skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Feuer’s ex-husband pays one-third of her rent. So she is even more of a leech.

Anyway, qualifying for food stamps means your making no money. So she is getting one hell of a wake up call and I expect she will snap out of it. Teaching Yoga is the same type of crack for yuppies as opening a coffee shop. It seems like a great idea at the time, but the pay which limits it's long term appeal.
"...they have no real control over the direction of the product..."

Not my experience. I (and almost every other programmer I have ever met) have had some control over everything I've ever worked on. Perhaps this is a self fulfilling prophecy: if you don't think you have any control, then you don't.

"Presumably the value most developers out there deliver is producing a coded up version of someone else's specification."

Not my experience either. At least on this planet.

If anyone else ever produced a specification rigorous enough for me to code from, I could die happy.
5 disadvantages of Linux
Dealing With Recurrent Miscarriage And Treatment.
It has been estimated that around 2 to 3% of women in the US suffer from recurrent miscarriage issues. To deal with a single miscarriage itself is traumatic enough and to deal with recurrent miscarriages can be shattering for the couple. Dealing with such miscarriage will not be easy it requires a lot of medical and psychological support. A treatment for recurrent miscarriage can be found at Child-Wish.com.
HP Scales Out With Skinless Cloud Servers
IndianPad / Live Chat
Appears (with one or two exceptions) to be a list of things the author thinks are wrong with Richard Dawkins' views on evolution. Not especially insightful.
So anyone here having financial problems as a software dev freelancer? Do you feel the recession?
Why I Don’t Need a Facebook Vanity URL
Yeah, that's a good reason not to, especially if you will need to have your Windows VM running constantly. RAM limitations was why I never tried running Linux as main OS and Windows in a VM on my previous workstation. I had 2GB but that was already being stretched thin by running Eclipse and Visual Studio at the same time.
Agree massively. This is one of the reasons why books are often still better than the internet: you're more likely to get some meaty information, rather than a list of vague points. These kind of posts are like knowledge candy, fun to consume but don't provide much nourishment.
IMHO I really don't like seeing "X ultimate/essential/useful/great ways/tips/tools for Y" URLs gets upvoted on HN.
Depends on your language of choice.

I find that an object oriented approach works well for my projects. I write the core class structure for the shared low-level and common high level functionality. I then create a separate directory for each client. In these, I use inheritance to inject custom sub-classes. In extreme cases, I will replace one module with another.
Automotive UIs - conference update, cool UI
Should add that the "Top n things" kind of posts are inordinately popular on these kind of websites (Digg is much worse). I wonder what the appeal is? Perhaps internet users are at the centre of a Venn diagram: geeky types, who like things organised in a logical way, and people with low attention spans, who like everything in bite sized chunks. Solution: everything's a list!
http://www.talkorigins.org/ - this is a great resource on evolution. It is a polemical site, yes, but also a great place to learn about evolution even if you aren't in an argument with creationists.
here is what I have learned in three years of my "startup" and six years of another company.

- Selling/Trading skills are more important than your product

- Customer relations are most important. If internet is banned tomorrow I can sell toilet paper to my customers

- Mediocre product and superb selling skills is better than superb product and no selling skills at all

- Finding a sweet spot for your product price takes time and adjustments, selling cheap is a road to fiasco

- Acting quick on market changes is not always a good idea, probably isn't good idea at all

- If you are partner in a company, when money comes rolling in - problems start, make sure you all have the same goal

- customers do not know what they want in most cases, you have to bring them your vision and sell it to them. Do not expect them to tell you what they want and that would be your feature list, it won't

- last, but probably most important. Focus on one area and do it good. I don't mean necessarily on one product, because selling one and only thing is a lot harder than having a leverage of several things to offer - but if you sell several things, be sure they are related to one area.

edit:
one more thing. this is one thing, if I could tell only one thing, that I would say what I have learned. No matter what other people are saying, advices you read/get, it doesn't matter at all to you and your business until you learn it on your own and pay for it in time and money, the hard way. So listen to others only as a general guideline of what to expect, but you have to learn what is best for you on your own, sadly.
I wouldn't really know personally, but my reasoning was that not only technology moves, you forget or lose the feel.
I posted similar, mixed experiences here:

http://kylecordes.com/2009/06/06/palm-pre-first-impressions/

For example, the Pre browser "is so tedious that I find myself browsing less than before, even though I just got a slick new device."

In spite of all that, the Pre is very slick, and I think (with some software updates) it stands a good chance of commercial success.
I don't need. But I want.
A few year's real commercial experience is often enough to at least double someone's productivity, often much more. Why? Familiarity with all the things that aren't pure coding. Understanding requirements/domain knowledge. This is the big one, if you are working in field X and you know the terminology, the business and so on, you can find out what people need and solve their problems with no messing around. Just to pick an example I am familiar with, banking, in pretty much every programming/IT job ad it will say "must have previous banking experience".

Plus there's experience with the toolchain. Experience with the codebase. Knowing how to play "the game" of meetings and reports.
Motorola RAZR2 V9x
The Motorola RAZR2 V9x is one of the most stylish and performance oriented invention by the leader in the industry. The phone looks elegant and comes loaded with some superb features to help consumers stay at ease and still enjoy the best of mobile communication technology.
Kiva Brings Microlending To US-based Entrepreneurs In Need
> you don't need co-founders to get feedback of your application, that is why you have friends, family, ex-co-workers, etc...

You need co-founders to _design_ your application, to come out with a release to get feedback.

>Also, are you saying that an open source project is not/cannot be a serious business? that is wrong - 100%.

I see many successful open source projects are backing up successful businesses providing the infrastructure not the final product.
Agreed. The article is basically a defence of group selection against gene selection. Quite a few of his arguments seem to be about definitions, rather than any scientific issues.

His bio: "Not too much to report, father of two scientists, have enjoyed a lifelong interest in science and history."

No mention of any degree or scientific work: this guy isn't a professional scientist. Just some guy who's read some books and has some opinions.
I have a problem with the idea that all the C++ veterans with 10+ years of experience are priced out of the market.

If they're "too expensive" to hire doesn't that imply that their services are in demand?
"It doesn't matter."

Funny. Every time I read that, I feel better. I must be stressing too much over little things.

"You don’t have to be right everytime. You just have to be right one time."

Interesting. Kinda makes me want to try more things. The more darts I throw, the sooner (probably) I'll hit the bullseye.
I would have expected more sympathy from you patio11. An iPhone or iPod makes sense for this woman as a portable music player she uses for work. The extra cost versus a cheaper mp3 player would seem justified as a way to get email on the go. Plus a phone.

I didn't get the impression that her MA or debt burden was relevant since it's clear she is 38 and spent the last while working for her ex-husband. Her rent isn't inexpensive but she has a 7 year old kid. I got the impression she would take a job if offered. Maybe she's having trouble finding one. Look at the U6 unemployment rate.

I don't live in the States and can't comment on the rest. That said, I was genuinely heartened by the approach the company that still employs her is taking to trying to help out its staff. I really hope it works out for them and they emerge from the recession with a stronger business.
I couldn't agree more with you. I think whole ZX/C64 and later Atari/Amiga era yielded best programmers we have today.
anyone got a dump? the pastebin entry was deleted
Are you thinking, or are you farting?
As usual.. references point to another references which point to references to someones opinion - no concrete studies...
Samsung unveils world's first solar-powered phone
Netalyzer gave a message about port 53, but I'm clearly still using openDNS, so I dunno.
Urban Foraging Gains Popularity
Its interesting that he pokes at Dawkins' "world view" (cosmology) because of its supposed lack of science and then goes right ahead and helps you to his own. What he really seemed to want to say was "Dawkin's initial assumptions are wrong and mine are better" but that would have been a very short article.

Part of what I admire about Dawkins is his tight, interconnected cosmology. Its very succinct and free of the usual internal inconsistencies and near-superstitions that most people seem to inadvertently carry. I think that's why Dawkins is so successful in using it to expose the superstitions and inconsistencies in the cosmologies of those he debates.

I'm a theist myself but find that Dawkins' work has played as much a part in shaping my own cosmology as any other author I've found who's treated the subject.
There is an implicit message in there -- love what you do -- that I didn't see mentioned here (or in the earlier post of this http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=644796). That guy is not dancing to attract a crowd, he is having a great time and others wanted to join in.
This is the same argument made for sealed, private laws.

Look, closing someone's account and taking their money for unspecified "reasons" is wrong, if not illegal. Banks can't do it. Credit card companies can't do it. Any account where you leave money... can't do it.

Maybe this guy was sketchy, but here's how Google has to handle these things:

* stop showing ads

* close the account for all future ads

* give a window of time for him to disburse the money he

already earned for clicks, and if he withdraws in that time, great, otherwise, too bad for him

* close the account permanently

Thomas Fuchs, who wrote Script.aculo.us, had over $2k stolen by Google in this manner. As you can see, http://script.aculo.us/ is clearly not domain squatting nor does it tell people to click. It's a bonafide OSS project used by hundreds of thousands of people.

So why was his money seized? We'll never know, eh?

Google also closed my Checkout account under similar circumstances. Namely, I did nothing wrong. The only reason I got my money back was because my blog post got such incredible traffic that it started a debate on the internal mailing list.

Why was my account closed? Well gee, after I got 60,000 reads, they claimed it was a "technical glitch" -- but I know this to be a lie because a little birdie inside told me what was going on.

Most other people will not be so lucky.
Review startup: blurtt.com
We want to deliver thoughts and emotions or just a burst of words on a 3.5"x5" physical card
(what we call "blurtts") easily and with as much impact as possible.Send them to your friends,
your family; send them to famous people or big corporations. Send them anonymously to a
lover and much more, for $.99 (includes postage)
The concept outlined in the article had me until this "First, it figures out what kind of person you are with a long personality test." Anything that requires a large time commitment from users (in this case "long personality test") to see what it is all about is destined to fail.
You're of the impression that she is actively looking for a regular job and would take it if offered, correct? I'm of the opinion that she says exactly the opposite: that she is unwilling to entertain the notion of working for a regular job, because she likes the lifestyle afforded by being a bohemian yoga instructor.

“I spend a lot of time on the train,” ... “and it makes you wonder: If you had a regular job and you didn’t have all that travel time, would you make better money in the end?” She gave a small laugh. “But I love what I do. So I try not to think about that.”

Maybe she should start thinking about that.
Overkill much? And how does this help push browsers to conform to standards? I can see how the XUL rendering would be nice, as it's currently a Mozilla-only technology, but having Ample sit between bad browsers and render everything "correctly" strikes me as just allowing the problem to grow unchecked....
We all agree Google should cut the spammers off, but they need to have a rational policy for how they communicate with their partners, customers, etc.

I expect better from Google regarding the customer service. It shouldn't be a mystery to anyone what happened to their account/balances at Google and he shouldn't have to go to court to figure this out. It's frightening to me that we all depend so much on Google and yet you can chock up the bad service to "defending the terms of service".

Sure he has no recourse in the law for this, he did badly, justice was served-- but that doesn't mean it's right for Google to behave the way it does with its users. Google should be open, frank, and clear in their dealings.
Microsoft better find another brand other than "Microsoft". A few holdings, subsidiaries and spin-offs couldn't hurt.

Search, Gaming and Advertising could be the first ones to benefit from distancing themselves from Redmond.
The short career half-life of scientists
Hundreds of UK Government, School & University Websites Hacked
Hundreds of websites operated by the UK government appear to have been hacked to include links and references to illicit websites selling viagra, hardcore pornography, cialis and other dubious products.
I just found the same phenomenon in science career.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=650898
Method names in Objective-C
Startups: Keep It In Your Pants
In this case, they kept enough of the guy's earnings to afford to pay someone to send him a better email.
Since employed people have it, why shouldn't self-employed?

Remember, the goal of society is not to punish the grasshopper and feel great and virtuous because you're an ant. The goal is to help every grasshopper become an ant, even if it's not in their nature. Because when grasshoppers starve, ants lose out too.

Research shows that, among employed people, contributions to private retirement funds soar if the employer sets a default of 5% rather than shifting the burden to the employee of changing it from a baseline of 0%. People are just lazy. They don't opt in, but if you set it up for them, they don't opt out, either.

So this kind of movement among employers wrt 401ks is good for everyone.

Why not something for self-employed people?

It is hard in the US to be self-employed and resist the urge to live month-to-month, to put aside enough money for your taxes and for savings, and so on. There's nothing in the system to make it easier. The whole system is biased against self-employed and small entrepreneurs. (Don't talk to me about tax breaks, this is about institutionally supported behaviors.)

Americans have practically been trained from birth to be loose with money. There are govt incentives to go into debt -- by offering cheap money on loan to everybody who wants it, and of course easy credit has inflated the cost of goods and services. That all's what has kept the insane growth curve going, until now.

You can't live in a society that tells people "Spend for the good of your country!" and then turn your back on them in disgust when they behave just as they were taught.

Creating systems that help people be virtuous is a lot better than finger-wagging and feeling self-righteous.
"Selfish gene theory is based on the definition of evolution given by Richard Dawkins that has been shown to be false."

Oh really? Sorry, for the harsh tone, but my impression is that most of that article is gibberish.

Edit: would be interested in the refutation of "selfish genes", if there really is one. Myself, I think the metaphor "selfish genes" is a bit misleading, but essentially correct. However, it is just a point of view - one can look at evolution on many different levels (cultures evolve, too).
I think the other message may be that once the crowds start flocking over, something has been lost. The majority of the crowd is there just to copy other people... Lots of parallels to online communities + keeping the magic.
Air France Flight 447: The Paradox of ‘Simplicity’
Surf Canyon And Search Cloudlet Combine to Form New Search Engine
"We also upload new files periodically." - I'm curious why the don't use their file corrupting technology to generate different files for each user.

"We didn’t just change a .jpeg extension into a .doc." - I guess they're mangling a doc file in someway to make it a little more believable, in case a prof. gets out a hexeditor.
Cheap mailing labels
cheap mailing labels with good quality
Squinting too hard to find wisdom where none exist, aren't we?

That movement formed because the spectators could see and observe each other. As the first few individuals joined in to participate, it gave social proof and acceptance to the act.

:-)

Yes, if you're looking for insight into the growth of online movements, let me just leave you with this: online, only the vocal participants and spectators are visible. One detractor can negate a thousand, happy silent participants.

P.S. Godin's take on it is orthogonal to the interpretation of the video in the earlier mention of it here. The first time, it was about the growth of social networks; everyone was a participant in Guy #1's "network". Godin calls out "Guy #3" and frames him not as a participant in a social network, but as competitor to the founder, Guy #1. (this could really get meta, but I hope someone is getting what I am saying.)
Link broken (goes to edit login). Try here:

http://slash7.com
It is occasionally down but the whole point of git is that it's distributed, if you need to deploy when github is down you just do it from your local version.
I'd argue guy #2.

Once you add the second guy in, it becomes social.

When you add in guy #3, that's when the exponential growth happens and you achieve virality, but without guy #2 it would just be guy #1 still doing his own thing.

If we were taking this into online traffic terms I would say guy #1 is the founders, guy #2 is initial traffic that comes from advertising and being mentioned elsewhere, guy #3 are referrals from guy #2 and is the real organic growth.

While guy #3's are important for organic growth, its the guy #2's that validate guy #1. Without guy #2's hanging around, guy #3 wouln't have joined in.

So guy #2's are really the pivotal point. Like PG would say, find users that are really passionate about your product.
I'd also add the corollary:
A lack of social interest/acceptance is not a meaningful critique of whatever you're doing.
Dancing guy was not -wrong- or -weird- to dance; even though he was alone and the recording was likely started to make fun of him.

The vast majority of the crowd showed up simply because they saw a crowd forming.
I read through a lot of the comments on this story, and it appears that it's been problematic to replicate.
Growth Anti-Patterns: Neglecting Ops
As a person who deals with adult ADD, literally the biggest tool in my toolbox is an impending deadline with dire repercussions if I fail to meet it. The adrenalin clears my mind and allows me to concentrate. I'm glad I didn't know about this trick, otherwise I might not have ever been able to get my papers done!
I clearly missed something - is it really that "harmful, pointless, illegal and unsavory" to have a domain that's not in use showing an ad? Yes, it's a misuse of adwords, but he could have used a more appropriate ad service. I doubt he's a squatter since 1. it sounds like he's only doing this on one domain and 2. the domain was related to his company name and wasn't some other company's name (correct me if I'm wrong here) or a misspelling. In the article, he says his company is "think" and the link was related to that. To me, this is not squatting.
SlideShare is down for scheduled maintenance.

Really? You scheduled your downtime for a Wednesday, 9AM Eastern US time?
Where is the discussion of the whole risk/reward aspect. When I was freelancing I had dreams of building up an entire service agency that I would, some day, sell for millions. I knew the risks of failure were greater but the upside was golden. After 5 years reality struck and with a growing family I tabled my dream I went for a solid corporate job and some stability.

The person in this story took the risk (although her reward is different) and failed. C'est la vie.
Particularly since Dawkins' explanations make sense. Specifically, he proposes the gene as the mechanism through which evolution occurs. This guy just waves his hand and says "it's complicated."
I used to go to shows, and there was always a Dancing Hippie Guy in the corner, doing his Hippie Dance, no matter what show it was. Voodoo Glowskulls whipping out a driven punk beat? Hippie Dance. Cherry Poppin' Daddies playing some swing-ish tune? Hippie Dance. Fishbone doing ska? Hippie Dance. Los Fabulosos Cadillacs with some latin-flavored rock? Hippie Dance!
Good lord, I have twenty years of C++ experience.

Where did the time go?
Or http://slash7.com/articles/2009/6/10/are-you-thinking-or-are... for the direct link :)
I never noticed this before, but at the very end there's a girl off-camera saying, "How did he do that?"

Like you implied, he didn't say "I'm going to start a dance party today"—just doing something in a certain social environment was all that was necessary...

The human mind is a weird thing. Get a bunch of them together and it's even weirder.
hello, Mr. Spock
List of Top 50 freewares
Oh my god, I'm an idiot. That'll teach me to try to use a utility for multiple clipboards. :(

Yes, the direct link is

http://slash7.com/articles/2009/6/10/are-you-thinking-or-are...

D'oh.
I found a great solution to keyboard induced joint pain, basically a 100% solution to my problems (which were extensive).

Buy one of these (way too expensive) keyboards:

http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/images/freestyle-solo_690x375.jp...

Then build one of these out of a cardboard box and duct tape:

http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/images/solo-ascent-90_512x390.jp...
I'd bet he either

a) knows more people in india, therefore gets better indications

and

b) gets better professionals willing to work for less (I'm not saying US professionals are bad - just saying they are more expensive!)

Agree with the white comparison though...
After 439 comments on Slashdot, and not a single person being able to replicate the results here or on slashdot, I think it's time to kill this story as inaccurate.

Edit: even the original author of the article is claiming "it doesn't happen anymore." It's probably an issue with his testing/setup rather than comcast.