skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Even if financial and legal incencives don't matter for you, they do matter for many people. If you start rewarding women with money for dumping their husbands (as vaksel implied US law does), many families that were close to the brink will disintegrate and many okay families will move that much closer to the brink. We don't live in a world composed of ideal men and women - that's why we need laws and money in the first place.

I find your comment similar in spirit to a common pattern of defending the C++ language against criticism: the idea that, if C++ shortcomings worry you, then the root of your problem is bad design and muddled thinking. It's true, but the language could work to fix the problem instead of making it worse. So too with divorce laws.
My favorite line in a speech with lots of favorite lines:

"I'm not saying there's no such thing as genius. But if you're trying to choose between two theories and one gives you an excuse for being lazy, the other one is probably right."
Is the preconfigured lab really that valuable in today's workplace? I would think that a greater value would be in students receiving recommendations on software and configurations and then letting them discover what truly works for them.
Are you referring to that massive unregulated and unfunded liability known as social security which is supposed to be even better than people saving for themselves? (Even if people's retirement assets were shaved by 50% - surely this is a better outcome than the likelihood that in 20 years time the US government is going to have to shave benefits by considerably more to pay for all the retired people?).

That's the problem with these deficit projections now - things are going to get so much worse in the future with unfunded pension and social security liabilities that aren't reported. Government reporting is conveniently at a much lower standard than corporate/public reporting or else we'd really be getting worried.
Sometimes I think time has come for somebody to fork php, fix all the little quirks and relaunch it as a new language, simpler and more adapted to the web world of today.

Blog\save() is one of them

Using the dot as concatenator is another one.

And there are hundreds that haven´t been touched because of fear of backward compatibility uprising.
Does that count as an export?

Yes. If you provide a service to people outside of Canada, this counts as an export and is zero-rated (i.e., 0% tax).

Do I have to register my business in the jurisdiction of wherever I sell (that sounds silly, but I need to know for clarity!)?

No. Unless you have a presence in a jurisdiction (approximately defined as "have an office", but the exact rules vary -- simply renting a server somewhere doesn't count, though) you don't have to deal with that jurisdiction's sales taxes.

As an Ontario company, you'll need to deal with Ontario's RST (for Ontario customers only) and GST (for Canadian customers only). You don't need to worry about US sales taxes, you don't need to worry about European VATs, and you don't need to worry about other provincial sales taxes (unless you set up an office in another province).

Provincial and federal sales taxes are enough to worry about, though -- because depending on how your service is categorized you might have to charge a different sales tax rate or none at all. I ran into enough ambiguities in the rules that for tarsnap I'm taking the simple approach of not accepting Canadian customers for now -- because the only thing I could be absolutely sure about was that I didn't have to charge any tax to non-Canadians.
This has been posted here before. I wonder how dupe-detection failed! I couldn't find the earlier submission in SearchYC.com but I am sure it was posted before.
I'm immigrating to Canada

Welcome! I hope all the paperwork goes smoothly and you get settled well.
I have no opinion on the quality of US divorce law. I am saying it should be irrelevant to you if you choose your partner wisely - US divorce law cannot and does not supercede an amicable separation agreement between two people. We don't live in a world of ideal people but I have found that there are enough principled people in the world that with some luck and significant effort you should be able to find one who is principled.

In the vein of your example, I am saying don't complain about Java's (an unprincipled spouse) performance on Windows (an imperfect legal system), use python instead.
So Ms. Fake announces a new project just a few days before April Fools Day... that's either genius prank or tragic coincidence.
David Heinemeier Hansson has said the same thing, and talked about how it never interfered with his ability to do things like Rails.
This has been attempted; my understanding is that IBM had a hard drive where each platter had independently controlled heads about 20 years ago.

It turned out to not work very well. Disk heads have to seek very accurately, and stay unmoving very accurately once they fine the right location; having other disk heads moving around made this incredibly difficult.
Go outside, photograph random girls with phone camera, find their personal details with tineye, approach and start conversations. Fuck Yeah!
Amazing Rock in Saudi Arabia - Believe It Or Not
You should check out http://www.fluther.com.

We built it to exactly fit that niche: smart people, good incentives, and free.
Credit where credit is due: half of this tutorial is by James Bennett (http://b-list.org/).
Male Celebrities
Biggest male celebrities portal on the net
Book Review - 'Intelligence and How to Get It,' by Richard E. Nisbett
The Question That Makes Amazon $2.7 Billion Of Revenue
In my example the unprincipled spouse corresponded to muddled thinking and C++ corresponded to the laws. So your advice of "use Python" translates to "move to another country", quite sensible advice for bachelors in countries where laws favor women.

And your own example doesn't parse for me: Java should be faster than Python in most cases.

(Yeah, I'm all for bringing the thread back on topic as a programming discussion.)

:-)
This is a Java solution. If you want to create PDFs in PHP, FPDF ( http://www.fpdf.org/ ) works great and has tons of addons. The library FPDI ( http://www.setasign.de/products/pdf-php-solutions/fpdi/ ) uses FPDF and is probably the closest thing to PDFBox in PHP when it comes to working with existing PDFs.

A few years ago I wrote a library using FPDF + FPDI that can overlay barcodes on existing PDFs: http://chir.ag/projects/pdfb/ and it has proven to be a very stable and capable setup. We use this at my work to generate over 10,000 pages of PDFs daily from a tiny Apache server.
Agreed, ASPD will likely get you arrested. NPD will just get everyone who knows you to think you're a complete ass.
Not that this isn't some sort of time-warp article, but haven't you learned by now that Cornell has little in common with reality? We even put it on a bumper sticker. :-)
Hi Sanj. Thanks for your message. Since Wattvision hasn't launched yet, I don't want to get in to too much detail, but in short, wattvision is faster, better, and cheaper. You'll hear more when we launch soon.

Thanks for your interest. Do hit up the team at info@wattvision if you want the details ;) -s
maybe not a huge market - but I guess when you can write a VM that works 56[sic] times as fast as IE's JS engine then people tend to let you have your own way :)
Nobody uses PHP because it is beautiful... Creating your own version would make you loose the one true benefit of PHP: easy deployment using many available hosting services.

Unless, of course, you manage to make it popular as the original (just remember to maintain backward compatibility with thousands of libraries!)
I can live with a lot of the crap. I understand the history and practicality of it. But the backslash for namespaces. That's just too much. There's no history for it. There's no good reason for it. It's just stupid and ugly. If someone forked PHP tomorrow and changed just that one thing for now I'd probably use the fork. The decision shows that PHP will not get better.
In my first year of graduate school, I was wondering "HOW can I do something creative?" It seemed an impossible problem. How do you come up with something which would startle you with its newness if somebody else showed it to you as something they came up with?

The solution I hit upon which moved me forward was this: research problems are homework problems. You could give me a homework problem I had never solved before, and I would work diligently on it. I was not deterred by the fact that I had never answered this homework problem before because I knew SOMEBODY had answered this homework problem before.

A Research Problem was just a Homework Problem asked for the first time. BEFORE the first person to do it had ever done it. With this attitude, I was able to work on a problem with the artificial belief that OF COURSE it could be done, and so I should stick to it until I had done it. The belief was artificial because, in the case of a research problem, it had NOT been done before.

Once I got used to working on research problems it was totally better than homework. No longer was I interested in homework, but only in these incredible investigations that hadn't been done before.

I should add that I wouldn't have even vaguely understood the questions if I wasn't on a daily basis exposed to great research.
No fax payday loans
Payday loans are a great relief to the people who are facing a lot of financial crisis and want to make payments for their dues immediately. There may be several reasons when you really need some immediate cash to clear your dues. Due to the rising expenses you may feel the need of some extra money to make emergency payments for some genuine reasons.
"Fail" is the wrong term. The sincere love between a "male" and a "female" human being (if I name them "man" and "woman", maybe you won't understand, would you?) isn't considered a value anymore...

If it were some business, we would care much much more, and this says it all about current priorities in "modern" society.

Future generations will write about current society: "They destroyed themselves by starting to hate, inside of the most atomic value in human society: The Family..."
My wild guess, based on other examples, is that duplicate submission detection lapses after a certain interval, so that there can be fresh discussion of interesting topics. But I haven't checked the source code to see if that is indeed how it works.

There is enough churn in membership here on HN that if the software lets a submission post as a new thread, I'm willing to treat it as a new thread. I try always to post canonical URLs when I submit links myself, the better to activate the duplicate detector if necessary. /metadiscussion
Does anyone who knows and uses Ruby or Python and PHP have any thoughts on whether its worth me revisiting PHP? (I currently use Ruby exclusively, after I left PHP when I was pretty much a total amateur.)

It does look cool with all these new features, I'm just not sure if it'd be a slight waste of my time, since I already know a language which works well for the web…?
I totally agree people should stop making excuses for Microsoft. At the same time, rants against complexity in general always make me think of this quote:

"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, elegant, and wrong." -- Mencken
JQuery UI Q&A with their Release Manager Richard D. Worth
The reason everyone seems to have NPD is because the people judging aren't trained psychologists or psychiatrists.

People confuse egocentrism (self-centeredness) with narcissism. Many people are considered egocentric today because of only-child syndrome, when you don't get taught how to get along with others when you're young then you're likely to end up egocentric.

NPD is only present in 1% of people, but is generally higher in clinical tests. Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) presents 3% in males and 1% in females. So it's actually very unlikely one of your close friends would actually have this disorder.

Most people carry some traits of NPD, but it's all relative. "#2) is preoccupied with fantasies of ... ideal love" well that nails virtually every female character I've ever seen, I mean watch 5 seconds of Sex and the City and tell me I'm wrong.
Because the author of the submitted article seems to fall for a common error in statistical reasoning about the divorce rate in the United States, I'll post a link to a detailed discussion of that fallacy here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/19/health/19divo.html
Since this is HN, let's add more technology. Keep the foil retracted until a sensor detects you're at an appropriate speed then extend the foil at a rate that maximizes velocity through the water. The weight added should be minimal.
New Personal, Peer-to-Peer Web Application Platform
The solution I hit upon which moved me forward was this: research problems are homework problems.

There is a famous story about this, which you can read in the book Mathematical People. George Dantzig came late to class one day and saw two problems on the blackboard. He worked them, not knowing that his professor had posted them as examples of unsolved research problems, NOT homework. That impressed his professor and helped launch his career.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Dantzig

http://www.snopes.com/college/homework/unsolvable.asp

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Dant...
The Lost Google Tapes
Good review of a good book. The author, Nisbett, is very meticulous about citing primary research sources in his book, even though it is written for a popular readership.

Another good book on closely related topics is What Intelligence Tests Miss by Keith Stanovich.

http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=97803001238...

http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss-Psycholog...
Reminder: Pittsburgh Hacker News meetup tonight at 9PM at Church Brew Works
If you like interesting power meters, check out the Wattson - http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/07/wattson_monitor.php
Ironically I think it's just as likely that it was simplicity that caused the error rather than complexity:

Older Microsoft Windows systems usually store only a single start and end rule for each zone^

If only they were forward thinking enough to know that laws change... and thus DST will eventually change too. A similar form of naive simplicity caused the Y2K mess. I think this falls in line with that incident.

I agree that Microsoft should have properly solved this problem on all OSes and pushed the solution back in 2006. It's ridiculous that this is still a problem on a recently installed recently patched box. Especially on XP which is currently their core market.

^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time
Not complaining... just surprised :-)
I am just depressed at how much other programmers are better than me

Learn a differentiating skill or two and suddenly you're the best programmer in the niche. Human languages, domain expertise, business/soft skills, etc etc. (I am no great shakes as a programmer but, if I actually cared to be "gainfully employed" for the duration of my career, being bilingual in Japanese/English and capable of programming my way out of a paper bag would pretty much guarantee it.)
Up until a few months ago I was entrenched in PHP. Now I don't do any PHP, and nothing in 5.3 makes it enticing to go back. They've fixed some things (late static binding), added some things (lambda's, namespaces), but these are already things that Ruby has and was designed for.
I always wondered if I did the right thing by accepting my parents offer to pay for college if I stayed at the home school. (I started at a community college, and transfered to a local university.) Then, I looked at the fact that I was a commuter and never "had the college experience." Now, I am grateful for the complete lack of debt I have today.
I can see in Itunes how I can listen to the 4 most recent episodes on my iPod. But I can't after a few minutes figure out if, or how, I can listen to the archived tapes including the "lost google tapes."

This is either an "oh on, I am an imposter on HN" post. OR it is a comment pointing out a difficulty with the UI.

In either case, I'd sure rather listen to this on my iPod than my laptop!
Suck it up!
Legalize...
http://www.carmanfox.com/meet_vancouver_escorts.htm
The article incorrectly states that Traits (think mix-ins, for you ruby guys) have been added to 5.3. This isn't true. While a patch has been implemented, it isn't slated to be released in 5.3. Some later version, no doubt.
Hmm, I don't know. That black & decker device looks like it just uses photo detection or what not to read the reading from your electricity meter.

Other devices currently out use a clamp instead, this doesn't measure voltage and is therefore inaccurate.
IPhone Mock-up Creator
Old-school, low-tech, real-time, in-person approach: "Hi. How's it going?"

Your TinEye approach, later that day, via email: "Hi. How's it going? You don't know me, but I surreptitiously took your photo in the park earlier today, uploaded it to a reverse image search engine, and eventually uncovered your personal data after an exhaustive web search. Care to get some coffee sometime?"

Why don't you A/B test these two approaches to find out which works best?
Is he a genius programmer or marketer?
For the 50th time at least, I will reiterate (somewhat ironically) that the worst thing on HN isn't the off-topic stories but the constant meta-conversations about what is and isn't off-topic. Boring.
What you lack in passion you make up for in aptitude. You can write better comments. Please do.
If you want to make a real killing make an iphone app that reads lpmud code.... There was a huge following of MUD's in the 90's and I am sure you could find a lot of worlds and items already created... just need an interface to read the code.
SeaWolf add me 151020688
This 36 yr. old east coast entreprenuer is taking his wife, three kids and life savings to silicon valley to build a great technology company!
All the core fundamentals of success hold true in this economic environment, if not more so. The only people that should "stay home" are those that seek the quick hit. If you want to truly build something great and long-lasting......I believe the American dream to be alive and well!!
My wedding took an hour and a half, with about 16 people there to witness, we went home and had like 60 people in the house for a party. Me and my wife went to bed at about 11 as we'd been up since like 5am, and the party went on without us. Like 5 lbs of bacon was cooked in the morning for everyone who staid over and then everyone was gone by 6pm the next day.

The wedding cost like $250 total, the food for the party cost $150. The wine for toasts and such cost us $40, other people through in up to $160 of wine. The cake was made by a family friend and paid for by another as our wedding present, so cost $0.

My wife and I spent more when we got an Xbox 360 than on our entire wedding. We are having another celebration this summer as my parents couldn't visit at the time and a lot of my wifes family couldn't get out to Ontario either, so the total price of our 'weddings' would probably have gone up, but again everybody is offering to do and pay for stuff so the total right now is at like $10.

I think the worst thing anyone can do is spend like $50,000 on a wedding, it'll just ruin your first year of marriage. I think the next worst thing, is to actually think living together married should be different from living together unmarried. My wife and myself got married after being together for years, it was because we were already committed, not because we needed to commit.
Twitter sucks. It is only for people who don't have real friends and don't have face-to-face social skills.
It's already too late. It's gotten worse every day for the last month, I think.
What unique resources does the US have?
The background story seems interesting. Why was this speech not given?

In any case, I'm pretty sure that at 18, I wouldn't have "gotten" it.
Subway construction cost in China versus the U.S.
I learned while in college, but not from it. I needed money, so I freelanced as a web developer. I've still never been in a CompSci course, but they sound stuffy.
Balsamiq Mockups recently added iPhone elements, I think I prefer it:

http://www.balsamiq.com/blog/?p=957

Nicely made for a webapp though! :)
That's not simplicity.

That's simply being lazy and wrong.

Timezones have been changing for over a hundred years.
Why "later that day", don't you have internet access from the phone? :-) I agree the old skool approach would work better for me, but the high-tech one is still a boon for stalkers and such.
Lights Out 8:30PM local time, wherever you live on planet earth. Saturday 28 March 2009
Classic Slate-reader cocoon types:

1) Works for a library/museum-centric non-profit (degree unknown)

2) Works for a political campaign, expensive degree from private university (BU)

3) Works for local government (degree unknown)

4) Left job with architecture firm due to move, current job unknown

5) No job, MA in English, can't afford to get desired PhD in Literature/Women's Studies (sob!)

So basically, not a single person (bar possibly #4) willing to get their hands dirty in the private-sector business world. Also, not a single male. What exactly are we supposed to take from this?
Thank you. We've got a family friend in immigration, so he's helped a lot as the information given is really contradictory. It's not always clear with him either because he can't tell anyone how to get into the country easier, so he's kind of stuck just giving answers... but it's still better than the website.

We're hoping I don't need a police check in Canada as it can take up to 120 days, but another family friend can get them rushed and complete in 3 days. So I guess I'm kind of lucky my wife's family is so connected.
I may be an American, but I am not a statistic.

I don't spend 8 hours a day on screens.

I spend 13.

PS LOL, they counted a cell phone as a screen. And GPS navigation units.
Great way for them to steal your great next killer app idea. I would never use a tool like this.
Yeah, that's why there is such a big difference between country GDP ratings in US$ vs. Purchasing Power Parity: Everything is cheaper in China. Everything except political freedom.
22 year old - working at a start up for a decent salary - and wrangling the last of my debt (<$5k).

I never attended college, so I was able to forgo college debt.

No plans to buy a house (yet) - but have plans to start a company in late 09' or 10'.
"Companies don’t really make money out of web browsers – the Explorers, Safaris and Firefoxes of the internet. So why is a new one so important to Google? Why invest time and effort in a free product that generates no income for the company behind it?""

That sounds false to me. AFAIK, Firefox makes a lot of money for Mozilla via the search field (via adsense), and other browsers certainly do the same.