skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
No, because dating a statistically significant sample of women sounds dreadfully expensive and conversions would be too slow to get results while I was still young enough to use them.

Sorry, I'm a bit literally minded. OK, so did I try saying different things to ladies to see how they reacted? Yes.

What worked very poorly: self-deprecation ("I'm gainfully unemployed"), describing myself as an engineer, and minimizing my accomplishments in starting a company. What worked very well: focusing more on the benefits of software rather than on the "software" bit, leaving a bit of ambiguity about what I actually did for a living, and mentioning things which "normal people" tend to associate with successful businessmen. (e.g. It was, at one point, equally truthful to say "I do A/B testing" and "A firm in Germany recently flew me there to speak to the CEO about what they would need to do to increase sales by a few million dollars." Try asking young ladies of your acquaintance to rate the attractiveness of two friends with those occupations.)

I got radically more successful with dating after I treated it as a marketing exercise and realized that some scripts I had internalized about it were the dating equivalent of "Good products always win so just focus on product quality and that obviates your need for a marketing strategy."
They must not, however, be given authority over who to hire and fire

It's not obvious to me that this is what actually happened here.

I worked for many years at an organisation that had a similar policy - if I wanted to hire someone that the psych evaluation had flagged as no-hire, then I needed the approval of my boss's boss.

HR didn't invent that policy on their own. They recommended it to the CEO/Management Team because they saw the number of bad hires that were coming up where the hiring manager ignored the psych eval and then all the issues that the eval predicted came true.

I didn't love the rule - particularly when the issue was something like this person you're trying to hire for a relatively boring entry level role doesn't have a lot of ambition or initiative - but it was a specific response to an identified problem. Perhaps the wrong response, perhaps not, I'm still not sure.

But what it wasn't, was an HR dept that set their own rules. Their authority was purely to enforce the CEO's decisions on hiring policy.

Because the author of this article doesn't seem to know much about the origin/nature of the policy in his organisation, it's hard to tell whether he ran into the CEO's rule, or HR's rule.

The decision to give the test in English to someone who wasn't a native English speaker is a mistake, but it might be the candidate's mistake.

My organisation gave candidates the choice of language in which to take the test, and strongly advised them to take it in their native language. Every so often we'd see someone who didn't listen to that (possibly because they didn't want us to think that they weren't confident in their english skills) and it showed.

Based on the information provided in the blog post, I'm still not sure whether the wrong decision was made or not. There were clearly mistakes in the process, but we don't know who made them, and there's no way to know whether the psych eval was accurate or not since the hire never went ahead.
4 out of every 1 million.

Which isn't many, but it might have been critical to those 4.

And given the numbers involved when we talk about YouTube, it's not like it's really as low as 4 people, it's 4 out of 1 million views on a site that generates 1 billion unique visits each month ( https://www.youtube.com/yt/press/en-GB/statistics.html ). It's actually a large number of users then.
Oh god, I am shocked and horrified to hear that these sorts of tests may now be making their way into the tech industry.

I've never encountered one of these personally, but my then-girlfriend who was a recent nursing school graduate looking for her first job ran into them and failed the first few of them. After reading about them online I'm convinced the only way for you to "pass" these tests is to be slightly psychopathic or to simply know the very flawed theory behind the tests and train yourself to take them in which case they of course test nothing but how good you are at adapting to flawed tests.

The specific test she kept running into was the "Unicru" one:

http://melbel.hubpages.com/hub/Unicru

I highly recommend anyone running into this problem with HR in their tech companies do what they can to FIRE HR. This kind of bullshit needs to be nipped in the bud if it threatens to take hold in our industry.
congratulations on the new release. the changes are welcome :) but i can't find the setting to change the ui language, where is it?
Oops, I was off by a bit. I have a 15" 1900x1200 Dell from several years ago, and am apoplectic that it's almost impossible to find anything like that these days.

That's 840,000 more pixels than a 1600x900 machine.
Maybe it's more of a perk of living close enough to your workplace. I commute 60 miles one way. No way I'm biking that everyday. It would take probably 8-9 hours round trip :)
Hoe je huid zuiveren op een natuurlijke manier? | Gezond Detoxen
Personal anecdote: One of the first companies I worked to as CTO lost me because they didn't have an HR person. The person in charge let the contract renewal negotiations slip from scheduled meeting to scheduled meeting for more than 6 month and by the time the actual meeting took place all I could say was "Sorry, I just signed somewhere else." That was the shortest contract negotiation I ever had.
Hello HN readers. I have been working on a cool idea of turning any video into an interactive pinboard. It is my first programming project. I would love to see your feedback.

Thank you
Thank you for that. Will look into it and get back to you. We are just starting out. Sorry for any short comings :)
I don't think on the right side it matches either. From J if I move down I always hit between N and M. Actually, at least on my keyboard, I think that the right side is worse - I find myself in a position where my thumb is on the space bar, my middle finger and index finger do all of the typing, and my wrist constantly shifts to hit enter.

On the left side - if I hit Z with my ring finger. If I wanted to type ZERO, normally it would be Z(pinky) E(middle) R(index) O(right ring), but with this the easiest is to hit E and R with the index finger.

Anyway, doesn't make sense to have to hack around a layout whose only purpose was to key mechanics to not jam in typewriters.
Content strategy for website owners
Ideally, an existing or a new competitor will fill the void. I really like YouTube and I realize there are viable alternatives, but web video often feels like more of a monoculture than it should be.
you can click on both the left or the right corner and have that trigger a left/right click.

alternatively (and by default), a two-finger tap is a "right click".

not sure about a middle click.
The original use-case was an engagement mechanism.

Their statement is:

> So, on September 12 we’re going to retire this little-used feature as we work to develop more effective fan engagement tools for creators.

They are going to replace it with a new thing to cover the engagement mechanism.

It is true that with things like Google Reader it was not being replaced. But in this case their statement declares an intention to replace the retired feature with something else that helps solve the engagement scenario.
Business owner? Businessman?
Or maybe it's the way you talk about it. I'm from Europe too and I'm not aware of this phenomena. Maybe the translation for that in your language has some other connotation or evokes a different feeling. In my native language we have a word for that too, but to be honest it feels completely different.

Anyways how does that kill the conversation?
-What do you do for a living?
-I'm an entrepreneur.
-Ohhh, I see. I have to go now, bye!
A bit odd.

Anyways - optimize for quality rather than quality. Having everyone fall in love with you is pretty crap if you don't like them back. You need just one.
One of the comments in the original article said that developers use MongoDB because they're too lazy to use RDBMS. I don't see anything wrong with that - laziness is a virtue among developers!

Seriously though, we are using MongoDB with great success at StartHQ (https://starthq.com) having done a lot of work with relational databases before. It's a great fit for startups where the schema is constantly evolving & the amount of data stored can be quite small.

Also, by talking to the DB directly, without an ORM, we can keep things really simple. I dread to think of what the same code would look like if we were to use a relational database, either with or without an ORM.
How is your experience with system76?
'No startup will ever use the word "startup" in its trademark.'

Says who?
Well, that's pretty disgusting. "Seemed older than she was?" I mean, seriously? This is an actual judge?
Yes, European-style "as such" exclusion, a bit clarified but still the same basic idea. Lexology writes this about today's decision:
http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=b966049f-14d9-...

"The computer program exclusion is the subject of two governmental supplementary order papers (SOPs). Government SOP 120 introduces a European-style 'as such' exclusion that is considered to be more consistent with New Zealand's international obligations and precedents. More recent SOP 237 introduces several additional new clauses intended to clarify the meaning of the term 'as such'."
Very nice and clean website. I will make sure to spread the word. What about an API? will it possible to send cross domain request and parse results in JSON?
Under a certain percentage by weight, flavors don't need to be specifically listed so that producers aren't compelled to reveal trade secret recipes.
Completely agree. The money is sunk in now and absolutely affects cash flow of anything coming up. Only think like this if you're looking at worth over affordability.

For example, as a freelancer I look at the cost of equipment against the value it provides against my earning potential.
Shopify Launches Point of Sale
INTO TABLES should be added to the title, because otherwise it's not clear how this differs from expect.

to save others time - you could use it parsing things like the output from smartctl, or ifconfig.
I use a Nexus 4. I listen to podcasts via bluetooth headset while doing chores; that's several hours on the weekends, and about one hour during weekdays. When I drive, I'm playing podcasts and using Waze (which uses GPS and Wireless networking and the screen is constantly on); that's about 1 hour/day. WiFi is constantly on and I use it to read e-mails and other social messages. I also use it for reading books (Safari To Go) throughout the day. It always lasts through the day with this behavior. I typically only plug it in on my bedstand when I go to bed, and unplug it in the morning when I get up. The only time I find I need to plug it in separately is when I watch some Netflix videos.

I recently destroyed the screen on my phone making it not possible to interact with it, so I've removed the sim and put it in a cheap feature phone. It still connects to WiFi (can't turn it off if I wanted to) and it beeps to let me know I have an e-mail. I can still listen to podcasts because my podcatcher automatically downloads and queues episodes and my headset has playback controls, and I have been using it for that purpose as much as I always have. Now when I go to bed, the battery icon has only the tiniest sliver empty; I expect it would last at least 4 days without plugging it in.

I think that it's safe to say Android OS is not draining my battery.
How do JavaScript closures work? - explaining to a 6th year old
As Orwell wrote, "the English language ... becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts."

Considering that patents are entirely a government creation, "ban" or "outlaw" does not apply, for such language treats patents as something apart from the state. Perhaps "stops issuing" would be more accurate, but it's not clear from the article whether that's actually the case.
I know a fair amount about Qt, and I have absolutely no idea why this is posted here :) most of the changes are just small tweaks and issue fixes.
Are you looking for intellectual stimulation? Or something else?

If the former, read Bram Cohen's paper on BitTorrent. A lot of academics were working on the peer to peer buzzword right after Napster came out. Bram's work shook that little corner of academia IMHO. Academics regained their footing with the horde of DHT papers that followed ala Chord, Pastry, etc. I think Cassandra uses these ideas.
Having used them for years, I still kinda hate apple keyboards. It's the shape of the keys. Most keyboards have keys with a slight indent, which guides your fingers as you type, whereas the completely flat keys on apple keyboards makes every keypress feel tentative. They /look/ nice, but the overall feel is terrible.
Show HN: random() color palette loading animation in SCSS
Shopify POS
I've been using the plain, MS Natural keyboards for over a decade; all the way back to when they had normal arrow key & home-cluster layouts. I buy one for every computer I use with any regularity, which turns out to be one at home and one at the office.

My biggest complaint is they're not super durable. A single spill of water will destroy the keyboard (I've gone through about 5 this way), and the buttons do wear out over time (my home keyboard's '1' key is wearing out).

As you say, a better built, mechanical MS Natural would be God's Own Keyboard.
You can do all of that with a SQL DB. In fact, Postgres works as an amazing key-value store if you want it to. They've even got some damned good performance in hstore compared to many use cases of Mongo. I use MongoDB and SQL DBs every day.
For the difference in price, it seems like you could buy a round-trip ticket to the United States. If they are a hot commodity in Brazil, you could buy more than one and resell them. I've never been to Brazil though, so I don't know how customs will react you importing 5 to 10 laptops.
Ask HN: Should I work for a Kickstarter startup?
While many mature startups with experienced teams have a Kickstarter promotion, the ones I'm looking at are the stereotypical ones you traditionally think of when you think of Kickstarter.

Yes, those companies.
"The solution is to get up and move around often, i.e. every ~20 minutes or so."

I agree. One method to force you to walk twice an hour is drinking a lot of water. This will keep your brain fit, you will be much less tired in the evening, when you leave for home. And - yes - you have to run to the bathroom quite often. 2-3 liters of water will do the job nicely.

That is also what my physician recommends (But don't try that with sweet or sweetened drinks).
Move over Apple? Russian firm crosses iPhone with Kindle
If you invest under a certain threshold you can actually deduct the full amount from taxes in case of failure. Don't recall the details, but it makes for a pretty sweet deal for angel investors.
Create and animate your professional website without any IT skills.
Actually, I faced the same question a few months back. I'm a Linux user and was looking for a light and decent laptop. I almost got the MacBook Air but was not ready (yet) to move from Linux to OSX. I finally purchased a Thinkpad X1 Carbon (i7) (http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x1-ca...) for less than $1400 thanks to a discount from my University. It's not cheap but definitely a nice machine. It's light, has a cool look (IMO), the display is better than the Air but the X1's battery lasts less than the Air. However, note that the battery life on recent MacBook Air's shows a rather sharp decline compared to older MacBook Pro's: http://www.extremetech.com/computing/164129-macbook-air-batt...

A comparison X1 vs Air: http://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1295563/face-app...
When It's Time to Fire a Customer
Very similar to this one: http://cvmadeeasy.com
Pro: no need to register, you can re-upload your CV later on to modify it.
Con: there is only one template, for the moment.

And the design is inspired from moderncv, a great LaTeX package :)
From a software point of view, this is what I like to most about GitHub: using the README.md visualization as your web site.

Before GitHub and README.md, when you published your source code you also had to create a small website, just to let people know what it was, how it worked and where to reach you. With GitHub you just write a quick README.md and you have published your acceptably nice homepage.

With a simple README.md you do not distract yourself with creating an homepage, writing a CSS, maybe even installing a CMS. Obviously you can create a site later on, but only if and when it is really needed.
It would probably make a bigger difference if you got something like the Kinesis Advantage Pro.
That's an insane markup. Can you buy it from US-based sellers and get it shipped to your home in Brazil? (Like via eBay or something.)

I assume there'd be customs, but my guess it that it's probably not going to bring the price anywhere close to $2.65k.
Company to pay refunds over fake alerts in 'Angry Birds'
"Crowdsourcing" or Crapweeding?
Potential vBulletin Exploit (4.1+ and 5+)
If you ever feel awkward saying something, trying saying it like the Old Spice Guy would say it. It seems to me this often makes things almost magically less awkward.

My answer around techies is different and generally focuses on tech-centric social proof, but if I were e.g. at a McKenzie family reunion where capitalism is vaguely distasteful and teachers can do no wrong, I would bang the "I helped teach X million kids a reading lesson last year" drum pretty hard.
A Year and a Half With a Nissan Leaf (Part 4): Frills and Maintenance
Jr. Web Developer
We are looking for a Jr. web developer. We have projects in various technologies, so tell us what you know and what you are best at... code examples are always great.<p>donny@groverwebdesign.com
I got mine my top spec XPS 13 for around £700 (refurb'd by Dell). Nearest MBA was over £1,100, and it had lesser specs.

Both the Dell and Apple refurb stores should be your first port of call.
https://github.com/JuliaLang/IJulia.jl
Learn to code in Railsburger, with extra pickles
There's no reason HR has to be involved in hiring decisions at all.

I wish my startup could afford to have an HR person to administer health benefits, run payroll, track receipts, and so on.
Thanks a lot for spending your time listing everything here. means a lot! sorry for the non-ascii bit. we will fix it as soon as possible.
could you pls document your experiences after some weeks of usage, how it compares to Dropbox?
sorry for that! :(
Theseus JavaScript Debugger for Chrome and NodeJS
It's only a point release - from 5.1 to 5.1.1 - this is usually just minor tweaks and fixes.

No idea why this is posted to HN. The 5.0 to 5.1 release was much much meatier and I don't recall seeing that posted.
Building our first app in Go
You're a CEO, a business owner and your own boss. I'm from eastern europe and maybe things are too different here, but I don't see how that would ever mean unemployed.
I've only heard bad things about them.
Conference anti-harassment campaigns do work
Show HN: Dynamic Charts with AngularJS and ChartJS
Yes, that was why I thought of Asimov.

The thing I was unaware of was that Asimov did actually think of his writing as social science fiction.
Does Indiegogo simply block the amount or really gets and refunds back?
There can be features with VERY poor CTR overall that are still valuable for very specific and valuable segments of your population of users. I wonder how much they dug into this and explored the potential systemic impact? I assume they did... but I can't help but have some doubt.
That's a good question. I've been thinking of whether I should go with an ultraportable (with great battery life) or a super-powered desktop replacement (with 1-2 hours of battery life).

Clevos seem to give the most bang for the buck (in terms of price/performance). system76 and Sager both sell rebranded Clevos. A model I've been thinking about is the Clevo W370ST.

It's 17.3", has a 1080p matte screen and a bunch of other things. But I read that the Clevo/system76/Sager's screen quality is not particularly good. Also, one commentator on a thread complained about hard drive rattle (a case / build problem) and others about very loud fan noise while doing CPU-intensive stuff.
nice indeed :) all the best! when you say inspired its not LaTeX underneath?
I agree that HR serves a role in the company and that they cannot simply be fired, but there are a few points I heavily disagree with:

> "Is the CEO out in the market calibrating salaries every day?"

No, but neither should this be a HR responsibility. HR has no fucking idea how well someone is doing, nor can they be reasonably expected to since they neither work with these employees daily, nor do they have domain knowledge of what they do. Raises and promotions need to be handled by someone with the correct background - CTO for small companies, VPs for larger ones.

HR should not be handling raises.

> "Does the CEO have time to analyze optimal organization designs?"

YES. Emphatically yes. He/she's the Chief Executive Officer, the structure of the company is entirely their business. HR has no substantial insight into the specific needs of the business structure, if they did, shit, fire the CEO and make HR the boss.

The CEO is a manager first and foremost, and organizational design is one of the most fundamentally important parts of the position. Letting HR do this is abdicating a primary responsibility of the role.

> "Should the CEO do all the initial fit screens?"

Yes, for small companies. No, for larger companies, but neither should it be HR. Again, HR has no idea how the team dynamics in your company works. Who do you think is a better judge of culture fit - the CTO/VP who's interacting with the team daily, or the HR person who rarely speaks to any of the engineers? Once again this is very much a CTO/VP role.

> " Chase down background checks?"

This is pretty much the only thing in your list that I'd say firmly belongs to HR. HR administrates benefits, HR mediates disputes, HR performs the clerical duties in hiring - including background checks. HR is not a decision maker any more than you'd let your accountant make strategy decisions for your company.