skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Ten Applications That Changed Computing
Well, the article explains that their mistake was that they tried to use external software for monitoring and scaling instead of their own, and they switched numerous times because they almost worked, but not quite, until they built their own.
People moved into the burbs because they thought more would make them happy, not because cars let them get out of the city.
Google Wave as Infrastructure
Can we all just let go of the ridiculous cold-war era brain washing?

Claiming an idea is invalid because it "sounds suspiciously like (Marxism/Communism/Socialism/etc)" is an ad hominem. It's flawed thinking, a logical fallacy. When you do it, you're not effectively supporting your argument you're just revealing your own intellectual shallowness.
> You can do anything you want in this country, even if you weren't born in this country and didn't even speak the language. Just don't take no for an answer and always accept responsibility for your own failure.

It is great that you have succeeded and that people with your background can succeed in the US. However I think it's likely you are blessed with some characteristics that others don't have such as

- High intelligence

- High motivation

- The capacity to master another language

- Reasonable mental and physical health

- Some degree of luck (or at least not too much bad luck)

When giving advice for others you should keep in mind that they may not have the same capabilities that you do (I'm not talking about juliusmcfly). The flip side if your attitude is that everyone who isn't successful is substantiatlly to blame for there situation.
Ask HN: Which books and open source projects make up the programming "canon"?
Buzz Andersen mentions a few in this post: http://weblog.scifihifi.com/2005/07/22/on-interviewing/
true, but being able to write things down goes one step further than mere listening: remembering.
"If you accept evolution, then you accept that it is the species that is important -- not an individual organism. We are fighting for the very existence of intelligence in the universe. We are fighting to preserve the most unique thing we know that exists -- life itself."

That sounds terribly naive to me. According to the gene-centric view of evolution, that is completely wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene-centered_view_of_evolution

I like to watch documentaries about simians because they're the animals closest to humans. They live in society, share tasks, and generally do a lot of things humans do. Some male simians even pay for sex! It happens that the alpha male gets to impregnate most females of the group, and most males are left with nothing. These males obviously don't like being reproductive losers and rebel against the status quo. They will try to kill the alpha male and fight among themselves to see who the new alpha male will be. They will kill the former alpha male's babies so that they can impregnate the females and let these take care of their offspring, not someone else's offspring. They don't care a fig about the species, they care about fulfilling their biological role, which is to procreate with the best females of the pack.

Humans are not monkeys, but most of us aren't that different in terms of behavior. Given that there are limited resources such as food and fertile females, caring about the species makes little sense to most animals. Maybe it makes some sense to humans, but I personally think that's baloney. We have evolved beyong the basic primate level, but not as much as some people think.
Amazing Radio launches
Last.fm Down as London Data Center Overheats
Ask Hackers: What to do after successfully build Firefox 3.5?
I recently downloaded Firefox trunk from Mercurial repository of Mozilla. I have managed to build Firefox successfully on my windows XP machine. Any suggestion for a beginner to Firefox code base? I'm specifically looking to the GUI code.
Thanks
It's true! Read the article! I'm not lying!
I don't think I've ever met anyone with a consistent perspective on everything (me included). People will accept contradictory premises, especially across different fields, all the time.
All of these criticisms miss Gladwell's point. The point isn't the full court press. It's that the teams that were beaten by the full court press thought it broke some sort of unwritten rule of youth basketball that supposedly reads, "don't full court press".

The whole point of the article is that in areas of competition or warfare, very often, one side lives (and sometimes dies) by obeying rules that don't actually exist. Goliath thought that, win or lose, the battle should happen hand to hand and David knew to use a sling and a rock to his advantage.

When one side is playing by a certain set of rules that the other side doesn't have to acknowledge, then the side with fewer rules has an advantage. That's the point.
While the argument presented in this article is obviously nonsense, it is definitely not obvious that regulation is desirable. Have any of you touting regulation to 'correctly align incentives' considered how much regulation has existed already?

From the GSE's (Fannie and Freddie), the SEC, the mere existence of a central bank, to scores and scores of other existing government interventions in the economy, what we've seen in the past few decades cannot really be called free-market capitalism.

The current crisis clearly indicates that something is broken. That we have too much regulation is as plausible an explanation as that we have too little. And yet, very few people seem to even acknowledge this fact.
Usually the point-of-sale software, card readers, and receipt printer come as a package, and don't play particularly nicely with 3rd part equipment. You make a good point, but part of the reasoning behind modern receipts (of the kind you hate) is that thermal paper involves the least amount of operator overhead - put in a new roll every so often, no need to worry about separate ink cartridges etc., plus they're fast.

If you want to propose an alternative, I'd start by obtaining a copy of Quicken POS (a common piece of software) and a consumer photo printer, to see how practical it is to print out custom receipts. Then you could look into commercial volume printing solutions and see what sort of budget you'd be looking at.
Good luck in college. Work hard to transfer into Georgia Tech. I'm not a Math person by any means of the imagination so after visiting and trying to convince myself that I would do well at the liberal arts at Georgia Tech, I decided to go to Emory (starting august)

But enough about me.

It's all about a simple idea and then just doing, making an application, starting simple, and working hard without giving up. Doing website design work has exposed me to the skills, now HN is getting me exposed to the mindset, I'm taking steps.

Since you are local, feel free to get in touch with me. We have similar dreams. Hopefully employers and educators will quickly look past your GPA. I am sure they will.

nir@lonick.com
Yeah, it's not that simple. That's my whole point.

Also, can you provide some objective basis for the statement that talent should trade very high against "property"?
That receipt concept is a waste of paper mass and ink. Sure, they could improve receipts a lot, but that's not the way to do it.
Hello. A lot of your early years sound very similar to mine: Liked computers, grew up in a place where nobody knew/cared about them, was smart but never worked very hard, got by in school but never excelled. I lucked out and knew a professor that knew someone and when I dropped out of college I left for industry and have been able to keep inertia up to where I am. My advice:

1) Keep Moving. If I only had two words to tell you it would be those. You're behind the eight-ball as far as education, math in particular, goes but you can fix that... but it's not going to fix itself. Take any other classes you can in parallel but Just. Don't. Stop. What you're looking at as an crushing, insurmountable mountain of work is really only a few years.

2) Get a degree in a field you care about and can find work in. The school doesn't really matter. The old "just get the piece of paper" advice is generally considered deprecated, but you do need to have the skills. Unless you go somewhere that is actively known for its bad program (and even then that's only likely to be known locally) it will be a net positive.

3) Attempt to seek out people that are smarter and more curious than you are. I can relate to your high school experience, and I don't have a lot of hopeful to say about the people that stayed in the town I grew up in. Always keep your eyes open, though; you may find people that seem smart at first that don't seem like it after you see their weaknesses.

4) The "cities full of intelligence and ambition" thing is romantic but won't pay the bills. Be on the lookout for cities that have a solid economy and job opportunities for people with your skills and education. I suspect you'll do better more toward the west than the (north-)east, but I don't know much about the south-east. You may be better off right now than you know.

5) Use your desire to learn about geek stuff (SICP, Python, et. al.) to feed your general sense of curiosity, and your "technical taste" but don't bank on it for preparation for entrepreneur-hood. {major dissenting opinion ahead} I believe that people searching for the next big thing in the fields of the last big thing are generally wasting their time. Too bad for me (and possibly you) this industry is what I love. Tech is a great industry to be working in, but every big thing started with an itch to scratch.

Good luck!
"Ruby, for example, shoots out from the bottom right - to me, this says"

"yarv" is the graph that represents what is now Ruby 1.9, "ruby" only represents Ruby 1.8
I don't, but these guys would be worth talking to:

http://twitter.com/NAKEDpizza

http://www.nakedpizza.biz/
@dejb, I was not being condescending and if my comment came across as such, I apologize deeply. I was merely saying that life is short and it is important not to take no for an answer. This is true if you are an immigrant or not. I just happen to be one.
Why not? I think it's at least worth experimenting with to see what happens.
This is true as well. The argument isn't so pretty when you take it to its logical extremes.

It is true, however, that someone with all of those aforementioned traits and opportunities has no excuse. I think people that consistently try hard enough will eventually be blessed with some degree of luck.
All of this also assumes that government can do its job well.

That breaking up a monopoly (and how do you define one, anyway?) is good is not obvious (economies of scale, etc). But even taking this as given, that sometimes monopolies are bad, it is far from clear whether allowing government to intervene will be better.

You have to weigh the costs and benefits. Anti-trust law is extremely subjective. It's existence incentivizes companies to use it against each other to gain a competitive edge rather than real value-added approaches. Anti-trust law creates uncertainty that can deter innovation (should we develop this technology if we can't fully profit off of it?)

Government institutions are like all other institutions - they want to survive. And to survive, they need to grow. Mission creep is inevitable. So even if you have identified a narrow area in which government intervention can help, it is not obvious that we should allow government to intervene.
Just tonight on 60 Minutes, the chairman of the FDIC said she thinks it would be good if congress considered limiting the size of banks. She said it is not good when a bank gets so big that it can't be allowed to fail.
7 wakeup

8 breakfast while going through google reader, email, twitter

10 work time

12 lunch (away from computer)

1 work time, intermittent google reader and HN breaks when my mind wanders or I'm waiting for something to process

5/6 try to workout

7 dinner

8-10 wind down by watching tv, emailing, and working

Work time just depends on what's on the plate. In general, try to keep to a normal schedule to be in sync with my wife's hours.

At this time, for me personally, I'd say probably 50% coding, 5% biz dev (mostly handled by someone else), 30% marketing (analytics, coordinating interns, ads, etc.), 15% support (email, troubleshooting).

If my wife isn't working weekends (medical field), then I'll try to keep work to emails or minor bug fixes.

Monday's are slightly different since we do about a 2-3 hour conf call in the morn to sync up (3 of us).
If The Message Is Important, It Will Find Me
IMHO, this just demonstrates the extent of fluff that is the blog piece.
So regulation interferes with the natural process of business evolving so they can consume more resources and grow larger and more powerful. It also protects the "weaker" (smaller businesses and actual people) by giving them unnatural advantages that allow them to survive and avoid being obliterated by the stronger "more fit" organizations.
Vaccines interfere with the natural process of viruses evolving into more powerful organisms and giving their competition (us) an unnatural advantage that allow us to survive and avoid being obliterated by the stronger viruses.
Gimp is absolutely a replacement for Photoshop. Not necessarily adequate for professionals, but a replacement nonetheless.
I want to set up my own bank
He didn't miss the point at all. What he said was that the Warriors aren't trying to win a few marginal games this year, they are trying to build themselves back into the kind of team that can win championships, and you don't get there by training a team to press.

Dean Oliver used to write "The Journal of Basketball Studies" (http://www.rawbw.com/~deano/ ), and I recall him making the point that the press basically randomizes games. If you are a poor team, that _will_ help you win more games. But perhaps developing a culture that randomizes games isn't going to lead you to championships.

Not sure I buy the argument, but it deserves more thought, and is certainly better than you are making out.
Florida Immigration Lawyer
Kavurt is a law firm specializing in immigration law based in Orlando, Florida, founded by Turkish lawyer Jahit Kavurt.
Yes. Making stuff is the way to learn, the way to meet smart people, and the way to increase your morale.

Remember, too, that 20 is still way young. It feels old to you, because it's the oldest you've ever been, but you haven't really cut off any options yet.
Judging by the comments around here, quite a few of you seem to really want Gladwell's analogies to work.

However, the story of David and Goliath is not one of trying new techniques after failed attempts with old ones, it is the story of an act of God (and possibly technology.)

Additionally his basketball example doesn't work.

I think his point is as simple as: "when what you're trying doesn't work, try something new."

Terrific!

But the objection is with the clarity of his examples.
After living in GA for some period of time, you could be an in-state resident and transfer to GA tech. Atlanta is a great city and GA tech is a great school.
(1) First of all, definitely see a doctor--depression, anxiety, and/or whatever else you've got can and should be treated.

There are some other things worth doing as well that may help alter your mental state for the better:

* Get exercise--the brain is part of the body and is affected by its state. Regular exercise can help clear out some of the cobwebs/gloom-and-doom, etc. Exercise connects us to the physical reality that we inhabit. The endorphins may give you a boost as well.

Additionally, if you go to a gym, you will interact with other people, which will likely help your mood and, perhaps, can lead to more tangible things, i.e. a job -- that's right, you can actually do social-networking away from a computer!

* Get some sunlight.

* Eat properly.

* Sleep regularly.

* Get out of the house during the day.

If you want to work on coding, go to a Starbucks or a library or a friend with spare office space or whathaveyou.

Just get the hell out of the house.

* Get a job--any job.

Even a temp job, if necessary--something to get you out of the house, doing something useful and getting compensated for it. A non-technical job might take some of the pressure off you, let you approach technical stuff in a more relaxed way, etc. The social aspect can be useful too. If you get bored, well, that'll give you an incentive to study-up so you can get a more interesting job. And, it'll give you something to talk to your wife about, will bring more money into your household, etc.

Also, you may find out about problems that need solving that can be turned into opportunities for consulting, etc. You might even be able to build a company based on solving such problems.

If things are really bad where you are, perhaps you can volunteer and get some of these benefits too.

Good luck.

And, as stated the top, see a doctor.
"Now class, today we will talk about what you want to be
when you grow up. Isn't that fun?" The teacher looks
around and spots the child, silent, apart from the others
and deep in thought. "Jonny, why don't you start?" she
encourages him.

Jonny looks around, confused, his train of thought
disrupted. He collects himself, and stares at the teacher
with a steady eye. "I want to code demos," he says,
his words becoming stronger and more confidant as he
speaks. "I want to write something that will change
peoples perception of reality. I want them to walk
away from the computer dazed, unsure of their footing
and eyesight. I want to write something that will
reach out of the screen and grab them, making
heartbeats and breathing slow to almost a halt. I want
to write something that, when it is finished, they
are reluctant to leave, knowing that nothing they
experience that day will be quite as real, as
insightful, as good. I want to write demos."
Silence. The class and the teacher stare at Jonny, stunned. It is the teachers turn to be confused. Jonny blushes,
feeling that something more is required. "Either that
or I want to be a fireman." --Grant Smith
Go read "How to Get Rich" by Felix Dennis. Despite the rather crass title, there's a lot of great entrepreneurial nuggets in there, including one of my favorite stories of all time, where he's burning furniture for heat in his dilapidated apartment in the back of a sweatshop, trying to get his publishing company going. His girlfriend tries to get him to take one of the job offers on the table, and he almost relents because he knows that she'll leave if he doesn't. He doesn't, she does, and eventually he succeeds.

If you want to start a company, don't take a job, and don't continue doing freelance. Just start something. Here's a fantastic comment by pj on the subject:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=625644

Just keep walking.
...may I breed dogs or plant hybrid tomatoes in my garden?
Example of fancy, highfalutin' restaurant receipt:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterme/3729304/
Those who want talent to trade highly against property are those who believe the best and most capable should be making the big decisions. They have the interest of humanity-at-large at heart.

Those who want the reverse are those who have power but lack talent, and their supporters.
Get yourself into Georgia Tech, which has an excellent (read: world class) CS department. If you don't have residency in Georgia, get it before you apply. You need a job, a drivers licenses, and a residence for X amount of time. Check the local laws. Figure out which of your courses transfer. Figure out how to work the system so you can graduate in two years. You'll be 23 or 24 and have a degree from a top 10 computer science department. Sounds like a pretty damn good life to me.

Now let's talk some more specifics. You'll probably need another year to establish residency in Georgia. In that time, you need to make yourself a more attractive candidate so you can get in. If you can, get yourself down to Georgia Tech and get a job around there. A system admin job in the school's IT department would be ideal. Sit in on classes, conference with admissions officers, and call in any favors you have to get a good recommendation from someone in high school. Study for the ACT (or SAT if GT doesn't take the ACT). Honestly with half a year of preparation you can raise your score a ton. A strong standardized test would improve your application a lot. Take classes at a community college for a semester near GT. Get at least two kick ass recommendations from professors there and make sure you get a 3.5 GPA or higher. Note, getting good recommendations is an easy process. Just let your enthusiasm for computer science show, go in to the professors office hours to ask questions, and work on an independent project with them. Honestly, since GT is a public school, there are probably incentives in place to take a certain number of community college students per year and that can help you.

Some people here might advise you to teach yourself what you need and try to make it on your own. Let's be realistic. You don't even know if you are capable of working hard yet on highly technical projects. School will teach you that, and give you the ability to get a job if starting a company doesn't work out.

To give you a bottom line, you need an associates degree, at least a 3.5 GPA (> 3.7 is much better) in your community college classes, and at least two excellent recommendations from professors there. You also need a kick ass essay, which you should spend a lot of time writing and sharing with people. Any personal connection you can establish with people at the school before you apply is just an added bonus. You can make it happen, and three years from now the world will look completely different.
I'll be in touch. My mother went to Emory, and enjoyed it very much. Good luck with everything!
When I'm hunting through my papers for receipts, I want those things to look like what they are--receipts. The only drawback to the existing MASA receipt that I can see is that it's harder to make your web page look good when you're trying to show it off on your blog later.
7:30am Wake up because ideas are running through my head

8:00am Kids jump in bed with me and I get out to take a shower

9:00am Leave the house - eat breakfast in the car

9:30am Arrive at work

9:30am - 5:00pm Work, interspersed with remotely working on my project depending on how much 'work' work there is to do.

5:00pm - 9:00pm Play Dad/husband with the family, watch TV, read the kids books, get them to bed, ...

9:00p, - 10:30pm Watch a movie with the wife

10:30pm - 1 or 2:00am Actually work hard on my ideas. Lots of time to try out ideas, write code, let the database munge on some data, get some 24-hour ideas rolling, check status on older, long-term projects, read/respond to personal email, ...

2:00am Too tired to continue, go to bed.

Lack of sleep and sitting in front of a screen most of the day is affecting my eyes and digestive system, I think.
Wow, this is brilliant.

I am definitely going to try this. And will also add facebook.com and techcrunch.com to the list!!
Why worry about eternal intelligence in the universe?
Going to conferences is good for feeding your EGO!
Startup.com was a well-filmed documentary: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256408/

I saw it before I embark on the startup lifestyle, and the story rings true on many levels.
Absolutely, (2) and (3) are unacceptable. Here's hoping Amazon is better and comes to Germany soon.

Regarding the lack of competition, I found this article very interesting:

http://stakeventures.com/articles/2008/07/22/the-man-finally...

The author's argument is that the US's "Know Your Customer" regulation is the bottleneck. In his words: "KYC since it was introduced in the late 90s as a requirement has been the single most destructive concept for innovation and startups in the financial space."