skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
What exactly is a pound? Is it a mass? If not, what is the Imperial equivalent? This confused the hell out of me the first time I took uni physics. I had an older gentleman teach the class who kept talking about slugs.

And just to anger metric people: How heavy is Le Gran K today? (note that I prefer metric)

Inches to feet is base 12. Feet to yards are base 3. Feet to Miles is base 5280. WHAT?

We can go on and on about the imperial system, and many do. The "funny" fact of the matter is this guy is pontificating mainly because of familiarity, and not any scientific rigor. His best argument is that Imperial measurements are based on eyeballing. So can metric, if you are familiar with them.
The article is not anti metric it's pro imperial units for the things that imperial units are good for.

Nassim Taleb makes the exact same argument in his latest book Anti Fragile.

Imperial units can be used and understood by people who can't even read.

Metric units are not necessarily bad and has all kinds of important aspect. But we geeks shouldn't force it on the rest of the world, just to satisfy our geek sensibilities.
(This is a bad-logic account).

What you say about "a plumbing firm with 30% gross margins at the same scale can trivially hire them." But most software businesses do NOT want to be a plumbing business. Given a choice between renting a shabby office downtown that is an hour commute, or investing in a thousand dollars of services and equipment to make a distributed team a reality, which one would you have more confidence in having a big vision? Exactly.

This has been a bad logic post, thank you.
Yes. The gym weights I found in the UK where in kg, though.
Nokia to abandon mobile business and sell it’s assets?
I think you also get 100 GB of Google Drive storage with the new Chromebooks.
Startup Guide to SF
Originally commented by buro9 at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4985242 but thought it deserved more recognition
They mean 'hierarchical': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_name_server
I accidentally tried an atypical antipsychotic once. No person, sane or insane, would voluntarily consent to taking drugs with such terrible side effects. I do not blame them one bit for refusing the current generation of medication. I would even argue that it's a stretch to call it medicine since it just masks the symptoms and makes a person placid enough to deal with. By the same metric, heroin is medicine for depression.
The power grid ( as the fiber grid) is a natural monopoly. The reason is, that it costs $x to get to n costumers. The second guy needs also $x to build his grid, but can only expect n/2 customers. ( Or he has some great trick to get all of the customers, but then one monopoly is just replaced by another.)

Additionally infrastructure has the strong tendency to externalize costs. In the example of the posting, the power company has somewhat lower income ( and needs to repair its grid), but actually damages are spread all over the place, like the guy who has to firesale his pizza before the ingredients are bad. So for the utility company it makes sense to just go for 99% reliability and insure some downtime, but on a larger level the total damages incurred for the economy will not be insured.

Infrastructure is therefore a case, where the problem is not over regulation, since we deal with a monopoly anyhow. The problem is that at best wrong regulation. ( Assuming the power outage was not caused by some freak accident.)
Belgian media planning shared digital content passport
A stopwatch on the brain's perception of time
The problem is that most people don't need to measure things in day to day life, they only need to estimate.

Those that do need to measure already know that they have to track units no matter which system of measurement they use (as the difference between entering grams by accident instead of kilograms is 3 orders of magnitude!)
Yes, and it's pretty easy to prove. Multiplying any rational number by the inverse of another gives you a new rational number. (Zero doesn't have an inverse).

A rational number is a number that can be represented as one integer divided by another. Take two rational numbers, A = a/b, and B = c/d. If B has an inverse, then A/B = a/b * d/c = ad/bc. ad and bc are both integers, so A/B is rational.
Inspiring Kids Early with Ruby and Bacon
On a Chromebook you're just using the web, and for that it's pretty fast - iPad-fast (or faster) - unless you're keeping like 20 tabs open, which is something you don't do on an iPad.

But on Windows-based netbooks, every other program, and the OS itself seem pretty slow, which is probably why people don't feel like buying them anymore. Surface RT and all the Atom touchscreen hybrids are actually the same way - as they fall in the same performance range, and Windows 8 is not visibly faster than Windows 7, except for some animations that make you think it is. But when using the old x86 apps on them (just Office in Surface RT's case), they're just as slow as they've ever been on netbooks.
If anyone is searching for this adapter, it is a 1/4" jack to 3mm (or 1/8") in common industry terms. I've got one, but don't expect to easily use it for much besides this app. Microphone input jacks on most PCs are not designed to amplify guitars or make their input sound good (in my experience). There are pre-amps for doing this kind of recording, though.
Publishing Without Perishing
Paris' Velib system found that people didn't like riding up some of the steeper hills:

"See, Paris has a handful of steep hills. The Montmartre neighborhood, for example, is perched at the top of a rise some 450 feet above the Seine. Taking a bike down the hill has a certain obvious appeal, but riding back up to the top... not so much."

"Over the summer, though, the good people of Vélib added a simple behavioral incentive to the system: Return your bike to one of 100 stations perched over 60 meters above the rest of the city, and 15 minutes of free riding is added to your account."

http://globalmoxie.com/blog/velib-bonus~print.shtml

I think it's neat they managed to put some game mechanics in to the pricing model to encourage users to make the whole system work better for other users.
This crap happens to have a 4-star rating from the people who used/owns it.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe charity contributions can only reduce your taxable income. For simplicity, let's say you have an income of $1M and a tax rate of 35%. Normally you'd pay $350k in taxes. If you donate $100k to charity, then you pay 35% * $900k = $315k in taxes, for a total payout of $415k.

The real picture is a bit more complicated than that due to variable tax rates, but I don't think there's a case where donating to charity doesn't increase your total payout, since you give up 100% of what you donate instead of whatever tax rate you'd have paid.
> The goal is to be aware of things as they are without judgment.

As long as it's being done your way, right? People get dogmatic and judgmental about everything, your post is evidence that meditation is no different.
Currency is backed by different governments, and they have different risks, rates of inflation, etc. We're just talking about measuring things.
> His best argument is that Imperial measurements are based on eyeballing. So can metric, if you are familiar with them.

I think people pushing for metric in the U.S. keep forgetting that they are pushing against the status quo. I.e. there must be a positive net benefit to the change they want for there to be a reasonable shot at getting the vast entrenched infrastructure of units displaced.

Saying "but but metric can do this too!!" isn't good enough. Metric needs to be better and the fact of the matter is that U.S. imperial units are good enough for the day to day life of the average citizen (who for the most part don't even go around converting imperial units, making any improvement in how conversions can be calculated a moot point).
Google Trends: Visualize New Year's Fitness Resolutions
The real cost is in manufacturing and maintenance.

What is the cost of replacing every machine, every factory, every load tolerance specified in every standard? Every screw, every nut.

Things that need to work, in place for decades, which we can't arbitrarily take down. Power plants, water filtration systems. How would you roll it out?

It's because the US is so large and industrialized that makes it expensive.
I think there are some rather poor arguments in the post. The primary one seems to be that imperial units are easier to eyeball, but I'd say that's only because the author is used to the imperial system. If you're used to meters and not feet I don't see why it would be harder to judge the length of a room in meters than in feet. The author mentions cups as a good measure, because it's inherently easy to judge since you know how big a cup is. In my kitchen the largest cup can hold around 3 times as much as the smallest cup though...

When actually doing calculations with imperial units it becomes obvious that it's an absolute mess. If you don't believe me try to calculate which holds more volume without converting to the metric system; a box with the dimensions 2 feet 3 5/8 inches by 3 feet 1 1/4 inches by 2 feet 7/16 inches or a sphere with a diameter of 3 feet 2 17/32 inches.
Imagine if we measured time using units of varying multiples. Every time a friend tells me "see you in two weeks", I'm like really? 2 times 7 times 24 times 60? Fucking asshole, do I look like a calculator?
When you are dealing with a monopoly backed by government power the only dishonest thing to do is to not cheat them.
"the imprecise Imperial Unit"

The word "imprecise" is also factually incorrect. AFAIK, all Imperial units are now defined in metric. An inch is not "approximately" 2.54 centimeters, it is defined to be 2.54 centimeters, or, if you prefer, 2.540000000000... centimeters. A pound is defined as 0.45359237 kilograms.

It may be very precise specification of a value that is unpleasant and hard to work with, but there is no more and no less precision in the Imperial system than there is in the metric system, because technically Imperial is now just a flavor of metric. In that sense, we are metric already. This is definitely not the sense that people mean, but it is not entirely invalid, either.
We experimented with this kind of scripting in Manic Digger: http://manicdigger.sourceforge.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&#...

It would be better if it had exposed all the commands from the server modding api: http://manicdigger.sourceforge.net/news/wp-content/uploads/2... . (note: old version)

I think JS would be useful for making Adventure game mode where blocks (script-boxes) contain javascript code that spawns NPCs, defines dialog trees, quests, items.

Another example: Spleef arena control room http://mdgallery.strangebutfunny.net/View?id=103
"It’s way more natural to use a cup of liquid as the base of a recipe than deciliters"? Really? What if I have a recipe for 5 people that I want to scale down for my 3-person family. What's 60% of a cup? A half cup plus a roughly half-full quarter cup?

This is much easier when the amount is expressed as 240ml.

Disclaimer: I'm an engineer. I also brew beer and bake bread, so I'm often scaling recipes.
Seven Shapers Of Technology in 2013
The best defense came in the comments, divisibility.

Metric 10s can only be divided by 2 and 5 and thats about it without breaking out fractions and decimals, but imperial 12s and 16s are awesome for practical commerce because its so easily divided.

Probably the best compromise that offends both sides equally would be using metric as the root unit and multiplier concept, with hexadecimal to express multiples.

So 0xD3 hex kilograms would be 211 decimal kilograms, and a kilogram would be 16 times 16 times 16 grams not 10 times 10 times 10 grams, so that would be 864256 decimal grams aka 0xd3000 hex grams or very near 1900 decimal pounds. So a wood pallet with 0xD3 kilos of product on it with some packaging material weighs about a old fashioned ton in total.

Either that or we should offend everyone equally by switching to a small prime number base to eliminate the usefulness of divisibility... so henceforth an imperial pound shall be precisely 7 ounces not more not less. Suddenly metric starts sounding better...
not showing up?
There are some differences. For example, an airline needs to hire a pilot to fly the plane regardless. For the return trip on a route that's popular in only one direction, if nobody wants to take the plane for a very low price, the airline will fly it empty. For Zipcar, it could conceivably be worthwhile to actually pay customers to drive cars from a popular destination to a popular origin, to avoid having to pay their own workers to do it. But the overall idea is no doubt the same.
> Montana is famous for its high speed limits on motorways

This hasn't been true for years. Our current speed limits are in line with the rest of the country.
Ask HN: Where do I find the Google doc which lists all the YC W13 applicants?
Right after YC had sent out rejection mails, someone had created a google spreadsheet to list all the YC W13 applicants. I had the link and then lost it. Does anyone have the link to it ?
Since Apple makes almost all of their money on hardware, if piracy were a feature, why would Apple try so hard to stop it?
We already have the metric system. An inch is defined as 2.54 centimeters. Et cetera. I can't think of a single way in which we're NOT metric, except that stubborn people refuse to let go of gallons, miles and pounds.

Every item you buy in the stores will be measured in metric units. Just because we call it a gallon doesn't mean it isn't actually 3.785 liters. And just because the serving size is a cup, doesn't mean it isn't actually 240mL. And check the nutrition label sometimes. It's all metric.

http://www.fda.gov/ucm/groups/fdagov-public/documents/image/...

So what's the problem again?
Nowadays I'm very douptfull about those rankings, I've seen a seller that we set up with Amazon in the top 3 in a category despite having done no sales.
Which Graduate Degrees Have The Best Economic Benefit?
I use extra parentheses to communicate my intent to other developers. A developer might know that 6/2(1+2)=9 but they could be thinking "did the original coder /intend/ to do (6/2) or 6/(2(1+2))?" I like things to be unambiguous WRT math in my code.
Black box abstractions that allocate memory are a problem. Presently, if you want to prove you will not run out of memory, you do it by not allocating memory or using a special purpose allocator.
Kansas City Design/Dev Agency: Server-Side Web Application Developer

We're hunting a good backend developer. We do a lot of PHP/MySQL work, but if you're a good programmer with other server side experience, feel free to contact us. We're small which means freedom, but you'll also have to take out your own trash and it's not really a cog-in-a-machine kind of deal. We're developing a couple products internally, but we're primarily funded by client work, so it takes priority.

We work on dual screen Mac workstations with nice Steelcase chairs. We're closed between Christmas and New Year's. We work hard and wear a lot of hats, but it's a laid back shop.

You can see our CraigsList ad here: https://post.craigslist.org/manage/3516242208

If you're interested, feel free to contact me directly at wade [at] voltagecreative [dot] com. I'm the agency Project Manager and UX Specialist.
Don't know if the US is the same but with UK Zipcar over 21's can pay a small amount (£15/month or £99/year) to reduce the damage fee waiver to £0. That way there's no liability except if you use the car for things that Zipcar prohibit.

We do this for each rental after being stung for damage done to the vehicle after we'd returned it[1]. It's an annoying flaw in their rental model; I now take photos/video of the car after I've returned it to hopefully prevent getting the blame in a future similar scenario.

1. You're essentially liable for any damage up until the time that it is next booked out. We had to pay as there was nothing we could do to prove it wasn't us. That damage even includes things like "damage caused by unavoidable events such as floods, hail, wind, trees falling, etc."
The comment you replied to never claimed that the U.S. uses metric units, only that it has been legal and even encouraged since 1866. So to re-iterate, there no change needed to the law, it already allows metric just fine (as you yourself note when you mention that the government-run military understands metric).

Simply deprecating customary units won't be enough to make the switch, you would actually have to make it illegal, and Hell will freeze over before you'll see that pass in the U.S. ("Doesn't Congress have actual problems to fix???")
Scientists explain itchy wool sweaters
Ask Sony how well security through obscurity's been working out for them.
Ask HN: How do you beef up your freelancing profile?
I have been freelancing for about 9-10 months for now. When looking out for new work clients always request to see sample code. Now here is the deal: I am under NDA for most of the development work I do. In that case how can I truly demonstrate my skills. How have fellow programmers coped up with this situation?
Automobile tires are an interesting case of measurement system compromise - the mounting diameter is measured in inches, but the section width is measured in millimeters. Sidewall height is even stranger - it's represented as a percentage of the section width.

Example:
195/60R15 - 15" diameter, 195 mm wide, and 117 mm sidewalls (60% of 195)
That letter is a a beautiful example of how to introduce a technical project. Interesting project too.
Documentary about the History of the Amiga  ( 1992 )
The argument goes the other way: there will always be numbers that do not divide your base. We can not get around that. Thus if we want to reduce the number of special cases, instead of going for high divisibility, we should go for the lowest divisibility.

I recommend base 11, since it's the closest prime base to the customary base 10.
SEEKING WORK - remote, or on-site within the Netherlands

I am an experienced professional dev with 10+ years of experience shipping software in a variety of sectors, including web apps small and enterprise-large, triple A game titles and Unity games to CDN's and desktop software.

I'm available for new projects February onwards. I'm most interested in web apps or mobile/Unity projects.

My portfolio site & resume: http://www.dave78.com - or get in touch via davedx@gmail.com.
Why do they have to make this page look like propaganda?
Pretty weak argument for Celsius. Why should people care that the boiling and freezing points are simple? That is almost irrelevant for the most common uses of temperature reporting. People care about the ambient outside temperature (which Fahrenheit seems optimized for), not the effect it has on the state of one particular compound.
That second example is awesome! And it demonstrates that I don't know nearly enough about Ruby. :) Thanks for contributing it.
Nice job Abe, keep up the good work!
I think Quora has improved loads, there's a real diverse set of users (including San Quentin Prisoners) I wrote about it last month

http://www.mobileinc.co.uk/2012/12/quora-initiative-allowing...
Because those are totally the same groups of people.
> In aeronautics, height is in feet.

Note that this is only because of US influence. USSR and its satellites used meters-graduated altimeters, and so did most of the rest of the world until the end of WWII at least.
The map's wrong to the extent it implies the USA has an official language. We have a de facto standard language, but we have no laws defining an official language.
I don't see a hidden service anywhere..
Don't see the difference with github gists...
So basically you are being called out and finding no way to defend your statement now you are acting all high and mighty.
Always entertaining to see phrases like 'perfect development environment' in the same sentence as OSX...
A few commenters are asking about running their favourite distro on these. I've installed a Debian chroot on mine. I've been using it as my main machine for almost 2 months now. I'm quite happy with it, but I mostly use it as a terminal to bigger machines at the university.

To get X I hacked together a Chrome App[0] VNC client, based on noVNC. It's a bit laggy sometimes, but does the job for my purposes.

Ron Minnich (of Coreboot fame) wrote a guide for doing the same with Arch[1]. And there's Crouton[2] for Ubuntu, but I'm not sure whether it does ARM or not.

[0] https://bitbucket.org/saljam/vnc

[1] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IVABFl9TJMFPqoE_c0vWP7Yh...

[2] https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton
Not sure I understand. Is it just a pasteboard?
And the kilometer is an average centigrad.
Of course, but Swiss were not the only country that declared neutrality. Netherlands did that both during World War 1 and 2. And both countries were strategically interesting. Thanks to both geography and effective deterrence Switzerland was able to enforce its neutrality, while Netherlands wasn't.
All of which can be blamed on not using the metric system.
I'm with you on the need to regulate critical infrastructure.

The tricky part is having a government powerful enough to be able to create smart regulations without allowing established interests to "help" write those regulations at the expense of their upstart competitors.
The following valid js regexp gives a server error:
^/([^/]+)[/]?(_((site)?(edit|show|manager))(/|$))?([\s\S]*)
It'd be cooler if you could evaluate the expressions. I saw an API for save evaluation of user's code somewhere on reddit the other day, that might help
As a sibling pointed out, someone didn't get the joke. :)
I think the reference for US borders is probably better put at 150 years - outside of Hawaii.
Ode to Skulpture, bringing the best of '90s UI design into the 21st century
This stock photo contains two men with white feathers around their arms. It's not clear why. The whole page looks like spam to me.
My funny jab about Le Gran K goes back to the similar reason why Imperial measurements were dumb: the damned measurement (weight) changes.

Le Gran K is a weight stored in France that every kilogram weight is measured against. This weight, made of iridium and platinum is measured every 40 years. Every weigh in has been different.

Every other metric measurement is keyed in upon a hard constant of nature. A meter is some fraction of C. A second is the number of vibrations in a rarefied caesium gas. The kilogram is a weight that's compared to a bunch of others?!

I do remember some chemists working back in '08 about the calculation of a precise kilogram by definition of the exact number of atoms of carbon-12 in a cube. They worked out the math, and determined an exact number of atoms.*

* http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/kilogram.htm
Nice, but would be nicer if it had a couple of samples to show what the site can do for you.
For Apple's App Store to become less appealing, you'd need at least a couple of the following to happen:

* Android App Store/Google Play becomes a viable business proposition

* Windows App Store becomes a viable business proposition

* Blackberry App Store becomes a viable business proposition

* The demographics of Apple device owners shift away from the current favorable, affluent, app-buying profile

* The app screening process gets easier, such that malware and other liability-causing software infests it the way that Google Play is infested (and remember, Apple and Disney are longtime buddies and Apple is working a lot harder for media companies' cooperation than Google is)

* The developer program entry barriers become something that bother serious coders already invested in the Apple ecosystem, as opposed to random grumpy developers on the Internet (it is rarely a good business move to treasure the opinion of people who aren't your customers and don't intend to become customers)

Currently, none of these things have happened.