skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I actually just took the leap and bought an Acer C720 as my dev machine for when I'm on the move.

Things I was concerned about before buying:
- Would it be powerful enough?
- Would the screen be too small?
- Is the keyboard 'full-size'?
- Will I suffer from countless issues by putting Ubuntu on?
- Would Ubuntu ruin the battery life?

After about a week, I'm pleased to report that I'm extremely impressed. I went for the non-touch (C720, not C720P - don't see the point for a dev machine) 32GB version at £199 from Amazon.

At first glance, I was a little uncertain about the build quality - when peeling the protective plastic wrapping away from the screen surround, the surround bent outward a fair bit. The lid was a bit stiff and a couple of the edges felt a little rough. That's where my complaints end though.

I installed Ubuntu using ChrUbuntu, so I can still boot into ChromeOS when I just want to do a bit of web browsing (whilst I could do that in Ubuntu, I do [now] also quite like ChromeOS, so I decided to keep it). The installation was straightforward enough.

Here's a quick summary of what I'm using on the machine:
- NodeJS
- Yeoman (Grunt + Bower)
- Jetbrains Webstorm
- Git
- Mongo

Webstorm is snappy. Even with a fairly large project, I honestly have never found myself thinking "come on, ffs...". It's surreal having something so much smaller yet more powerful than my [granted, 3 year old] 15.6" laptop. The performance is decent, but I guess that's the SSD for you!

Again, I haven't had any issues with the screen. Whilst most people will be more productive with multiple monitors (wouldn't everyone...), the chances are you'll be on the move if you're using this - and for that it's just fine. The screen actually looks pretty good to be honest. Oh, and it has a matte finish, so there's no glare.

The keyboard seems full-size to me. I'm not usually a fan of laptop keyboards, but this one has grown on me. Others have described the keys as being quite mac-esque, which I'd agree with. The keyboard layout is almost standard, bar the caps lock key and function keys (from memory). The top row of keys are still mapped to the usual function keys in Ubuntu, but due to the size of the keys, you lose F9-12 (I think.. from memory). There is also obviously no numpad.

The only bugs I've encountered with ChrUbuntu is it will crash if you suspend, then attempt to resume - could get a bit annoying if you are on the move and frequently starting up/shutting down, since the boot into Ubuntu does take probably 30-40 seconds compared to 5 seconds for ChromeOS. I've not really had time to troubleshoot this yet, there may be a fix. The only other problem was my mongo service getting borked, presumably as an effect of suspending/resuming at a critical stage. shrug.

And lastly, the battery life has proven to be only slightly worse in Ubuntu than ChromeOS, which I'm pleased about. I've had 7 hours remaining whilst working in Webstorm with Node/Mongo/Firefox.

...that turned into a bit of an C720 review, but I say for £200 you can't go wrong! :-) I haven't done any Symfony2 work with it yet, but imagine it would be fine.
Ship weekly?
Fortunately that kind of thing has been outlawed in Scotland. Letting agents can no longer charge supplementary fees to tenants.

"As a result of this consultation, we will make it crystal clear to tenants, landlords and their agents that all premium fees, over and above rent and a deposit, are unlawful." - Housing Minister, Keith Brown

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-1937...
Great stuff! Can this be used as a library? Python bindings?
I assume then that the widespread fear of, say, early locomotives, was due to the great popularity of science fiction in the early 19th century? Or possibly it's just that people have generally been a bit wary of new stuff for all of recorded history.
it mostly makes us fear not the new technology, it makes us fear that other people will do to us using the technology.
Very cool!

I had a similar idea a few years ago, but the HTML Emails I make end up with so many Outlook hacks and special cases that I figured it'd be too hard. I'll definitely be taking a closer look. Is it open source?
Yeah sorry I didn't realize it went and "corrected" my comment before I posted it.
I've often had a similar desire. I see the suggestions here for books and courses, which I don't dispute as good sources. However, I've come across good designers who have not gone through such extensive training. They haven't taken a 3 week course on typography and font selection. Yet their designs look and feel amazing. Do some people just have a natural knack for design while us hackers are forced to go through extensive courses to just get the basics?

I'm personally interested in just a simple list or article on the basics of modern and aesthetically pleasing design. Something like,
"rounded corners are easy on the eyes, use them here, but not here."
"Button shadows work in a case like this, but not this."
"Your background and foreground colors need to complement each other, here's some pairs to try."
I have however never ran across such a list/article.
That's actually where I mix the two uses. CSS class names, I use hyphens, because what CSS calls a class is not the same thing as what Javascript calls a class. DOM element IDs, I use camel case, because it's likely to also be the variable name I use on the Javascript side to hold the reference to the DOM element.
Indie devs -- particularly one man shops -- should also take note that the hardware requirements to run UE4 are magnitudes higher than what is required to run Unity. I was basically ready to jump ship to UE before I realized this.
Show HN: Stretch Timer
This is a simple app to guide your stretching so you can focus on stretching or just space out if you want instead of counting and keeping track of reps.

My daughter needed to do some stretching for physical therapy so I did the stretches with her and I got tired of counting so I made this app. The result was actually better than I expected because it freed us to talk and laugh while doing the exercises.

It's probably the simplest app I've ever created but you might find it useful if you stretch.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mcgintech.stretchtimer
I honestly can't tell if you're being ironic or not. But if you're not: what makes blackboards so excellent?
I think it's hard to pinpoint cause and effect here. Science fiction in the golden age was the product of an interesting coalition of nerds, dreamers, rocket scientists, hippies, and idealists. It was a product of a very optimistic age, and it was also built by, and for, a niche audience.

Most of what passes for sci-fi today is a far more mainstream product. Mainstream products tend to closely track pop culture, which to a large extent, tracks socioeconomic conditions. Today's stuff is really just romance, thriller, or adventure tropes with sci-fi window dressing. The recent fascination with dystopian futures reflects the current zeitgeist to some degree: we're living in a more uncertain, economically unstable age than the sci-fi writers of the 40s through 60s were. Everything was looking up-and-up back then,[1] and the sky really seemed to be the limit. These days, people are more skeptical and more concerned. We are getting a literature (and cinema) that is equal parts fear and escapism.

It's certainly possible that dystopian sci-fi is creating a feedback loop, and that it's making us more scared and more cynical. But I don't see compelling evidence for a causal or directional effect there. More likely the directionality is the opposite: people seem to be buying that stuff, and so the publishers in the market select and publish more of it. What we're seeing is largely an artifact of selection -- by the publishers and studios, and accordingly, by all the dystopian stuff floating around in pop culture.

I wholeheartedly support the call to action in the article, namely, that "It's time for us to dream again." But that's easier said than done. The market wants what it wants. Publishers want what the market wants. Few people are in a position to challenge that consensus. Perhaps it will take a few breakout hits of a more optimistic, exciting, less morbid vein to change things up a bit. I would certainly back any ambitious Kickstarter projects of that nature.

[1] A notable caveat is that Cold War nuclear paranoia played a discordant note in the overall melody here. The effects were interesting, and the interplay between bold optimism and end-of-the-world panic made for a rich and complex output.
Clickable: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mcgintech....
Well, there's this:

“A left mouse push fires it. Kinda crazy really. We actually asked for a great big red button, but they wouldn't give us one.” ¹

Though that's in reference to submarine-launched non-nuclear cruise missiles, not ICBMs. ICBMs might still rate a great big red button.

Not that OP's experience is any less silly.

¹ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3078097.stm
Don't worry we had the whole package. They just simply didn't care.
I think the main thing keeping email as the baseline for communication on the internet is it's cost. There has been no other service that can provide such a varied yet simple medium of communication - text, images, video attachments with history and an audit-able trail - for free.

The closest that anyone has come have been the big social providers with messaging applications which mimic email in many respects. Even then, they are copying the email model with a branded version - not replacing it.

It will take an entirely new and different protocol that simplifies communication with the same or better capability scope to displace email.
I'll have to talk to my boss first to make sure he has no problem with it :) stay tuned
Vectrex 3D Imager
Bruce Schneier calls this the "war on the unexpected". If you take average people, who aren't experts at security / investigating / etc, and you tell these people "if you see something, say something", then you're going to get a ridiculous amount of false positives.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/11/the_war_on_th...

Everything "unusual" becomes suspicious. See a guy taking photos at an airport? Must be a terrorist! Can't be a photographer and aviation enthusiast, no!

As Bruce says, the CYA angle is also horrific. Landlord sees something, thinks it might be nothing, but just in case, tells the local cops. Cops figure it might be nothing, but just in case, calls the FBI. Branch office figure it might be nothing, but just in case, gets regional / national HQ involved. Somewhere in the chain someone inadvertently gets word to the other 3-letter agencies, and the effect is magnified.

... and every time it's escalated, people figure "well, the people below me wouldn't have escalated unless they had reason to" ... while at the same time thinking, "well, I'm not sure, but I'm also not going to be the scapegoat if I fail to neutralize a potential attack and something does happen."

Everyone in the chain has plenty to lose and little to gain for not escalating to the next level -- nobody wants to be the guy who missed an opportunity to stop / neutralize a threat, especially in the unlikely-but-possible scenario that an attack does occur.

Regarding "if you see something, say something", Rick Moranis had an intelligent take on that at the beginning of his guest column in the NYTimes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/opinion/16moranis.html?_r=...
While I also suspect that opium is not THAT dangerous, still your comment is valuable. (Even though we knew it.)
Location: New Orleans, LA

Remote: Yes.

Willing to relocate: Negative.

Technologies: Clojure, ClojureScript, Haskell, CSS, HTML, React, Om, PostgreSQL

Email: ericwnormand@gmail.com

Website: http://lispcast.com/

Github: https://github.com/ericnormand

Specialities in analyzing a problem from the business perspective and delivering a solution to those needs. Functional programming, simple, clean code. Can help train new hires in good functional skills. Love building interactive systems.

I've worked for startups for the last 4 years. I know what execution means. I wear many hats, from ops to dev to design to customer service. If you want someone you can have a conversation with about your business and have a working solution delivered, hire me. I'm looking for a place where I can thrive.

Looking for full-time/part-time contract work; must be remote or in New Orleans. Email me and we'll get started.
I'm a design manager, but I also code too. I buy books all the time for my staff.

If you want a single book that covers all major topics with theories and plenty of examples, give this one a go.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592532616/

This is NOT a book on web design. This is book on graphic design and, a good one at that. It covers types, images, graphics, layouts, form.

Simply copying designs in this book will put you ahead of many 'professional' web designers. It's because many web designers do not fully understand what makes a design good (or bad).

Even though my work is all digital, personally I find most of the talented designers are still found in traditional print design world.

You can pick up a used copy for less than $15 shipped.
They were the first to fall under OP's brutal attack. RIP.
Well given that, of the people I attend university with, work with and generally interact with in the general tech sphere, there are only 2 people to whom I could assign a style of school, it's not too crippling of a prejudice.
I am in procurement and warehouse management in the oil and gas industry.

I don't really know why I'm here. I worked with Kale for several years and found him to be an interesting redneck. His actual name is Cooter, which he prefers to be called. Most of this stuff is over my head, but I do find interesting things to read from time to time.
There are quite a few good resources for developers to learn design.

Disclaimer: I wrote a book on this topic, but because of that, I know resources made by other people too.

---

Sacha Grief’s ebook is good for an in-depth example:

http://sachagreif.com/ebook/

---

Design for Hackers by David Kadavy is also well written. He explores the more traditional way to learn design, with the history of fonts, color theory, etc.

http://designforhackers.com/

---

A different approach might be reading about creativity. My friend Paul Jarvis has some great books about creativity, especially his new one, The Good Creative, if you’re looking to get inspired:

http://pjrvs.com/books/

---

Nathan Barry’s design books are great. He also has a course on Photoshop if you’re looking to learn.

http://nathanbarry.com/books/

http://nathanbarry.com/app-design-handbook/

http://nathanbarry.com/webapps/

---

One of the best books about UI/UX/usability is Don’t Make Me Think:

http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Think-Revisited-Usability/dp...

---

Great place for topic-specific books. Some of these are more advanced and intended for designers. I'd suggest these for after you read up on the basics.

http://www.abookapart.com/

---

My book focuses on design fundamentals instead of advanced theory. It's intended as a starting point for things you can do right now. Actionable, focused on building skill instead of knowledge.

http://bootstrappingdesign.com

---

Email me anytime if you need help. My email address is on the site above.

Edit: formatting
Agreed. I'm a fan of spelling reform, but the rules they propose are seriously flawed.
That's a tricky one, but for people that were afraid of AI itself as a technology the numbers are lower than the people who aren't. The numbers for people afraid of how humanity will use the technology are overwhelming, is that specifically because of the technology or is due to our mistrust of our fellow humans? The technology plays a component of course, possibly a large one, but it's hard to quantify whether it's the technology itself that induces fear.
General Services Administration 18F: An Open Source Team
I wasn't trying to say it's irrational. I realize why companies would be afraid of putting proprietary data into someone else's hands. I still think the idea that it's going to be stolen or leaked from a cloud provide is not likely to happen. I'd be willing bet most of the time IP is stolen it's someone inside the company doing it. So much easier for a disgruntle worker to do it.
I think the point is, it's made up. A photo shoot.

But none the less the bare chested bit is he's out in the wilderness (Perhaps even cold being Russia) not even needing a shirt for many hours at a time tracking a bear. I see that as being a pretty tough image for a 61 year old.
Any details on the sensors and radios these things are using?
"Nesting in Sass should be avoided"

concurrently with

"By doing this, a developer can see at a glance that .foo__baz {} lives inside .foo__bar {} lives inside .foo {}."

It's like reinventing descendant selectors, but with more typing. In fact, if descendant selectors weren't supported by browsers, this would be the workaround.

And for the punchline, the authors suggest that "descendant" selectors (.foo__bar, etc) in plain CSS files should be indented additional spaces. Y'know, so they like the nesting in Sass that you're not supposed to do. (facepalm)

OOCSS seems to combine all the ridiculous trends in computing into one bundle of sad: OO-fetishization, "don't do that because it takes a microsecond longer sometimes" premature optimization, and "hypothetical reusability trumps actual usability"...
Insurance maybe. But I doubt it changes buildings insurance (which is the only insurance a landlord will take out.) Tax not really - only if one wanted to claim back the income tax one pays on a percentage of their rent, a percentage in line with the percentage of the property used for solely work. That has nothing to do with the agent / landlord.
An excellent book for anyone interested in anything that has a frequency. The whole field is based on a simple but brilliant idea: using convolution and an impulse response to model anything linear. I encourage you to at least read the first several chapters; it is useful to a lot of different fields.
I haven't delved in game reverse engineering in depth, but I'd imagine that most games would handle 3d models (and textures) in a fairly opaque blob manner which quite naturally allows upgrading them without code change if the rendering engine is capable of handling increased load. So instead of upgrading the data on the fly you would replace the data files with upgraded ones.
Shark Week Is Lying Again About Megalodon Sharks
matlibplot is one of the best and most extensive plotting libraries. You also have d3py that is a d3.js implementation in python.
Do a google search for python graph or python plot and you will find plenty.
Close the Book. Recall. Write It Down
I actually found Clog Magazine's (no link print-only) take on Scifi and its effect on society more convincing. The authors argued in a 100 page issue with several essays that we built the futures we imagined in SciFi.

In otherwords, we need to stop imagining terrible futures so maybe we'll stop building terrible futures. Our future is defined by what we can imagine, and if all we spend time thinking about is awful things, then thats what we will bring about within a margin.

Its why Star Trek: The Next Generation is to me, the most influential and daring Science Fiction piece in the last 50 years, because Roddenberry dared to imagine a positive future full of possibility. And we've already built many of of the pieces of technology he imagined (Communicator, PADD, talking computer etc)
To update the date on the contract (renew)! You've been had! I only paid £80 for that!

Never actually saw a version of the contract with an updated date, mind you. I am trusting them that it exists.
Uber helping women break into the taxi industry
How to take over the computer of a Jenkins user
http://TeamTreehouse.com also has a design course. Covers logos and other things like that.
CodeSchool also has a course, but I haven't tried it https://www.codeschool.com/paths/html-css
That’s an interesting idea! I’ll see if I can open source it so people can play with it. The code is pretty simple, it’s only a couple of regexes.
Blackboards don't generally crash, or have parse errors, or have encoding errors, or have usability problems. If you have chalk and a blackboard and have some semblance of an ability to write, you can use it to its fullest extent.
This is where most hackers fall over. Yes, this particular course cares about iOS and associated technologies for it's particular teachings, but crucially it's one of many good ways to learn design. Which is of course transferable.

There's no such thing as "design for Windows" and "design for Java" and "design for Linux" or whatever; there's just design. Pick your tools of choice to learn. :-)
Well, if you think about the path that this leads down, you're going to be building SQL statements with string concatenation in client-side Javascript, with no server-side business logic in between. That just seems extraordinarily dangerous, not to mention mixing data access code into the UI code is poor design, you need some separation of concerns in order to have a maintanable code base.
This is exactly the problem, as I have myself experienced firsthand.

The 'problem' is that all of us - everyone - has a number of ways in which their life is 'unusual'. Aberrant (deviating from the norm) is not inherently suspicious, because everyone is aberrant in some aspects of their life. Nobody is truly 'normal'. In fact, if you thoroughly investigated someone and found nothing that was 'abnormal'[0] in some way, that would be suspicious!

Most people's individual personalities and quirks aren't suspicious if you look at the whole picture, but when someone's entire job is to find evidence of 'abnormal' or 'suspicious' things about someone it means that they can construct a suspicious narrative about anyone, as long as they have the motivation or interest to[1].

In other words, it simply becomes a game of finding evidence that confirms one's own (or an organization's own) cognitive or systemic biases.

[0] More than 1 or 2 standard deviations away from the mean, etc.

[1] CYA is a common 'motivation' in this sense.
In happier news, Cosmos (2014) is now on Netflix.

What I really wonder about the devolution here is if/how the viewership has changed?

If people who are interested in the sort of material that Discovery used to show have simply moved on to learn and explore their curiosity elsewhere while the channel fattened up on insatiable reality TV consumers raised on network TV it would be sad.

If people who were interested in the sort of material that Discovery used to show have been gradually transformed into reality TV consumers it would be tragic.
Used to be a standard 2nd or 3rd year assignment in a comp. sci. curriculum. Not sure if it is anymore.
>, politeness is bolstered by some level of ambiguity. Rather than explicitly state your needs, desires or opinions, you imply them at some level of abstraction, allowing other participants in the conversation to accept or decline more easily.

Steven Pinker explores this point in an entertaining presentation[1] for RSA. He also covers other language topics such as spacetime encoding, and profanity but the last part analyzes the need for ambiguity in a language. I deep-linked into the relevant portion of the presentation although the the entire talk is very enlightening. It's worth rewinding to the beginning to watch the entire talk. The 2nd youtube video[2] is the mostly the same material but it's the older one he presented at Google TechTalks.

[1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S1d3cNge24#t=32m55s

[2]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBpetDxIEMU#t=40m38s