skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I thought Techcrunch was a reliable place to get unbiased opinions. I never would have guessed they censor dissenting opinion until I got censored on some slightly critical comment about the direction Techcrunch articles are moving. Unbelievable, Michael Arrington is a hypocritical dictator.
But those machines (Smalltalk, Lisp) had dedicated HW dealing with gc, special instructions, etc.
*faircompanies (http://faircompanies.com) aims to provide information and tools on sustainability.
Can this be effectively used for screen scraping?
> If you have a site that's about you does the world really care if your "MyFaceSite" isn't viewable if you aren't online?

Nope - but your friends do. And you've identified why Opera Unite will fail. Because you cant host your content in any worthwhile fashion w/o leaving a PC on 24/7. And if you host GB's of photo's your going to end up with huge bandwidth bills if you have 100 friends all taking a look...

Opera Unite is trying to apply an "always on service" to a "real-time only" model. Hmm.
I don't have much experience in CL, but I started to really like the fact that clojure is Lisp 1. When I have a hash map "client", I can use all three:

(get client :phone)

(:phone client)

(client :phone)

It takes some getting used to, but I already came to expect (and enjoy) that any symbol I use can be a function.
Is Privacy An Illusion? Facebook Fans Claim Hack Exposes Private Profile Info
Also... The more the runtime knows, the more it can optimize away (JIT).
It was a comment on the previous posters claim that certain social sites were popular because the data was stored centrally!

You don't care where the data is stored as long as there is a common address for it,.
2012... the year COBOL died!
Can you recommend a link where we can learn to differentiate the various eletronic music styles ?
and programmers in the US don't write software that has to work in Europe too?
> My worst case : Idea goes live. Initial projection of time dragged. But the organizer plays dishonesty and kicks me / other coders out, taking the whole share.

More likely - organizer claims that your contribution is worth significantly less than you think that it is. (Perhaps he'll say something along the lines of "it was my great idea and organization while anyone could have done what you did".) You get a pittance and walk away, mad. On the way out, you'll sign over what you did.

Point out that you own everything that you create until there's a formal agreement otherwise and that that will make it impossible to get investment. The organizer will probably then decide that such a formal agreement is necessary. At that point, you point out that said formal agreement needs to include "consideration" for you. (It actually doesn't, but ....)
The level of abstraction matches most hardware.

Not all code written in C is performance-critical. But sometimes it's still the best choice if your code is directly talking to hardware.
Of course they do but not as often as one would think.
If I build it, how much would you pay to use it?
My main complaint is that callers to my GV number keep getting picked up by my ATT voicemail.

I've followed all the setup directions, and things work fine 75% of the time - but that other 25% of the time I get confused messages from callers who dialed my business only to hear my personal voicemail greeting.
This the same Harry Dent who said the DOW would be at 30,000+ by 2012. Dent is a fascinating speaker but he has a tendency to go overboard in his predictions. I'm a fan of his and (at one time) subscribed to his newsletter, but don't give this prediction the same weight as one made by somebody like Krugman or Roubini.
$10 - $30 yearly. Of course if I worked at a company that used this (like a sales organization) I would probably have a whole ton of licenses.
I guess I'm not sure what you mean by "in the same league".

Statistical arbitrage, BS, etc form the fundamental theory of finance. It's certainly as fundamental to finance as DNA is to biology.

In terms of real world impact, financial engineering is definitely greater than knowledge of DNA. So far genetics has gotten us very little in terms practical outcomes.

Maybe you are just making a judgment that finance is less valuable than other fields? If so, I can't really argue with that.
advertising is about visibility and a square inch is nothing. How many people will see this ad?
So... cute [ "the economist"'s name is Harry Dent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Dent suggests he has some substantial credentials.

And (but) he seems to make his publishing income from doom books (see titles in wikipedia).

However, regarding his omniscience (apparently valued by abc.net.au (= australian broadcasting, not abc.com), check out his 1998 title:

The Great Depression Ahead (2009)

The Next Great Bubble Boom (2004)

The Roaring 2000s Investor (1999)

The Roaring 2000s (1998)

The Great Jobs Ahead (1995)

The Great Boom Ahead (1993)

Our Power to Predict (1989)

Not exactly prescient-looking any more to refer to "The Roaring 2000s"

Which economist will stand up and quote Shakespeare: "Believe none of us. We are errant rogues and knaves all." ?

[/cynicism]
I remember being a fly on the wall at a discussion between several very smart VM guys at Camp Smalltalk maybe 7 or 8 years ago. (VisualWorks, Smalltalk/X, Smalltalk Agents, Squeak, Dolphin.) Apparently, there's a lot of stuff chip makers could put in to general-purpose processors to generically support High Level languages. I think it's high time we had some of this, given the prevalence of Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, PHP (yes, it would benefit them too).
#2, "Functions must be declared before first call",is very irritating (to me) It feels like I am back in Pascal land
Oh, BCC is a totally different story. I've worked with an Indian freelancer or two before, including most notably the young lady who did the site design I'm currently using. Using that experience as an example -- it wasn't totally friction-free but I got something valuable accomplished which I couldn't do myself. It would have been cheap at five times the price.

With regards to BCC, I have no intention of outsourcing any project which is not small, self-contained, and describable in a page or less. That means coding the program/website stays in-house. Or, hmm, in apartment kitchen as the case may be.
http://techno.org/electronic-music-guide/
The money doesn't disappear. It just didn't exist in the first place. People will still have money, wealth will still exist and people will still have something to give for tangible and useful services.

It's like when people say that file-sharing is losing £x million for the economy. It's not like that money doesn't exist anymore it just goes somewhere else.
Relative wealth of individuals is more important to an operational society than the actual figures involved.
I have no experience working with Indian outsourcing companies, so for now I'll just accept the general consensus here.

Ok, if it's true that these people lack initiative, but are very good at following directions, then can one game the system to get essentially a parallel processor made out of humans?

This would require the Indian outsourcing firms to be programmable. I.e. what's the overhead in uploading your own custom process / methodology, and training people on it? Do the benefits of scale outweigh the "re-tooling" time?
Wow, there's a UTF-EBCDIC? What next, UTF-Morse code?
It's not worth it. Why not just get a contract before the company is registered? You can draw up a document that says what will happen after registration.

Otherwise, don't start working until the registration is complete.
> We are dealing with "poky" high level languages like Ruby and Python because a lot of us find Lisp, Smalltalk and Self horrendous to work with.

I think that's the main problem. There are lots of "Lisps" out there besides Common Lisp (which is what most people think of when they hear "lisp"). I.e. Scheme, newLISP, and Clojure come to mind.

Pick one of those three Lisps and learn it, you'll be wondering why anyone in their right mind would consider writing in any other language, unless it was a lisp. As someone once said, there's a reason people become Lisp zealots; just take a look at it.
It is a fact that the PS3 is a lot more painful to develop for, than 360 or Wii. Maybe his goal is to get Sony to come out with some better developer tools. Or just stuff that works right, and makes sense.

Sony's attitude toward developers, as reflected in the quality of their tools, seems to border on contempt. With the PS2, it was well worth the effort because of the huge number of units. With the PS3, it isn't quite as clear-cut.
For web developers, it matters as soon as a user pastes text with curly quotes from a Word document web page. For other developers, it matters as soon as you have to parse a file format or use a protocol with non-ASCII data. I'm in the U.S., and I've eventually had to deal with character encoding at five of the six companies I've worked for.
How bad? Bad. Very bad. Bad, bad, bad. Did I mention "bad"?

I'm not allowed to talk (much) about it, but the short version is: been there, done that, to the tune of several million bucks that are currently missing from my pocket.

So, the answers to your questions (in order):

1) Worse than you can imagine.

2) Some do, but not all. Which means, to be safe, you have to pretend no one does.

3) Yes, undoubtedly. There's only two ways to find out: a) lawyer up, or b) roll the dice, and pay the price. I'd strongly recommend the former.

4) Not much. You might get lucky and draft an agreement that is as good as a lawyer would write. You might also get hit by a meteor made out of twenty-dollar-bills. I wouldn't count on either.

5) Diddley-squat, if your goal is to protect yourself.

To sum up: pay the damn lawyer. View the expense as something like health insurance-- it's a pain in the ass to pay for it when you don't need it, but it's a zillion times worse to really need it and not have paid for it.
Wikipedia Expands to Boost Performance
Which is exactly why Fortran compilers are still faster than C++.
> Just because you already happen to have a certain function at your disposal doesn't mean your language is suddenly superior.

You are certainly correct in that. That's not what makes Lisps superior to all other languages though, "it's the syntax stupid."

Edit: Sorry, I know that comment appears trollish (and it is), what I meant to say is that unlike Python, Lisp(s) have virtually no syntax, and are more powerful because they treat code as data. It would take me a blog post to explain why that's important, but if you give the language a shot you will see why that is (and compare how long it takes you to learn it to how long it took you to learn Python!).
I'm not familiar with CL's "PROGV", but you can indeed dynamically rebind vars at runtime with Clojure:
http://paste.lisp.org/display/73551
Wall Street is "fixing the mess" by robbing you blind. They are manipulating the political system to shift their losses into massive tax obligations on you and your children. Meanwhile Goldman Sachs-- a recipient of billions in TARP funds and numerous Fed guarantees, is preparing to issue record staff bonuses this year.
Retwis, an Example Ruby+Sinatra+Redis App
The argument, the so-called "Ageing population" factor, smacks of the manufactured stuff that 24/7 cable news producers come up with on slow news days.
Python and Ruby do one particular thing right that Smalltalk didn't:

Operator Precedence for Algebras.

Implementing an Algebra is a very important thing for a language to be good at. Being able to use algebras without having to switch mental gears is a good thing for scientists, mathematicians, and technical people of all stripes.

IMHO, the ability to easily implement your own algebra is a hallmark of a great language. Having that with the operator precedence is a bit of very justified syntactic sugar.
It also eliminates a very large class of errors- typos when referencing other functions. Tradeoffs...
_I also have a fondness for old Denis Leary standup, so I may be pre-disposed to hyperbolic ranting._

Indeed. That was the IT version of "You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna get myself a 1957 Cadillac El Dorado convertible. HOT PINK! With whaleskin hubcaps, an all leather cow interior, and big brown baby seal eyes for headlights! YEAH! And I'm gonna drive that baby at 115 miles per hour gettin' one mile per gallon..."
His 2012 prediction may still come true-- in inflated dollars though!
Various other countries do allow you to purchase various prescription drugs which are considered by the US to be unsafe. It doesn't cause any serious harm.

For example, Iran does not have an epidemic of dying women due to OTC birth control.
Don't stop believing in the RIAA's capacity for evil
Look at Shaadi.com.

[Looks at Shaadi.com...]

Well, no kidding. I couldn't even fill in the form right. What the hell is my caste? No one told me.
Debugging the Mars Pathfinder
He once saved the CEO/founder 2 million dollars. Afterward, he was considered a saint, and we've had to deal with his technical incompetence ever since.
not to mention a large portion of PS3 users are older people who buy it as a bluray player with extras rather than a video game system that can play bluray
.. and then you rewrite all your string manipulations?

Unlike other new technologies, you're already using it from the beginning (and in your approach, incorrectly). Spend the two hours to figure out how to do the basic work right at the beginning.
Multi-process Firefox, coming to an Internets near you
Cell Phones Getting Too Complicated, Poll Finds
The 3g's of non-innovation @ apple
Web Fraud 2.0: Franchising Cyber Crime
This link has nothing to do with HN.
Visualizations of Iran Proxy Wars
You are right, but it is more complicated than that. About $13 trillion has disappeared/ been destroyed through mal-investment and the collapse of the credit bubble. Those dollars are GONE. The problem is that large parts of our economy were geared around those resources/cash flows/projected revenue streams, so the rebalancing to the "new normal" is painful. (Think autos, finance, consumer electronics, malls, housing, retirement savings).
Something that worries me is the value of the dollar, long-term. Right now the government is essentially printing dollar bills and handing them out to citizens and companies.

Economic history teaches us that this is the correct response in the short and medium run (given our limited economic data set currently available - 100 years isn't terribly long of a time). It stimulates the economy, and keeps things from contracting "too much" like they did in the 1930's. There is a long-term cost to printing dollars, however, which could be high inflation (prices for everything increase, meaning your dollars have less buying power than before).

I'm not sure how this will all play out, but I'm sure we can all agree that it's not sustainable for a terribly long time. Maybe a year or two and that's it.

Has anyone come across anything written by an economist who has thought things out beyond the next year or two?
"Here's the directions to get to my house from the train station"

Which constitutes a large part of the answer to how directions are given in Japan: it is almost always relative to the nearest train station. "Go out the South exit, turn right at the Colonel Sanders statue and go two blocks past the Pachinko parlor..."
If one could leverage the P2P computing and network power of the whole user-base, you'd have something significant. The problem is doing that in a way which you can charge money for, or drive advertisement.
I was treated quite well by O'Reilly's OSCON - I got airfare from Europe + a hotel room. ApacheCon treats its speakers well too.
The question still stands. Why has this paper, a PDF on a server, been copied over to scribd? Why are they effectively removing traffic from someone else's site?

Why are they breaching copyright?
I assert that it is both.
The main problems I have with the PS3 are 1) the size & and the content of its software library 2) the QA level of the games

Programming for the PS3 is no easy task given the strange design of the cell processor and short comings of Sony's SDKs and frameworks. Given this, I feel that most developers/publishers are less apt to take risks with PS3. This leads to less games, and more games that are mainly ports from the 360. To add insult to injury most of these ports (and DLC) come later and they also tend to have a lot more bugs.

In defense of PS3, the other consoles aren't perfect either (360's were breaking left and right, and not having a hard drive by default was a big mistake game wise; Wii's software library is mostly shovel ware for 5 year olds); but imo the PS3's shortcomings are still the worst

EDIT: if PS3's new motion controller is as good in real life as it was at E3, it may change things.
We are planning to submit to tc50. Our product is going to launch around the same time. We haven't mention it on our website, but it is on the same lines as our iPhone, desktop products but better and more far reaching. :)
"Indian code monkeys are, IMO, better than American code monkeys because they follow instructions and work hard despite their limited talents. Rote memorization and checklists and "process" are necessary to get less capable programmers to function."

I don't think I'd use the word "better" here. As a US senior developer who delegates a lot of work to both Indian contractors and in-house junior developers, it really doesn't help me when the person I'm delegating to can't do the job well, but works real hard at it. That just wastes time and still produces inferior code. I'd much rather have the person tell me "I'm lost and can't do this" right away, so I can either delegate to someone else or provide more detailed directions earlier rather than later.

Also, consider applying that statement to any other professional career. Would you want your less-capable doctor to be allowed to practice medicine because he can memorize really well and follow checklists? No, of course not: the less-capable doctor should be forced to find a career he's good at.
I wouldn't read too much into his style. This is par for the course for The Register.

eg.

Street View solves Dutch mugging

Google in good deed shocker

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/19/street_view_mugging/
"I was always under the impression that these languages were made for a specific purpose other than web"

Actually, if Arc was made for any "specific purpose" it was exactly the web. Paul Graham has long written about the suitability of Lisp for web programming, and the web site you're reading was the very first real-world Arc application.

More generally, the languages you name are all excellent for trying new framework ideas because of their ability to easily create expressive APIs.
Many cities ban having farm animals inside city limits. Denver, where I live, has such screwy regulations that it runs about $150 + $50/year for permits from the various agencies needed.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/

http://www.denverbackyardfarms.org/

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/19445825/detail.html
1/5th of the worlds population. 0/5ths of the worlds killer apps. Nothing of any value has come from India or Indian nationals.Except more Indian Nationals...

India is a factory, nothing more. In this context this clown is right. No US Grad is employable as a mindless drone code monkey. We train our Grads to think on their feet, question the status quo, innovate and create. 1 Billion Indians and you will you will NEVER find one of those.
I also think that reading lots of "funcall"s makes the intent of the code less readily apparent.
> The news comes as China tries to make sure all new PCs sold in the country are fitted with filtering software.

Scary. I wonder if it's (1) actually mandatory to use the software, (2) just a requirement for OEMs to make the software available or (3) optional, but on by default so most will end up using it.
Can we at least all agree that no one should be writing anything in a shell scripting language any longer?

I'd be happy with just winning that battle.
KiokuDB now allows closure persistence
I've spent upwards of $9k in the last few months on legal fees because I didnt have a written contract with an old business partner.

At the very very least, get a specific list of deliverables, your profit share percentage, and his ownership rights to your code on paper, then get him to sign and date it. Be as explicit about everything as possible. Not being able to afford a lawyer is no excuse for not getting your general agreement on paper.

If he resists, remind him that the paperwork protects him as much as it protects you.
I don't think it's like how a company's revenue drops. Money does really exist; it's backed by future promises of labour and/or resources and/or things you build.

The money actually does disappear. That's how our debt-based currency system works. Money is created through loans (from the central bank), which are granted because you agree to pay it back through your own industry--that is future labour you do and/or resources you extract and/or things you build. If a loan goes bad, that money is destroyed.

Because loans require interest, this pushes the economy to continue to expand through increased industry. Eventually it cannot expand any further, and the only way to move forward is to have a wave of bankruptcies. The survivors buy assets on the cheap which then inflate in value after the economy recovers. That helps them pay back their own interest.

This cycle creates a bit of punctuated equilibrium where the strong (at the point of economic collapse) survive, and the weak die off. This creates room for a new phase of growth and innovation.

The trick for you is to be in a strong position at the front of a recession rather than a weak position so you can make it through to the new phase of growth. This is also why people say it's good to start / build a business in a recession.

However, the more important trick is the banks must keep the creation of debt to within the bounds the economy can withstand. After the Great Depression a series of regulations were put in place to keep things under control, but since Reagan, the banks have been increasingly deregulated. This led to such things as the real estate bubble in the 80's, the Savings and Loan crisis, the Dot-Com bubble, and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis we're in right now.

If this is abstract, think of it this way. The worst thing a government can do is create so much debt that they have sold off their entire population's labour for decades to foreign creditors. That sounds a bit menacing! ;)
Ask HN: Investments for kids (off topic)
I know there are some other parents here and some people knowledgeable about investing, so, with apologies for something pretty much completely off topic...

Our daughter just turned 1. What sorts of investments would make sense, if we want something that will be available when she turns 18, or thereabouts? Are there things that are tax-free in the US for kids, or is it pretty much the same set of considerations that an adult looking at the long term ought to make? How about in "Europe"? (Yeah, yeah, I know... tell me about your particular country and I'll see if I can find something similar in Italy).

My inclination is to keep it simple and find a couple of ETF's that track US and European stocks. Or maybe three, with one for some group of Asian markets.

(Edit: I should add that our daughter has both Italian and US citizenship, and we're not sure where we will be a few years down the road, let alone her in 17)
I'm currently doing some surface-level design work for a client who plans to submit.
I don't see "Add to Firefox"?

http://imgur.com/FAK0O.png