skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
There are lots of good reasons to burn carbon to produce energy. What we need is a carbon tax that goes to operations such as these, bound to the waste energy from nuclear or solar plants, for example. That way the carbon emissions can be offset by the carbon intake.

Maybe we could burn all the carbon we wanted, at a rate even far exceeding the rate we make carbon emissions today, if those emissions were balanced with large-scale carbon removal. If that carbon removal produced fuel, that would be fine - the balance would be a lot closer to zero, and more importantly, we could have a control on the acceptable carbon in the atmosphere.
Anyone else enjoy a very, very short nap? If I'm feeling sleepy I just find a spot to close my eyes for less than five minutes. Once a bit of hypnogogic imagery appears behind my eyelids, I quit, get up and go back to work. I get a few hours of wakefulness from doing just this.
%20jodi
America’s Polling Places Desperately Need a Redesign
The normal way to do it is just to drop an email to a relevant person, set a context and ask if they'd be willing to meet for coffee.

Although if you already know someone in common you could do it more casually (i.e. join them for after work drinks).
Ok, disagreement isn't an argument. Show me the supporting evidence that demonstrates I'm wrong.
You would not judge a CEO for publicly admitting to being a racist? I do not believe you. I think that you are lying, either to us or to yourself.

Calling something "Ideology" is not a "get out of criticism free" card. You are free to have whatever political beliefs you desire, but we are all free to criticism you for your political beliefs. Our criticism of political beliefs is just as political as the beliefs that we are criticizing; it is fundamentally illogical to put political beliefs above reproach.
Here's a trick I learned in college.

Get something COLD (ice pack, a can of pop from the fridge, bag of ice. Even a swath of paper towels that have been run under a cold-running faucet for a while can do the trick

Place it on your forehead, centered, just above your eyes.

That always jolted me awake for a good 15-30 mins, though your mileage may vary.

I am not sure of the science behind it, though I do remember reading it on some sort of lifehacker-type blog, so I didn't invent this.
When you want to do anything new, you have to go against the flow, and this is psychologically very hard.

When I decided to quit my job and create a company I went against everybody. My parents, my girlfriend, my friend, all them thought I was crazy quiting a good position for something so risky.

E.g My girlfriend told me that if I was doing my company the relationship was over, so I said to her, ok, go away. The next week she wanted to come back, but I preferred to risk this alone.

Of course, when whatever you did works, everybody believes you are a genius, and they always remind you how much they KNEW that. Success is contagious, and once the media says that, you are a genius for everyone.

People like Newton, who was a geek, had to suffer isolation all his life in order to do what he felt right.

Fortunately today there are two differences with Newton's time:

1-There is Internet. Whatever you do you are not alone. There is a 1 per cent or 1 per thousand people like you, and with Internet you can find them, meet them. In the past getting enough critic mass was only possible in cities, with millions of people.

2-We know a lot more about psychology, you have amazing educational materials to improve your live, be happy and not getting in holes like suicidal thoughts.
Well, that statement is generally true, but Turing appeared in a very sensitive moment of history (WWII) and was critical for a very special task (The decryption of the Enigma Machine). Computer science would probably be fine without him, but maybe history would have beeen quite different, so we needed him.
Washington Post: “Apple CEO Tim Cook comes out: ”I'm proud to be gay“
For someone that supposedly quit Twitter months ago, there are a surprising number of recent tweets:

https://twitter.com/Alex_Gaynor

Not to mention the big Twitter logo linking to his profile at the top of his blog.
Wait, is this satire? His Twitter account is linked in the header, and it just posted about this article. He claims to want to encourage conversations, but comments are disabled. What is this?
Cool work by @ptrbyr. Wondering what his big picture idea is, because CAD libraries are not exactly easy to just pick up and start building one's own dream CAD client on (for example).
Show HN: An imitation of the iOS8 system keyboard, built in Swift
Hey guys! I built a custom keyboard for iOS8 that imitates the looks and behavior of the native QWERTY keyboard. The goal from the start was to be entirely programmatic: all the art and layout are generated in code, so it's much easier to extend than something built using XIBs and PNGs. It's rough around the edges (due to deadlines), the code is messy, and I don't intend to devote too much of my side project time to maintaining it as a framework, but I figured it might make a good starting point for anyone doing something similar.

The project page: https://github.com/archagon/tasty-imitation-keyboard

Here's how it got started. I speak Russian, but I'm terrible at typing on anything but the standard QWERTY keyboard, and so I was interested in getting transliteration (along the lines of http://www.translit.ru) working on iOS8. On a Mac, this was as easy as building an "input method", which sits between your input and output and converts things as you type. But on iOS8, if you're building a custom keyboard, you really have to start from scratch. My goal was to make a keyboard that looks pretty much the same as the system keyboard but allows you to change the way it behaves, thus fulfilling the same goal as an input method in a roundabout way.

The behavior isn't perfect. The graphics deviate, there are a few rough performance edges, and there are some features missing (including iPad support). But it works! I made my translit keyboard[1] and got it into the App Store.

[1]: http://translit-keyboard.archagon.net
The eager user in me is delighted there's a place to save my bookmarks.

The paranoid user is worried Google will have access to my saved sites and sell my usage stats.

The nostalgic user is still irritated that Google Reader could have still been saved and this feature appended.
Scheme is used a lot in programming language research because it is a very clean and minimal Lisp. It's a great base for experimenting with new language constructs and compilation techniques.

The parentheses is just a thing to get used to, once you have done that you see the structure, not the characters. It 's also a win for research in that no effort need to be wasted on syntax, which usually isn't the object of study anyway.
Scaling MySQL at SendGrid
Removing SSLv3 in Chrome
This can be true on modern CPUs as well. In fact, if the software chooses, it can even remove power from the core dynamically so one doesn't even have to pay the leakage power.

See for example Intel's C6 state.
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Everything-You-Need-t...
Your theory is that, let's say, John Carmack can't self-identify as a genius after all he has accomplished, and given how far out in front of most others he has always been on the technology curve?

Bill Gates possesses a genius level intelligence, has the accomplishments and mental demonstrations to back it up, and is apparently fully aware of it. What's the problem exactly?

Let's define genius:

"exceptional intellectual or creative power or other natural ability."

or

"a person who is exceptionally intelligent or creative, either generally or in some particular respect."

As though it should be difficult for a genius to recognize that their abilities far exceed those of other people.

I would argue that being oblivious to that level of blatant genius - having no idea you're so much better than most others - would be more of a negative mental trait vs being aware of it. You'd have to be incredibly ignorant, and almost entirely non-self-aware to miss such a thing across a lifetime.

If you can reasonably be defined as to be in possession of X trait, there is absolutely nothing wrong with recognizing that. It is not an ego problem to do so. If my brain is capable of great feats of mathematics, and I can tell that I'm drastically better at math than my peers, there is nothing irrationally egotistical about recognizing it. With there being a critical distinction between recognizing your capabilities, vs. obnoxiously promoting them to others.
Strength to love
Ruby is about to get red hot. Again
Maybe he just wants to engage with #Brands.
Languages like scheme and lisp do not have real syntax, but are more like abstract syntax tree markup languages. That is both the appeal and the dissuasion. Attempts have been made to create syntax for these languages, but it never catches on. https://www.google.com/webhp?#q=alternative+syntax+lisp+%7C+...
I've been looking into how to improve my writing as well. One of the things that I've learned is that good writing is the result of good sentences. Sentences, not words, are the basic building block. If you focus on writing better sentences you will become a better writer.

I know this doesn't help with how to write better sentences but just having this direction has helped me focus. Hopefully it helps you!
Take more naps to boost productivity
Well, all his Twitter account is doing is tweeting out links to his blog posts. It's a glorified RSS feed, not what he's talking about the post.

But still, yeah.
If you don't like that gay people have sex, let them get married. rimshot
This article gives the following quote some context:

"Mathematics requires a small dose, not of genius, but of an imaginative freedom which, in a larger dose, would be insanity. And if mathematicians tend to burn out early in their careers, it is probably because life has forced them to acquire too much common sense, thereby rendering them too sane to work. But by then they are sane enough to teach, so a use can still be found for them."

--Angus K. Rodgers

(The word genius seems to be rather ill-defined, as evidenced by Rodger's reluctance to use it in a context that seems identical to that of the article.)
Eh. I'm definitely a part of several communities on Twitter. It's just that they're micro-communities that are fluid in size and shape. If I'm talking business stuff I'll @shazow usually. If it's coding, usually @wolever, sometimes @shazow or @lnxprgr3, depending on the language/platform/etc.

The whole hashtag thing is ... pretty hit or miss. I wouldn't mind a better solution to that. But as weak as it is, it's how I found some of my closest twitter-friends, so it can definitely work.

Thankfully I haven't had to deal with any harassment issues (not famous, nor a noticeable minority), though sadly I don't doubt that they exist to some degree.

And just to be snippy, I find it amusing that he's so against comments on blogs, preferring that you write your own blog post. Isn't that exactly like Twitter? Everyone has their own medium, none of which are explicitly connected...
Like Bill Hicks used to say, "You think you're free? OK. Try doing anything without money, then you'll see how free you are."

Also, the vast majority of americans don't actually enjoy any individuality; what they actually love is running their mouths right up to the second they need major medical treatment. Then the whining starts.

A couple years ago I read an amazing interview that I wish I'd kept. During the great recession there was some parent out of work receiving TANF (food stamps) from the government so that he and his wife and kids could eat. And just so it's clear, I can't think of a better use of my tax dollars than making sure all people, particularly kids, have enough to eat. Yet he was busy complaining about how they (and no prize for guessing who they is; some lazy black eating t-bone steaks) was abusing food stamps while he was getting what he deserved. All the while he was eating my tax dollars. It was one of the few times I'd ever sympathized with Republican's needs to embarrass those getting help from the government. I wanted a flashing red sign to go off when this guy bought groceries with food stamps so maybe he'd stop shitting on other people doing the same. Though perhaps some people in life just need someone below them so they can tell themselves that no matter what, they're better than X.
Not all his posts are links to his blog:

https://twitter.com/alex_gaynor/status/524683684180271106

But even if they were, there's a certain irony to decrying Twitter while syndicating yourself on it.
The two sides you paint are not at all equal. Political discourse gets thrown out the window when you are working towards the suppression of the rights of a group of people. If conservative politics is directly linked to bigotry I see no reason we should support it. Perhaps the fiscally conservative, small government political groups should work to dissociate their ideas from intolerance.

There is no paradox of tolerance. It is rational to be intolerant of intolerance, in order to preserve a tolerant society. Karl Popper summarizes: "Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them...We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant"
No, this is because there is a midterm election in a few days.

It has nothing to do with Microsoft or Apple. It is identity politics pure and simple.
Snowflake – Data warehouse for structured and semi-structured data
But, shouldn't that choice be within the family, rather than government applying uneven pressure for the female to "mother"?

It may be the case with my wife and I as well. We've discussed it, and whoever makes more per 2 weeks will be the one to continue work. But we'd both want that choice to be our own.

And also to be more specific, my dad was Wilbur Crawley. Worked at Faurecia, and was over 50+ engineers in an automotive setting. After being burnt by 2 engineers he brought on, whom were women, both within 2 years were pregnant. Cool, none of his concern, until they FMLA'd and were out for about a year each.

Both projects they were put in charge of were scrapped as the projects themselves had one less person (leaving 2 engineers). They were beaten to market on one of them and the other one fizzled as the engineers were reassigned.

And this also goes back to male vs. female salary issues too. Do women get paid as well as men, given the appropriate experience level? The main source I know of has bad controls. But, the more I think regarding this, what is the cost of FMLA with regard to women?

Is Salary_man == Salary_woman + FMLA_cost ? Ugly indeed.
Feel free to substitute "KKK" with "campaign to ban interracial marriage" in my above comment. Frankly I think the later is even worse anyway; the KKK only wishes they still had enough political influence to pass unconstitutional laws in a state like California.

If Brendan had publicly released a sincere apology I would consider forgiving him. All he did was issue a bunch of "It doesn't matter, you guys are wrong for caring" statements.
Haha what a complete asshoe. Be nice if this random dude went away.
Where are the JDBC drivers?

you could then deploy these frameworks on a bunch of servers and a external monitor can independently query via SQL "How u doing;"
>>I don't believe in the cause that Eich donated to. But taking away someone's job over a political donation is preposterous and disturbing.

Let's keep in mind nobody legally kicked him out. He left because he couldn't deal with the consequences of his actions. The law protects your free speech, but does not protect you from the consequences of it. http://xkcd.com/1357/

Also, let's not forget how nasty the whole prop8 campaign was... http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/04/04/brendan_eich_s... ....Eich could have donated to prop- 2,147,483,647, to ban interracial marriage. It would be his right, but I hope society would backlash at him the same way as prop-8 donation caused.
I don't think that's a relevant argument. The FMLA already defines fatherhood and provides paternity leave -- it just suffers from all the many restrictions and drawbacks as the maternity leave that are highlighted in the article.

A policy that works and feels fair for EVERY possible family situation is probably not possible. Shouldn't stop us from trying to improve things for most people.
>Have you ever heard of one who would spend more than five minutes of their time, expertise or resources on your problem fi you weren't going to be paying for every single dollar of it?

Yes, absolutely. All the time. For example, many lawyers will give you a free consultation much longer than 5 minutes to help determine if something is worth pursuing.
I guess I was thinking of the abstract question of how someone would convincingly argue that the plight of new parents would be better off in general with no government regulation at all. I agree that the FMLA is grossly inadequate, but not one of the businesses I've worked for in my entire career, so far as I know, has voluntarily offered anything better.
This is a perfect illustration why normal people (like me, unlike Arthur) have problems working with his apparently brilliant creations, such as the k language. The amount of information required to efficiently read (let alone write) such texts just does not fit into normal people's working memory. One-letter names and the absence of comments don't help either.

(WRT weird names: IIRC, some time ago kdb featured a number of functions named with digits, like '2' being the function to connect to a socket or something.)
The M-W dictionary might not be the best source for that definition. The people best disposed to curate the meaning of that word, psychiatrists and psychologists, would characterize psychopaths as being bold, disinhibited, and utterly lacking in empathy or remorse.

In other words, they do what they want, when they want, and don't care about how it impacts anyone else, not during the act, and not after they finish. Correctly believing yourself to be smarter than most other folks is barely a nudge from the normal end of that spectrum.

But if I were to guess, r is probably very slightly positive when correlating genius with psychopathy, psychopathology, and several other "that guy's a little odd" disorders.
The examples though _do_ have physical manifestations - everything that exists in the universe has a physical manifestation (by tautology). How is a feed forward circuit carrying information (to be integated) not a physical realization? It's not clear why neurons carrying potentials and mixing them count but not an FPGA (no longer an ALU simulation) doing cryptographic operations for a bitcoin mining rig. Furthermore as an FPGA more directly implements the information integration system than an ALU fetch-execute cycle, is it 'more conscious'? For me that sounds absurd.

Presume the Game of Life _did_ have a direct physical implementation, let's say neurons fire according to GOL rules. Would you then be forced to call it conscious or not? Wouldn't it depend on the cell configuration? An all blank cell configuration certainly isn't conscious but the system would have the same low IIT score as a manifestation running some UTM-equivalent setup.

Finally, what about physical systems that do highly integrate information? N-body problems exhibit highly integrated behavior manifest in the so-called butterfly effect. Why do the air molecules in a balloon not count as conscious? This physical example escapes the "America" criticism - every molecule applies a force on every other and due to n-body mechanics the system is highly integrated.

My worry, which I think is mostly corroborated, is that the definite clarity of the IIT definition will serve to obscure the fact that underlying definition has no real definite clarity or derivation.

Ultimately the IIT formula was imagined to capture some heuristic notions - but it was not derived. For this reason, added to those above, I am very skeptical.

Or maybe it's my CS background that makes me biased toward thinking that _how_ information is integrated matters purely more than some measure of how much mixing there is (e.g. by one of many versions [5 now?] of the IIT formula).
Most quick-growing plants have a short life-cycle after which they decay and put their carbon back into the atmosphere. The only plants that really lock up carbon for decades or centuries are trees, and growing new forests is slow and daunting.

You sound like you've looked into this, but at a glance this seems implausible.

I have a compost pile, and to it I add fast growing plants from my garden. I presume that the carbon mass of the plants has mostly been extracted from atmospheric CO2. Empirically, as time goes on the pile gets larger. I've always presumed that the a significant portion of the resulting pile is carbon. I'd be surprised if any significant fraction of my compost pile were to suddenly evaporate. If I plow the compost into the soil, I'd be even more surprised if it were to disappear.

So while there might be considerable loss of CO2 back to the atmosphere during during the composting process, and while (worse) there might be considerable methane released, isn't it safe to say that the increased carbon mass of the pile represents CO2 that has been removed from the atmosphere? And that if this compost is buried and the soil mass increases, the difference can be counted as sequestered CO2? Where's the flaw in my logic?
friends with the engineer behind the sensor tech inside it. if you have any questions i'd be happy to forward them to him