skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
1) Comfort is relatively speaking entirely irrelevant to the short air trips within the US.

2) As a practical matter, you don't need to. It takes you 30 extra minutes to get from the outskirts of cities to the centers, versus an extra 8 hours for train travel to get you to the city center. Perspective.

Sure, you have some good points. Trains might have something for overnight trips with beds. But that's only a fraction of the market, and frankly, only for the West-to-East direction where redeye flights are most prevalent due to the time zone loss. Going East-to-West, the time advantage is ridiculously good: get on a plane in the morning in NYC and arrive in the morning in LA. You just can't beat that.
Actually, bigger seats reduce weight because it reduces the density of people (and luggage) that the plane carries.

It's a capacity issue. A plane can carry a fixed maximum amount of people, the same as a train. Finding the economic load for any transport solution is a function of what people are prepared to pay plus the fixed and variable costs for operation. So while weight is part of it, that's only as it pertains to the maximum lift of a plane. Weight isn't as important to a train, but a train still has limits to the amount of people and luggage it can carry.

Even ferries have different price/class levels, some using airplane seats, some allowing cabins. This is totally dependent on what the market pays over anything else.
The Surface Pro is an answer to a question asked two years ago, not today
Exactly what an advise is.
It's about as good as Coca Cola (1.6%), and better than Nike (0.9%), Justin Bieber (1.0%) and Lady Gaga (0.9%). That number is never really that high except for the most viral stuff that people like because it's funny, like George Takei's page (108%).
Damn. Europe sounds pretty awesome when you put it that way.
I'm all for Ember apps but the experience on your site is jarring because the content appears and disappears so quickly.
Event after reading most of the website I was under the impression that this somehow bypassed RSS or something, started wondering about polling/crawling...

in case you didn't get it either: it allows you to add feeds to GoogleReader/NewsBlur/etc from a single button.
Every politician, even a legislator, can explain his votes especially on a party line.The contents of a bill is where the influence game is played. Heck if they are certain the bill will pass they can vote against it anyway.

How legislation is constructed matters far more. I haven't seen the type of focus on the influence that committee members have on bills and senators have on homestate appointments. A chairman can personally rewrite a bill and only send it to the floor when he is satisfied that it will be supported by the leadership. It is a tremendous position of power that isn't recognized.
The other good news, if it's ADHD, is that if it doesn't go away (or you don't want to wait), there's a lot of cheap medicine out there that works really well.
Thanks, it seems like a nice tool. Formats Objective-C as well! Great for my purposes :)
unfortunately this guy is crazy...and on the far right fringe of things. in recent years, as more and more people have become involved in the political process we've developed this notion that there's a correlation between transparency and competency that simply does not exist. And the perceived transparency, such as some 100-200 word facebook post summarizing hundred page bills, is merely an illusion buffered by overly simplistic and misleading explanations.
> There's no Stack Overflow for design.

There are actually two stack exchange sites for design:

- http://ux.stackexchange.com/

- http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com

I've used both and found them very useful.

> It doesn't work the same way as programming. You're not going to become a good designer by visiting websites.

No one becomes a solid programmer by visiting websites either. It's about practice with a focused effort on improving, just like any other skill. I would be amazed if design were any different.
Ask HN: Non-Technical (Internship) Opportunities
Hey HNers!

I'm currently a Junior getting a business degree in statistics, operations, and information management. I'm looking for internship opportunities for this coming summer, and hope you can help!

I love tech stuff; I spend more time than I care to admit lurking through HN, among other places. But, coding isn't really my thing. I've dabbled in several languages before and taken a few CS classes, but it's not what I enjoy doing all day. So I've been trying to find non-technical internship opportunities in awesome tech companies, and I'm coming up short.

I have (work) experience in supply chain, business strategy development, digital marketing (Adwords and LinkedIn campaigns), and webpage optimization (basic HTML/CSS/Javascript, content funnels, A/B testing, etc).

If anyone is interested in more information, you can find my email on my profile or let me know in the comments. If anyone can point me in the right direction to find suitable roles, or provide advice on what to even be looking for, that'd be awesome too!
4 Steps to Monetize Your Blog Through Affiliate Marketing
It is exactly what happened in France when they introduced a similar tax. All traders moved into CFD (contract for difference) instead of trading the underlying stock.
It's more what don't they do that Finder does poorly?

Personally, I find that explorer pretty much does what I'm expecting (most of the time). And it's not really just a Windows thing, as far back as I can remember, across several OSs, you don't really have to "figure out" how the file manager works. You click on something and it pretty much does what it says. You drag something and it moves there. Various *nix window managers, Amiga, geos, BeOS, and on and on and on are pretty much just walk-up usable.

With Finder I feel like I'm gambling. Where in the filesystem hierarchy will the new folder I just created get made? Why is enter rename? Why do you show me a useless file path that I can't use for any navigation? Network shares disappear. It's never wide enough to actually see the names of my files. All my files is probably one of the dumbest notions I've ever seen in a file management tool -- yay, I have a uselessly long list of all 2.7 million files I can go through, and we'll default to it also! and on and on and on, hour after mind-numbing hour. How about this folder? How much space do I have left? How big is the selection of files I have currently selected? Why don't the unintuitive iconoglyphs have some kind of description? Why are these ones down in the window, but other ones I need to use a million times a day up in the tool bar?

Almost every interaction with Finder feels like I'm about to lose data, or the default is so completely brain dead that I have to go into preferences to fix almost every interaction to make finder even remotely useful. It's no wonder there's a dozen or so finder replacements that end up as default installs for most of the old-timer Mac guys I know.

It's unbelievably unintuitive bitrot -- endless preference fiddling, and the feeling of walking a tightrope anchored with eggshells with every interaction. There's really few pieces of software I loathe to use, and it's a shame that it's pretty much the most basic piece of software in the OS.

In the context of how abysmal finder is, it actually makes sense that Apple has gone out of its way to abstract the user away from the file system. From the perspective of a Windows user it seems like madness, but after enough time in OS X finder hell it makes perfect rational sense. You simply don't want to subject users to this level of frustration just to organize their mp3s or pictures. It may also explain why similar efforts in Windows land don't do as well, managing and organizing files is no less mysterious or confusing than any other organizational app, usually less so.
Key Group of Dell Shareholders Plan To Resist $24.4 Billion Buyout
You say that as if any Tea Party candidate has actually espoused anything that truly constitutes limited government. _delirium more or less summed it up. Why don't you actually read his Wikipedia page to see what I'm talking about instead of repeating really boring quips.

You'll note my comment implies that I like actual libertarianism and just not the crap that the Tea Partiers go around calling libertarianism.
Hard to fault him for publishing where his constituency goes to every day. Almost no one would go to his website.
A Dell Was Gotten, Dude
Law.
Finance.
This comment made me feel bad, because it sounds like you have cool friends. :) :(
If you want to compete with craigslist, build a better product and convince people that there is value for them to enter their data.
That's what craigslist did.
Never mind, I found rjtech.com. The designs don't look spectacular, but that's just from the pictures. What does look great, though, is the "No OS" option.
Yep, I was talking about DC, which (from memory) was $279 each way on Acela, but only $140 round trip on Jet Blue into Reagan.

Sounds good to NYC though—I will consider it for sure.

Also, you highlight an interesting deficiency of the Acela: it's only 30 minutes difference in time. On the BOS->DC route it's only a 70 minute advantage on a ~6.5 hour trip. Sort of makes HSR seem unnecessary when compared to "slow" standard regional train service. It's just not that much better.

They need true grade-separated modern HSR on this route. It would be excellent.
General Assembly's Data Visualization Panel
Yeah, it's a little different when you're poor.

When you're poor, and you see others doing things that you can't do because you can't afford them, you're directly reminded that you're poor. This results in negative emotions.
Microsoft officially (and confusingly) discloses Surface Pro storage figures
Python guy here, who is looking to build a client side MVC app and so far Ember and Angular are my top 2 choices because their docs were just easier to follow (especially for JS noob such as myself) any insight on why OP chose knockout?
Out of curiosity - was there any particular reason you reset your commit history at launch? I feel somewhat impotent when I come across a chunk of code I don't understand the reasoning of and discover that its history dead-ends at the initial release commit.

If it is a clever way to get a bunch of people using Discourse right off the bat by asking questions in the meta forum [1], then it is ingenious and I applaud you!

1. http://meta.discourse.org/t/would-it-be-possible-to-see-the-...
Small rant ahead. You have been warned.

My favorite system that supports hot-swapping is Linux.

It works with every language, there is an excellent scheduler, processes are protected from each other, there are all kinds of interprocess communication techniques available, you can choose between files and databases for persistence.

I think the lame workflows people have while working within a conventional OS are a failure of imagination and a lack of understanding about how operating systems work. In particular, I suspect that a lot of people overestimate the cost of exec and IPC. Or, for example, do you really appreciate the fact that the operating system keeps file system data in RAM even if you exit the program and start up another one accessing the same file a microsecond later? Image-based persistence is not necessary for responsiveness.

Use exec(), use a database, create the editors that make you productive. I've used Lisp and Smalltalk and I've created a miniature VM/OS running in the browser with processes and persistence and all that. These days I'm more excited about old fashioned Unix techniques.
If you'd like an invite, please ping me arun <at> action <dot> io
> I don't see how any of these things should make us depressed.

Of course, they SHOULDn't make us depressed, but the sad reality is that being constantly exposed to fun things you're not a part of can actually make people depressed.
Hans Rosling: The River of Myths
It's interesting to note that the effect of this transaction tax would be to 'reduce volatility' in the market. I say this because recently I watched the Authors@Google video of Nassim Nicholas Taleb (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3REdLZ8Xis) where he stated that volatility in the market place is a good thing, creative destruction and all that.

More precisely the point he made was it was good for the market to appear and be volatile because otherwise it would only appear stable but with high and disasterous volatility brewing underneath the surface, ready to explode (the great moderation and subsequent GFC in the video).
Have you seen Docco?

http://jashkenas.github.com/docco/
I don't know about that. I think the rich people might find it a touch inconvenient if the peasants rebelled. Not insurmountable, you understand, but ... inconvenient. And distasteful.

Easier to just pay them a small living wage, provide them with cheap entertainment, and dangle the promise of "If you work hard or are lucky, you can become one of the rich too" in front of them.
I meant it both ways. The price is rising too fast - suggesting a bubble. But the underlying bitcoin economy is also much stronger than 18 months ago, so the inevitable correction may not be as deep as last time.
While I don't disagree with any of his points, I did notice the part where he mentioned not getting a job at either Firefox or Google. A little bit of anger might be seeping through.
This is a disempowering way of looking at it. Why focus on the wall when you could focus on the door?

It is radically more useful to phrase the takeaway as "All business is conducted by humans, and all humans rich and poor need to eat. Culturally, business is often conducted over food. Knowing these facts, you can use food to create a social connection for cheap where creating a business connection would be otherwise impossible."

That's actually pretty good advice, and it's at the heart of a lot of good advice you're going to get for career development, like arranging for coffee dates and business lunches with people who are in the line of Yes-es that you need to get hired.
So 140k is just OK - what is good then?
What is your base salary and bonus expectation?

For example if I talk to a Netflix engineer and promise work-life balance (no weekend, 7 hr/day average vs 12 hr), I still need to go 180k+ with 2k bonus?

http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Netflix-Salaries-E11891.htm

How about Google? 145k+ with 60k bonus?

http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Salaries-E9079.htm
It absolutely is. It's 6 hours less shot to be exact.
Maybe it was the 3 pizzas? Seriously, what 18 year-old has that kind of money to blow on pizzas...
Novell BrainShare, SUSE Linux: Why So Quiet?
And you are being obtuse if you think that technology and reputation doesn't greatly impact sales.
It does seem like unemployment is not a problem of too little work, but rather the uneven distribution of it.
What you could always do is apply for an international business licence that allows you to have a satellite office in the united states. The only problem that you would have with that is you would first need to establish a business in your home country. At that point you would be issued a EID or Tax ID number for your business which would enable the US federal government to take taxes out on any profit that you make with in the USA. Hope this helped and I hope you well in all your future en-devours.
"I voted no on the motion to suspend the rules and pass H R 297, Children's Hospital GME Support Reauthorization Act of 2013, which reauthorizes federal payments to children's hospitals for operating graduate medical training programs... The bill passed 352-50."

"I voted no on the motion to suspend the rules and pass H R 225, National Pediatric Research Network Act of 2013, which expands the existing Pediatric Research Initiative (PRI) to include a new National Pediatric Research Network... It passed 375-27."

"I voted no on H R 325, No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013...
The bill passed 285-144."

"I voted no on H R 152, Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2013... The bill passed 241-180."

Justin Amash represents a wing of the Republican party that has essentially decided to refuse to govern, and is content to simply object to anything Congress tries to do that is not ideologically pure, which is pretty much everything.

[EDIT: To those who commented below upset with my "refusal to govern" comment -- look, governing requires solving problems that the public wants you to solve. That solution can even be essentially less government.

For example... a lot of Republican voters don't like Obamacare, but I doubt many of them liked our pre-Obamacare healthcare system. Take an extreme, free-market/libertarian form of healthcare policy -- repeal not just Obamacare, but things like the employer tax deduction for health insurance, requiring hospitals to provide life-saving care for anyone regardless of payment capability, etc -- I would vehemently disagree with that, but I would consider crafting and trying to pass such legislation an attempt to govern. But if the bulk of your legislative activity is doing things like voting to repeal Obamacare twenty-three times, as Rep. Justin Amash did in 2011-2012, then I would argue you are just politically pandering to your constituent base -- or worse, your campaign's financial donors -- and not governing.]

On the other hand, I do appreciate his attempts to justify and explain his actions. This type of transparency is desperately needed in the Senate, where everyone uses arcane procedural rules (e.g. filibusters, "holds," and so forth), as anonymous tools of obstruction pretty much constantly.

While I doubt I'll ever agree on any of Rep. Amash's views, I hope that more of our elected representatives continue to use tools like social media not just for campaigning and voter outreach purpose, but for information and transparency in the governing process once they're actually in office..
The issue I have with his story is when he says "When I was 18, at Berklee College of Music" he's basically saying "When I was 18, at [the MIT/Harvard/CMU/Stanford of Music]" - that is, just being at that institution gave him the opportunity to meet a BMI executive. Now, how did he get to Berklee?

Yes, hustling is always a good thing and I sincerely congratulate him on his initiative, but "who you know" did play a small part in his success (not that it's a bad thing, it just is).

(BTW, in the off chance Derek is reading this - if you get a chance, please talk to the folks at The Record Co. http://www.therecordco.org/ - it was created by some Berklee folks as a way of providing low-cost recording studio services to artists who can't afford pro-studios and may need more services than can be offered using USB mics and Audacity.)

edit: grammar/typos
Sivers bought the pizza because of who the guy was. Nothing wrong with that, but it was straight-up opportunism since the guy was a big wheel in the industry that Sivers wished to participate in, as opposed to some nondescript stranger.

The lesson here is to take advantage of opportunities when they come your way, not to hand out free pizza willy-nilly.
What you've identified here is an interesting extension of the "open government" culture that I think this phenomenon represents.

If Rep. Amash continues his political career in the same vein, can we count on him to continue to disclose what goes on in subcommittees?

Will he be politically neutered because he cannot be counted on to keep the details of backroom deals secret? Will he make enemies by bringing the DC unmentionables to light?

Interested to see how it plays out...
Well if it had been me in college, probably credit card debt.
The Saint Exupéry quote is one of my favorites of all time. Thanks for including that. Good advice for any company as well.
Back then they were only $8. :-)
I'd bet that 18 year-olds blow more of their income on pizza than older people do. And weed. Regardlss, connecting with someone important to your industry is hardly blowing money.
Thanks for saying something nice about him. Not many in the mainstream (liberals, center right, neo-cons, etc) are as gracious.
a long long time ago, i wrote a post here on hn on how to get started on web design [0], but since you already have the technical bit, you can just skip ahead to the Design part.

That said, I don't think that many "howto design" books are all that interesting (and the best design books are mystifying in a way which defies reason), but you will find books about the nuts and bolts of design which are very good even if you're totally green to the field. The other most important thing is that you keep making things. Even little things. Make them and show them to people and get feedback. Lather, rinse and repeat.

Anyhow... You will want to specifically look for books on Typography, Color, Layout, Photography, Contrast/Scale, and Poster Design. Poster Design is actually sui generis despite appearing to be a subset of graphic design.[1]

My belief is strongly on the side of typography being the most crucial skill a designer needs (since its use of space/contrast/layout) is basically design in a micro level, rather than on the macro (page) level. The skills you pick up in typography do translate over, but it takes lots of practice. Since illustrators are readily hopping into many design jobs, our best bet is to differentiate ourselves with our exhaustive knowledge of typography.

A great book on "Book Typography" is Cyrus Highsmith's Inside Paragraphs.

A good book on "Display Typography" is Wolfgang Weingart's My Way to Typography.

Three good books on "Typographic Fundamentals" are: Ellen Lupton's Thinking With Type, John Kane's Type Primer and Erik Spiekermann's Stop Stealing Sheep (and find out how type works).

One excellent "Typographic Reference" is Robert Bringhurst's Elements of Typographic Style.

One good book about "Design Process" is Nancy Skolos & Tom Wedell's Graphic Design Process.

No design book suggestion will be complete without mentioning Emil Ruder's Typographie, Josef Muller-Brockman's Grid Systems and Armin Hofmann's Graphic Design Manual.

That said, a good starter is layout/formmaking Christian Leborg's "Visual Grammar," part of Princeton Architectural Press' Design Briefs series[2] (all of which are good for skimming the next time you find yourself in a bookstore/amazon showroom).

Finally, I never realized it until I made a joke about it, but you can summarize many of the principles of good UI Design in PEP 20, which is to say that if you care about API Design and Code Cleanliness and all that stuff, then you probably already have the right attitude towards graphic/visual design. Take those principles and apply them visually when you make anything or use them as a rough litmus test for your designs then break the rules as you see fit.

Have fun! Relax. Don't Panic!

[0]: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1605228
[1]: While poster design employs many of the same structural techniques as Capital-D Design, it has its own rules which are useful to know, but above all it is free to play with scale in a way which is difficult in web and book design. Still, knowing about it will inform your own work and probably make it wayyyy more fun.
[2]: http://papress.com/html/book.list.page.tpl?action=seriessear...
They did work some for me, but "really well" would be a stretch. Your results may vary...
Oops, deleted my comment while you were replying to it - once I saw patio's mine seemed pointless.

I'd assumed he was talking about the author being the one who got connections by being rich/important, didn't occur to me he was complaining that the speaker got a free pizza.