skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
It may be a tool, I just don't think it's a major or the main tool, for three reasons.

1) There are enough guns out there now that a ban on new production would have only a minimal effect, a ban on transfers would have only somewhat more effect, and a ban on possession, given that criminals are willing to break laws, wouldn't have a huge effect.

For spree shooters, even a pump-action shotgun or lever carbine and a 10-rd handgun or two (or even just a couple revolvers with speedloaders) would be pretty adequate to kill 50+ unarmed people, even if they weren't 6 year old children. So you'd need to address not just "assault rifles and 100 round drums" but basically most firearms (maybe leave single-shot shotguns/rifles).

2) The cost of ending the media deification of spree killers is almost zero. The cost (in terms of implementation cost as well as loss of rights) of any gun control is far higher. The cost of a comprehensive gun ban and confiscation could be up to (probably localized) civil war. Pick the tool which has the least costs first, especially if it's probably more effective.

3) Even if there were zero guns, you'd have other instruments of death, assuming people had the desire. I'll accept that guns are easier for some of the more amateurish and unmotivated killers (including maybe the CT guy), but Columbine involved bombs, McVeigh was a bomb, and now that the "spree kill and become famous" thing is out there, all it would take would be another McVeigh or two to show how its done and then people would be doing bombings, or running over a bunch of kids at bus stops, or whatever.

In places where drugs and alcohol are banned, they make alcohol out of prunes, get high off glue, etc. It's a lot better to focus on demand than supply.

I think Europe generally doesn't have incidents like this, not because it's disarmed, but because even "losers" in Europe can live a somewhat comfortable life compared to losers in the US. Better healthcare, better social support, etc. Europe has certainly had some serious violence in the past, generally by organized groups that feel they are "losers" vs. individuals, more so than the US. European society seems to have less inequality and thus fewer positive and negative outliers than the US. (Similarly, there is a gender difference in distributions of most traits; men tend toward the extremes; which may be why most criminals and other horrible people seem to be male)
Blockbuster didn't really get trounced by online sales though, it was more they didn't adapt their business model to account for the convenience and cost savings of services like netflix. Blockbuster is more a victim of poor management than anything else.
Sarcasm doesn't translate via text.
There's also a good book coming at the same subject from a more Western, scientific angle: The User Illusion by Tor Nørretranders. It comes to similar conclusions about the "self" as Buddhism.
I'm sorry about the trouble with Persona -- many people have been reporting issues, and it's unfortunately not been as stable as I would have wanted it to be. I'm looking into whether it's my own implementation (though I followed all the recommended best practices quite closely), or an issue with Persona itself.

EDIT:
It's a known issue with Persona and third party cookies:
https://github.com/mozilla/browserid/issues/1352

Unfortunately, this is a situation where a lot of people on HN probably disable third party cookies (though perhaps a larger percentage of HN readers already have Persona accounts?). Anyway, I'm looking into rolling out my own authentication with email/password soon.
In Australia we've had ads which specifically focus on the unsafe, illegal manufacturing conditions of a banned drug as a reason to avoid the drug. For example: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J1b1lX7HRxU/TlBbd9d4WHI/AAAAAAAAAN...

When I first saw this ad series I was stunned by the hollow, almost cynical reasoning on display, only to then be even more stunned by the lack of reaction in others. Your one-sentence summary of the War On Some Drugs, however, provides an insightful context to the campaign.
I would like to see some in depth writing in that post. Somehow I have a feeling that it just caters to popular beliefs.

For me using Facebook and Twitter is all about getting information. I know that feeling about which post is talking about, but never felt it in such high intensity. Nor would I describe my social experience as a pure urge to share everything with everyone. But I am not such an avid user of social networks so I probably am not the right guy to talk about how social networks can take over your life.

I am mostly in read only mode :D

I share most of stuff that I find interesting in my blog (more like a bookmark stream) and have my blog setup to share on Twitter and Facebook.

In conclusion from such a raving title I expected a bit more meat :)
Dive into the Cloud: brief technology introduction
If anything, this is deflation of previous drama.
Oxycontin OP is just Oxycontin in a "tamper-proof" pill. It only increases the effort needed to take a recreational dose; it doesn't increase the danger.

What you're talking about is a real problem, but you'd better pick a better example.
Undelete Files from Nexus 7 Tablet on Windows/Mac
Find your delete format and lost files from Nexus 7 from your computer, rescue your Nexus 7 data with ease. Android Tablet data recovery for you
Please don't do that. Seeing "HELL.png failed to load" every 5 seconds isn't fun.
True. Currently occupying myself by hooking on('chat')
I have used an iPhone for nearly four years. After playing with a Nokia Lumia 710 (WP7) for some weeks, I bought a WP8 last weak, and too be honest, I couldn't be happier.

The thing that I really like (besides the Metro interface) compared to iOS is the integration of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn et al in the People hub. It actually gives me more information density than the iPhone, where I have to switch between various applications to see what happened. If I want to zoom in to specific persons or groups, I just make a tile to get a subset of that information (e.g. I have a 'Family' tile for my parents, brother, etc.). Also, it comes with a lot of functionality out of the box, such as a lightweight versions of Office and OneNote, Skydrive integration, XBox Music Pass support (Spotify with a far larger catalogue), etc.

It's true that the number and breadth of applications is relatively small, but the Windows Phone OS is fairly complete, and most applications that I require are available (Whatsapp, Skype, etc.).

Between the apps and UI style it almost just feels to me more like a glorified feature phone.

To be honest, that's a bit troll-ish, given that WP8 uses the same kernel and user interface as Windows 8 and given the functionality of the pre-installed applications.
Changelog: 0.17.0 / 2012-12-25

- allows gunicorn to bind to multiple address
- add SSL support
- add syslog support
- add nworkers_changed hook
- add response arg for post_request hook
- parse command line with argparse (replace deprecated optparse)
- fix PWD detection in arbiter
- miscellenaeous PEP8 fixes

SSL support is probably the big ticket item here but I imagine most people already have an SSL termination solution already.
JQuery animation queue explained
> Now, I understand this particular guy is deeply invested in the MVC architecture. But that doesn't mean history stops here.

DHH himself has said that Rails MVC is not classical MVC. I don't know if Rails was the first framework to use this particular definition of MVC, but drawing a line between 1980's MVC and Rails is tenuous at best. Making a historical argument on this basis just doesn't hold up.
Seriously PHP is the road less traveled...
In many cases a choice between passionate intermediates and indifferent seniors boils down to whether they have a capacity for mentoring, which is a demanding process.
x = setInterval(function() {rawSend(JSON.stringify({ _event: "chat", country: "KP", name: "Kim Jong-Un", message: "Die US imperialist scum!" }));}, 250);
there should be a new version for "accelerated c++" hopefully soon,

i have sent koenig an email asking about this, and he replied, and said he will start working on a new version with barbara moo as soon as she finishes working on the new version of C++ Primer
> it simply means that the reality does not behave in a way that corresponds to the math.

In that case, we should watch out to use that kind of math in engineering or for example calculate expected airplane behaviour with it.
and how MS sold me hardware when they knew it essentially would be EOLed with their WP8 announcement.

I thought this too (as a former WP 7.5 owner), but most applications still seem to support WP 7.5, and WP 7.5 phones are still being sold. I get the impression that 7.5/8 will be kept alive for quite a while for low-budget telephones. Which may not be surprising in the end, since WP 7.5 provides a good experience on pretty arcane hardware.
I deleted my Facebook this summer and haven't looked back.
In other words, say I'd like to apply to SpaceX as a European software engineer, it won't be possible?
https://gunicorn-docs.readthedocs.org/en/0.17.0/index.html

Gunicorn ‘Green Unicorn’ is a Python WSGI HTTP Server for UNIX. It’s a pre-fork worker model ported from Ruby’s Unicorn project. The Gunicorn server is broadly compatible with various web frameworks, simply implemented, light on server resources, and fairly speedy.
Access the Apps screen with a self-made Start button
Gamasutra's Best of 2012
It's actually included because the combination has a synergistic pain killing effect.
I don't have faith in any one individual or group of individual to make good decisions for all of us. That is why I believe in radical decentralization, allowing for experimentation and innovation.

I completely disagree with you. I don't want the general population to have a say where Bill Gates' money goes. I want money to be in the hands of thousands of different-thinking individuals who can try to find an opportunity that the rest of us don't know about.
Not fan of TTD? I see your quick demise in this industry...
for every apple, there is an Elon Musk
The biggest gaming disappointments of 2012
So the benefit is really to the service provider?
However this relies on changing user behaviour, so I guess service providers using such services will be all able to charge lower prices?
Fourth, don’t be mean. I think you are part of the problem, honestly. (As am I, admittedly.)

Merry Christmas!
The biggest question for me is, can you develop to WP8 with Linux, vim, etc? I just have no plans to install Windows (or OSX) to any of my computers and I don't like to work with any other setup than my customized Linux desktop. But still WP8 looks very exciting.

But all in all, every phone OS (except maybe Firefox OS) puts me down on this. With iOS it's OSX and Xcode and with Android you're better to use some IDE like Eclipse.
I know both languages well. Python is much more succinct than PHP because of array literals, list comprehensions, lambda's and better native data types with ways to navigate them (all the functional methods are there). Only PHP 5.4 with a literal array syntax is beginning to approach some of the things you can do in Python.

You think PHP is short because you have functions like xmlrpc_encode_request and the equivalent in Python is 20 lines. What you don't see if that xmlrpc_encode_request is pages and pages of C code and PHP macro's behind the scenes. That function should be in a library, not in a programming language, which is why PHP is more comparable to other web frameworks, not to other programming languages.
Now We Know Whether Facebook Is Making Us Lonely
Pluralis: A 99designs-style approach to improving your landing page
I think that your idea is correct. I would rephrase it to say, "... explain why the PHP function does not belong in the language specification or the standard library to begin with..."
This reminds me of what my grandfather told me once -

"I often hear many people(mostly teens) claiming that they are independent and they can live life as they wish. They say they don't care about society. They wrongly perceive society as something evil that is stopping them to live the life they want. They forget that in society we are neither independent or dependent, but interdependent. It is next to impossible to live completely independently."
Of course, the same way obesity is good for the continued wellbeing of the human race.
I think you're right without realizing it: the actual criticism is that the onus of proof is on the one proposing the program in question. If there is a random government program X (and I'm not referring to welfare, it can be any program), it should not be allowed to continue without sufficient proof that it is making a positive difference. The reality is that most programs are not backed by much evidence since such evidence is really hard to get or even impossible. We can't really scientifically test how things would happen without program X (and all other things being equal) in either direction. I completely agree that I do not know how much program x actually subtly hurts the economy/society/whatever in the same way you cannot know how much it really helps. Everyone's personal intuition guides them to feel that certain perceived positive consequences outweigh certain unperceived negative consequences, and thus justifies their belief that in that case correlation is causation, but there is no proof. As such, the position presented often is that "if you're going to use my money, it is up to you to prove that it will actually be used well, not up to me to prove that it won't be used well," in the same way that if you present a new theory of physics it is up to you to prove it, not the rest of the community to disprove it.

The problem is thus precisely as you described it: this is an area endemically (and perhaps fundamentally) lacking empiricism, and arguably one where you can't practically have empiricism. I don't think it's a stretch to argue that most policy positions are supported on blind faith, emotion, and pseudo-science.

A good example of this, to hopefully gain some common ground with you and move away from an emotionally charged discussion on welfare, is patents. There is really absolutely no proof that patents "encourage innovation". It's not even clear how to measure that. There may be tons of studies done, but they are useless as we have no baseline to compare to. We don't know what's not being invented because of patents. Had patents come about naturally as common agreements between corporations, then it really wouldn't be my business to opine, but since instead it is a government policy, supported through my own tax dollars, courts, and "implict agreement" to not break said patents under penalty of law, it is very much justified that I should demand they go away without myself needing to prove much of anything -- on the contrary it is those wishing to continue the patent system that need to offer proofs.
3 Things Only Apple Could Do
Thankfully this will likely only be a Problem for another year or so. A huge swell of interest and uptake into mobile platforms, (Pew shows north of 120 million smartphone and tablet owners in the US alone) means that very quickly a site that want to have a reasonably sized audience will have to adjust to the mobile platform. Regardless - it's a moot point as adobe communicated they will not be developing flash for mobile platforms.
What's wrong with nl2br?

Seems to do what it says on the tin.
Had a few too many!? As the Hacker News Pro you claim to be you definitely did not find the right tone or even the right comment to reply to...
Why Women Entrepreneurs Rock: a Story of Super Sisters.
Incapsula: 12th data center goes live in Sydney, Australia
I stopped contributing [1] to Facebook this summer and haven't looked back.

[1] I no longer make status updates, upload photos, like pages, create events, etc. Needless to say I've never clicked an ad.
PHP may have its flaws, but Python does not seem to be the answer either. By the way, have they already found a fail-safe way to visually represent the difference between a space and a tab? Since space is a keyword and a tab too, how does the programming with invisible differences in whitespace combinations work? Does it already support all possible unicode whitespace? I guess I should ask a high priest in Python whitespace calculus ... Why not simplify the whole thing and use brainfuck characters instead?
Anyone know how the Python 3 support is coming along?
History of Famous Tobacco Leader British American Tobacco
Leader British American Tobacco
Still down 5am EST, so that's over 12 hours.

I guess redbox is still working.

I wonder what percentage of the population will have never owned a DVD player in the next generation.

If netflix owned their own hardware and could reach out and touch it, would this have happened?
Cloud-Powered GPS Chip Slashes Smartphone Power Consumption
How to use Foursquare to market your business & reach a new audience
I know that. In fact I use jQuery in almost every website I'm writing, because I need backwards compatibility with older browsers. But since I started working on a certain website which only supports IE9, I'm pretty much only using jQuery for $.fn.animation. I just feel like it's a huge waste of computing time. Apart from that I think it's important to write "cross-library" plugins.
> To be honest, that's a bit troll-ish, given that WP8 uses the same kernel and user interface as Windows 8 and given the functionality of the pre-installed applications.

I don't see how it's "troll-ish". To an end-user, the fact that WP8 uses the same kernel as Windows 8 means nothing. It might be an exaggeration but given the rest of the comment was relatively constructive, it's forgivable.

On the UI side, his major complaint is about information density (a common complaint about WP7/WP8 apps). That's definitely valid; and I say that having used WP8 (briefly) and not minding it so much (a feeling that could change over extended use).

As an iOS user, Windows Phone's aesthetics are definitely appealing (and the Twitterrific app on iOS channels some of WP8, I feel), but the lack of stand-out apps and games is the real killer. No Reeder, no Instapaper, no Instagram or VSCO cam, no Byword, Sword & Swocery, etc.
Beware: Android virus uses your phone to spread spam
http://h3manth.com/content/nth-child-css-pseudo-class-christ...
YouTube Player API released for Android app developers
So did it thin out his blood and cause him to bruise easier or something?
Mass shootings are rare enough that you're going to get poor stats due to granularity. It might be more interesting to look at stats like homicide rate.

The U.S. has a homicide rate that is second only to Russia in the G8, and is more than 3 times higher that of any G8 nation besides Russia. This sets off warning bells for me...

Normally I'd love to dig a little deeper, but it's time for me to play Santa. Merry Christmas!
Ask HN : Why are you not using this method?
The easiest way to opting out of the clause is by closing one's account at Instagram.
Will the Internet end up controlled by big business and politicians?
A dozen shades of Macintosh and iOS rants (Part 1)
By default PHP includes an X-Powered-By header in the response containing the PHP version used (should be turned off in production but is often not). This is a more common thing to track.
He should have added an ascii art Santa in a scrolling marquee as a background :)
You only have to go on the job market to see what languages are the most popular; PHP, JAVA and the various .Net (Mostly VB and C#).

JS is on the rise, but no one hires anyone to write just JS. It's usually JS and PHP (and of course, HTML, CSS).

And another point, outside the bubble (I mean a place like Florida) it's hella easier finding a decent PHP guy than Python (or Ruby) guy. I learned that the hard way.
Internet Explorer 10 Arrives With RoadiesXplorer
You're completely free to go out and earn a couple of billion and then to spend it in the way you propose. Bill Gates gets to spend his the same way.
Why do trivial functions have to be added to the language core?
It is an interesting service. I tried to ebook-ify my (Japanese) blog but noticed the contents body are all garbled.
https://www.ebookglue.com/share/Qiu-Yuan-saibouzurabopurogur...

The index are fine so there might be some missing or mistake of encoding notation around the body part.
After hacker disappears from Twitter, Verizon reveals customer data..
I'm dreaming of a… statistically modelled White Christmas
I suffer from the 'does everything in PHP because it's comfortable' habit, and this guide always helps when translating.
We're all out of news today in the UK so let's talk about the weather... in America.
Not saying anywhere that data loss is OK. Absolutely saying that data loss is a part of life, no matter what anyone says or chooses to promise.

So, you can travel two paths: One where you believe that service X can absolutely-positively not loose your data for whatever reason. Or, another, where you understand that your data can be lost at any time and for any reason by both remote service X or even your local $100 USB drive.

If you choose the first path, you are going to get stung sooner or later. And, it is my contention that blaming the service provider for your total data loss is nothing more than not wanting to admit the truth of the matter.

If you choose the second path, which could sound really paranoid but is actually very realistic, you take steps towards creating enough redundancy that a single point of failure isn't going to burn days, months or years of data. And, while no absolutes exist in this world, it doesn't take much in this day and age to have a system that will almost guarantee that your data is safe from most loss-inducing events.

I consider problems like data loss to be serious engineering problems. The difference is that I choose to look in the mirror first and blame myself first before pointing the finger at someone else.
Is Amazon's Advertising A Threat To Google?
Thanks for the feedback! I looked at the resulting ebooks, and it looks fine, but it may be a character encoding issue that is specific to your ePub or Mobipocket viewer or reader -- which device or software are you using? I'll look into fixing it.
Your profile looks interesting. I too am passionate about programming and have been dabbeling into LISP for some time. Where can I find your contact info ?
What Developers Are Expecting From Google’s Computerized Glasses
The interesting thing about the discussion on taxes is that usually what gets discussed is how much we pay and not what it is used for. "We should pay more taxes" doesn't really mean anything to me until you explain the context which with those taxes will be used -- of course the grand elephant in the room is that it is preferred we not know or discuss the specifics of that. It is a great irony that voters have much more control in how many taxes they will pay, but rarely in how they will be used. Whether through electing a president who promises to raise taxes on the wealthy, or one that promises to lower taxes dramatically, or an initiative to increase sales tax -- it is almost never known what will be affected, even when a new tax is given a "purpose" it is almost always in the small print that it doesn't necessarily have to be used for that purpose. And so our system allows us to often end up with the worst of both worlds:

1. Citizens perceive waste and thus push for lower taxes, yet there is no guarantee the "wasteful" programs are reduced, and thus often it is the important programs that are hurt.

2. Lack of funding in important programs is used to convince citizens that higher taxes are needed, but there is often no guarantee that the higher taxes will be used for those programs.

Notice, for example, that there are certain "blessed" government programs that there seems to always be money for. Yet it is always the roads or education that will suffer catastrophically if taxes aren't increased.
And very rapid cooling as well as the chance of impact damage. Sea landings may look gentle but really they aren't.