skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Note that she didn't submit this.

And also note the companion blog post: http://leahculver.com/2009/07/14/web-product-guildelines/

"I’ve been keeping a gist of web product guidelines for myself. It’s pretty much a list of stuff I tell entrepreneurs when they asked me what I’ve learned from Pownce (from a product point of view) and also what I try to remind myself when working on new projects. I thought I’d re-post them here for fun. If I’m missing anything, be sure to comment."
I smoke very rarely. However, I distinctly remember one of the only times I actually felt "happy" in my life was while stoned. Such a thing is so rare that I don't really mind the fact that "the drugs did it".

I only like smoking a little at a time. This will generally improve my mood and actually help me concentrate on things a little easier and worry less about problems that come up, so it's really useful for composing music.

Smoking a lot will just make me feel really out of touch with reality, and the next day will be a complete loss, as I don't have the mental capacity to do anything really useful, I can still think straight but there is a long delay between beginning and finishing a thought. If I smoke not long before I go to bed, it seems to multiply this effect.
Well sorry to be so blunt, but if it's "vague", has a need to "fill in the details", and has been left as an "exercise to the reader" - then I do not want to see it, no matter who it's from.
Okay, just a few points here:

1. The Kindle is a GNU/Linux e-book reader -- it runs a Linux kernel + userland atop an ARM chipset. The only thing "proprietary" about the system is the actual GUI tools for browsing/buying/reading books, and the radio firmware (pretty much mandated by the FCC).

2. The Kindle "experience" is very much different from what you get from reading on a laptop, even when suing a very compact model like the Eee. I've been reading book-length text on LCDs for years, but the Kindle is the first device that has allowed me to totally forget that I'm not reading a printed volume. If you haven't used one for at least 15 minutes, you really haven't had a chance to evaluate it fairly.

3. Finally, Amazon has never asserted any right to so much as examine what non-Kindle-store content you have on the device, much less delete it without your permission. Conversion of content from non-Amazon sources has been a feature of the Kindle from day 1, and any documents you acquire from other sources can simply be copied by using the Kindle as a USB mass storage device.

Like any hardware/software bundle manufacturer, Amazon has the option to render a large portion of the installed base of devices less useful via over-the-air provisioning. However, like other companies possessing such power (Microsoft, for the XBox 360; Apple, for the iPhone; not to mention basically every smartphone on every carrier) they have to weigh any potential change against the risk that their customers will go elsewhere.
No.

Protect your brain.
Yes.

Books will go the way of audio and video in terms of piracy, distribution, etc. The only reason it hasn't already happened is because eBook readers have not been widely available until recently.
Ask HN: What do you think of the Defcon Convention?
An employer has offered to send me to Defcon... I've never been and am wondering whether it's worth the time out of my schedule to hoof it to Vegas for the event. Any thoughts from past experience?
Just fwiw, "wanker" has a well-established meaning, and it's not this.

Edit, for a bit more explanation: Would you say "don't asshole in technology", or "don't cocksucker in technology"? Because those phrases mean roughly the same thing, and make as much sense.
Well, yeah. I wasn't really talking about that level. I'm just an amateur :)
If it existed that early we did miss it, especially on the syncing data to a mobile device clause. It would be nice to know the different changes, if anybody knows a place that has a history of the changes that would be interesting to see.
Remember, just because people who advocate keeping marijuana illegal are horrible human beings, doesn't change the fact that marijuana is a psychoactive drug and we don't really understand the human brain all that well.

My own brain is idiosyncratic and doesn't always react as expected (e.g. to caffeine) and I've heard friends say that they think that taking marijuana during college might have permanently dulled the edge of their intelligence - which isn't exactly a controlled study or anything - but is enough to scare me away from ever trying the stuff.

And yes, I also never drink alcohol, and try to steer away from large doses of caffeine. Drugs scare me, legal or not.

Consider the risks and rewards very carefully before whacking on your brain with any sort of neuropharmeceutical - everything we have nowadays will be regarded by future times as the equivalent of a sledgehammer. The people trying to decriminalize and legalize drugs are, without ambiguity, the good guys. Don't confuse that with the proposition that drugs themselves are good.
Usually only before sitting down to watch a movie.
Thanks for finding that, it sounds like that story came out somewhat after the story had already blown up. The detail that it was due to a self-service publisher who did not own the copyright is crucial. It sounds like Amazon could save itself a lot of the PR grief that comes with this sort of thing by posting takedowns and C&Ds on chillingeffects.org like Google does.
Sweet. I can fork this.
It affects different people in different ways, but I find it incredibly beneficial when used in moderation and for a purpose. A cup of tea and a glass bowl of dank will often enhance my ability to visualize whatever problem I'm wrestling with to such an extent that the solution is obvious. Couple that with a brisk 45 minute walk on a peaceful night, and it's like the scales fall from your eyes (just don't forget a pen and paper!).
By constrast, all homosexual men are talented singers, dancers or composers.
Is it really a good idea to have people confess in writing to what the the federal government and many states consider a crime?

I'd suggest the instead asking: "Do you think canabis negatively effects one's hacking abilities?"
I voted up on both
1986? Is that a sequel to 1984 that I'm not aware of?
I find marijuana is a great tool for brainstorming if used in moderation but I advise people keep it away from their actual work process. It's good to approach it like having a beer to relax after a hard day.
No, and never have but that is probably an effect of not having any inclination to seek it out as a younger person. I don't much care either way.
Going out in a chokehold isn't really that bad. I definitely agree that you refusing to tap happens a lot more than anything else. Note that all BJJ chokes are blood chokes, not air chokes, so they work by cutting off blood to your brain. Since this only happens for about 15 seconds or so, its pretty safe. Also note that the "seizure" is nerve stimulus response after the brain stops control -- its not a grand mal seizure in the medical sense. For the most part, BJJ is pretty safe. The thing that you have to be most careful about is tapping out when someone has the hold. As someone with an abnormally high pain tolerance, I'm always careful about tapping out a little bit quicker, because if you don't a number of the advanced techniques can quickly cause permanent damage. However, this is one of the things that you are trained in for BJJ rolling, just like Judo teaches break falling.

The striking sports are definitely more of a risk than grappling (also less useful in my opinion). Boxing is probably the most likely to cause long term trauma like hematomas.
nope on dope. especially for start ups and entreprenures

Do you think the Google guys were taking bong breaks between writing code?

My opinion is hacking + business needs a mind as sharp as a samurai sword
Since the link gives you no clue what Renraku is, here is a helpful article: http://daeken-eulogy.livejournal.com/23173.html

As an aside, the whole "everything is an object" model makes me think of Zope. It's apples and oranges (web framework vs. OS) but I don't think the object model really helps Zope, and in my experience had made things needlessly confusing, and I've never used any of the extra power of the OO model.
There's an old Sinclair Spectrum game called 1994 - ten years after. I don't think it has much to do with the novel 1984 though.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/zx-spectrum/1994-ten-years-aft...
One difference that deserves more attention is that YC comes out of hacker culture while the clones don't; they've been started by people who have had business success but are not hackers, who tend to look at YC as a business model and not as the cultural experiment it also is. As I imagine it, the founding insight behind YC isn't so much "let's make a bunch of seed-stage investments" as "let's hack the economy". That, to me, is a fundamental difference. It's also precisely the sort of thing that most non-hackers would overlook.

Does this matter? My guess it is it matters a lot, because identifying good hackers and advising them are two of the most important things that YC does. These skills are not common. YC have them because they are hackers themselves. This also lends a dog-whistle aspect to the whole endeavor. To anyone who's part of the culture or has the mindset, PG's essays and various other things about YC are instantly recognizable and act as a beacon. This feeling of "they're one of us" is precisely what I miss in the clones.

With obvious exceptions, the economic fate of hackers has traditionally been in the hands of people who are not like them and do not understand them. A seed-stage micro-investment mentoring fund started by the one type is not likely to work out the same as a similar-looking fund started by the other. If this were gardening, good hackers might be weird-looking plants that are commonly mistaken for weeds. An unskilled gardener is likely to make two mistakes: either rooting them out (i.e. passing them over in favor of other, perhaps more businessy-looking species) or applying the wrong fertilizer etc. so they fail to thrive (i.e. not knowing how to work with them or help them grow).

One thing that follows from what I'm saying comes close to a prediction: if the essence of YC has more to do with a new investment model, then copies of that investment model should follow a similar course. But if it has more to do with amplifying the economic value of hackers, then you'd need to look for copies of that, and as far as I know there aren't any.

Incidentally, most hackers probably wouldn't be interested in starting a clone. They'd want to find their own angle instead. I wonder whether Marc Andreesen's new fund isn't closer to YC in spirit.
Why should the non-DRM version cost more? If anything, the DRM version should cost more, given all the time and work put into wrapping the item in some annoying "protection".

In the vast majority of cases, DRM is only an annoyance. It doesn't stop anybody who really wants to share content from sharing it. The only things DRM does is give undue power to content sellers (like Amazon) and make content completely worthless when whatever technology is used to verify ownership stops working (or gets turned off like MSN Music, Yahoo Music...)
I consider myself lucky then, I've never been a big fan of fruit, nor high-sugar foods. Sure I get the occasional craving for a cookie or something, but I never binge on sugar.
I claim that in all but the most obvious cases, you can't. It's a fool's errand, and thus the term "special interest" has no use but in propaganda.

While used in propaganda, I meant to explain that "special interest" == "not in the public interest". I agree that the latter is clearer.
There's a new 'Natural Intelligence' technology doing the rounds. It transforms the string "Nineteen Eighty-Four" (the real book title) into a number, then adds an off-by-two error (superior to the off-by-one error achievable with A.I.)
I have friends who smoke it daily and a few them, the women in particular, seem to have problems with it.

One friend who gave it up (for now) had trouble trying to get to sleep for weeks after giving it up and has mysterious aches and pains; stomach aches, upper back pain and other vague aches. I figured it was just, you know, women stuff since another female friend who is also a regular user of it is also having trouble with mysterious aches. Only two people certainly not a solid study but who knows, it may be something.

Of the guys I know none have mentioned any mysterious aches, pains other than the usual stuff. Then again if they did we'd call them a pussy.

I'm not against it but who knows what it will do, that cardboard rolled up 'filter' is pretty useless. If you eat or drink the same thing, anything, every day you're bound to have some negative reaction.
Nokia E72 Themes : Green Mac
Amazon is not the enemy
Whether or not amazon is really at fault, this still shows a serious flaw in our Copyright law. The fact that:

1. Someone still has a copyright on this book.
2. That person can demand that everyone that bought a copy of it have their copy deleted.

...should prove that without question.
Maybe I'm too laid back, but I don't really get the impression that the DEA is trolling the Hacker News comments, recording usernames, sending subpoenas to ISPs, obtaining search warrants, and busting down doors. Somehow I just don't see an online comment holding up in court as "probable cause".
I think its Software Engineering as a movement, especially in the 90s, that has completely misunderstood engineering. While engineering may have a lot to offer the making software, the movement that is (or perhaps was) Software Engineering did try make a set of overtly rigid management tools.
The few times I tried it, I felt really awesome for about 10 minutes, then suffered terrible anxiety and insomnia for at least a week. I've spoken to several other people who've had a similar experience with it.

Those are pretty negative effects, in my opinion, but maybe you mean permanent, physical damage, or something like that?
I disagree with #2. #1 is a problem, but this scenario doesn't exemplify in a way that other more prominent cases already have (Mickey anyone?).

As a copyright holder of course you have the right to go after people who have illegally copied your work. I see nothing wrong here. What I see wrong is the ability to preemptively delete this material without notifying the user first.
Even more important in 3.5.1, that JIT vulnerability is fixed:

MFSA 2009-41 Corrupt JIT state after deep return from native function

http://www.mozilla.org/security/announce/2009/mfsa2009-41.ht...
Not really. My parents (both physicians, just like a sizable part of my extended family) do not believe in unnecessary medical procedures, much like almost every other doctor. You don't become a cardiac physician unless you actually care about the people and what you do, trust me. Cosmetic surgery pays much more, holds less risk, and is less demanding if you're just in it for the money. In addition, most cardiac tests don't award the physicians any monetary value aside from decreasing malpractice risk through negligence.
Finally legal Mickey Mouse anime slash.
As I mentioned, DRM implementations are very poor.

Why shouldn't I be able to plug my iPod into someone else's computer, pick the songs I want, and confirm a popup for the amount I'll be billed? Or why shouldn't it let me listen to the songs for a few days free of charge?

DRM should let comtent owners think of extremely creative ways to virally market digital goods, while still preserving ownership and the ability to make a profit.

Sadly, there has not been a good DRM yet. Even Apple's DRM is so stupid that if you get a hard drive failure you can't re-download the songs free of charge (or for the price of bandwidth). I happen to have had two hard drive failures, and only the first one was covered. This is bad business, not bad technology.
I don't give a shit about peoples' opinions. I want to know how it affects someone's ability to code, not how someone THINKS it might affect one's ability to code. Also, I don't want to assume that it's negative, so I like my question better than yours.
I used to smoke but can't anymore because of legal constraints and of course drug testing, and the stuff stays in your system for at least a month (at least for me) :-(. This varies in between different kinds of bud, but 5 out of 6 kinds I'd smoke throughout the month made me very lazy, so I couldn't see myself getting much done. Every now and then I'd find some stuff that didn't make me lazy, but it was rare. As far as brainstorming ideas though I think it would be great for that. As for dulling your intelligence, completely untrue. Maybe while high, but nothing permanent for sure.
I agree. I can't believe people are angry about it.

If you don't like DRM, buy paper books or only download those that are already in the public domain.

Sure DRM is a hassle, but so are a lot of things. For the most part, though, the problems with DRM are due to stupid business decisions and not even bad technology implementation -- consider Apple iTunes -- if your hard drive fails you have to re-purchase everything (with a single exception).

DRM just means that more content is available -- if DRM truly does impose costs/hindrance, then eventually it will go away. In the meantime, you are free to choose it if you want (or not to). There are many books that are in the public domain that one might read as an alternative to 1984.
No, but the Google guys are taking LSD, because they are definitely tripping right now!
Sitting Quietly, Doing Something
I'd sign up for this in a second.
Poorly worded. I think what he meant to say was, "Marijuana is a psychoactive drug that has an effect on the brain. Therefore, I prefer to protect my most valuable asset against inadvertent harm." :)
Do you eat marijuana?

That is an entirely, if not more appropriate, question. Smoking is obviously the prominent method of use, but it seems like nobody actually ingests it, or talks about ingesting it.

I've made glycerin tinctures out of it, put it on pizza, pasta, in salads, and of course... used its oil in cookies and brownies. Of course, it's a strong herb, so you don't use "too" much.

I can hack fine when I eat it. No anxiety, insomnia, short term memory loss, etc... it's just a nice "warm and fuzzy" muscle relaxer (I have bad spinal problems, and it helps ease the pain and relax my nerves better than anything off the shelves).
OK. You got me - that quote on the side was really funny.
Mom who gave birth at 66 dies
And any particular reason choosing Boo over IronPython?
How could anyway be expected to find that companion blog post? If writing lists of "Motivations"-poster style truisms helps her keep her goals in mind, then great, but the resulting product is of little value to others.

Anyway I've already made way too much of a fuss over this. I just wanted someone to make the point - this submission, as submitted, is garbage, and the only reason it's been voted up is because it's by a kinda-cute girl. That is not the meritocracy I hope for in a place like HN.
I like how people here advocate never trying psychoactive drugs, because they want to keep their mind in good shape; but then in other posts recommend only eating rice and beans and that sleep and exercise are an unnecessary waste of time.

Being out of shape, not eating right, and being sleep-deprived is going to be a lot worse for you than having a few miligrams of a psychoactive substance once in a while. Inaction is often worse than action.
I guess they are taking Steve Jobs' advice to heart.
Never have, never will!

Could never understand why smart people choose to take it up.
Do you ever stay up too late? You're harming your brain.
consider Apple iTunes -- if your hard drive fails you have to re-purchase everything

Or you could, like, make backups. Which iTunes even pleads you to do.
Exactly. I may enjoy pie, but you won't win my favor by presenting me a pie to the face.
Pot affects everyone differently. If you haven't smoked, don't. If you have, great.

But if you start smoking because of an online poll, you should reassess your decision making process.
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs both dropped acid. I'd bet they both did weed, too.

The magic secret of entrepreneurship is that the people with big ideas and strong work ethics know who they are already, and them doing drugs doesn't stop them from being themselves. Similarly, avoiding drugs doesn't instantly give you power.
His point was to choose projects more worth doing, that is with a higher expected return, INSTEAD of trying to pinch pennies to get a return from a less useful/valuable product. Or at least that's the way I read that section.
"We are changing our systems so that in the future we will not remove books from customers' devices in these circumstances."

I would prefer "We are changing our systems so that in the future we can not remove books from customers' devices in any circumstances."
Elance loses customer information to security breach
Ask HN: What to do in SF 18-21?
I have a 5 AM flight tomorrow(18th) to San Fran. We don't really have anything planned, except a USF college visit for my brother Monday. I'll be moving there after Christmas as well.

Any suggestions on what to do? Anything going on?
I totally agree. Life is too short to waste time with people who've treated you badly.
You seem focused on whether the site is a good idea. That doesn't matter. It only matters whether the site is useful. If it's useful, you can tell one person who will then start using it regularly and telling their friends. If it's not useful, make it useful.

Why not just go ahead and link the sites you wish were more successful, then we can probably be more helpful.
I'm guessing his point was that it is perfectly technologically feasible for iTunes to let you re-download songs if you lose them. The Kindle does that. I have to agree that except for the occasional SNAFU (which affects a small handful of users), the Kindle DRM doesn't inconvenience the user much, or at all.
Walter Cronkite has just died at 92
This is still the victory of iterative and agile over waterfall. Big up front designs are really only needed when building the shuttle or where people might die. There is no physical installation. The cost of going more than agile or iterative is too risky.

Software engineering is also agile and iterative. The nature of the project determines the level of metrics and engineering of maintenance you need.

That being said, standards have led us to where we are now with the web. MIME, HTTP, TCP/IP, HTML, etc. The IETF, W3C and other organizations are still engineering standards.
Why All the Fuss about TechCrunch?
Something I have always wondered about: if you find a security problem in publicly available software, short the company's stock, and then post the hole to full-disclosure, is that insider trading?

(Incidentally, I have been in this situation before, although not with any money to invest in the market ;)
If something erases data from my computer without my consent, yes, it is my enemy!
I'd like comments from other yc/hacker news readers.
I mainly get high before having sex, really enhances the experience. Haven't noticed any effects to my hacking but there's no way to do a controlled experience, is there?