skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
> Last week, I watched with bewilderment as India’s most vociferous talk show host, Arnab Goswami, repeatedly asked his guests if they expected an Indian diplomat who is paid $4,180 a month to pay her domestic servant $4,500 a month. Meanwhile an American guest, Lisa Curtis, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, tried to make a point: “If somebody cannot afford to have domestic help, then they don’t have domestic help.”

I had a few Indian friends in college who all lamented the lack of servants in their American day-to-day. One woman I knew recalled having 6 or 7 servants, but described herself as coming from just a normal, slightly-upper-middle class family.

It really stuck with me over the years. Growing up in the U.S., servants have a kind of old-world upper-class, if not crusty and exploitive, vibe.

Yet I've found myself over the years, as free-time disappeared into work and salaries increased, hiring a maid to come in once a month to clean house and a gardener to mow my lawn and tidy my plants once every couple of weeks. I've hired tutors and other private instructors, a fixit guy who comes and does other maintenance on my home every once in a while and so on. My wife and I have toyed with having a cook come in once a week and prepare a bunch of meals.

I'm sure if pressed I could come up with a half dozen other people I've hired on for their physical labor at one time or another. If needed, I'm sure most of them would become "live in servants" for the right price and accommodations.

It's also not uncommon in my area for families to hire Au Pairs which is really just a fancy way of saying live-in Nanny/house maid, which is a servant's title. They're given fairly little pay, maybe $1200/mo and room and board in exchange for child care and some house chores/personal assistant work. In other areas dedicated personal assistants are quite common. And I've seen people setup "internships" for their personal businesses which are so tied to their personal lives that the work is usually just personal assisting for intern pay.

Yet in the U.S. we've allergic to calling these people "servants" because it seems menial and disparaging I guess.

I'm curious though, where does the concept of "servant" actually end? Is my mechanic a servant? Or is he not because I go to his place for him to do the work instead of having him come to mine?
If something does not work and that person gave you data (access to services) I think it is appropriate that you follow up on the error. That what we do. Not other way around.
Except for anything that might actually involve liability. Put "shop" in the domain for which you want a free certificate and you will have it rejected by Startssl.com
I can't be certain, but I'm guessing it has to do with its tech influence. In fact, if you look closely, every heavily mapped region has a prevalence of technology or are homes to tech centers.
Yeah. OK. I think any rational human would agree that the treatment of the servant was wrong. OTOH: NEVER violate diplomatic immunity rules! They are there to protect US...not THEM. You know, sort of like how it would be incredibly hypocritical to agree to international war crime laws then commit acts of torture and overthrow the sovereign ruler of a country. You can't do that! You...oops.
An observation: people who know about databases of all kinds say "relational database". People who don't say "SQL database".

Relational databases on commodity hardware can easily handle hundreds if not thousands of updates per second these days.
Ask HN: Best way to become a PHP freelancer?
So I noticed on craigslist under webdesign/software/internet jobs are mostly all PHP? Personally I find PHP easier than most languages but there are not enough good resources out there for learning the language?

Is there a good method for learning PHP that can get me employed as a freelancer? PHP has a lot of tools like Drupal, Wordpress, Magento but not sure which one to learn.

Also Ruby and Javascript seem to have up to date tutorials and interactive learning ways online but none for PHP? Does anyone know of any?
Make sure to double-check your contract with the company to make sure there is no clause stating that any work created (in the office or not) belongs to them; if so, double-check to ensure your project was listed as prior art.

If the contract has something along these lines, you're in a tough position.
It's substantially wealthier (using per capita GDP). I wouldn't be surprised if it just has more and better roads (making it easier and, sort of, more interesting to map).
Our authoritarian oligarchy is spilling over into the international community. First the wars, then the NSA, now violating laws of diplomatic immunity.

If I weren't a level headed guy, I'd have to say that on the OUTSIDE, The USA is starting to look like an insane imperialist nation.
Non-SQL databases can have relational features, like rethinkdb for example.

http://www.rethinkdb.com/docs/table-joins/
If you're relatively successful, this isn't too far off from reality. If for example you make $75k after taxes, your living expenses is $25k, and you invest the rest with a 8% return, you can retire after 10 years and have a safe withdraw rate of 3.5% (equaling 25k) in perpetuity.
There's a lot about asking people not to copy the list to their own blogs which kind of spoils the first impression to me - especially that the note is before the fold.

Does the HN crowd have an opinion on this? Did you find the note a bit weird ?
Rich, poor, American, Kazakh, it doesn't matter. If you are arrested you are strip searched to protect you, the prison staff, and the other prisoners.

There are different kinds of diplomatic immunity. Hers was explicitly limited to official work. The run-Americans-over-and-get-off-scot-free kind is a different diplomatic designation.
This question seems to come up often enough. It came up in an interview I did a little while ago; I was delighted since I am a big fan of the Tortoise and the Hare algorithm (I think I originally read about it in The Connection Machine by Hillis, which is a great read in general).

I think it's a good interview question even if you're not familiar with it, because while you might not come up with the algorithm, it shows how the interviewee might reason about linked lists, and ask about what trade-offs you're looking for.
We do exactly this, with billions of rows each day of statistical data right into MSSQL server instances. For data like this, the only difference is that we partition the data into daily tables and provide views into the data as necessary.

What experience or expertise can you share as to why this doesn't work?
By this reasoning you should presumably agree that the onus is on Telegram to prove the security of their system, not on the rest of the cryptography community to prove that it is insecure. Telegram have completely failed to do this. Even if Telegram had a formal proof of their system (and implementation), would you be in a position to read and understand that proof? I suspect not. Like me, you'd have to trust a group of respected cryptographers to do that job for you, so I don't really know what you're trying to say here. Just because one or two respected cryptographers appear to have become NSA tools, does not mean everyone has.

Also note that it's not a case of one random crypto guy saying that Telegram's approach is flawed, but a case of virtually the entire crypto community saying that the approach is flawed. Does this not ring alarm bells for you? How can you judge that the Telegram guys know their stuff and aren't leading you down the garden path or are themselves deluded?

With your backing, there is a real chance for Telegram to bring secure communications to the masses. This is indisputably a noble goal, but the areas that Telegram should be innovating in are in UI and features - not cryptography. There is no such thing as mostly correct, 'good enough' cryptography, either the system is secure, or it's insecure - there is basically no middle ground. If you fail, it's a bit more serious than your typical software bug - innocent people can literally die - the very people that need this the most are the most at risk. These are the reasons Telegram have been met with such a frosty reception here. Because they come across as arrogant in an area where arrogance is the absolute least desirable trait.
but the diagram part it's not interactive.. right? It's just a visualization tool I suppose? Thanks
Show HN: PuzzleChat - Photo puzzle messaging app
So set the secure flag on the cookie.
I got really distracted about totally inaccurate audio and tape functions. Haven't you ever used those devices? Timing, sounds, tape reel operation, highly in-accurate. Sorry to complain, idea is nice. But execution is really non authentic. You should have written authentic simulation code for audio and tape reels. Now it's just ehh, artistic stuff, just like in movies, which usually means bad. Also tape storage usually used faster seeks, slower reads and some pauses in between.

I also deeply hated Brother electronic typewriters, because I could always write faster than those typewriters were able to extract data from buffer. There was always an risk that you filled the buffer up and then had a overflow. Then you had to wait until the buffer was clear so you were able to see what was lost before continuing. Really enraging. IBM Selectic typewriters were much better and a lot faster. Anyway, main point is that print timing differs between letters based on what's being printed.

Of course you were able to connect both of these to computer and use as a printer.

Good: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Selectric_typewriter
Bad: http://electricinnards.blogspot.fi/2013/04/brother-ax-250-el...

This should be interesting at least to tech hackers. Old but good stuff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Selectric.ogv
It's easy, but a bit of an old language. I started here: http://www.tizag.com/phpT/
I've noticed this too. Alot of ecommerce sites use HTTP for browsing. I assume this is because of speed. However I dont see why the session cannot be hijacked? If i copy all of the cookies how will the server differentiate the hijacker from the user. They both have the same cookies.
We still call all those people service providers.

Specialization and number of customers seem to be pretty clear distinguishers (where servant sort of implies lots of different tasks for a single household).
Perhaps an option, if it's not something you're planning on selling, would be to open-source it, and then let the employer use it like any other user.
Hello HN, we're looking for feedback on PuzzleChat, its a fun and quirky weekend project we built. Its surprisingly addictive! We'd appreciate any feedback at all.
Oakland and San Francisco are not in Silicon Valley. San Francisco is the second most densely populated city in the US.
If being fair is your intention, perhaps "Americans" ought to be replaced with "people." There's a lot of things you can lay on the USA's doorstep, but a monopoly on irresponsibility or entitlement is not one of them.
I still have to build company where I see problem where HTTP makes things faster than HTTPS. When I come to level that HTTPS is causing too much CPU usage I will be super super happy.
http://searchengineland.com/google-has-stopped-street-view-p... (2011)
Cash is like the blood running through the veins of a venture. You need it to survive. You also need it to walk and you need more of it to run. There are web businesses that can certainly be entirely bootstrapped, sometimes by a single coder/designer/everything.

On the other hand, most businesses that scale need more people and more resources and more of everything. This is where the "it's just a server in a rack" model breaks down quickly. Scaling means, at the very least, hiring people and providing them with all of the resources they'll need to do their work. You could very easily be at a $50K per month burn rate very quickly after launch, say, thee months. That doesn't account for legal fees and other expenses that might not be obvious on first inspection.

If you have the money and the ability to scale a business and are willing to risk it all, by all means, do it. You don't need external money for this.

Most of the young folks who seem to make-up the HN audience there are lacking three things: money, experience and the business network. All three of these are critical when you need to press on the accelerator and go. Learning while doing is possible but far less than ideal. If a VC can offer smart money this is probably the best bet for young HN'ers. In this context "smart money" means that a VC makes an investment and also contributes experience, guidance and contacts to the process. This can often mean the difference between success and failure.

In many ways this concept of a good vs. a bad idea has to be qualified with a set of variables. Off the top of my head:

Startup cost
Market
Competition
Barrier to entry
Cost of sales
Capital intensity
Regulatory landscape
Technology risk
Intellectual property ownership
Intellectual property minefield
Domain expertise
Funding
Business operating expertise
Marketing expertise
Local labor requirements

I could go on and I could expand on all of the above but that's besides the point which is that a business that isn't a hobby and can scale is far more than a server in a rack.
It could be a good interview question if they weren't looking for "the right answer", but the "we're out of time" after only the second go-round suggests it wasn't intended as the very-hard-question they want to watch you try to solve.
Dependent Types for Safe and Secure Web Programming (IFL 2013 paper)
Alot of ecommerce sites (Amazon, Flipkart) seem to use HTTP over HTTPS. Even when you're logged in. These sessions can easily be hijacked. I assume this is because of the handshake latency of HTTPS. Is there no way around this latency to make your website feel faster? I imagine there isnt, because even amazon uses HTTP.
"India is furious that the diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, was strip-searched and kept in a cell in New York with criminals."

Because wage theft isn't at all like those nasty crimes everybody else does, amirite?

Well, it is slightly different - it's only committable by people who have enough cash to pay wages. So in short: "waddya mean I'm a criminal? I'M RICH!"
The Twitter Message About AIDS, Africa and Race
New Health Law Frustrates Many in Middle Class
> Brazilian Air Force Commander

> Writing on an iPhone

There is still some progress to do.
None of whom seem to be interested in improving social policy other than for their own class.
U.S. is not a member of ICC [1].

And regarding war crimes... You know that the Geneva rules only apply to enemy __combatants__ right?

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_the_Internati...
> think about gender equality in this industry

Yes, I have given it the same thought as `gender equality in kindergarten`, `gender equality in prostitution` and `gender equality in the military`.

> you're part of the problem

People who keep insisting that tech needs women are part of a problem that's for sure.

As far as I know anybody has the chance to sit down and code, last time I checked women were not banned from coding.
Erlang has few books but they are a good read.I started reading learn you some erlang just because I found it unusual for a programming book to have bearded octopus and before I know it I was totally hooked!
I don't really understand - if use of the technique (and similar) is why the Stasi is as maligned as it is, then surely using the technique does put you on par? What would it take to put you on par then? Nationality? A mustache?
Up next on Hacker News, "how to maximize the space on your floppy disk."
that was helpful making a decision, thankyou.
I agree, they mentioned something along the same lines while I was coming up with my horrible attempts. I really like the algorithm as well.
Having lived in the US, and then having encountered 'servants' in other countries, a striking difference is the respect for the person when they are not 'on duty'. In the US, when I go to a restaurant, I am being 'served', but after the waiter gets off work he's a full and equal neighbor of mine under both law and custom. A lifetime servant is conditioned to be deferential, in every part of their life, not just while working. Or said another way, they are always 'working' - oftentimes from birth until death. There is a stark difference in hiring a cook to come over and cook - and when he's not cooking for you be able to have his own family, hobbies, political motivations and all the rest of his life - and having a cook who 'serves' you - full stop. There is a fundamental difference between these perspectives. I believe this is why the idea of a 'servant' is so distasteful to an American. Though again, it took meeting and interacting with true 'servants' (outside the US) to even become aware of the distinction.
If you are arrested you are strip searched to protect you, the prison staff, and the other prisoners.

Given that it obviously doesn't at all work at keeping stuff out of jails, would you entertain the idea that the reason behind standardising strip-search might be more psychological in nature.
I'm not sure of that. One big theme in intelligence / counterintelligence is that it isn't necessarily what you know. It's how you know what you know. Secretly having a copy of the Snowden documents is much more valuable than having a copy of the Snowden documents and everyone knowing that you have them.

E.g. If I am the U.S. and I want to manage some agents in Iran, I might have to alter my strategy if I know Iran has the Snowden docs. I think you can s/Iran/Sinaloa Cartel/ and it still makes sense.
Scientific American's Top Science Stories of 2013
Ask HN: How to setup working environment without furniture on the floor?
I have been working on the dinner table, but It's not comfortable because my son is loud. I have bedroom which is empty and I could work there. I want to try working on the floor, but I dont know how to setup good working environment without furniture or how to sit correctly. I could buy little furniture like small folding table but I would prefer to use in house stuff.

I have rented apartment which I want leave pretty soon that's why I don't want to buy desk or any other big furniture (also I dont have car). I can pack myself and my family to 5 suitcases and I would like to keep it that way.

Has any of you tried working on the floor? Do you know how to sit correctly on the floor without hurting myself?

Thanks for any advice!
I mean if it works for you I cannot say it doesn't work. It doesn't seem like a palatable solution however. Does your SQL database also have other types of information? Like account data? Does having billions of rows of statistical data make it more difficult to manage, replicate and secure non-statistical data? Like your logs must just be useless.

You can bring down trees with dynamite, but just because that "works" doesn't mean it's the optimal solution.
estimate price. you must be centi-millionaire then.
Do the JetBrains IDEs have any fix like this? When I've used them, I have to go back and re-wrap my comments when they change...
NSA Paid RSA $10 Million to Use Flawed Security Standard
Your statement is an incredible generalization of a large group of developers. It may be your experience, but I have to counter it with my own.

While the Windows/.NET stacks may not provide as many pre-built solutions to handle 'big data' (a term I'm growing to hate), I have worked with tons of competent developers who have been able to build solutions to answer exactly the kinds of questions you propose.

I've seen it done with SQL Server Reporting Services, Analysis Services and even straight custom C# code. I've seen it done with Hadoop + streaming API, StreamInsight (CEP rather than post processing) and custom Workflows in WF.

As for your other statements that are just built to jump on the 'hate Microsoft' bandwagon, just because a single large company doesn't iterate fast enough to keep up with the rest of the OSS landscape doesn't mean that .NET didn't have options available to it. Nancy provides great REST capabilities and has existed since 2010. Devs were building REST services with Microsoft's ASP.NET MVC during the same period. Others were using WCF REST (not great, but usable) at the same point as well. WCF Data Services was another option.

ORMs.. Theres the ever-expanding Entity Framework (which I don't love), NHibernate and many many others.

Lets not just jump in and bash MS because you've only worked with bad developers using their stuff.
Neat, first time I've seen Computer Modern outside of a TeX'd pdf. It looks quite nice on your site.

Also... an interesting read, thank you :)
I did a one year masters conversion course (popular in the UK around the time of the dot com boom).

Ten years on, I would say 80% of my knowledge is self taught, and being able to learn yourself is a valuable skill. I now work with a lot of bioinformaticains, many of whom are self taught. Some of them are good coders, many are not. I think doing a good course did teach some good principles about how to write better quality software, which seems to be missing from many self taught programmers.
No - copy and pasting is endemic, and if he wants to keep a list that's his (rather than have it shared on 50+ 'latest might-get-ad-clicks content' websites), then good for him.
I am not sure about the job yet. I did get another interview on Skype. I had to do coding in a shared text editor while two interviewers watched me through a web cam. Puts someone looking over your shoulder to shame as far as pressure goes. I felt like I was much slower at everything because of how nervous I was. Other than that I feel it went okay. Hopefully I'll know more before too long.
amazon uses https for any important/sensitive pages. there's two sessions, one for http, one for https.
I don't trust people who blindly follow orders.
Why Wearable Tech Will Be as Big as the Smartphone
The KGB painted the people they harassed as mentally ill and paranoid liars. If you have video, it backs up your claim against people who believe you made it all up.
So basically what he has access to every single government on this planet wants access to. Not to mention a number of criminal or opportunist organizations.
Microsoft, Amazon Propel Washington to Most Innovative State
Interesting interview:

- He obviously speaks german now quite fluently, so I assume he will stay in Berlin, in a much safer country.

- Obviously the CIA still tries to get hands on the Snowden data to know how much and what exactly the journalists have, to be prepared. So they still don't have this information. This could eventually lead to better NSA reforms, as they still have to fear the worst.
"Servant" vs. "professional domestic help" is a fuzzy distinction. There's a number of check boxes.

Typically what we consider to be a servant involves domestic duties & being at someone's beck-and-call.

Roles such as mechanic or gardener wouldn't be considered as such, because they are both fairly autonomous roles.
Ask HN: Good books for foreigners wanting to learn about the history of the USA?
Many foreign entrepreneurs coming to the US don't really know the history of the US except from what they see in movies and what they read in newspapers. What are some good books or free online courses which provide a balanced history of the USA, from Columbus until the turn of the 20th Century?
it's not the cpu usage people worry about generally, it's the extra network trips / latency.
24 Days of Hackage: web-routes-boomerang
A lot of the PHP stuff online is outdated though?