skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
My open-sourced project: Namebot, an NLTK based company name generator.
Looking for contributors or anyone interested in linguistics -- it's all 100% FOSS, thanks!
Does Will Blythe have a paypal account I can send some love to?
I Know What Michael Schumacher Is Going Through
The difference is that there is a lot more complexity in software than there is in hardware. As a software engineer you make a million tiny decisions every day. As a riveter, you follow a blue print and put the rivet in the same designated places on every every machine over and over again. The fewer decisions made on a production floor, the better.

That said, the thought process which goes in to designing an assembly line is fascinating. The techniques you can use when you're producing 5 parts a day vs 50,000 parts a day are quite different from each other. You have to balance those various costs and take into consideration your supply chain and the quality of one technique over another (yay linear algebra).
That depends on the jurisdiction. Ontario has fairly strong employment standards, including documents on severance pay and termination pay.
‘Undiluted Hocus-Pocus,’ by Martin Gardner
I've also personally known several who got canned for taking too much "unlimited" vacation time, even though the amount they took was far from extraordinary.
Mooshimeter: multi-channel digital smartphone multimeter
I miss WebTV :(
Podcast Adict (Android) finds it just fine.
Reality check: Outside of the Anglosphere, child support often tops out around a few hundred dollars/month. The average support level in France is ~$160/mo.

How do those poor French mothers survive?

>If anything, public education is a huge subsidy to employers.

If left to their own devices, I doubt employers would choose to spend $11k/yr/pupil on fingerpainting and remedial math.
Speaking of reading how your language is implemented, I find Chapter 18 (Python's Dictionary Implementation) of O'Reilly's "Beauitful Code" to be a fantastic and really detailed view of dictionaries in Python. You can read most the pages free here:

http://goo.gl/NquFfe

It doesn't just show you the code, which in itself is quite beautiful. It explains _why_ certain choices have been made (why a starting size of 4? why doesn't it shrink as you delete from it?). It's great!
Eyes roll!

http://www.gallup.com/poll/163052/americans-confidence-congr...

76% of Americans really do 'approve' of the military.

What next? Turkeys approving of Christmas!
This is cool. I would suggest that it would be very useful to have this kind of thing for JSON Schema [1], which is what I use with Python code to validate incoming JSON. (I was originally hesitant to using that, but since getting into it, I have yet to run into a use case which it cannot handle.)

There is also an RFC for "JSON Hyper Schema" which is intended to describe REST APIs. It doesn't have much library support in much of everything, but I am surprised that it hasn't taken off!

I like that this library is fairly opinionated (options for how to authenticate, supported formats, etc.) Though I worry that that creates a bit of inflexibility - for what exactly does "oauth" actually mean, there are always vagaries.

Neato!

[1] http://json-schema.org/
The article is very opinionated, with bolded sentences, repeated phrasing, and is mainly imperatives.

The immediate response for me is 'some other fucker is telling me I have to work now?'

Work means different things for different people.

Also, I guess your opinion is actually more nuanced than the article implies, and though I still might not appreciate it, I wouldn't be as annoyed if the article was an honest exploration instead of a rushed polemic.
While working in at-will states, the severance agreement may in fact be the first document you sign that is actually legally binding upon the company in any way.

Most offers I see are clear that the letter is not a contract, and no contract can even exist without direct and explicit intervention by the CEO. And that seems to be a left-handed way of saying that if you do try to get an actual contract, you will not be successful, and the offer of employment will be withdrawn. I would very much like to see more at-will workers do same-day resignations when they change jobs, possibly even writing their own severance agreements.

It isn't unprofessional to abruptly walk out on the job if giving notice was never in the requirements. And most of the time, all that you get for the courtesy of making it easier for the employer to replace you is a payout for your accumulated vacation time, if anything.
Outright refusing it seems awkward and overly hostile to me, but I have done it while giving very perfunctory answers. When they dug for more I told them I was available for consulting. Quite simply there is no incentive to do any more than that.
Whaaaat is Windows Linux NT 5.1?
I think it's just a very public example of shitty coding. No decent code review should have allowed a catch-all condition to default to Windows 8.1 instead of "Unknown" or "Other" or some such. It's just a sad lack of attention to detail in a very public-facing way.
But if it didn't cover you then you would be deliberately driving uninsured. Who would risk that?
I completely agree that California should be broken in to n states, where 2 <= n <= 8.

However, I, and I suspect most people, would draw the lines differently.

In fact, I think most people will agree with the concept of breaking CA into multiple states, but at the same time I think most Californians would rather stay as one state than create new states with boundaries that annoy them.
RapidMiner is hardly a startup. They've been around since roughly 2007.

Moreover, though their headquarters are in Boston nowadays they're essentially a German company (most of the research that went into their product was done at the TU Dortmund).

This might be seen as nitpicking but as today German startups are mostly considered copycats those which are not should at least be noted.
Πως Δουλεύει η Google - ParaMarketing Blog
Keep in the larger context in mind:

Your former employer (and anyone else you have done significant business with) can always find some flimsy basis for a lawsuit that will cost you several dozens of sleepless nights and $10k-$20k in lawyers fees, before it is thrown out by the judge.

What is stopping the other guy is they are not pissed off enough to throw $50k-$100k in the toilet for the lawyers fees and distraction to punish you unjustly.

Not signing does not actually protect you from baseless suits, if you run your mouth.
Sugar is a rather broad term, I'm assuming you mean white refined sugar (sucrose, a disaccharide).

You absolutely don't need to to eat any sugar at all. Simply put, glucose (a monosaccharide) is what normally power our cells. Glucose can be produced from hydrolyzing longer carbohydrates, or even from fat and proteins via gluconeogenesis.

Suggested reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluconeogenesis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citric_acid_cycle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar
Something I read in a book about buying cars once: If you go to the dealer, test drive the car, etc. (basically take up some of the salesman's time) you can negotiate a better deal than if you just walked in or called and said "This is my price, take it or leave it."

The reason this works is because the salesman has a "sunk cost" in dealing with you for the last half hour and is reluctant to let that time be wasted by refusing a sale.
Ah good explanation. The use of "vs" in a graph title makes me assume it's describing X vs Y, which is confusing.

It also helped when I realized the graph starts at 1 for working set size of 8 and the author corresponding says:

>Except for very small working sets (1-8), the unaligned version is noticeably faster
> trying to imagine how to make a censorship system "better" instead of questioning it's legitimacy in the first place

Next, apply this same reasoning to governments themselves.

For example, there's practically nothing we can do to make governments better. No, voting doesn't count. Obama vs Romney is a prime example - which of them was not going to be serving Wall Street's interests?

Writing to your representatives isn't working all that well either. SOPA? CISPA? NDAA? -Where are they now, and in what form?
Seriously, I couldn't finish the article once I saw he wasn't using locals. Is there some hidden gotcha that we are missing here that he's taking care of with his more complicated approach?
> "Please be aware that we may change your wireless device's software, applications or programming remotely, without notice."

Which mean they update your modem (which is not yours btw, it's a part of your ISP infrastructure) for you, not that ominous IMO.
Nobody sane is going to debate that US military spending is out of control and proportion. However, I think you're being naive about the role of military power in human affairs. A wealthy nation with great science and education but no geopolitical leverage will get shaken down or conquered. This is how human history works. Various small nations appear to sustain a wealthy existence without much military power because they are in fact vassals to larger empires. This can only really work for a small nation.
I could be wrong but I think what you'll find is that a court would not uphold that agreement any further than the original amount of severance pay was worth.

That would be tantamount to signing a release to play in a softball league and then one of the other players attacks you with a bat. So, you can't get your hospital bills covered, now?

If you sign the agreement and then renege, it's not like they can sue you for a million dollars in damages if your "disparaging" remarks are true.
Yup, this is largely the year of the client.

> Python?

There are some libraries, expect more to spring up soon.

> How does this affect performance?

This kind of question is incredibly broad. In ways it's more efficient, in ways it's less. It Depends.

That said, as you alluded to, caching should be very prevalent, so that helps.

Also, it's not like you have to make 5 requests any time you want to do anything: the point is that you follow the application's state along. Just one request per transition. A maze is a pretty decent analogy, actually...

> harder to learn than an ad hoc fiat standard

They may _seem_ harder to learn, but you have to re-learn every single ad-hoc standard over and over and over and over. If you learn HAL, you can speak to any number of APIs that use HAL. Plus, you say 'complexity,' I say, 'no surprises.' Everything is actually enumerated for you, so it should be easier to learn. No hidden assumptions.

Furthermore, as you're more familiar with the format, the details fade into the background. I'm sure you don't read RFC 4627 every time you want to deal with a JSON-based API, either.
"Which WINDOWS operating system am I running?"
I seem to recall an adage about "you don't get to fight a war with the army you want; you fight a war with the army your predecessor wanted", probably to fight the previous war.

The next war the United States gets into (and I mean "war", not "trivial intervention into some random third-world country") is going to be a lulu. Someone ought to hope that it lasts long enough to build up the army that is actually needed.

Unfortunately, any solution that starts with "prioritizing industrial-base concerns" is unlikely to improve the situation.
yup, Vector is the one i have mind. (Vector is also an array lib)
If I understood it correctly, the concern raised by the article are not about overall reduced military production, but about the reduction being managed badly with the possible result that at some point specific stuff that is still needed cannot be produced anymore while lots of money is spent on programs that don't meet current requirements and end up getting cancelled.
I agree with this person completely. It's the principle of the thing. There's absolutely no way I'd ever sign such an agreement...for two weeks severance. For 6 months severance? I think we'd both sign with enthusiasm.
Easter Island "Collapse" a Myth?
There actually is a consequence, if you kill a player on sight you ruin a lot of the gear you would hope to steal from them. It's actually better to rob them while they are alive and you never know if they will pull out a revolver and pop a cap in you.
I am the WORST negotiator one earth. I learned that a long time ago, hence I go in with what I have in mind and I do not budge.
Let me paraphrase you, or meta-phrase, if you will: "What you are doing now, what you are passionate about now, is the be-all and end-all of your life! You need nothing else! Do it 24/7! If you choose to do something other than this, then choose something uplifting, something that supports and reinforces your view of the world! Because it is right! And the only one!"

Dude. Chill. Where is your time for discovery? You say "travel, sure", but then you say "Forget the idea about how much fun others are getting in the Caribbean Islands."

WTF? How will ever know if you like snorkeling or scuba diving or trapeze or archery, or various other idle pursuits that one discovers when one unplugs?

It is possible to have multiple passions. The one you have now is just that: One. Allow yourself time and space to find others.

"Humans are wired for growth." I don't even know what that means. Humans aren't wired for much other than eating, defecating, and breathing. Everything else is a choice, an itch. Don't over-glorify yours. Don't over-glorify what works right now. Because things change.

If you are lucky, you'll discover the changes while you are still young and fit enough to enjoy them.

Chain yourself to your current passion, for the rest of your life, and somewhere along the line you will wonder when you traded your monastic cell of devotion for solitary confinement.
I think the problem here is that you didn't really make an argument. You made an unsubstantiated claim (and misused "diagnosis" while at it) and just sort of left it there.
Yes, but the hypothetical wife wouldn't ask for the monitor to be improved with new features. While she was in labour.
Student Is Asked About "Hell" On An Exam. You've Gotta Read His Answer.
In case my Wordpress-on-DreamHost-unlimited-plan blog goes down, here is a gist copy: https://gist.github.com/bcjordan/8242593
Ask HN: How to Keep Customer Advisors Engaged Before Product Offering
I'm working on my SaaS product now, recently I had a potential, large organization (10k+ employees) come to me with interest in what I was doing.

I spoke with them on the phone a bit to understand their needs as an organization and see how they currently are resolving (or not resolving) the situation I'm solving.

After about 45 mins on the phone - they were very interested in what I was doing and I offered the opportunity for them to be a customer advisor to my organization and be an early stage customer - they agreed. They were also interested in a pitch of the product to them in early may 2014 - when I am fighting to have an mvp out for them to work with.

My question to you all is - how can I actively keep them engaged over the coming months? Should I pitch a mockup to them say next month? How have you handled this situation?

Worst thing I see is - I talked to them Mid Dec and leave them hanging until May....

Any advice, thoughts, or feedback is very much appreciated.

Thank you.
1. Why did they start buying cars themselves well before the deadline on the last day?

2. Why didn't they push delivery of the 130th vehicle to the 1st of next month?
OR - Most academic never heard of 'acedemicsagainstmasssurvalence' and know form bitter experience that signing a petition from some unknown group could end up with them claiming to speak on your behalf in the future.
The case for open robotics
Hi Kelvin0,

I respect your opinion and I think those who want attention usually go to the press with some sobbing story about the tech world's insensitivities towards them. They don't expose themselves and their work to the full scrutiny of one of the best hacker groups in the world (its gut-wrenching enough to do that just to your startup). If this thread is any good the people who read it should go from debating stereotypes about women to spending 30 minutes to teach a teen girl they know the love of hacking by showing them something cool they can do on their own.
Do not forget what happened when people took PG's words out of context and judged them in haste just a few days ago.

I urge you to go back and read the full article as well as the author's comments here before passing judgment. I think everyone deserves at least to be heard out.
I guess it depends on whether you view Alpaca as (a) "it's a starting point for generating your API", or (b) "it's the authoritative source and the only way to generate your API". If you use it like (b) you don't need tests, but Alpaca does. If you use it like (a) Alpaca still needs tests, but the buck stops with you.
Do they still keep pushing irrelevant articles from the 1980s?
Which would bring them closer into line with the representation, in terms of electoral and Congressional representation, people in smaller states get.
You can see some usage here[1]. Mostly just using it to check for string types, but it's the only usage example that I could pull off the top of my head.

[1] https://github.com/twilio/flask-restful/blob/master/flask_re...
...and the prophecies went true, right? If not, they need to wait just a little bit more!
Car salesmen can be interesting people if you get them to drop their guard a bit and chat. A surprising number of them are simply transiting through car sales to make ends meet between their main career. In a rough economy, car sales is almost always a way to get a short-term job.

Of course the negotiation part is annoying and time-wasting. I suppose for every person that gets a good deal, 10 get a bad one and that's why it lasts. It's also one of the reasons why CarMax and Costco Auto are extremely popular even if the price you pay isn't necessarily the best possible you can negotiate. Buying a new car can literally take an entire day, and not dealing with the negotiation bullshit can save hours off of the purchase experience.

Also, negotiations don't end with the salesman, you can negotiate quite a bit during financing. You can usually get a lower rate if you buy all sorts of warranties and other cancelable agreements. Then go home and cancel those agreements immediately (it's not easy, they make it very hard to figure out how to do it). Over the lifetime of the car loan it can save you thousands of dollars in interest payments.
> The fact that a man might have been first, does not alter the fact that he wasn’t.

This is what the argument is about and shouldn't be the conclusion. The argument isn't about who is first, it's about why that matters.
> Why?

Create more influence points for business to target, and make it more geographically convenient to play them against each other.

Also, increase the proportion of Republican-majority states, which helps tip the balance of the federal government further to the Right by increasing the structural advantage for Republicans in the Senate and in Presidential elections.
It's a weapon for penetrating and destroying theater air defense systems. Such systems aren't particularly Soviet, so I don't follow.
It isn't unprofessional to abruptly walk out on the job
if giving notice was never in the requirements.

While you would be fully within your legal rights to quit without notice, and they would be fully within theirs to fire you effective immediately with no severance, both would be rude, contrary to custom, and unprofessional. It's reasonable and healthy to have customs that are not fully backed by the law, and trying to set up the law to fully match our senses of justice would be massive overengineering.
I don't like code to casually access the inner dict. Now you have to maintain your `k != 'self'` (ugly in its own right) for each argument you want to exclude from this rule. The explicit version is superior, this is needlessly slow and complicated.
> You might be able to trace a bunch of evil things to it. For example, NSA spying and the invasion of Iraq.

That is hand-waving. You might be able to. You also might be able to trace JFK's assasination to a jilted lover.

The problems you speak of are more likely ideological, although the NSA issue might just be pure careerism (as there is no modern ideology that claims that 1984 is a utopian book).
Hyundai's 2015 Genesis will let you lock the doors through Google Glass
This is generally great advice, but the Ruby standard library isn't exactly the best to read if you want to learn. Don't get me wrong, it works, but the code is generally very, very old. Nobody knew how to write good Ruby code back then.
I always make sure that I attach the source code of the 3rdParty libraries used in my project to my IDE. The best time to read library source code is while using them in your code, where we know the context. This also help in writing better code. I feel that we should make reading source code of APIs we use, integral part of the development process rather than reading the standard library source code for the sake of reading it.
>I mean, come the on... Is this really trending at #2?

You must be new to HN or how Microsoft stories are treated here. Its a bit like how Obama stories are treated on Fox News.
Honda already has by not over producing vehicles. IIRC Honda nets about $1K more per car than any domestic.

There's also no-haggle dealerships for people who like to get the same deal as everyone else.
> difficulty or incompetence?

Probably neither, it could be shortsightedness, or simply a tool that their tech support (or other help forums) use for people who do not know what OS they are using.

There are A LOT of people I have met through the years who could not tell the OS they were using. They'd not even be able to tell any Win OS, Linux distros or Mac OS versions apart.

Sure whoever built the page could assume that someone may take their over simplifications as a sign of incompetence.

Realistically though, on one hand users/developers/entrepreneurs/wantrepreneurs/etc could take stock of the simplicity of the tool (for people who need to find out what Win OS they use) OR on the other we could bash 'em for not catering to the other markets.

Ignoring the latter in no way demonstrates incompetence.
Kaggle Modelling Competitions
Fair point. I suppose I'm really not sure.
Some people underestimate the value of serving "I need X now, take my money already!" Small warehouses stocking high-value-density high-urgency items (memory cards, camera batteries, etc) delivered fast at high price would, direct profit aside, generate stark raging goodwill and intense consumer loyalty.
Yes, I had the same thought. Frankly I would consider throwing away huge amounts of money into unneeded defence production lines to be a greater threat to the US than the loss of said unneeded production lines.

The article rattles off a long list of aircraft production lines that will be shut, but it doesn't talk at all about the future of military aviation - drones and cruise missiles. These are already capable of performing many of the tasks that once were performed by piloted aircraft, and the delta between their capability and current aircraft should be fill-able by the F-35 (well, the F-35 is shaping up to be a bit of a mess, but that's another discussion).
I find illustrator to be better for designing interfaces.
I love it whenever anyone insists something "isn't a big deal" or they don't care about it that much. I will simply say that it is a big deal to me, so if it's not a big deal to them, they might as well do it my way. This works in almost all cases, or the other party has to backtrack and then at least we're negotiating on more transparent terms.
The Secrets of White Collar Prisons
> Yesterday, the site had 234,590 unique visitors, according to Quantcast (...) On Monday, before it was knocked out of Google, it had 1,376,535 unique visitors.

So Google gave them over 80% of all their uniques, meaning that they have an insane bounce rate and very poor user retention.