skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
No this isn't about picky Apple fans. AT&T is truly shitty. I also switched from Verizon to AT&T for the iPhone and I loathe every minute I have to spend on AT&T's shitty network. Here in Chicago I drop every other call on average, and the ones that manage to stay up are usually full of garbled noise. No signal inside buildings that I used to get full strength on Verizon.

Still no MMS even though their other phones have had the feature for ages. God forbid you want to use the network in a crowded venue - Solider Field, Wrigley, Lollapalooza, network is shit anytime there are more than 5000 people nearby. Simply unacceptable service in a city this size.
I prefer Google Checkout / Paypal, as I don't have to type in my shipping information. Generally, though, I prefer to buy from Amazon, since I don't have to type anything -- click a button, it shows up at my house in a few days.
I commented on this on another forum as well. I'm a Canadian living in the USA, and the health care costs here are astounding.

As far as I am aware, we do not ration health care in Canada - if it is available and justified, we use it. Why? Because unlike the United States, the Canadian government doesn't pay $54,000 for a few pills. Yes, it's true, our public health system pays far less (sometimes over 70% less) for the exact same drugs from the exact same drug companies.

The problem here is that there is no bargaining power in private health care. The providers don't really care how much they pay for drugs, because any cost is simply passed onto you, the consumer. As consumers you have very little recourse except to take it. A large, centralized health care system has the bargaining power and the incentive to push drug companies for lower and lower rates.

Having now seen how much Americans pay for health care, and how little they get for their money, I have a hard time imagining why people continue to support private health care at all.
I always get a laptop because I like to code in unusual places - in bed, on the floor, on the couch watching TV, sitting out on my balcony like now. You can't really take a desktop with you and sit it down on the sofa. Same applies to the small-laptop/big-monitor approach, which sounds great in theory but doesn't really work for my particular situation.
And each level of indirection increases the quality of the ultimate delivery?
Summary: Accounts of the legislative hearings over the 1909 Copyright Act (which dealt with the newfangled invention of mechanically reproduced music) cover many of the same issues that are relevant today, but with all parties engaging in a much higher level of debate than is currently evident.

Guess they did better before we let the TV cameras in :-)
Scripting C with Python
I was a bit surprised that the article took so long to mention that everyone dies eventually. Lots of the rhetoric around this issue (e.g., "saving lives", "sentencing him to death") ignores that everyone is born with a death sentence.

(Sorry if this post makes you get all existential for a while. Seriously.)
Misleading headline, go read the RFP

Misleading article! ABC news is messed up if they think this is nearly enough info and it suggests that the government is wasting money. $18 mil is nothing, a single F-22 aircraft costs $361 mil and there's more than one of those being built/deployed...
That doesn't really fly, when in the same area where AT&T drops calls, Verizon operates flawlessly.

The "we are too spread" argument may work if you get shitty service in the middle of nowhere, but its unacceptable for large metro areas like NYC, SF
Makes it easier to deal with that large amount of data there is. As long as the overall objective is clear ("enhance government transparency with structured public data") then it's not a huge problem to sub-contract it.

It's not indirection, it's delegation. A single company cannot handle all the political departments and regional divisions on its own.
so at&t can pay a ton of money to upgrade its network (which apparently isn't going to be that much faster) and then lose the exclusive contract with apple, in the process losing lots of customers and no longer gaining new customers when apple releases new iphones.

or, it can not upgrade its network and just pay apple a much smaller amount to keep them locked into at&t, keeping all of its locked-in customers while increasing their prices, and continue to get new customers every time apple comes out with a new iphone. apple gets to sell more phones while pointing the finger at at&t for any network problems.

i wonder which one they'll do...
You're exaggerating.

I've had an iPhone on AT&T for 2 years without any issues. No dropped calls or billing mistakes and no issues with customer service. The rates that they charge are nearly identical to the other wireless providers for voice + data.

I'm not saying that AT&T has not had these problems, but your comment does not exemplify the experiences of the majority of their customers.
Birthstone jewelry gifts for august peridot jewelry
Peridot jewelry is that jewelry which contains a gem chipped from mineral olivine. Such peridot minerals are used as august birthstones due to the different shades of green that they are available in. For this reason, they are nicknamed the “evening emerald”. Such peridot stones are green in color mainly due to the quantity of iron found in its crystal structure.
laptop with expose/spaces or equivalent. I'm faster with expose/spaces than dual monitors. You're eyes/focus doesn't move around as much. Though its good exercise for your eyes to focus on things at different depths every now and then.
It is a modern conceit that intellectual progress has made modern generations smarter than those that preceded them.

A hundred years ago, far fewer people got advanced educations but those that did were thoroughly well-versed in the liberal arts (as classically defined), meaning that they had been grounded in Latin, rhetoric, and similar subjects that trained them to be highly articulate in their forms of expression (as is easily seen from a glance at these hearing transcripts).

Those who went on to become lawyers, politicians, etc. were indeed elitists but the best among them were highly talented, very bright, and quite capable of making many of our modern politicians look pathetic by comparison in their forms of expression.

The 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica is widely regarded as a classic high point in the venerable lineage of that work - whose aim, it is worth recalling, was to gather all the world's knowledge in an advanced and erudite state.

They may have used pen and paper back then, or sometimes typewriters - and their knowledge base was far smaller than what we have today - but we have nothing over them in terms of innate intellectual capacity.
Hopefully this isn't the new black hole that they're channeling the cut Defense department funds into...
It all depends on what you want to develop. For me, my number one priority is RAM and CPU since I have to do a lot of indexing. Since this is the case, a desktop machine would make the most sense for me.

Without any additional information, we really won't be able to help.
The Internet Is Dead (As An Investment)
In order of preference: Google checkout, then PayPal, then my own credit cards (usually I have either a Visa or a Mastercard memorised). I do have a Discover but only use it for large purchases (like flights) because it is not universally accepted so I can't be bothered to memorise it.

I am in the US. If I was in Europe, I would prefer the direct-to-bank debit system many countries have.
I used to have a laptop that I developed on. I was much more comfortable sitting on the couch than at the desk. In fact, the only time I ever preferred being at the desk was if I was working with a book open.
4+4.
You can assign as many essays as you want. Most people will never write a decent one.
Can anyone that hasn't enabled tethering confirm that their visual voicemail hasn't been working?

There were a slew of people on the MacRumors forums that were tethering and didn't realize that their visual voicemail had been broken for days.
None of the subcontractors could do the job themselves, so having one firm manage the contract may be fairly efficient. Much easier than sending out RFPs for 20 different tasks on the same project and then having to get them to all work together nicely.
The author clearly cannot even define depression, recession, or collapse... Let alone comment on what state we are in...

Useless. Amateur Hour.
Writing a long-form sales letter that fully and narratively explains the benefits (especially emotional) that will accrue from the purchase and use of the product is not sleazy, it's smart.

Lying about those benefits is sleazy.
Indeed, every report I've heard about this story has been misleading. "I know how to make websites, why don't they send me $18m?" Politics is so frustrating sometimes.
The Flynn effect suggests not. :)
There may not be such a thing as a stupid question, but there are definitely people that not ony think there is, but that I emotionally value the judgement of, even when that judgement is bases on invalid logic. To point at a pop-psychological basis, pretend it was your father that said "that's a stupid question." You might argue against it to hell and back, but there's no way you would be unaffected by the statement.
WTF was that? I tried reading twice and I still don't understand what it's about. The comments here are quite inflamed but they don't explain anything. Anyone care to enlighten me?

--EDIT--

Never mind, I red what this is a response to. It's sad, the original was such a parody of what it was trying to be, mocking it is like kicking someone who is already down.

And mod me down but why this any of this on HN?
$18m doesn't go far in the DoD, but your point about cut funds is false--the DoD budget has been increased.

http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=1...
Amex. Great customer support. They also offer buyer protection program so Amex will reimburse you if the product you bought breaks or is defective up to a certain amount.

If your card number was ever stolen because of a shoddy merchant, or if you got screwed over on delayed shipping or a broken product, Amex has your back.
Alex Payne — Fever and the Future of Feed Readers
I think it's more likely the Flynn effect is a reflection of our getting better at taking tests.
I have been using amex for years now. They have the best customer service. The dispute process is really simple/easy. Whenever, I have to buy something from a place I haven't heard off or looks a little shady I use Amex.
The author does point out in the article that those pills cost less in Britain (for example) because the market is based around the "cost-effectiveness" of treatments. As such many treatments are cheaper in order to come in under the limit set by government advisory agencies.
Depends on how you define 'work'. Nationalized healthcare where tried has delivered better results in some dimensions, worse in others. Those countries often rely on medicines and procedures pioneered in the USA's more open medical markets; if we give up that role, who will pick up the slack?
If I understood that stream of consciousness correctly, and I had to read it twice, I think it's this:

1. To be spectacularly successful you have to be extraordinary.

2. There are no shortcuts.

3. If well directed then intense focus and frequent practice can be a great way to improve.

Is is just me or is the above obvious? Has anyone gotten anything else from that article?
If people ever called me I would be able to tell.
Apple should seriously consider buying Sprint. When they first struck a deal with Cingular one of my first thoughts was they were picking a carrier that was within their reach to purchase down the road. Obviously AT&T had the same idea though. Given Apple's position in mobile electronics it would make a lot of sense to own their own data network. EVDO data in every device. iTunes Store over EVDO on every iPod. Extremely aggressive first party iPhone pricing on Sprint (while still selling a GSM model at a higher cost) They could really shake things up if they wanted to.
how little they get for their money

I fear that one of the things we get is to subsidize the world with respect to drug innovation. Pfizer, et al, put up the money to develop drugs knowing that they can gouge unwilling customers in the USA (all health care buyers are unwilling--that's why health care isn't a free market).

If the US starts putting ceilings in, the one big side-effect may be a reduction in research.
I don't think anyone is claiming recovery until the jobs start coming back, which they haven't.
When it comes to startups, this seems to me mapable onto Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore. Start by conquering the "underground" scene of early adopters by iterating until you have a polished product. When they like it you can go after a niche market where you will iterate until you have a polished pitch. When you have that 1-2 punch you can't help but be successful.

Sorry for typos. Via iPhone tonight.
The Flynn effect mostly appears in only certain puzzle tests. There is no Flynn effect in vocab and numeracy, despite far longer hours spent at school. This indicates to me that we have gotten better at certain abstract puzzles, perhaps because the rising prominence of IQ tests made people study those puzzles more. The Flynn effect only proves that those kind of puzzle tests are very flawed at measuring innate aptitude.
I noticed after fasting for a day that I got my energy back as soon as I ate something - even before there was any possible way it was digested.

At that point I decided/realized energy is all in my head, and fasts don't bother me anymore.

It's also true when doing things like moving, or fixing a car: I'm usually very out of shape, and can't even run a city block. But if I need the energy, it's there.
4. Choose a venue with clear metrics, and work to master the venue. Use the metrics to guide your skill development.
See also this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=311815 related to how the brain senses temperature to decide when to get tired.
Sure, sure, stick your head in the sand and assume it'll be solved "somehow" with some vague renewable energy.

And who's going to develop this magical new energy source that will replace petroleum, the most storable, efficient, easily-accessible energy source the world has ever (or will ever) seen? (Short of fusion.)

We need facts, not vague hopes.
our great great grand children
I think there are A LOT of people who are self thought and terrible programmers. But the few that are self thought and great obviously always had extraordinary potential and not getting formal training could never hold them back.

9 our of 10 business fail, so the vast majority of entrepreneur suck big time. But of those that succeed people who work better under self direction are over represented because those who exceed even when managed are also currently busy succeeding.

I know plenty of successful entrepreneurs who had long and successful careers in corporate America.

I know plenty of brilliant hackers who bailed on school because everyone there was hopelessly behind them.

I know plenty of brilliant hacker who graduated from MIT.

I also know a few MIT engineers who make me wonder how the hell they got through MIT. Not only do they suck in the real world but they are also lacking some very basic academic concepts. Did they forget them, did they ever learn them? Who knows.

Life is full of personal anecdotes.
This is a really interesting article.

The author(1) looks at the reasoning behind healthcare rationing and suggests that it isn't as bad as it appears. Essentially he suggests that it's easy to find media-friendly stories of how rationing healthcare screws some hardworking soul, but that doesn't mean it isn't a good idea.

He look at how we already put a cost on life by limiting the budgets for things like consumer product safety standards, and the amount spent by transport agencies on safety. He argues there is an objective measure that economists have been using for years (quality-adjusted life-year, or QALY) to assess the cost-effectiveness of treatment and that the US government could use this for effective healthcare reform.

He goes on to point out that while it's easy to point out the places in universal health-care systems where people are excluded from treatment because the system tells them it isn't available, it's much hard to find when people self-deny treatment for fiscal reasons. He cites the case of a woman in the U.S. without health insurance who didn't take her blood pressure medication because she bought food for her family. As a results she died in the ER with a brain hemorrhage.

He also compares the system in the U.S. to those of the UK, Canada and Australia, and suggests that health-care reform in the U.S. would not have to be modeled on those systems but could even be modernized to a system that suited the American temperament better. The Australian system, for example, provides universal healthcare, but also allows citizens to buy into private healthcare schemes which do not restrict treatments.

This is just a poor summary and an extremely interesting article.

(1) Peter Singer is professor of bioethics at Princeton University. He is also laureate professor at the University of Melbourne, in Australia. His most recent book is “The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty.”
I use Outlook Web Access with Opera and it works just fine...not sure which system your wife uses.
How do you figure that "and pay apple a much smaller amount to..." bit? If it's in Apple's best interests to leave, then they will. I certainly don't think that Apple will collude with AT&T to perpetuate shitty service.
It pains me that this story exists and that your misogynist comment got so many upvotes.

Subtle form of astroturfing? It took about 10 seconds and some reading comprehension for me to understand that the site (and the interview) was sponsored by MS. And your subtext? I totally disagree. Just because it's a female writer (with a picture! Oh my!), it implies that she's some sort of developer concubine? WTF? If it was an attractive guy, would you start tossing out gay jokes? If it was an older woman, would you call her a cougar? Or are you suggesting that they hired her because she was cute over more-qualified male candidates?

There are 120 zillion stories on what it's like to work at Google, and presumably many of these are launched and shaped by Google PR folks.

You could take the same tone towards them: "The subtle implication is that Google people are buried in gourmet food, don't have managers, cash our as zillionaires in a year or two, go kayaking on their lunch hour all the time, and truly spend 20% of their work time on whatever they feel like."

Sure there's a goal here-- to show that MS is cooler than most people think it is. Whether that's true or not is subjective (but I know a lot of pretty cool folks who actually LOVE(d) working at Microsoft).
http://ryepup.unwashedmeme.com/blog/2009/07/15/howto-start-u...

That's why you have cookies. Session identification; IP + cookie + url-rewriting + timeout.
As far as I am aware, we do not ration health care in Canada

A waiting list is rationing; a limited list of approved drugs/procedures is rationing; a ban on private insurance is rationing.

There are many accounts of Canadians seeking denied or long-waitlisted procedures elsewhere, usually the USA. Some examples are listed here with regard to court cases about provincial bans on private programs:

http://www.canadianmedicinenews.com/2008/01/is-universal-hea...

If the USA adopts the same national controls, an important safety valve for Canadians will disappear (and US citizens may find themselves medical tourists elsewhere).

Results for some diseases are worse in Canada, perhaps due to limited therapies and longer waits. Here's Dick Morris plugging his new book with some figures:

http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/2009/07/09/obama-will-repeal-...

In our new book, Catastrophe, we explain - in detail and in depth - the consequences the elderly of Canada are feeling from just this kind of program. Limited colonoscopies have led to a 25% higher rate of colon cancer and a ban on the use of the two best chemotherapies are part of the reason why 42% of Canadians with colon cancer die while 31% of Americans, who have access to these two medications, survive the disease.

Overall, the death rate from cancer in Canada is 16% higher than in the United States and the heart disease mortality rate is 6% above ours’.

It's Dick Morris, so I'm sure he's spinning and shilling, but there are tradeoffs inherent to single-payer cost-controls -- some people get worse care.
I found this article really interesting but the author didn't talk about promoting wellness which seems to be a very taboo topic in the U.S.

I'm vegan (which reduces heart disease and cancer risks), I don't smoke and I exercise moderately. However the pool of risk into which I am assigned also includes people that eat large amounts of cholesterol, smoke and don't exercise at all.

In this article the author explores the topic of ranking treatments by their effectiveness in terms of QALYs, but a large amount of chronic and acute illnesses can be avoided by improved diet and exercise. As such any system of reform should look at a large piece of education and social change to encourage this.
Exactly. When you compare youtube comments to anything written 100 years ago you must be tempted to think we've gotten A LOT stupider.

But what you have to realize is, that 100 years ago most people couldn't even read or write. But today they are making youtube comments - progress!
Yeah, but my father is not one of the people on Hacker News.

EDIT: These are just normal people, albeit a group of successful entrepreneurs. We've all had things we wish knew. If you have a question, why not ask it?
To my mind, the literal definition is the previous one "to plod heavily" (as in through snow) and it has, over time, idiomatically come to mean any kind of hard, slow work. The metaphor has come to roost in the dictionary, so to say. (-:
In an economy, there is alway work to do since we live in a world of scarcity. So eventually, the economy should pick up in employment after reallocating resources.

However, if a market persists in unemployment rate long after a recession than there are forces preventing pricing changes and the reallocation of resources. Such forces are often government regulation or bailout, maybe perhaps stubborn unions or cartels.
a huge portion of those pages is the customer testimonials, all of them are made up on the spot. I'd call that sleazy, wouldn't you?
It's really easy to use CTypes, with DLLs exporting regular C functions (as described in the article). That's a very straightforward way to get some quick Python-to-C when you need it.
Yep it's a well known side effect of some of the tethering hacks. This gentleman may have created his own problem and is now having a hissy over it.
100 years ago, education was rarer, but very strong. The records we have from those days are from the best and brightest.

Today, education is more broadly available. We can read the words of the brightest of our time, and the dimmest. They are all online for our reading pleasure.

So are we smarter? Are they smarter 100 years ago? Odds are, no to both questions. But we certainly have a visibility into the full spectrum of today's people. We don't have that view of olden folk. Our perspective will be skewed.
Obviously you should use jpeg for a photo.

For a non photo the only time jpeg would be smaller is if it's a dithered image. And since you shouldn't use a dithered image anyway, I maintain what I said.
You're right it is awful. And now watch as this post becomes invisible as it's downvoted for discussing what belongs on HN.

This and most of everything else you see on HN on the weekends is crap. But it is also a preview of what HN will look on the weekdays in the not too distant future.