skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Do you realize that the exact same argument can be made against honesty in government? "If you're honest, look at all the money in bribes you're giving up! Everyone does it, it's almost impossible to get caught and even if you do, it's a slap on the wrist. It's stupid to not take bribes."

And sure enough, everyone starts taking bribes. The corruption spreads to every level of government, because every individual makes the same calculation: take the bribe, more money for the family, don't take the bribe, less money.

Secrecy is a bribe.
The Universe As A Hologram (1987)
Can somebody explain to me what the big deal is about Instagram and these new terms of service? I can't fathom that anything but 1% of 1% of photos taken there are good enough to be used commercially, and if folks are so afraid that their pictures of Starbucks lattes will be used in some kind of marketing campaign (in which case they should actually be flattered), what exactly is stopping users from removing location information from the pictures they want to keep private?

For me, if the local coffee shop here wants to dig up some pictures I took of their business to help them get more customers, why not let them? I'm not Richard Avedon, and I never, ever, expected to profit from my Instagram photography. I'm more than happy to support small businesses and Instagram. Have a ball, guys. It's all public anyway.
(News Clip) LA Start-Up lets people to make money from their sports gear 
This is my company that my friends and I recently launched! We are super excited that we got some local press. It's a big step forward for us. The local press was nice but we have a long way to go build a large user base and making sure they find long-term value. I would be very honored to have the HN community check out our site (www.Gearfoot.com) and give us feedback on what you guys think. I have always valued this community as the ultimate authority in tech space so any feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.
Having it be a baby confuses the issue because babies can't give consent, but if someone took a picture of you and you're not an instagram user and thus never agreed to their TOS and that photo is used for commercial advertising you'd have a very strong case to sue in many places of the world.

Using the identifiable image of a person (even a private non-celebrity) in a non-editorial commercial manner is not permitted in most places, especially (bur not only) if the photo was taken in a place where there is an implied right to privacy (someone's home, etc, rather than outside in public). This is why photographers are anal about making sure all people who are identifiable in their photos sign a model release form if they plan to sell the photo for non-editorial uses.

If instagram ran this idea by their lawyers I'm sure they've been informed that they should absolutely never use any of these images for advertising if there is an identifiable person in it because otherwise the risk of being sued for it eventually is far too great.
The impracticality is well addressed by other comments, but the my first reaction was: why did they choose the worst possible shade of green?
A bit of a kneejerk reaction admittedly, but historically any post about Perl on reddit or HN garners reactions proclaiming how perl is entirely dead and how Python is objectively infinitely superior.
Missing Logistic Regression: so old school (from the 1930s), so mathematically rigorous (compare to neural networks for example), so powerful, and so often overlooked.
Private sharing has never been needed more
http://xkcd.com/793/
Renewable Energy Could Fully Power Grid by 2030
Ask HN: Would you do consulting in exchange for equity?
I've been approached by a small startup in need of technical consulting, and have been offered equity as compensation. I'm wondering if any of you have been involved in a situation similar to this. I'm a bit apprehensive about saying yes, because equity does not necessarily hold value, and it can be diluted by simply issuing more shares. Is there anything I should ask, or clear up before saying yes to an arrangement like this? I'm 80% sure that I’m not going to agree to an equity only deal, but i wanted to hear what you guys thought. Thanks.
Relevant: http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/18/3780158/instagrams-new-te...
> It also means the Prius wins in a lot of states.

That's true. But I think Tesla is trying to sell the Model S to people who would otherwise buy a similar luxury car. There are a not-insignificant number of people in the world who just hate the Prius because it sacrifices handling, performance, and interior finish for the sake of fuel-efficiency. If Tesla builds and sells a car that those people like, isn't it still a net win? People who like hybrid Priuses can still buy them.
Why an Investor wouldn't attend Y Combinator demo days
I really dislike the idea of entrepreneurs taking personal debt, if that's what you're suggesting. I think that's horrid. And when a software company goes bankrupt, how much is there to pay investors back with?

Here's an idea, more oriented toward software but applicable to hardware as well. Every project has a hard deadline that is some multiplier (maybe 5-20x) on the expected time-to-completion (i.e. the soft deadline). That's mainly intended for work that is abandoned, not regular shit-happens lateness. If you're within the deadline, you own the IP outright. If you miss it, or abandon the project, the code is open source and the work is in the public domain, so anyone who wants to pick it up can.
You don't understand. The kind of person who writes an undetectable collision detector will never write a comment like this. He might write some other comment, but it will be as obscure as his code.
I will continue to use Instagram, as I don't feel particularly concerned with my photos on there. I'd even feel honored if they were a bit smarter about their approach and planned on asking for permission to use specific photos first. Shit, that would probably have kept this from being a PR disaster and instead become a bonus for some users, as I think it would be really cool to see my photos featured in different mediums.
Précis: Americans are moving their residence less than they used to, and those who are moving are going shorter distances. We don't know why this is, so we're going to say that it's because Americans don't want to move as much as they used to.
Economic Theory vs Human Nature: Sales Tips
I used to play Pinball at school whenever I was in the Computer Lab. I also spent the bulk of my time in the computer lab at recess. Brings back old memories.
Wasn't the Enron scandal precipitated by deregulation?
Really? Then couldn't one subsist by just eating one or two bars of chocolate per day and some vitamin pills? Or maybe a liter of coke per day would work just as well? It would be a very cost efficient way of eating as both candy and vitamins are cheap around here (well, not vitamins but a bottle of pills last a long time).

I've always assumed that that wouldn't work which is why I'm skeptical to your "it's all about the calories" argument.
It looks to me like it questions what computers are, how they work, what they do, and their moral use. These things are difficult to understand but they are certainly not nonsense (nor is deconstruction for that matter).
What Celebrities Can Tell Us About the Future of Operating Systems
I think in the general sense, any "contributions of philosophy or philosophy of science to actual science" would end up being science, not philosophy. Consider the different interpretations of quantum mechanics -- in an earlier age these sorts of discussions would fall under the rubric of natural philosophy. However, nowadays these theoretical and experimental discussions are properly conducted within the sphere of physics.

So to look for direct contributions of philosophy to science is to commit a kind of category mistake, since science is a self-correcting model based on experimental verification of theory. Anything that can be verified (well, more pointedly, falsified) through experimentation is within the domain of science -- it is science. Anything that can't really be falsified through experimentation doesn't really have a place within the scientific framework.

Now, it takes a philosophy of science to make this separation of non-science from science, so that's at least one indirect contribution anyway.
A much easier way would be to refuse to ship to an address that's not already active in your address book. If you really need to ship to another address, it's not too much to ask that you go through the full account recovery process and enter the new address (which will prompt you to re-enter your credit card number).
My understanding--which might be completely wrong--is that growth hackers are people coming up with "new" non-classical marketing approaches. Oftentimes these experiments seem to be based on real data analysis.
I think there is a good balance in discussion between hot startups and bootstrapped businesses now.

In fact, there's been a large number of exit-focused threads filled with guys who are mad at the whole situation, while I don't see too many "lifestyle business" jibes being thrown around nowadays.
You're right but then you get into a whole new can of worms: the inefficiency of energy storage and transportation. Gasoline loses less energy over time and distance than electricity does. And storing electricity in batteries is also 'lossy' as well.
Costs mount as NASA responds to a recent security breach
Your logo looks like a woman's genitals. I'm sorry for being so blunt, but my jaw dropped when I opened the tab.
There are none. They probably wouldn't. You can certainly try and fight it though!

Food for thought: http://photorights.org/faq/is-it-legal-to-take-photos-of-peo...
It's called structural separation, and was the reason why we had so many $20/month ISPs back in the days of 28.8k modems.

The infrastructure business -- for electricity, water, information networks, and other similar services -- are high-capital cost very long term investments that typically require some degree of government intervention in terms of rights of use. There's no reasonable way to provide independent supply systems if your goal is 100% coverage, and the government must be allowed to dictate things like "this road can be dug up to install pipes" and "this edge must be allowed to hold wire poles" and so forth. If you want an efficient implementation, you have one big infrastructure system that all the suppliers share.

The trouble usually comes when an entity gets to both maintain the infrastructure and supply services on it. That's bad. Now they have an incentive to provide better service for their customers and worse to everyone else's. For example, if you allow an ILEC (telco owning local wire systems) to provide DSL service but require them to rent space in their local wiring centers to their competitors, you will discover that the competitors' service requests are answered more slowly, accidentally ignored more often, and generally deprioritized if not actually sabotaged.

The best thing a municipality, county, or state government can do to foster a robust network environment is to establish an infrastructure provider and regulate them as the monopoly that they are, forbidding them to provide the services on top of the infrastructure. Then you can get healthy competition in those services.
Human-produced carbon output is only like 1% of 1% of the atmosphere. No big deal right? Murderers are only like 1% of 1% of people. No big deal right?

...
The problem about your post is that, due probably, yes, to a lack of transition between the two parts, the reader feels they have been played. We are incredibly moved by the first story, and when we are all soft with emotion and empathy, here comes a lecture about "false gods" and "true God".

What's worse, the second part rests on a mountain of assumptions that are never articulated, let alone justified: that God is good, that there is only one God (not zero, not many: exactly One), that there is absolute good and absolute evil in the world and that there is an ongoing fight between the two, etc.

But thanks for sharing anyway.

- - -

PS: "dogmatic believers" vs "dogmatic unbelievers" puts superstition and reason on the same level; they are not.
I haven't heard the argument about making code deliberately hard to understand either.

I agree that clearer code and/or commenting would have been suitable.

I only latched on to the example because they specifically mentioned that the code wasn't commented. In this case, a few lines of comments might have helped them find what they were looking for. Even if they original programmer was one of those people who just can't stop writing code like:

$a = ($b)?($ab):$c;
d($a);

Maybe some amount of convincing could lead them to leave a comment every once in a while so we can at least get:

// Detect collision
$a = ($b)?($ab):$c;
d($a);

Since it seems like both clear code and comments were absent, either one would have been helpful.
This is a very good point. Like throwing a load balancer in front of a server. You can then replace that server or put 10 in it's place and the outside world has no idea. Similarly, if you unify the ways to receive energy into one single interface: a power plug or wall outlet, it makes it easier to change what's going on in the background. Thanks for your comment it really opened up my brain.
While I think this is very cool, what makes you think the digital realm will last longer than the physical scrolls?

Just recently it was considered major digital archaeology when Jordan Mechner went on his expedition to recover the source of Prince of Persia. That was only 25-30 years old.
I'm confused. Isn't Facebook selling the photos?
How do we know the resolution shift happens client side? I did a quick google and found nothing.
Wow this is sweet
I don't think GIL will change, especially with jRuby as a viable option. I think Matz interested in linguistic expressions (ways to write code) and not GIL/performance issues. I'm not justifying the decision either way. We might see it someday, I hope.
Inside Sales Manager needed in Manhattan
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This individual contributor will be responsible for closing new business with brand advertisers and media buying agencies. You will be interacting with advertising agency professionals, selling our advertising solution and helping build long-term relationships with them.

Having media sales experience is a huge plus but not necessary. Excellent verbal and written communication skills, and an engaging/interesting personality that is essential to a friend-making, relationship-building, client entertaining sales position. There is NO OVERNIGHT travel required for this position.

Interested and qualified applicants must send a resume. This is a temp. converting to full-time position. Salary is $50K with a a commission of up to $100K. Health care benefits included.
Bump (YC S09) brings Flock photo sharing app to Android
Hacker Behind Leaked Nude Celebrity Photos Gets 10 Years
This is really true... Instagram is off their rocker. I don't see how many people can stick with that service after what they are trying to do.
Why does the Mayan Calendar end on 12/21/2012?
Most of the sources are in Hebrew and Aramaic. Though I couldn't find the transcription of the scrolls there. It could be very useful to place it right there on the site.
AbstractFactoryFactory nothing--maybe Google's sensible enough not to use frameworks which create bytecode and inject it into running processes, but try to debug something configured via annotations or XML sometime.
50% is just a number. By even your own definition paying 1% would be theft if it's done against your will. But this is a democracy, so you do have a kind of choice in the matter.
Also - a way to think about high tax full-service countries is to think of them like an all inclusive resort. It costs more, but the drinks are free.
Firebase doesn't use cookies for authentication so CSRF isn't an issue. You have to explicitly call auth() on our JavaScript SDK with valid credentials, or include valid credentials in the querystring of a REST request.
"here's a bunch of problems we have with your work... oh, and we're having trouble finding you hours..." I think your analysis is correct.

It seems like OP just makes much more complicated solutions than necessary. I've had coworkers that would spend two days developing some fancy solution using all kind of complicated algorithms and technologies that honestly just didn't NEED that level of engineering (and no real benefit was seen from doing it). While a more robust solution is TECHNICALLY better, the overhead it costs really doesn't account for that in many cases.
To me, the lesson is: Do not duplicate code! and keep it simple stupid

When implementing Unicode, MS said "hey let's copy all of our API functions to new names". Now they have two problems.

When implementing 64-bit, MS said "hey let's have a completely different OS for 64-bit." Now they have four problems.

Compare this to Unix/Linux/MacOS where Unicode is just implemented as a standard way (UTF-8) of encoding characters into the existing API. And there need only be one shipping OS which supports both 32-bit and 64-bit process types equally since there are only a handful of kernel APIs compared to thousands for Windows.
I think Instagram missed a GREAT PR opportunity here -- Imagine if they came out and made this an "opt-in" option for people interested in having their photos featured. Even with the odds being low, I'd happily participate, as I think it would be ridiculously cool to see my photos featured.

I'd imagine they'd easily get enough participation to get them the content they need to experiment with this.
How does this compare to security offerings from other BaaS providers like Kinvey, Parse, etc?
Pretty sure your company can give you an extra few weeks to work on it some more :) --> https://gameon.mozilla.org/en-US/
Keep in mind that there is a variable cost to transport the gasoline as well; you need to fuel tankers, power refineries, and fuel the trucks to transport the fuel to the pump.
CF is wonderful in compression but leaves a bit to be desired in tension- an ideal composite in your situation will need to support both (and hence their inbred children, shear, torsion, and bending).

Kevlar-49 (aramid) and Spectra (UHMW polyethylene) make great complements to carbon fiber. Wrapping your CF with Kevlar fabric (particularly Kevlar prepreg) will help arrest delamination and make the finished composite a lot tougher. Since Kevlar doesn't conduct electricity (graphite does anisotropically), this may help with your RF issues as well.
Whenever something like this happens I immediately look for the open alternative. But, does one exist?
Flickr and Google (among others) don't claim the kind of license that Instagram demands in the new ToS. So this is only a big deal in that there are some alternatives that don't suck and are really easy to switch to.

If they want to put content users in touch with content providers, they can do what Flickr did: make a way for them to do so. There are a ton of ways to monetize that, too, without dialing it up all the way to "we own your content". I bet most users would love a request system that lets businesses use their photos free of charge with attribution if they click "yes".
Sweden students riot over Instagram sex insults page
My god, people, calm down. This isn't instagram trying to use your photos as stock photos.

First: they're not good enough. They're snapshots taken with camera phones, they're not marketing materials.

Second: that would piss off their users, and no sane company would ever do this. The thing you're seeing in their ToS is an interpretation that allows for this.

Expect a statement from instagram confirming that they will change their ToS to explicitly disallow this sometime today.

In the meantime: calm down, go outside for a walk.
Maskew.js
Mozilla Game On
You sure you actually read the ToS?

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4939159
I can't be the only that thought "duh" when I read the link title right?
Can somebody explain to me what the big deal is about Instagram and these new terms of service? I can't fathom that anything but 1% of 1% of photos taken there are good enough to be used commercially [...]

Let's look at your claim that around "1% of 1%", or one in ten thousand, of Instagram photos are of commercial quality. With 5 million+ photos uploaded per day [1], that's 500 photos a day.

It seems to me that the new ToS made some people want to leave the service, because that's not what they signed up for. You obviously made another choice.

[1] http://allthingsd.com/20120403/instagram-by-the-numbers-1-bi...
I'd guess it has to do with a few things that are not at all related to the recession...

1) Globalization - the lessons learned and processes formed from globalization have in a sense come back to be applied domestically. Increasingly dominant corporations usually have numerous satellite offices to be able to tap the talent and resources throughout the country. For example if you are a Finance guy and you want to work for Google that doesn't mean you have to be working in the Mountain View office (I'd assume). Just about every city has a pretty diverse set of employment opportunities.

2) Increasingly Artificial Relationships - This one is very debatable but for a number of reasons (culture, technology, etc.) Id say that establishing light bonds with lots of people is incredibly easy these days but establishing a strong support network of friends is increasingly hard. I'd guess that due to this people will increasingly be incentivized to stay within the general vicinity of longtime friends and family rather than moving across the country with the risk of never being able to build and be surrounded by a network of "real" relationships. YMMV but I think its getting harder to find 3 new great "will pick you up when you're in the gutter" friends.

3) Similar to number 1 - the US geographically is becoming more the same than different in my opinion. There are certainly still differences but if you move to another state its highly likely that you will be surrounded by a mixture of city and suburbs that contain the same types of things just with different names. Probably mass media and the internet are responsible for this one.
The big deal is that someone is profiting from my work without my consent and it isn't me.

It's that we (the people) get slammed by DMCA violations for taking someone else's content (for private consumption). When a huge corporation takes ours (and gets paid for it), what recourse do we have?

It's that these corporations can change the rules on us in the middle of the game. It's the classic bait and switch.

It's that we're not even getting asked or given credit.

The Instagram developer page (http://instagram.com/developer) says users own their images. They expect third party developers to respect that. Why won't they?

Who fights for the user?
I can see your point, but I hope you are eating more than 550 calories a day (amount of calories in a Big Mac in the US).
This is a lot of code for a tool that can only configure RHEL/CentOS/Ubuntu targets for a nginx/Rails/MySQL stack.
Not necessarily true. One could put a coal power plant in the middle of a desert where it presumably doesn't affect the environment & population as much as it would have otherwise.
What about JBoss Seam (or Weld under J2EE6)?
Where is the off button on this guy?
Can you explain more about why you like it?
Please do yourself a favor and mouse over the letters indicating news headlines. :)