skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I know - Excel is the bare-minimum introduction to "programming" that most folks get.

Honestly, I think the industry has failed a bit here - we haven't really provided a good substitute for the spreadsheet when it comes to letting complete non-coders do elaborate computational tasks. I mean, Octave is a great tool for scientists, and I've seen some fun graphing calculator apps... but for some reason Excel endures. A kid wants to graph a formula? They do it in excel, even though that means they have to find a way to provide all the X-coordinates.
I got a similar virus once but it was before bitcoin was popular. It just asked for money via credit card. The virus hid my files, and I needed them for work too.

Fortunately the virus did that by some filesystem driver level hack, because after I booted into Linux I was able to mount the partition and get my files back.
I was aware of it beforehand. After I finished photographing the package, I immediately stored it in the refrigerator under an opaque object.
If you are using actual code they write, there are intellectual property concerns to consider.

I think it would be ethical, if you compensated those you didn't hire but who's works you used.
Spreadsheets...you know those rows and columns in databases? Yea why bother teaching them, no one uses SQL.
Hi there! Great feedback.

The bar chart isn't perfect, and certainly less so out of context. But I should clarify my intent behind it. The final episode of Breaking Bad pulled in roughly the same numbers that your average primetime hit (or even indexed basket of hits) pulls in every night. So when we're talking about the primetime averages, we're talking about indices with viewership figures roughly comparable to Breaking Bad's final episode. The point was that Breaking Bad was able to put a significant price premium on its finale relative to the nominal size of the audience it drew. It punched above its weight, so to speak. (Finale or otherwise, we're talking about 10 million Breaking Bad viewers vs. 11 million CBS viewers.)

Is the comparison totally fair? In that specific context, in illustration of that specific point, I believe so. Would it be remotely fair if it were used, say, to illustrate a point about Breaking Bad in general vis-a-vis the market? Considerably less so. The point was more about its value to AMC, and less about the show's ostensible superiority to any other network show.

To that point, I like your idea about contrasting Breaking Bad (finale, ordinary episode, etc.) with the average cost of an ad on AMC (though we'd have to control for the skew exerted on that index by Breaking Bad itself). That might be more apples-to-apples in certain respects, and it might have driven the point across a little bit better. Duly noted, and in as much as I am considering a followup, I may want to address that specific concern.
This guy is awesome. Check out a Game of Life Turing Machine: http://copy.sh/life/?pattern=turingmachine
It was not a smart ass remark. There are a lot of people that enjoy using hand tools. Its not just a nostalgia thing. The reduction in dust and danger is a giant draw for many people. The one power tool I really want is a band saw.

How difficult was using the drun sander?
I've done some more research on the topic in reply to that commenter, and my conclusion is that she is full of BS, to not mince words. She has yet to reply offering any citations at all for her claims, while all the authorities and references contradict her; I give a few here: http://www.gwern.net/LSD%20microdosing#degradation
I agree 100% - however the alternative is just as worse. Going private means budget overruns, back room deals, and long delays.
I tend to be skeptical of columnists who make claims like that because of Camille Paglia ruining it for everybody with her concern-trolling.
Yep, 4.97 in a slightly smaller body than the Nexus 4.
True. That's probably not what they're teaching in schools though.
Just get the LG G2, it's the same as the Nexus 5, but with a bigger screen, bigger battery, and better camera. You can easily root it and install a custom recovery. Then all you have to do is avoid installing any OTA updates and wait for CM to be ported (the work has already started and an alpha version was released a week or so ago).

In fact, you can get the Verizon G2 for just $99 right now[0]. I got it and I have no complaints. It's the best phone available on Verizon right now, hands down. The built-in IR transmitter even came in handy earlier today.

0: http://lgg2forum.com/general-discussion/get-a-verizon-lg-g2-...
It's a steal.
> Most importantly, the criticism of a _design_ is independent of the results of the experiment.

Flaws can go in any direction, and make a design conservative or optimistic. In this case, the identified flaw does not undermine the actual result of the experiment - though it would have undermined the opposite (hypothetical) result of positive effects.
a) I'm not the author of the study.

b) You expect us to believe that you have developed substantive critiques of a 3-year research project in 24 minutes of reading. (the delta between our post timestamps)

c) IMO whatever credibility you might have had to debate the science in detail is forfeited by your un-ironic reliance on the blog of a retired TV weather guy. EDIT: this is wrong, I confused you with another poster in this thread who had previously linked to the Watts blog. My apologies.
Not quite. A CA signs your public key. You never give anyone the private key, because... well, it's private.
I remember learning how to use Excel when I was around that age, for the purpose of making charts for science projects. Since they're probably learning basic statistics and data analysis around that age, Excel is an effective way of figuring those things out, with tools they will likely have at home. With that said, I would prefer stuff like that be taught in the context of a larger project (like I did with the science fair project), rather than an end in and of itself. I also agree with the OP in that they should also be learning creative stuff as well during their computer lab time.
BitDazzle - Bitcoin Marketplace
New iPhone 5c has analysts talking about possibly poor sales
Exactly.

Today I was astounded when I found out that passing NULL to std::string::operator=() results in a crash.

Qt's QString and QByteArray classes run null checks on practically everything.
Typically, Excel is a checkmark in 'computer skills' or to facilitate presenting tabular/graphed experiment data.

Color me surprised if the curriculum involves VBA or conditional formulas. Lego mindstorms might suit the OP in terms of creative And computational successor to hypercard.
Regarding your PS, it's because Saddam is his name, Hussein is his father's name, it's not a family name. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein#Youth or http://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/sep/22/israel for details.
But - the American government probably isn't going to care if you say terrible things about your own, or if you're looking at porn, or cheating on taxes or denying the holocaust, or about any number of things that could get you into trouble on your home turf.

I'm not saying America in this case isn't a threat, it is abstractly, but it can also be the lesser evil.
You'd probably want to look to the Moto X if you don't like the standard 5-inch screen size of most current flagships.
Why the Hell are we teaching garbage proprietary software to anyone?
KDevelop won my heart over QtCreator a while back.

Templates.
We got hit with this last week at work. It was finally picked up by AV about 4 hours after it first got through the mail filter, but by that time we'd already had 5 users open the attachment.

It's not a major problem if you have a good backup policy for both workstations and servers, but if not, it's one of the worst viruses I've ever seen.

I've heard that some people have had luck paying the ransom, recovering the files and then doing a credit card charge-back, but luckily we had everything backed up so didn't need to resort to such measures.

Just as an experiment, I tried decrypting some of the files using the Panda Security decryption tool being linked from various fora, but it seems to do nothing at all, and honestly I don't see how it could do anything without resorting to brute force.
LTE is based on GSM.

The specs found in FCC docs for what is believed to be this phone suggests that the phone contains radios that support the Sprint network which is CDMA, but does not support the Verizon LTE band.

Perhaps in the not so distant future VoLTE will be common and phones will be, conceptually at least, portal across any network.
For a perspective on how to use Docker and Chef together, this article is a good starting point: http://tech.paulcz.net/2013/09/creating-immutable-servers-wi...
Why are we teaching thirteen year olds how to use the quadratic formula? Why are we teaching seventeen year olds how to do integrals or multiply matrices?

I mean, I am all for letting kids be kids, but if school was limited to what <insert age group> find's interesting, it would be nothing but gossip, sex, drugs, and video games.
I have a Galaxy Nexus, skipped the Nexus 4, so am treating this as a signal to upgrade. Although I leading towards the Note 3 at the moment... Will definitely consider the Nexus 5 once it is out though.

Although I only got around to putting Cyanogenmod on my GN a month or 2 ago so it kind of feels like I did just get a new phone...
I taught my teenager days ago to use excel for sorting data to solve a math problem. It was a large set of data given in the problem, and it made no sense to do it by hand.

The problems that they give these days are either poorly thought out or just don't make sense to do without technological assistance. I think it is the former rather than the latter. Today's technology isn't needed to learn most of the concepts that are required to excel later in life, and my daughter is probably not going to be using pivot tables as an adult. I do think that word processing is a hell of a lot faster than having to do corrections with a typewriter, though. But the extra time having to think before you typed, or wrote for that matter, was a good thing. Today kids are being trained to just spit out online or in a text whatever comes into their head. That is going to be a disaster.
Of course sales are poor...we are so used to paying a premium for the cool factor, and for quality (debatable), why would we go for plastic? It's largely (if not completely) a case of perception here. I just got off the phone with Apple because I need a new laptop. After tallying up a 15" Mac Book Pro with Retina Display, 3-year Apple Care, and a few other necessary extras, I'll be paying about $3k out the door. I wince as I write this but it's worth every penny for me...if I'm at Apple and I'm already being gouged, why not just get the best thing they have?
I'm not sure the source of your frustration. The idea was to be funny and hint at the fact that email is not that secure. I wouldnt feel secure sending more than $8 on this platform... How am I to know that my email (or packets as part of the transmission) are 1) Encrypted, 2) Not tampered with 3) From whom they claim to be from.

email guarantees none of those traits 1. Encryption from server to server is optional, 2. Who knows how many MXs are hit until it finally makes it to my mailserver 3. Mailservers have know authentication mechanisms that ensure someone cannot send mail on my behalf.

Yes, well configured mail servers will make attempts at these things through SSL/TLS connections, doing direct connections only (no proxies/relays) and by only accepting mail from servers listed as MX servers or with SPF records etc.

Thanks for the -4pts.
Verizon's LTE is GSM-based.

Futhermore, the Nexus 5 is rumored to be coming out on Sprint (though definitely not Verizon).

The reason Verizon is getting passed up for two Nexus devices in a row (and probably will continue to be passed over indefinitely) is not because they are a CDMA carrier, but because of they way they mishandled the Galaxy Nexus.

In essence, Verizon doesn't want to allow phones on their network without Verizon controlling them, installing bloatware on them, etc. Verizon insisted on handling the updates for the Galaxy Nexus, and these were a joke; the Verizon GN is still not up-to-date with the most recent version of Android, last I heard[0].

And because they're a CDMA carrier, they can easily prevent phones from being used on their network.

[0] I have one, but I use Cyanogenmod so I can get timely updates.
Engadget [0] which is the source for this psudo-blogspam says:

Nexus 5 listed for $349, [...] 1080p 4.95-inch display, 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 CPU, LTE and storage capacity that tops out at 32GB

[0] http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/17/nexus-5-16gb-349-play-sto...
What it's like to work at Stripe
> No source. Just information that you may for all intents and purposes call hearsay.

So I can ignore it.

> Can you prove there was nothing in the blotter?

Umm... No? Can you prove there is not a teapot in orbit around Mercury? The LSD dissolving out is exactly what one would expect of a water-soluble substance. The burden is on you.

> Why didn't you get them lab-tested?

Because I am not rich. Send me $300 and I'll be sure to lab test any additional batches.

> Or at the very least reagent tested?

Because an Ehrlich reagant only shows the presence of indoles, and wouldn't show me what I needed to know, which was whether there was LSD, and what total dose was present.

> In fact, now that you have clarified that you ran your entire experiment with mere 1(!) tab worth of LSD (let's give the tabs the benefit of doubt), I can't help but be amazed at how quick you are to arrive at conclusions.

That's the thing about micro doses. They're, well, tiny. You only need one or two normal doses to make enough microdoses to test. That's what the power calculations were about, whether I needed one or two entire tabs.

> Were the tabs stored in an airtight container before being turned to solution?

They were shipped airtight and kept airtight until I tripped, then the remaining tab was mostly but not entirely sealed until a week later. Given that people routinely stash tabs in books and other places, I doubt that the week did it much damage.

> Your post, however, did not give me the impression that you knew what you were doing when you were handling the substance, and I remain unconvinced even after reading your reply.

Given your failure to provide any real information, despite your criticism, I'm not convinced you know what you're doing either.

> Knowing that you did go for it, changes absolutely nothing.

Really? Let me remind you what you wrote in your little supercilious comment about the fatal flaws:

> And I can't resist a little addendum - you would have done much better if you simply swallowed those two tabs, sat down in a comfy chair, put some nice music on, and tried to figure out what are those extravagant claims of psychonauts about ;)

You should have resisted, because you look like an idiot when you say that and I turned out to have done exactly that without the consequences you apparently expected.
In case the author reads this - just FYI your site is being blocked by Fortiguard as "malicious". I'm guessing either your site has been compromised or something nasty has been served up by an ad network at some point (maybe now, maybe past).
Then shouldn't Costco cut all of its employees salaries by half? They are a publicly traded company as well you know...
You'll Never Believe Where Tech's Highest-Paid Engineers Work
BagTheWeb joins the Markdown community
Hi all, I am VP of Product at BagTheWeb.com

We recently released a new version with a new feature called Blurbs which supports markdown format.
There's always JUCE ! A little slow to catch up at first,but after a while you'll get it and be able to build amazing things easily, plus its pure c++ no prepoocesor or anything like it.
When I was an elementary school student, we had a computer lab full of brand new IBM PS/2 and installed on them was the Microsoft Works suite.

This old version of Microsoft Works had a complete interactive tutorial on all the parts of the suite (Word processor, spreadsheet, database). A big part of our time learning computers was going through that tutorial. It was actually interesting and fun calculating numbers in the spreadsheet and advancing the tutorial.

To this day, my understanding of Excel comes from my time in that class. It's certainly not the worst class I had with computers in my lifetime.
They've got general consumer research from firms like Nielsen, which doesn't really give you all that much insight into how a script will pan out. They've also got focus groups, and I mean that literally: network TV is one of the last great holdouts in abandoning the focus group. Focus groups are methodologically flawed for all sorts of reasons, and they're notorious for mis-predicting hit shows and movies. But they're still a staple.

But more to the point, the real magic isn't in the data networks may or may not be able to use ahead of time. It's in the data they should capture from the shows: how they're trending, how they're being talked about, what channels people use to discover them, conversion rates from various channels, marketing efficiencies in various channels, cohorts among viewers based on spending patterns, sentiment, word-of-mouth likelihood, etc.

My overall thesis is that less time and money should be spent on (80-90% useless) development research, and more money should be spent on analytical marketing post-launch. I think TV networks can learn a great deal from video game publishers, for example: similar business model, similar hit dependency, similarly huge budgets -- but a complete mastery of distribution and marketing channels.

Nielsen ratings, of course, get looked at and scrutinized daily. But those are lagging indicators, they're approximations, and they're not actionable. And changes made to shows can't be directly attributable in the following ratings.

A strong counterargument to this logic -- and I feel I should give it its due say -- is that overanalysis will lead to design by numbers. And that's a very real danger. But I think the greater present danger is on not being analytical enough. We've got a long way to go before we're designing shows by numbers. That'll be a bridge too far, but the bridge isn't even in eyeshot yet.
Scientists, if carbon dating is limited to ~50,000 years or so, how do archeologists date things into the millions of years with accuracy?
James, I tried to email you but the link wasn't working for me for some reason. I can be reached at: reel india @ yahoo dot com ...
> Have you tried 15? 20? 30? It would almost certainly be sub-threshold when it comes to the psychedelia (unless you are a true freak of nature), but, who knows, maybe you would get an amazing nootropic effect!

What? Dose-response curves do not work that way. They do not look like binary circuits where at 10mcg they do absolutely nothing and then at 15mcg go to the moon. They look like curves. If 15 mcg was better than 12, then I should have observed something like a medium effect. If 20mcg was better than 12, I should have observed something like a small-medium effect. If 30mcg was best, I should have seen signs of a small effect, possibly not statistically-significant, but clear point-value shifts. I observed none of that.

> Why did you decide to abort your experiment after trying only an arbitrary dose of 10ug?

It was closer to 12mcg, I did not 'abort' the experiment but carried it out to completion exactly as I had planned, and it was not arbitrary but close to the middle of the reasonable range of 5-30mcg.
I have an iPhone 5, but I totally am going to buy this and see what it feels like to have Android as a primary device.
Probably heard it all before but spend about 10 minutes on http://coffeescript.org, read up on it, and you'll have it down.
They looked at siting effects as well:

http://www.scitechnol.com/2327-4581/2327-4581-1-107.php

They used Watts own siting data and showed that both poor and good sites showed the same temperature trend over time.

The data back to 1860 are also sufficient to establish the current warming trend and through other analysis (e.g. Meehl, et al's work) to establish the climate sensitivity. Climate science as a discipline does not hinge on knowing exactly how warm it was 250 years ago within +/- 0.5C.
Here, I usually ask people not to conflate the existence of a God with creationism. (Perhaps that is a particular U.S. thing?) Ditto with a literal interpretation of the Bible.

I was raised and schooled in a religious environment, and no-one believed in creationism. Heck, some of the Jesuit priests were paleontologists. And to give them their credit, irrespective of my beliefs now, the J's were awesome teachers.
> Why the Hell Are We Teaching Excel To 11 Year Olds?

Probably because it's a rather useful skill to have. I can't think of a valid reason why teaching someone how to use Excel would be a bad thing (the author does not really provide one either). But large corporations use Excel, so we couldn't possibly allow kids to use it. What if they become accountants? Excellent article...
They treat employees like crap and pay them as little as possible. Thus they get exactly what they pay for; sullen workers who do the bare minimum not to get fired.
I've never seen knowledge of Open Office as a required skill on a job listing.
I didn't include it in the original writeup because I thought 'well, it's not like SR sellers are household names and anyone would go "oh! VitaCat! I know that dude, he's good stuff"'. Guess I was wrong...

/edits writeup to be more explicit about the LSD source.
I wish Samsung built a Note without any of the phone features. Like a smaller tablet.
Give kids Microsoft Excel and they'll find ways to have fun with it http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/microsoft-excel-artworks/
Why the hell are we teaching kids how to use a hammer in Woodshop? After all, it's useless knowledge unless you become a carpenter, right, and how many people choose that as a career?
Thanks didn't know about DragonBox will check it out ...
or dont use windows...
I showed my son Excel and he played with it over the next few days and showed his best friend - adding and dividing and multiplying lots of numbers at once was interesting for a while.

It's not that it replaced keepeeupee as recreation, but it probably changed the way he interprets the world a little bit because it came at a critical age.
Costco is the way it is, not because it's a saint, but because of the market it occupies.

It is, for all intents and purposes, a wholesaler. They sell things in bulk. That's their thing. And they don't hold your hand while doing it.

There are no friendly people walking the isles willing to direct you, just cashiers. You pay for access. They only take AmEx, etc.

Mind you, I love the place, but it is the way it is because of what it is, not because it cares.
I know, right? BTW this was in 1999.
I would like you to consider GPLv3+. Thanks and congrats on amazing work!
I'm sure that's true for people who for whom that's true, however, that 'study' is very anecdotal itself, and quite ridiculous. It doesn't address where people with low wages live, income distribution, and other complexities. The group I'm referring to is a group who will not have $35k+ left over for house no matter where they live, and is pretty much invisible in that study. If anything the article you linked is showing that higher incomes live in places with higher housing costs and make more after paying for housing also, which is a different conclusion than is claimed by the article.
That's assuming the private key is even reused. If they're generating a new key for each user (which they very well could be), you're boned.