skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I have heard of people having luck with this:

http://cofoundr.com/user/login

That being said, it seems valley-centric and I personally have not had any luck with it in the past.
Pretty good setup, but Cogent? Eek! Those guys run the crappiest network I've ever seen. You certainly get what you pay for. And they're combining that with CloudFront? Seems like a weird combination that results in their not getting their money's worth (on Amazon's side).
be gentile, but firm.

Don't lie to him, but don't be an asshole or act like it's all his fault. The valley is very small. Like it or not, this guy will be the face of your company for some time to come. You will almost certainly work with someone else who knows that person in the future.

Personally, when I have to fire someone, the way I see it, it was primarily my mistake. I chose the wrong person for the job. I mean, I'm still going to let them go, but I do it with the attitude that it was me who screwed up.
Couldn't I just put my dressing gown on backwards?
I note that this has been mentioned in 5 comments before in the history of Hacker News. Which is approximately once for every terabyte of knitting patterns they have stored. Or once for every 100,000 registered users. Or once for every 700k monthly page views.

Excuse me. Daily page views.

But to look at how much attention they get among technically inclined people, you'd think they were less important than the average URL shortener.

There are a million and one underserved markets in the other half of the population, gentleman, and no one you know has any interest in competing with you if you slice off one of them.
You'd be surprised how polite most people are with unsolicited calls. Most people just hang up. I worked there 30-35 hours a week for over a month until someone even cussed at me. You actually learn more than you'd think at that kind of job. You learn how it's difficult to distinguish between a male voice and the voice of a lifelong female smoker. You learn all kinds of fascinating regional accents. You learn how much fun it is for people to say bad things about companies they've had bad experiences with (some rich guy in Texas really had it in for Smith Barney). You learn that hockey fans don't like being interrupted during the Stanley Cup ("do you know what time it is! It's the Stanley Cup finals!"). (Drinking beer and watching sports does tend to give people the illusion that it's the most important thing in the world, which is probably where stadium riots come from.) You learn that some mothers feel a little insecure about not being able to judge the quality of the meat they buy.

There's something that happens to people in customer service jobs where they have to be polite to people. Addressing people as "sir" and "ma'am" just gets habitual. One day I learned that habit isn't automatically broken when someone manages to trigger my "get into a cussing match" reflex. Some people will call you a son of a bitch for trying to do a survey with them on Father's Day. That wouldn't have bothered me, but some people have just the right type of voice and inflection to get my goat. Instinct got the better of me. When that happens, you learn that shouting "fuck you too, sir" into a phone loud enough for the entire call center to hear you is cause for summary termination.

Going in there the next two Fridays to pick up my paychecks while getting the evil eye from the managers was oddly fun. It was around that time I learned that I was one of the few people there who didn't smoke weed to get by during the day. It might have mellowed me out enough to make more money. But I've also learned that having a bit more money isn't always as rewarding as having a story to tell.
"No one has time to commit EVERYTHING they may want to undo." - why not? Committing locally takes ~0.25 seconds ( bash script called from command line in vim makes it painless.) then when you're ready for your real commit, you just rebase -i to squash the in-between ones, and then push. as for the slider.. eh.
Creating jobs is never a goal in anyone's best interest when trying to propose a solution to a problem.
Ironically it took a ridiculously long time for this article to load.
Desi Hot Guys Rate Desi Profiles
Desi Hot Point Dating Hot Desi Girls and Hot Desi Guys Hot Chicks Babes Rate Pictures on Hot Desi Indian Girls Dating Hot Pakistani College Girls Profiles Pics
"Coding Horror is the leading provider of relevant appearing tabularasa in the programming blogosphere. Hackers world-wide use Jeff Atwood's Coding Horror blog for its leading edge, paradigm breaking, deeply insighted, and profound grasp of the obvious."
Basically, believe in yourself and others will. If not, who cares.
I've seen Kensington cable locks in the store in San Francisco
Check out BurdaStyle.com - also a very successfull DIY site that's built on Rails.
"So how can you tell the difference between an Ice Cream Glove and a Snuggie?"

Personally? Marketing.
For one, it would require making very specific agreements with the music industry to support that price structure, and I don't think Apple trusts the music industry much.

But, more importantly, console games are much more difficult to pirate. Sure, you can do it, but it usually involves either soldering on a 3rd party chip or going through an in-game exploit + hacked ROM process, which most people aren't going to bother with.

The vast majority of those cheap iPods would just be full of downloaded music, and the hardware manufacturer would take a huge loss.
Proper title: Solar energy to convert CO2 -> CO + O

That's a stretch to say that's making gasoline.
"If you listen to Paul Graham and whoever else, then you’ll be working on your startup while you have a day job."

Funny how he kind of got that backwards. pg says go fulltime. 37signals are the 'keep the dayjob' crowd.
CellScope: Your Cell Phone Just Got a Microscope
EU puts hold on Sun / Oracle deal
How do I stay motivated?

Ha! I don't.
More info here: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20090903122146904
I was thinking they're using something like video encoders, where differential changes are stored and every N frames (updates? characters?) it stores a copy of the file again for faster tracking and updating.
SEO for google news, according to google
Actual info, without hysterical editorializing from some idiot: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/September/09-aag-900.html
But isn't willfully crippling your curiosity the fastest way to minimize the amount of new stuff you can learn? Shouldn't it be easier to remember stuff about NL-completeness if it is associated with 31m long dinosaurs in your mind?
From a previous life ... "Speed is life" ... as long as there is control. Speed with control is better described as velocity, and is a vector - it's getting you where you want to be, rapidly. Speed without direction (control) is simply rapid, and possibly random, change in position - you probably won't like the end result - kind of like jumping naked off a tall Scotland cliff - it's great fun for about 10 seconds ...
I actually took me 45 second to realize ... it's a bathrobe! But re-imaged and re-packaged!

The thing is that I am sure that there are lots of physical products based on more-or-less re-imaging an existing physical product or perhaps taking a clever combination of existing products.

But the thing, I suspect that when these things succeed, they succeed based on marketing rather than their inherent superiority - the name "Snuggie" mmm! This isn't an negative on these things are business plans... But I (and suspect that a lot of hackers) have two reactions to them:

1) I'm a hacker not a marketer, I might think of an idea like a Snuggie but to succeed, the key ingredient isn't such an idea but the soft-focus infomercial, something I'm not particularly adept at.

2) I do want to revolutionize the world, not just sell another Snuggie. By now, I realize this isn't the most common way folks make money in business (Snuggies are) but it keeps the innovator happy, something that perhaps shouldn't be overlooked.
Even when you are working on something you love it can be hard to stay motivated.

Too true. I get people telling me all the time that the reason I have motivational problems is because I just don't totally, wholeheartedly love what I do.

That's not true. I really do like what I do. It's just that encapsulated in every conceptual appreciation is a lot of work. I think the difference between someone who "loves what they do" vs. someone who approaches what they do rather dispassionately is that in the former case, it's only 90% drudgery/10% fun, as opposed to something more like 98%/2%.
Coaching: Can Managers Do It?
The site seems a little biased, however the actual case is interesting and they do link to the materials about case.
"Test subjects chose whether to push a button with their right or left hand; seven seconds before they experienced making the choice, their brain activity already predicted their final decisions."

Who takes seven seconds to decide which hand to press with? And was it seven seconds from the time they were given the instruction, or seven seconds before they pressed the button (independent of when they were given the instruction)?
It looks like it only lets you browse history linearly, rather than edit and branch. (If you can, it isn't immediately obvious.)

They say "With our new Time-Slider, you can browse the complete history of a document using a familiar user interface." (emphasis mine) It says nothing about editing.
Actually, they are quite exceptional. Craigslist gets more traffic than either Amazon or Ebay and those companies respectively have 16,000 and 20,000 employees.
Samsung S3650 Corby 
The Samsung S3650 Corby just got official and it's dressed to impress with its Fashion Jackets and ready for a night out, partying in social networks. With a price tag of 150 euro and attractive design, Corby aims to be affordable and appealing to the young audience.The basic specs are reminiscent of the Samsung S5230 Star, but Corby maintains its own identity very well. Starting off with the physical dimension of the S3650, it's 103 x 56.5 x 12.0 mm big and weighs 93 grams. Packed in that compact shell are a 2.8" QVGA capacitive touchscreen (yes, capacitive) and a 2-megapixel camera.
i think in terms of paradigms(mostly FP) in general, and not in a specific languages.
I wonder if they included the iphone in their "ipod" numbers? Even if the iphone doesn't completely replace an ipod it will as flash sizes increase.
Right. You could effectively create a new git revision for the document on each keystroke and then allow branching/merging, but the UI would be challenging and probably not worth the effort.
"Professionals do not write bad code — ever."

Bla, blub
"slow is the new fast"
Flagged. This is YouTube video material, it's not even interesting in any way other than fluff.
I would think it would be fairly difficult to lump all startups together for a development process like this. For instance, some startups are marketing to a very broad userbase, others to a tiny niche community. Customer development process differences between those two types of startups would be rather extreme.
Do you know what kills more than speed? Code that isn't "done". Code that isn't done doesn't ship, not shipping means no money, which means no food, which means death.

In the end, bad code is simply trading your time three weeks, months, or years from now for time right now. It's exactly the same as taking out a loan. Sure, it's cheaper to save and not pay the interest on the loan, but unless you have the luxury of time (You hardly ever do) the loan makes better sense both in the long and short term.

Every time you rewrite code, just think of paying interest. It's a lot easier to deal with if you see it as trade of for the nice warm house you're living in or laptop you're coding on.
Pilot? (Flying is the only thing I can think of where going faster gives you more options, not less)
New Twist on Twam
You know, these sound like the same reasons I left grad school (Sociology) to go back to coding. I'm much happier building things that other people can use.
MP3 sound quality: Good enough
Pash - PowerShell for Unixy systems
Quoth a friend of mine who is a computer engineer at GE, "Java doesn't keep the lights on."
"a little biased" was definitely the understatement of the day. Still, the actual case info is good.
Coders At Work available for purchase
Or Microsoft pushing for a single worldwide patent system:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10334285-92.html?part=rss&#...
Yep, I never look forward to being asked that question.

"I work for a social services startup that indexes mental health service providers into an easy to find format for end users."

Blank stare

"It's like an online directory."

Oh Ok
Cockney ATM
"I believe that what I do is interesting, important, and valuable." "[M]y job description becomes distilled to 'I make websites.'"

I'm fairly sure an accountant who goes bouldering in British Columbia will introduce him/herself as an outdoor sportsman before mentioning that they have the dullest job in the world.

Just sayin'.
But you should see how clean and maintainable the code is.
I agree that perfectionism can be costly. However, I do not believe that the author said 'be a perfectionist'. Rather, he said 'avoid quick and dirty code'. He said avoid bad code; he didn't say be perfect.
How the NYTimes uses Wordpress
Haskell is making explicit (and inferring - you don't need to type it!) what Python implicitly assumes will probably work, but checking whether it's actually correct.

The terminology is math-y to the point of exclusiveness because of Haskell's close association with academia* , but there's a point after which it's simpler to make the compiler check than to rewrite the same kinds of tests over and over and over. Type systems are for expressing your requirements in a way that the compiler can do the tests once, at compile time. Computers are good at automating tedious and repetitive work, y'know?

It's too bad most of the people discussing how these things work seem hell-bent on using Greek letters and other insular terminology for everything. Static typing is kind of a wash for smaller projects (I'd just use Lua or Python for something that will only be a few pages of code), but once you start worrying about maintenance or testing changing interfaces between modules, the immediate feedback from a good static type system really comes in handy.

OCaml is a pretty great language, but has some major usability warts and not that much written about it in English. (And Haskell's "avoid success at all costs" motto is...telling.)
"Slanket" sounds like a victorian insult, doesn't it?
The Awesome Power of Screwing Around
Seconded. That's probably one of the best places to find bit twiddling resouces ever. I remember I had one of those Coriolis kernel printout books back in the 90s, and I used to crib from that, some hashing function and the page allocator all the time.
What Visualization Tool/Software Should You Use? – Getting Started
Hm. Now I wish Brahms handed out gloves with their cones. Especially kid-sized ones.

*edited for poor grammer
Really, how would you do it?
> So how can you tell the difference between an Ice Cream Glove and a Snuggie? You can’t.

Steve Jobs can. :-)

I'm only half joking. I know of no name for whatever ethereal quality Jobs possesses, but it is often the difference between a successful entrepreneur and an unsuccessful one.

Building every single product idea to the point that you can get it into customers hands just requires too many resources. You have to narrow down the playing field before you start prototyping, even. It's impossible to let your customers make all the decisions.

Some people just have the innate crystal ball which tells them what customers want and what they don't.
It's only $18.19 for the eBook version and contains in depth interviews with very interesting people.

I'm half-way through the chapter with Jamie Zawinski - it's a blast to read.

There are interviews with Knuth, Norvig, Steele, Ingalls and 10 other outstanding programmers. I can't shake off the feeling of being a kid in a candy store...
So how can you tell the difference between an Ice Cream Glove and a Snuggie? You can’t. Only your customers can. There is literally no exercise at the whiteboard you can use to find this out ahead of time. A lot of startups - and a lot of technologists - make this mistake.

I know I have. We're so used to attacking problems on the whiteboard, we often forget about the one of the biggest problems of all: when to turn off the computer and shut down the whiteboard. Can lead to very expensive mistakes.
Ice cream glove - a product that fixes a minor problem that very few people have very rarely.

Snuggie (or the Slanket for the upper crust) - a product that fixes a problem that cold people have while watching television. Probably advertised to them while they're watching television too.

Really can't tell the difference?
Less a how-to, more an I-done.
EDIT: it was funny when I wrote it, but it looks petty and mean-spirited now.
Indeed. And the reason I look over my wife's shoulder now and then when she's on her computer.

She's a craft/fashion/music/wedding nut and I've had more than a couple ideas for that half of the population.
Too bad it still sucks. It's such a pain to implement.
My favorite PDF automation: Modest programming, immense return
Too... many... good... articles...

Head explodes
Not entirely...

The ice glove is something people in the USA just wouldn't use because no body wears gloves of any sort and the "use-value" of wearing something all the time to protect yourself from something you do only occasionally is negative.

The Snuggie is useful and more importantly, it's use is immediately obvious, in the sense that you use it like a blank but with some added benefits (some of which you can get from a bathrobe, especially wool bathrobes went out of style a while back). The Snuggie is still mostly marketing, since it doesn't just there among the zillions of clothing types out there.

The lesson is that if you have something that offers little originality and value, it's best to offer in a warm, feel-good package that people can understand. Indeed, I suspect the package and the understanding where the originality of the product starts and the rest of it is just ... filler. (note the review that mentions how the Snuggie is simply an incredibly poor-quality effort at meeting the need it highlights).

If the ice-clean glove was really cheap and dispossible, you might be able to sell it to ... ice clean vendors. That might actually be a product, not necessarily good but hey.
This is amazing. Actually, this kind of thing makes me wish I'd stayed in academia, if only because there are so few good courses out there, even less taught in an approachable manner.
I don't know about your time frame, but I agree that DropBox will be acquired eventually.
Karma points?
"Pravus" means crooked, faulty, or bad. I'm pretty sure "pravis" is the correct declension to match "gustibus" (a declension "gustus"), but my Latin has unfortunately atrophied substantially from lack of use.

So basically, I changed the proverb from "it is not appropriate to discuss tastes" to "it is not appropriate to discuss bad tastes" --- and left it intentionally vague as to who has bad taste: people who like Git's index, or people who don't.

:)
you never want to fire someone in anger. the valley is small. Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't fire the guy. If he's not working out, and you don't fire him, it can sink the company. But the valley is small. there is no benefit to making him an enemy, and a non-zero chance it will hurt you significantly.
What Do SEOs Know?
Agreed, although I don't know about niche (a lot of people knit...) or underserved. There are numerous resources and communities for knitters and crocheters out there. The only reason why I love Ravelry over them all is because it manages to wrap everything up into a nice user-friendly website that (if one cared for them) is packed full of all sorts of useful features that other sites couldn't even begin to offer. Try to find another knitting community online where you can look at a pattern done in another yarn without attempting to knit it (and possibly wasting a lot of time). It's a lot harder than you think. On Ravelry it's a single click away.

Ravelry doesn't even replace half of these resources out there - most of the patterns are still going to be in books and magazines or on other websites, all the knitter bloggers will keep on blogging on their own sites, people will still go on other forums for, say, a specific yarn brand to ask questions there. But it is the glue that holds it all together in a single place so you don't have to go searching in Google and half a dozen sites to find patterns and talk to other fiber arts enthusiasts.
That's an impressive heist: sneak people in where they won't be noticed in a crowd, cut power to the store, and in the momentary scuffle of people leaving you'll never be caught.

Either that, or there was an ordinary power outage and quite a few people got the same idea at the same time. That's probably more likely since they only grabbed the pocketable stuff.
I view this as a lesser version of http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html

When you read the 5. of joels article (and some others points) you realize exactly in what this article must be right.

But without the facts this has no sense. Sometimes you need to go faster, but it's a tradeoff you will have to fix later.
Agreed. I believe, however, that processing CO2 using algae would probably produce better paying, higher quality (including entrepreneurial) opportunities in the long run.

Unless this whole CO2 problem is incorrect, it seems to me it's going to take a lot of human ingenuity and effort to solve it.

In that regard, if it creates jobs and careers in the process -- good.
Regarding the Sruli Recht Blankoat: "If you have enough money to spend $330 on a gigantic 120-inch long blanket made out of wool from Icelandic sheep, you have enough money to run your heater and walk around in your underwear instead."

This person clearly has no idea how expensive it can be to heat a building in colder climates.
Seth Godin on marketing
Large profits, duh.
> How we'd override "pass" boggles my mind.

An expression that does nothing. Putting `''` in a function is equivalent to `pass` in that it lets the parser do its stuff. `pass` could be a builtin defined as `None` and the behavior would be the same as today, without a keyword.

> Same for break and continue

I'm not saying I know how to replace everything (though I'd probably just remove break and continue, they're nice from time to time but not exactly essential), just that there's a lot of stuff which isn't first-class in Python.

> if, while, and try are effectively atomic, but "for" loops can be redefined by defining an iterator, and with is specified entirely in terms of an interface that allows you to affect what it does too.

I don't get what you're trying to say here.
Hyperlinked Contract Terms Ruled Enforceable
What about the one who went out and bought some beef and a thermometer??!!

Clearly a take home exam, but point taken ...
"(And by the way, if you’re making money doing something you have absolutely no passion for, you might want to try and fix that. Just sayin’.)"

What if making money is your passion?
Well, for starters, I'm not quite sure you would want to call it HackCo. The typical client is not going to have a good conversation with their director about hiring a company that calls themselves HackCo. The perception of the term "hackers" for most people still describes the cracking community, as inaccurate as that is.

That being said, there are a more than a few programming guilds around that are available for contract work. For instance, look at all the teams on eLance. They may not all be open-source but I'm sure quite many are.
I often encounter not-so-technical folks and usually go with "I do computer stuff". The response is usually, "Oh, cool. something else blaa blaa"