skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
While it might works for some, it definitely not working for me.

I am still a fond believer in going full-time if you're doing startup. The reason is because, 95% of the people that i know (include me), work much more effectively if you go full time. Your speed are just faster and you discover dead-end faster (and most of us definitely hit that wall). Beside those, i've seen again and again that if you don't jump on it full time, most people will have "excuse" to go back to their job / school. There is always excuse to drop the project especially when things get tough/rejected (your whole hypotheses about the business collape? rejection by Y Combinator?).

My experience is, when you put yourself on the line, you'll go extra mile to grab anything that are needed to be successful. Understandable though that this is more possible for person like me, single-and-no-family.
I can't help but think that if this contest was run while the republicans were in power, Filibusted wouldn't be the 1st choice pick.

Obviously, I have nothing to back that up, other than my spider sense, but said sense seems to work to me.
Google? YCombinator?
I'm not trying to argue that this offer is better, but you're arguing about apples when I'm talking about oranges; what I said was, I don't see where it says Spolsky offers royalties on work product.
I'm way out of my knowledge here, but google tells me:

- a Deuterium-Tritium fusion event releases 4.03 MeV

- 1eV = 1.602 x 10^-19 joules.

- That means each helium produced comes with 6.5 x 10^-13 joules of energy.

- One liter of gas where humans live has 2.6 x 10^22 molecules.

- A small balloon contains about a liter of gas. (ok, I made this one up.)

- I think gaseous helium is just single atoms.

- One liter of helium produced by fusion came with 6.5x10^-13 * 2.6x10^22 joules of energy, call it 1.6 gigajoules.

- 1 joule = .24 calories ... 384 megacalories.

- Figure the thermal mass of the experiment was about like 1kg of water (desktop scale)... the experimental apparatus would be 384000 degrees celsius (not recommended for desktop scale).

I'm guessing I can detect the temperature first.

(Bonus calculation, 1 liter of helium production also matches the energy released by 382 kg of TNT.)
"Biasing the internship toward people with rich parents"... what is this, a John Hughes movie? Give me the choice between two comparable people, one of whom will work for nothing because she has rich parents, and I'll take the free one (or maybe both) every time.

Why are you trolling this guy? It's an internship. Many internships come with no compensation whatsoever. You don't need an internship position? Awesome! Neither do I. But stop acting like it's weird to offer them.
So "the education-preventing government control will continue until education improves?"
What's that semi-recent website that let's you put people's predictions up and check on them later?
Our own country was organized to be run by an elite of educated landowners. Many of our founding fathers felt that the masses were not educated enough to participate in self-rule.

Fortunately, many of our founders also believed in the ideals of the Enlightenment, and this led to the United States strongly favoring universal education.

Arguably, the current Communist regime in China was founded on ideals that also favor universal education.
I've been running and lifting in my pair of FiveFinger KSO's for a little over a year now and I love them. No more running related injuries and my feet are strong and healthy. However, they are most certainly goofy looking and not appropriate for work dress.

A couple of weeks ago I finally broke down and payed up for a pair of Vivo Barefoot Aquas ($109 on Amazon -- http://www.amazon.com/Terra-Plana-Mens-Aqua-Sneaker/dp/B0013...). I think they look cool but my wife rolls her eyes when I put them on. However they are incredibly comfortable to wear -- It's like wearing a moccasin only with a bit more style.
Maybe a shoe could be developed with sand in the soles to give one that "running in sand" feeling for those who don't live near a beach?
I can personally vouch for that theory that "she'll learn English anyway." My parents were both raised in the US and speak fluent English, but I was only spoken to in Spanish. At the time I started school, English as a Second Language programs didn't exist and I nonetheless learned English in class without realizing it in probably a few months.

As for learning both languages faster, I'm not entirely sure, but I only have one data point, so make of it what you will: my younger brother did not start speaking until a much older age than I did, but when he began, he spoke both languages at the same level a child would if he only knew one. (He had been spoken to in English and Spanish all along).
On a similar, yet somewhat unrelated note,I often catch my own mind working like a search engine. When there's something that I'm trying to recall, for instance the contents of an article I read a couple months ago, I know exactly where I can find the article and I remember whether I thought the article was good or bad, but I often times find that I don't remember a lot of the details of the article. In short, I remember the location, the subject, and the relevance of stuff, but I find it hard to remember specific contents.
Ask HN: Movement to get regulators to force Oracle to spin off / sell MySQL?
I am sure many here believe that an acquisition of MySQL as part of Oracle's acquisition of Sun would result in anti-competitive behavior and reduced value to consumers. It seems to me that we should make ourselves heard to regulators who are considering the Oracle-Sun deal. This is probably our best chance to force Oracle to divest itself of the asset, which seems necessary if MySQL's value is to be preserved. This may also turn out to be a blessing in disguise, as MySQL could return to being an independent entity. Any thoughts?
This is better than an unpaid summer internship, but unpaid summer internships suck. I'm sure you can find some desperate students to take this, but I still don't think it's a good deal. Even if you're not offering that much now, I think it'd be better if you'd pay some fixed amount for the work they're doing.
Experience and anecdotes and intuition aren't statistics.
I apologize. I guess I should have included <sarcasm> tags. I thought it would have been self-evident.
The article says outright that the user IDs are not a reliable scheme for measuring growth, so I'm failing to see the relevance.

<speculation>

It appears that they are doing a partitioned autoincrement for their user IDs. For example, if you have 10 servers, you give every server a unique seed between 0 and 9 and have them increment the IDs by 10. So server 1 would produce IDs 0,10,20, etc. Server 2 would give you 1,11,21, etc. This allows you to easily use autoincrements in a sharded environment and to find the shard by looking at the modulo of the ID.

The trick is that you'd usually assign seeds for all servers in the cluster and at least half of them would usually be read slaves (which can become masters if needed). So the real number of users is at least 1/2 of the max user ID. You would also use more partitions than the number of servers you have right now, so that you don't have to readjust existing servers as your cluster grows.

This, of course, is pure speculation.
"Yes, it's possible that there's a correlation between high priced running shoes and injuries."

It could simply be that people that buy the most expensive shoe are also the people that jump into running too quickly, train too hard and do not have the body types (yet) for running. I run about 15 miles a week and all good runners that I know (they aren't injured all the time) do not own the most expensive shoes...they own the ones that feel the best.
Data is hard to come by for the benefits of going barefoot since the science is funded by those with an interest in selling something... however you make a valid critique of the article.

An article by Adam Sternberg that appeared in New York Times magazine a couple of years ago does a better job at the barefoot question (http://nymag.com/health/features/46213/)
If it was sarcasm, then I also apologize. :)
It might be possible to run barefoot on dirt, but not on a track!

Until recently the local highschool track had nothing on it but a thin film of rubber on a solid cement. I remember being unable to run very well on it (hard), but I could run through my back yard even when we still had the underbrush and briers, I was in better shape when I was younger. ...I wish people didn't think going barefoot was socially unacceptable.
You could get wetsuit booties for a lot less
The best running shoes by far are the Nike Free.http://www.nike.com/nikefree/

I've been wearing the same pair for at least 3 years now and I will never go back to any different kind. When I do wear new shoes I feel like I've got rubber blocks on my feet, I'm clumsy and awkward and uncomfortable.

Feeling every crack, in the side walk and letting your feet do anything they want is extremely rewarding.

Prior to switching to Nike Free's I had sever shin splints when I ran track after switching I never had to ice for them again.

I seriously cannot suggest them enough for running in our concrete environment.
The Edit Distance Problem
Interesting idea ... I wonder if it's possible in shoe form. My feet sink quite a bit (half a foot, perhaps more) with each step when running, so perhaps it'd be more of a new form of ultra-high-end treadmill? That'd require quite a bit of mechanics, but I bet it would be a worthy challenge for someone into hacking up physical products.

By the way, while we are on this subject - I could never understand why people run on roads. You're getting car exhaust fumes and you're running on hard pavement; seems like a bad deal all around. I drive by people on Pacific Coast Highway who run on pavement, directly parallel to the sand - I guess people follow the patterns they know best...
It's the same with bikes. People that spend a fortune on a road bike have a lot more accidents than people who buy a $99 supermarket mountain bike and leave it in the garage.
Therefore Carbon-fibre must attract SUVs!
My experience in talking with people who have successfully grown startups to medium to large sizes is that they almost universally regret their former belief that the degree to which they worked hard was necessary to get the company to that stage. From my own experience growing a firm from nothing to a profitable low seven figures sales a year, I would agree.

I know that at the beginning I felt that my talent and experience was absolutely vital to the firm's growth. That if I did not put in that extra hour, I was robbing the company of its potential future.

The reality is that I am not that smart and not that talented. Much more important than running around personally implementing everything is growing a group of effective managers who take pride in their work and whom you can trust in running your business.

I think a weakness in many internet businesses (certainly not all of them though) is that because they are so little focused on revenue, it becomes necessary to either (a) try to implement everything yourself, thereby saving labor costs, or (b) spend tons of time raising money (and destroying your ownership in the process), which deducts from time you can spend selecting and growing your managers.

The first time I felt I realized I could leave my company for a week with no cell phone, no BlackBerry, no Internet access, and not be terrified of what would happen -- it was a huge relief, and that was when I began seeing the folly of my ways. It's not about me, it's about my wonderful managers. Working obscene hours is not the way to do that.

Of course, you shouldn't be a slacker either -- people do take cues from you -- but as others have suggested it is far more important to develop your firm's talent than to try to do everything yourself.
"However, they are most certainly goofy looking and not appropriate for work dress."

Yeah, my wife saw me looking at those and gave me that 'no way' look. I find it funny that our concept of footwear has evolved to the point where wearing something that looks like a foot is considered goofy. If anything I figure I can just claim I'm re-creating the Big Foot hoax.
I run with Newtons and they feel great. Helps with my running form and I don't have any pains like before.

They have a cool flash demo:
http://newtonrunning.com/run-better/optimal-running-form
The thing that concerns me about running on concrete in general is the impact on your knees. Would be interested to know if you / anyone else has done research on this matter; I'm basing my concerns on advice given to me by an orthopedic surgeon a few years ago.
Another interesting thing to consider: why is Japanese voice acting so much better than dubbing?

The answers:

- The Japanese have a voice acting tradition going back
at least as far as the Bunraku puppet theater
- Voice Acting for Anime is >highly< stylized. There
are various stereotypes that can be plugged into
most Anime stories. This allows the characters to
be put across very clearly.

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

I wonder if the highly stylized use of archetypes from western culture would improve voice acting in English versions of games? (This would require some re-writing, as many games originate in Japan and other non-western cultures, so the archetypes do not match up exactly.)
Memcached Performance on Sun's Nehalem System
Yes thats the thing. Thinking the words out aloud is was makes us reading slow. We do this because when we firts learn to read, we learn it that way.
>My experience is, when you put yourself on the line, you'll go extra mile to grab anything that are needed to be successful.

Has this worked for you?

My experience is, when you put yourself on the line, you fall a lot harder.

Doing things part time has tended to work much better for me.
Jack Bogle's latest quest
Yes, I think you're right about that.

I read the post a little too quickly and it seemed like more of an affiliate role than a software dev role.
This will act to enforce a "ceiling" on MySQL capabilities. Oracle will need to withhold some features to be able to market Oracle DB as an "upgrade."

I'm not sure if that will be good or bad. Probably both.
You're not being nit-picky. You're exactly right, and I obviously wasn't paying attention when I was editing. I don't know what Singapore was like when its economy was developing, but today it is legendarily (sometimes hilariously) authoritarian.

The wikipedia article on their universal chewing gum ban is a fun read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewing_gum_ban_in_Singapore
Jeeves is back
Mac legend Andy Hertzfeld's Google Timeline Search
This would go over better if it was rev share + housing stipend.
Well the idea of running barefoot is that you run the correct way so your knees have low impact.

When running with regular shoes you slam down on the back cause that's the only place you can, this put alot of impact on your entire leg. But when you run with these your foot is able to fall on the balls of your feet allowing for your foot, ankle, and leg to share the impact. Think of it as a spring.

I am not trained as an ortho or anything I've just been researching this a lot, so please take what I say with a grain of salt.

The shoe has three levels of padding Higher the number the more the padding. To help you adjust to the new experience.
Ever since I switched to laptops I found a new appreciation for efficient programs. Flash-powered sites burn me (literally - try placing Macbook Pro on your lap and spend 20 minutes on HotPads.com)

So... I don't buy "computing power is cheap" argument anymore. The power may be cheap, but battery time (and my skin) are priceless.
I think the installed userbase will be slow to move. In fact, this might strengthen Mysql's position amongst the larger, less technical users, however, I find it quite likely that we may see more activity either in the MySQL forks drizzle or maria, or in PostgreSQL, which may lead to MySQL eventually losing its lead.
Well at least you know its a good idea then, and its the logical next step for Google so Idee should have expected it.
Any successful politician's image is carefully tailored.
> that is difficult to reconcile

Or even just in your head! You are constantly thinking about the project and that stresses you out.
Let's stipulate that there is a CS student profile that clearly would not be interested in an unpaid internship, and move on from that rathole.

This thread has already produced one apparent example of a high-profile internship that pays less than $20/hr: Joel Spolsky's Fog Creek. I could name three well-known companies in my space that also pay less than that. I believe you that there are lots of internships that pay $20+/hr, but $20/hr is still pretty far from $5k/mo.
Seems like you want something like Apache Camel (for Ruby)
The weight of the shoe might be a problem, so perhaps some kind of treadmill type solution would be more feasible.

I find loose sand to be tough to run in and kind of frustrating with the whole running through molasses feeling. In one running book I have (Running for Mortals) it recommends flat, firm sand only but does call it a "treat for most runners". The same running book lists these surfaces as being worst to best for running on in terms of bodily stress:
concrete (e.g. sidewalks), asphalt, dirt paths and trails, grass. However, because of convenience, I run on sidewalks almost exclusively and I seem to be able to pull it off so far.
When the code is open and anyone can forkm what does divest even mean? Anyone can pick up MySQL and carry on like drizzle et al have already started to do while Sun was/is the owner.
Cheaper than the Segway!?

Are Americans so suburban McMansion-bound that we've created a huge marketplace of people more interested in moving their stuff around than going anywhere?
OK, I'm convinced. I should at least try out less on my foot. I'm not willing to go barefoot though because I live in a concrete (and broken glass) city and every business would turn me away at the door. So.. on to find a simpler shoe.

One would assume that putting less on my foot would cost less, right?

http://www.vivobarefoot.com/ - looks nice, but at multiple times the price of my current shoes.. ok thinking back to summers as a kid, let's go to walmart:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=1082469... - Not pretty, but 8% of the price.

And for that matter, what about something like these:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002TW8A4 - $15 + shipping seems fair, and they seem to resemble the description elsewhere.

Is there some significant difference (well, aside from the sheer ugly of that walmart example) that I should expect?
It's always pretty cool to see people overcome brutal rejection. Except... this structured flowchart thing really did deserve that brutal rejection letter and if the chart gained respect and prominence then the wrong side won!

I'll concede that the rejection was too nasty for young grad students. But the idea itself had it coming.
Thanks fluff article... now, only if he told us how he really did it. Everyone knows zappos is obsessive about customer service!
buy nicer stock photography
Peter Norvig's talk at startup School 2008 (working link anyone?) suggests how they might have been using this technology internally.
What about editing HD video on a high-powered game console? I should think that there would be a huge market for that!
In other news, scientists have found the sky to be blue.
Oracle buys Sun: understanding the impact on open source
I'm all for copyright reform, but I have a hard time seeing the side of the pro-TPB folks. Hosting torrents is one thing, but you don't have to look any further from the name to see their position on piracy. I love free movies as much as the next guy, and I'm certainly not innocent, but I do believe that content cheaters are entitled to compensation. It seems like this case is 10% genuine concern for the precedent it might be setting and 90% cognitive dissidence by self-entitled pirates.
What If Marijuana Were Legal? Possible Outcomes
Verified and audited statistics show that you misused the term to the detriment of your comment.

I wouldn't be surprised if these new users churn more than organic traffic. I also wouldn't be surprised if those 8M viewers find the connection to @Oprah more authentic and endjoyable than watching the show, and stay longer than users through organic growth.

I suppose I'm using the term organic badly, because Twitter has shown sustained explosive growth, which means organic might actually be the transition to mainstream we're seeing now.

If Oprah setup a SMS shortcode, which, when pinged sent a twiter SMS invite, I'd bet she could have gotten 2M signups when the show aired. I think one point you're missing is that huge established media players are pushing Twitter's growth.

Considering they are already huge and good at it, there is little reason to think they won't push Twitter mainstream all by themselves.
i imagine most serious runners spending big $ on shoes are concerned more with performance, less with safety. And since runners go faster now than they did in Bannister's time, something has changed.
They very clearly said they are calling this a nuclear effect, not cold fusion.
Also, it isn't fair to say bias has anything to do with a 2 word comment
Some things are worth repeating.
Ask HN: A languishing startup with a great product - thoughts?
I found http://www.senseboard.com/ a few years ago. It's a keyboard-substitute that clips over the back of your hand, and interprets the tendon movement as you "type" into text.

The device is elegant and compact, but better yet it's an elegant solution to the problem of mobile typing/data entry. It's the missing link for a new era of mobile computing - it completes the trio: Cellphone, Pocket Projector, Senseboard.

Use just the phone, or the phone + projector, the phone + senseboard, or all three. That trio would be smaller, more portable, more comfortable and more flexible than any netbook.

Now is the perfect time; screen size and data entry are the major limitations for mobile devices. Powerful PDAs and cellphones are here. Phones with 'proper' operating systems. Pocket Projectors are just appearing to get around the limitations of small, low resolution displays and they wont stop at being 640x480 and dim. Soon they will hit netbook screen quality. But data entry is still limited to those foldaway keyboards that are both big and unwieldy compared to a phone, full of delicate moving parts, and still small and cramped to type on. Senseboard is a much better alternative.

The big problem is - it's vapourware. Best new product of 2001. Nothing but a couple of minor press releases since then.

"So what?" you ask. Well, I've mentioned it here a couple of times and had no discussion. I decided to submit it directly as a link to publicise it a bit - it plummeted from the new submissions page with no comments and no votes. That's life, eh? I would probably have left it there except I said this:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=570994

and got 27 upvotes. 27! For a pernickety grammar correction one-liner! Right now, that contrast is really getting under my skin. I know there are technical people here, people who've used the Twiddler, successful business founders, hardware and software developers, VCs, people who might see what I can't, might also care, and might have influence, so I Ask HN:

Do you think the Senseboard is as cool and potentially game changing as I think it is? Do you think it could be a successful product?

Can we outsiders do anything to encourage it into existance, and - should we?

(I have no affiliation with the company, I'm just tired of seeing what seems to be first class ideas like this sidelined while streams of clone digital cameras, media players, GPS receivers, cellphones and so on pour into the market as if the world wont be satisfied until there's ten models for every human - and that needs to happen yesterday!)