skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
The purpose of H-1Bs, while understandable, definitely does cause problems at times. I think the US should be taking a multi-pronged approach:

1. Put together treaties with some countries - Canada and most of those in Europe, for example, or at least with any of those that want to participate, to allow workers to cross over without the need of a visa.

2. For other countries, such as India, China, Mexico, and others, switch to a skills-based immigration policy, and make sure rules are in place to prevent them from being underpaid relative to US workers.

Countries like Canada and the UK, for example, probably have some people who would love the opportunity to work in the States, but it's not like we'd be opening up the floodgates. And using a skills-based scheme for people from developing countries would help make sure that smart people who are likely to have significant contributions to society would also be able to come over and make their mark.
Obviously I didn't write the post in order to get PR. This is NOT the kind of thing you want PR for.

We decided to submit letters to the judge in order to have John's sentence reduced from 60 years to something more reasonable. In order to do that we had to go on record, and those records came out yesterday at the sentencing which I attended.

The Register called today and I thought it would be best for me to explain our position in an honest and upfront way, rather than just having one quote posted here or there.

Yes, my CTO screwed up the hiring process by not doing a basic Google search.

Yes, the easy choice would have been to fire John.

However, after getting to know John I thought the best thing for John and society would be for John to work until he went to jail. He's a good person who did very stupid things.

My only goal at this point was to help reduce John's sentence and help him become a functioning member of society.

all the best, Jason
'My company': Care to share which company that would be?
Every year, more than 130,000 people are convicted on felony charges for basic drug possession, a crime that hurts nobody and which is by a commanding majority of surveyed public opinion regarded as a crime that should not actually be a crime. All of these people are going to fail the criminal background checks applied across a good swath of the Fortune 500.

That's a clear injustice.

Is this?
They are $2.99 for HD, and they are DRM'd.

> Purchases you make from the iTunes Store can be played on up to five computers that you authorize using your iTunes Store account name and password.

Although, yeah, they are close!
Twitter Ain't Search
I'm not saying that a la carte has to be the only option... I'd just like if it was an option.
Was the title edited? I don't see any of those things.
Schwartz: Not worried about Sun's future
The title seems a little triumphant for my tastes - wouldn't it arguably be more accurate as "IE6 dips below Firefox in market share"?
You're right. I flagged it. Hopefully an editor will remove it.
"dip" implies it may recover. I'm pretty skeptical that we'll see a resurgence of IE6 usage.
This is the essence of that "This is so cool"-feeling that arises when you first really _get_ programming.

And almost makes me want to invest in SICP or something similar to see what all this LISP-talk is about :)
I don't think that your incorrect usage of "hacker" is going to win many good feelings here on "Hacker News".
Looks really Metal Gear-ish, doesn't it? A bit like a quadrupedal GEKKO...
Uh, what?

Open Source is not powered by hype, it's powered by code. If you are just consuming it, you are doing it wrong -- you have the chance to mold the project to your needs, simply by contributing. There is no point in predicting the future; read the code, talk to the developers on IRC, and start contributing... then you control the future.
"This video is no longer available." That didn't take long.
It would be neat if my chatbot would act as a personal agent for me when I'm not around. So when I can't chat (or tweet for that matter) and my chatbot is turned on, it will talk to my friends on my behalf, and those conversations can help program it, in addition to my own activity stream.

This would be difficult sure, but pretty cool nonetheless.
I work in Boston's robotics industry. Business is actually pretty good, if not actually booming, the general shittiness of the economy notwithstanding.
All of the plans assume additional costs for H1Bs - we're just arguing about how to impose them.

If it's cheaper for Google to do all their stuff in India, they will.
Read the full text online right now:

http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html

If you meant an investment of time, then, well yes. But SICP is really, really fun.
I've always felt that 'cracking' was a form of hacking. [Stallman]{http://www.stallman.org/articles/on-hacking.html} among others, considers hacking to mean exploring the limits of what is possible, in a spirit of playful cleverness. This includes 'cracking' as well as FOSS, and startups and whatnot.
Rekindling the "hacker" vs. "cracker" debate will probably earn you even fewer good feelings.
> Also, banks which are in no way, shape, or form in trouble have taken TARP funds because the cost of borrowing is so attractive.

They were also told to take the money by the regulators. Apparently banks not being in trouble looks bad.

Then Congress said "you took our money, so you have to do biz our way".

Northern Trust is now trying to get out of TARP.
I respect Wolfram because he has the means to do whatever he likes, even if everyone else thinks it's crazy. That's real academic freedom.
Really? You can give them a placebo and say, "This might reduce your risk of HIV or it might not. Have fun!"

I'm curious because my impression is that most drug trials have been for AIDS treatments (where, perhaps, placebos are more ethically acceptable-- especially before the treatment is known to be better than the placebo) rather than HIV prevention.
http://www.bluestatedigital.com/
bounce .. I really want to know how to learn how to make something like this, anyone?
Not so fast. The mystery of the great depression is why it was so long.

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/FDR-s-Policies-Prolonge...

The short version is that the spending didn't accomplish much but the "war on productivity" did - it kept the economy in the crapper.

That didn't end until FDR figured out that an arsenal of democracy had to actually produce stuff.
I both meant an investment of time and money :)

I don't like reading entire books on the computer. It just feels better on paper ;)
Scientists invent a new type of nuclear reactor that requires a lot less enriched uranium
Good idea, but not likely. If ambition was a weak attractive force, like gravity, then ego would be a localized, strong repulsive force, like two positive electro-magnetic forces.

Estimating the ego of Wolfram and Lenat, it would take somewhere on the order of 10^9 ambitious geniuses for the net force of ambition to overcome the local force of ego.
One is Central Connecticut State, the other is RPI.
> Roosevelt cut back on federal spending in 1937 against the advice of Keynes

Did FDR actually consult Keynes? The relevant work was published in 1935-36.
Skype Brand Book
Everybody has to decide for themselves where they draw the line (and I would feel better about crimes that don't really hurt anybody). Personally I felt it was inappropriate to lump all those crimes together. And actually, maybe I went to the wrong university, but I don't witness people hacking into other people's accounts on a regular basis. The question is, when do you know that you can trust somebody, and they have really changed their ways?
Fun with Latin, Best Practices, and New Zealanders
AFAIK, Twitter doesn't offer a sensible API for twitter services to use, such as having the user create a unique key which gets sent to a service, which then uses this key as authentication. The user (and twitter) would then be able track all activity based on that key, let you disable that key, etc. As a result of this, every Twitter app that needs to access your account asks for your username and password.

And, now, your Twitter account can have money in it?

Besides the obvious question of "is this really useful?", which I presume the answer for a lot of people is: "Yes! You can show off you paid someone... on TWITTER!!!!", it seems to me having funds tied to a Twitter account is a big mistake. Like Facebook, the default login is not secure, upping the ante for sniffing a cleartext password from just denting your social life to liquidating whatever funds you've put in your Twitpay account.
Radio ID Chips Help Fight Cacti Theft in Saguaro National Park
I was hoping this mentality was out there - basically let me prove the worth of the degree rather than prejudging me for it.
26 New And  Web Apps You Probably Don't Know About
It can be, but it isn't always, and if you go by the numbers then most cracking is not hacking. Running a script does not include playful cleverness.

Stallman also considers clever use of chopsticks a 'hack'; mileage varies on that one.
This bothers me about EC2 as well. Most efforts don't get how useful (and headache saving) delegation-of-rights functionality is. This should be part of everyone's toolbox by now...
That's why paper greeting cards now come with sound chips that play back Hannah Montana when you open them.

See? One step ahead!
As the far right passes further into ignominious lunacy

Dang dude, the hate was just dripping off that.

I like to see open and honest discussion. I haven't yet been convinced that FDR didn't prolong the Depression, but I'm open to persuasion. I'm certainly not going to build a shrine to the man, even if his actions were for the good and not ill. Presidents are just jerks like the rest of us. That's the way its supposed to work.

Comments like that make your logical arguments very suspect. I'd liked the rest of your post, even if I found fault with parts of your reasoning.
Mahalo was founded in 2007.
Yes, there is some watering down. But not too much. 2 Business classes are among the 'core'.
The best book for me was "The Sales Bible"
> Mathematica does not have access to magical algorithms that none of the rest of us know about

Yes it does. Quite a lot of them, especially w.r.t. symbolic equation-solving and integration. They're notoriously protective of their trade secrets.
What is your scheme-based website? Is it ourdoings or something else? Just curious because there aren't a lot of them out there that I know of.
A Tale of Two Communities: Diggers Vs Redditers
Seems like a very small fine. I'm sure eTrade made a ton more money than the 34 million they were charged.
Live Stream: Y Combinator’s AngelConf Offers A Crash Course In Angel Investing
Remind me how "ombop" appeals to teenyboppers... they don't meditate, and Hanson went out of style years ago.
Can someone explain the new X-Plane flight model and visualizations in plain English?
Has this guy heard of search.twitter.com?
He says that most CEOs suck at technology, but really doesn't answer the question why. The answer is that during the time the executives were cutting their teeth in the industry, technology was not important. For most companies information-based technologies (not IT) were mostly backroom operations, payroll, accounts receivable, and the like. The keys to running the company were other things: sales marketing, finance, manufacturing. The skills that evolved into internet thinking were of little value. Fast forward 20 years and the key skill for a CEO is navigating the company is a sea of information, where the end customer probably knows more about the position of a company than the CEO does. They aren't prepared for it. Their cronies aren't prepared for it. Their boards (more of the same) aren't prepared for it. Even worse, the people who are prepared for it aren't even working for them.

The author works for a record label. This is the inside view.
Agreed. It's really quite shameful... I can't even name any services that do it right.
I'm not sure, but I think he might be saying: "Mahalo was getting the publicity one way or the other, so by posting this before the story broke, you got a chance to control it".
is the sound really hollow for anyone else? I can barely understand what they are saying.
it's also quite possible that he was just dealing with some rat bastards

Certainly, and I hope I didn't imply otherwise. But then a person in that situation needs to better discern who's a rat bastard. It still comes down to taking responsibility for what you need to learn. It sounds like we agree on that.

I think maybe what you're objecting to is a sense that I was blaming the victim. I admit there's a fine line between saying "it was the victim's fault" and saying "if the victim wishes to cease being a victim he must take responsibility for what he himself did". Possibly it's too fine a line to come across well in a brief post. It can be hard to tell whether someone is writing from a caring state or a judgmental one (whereas in person, you'd pick that up easily from nonverbal cues).
I'd love to see the US and UK sign some sort of pact allowing completely free movement of people, but it'll never happen while the UK's borders are so porous. Historically tho' the UK has never bothered with strong border controls because we're an island, but these days that doesn't matter.
This article certainly has interesting ideas, but I think the author is wildly overplaying the risks of the current economic situation, and is indulging in a bit too much fantasy. I mean, submarines? Really?
Is their search anything more than finding text in a tweet? They seem to be more about finding the most recent tweet containing your keyword. I would rather see the results weighted by retweets or something to help find 'relevant' tweets.
seems like the tech works fine. The robot just needed a few heartbreaks to make him normal like the rest of us.
This particular case makes sense, it's the same as not hiring someone because they are definitely going to have to quit relatively soon, especially if they knowingly withheld that information. However, the article and its title strongly suggest that if he were an ex-convict, they would have cut him out of the process with no second thoughts. Of course all ex-cons are subhuman murderous animals!

That's what I'm really annoyed about, so maybe this situation really just doesn't fit, but I still felt it had to be said.
I worked for a record label... :-)
And Hal Abelson knows how to give fledgling programmers that Eureka moment in spades. This article mirrors my experiences very closely -- I came into the class Spring 1998 with BASIC and assembly experience, thinking I knew how to program.

SICP couldn't be worth any more if it were printed on gold leaf, but having Abelson and Sussman there to teach it really seals the deal.
I might not have clearly articulated myself. I didn't mean to imply that you were using this situation to get more P.R. for Mahalo.

As I said before I think the charges against John are serious. I don't know what is fully going on and I don't know know John personally. So I really don't have enough knowledge to form an opinion of his character. So since you know John and say that he is a good person, I believe you. He obviously has technical skill and knowledge, so I see no reason that he can't become a productive member of society once he gets out of jail.

Although no news reports currently mention that John worked at Mahalo, that will probably change. As you mentioned, the Register called you today. And once people see that John worked at Mahalo, they are going to link Mahalo to a convicted cracker. Naturally that is going to raise some questions about your company.

Sure you could have not made a statement and refused to answer any questions. That is your right. I really don't see how using Mahalo could put my identity or computer at risk (My level of computer knowledge might be making me overconfident). So some of the questions people raise about Mahalo are probably going to be invasive and will not have much to do with a user's experience using the site. But the P.R. is bad, and if you hadn't made any statement, people will probably have assumed the worst about your company.

Also, I am sure that John needs any support he can get right now since I am sure that he is going to be attacked. So I'm sure John appreciated your public support of him.

So basically an open and honest explanation helps mitigate that bad P.R. Now if people are curious about why you hired John, they can get answers directly from you. And you posted the blog before news reports reports came out about you hiring him, so it really does not come across as defensive. I made that comment about your blog post being smart P.R. because that post and its timing is one of the best responses that I can think of to any questions about your company.

All the best,
Chris
"I don't understand a concept, but I'm going to try to debunk it anyways."
Has this story hit TechCrunch yet? It's huge news everywhere else.
black hat John Schiefer has been sentenced to four years in federal prison
One of the best business classes that I ever took was from a retired VP of sales for a Fortune 500 insurance company. He highly recommended the Carnegie Sales courses: http://www.dalecarnegie.com/

I plan to take that class this next year.
A Suggested Alternative to Current App Store Promotion
Google is easy to pronounce and does not have any slang acronyms. I wonder if they chose omgpop because lolgamez was already taken.
That was basically it.
As Karl says in the article's comments, "there will always be opportunities to exploit/game any algorithm." But, it does seem that Apple will at some point need to address how developers are gaming the system to bring more attention to their applications.
Takes a lot of effort to hear it. I think the mic is too far from the speaker (and likely built-in to the camera).
there is a way to transfer pagerank from your previous domain to the new one
Just think how much they will lose in customer trust because of that. I pulled everything out today.
You know, if you keep learning you will never cease to have this feeling.

?- append([1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], X).
X = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].

?- append([1, 2, 3], X, [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]).
X = [4, 5, 6].

?- append(X, [4, 5, 6], [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]).
X = [1, 2, 3].

And the definition of append:

append([], X, X).
append([X | Y], Z, [X | O]) :- append(Y, Z, O).

Magic!
*Results may vary.

Here's a hint: Look at YOUR traffic and determine what browsers to support.
I'd pay for convenience, but most pay sites ask for my money PLUS they reduce convenience.

For more free content, I can just click and get it. But when I want paid content, I have to fill out a form + get out my credit card + create a password.

The iPhone cuts out most of that work.
Well, between $.99 and $9.99 is a good starting point, because thats where almost all iPhone apps are priced. Then, you can look at your competitors, and find their range of pricing. I'd be priced comparably, if you offer similar features. I'd also opine that its much easier to raise your prices than it is to lower them.

So pick a price, and if you make a comfortable amount of money, keep it. If you make a ton of money, raise it, and if you make little money and people complain all the other apps are better alternatives than yours, then build a better app.
OurDoings is it. I still use the "wishful thinking" programming methodology I learned from SICP. I'm married with 3 kids and a separate day job, and don't think I could have pulled this off using a less programmable programming language.
We were asked to take down the site. Sigh...
Many, many moons ago RPI was on my list of schools. I have never heard of CCS. Based on way out of date perceptions I would suggest RPI. If you can get into Yale or the like, it may be cheaper than RPI because liberal scholarships.
I went to the local junior high around here and asked the girls hanging around to come over and I told them whether or not omgpop.com sounds awesome. They said yes. Then some school admin guy came over and told me to go away.
Aside from the abnormally long DST the US had one year during the energy crisis of the early '70s, notice, if you are old enough, that DST gets a few weeks longer every few years. The article states that DST boosts consumer spending. So, I wouldn't be surprised if Congress has been lengthening DST to boost consumer spending.

The article addresses the question of conservation of electricity, but not other forms of energy consumption. From the article, it's not clear whether DST conserves electricity. But I've casually observed it increasing driving/transportation.

If the sun is still up when people finish work, they are more likely to do errands, paint the town, dine out, and so on. If the sun is still up after one errand, another errand is likely. If the sun is still up after a bite of pizza, a trip to the book store is likely. Etc. When you walk out of work or some other establishment in the dark, that's when you're likely to go straight home and stay there.

These away-from-home activities involve not only spending but driving/transportation.
Next time there's breaking news in your neighborhood (like an earthquake) try your search on Google and on Search.Twitter.com and see which has the news faster.

Twitter is instant. Google has to wait for someone to publish an article on the news and then Google needs to index that article.

Plus with Google, the article's headline doesn't give you the whole story. It's a tease. You have to click over to read the story. On search.Twitter.com, you get the whole thing at once.
Can you say who? Shaq or Twitter?
The "5 P’s" of Twitter’s Runaway Success
Good assessment of this article. Although I do agree that Twitter search is being overhyped right now. Big time. It's basically the only thing left to hype so TechCrunch et al are milking it for all it's worth.

Twitter search is useful as an opinion poll or for updates on breaking news, but only so much depth and value can fit into 140 characters. More than anything, I think Twitter thrives off vanity and narcissism. It's millions of people saying "look at me" and it's even easier to main and establish popularity than a blog.
PlentyOfFish Starts Charging Premium Membership Fees
Flickr Clock
I was interested in a (very recent) event that Twitter offered the absolute BEST coverage for, all via search.twitter.com: the NHL trade deadline.

Traditional news sources, blogs, TSN.ca, ESPN, Globe & Mail, etc all were slow on updates and commentary about prospective trades and evaluations of minor-league talent. I used search.twitter.com and searched for "#nhltrade" and "nhl" and had a constant stream of news and information. And by subscribing to the very best sources of news I could find there, I was notified of trades via SMS.*

Sure, it isn't "search" the way most people think about it, but its the best search for a specific use case.

* A side note: this allowed me to stay up to date while being slightly more productive at work. I wasn't constantly refreshing pages or listening to talk radio.
Sure, it could do more. But it does what it does very well.
That's cool. Could I interview you about developing web apps using Scheme? I'm working on a blog post / interview on the topic w/ all the people I know who do Scheme web development.

Anyway if you are interested I'd love to hear from you, my email is: idoh@idoh.com
Potential cancer-causing genes removed from engineered stem cells