skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Thank you for reminding me of patents. I forgot to mention those. A patent is a completely different entity compared to case law. Case law and case briefs/motions written by lawyers have to be short, concise, to the point, and logical. The judge will quickly (in a matter of a few seconds) ignore your argument if he has to spend any time figuring out what you have to say.

That leads all of our law professors to drill into our heads brevity, clarity, and conciseness in everything we write. But as you mentioned, patents have a completely different audience and goal.

I am amazed at what is patentable too. I wrote a research paper arguing against software patents. The professor that graded my paper disagreed with the position very much. I wrote mine a few days before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit heard the Bilski case. When the decision was rendered this past fall they made some law that is similar to what I argued. I should go show the professor the paper he marked down and the Bilski decision. But I digress...

Patents are a land grab. The goal is to get the vaguest, broadest patent possible and protect the most space. And the legal-speak is there because those words have been litigated time and time again and they have a known meaning to the courts. As soon as you write a new phrase you open yourself to debate in front of the court. A macro to convert legal-speak to human-readable prose should be used at the researcher's own peril.

We are told time and time again: read the case for yourself. Do not read anyone else's summary. And don't paraphrase words unless you know to stay away from the special ones.

Example: There was a contracts case where the contract says "only use pipe made by Company A to build my house." The builder uses pipe from Company B. The court ruled against home buyer because "only use pipe by Company A" doesn't actually mean that! It means use pipe similar to the quality of Company A! So translating the legal speak required to really get a builder to use pipe from Company A into "only use pipe from Company A" will result in failure.

The information is hyper-linked very well. I wish I could show you, but I can't. My student access to the site is restricted to school use only. I am pretty sure I will be violating the TOS by posting any of the information.

But every case cited is linked. Those are the most important. Judges are linked to other decisions. Same with arguing lawyers. Statutes are linked. Footnotes are linked. Obscure terms are linked. For example, a medication will have a link but a legal term of art will not.

I just wish the search and the site overall were faster. Sometimes the navigation is quirky, too.
I agree and this is the most offered piece of advice for every, "Ask HN: What do you think of..." post.

Overall I think it's a good, useful concept, especially when you allow for groups to sign the same document. Would be a great feature in Google Docs.
I doubt corruption is the cause. Most American cities were very corrupt during the late 1800's, yet had amazing economic growth. Detroit, Cleveland, Syracuse, etc were all startup hubs back then.

All governments funnel money to their employees and supporters. For us subjects, what matters is that the rulers are competent and think for the long term. If they are smart and optimize for the long term, they realize that the best way to enrich themselves is to grow the pie, not to gobble it all up. The guys who ran Tammany Hall understood this, more recent corrupt rulers like Detroit's Coleman Young did not.
Parallel merge sort in Erlang
Bad Design will piss off your customers
TED: Carl Honore, Slowing down in a world built for speed
I guess the following is a rant. I'll post it for the sake of the question at the end.

I would be willing to look at -- or at least let co-exist -- more ads with the content I view, if those ads respected both my interests and my needs.

+ Don't move. Ever. No exceptions. (And no bleeping music, either.)

+ Intrigue me with appealing information. Tell me what, concretely, you propose to do for me.

+ Don't move! Don't think it's cute to slip in an animation after waiting a bit. I don't care if it's the "Firefox girl" from Daily Tech News. Don't move.

+ Don't be more garish than the encompassing page design. I am only frustrated by people who think "Hotdog" is a legitimate color scheme.

+ Don't track me. I'm not interested in a "more extensive relationship" with your marketing efforts. Concentrate on delivering a tolerable, appealing ad for this impression. I'm sorry if you feel this hampers your effectiveness; as far as I'm concerned, you're putting your effort into the wrong end of things. I may be willing to flex on this point, but you'd better make it real clear how you are protecting my privacy, with an iron clad commitment, and provide me controls for turning on and off the tracking.

I've learned of some useful things from ads. And I don't mind a respectful presence on the page. Ads in print newspapers? No problem. Bouncing monkeys on a yellow banner -- big problem.

What I've been wondering about, recently, is why no one has tried to organize a codified and instantiated compact between browsers and publishers/advertisers. E.g., as a browser, I'll let this class of ads through -- probably provided by a set of whitelisted URL's. I understand doing so helps to support this site that I value and may offer me additional, useful information for consideration. In return, you promise not to violate the above (or whatever the set of rules ends up being).

Perhaps this is to say, ad brokering should be a two-way communication and not a one-way communication. Bringing together viewers and advertisers on mutually agreed terms. I suppose this is not realistic, and I'll welcome any explanations as to why.
Haven't read the whole article, but my feeling is that basing eligibility to vote on passing a test might be a bad idea. It could end up meaning "you are allowed to vote, if you will vote for the right thing", where the right thing would presumably be voting for the people in power at the time of the introduction of the test.
It probably is okay to duplicate a calculation 4 times, all other things being equal. At the same time, I'd say it's probably a sign of other problems. If you need to reuse a calculation, that calculation is part of your application's domain (using the term loosely) and should be represented there, rather than being embedded inside scenario-appropriate parts of the system.
Mayor Newsom & Twitter CEO Evan Williams on the Future of Technology in Government
Tim O'Reilly - how companies can help their employees make a difference
@rksprst--Lesson learned. Thanks. :-p
Can your spam filters do better?
The argument against that is that it has the same effect as the poll tax--keeping the lower classes out. It is claimed that this discriminates against the races with lower literate populations.
That's fast.

On the opposite end, I just talked to a co-founder of a VC-backed company who told me they took their funding and built a company in a vacuum. When they released, the product was a monster that couldn't be made into a prince.

I'm planning to interview him about it but it's touchy because he doesn't want to hurt the investors or the company.
Writely became Google Docs and JotSpot became Google Sites.

Dodgeball and Jaiku are good examples of what you're talking about, though...
"We haven't met a single great hacker that relied on an IDE, although we hear they exist. " -- fcuk you. Really. Just an over generalization/stereotyping at its worst.

I am a good hacker, and yes I use an IDE (eclipse to be exact). I have to code java for living (mobile), and I think I am one of the earliest developers in java, and i used to use Textpad, and Vim at my early days. I guess, in your eyes that makes me a "better developer", but the truth is that some IDEs really make your life easier. Much easier.

In mobile you have to re-invent the wheel over and over again. From UI, to basic things as a string tokenizer, and it is impossible to memorize everything (some of your team memebers implement different functionalities). IDE's auto completions are very very useful. Also the refactoring facilities and debuging tools are really useful.

I do use Vim for programming in LUA (does it make me cool?), and I really miss a lot of these tools. Simple things like variable highlighting, jump to definition are missing, and it makes the code a pain to read (especially if it s not yours). If you decide to change a variable name, good luck, you have to do string search/replace, and the potential for errors is huge.

While a good programmer HAS to be comfortable and good in command line, just because they use an IDE doesn't make them less of a people.

And the best programmers I have had the chance to work with used IDEs. These guys implemented a LUA VM in J2ME from scratch, in a couple of months.

I have noticed that this really shallow and douchebag-y attitude comes from people that use mostly Ruby. It seems that in their eyes, if you don't use Ruby and textmate, you suck.

But really, fcuk you.
No, for the same reason children shouldn't have the right to enter legally binding contracts.

No pre-frontal cortex, no votey.
I'd buy in, but not blindly and not without documentation. Honestly, I don't know how the legalities would work. As to the rest of your questions....

Take this as you will:

Going public actually serves more of a function than just getting an inflow of cash. For example, it can give existing shareholders of a company more liquidity -- it is difficult to figure out a price to buy and sell stocks of a company that isn't publicly traded, but relatively straightforward for a company that has marketable shares. I think venture capitalists call it an exit.

But there also exists a case where a company would like the added publicity that comes from offering an IPO. Especially in the currently frozen IPO market, anyone going that route will make a large splash (even more if they belly flop).

It's been stated before, but selling equity is considered the most expensive way of raising money: you're giving away ownership and control in exchange for cash. As much as you can, you'd prefer to get money from loans and bonds, but that isn't always an option. If your balance sheet and income statement are weak, a creditor may not give you the loan you need, or may charge an exorbitantly high interest rate. It really depends on your individual situation as to what you want to do and what the market will let you do.

Yes, there is risk involved in going public, but good advice should help you minimize this risk. Say you're Big Company A that's privately owned. When you decide to go public, you call up the investment bankers and ask for help. They'll hook you up with the large investors (hedge funds, pensions, etc) and work out ways to protect you from the downside. One of these methods is called the "Green Shoe" (named after a company). Basically, you allow for an overallotment of stocks you're going to receive. Then, the investment bank borrows this overallotment (typically 15% of what's going out) and sells it to other investors. Now, when the IPO is going through, therAPPINSDRMWB19222e already exists demand to buy this stock -- the investment bank needs it to return to original stock holders. Here's how the mechanics work: If the stock price goes up after the IPO (it's so-called well received), then the bank buys the stocks from the company and everyone is happy. If the stock price goes down, then the bank buys from the people who are selling -- creating a demand, and helping to stabilize the price.

There's a lot of fun financial stuff in there, but I hope that answers a bit of your questions.
Essay: Brainwashing on goto and globals
For those of us who like the gmail interface this seems like a reasonable option. But, you still have to "push" the problem to another provider. Who do you rely on for your 'some other email domain'?
Tent Cities Sprouting in Sacramento and Seattle
I don't know, it's pretty well known that "you can't fix stupid."

I'll take a motivated capable person and teach them skills in a new area, but just being motivated alone isn't enough. Many incompetent people are highly motivated and completely unaware/in denial of their own incompetence.
One advantage of, say, a hash function over (pseudo)random numbers is that the same input guarantees the same output. It doesn't seem that important in the case of gift cards, though.
What are your key metrics? Is there a way to test the market without significant development time?
I've always thought they should lower suffrage to kids who can drive, but...it's not going to happen.
Times Techie Envisions the Future of News
Others that are similar:

http://www.googlepleasehireme.com/

http://hiremejimmyfallon.com/

http://www.hiremeseth.com/

http://www.hiremealiciakeys.com
I have always believed that if you are forced to pay taxes then you must be given the right to vote. I thought it was incredulous that at 16 I was required to pay taxes yet unable to vote or influence where my money would go.
Calling All Foodies: Y Combinator’s Foodoro Launches Online Farmers Market
There was some discussion of adult knowledge, but he felt, as do I, that things stay the same for adults. There has been too much in the way of using literacy tests to keep minorities from voting in our past. Adult requirements should stay the same.

Civic responsibility was mine, not his, but I was thinking in terms of learning about local government and institutions. I just happen to think that our society has a little too much expectation of entitlements and too little of individual responsibility and contribution.

As far as test content (me again), it should be free of current political controversy. How laws are made and passed, but probably not on how to bribe a Senator. Maybe on something on how citizens get change outside of government, but probably more on the voting process. After all voting is the goal of the process.
The Original Magento Amazon AMI (EC2)
I wanted to setup a magento store and compare it to a number of competitors. But, to get the thing launched, you need to customize your server.

I didn’t want to modify our server because I had concerns: security concerns, resource concerns, more-crap-installed-on-server installed.

I started working with Amazon's EC2 network and created a Magento Amazon AMI. At the time there wasn't a single AMI for Magneto. So, I created one.

If you want it, shoot us an email and if you tell us you found out through Ycombinator, we'll give it to you! That's right, FREE! We'll do this for the next 10 days (ends 03/20/2009)!
You are right that the place to go for data is Steve McConnell's Code Complete. He does a great job of summarizing whatever research is available.
Slow tests are a bug
How to fix the most common Linux problems
Hey Apple, please tell me you're preserving a historical archive for future generations
(Downvoted for ad hominin argument)
I was mad that at 16 I could legally work but couldn't legally enter into contracts. This prevented me from having a bank account in my own name. I was old enough to work, but not old enough to own the money I earned. (At least not in non-cash form.) I also couldn't spend my own earned money on any products requiring a contract be signed. So old enough to work, but not old enough to spend or save the proceeds.
I dunno about 10 years ago, but for a long time now, you could just use a class to avoid globals and still keep some handy variables around. It's slightly painful (I came from Python, and I still end up typing $objectname.methodname() and then going back and putting in '->'), but not nearly so much as I used to think before I had to work with PHP every day. :)
Nope!

YoVille! PetSociety and more all make money selling virtual currency to buy in-game objects. If transferring money from fb into an fb app were painless and had cheap txn costs, two things would happen. 1) More people would spend! Frictionless, and with the authority of Facebook, an integrated payment solution would help separate people from their money and 2) a LOT more developers would get in on the action.

PayMo charges 5% for cellphone txns, but the carriers charge up to 50%. That is totally outrageous. Games are some of the biggest apps on Facebook, and this would be a good way for facebook to make money, and encourage/help their platform developers.

Disclaimer: These are my opinions and not those of my employer, FooMojo, Inc (creators of FooPets on Facebook.)
If you were running a company, would you give the same number of votes to newest hire in sales, as you would to the two founders? That would be insanity and would lead to a very dysfunctional company. No one would wish that management structure upon their worst competitor. But if you wouldn't run a company that way, why would you run a country that way?
Browsers are changing to accommodate powerful applications.
Reminds me of Songza, though they are browser based. They prominently display the video now, probably because YouTube was not too pleased.
I think it's pretty awesome that a 15 year old made this and is getting coverage for it, but the website is a way too noisy for me.
If the kid has a part-time job - they have taxation without any form of representation - which has always seemed wrong to me.
"Spec work has become a major force in devaluing the perception of graphic design in the business world," writes eyeCinq.

It's a well-deserved devaluing.

Is crowdsourcing evil? Not in the least.

If one thinks about the actual costs necessary to be a successful graphic designer, it's marginally close to zero. Aside from a laptop, and a wifi-connection (necessary to hook up to these contests), there's not much else needed for a person with even an iota of design skill. As such, it's not surprising that the market is forcing the prices downward, closer a natural equilibrium for a competitive market.

"Graphic Design Firms" that have prime office space, secretaries, luncheons, hobnobbing events . . . these things all add unnecessarily to the "cost" of supposed "professional" graphic design services. Firms and their employees my think that this is why their services are more "valuable" than a freelancer, or somebody who works on spec, but they're wrong. These things add zero value to the end product.

How much is a graphic design worth? Exactly as much as somebody is willing to pay for it.

I think there will be more upheaval in the coming years regarding industries where this type of work can actually lower costs for buyers.

Side note: I have an idea for a startup that crowdsources advertising (tv type ads OR print advertising); I think the agency model that most big companies or "stations" currently use is grossly overpriced. There's room for a new type of market entrant: one by and for the people. I actually almost started this idea a couple of years ago (spoofwink.com), but lacked the resources and was busy with other projects. If anybody wants to go with this idea, please let me in!
This past election was the first election in Austria in which 16-year-olds could vote.

All hell did not break loose.

The conservative candidate who actually reached out to the teens got more of their vote (surprise).

Of course, everyone's been angry with the liberals and socialists who did nothing but bicker until the coalition fell apart, so that may have something to do with it, too.
"Our solution: never spend more than 4 hours on a first release."
this will be fixed with the next update.
The Crisis of Credit Visualized - Part 1
My key metric is simple: When i talk to potential customers, how ready are they to shell out money?

My sales approach is very consultative and consists of asking lots of questions. It's usually clear whether BrainBank is right for them or not... both to me and them.
That's your opinion. Mine is different. Invoking the principle of least privilege, if some piece of information on your personal life is of no use to the point you're trying to make, why reveal it? You gain nothing, and there a chance (though remote) that it will be used against you at some point in the future.

A thought experiment: suppose you were an alcoholic... would you admit it on HN? If not, why's that so? Is it illegal? Are you a politician? Maybe it's because of the social stigma associated with it. Well, guess what, not everyone shares the same values you do and in some more conservative circles, smoking pot would carry a stigma as well. That could harm you when looking for a job, for instance. I have seen that happening.

Maybe I am paranoid, but better safe than sorry, right?
The way I think of it - typing fast is an indication of familiarity with the environment.
You can't be a good hacker without having logged countless hours in front of the screen, banging out code, emails, etc...

I guess I wouldn't arbitrarily set the cut off at some fixed value like 60wpm, but if you are slow at typing and need to look at the keyboard, you probably don't have enough experience.
That's inaccurate, you can statically link closed source to an LGPL library, as long as you provide the object files so the user can relink it against a modified version of the LGPL library.
Lots of drugs which are scheduled in this country are over the counter in other countries. Notices that they are all generally very cheap - to make and manufacture. Sched II and III can oftentimes benefit the large US drug manfacturers, because they encourage limited access to the most lucrative drug market in the world to the second tier drug manufacturers.
Firms Receiving TARP Money Are Prohibited From Hiring H-1B Visa Holders
Don't you think the industrial revolution is a unique period? And who is to say corruption didn't have a big impact, just lessened by the booming period?
No,no, mistermann refers to people like myself, who've come from coding horror, and asking questions like "Excuse me, but, um, where are those Warez, dudes?", or who think PHP is a fine language, or, you know, people that embody the children that use to pick on you in school.
Regarding issues of conspiracy, we tend to want to use labels which make things easy to consume, imo. Either you can take the article for face value, or I think there's a conspiracy going on.

That's just not the case, IMO. We tend to see things from an on the ground perspective. Those who are right in the middle of making large governmental decisions have a very different perspective. It's not conspiracy, it's shades of grey. I could offer a couple of examples if you like.
Kind of ironic that she created a blog, instead of a twitter feed, for this.
One more thought. I just spotted the logo for YC's Foodoro. It might be some good advice for startups to invest in some of these logo design contests as part of building their brand. I imagine the small investment in a crowdsourced contest could potentially give back a pretty high ROI, esp. when products are in alpha and the logo is the most memorable thing from an initial visit to a site.
GMail is up for almost everyone. Don't believe the hype.
I would have posted this as a comment, but I felt that if a story makes the front page on a lie, then the correction should be equally prominent.
Congrats guys. Looks really good

Edit: Since I got karma for not saying anything, I will add that

a) I stayed over at Foodoros and ate lots of food so I can guarantee it tastes ridiculously nice

b) It is a big market and they are going to be massively successful because they are smart and get it :)
This is true of almost all commodity processing industries. Since usually everyone is using mostly the same processes, and paying largely the same price for their inputs, there is no differentiation and thus no profit in the base processing. Where people start to make money is to find a market for the by-product, and, particularly if the by-product has low bulk value, site a processing plant for the by-product next door to the main plant.
UK Newspaper The Guardian releases article API
It's possible to genetically engineer plants to produce caffeine. They did it to tobacco, of all things, because caffeine is a natural pesticide:

http://www.monsanto.co.uk/news/ukshowlib.phtml?uid=11404