buy your own debt (by proxy) for pennies on the dollar might have pretty broad implications.
Twitter said they made a mistake and locked a bunch of accounts.
You seem to be fond of exaggeration.
Don't you understand that it's silly to characterize global warming science like that, and even worse that it makes you look ignorant and dismissive when you do that?
Native Chinese speaker here. I just tried the same sentences from the video on Google Translate on my Android tablet and Bing Translator on my Windows Phone. The video has almost all of the words right with very few grammar errors. Quite decent tonality to boot. Bing has almost all of the words right but with weird grammar (mostly wrong word order/sentence structure), with comparable tonality to the video. Google picks up my sentences and translates quicker than the rest (might be due to Nexus 7's raw power) with great accuracy in the vocabulary. But the grammar is worse than the others. For example it butchered the sentence "I hope you enjoy the rest of the presentation today" which it translates to "我希望你享受休息的演示" which literally means "I hope you enjoy the presentation of resting." The tonality is very much robotic. I'd declare Microsoft winner here. Maybe it has something to do with Google being ousted by the Chinese government :P
All things being equal if water averaged .0075 cents per gallon it's because there was less of it. So, we would still use some of it to grow crops, but we would not be growing as much food.

PS: We are used to abundance, but there really are hard limits out there.
As it turns five, Android solidifies its smartphone OS dominance
In The Vanishing Face of Gaia James Lovelock theorizes that geoengineering would trigger a cascading effect of problems, much like a a sick patient on an ever increasing regimen of prescription medications, each solving one problem while causing three. While other portions of the book are questionable, I tend to agree with this analogy.

The best case would be for the environment to re-balance itself -- of course, human cause or not, our environment is not static and is destined to continual change.

Unfortunately James Lovelock's worst case scenario is an earth which is capable of producing enough food to support single digit percentages of the world's current population. That is a pretty brutal death sentence for the current state of human civilization.
Interesting fix. Is the trigger weighted based on request action type or user karma?
Of course at some point it will have its own wifi or cellular. Modem and you won't know that your settings are in the cloud. That is when it gets really strange.
Etymotic's in-ear headphones are pretty great, especially if you spring for the extra $100 to go to an audiologist and get custom ear molds made.

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er6i.aspx

or, with an iPhone compatible microphone:

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/hf2.html
As a fraction of GDP, yes.
This is a very interesting proposal. There are a number of large-scale and long-term problems that require consistency of vision beyond election cycles. You should write up this idea in a formal way and see if you can get published as an op-ed somewhere.
You make it sound as if people who play by the rules can't have distressed debt. Is that what you mean?
Five years of Android by the numbers
Ack, what was I thinking? Fixed. Thanks!
If I understand things correctly, it may drive borrowing costs down by lowering the lender's risk exposure.

(If you loan money to someone, and they don't pay you back, with this program there's a tiny chance that OWS will, lowering your risk. Curious to see OWS bailing out bankers as well as debtors.)
It's called bankruptcy. 7 years of never being able to have credit.
I don't trust this study, because I don't trust National Geographic with regard to this issue. Go ahead and shame the disbeliever, I'm used to it.
The problem that I see with this is that once your debt is sent to collections, that mark is already on your credit report for 7 years, even if you pay off the debt.

So, "forgiving" the debt is pretty meaningless. People still have their credit report tarnished, which leads to higher interest rates, higher car insurance, and is basically another way to oppress people who are already poor. The only advantage to the debtors in this case is that they won't get phone calls from collection agencies. It's a nice idea though.
To be fair, the only games where the zero suit is featured except for the end game are:

* "Metroid: Zero Mission" She crashes, and thus doesn't have the power suit (for a while). Also, it was for the GameBoy, so the sex-appeal isn't as strong.

* "Super Smash Brothers" is probably the worst offender. (not a Metroid game)

* "Metroid: Other M": It apparently has minor occurrences throughout.
I think you just need to get a debt collector's license and that's not difficult. I'd ask my wife (used to be a collector), but she's asleep ATM.

We did discuss starting a collection business years ago so I could learn the business and write software for it (apparently the tools they use are a royal pain), but she wasn't interested in getting back in the field and I lost interest.

Bear in mind, though that to buy debt at pennies on the dollar, the debt is going to be very old (5+ years old at least probably) and the seller is only selling it because they're convinced they will never be able to collect. You're also looking at buying large blocks of it.
And why go down that road if they don't have to, there's
nothing wrong with asking for contributions in order to
put out a product they're proud of

They've explained it as they're losing money and they will continue losing money unless a substantial number of people sign up to reddit gold. Asking for contributions is an absolutely wonderful idea (they've been doing it for over 2 years and I signed up the first day it was available -- the company I work for also has a similar system to reddit gold for our websites) however I do not agree with sacrificing actual user experience in the name of "freedom".

As I said in my comment I would love to see a comment from someone involved with reddit previously or presently on whether or not the fear of user outrage is a driving force behind this refusal to invest in proper advertising, because it seems to be that way.

From the way the blog post reads I don't think the issue is that they can't make money with adverts, it states:

we can start running a bunch more ads

That seems to imply that adverts are a way for them to make the money they need, it's just one they want to avoid. Maybe they're sugar coating it because saying "if you don't pay up the site is dead" may come with PR problems, but that seems unlikely. My experience with internet advertising is not extensive, it's possible you're right but I think figures would be needed to understand that.

I think that if they want to really commit to the idea that reddit gold can support the site they need to have targets (A counter of the # of people that need to sign up this month), something that people can understand and associate with. If there's 50,000 people needed every month to be paying and it's at 40,000 people will be compelled to sign up to feel like they're contributing.
Is there a marketplace for debt online that I can visit as Joe Consumer and buy the debt of others so I can forgive it or at least offer the debt back to the person at cost? What information is likely to be public about the debtor when one purchases the debt?

Is there a startup business idea in this?
No, it doesn't. Some polls ask about enthusiasm right up until election day.

Again, this is not about unskewing. This is about data as it was actually reported directly on the page.

Here's one of the polls directly referenced in the link I included in previous post. NPR Poll Oct 23-25, 2012. Just before the election. http://media.npr.org/documents/2012/oct/NPROctpoll.pdf

There's a 10 point scale that gives a 10 percent difference in enthusiasm to Republicans at the "10" level.

Of course that advantage vanishes if you include "8-10", which could be the sort of mistake Romney's internal pollsters made.

The poll only includes Likely Voters.

So there was data in public polls just before the election reflecting an enthusiasm advantage for Republicans. To say there wasn't is simply wrong.
It could have something to do with the fact that Google owns ITA.
This seems like some horrible over-engineering. Storing settings that are tied to the mouse rather than the computer is a cool idea, but... It's hardware. Stick a couple K of non-volatile storage inside it and your settings are saved as long as you've got your mouse.
you know, here's a weird question: is there a market for a start-up-centric physician? I'm seeing a focus on depression and nutrition. Thoughts? How would one measure the cost-benefit? Let's say I want a house in the valley? How does one work backward from there? Has anyone visited a doctor literally lived above his clinic? The primary care side of HN actually fascinates me a little. But, wow, that would be a big, scary jump.
Seven years goes by in the blink of an eye once you're old enough ;-)

Forgiving the debt is not meaningless: it's a big chunk of money you don't have to pay off. Granted, it's better to work with the creditor and get them to settle for a smaller amount, but a $15k debt removed from your record is not likely to cause you $15k of increased expenses over 7 years.
This might be helpful: http://api.ihackernews.com/

edit: oh, official API is above. Disregard this one :-)
There are changes humans make to the environment which do make it better (at least for humans) -- building dams on rivers which otherwise flood periodically, culling wood and undergrowth to keep large-scale forest fires from happening, etc. There are environmental costs to each of those, but the benefits (direct and economic) far outweigh them, and stuff like salmon ladders, helicopter transport, etc. can deal with some of the harm.

The best long-term outcome for humanity is to use capitalism and science/technology to generate as much wealth as possible AND do as little damage to the environment as possible, but I think the "have a much lighter footprint and generate less wealth" option is off the table -- it's not going to be acceptable to generate less wealth than we have now, so really the most favorable outcome is to try to scale the wealth generation up faster than the harm done, and then use some wealth to ameliorate specific severe problems.
What on earth gets you from point A to point B here...
If you stop over in Vegas, LMK. I'm happy to buy you a beer.
Hmm. Any idea how much protection being behind the earth like that would provide against solar flares?
Shifting the baseline of average temperature does make a huge difference in extreme outliers (hurricanes, etc.). Similarly, raising the average IQ of a site increases the number of patio11.

It also makes a difference if there's a seasonal change -- like, right now, all of the ice melts in the summer at the southern extent of an ice sheet, but if the temperature drops a critical amount, the ice lasts all summer, and starts to accumulate. Or temperature rises and the reverse happens.
Are you a UX/UI? If so, let me know.
Seven Navy SEALS Reprimanded for Actions Linked to Videogame
Suddenly reddit has to make a call between having the
cash they require to stay afloat, and staying true to
their users.

but if reddit doesn't have that money now what difference does it make? if reddit has reddit gold and has advertising, don't they end up in a position where they're able to choose and turn away advertisers if they need to? unless turning away advertisers causes some sort of industry problem where companies are unwilling to work with reddit?
I'm a mechanical engineer, and I do a lot of stuff involving electronics and programming (PLCs, so a little different than you would probably learn).

Anyway, in my job at least it would probably be quite helpful, especially understanding some of the networking side of things. I'm not sure I even considered it if it was even offered as a minor at my school.
You know, consumer debt is probably the biggest thing slowing down the economy, even though financial institutions are wanting to saddle the average consumer with more debt. If people don't have money to buy things because they are spending money servicing debt, that slows down the whole consumer economy. The only people who win in that scenario are the banks, but they would profit more over the long term by a stronger economy than they currently do from consumer debt.
Does anyone have a number for the size of the consumer distressed debt market? Not getting much luck searching so far.
I am but one of the many. I did notice, however, that the average monthly spend for people 'like me' is more than the monthly income of people 'like me'. Curious.
Use IPTABLES xt_connlimit to regulate overly aggressive client requests.

Since there are so few images on HN, there is no reason to have more than a couple connections per IP on port 80.

It will radically reduce your server load and there will be no blacklists/whitelists to maintain.
Even better, why not let people buy out their own debt at near cost?
May be better to use the official API.

http://www.hnsearch.com/api
I don't think this problem exists or is big enough to worry about because the rolling jubilee approach only permits moral hazard once every 7 years due to credit scoring.

To be able to rack up significant debt, one much have great credit for several years in a row so that your line of credit can be expanded upon year after year. I reckon it takes 3-7 years to be able to get to a credit line of $30k because you choose to default. In that time, the creditor is likely to make a bunch of money on that assuming you maintain rolling debt because of interest in the interim. Only in the case where you keep upping your credit line, but don't use any of the money until you plan on sucking it dry to you maximize the take on a scheme like this. Even then you get at most $30k and then have to wait another 10-12 years to be able to try that scheme again.
Here's my site: http://www.jcopro.net/ - not really looking to sell, but I think it's cool at least...
We've been using a db-follows-branch system with Fabric. Devs can run "fab update_db" to get a new dump of production-based testing data, and create a database named after the current branch. Still a bit manual, but it really helps in situations like that.
This is "a" problem, not "the" problem. For a large number of people, getting $5k or $10k of debt erased would at the very least a large weight off their back, at the most a life changer. Living paycheck to paycheck means cherishing every extra dollar you get to keep. Getting to keep $50 or $100 a month in your pocket instead of sending off to some credit card or debt collection agency is a big deal sometimes. Most people who would probably take advantage of this don't even keep track of their credit because they're so behind anyway.
This is not an "intelligent discussion." Did you read this article? He sets up a straw man by comparing specialized knowledge to facts in his first argument. Everyone can know the odds in Blackjack by card-counting, but no one should know the next card in the deck. This is a better comparison of insider trading because using statistics and predictions of market activities based on 'guesses' is perfectly fair, but actually knowing materially negative news that is confidential puts you at an unfair advantage in a market system. I mean, how far would you take the argument... so can the CEO sell his shares before the news? What about the FDA committee chair? How about if a scientist shorted shares before rendering his judgement that the drug should not be approved?

Insider trading is just another way for the privileged and wealthy to get richer and small investors and pensions to get robbed.
Are you kidding? They hand out credit cards like candy to the recently bankrupt.
I'm actually interested in knowing if I bought the debt of someone else, could I write whatever I wanted on their credit report? For example, could I purchase $15k worth of debt for $500 and then forgive the debt and report to the credit agency that it was paid in full?
Generally, any time there is more demand for something the will increase. OWS entering the market for certain kinds of distressed debt would be expected to increase the price of that debt - the group of buyers in the market has increased by one, so there is more competition for the asset.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this at all. The creditors are simply selling the debt to try and recover something from their original loan; getting more back than the would have a week ago is great. It doesn't matter to them whether the buyer is going to forgive the debt or collect it with men in leather jackets and hammers; they've sold, they've got back a few cents on the dollar and it's not their problem anymore.

How does it work? The debt is an asset belonging to the original creditor. To use the $14,000 example in David Rees's post, creditor XYZ made a loan to debtor ABC for, say, $10,000 a few years ago. They made that loan expecting to receive $14,000 back over time - that's why they did it. Now, ABC looks unable to repay the debt. The obligation still exists, but it's no longer practical or profitable for XYZ to try and recover it. XYZ has no men with hammers, no provision for accounting for irregular payments or special arrangements and no real interest in hanging on to this now-useless asset. Luckily for them, there are other companies which do want that asset, but because of the difficulties in collecting on it they're not willing to pay a lot. $500, in this case. It's worth spending $500 with the hope of collecting $14,000; if you spend $500 enough times then you'll eventually get back a few $14,000s and now you have a business. The price reflects the probability of getting that money back. In this case, very, very unlikely indeed, and if something's that cheap on Wall Street then you can be sure nobody wants it.

So that debt is bought and sold like anything else, according to the business needs of the various people involved. Your old neighbour's beaten old '68 Mustang might have been a piece of junk to him - it was too rusty to pass inspection - so he sold it for a few thousand, happy to get rid of a problem. To a specialist in vintage Fords, though, that car is worth a lot after they put the work in.

In this case there is an opportunity for a body with a bit of spare cash to benefit individual debtors by forgiving their loans, while helping creditors stay in business - and their employees feed their families - by buying their crappy assets at market rates. They are adding both charity and liquidity to a gummed-up market with very real people suffering in it.
Long Polling, Request Batching, and Buffering for Amazon SQS
Looking at what reddit does, I seriously doubt this. They're not a "publication". They don't have to pay writers/journalists to create content, the content comes free. There are many ad-based sites that don't have that luxury. Event moderators come from the community, they're only significant costs is infrastructure and payroll. I use to work for a company that has a fraction of the uniques reddit gets (still in the millions a month though) and that 1) does a lot more then reddit as a product and 2) has significant other costs outside of salary and infrastructure and was still not in the red. Also, this wasn't shitty advertising, the ads were well monitored and we broke ties with networks/advertisers that we found continuously had crappy ads.
This sounds like the plan is to buy debt, typically in the way a collector would. I guess, i'm curious what they're accomplishing here? By this point the way I understand it the person has effectively already defaulted.
How does OWS think this debt accumulated? Debt isn't some random accident like getting hit by a car while crossing the street. You have to get yourself into debt. It used to be taboo, but it's acceptable to get into debt these days and worse yet, walk away from it. OWS, to me, represents an entitled generation.
Last I saw hulu was making less than ~40 cents an hour from commercials. Just do the old cellphone deal of X hours a month commercial free for 50 cents an hour * X hours, and there well ahead. Both directly as people pay more, and indirectly when people don't use up all there 'minutes'.
Keep in mind that you can always try to negotiate with the collections for a "pay for delete". Where you basically promise to pay the debt as long as the collection agency will delete it from your credit report. It works for some people.
Oh wow, yeah whether it's only in my head or not I do hear a difference after paying attention to it. I'm using the buttons on my Lenovo T60 laptop closest to the spacebar FWIW.
Okay, I found the reference someone cited as "Nate Silver openly rooting for Obama". It's from March 2008, before he joined the NYTimes:

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008_02_24_archive.html