skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
War is a method to divide resources, but so is trade. And those parts of the world that trade with each other by and large do not go to war with each other.

In fact, look at the history of the 20th century. Lots of wars between countries that believed in trade and countries that did not believe in trade: this is called the Cold War. After this we started getting wars between countries that were part of the global trading community and countries that weren't, over issues that would largely go away or be resolved peaceably if those countries joined the global trading community.

This is called "globalization", and it's what all those anarchists tend to start riots about every time the larger countries want to have a conference about it.
yeah, this guy is a pro...
Rack is probably the most important project for the Ruby world since Rails. Allowing any ruby web framework to work seamlessly with each other should help propel the newly competing web framework as first class citizens, to be used easily alongside Rails .

Soon we'll see Routing, Authentication, and Debugging all using Rack middleware instead of framework specific plugins.
The cynic in me wants to agree with you, but the pollyanna optimist in me wants to think that such thematic investing isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I say this because I worked in academic bioinformatics research in 2002-2004. After the anthrax scares in 2001 a bunch of grant money was available under the auspices of "bioterrorism research." My PIs simply redid their grant proposals to change their general science research to bioterrorism research. Some interesting tech that is generally applicable came out of said research: biosensor chips, mapping, basic statistical clustering research, anonymization and medical record database research, etc.

Thus in theory the $200M could be used to fund important projects under the guise of "pandemic prevention" that could be generally useful. A few things that come to mind are gene sequencing speedups and advancements in molecular engineering (of vaccines).

I'm not saying this is really how things would pan out but it's perhaps the optimistic scenario. After all, the funding for the internet came around because the USA was panicked about the Soviets becoming technologically superior - ARPA arose because the Russians launched Sputnik.
Sorry, for the long comment in advance. But this issue is something that has been bothering me for a long time.

Agreed, I give the guy all the credit for hanging in for 6 years and as mentioned before his strength in raising capital and marketing. He's definitely not ordinary.

But in the end - does he have a sustainable business, where he gave back to the community? Is he in the ranks of a stable company owner, who can finance his children's and his employees's children's college education etc.? I know people like this and I don't know that much about how hard it was for them to outlast. But this is the measure of success. Not the 'almost' go-big-go-bust success displayed annoyingly in many American business zines (Inc, Fast Company, Business Week, Wired etc.) during the dot-com era... and this recent article.

Daimler-Benz, Siemens, GE... they are all still here and it took them a long time to grow. History is on my side on this issue: 2 major market crashes - dot-com and now real estate. My family lost a good portion of their retirement money as many others have. The end result of so much hype in the market is hazardous to society.

Summarizing, raising capital with inflated growth targets is a thing of the 90s. Growing a business slowly is the way to go, unless you have a major technology or product breakthrough.

I must add - this is a personal view. Many others will still achieve success growing quickly.
I carry a $2 bill in my wallet most of the time.
The Future of Firefox: No Tabs, Built-In Ubiquity http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=563338
That's one presentation. It's is far from being representative of what is seen or said at Ruby conferences generally.

It's bullshit to point at this one occurrence, ignore 99% of what else goes on, and suggest there's a culture of deliberate exclusion in Rubyland. 8 years of active Ruby involvement tells me otherwise. Maybe it's true for the NYC crowd, I don't know. They'll be the ones to explain (or not) how this talk came about. But to me it's an aberration.

Also, the discussion that's going tells me there are many Rubyists who have a problem with this sort of presentation (though exactly what that problem is seems to vary).

It seems more to be part of a virulent strain of annoying juvenility that pops up in numerous tech corners.
Several good reasons. Firstly, Python is sufficiently dynamic that you cannot easily tell at compile time which function will be called at run time: the code can call a function that rewrites the name space as a side effect. That's generally a terrible idea, but somebody is probably doing it. EDIT: Actually, it is not a bad idea. Consider an object that plugs a worker method into itself (self.worker = some_function) and then calls it on the object, like self.worker( self ). This is pretty reasonable for Python code, but it would be hard to analyze sufficiently at compile time to eliminate tail calls.

Secondly, it is difficult to deal with a tail recursive call inside a try-catch block. Consider a multithreaded recursive tree manipulation algorithm that locks nodes as it descends into them, using finally blocks to guarantee lock release during exception unwind. The core algorithm can undergo tail call elimination, possibly releasing references to numerous large data structures. Yet the exception handling variables must remain on a stack, and some references to core algorithm variables may need to be retained. It is possible to do a hybrid stack elimination, but not easy. And the exception backtrace would have bizarre gaps where variables were eliminated, complicating debugging.
Oh, great. A disease panic, now accelerated by online social media and Twitter. This could be worse than the bird flu (panic) of 2004-2005!

Despite the opening claim to being "fairly sober -- neither alarmist, nor dismissive", I thought the choice of emphasis here is somewhat in the alarmist direction, mostly making sure to mention how bad it could be. Examples:

I expect it will go global in the next couple of days, maximum.

The social breakdown in a pandemic is extraordinary.

No-one knows how bad another pandemic might be in terms of mortality... single digit millions... 100M might be possible.

...you should probably not believe anything any politician says about pandemic influenza.

So let me offer as a small counterweight the at-least-as-likely alternative scenario: flu deaths worldwide in 2009 will be about the same as previous years, around 40K in the US and up to 500K worldwide.

At this point: eat well, sleep well, and discourage sick people from coming to offices or socializing. Same as always.
True, but just try using them at a Taco Bell. Man, you should hear what happened...
Ask HN: UCLA or UCSD for Computer Science?
I've visited both campuses and looked at the course descriptions and catalogs of each, and am stumped. I know an equal amount of people going to each, each confident in their choice, and an equal amount of students already there at each, telling me how great it is there.

If anyone here has any experience with their CS or life there, and wants to help me out, I would really appreciate it. As for criterion, I'm not 100% sure, but I'd like to meet people who would be interested in, say, something like YC.
If this actually becomes a big deal, it will be a massive economic problem - remember, it's not just the people who get sick who are the problem, but also the people who change their behavior/consumption based on risk mitigation. On the other hand, it would probably provide a boost to e-commerce spending, which would help people in our community.
A crash nationwide vaccination program in response to a swine flu scare in 1976 appears to have triggered hundreds of cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome, and "at least 25 deaths":

http://www.semp.us/publications/biot_reader.php?BiotID=177
Google Earth Helps Solve A Plane Crash Mystery
In Mexico you can buy antibiotics over the counter without any prescription. I suspect the victims just tried to cure themselves without seeing a physician.
The aesthetic beauty and simplicity of "archive"
Your concerns about recent economic down-cycles are misplaced. Our economy needs more not less entrepreneurs like the CEO profiled here. He ultimately failed but he went down fighting to keep alive a new business that provided new jobs. And he pioneered a new market segment whose inheritors will employ many more people in the future. That growth-creating ripple effect will leave a bigger impact on his "community" than most people can ever lay claim to.

There are plenty of villains worthy of your scorn, from banksters to bureaucrats to politicians. Yet you blame a business-building job-creating entrepreneur for trying to grow too quickly? Daimler, Siemens, et al were once the size of Switch Beverage Co, and their initial investors also took big risks for the expectation of big returns. Had this guy succeeded in creating the next Coca-Cola, you probably would have been singing his praises ten years hence. It sounds like what you really object to is failure.

BTW, the next time you try to raise money, be sure to show deflated growth targets to your prospective investors, then let us know how that works out.
Apollo Astronauts Didn't Need Heavy Boots
My girlfriend is a Bio Engineering major at UCSD, I go to SDSU. There's definitely much more of a social life at UCLA than at UCSD. She's in a Sorority at UCSD and always says that without that, it would be very hard to socialize at that school. Academically I think they're relatively equal, UCSD might even be a little higher, not sure though.

UCSD is a 10 minute drive from Pacific Beach, where I live, where pretty much everyone in San Diego goes out once they're 21. Plus, there's a good Ruby Programming Club down here that meets at UCSD.
I have already seen this blog, you are doing good work, I'll contact you :D
The notion that Twitter seems safer than MySpace or Facebook is pretty silly, or at least would be difficult to prove. Twitter appeals to celebrities because it is the first popular social network that allows for celebrity within its system. Oprah, for example, has 603,791 followers but in turn only follows 11 people (all of whom are recognizable by the public). This is the celebrity's dream come true: their popularity measured and laid bare for all to see.
Wolfram Alpha: Our First Impressions
Important note: the study's definition of 'conservative' does not map directly to 'conservative in domestic US politics'.

Also, it is from a study by a Singapore-based academic, based on a pool of foreign students seeking entry to the US, and community college students (unclear where).

Less-intellectual but traditional-hopeful-and-hard-working conservatives could easily be overrepresented in such a study population.
It doesn't really matter how smart someone is, they tend to take on the opinions of their peers unless they are very strong willed. If smart people congregate together, it's likely that they will begin to hold similar opinions. So it's no real surprise if people who are smarter hold similar opinions.

Of course, there's still something to be said about open-mindedness being an attribute of minds capable of handling ambiguity.
Gizmodo - Scientists Invent Robots That Lie, Real Bender Closer Than Ever
How to kitesurf
Kitesufing videos, kiteboarding pictures and lessons on how to kiteboard and how to jump the kite for big air and fun.
UCSD has much better theoretical computer science folks, on the other hand, UCLA has awesome applied math and math.

I'd say figure out what style of socialization is best for you, where you'd find that, and also where in the blend of engineering, theory and math you're intellectual style is, and go with the blend that you know you'll be happiest with. Err on the side of the school which has more classes you'd definitely take, all other things being equal
Moneybookers is good, but Paypal is the most used
From the comment,

You made people uncomfortable by showing them inappropriate pictures of naked people. OMG! Who could have seen that one coming?

Except there's nobody naked in the presentation.

I had not looked at that presentation until now. There's nothing patently offensive about it. The presenter chose women as the theme of the presentation. A women could choose men. A clown could choose circus animals. Sure, it's tacky, but I wouldn't go as far as to call it tasteless.
If it's supply and demand then people should be rushing into banking and leaving other fields to take advantage of the high pay, which would bring it into equilibrium with other fields as the supply of workers increases. That apparently is not happening, because the pay is still vastly higher.
to paraphrase your rebuttal: Earth already has enough resources.
Among other things, knowing how to solve a problem with limited means helps you understand more precisely how hard it is.
I'm a computer science undergrad at UCLA nearing graduation. Although it may not be much help to you for deciding, but I must say you will probably be happy with either choice from an academic standpoint. I think the UC system has done a fabulous job gathering talent and creating an excellent and competitive curriculum at a very affordable price.

Now let's get a little more practical.

I've never been to the UCSD campus so I can't speak about that, but I can tell you that I've been very pleased with my experience at UCLA. I'm from Northern California and, to be honest, was very reluctant to come down to LA. In fact, I kept telling my friends and family that UCLA was my last choice simply because of that. I was mistaken.

The campus is not the most beautiful I've ever seen but it definitely has its charms, and it's in a very nice area. I used to live near the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Westwood Blvd, and I had problem walking home from school (about 40 min walk) late at night, even with my backpack and computer. Some may call me crazy but I honestly never once felt unsafe or threatened. Now I live in Brentwood which I also really enjoy. If you're interested, here are some pictures taken at the UCLA Hannah Carter Japanese Garden behind UCLA in Bel-Air (you can walk there from campus): http://www.flickr.com/photos/tacomanator/sets/72157614068382...

The Santa Monica bus system has been really great, and you can go to a LOT of places for 25c (regular fare is 75c, but UCLA students ride for 25c). Anywhere you can't go on the Santa Monica buses, you can get to on metro for a little bit more. There are a TON of things to do around here. My girlfriend and I often walk down to Santa Monica and the beaches around there, there's lots of interesting places to go inland, and you'll never run short of places to explore.

I have not forgotten you plan on studying computer science, but please do at least consider getting out of the nest every once in a while ;)

I can also tell you that overall I've had a very positive experience at UCLA in terms of classes and academics. There have been a few black sheep, and bad classes, but overall positive. At the undergraduate level, I honestly don't think you will be able to differentiate the schools too much, except that perhaps UCLA is a little more well known. I may be biased, but I've noticed UCLA's name come up in quite a few articles posted to Hacker News even in the last few weeks, but I only recall seeing a few for UCSD. Of course, I think this is perhaps a superficial comparison at best.

Whatever choice you make I hope you have a great time and make the most of it. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know :)
MySQL is free. Last time I used the NDB cluster was probably more than 3 years ago, when MySQL 5 was in beta. At that time, it was a pure in-memory database- the idea is that you had to have at least twice as much ram as data, and you would add nodes in pairs. all data would be mirrored on at least two nodes, and you could add more nodes to get more data.

From what I understand, MySQL cluster now lets you keep some data on disk.

Also consider, just from a cost perspective, anything that you leave on all the time that can use more than 8-16GB ram? you are much better buying and co-locating your hardware. (And this is coming from a guy who rents VPSs. they are a great deal if you need something small or temporary; but EC2 prices are pretty close to 2005 levels; hardware has gotten a lot cheaper since then.)
Mr. Roubini, Please Have a Seat Already
You just have to be familiar with how to scale numbers logarithmically. (That is, half-way between two units is 70% of the value, 1/10th of the way is 30% value, and so on.)
Full disclosure: I'm a math PhD student at UCSD.

UCLA is probably better overall for math, but UCSD is better for graph theory and combinatorics in general, the most likely kind of math CS students would be interested in.

In my opinion, there will be very little difference between the schools in terms of education, quality of peers, or job potential upon graduation. I would choose based on which location I like better. Personally, I hate LA, although UCLA's campus is beautiful. There's probably a lot more to do there, too, depending on what activities he enjoys.

UCSD has a great zoo, Sea World, and Lego Land nearby, but not much for drinking establishments. Many CS and math majors go to the pub on campus regularly; I haven't heard of anything else.
Your link said that they vaccinated 40 Million people, and accidentally caused 25 deaths. If that's the downside, I'm willing to risk it ...

To be ultra conservative, assume there's a 0.1% chance that this becomes 10% as bad as the 1918 flu. The 1918 flu killed ~3% of the world population - if swine flu is one tenth as bad it means ~300K deaths in America. Therefore the expected number of (American) deaths is 300. As long as the vaccine is expected to cause less than a 300 deaths, we should do it, right?
That's essentially re-queuing a repeating task, and the task is to process blocks of work incrementally until completion. This is not unlike what happens in an operating system that uses cooperative multitasking.

You might consider a refinement of the pattern where doSomeWork() returns true if the work queue still has things left, or false if it is finished. As a matter of convenience, doSomeWork() should handle finishing as a final task to avoid the redundant isDone() check.

A slight refactoring could be:

processor = function() {
if (processWork())
window.setTimer(processor, 0);
}
8x10 Tasveer Movie
With so many laptops (and even a lot of desktops) having wide screen displays, horizontal space is often more valuable than vertical.
I lived in LA for 2 years, and attended meetings for the LA chapter of ACM Siggraph. They really have some kick ass presentations in graphics. When I was there, pretty much every month, there were VFX supervisors talking about the effects done on a movie that was just released.

It's a great resource if you want to learn about graphics, and cutting edge parallel processing environments (huge render farms). There's a lot of great graphics/CS work that's done in LA. If that's the route you're interested in going in, it's a great option.

It was those meetings + Hackers and Painters that got me to switch from being a design/animation geek to studying software engineering.
Given that the geographically concentrated swine-flu related death toll is already over 81, this doesn't provide compelling evidence that 'most deaths will be from human response as opposed to the pandemic itself'.

TV news stations will of course hype this thing beyond all proportion, as they always do, but that doesn't mean the threat isn't real and that, as the article suggests, the death toll from Swine 'flu itself won't run into tens if not hundreds of millions.
I always thought the W-shaped spike in deaths-by-age from the 1918 pandemic was due to it spreading rapidly in infirmaries and barracks full of already sick and/or stressed out soldiers.
Why were you downmodded? This is exactly what's going to happen, and it's going to be awesome. For details, check out Jon Crosby's talk on rack middleware: http://mwrc2009.confreaks.com/13-mar-2009-11-05-in-a-world-o...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_page_pro...
Your comment makes great intuitive sense, but I don't think it is quite so clear cut.

Remember, it is a 2.5 degree global temperature shift being discussed, not a 2.5 degree shift in Canada's temperatures. Water vapor is a much stronger greenhouse gas than CO2 is, so the effect of more CO2 is much less pronounced in the lower latitudes. From what I have heard, a 2.5 degree shift in global temperature average caused by increased CO2 would translate into a much larger shift in e.g. Canada's temperatures.
With such approach you will hate your next lang in no time.
"In conclusion, I’d say that the thing is largely out of our hands"

But remember your mother's best advice : wash your hands and don't touch your face.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/stopgerms.htm
I definitely remember sex in both, the foundation as well as the robot series. However, I agree with the point of your second paragraph.
You may be illustrating your point better than you had planned to- your example of Asimov doesn't quite hold up, but your general point does.
http://www.bautforum.com/astronomy/2265-pen-moon-question-re...
Anonymous Financial Donors Bring Relief to Colleges
The Poor Man's Continuous Integration
Speech is not code. Repeating yourself, and others, has value in ways peculiar to social animals.
> the highly educated and intelligent segments of society are massively less conservative

I don't know what the "intelligent segments" are. People with masters in liberal arts? Let's just pretend earnings power is proxy for smarts.

The top slice of earners skew liberal -- the top 3% or so, who largely owe their earnings power to government granted cartels like the AMA, the bar, and Wall Street banking. They tend to live in urban enclaves where their wealth isolates them from meaningful impacts from social legislation. They aren't personally affected by immigration policy, for example.

The much larger mass of upper middle-class types that cumulatively earn most of the money and run the country (the $150K households scattered all over, not just in the coastal urban centers) skew conservative. Entrepreneurs also skew conservative.

To a certain extent, you have business people who build things of value vs. the heavily government entwined priesthoods. The "mandarin classes", if you will, skew liberal. The merchant and tradesman classes skew conservative.
Set the Example for Your Kids with Frugal Living
From frugal living tips to locating bargains online and in your community, the Save Money community site is the best source. This site, like no other, can direct you towards deals, can help you create a budget, and can save you money on insurance, home im
I definitely remember sex in both

You have a vivid imagination. The sex scenes are perhaps the mildest of any modern scifi I can think of...and they came in later novels, perhaps after he was thoroughly confident no one took his writing lightly. He also practically murdered the one actually sexually explicit story he wrote in his early career (The Portable Star), by insuring it wasn't published again in any collection during his life.

Compare Asimov to any of his contemporaries...Heinlein, Farmer, Dick, etc. Clarke was also a bit more "polite", and I guess, also more inclined toward people taking his work more seriously and thinking more about the serious issues he was addressing.

Of course, he also felt that he just wasn't very good at writing female characters or romantic subjects, so he avoided it for the sake of his readers. So, if we're being entirely strict about using Asimov as an example, it also falls apart because he had several reasons for not doing sex very often...not just wanting to be taken seriously.
Steve Jobs Under Oath
I am scared for the future of humanity.
Inside These Lenses, a Digital Dimension