skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
> learn pronunciation first, and learn the script of the new language immediately

What does "script" mean in this context? What is the "script" of a language?
Ha! The Longview/Marshall phonebook!

LeTourneau, by chance?
By browser, do you mean inbuilt capability, or a web application that does this for you? If it's a browser capability, I think you've missed the point - which is that for kiosk situations, I definitely don't trust the machine I'm on.

Even if it's a web application, I don't know that I like giving anybody else my credentials, and especially if it's handled via JavaScript, if I don't trust the machine I'm on, why would I trust it to relay passwords to all my web apps?

I think the OpenID approach makes more sense, but what it currently lacks (in addition to broader appeal) is the ability to logoff centrally. I don't want my PC to act as an intermediary to my credentials, and really, I don't want a third party housing my credentials either... I want a third party to handle authentication by providing a trustworthy identity to an app, and it can handle authorization and beyond within itself.
"On top of that, American children do only about an hour’s-worth of homework a day,"

Haha what??
I was surprised this wasn't posted here before. I would encourage everyone here to donate to the Methusaleh Foundation. You can promise to donate $25,000 and join the "300", which we're expecting will fill up by the end of the summer. :)
I have to correct something I said earlier:

it was what the macro was doing to control evaluation that caused it to depart from your function-centric intuition

I took a closer look at the example and now see that it had nothing to do with evaluation. Sorry about that. Clearly, the problem was that doto was transforming (gl-begin-end body) into (gl-begin-end obj body) because of an assumption that the forms passed to doto are always OO method calls.

Yuck! Now I understand your complaint about the enclosing form transforming the enclosed form in an unexpected way. What doto is doing there strikes me as just wack from a Lisp point of view. I can't think offhand of many (any) macros that modify the forms they enclose while still evaluating them. Obviously this is completely non-composable. No kidding it leads to unexpected behavior.

What's going on here doesn't have so much to do with macros in general, but rather an impedance mismatch in Clojure between the Lisp side and the Java side (and perhaps ultimately between FP and OO). It's a non-issue in CL - so much so that I completely missed the point until the third time I read your example. It makes me wonder how many other such mismatches Clojure must inevitably be afflicted with.

I'd still argue, though, that you're drawing a false conclusion about macros in general. The problem with (doto obj (gl-begin-end body)) is very much with the definition of DOTO. It has a weird side-effect, true, but one which is still local: it affects the form it encloses, not one which encloses it. The cognitive burden here is analogous to functionland: in order to understand f(g(x)) you have to understand both f and g. f might do something weird that violates the intention of the author of g, but understanding this is incumbent upon the author of f(g(x)), not the author of g. Of course the real culprit may well be the author of f for writing something prone to unwelcome surprises.
Yes. I tend not to click what I know to be a spammier, ad-filled, subscription-based domain. Otherwise, I think it's unfortunate that techcrunch, and the like, often win the popularity contest of domain names -- Google or http://gigablast.com/ ? Google may have more upvotes, but bring on the underdogs.
Portal IS innovative.

You totally missed an awesome game.
None of the features you cite are general features of the Lisp family of languages; they are features of specific Lisps. Clojure has its own unique features that are absent from other languages, including Common Lisp. To be specific:

Clojure has multimethods with arbitrary dispatch functions as well as user-defined hierarchies that provide more flexibility than CLOS in many situations. There's no inheritance, but you can copy a structmap.

I do miss method combination and the programmable reader from CL, but I love that the standard library is largely defined in terms of generic functions, that lazy sequences are assumed by default, that every data structure is immutable, but still reasonably fast.

The perfect Lisp has not been written and probably never will be, but I certainly feel like I'm writing Lisp, and not some other language with Clojure.
No.

Our world is a thousand times more complex than that of even the 1800's. It used to be that your average young man/woman was in one unskilled job for their entire life. One you could learn by the time you were 15-16. This is no longer the case.

Even entry level office jobs jobs now require an understanding of calculus, statistics, excel, etc.
When all that used to be required was knowing how to plow a field, recite wives tales or run a loom.

It isn't as simple as "oh our education system is too slow".
Do you know how to run a loom or plow a field? Maybe oddly, but I consider those much more a skill than knowledge of how to use excel.
It's called a trade school. or compucollege.

See how well their grads do 10 years out.
Did the study mention whether or not it mattered if it was a government school or a private school?
What a coincidence. A hacker friend just pointed me towards to this related piece today:

http://www.ted.com/talks/aubrey_de_grey_says_we_can_avoid_ag...

Worth a watch. Talks about some of the details, addresses the same logical/ethical fallacies that hold people back.
Yes. I tend to avoid links that point to mattmaroon.com
Moral: you get things done by getting things done, and the largest obstacles are conceptual - something that should be near and dear to many folk here.

I'm also suprised that the Fable wasn't previously posted. On the subject of the 300, you might read this detained rationale by Michael Rae:

http://www.longevitymeme.org/articles/viewarticle.cfm?articl...
Yes and yes.
A loom is actually sort of neat. They're the first programable computers. A plow on the other hand is dull
and difficult work.

Both are simpler than excel even for their more advanced uses.
He's saying that there is never that "Ah-Ha!" moment in Fitzgerald's writings which deliver a clear message to the reader. I kind of agree, whenever he gets close to a statement which appeals to me personally or begins to develop an interesting idea, he moves on.
same. I seem to be one of a small number of people who completely fail to see the purpose of scribd beyond forcing me to view pdfs in a clumsy flash based reader and making them non-downloadable.

I'm also a definite no for Techcrunch
Python would be perfect if it wasn't for the underscores that plague its syntax.

I __hate__ that
Most Ad supported sites actually have a B2B enterprise sales model
I guess my post is too old to edit, but you guys do realize that...there actually is estrogen in the water supply, and many industrial chemicals reduce testosterone levels, yes?

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=pcb+testosterone

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=estrogen+water+supply
Just to be clear (for people who don't read the entire post), Silver goes on to say,

"In case this isn't clear, I am not suggesting that any and all statistical analysis purporting to show tampering in Iran's election results will turn out to be fruitless. I am merely suggesting that this particular analysis is dubious; it is not a smoking gun.

"To properly analyze Iran's election results is probably something best left to Middle East experts, rather than experts on U.S. electoral politics. Juan Cole, for instance, who certainty does know a thing or two about foreign policy, sees plenty of things that smell fishy to him."

And links to this excellent post about why it looks like the election actually was stolen: http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/stealing-iranian-election.ht...
> The problem isn't the time spent in school, the problem is the school itself.

Actually, that's not enough detail. "School" is a complex system consisting of many parts -- all of which have their issues. Parents play a big role, in so far as what they expect from their children, their local board of ed, and their superintendent.

> We teach people to be the status quo, we don't encourage them to excel.

You'd be amazed at the forces in place that so strongly coerce teachers to stick to the status quo.
I'd like to see an optimization involving threads and GC. Some Smalltalk VMs only spawn real threads when there is a system call involved. However, the stack frames involved in the calls are momentarily exempt from GC. This means that the GC never has to wait for threads to synchronize to proceed with operations. But the language gets all of the benefits of real threads.
my gut says this is ridiculous given that it's asymptotically slower than insertion sort, selection sort, and bubble sort and doesn't take advantage of cache (through sequential access) the way those algorithms do.
Old? not sure, but probably what I've seen on reddit a few years ago.

Very great read, none-the-less.
Key points

1. Unless you are a ridiculously huge consumer internet site, you have to build up your revenues through brand advertising sales. It’s very hard to just use ad networks like Google AdSense to sustain yourself: just do the math using 10 to 25 cent CPMs and you’ll quickly see why.

2. The users of your website are not really your customers. Your actual customers are the ad agencies and advertisers. Your Web 2.0 consumer startup is actually a B2B that sells inventory to brand advertisers.

3. How to avoid this: directly monetize your users by coming up with something so compelling people will pay for it through subscriptions, virtual goods, or other E-commerce models.
What is with the neo-luddite scaremongering in the comments of that post? I was amazed by the conviction and tenacity of some of the arguers. Is there really a large movement of people opposed to AI research on "skynet" grounds?

"This is a road that does not lead to Friendly AI, only to AGI. I doubt this has anything to do with Lenat's motives - but I'm glad the source code isn't published and I don't think you'd be doing a service to the human species by trying to reimplement it."

Christ, what can you even say to that apart from "go back to Above Top Secret" ..
Yes, they get their bound by counting inversions. This is much better than the method I suggested in the other thread (which, of course, doesn't actually work.)
I apologize for this being offtopic, so feel free to downmod me for it, but:

Does anyone know what font they're using on this page? It looks like what happens when you try to trace a font using the "trace bitmap" function in inkscape.

In other words: awful.
I've heard there was an attempt to pursue this a few years ago, but there were very serious fundamental incompatibilities, with examples given that went way over my head.
So what is the point? Force children to work harder when you could revamp the entire education system in a way that motivates them to work harder?

This article is just plain silly. Here's a summary: "South Korean/Chinese/India/Foo children work harder than American children, hence American children are doomed to a life of misery".

(I'm Indian, BTW. And no, Indian children don't work any harder than American children.)
You'd be amazed at the forces in place that so strongly coerce teachers to stick to the status quo.

No, I wouldn't.
Just for the record, I submitted this blog post with the title

> Dark days: A first hand account of the Iranian presidential election

I'm not sure that the new title (how does that work?) is an improvement. My point in submitting the post wasn't to make the case that the election had been rigged. It was simply to present a first hand account from inside Iran about what was happening. Probably the most important thing to take away from the post is not that the Iranian election was rigged, but rather than a lot of Iranians think it was, and they are really, really not happy about it.

Edit: minor phrasing
Normally this service works pretty well:

http://new.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/results?ch%5B0%5D=S&c...

The second one is closest but not right. Oh well.
working kids is considered a sign of coming from the lower classes

I think that's why Americans value it.
That's partly true, but the idealist in me also hopes it's the product of consistently high quality.

Regardless, I think the association with "stereotypes" was what bothered me, along with the implication that people with high intellectual standards will ignore such things.
When pairing, my recommended approach is to switch who is driving for every new test or method being written (sometimes called 'ping-ponging'). I can attest that, done correctly, this is extremely valuable when learning an unfamiliar technology. As a newb, you get to watch how the experienced developer does it, then it's turned right around and you have to do it yourself.

You can tear through some code pretty damn fast, and it is an awesome way to learn.
Looks hand-drawn to me; all the T's are different.
It's called 'segmentation' and it is used to maximize your profit.

Abstract from Joel's article:

"In the world of software, you can just make a version of your product called "Professional" and another version called "Home" with some inconsequential differences, and hope that the corporate purchasers (again, the people who are not spending their own money) will be too embarassed at the thought of using "Windows XP Home Edition" at work and they'll buy the Pro edition. Home Edition at work? Somehow that feels like coming to work in your pyjamas! Ick!"

Ref: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/CamelsandRubberDuckie...
It's Eliezer's website, and friendly AI is kind of his thing. This link is long but entertaining:

http://lesswrong.com/lw/qk/that_alien_message/

Here's another good one, although it doesn't seem to tell the whole story (he lost two of the next three games):

http://yudkowsky.net/singularity/aibox

I'm not sure what the canonical EY defense of FAI is. Most of his articles on it seem to be very tl;dr.
would that be like cha cha where you ask the website to find you something in particular? ;)
Yes there is, I like your game and I think copying that blatant is reprehensible.
What are other hackers' experiences with having a very strict, rigid schedule vs more open-ended days?
Voted up.

English literature and trigonometry have a place in schools, but teaching them has an opportunity cost. If a student can recite Hamlet's famous soliloquy, but can't manage his finances, then he and his school have spent their efforts inefficiently. The same effort could have been redirected to an understanding of the effects of compound interest, and that would have led to a better life for him, his family and for society.

Let's first focus on teaching the essentials to everyone. If we have time and resources to spare after that, then let's teach Shakespeare and trigonometry.

I'm also concerned about the spirit-crushing effect of failing at something. There will always be students who will struggle with trigonometry. With excellent and patient teachers, maybe almost everyone could master it, but we go to education with the teachers we have. A close friend of mine seems traumatized by her experience in high school, particularly with mathematics. It's so unnecessary. She's an artist now; she'll never need trigonometry. Trigonometry might help a fraction of those who learn it, but the experience of attempting and failing it actively harms the fraction of those who can't do it.
That's Eliezer. Less Wrong is his site. He also posts here sometimes. Friendly AI is his big idea.

No, there is not a large movement of people opposed to AI research on skynet grounds, Eliezer is the main advocate. I'm certainly willing to admit that Friendly AI is good and important but I think it's perfectly fine to reimplement and (recursively self-) improve Eurisko. There's always quantum immortality.

Some selections from his writing:

http://lesswrong.com/lw/y4/three_worlds_collide_08/ (That Alien Message, my favorite short piece by Eliezer)

http://lesswrong.com/lw/y4/three_worlds_collide_08/ (Three Worlds Collide, novella length fiction)

http://lesswrong.com/lw/r5/the_quantum_physics_sequence/ (Quantum Physics Series)

I'm glad Eliezer is out there thinking the thoughts that he is thinking. Maybe by the time we're closer to AI people will start really listening to him. For now, AI research continues to crawl along.
This game looks like a knock-off of the Rush Hour[1] puzzle which, according to wikipedia, is based on an earlier wooden puzzle from the 70's [2].

1- http://www.puzzles.com/products/rushhour.htm

2- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_Hour_(board_game)
It seems like everyone would benefit if we spent our entire lives splitting time between work and school (or perhaps back and forth in cycles).

I've always found it odd that kids don't spend much time working and adults don't spend much time learning (in a formal setting).
Problem is that sometimes your neighbors are not the nicest people.
Though I'm happy he managed to get his phone for $299, I don't think he has much to be outraged about.

Sure, Apple and AT&T could have handled it better. For one might be cheaper for current iphone owners to just pay the ETF and get the new owner price. So Apple could at least pro-rated the price based on the number of months under the old plan.

But the reason that there is a price difference is that the two-year plan they signed up for paid part of the phone price. There is a price difference of several hundred dollars between an unlocked iphone bought from Apple and the same iphone bought with a contract. So when customers ask to get out of their contract for free, they are asking to not pay the price they had all ready agreed to.

I view it as someone asking for a partial refund on a hard drive because the company came out with a newer hard drive with more space for less money. Sure, it is great for them if they get it, but they don't deserve it.
On Will Wright’s Team, Would You Be a Solvent, or the Glue?
My dislike of underscores is part of what made me chose ruby over python, when moving from php.
My bet is on a combination of

(a) Dynamic DNS client
(b) UPnP client
(c) built-in browser

I.e. every installation of Opera gets its own unique permanent DNS record, which is dynamically updated to the IP of the host computer. The UPnP is used to make the Opera instance accessible from the Internet and the Web server is used for sharing stuff.

Specifically, if I need to share a file with someone, the Opera will host this file locally and generate a unique URL that will point at my box and will be served by Opera's web server. I will then be able to pass this URL around and the recipients will fetch the file using their browsers directly from my machine.
The CIA Pick Up: A Windows Azure and Twilio mashup
Noscript on Firefox = fairly safe browsing.
Isn't Mono more than the C# implementation, covering much of the whole .NET API, which is not, IIRC, covered by ECMA-334.

And even if by publishing the spec they would have given up their right to sue implementors (which they did not) they would be free to sue anyone that used any technique on which they own valid patents on any jurisdiction insane enough to allow such patents.

And while I doubt their willingness to test such patents in court, I also acknowledge the potential for long and painful lawsuits is more than enough an incentive use other technologies that are every bit as nice to the developer as .NET while negating completely any litigation risk.
I always enjoy reading Andrew's posts, but I didn't get much out of this one. Calling ad supported sites a B2B is just a unique way of looking at the situation--simply a different way to look at it, if you will. The fact remains that this "inventory" that is being sold to brand advertisers is worth very little in the marketplace (which he does eventually conclude in this article).
That average has no meaning. Are they averaging the homework loads of grades K-12? Obviously kids in higher grades will have higher workloads, while kids in kindergarten will have little to no homework.
A wag other than myself once summarized EY's other site as "wallowing in bias", which summarization did seem apt every time I overcame that tl;dr feeling and tried to wade through; I'll happily admit the possibility that there really is something nontrivial and worthwhile going on there, but the tone and contents were at more-than-a-glance indistinguishable from what people write when they are trying to convince themselves that they do believe in their heart what their mind wants to believe it believes.

As often, Dostoyevsky said it best:

He was one of those idealistic beings common in Russia, who are suddenly struck by some overmastering idea which seems, as it were, to crush them at once, and sometimes for ever. They are never equal to coping with it, but put passionate faith in it, and their whole life passes afterwards, as it were, in the last agonies under the weight of the stone that has fallen upon them and half crushed them.
Do you really think that all people in Europe/Asia lead boring lives just because they don't get 3 months of 'time off' from school?
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Why? The link is to the original pdf, and the [scribd] tag is to the scribd vacuum link, so you can click on whichever you choose.
This is worth its weight in gold. A welcome contrast to the "10 ways to succeed" blogjunk that clogs this area of the the web so badly.

One of the fascinating things about listening to a master speak is how many more subtleties there are.
Have you looked at Lua? It's pretty similar to Python (with a bit more Scheme influence), but is very deliberately designed for embedding. Also, all state is contained in the Lua_state pointer, so you can concurrently run several Lua VMs when it suits you to. You don't need to wait years for Python to work its concurrency issues out.
Men sexually harass women because they are not sexist: Their theory is that men treat women aggressively just like they do men so they aren't sexist. But not being sexist means realizing women are different than men and treating them accordingly so their theory is nothing more than a word game.

You have got a number of bizarre arguments in this post, but they're all arguable (kindof) except this one.

Sexism is exactly thinking that somebody is different simply because they are a specific sex. The goal of "political correctness", as idiotic as it seems, is to have everybody treated as if they were carbon copies of one another.

Not being a sexist would mean not acknowledging the differences between the sexes.
I'm just trying to make the point that while you have fond childhood memories of long summer vacations, it doesn't necessarily mean that you would be a boring person with boring memories if you went through an education system with longer school days and less vacation time.

You would have different memories and experiences for sure, but neither you nor I can claim to know how you would have turned out were your situation different.
they run a service with a significant market share, proprietary protocol and client, and no interoperability with any other standards-compliant service. You are free to not call them a monopoly.
I'd hate for someone reading your comment to miss the article because they assume it is just a piece about procrastination.

This article is a compelling story that suggests there is a moral imperative to engage in anti-aging research, and that we have become blind, in our acceptance of our current mortality, to both the suffering that it causes, and to the fact that we can now hope to do something about it.