skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Some of his writing is good, though. I get something out of some of his essays.
I agree. This is one of the reasons that I use my real name and link to my site in my profile. I own my comments.

Perhaps you could publish qwertyy's IP address.

John.
Yes, I meant the blue plane. (It's an old presentation -- I didn't watch it again -- but an important one.)

The people are: Alan Kay himself, Charles Simonyi, and a company I'm affiliated with called Anemach. They each have very different approaches and we'll just have to wait and see what comes next.
I aim for one of mine to be. The aim is to build a tool/resource that will help scientists speed up there research, which, in turn, will help society. Obviously, I won't be shy if a bit of moola came my way!

My other start-up is an email client that will hopefully, once and for all, relieve me of the frustrations I have currently with every other email service out there.

The first one is my real 'baby' because I am a scientist by trade; the second one is one that I would like to cash in on.
Curious: Why?
Yeah, a lot of his writing is worthwhile and/or interesting. The six chapters of novel he wrote were worthless, though.
if they love speed so much that they demand each cpu they buy has a POPCOUNT, then it's rather surprising that they'd love the random number generator "3 orders of magnitude slower", no?
I.B.M. to Push 'Cloud Computing,' Using Data From Afar
Adobe isn't going to eat their own cash cow. You can see their response to online image editors here: http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-9790734-12.html
Thanks, I'll get right on that. There will be another release in the next day or so and that'll be fixed.
Yep, it's just difficult because there are so many scenarios to account for with any given shortcut.
You're right. Cursors, and keyboard shortcuts, should go a long way toward increasing the usability of Splashup, that's our hope anyway.
I suffer from work ADD, so I can relate.
Thanks. Good stuff. It's nice to hear of the other side of the start up life. The side when it doesn't go well. I'm sure we'll all be there at some point or another.

Jonathan
Why? So people can randomly ping him? So internet detectives can hunt him down and lynch him? He has the right to say what he wants to and be it anonymous or not. So now that he's said it, be the bigger person and just move on.
In 50 years, she'll be bigger than Mother Theresa
Certainly. Do you think a lot of people would use it?
You know, even while putting it in I couldn't figure out why people would use it. Nonetheless, it was nice to have figured out how it worked.
You'll have to define "mechanical/simple transform" and explain why it is that humans don't count as "mechanical". As I interpret it, "mechanical" just means "follows the fundamental laws of physics to get from state at time t to state at time t+1" so your claim makes no sense. What do humans have that's special and allows them to perform "creative acts"? And what's a "creative act"?
Hehe.

Why don't they just post in the About us section:
"What Paul Graham said... here's a link to Hackers & Painters, but fill out our app instead."
I nominate "bit chafe"
Point taken. Perhaps all the 'publicity' is actually unwanted. Perhaps he doesn't consider himself to be 'all that'.
If you're in the Midwest, you might look at organizations like http://www.score.org/ to see if they had a local chapter. You might not find someone to help you in the same industry you're in, but help is help. At least, they could refer you to a lawyer. They probably have pre-made sales agreements or service agreements that you could look at. I know that they would have resources on incorporation.

Another option is to see if there's a branch of the Small Business Administration office around. http://www.sba.gov/localresources/index.html They usually have decent resources as well.
We're dedicated to profit and non-profit motives simultaneously. Great technology foments social change. But better for us to spur that ourselves, early and often, than hope that it will happen otherwise.

I simply don't understand the demonization of profit. Wikipedia and craigslist are so great that they didn't need to eschew monetization for fear of consequences. Even ads on one-tenth of their pages could produce enormous benefits in related non-profits.

To me, the true power of information is in the minds who shape it. Web companies can never go wrong in supporting educational initiatives. In growing brains, the interpipes will flourish. It's a learning medium through and through. Foster a diverse user base, and the technologies will continue to be revolutionary.
>Can we stop up-voting every story that even mentions the guy now?

Like this one?
No, I got to the DNA
Georgia Tech researchers demonstrate blowable user interface
More interestingly, he's asking for help with some of his TAOCP problems...
I don't want people to go out and lynch him, but this is not a case where anonymity is important. If that person is willing to post a question like this, they should at least be willing to be identified.

John.
Don't Forget to Back Up Your Brain
Who the hell is Paul Graham....
From the cnn article

"Musk became CEO of the combined company and decided it was time for a technological overhaul. Specifically, he wanted to toss out Unix and put everything on a Microsoft platform.

That may sound innocent enough to laypeople but not to Unix zealots like Levchin and his team. A holy war ensued. Musk lost. The board fired him and brought back Thiel while Musk was on a flight to Australia for his first vacation in years."

In Founders At Work, Levchin says

" The guy who ran X.com became the CEO, and

I remained the CTO. He was really into Windows, and I was really into Unix.

So there was this bad blood for a while between the engineering teams. He was convinced that Windows was where it's at and that we have to switch to Windows, but the platform that we used was, I thought, built really well and I wanted to keep it. I wanted to stay on Unix.

By summer 2000, it seemed like the Windows thing was going to happen because Peter was gone. He took a sabbatical to make sure there were no clashes between the CEOs.

So, this other guy was pushing me toward accepting that Windows was going to be the platform. I said, "Well, if this is really going to happen, I'm not going to be able to provide much value, because I don't really know anything about Windows. I went to a school that was all Unix all the time, and I spent all my life coding for Unix."

I had this intern that I hired before the merger, and we thought, "We built all these cool Unix projects, but it's kind of pointless now because they are going to scrap the platform. We might as well do something else." So he and I decided we were going to find ourselves fun projects. We did one kind of mean project

where we built a load tester package that would beat up on the Windows proto-type (the next version was going to be in Windows). We built a load tester that would test against the Unix platform and the new Windows one and show in beautiful graphs that the Windows version had 1 percent of the scalability of the Unix one. "Do you really want to do that?"

So it looks like what happened was a bit different from what the cnn article implies - that Musk was ousted because he had philosophical differences with Levchin. I doubt the idea of replacing unix with windows on a heavily server centric system was a "philosophical" mistake. Sounds like a typical PHB decision to me.

levchin actually compared Windows vs Unix performance and even used "beautiful graphs". :-)
RCRD LBL launches: ad-supported online record label
The $8 billion story/scam
Email Is For Old People?
The bottom line is you can't force somebody to learn something. Assignments and exams compel people to temporarily memorize a list of facts or a pattern of calculation, but they have no impact on whether someone understands the underlying principles behind it. Without that kind of understanding they often can't apply what they've learned in unfamiliar or superficially irrelevant situations, or extend the knowledge on that topic when it falls short. For example, lots of electrical engineers learn about signal processing, but only the ones who really understood it would be able to see how it can be a useful metaphor computer programming (as in SICP.)

In my life, I have found the things I've remembered most are the topics that I've used to accomplish some task I wanted to accomplish. I remember how to program because there are programs that I want to write and knowing things like algorithms and data structures helps me do that. I hardly remember a thing from chemistry or biology because there's nothing I want to accomplish with that knowledge.

In the future, the greater availability of information is going to make a traditional "well rounded education" less and less useful. Every year or so, another newspaper article comes out decrying our education system because students can't find (obscure country) on a map. Yes, it's great to know things, but when was the last time you were trying to do something and you ran into a roadblock because you didn't know which continent Mt. Everest was on or what the longest river in the world was? What's the point of memorizing things like that when you can look them up in 30 seconds?

The model for education should be:
1. Find something you want to do
2. Learn what you need to know to do it
3. Do it, maybe learning additional techniques or facts along the way. Add them to the body of knowledge on the topic.
4. Repeat.

I guess my answer to your question is: no, you can't provide incentives like exams and assignments without a university. The real world provides far more effective incentives already.
True, but one needs to be very self-critical when self-learning and interact with others (not necessarily in the formal situation).

To me, formal education is to provide the tools and knowledge necessary to learn on one's own, outside of a formal setting. Think about it. In elementary school, 90% of learning occurs inside the classroom. In high school, maybe 60-70%. In college, maybe 20-40%. Grad school 10-20%.

Ironically, what increases during this development is the need to interact with others: colleagues, mentors and acting as a mentor to others.
I am 40 and I love it. What does that say about me?
Are social networks putting us in danger?
Feedback Please: A Facebook App for Enterprise Week
We're developing this app with the people at Make Your Mark (http://www.makeyourmark.org.uk). It's still in testing and active development but we wanted to release early and often and get some feedback from people like you that want to make their ideas happen. Will it be useful to you? How can we improve it?
That's really unfair. The whole thing about Paris Hilton is that she's famous for no good reason. Aaron Swartz, on the other hand is an _incredibly_ productive guy - he's been running several great free software projects, is developing the open library, writes in his blog and lately in print too. I sometimes wonder whether he sleeps at all.

You're just being nasty, and doing it anonymously ... really.
Technology, yes. Leadership, no.
Maybe he does, but do we really need to discuss it?
Invention Agreements: A Potential Startup Killer
Yes - we are reducing the time needed to get things done by a large margin.
Technology experts offer best guesses for '08
Fox quits Zillow for Ignition Partners
Ask YC: Should I use a framework or just write the code myself?
I'm about to start working on a new web application and have been looking into different frameworks (such as RoR, Django, symfony) to see if it makes sense for me to use one. I have to say that every time I read about one I feel like I'd be constrained by the framework for not a lot of gain.

Do YCers here have experience with or without a framework? What would you choose?
For a startup company, "every day has meaning"
Perkins to speak about memoir (Today)
Couldn't you say the same sort of things about almost anyone? What have Larry and Sergei done that's so great? They figured out a way to compare web pages. Big deal. Well, yes, it is a big deal. What did Richard Feynman ever do that was so great? He wrote some stuff. What had Donald Knuth done by the time he was 23?

I like Aaron Schwartz. He's smart and original and he writes well.

I would not, however, pay him $200,000 to show up at my party.
RescueTime Out Of Private Beta, Tracking How (Un)Productive You Are
Most web stars from the codinghorror guy to joel are not actually better than many others in the field technically, it's more a matter of ability to write things with a strong style and the ability to analyze facts to express an original point of view. Many other hackers may just don't have the time or the inclination to write. About Aaron specifically it is a clear creature of the "PG effect", a lot like reddit itself.
Do we really need to blindly upvote any article that mentions him? ;) ok enough...
I'm not sure which is worse-- criticizing Swartz anonymously as qwertyy has done, or criticizing everyone else in a public, self-centered, and conceited way as Swartz has done.

I don't think his projects are bad or anything, but his writing just drips of egotism that makes him a great target for attack.
Well...some of them are creating very valuable, tangible services. SpaceX is an obvious candidate, Sequoia is obviously doing very valuable things, Tesla Motors are successful outside of the ephemeral social networking world...

I actually think it looks like these guys have incredible talents for creating value. Some of it could be foam, but most of it isn't.
Don't you think the person should have the right to remain anonymous, regardless of your opinion whether he/she should be?
I started with a very light framework (web.py) and then switched to Pylons.

I'd say it's mostly based on personal preference. If you don't use a framework, you will end up reinventing a lot of stuff that's in mainstream frameworks. OTOH, the stuff you spend reinventing really won't take you much longer than learning the framework, as long as you build off a decent set of libraries (don't try to reinvent your own templating-library/HTML-escaping/database-interface etc.) And if you do switch to a framework, you'll probably be better able to understand the reasoning behind why the framework did what it did.

One other consideration: frameworks make it much easier for somebody new to get up-to-speed with your code, and often tackle thorny deployment issues that you can spend a lot of time on otherwise. Keep that in mind when deciding - for a startup, the priority is to get something up on screen so you can see if you're on the right track, but you do eventually want to be able to grow and scale.
Hula hoops, of course!
http://www.itasoftware.com/careers/puzzles07.html
Has a couple of very nice puzzles.

http://www.icfpcontest.org/
And ICFP contests are always fun
Also, you're in control of every day, so if it doesn't have meaning, you can find a way to make it have meaning...
But PayPal's service was so horrible that I think some people called in bomb scares to the eBay offices.

Actually, I think this just happened again yesterday, but I don't know if it was attributed to PayPal.
web.py is on my list to consider. It's lightness and simplicity is really attractive.

One thing that bothers me in a lot of frameworks is the object wrapping of the database. I can't see much justification for this, it just seems to be adding a layer of complexity on top of a very clearly designed model. How much easier is it to use an object abstraction when you could just do SQL directly?

John.
Jump in, everyone! We've been getting so many closed beta requests we just had to open up.

RescueTime is a good compliment to noprocrast settings. It will show how much time you spend here, as well as the countless other things you do during your day.
I use RoR and am very happy with it. Instead of "reading and feeling", try coding your app and see how things go. Even if you switch, by coding, you'll have made a lot of progress.
Comcast sued over Web interference
Almost all startups are lame when they're first created. Most people wait until they're somewhat less lame before releasing them, but Aaron seems to like doing everything in public. At least he's putting things out there, which is more than can be said for most people on this board (myself included).

I just wish he'd grow some balls and actually finish a project instead of giving up and moving on to the next thing. Successful startups that start out sucky keep on improving even though everyone says they suck. Aaron seems to move on to the next great idea in hopes that it'll suck less, and it inevitably doesn't.
What angels look for in a company: Competitors and barriers to entry
Maybe he can be the ESR of Web 2.0 then?
Me too. I don't think you have to focus on a "do-gooder" target to make the world a better place, though. You can make the world a better place if you:
- Make it easier for people to do things they have to do so they can go home early and spend more time reading to their
small children or whatever else they like.
- Make information more available and clear so people can understand better how things work and what's really going on, particularly with things that affect them directly
You have to admit he's a pretty awesome writer and is quite intelligent. That combo is enough for people to respect you.

Last time I checked Paris Hilton didn't exactly fit in this category.
I'd be inclined to think that people vote it up not because they agree, but because they enjoy the drama. Or they made a smashing good comment and want people to see it.
Just another random idea: blogging with visited links
Doesn't everyone use a hash function (for moderate security), an entropy system (high security), or a quantum hardware system (extreme security) already? There's even a hash-based generator in the standard; I don't see why people would suddenly use the one that's in all ways the worst option.
I realize that online anonymity is an important issue for many people, but I don't believe that it's a fundamental right. Forums like this one are public and I think that anonymity is a mistake because it allows trolling and a general falling away of normal behaviours that would be present if people were identified.

Now, I'm not saying that people don't have a right to privacy. You'll note that I don't talk about private issues on my blog (such as my family) and I think those are irrelevant to my interaction in a forum like this. But I'm much happier when people identify themselves so that I can follow them over time.

There are good arguments for being able to be anonymous on the net (for example in the case of human rights abuses in countries it may be useful to be able to transmit information anonymously; or if we implement voting on the net). I don't think those arguments apply in a public discussion forum like this.

Of course, I'm probably an outlier on this, I'd expect a group of engineers to be fairly pro-anonymity.

John.
Xobni competitor but for Gmail and IM
That's general good advice, and usually I try to match a project with a technology I want to learn and go code. It's the best way. In this case I'm trying to figure out do I learn python and use a python framework, learn ruby and use RoR, decide to use a PHP framework, just code the entire thing in Perl, ...

John.
>I just wish he'd grow some balls and actually finish a project

It has nothing whatsoever to do with cajones! This is a common trait of inventive individuals - they have so many great ideas that it's hard to keep on one track. What Aaron needs to find is his more conservative counterpart to wrangle his concepts into full-fledged businesses when he grows bored and moves on.
My head just exploded. I can't decide if I like the infamous Ballmer video or the infamous "The Google" video better.

Always a good laugh.
Just put up a few social networking sites around climate change, poverty, peace and wildlife. They're gathered on http://www.bippr.com.

Good to see what else is going on.
Scientists say they may be on the brink of translating the thoughts of a man who can no longer speak
Hi David, probably won't make Oxford, and I didn't know about Minibar, but if possible it sounds like fun. If not, guess it'll have to be the upcoming YC london meetup, if you can make it.
Data sharing sites for scientists are desperately needed. Every time you set out to do some real research the real problem is gathering the data. You can spend more time on gathering the data than doing the research.

Maybe a social network with some points based on contributions/uploads.
A license like creative commons where you have to release the data&paper of any work based on data licensed through the site...

Could be a great positive change in the world.
The main practical benefit of object wrapping (ActiveRecord in particular) is that it gives you a more structured way to lay out the model-related logic for your app. Callbacks, model validations, and associations in particular allow you to easily compartmentalize a lot of the details of your models. If you're looking for ways to reduce the complexity of the problem space in your head, ActiveRecord et al are great ways to do it.

(ymmv. If you eat, sleep, think, dream, and make love in SQL, I guess you might as well ditch the ORM)
I just clicked it... :)

I've resorted to using the rss feed to screen what seems like it would be worth wasting time on. It has helped, but today I'm in a terrible meeting and so I don't feel like I'm wasting too much time.
woah, crazy - what does this mean? The advisors won't ever attend a YC dinner
I've done it a few times, but mostly in the evenings when I'm feeling lonely.
i see a lot of people mentioning that they are releasing not-for-profit iterations so that they can make the world a better place.

you dont need to hold off monetizing a product so you can do some good :)

if you align your product and your revenue with your target audience (ie, the world), then you're golden.

if your product really does make the world such a better place, then making money off of it should be easy!
Who is Aaron Schwartz?

Really I don't know. But now I guess I have to look around and find out. Thanks for letting me know that I should know something about this celebrity, lest I come off like a bumpkin.

Actually screw it. I am lazy and not interested in this. So I will just be a bumpkin who doesn't know. Besides I am 40 and thus will never run with the celebrity crowd in any case. Yawn...
This is an interesting debate. I do believe that anonymity, especially in a public forum like this, should be a fundamental right on the internet. I know this can cause problems with "trolling" and abuse of the system, but in a community this small, that seems like a reasonable tradeoff.

I've noticed that a surprising number of people live two lives-- one on the internet and one in person. I can respect a decision to live like that, even if the behaviors differ between the online and offline lives, even if the two lives are separate. Now, I don't exactly condone this behavior, but I think anyone should have the right to do it. Forcing everyone to forgo anonymity prevents some people from doing that, because it fuses the online and offline lives.
Why You Need at Least 51% of Someone's Time in a Startup
I know most of the people using ourdoings.com, and it's definitely doing good for them. Relationships are being strengthened by photos that would never have seen the light of day if conventional photo-sharing sites were all that was available.