skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I can tell you how it works. You maintain your initial jumping velocity almost all the way up to the top of your jump. The peak of the jump occurs suddenly, and it's when you release the jump button or when the maximum jump-height is reached, whichever comes first. The maximum jump-height increases by a blockheight or two if you were sprinting when you jumped.

The only part that I'm not too sure about is what exactly happens to your velocity when you start to slow down at the peak of your jump. You might linearly decelerate like you'd expect from gravity, but it might be less newtonian than that; it's hard to tell just from the feel of the game.
Actually here in Ontario I've seen plenty of people take the bus for $2.75, but then minimum wage is being increased this year to near $10 an hour and that includes tip-paying and commissioned jobs.

There's also considerable discounts. When you pay to get on the bus you get a transfer, which stays valid for a minimum of 90 minutes. Also the bus passes are considerably well priced if you use the bus more than 10 times in a week. So if you're using it to get to and from work and then also to do all your grocery shopping and such, it can get down to as little as $0.50 a trip. Supposedly they're also including tax credits for using it, although they don't seem to want to publish the info on how.
Govt funding doesn't explain why even public universities in the US get more private support.
This is simple. Giving is voluntary. Some people Went to such-and-such a school. They needn't give. Others are Members of the Alumni for such-and-such a school. They should give generously. It's entirely up to you to decide whether you simply paid for a certain education, or whether you entered into a life-long association with your school's institutions.
There's a "downtown zone" in Minneapolis, where bus travel just costs $0.50. People will definitely take the bus a few blocks to shop at Target for $0.50 each way. I do it and I observe lots of others doing it. (The markup in the local corner stores definitely makes it worth it!)
I did something similar in June of last year (left a job to begin contracting/consulting), and I didn't even have much in the way of extra expenses saved up. There have been a few times as the economy dipped that I wondered if I was crazy, but so far work has continued to be busy, here. YMMV.

So, are you crazy to quit? I have no idea, but I wish you the best! For myself, I'm sure I made the right choice, so take that for what it's worth, and have fun!
"Nano" is not meant to compete with Toyota/Honda/GM. Tata Nano offers an alternative to 2-wheeler owners to own a car. Also, Nano is good candidate to replace India's 3-wheeler auto-rickshaws. India's emission norms are based on euro-emission norms. So they are no as lenient as perceived. Moreover, This car is meant to be used for intra-city transport. The speed here is around 30-50km/hr. At such a speed, it is less likely to have fatal accidents. What must be appreciated is Ratan Tata's ambitious vision and excellent execution by Tata Motors to achieve their goal.
The model would be quick trips, rarely more than 30 minutes. Parking for the day in a lot at work, for example, would be more than enough to get home.

I'd also want a plug-in option for nighttime charging.

I think 1m2 is a very low estimate. Keep in mind I'm describing a covered bike.

I live in Massachusetts, where it should be a crime to buy solar panels, given the dearth of sun. If I lived in SoCal, Nevada, or Arizona, this project would be very workable.
1/2 charge on a summer's day. So less if it's cloudy and less if it's winter. Maybe a lot less, maybe 40%.

A 1/2 charge seems to be about 1.2kwh. The EVT is rated at 1.5kw. So you might get an hour out of that. Anything more powerful (a typical scooter will be 5-10kw) and you're taking 20,30 minutes a day - with ideal sun.

So, if anything, my previous math was conservative.

Anyway - I'm not disagreeing with the principle - just saying I think there are better ways of going about it... I'd say, just stick with the plug-in and put the solar panels on your house.
It doesn't necessarily need to be built into the language that the content is being produced in. I came across HTMLDOC, for example. I suppose anything that can run on linux.
This is impressive, thank you. Gotta love well-formed XHTML.
Iranian blogger who insulted leader 'dies in jail'
because marketing (more than technology) matters
They're pretty different. Adwords-driven brochure sites usually have measurable conversions. You can immediately measure the ROI for left aligned text, and centered text.

If the centered text gets a higher ROI, it'd be pretty weird to go with the left aligned instead.

Design on something like Google isn't quite as easy to measure.

A brochure site is designed to lead to a conversion, and likely to be only used by the user once. Whereas a site like Google may be used day in day out.
If you're commuting like that, then just put the panels on your house - and plug the bike in.

Having the portability of the solar panels doesn't seem necessary if it's just a down-the-road commuter.
> "Yes, it’s true that a team at Google couldn’t decide between two blues, so they’re testing 41 shades between each blue to see which one performs better. "

Actually the evolutionist in me thinks this is pretty cool but I can still understand why a designer would want to quit.
Our company has a hiring freeze in place. If someone quits, then the office loses that job permanently. If the person is fired, then when the hiring freeze gets lifted, then we may replace them. Things might be different at your company. Ours is a Fortune 500 company.
"Facebook Drives 19% of Google's Uniques"?  I don't think so...
It's easy to criticize a policy like this, but they do have millions of clients and it does work. I'd rather have a clean interface for my google then a creative one. Actually, i'd like more clean interfaces all around. There's no shortage of creativity in web design, but large applications/sites with so many users are not the place to test it.
Alumni donations subsidize the cost of research (which has obvious benefits) and also serves to keep tuition levels "low". I know low is a difficult word to associate with tuition but without development money coming in, the money would need to be raised elsewhere.

It's almost like when investing in startups. Not every graduate is going to strike it rich but the more graduates there are, the more likely that more of them will (assuming your standards remain the same). So you can keep your tuition low enough to attract enough people and hope that the lost tuition revenue will be made up for by alumni donations by those who do well with their degree.

Trying to apply "business model A" to "business B", seeing that it doesn't work, and then saying "business model A" is a dumb idea isn't a worthwhile approach to looking at something. It's actually a pretty stupid way to look at things. I generally hate when people try to take something relatively complicated and try to dumb it down. The wrinkles and complications are what makes the problem. If every problem was summed up into one digestible solution, there wouldn't be any unsolved problems.
I'm a big fan of textmate, probably my favorite utility on the mac. While things like this and e editor(windows) help, there is still a ton of nice apps only on the mac. As for the Vi and Emacs people, I rather not spend weeks customizing my text editor, I just want something that can color code out of the box and I can get work done.
> It's probably a big reason why Google hasn't had a truly innovative design in a long time.

I would argue that they do have a truly innovative design. The fact that it doesn't look new and challenging doesn't preclude that. They have a design that's nuanced in thousands of ways to improve their business. Their design is reminiscient of Victorian architecture, every last detail polished off until it was perfect. Having your business fine tuned to that amount of detail is not something most companies can claim.

"Without split-testing, your product tends to get prettier over time. With split-testing, it tends to get more effective." - Eric Ries
Okay, so plus ten for style but minus several million for good thinking.

The Maruti-800 is a stripped down, fuel efficient car that anyone with decent enough job should be able to afford. The Nano might be good for small towns, but for places like New Delhi, anything less than an 800 is not viable. One of the biggest objections to the Nano has been a lack of safety. The last I heard, even the screws TATA were using were made of plastic.

Also, this car still isn't available for purchase yet. I wonder why the article is touting it as a success. The OLPC was suppossed to be big, but I don't really see it changing lives.

BTW, there's a cheap electric car already available for purchase in India, called the Reva. It has been pretty successful, and you see a lot of them these days. Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reva

Yo Bikes are also a huge success, probably more successful than any other electric vehicle. Here: http://yobykes.in/

That's not to say the Nano doesn't make me go "Ooh ... shiny.".
This is exactly the reason Apple's products have been so successful throughout the years.

Not only that, but they are masters of creating a 'design ecosystem'. Browse apple.com, then head to the apple store, its a seamless experience. This is arguably one of the competitive advantages that has helped Apple maintain it's position in the market and with consumers everywhere.
I guess it depends on if you trust the majority making the right decision. I think often that just leads to mediocracy.

41 shades does seem a bit of a gimmick. I doubt it really matters that much, or that most people can even tell the difference.
>"The world would be a much better place if less people tried to build startups."

fewer people

I really don't want to be a grammar nazi, but starting off with an error in the very first sentence made me less interested in reading the rest of the article.

Yes, I realize that English grammar is changing, that countable/uncountable distinctions are less important than they used to be, and that "less + a countable noun" doesn't sound bad to everyone anymore. But to some of us, it looks like it was written by a struggling high school student. There are so, so many things to read on the internet that readers can be driven off by minor blemishes at the beginning of a piece.
Database Sharding - Alternate strategy to overcome rank calculation
My university education was free (to me) aside from a trivially small yearly fee. It's this way for all students in my small Western European nation. The universities I attended received money from the state for each student. So why should I donate to them (not that I have ever been asked to)? The more students, the better, and their economic background doesn't matter.
This made me think of a blog post I read a few weeks back by an ex-googler predicting some high profile departures from the UI team - http://tr.im/hBkC
If he does this, there's a chance of him getting fired. It doesn't send a good signal.
Congrats for passing 10K karma, tptacek.
It's impractical for most businesses, but when you're at Google scale, a 0.1% difference in conversion can be huge.
Making the web pay | The end of the free lunch—again
> A real shame. Google is losing some major talent - which appears to have only been squandered over the last three years.

When I started at Google Nov. '06 Doug had created some awesome Gmail mockups that really took the design and functionality above and beyond and -- having heard about how ground up Goog worked -- I was thinking those designs would be acted upon and built in the coming months and I was excited about using that Gmail.

When I left end of last year, the mockups were still being iterated on, and the only thing that had been built based on those mockups were the buttons. Gmail's just too big, as are search and ads, and UX is too disorganized and outnumbered to have any say.
What about the multiprocessing module, that has been included with Python since v 2.6?

http://docs.python.org/library/multiprocessing.html
I'd second that. Used jEdit for years, and thought I'd give TextMate a try... not impressed, so I may switch back to jEdit now.
I tried JEdit like two years ago or so and found it to be an excellent editor, but that the startup time of approx. 10 seconds was unbearable. Have they fixed that yet?
Depending on your use case, check out [Sphinx][1], which is used for the new [Python documentation][2]. Basically, you write your documentation in [reStructuredText][3] which Sphinx then renders into HTML or LaTeX. The LaTeX output can be trivially turned into a PDF and [looks great][4].

[1]: http://sphinx.pocoo.org/

[2]: http://docs.python.org/

[3]: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html

[4]: http://sphinx.pocoo.org/sphinx.pdf
Six months ago I also had tons of ideas. I chose one, and stuck with it. Pick the one you're most interested in or you'll never follow through!
Gerrymandering Probability (answers to the two puzzles I submitted)
TomTom sues Microsoft.
JavaScript Testing Does Not Scale
> America's Big 3 automakers have been lazy and complacent for years.

That might be decades instead of years. I am driving a 2000 Buick Centry (on loan while my current car is in the shop) and it's like stepping into a time machine. The feel, controls, interior and style is almost identical to the 1978 Buick Lasabre I learned to drive as a teen.

I'm interested to drive a newer Buick to see if they changed anything for the 2009 model.
gedit and kate come to mind, if that's all you desire...

And about ten thousand other editors that use the standard keybindings. The bundle compatibility seems much more interesting as a feature.
Ask HN: How can I get up early in the morning?
The life is too short to be sleeping a major part of it. What do you do to getting up early, or do you think it is not really important at all?
That's right! Obviously, this test is used to reject applicants who otherwise seem extremely plausible when they present themselves. We'll know in a couple of years whether the test was right or wrong about our new hire Obama.
We launched a protest against internet censorship here:
http://www.myheartbeatsfor.com/against-internet-censorship/
Scientists make quantum leap in developing faster computers
I find that many people in your situation make this all or nothing decision when it doesn't have to be. Why not start looking for a new job today and when you actually find one, then quit. No need to put so much pressure on yourself. If you can't find a job within a month or two, well then your question is answered, don't quit. If you can find a better job, then get out of there.
ttrp, time to ramen profitable = ;)
I left my job in the 90's with less 'life line' then you appear to have. I've owned my own company (in partnership with others) ever since. With the things you've done on the side you appear to be on the ball and ready for it. I was lucky to have partners who compensated for my weaknesses. It sounds like you even have that base sort of covered with the people you know in the industry.

You mention guilt about others not finding jobs in this economy. Think about it this way: If you start your own thing maybe you could end up hiring people into a company that doesn't have a lunch bell (do u guys play dodge ball after lunch on the playground - that would be cool). In other words as a company owner you can shape the world more than you can as an employee (potentially).

If you're a methodical planning type you might want to slow down and do some paper and pencil introspection. I used a book (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1883487242?tag=openlibr-20) back in the day (circa 1992) to plan my transition from a day job to a self employed person. This book has questionnaires that are aimed at determining whether you are the type of person that can survive on your own. I flunked them all and went ahead and quit my job anyway (just because I wanted to) but the book did remove my illusions that it would be easy for me to make it on my own.

Anyway - good luck and get yourself happy.

Joe
The brokenness of the UN is painfully obvious when member countries can get away with travesties like these.
I'm not sure what your use case is, but we've had much better luck with generating LaTeX code that we compile to PDF (the trivial step) than with doing HTML to PDF.
You have a point. Maybe I just didn't like the city because it didn't share my values.
If it's a good pay, perhaps you could offer your employer to do contract jobs mostly working from home. This way you get an easier transition money-wise. It all depends on many factors about your current job.
Here's the soundmanager js plugin: http://schillmania.com/projects/soundmanager2/
Student loans can be deferred or stretched out for decades, plus the interest is deductible (for some folks). I wouldn't worry about them unless they're huge (100K+).
If you’re able, you should do what comes naturally. Are you a night-owl or a morning person? If you’re asking about how to wake up earlier, I’d guess the former.

I’m simply more productive and creative in the AM, so I rise each day at 5:30. For me, knowing when I'm the most please with my own production is my motivation. But, by the time 2 or 3 rolls around in the afternoon I’m all out of juice. And truth be told if I wasn’t in a corporate environment I would likely take a nap at this time to recharge.
It sounds like he's a poor fit for Google. The data-driven decision making process really is central to Google (at least in Search; I dunno how it is in other departments), and if you're working at cross-purposes with that, the culture will and should reject you.

That doesn't mean he's a bad designer - I'm sure he's not. But Google occupies a particular place in the market ecosystem: many of its users want a UI that's clean, spartan, and utilitarian. There're undoubtably market niches for stuff that's more visually stunning (wasn't one of PG's ideas for startups "A form of search that depends upon design"), but people interested in that would be far more economically productive seeking out new markets of people that are underserved by Google's spartan design rather than trying to force something visually impressive upon Google's existing users.
Great medieval hack.
Proximity detection using bluetooth -- Responsive Environments
I think you will be making the right decision.

A year ago, I was working for a web design firm working with the Drupal content management system. I wasn't the greatest at it, but I was in the position to learn and grow my skillset and not have people upset at me for getting things in late or asking questions... rather they were excited because I was learning and saw the potential I saw in myself. Needless to say, I wasn't working there too much longer, for personal reasons. However, I missed the job like no other. I had finally found a job I could truly love.

After that, with the economy the way it has been, I bounced from a tree care company (working with a friend, not so terrible) to a fast food restaurant (horrible, never again) and then to a call center providing tech support for Blackberry phones to people who under other circumstances should seriously find a twelve step program for their addiction to those damned devices. Bouncing around, I thought I would never get the opportunity I once had. I missed it terribly and pined for it regularly.

And then I found it. After two weeks working part time as a contractor, I was asked to leave my job because they (my new employer) knew they could provide me with enough work and I was doing better than they expected as far as quality of work and timeliness of delivery were concerned. I didn't give it a second thought. I hate not working with the web. I am totally and thoroughly enamored by this technology and know that if I could stay in this career field I will be happy.

The point is... do what you love. Don't hesitate, don't second guess, just do it. You won't regret it. :)
Sometimes you need to do the irrational to keep your sanity. Only you know if it's worth it.
IBM, Sun and cloud computing
Better software through less UI
These things work for me:

Go to bed earlier at night. Leave your blinds open to let natural light come in in the morning. Have a deadline due the next day.
Another perspective might be to quit mentally, but keep going in every day (so you can collect the paycheck, ins., etc). If you can allow yourself to get over the feeling you "have" to be there everyday, you will feel empowered. Don't let them get to you, you need to feel like you have the upper hand. So, let go of the fear and uncertainty of not having a job, embrace the fact that you can leave at any minute and you will feel much better. Once you know you can leave at any minute and the job doesn't define you, they no longer have control over you. In the meantime, go and look for another job or figure out what you want to do; when everything is lined up you can stop going to your job. Good luck
done deal, your in a good spot to make the move. Take the first step and increase in work hours, hacking, and networking by 2x and you will be in a great position in 3-4 months. good luck!
Microsoft products have also been successful through the years, as have Google's. And neither of them has a keen sense of design.

The reason Apple's been successful is that they occupy a small but passionate niche of customers that are completely underserved by Microsoft. Most users don't care about design - but the ones that do care a lot, and will pay a premium for something that pays attention to their needs. There's probably room for a similar competitor to Google, but nobody's found it yet.
epi0Bauqu, a HN reader and creator of DDG is understandably proud of his work, so he submits articles when he does something he thinks is cool.

Pretty reasonable to my eye, as long as he's submitting stuff he's proud of and may be interesting, not just trying to get people to look at his site.
Success can be a big burden. The biggest advantage a startup has is no legacy.
Wuala ("the social online storage") merges with LaCie
It may be entertaining to read internal laundry gripes about a company. But trashing your employer on the way out the door is bad form.
The US has a stronger voluntary private civic culture. I seem to recall that the US has the highest charitable giving rate in the world.

However, with the government raising taxes on charitable donations and expanding social services to match the European model, we may see our civic culture whither to match theirs, too (the argument of Albert Jay Nock).
I flagged this because this is not HN IMHO.
I suspect it's simply browser side and the send button holds off actually POSTing the email for five seconds.
This all started from a misguided AdAge article:
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=135112
(subscription required)
My one recommendation would be to have a plan. Don't quit your job or start a startup just to do so - just because you feel like that's what people on HN do. Do it for a reason - an organic solution you've derived form a problem you see in your life is best. And have a plan, as to how you want to attack that solution and problem. While the plan will likely become obsolete in a week, it helps you iterate when you've already thought about where you're headed...

To answer your question directly though; no, there's nothing wrong with quitting your job.
Sciolist

One who knows many things superficially; a pretender to science; a smatterer
There's a gmail labs plugin that looks at your email and if it sees you mention attachments but not attach anything, it will ask you before you send.
Skimming the headlines of articles on the front page right now, this is more Hackerish, in my view, than several others on the list. He discusses what he is building, and how he's doing it.