skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
If you aren't patching something, don't use monkey patching. It's a band-aid fix: eventually your code gets better and you get rid of it.

And code that modifies core classes, like your Array#pack example, is almost always bad code. It doesn't matter if you're working alone or with 100 people.
I don't know your home town, but is the train station the only place a lot of people would want to store their bikes?

Because at least where I live the center of the city is packed with bikes during the warm part of the year and some of the places have four times as many bikes as there are spaces in the bike rack.
It looks like there is an updated version here: http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1643
Another data point is Jobs' absence from 1985 to 1997. The stock rose incredibly for 2 years ($2 to $14), then flat for 6 years, then fell for 4 years (to $3.4).

It's utterly ridiculous to extrapolate from this, because so many other factors influence stock price and business performance - but it's more or less what you would expect of an organization supporting a brilliant leader, and is a tantalizingly similar data point with respect to Jobs presence.

Note that it wasn't entirely plain sailing after the return of Jobs.
http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&...

This has surely been discussed endlessly elsewhere, but I think it's impossible for an autocrat to cultivate an autocratic successor - why would Jobs put up with another autocrat (and why would the autocratic successor put up with him?) I think this is a slightly different angle from the "cult of personality" aspect.
If you meant to be O(n), you should have used p=strchr(p,' ') for the next-iteration part of your for loop.
When I say "weird", I really mean anything that you may think of as stupid. The whole point is that we can't filter out every idea and prove it's a bad one, but if we don't dismiss them they can at least rise through to the top through natural selection via survival of the fittest.
Yeah ok, you win.
Closure advanced mode will absolutely screw with your code.

Closure simple mode and YUI Compressor won't change the behavior of your code. They just rename completely encapsulated objects with shorter names and remove unnecessary semicolons.
I didn't write that code, Google did. I wonder if the person who wrote it can figure out how many golf balls fit in a school bus?
Well, if they are doing any worse then Israel, they are in trouble. Israel requires math to graduate, but the level is not high. It was my experience that the level is set such that a relatively unmotivated & unintelligent teenager can pass without listening in any classes by doing some preparation in the weeks before.

BTW, I went in the other direction about that time & age as you.
I was at the talk and I feel this title is misleading -- that didn't seem to be the main point he was emphasizing in his talk.
Stupid title, as ACTA predates the Obama administration.
Wouldn't it be very subjective? Reviews of walking shoes are pretty useless, for example.
- It's not a personal attack. I'm trying as reasonably as I possibly can to show why I don't like this particular kind of behavior. I got into the same kind of argument when Jeff Atwood started shooting drivel at HN.

- I do ignore his posts. In almost three years of HN, this is the second time that I've tried to make my point, and it was not out of nowhere.

- Argumentum ad populum.

- As for the content: I think that a website for the discussion of ideas is where amichail will thrive. If he moves his usual posts to the new website I would have absolutely nothing to say about it. I'd probably participate, precisely because I know that is the website's purpose.

- I'd be (even) less vocal about his posts if he showed he is working on his ideas. If you read what I wrote carefully, you'll see that my criticism is not for the ideas, but rather the fact that he throws millions of them without any follow-up work. Whoever dreamed up the hula-hoop built the damn thing, he/she did not make it big by sending mail to people with "Why don't we make a object that is simple, cheap and fun? That would certainly be a successful toy."
It's not compiling anything.
Wow, great job on ShoveBox. I've been searching for something like this for a while. I'm going to use it for a week or so, and I'll probably end up purchasing it anyway to support you. Thanks for creating it!
What follows are the musings of an ex-lingerie designer.

Side note: Humans, btw, are the only animals that sport full breasts all through their youth. Most mammals, including all simians and apes, only sport enlarged breasts when feeding their young.

Simplistically, cup-size is the chest-to-breast ratio, designed to compensate for the fact that radius of the cup is almost, but not entirely, independent of the chest circumference. It does not have a strong correlation to volume of the cup or to mass, although acute cup-sizes are more common at larger chest sizes.

Human bodies grow very disproportionately at either extreme of size. For example, height is a very poor indicator of girth, although it bears a small correlation, and vice versa. Similarly, larger women have a higher incidence of acute cup-sizes, but the shape, consistency and mass of the breasts are very different from what you'd expect through linear scaling.

Ultimately, larger women are a different market. It's common for a larger woman to have large breasts that have a small footprint on her torso. Most lingerie does not account for this. Most lingerie is also not built to bear the weight/consistency of larger breasts. You need to use load-distributing design, as well as resilient/soft materials to ease the stress on the back. And then, you have to put the whole thing together into a sexy package. It almost make it more fun to write code :)
ScamVille: New Offerpal CEO Admits Mistakes, Makes Bold Promises
Ya his main point was recruiting. You need to go through the junior leagues before you can become a professional athlete he says.
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Steal This Film. Documentary on copyright infringement and The Pirate Bay.
Exactly the way I'd expect nerds to discuss breasts :)
To protect yourself from damage and code corruption, use source control and tests in combination with code reviews and coding standards. Don't use a straightjacket for a language.

The Rails community with all its various gem and plugin authors is a large distributed team of programmers. We already work on that scale.
You're probably thinking of RealNames.
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Downloaded it earlier this evening. WriteRoom and Shovebox are the only two apps I was really looking forward to getting. Can't wait to try it out over the next few days
Yes, if you know what program you want to write then in Python (+ NumPy, Matplotlib, et al) vs Matlab, Python wins but if you are a) exploring a problem space speculatively and b) skilled in your knowledge domain but producing a piece of software is not your final goal, then Matlab wins hands down. It doesn't try to be a general-purpose programming language, it is honed over years to do exactly what control engineers want to do day-to-day.

It's like Python is a better programming environment than Excel too, but spreadsheets aren't going away anytime soon (it remains to be seen whether Python + OOo wins over the long term)

Mathworks could do a lot worse than bolt on an optional Python front-end. What people pay for Matlab for is the toolboxes, really.
I played Hordes of Orcs while waiting for Slicehost to resize my slice due to the brutal pounding from MacHeist users. :)
Sorry... BFEWAD?
What does it say about me that I first read that as "The Physics of Brass" and it was no less interesting?
I think this post title is misleading.

Roger Penrose is not merely saying that quantum mechanics is wrong. Instead it would be more fair to say that he views quantum mechanics as an incomplete theory, and one that should be continually challenged.

It's like Newtonian mechanics. Newtonian mechanics is correct, within its domain (for velocities much less than the speed of light). No one argues with the predictions of Newtonian mechanics within their domain. Einstein's achievement with special relativity, then, wasn't showing that Newtonian mechanics was wrong; instead, he just showed the world the true extent of its domain, and developed a theory (special relativity) that generalized Newtonian mechanics to a larger domain (velocities less than the speed of light). It's terribly unfair to Newtonian mechanics to call it 'wrong' in the same way that the statement 2+2=5 is 'wrong'.

Similarly, the fantastic experimental success of quantum mechanics ensures that it would be unfair to call quantum mechanics 'wrong'. Incomplete? Certainly. Worthy of being challenged? Absolutely. Is it taken as gospel by too many physicists? Probably. But is quantum mechanics wrong? No, decades of successful experiments, and practically the entire modern electronics industry, would disagree with that sentiment. The problem is that we just don't know where the domain of quantum mechanics ends, nor the more general theory that will take its place.
Droid Does Have Pinch & Zoom
How about: Wealthy businessmen talk about people. Average businessmen talk about things. Poor businessmen talk about ideas.
As a controls engineer, I agree. I've been trying to learn/switch to python after years of Matlab, but the installation effort, programming environment and lack of controls tools compared to Matlab have hindered me.

Actually if anyone has any suggestions to address those issues, I'd appreciate it.
Is it safe? What if you get caught in the bike or the machinery while it's carting the bike off? One mangled customer would put them out of business.

And what happens when they lose power or their computer malfunctions?
I'm sorry, but even though the money is the least part of the package, I need to correct you on this one: it's not $5,000, it's at least $10k (2 founders) and probably $15k.

Saying it's just $5,000 is disingenuous.
"... Talking about ideas was never taboo. It's just that your ideas are consistently inane and not worth talking about. ..."

I don't think Amichail is inane. Inane is defined as "empty", "vain" or "lacking of meaning". I recognise the behaviour Amichail is displaying, "continuously asking lots of questions". As a kid I did this. I asked so many questions I distinctly remember my old man telling me to shut-up. So I did. Then had the problem of teachers asking me why I never bothered asking for help. In the real world continuously asking questions and being curious seems stupid, pointless and suppressed.

HN isn't a slice of the regular world. Tolerance of eccentric and unusual behaviour strengthens HN not weakens it. So let Amichail ask as many questions as possible, don't suppress the questioning, it's a sign of youthful curiosity.

Harnessing Amichail as a sounding board for ideas and pointing out any weakness in ideas seems more reasonable than scolding.
You have to have a serious bicycle problem before you can justify this level of investment.

It probably works pretty well, since there's similar car-parking technology (exception: see jac_no_k's experience).

But I'm reminded of France's expensive investment in public bicycle rentals ($3500 each!!) which is not going perfectly: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/velib-bike-sharing-t...
You can certainly writw apps for android phones without publishing them to the app store. In fact, unlike the iphone, you're free to distribute your app to as many people as you want (e.g. from your own web site).
Similar site at http://halfbakery.com - I really love it
Me too- that seems to be nromal between fluctating weight, aging gracefully, hormones (and from what I've heard) pregancy.

Let's not forget wierd bras for those of us whove lost our breasts. Pink ribbons.
15 Google interview questions that'll make you feel stupid
Use this URL to start from the beginning of the quiz: http://www.businessinsider.com/answers-to-15-google-interview-questions-that-will-make-you-feel-stupid-2009-11
I've always admired writing for the same reason I like programming - having such wide limits on what can be created. However, I envy book writers because I feel they are even less constrained.
Why efficiency is not as important as you think
Roger Penrose is not merely saying that quantum mechanics is wrong. Instead it would be more fair to say that he views quantum mechanics as an incomplete theory, and one that should be continually challenged.

That's how every scientific theory should be approached, as that's what sets them apart from dogmas.
That's what I was saying: programability doesn't need to come with a bad UI.

Me, personally, I would take an Android over a closed-platform anyday, but the Sony Ericsson line of phones I found very use-friendly, beautiful and powerful (don't know how much they cost, since I get them as free promo units.)
Thanks so much!

I'm hoping to return the app a little to its roots and make it something more hackers will want to use in version 2.0, while keeping the existing functionality/marketing approach.

For instance, there's a feature called Targets that replaces Rules and makes it so you can define targets in addition to the existing ways to get info into the app (e.g. add your own menu items, bookmarklets, floating blob/tab thingies). And I really want to have bindings for everything in the app in some language -- I'm thinking Lua. AppleScript is kind of a pain.
Wait, I clicked on this link and moved all the way to the right time to hear exactly what the title says? That could mean tons of things, but kudos for having nothing better to do then dig through old footage to find one sentence that could now mean something more sinister.
"In my view the conscious brain does not act according to classical physics. It doesn’t even act according to conventional quantum mechanics. It acts according to a theory we don’t yet have."

Do most modern AI researchers disagree with this?
"... What bothers me is not the fact that you want to think on problems with little practical utility. What bothers me is that you expect others to join you without showing no glimpse of a solution! ..."

I'm beginning to see a pattern here. Do you have a problem with Amichail? If you keep on repeated attacking, causing distress and others join in this is technically bullying. The beaut thing is all it takes to stop even a hint of bullying is for bystanders to stand up for the attacked.

So what's your call? Are you going to continue this vein of argument? Do you feel the need to continuously dominate others? Because bullies should not be tolerated and I'll stand up for Amichail.
Did you hear the part about the toolbar he couldn't remove?
I don't know, but when I saw 5B annually my brain started to work very fast.
Splitting Up Search
I would recommend reading http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-o... and then evaluating your goals and the people you are dealing with very carefully.
Zynga CEO Mark Pincus: “I Did Every Horrible Thing To Get Revenues”
i'll be the third person to say it: editorializing in titles is frowned on here. "You can make up a new title if you want, but if you put gratuitous editorial spin on it, the editors may rewrite it."

http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Dupe of http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=924117.
Is fork safe? What if you poke your eyes while eating?

I don't think Japan has the culture where the customer's stupidity will lead to either them getting sued or everyone else getting scared to death because of constant media circle-jerking on a single accident/event.

I am not from Japan, so I could be wrong.
The more sunlight this kind of thing gets, the better.
The "love or money" struck a chord. It's similar to "when your hobby becomes your job, you no longer have a hobby." It certainly adds new concerns.
There's the finding that rewards can be demotivating: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/motivation.html (HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=783939)

There's pg's idea, of working hard to make lots of money, so you are free to work on what you really enjoy.

And 37Signals' idea, of a lifestyle business that you enjoy working at in the first place (assuming you resolve the above added concerns and demotivation).
The article punts on why women have breasts. For interesting speculation on that topic and several related ones, http://davidbrin.com/neoteny1.htm is an interesting read.
It is a problem in the metro areas of Tokyo. The utility bicycles are unsightly and does block the sidewalk and entrances at times. I wish I had a photo handy to show what it's like near the stations. Think 100 feet of parked bicycles on the sidewalk and no way to navigate through.

There's a very large population of bicyclists in Tokyo. Keep in mind for people living in the city, the bicycle is a utility, not something ridden for sport or enjoyment. I do however enjoy passing cars on the bicycle and instigating races from bicycle road racers during my commute.
Even more importantly.... this is a lovely interview, that hits on many topics, of which the biographical details are much more interesting than the bit about quantum mechanics. Hopefully the fake-controversy of the title won't scare anyone away from reading it.
We are working on something similar at the moment, but it's less about news and more about sharing and inspiration.

Going to launch 1 quarter 09
It's sad that "how to write a great novel" sounds a lot more appealing than the much more befitting "writing habits of famous authors."
While this is certainly a behavior that should be frowned upon I'm not sure it should be completely castigated in the way that it is. I've met quite a few entrepreneurs and many of them have told me that early on they either bent or broke many rules including doing things that are unethical.

I'm not sure if this is just from poor sample size, but it seems to be somewhat necessary to succeed as an entrepreneur. For what it's worth, many of the entrepreneurs I know became increasingly more legitimate as they got out of startup mode. I think to some degree it's just a part of the game, the odds are against you so you need to do everything in your power to increase your chances of success.

I would really like to hear what other founders think. Is this commonplace or are the people that I've talked to borderline criminals?
Windows 7 Launch Sales: 234% Better Than Vista
Hi-Tech Metals and Where to Find Them
I don't think we have enough information to say one way or another. We've gained a lot of knowledge about the brain, but it's still very much a black box. I think it's worth holding off on making any assumptions until we understand a whole lot more about it.
Penrose contributed a lot and I don't want to minimize that. However when he stepped outside of his own domain he makes some serious basic mistakes that make him ignorable.

As an example in The Emperor's New Mind he makes a number of claims about consequences of Gödel's theorem for human thought that were flat out wrong. I remember reading criticism of it from a logician in the mid-90s, and Penrose's response. While I'm no logician, I know enough about it to know that the logician was right and Penrose was wrong. Human thinking is known to accept inconsistencies and so you can't apply Gödel's theorem to derive any interesting conclusions.

When he moves from logic to physics he is even more out of his depth. Given his verifiable mistakes in logic, I am comfortable in concluding that his startling assertions about physics are far more likely to arise from further mistakes of his than from his having found serious reasons to question the foundations of modern physics.
No, but the point is that using a difference table to find the "next term" in a sequence is rather stupid if the difference table doesn't terminate until you run out of terms.... the implication of that is that you have a sequence which cannot actually be fully described via that difference table.
Since when Japan is a designer? Japan designs nothing, japanese people do. It would be better to credit the creator of the thing instead of his country. Would'nt it?
Dan,

Captain Kangaroo was a very nice man. He (Bob Keeshan) and Hugh Brannum used to come into a restaurant where my Mom worked and make me origami. They also gave me a stuffed toy frog once. He shouldn't be on your list. On a more serious note, Shovebox looks really cool...can you also organize files with tags?
The sensible response is: "show me ". Quantum effects are not known to be significant. I believe that our mind is an emergent property: lots of neurons and chemicals interacting. Sure, there are a lot of variables, we need the dynamical systems perspective to even begin to understand the whole process... but a new kind of physics? Don't be so anthropic! AFAICT cognition happens at the multicellular level--huge, from a QM perspective.

This reminds me of that old anti-strong-AI bugaboo, "intelligence in the gaps": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_of_the_gaps
Unfounded Anger
http://mindbody.blogspot.com/2009/10/penrose-kind-o-gets-it....

"Schrödinger, Einstein, and Paul Dirac. They were all quantum skeptics in a sense. Dirac is the one whom people find most surprising, because he set up the whole foundation, the general framework of quantum mechanics. People think of him as this hard-liner, but he was very cautious in what he said. When he was asked, 'What’s the answer to the measurement problem?' his response was, 'Quantum mechanics is a provisional theory. Why should I look for an answer in quantum mechanics?'"

http://www.afterourtime.com/wiki/index.php?title=Quantum_Gra...
Out of curiousity, I threw together a quick comparison using SlickSpeed and the latest jQuery/Prototype frameworks.

http://bit.ly/1Ei4o8

If someone wants to contribute a jQuery version compiled with advanced opts, I'll be happy to add it to the list.
iTunes working with the Pre is not "expected". It's a hack. Palm should not be setting expectations for things that it has no control over.
why is this here twice? flagged.

Seems like the user has something against Mark
(Sorry to be US-centric in this post)

I think one thing that people could already start doing is pushing their state legislatures to pass law or even amend state constitutions such that "3 strikes" provisions, lacking due process, are both unenforceable and prohibited in telecom service contract language.

The states that would actually do this are very much a minority, but given their strong states rights bent, I'm sure such places as Montana and New Hampshire would take up the banner with the right person leading the charge.

Who knows whether such legal defense in depth will actually work. Even if it doesn't, the ensuing debate would help expand mindshare on the issue.
What's wrong with

Create Utility Classes and Functions/Methods - For instance, you have a String which is a URL you're passing around (obeying "Use Primitives Wherever Possible"). Create another class with static methods such as isValidUrl(String url)

if the function is a deterministic function (I guess it could be implemented as a simple test against regex) why is is difficult to test?
I get that its better to use the system one or your own URL class, but thats really about OO and not testing!