skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I have always liked "[software] engineer". It is what it says on my degree and visa, it is literally accurate, it isn't overlimiting like "programmer", and it commands a certain modicrum of societal respect.

The full sentence is usually "I'm a software engineer working on the admissions system used in places like $LOCAL_UNIVERSITY." Most people don't need any technical detail, but a bit of showing that your work matters in their world doesn't hurt.
Conducting a witch hunt is hardly the pass-time of good men. Do something useful, or do nothing.

The context is somewhat lost with the original comment gone, so I will rephrase my sentiment more generally : save your passion and focus for doing great things, not fixating on the mistakes of others.
If you're looking for a post that is more like an advertisement look here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=861731

Just because someone is spreading something be word of mouth doesn't mean that they are necessarily financially invested in the product they are promoting. People do promote products that they enjoy/find useful.
Geocaching & OpenStreetMap are two of my favourite hobbies I recommend to anyone here.
That's what I say too unless I'm in a techie environment in which case I qualify it with "web programmer". Anything more usually sounds pretentious and at the end of the day your title really only matters when you're talking to management about a raise. If your official title is programmer you're getting squat but if your title is Senior Lead Software Architecture Analyst or something like that you'll get a lot.
Reforming the US tech economy.
Yeah, only that I cannot use it on cheap webspaces which is what programs like drupal are all about. IIRC it even runs on php4-only sites without access to htaccess.
Photography and boardgames.
A Look Into Other Programming Languages Frameworks
I'm a pretty big sucker for these kinds of analogies.

I've used one like this for Perl:

"Perl is kinda like that cute girl you dated back in high school. You had an amicable breakup when you went off to college, and you're happy to hear that she's doing well every once in a while, but you're really just on to bigger and better things. Not that there's anything wrong with her, you've just grown apart."
I think Apple's hoping that video will start being done through HTML5 - or at least that sites will offer HTML5 video via H.264 as an option. For many sites pushing Flash video already in H.264 (as my organization is), this would require minimal changes.

This would be great for me as Flash usually uses around 90%+ of one core on my box to decode video while other media players (QuickTime, VLC) use a third of that. This is going to be hard for a lot of handhelds and hopefully that will lead HTML5 video to offer a much better experience on mobile devices.

Adobe knows that if they don't get Flash out for mobile platforms, Flash is going to be left out of the next push on the web in favor of Ajax and HTML5. So, while Adobe does dominate a lot of things right now, their position is tenuous.
Flash still stutters on Core 2 Duos, in my experience...
Full agree. Large companies are great if you have a familiy, not if you've something to prove.
Maybe there's a selection bias among 'start-up people' for being more comfortable of the risks associated with having a big mouth...
At the risk of not conveying mahmud's true reasons, I'd like to chime in since I share all of his hates. If I had to pick a reason to hate video games, I'd say because they are mental sugar. They are a huge time sink and when you are playing video games you are not partaking in other things that I (and maybe the OP) attribute more value to, like socializing, exercising, or a number of other activities.
Snowboarding, hiking, cycling, basement dance parties, photography, making random videos, this american life on NPR, watching geeked out documentaries like helvetica, and getting up on my wife... not necessarily in that order. Oh, and eating, I love eating.
Regulators Will Excuse Venture Firms From Rules, Patricof Says
Advise about your startup idea.
The single biggest problem (IMHO) for a startup is traction. Getting people to stop whatever it is they are doing and use your product is impossible at least 90% of the time. I know this because it has happened to me several times.

So here is one advise I would like to share with startups: build a product that does not require users to come to your website. In other words, do not change your end users' current behaviors. The best way to do this is to integrate with the applications they are already using. One application that is common to all internet users is Email. We all go it. If your audience can make use of your product by simply sending an email then you are ahead of the curve. Doubt it? Ask Posterous, CCBetty, or Snoozemail. So if you are readying to build a CRM app, or Search engine etc.. figure how to make it work from Email or IM or similar products others have already accepted.

Edit: And in regards to CRM, what small businesses really need is not a light version of SalesForce, its a product that can make sense of forwarded emails.
New Firefox security technology blocks Web attacks, Mozilla claims
chakaron makaron
cheap labor makes the production equipment an unjustifiable investment because the ROI is less

I think that's his/her point. The manufactured pot would need to be priced higher (to pay for the production equipment over a reasonable depreciation period) in comparison to the hand produced pot that incurs no such overhead to produce, just cheap labor. So in effect, yes, a manufactured pot would be more than a hand produced pot.

I do think the commenter confused the matter by including imported items in the argument.

Given unlimited future earnings, you are right that a manufactured product may be cheaper to produce since there's much less labor cost, but in all practicality I'm not sure it applies.
Hey, don't scoff too hard. When working for a startup, one can quickly go from zero work history to being the most senior person on the team. Nothing wrong with recognizing talent and hard work, even if it's only in name.
Night riding can be a lot of fun. It's best on a nice single track on a summer's night, when it's just cooling off some, but can be fun in winter too if you're dressed right.
> why do you want to have "someone else" do the version control?

I don't, really. Certainly, in an ideal world, the U.S. Govt. should do it.

But in the real world that isn't going to happen unless a bunch of senators start understanding what a VCS is, and, personally, I think that is extremely unlikely.

But why worry about it? As long as we can get them to post the bills when they come up with them, anyone who wants to can do the VCS thing.
Link goes to video. Article (including video) on one page: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/business/economy/05simmons...

starts out rather polemic but really quite interesting, not to mention disturbing. A cautionary tale for mid-size firms that decide to seek private equity rather than an IPO.

THL was hardly alone in undertaking this sort of financial engineering, known as a dividend recapitalization. From 2003 to 2007, 188 companies controlled by private equity firms issued more than $75 billion in debt that was used to pay dividends to the buyout firms. Asked whether the 2007 dividend was too much for Simmons, Mr. Schoen of THL defended the deal. “That debt financing, which clearly spelled out to the market the use of the proceeds, was extremely well received. The securities were heavily oversubscribed,” Mr. Schoen said. “Not only did we think it was appropriate, but the market did as well,” he added.

:-|
The Eleven Rules of Supercomputer Design
FTC to bloggers: Fess up or pay up
> Flash usually uses around 90%+ of one core on my box to decode video

Is that on a linux box?
Cycling is all I have time for, outside of programming (which is also a hobby) and family life. I used to like to go salsa dancing with my wife, but the baby is a bit of a hindrance to going out:-/ I also love to go out for drinks (spritz!) in the piazzas here - I would miss that a great deal if I ever went back to the US.
Robotics, general aviation, motorbikes, running, reading. I gave my vices a break when I decided that my body and mind were too important. Now I just like going fast, amassing a robot army and reading Russian and German literature. I'd like travel more if I were Richie Rich, but holding down a consulting service while on the road is taxing (as it was in 2008.)
" ... but getting this sense across to non-practitioners is almost impossible."

And maybe besides the point. I'm sure there's an art to be a lawyer, for example, but I really don't think anyone wants to hear about "Justice artisans" or some such crap.

"Software artisan" just sounds inane.
I imagine this also generates some revenue for Loopt as well. I'd be surprised if AT&T took the entire thing.
Disqus VIP (Premium Service)
Kiteboarding, snowboarding, beach volleyball.
And then they just put it in spam folder and what do you do with this information (They read it from this IP)? Sure, you know that email address is live and active, but what good is that info?
I'm a little bit more complicated. A wanna be entrepeneur turned wanna be hacker aiming to become an entrepeneur, though you could argue that being an entrepreneur is more of a lifestyle choice rather than a job title.
Can We Grow More Food in 50 Years Than in All of History?
That was an amazingly annoying interface for watching a video. There is a better link though: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/business/economy/05simmons...

It has text too!

Anyway, it's all about how great power and no responsibility is a bad combination.
Odd he mentions sea side by name and yet it gets no entry. Sea side is a web framework for small talk.
I see! That's a fair criticism, but I feel like a lot of new games are distancing themselves from being mere time sinks. I would compare video games to books or movies: there are certainly countless examples of each type of media that are just time killers. However, every so often there are books, movies, and indeed, games (video or otherwise) that provide novel experiences, provoke thought, and titillate the player's intellect and creativity.

A few examples: Scribblenauts, a recent Nintendo DS game in which the player can invoke any object he can imagine to help solve the game's puzzles. Shadow of the Colossus, a Playstation 2 game from a few years back, has a unique mood and a compelling narrative that challenge many fine works of cinema.

Do you think those types of games change the playing field at all? 10 - 15 years ago, I would have agreed with you completely, but I think that, as a developing field, video games are coming into their own as a "proper" form of media. Also, you mention socialization and exercise as having value over video games, but see games like Wii Fit or Left4Dead which combine those things with gameplay.

EDIT: Also, communities can form around these video games. For example, I really enjoy one-on-one competitive sports & games. I fence three nights a week, and regularly travel anywhere from 30 to 300 miles for tournaments. However, I have also traveled similar distances for Street Fighter tournaments. I have found that the fighting game community is as tightly knit as the fencing community. A few times, I have come through a city where I know someone from a message board, but have never met. On those nights, I had a place to stay solely based on my connections through this video game-based community. Don't really know how that fits into the debate, but it seemed relevant.
I think it's very unlikely that mobile Flash 10 is going to offer acceptable performance on current generation hardware. So we're probably looking at 18-24 months from today for the market to cycle up to the point where a $99 SmartPhone can handle Mobile Flash 10. On top of that you have to factor in all the legacy devices out there and their lifespan before being replaced with more capable devices. Can Flash really survive the next 2-3 years with a very limited mobile presence? It seems to me most of these devices are going to end up having better support for HTML5 and other emerging technologies much sooner. I suspect by the time Mobile Flash is remotely usable it will primarily be a legacy platform.
It's still illegal to sell Red Bull in France isn't it?
Two reasons:

1) I am a knowledge-whore. I like to think that after doing something for a substantial time, I will come out of it having learned something. I would consider film culturally enriching, mostly because I watch fringe, independent or foreign films; For some reason, I have a very high opinion of filmmakers as artists. However, I can't say the same about video games or their artistic or cultural merit. I am unable to consider them substantial in that regard.

2) I like to share and talk about my experiences. I can talk about movies, I can recommend albums, I will even take the time to scribble directions and notes on someone's pristine travel book and tell them where to go. But I can't do the same with video games. There is no particular instance that I can think about and reference later; either because the games are dynamically generated, or because the gamer demographic are just not the people that I tend to socialize with, so I don't identify with them.

Bonus:

3) I like realism. Along with video games, I don't tolerate Anime, Fantasy Fiction, or any other type of "geek" entertainment. I was offered two DVDs by my neighbor; The Dark Knight and The Quiet American; I took the later. Hard to explain, really.

P.S. I am a hopeless Soduku addict and play 30 minutes when I wake up in the morning, and 30 minutes before I go to bed. In fact, that's what I use my phone for 90% of the time.
Music production and photography, mostly.
This is true; one of the points the article was making is that the current definition of polymath is much weaker than the one we had even a hundred years ago. The GP is probably referring to that one.
What would it take to record and entire life on video?
Imagine you were asked to build a system with today's technology capable of storing people's entire life on video. This request would be insane a few years ago only. I think today is already possible and pretty soon it may be a reality ( I know, scary.. ie: wife to husband: "Let's rewind an see where really were you last night? or an specific date 25 years ago?.. oops!)
Let's assume video would come at same data rate as YouTube HQ video from a tiny camera (iPhone size) embedded into a person's forehead. Assuming and average life span of 80 years what kind of infrastructure, storage, costs would you estimate?
I'm a Firefighter/EMT.

Time commitment is a minimum of 24 hours per week, but that's not "active" time. For most of it I'm home sleeping, but respond if the pager goes off. We also have several cubicles at the station, with access to power, internet, a printer, a coffee machine, etc, so I'll generally work there if I'm looking to get out of the house for a while.

There is certainly some time involved in training, etc... That probably averages out to an hour or two per week. Occasionally specific classes will take more time (I just finished an advanced rope rescue course that was spread over two weekends).
where can i find a sub 1000 porsche?
First, get the file into Hadoop. From there the parsing and processing should be easier.
Actually, they make the request to a unique URL which is tied to your email address and that particular "campaign", letting the sender know that you opened and read the email — and that you're probably a good person to send loads more spam to.
FTC to bloggers: disclose freebies or face $11,000 fine
who said anything about a war or winning anything?Is stating your opinion about something been called being a jerk these days?Have we been so caught up in being a "Stylist community" that we care so much about style that anyone against it is now "starting a pissing war", "being a jerk" or "trying to win here"?

If thats so then I am fine with my negative karma and "attitude". I really hoped this community to be above such trivial matters or at least try to look at it from a different view point. But NO, even you are too busy with your "style",you dont care to look about anyone who does not think like you. Then I am again compelled to comprehend that this is another mob, which has no right to say they are different from others. But I am going to stay here, just because I care about the content this mob develops not the "atmosphere". I am gonna be happy with a negative karma point here. Because I believe in whatever I say and whatever I feel is right. And there is not a thing you can do to shut me up to stop me saying that.
I agree. Sometimes exactly what kind of PR speak is used is interesting in and of itself - no need to paraphrase unless absolutely necessary.
My MacBook's core temperature goes up 80ºC (~176ºF) when playing Flash video (Vimeo, Youtube...). This doesn't happen with HTML5 embedded videos, or just standard H.264 or XViD videos.
There is a word for people who like knowledge: philomath. I'd say I'm one of those who's trying to become a polymath. Yes, I must agree that a strict polymath has made contributions to multiple fields, but that's very subjective. I'm not sure what the significance cut-off is contributions. If I have a widely read blog, a startup, and I've developed my own technology, am I a polymath?
So you hate video games for the same reason theatergoers hate the cinema at the turn of the century. You hate the current offering rather than the medium itself.
I'd like to give a plug for playing bridge. It is the best card game there is. Texas Hold 'Em : Checkers :: Bridge : Chess.

It can be a sociable game and yet it can also be a game that holds you interest as you try to achieve perfection.

To anyone who wants to get started there is a bit of learning curve. There are good guides online, computer games to help practice with (Bridge Baron is good and is even available for the iPhone), and there are local clubs that would love to see you come out (check out ACBL).

(Boggle and foosball also rock.)
I write poems and short stories, listen to music (largely indie rock, classic rock, and old folk), bake, and do a little sewing (working on narwal costumes for my baby twins). Then there's python!

Alas, my hobbies are mostly on hold until the babies get bigger.
Snowboarding, Snowmobiling, Video Games, Soccer, and I guess I could say "Drinking" is a hobby but I more mean drunken socializing with my friends.
Basketball - Active hobby of choice. Will play this until my body stops me.

Finance - Learning to actually make money in the market (equities and equity options).

Eating out with friends - Trying different types of food is great, but the company is the best part.

Traveling - Not a frequent flier or anything but trying to make it to Japan this next year.

Learning Mandarin - Trying to learn my "mother tongue." That side of my brain seems to be dysfunctional, so this is one area I need a lot more work.
>If I have a widely read blog, a startup, and I've developed my own technology, am I a polymath?

No.
Up next: New attack bypasses Firefox security technology, security researcher claims.

I do infosec for a living. I can say with 100% certainty that the good guys are in a constant state of playing catch-up with the bad guys. The only thing we can hope for is to minimize the amount of time that serious vulnerabilities remain exposed, in hopes that it's fixed before someone creates yet another point-and-crack tool for the skiddies.
I am a total finance and economics nerd after being a programmer. I find something really interesting about markets, derivatives, et al.
+1. This is what I always do too.

I do understand why people avoid "programmer", since it sounds low on the org chart, but replacing it with "senior architectural web consultant" is bad, and suggests that you're embarrassed to be someone who writes code. "Software Developer" is alright, but we're adding letters and a a space between words, and I don't really see why.

Sometimes I think that changing a name over and over shows a bit of insecurity. You know, how lawyers like to introduce themselves as "civil rights lawyers" when in fact they are essentially personal injuries lawyers.

Programmer goes way back. It's a great word, let's use it.
There's a million different uses. I could send an email to my friend and figure out if they're at home on their wifi or if they're out and using 3G. It's a general privacy issue.
Responsible disclosure, anyone? I'm all for revealing the details of bugs so that we can learn from each other's mistakes, but at least give Apple a few weeks to patch the thing before blogging about it.

Also, I don't think the iPhone has the option to disable loading of remote content in HTML email at all (IT SHOULD), so no bug there.
The problem of spam email is largely solved though for people who are using the right tools.

I don't see it as a big deal personally if a sender of email finds out if it was opened or not.
> Is there any empirical evidence that milk is harmful?

When much of the USDA and other governmental bodies are either made up of food company lobbyists, or are influenced by them, it's hard to know what the truth actually is.

For reference, see:

http://www.healingnaturallybybee.com/articles/corrupt14.php,
"Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan, Food Inc. (film)

However, there is research, you can google it. Here's an article that talks about it, and links to some studies at the bottom:
http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/linda_folden_palmer.html

There's lots of other seemingly-quackery stuff out there, but from what I can tell the main issue is that no one has funded what you're looking for: a long-term, controlled, peer-reviewed study of the effects of modern (non-raw) milk. My guess is because a lot of companies with a lot of money who already exert a lot of power over governmental bodies and grant-givers, don't want such research done.

But, if you're willing to read what's out there, just google it:

http://www.google.com/search?q=milk+harmful+research
http://smalltalk.gnu.org/project/issue/233
2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine: Telomeres, Telomerase and Cancer
You weren't done growing at 17?
I'm glad I stopped at 15.
Yes, but the point is, if startups were very meritocratic, then other people who didn't have powerful parents would build bigger businesses and outshine them, for the simple reason that people without powerful parents outnumber those with powerful parents by a margin of something like 30:1. The only alternative explanation is that people with better parents are more talented, and there is indeed a correlation there, but it's fairly weak, and there's no reason to believe that technical talent is more heritable than political or singing or acting talent.
I would like to upvote you twice for providing both comments I came in here to make.
Maybe a possible solution would be to start with certain well known people (if I could convince them to share) and have them describe 'these things that formed who I am' which might give me a decent start on possible spheres of interest that are more likely to be useful rather than noise?
If we would learn from mistakes, we would be the brightest person (Charly Brown)

Here a small fraction of my mistakes. And yes, I do sometimes repeat them.

* Not outsourcing my tax stuff.

* Distraction. :)

* Being too proud to ask for help.

* Slow in realizing that it is hard to sell inner value if the outer appearance sucks.

* Being too afraid to be seen as stupid.

* Listening to my tech-hacker peers when it comes to business. Or to care too much about their opinion.

* Not learning from non-tech business people around me.

* Not being interested in business but in technology.

* Over engineering.
Why millions of brains love (and hate) twitter
Do these things happen? Yes, of course.

Do these things happen so frequently that you can use them to argue that journalism is merely an aggregator of content? I think you've got an uphill battle.