skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Yes, I would think this poll is significantly tainted by the differing amounts of net penetration [http://www.internetworldstats.com/top20.htm]:

United States 69.7 %
China 12.3 %

If, "80% of young Chinese people believe that 'digital technology is an essential part of how I live'", they must have surveyed a fairly specific subset of young Chinese people, presumably of the wealthy urban kind. As we know nothing about the demographics of either poll, the whole comparison is fairly useless.

China's phenomenal recent growth is also significant: the sudden rise of this technology would presumably have a very immediate psychological impact to tech-using Chinese youth.
Americans have had much longer to get used to it, and may even be more dependent, but less aware of the dependency.
Really nice graphics and sounds, but I am not hooked by this. At least not yet.
He describes my experience in undergrad physics (and graduate engineering) pretty well. You get some examples to motivate a new theory, and then they jump right to the Schrodinger equation and expect you to fall back on what you know about turning the crank in boundary value problems. I didn't hear the word 'Hermitian' for a long time.
I still prefer MySpace...more fun to use...
I am always looking for great clients for my own freelance work. My problem is finding clients that don't want to gouge me. I stay away from freelance and bid sites because I will never be able to low-ball projects like those from overseas. When I look for client projects I check my local craigslist listings and so far I have been able to get a couple of extra projects a month. I have all the skills you listed in spades if you want to see some of my portfolio just shoot me an email and I will let you know the URL.
Nice game!

If you have no use for left and right, I'd suggest that left goes up and right goes down, as well as the normal controls.
email address on your profile?
addictive i'd say! can't wait for multiplayer.

Creating a multiplayer game with a click of a button giving you a url you can give someone through instant messenger and join you instantly.

other things i think that would add more fun:

new levels with thunders, moving obstacles, warfare trying to shoot you down,

missions like delivering parcels.

and maybe in the hall of fame you could show the most risky pilots (i guess you could measure speed and angle entering/avoiding the obstacles)
When a DNS client gets a CNAME record back, it looks up the other name to get the IP address. So anyone who looks up the address of hackernew.ws will end up connecting to an address for news.ycombinator.com
yeah, it's pretty amazing how much of an impact two crazy kids with a good idea can have.
PySizer - a memory profiler for Python
The evolutionary value of art
Very nice execution. The dynamic of the planes motion control is very satisfying. I also like the clean graphics and the Rock Solid Blimp.

Quick idea for taking or leaving:
Add some different bail-out animations. Parachute, rocket-pack, umbrella, anvil (Think Wile E. Coyote), etc.

Nice work.
I used to work on console games and I think you've got the handling on the plane just right. Nice job. Good luck.
"left goes up and right goes down"

Seconded. This seems like a more natural control scheme considering the plane's orientation.
I've uninstalled MSN Messenger completely! It doesn't add any value to my life. Don't call me, I'll call you!

John
www.gigatribe.com
Computer Science researches who use Windows that is. All seems to be in WMV format.
The Theory of Moral Neuroscience
Is it just me or does it take a long time after I click an answer for the next question to come up?
> Ever lose your car keys and wish life had ctrl+f?

That's geeky? Real geeks start an incremental search with ctrl-s
I like it.

As a pilot, I'd like to see you add airspeed and stalling -- you just can't fly a plane anywhere you point the stick at -- but other than that, looks like a fun little game.
Overweight? Standing May Be Solution
I saw that. Hopefully it's not doing a server hit for each question. That'd be really crummy design work.
Thanks for the comments guys.

To address some things...

@edw519 - This isn't a start-up situation. As I said, this would be freelance, (i.e., we pay them). And this is for client work that comes along, not an internal project that would be relevant to an equity situation. I didn't think that hiring freelancers when work exceeded manpower was that ass backwards...

@lanej0 - My developer is to an extent, but I was also looking for more resources. Can't hurt to expand right? Also, on your other point, it's tough working with college students because of their schedules. But it is something we've explored.

@everyone - I want to stay away from elance and the like. I'm not looking for someone who can low-ball the best, I'm looking for someone who can do great work. Also, job boards aren't the best either. They are useful for AFTER you get the proposal. I'm looking for resources so that when client work comes in, I'll have some names on hand to contact to determine if I can take on the job. It's kind of a preemptive thing. Too many of these job boards focus on the specific job, not the talent pool.

@tmm - A good way to find designers is to check out design galleries and design communities. That way you will be able to judge the talent pretty easily by the work they've done. A simple email will get the ball rolling. Most designers say whether they are looking for freelance work right in their portfolio.

Thanks everyone for the responses!
Why Giving Away Your Services For Free Will Get You Business
howto: properly support your back while sitting
I just checked out ProgrammerMeetDesigner.com. Looks like a cool resource. Very similar to what I'm talking about/looking for.
I don't think it's quite that easy to get into the US, although maybe I'm wrong. I'm trying to think of some ideas about selling stuff to Italians from the US and have a few, but haven't done anything concrete yet. I'm actually trying to stick to a few things (like Hecl) for a little while, which is tough.
I don't understand that comment? Typically people work for someone because they get paid for it?
Charging for your application is a big step -- you are making a statement that what you are offering is of value.

I think that if you can offer some premium lever of your software for a price, do it.

My company created billQ (http://www.mybillq.com). Now this is a VERY specific and simple app, but it is very well done (biased?). At first we offered it completely free. This came partly from fear. Is this simple app really worth charging for? After a few months, and a bunch of feedback, people were actually offering to pay us even though we weren't charging. We learned from this, and the latest version now has a premium level that has more features and costs a small amount. And people pay for it.

Most people aren't not going to use your product because of the price, they are not going to use it because it a) isn't useful to them, or b) it sucks. The onus is on you to make the value match the price.

If at all possible, charge for your product. It will not only bring you better customers, but it will provide you with the resources to invest back into those customers. And this is something they are more than willing to pay for.

I would hope more companies put a value on their products. Web apps shouldn't be just commodities in the same way desktop software is not. If everyone relies solely on ad revenue, there will be a lot of cash-flow starved companies out there.
I think it's possible to start with Shroedinger's equation as an axiom, and then quickly move on to probabilities. Griffith's table of content goes:

1.1 Shroedinger's equation

1.2 The statistical interpretation

1.3 Probabilities

1.4 Normalization

...

2.1 Stationary states

2.2 The infinite square well

2.3 The Harmonic oscillator

2.4 The Free Particle

...

3. Formalism

3.1 Linear algebra

3.2 Function spaces

...

4. Quantum mechanics in 3 dimensions

4.2 The hydrogen atom

The problem with spin states is that it's too abstract for a lot of student, even though the math is simpler. Both approaches have merit, IMO. I find the square well + free particle to be much more interesting.
Peter Seibel GoogleTalk. Practical Common Lisp
Thanks for pointing that out, I had the address there but not in the about section as it should have been. It is fixed and visible on my profile now.
http://www.documentary-art.net/

this is a site I made for artists to express themselves, might be worth a look for any artists in the house...
Disney To Make Up To 20 Startup Acquisitions In Next 24 Months
> People whine and whine about responsibility for energy, while everyone chooses the cheapest energy available. This is a feature not a bug

I'm not sure I get what you mean. Is it that self-interest leading people to buy the cheapest energy form, environment be damned, is the way to go? What if we find out that the cheapest energy form is polluting just as much (or more) as coal? We can't escape some form of collective responsibility.
There's No Money In The Long Tail of the Blogosphere
I wonder what kind of cost they're using, though. Is it marginal cost (on which solar already wins) or return on capital, and does the cost of capital include the cost of research?

The only way I can think of actually trying this is to sell future contracts for, say 1% of Google's alt-power production in 2008, 2009, etc., and to declare the project a success iff the value of 1% of the power, indefinitely, X 100, is less than the amount invested in the project.
Full transcript of interview with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs (and video)
And the video: http://d5.allthingsd.com/20070531/d5-gates-jobs-transcript/
Sorry if I was a bit blunt. Let me try to explain it a little better...

This is hacker news. One of the primary beliefs here (correct me if I'm wrong) is that this is the best time ever for one or two good hackers to start a business if you can build something people want. Why? The incredibly low cost of entry, available technology, tremendous demand, etc. All you need is some skill, some smarts, a couple of laptops, and whole lot of determination. You don't even need much money. That's the good news.

Now the not-so-good news (for non-hackers). This is a sufficient condition. BUT IT IS ALSO A NECESSARY CONDITION. You gotta be able to hack. If you can't, then why bother?

I know. I know. You need both development and design. Design without development is a brochure. Development without design (although not a good idea) can be a sustainable business. Just ask google.

Many hackers here already do work for big companies for pretty decent $. And we're still unhappy because we want better. We want our own. A web/tech/software business has to be founded by hackers; anything else doesn't make much sense to me.

Didn't mean to sound so negative to the original poster. Maybe they ARE good hackers. But if not, they need at least one rock star hacker as a co-founder, not a freelancer.

This post kinda reminds me of opening a dentist's office if you can do everything needed except fix teeth. Imagine an ad, "Dental Hygienist and Office Manager looking to hire a freelancer to fix teeth." If I'm a dentist (who is any good), why would I respond to that ad? I'd just open my own practice. Why should hackers accept any less?
I stand corrected. Sounds like you have a large service component. I wouldn't hesitate to engage some of the posters here. IMO, this board seems like a cut above most of the others. Best wishes to you.
Thinking in pictures: autism and visual thought
A Kanban System for Software Development
The big balloons crashing you vs the small balloons giving you point seems a bit counter-intuitive. The restarting on Level 1 after making it quite far made me stop playing. That's definitely the most glaring issue I saw. Overall excellent work.
Not to long ago I interviewed with EnerNOC in Boston (http://enernoc.com) for an R&D position. They are working in green energy and have some really interesting things going on. Not to mention a decent amount cash to work with since they went public this year.

Renewable and green energy initiatives are getting big and looks to be a market to make some serious cash in.
I think it could be cool if we could stop the engine temporarily in midair and hover. It would let us make sharper turns when for example you're going up and then need to make a 90 degrees turn.
I'm not sure if the physics make sense but I think the feeling would be great!

The restarting of the engine would have to be perfectly timed with the release of the key though, unlike the boost.

Oh yeah, and the "time left" label in the bonus rounds is truncated.
No problem. I realize this is a start-up centric community, so I should have made my point a little clearer at first. And I do agree about this place. I haven't really participated in it until now, but the community seems really great. Much better attitude and more intelligence all around than others I've seen.
Peter Thiel's Principle: Absolute Openness
"so do you choose in ambiguous cases?"

Absolutely!

Find a way around the ambiguity. Either a preference record, local URL, "Did you mean?" response, etc.
Any attempt at helping your user is better than "No One's Home".
How about pictures, SitSmarter?
An externality is when a choice has an impact outside those making an exchange that isn't factored into the price. You can't expect people to rationally account for often unknown externalities.

Hope that alternatives that are expensive will win out of shear good will is a losing option because it requires everyone to be aware of the externalities of their choices.

Regulation to deal with externalities can work, but my faith in the competence of government to do well in regulating energy is close to nil, given past performance.

The only solution then is an engineering solution. Make alternatives that people would choose without knowing the externalities.

One side benefit is that you don't need the government and rhetoric about "collective responsibility" that too often approaches totalitarianism when enacted.
On the one hand: GOOG is trying to build renewable that actually makes economic sense. Good for them. (I assume 'cheaper' means 'cheaper', not "cheaper when you factor in tax credits, gov't incentives, Renewable Portfolio Standards, RGGI, AB32, and so on". If it means the latter, this is a non-story.) Most renewable is a complicated ratepayer swindle.

On the other: 2007 wholesale electric power transactions (outside of Texas) look to be around $270B. So GOOGs investment comes to (very roughly) 0.1% of the market. Describing this as a 'cannonball' seems .... dramatic.

The industry is pretty hidebound, particularly on the T&D side. However, power is sold on relatively transparent spot markets in most of the country's ISOs (e.g. CAISO, PJM), and if generation technologies were sitting out there with significantly lower costs than what's in use today (renewable or no) I find it difficult to see how they could not have yet been deployed by some profit-seeking entrepreneur.

I-banks play heavily in this sector, so it's not as if, were the numbers to make sense, it would be hard to find someone with the capital to fund clever ideas.

I don't object to GOOGs actions: It's their money to spend, they sound like they're trying to come up with something innovative (though see my definition of 'cheap' above) and if they succeed, it will benefit everyone. I just think the odds are that the problem is a bit harder than they think, and that we're seeing a second prominent example of (slightly arrogant) SV s/w guys getting in over their heads. (Tesla is the first.)

Still, good luck to them.
Types of VC Due Diligence Meetings
During the due diligence phase, there are two main types of meetings.

First, you will have meetings in which the primary objective is for you to meet other partners at the VC fund. A VC partner who is evaluating your company and continues to be interested will likely set this up after your first meeting in order to both get another opinion and begin to build consensus around investing in your company...
I'm really tempted to try creating this. It really would make a cool "aquarium" if you could figure out a way to visualize it.
Solar doesn't win on marginal cost. What are you talking about? The marginal silicon based photovoltaic system has higher $/W than marginal increases in capacity of coal burning plants.

Why sell futures? Can't they sell energy or at least shares of companies they are investing in?
Certainly, and also, at second thought, having separator characters doesn't make it any less ambiguous either (DD/MM/YYYY || MM/DD/YYYY).

When I said "you" I was speaking for the program, my opinion is that the client should choose as well.
Nice! It is hard.
Just for the record, it is still wrong..the correct thing would be:
"We are not able ..."
This is an old problem, but always an interesting example. I like to think I can accept almost anything from my user in a date field and know what they meant. For September 2, 2007, they should be able to type any of the following: 090207, 0902, 9/2, 9/2/7, 92. My users have also appreciated things like "T" for today, "Y" for yesterday, and of course, "" for today. The year and month should always default to the current. I could go on and on...

When I saw this post, I got excited because I (like almost everyone else) have always struggled with this one. So I put in the simplest case and it couldn't handle it. Oh well.
Only if you're American. If you're British, it's correct as it is.
Judge jailed entire courtroom over ringing mobile phone
Google Provides Details Of Anonymous Blogger In Israel (Updated)
Step Behind the Scenes
Very slick game

only comment is i dont like going back to restart after dying...should at least be a few continues
guns, more guns
Having been on lots of social networks (DeadJournal, LiveJournal, Friendster, uJournal, Plogs, MySpace, and Facebook, in that order), Doctorow's basically right-on when it comes to what real people do. I've had friends tell me, several times, "We're all on (GreatestJournal|MySpace|Facebook) now; come join us." Mass migrations between social networks are not as rare as people who are on their first social network tend to think.

Maybe ordinary people are pussies too.
It was already submitted with exactly the same title.

I guess that it'd be good to expand the news.ycombinator's filter to check the URL's HTML title, too. (oh, yet another call for open sourcing the news.ycombinator)
"Mass migrations between social networks are not as rare as people who are on their first social network tend to think."

Is that what Corey is complaining about? I read that he hates being stalked. I think he likes complaining about hating being stalked. Regardless, the fear of social networking because the "wrong" people might find you -- that's what makes Corey a pussy.

What difference does it make if your friends move to new social nets? No one is forcing you to do anything. Politely tell them you're giving up social networking.

In any event: much ado about nothing.
Free Online library with 1.5 million books
Ah, the system administrator...a position even harder to fill than developer in my experience.
Does this mean we should make desks and tables higher so that we are forced to stand while we work?
Sweet, I'll take a short on that.

On second thought, looking at the list of companies, I'm not seeing a lot of web 2.0 hype. In fact, that list looks pretty stable. (Sonicwall?)
The idea sounds fantastic, but it would be helpful to know the facts about it which seem a little hard to derive from the article. Of course, a major hole in the story about "no moving parts" ignores the subtlety that the actual power is ultimately derived from steam, and steam power generation involves a lot of moving parts.
"I also assumed that the deep romanticism of some of xkcd's comics meant that he was in a serious relationship of some kind"

Funny, I assumed the opposite. A lot of his comics about relationships resonate with the self image I had before I married.
Is Water the Next Big VC Opportunity?
Reminder: Leah Culver talking at Justin.TV tomorrow
Michael Dell, according to people I know that have worked for him, has a standing desk (sort of like an oversized lectern) instead of a regular sit-down desk. Getting up and sitting down were considered to be time wasters.
I like the game. I suppose it would be nice to have a password for each level (like in the "minefields" games for exemple : http://www.zeronews-fr.com/flash/v-9-mindfields2.html).
Beware of scattered thoughts...

I'm not sure I agree energy is the only resource that matters, but I think it matters the most. The future prosperity (or poverty) of our world hinges on the availability of energy. Even for startups: software and entrepreneurial talents don't matter if you can't get the juice to run your servers.

Getting into the game now is a good investment for Google - eventually fossil fuel will become more scarce and expensive than other sources of energy, and at that point they will stand to make a killing. Even without that, energy is probably one of their largest expenses and it would make sense to generate their own at a lower cost.
Google search results delivering massive malware attacks
Why can't we have a +10 vote to use once a day?
I can't find an equivalent QNET entry on Google Finance.
May be we can collaboratively build a new HackerNews app from scratch in hackerne.ws
I predict in 10 years, Google will mainly be known...

I predict xkcd will be.
The direct-edit is new as of last week (http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2007/11/think-globally-ma...), although there was a buried form to submit inaccurate data before.

Much-needed feature - the lack of accurate "last hundred yards" information is the #1 problem with current mapping applications.
Why Some Software Is Not Simpler, Just Suckier
Coding Horror: classic architectural mistakes in software development.
It's this startling ambition that I admire most about Google. They're trying to shake up everything from print/tv/radio advertising to mobile phones to power to ...

Someday, we might all nod sagely and say "they should never have strayed from Search and AdSense" because it is entirely possible that they'll bleed a lot of money and fail on several of these - but it is great that they are audacious enough to try.
I wonder what percentage of GOOG's operating costs are power related (heating, cooling, electricity, etc).

I imagine that it's probably their highest expense outside of salaries. Cheaper and cleaner power (generated independently off-grid) could help them solve serious issues w/ remote data centers and their operating margins.
This is Your Brain. TiYB when fundraising
Basically, yes. The best solution is probably to get a desk with adjustable height. A couple of my friends have them, and swear by them. They're a bit pricey, but I might get one anyway. (Do a web search on "height adjustable desk" for some options.)

Incidentally, being able to experiment with your work environment like this is yet another reason not to work in a 'normal' job. Not too many offices would let you get away with a standing desk, and if your desk is publicly visible the social cost of being the only one standing could be significant.
Nice Game. I wish you didn't have to start over from scratch everytime, otherwise very nice.
OReilly:
One of the first times I met Larry Page, long before Google went public, when he was still driving a bright blue VW bug, he was telling me how for Google, the annual energy cost of each processor they put online was greater than the cost of the processor itself. (This may actually have been lifetime energy cost. It's a long time and I don't remember exactly, so I don't want to put words in his mouth.) Energy is one of the key costs for anyone running a large server farm, and keeping that cost under control is a key element of competitive advantage.

http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/11/google_energy_stra...
Small Change, Big Payoff
Social Site Rankings (October, 2007)
That article is riddled with errors... Pareto's Principle is a proverb?! and "famouse(sp) rule of mathematics, known as power law"... huh?