skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
If your definition is "that which causes terror" then it is over-broad, including everything from chemical warfare to late night Alfred Hitchcock movies.

Yes I can make up whatever definition I want, not in some effort to "get my way" in the argument, but simply as a way to disambiguate the conversation. Words with overly broad meanings lead to sloppy analysis (hence the relationship to hacking)

War is not honorable at all in my opinion, and it's not a game that should be played fairly like some inter-collegiate hockey game. It's a messy and horrible business and no amount of weaseling or moralizing can make it any better. The goal, as best I can tell, is to make the other side want to stop fighting before they do the same to you.

Having said all of that, it only takes one party willing to use force to make all parties use counter-force, so war is going to be with us for a long while. So it's simply not enough to throw our hands up in disgust and cast a pox on the whole affair -- we need to be intimate with it. The same way we are intimate with cancer, or terror, or death, or any number of other cruel realities in life.
JumpStart: Early-stage funding for Northeast Ohio start-ups
It's not a direct competitor to YC because they state: "On average, we invest $300,000 in our portfolio companies."
It's too bad that feature wasn't really built into the interface. My friend ordered it, and it wanted you to enter a price as soon as you downloaded it. That meant you would have to go through the download process again if you wanted to pay $0 at first and then more later, which seemed kind of backwards. In my opinion, it would have made more sense to have the songs as streaming mp3s on the site, and then allow the option to buy the album after listening to the tracks.

It's also too bad that they are effectively punishing those people who bought into this business model. The tracks ended up being somewhere between 128 and 192 Kbps mp3s (I don't remember exactly what, though, something like 154 maybe?), and they will now be selling the CD through the usual outlets for the normal price, with additional songs that weren't available in the pay-what-you-want offering. This means that fans who went out and bought the low-quality, less-songs album will have to pay yet more money to get all of the album's songs and CD-quality music.

All of this would have been fine (in my book) if they told everyone from the start that they planned on doing this, but instead it seems like they are capitalizing on the loyalty of their fans, getting more money out of them than they would have otherwise.

I don't think that we can really consider this a win for the pay-what-you-want business model until an entire album is offered in a lossless format (flac built-in on Windows like it is on Mac, anyone?), with an easy interface for listening to the music before buying the album. This might be a good area for a startup to target: a site to facilitate the streaming and financial aspects of this kind of business model.
NASA discovers fifth planet in 55 Cancri system
Yes, that is standard when the person speaking wants to avoid a perjury charge and "legally" withhold information.
How big media companies will use law suits as a negotiation tactic with startups
They were off to a good start...

A hacker was a programmer -- someone who hacked out computer code. Hackers were visionaries who could see new ways to use computers, creating programs that no one else could conceive. They were the pioneers of the computer industry, building everything from small applications to operating systems.

Then the rest of it went to hell. They called yahoo mashup developers hackers! Big WTF. At least Stallman and Wozniak were mentioned as famous hackers.
OK, I actually am a big fan of Ferriss, but with this one he's topped the silliness of even his "Gain 30 lbs. of muscle in a month" post.

In a nutshell, the title of this post should be "How to evaluate how difficult learning a given language will be for you in 1 Hour."
http://e-gold.com

Quite real, I spent about a year being paid primarily in e-gold in the late 1990s as an experiment, and it was pretty cool. You can argue, of course, that in this instance the gold in the vaults is the money, and that it is not electronic, and you'd be right.
Hmm. The public sector funded regional incubator is back. There were a lot of these during the Bubble.
The New Facebook Ad Platform: What Does This Mean?
Google: Does it have to be all FUD all the time?
Why Google launched OpenSocial
Fear among Facebook developers
An Applet is not the programming equivalent of a phonograph.

I haven't been able to get an invite so I don't know how draftmix works. But using an applet for the live draft client gives me a huge advantage--I can use the same exact code on the client and server sides.

I assume you're using Flash on the client and something else on the server.

This means you have to maintain two versions of the same exact code. Every bug you find has to fixed twice.

-Ori
http://www.fleaflicker.com/contact.do
You're getting just a tad trollish. I did not suggest casting poxes at any point, though I would suggest that various diplomatic structures prevent war in a more-or-less predictable way.

There is an explicit branch of strategic bombing which is explicitly terrorism. No ambiguity involved.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terror_bombing
Facebook strategy: You're the ad
I run a league on Fanball and I'm humbled by the prospect of how out of hand "create your own rules" leagues can get. There can literally be thousands of feature points. And sure, you can put together a simple fantasy site easily, but there's still a steady creep of features you want to have. So I could see how that would be the case.

I imagine you guys are using Rails and ran into the same issue I did with my real estate statistics, which is that there is no particular framework for running and caching "baked" statistics over data in Rails. I've thought about how to generalize and abstract some of the stuff I've done with that into a plugin, but it's probably not going to happen anytime soon.
Seeking feedback and first 5 users for Facebook App:  Friend Gift Game
I think you are wrong, although I don't think you deserved to be down-modded.
'Folksonomy' takes power from expert librarians
Is Facebook Beacon a Privacy Nightmare?
An Applet is not the programming equivalent of a phonograph.

In terms of the timeline it is. It has been replaced by Flash and now AIR and Silverlight are trying to do what Applets were used for. SUN seems to be moving away from them as well, by introducing WebStart.
Interview of Mohammad Yunus of Grameen Bank
Java applets leave an antiquated impression with most, mainly because people still conjure up memories of applets from 5+ years ago. Painfully slow, buggy, overused.

The reality though is that applets are significantly faster now, and they are very powerful. But I doubt this will change the impression most people have of them. Flash does most of what you would need, and now there is AIR if you need access to the file system or other low level functionality.

I think a mistake Sun is making is with all the branding they do with applets. Showing a Java logo each time an applet launches is a shameless plug and leaves an impression that a lot of crap is loading. The bootstrap process should be more seamless, in my opinion. They still have not changed this as far as I know.
Sun's open source strategy questioned
Google phones won't challenge iPhone any time soon, says ARM CEO
Microsoft's Centro becomes 'Essential' business server
Facebook 2.0: Time to Monetize, Baby
Prince Fan Sites have been served legal notices to remove all images of the singer
Okay, those are the five marketing lines as to why I should purchase an iPhone. Where are the reasons that it is the "best thing invented this year"?

Or, better still: Where are the reasons as to why it constitutes an invention at all?
If you're using applets, I'm not using your site. Java plugin support in Linux, especially on 64-bit platforms, is not up to par. I have tried numerous times to get Java applets working in my browser before simply throwing up my hands and declaring that any site which used Java applets was not worth my time.

Flash is nearly as painful, but I was at least able to get it working. Additionally, with so many sites using Flash, it's hard to ignore all of them. I used Flashblock for a while because I was tired of pointless Flash (Flashblock allows you to activate a Flash object if you wish), but so many sites used Flash that I found the plugin to be a hindrance rather than something I appreciated.

Personally, if a site avoids using Flash or applets altogether (GMail comes to mind), I appreciate it that much more. When Javascript doesn't get the job done, Flash, to me, is definitely the lesser of two evils.
The best book for those who want to learn HTML & CSS
I've read this book and I really recommend it to everyone who wants to start learning HTML & CSS.
It's a great book and you'll have a great time reading it.

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/hfhtmlcss/

If there's another YC user that have read it, please share your opinions.
I'll watch my tone. But conversely, sometimes trolls are just people that disagree with you in a manner that you find uncomfortable. I will attempt to be polite and respectful, and will apologize if I'm not. That's all I can do.

If you are using the Wiki article as an argument that due to international treaty terror bombing was illegal/immoral/defined as terror, etc then I disagree. As far as I know, the word "terror" was not used in the treaty and even if it was, it does not describe the same thing as what I'm describing. Once again, my definition is nothing but thin air, but it does describe a unique thing that this does not.

Other treaties such as the Kellog-Briand Pact did all sorts of things, like outlaw the use of war in the furtherance of national policy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellogg-Briand_Pact

Reviewing the pact (and several others) is a good reference for the difference between diplomacy and reality, the difference between treaties that make the populations feel better and treaties that actually accomplish something. If I remember correctly, terror bombing was conducted by all sides in WWII. The Washington Post article makes a great case for utilitarianism in warfare -- trying to see fifty years down the road and doing the thing that causes the least harm overall. Does this require a conviction that you are right and the other person wrong? Absolutely. But I can't imagine conducting a war in which both sides agree that, hey, it's all kinda relative anyway. Sort of a struggle of the apathetic. There are some deep issues here, and I'm opposed to anybody that claims to be able to handle them all in a soundbite.

When I think of terrorism and western civilization, I think the best analogies are the American Civil War and the struggle on the plains with the American Indians. While I understand we have somewhat cartoonish views of both conflicts now, they have great parallels to the current situation.

You're welcome to pursue various definitions of terrorism. Another overloaded fuzzy word is the word "war", which has lost all sense of meaning in the last 100 years. It's reached the point where "war on terror" could mean anything from a land invasion of Iraq to a bake sale to collect money for preventing a motorcycle convention from coming to town. You can't have any kind of discussion without first a definition of terms, as old Socrates understood.
Canadian dollar passes US$1.10 mark
What Languages Fix
http://www.paulgraham.com/fix.html
Social Media: The Instant Brand Killer
Are public sector funded incubators by definition doomed or is there hope that they can learn from their private sector brethren?
7 Countries Considering Abandoning the US Dollar (and what it means)
I wasn't trying to accuse you of trying to impress people, I was just attempting a joke about how people here are turned off by popular/blub languages.
Try it. Put yourself in their shoes. What would you do? Would you be willing to give the honest answer or dodge the question (but not lying)?
I think the author contradicts himself just a little bit. On one hand, he points out that paper money was able to gain value due to its roots in gold. Later down, he ignores the idea that electronic money could initially be backed by paper money before that necessity eventually goes away as people gain more confidence in electronic money.

I do agree that it would be hard to create a new form of currency that is backed by nothing but faith, but with a universally-accepted currency as a foundation, I think a private currency could be possible.

Unfortunately, the problem of assuring people that it is impossible for someone to just "create" the currency is very difficult. With paper money, various tactics are employed to prevent counterfeiting, but it still happens. With digital currency, this problem would be multiplied. The solution would likely involve ensuring that the entire process is very transparent to those using the currency.
Really interesting and funny way to describe Languages.

I miss Javascript on that list.
Wow, this is a refreshing development for northeast Ohio. Growing up there, I saw steel mill after steel mill shut down, with thousands of people losing jobs and seemingly no plan for bringing jobs back. At least this effort is a move in the right direction, as opposed to waiting around and hoping for improvement as the best minds are forced to leave town to seek opportunities. This venture really excites me.
Is Facebook the next Google?
Arc - new programming languages are released too often and too quickly (stiffx)
Did anyone else notice this on the same site?

http://www.newartisans.com/blog_files/ready.lisp.on.osx.php

Zero fuss way to get started with Common Lisp on Mac OS X. Aquamacs bundled with SBCL, launches immediately into REPL at startup. I will recommend this to anyone who wants to learn Lisp on the Mac.
Does "public sector" imply government funding? This looks to me like an independent non-profit. Judging by this list of donors:

http://www.jumpstartinc.org/Giving/DonorRecognition.aspx

it seems the organization is largely funded by banks and other non-profit organizations.
s/becomes/to be marketed as/
MatchupCamp in NYC: Find a Partner or Investor
The Facebook News Network Parodies Mundane Friend Updates
Google Helps Lost Drivers At Gas Stations
Video Blogger to Visit White House
Sounds more like Twitter.
what % of users in this market do you think care whether their fantasy sports site uses a java applet or flash?
This isn't a very good comparison.

I applaud the fact that the post is advocating a bit of realism (something which is in short supply in the entrepreneurial world). I also don't deny that there is an element of luck in succeeding. But it's _not_ a total crapshoot. There is a lot more variance and room for planning in a business than there is sitting at a craps table.

I think on average people who at least try to start a company and work to build something are not comparable to people sitting on their asses pouring quarters into slots or lottery tickets.
Congrats on finding one of the few historical PG pages that isn't yet posted to news.yc ;)
Yup, they evolved past the graphical user interface :).
Because all sports fans are dumb?
Will everything soon be 2.0?
Everybody wants web 2.0 tools, especially those of us in sales. But can big enterprise ever make the 2.0 switch?
The Bubble in Tom Perkins's Sails
Introducing VastPark, the owner of OpenSocial.com
Facebook's music effort is live
TrueKnowledge Demos Its Semantic Search Engine
OpenSocial: It's the data, stupid
Pon'far Approaches: Beware Social Sites
"We don't want to have the same application on multiple social networks. We want applications that can use data from multiple social networks." ... well said
Google Reader Adds Blogrolls - Attack of the 20%'ers
at last an article that speaks the truth
Google Taking Design Lessons From Yahoo In China?
Michael Eisner: Striking Writers Are Stupid
NY Tech Meetup: Startups Meet Giants
Stop using Linux. Problem solved.
File-sharing pirates attempt new software standard
It does require separation of code, but not twice as much debugging. Every bug does not have to be fixed twice. It's similar to MVC architecture in a way, with the flex client being the view. I'd be surprised if the bug fixing isn't actually easier due to the separation.

Also, your goal in a startup is not to make it easy for you to code, but to make it easy for your users to play. (You only do the former where it assists with the latter.) Java does not accomplish that. People don't want to piss with JRE. It is a bloated nightmare that crashes people's systems, nags them about updates, slows down bootup, etc.

Everyone has Flash. In fact, more people have flash than javascript (turned on) making it the most commonly accepted environment. It and AJAX are really the only acceptable choices for a live draft.
Because when you're trying to pound down a nail, it doesn't matter what you use as a hammer.
TimmyOnTime - Time Management via Instant Messenger
Good writing creates value for the reader. This can be done not only by presenting an original insight, but by adding value to an existing insight. This can be done by

- Putting an idea into context

- Providing relevant facts and statistics

- Pointing out the implications of an idea

- Drawing new conclusions from an old idea. etc.

Even though the insight might not be 100% original, the author still managed to "say something worth saying about something worth saying something about." At least for me.

It was also exceptionally well-written.
Facebook is the next AOL. Started as a walled garden. Tried to reach into content delivery and now transitioning into full service ad company. But NO ONE has a more lucrative platform than the Internet and email.
Why Russian technologists aren't cool
How Much is Your Facebook Profile Worth?
Facebook Pages: This is Big
For startups as we use the word I'd say they're doomed. It takes some expertise to do seed-stage investing, and no one with that kind of expertise would want to work for an organization as bureaucratic as this kind of thing would inevitably be.
Key insight:

The secret of Google's success? They let you market anything, no matter how uncool, to anyone who can figure out a PC. We can Google for anything and buy it without anyone knowing. Google for "dandruff," "hemorrhoids," or "erictile disfunction" [sic]. Boom, boom, and boom--$4 billion adds up fast. Do you think I'm going to let Facebook use me to hawk Preparation H to fellow writers? Not a chance.

I hadn't even thought of that. One reason Google is so powerful with its advertising is that it is private. A lot of Internet purchases fall under this banner besides those mentioned above; a big one that comes to mind is gifts. Someone looking to purchase a gift for a friend is not going to do it through Facebook for fear that they might learn about it before receiving it. They will also be unqualified to review the merit of the item since they are not the ones who own it.

Facebook's advertising plan might work. It certainly has to be an improvement over their current methods. Then again, it has the potential to drive away users who are tired of being constantly marketed to. (Is it just me, or does it seem like when I finally do decide to buy something, it's a lot harder to find than when I didn't want it?) I agree, however, that Google certainly has the upper hand here with a model that Facebook can never hope to match, because on Google, many users are actually looking to buy something.
Firefox 3 Beta is Almost Here
The One Laptop Per Child Program: Production Begins
Litigation in the making...

All the major sports leagues are notorious for protecting their brands and trademarks -- NFL, MLB, NHL,etc -- , simply look at the licensing deals some sites like Yahoo have needed to go through. And to top it off, they are mixing in virtual dollars (gambling) into the mix, which has been under fire recently in the U.S.

Its an untapped market for sure, but a snake-pit in litigation issues. May be the next YouTube you never know, but I doubt it, the sports leagues are more aware of the online world the movie studios.
Every one who doesn't already have the JRE installed, which is a lot of people. Why raise the barrier to entry?
Carry Your Desktop Anywhere with Portable Apps
2nd Cut is the Deepest: Term Sheet tips from Dow Jones VentureWire
Shayan, would you mind not submitting such a large volume of links? Would you also please add your email addr to your profile?
I'd love to hear your suggestion for a replacement. Any ideas where I can get an open OS that does exactly what I want it to while being absolutely sure that my personal activity is not being recorded or monitored in some way (either by vendor or virus)? Is there any OS where I can copy my $HOME directory to a newly-installed system and have all my applications behave in the same way they did on my old one? Other than OSX (which happens to get many benefits from open source tools which compile on it), is there another OS where anything you feasibly want to do with your computer is a Google search away? How about updating every single application on my computer to the latest version with a single command? Those are just a few of the things I appreciate about Linux without even mentioning its cost.

Linux has many inconveniences that have been gradually disappearing. On the other hand, the benefits that it offers are something that I have no hope of getting from a proprietary solution. I've only been using it for less than a year and a half, and I'm finding that my day-to-day usage has become more efficient than my Windows experience by leaps and bounds. I admit that I occasionally become frustrated by certain activities (wireless networking and suspend/hibernation routines come to mind), but even things like this are getting easier thanks to not-yet-1.0 software like NetworkManager.

I seriously expect that within a few more years, Linux will be no harder to use than any other OS out there, with the added benefit of it being more free and flexible than any other option. Problem solved.

On another note, if (as a service provider) you came back to me with that proposition, that would be a surefire way to lose a customer. I postulate that the average Linux customer would be more helpful to you than the average Windows or even Mac customer, as I would expect a higher level of technical savvy (less frivolous calls/e-mails to customer service) and a higher likelihood to file legitimate bug reports. If you are chasing these people away, you are losing on more than one count.
www.collectbritain.co.uk is a very cool website
Thanks Dan :) - didn't expect to see it up here!
Remeber the 'Crazy Uncle Charlie' factor. There are folks that chase after one hairbrained scheme after another, never quite hitting the big time. Resilience is vital, yet not sufficient.
Facebook Valuation
Don't get into language wars when you're trying to sell a product. Obviously, Java applets work for yahoo and for the people who use yahoo games, so people are evidentally able to tolerate "bloated nightmares".

Applets have clunky startup/shutdown processes. That's their main problem. Aside from that, they duplicate the desktop experience quite accurately, unlike Ajax, which is a permanent kludge.

Plus, how else are we going to play Kid Icarus without applets:

http://www.davieboy.net/play/game.all.play.asp?rom=11.zip...
for sure ... I added my email address. I try to read as much as I can (if I find the time) so end up finding many links that I find to be interesting ...
I have been looking at news here for sometime now, but just recently joined the community...is there a limit on link submission that is preferred? and is there something I should read to understand the community here better?

My apologies in advance, and thanks for the message