skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Thanks! I'm not really concerned about getting the site working for non-Javascript users right now, I'm primarily looking to work on the functionality side of things before I worry about that. :)

I will definitely address that issue though.
Someone once trolled an objectivist form with something like this: how do you square 'A==A' with '.9999...=1'?
Here's mine:

Hello World

It's valid PHP, and it prints "Hello World".
> People are more valuable than things (money).

SOME people are more valuable to you than things/money. Others aren't. We don't know her value.

(1) What did she do that's worth 30% of your company?

(2) Does she respect your work?
Too late to edit, but I realized I should be prepared to provide a comparably personal answer to such a personal question, and I've done so on my blog, if you're interested: http://mohrslaws.blogspot.com/2009/07/fear.html
Not to impugn the author's trustworthiness, but this is so astounding to me that I find it somewhat incredible. Does anyone have an English-language news source for this?

The "extracted" pictures are an order of magnitude clearer than I would have thought possible.
On one hand, this is great. It will lead to new technology which will inevitably lead to better video games.

On the other hand, this provides the opportunity for total loss of privacy. Forget freedom of speech, people might start to attack the freedom to think certain thoughts. In other news, China and Iran are thrilled at this new science.
Wow thanks for the great words :)

The second paragraph really nails it. Thanks for summing it up so concisely!
Get on a polyphasic sleep cycle. Work 16 hours a day and still spend 4 with her. Everyone wins!
I don't think that's true at all. I've read almost every review of the thing and I own one myself and there's very little focus put on the source editing ability (which I'll admit is probably the only think about the thing that I find impressive). Most reviews mention it as an after thought.

Moreover if it's designed for kids in developing countries I'd think Internet access is much more valuable to them than development of their Python programming skills (meaning if there is a primary feature it would be that).
Pandora isn't really about the music. It's about the song selection engine, which is amazing.

Pirate radio could never come close.
The source for this article is a 404 page. (Translated via Google)
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chu...
Data uri's can't be cached, so they can only help latency of a cold page load, but they make every page after that slower. (if you put the data uri in your html instead of the css)
You say "It appears to me that the people on this thread arguing that 1!=0.9999... have come up with a fully consistent, alternative way of defining equality..." but if you look, there are absolutely no mathematical proofs outside of the people showing that 1=0.9r. Instead, there are people blankly asserting that there's a 0.0...1 remainder, which as many have pointed out, is meaningless without a precise mathematical definition and perhaps a proof of existence within the set of reals. And the reason it's meaningless is because it's ill-defined and misunderstands infinite series, etc...

I'm no math whiz, but the reasoning on display here isn't just sloppy, it's totally perpendicular to mathematical reasoning. Arguing against it is like trying to argue with someone who asserts that "the sunset tastes exuberant." The statement may look a lot like a meaningful phrase, but it's just nonsense.
> Kind of an interesting idea, actually. (Of course, that's after only looking at it a couple minutes... the idea might fall apart under more scrutiny)

Yes, it is an interesting idea, and yes, it falls apart :) (As I pointed out lower in the thread, it's hard to define 10*0.00...1)

For a more rigorous version of infinitesimals, try:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperreal_number
I am pretty sure that 0-day remote exploits don't respect MaxAuthTries.
MaxAuthTries only logs errors, right? That by itself is not enough. You'd want fail2ban or bansshee or something, which tail those log files and blackhole any IP that causes an auth/username failure too many times in a certain period.

However, that wouldn't work in this case anyway because if there's a working exploit in sshd then an auth/username failure would never even be logged. It'd be straight in first try.
it doesn't look that amateurish. the only thing that can be called that is the Vimeo video, the rest looks professional enough.
They're missing checksums for the download files. Here are md5sums:

ca4041c2d80391b9963e7599b75b8c1d *vlc-1.0.0-win32.exe
58d0e276690442fa887e9a07767ddd6c *vlc-1.0.0.dmg
I use this all the time for my writing. (Raffi's product)

http://www.polishmywriting.com/
Some people regard it as "fact" that the Moon landings were faked. Some people regard it as "fact" that they've been abducted by aliens. Some people regard it as "fact" that they can power their car with water. Some people regard it as "fact" that there is only one size of infinity. Some people regard it as "fact" that you can choose one element from each of infinitely many non-empty sets. Some people regard it as "fact" that 0.99999... is less than one.

One of my colleagues at work recently told me that point nine recurring is less than one. I'm interested to hear what people here say.
it approaches 1 but is not equal to 1.
As posted below: (1.0+0.99999...)/2
The U.S. should stop intervening in other people's business, period.

Sounds like a great blurb for a breakfast cereal but not much of a policy. How would you handle global trade? Competition between nations for resources? Ideological world-wide battles that run hot or cold, like we had with communism or Nazism? Struggles to control pollution?

It was true 80 years ago but it's even more true today: everything is all mixed up. Americans are everywhere, making deals on everything. People in Indiana sell things to people in China via E-bay (and vice-versa). The world is simply too complex. Everybody's business is ours (and vice-versa). When we quit in Vietnam we left a lot more people to die at the hands of the communists than died during our intervention.

History does not lend itself to slogans.
The default setting is 6. You are not throttling the attack too much by setting this to 3. I would set it to 0 so if you make one bad attempt you are out.

This still does not solve the problem but it is a smallish roadblock.

I would also set MaxStartups to 1 if you are the only person to login. This limits the number of unauthenticated people trying to concurrently log in.
OK, that's the most convincing argument I've heard so far. The omega+1-th digit would need to be 1, for your example.

I'm not entirely sure that it has to be the same as 0.00...1, as you argue. However, you're definitely showing that this way of handling fraction would probably get to be pretty ridiculous at some point.
Prove please ; )

It may be intuitive in English, just as 1/3 = 0.(3) thing is convincing, but you'll lose your infinit(el)y-hostile audience at a proof.
you should host the video on a separate account, no need for users to see the "trip to vermont" and "bill the lobster" videos
1/3 = .333333....

1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 = 1

So, yes
Yes, but you can also measure it by input value, like I did. It makes more sense to me to plot n vs. time(Fib(n)), because practically I'd want to know how "how fast" my algo runs if i give it n. What do you think about that?
On the front page, I tried to click on the screenshot (the one to the left of "Public Statistics") and was dismayed when I discovered I could not make it bigger.

The copy under "Track Visitors without Javascript" (is that lowercase w correct?) is unprofessional-sounding and unclear: What exactly is the difference in the data I get from non-Javascript users?

Under the "About" link up top, "your sites visitors" should be "your site's visitors".

At the bottom of the "Help" page (which might more accurately be termed "FAQ") is the only mention in the entire site that the service is free, which is something I'd like to have known earlier.

Is "Unique" the best term for one-time visitors? It's usually used to mean the total number of different users on a site.

The signup page is very very slick-- how'd you make it? One thing I'd note is that making the user enter a domain and site at signup is an unnecessary barrier. I entered fake data to get around it because I wasn't ready to commit to anything, but others may not be willing to work around.

Overall, the design of the site is excellent, readable, professional, and pretty. The AJAX stuff works beautifully in Chrome.

I may be taking responsibility for an amateur radio group website soon, and if I do, I'll be using SimpleStats to track my visitors' activity. It looks like just what I need.
Some of above Twitter problems bum me out too. But a different problem is a tweet you can't figure out on its own -- where you have to click a hidden link, or pull up someone else's conversation to figure out what the first message is saying. Before hitting "send", please read it back, see if it might make sense to other people too.
Then we'll have to encrypt our thoughts.
definitely. we were unexpected forced to launch (because of some press) so we were scrambling all over the place to get the website together :)
"can you explain the logic you think is being failed?"

You can not have an infinite series of something, followed by something else

Colonel Oates: Get down and give me infinity.
[Bill and Ted drop]
Colonel Oates: You stupid, pathetic, craven little cretins.
Colonel Oates: You petty, base, bully-bullocked bugger billies!
You're not strong! You're silky-boys...
Dead Bill: Dude, there's no way I can possibly do infinity push-ups.
Dead Ted: Maybe if he lets us do them girly-style.

Perhaps this is the key to the confusion. If we can reason about infinities, and "put" them in mathematical proofs, why can't we just "put" an infinity of zeros followed by a 1 somewhere?

Again, it's the paucity of English as a language precise enough.

Must be related to Richard's Paradox:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard%27s_paradox
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It's happened ...
"In other news, China and Iran are thrilled at this new science."

Why? Are they having problems with people imagining politically undesirable images?

I would think the West, with its insane war to protect the cartoon children, would have more use for such technology.
Is there a way to read this article without subscribing? It sounds fascinating and I would love to read it. I'd even pay to read the individual article, but that doesn't appear to be an option.
Innovation sometimes means making a bet that a given "feature" is worth focusing on and doing well. [112 chars]
I agree this discussion can't be taken much further on an HN thread for the reasons you give :)
T-t-t-timecube!
power series.

0.999... = sigma 9/10^n n=1 -> inf = 9 * sigma 1/10^n n=1 -> inf = 9 * ((sigma 1/10^n n=0 -> inf) - 1) =

power series sigma 1/10^n n=0 -> inf = 1/(1-1/10)

= 9 * (1/(1-1/10) - 1) = 1

qed.
Ask HN: Standard employment agreement for startups?
I took a look through SearchYC, but couldn't find any good links to standard employee agreements for startups. Does anyone have an example they can share? Looking for clauses like non-disclosure, assignment of IP, etc.

Thanks!
I don't know what you should do, and I don't necessarily think there is one right answer for everything in this position. I do know that almost every successful entrepreneurship I've talked to has a story about a failed relationships because of the sacrifices they made for their company. You've gotta weigh the costs for yourself and decide what you want most. This question reminded me of this article by Steve Blank. Hopefully it will help.

http://steveblank.com/2009/06/15/lies-entrepreneurs-tell-the...
How did you map all the stops? Some poor guy rode a train to every single stop, that must have been fun.
One of my colleagues at work recently told me that point nine recurring is less than one.

I've meanwhile looked at some of your other recent comments, and it appears that you have rather stronger math background than I, and could well explain why your colleague's opinion is indeed not a fact. Or just refer your colleague to the excellent Wikipedia article on the subject linked to by another participant here. Is there a work issue that turns on how people at your workplace interpret 0.99999 . . . ?
Nope. Favrd doesn't show you what your friends are favoriting, which is why I made Tweeteorites. Also, I recommend people you should follow.
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Speaking as someone who's had several good jobs in the past, and abso-fricking-lutely love the one I have now:

If you have to read an article hoping it will help you decide if you have a good job, save your time: you don't.
I haven't been interested in computer security in quite a few years so some of this might be out of date:

It is a loose movement that kind of fights against the traditional for-profit computer security industry. they think that publicizing security holes and those hole's exploits causes more pain than it helps. They also seem to be kind of anti-capitalist. A bunch of docs have been written about their goals and ideas. They aren't really script kiddies, some of them are very talented security researchers.

google around for the el8 magazine, also 'phrack high council' or just antisec in general
Your skepticism is commendable, but the pictures are real. Here's the paper:

http://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273%2808%2900958-...
So you won't be as frustrated when you get disconnected at 99% ? (I am not sure if you can resume downloading, like with FTP servers that support resuming)
PG should be using this poll to disable user accounts.
I was fortunate enough to have a very patient math professor in high school who argued with me for days about this topic and eventually I agreed that .9999... = 1

Not everyone learns this very odd mathematical issue at the same age, some will never hear of it in their entire lives and if they do, will never believe it.

Math is abstract, you can't see it to believe it and that's the problem here, you can't see the end of .9999...
can you solve that equation?

(the answer is no, again it's proveable but it is beyond me to do so. Someone else will have to jump in)
(1+0.9999...)/2 = 1 (or .9999... if you prefer)
None of the choices above work.

The LIMIT of .9999 is 1. Since .9 repeating is not actually the same number as .9 with an infinite number of nines at the end, you're always adding a nine out there to do something with it, right?

Sure .9 repeating infinitely is the same as one, but I'd argue that .9 with the repeating symbol is not, since the symbol indicates that the repeating has to take place manually. The repeating symbol is a mechanical one. And any manual, finite number of nines is not going to equal one, no matter how many times you manually add nines on to the end.

Plus I'm just feeling like arguing. Had a crappy day at work.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=684343
According to math folk, yes.
According to philosophy folk, no.

This crowd is more likely to be math folk.
Both crowds just need to get out and relax more.
At first, internet access is going to be the most valuable. But what if some of those kids go on to tinker with the thing and start tweaking code? This is why everything possible in the OLPC is written in Python! It's not because Python is "cool." It's because Python is simple, and can give instant feedback.

Perhaps a browser with access to w3schools and JavaScript is going to be better, though. Certainly cheaper.
MJ’s Memorial, By The Numbers
Nice work including the axiom of choice in there.

FWIW it's hard to imagine the mind that wouldn't believe in the axiom of choice but would believe in .999 == 1 being a good phrase to use; that person would probably say

- 'I have a procedure for constructing a # arbitrarily close to 1, and if you tell me how close to 1 you want it i'll tell you how many steps of my procedure you need to execute'
It is true, agile may not sound innovative anymore. Nevertheless, the principles are sound. If you care about your craft, keep practicing it.
edit:grammar
The important hint is "Take the first one each time"...

Ask yourself why there is a period in the first column all by itself.

The "distance" comment has something to do with a word formula.
(sorry to see you downvoted - because it is actually sometimes tought to grasp but...)

it doesnt approach one- your thinking of a nice graph where the line does approach but never touch, however 0.9... is NOT a function, cannot be plotted. It exists for infinite length.

Any distance it is from 1 is constant.
This could be your last chance to have a good attempt at doing a startup. If you really want to do it, now is the time, before you end up marrying her and having kids. After that it is too late, so decide now if you want to commit more time to her or your startup.
After that it is too late

We've funded people with kids. It's harder, but not impossible.
That's fantastic, and the full text is available there too. Thanks.
I think it's interesting to see it asked here. Probably the vast majority will believe the proof - but of course some wont. And I would imagine the level of counter argument here to be not only high but potentially approaching it from obscure and intriguing new angles :)
I appreciate your feedback. I'll definitely improve the home page, and make the various grammar mistakes that I've made. I did have my doubts about the term "Unique", perhaps simply "New" would be a more accurate label.

Thanks :)
The answer isn't intuitive in any language other than the language of math. It can be debated, because the solution cannot be seen with the eyes. Even when it is shown, it is not believed.

Math is beautiful like that. You have to trust it and you have to trust your teachers.
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I don't know if I've ever been wholly convinced that certifications do more good than harm, especially in Soft things like Product Management (as opposed to something more clear, like plumbing).
Load and hit f5/click refresh to read anything you want at the WSJ site :)
I've found that this question is one where people are often not persuadable, even by arguments that have been accepted for centuries. Somehow they "know" that 0.999... has to be less than 1. It "never gets there", or something. Articles on Wikipedia, MathWorld, etc., are regarded as simply wrong or irrelevant. They know better.

There are users of our systems who have similarly strong beliefs that I simply can't fathom. I'm interested in seeing what positions people take, and how they argue them. I'm learning a lot from this forum, specifically because it is not a random sample of ordinary people.

Linguists learn the most from pathological examples of maltreatment. Likewise, I'm learning a lot by probing the corners of the beliefs of non-typical people.

And there is an issue at work that uses similar analysis as that required by this question. More detailed, more complex, less obvious, but it boils down to a similar point. As his boss I can pull rank and tell him to do it as I say, but I'd rather engender understanding.
.999... === 1, but .999 != 1.

Equivalent, but not equal.
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At first I was thrown off by the way you wrote the value.

If "point 9 recurring" means the same thing as:

the limit of the sequence 0.9, 0.99, 0.999, etc.

then I know it equals 1 because that's what I was told.

Math in engineering school was like studying hammers. You don't take them apart, and you don't ask why. You just grab one and start hitting things. For five years.
Ask HN: What kind of index is Google using here?
I went to the linked site (alice.com) that the article is about and had a severe case of flashback syndrome.

You see, eleven years ago I was slaving away as an intern at a consulting firm, building up mybasics.com. Which was the exact. same. thing.

Not quite so slick, of course, since it was 1998; but it was the identical idea, all the way down to using "never run out again" as marketing copy.

(mybasics.com did not survive the .com bust; I think it failed late '99?)

I suppose I don't really have a point, but felt the need to comment anyway. Everything old is new again!

I wonder if there's 'serial entrepreneur' success to be had by re-pitching the business models of .com failures to VCs. After all, VCs bit on them plenty hard the first time around. :)
In short: everyone has co-opted the names! That's not doom. Just chalk up another victory and let's come up with some more names. Pair those with versions of the practices that big companies will be too corpulent to implement, and let's have another go!
Funny.

The author is as bad as those he makes fun of -- he has a list of things that obviously CAN'T be agile and uses that as a discussion point. Agile RUP? Been around for years. The true-blue RUP guys will tell you RUP has always been agile, it's just never practiced that way and the corporate pointy-heads make it into a monster. Agile Maturity Model? Lots of companies already have one. Maturity model just means some way of measuring how well the teams are doing. Certification? Heck, this certification bandwagon has always been lucrative, and now it's just getting worse.

Agile works because agile has always worked, even before there was some lame-ass marketing phrase called "agile". That means your grand-dad working on the Apollo moon shot probably used some agile techniques, as did guys on the Manhattan project.

He's absolutely right that corporate America is killing agile. But they've been killing agile for so long it isn't funny. This is a problem that has to do with really smart people and their desire to measure and control. It's really a problem with, guess what, us. As technology wonks we're the first to want to create a new metric or standardize something that doesn't need standardizing.

As for the proliferation of certifications, do what I do: just say no. I'm not going to play that game. When you ask me about agile, I'll happily share the actual projects and work I produced, but I'm not going to spend good money buying useless pieces of paper.
The interesting thing from my point of view is that the Delicious Library iPhone app doesn't make Amazon API calls for ISBNs. It synchronized with the desktop version of Delicious Library, which gets its information from the Amazon API. So the headline is pretty carefully written, they're killing mobile apps that use their data.

Source: http://twitter.com/wilshipley/status/2517998206