skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
>'break economies' is doom mongering. It seems depressingly plausible that the decline in liquid petrocarbons will lead to a lower growth rate absent large technological changes.

Well, I don't see the reason for such optimism. Economies have breen broken for far less, including stuff like housing booms.

Now, some economies are so closely tied to oil (and so little diversified) that they will bust witout a doubt -- most middle eastern ones for example. Venezuela.

Then, even if we had a perfect replacement source, the investments needed in building it and replacing existing infrastructure would be enough to shake economies. As for the unfortunate economies that could not easily afford such makeovers, they'd be screwed for a long time.
I don't see where you think I just read books, lol, but thanks for the suggestion man.

I have been planning to join a few competitions, and definitely some hackathons in 2014.
Surge pricing does two things: it decreases demand ("don't use it" as you say) and increases supply (by encouraging more drivers to work). If demand is not decreased, e.g. by increasing costs ("don't use it"), then services will be denied ("can't use it") because you can't pull something out of nothing!

Given that you don't believe in the principle of supply and demand (or you think it is extremely lazy, as you said). How would you balance demand with supply in extreme situations? What is the non-lazy solution? I guess we could try:

* Force more drivers to drive at the normal price to match demand (the totalitarian approach)

* Ensure that there are enough drivers to meet peak demand through subsidies to get them through normal demand times.

What else am I missing here?
Why would Saudi Arabia curtail their own exports? They'll make a lot more money exporting it. The ruling class has no incentive to care how expensive oil is for their domestic economy.
> "injustice" elicits stronger emotional reactions than the exact same (or even worse) situation happening to someone just by chance

Because injustice implies the unjust decision made by someone in charge, and having an unjust law or person in charge is much worse then having an accident. Not only that, but it's something we have more control over, so it's rational to get more emotional about it.
Can we please stop calling them "porn filters"? It's not what they are, it's "censorship filters". The label matters.
Chrome kept crashing on me as I tried to read the article, but if I understand what I've read correctly put me squarely into the camp of improve-out-of-body technology first. Better understanding of my body's context should not be at the cost of implanting or trusting some technology for a fixed period -- even biometrics. Personally I prefer Bluetooth Low Energy. Easier to swap out ID tools or leave them at home if necessary. Easier to provide temporary or one-time access via smart phones, or use the smart phone as a device to enter a smart phrase or other second factor beyond the possession of the BLE ID or phone itself. Next-generation 2FA will hopefully use Mac support of Bluetooth Low Energy for years now to provide challenge responses for 2FA, making it even easier than reading a number or plugging in a Yubikey, or it could require a passcode on the device but then have the added benefit of easier sharing between computer and phone.
If by "syntax compatibility" he means code that compiles in one version does not compile is another, that's definitely true. Name collisions with the new default methods in Java 8 are one source. If your Comparator-implementing class has a method "void reverseOrder()", that will no longer compile.

Here's a couple of recent examples the Guava authors have fixed. Fortunately they were in internals and not their public API, so users won't care.

https://code.google.com/p/guava-libraries/source/detail?r=7d...
https://code.google.com/p/guava-libraries/source/detail?r=25...
It's a common term for a bicycle without the ability to change gears; a fixed gear (aka fixie). They generally are low maintenance and simple to repair. I think he's making an analogy that static sites are also low maintenance and easy to repair.
My sister has an old mountain bike that she only ever rides in first gear. I assume it's first because she told me she leaves it in "whatever the lowest one is." She is the intended market for a fixed-gear bike (or "fixie").

People who advocate the use of static sites are the ones who simply don't have a use for the features of more complex CMSes or blogging platforms. A dynamically-generated site is overkill for their writing in the same way that a mountain bike is overkill for my sister getting to work.
The real biggest bootstrap resources.
Sure, "/* ie. dec==_DEAD_, no which ain't it not worth man */" really cleared things up.
Ask HN: I can't figure out how to make good UIs. How do I learn?
A bit of background:
I'm an 18 year old junior in college studying a dual major in computer science and computer engineering. I can figure out any concept regarding technology whether it be closures in functional programming or understanding advanced cryptography concepts. Despite this, I can't seem to be able to objectively look at a user interface I've created and judge its quality; it always seems 'good enough' for me as I know where everything is in it.<p>What are some resources I could look at regarding design of user interfaces? I understand the people that might use a product I create will not see it the same way that I do; they won't have the same expertise and familiarity with it at first site. My goal is to be able to create intuitive interfaces (the best UI is no UI[0]) that most people are able to use without issues and without the dreaded "where do I click to perform this action that I absolutely KNOW should be here?".<p>[0] - http://www.cooper.com/journal/2012/08/the-best-interface-is-no-interface
At least they're staying true to themselves.
>Past precedent says prices will rise slightly, technology will improve, and new oil that was once too expensive to obtain becomes obtainable.

And common logic says that a resource that is finish will, sooner or later, finish.

It also says that there's no natural law that "technology will improve" always, so that getting harder to get oil will only require the prices to rise "slightly". At some point a specific technology does not improve anymore, or you get diminishing returns.

Also, common sense says, that as time goes by, and measurements improve, it's far more likely for us to predict correctly how many barrels are left that it was in the past.

Common sense says that for a civilisation to run out of a resource and NOT find a proper, similarly cheap, replacement in due time, it's bloody probable. Nothing strange about it.

Now, some people like to think that stuff like "technology always improves in time to save us" is some kind of natural law. I guess they are more into science as religion, than in science as science.
It wasn't meant to be a criticism of your implementation - just a comparison of the two languages for this particular task. Haskell happens to be very concise for writing mathematical code. I love Python too, but for different reasons (easy to prototype, great libraries, flexible).

I've noticed that people with a mathematical background tend to be very attracted to Haskell. There's a great blog post by Dan Piponi enumerating eleven reasons to use Haskell as a mathematician:

http://blog.sigfpe.com/2006/01/eleven-reasons-to-use-haskell...
The RapGenius guys just know how to treat themselves :)
What is life in the village like? I'll admit my first reaction upon reading this is to think "that doesn't sound very pleasant" but maybe it's a lot better relative to where this person came from. Why are people moving to the city?
It could always be worse- like a collapsed state ruled by religious militias without enough water to keep people alive.
If you drive more, you are more likely to get into an accident. This is why taxi drivers have to pay more for insurance than commuters. They definitely should pay a higher premium (or a premium scaled to usage).
At American universities, there is often a different degree for the hardware aspect of computing: Computer Engineering, which deals with digital design and other hardware stuff.

Computer Science is generally focused on algorithms and math, but the emphasis on coding varies across universities -- some are way more math heavy, while others have more software project work.

A few universities have a separate Software Engineering degree, like Cal Poly SLO. The emphasis is on the process of software development and applying computer science fundamentals to a product. This is the job of gathering requirements, designing a piece of software, and, often, actually implementing it.

SEs have to know how to structure software and put together data structures and algorithms, integrating knowledge of the hardware (and underlying layers, like the OS) that the software is running on. Computer engineers and electrical engineers make the hardware and everything lower than the OS. Computer scientists have to know how to develop new data structures and algorithms. Making software requires the work of all three professions.

I think there's a huge difference between "learning to code" and "learning to become a software engineer," or "learning to become a computer scientist." One can learn to code without a breadth of domain-specific knowledge, which obtaining a degree may give you.
>Past precedent says prices will rise slightly, technology will improve, and new oil that was once too expensive to obtain becomes obtainable.

And yet, even if all that is true, oil is still a finite resource being consumed with ever increasing demand.

The only thing this proves, if it proves anything, is that we're terrible at accurately stating the terms of the problem, not that there won't ever be a problem.
You just sloppily restated the article.
The offer is voluntary. Joe can either accept it or refuse it.

I feel like this point is really kind of secondary to the discussion, or at least, it seems like there's an assumption in here that I don't share. For some reason, I feel like maybe there's an assumption that Joe has other options? Maybe I'm missing something.
i am working on a system that will automate the making of wealth,
capitalism without the need to acquire capital
These "hardcore" problems like AI and pathfinding are definitely tough problems. The issue is that there's an infinite supply of such problems and there's no way a 4 year degree can cover them all. In fact, even if they did, most lessons would be forgotten before they could be proven useful in the real world.

Why not just learn these areas when needed? Taking an Advanced AI course in just a 2-3 month semester is how many hours? Just spend a week or two hitting the books and you'll be good to go, and you're knowledge will be bleeding edge and up to date. Plus, you'll have been paid to learn it!
Beyond Compare v4 Beta
Unfortunately the link you provided discusses lambdas but then after I'm hooked into them it says : "They were considered for Java 8 but were not included, for simplicity and due to time constraints."

So what's the point of describing the on a page talking about additions to Java 8?
> Central California farm communities would get more money diverted to waterways and agricultural projects.

Well, except that Central California is a giant desert, and all the significant water sources would be out of state. California water policy is largely driven through the federal government now, and splitting California up into six separate states (and, particularly, splitting the main water corridors each up into multiple states) is going to move the locus of even more of the decision-making to Washington, rather than increasing local control.

> Northern Californians could finally get the school and public transportation spending up to the level that they're craving for.

Even most of the "Northern" California regional transportation issues would, under the proposals, span some combination of Silicon Valley, Central California, and North California.

> Southern California would probably build more highways and give more incentives to tourism and entertainment industries.

Southern California already drives statewide policy, as a consequence having the vast majority of the population (and, consequently, voters and seats in both houses of the legislature.)

> Status quo is nobody being quite happy with the status quo because those jerks from <insert region where you don't live> lobbied enough for <some cause you don't care much about>.

As if Marin and Sacramento Counties have more commonality of interest than San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The Love Of Being A Social Entrepreneur
You have 10 cars and 20 customers that want them. If you think you can write a "who really needs it" algorithm that, I dunno, asks them if they're going to visit their sick grandmother and then has a human balance that against getting to class on time or something, then by all means make that product.

In the meanwhile, price is the way the rest of the world works.
C-based/Cached/Core Computer Vision Library
When I last looked up double-entry bookkeeping for Django for some projects I was working on, I came across Oscar and specifically https://github.com/tangentlabs/django-oscar-accounts . Have you seen that project? Any sense of how yours compares?
I am actually writing a REST authentication service right now. The idea is to do it well once, and then reuse it in my other projects. It uses HTTP basic auth; as it is going to be called from the backend of my other projects it will not have the issues described in the article regarding the browser dialog.
Adobe CQ Pentesting Guide
They can make more money by exporting it later when it's scarser.
I made a Chrome extension that shows Reddit gifs in WebM format (gfycat)
It's my first Chrome extension. I would love some feedback — whatever you have!

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/reddit-gfycat/jolmbfapckpelnpfdobdmoeimkmfkecb
>And yet, even if all that is true, oil is still a finite resource being consumed with ever increasing demand.

That can't be said for certain:
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2008/05/making-renewabl/

But yes, I agree with you. If oil is for some reason impossible to produce synthetically then there will without question have to come a time when we need to switch to an alternative. I think that switch will happen naturally without the need for government intervention, though. Even without a synthetic alternative I think that switch will happen sooner rather than later.
Spain's Christmas tradition? Defecating celebrity figurines
You can get a Chinese android phone for 80usd
"random web host stealing the source" really shouldn't be a concern at MVP stage.
Now, some people like to think that stuff like "technology always improves in time to save us" is some kind of natural law. I guess they are more into science as religion, than in science as science.

(Shrug) On the one side, we have some people who have always said that. They have always been right.

On the other side, we have some people who have always forecast an imminent heat death of Malthusian malaise for us all. Those people have never been right, so I'd say they bear the burden of proof that This Time It's Different.
Lifehacks Tip: How To Sharpen Your Edge as a Leader?
Check out the 8-bit MMORPG I made
If it was Hal Finney, then we'd actually know who it was. There would be a degree of closure.

Without that closure, there's a mysterious gaping black hole that only adds to all the other uncertainties that come naturally with a new frontier like crypto-currency.

If we can't answer fundamental questions about the bandwagon we're expected to jump on, worse yet, when we're told that we shouldn't even ask, then it is correct to be suspicious about the motivations of those who might herd us, and toward what ends they might march us into.
I just want to let you know I saw your thread on bitcointalk about 5 minutes after you posted it and called it stupid.

I hope you're enjoying your retirement. :P
> The fact that there are apps that the author considers embarrassing is a good thing, it proves how easy it is to develop for the system.

Imho, this is not always a good thing. I think that Apple's decision to force developers to use ObjectiveC actually drove the app quality up - making the development process "just a bit harder" than it should forces developers to think more before "just coding it" and also keeps the bad developers away.

(Of course, the "just a bit harder" is a hard equilibrium to get and Apple only pulled the trick by being the first to show up and swallow a big chunk of the market pie so what's allowed for them is not allowed for others...)
The article actually concedes we're discovering "more barrels of oil." It's just that oil is harder and harder to get at from a production standpoint (retrieval, supply chain, finishing, etc). Just because the carbon is there doesn't mean we haven't already eaten all the easy stuff and so his premise is that the remaining fossil fuels (while possibly plentiful) are still really ugly from a cost perspective, driving up energy costs to the point where it alters economies. Which makes sense when you figure the cost of off-shore drilling or fracking or whatever vs sticking a tube in the ground in Texas or what have you.
His point is that our economies didn't cope well with the previous "gradual" price rise and that we can expect further "gradual" price rises in the next decade and that most economies will not cope well once more.

You may not personally have been affected by the previous price rise, but in the developing world and for people already living below the poverty line these price rises will trigger more riots, revolutions, mass emigrations and resource wars.

And then there's fertilizers...
Speaking of which, if he were convicted and then elected President, one could make a reasonable argument that he could then pardon himself.
I switched from development into design because of Jef Raskin's book, "The Humane Interface." It's a design book for engineers, explaining things in terms of usability and ergonomics and metrics, instead of aesthetics. Those are things about "good UI" that you can measure.

Then I also recommend people read "The Non-Designer's Design Book," by Robin Williams. It covers the basic principles of page layout, which are also the same basic principles of screen layout: presenting the most important information as best as possible and getting rid of everything else.

Good UI design is good design first, and UI-specific second.

Design is also not art: design has testable goals, has a specific purpose, to get someone to understand something, to help them execute a task. You have to test your UIs with actual users and then update them based on the feedback you receive. Book like "Designing for Interaction" or "Sketching the User Experience" will include parts about getting good information up front, and then validating the UI you've designed after (or you can get more pragmatic and read "Interviewing Users" and then "Remote Research" which will leave out the "how to design the UI" bit in the middle).

At some point, you will need to get into the visual design of your UIs. I can't help you with this so much; I stay mostly on the research and high-level design side. But, David Kadavy's "Design for Hackers" seems to get around okay, so that might be a good start.

This other comment by ctbeiser also has some good recommendations from a different perspective: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5199409
You do realize they're probably just sending up the genre, right?

So while we're sitting around going "OMG!!! What a bunch of douches!!!", they're sitting on $15 million and thinking...actually I don't think they really even care what we think...lol.

When I saw that video, it was obviously a send-up.

See this - their interview with Ben Horowitz from February 2013:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpvrWdfEUHg

Compare the two videos - notice something?

I have no idea why, but these guys seem to invoke HN-fury like no other...lol.

Personally I don't even like rap music, and I can't stand people like that (whether they're putting it on or not), but I have to tip my hat to these guys, they're smart, driven, they have capital and they've actually gone out and accomplished something.
"To reach that audience, Ashton had to choose a different venue. Y Combinator’s Startup School. It was October 29th, 2011, and the Stanford auditorium was full of first-time founders. With alumni such as Dropbox, Airbnb, and reddit – YC’s accelerator program consistently attracts the cream of the crop."

While much of the transcript appears sensible (haven't sat through the video itself), what I'd really love to know is how his speech was seen by the YC '11 alumni in the auditorium. Did they see it as "inspiring" too?
I was recently asked a "making change" question [1] in a front-end interview, and once I finally understood it, it really really helped my comprehension of how to properly dissect tree-recursion-branching problems. Here's the code, https://gist.github.com/derek/8073844.

Another one that popped up in an interview was sub-string matching, which I bombed, but after learning Boyer-Moore-Horspool I have a much greater understanding of efficiently designing algorithms. It is the algorithm some browsers use under the hood for String.prototype.indexOf [3]. Here's that code, https://gist.github.com/derek/8035740.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change-making_problem

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyer%E2%80%93Moore%E2%80%93Hor...

[3] http://javascriptrules.com/2009/08/12/string-searching-algor...
Test on real people. While you can imagine/pretend to be a consumer all day and theorize on the things people will expect, watching real users interact will be much more accurate
>Conflicted. On one hand, we have a camp of people who would say "static content" almost always equals garbage content. Documentation aside, who would ever want a static website?

Huh? I'm not even sure what "static" means in your use of the word. Who said that "static content almost always equals garbage content"?

Never ever heard such a thing, and doesn't even make sense.

>Scenario: You just noticed a major typo on your new, statically generated microsite - using Markdown, pelican, etc. ...but the only computer you have access to is running a fresh copy of Windows 8.

You know that you could ssh to the server directly, right? -- and have it set up to rebuild after you change a text file.

Plus it's not like it's any great emergency to correct a typo from Nepal or wherever you are without your laptop.
Solar Activity Not A Key Cause of Climate Change, Study Shows
It's like we hit a new "peak" every 4 or 6 years with an imminent apocalypse on the other end of it. I just don't see Saudi Kings panicking in their castles built by below minimum wage workers so they must have a lot of it but need to justify price increases in the future because "we are running out and need more US dollar for it"
I am more or less in the same boat as you are. I graduated roughly a year ago, and I've been trying to find a developer position in any big tech city (SV, Seattle, NY, Boston, etc). I've gotten many phone/skype interviews, even got flown out a few times for onsite interviews, but I suppose I'm just not that great of an interviewer since I've been rejected a ridiculous amount of times.

It's really discouraging, but I've began teaching myself a lot of new technologies and started working on some personal projects (one was even on front page of HN a few months ago). I think the tech industry is a very merit based industry, and if I just get good enough (or at least appear good enough) then I will eventually land a good position.
The main job of the CIA is WHAT?
Depends on how you define 'need' I suppose. I would argue that all areas of programming 'need' to be free of the 'billion dollar mistake' (http://goo.gl/YsywGY) and other classes of errors which are eliminated by the application of functional programming.