skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
> They are already taking into account the benefits.

Really? Are you sure? What people?

I'd love to read the papers (probably in economics journals, I assume) that did this analysis, as such an analysis would surely be well worth my time to read. The few economists I'm aware of discussing this, caution that it is not worth the money that GW advocates are proposing pouring down this rat hole. Do you have any papers that you can point me to?
I'm guessing no, that instead he means thinking more about what you're going to write than about what you're going to write it in.
The problem is that he's really not saying anything of substance. He makes an appeal to rationality and then proceeds on a disorganized discussion that doesn't come to any useful conclusion.

Botkin says "We are told that the melting of the arctic ice will be a disaster." Then he seems to be trying to refute this passage by saying that a warmer climate worked out great for the vikings. He doesn't attempt any sort of analysis of what the real-world effects of change in sea-level would be.

Botkin may have something worth saying, but he needs an editor to help him focus in on clearly stating and backing up the points that he wants to make.

All I can get from this is that he wants people to stop the panic because, hey, there might be some benefits from a warmer climate.
Delivering work for paying clients in a vanity language because you're bored of PHP sounds pretty close to malpractice.
We all want somewhere to belong. The world is a cold, dark place on your own.
I've got one and I love it. With a real headphone jack and Flash support, it would be the perfect phone IMHO.
Of course, the real danger of climate change is carbon dioxide leading to the buildup of hydrogen sulfide in the oceans (thus killing them, and about everything on land):

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/11/031104063957.ht...

No one seems to know about this, but it's a far more probable -- even extremely likely threat -- given what we know right now.

Also: http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/news/2008/03/peter_...
Our love for "humility" is really our rampant avaricious envy, greedy for everything every successful person has and petulant that anyone should have anything we can't have.
More information about the Spanish Flu, for those who somehow haven't heard of it, is available on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu

Extra nice quotes:

The global mortality rate from the 1918/1919 pandemic is not known, but is estimated at 2.5 to 5% of the human population, with 20% or more of the world population suffering from the disease to some extent.

This pandemic has been described as "the greatest medical holocaust in history" and may have killed more people than the Black Death.

Another unusual feature of this pandemic was that it mostly killed young adults, with 99% of pandemic influenza deaths occurring in people under 65, and more than half in young adults 20 to 40 years old.
> but where does a significant other fit into this picture?

It doesn't. I'm not "missing" the point.

Children? Don't make me laugh, I'm far too young for that.
I think, as others, it's all about stereotypes. At the University where I study, many girls say "I don't study Engineering because it has a lot of maths and I don't like them. I prefer psychology", but in many events at the Math Faculty there were more girls studying math than boys. A mistery to me.
Asking the Best Programmers on the Internet
The solution to this problem is vesting. Unfortunately it is not a solution you can apply after the fact.
You're absolutely right. Something may be wrong with me but i still do find it interesting.
I'd upvote you twice if I could; regularity ftw
It is? Here's a python CGI script:

http://juliusdavies.ca/svn/viewvc.cgi/not-yet-commons-ssl/

The viewvc.cgi starts with:

#!/usr/bin/env python

I just dropped the script into my ~/juliusdavies.ca/svn/ dreamhost directory. Didn't seem hard to me.
Bonus reading: http://www.bevnet.com/bevblog/2007/11/new-book-on-the-switch...
I have one as well, and after seeing how powerful and flexible Android is to both users and developers, I'm in love.

Probably the best app I've found is called Locale, and it just proves how much you really can do with the phone/OS. I've set up a set of series of situations, some triggered by my location, others by time or incoming contacts, and each situation allows me to specify a set of configuration changes that take place when triggered. For an example of what's possible:

- When it detects that I'm near work, it sets my ringtone to something less obnoxious, and turns off notification sounds.

- When I step foot on campus for classes, it silences my phone and turns on the WiFi for internet access.

- When it's night time (between 11pm and 8am), it silences the phone so I'm not disturbed while sleeping.

- If my wife calls, it ignores all of the above settings and rings at a moderate volume, because it's probably important.

- If my mother calls, and I'm not at home, it sends her straight to my voicemail.

I have a feeling it'll be a cold day in hell before Apple lets iPhone apps have that much control over the phone, but my G1 could do it all from day one, including background tasks and cut/paste...
In this page you can find Toll free numbers from $2.oo / month and $2.oo setup fee http://www.toll-free800.com
I really was trying to stay out of the GW argument specifically. My intent in the response above was just to point out that the WSJ author seems to be assuming people already know the negative side. So it wasn't that he was painting a rosy picture it's just that he was trying to provide supplemental information to what people have already heard.

That said, if you're curious, my problem with GW has always been the focus on the cause and not the effect. I don't have a problem with us trying to do everything we can not to change Earth's enviornment. In general I think it's a good idea for humans to make as little an impact on nature as we can in going about our day.

But at the same time it's a proven fact that our planet makes dramatic shifts in it's climate even without our influence (Ice Age for example). So the reality is climate change is coming whether we cause it or not.

Beyond that GW is not proven beyond a doubt so if it happens not to be true we'll have spent all our time trying to stop causing something that we were never causing in the first place.

So basically my opinion on GW has always been that, since we know climate change is coming no matter what, humanity should work on preparing itself for climate change's effects regardless of who or what causes it.
++ for web faction. They're really inexpensive, straight forward to use, and you can use Rails, Django, Merb, Pylons, etc... Plus, you get shell access, and you don't have to do a lot of the server admin stuff if you don't want to.
I checked out the Locale site, this quote is an awesome introduction to a product:

"In March 2005, Judge Robert Restaino jailed 46 people when a mobile phone rang in his New York courtroom and no one would admit responsibility. So we invented Locale. Problem solved."
It will not discharge on AC cord.
There might be benefits to a warmer climate. Fine. If we were just simply facing natural global warming (and maybe we are, I'm no expert), I'd say "lemonade from lemons" and all that.

I tend to come down on the side of action to stop possible human contribution to global warming, though. One reason is simply fear of the unknown - there might be benefits, but we're doing alright now, and that isn't really a knob I feel like needs to be tweaked just to see what happens.

But another far more important reason for me is that it seems like the actions needed to stop the possible human contribution to global warming are Good Things whether they're actually causing that particular problem or not. Spewing less crap into the air? Sounds great. More energy efficient cars/trucks/devices/appliances? Sounds great. Paying attention to energy costs expended on lighting, and as a side effect maybe getting to see stars in the sky over a city sometime? Awesome.

I always wonder about the people who say we shouldn't take action. Because it's too expensive? That seems to miss the basic observation that the economy exists to serve the wants and needs of the people within it, not the other way around - if people decide this is something they value, that they want to work on, the economics will work out. I really think its something more basic, the traditional dichotomy between the personal and the common. Or maybe it really is just a cynical response from people in a current position of comfort who see what they're doing right now as threatened by any changes that need to be made.
"When I think about those start-up days, I realize I've given up far more than I had planned. Years of writing, of books and magazine articles I could have published. I lost a friendship, an airplane, a lot of money. I sacrificed years of socializing that could have sparked new friendships. I lament the toll on Bill's health, and Lily had no choice in giving up precious years with her father."

Therein lies the biggest difference between the entrepreneur and the non-entrepreneur: he looks ahead and she looks back.
Learn python. It's an excellent all-round language, you can also create desktop stuff later. Hosts like webfaction just cost $10 a month, surely your clients can afford that.
The number 'billions' depends on how high the water rises. Bangladesh and Indonesia alone are 400 million whose population are at risk.

>the most computationally challenged "climate modelers" don't claim this will happen quickly

The most crazy/aggressive models from the 1970's said we would lose half the Arctic sea ice by 2050. We hit that point two years ago. If multiple sea shelves collapse, it will indeed come as a tidal wave. We don't know what will happen but we don't have the luxury to be confident that nothing will surprise us.
The "It's the X, Stupid" meme died in the early 90s, stupid.
Lisp mentality vs. Python mentality
Simple answer - it depends on why your earlier startups failed.
Just a silly word I made up to fit in with your writing style (which I really like, by the way).

I guess what I'm really trying to say in a general sort of way: as soon as you stop worrying about your problems and focus on your client's problems, you both win.
No thanks. I'm sleeping on the office floor every night, broadcast.com style; I hear it worked out great for Mark Cuban.
Raising Bill Gates
India has electronic voting; why can't the U.S.?
He's not being a language snob. It's just plain hard to write good code in languages like Java and PHP. You spend so much time fighting the language and tools that you barely have time to think about solving your client's problems. That gets boring and tedious, so I can understand why the OP is bored.

(The fact that some people have tolerance for this stupidity is not worth arguing about. Some people enjoy digging ditches, too, but the OP is probably not one of them.)

Edit: Ah yes, let the downmods begin. "He said something bad about your favorite language!!"
Yes, I have hesitated to put this piece information in the title. May be something like "(originally from ipodlinux.org)" at the end would have been better.
A basic $20/month Slicehost or Linode
is probably going to be good enough for 2 "real" applications and maybe a few CGI pages, but not much more. The limiting factor is memory -- modern languages like to use a lot of it.
An interview with Tweetie creator Loren Brichter
After switching to this combo, I find myself reluctant to continue work on my apps still using PHP & MySQL. They feel somehow... fragile now. Before I used to check on my servers all the time, now I feel peace of mind that my app is still running, even though I haven't checked on it for a while. I feel like I might even be able to enjoy my coming vacation.
Being an entrepreneur means that you can't reflect on the consequences of past choices?
You seem to speak as if the swine flu is a new outbreak of the Spanish flu, it isn't.
Cached Procrastination
I didn't really know I could feel strongly about a bank until Chase acquired Texas Commerce many years ago. I deeply loathe Chase. Everything bad about the banking industry, they do more of it, and they do it more aggressively. Stacking withdrawals on an overdrawn account to maximize fees, pushing expensive products aggressively every time they interact with a customer, horrible and disjointed online experience, dramatic credit card rate increases, etc. I moved from Chase to Frost Bank in Texas many years ago, and never had a single complaint.

When I moved out to the valley in 07, I opened a business and personal account at WaMu...and was very happy with the experience. Now, I can't go into the local branch without seeing at least one person yelling (literally) at the teller, because of unexpected fees, bounced checks, etc. I experienced it myself...I deposited a $9,000 check to the business account via the night depository, as I knew I had some advertising charges coming in a few days. I found out a week later that they'd declined the check, due to a problem with the endorsement (despite the endorsement being exactly the same as I'd always done), and charged us four NSF fees (total: $132). They didn't send me an email or call me on the phone...they mailed the check back, and it took a week to get here, so if I had been making a lot more purchases on that account, it could have spiraled into insanely high fees without me even knowing there was a problem.

Needless to say, I've been shopping for a new bank since then. Everybody left standing in this area seems to suck equally badly (and be owned by a megabank like Chase).
Never said that.

I also never met an entrepreneur that would have said OP's quote either.
Not really. If you don't like working with a particular tool, any work that you do with that tool will be fundamentally substandard. So if the same results could be achieved with a better tool, then your work should also be better.
Sixty-eight deaths from around one thousand infections is a lethality of 7%. That alone should make us take this very seriously until we have more data.
Geocities, "home to untold millions over the years," to shut down
If you're fighting with PHP to create a webapp, PHP's best demain, then you're doing it the wrong way. I've been writing PHP apps for a few years now, and I contribute to multiple PHP webapp projects, and I'm never fighting the language. PHP is capable of doing just about anything that any other language can do; you just have to work with PHP and stop trying to make it act like Ruby or Python.

PHP has an absolutely enormous library, which makes just about anything possible in a webapp without needing much in the way of external libraries. Templating is a core feature of the language, and with a small bit of planning and a knowledge of how to employ PHP's strengths, you can get a lot done really quickly. Perhaps the biggest stumbling block is inconsistent naming and parameter schemes for the core library, but even that is just a simple lookup in the excellent php.net documentation.

If you're fighting your tools in their strongest domains, you're not using the tools correctly...
First, the difference between professionals and amateurs is that professionals stand behind their work even when they don't enjoy doing it.

But that's neither here nor there. If you can't stand behind doing work in a mainstream language, don't take those jobs, and accept that you're going to earn a fraction of what your peers do.

However, when you deliver product to people in a language nobody else uses, and implicitly recommend they deploy code in that language, and you do it because you're bored with PHP, and you pick the language you move to deliberately to mask the costs of using a less popular language by compiling it down to PHP, you're coming pretty close to screwing over your clients.

Happy to be wrong about this, though. I'll stop here.
What framework are you using for your PHP work? If you aren't using a framework (because your work doesn't need one), then switching languages probably isn't going to change much, but if you are, there are several good, fun PHP frameworks out there. The best PHP framework I've used is Symfony (http://www.symfony-project.org/), which is actively developed, fun to work with, and really powerful.
CGI, then use what you like. A few of my friends are building http://werc.cat-v.org/ but it's teaching me CGI still has a lot to offer.
Look into global ocean temperatures over the past 100 years.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2007/perspectiv...
i use newlisp for my web apps
Can we grow up and stop using $ when referring to Microsoft?Most of us here are in business to make money, but no one is calling this site Hacker New$.

Now in regards to lock in. How is it different from any other stack? If I build something with ASP.NET MVC (which has the source available under the MS permissive license) I can run it on Windows or any machine running Mono.
This is from 2004.
I've just started tinkering with developing for the Android. The whole iPhone development experience (Step 1: Buy a Mac) just wasn't appealing, so I've mostly sat out that market explosion. We did do an iPhone theme for our products using iUI, and luckily, it works pretty much unmodified on the G1 and looks great (and never required Mac ownership, just an iPhone for testing). But, I feel like I can actually be involved and do useful work on Android, without having to drop a few grand just to get a development environment to tinker with.

It's also the perfect phone for a Linux-y developer or sysadmin. Great ssh client, great browser, multi-tasking, good little keypad which I can type dramatically faster on than the iPhone, and as a developer you can access just about everything on the phone, even in apps that aren't approved by Google or T-Mobile. Being able to download a random .apk and install it, without permission or jailbreaking, is a beautiful thing.
It is not for you to decide how I spend my resources. That is not your function, and for you to look down your nose at me for disagreeing with that is the height of arrogance.

You say I should spend $250K to pad the walls and floor of my home with hypoallergenic 4 inch thick foam because then my kid won't get hurt when he falls. If I point out that I'd rather spend the $250K on his college, than I'm a bastard.

You say I should spend $1000 as my share of the cost to paint a picture of a snow capped mountain on the ugly building next door. Everybody in the neighborhood will benefit from having such a beautiful mural, so what is my problem with coughing up the money? I would probably just waste it on fixing the transmission and brakes on my car anyway.

It is not your resources that you are spending. It is MY resources you are spending. I choose to donate them to drilling wells for waterless villages in Africa. Who are you to tell me that I'm a bastard for wanting to do that instead of your project?

Don't give me this moralistic sermon about greedy people demanding proof of a problem before coughing up the funds to fix it, when they should just smile and give the funds because it's "a good thing anyway".

I reject this 100 times more than I reject somebody who is just too lazy to learn the true facts of the issue. Give me people honestly trying to reach an intellectual meeting of the minds any day over this sort of moralistic bullying.
This looks excellent. Do you use them?
According to the article, it has a similar mortality rate, and the age profile of its victims is similar.

That's not much data, I'll grant you, but it's enough to suggest that it could be fairly similar.
alyx: Yes. It's just a quick hack, so I haven't done that yet. (also: it's open source, hint hint. ;) )

makecheck: interesting idea.
Start here:
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/05/start-...
It does, but using haXe based on its merits isn't. It's not hard to find good reasons to avoid PHP as an implementation language; PHP is popular mostly because it's as easy platform for deployment. If a superior language[0] allows targeting that platform, it's a win-win situation. The obvious counterargument is that it makes finding developers harder, but I don't think that's the case. The Python Paradox applies here, and there are likely dozens of developers available who would jump at the chance to get paid to use haXe.

[0] I am not, at this point arguing that haXe is a better language than PHP. I don't have enough experience with haXe to make that claim, but it's not an especially high bar to clear.
I use mainly CodeIgniter. I tried CakePHP. I heard about symfony, though. If it's fun then i will take a look. Thanks.
You asked about risk-taking, not entrepreneurship.
The fallacy here is that money (dollars) is (at least in theory) backed by something of value. In the economy presented in the article, the only thing of value is the land, which is of infinite worth, because there's nothing else to buy. By definition, it's worth however many dollars there are, so as the economy goes through the normal inflation process, the land increases in value without bound.

Break the spell by thinking of it this way: if there were two pieces of land, they would increase in resale value at the same rate. If there was a piece of land and a truck, they would increase in value at the same rate. We're looking at inflation here, not a bubble.

In the real world, currency is backed by assets (even if those assets are only a promise to pay). It doesn't make any sense to talk about dollars independent of their backing.
Prices for hosting Ruby should fall once mod_rails sees more widespread usage.
today one out of three kids fears an environmental apocalypse. Fears about global warming (and probably visions of a fiery inferno) are what kids' nightmares are made of these days.

Why not just focus on dirty water and smelly air? That is reason enough, in my opinion, to be responsible and forward thinking about the environment.
The article agrees with you, "many of the actions we would take to reduce greenhouse-gas production and mitigate global-warming effects are beneficial anyway, most particularly a movement away from fossil fuels to alternative solar and wind energy." He is not saying we shouldn't take action, but that we shouldn't cause a panic by exaggerating the facts.
> We hit that point two years ago

Come on guys.
Why do you say these things? It's literally 5 seconds away in a new browser tab. http://www.dailytech.com/Sea+Ice+Ends+Year+at+Same+Level+as+...
then you could consider Twitter to be a really neat user interface (both graphical and logical)

I think the word you were looking for is "clumsy".
Sorry, but polling for replies (manually or through a custom client) doesn't appear "neat" in any way.
I've heard complaints about the poor battery life on the G1. How is that working for you?
What about comparing what the users want? It doesn't matter how good the product is if everyone wants something else. Or even better yet what are your users already using? I have seen several google code projects that all point to github for the code.
This is awesome. I've been looking for something similar, I wrote about this last year: http://arvindn.livejournal.com/89794.html

Luckily I have a G1. I'm installing Locale right now.
My first attempt at hacking on Linux: a story
Battery life on the G1 is terrible. I have to bring my charger with me, if I plan on using it quite a bit that day. I hear that its the way the Android OS interfaces with the device thats the primary reason behind this. If they sorted out the battery life and added what was mentioned above, it would almost be the perfect first gen device.