skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I've been considering that as well. It might be the only way I can fit in the time I would like to devote to more academic pursuits.
No I'm talking about using X on our Gigabit internal ethernet network (mostly using Virt-Manager to manage our farm of Xen slices). Shit is slow.

I've tried both Gnome and KDE, I've also tried some alternates. They all suck in comparison to Windows and OS X.
The rules in the US seem to have changed this summer to require ID in almost every case. See Flyertalk's security forum here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-safety-security/984568...

Very disappointing and arguably unconstitutional.
I had to learn about the development process, requirements documents, design documents and UML for a software engineering class I took this year, and the project in which we had to apply everything we learned was web-based and written mostly in javascript.
Sprint executive killed by tumbling boulder
The Russians planned that, at one point!

I remember reading, back when I was in junior high school, that the Russians had some plan involving multi-hundred-megaton nukes on or near the ocean floor off the pacific coast.

Supposedly it would have created a massively radioactive tidal wave that wouldn't have stopped until it hit the Rockies.

This is something I vaguely remember reading in the school library, thinking was cool, and using in a report. So it may be my imagination, or it may have been sensationalist writing, or it may have been a real plan, because the Soviets and the US had no shortage of real, ridiculous plans.
I ask people to use the back of their finger (the fingernail side), instead of the part with all the oil. Its a nice compromise and keeps off most smudges while not taking away people's ability to express themselves.

As for a pen, that simply warrants breaking someone's hand for a first offense. Word will get around quick after that ;).
> I'm going to take two seconds and run strace on the program
...
> I'm going to look at the manpage for open

Those are some silly arguments for teaching C. Someone with no understanding of C can just as easily read man pages. While it is useful to know C and assembly for debugging system calls via a debugger, this is rare compared to debugging via reading the documentation. Plenty of people wrote C based applications for the original Macintosh, even though the operating system was originally written in Pascal.

> I would challenge you to look around and find ANY stack of software that doesn't have C or C++ in it. It's just a matter of how deep you have to go to find it.

Thats a common, but baseless argument for knowing C. Most stacks are indeed written in C, but this is because most operating system interfaces are written in C, and C compilers are widely available and easy to write. Many efficient VM's have a minimal base written in C and transition to their own language early on. Amusingly, the Squeak VM from the original article is one of these.

> Are you saying we shouldn't equip them to understand things like trace compiling, which are the state of the art in language design and implementation?

Only students who specialize in compilers or virtual machines are going to dig that deep ... but what does that have to do with C?

> Sure, if all you want to do is web development, you can probably go a long ways without understanding system software. But you'll always be dependent on the people who understand the stack up and down.

That raises a good point - stop reading the web and get out there and till those fields, or you'll always be dependent on others for your basic needs. While you're out there, we'll debate the finer points of a specialized society.

I'll just point out that hardware and operating systems are useless without higher level applications. Those writing them are actually always dependent on others to make the combination do something useful.
Sometimes if I'm pointing something out I can't help but touch the screen by mistake but I'm always apologetic about it :/
Civ III taught me that cruise missles are worth more than nukes, are cheaper to build, and don't set the world against you for using them.
Firefox 3.5 Not Playing Nicely With Twitter
Build Your Own 3D Scanner
Sometimes I come back later to find that people have misinterpreted my comment due to tone or incomplete or misstated argument. Within the hour I can add an "EDIT" to clarify what I meant. I suppose I should take the time to make is sound in the first place, but often the time isnt there.

Perhaps a reasonable compromise would be to have the ability to add a timestamped addendum, without being able to edit the original. I would still want the one-hour free edit though.
Ted Kazcynski comes to mind...
All lifestyles are time-constrained, it is just a matter of scale.
Also - "One thing that has been frustrating me most is the persistent argument that Americans have treatment outcomes that are subpar. Infant mortality rates and life expectancy measures are of limited utility when comparing wealthy countries."

This is dubious in and of itself - what evidence do you have? But also, there have been a number of studies which quantified, to various degrees the effect of hospital infections, medical errors and similar things - and these real, honest-to-god quantitative studies show that these are significant cause of death in the US - any relation to the lower life expectancy in the US? That's further puzzle but we're got pretty strong evidence.

And, I would agree that US leads in pioneering treatments for rare disease. That doesn't solve that other problems here.
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I've tried moving my laptop further away from their hand, but that was apparently too subtle. Next time I'll be more vocal about it.
Two mooism2:
1. I suggested constitutional ban instead of law because a law in the constitution is less likely to be subject to scope creep; most bills signed into law today are hundreds of pages long.
IANAL (obviously)

2. Again, scope creep, also, the Halting Problem. If current trends continue, I could easily see tax-optimization taking the form of a lot of really difficult problems in computer science.

Honestly, I suggest this because I'm very cynical. There's a lot of defacto federal "laws" that exist because of indirect pressure in other bills. For example, the drinking age in most states is 21 because if it's any lower states can't get federal funding for highways. It's true that direct tax reform would be a better way to go, but there's so many parties that stand to benefit from the complexity of the current system that I can't see any attempts at reform succeeding.
I have a friend who is working for a failing newspaper. He really wants to write for a print newspaper, and is a talented journalist, but I'm not sure how it's going to work out for him in the future.

On a related note, if I were to found a newspaper, I would call it the 'muckraker'. The business model should be obvious from just that.
If you don't have the personality to tell them, just print out a small label that says "Please don't touch the screen" and tape it to your laptop.
Boy, it seems like your post hit a nerve. On the other hand (no pun intended), we look forward to buying Apple's tablet... Go figure.
Are you talking about the same company? As in, the most successful, largest IT company in the world?
No, Daniel's right. Or the true answer is yes, any time you throw something up into the air, it's in orbit. It's just that the orbit intersects the Earth's surface. Orbits are (to a good approximation) closed ellipses, so anything shot from the Earth's surface will come back to surface level no matter how fast you shoot it.

Another way to think about the problem: An orbit is determined by both the energy and angular momentum of the object. (A circular orbit has the highest angular momentum of any orbit with the same semimajor axis.) From a point injection of these, like from a gun, you can get enough energy but never enough angular momentum to get the perigee higher than the Earth's surface. For that you need some tangential thrust (at a location that's not the apogee).

The most energy-efficient way to get into orbit consists of two tangential impulses. The first one raises the apogee to the desired height, the second one is injected at apogee to circularize the orbit. (Though it's strictly only applicable for changes in orbit, not from launches from the ground: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohmann_transfer_orbit)
I think it's fine to touch the screen.
Voting no for the singular reason of I work on Turbo Tax. That's my job you're talking about, sir!
Ask HN: Programming books to read while on vacation?
Hey guys,

I am leaving for a weeklong vacation tomorrow and I am looking for a book to read while I am there. I asking for any recommendations of programming books that I can find.

I just recently started learning python, so something related to that would be convenient, also I will not have access to a computer, so having to work along with the book would be out of the question. I'm trying to find a nice book to assist me in my digital travels into the programming world!

I would appreciate any response. Thanks.
I've seen children do this (and asked them politely to look but not touch), but adults, really?

You could keep a couple of laser pointers handy for the touchy ones. Just hand it to them whenever they show up. Everybody likes lasers.
Wait until you have kids:-)

Lots of learning, and definitely rewarding, but there's certainly less time for hacking/learning.
Wow I'm hearing tons of complicated ways to avoid direct conversation. If you pay several thousand dollars for a machine, I'm pretty sure you get to decide to gets to do what with it. If it is your companies screen, you are still responsible for it, so the same thing applies. Next time it happens, just politely explain how you feel. There's no need for the passive aggressive solutions that a few people are suggesting.
I've been thinking about going to grad school in a few years, perhaps in a more CS-related domain...

Don't do it. Unless you want to become an academic, with all the attendant downsides and risks -- which you apparently do not.

It sounds like you've got the usual problem: You were used to school, you were good at school, you had thoroughly internalized the vague and quixotic goal of the student ("the insatiable quest for knowledge") -- and now you're up against the reality that school only lasts for a few years and the rest of your life lasts for decades.

The most likely outcome of going back to school is that you will spend a couple of happy years in the environment that you were raised in and that you are now missing. Then you will graduate and be exactly where you are now, except older, and poorer. I've seen this happen several times.

So I advise that you stick with your current plan. It sounds fine. Try reading more publications, try some scientifically-oriented open-source work. Do what you like. If you want to study information theory... keep reading! Buy more CS textbooks and teach yourself. Watch lectures on the web. Pepper your fellow HN readers with questions about Haskell or Lisp macros or whatever. Buy a subscription to Nature. Or work your own way through Knuth or the Princeton Companion to Mathematics or The Molecular Biology of the Cell. [1]

If you've got a good job and friends and romance and an open-source project, try to consider the possibility that you might be happy and successful.

---

[1] These are all on my list of things to do. At my current rate, I will never finish. And that's fine. Nobody is keeping score.
I'd be interested to know what happens to your credit report if you change your SSN. There are a few loopholes that allow some people to petition for a new SSN. Any idea if you become a new man?
Morbid, but true.

If a nuke truly hit the ground in D.C., I can't help but shudder at the thought of the hysteria that would ensue though. Post-9/11 hysteria would look like rational behavior in comparison.
I think maybe livable in the technical sense, like, It won't kill you.
This is actually excellent advice, although may or may not be harshly presented depending on your perspective. Setting goals are probably the single best way to learn anything and get sharp in the process.

I am a CS grad and am 30 now and have tried to learn several things in the past that have interested me in a variety of areas. I remember a few examples where I would learn/pickup/read something fast and think that I understand it but I would truly understand it only when I took up an ambitious project that involved learning and applying something. And your mind is automatically focussed/sharp in picking up stuff when there is a goal in front. Otherwise, it may just feel like cramming. Getting sharp should be a by-product of doing something worthy and ambitious that is aligned with your interests.

Also, don't worry about mediocrity just as yet since you're just starting out. But I've seen a lot of guys getting cozy in a couple of years after they graduate and get a job. So, do keep lofty and aligned goals in mind all the time. You will surprised. And that will take you way above mediocrity while keeping you sharp and vibrant as a person.
What is meant by "tools" on the application? Any examples?
My web browser is a desktop application.
Great question to discuss. I have a slightly different take, hope this is helpful.

Sharpness is not something in a vacuum; sharpness is about your mind and intelligence as it relates to people in the outside world. Thinking you are sharp doesn't amount to much. Being sharp in situations is what counts, and will give you the thing you might be missing. So think of sharpness in terms of people. The only way to sharpen is to expose yourself to new things and test yourself against other people. Warren Buffet doesn't stay sharp because he plays chess, its who he plays chess with that's much more important.

1. work and socialize with smart and talented people, particularly ones that are considered top people in your field, find a fantastic team and work with them, look for people whose careers rely on their sharp minds, people that are a bit older than you, and slightly different.

2. become a better listener, try meditating to help with this. being able to clear your mind of extraneous thoughts will make you more open to developing the thinking you are looking for, it will bring you focus skills

3. think about developing skills which can result in your making more valuable contributions to situations. be curious about new things, hobbies, intellectual pursuits, also read incessantly, as over time you will accumulate much knowledge. tell stories well and be funny. you'll find yourself invited to join companies and social groups that provide what you seek, as people will always be curious about what you have to say.
I always start the sentence with...

"I know this is weird, but..."

It helps me get to the actual point of direct confrontation, but by blaming it on myself it helps absorb some of the awkward.

Truly though, I hate it when people touch my laptop's screen!
As much as 200 more low security prisons? 20'000 federal employees (to be generous) is peanuts to a project of that scale. How many attacks have there been on power plants anyway? You cant make modern designs go boom, just melt.
A "space violation" which doesn't involve actual damage to something might be a matter of social/cultural etiquette. Different cultures have different distances that people stand apart from each other or different amounts of touching between friends and acquaintances.

But I think its always over-the-line when a touch can actual do some small amount of damage to the item - any touch to laptop screen is going to be reducing its lifetime at least a bit.
So, history doesn't repeat itself ?

Yes, you can build lots of stuff quickly. But that doesn't mean it is production ready. The devil is always in the details.

The beginning of any project is fast, you always thing 'wow, this is going just great, at this rate I'll be done next week'. And then it starts to slide little by little you slow down, no matter how polished your dev environment, that's just a matter of degree.

So, after a month has passed and you start wondering what happened to make you slow down you start to realize that this project is probably going to be just like all the others. Once you've implemented your days list of fixes and features you find yourself with a longer list for the next day.

And that's before you let the unwashed masses in the front door, that's when the fun really starts.
Are you sure you want to read a programming book on your vacation? Esp. if your day job involves computers it doesn't sound like a vacation at all.

That said I find the best instructional material for Python is the tutorial included in the Python manual itself.
I have those, now tell me what to do next :)

"Beware of people giving you advice that they themselves do not follow".

I figure if you tell people how to go and make a million you had better made a few of those yourself.
I had a co-worker who used to stop what she was doing, and blurt some variation of "here, let me help you clean that fingerprint off my monitor" and then proceed to engage in her ritual of cleaning the CRT (this predated LCD monitors). Several other coworkers intentionally would poke the monitor with their fingers (the grease from the side of your nose is great for this), just to get a rise out of her.

The day she pulled her little routine on one of the vice presidents was her last day at the office. She was out of the building before lunch.
That might come across as a little passive-aggressive, I think bringing it up and asking either they they not do it or they they use the back of their finger as others have suggested is a better idea.
Create a funny web page and have it bookmarked on your browser.

Whenever someone approaches you, quickly switch to that web page.

donttouchmyfuckingscreenorillkillyou.com is available.
(Disclosure: I work at Microsoft Research, since about two weeks ago.)
You might enjoy reading this article from Roy Levin, Microsoft Research Silicon Valley:
http://bit.ly/1NEc8f

I found the axes he laid out at the beginning of the article to be an interesting way to think about different research jobs. The rest of the article is about the choices made by MSR generally and MSR Silicon Valley in particular along those axes.
Yes, but it involves contacting your nearest consulate/embassy before boarding the plane. They normally verify some stuff internally (which is why it helps immensely to have photocopies that speed up the process as that contains the relevant numbers/barcodes that allow them to look you up quickly) and then they give you an "emergency travel document" or a new passport, depending on the situation. The ETD lets you travel back to your home country and then handle things from there.
Big big upvote. This works much better than the passive-agressive method of silently glaring and cleaning your screen in front of co-worker.

Here are more examples of the same technique:

"This is totally my own OCD, but it drives me crazy if..."

"Just a sec, I have to apologize, but..."

"It's probably just me, but it kills me when..."

(Don't forget to smile and be apologetic, tone is key)
Care to explain? I am not good at science/physics.
Interesting idea. Earth-quakes release much more energy than most nukes. I do not believe it's possible to ignite a quake this way. Tsunamis may be possible with some help from thawing methane ice.
Wow,

This certainly gives a powerful overview of the quandary of human beings in our modern world.

Bit heavy for hacker news but I welcome it.

The problem is, humanity won't go back to the world whose loss Priddy describes. So how do we solve these problems going forward?
If only those developers read books...
The reason people have all these passive aggressive solutions is because they feel kind of embarrassed that they have such an attachment to an inanimate object. It's like telling someone not to touch your baby.

I know most people will claim that it's just the cost of the item, but in reality I think it's that they're addicted to that little window into the machine. I know I am.
Most people will get the last question wrong.

Humid air is less dense (dry air heavier) because water has a lower molecular weight than the average molecule of dry air.
This is almost making me angry. Someone would fire someone else for that? Please tell me you're not saying that.
Do you play music?
If you're seeing companies that use it to stay competitive, then that's a good sign.

I was simply pondering on the whole discussion because I have yet to see a posting requiring usage or or experience with, Erlang.

Not to say they're not out there, just I haven't seen it yet.
World's Most Expensive Cities 2009
The advice was "do something worth being sharp." The attitude communicated was relevant. It was good advice.

It was: "don't be such a pussy." It works. If it didn't, then athletic and military leaders wouldn't use it.
1. All three were unfortunately suicides, confirmed later (though not always through official press release).

2. They are likely statistically significant -- the average rate seems to be about 2-3 per 20000 students per year. Caltech is only 2000 students, so that would make it already 30 per 20000 per year.

3. One student was very socially engaged, president of his House. The second student passed away only a few days before the commencement ceremonies, where he would walk. The third did so over the summer. As can be imagined, these have had a huge effect on such a small community.
So long as you are going to pass a constitutional amendment it might as well be to outlaw income taxes all together then the problem you describe solves itself.

Even if the tax code were as simple a "straight 10% no matter what no exceptions" there would still be a market for tax software because a large number of people can't do basic math.
This bookmarklet may help:

javascript:document.write("<h1 style='font-size:10em'>Don't touch my screen!</h1>")
It's completely unacceptable to touch someone else's laptop screen without asking.
I played the trumpet, classical and jazz, for 8 years.

Sadly, I haven't had the time to play much as of late.