skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I didn't see this. Sorry.

I mostly agree with your penultimate paragraph. But in answer to the why people should want to hide their porn habits: it is enough that other people would judge a person for porn, or any other habit, to discourage open sharing. For instance, I smoke weed very infrequently and think this is okay but it's not something I would be okay being open about.
I'm curious why the original article wasn't the one submitted (though it's inserted at the bottom of that entry).

The submitted article is hosted on the original author's blog.
"Inexplicably, the palm tree Hastings’ car hit has scorched bark and slightly wounded base --approximately 16"W x 4.5" H x 1"D-- seemingly minimal damage for a 3,538 pound car striking the tree at a reportedly 100 mph."

Here's a data point. A street race on a street where I live got out of hand and a mid-size sedan went at an estimated 80mph into the trunk of a magnolia tree in the median. The car body was literally torn in half, and four of the five occupants were killed.

That magnolia has a chunk out of its bark about the size indicated in the quote. It is still very much alive, and five years later, people forget which tree to put memorial candles underneath.

I live about 150 meters from the site of that accident. It also sounded like an explosion (big "thump", that brought me and my neighbors out of our houses at around 10 or 11 at night).

I don't know one way or another about the specific crash in the OP -- just pointing out that armchair forensics is prone to error.
Thanks for that link. Totally grok what he's saying.

One thing I've realized is that, when pitching, I have to pitch me rather than pitching a team. Or more to the point, pitching that a: I have a real solution for a real problem for real customers (enterprise change management ain't the same as monetizing pictures of cats on the internet), and b: I'm capable of creating a company and building a team to bring this vision to life.
But what was leaked is really not all that much. Recall that 1Bq is a disintegration per second, and, although a few trillion is quite a bit, this is over a massive volume. Now, there's nothing stated in terms of how much leaked into water sources, so, there's little judgment that can be made. But I believe it's little to truly worry about.
As you showed (see chromatic's answer) in your first comment, you have no clue about even the small built in library in Perl.

Yet you have lots and lots of really flaming opinions about something you obviously haven't used enough to understand the tradeoffs -- everything has good and bad sides.

So, a counter question at your level:

Why do we get so many stinking language war trolls out of your Python environment? Something must be seriously sick when an open source environment generates that type of sick behavior in its members?

Now, I don't care about your personal problems -- but you trolls lower the HN quality. You all write the same flames about things you don't want to know. Just don't use it.

(Afaik, Perl is executable directly when loading in a pre-phase -- which might change the execution environment for other code when it is compiled. this is another tradeoff, where Perl is squarely on the side of expressibility. A feature with plus and minus effects (like making syntax extensions easier) -- except for stinking language war trolls, where everything except their model is bad...)

Edit: As I noted in another place -- yeah references suck. Now, can you discuss list comprehension as an extra kludge people have to learn just because Python lacks multi-instruction lambdas?
every time i drive to San Diego, i'm always struck at the view of this thing and how out of place it is and what could happen there. Seems common sense is winning as i heard they stopped reactors there and don't plan to restart.
How can you possibly know that without knowing the exchange rate?

(It's about 1.5 USD per GBP, so that's $52k - $60k... which is silly for a "senior developer" but I think actually reasonable for a low-cost-of-living entry level position.)
Ask HN: Half-Decent FOSS Survey Software
I'm interested in putting together a moderately complicated survey, and am pretty shocked at the apparent dearth of options. Scanning Google and Github didn't pull up very much promising software:

* http://www.limesurvey.org/

* http://www.surveyproject.org/

I'd self-host. The survey itself would have multiple-choice questions which can branch/skip and some free-choice sections. It needs reasonably customizable styles so it doesn't have to look like it's from 1998. Easy-to-implement iframe embed-ability would be a big plus.

Honestly, I could roll something like this myself in a week, which is why I figure Someone Must Have Done It Already. But who?
I've been rewriting my code through Apple System 6->System 7->System 8/9->Carbon->OS X->PPC to Intel->iOS. Honestly most of my memories dealing with Apple have been deprecation and rewrites.

Every time Apple touts some new technology, I think to myself that they'll be sunsetting it in 5 years or whatever. I'm coming to terms with nearly the entirety of the code I wrote the last 24 years being useless. I highly recommend to anyone getting started in software development to only use open source and cross platform tools.

My own theory for why most software projects can only reach a million lines of code is that this is the limit of entropy. Think of it as, what's the largest boat that you can safely bail out with a bucket of water?

Your apps will be quite a bit smaller on Mac OS than say, Windows or Linux, or else you'll find yourself keeping up with changes more than making stuff. And I don't believe deprecation is a necessary evil to innovate or pivot. Apple could and should do much better in this department.
Wow, really? That kind of research fascinates me. I would be interested in seeing your thesis if it is available online!
Do burgers kill a lot of vegans? Because coal kills a lot of people who aren't coal miners.
Having experience both in peer-support groups and as a trained mental health practitioner, I can see some perils and some promise in this idea and am interested in watching it evolve.

If anyone else is reading that wants to build something similar, I would love a marketplace for online therapists with solid reviews, bio statements/therapeutic orientation statements, clear pricing/insurance information, etc.
The infamous Atomic Village problem, particularly Tepco's corruption is quite well known and paradoxically accepted by the society.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGsYdDpUSzg

(turn on captions)
It's funny, all this advertising...

They report and store everything their devices hear, now they're telling us that the devices are ALWAYS LISTENING.
Sample Scala + Play 2 Web Application
You're comparing apples to oranges. The language's name is "Go", not "golang". The trend chart for "golang" is meaningful only in relation to itself.
I signed up about an hour ago and got my email just now.
The given reason for that is that it is a popular game that has no native version (so no one will ask why he is porting Midnight Commander) and it does not use much OS X API. It uses OpenGL, OpenAL, IOKit (for finding input devices), AppKit (creating window), CGL (for configuring OpenGL) and CoreVideo (for running main loop).
Looks like the contribution guide link on http://hugo.spf13.com/doc/installing is pointing to the wrong place (http://doc/contributing)
Looking forward to trying this out! As an FYI, you're missing a period in one of your paragraphs for your email copy "...If you’re not sure what to build? ...no worries, I have advice for that too" - that last line should be "too.".
It's very hard to imagine how an iWatch or Apple TV would be perceived as "revolutionary" like the iPhone, iPad or iPod were. They're not new ideas. Even if the iWatch and Apple TV are the best choices in their field, I don't think that will change the narrative surrounding their brand currently.
They don't appear to be commercially available, and some of them seem rather special-purpose.
Does anyone have any tips for finding quality olive oil?

The only way I've had success is to buy inexpensive single-source stuff, even if it's inexpensive and non-Italian. Best olive oils I've had were single-sourced from Spain; $2 from a discount store. Maybe no-one wants to fake non-Italian oil?
People: don't speculate, don't buy into conspiracies, rely on hard evidence. The more you veer into conspiracy territory the more anything else you say will fail to be taken seriously. Remember that.
What would cause a car to blow up 3 times in such a short period of time? If there were any kind of explosive, they would probably know immediately.
If you've taken multiple courses, then wouldn't your knowledge be cumulative? If you're an absolute beginner, any given course may be too fast or confusing, but after you've seen info on routes, models, generators a few times, the next bullet point tends to stick better
I think that engineers need to control enforcement of these policies and what the policies are automatically. Until law becomes an information technology you are not going to make any headway on everyone gaming the system and taking advantage of loopholes like hiring foreign workers because they are cheaper.

So we really need that but another aspect of this is just massive global inequality which to me is an amazing civil/humanitarian rights issue. Its amazing that everyone just accepts it.

I think when it comes down to it we should be bringing more brilliant people out of crappy oppressed resource starved countries into our wealth hogging country. But we shouldn't have to lie about the reasons for doing it or pay them less just because we can get away with it.
Python 2.7 (Mid 2012 Macbook Pro, 2.5 GHz i5, 8GB, not using SSD)

sum + xrange (consumes ~20MB virtual memory):

$ time python2.7 -c "print sum(xrange(1,1000000001))"
500000000500000000
python2.7 -c "print sum(xrange(1,1000000001))" 11.06s user 0.02s system 99% cpu 11.089 total

reduce + xrange (consumes ~20MB virtual memory):

$ time python2.7 -c "print reduce(lambda a, b: a + b, xrange(1,1000000001))"
500000000500000000
python2.7 -c "print reduce(lambda a, b: a + b, xrange(1,1000000001))" 128.74s user 0.13s system 94% cpu 2:16.51 total

My machine swapping like crazy for more than an hour when I try using range(). I suspect it hasn't even finished allocating the list when I kill the process after it consumes >30GB virtual memory.

$ time python2.7 -c "print sum(range(1,1000000001))"
I have a friend that was /very/ recently diagnosed with type 2 bipolar disorder. She really needs people to speak with, and I'm excited to pass this along to her. Kudos, team!
The Embassy Closures Prove Everyone's Point on NSA Surveillance
True-- for now.

The question is: is it better to spend billions researching new generations of nuclear reactors or to spend billions working on energy storage?

The former will lead to a switch from older, less concentrated fossil fuels to a newer, more energy-dense fossil fuel. But it's not without well-known problems.

The latter will result in a permanent, eternal solution to the energy problem.

There are limits to how much solar and wind is available, but those are orders of magnitude beyond our civilization's current energy requirements. Other limits to growth -- arable land, decreasing fertility with increasing wealth -- will likely prevent us from ever even approaching those limits.

Solve the energy storage problem and the industrial revolution becomes as permanent as the agricultural revolution. Nuclear power won't do that. So energy storage technology is IMHO a more prudent, higher dividend investment than better nuclear reactors.
You guys had me scared that something big was happening in San Diego until the name clicked.

I think it was the Mayflowers that were really behind it.
> * that is laughably, sadistically low, even for an entry level position in Podunk, Nowhere*

The salaries are low by US standards, but not "laughably" so IMHO.

In USD, those salaries currently translate to $53k - $60k. I know developers in the Bay Area who make the same (not taking equity into account), and I'm sure those salaries are reasonable in "podunk nowhere, USA".

I guess it's also worth noting that the dollar is currently somewhat strong relative to the pound (in 2009 it was closer to 1:2 GBP:USD, for instance).
Not "slow" in frames per second, but "slow as in film speed. At the time they could maybe reliably shoot at the equivalent of ISO 800? (some historically informed cinematographer, please feel free to correct me.

On the topic of FPS, though, that's definitely an ongoing issue. I wrote up some of the most salient points a while back here, if you're interested:

http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/08/frame-wars/
I had a hunch you'd get slightly more dollars for pounds - looked it up and did the math and it's still a pathetic offer.
You've missed my point. He's taken an active stand, but he probably hasn't made his data harder for the NSA to get, and probably has made it easier for other people to get.
If you don't mind, I'd like to hear of your experiences too. I'm part of a start-up team building a somewhat similar product. My email is jani@viima.com
> No one but you thinks it's OK to start investigations with "tips" based on excludable evidence.

That's a massive overstatement, as can be seen by noting that there is virtually no controversy over the anonymous tip hotlines that have been used for decades by virtually every police force in the country.
The article implies that you should find something that tastes good for you, not fetishize the origin/process.
I have been a lurker for quite a long time on HC now and I created an account just to give you very heavy kudos. Ive been through some serious times in my life and this service would have been a godsend. Thank you and I will spreading the word about your site.

Good luck.
Second sentence: "A new surveillance video from a nearby business obtained by San Diego 6 News and posted by LA Weekly graphically shows multiple explosions consuming his 2013 Mercedes Benz." Did you see the video?
To say that this is extremely suspicious is an understatement. I'll be very interested to see what comes of this. If it comes out that someone carried out a hit on a fairly renowned journalist in order to cover up some dirty laundry, there will be hell to pay.
They aren't unemployed, they entered industries other than engineering, like finance, medicine, or law, because they expected higher pay there.
Is there something special about this Play! Application? The README doesn't say much
Actually, no, that's not "known" outside of gun grabber propaganda, which is the sum total of the "knowledge" you're displaying about this topic.

I wonder, have you ever bought a gun in a gun store? Done so after 1998?
Off-topic, but still interesting in context of social networks as a leakage vector:

Since its inception, the SOD's mandate has expanded to include narco-terrorism, organized crime and gangs. A DEA spokesman declined to comment on the unit's annual budget. A recent _LinkedIn_ posting on the personal page of a senior SOD official estimated it to be $125 million.
True, I was thinking about universal deployment to PaaSes, etc
Toshiba may have a decent answer for nuclear power, as described by one of the writers who investigated Three Mile Island, and whose friends helped battle Chernobyl many moons ago. A writer who just happens to not write under the name Mark Stephens ... namely, Robert X Cringely.

Here's what he wrote about Toshiba [0], ~ 2.5 years ago when Fukushima lit up:

But the new plants also have to show they can survive an 8.9 earthquake and reduce the number of critical failure points. Toshiba's 4S reactors, which have been around for several years now, though not yet commercially successful, do all that quite easily.

4S reactor cores are like nuclear building blocks, built on a factory production line and transported by truck to be installed 30 meters under the ground. Each 4S puts out 10 megawatts of electricity or enough for 2000 Japanese homes. Following this path means the lost 1000 megawatt reactors will need 100 4S's each to replace them or a total of 1200 4S reactors. 4S's are fueled at the factory, put in place to run for 20 years then returned to the factory for refueling. They are sodium-cooled and pretty darned impossible to melt down. If the cooling system is compromised they automatically shut down and just sit there in a block of sodium.

I admit I haven't followed the Toshiba 4S model's progress in the intervening time, but was fascinated at the idea when I read about it before. Cringely isn't a nuclear engineer, but he's no slouch, either. It's all worth a read.

----------

[0] http://www.cringely.com/2011/03/13/is-anything-nuclear-ever-...

... and here's more of RXC's writing on the topic. Fascinating stuff:

http://www.cringely.com/2011/03/11/flea-powder-may-be-saving...

http://www.cringely.com/2011/03/16/who-ya-gonna-call-superta...

http://www.cringely.com/2011/03/30/plutonium-is-forever/

http://www.cringely.com/2011/09/20/truth-about-fukushima-dai...

http://www.cringely.com/2012/05/24/the-next-japanese-nuclear...
I should post for reference:

At Goldman/JPM/MS, the going rate (inclusive of bonus) right now seems to be:

100-150k for analysts (1-3 years out of undergraduate);
200-300k for associates (3-5 years out);
300-500k for VPs (6-8 years out);
500k+ for MDs (8+ years out)

And we're not talking about the guys bringing in a billion dollars as traders. This is for the rank-and-file.
That page feels very spammy.
A statement without any supporting evidence...
An argument I've never seen made regarding H1B software engineer hiring: is better for the entire county in the long term for the US to import as many good software engineers as it can, or is it better to restrict supply?

If any good software engineer were allowed carte blanche emigration to the US, the US would have more of the world's top engineering talent, which may be a good thing overall even if it depresses wages. On the other hand, high wages may encourage more young US citizens to go into computer science--assuming they can hack it.

I wonder if this is just another nature vs nurture debate. If you presume that the world's supply of "smart people" is fixed, you want to import all of them and get them to procreate in the US. If you assume intelligence is growable, you want to focus on growing it domestically.
The state is accusing you of a crime, and you have the right to confront the prosecutor. You can confront any witnesses brought against you. You do not have the right, and never have had the right, to confront every single person in the state who had ever heard about your case. You do not, for instance, get to summon the President or even your state governor to testify in your cases.

Once again: the information generated from this program does not generate evidence. It generates intelligence.

There is an evidentiary issue involved in the program, which is that it might generate exculpatory facts that the defended might want to introduce into evidence, which the defendant should have the right to discover. But that's (a) going to happen very infrequently and (b) isn't close to the biggest problem with the program, which, for the nth time today, I don't support either.
Does anyone know if there is any technical difficult in producing them in a large scale? (besides the fact that maybe the market is not so big)
I'm going to preface this by saying that I am very open to the possibility that the US government is assassinating people that cause it trouble. No, I'm not open to it per se, rather I am sure it is happening.

This Michael Hastings stuff is getting pretty silly though. A careful, transparent, investigation is probably warranted, but some of the stuff seemingly being used to indicate foul play is just silly. Take for example this:

"Inexplicably, the palm tree Hastings’ car hit has scorched bark and slightly wounded base --approximately 16"W x 4.5" H x 1"D-- seemingly minimal damage for a 3,538 pound car striking the tree at a reportedly 100 mph. Also pictures taken by San Diego 6 News show the curb has a small scratch, but no major chipping or fractures and the rear tires resting against the curb."

They are careful to not actually say it, but the implication here seems to be that perhaps the car did not actually hit the tree, or perhaps did not even burn there. Didn't I just watch video footage of the car smacking the hell out of the tree, and then bursting into flames? Even if we go with "radio controlled car with a fire bomb", it is very clear that a collision and fire did happen with that tree. You find it odd that a tree survived? It's a fucking tree.

If car accidents are the sort of thing that you don't mind viewing, you can google "Car split in half by a tree at high speed reddit". Car literally split in half by a tree. The bark was knocked off the tree and part of the car was wrapped around it, but otherwise it was fine (though the tree will eventually die without the bark)
I'm not sure the distinction of what is and is not NSA proper is even meaningful anymore. They deal with national security and intelligence, not child porn, so they almost certainly weren't the primary actor in this case. But given all of the contractors and cooperating agencies and resources that are publicly known, which I would assume is only the tip of the iceberg, it makes little practical difference which agency is on the badge of who pulls the final trigger.

Given the IP space involved, SAIC's involvement, their known existing work in this area including their willingness to purchase exploits for government/law enforcement, and the target, it's a huge stretch to come up with any other explanation.

As someone usually ending up on the anti-NSA side of these discussions, I don't think there is anything particularly surprising or worrying about this. They (whichever agency it was) used an exploit in what was a fairly significant bust in their eyes. I haven't personally analyzed it but I gather it did something ranging from log identifiable information to installing malware. Regardless of what it did, this is a pretty expected law enforcement tactic for adversaries of this nature.

As pointed out by you and others, SAIC definitely has fairly incompetent moments, but they have a lot of money. This is why they can put enough of an attack together to deliver a sophisticated exploit (likely purchased) and execute on the operation, while still leaving their tracks on everything and being somewhat sloppy.

I've seen mixed comments as to whether or not it was actually patched upstream, but if it was, that makes even more sense. If it was patched, they had to use it before it made it into the Tor bundle, or lose it entirely. Generally, high value exploits that are 0day - unknown and unpatched, are not given to law enforcement.

I think to suggest this was "psyops" or something is giving SAIC far too much credit. It was just a sloppy raid that used an exploit, for any number of legitimate reasons.
Seems like a better lesson to learn would be "Don't use software written by people who've never read an RFC and know nothing about security." That way you could avoid awful software written in any language.
How Tesla Makes Millions Selling Carbon Credits
I was thinking the same thing about the bokeh, but clearly if you don't like how bright points of light in the background look, don't frame your shots that way. The Barry Lyndon shots look great.
More specifically, he was shooting a period film with all natural lighting — candles, to be precise, which you may recall are somewhat dimmer than professional lighting setups! (Terence Malick, or rather his cinematographer, does this too)

But yes, the film speed was an issue, since you can't exactly use mega-fast film for 35mm or the grain will be distracting.
Doctor timeline for Doctor Who