skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
The site is so awful that I clicked "show all" and copy-pasted the entire thing into a text file. It must've taken them special effort to make transcript reading suck so badly.
Reddit attacked by JS comment bomb
Take the 2009 Geek IQ Test
A lot of these are just issues of IDE support, which isn't really comparing the languages. Some of them are duplicates. Not particularly helpful.
Saying X has advantages over Y is not the same as saying Y is crap.
Python Library for Google Translate
Attenborough's classics go online
> An amusing fact is that the default hash table implementations are so slow that someone had to implement their own from scratch on the GPLS benchmark

Is that a fact!

You mean they didn't just translate the hash table from Clean, that I translated from the simple_hash.h that Doug Bagley provided for ye olde The Great Computer Language Shootout back at the end of the millenium?

Is your fact also why the Pascal program includes a Pascal translation of simple_hash.h ?
I don't seem to have the massive problem with email that some people do.

Stuff arrives in, I deal with it, or get on with what I was doing.

If I want to arrange to meet a group of friends then multi-way email is by far the best way of doing it.

If I want to exchange documents at work, email does it perfectly well (until we get a CMS going).

It's not the only medium, but it's one that has many uses, and I'm not planning on quitting it any time soon.
Not wanting to be viewed as a snob is different than wanting to avoid high expectations. I tried to illustrate that point with my example with BJJ.
I don't think the word "reasonable" means what you think it means.

Have you ever been dead before?
The answer to the question seems to be "doesn't matter much", and the same for 64-bit. Java is always faster, nearly always fatter.
I was looking at http://www.anchor.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Git... which shows file server B as a failover, traffic coming into the active LB.
Does the active LB then have a pool which includes other file server B services ?
I prefer Una Bomber.
Huh, go figure. I'm in Lausanne. To you or the OP, give me a shout if you're in the area. My email's in my profile.
I'm not sure if it is a business opportunity but it certainly sounds like a useful thing.

Maybe something to add to:

http://www.hitchhikers.org/
New York Cell Phone | Swireless1 - Cell Phones in New York
Swireless1 is here to provide the best in New York cell phones and all cell phone accessories, visit us today to enjoy our vast selection of products.
http://www.doppler.com/

http://www.flicker.com/

It's tough to get real single words as domains these days.
Debunking the Duct Tape Programmer
I was unaware of the ahead of time compilation stuff, anyone got a more expansive link on that topic?

edit, found one: http://lists.macosforge.org/pipermail/macruby-devel/2009-Jul...

Off-topic: anyone else sick of slideshare? Why exactly do they need flash to show a series of images (most of which have images of text)?
Data Driven Product Development: Experimentation and A/B Testing
Yahoo's new web portal goes live
Encapsulating parts in their jails is a good security measure. But this is not anything related to securing the SSL. It's about securing your system. But giving a "my cgi's are secure but I can't believe in Apache's security" thought to your customers is not a correct way I think.
I can't find any statistics right now but AFAIK security breach sources are mostly not the servers but user applications running over them.
No, I was more thinking about you installing it yourself on your Vm, then reinstalling it on anohter etc... thus cheating the system ;)
I'm in Luxembourg. So if you come by, let me know.
But this is not anything related to securing the SSL. It's about securing your system.

Nonsense. This configuration both keeps other parts of my system safe from bugs in OpenSSL and keeps the SSL certificate safe from bugs in Apache.

I can't find any statistics right now but AFAIK security breach sources are mostly not the servers but user applications running over them.

Quite true, in general. But in my particular case I have far more confidence in my (very simple) CGI scripts than I have in Apache.
As someone who suffers from cluster headaches, I'm very happy to see this research being done. About three years ago, I was getting 4 or 5 headaches a day, most of them during work, and I spent months doing nearly nothing but researching what's involved with cluster headaches and what drugs have an effect. Sadly, there just hasn't been enough research done, but there's plenty of anecdotal evidence.

Hopefully something comes out of this; no one should have to deal with cluster headaches. I haven't had a full-blown cluster in nearly two years now (knock on wood), but many people suffer constantly. I can only hope there's a treatment that actually works soon.
No kidding. It's too bad there's not a cleaned-up version for printing.
Ask HN: Hiring Decisions
It is always said that you should hire the best people possible. Let's assume you have two candidates:

Candidate A is a great programmer. He is unbelievably fast, very creative, has a lot of knowledge. He sees a problem and has brilliant solutions at hand very quickly. He just gets it. But he is not a team player. He'll go off and do stuff his way without telling anyone. Nobody sees his code before he's done. He hates discussions. He might just ignore any decisions that were made. And you never know if he'll quit tomorrow.

Candidate B is not the most creative type. His code is acceptable but you can see his limited experience. He is still good and he certainly gets the job done but there's not much you can learn from him. But he's extremely reliable and very loyal. He's happy with any work that comes along. He's a very good team player. He will give his input but accept decisions once they're made. People enjoy working with him.

What would you do? Pass on both of them? Hire A? Hire B? Wait for somebody who is a programmer as A but as reliable as B (and risk waiting forever)? Oh, and let's assume you really need to hire now and can't afford to wait.

(Substitute "he" with "she" if you wish.)
Anyone in Porto up for an hacker news meetup?
Hire B.

Skills can be learned, it will take some time but if someone is a real team player he'll make the effort.

Attitude is a lot harder to change than skill.
From experience: hire the team player.

I hired several top programmers, they wrote good code but lived in another dimension or even universe. They were no fun to have around.
Venice is neat, but Italy is 'fractally' interesting and beautiful, and there are interesting things even in small, out of the way places, such as some of the castles that at one point formed the border between the city states of Padova and Verona.
I completely agree with this. It then leads to what you charge for your product - if 1% at $10 per month breaks even you'd need $20 at .5% and so on.

But it's not even that simple - because demand and supply kicks in - if you charge more you'll be reducing the size of the market willing to pay the higher price - so you'd need >.5% of the original market to get your original break even point!
Nimble teams offer a crisper response
News from Helsinki was they paid "substantially lower" than that listed price. I suspect $8-$10M was the actual price based on anecdotes floating around now in Europe.

Not bad for the original angels, since they at least got a few times their money back ($1.25M originally raised). Not a home run if you're a true angel investor and need 20x multiples though.
Strong forces towards status quo equals high stability. Not necessarily a bad thing. If you want change think chaos theory. Find the trigger that makes the system jump to a new pattern of stability.
Whoo, Diva catfight!
Nice place. I also enjoyed Braga, which is smaller and a bit more laid back.
Joe Inzerillo is the technical brain behind mlb.com tech magic, not Bowman.
Do not hire A. I don't care how good the a-hole programmer is it doesn't matter.

I have worked with many and they are not worth the strain.
I wonder what TSA is going to do now. The public won't stand for anal-searches each time they are going to fly, but on the other hand they would have to appear to be doing something.
I'm not talking about securing the certificate. I'm talking about SSL protocol implementation. But what you are telling about securing both parts are true.
You are right of course, and I think I was mostly -- mostly -- over-reacting. I always thought they were entirely within their rights, just that they handled it in a rather unfortunate fashion.

The main point I was trying to make was that they were justifying opening android in order to be able to have a consistent platform to provide their services on, but are now effectively saying that they want to restrict who uses them.

Again, quite within their rights, but if all they cared about was people being able to access their services it would seem to be a non-issue. I'm pretty sure nuclear_eclipse is on the money.

I do agree with your update, and that seems to be effectively the compromise cyanogen has worked out (http://www.cyanogenmod.com/home/the-current-state); we'll have to see what sort of experience that provides.
I had no idea. Where is kijiji big?
Live in Rotterdam & work in Delft. Let me know if you end up in the Netherlands.
Sorry, chrome :)
Agreed. We have 5 old thinkpads from the IBM era (they are "R5" series I think off the top of my head) which run Backtrack or other flavours of Linux and work without fault even today.

We bought some Lenovo Thinkpads the other week for new employee's to use remotely - what a load of awfulness they were! Already trying to find a decent replacement.
Sorry, several new T400 laptops (plural). I believe they were the 14.1" WSXGA+ models. You can buy 'em pretty cheap direct from Lenovo, especially if you wait for a sale code (which seems like every other month)

I didn't realize they still had the -s line, actually.
Another point for Rotterdam here. I'm always up for a beer or two.
Private Data Cloud: 'Do It Yourself' with Eucalyptus
Why Microsoft won't fight moblin
Hire B. He might well have unplumbed depth's of creativity you didn't get to see in the interview process. Even if they don't they are at least good team people.

On the other hand if your "problem" requires highly creative and "thoughtful" solutions then your going to have to risk A :)

The position your filling is one of the most important aspects.
Using MySQLi Prepared Statements to Avoid SQL Injection
I’m going to demonstrate a very short and simple method of avoiding SQL Injection at the SQL query level. You’ll need MySQLi support, on Debian you can apt-get install php5-mysql will contain everything that you need, and would be installed by default with your LAMP Installation.
His heart is in the right place, but I'm not so sure he needed to say "Stop. Sending. Email". Perhaps "Stop Automatically Checking Your Email" would be a better choice, since that's basically the recommendation at the end of the article.

At my place, we've got the following formula: email + Dropbox + blog + campfire + website system (based on Markdown) + damn phones.

I highly recommend Dropbox for sharing files, and the blog + campfire handles the "broadcasts". The website is for documentation. All of these things are free and easy to set up.

I could do less with the damn phones, actually. :) Most of the calls I get would be better asked by composing a good mail rather than "oh, hm, you know?"
Why Does the Length of CDs Vary So Widely?
They don't because this was not done on an aircraft. If this had occurred on an aircraft then they might have tried to do something about it, but I doubt there'll be any response.

In addition this was not done against a US target.
... says vendor selling appliances that claim to make application security problems go away, a claim roundly derided among OWASP members.
Most suggestions would trend toward B. However, you have to take your short and long-term goals into consideration.

This may seem harsh, but you are not making a life-long decision. You could hire A to meet some tactical short-term goal, and then actually fire them and hire B (or a parallel of B).

I couldn't make a suggestion for you without understanding the tasks and goals at hand.
State of Open Source Software Integrity Report Released
For an "unknown" artist, the hardest thing is to sell a CD. Nobody cares until they are emotionally attached to your music. And even if they are attached to it, they won't buy it in a store... they will buy it at your show! But even then, don't expect to respect the 1% rule...
Anyone know how much they took as venture funding? If they only made $15-20m, then it can't be that much.
If you really need to hire now, then you've got something that needs doing right away. Can Candidate B do it?
5 Tips to Lose Fat
A Venn diagram of baseball team names and their etymology
Cat vs Dog? Is life really that black-and-white?
Americans Pay More to Die Earlier - Why is Health Care So Screwed Up?
My limited experience involved exactly this situation. The biggest problem with A (when he left) was that we ended up with a larger then necessary, very smart, un-maintenable app instead of the simple hack we actually needed. Because if was obviously smart we kept dragging it, when we should have scrapped it the day he left and rewrite from scratch a simpler one.

edit: B on the other hand progressed steadily for a couple of years and wrote a whole lot of code still in production. Needed debugging and refactoring but lives.
Book Machine at Harvard Bookstore
I suggest you buy or take a look at HP business line. I have a HP Compaq 6910p and an IBM (not Lenovo, mind you) T60 and actually prefer HP's keyboard over Thinkpad's.

Oh well, but its screen sucks too :-(
Out of interest, does anybody else think conferring celebrity status like this is damaging?
To be fair, that is mostly because PG writes so much about him. Unless you have spend a long time on these boards, you properly wouldn't have heard of him either.
Cortera - Kind of Like Yelp for Business Credit
False dichotomy. Don't hire either. Keep looking.
I don't think Del actually manufactures panels for their displays.
ahh. I've been publicly flogged. I'm going to put on my dunce cap now and sit in the corner.

At any rate, why allow a comment to get negative points pg? Just delete the comment or let it sit at 1. It definitely feels a little vindictive and childish in here at times.

EDIT: For context - My original comment was at the coveted dead last -1 position but has since been up'd. Thanks ;)
I still say we do away with negative numbers. If someone is flaming another or using excessive language, let the mods do their job and delete the comment.
I don't believe it would be legal for Apple to reject apps based on race, ethnicity, or religion of the developers.
I should have realised that, sorry. The -s suffix exists for a handful of models (e.g. X200s) and seems to mean "slim" or so.

Unfortunately, it seems you can't order from Lenovo directly in Europe, so no sale prices for me.
Am I understanding the story correctly - did the refresh button actually do anything?
I would add that there are more than likely far more people trying to exploit Apache than are trying to exploit your particular CGI scripts :)
paris. conan,conandalton dot net
Does anyone know what Flickr did to address this vulnerability?

They didn't move to using HMAC.

Are they just filtering 0x80 and 0x00?
Erlang records to JSON and back again
It's funny that virtually all the 2006 comments are negative
150+ Negative Keywords for Software Selling AdWords Campaigns
AT&T accuses Google of violating telecom law
Photon 'machine gun' could power quantum computers
I realize that was a joke, but in practice they'd do the same thing they currently do with other ergot alkaloids (and other therapeutic drugs with potential for abuse): pack it together with a high dosage of acetaminophen such that a psychedelic dosage would require overdosing on acetaminophen.
I think he's actually agreeing with Joel, but he's just decided to ignore blatant conditionals in the original article.

For example, claiming that "misapplying duct tape solutions in serious software development [ends up] creating unnecessary additional complexity" is in no way antithetical to Joel.

And inserting stuff like "i've said it before, @jbogard : never take software advice from a bug tracking system salesman" has zero shock value anymore and hardly makes readers sympathetic to your argument.
Hire one A every n B.
Should you Walk or Bus?
Hire Candidate B. He's almost perfect. He has all the things going for him that are difficult or impossible to change in another person (reliable, loyal, happy, team player, accepts decision, enjoy). His biggest weaknesses are in exactly those areas (not the most creative, limited experience) that make him teachable, and of course, you're a great teacher. (If you're not a great teacher, you're in the wrong business).

Candidate A is problematic. You will have difficulty changing anything about him, especially those areas which are most important to change.

Have an urgent project that requires Candidate A's assets? Contract him to do that project and have Candidate B make it "repository worthy". Include in Candidates A's contract the requirement that you ascertain that Candidate B will be able to maintain Candidate A's work before payment. Candidate A does great creative work, Candidate B learns something new, you have a cohesive team, an emergency resource, and maintainable code, and your project comes in on time. Everybody wins.
You mean censorship isn't illegal in the US ? As far as I was aware, censorship is outlawed in most Western countries, by protecting freedom of speech.
Is a DJ an Artist?
Does "only" arranging music qualify a DJ as an artist?
Open source non-lethal weaponry
I deal with email. I don't consider email a burden, but rather a blessing. I have more friends I correspond with regularly with email than I would have if I wrote postal letters.

I like the reminder that research has shown that variable schedules of reinforcement produce high persistence of response.

http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/schedu...

That's not intuitive, as Jeff points out, and it's a useful thing to know for hackers who provide Web services as part of a start-up business.
I don't believe you read the article. He's edited it now, but the ending was basically advice that "if you didn't go to X, don't try to compete, you'll only be met with disappointment". That's (was before the edit) calling Y crap pretty much.
Hire B he gets the job done and isn't creative. That means other people are going to be able to work on his code if and when he leaves or you just need to hire another developer. You really have to worry when people decide to get creative with your code base especially when a straight forward solution exists.
Is this working for anyone outside the UK? I get "This content doesn't seem to be working. Try again later." when I visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/wildlifefinder/ - are they using their usual IP filtering?
You can't perfect the manned spaceflight protocols with unmanned probes. The Moon is a stepping stone towards Mars and, if we can mine lunar regolith for metals, water and propellant (LOX, LH2), we are golden: the lunar base can become the best spot for building and launching spacecraft.

I wonder if there is carbon and nitrogen there too. That would make colonization much simpler.
I'm glad Atwood wrote a well thought out article, instead of the brief rehashes we had been seeing. I suspect the shorter articles are a result of StackOverflow DevDays coming up
Either way, if either is a problem for him, he shouldn't have gone to a top school.

A better example, using BJJ, is:
"What martial art do you study?"

"It's Brazilian."

"Oh Capoeira?"

"Something like that."

"I heard it's not very good in a fight."

"Well it's not Capoeira, it's more practical."

"Vale Tudo?"

"Yeah, kinda like that."

"No really, what is it?"

"BJJ."

"Oh, then you must be a really good fighter! I heard BJJ wins like all the UFCs."
Nokia E72 Themes : Dream Rides
Interesting stuff. Does anyone know easy way to see the instructions-per-cycle on a running (linux) server?

Or is it necessary to instrument each application with hires timers and count instructions between the timer points?
Bug Labs: modular, open source hardware
Away3D Flash Engine
(For some reason I can't reply to your last post, so I reply here instead.)

No, censorship is not illegal. Freedom of speech protects your right to speak without getting silenced or punished for it (with some limits, like hate speech) by the government.

But your freedom of speech does not imply that you are free to express anything in any private arena. For instance, on this board we are not allowed to use inflammatory language or basically be douches in any way. This does not conflict with freedom of speech, because you are free to express your inflammatory opinions somewhere else, like on your own blog or in your own kitchen.

Freedom of speech does not give you the right to publicize anything on any private platform anywhere (like the App Store).
> inserting stuff like "i've said it before, @jbogard : never take software advice from a bug tracking system salesman" has zero shock value anymore and hardly makes readers sympathetic to your argument

Yeah, much better to take advice from people parroting methodology consultants. :) [Beck et al]
Only 1TB+ of storage for 15+ physical servers?
Apache holds steady in a changing Web Server landscape
Massive Multiplayer Collaborative Design
It depends. How much do you need the project done? How quickly?

If you will be dead in the market if you don't ship in six weeks, hire A. Let him work the way you know will make him productive, because your product depends on it.

If being fast does not matter, if you know that the candidate has to deal with external clients, if you know that he will have to play politics, then hire B. Don't expect too much brilliance, but if you don't need fast, you don't need brilliant.

In a startup, I would hire A and give him an area of responsibility where his drawbacks will cause fewest problems. In an "enterprise," I would hire B.
Yup, we'll make it all pretty and attractive soon...just wanted to get it working first.
"Programmers and Designers should be one in the same." - nope...
How Chrome Frame Could Help
Cluster Headache (CH) is also known as the Killer headache, because of the high prevalence of suicide in suffers.

Methadone has also recently been demonstrated to be an efficient CH treatment, and it can legally be prescribed (though I would recommend it only for medically intractable CH, i.e. CH resistant to the usual prophylactic treatments like Verapamil and Lithium salts).

Occipital nerve (electro)stimulation is also an effective treatment in ~75% of intractable chronic CH patients (almost daily attacks all the year without remission). We're currently trying to get the surgical procedure reimbursed by the social security in the European Union.
Hey, thanks, but they've seen it before :-)
good points... as we go on we'll add different uploaders
Software development and religious wars.
How to run a small consultancy / freelancing business
Four Winged Fossil
All very good points...and we're going to implement each one asap. Thanks, much appreciated.
"The public won't stand for anal-searches ..."

Well, you certainly can't expect to do them sitting down!
Enterprise architecture blunders
Hello there HN'ers sitting on the fence or already working as consultants or freelancers.

I kept coming across questions of the "Ask HN" variety that were too complicated to answer fully in the setting of HN.

I've had my own share of "Ask HN" posts answered quite generously, so here is my attempt to repay in kind. At the request of the community I've not posted this here but instead on my own site.

Hopefully this is of use to some of you, any and all criticism is of course more than welcome, I'll spend a couple of hours every week on expanding it and fixing bugs or by writing about subjects that are not covered right now.