skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Indeed. So it might actually be possible to emulate a human brain in hardware rather sooner than we might have thought. Memristors are also memory devices, with access times on the order of modern RAM, and a small multiple of 86 gigabytes is not a huge amount of storage these days. So imagine a 1 billion "neuristor" processor backed by a few hundred GB of memristor storage and operating in a sort of time-shared fashion (load a "brain component" into the neuristor configuration, interface with the memory for a while, then move on to the next component and so forth).
1) How to play the piano
2) How to make VSTs
3) How to sell software (potentially as a service)
I am a programmer.

Will improve on:
1. Clojure
2. Enrolling in a design course at Berkeley
3. Learn better management of money
4. Understand business
I guess the logic is not much different from the one used to burn people at the stake for their sins. If you smoke weed, it's bad for you, so we will put you in jail, which is 100 times worse, but at least your soul is cleansed by the government now.
Learn SEO
MP "You can't compare harms from a legal activity with an illegal one."

Professor Nutt "Why not?"

MP "Because one's illegal."

Professor Nutt "Why is it illegal?"

MP "Because it's harmful."

Professor Nutt "Don't we need to compare harms to determine if it should be illegal?"

MP "You can't compare harms from a legal activity with an illegal one."

http://www.amazon.com/Drugs-Without-Hot-David-Nutt/dp/190686...
If you don't host your own mail server, you are a clown-person. Joe 6 pack has an excuse, but nobody here does.
This year I either read, or started to read the following interesting books:

Mathematics: Form and Function by Saunders Mac Lane. This is one of my favorite books concerning the "build-up" of mathematics (it also contains nice diagrams of "relatedness" of subjects). On HN somebody once recommended Mathematics: Its contents, methods, and meaning (from Russian mathematicians in the 50s) which is similar but without the cross references.

Proofs and Refutations by Imre Lakatos. I have started reading this only recently and have to say that I find the approach and idea excellent. It would be great if we had something comparable for CS theory as well.

Notes on Introductory Combinatorics by Polya, Tarjan, and Woods. Have not read this exhaustively, but the introduction with Pascal's triangle and some of Polya' legendary problem solving insights (paraphrased from my memory: "you are on to something once you find a pattern") are definitely highlights in this book.

Mathematical Discovery: On Understanding, Learning and Teaching Problem Solving by George Polya. Based on the previous book and my fond memories of reading "How to Solve it", I got this one from the library. Again I can't attest for all of the contents, but AFAICT now it's another gem from Polya.

From HN advice in previous years I read The Tibetan Book on Living and Dying, which I can heartily recommend, too. It is an anti-thesis to Christian theology and I find it to contain many insightful comments and different views on leading a good, meaningful life. I disagree with some of the church-y comments on that it really is important to have a master and that only the master can do certain things, but that's probably just me being an atheist all along.

I actually read some other books, but the list is already kind of long and might hold interesting pointers for other mathematically inclined readers, too. I for one am always fascinated on how much advice on problem solving in mathematics translates to CS.
It does less than making HTML whitespace-significant. It's unsuitable for use on HTML markup, because newlines in <script>, inside tags, attributes, comments, etc. should not be changed.

It's only safe and reliable as a part of nl2br(htmlspecialchars()) combo, so a function that does both could have been a better idea.
Less about how to become a hacker.. I'm ok in that department.. :-)

More curious how people see the term 'Haxor' I know what it says in urban dictionary, but it seems a bit out of date IMHO..
I would wager that they may not care so much about reducing their annual costs, but they probably do care about per-mission costs. If they can cut their per-unit costs in half, then they can have twice as many toys without having to convince Congress to give them more money.
I really like the idea of a portable web server - with a WiFi dongle (better yet, a 3/4G dongle) and dynamic DNS it should be possible to carry the a piece of the internet in one's pocket!
My environment of choice is Python. I've used solr before but for a project a while back I used the pure Python Whoosh http://packages.python.org/Whoosh/

The intention was to quickly develop the extra search pieces needed in Python and then port them to solr. (For example we needed a custom scoring mechanism, and needed to experiment with spelling errors, pronunciation equivalency etc). However Whoosh turned out performant enough that I didn't need to touch solr again (XML config files always make me judder!)

So if you Python, I strong recommend giving Whoosh a go especially when starting out a project as you'll be more productive.
I've found that the best way to be more empathetic is to become a calmer more patient person. Putting myself in someones frame of mind is like taking a mental deep breath after every time they say or do something. I have to let the loop of consciousness run a few more times before allowing my thoughts to become opinions and express them in a response.

I recommend meditation. Empathy is consciousness of self and of others, consciousness is pre-frontal cortex executive function. Meditation is the expansion of self-awareness. When I was younger, sometimes after getting angry, like reeaally angry, seconds after calming down I would think "Shit, there was no reason to get that mad". It's a complete loss of self-control, executive function. The same thing happens after saying something stupid(hurtful) and then realizing it was hurtful(not empathy), if I have the ability to realize I shouldn't have said it, that means if I had just mentally waited a second or two and reassessed the thought I could have prevented myself from saying it. Meditation helps give me this time, stay calm, and assess situations(not only social) before acting. I think if scientists(if they haven't already) looked at the brains of empathetic people and stay calm in chaotic situations they would find the front of their brain buzzing with activity.
Someone needs to port Dolphin to Wii homebrew.
PEGs are effectively regular expressions with recursion. What you are describing is a packrat parser. So long as the parsing-language is context-free (ie you don't allow the values extracted to be in scope during parsing) then you can make PEGs incremental in the same way. I've been thinking about this lately in the context of https://github.com/jamii/strucjure
Thank you for your intelligent comment. It's a hard topic and even questions with easy answers end up descending into a moral and historical quagmire.
Yes. And much of the rest of the world perceives (rightly or wrongly) that the Middle East is that mess that it is in part because of the US need to maintain their low prices by guaranteeing supply through military aid and maintenance of some terrible governments.
I have to admit that I was not expecting mutexes to be anywhere near that fast.
Fast growing ZeroCater seeking Lead Engineer
I believe this is the architecture pattern known as event pooling. Though I could be looking at it wrong.
Peter Pronovost’s checklists better intensive care
How can I, as a somewhat proficient non-techie, accomplish that without having to dedicate a 24/7 *nix box from home?

Please, if anyone knows a simple, yet elegant solution, I'm all ears.
Here's my problem with nl2br:

Prior to 4.0.5, it used "<br>". As of 4.0.5, they switched to "<br />". (As of 5.3.0, they did the obvious thing and added a second parameter, is_xhtml).

This isn't an isolated incident -- any minor update is liable to change how a function works or what parameters it can take. So you're better off writing it yourself (or doing it inline with a string replace or regular expression).
1. How to say no more often when working in a team - I need to be a better delegator

2. Scala + Play Framework - Java shop, I'm sure this will help long term

3. How do disconnect once I get home from work - I spend too much time online... I need to unplug once in a while
How To Get More Clients Using GroupTalent
Definitely recommend the rest of the Laundry books. Also be sure to check out Stross's short story "A Colder War", which came before those, and is very much in the same overall theme, although substantially darker.
Nonsense. Setting up a properly configured and secured mail server, and keeping it that way, takes time and is not a core value proposition for most of us. It makes complete sense to want to outsorce something like that.
Unfortunately, making ethanol out of corn still uses a lot of oil: farm equipment for harvesting corn is powered by diesel fuel and fertilizer is made of petroleum-based chemicals.
It's not as bad as damage from pinging, but fuel lines may still end up perishing - I have never seen this but have read of it
Posterous sign-up fails?
Off of the top of my head: Heny Ford -- My Life and Work. The Shape of Design. Ken Segal -- Insanely Simple.
The MIT "platform series" is fascinating - specifically:

_Racing The Beam_ (study of the atari 2600 platform)
_The Future was Here_ (study of the amiga platform)

Best books I've read in the last five years:

_Debt: The First 5000 Years_

_Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom and Urgent Means_ (william vollman)
Ethanol also reduced MPG.

So to compares prices per gallon you need to derate the E15 (and the E10).

Does anyone have the numbers? Like 1 gallon of E10 is equal to .9 gallon of E0, etc?
Ask HN: Any Christmas releases from the Ruby Community this year?
Traditionally in the ruby community various new releases come on Christmas day for a bit of fun.
Know of any releases this year?
(May I suggest one link per post)
you can use encrypted mail, however that requires you to convince all people that you exchange mails with to use encrypted mail as well.

You could use a hosted email service in another country where the american authorities don't have easy access. Europe might be an option. However, as with hosting your own email server, that's only a partial solution: If you communicate with other people, your mail is not only stored in your inbox but also in their outbox. So they'd have to use a mail provider outside the US as well - see the first paragraph.

The best is probably a hybrid solution: Try to educate as many people to use encrypted mail as you can and use a mail server that's located outside the US. It doesn't provide 100% protection, but at least you're not part of the dragnet search.
The problem with WebM seems to be that even Google didn't embrace it.

I've seen a lot of speculation that they invested in it mainly to have more leverage when negotiating with the H.264 folk.
And it doesn't protect any mail you wrote or received that's still in the recipients inbox or the senders "sent mail" folder. So it's a complete waste of time for that purpose.
Don't lump them together. Tripadvisor has lots of high quality hotel reviews. I can forgive a lot of annoying ads for that.
You could use a local email program and set it to download then purge your mail from the server. That way it's not in their possession for more than 180 days. But you are then responsible for your own backups etc.
You can do exactly what you are describing (and more!) with ParEdit:

http://emacswiki.org/emacs/ParEdit

http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=3998

It's really a killer feature when writing any Lisp. I would love to have something similar for C-style languages, but the more complicated syntax makes it harder.
Are Rails and Django communities re-inventing the wheel?
> ... and any negative PR (usually non-existent) ...

Don't underestimate the impact of sites like tripadvisor where one unhappy customer is very visible.
An alternative to postfix:

To receive mail, you could setup Haraka (a very simple NodeJS smtp server)[1] on any unix instance (such as AWS micro). You'll need to set proper MX records for your domain and a few simple configurations. If Heroku would let you specify a port (specifically, 25), you would be able to host on Heroku's free plan. This may put you back at odds by hosting your data on AWS (third-party). Also, you would likely need to setup a POP server to download your messages from the server.

[1] https://github.com/baudehlo/Haraka
That post is pretty incoherent. Try a full sentence out for a change. Being able to communicate effectively is an mordant skill. I'm still not sure what you're complaining about.
A few highlights for me...

Abundance - Peter H. Diamandis, Steven Kotler.
Diamandis has an almost infectiously positive way of looking at the world. And a hope that's not just based on a philosophical belief but is backed up with hard data.

Distrust That Particular Flavor - William Gibson.
I never got into Gibson as a fiction writer, but this collection of essays, articles and talks immediately made me appreciate him as an amazing thinker, observer, and truly brilliant writer. This book is worthwhile for the pieces on Japan alone, but every single piece is wonderful.

Finite and Infinite Games - James Carse.
An old book but one I only just discovered. No book has every so subtly had an impact on my life every day. The finite vs. infinite way of looking at the world has changed the way I think and act completely on the inside, yet it's probably hardly noticable on the outside. An amazingly easy book to read, couldn't recommend it highly enough.

How Music Works - David Byrne
A unique and refreshing take on creating music that can be applied to the creation of anything. Byrne leaves the mysterious & ethereal world of 'creativity' for dead, and looks at how he creates music, and how the industry works, in a grounded and logical way. A brilliant book for anyone who creates anything.

The Plenitude: Creativity, Innovation, and Making Stuff - Rich Gold
Another old(er) book, but one I can't believe I only just found. Rich Gold's outlook on how and why we make things should be required reading for anyone who plans on thrusting their big idea into the world.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking - Susan Cain
It's had a lot of press, but I'm going to recommend it anyway. HN undoubtedly has a higher than average number of introverts who truly operate in an extroverted world. This book was absolutely eye opening in how it deconstructs different situations and personalities in a useful and positive way. I wouldn't say it's 'changed my life', but it has made a few relationships with close friends and colleagues a lot better.

And a quick plug - for any avid Kindle readers out there, I've built a web app for viewing/sharing/organising Kindle highlights. If any HN'ers want early access sign up at http://kindred.it/ and I'll ping you a beta login.
How does this distinguish between nodes that are only there to collect the IP's of all other users?
I would to have a surprise release.
Google has a longstanding history of severe corporate ADHD. I think a given startup's odds of long-term survival are better than the odds of a similar non-cord initiative surviving equally long inside Google.
Ask HN: Code for America alternative?
I am interested in spending a year doing coding for humanitarian purposes and as the Code for America application process is closed for 2013, I am looking for alternatives. Doesn't necessarily have to be just like CFA or even in America, but I would like to spend a year getting better at coding while making the world a better place. Any suggestions?
Another reason we need better encryption solutions for email.

Are there any useful options that encrypt email?
I don't think he is, and you don't have any data to back up your assertion. I bought a Fire as a gift for a relative specifically because that relative wanted to use it as a gateway to Amazon content, consuming books and videos. Yes, it offers less than the Galaxy, but here's something to be said about creating a streamlined and simple interface to a couple of succinct choices, rather than overwhelming the user with too much choice. So, while personally, I'd agree with you and purchase a Galaxy over a Fire (I don't want either one, but theoretically), I don't agree that it's what the majority of consumers want, at least not without some data showing that.
Mutex vs. Semaphore, what is the difference?
Kudos to the author for attacking the question this way, it's always important to look at data and try to model it. (and it's a lot of work!)

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure there's a fatal flaw in the analysis.

Suppose we had two types of years, both following a Poisson Distributino, but one with a higher incidence, the other with a lower incidence, and they alternated[1].

Now sample each type of year separately. Each will give you a Poisson distribution. To get the distribution of all years you'd just add bins of the two types together.

The sum of two poisson distributions is a poisson distribution (with a different mean), therefore, we cannot conclude anything about how the mean value is changing with time (and thus, answering the question: is the incidence rate rising) unless we actually bin the data by year, and see if the mean value is changing with time.

Unfortunately, by splitting time up, we reduce the already small sample sizes for each bracket. Time series analysis is a more appropriate tool to tackle this question.

[1] This is unchanged if the rate is continuously increasing, the setup was so that you can actually think of collecting the same data over multiple years.
It is probably a useful exercise for someone who thinks knowing these numbers is useless, to understand why other people don't think they are useless. And in that sense asking the question is valid.
I've been studying JS recently and recommend:
JavaScript Web Applications - Alex MacCaw
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide - David Flanagan
Didn't they do the same dirty trick for the federal reserve act ? Basically all of congress is home with their families, and only a few people (who most likely want to see the change (for whatever reason AHEM)) show up to to vote.
Do you have a cite for the peanut butter thing? I'd love to use that figure, but would hate to be unable to back it up if asked.
Blue Ocean strategy -- Really solid and well researched book on how to create things customers will gladly pay for while minimizing your own costs. Creating uncontested market space for yourself and making the competition irrelevant.

Visual Communication -- old book currently out of print but timeless principles for effective communication. Visual communication is often more effective than words.

Eat, Drink and Be Healthy -- How to enjoy food but stay in great shape. You do not need to live on steamed broccoli and granola to do this! Lots of bland foods are unhealthy and lots of healthy foods are actually tasty. You just need to know which ones.

How to build a start up community in your city -- Book by Brad Feld with some interesting ideas about 'leaders' and 'feeders'. Read it to to build a community around http://AfriTech.org

Positioning -- interesting ideas on how to succeed in a crowded market place

Writing Non Fiction -- another old book that is out of print but lots of good ideas on how to communicate effectively
What a great comment. Encouraging people to look beyond their backyard to see the effects of what they do day to day is not easy, but it is important. Looking at stats for murder, poverty etc is more meaningful when examined globally.
Lila - Pirisg

Walden - Thoreau

A Universe From Nothing - Krauss

Goedel, Escher, Bach - Hofstadter
Those nodes should be run by the studio that produced the movie in question, while this post is, as I understand it, about studio A downloading a movie that belongs to studio B.
India specific : India after Gandhi, India Unbound
Computer Science : GEB(still reading), Mahout in Action
General : Cryptonomicon, V for Vendetta
CoderDojo NYC: Bringing free tech education to NYC youth
They always do that in holidays when no one is looking like they did with the NDAA. no suprise
When we talk latency, nanoseconds etc. I am always fond to remember the things Grace Hopper had to say about it to put it into perspective.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEpsKnWZrJ8
"Vehicles will typically go 3–4% fewer miles per gallon on E10 than on straight gasoline."

Source: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/ethanol.shtml
Tell Hacker News: Happy Christmas
I hope you're taking a day off from your plans to take over the world to relax and enjoy the company of family and friends. Thank you for a wonderful community, and best wishes for the new year!
Still crawling thru "The Tin Drum" by Gunter Grass.

An epic reading. If you ever wanted to know about the nazi and post-nazi germany and get force-fed with entirely different topics in the process.
Sorry I'm not sure I understand.
Link to the article on one page. http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/24/tech/web/lester-chambers-k...
Any idea how many shooting deaths are caused by the police? I can't find what I'm looking for.
India specific : India after Gandhi, India Unbound
Computer Science : GEB( still reading), Mahout in Action
General : Cryptonomicon
International Space Station tour by Sunita Williams
I don't know about the peanut one, but you can find plenty others. Like more people die because of alcohol every year, or one that I read recently that more veterans commit suicide every year than die in the wars, etc.
So are you making one?
A) Video on disc, with hardware a decade more advanced, is not the same use case any more.

B) I agree that WebM fits with the XKCD comic because it's doing the same thing as an existing widespread standard but 'ours is more awesome trust us'. But changing hardware and math make a legitimate need for the creation of 265/daala. If 265 was already finished and implemented you could make the XKCD argument, but it's not.
One thing not mentioned so far is the use of high pressure fuel pumps for common-rail injection petrol engines. This used to be something you only found on diesels. The lubricity of diesel fuel is a factor in the design and longevity of the high pressure (~1000s PSI) pump.

Some models (eg. E90 BMW 335i) suffered from early high pressure fuel pump (HPFP) failures in the US. It would be interesting to find out if there's any hard data on this (I imagine it'll be closely guarded by the manufacturers) but I'd suspect ethanol in the fuel as a factor - ethanol is even less of a lubricant than petrol and the HPFP may well suffer additional friction as a result.
The first line of his first example of using his monad implementation is:

@do(Maybe)

Ctrl+F Maybe. It's not defined anywhere!

I was excited to see that someone could maybe finally explain to me, in Python, why people are so excited about Monads.

I looked at Haskell once. It looks impossible to understand without understanding Monads. (And near-impossible to understand even if you do understand Monads -- the syntax is a nightmare.) I thought maybe this article would help me, by using the syntax of language I do understand -- Python -- with a concept I don't understand -- Monads.

But this excitement was misplaced, since this isn't a usable demo. Please, if you're the author of this article or someone who understands this code, post a Github repo, or a tarball on your HTTP server, or something with a runnable, simple example of code that uses the article's approach to monads.