skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
It is about whether, when I look at the methods implemented by Array, it describes what arrays do or what arrays sometimes do or may do once in a while.

Sure. I think it's in Ruby's culture for people to write ultra-cute convenience methods and DSLs for this sort of thing, even if it makes it possible for someone to write code that doesn't make semantic sense.

I actually think that Array#sum is the least objectionable in a single project where summing the elements may be common, maybe objectionable in ActiveSupport where every Rails project gets it whether they sum arrays or not, and absolutely wrong in Ruby's core libraries where every Ruby programmer will get it.

Agree 100%. Arrays in Ruby core shouldn't be summing, they should be injecting.
Yeah, that's exactly my point. While I don't necessarily think they were trying to get rid of me, I don't think they really understood the pitch. So that's one of the signs to look for - if they just say, "That's great, good job!", you're probably not engaging them. If they grill you a little bit further, then they're at least slightly interested in the idea, and they've understood the majority of it.

One point of the starbucks pitch is quantity over quality. You may get a lot of people who will kindly blow you off, but you're not paying for any of it, so you can continually practice until you can engage any of them with an interesting pitch.
Ask HN: Choosing a business model
Background: Some friends and I are getting together this summer to work on an idea we had for a web startup that is directly linked to universities. (No we're not a blackboard clone, something different)

We think we've got a pretty solid service, but we're not sure which direction to take it. We see it going one of two ways:

# The 'Blackboard' Model:

I know everyone hates Blackboard, but no one can say their business model is poor. From our perspective, selling directly to schools (SAAS) would be good for 2 reasons: First, a guaranteed revenue stream. We sell to school A for $100/mo we KNOW we have that income. Second, the same as Blackboard, once you're in, it's hard to get pushed out.

The cons however, are very obvious: It's not 'ours' anymore, and it's not going to be easy to innovate. The business model is fixed, so if we have a smash hit, it's tough to cash in on it quickly. Also, we're stuck working at the behest of the schools we sell to. Not bad if we're making tons of money, but perhaps stifling to creativity, and annoying in cases of say... censorship.

# The 'Facebook' Model:

Everyone* who is currently in college has an account with Facebook. Facebook is HUGE and it doesn't answer to anyone but itself (and, sometimes it's users). The freedom Facebook has seems nice. We like this model because we keep control, and we can iterate quickly (we don't have to 'sell' new features). Also, we have the option to change things if the need arises, so in the case of becoming an 'overnight success' we can keep the money rolling in without having to worry about contracts, budgets etc...

Obviously the downside is the upside -- If we are a huge success, we don't necessarily have the means to support ourselves (Look at Facebook... the ads aren't cutting it). The freedom comes at the cost of security.

The reason we're looking at this is that we're considering some minor investments to get our company formed and to enable us to quit our day jobs (which don't make us much anyway as we're full time students too). We want to get a firm direction to take the app in before we present to the investors though.

I guess what I'd like to hear is, what do you guys think of each business model, and if possible how has either fared for you? I'm interested in any industry where similar setup exists, or perhaps even a hypothetical third model, apart from or combining the two above. Any feedback at all is much appreciated.
Could also be used to distill/desalinate water when it's not in use for other purposes.
I can tell you my personal and entirely unscientific experience.

When I first got of the plane years ago, to go to college in the US, the US culture struck me as deeply puritanical. I can't put it into exact words, but there was clearly a big difference compared to Europe.

I spoke with other immigrants and they felt the same thing. The best a Brazilian friend and I could come up with was that it was like everyone got stuck in that very awkward phase when you're 12-13 and just switching from hating the other sex to being uncomfortably attracted to it.

It seemed to us that somehow Americans just never outgrew that uncomfortable phase, which Europeans and Brazilians outgrow by the time we're 16 at the latest.

Again, this is just personal and subjective evidence.

And I just remebered something much less subjective. Here's some empircal evidence.

I remember watching The Abyss on basic cable, this again shortly after I came to the US. And at one point Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio's character is out and needs a defibrillator and her boob falls out.

I distinctly remember being genuinely surprised that it was blurred, it was such a nothing! Not a sexual scene, just one boob and someone went through the trouble of blurring it, a profoundly silly thing. I did not expect the US to be that puritanical.
weavejester, having seen other comments I really appreciate you having an intellectually honest stab at my contention. But I think you're wide of the mark.

First off, musicians/songwriters don't expect their creative works to be a perpetual source of revenue. In the UK copyright expires after 50 years. Granted, that's not a short period of time, but nor is it perpetual.

And while I agree that the software business does entail continuing updates, and while I too applaud idSoftware's policies regarding open-sourcing old versions, there is a fundamental difference between music and software, namely that music is not amenable to small, incremental updates. I mean, what exactly do you propose, that musicians remaster their album every year (they do it every so often anyway, actually!), or add extra overdubs or tracks each year? Surely it's not difficult to see that this approach isn't workable, is it? Do you really want a session musician to go into the studio and overdub, say, trane's solo on So What?!!!

> When was the last time a prominent musician released their old works under a creative commons license?

I agree that that would be awesome. But musicians are taking steps in this direction. For example, Kanye West offers downloads of the stems to his music -- that's the music equivalent of providing the source code. So there is movement on this front. And most bands offer some portion of their music for free on their myspaces, so whether or not it's free as in freedom, it is freely available for those who want to listen.

Finally, is it your position that the hacker ethos considers it frivolous or morally wrong to collect revenue for patent royalties? It strikes me that this is quite similar to music royalties in that all the "work" is done up-front.
In other phrasing, return often requires risky behaviors. One is able to reduce risk (by outlawing risky behaviors) if one is willing to except a permanently lower level of return.

At the extreme, outlawing private investment (which is inherently risky) would reduce bubbles. I know of no price bubbles or market panics in North Korea.
Thanks for the clarification. I didn't know that until i started messing with them just now for my post.

Heres a a clearer example(you could deduce this from my previous post):
>>> x=((lambda n: i + n) for i in range(10))
>>> y=((lambda i: lambda n: i + n)(i) for i in range(10))
>>> [f for f in x]==[i for i in y]
True

this is with generators.

with list comprehensions it becomes:
>>> x=[(lambda n: i + n) for i in range(10)]
>>> y=[(lambda i: lambda n: i + n)(i) for i in range(10)]
>>> [f for f in x]==[i for i in y]
False
"TwittX will Automatically Add 1000 - 4000 followers to your account in no time"
Cisco buys Tidal Software for $105M — to virtualize the data center
The difference between [1, "two"].sum and 1 + "two" is that in the second case you are passing "two" to 1's :+ method, that's an argument error, it doesn't depend on 1's state. In the first case you are not giving any argument to the method, so you shouldn't get an error. From the point of view of the array's user the array is now in an invalid state and that's not something the array should have allowed to happen.
Yes, Python closes over references to a mutable variable, and list comprehensions work the same way. It doesn't close over the value.

I'd make the suggestion that closures are not very "Pythonic". Use objects instead:

class add_n_func:
def __init__(self, n):
self.n = n
def __call__(self, x):
return x+self.n

return [add_n_func(n) for n in range(10)]
Unless you're looking at a narrow slice of the language[...] you can't just say that one language is better than another.

http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html
Next Steps Once You have Your Killer App Idea
It's called "a majority coalition" (or at least, a potential one). Economic libertarians, business interests, and religious fundamentalists were forced together in the 60s and 70s to try to stop getting steamrolled by the unionists, city-dwellers, and progressives.

No major shift has occurred since then. Businessmen and rich people swung for Obama in '08, but I expect that was a temporary swing due to the unpopularity of Bush. Anyone concerned about fiscal responsibility can't like having an all-Democratic government.

Unfortunately, coalition politics means that you're seldom allowed to have a politician who can balance a budget and has no strong desire to enforce his religion by law. The democratic sausage, it is ugly.
Indeed, Python is using lexical scoping. This behavior is well known.
Venture Capitalists’ Confidence Creeps Back
Not Steve's best. I love the guy, but this wasn't well thought out.

1. Everything is complex, some things more than others, but you can't not start a change because it's complex.

2. This change MUST happen. Period. We have to free up the criminal justice system from the silliness and waste. It costs taxpayers billions and only results in destroyed lives. This (legalization or simply decriminalization) has to happen, and it has to happen now.

3. Other countries have successfully implemented this. We can use them as a template. I live in the Czech Republic and it's a combination of legalized/decriminalized here. It works great. Find out what they do and copy it.

I've never tried marijuana and have no intention to, but watching all the lives and resources wasted on a non-problem sickens me.
Ordinary Python function have the same behaviour due to Python has lexical scopes but dynamic namespaces.

>>> def add(n):
... return i + n
...
>>> fs = [add for i in range(10)]
>>> fs[3](4)
13

This example works due to list-comprehension leaks `i` binding.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/139819/why-results-of-map...
i have tried such methods, it seems to work fine (twitter.com/omarabid) as the number shows more than,14,000 followers, but in conversion you won't get even 5 unique from a tweet
Two failed classes in HS, two failed classes in college and an average gpa under 2.5, while working as a C++ consultant and coding Clojure/Ruby/ELisp in free time. That's probably me.
The past, present, and future of VC investment in open source
This sounds just like Vundo (and may even be a mistake?). If this is true, my job just got a LOT harder... I work tech support for my university, and so far we've seen little of conficker, but TONS of Vundo (which does the same thing... it installs a 'spyware remover' and charges for it).

I'd be interested to see if anyone has actually paid for this. I've worked with/seen hundreds of cases of people who could barely turn on a computer, yet weren't fooled by this sort of 'pay me or die' scam. Does anyone actually fall for this crap?

Random plug: I made a site to direct users to since spyware is such a big problem on campus -- it's a wip, so if you have ideas, email me (See my profile).

http://hownottogetspyware.com/
jfarmer, pretty cool analysis. i am curious, though, if there is there any way you would approach building a standalone social network differently then just building an app? or is it literally just a wider scope of the exact same principles?
More Videos of the Tesla Model S Electric Car In Action
I have firefox 3 but my user-agent but it warned me my browser was not compatible. Very clean design, would love if it was easier to rate people and get recommendations. I don't want to comment on everyone I rate. Users tab probably will not always == profile page, but for now thats confusing. 404 responses from http://scribnia.com/css/register.css and http://scribnia.com/css/style.css
Molly On Opera The W3C And Web Standards
A short while ago I learned that Molly Holzschlag has joined Opera AB as one of their new Web Evangelists. Molly has always been one of my heroes when it comes to the web and standards and with the news about her joining Opera I felt this to be the perfect time to hook up with her and learn more about her, why she joined Opera and how she sees the current state and future of the web.
Good feedback. We'll be going back out for the second round soon, so I'll try it without any subterfuge, and update the post with the results. My previous experience tells me people usually take pretty kindly to an student, but I'm all for mixing it up.

As for the results, I'm not too worried that the pitchee likes/dislikes the idea. It's all warm fuzzies if they do, and of course the more people you can interest with a pitch the btter, but they're not likely your target market. It's more important to simply watch their face for emotional changes (especially boredom) and gauge your ability from that.

Also, bringing your cofounders and critical friends along is where the real negative feedback comes from. People generally aren't going to be familiar with your domain to give much meaningful commentary, but your cofounders are imagining you pitching to investors or (in our case) potential users at a entrepreneur's meetup. With that context in mind, their feedback is golden.
In what order should a company consider customers, employees, and shareholders?
swombat, here are some of the "bad guys" you'd like to see getting "fucked", "going bust", and whose business model is worthy of moral opprobrium: http://www.fairplayforcreators.com/comments.html
While true, that is not really the issue. The issue is which lexical scope the loop iterator is defined in. In python, it is apparently like this:

i = 0
increment i
<do loop body with i>

It could have been:

i = 0
increment 1
create new environment
bind i here
<do loop body>

In the second case, each loop body would have its own "i". In the first case, they all share the same "i".
whenever I see Mono in the news, I always ask the question:

Why would you heavily slant your open source CLR for a language that is heavily patented and controlled by M$?

Using it has been a pain too. Mono either doesn't support x functionality of x version of .NET or the behavior is slightly different.

After all of these years, I still fail to see the point of Mono given the available alternatives (like native M$ .NET)
Making money is so last year.
But the point isn't that String#titlecase can't do the right thing here. I assume there is an implementation of titlecase that will work with ß. But I can't think of an Array#sum that will work for [1, "two"].

Of course your :) might have meant you were being funny, then I just totally missed your point and explained something you already know.
Mine are already over 500MB. An online Photoshop wouldn't be at all feasible for me :)
Yep. It's a dick measuring contest, geek-style. At least I'm going to call it that since I did so badly. It's amazing I get anything done. And yet . . . I do.
Ask HN: What do you think about the raw food diet?
This is aimed towards knowing what do think about this diet. Do you follow it? Has it improved your being in any way? Do you think its just a fad diet? Does it work? Is it unhealthy?...
Having a private network of experienced people to give feedback in a sandbox environment is wonderful. High quality, specifically targeted feedback - it's a dream for a startup.

Unfortunately, not everyone will have that network to tap. Starbucks serves as a lower-quality, but still effective practice ground. The only catch is, critical feedback on tone, speed, etc. is going to come from your cofounders more than your audience.
Google working to add 'every damn' service to Apps
Ask: Who is Tara Ploughman?
Google shows her quotes ALL over the web. But it does not (within my googling ability anyway) give a hint who or where she actually is. Since PG has her quotes on his website, I hoped it would be alright to ask here.
You mean, like the first box cooker on the page?:

http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Minimum_Solar_Box_Cooker

Like the cooker in the article, it is a foil-lined cardboard box, with a black-painted cardboard box inside. And it recommends a plastic bag instead of a plexiglass cover, so it might be considered even more basic than the one in the article.
I think it temporarily changes the way you feel emotionally - because our diet is tied into our mood. Some people who embark on the diet - including some people very close to me - read more into their altered mood than they ought to.
Or (if I remember the book correctly) nuclear power.
IMHO if anyone has ever read Freidrich Nietzsche's "Gott ist tot" will understand what PG meant by "Microsoft is Dead".
I think the reason your post isn't getting traction is that you don't have anything to show us unless we leave our email addresses for you here in the open. Maybe you should leave your email address and let us privately contact you.

I signed up for an alpha account a few minutes ago. If I hear back from you I'll check out your app.
I can not believe that there are so many workers from Haiti and Al Salvador. I would have thought that they would cut down on semi-skilled labour.
Pretty good assessment tool. I've been programming professionally for 2 years, and averaged 1.9, which seems about right.
This is such a non-issue. Really. The parent posted the reasoning behind the decision, that reasoning is sound. Your disagreement is purely aesthetic, there's simply no practical reason why the current way is wrong. Please just accept that this is how it is, and stop complaining about it. Please?
You're right. It's strange to find her quotes in so many places without any biographical information. Now I'm curious too. Combined with the fact that my googling pride has been hurt.
How is a 5 line class with 2 underscore methods more pythonic than a nested lambda?
I must have remembered incorrectly. In fact, I think the deal was a flat rate. I don't think it materially changes my argument that Google is getting an amazing deal for streaming these videos, certainly better than radio stations or similar get. Waterman's £11 for 150MM views is testament to that. And the PRS (a not-for-profit group, btw) is is quite transparent about costs; check out their website.

> Google should not be blamed for the PRS' poor bargaining. Nor should they be the target of what really amounts to another smear campaign by the music industry

Remember that the context here is a renegotiation! The original deal certainly was very poor for artists, and that's what the PRS is looking to redress. Now, you could say that the old deal was due to poor bargaining. But at the time it wasn't clear how large YouTube would get -- the old adage of hindsight being 20/20 applies here.

As for the Google being the target of a smear campaign -- I admit that this whole debate leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. But let's not forget that it was Google who fired the opening salvo by removing the PRS members' content prior to the finalization of negotiations. So at the very least Google is not a shining white knight here.
One of life's mysteries, evidently:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=174149
> this is just personal and subjective evidence

Yeah, and I've been around the block and think it's total nonsense. Maybe compared to Rio sober Americans are a bit frigid, but not compared to any northern european country.

I really don't think blurred boobs on broadcast TV indicates much about anything. In case you haven't noticed, TV and magazines don't indicate much about reality in any country.
Thanks for clarifying some more!

I've been using PHP almost exclusively when doing stuff for the web, but frequently feel that I want to pick up both Ruby and Python. I still haven't actually done it yet.

It isn't a lack of community or the presence of jerks that keeps me from getting there. A big part of it is that it seems to take a bit of a different infrastructure to get started. This may be somewhat driven by misunderstandings.

If I want to incorporate a great library that someone wrote in PHP, I drop the source in and start linking to it. File system operations; I know those. For others, say Ruby, it seems like I'd need to run an installer that grabs files and places them somewhere. Then I type out a text file and run another script that builds my database. I don't know how that clock works, so I don't feel comfortable basing my schedule on it yet.

It seems like an awesome way to do things, and I'm excited about getting into it, but I'm making time tradeoffs between (learning another language and how to manage apps) and (day-job and building project ideas that I love).

The key is going to be to shift (learning another language ... etc) onto the project stack.
Failing car brakes do not endanger society, either, so we can leave that aside.

As for endangering the individual, having a learning disability certainly does endanger an individual. In the most obvious case, such a person is unlikely to be as well-educated as they'd otherwise be, which means they are unlikely to be paid as much, which puts them in a higher risk bracket for all kinds of lifestyle diseases which statistically result in earlier death. Having a learning disability probably takes years off of your life, all else equal at the start.
Tara Ploughman looks to me like it's an anagram of Not Paul Graham.
U.S Imagines Bailout As Investment Tool
Even as a sharp critic of GS, I have to say rehabilitation is a good thing. If they've been scared into straightening up, I'm happy to throw some suggestions their way.
Gauge.js (javascript programmable gauge)
Wasn't there a YC startup around that time which had the goal of putting photoshop in the browser?
I think this is the answer; it's tough to find any quotes of hers without being accompanied by at least a mention of him.

Someone should put a bio up of her, mentioning that she works for Setec Astronomy.
I'm sure it's just a coincidence...

(It turns out if you want to write one-sentence essays, you have to attribute them to someone else.)
This seems to me like a terrible plan. So basically they are funding "private investors" to buy these bad assets, while not taking any risk.

Sure, we (the taxpayers) might make some "profit" but that assumes the assets are not as bad as was previously thought.

But what if the assets are worse than expected? Then we're really fucked. Because we just loaned out our money and are taking on the majority (I'd like to say its somewhere in the range of 80%-100%, but the article doesn't say) of the risk.
3D Printing and Self Replicating Machines In Your Living Room - Seriously
Honestly, I think everyone else is too. Most of the things aren't that advanced... or rather, I am not particularly proud that I know or do the things listed. (It does scare me that there are 1s and 0s, though.)
I just recognized that I missed this reply!

What I meant to call as inaccurate is that the article is dated 18 March and describes the two locations; post-announcement publication.

Your consideration of the word "schools" was not at all being indicted.

Your dating of the picture was some nice cross-referencing!
Why was this voted down?
While that's true for consumer goods, one would hope that a power company would know well enough to change the default password.