skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I think that in the long run, our biggest bottleneck is technological innovation, and not any static resource constraints. The return on new scientific breakthroughs is huge, and even if only 1% of the population can come up with and develop such ideas, the return will often be enough to increase the quality of life of the other 99% by orders of magnitude.
You didn't actually watch this video did you?
I'm not sure. Sometimes I find that when I'm working on something, I get ideas on what to write about. Admittedly, most of my blog posts tend to be reminders to myself on how to fix certain problems I come across as opposed to long form essays.
So wouldn't all of those reasons also apply to this chemistry set as well? What is it about this one that would mitigate the same concerns as applied to other sets?
I think it's more humane to improve sustainability by lowering birth rates, rather than letting existing people starve to death/die of sickness en masse. You argue that improving people's lives is only postponing the inevitable. I disagree, because the things Gates wants to do can facilitate economic development and provide a natural check on population growth.

As countries grow richer birthrates tend to trend downwards, for a variety of reasons. The one country that actually took population growth seriously and tried doing something about it (China) continues to get shit over its policies today (sometimes for good reason). Just providing people in developing countries with access to contraception ignores many of the reasons that people in those countries choose to have large families.

Finally, I've read that UCSD guy's blog, and while I respect his expertise, I can't get over the fact that his analysis often seems to rest upon rather shaky assumptions. For example, one of the blog posts he links to ("Galactic-Scale Energy") argues that exponential growth means that even a modest ~2% growth rate, sustained into the far future, would result in humanity needing to consume ludicrous amounts of energy. The math is sound, but the assumption is that the human population will also continue increasing exponentially (e.g. 1%), meaning that economic output continues to be divided among the current populace at a rate that is not necessarily exponential. However, if population growth really is slowing down (as statistics show [0]), then 2% growth into the far future with a constant or slowly increasing population results in a ludicrous amount of economic output available on a per-capita basis. The author's point is that unchecked growth is a bad thing; I don't think unchecked economic growth is even meaningful in the context of a population that is no longer increasing. Many of his other posts contain similar 'spherical cow' assumptions meant to make his mathematical models more appealing in terms of presenting his overall message.

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World_population_growth_ra..., data from US Census Bureau.
Racially grouped awe is a sort of racism ("black people are such good dancers!" <- racist).
I have been using PyCharm for the past few weeks now, and boy its sleek ! However, there is another Python IDE launched recently called Spyder which looks promising too.
Is the price of something determined by how much it costs to make or how much someone is willing to pay for it? I believe the correct answer is "It depends and both".

If you think it's just cost+profit then, prices will rise only by the percentage of which labor is a part of that price. In the restaurant industry, for example, labor costs are about 35% or the total costs. If wages increase 10%, costs increase 3%.
Video: Enjoy 50 US States through Google Glass • vlogg.com
Yeah, there are many tools already that can help you import different data formats into an RDF datastore, such as Virtuoso: http://www.openlinksw.com/dataspace/doc/dav/wiki/Main/
Arbeit Macht Frei.
That's what Erlich said, while people like Borlaug successfully worked the problem.
I had the "plastic version" as a kid (11 years old)... so much fun!
I ran all the experiments more than once, and felt like I was really learning something for the first time.

I had to wait till I got into computer science (at 18, pentium 75 era), to re-experience such a wonderful feeling.
I think just about every country east of the Iron Curtin would disagree with you. If you don't believe there's serious issues in Europe, especially Eastern Europe, you are mistaken.

You are right that to compare South Africa to, say, the Sudan is a gross simplification, but to compare Slovakia, Albania or Kosovo to France or England is also unfair.
When I first started looking at Android development, Eclipse's plugin system was so buggy it put me off Android development for a year or so.

Eclipse has gotten a little better than how it used to be. I initially used it when doing Android programming. I eventually weened myself off it. The main reason was it was just too slow. Another reason is it has dozens if not hundreds of shortcuts, which I always seemed to be inadvertently tripping over. I would go from programming to undoing whatever change had just been inadvertently made, which sometimes was not easy. There are shortcut disable features, but then you face the array of option menus to deal with that.

It was bad enough that I now just use ant, emacs, adb and the like to do everything. I have not launched Eclipse for months. The last thing left was getting the IDE to automatically stick in imports of packages used in the code, but some tweaking of emacs and JDEE have enough of that functionality so that my one remaining reason to use Eclipse is gone.
Mass markets are driven by marginal costs, not one-time engineering costs. The marginal cost of making food manually is extremely high.
More importantly: The near-richest guy in the world, who hates flying commercially, just gives up. Instead of, chartering a private flight, he flies commercial and is visibly upset. He pouts and acts all annoyed. Obviously from that point on they were all dreaming.
Portable Native Client
ZampleBox: From idea to 100s of paying members in 30 days
Wow, I passed through Kansas City a few months ago on a cross-country move and wish I knew about this store (and stopped in). I don't often fund kickstarters, but this one I could get behind –– something about it resonates with me.
Four Big Tips To Taking Control Of Your Development Task List
The matrix ending could have been great - if it ended up being that they were never really out of the matrix. That the human need for choice part of the equation was taken into account by the machines and allowed them to think they've broken free (or were fighting a war) when they were never really free. Neo could have been the extremely rare corner case among millions of cycles that figures out they're not really out.

Instead the movie baked in religious overtones and went the supernatural route (basically invalidating everything they set up in the universe in the first place).
Why My Open Source Stack Is Right for Your REST API
I understood what you were saying. My point is that the "simple solution" you propose is not really a solution at all. If that's the best solution we have for implementing a "basic job guarantee", then such a thing is unworkable.
You can build an idea by building an app or a blog post discussing it. It's what you do next that makes the biggest difference. Are you going to continue down that road of a through or let someone else take a hold of it.

Really interesting and something I have been thinking about a lot. In more recent projects I have built a landing page and maybe a simple MVP to showcase/mockups/etc. but then blog to try and drive traffic to it or use as a discussion link.
Thanks! I actually make use of the RSS to mail feature of Mailchimp (found that service very easy to use). I do have many subscribers with 3~4 mails a week going out to them. Will check out SendGrid.
If you think it is a crazy idea and don't see the reason. Think about social insurance systems and how many people are needed just for the paperwork, support when it comes to question, doctors who (re)verify that someone is really sick.

And then think about all the overhead you have as an entropeneer and how much risk you have, just for trying out an idea.

And then think about the risks, if you dedicate your life to art or if you dedicate your life to help other people.

Maybe there are systems to fix all of this, but they will be complex and have a lot of overhead (in other words: Tax paid for paperwork).

Remving the "having bad luck" problem means more people that will actually go for something, meaning more chances of bringing ahead giant leaps.

And think about how people can focus on the actual problem without constantly having that "How to pay your fees next month" thought in the back of your head, that makes you makes you wanna cry, whenever you find that that's not the solution.... espcially when you have a family.
New World Trade Center recognized as tallest building in US
Ask HN: iOS app instructions for children
My 6 year old nephew is interested in making an iOS app. He has no knowledge of programing languages or what it involves. He is very fluent in using computers and a quick learner.

Most books I know for Objective-C and app development are targeted at adults. Does anyone know of any good books or video tutorials for children of the age of 6? If there is none, I plan to create some instructions for him myself, but having some guidelines on how to instruct children would be amazing. I've never taught to children, only coached and mentored members of my engineering team.

Thanks in advance.
I don't think there's much of a correlation between the rise in popularity of Apple products in Japan and Apple's Japanese website.
Is this facebook or something?
Memento was literally a mystery film, and unless you kind of know which context clues to look for you're not really going to figure out what's going on until the end. Inception had a lot of mystery to it in terms of what's real and what's not, but in the end the mysterious portion of it is not really the point of the movie. We're not really presented with the question of what's real as the core mystery to be solved. The fact that Nolan doesn't actually reveal anything at the end aside from the context clues mentioned in the video and in the article posted at the top of the comments and his remarks after that "it doesn't really matter whether or not Cobb is in a dream" lead me to believe a lot of it is more of a character study of that man rather than an overarching sci-fi type world. The journey is not really to decide whether or not Cobb is living in the dream world but more so whether he is at peace either way.

I do agree with your general assertion that Momento is a more coherent film and I think that is largely due to the scope and scale of those respective films' budgets.
"Many people who start in unpleasant low-wage jobs, don't end in them."

LOL that's not a problem in the country I live in (USA). Perhaps you're Swiss or live in some country where statistically significant upward mobility is possible, in which case, in your country, it could be an issue. Lack of class migration, other than downward of course, is a pretty significant problem other than anecdotally in the USA.

Other than that localization issue, a pretty good post but I'd factor in import goods, especially products that appeal to poor people. Put bluntly I think retailers would collect a lot of the money selling Chinese televisions and the like. And getting that support from retailers is likely to be critical to getting the support to implement this thing. So there would be certain balance of trade issues relating to higher imports.
Half a dozen yeas ago, my investment bank team was too cheap to pay for an IntelliJ license so I was stuck with Eclipse. I'm finally enjoying IntelliJ because these days I use Rubymine. I do have TextMate, but IntelliJ's product just makes sense, performs well, and also saves me some time.
As opposed to exploiting the websockets API to build yet another webchat app.
Thanks! This is great!
>to develop more efficient crops.

Forgive me, I'm a bit out of my element here: I assume you're talking about "genetically modified foods"? How do you plan on dealing with the anti-GMO doomers? That perspective seems to be pervasive.
Busboy - your friendly denver/boulder bus finder
I agree that "puritanical" isn't appropriate for Swedish Lutheranism, but I suspect the previous poster was using "puritanical" more loosely, as a rough antonym to "hedonistic" and not as a specific religious movement or influence.

I'm not sure though about your statement "mostly advocated alcohol use in moderation."

There was the Swedish prohibition referendum in 1922. Just under 50% of the voters wanted an absolute prohibition on "rusdrycker". That includes spirits, wine, and strong beer. The referendum was "För eller mot införande av fullständigt rusdrycksförbud" - "for or against the introduction of the complete prohibition of intoxicating drinks."

(I'm uncertain how to translate 'rusdryck.' I think 'intoxicating drinks' is best, vs. "drinks with alcohol." A rusdryck is currently defined in Sweden (since 1944) as drinks with at least 2.25% alcohol by volume. I don't know what it meant in 1922. IOGT put it at 2% back in the late 1880.

For comparison, in the US the 1919 Volstead Act set the limit as 0.5%, while the 1933 Cullen-Harrison Act raised it to 3.2% by weight (=4% by volume), just a few months before the amendment overturning Prohibition. For that short time, US prohibition laws were less strict than what Sweden would have had.)

In any case, I don't think it's the same as saying that the temperance movements advocated for "alcohol use in moderation." Most of the temperance movements seem to have been for the ban, and relatively fewer temperance organizations (like the "Landsföreningen för folknykterhet utan förbud" - "National Association of Public Temperance Without Prohibition") against it.

As for the Christian influence, from what I can tell, while there were Christian organization in the early 1800s which advocated less alcohol use, it wasn't until the the "new" temperance movements of the late 1800s, with strong US influences, that people advocated for a complete ban. Some, like NGTO, were more specifically Christian than others. I think the modern IOGT-NTO is not Christian, though there are still Christian-based temperance movements in Sweden. As I recall, most people in the more religious area of Sweden voted for the ban, but that could also be an agriculture/small-town vs. industrial/big-city divide.

The modern temperance movement is, as you say, not the same as 100 years ago. IOGT-NTO advocates for reduced use of alcohol, and for the existence of alcohol-free places (like meeting halls). It does not advocate for the ban of alcohol.
The only thing I saw that would be of any interest is reproducing the Appel reaction. I agree with you, not necessary. I wonder if the inventor is including this simply because it more closely mimics the legacy chemistry sets. You know, for collectors.
Even in the best year (2008, $3269) this isn't remotely enough to live on. That's less than $9 a day, and that's an exceptionally high payout! In 2012 it was $2.40 a day. Maybe you could live on that in India or Vietnam, but not in the U.S.
Actually, Switzerland is not (quite) part of the EEA either.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland–European_Union_rela...
I think Jobs could have made the iPhone without Ive, but not the reverse. It may not have been the same or as good, but Jobs would have found a way.

That isn't to say Ive isn't a genius.
Komodo is next to useless for autocompleting custom PHP or JavaScript code ie code in the project itself rather than a framework/library). The JS handling in the IDEA products is not perfect but its much better than Komodo’s and the PHP support is phenominal by comparison.
It's also a disservice to people who don't know what a roguelike is. I love FTL but after playing it I blew way too much money on actual roguelikes hoping I'd find something with a similar feel. :(

(If you got bored with it within 3 playthroughs, you probably didn't get to try the rock, slug, or stealth ships, all of which have very different strategies from the starter ship and change the gameplay/strategy up quite a bit. I find rock & slug a lot more fun than the Kestrel. Or maybe it's just not your kind of game, that's OK too. :))
You are not alone. I have zero notifications. Only updates, and those are now done automatically.

The only notifications I get are calendar reminders, and I want them... otherwise I would miss all my meetings.
"Entitled" meaning that they believe they are owed or deserving of those benefits due to some underlying fundamental principles. This doesn't just apply to social security beneficiaries or welfare recipients, there are millionaires who receive handouts from the government because they happen to have a ranch or a farm which falls under some criteria. I'm sure many of them think they deserve those benefits even if a more objective, unbiased appraisal of the situation would disagree.
That's the whole point of this set it to allow you to do the "dangerous" (read: interesting) experiments. None of it is illegal, but it just discards the last 50 years of increasing concern for allowing children to do dangerous things.

So yes it's a risk and it can be used to make illegal/dangerous substances, but none of it is illegal, just risky.

Just major companies don't want to take on the kind of risk that comes with it. Whereas boutique shops have a lot more freedom because they're selling to self selecting audiences, which (generally) understand they're taking on additional risks with the increased benefits.
I am SO tempted...
My investment in these guys was announced this morning. I've been talking with them for over a year, one of my other portfolio companies is using it in production and I can't say enough good things about the rigor used to develop it. Honestly it is easy to be skeptical of their claims, but I think that if you dig in you will find that they are true.

https://foundationdb.com/blog/foundationdb-raises-17-million...
I literally laughed out loud at the accusation of Switzerland being a "Socialist" country. Having spent a summer in Zürich amongst the investment banks (although not working at one I hasten to add) the US-English insult was too much.

EDIT: Sorry, did I say investment banks? I meant Private Banks of course.
What's the unified form?
"Will people with non-great jobs around the basic income level keep going to work, or will they stay home and maintain their current living standard, or will they keep going to work, and roughly double it?"

What would you do? Would you live a frugal life on basic, or would you use the extra to live a fuller life?

"Some of the services will just be foregone with little tangible effect. Lawns will be mowed less often, street swept less often etc. Slightly worse impact on the economy will be when busy people decide to forego help, such as cleaners, babysitters, handymen etc. and do the job themselves."

Speaking for myself, I have less than zero desire to mow my lawn, or sweep my street. I like having a mowed lawn and a swept street though, so if I suddenly had extra money, I would very likely pay someone to do those jobs, which currently aren't being done at my house. What would you do?

"If a person makes the short-term decision to not work (and not studying or working on a startup or something similar), that person moves further and further away from ever participating in productive labour. I'm a bit old-fashioned on this, but I consider allowing people to go idle, long-term like that, is a grave failure of society."

Why should anyone be forced to do work they hate for the sake of proving to those in power that they are not lazy? What would you do if you were unfortunate enough not have a college education and some skills that allow you to hold a good job, and your only option was working in fast food? Then suddenly you have this basic income, and you can afford to live without working that horrible job? Would you just start taking a lot of naps, or would you start pursuing hobbies and skills that you never had time or opportunity for before?

I know what I would do - I'd take a course on motorcycle repair, take up motorcycle racing, and travel to races. Maybe that's not valuable to society as a whole, but I would argue that it's relatively more valuable than fast food. Plus the intangible benefit of another person in the world who's happy and an expert in their field, rather than another unhappy, worthless minimum wage employee. What would you do? I'm asking you to trust other people to make decisions as good as you would make, rather than making assumptions on their behalf.
Who can say what others might've done with the money? As someone who genuinely believes in democracy, I have to believe that a large sum of money will achieve more good in the hands of many than in those of few, or one.
I love myself some vim whenever I get the chance, but to me, it is not auto-completion that is the killer feature of IDEs; rather, it is the immediate error checking that I get as I type code.
PyDev knows flask.ext.* . Community version of PyCharm doesn't. If you're doing flask development, it can be annoying.
Your caps lock seems to be working
Google launches Portable Native Client
"Wars are becoming less frequent."

He wrote, as we approach the centenary of The War To End All Wars.

No one with an appreciation of human history would write such a thing. Nor would they imagine that the technological innovations between us and that war have been marginally more important than those in the century proceeding WW I. The Green Revolution is fine, but it seems hard to believe its productivity improvements outstrip those from the mechanization of agriculture, or the use of railroads to move grain. Polio prevention is awesome, but its gains pale before those from imposing simple sanitation codes and providing clean water.

And perhaps the "salvation through technology" set should reflect on the impact of the addition of mobilization by railroad to the diplomatic problems following the assassination of Ferdinand. Or on the confusion, to horrifying cost, of military and grand strategy by the introduction of the machine gun. The unintended consequences of those innovations, and the complete failure of technology to solve them, made for the costliest and stupidest war to its date.

By all means, pursue better and better technology. But the world's deepest and most serious problems have always been political, and always will be, and will always be beyond resolution by better gadgets.
Building your personal brand is very underrated!
When did communism force everyone to work? Do you mean the USSR?
Being from Africa I can tell you that the Patents linked with GMOs are really bad. The subsistence farmers depend on part of their harvest for the next crop. GMOs owned by corporations have patents that if introduced or even an adjacent field cross-pollinates with your crop you are in violation of several patents. So every year you are forced to buy new seeds from the Corporation. I hope this gives you a bit of insight as to how subsistence farming is hurt by these types of seeds.
Maybe opensource type GMO is in order? Who knows.
Moore’s Law, Part 2: More Moore and More than Moore
Not to nit-pick but the "a" in that font ("15px/20px Swift") is completely distracting...
Yeah, I think he wants to reproduce the original kit as closely as possible, even if some chemicals have been discarded in modern uses.
I appreciate that sentiment. The Matrix is certainly interesting, but it's one of those things high schoolers use as a jumping off point and it is very trite and cliche. It's a lot like Ayn Rand actually, it's not that it's objectively worthless, but it's Twinkie pop philosophy that people are exhausted grading papers of.