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Ask HN: Geographic job market poll (May 17, 2013) - michaelochurch
I'm trying to gather some data, which I think would be useful for a lot of people to have in the open, on trends in top-tier technology. Please, if you will, state:<p>1. Your city or location (e.g. New York, Bay Area, Austin, London, etc.)<p>2. Whether you perceive salaries as increasing, steady, or decreasing over the past 12 months.<p>3. Observed trends in job <i>quality</i> (i.e. is there more <i>interesting</i> work now than before) over the past 12 months.<p>4. Perceived trends in job availability over the past 12 months. Is it getting harder or easier to find good jobs?<p>5. Perceived 12-month trends in ability to raise investment.<p>6. Anything else you find interesting in your geographic location that you'd like other HN readers to know about.<p>7. How your region compares to other places in which you've lived (if applicable).<p>(If you have real data, that's obviously better than perception; but aggregate perception already has a lot of value.)
======
michaelochurch
It wouldn't be fair if I didn't do this.
_1\. Your city or location (e.g. New York, Bay Area, Austin, London, etc.)_
New York, NY.
_2\. Whether you perceive salaries as increasing, steady, or decreasing over
the past 12 months._
Seems steady, possibly a slow downward curve but that's largely with the upper
end coming down (finance quants dropping from "trader bucks" to software
engineer +50%). Software engineer compensation seems to be holding flat.
_3\. Observed trends in job quality (i.e. is there more interesting work now
than before) over the past 12 months._
Dismal but steady. There's a lot of talk about "data science" but few actual
ML jobs even now.
_4\. Perceived trends in job availability over the past 12 months. Is it
getting harder or easier to find and get jobs?_
Seems to be getting slightly harder, but firms are still hiring. It doesn't
feel like 2008, so that's good.
Some NYC companies are moving toward the prima donna stuff (3 phone screens +
NDAs + full-day code tests before you even get on-site) and that's mildly
annoying.
_5\. Perceived 12-month trends in ability to raise investment._
Seems harder ("series A crunch") but I'm not personally on that front of the
war.
_6\. Anything else you find interesting in your geographic location that
you'd like other HN readers to know about._
N/A. Still expensive. Great place to live except rent kills your savings.
Nothing you haven't heard a million times before about this place.
_7\. How your region compares to other places in which you've lived (if
applicable)._
I spent a year in Madison, which I liked a lot, but I doubt anyone could raise
money out there. That's my only comparable.
| {
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Looking for programmers - Frank_Philip
I am an entrepreneur and Co-Founder of a German based start-up and we are looking for some programmers. Interested ? please come back to me mueller.beteiligungs.gmbh@googlemail.com
======
gharbad
Care to share anything about your technology stack, or what /type/ of
programmers you are looking for?
~~~
mooism2
In particular, are these telecommute jobs or are you looking for someone based
in Germany? And is your company language German or English?
| {
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Federal judge rules U.S. no-fly list violates Constitution - Shivetya
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/24/us-usa-noflylist-idUSKBN0EZ2EU20140624
======
unreal37
This seems like the right decision to me. Being blocked from air travel is
indeed a violation of liberty.
I think the U.S. government has a right to keep a list of suspicious persons,
watch and monitor them, block them from visiting the United States, but there
should be a way to appeal your inclusion on that list especially if you are a
U.S. legal resident or citizen. You can't just remain on that list forever,
unable to travel, with no evidence or justifiable proof of criminal
association with terrorists. That's limbo.
~~~
jevinskie
Does this ruling imply some sort of "right to travel"?
~~~
the_watcher
The ruling does seem to imply that, however, on appeal, that will almost
certainly be clarified. No judge would actually argue for a right to travel so
broadly defined that it would essentially remove all regulatory power over who
can and cannot fly. The ruling will likely be clarified for precedent to mean
that the right to due process includes a right to quickly and effectively
contest designations by government agencies in the absence of formal charges
of violating a law.
The right to travel, in the broad sense of "you have the right to move
wherever you want to move so long as no laws are violated," is likely covered
by an umbrella of the 1st Amendment right to free speech and expression, as
well as the 9th Amendment, as a negative right: you are free from being
prevented from travel by means not permissible by law or Constitutionally.
~~~
jacalata
_No judge would actually argue for a right to travel so broadly defined that
it would essentially remove all regulatory power over who can and cannot fly._
Why not?
~~~
the_watcher
Because judges are hesitant to make such sweeping redefinitions of established
law. Not that it doesn't happen, or taking a position on whether it's optimal,
but it's incredibly uncommon, and generally frowned upon by the judicial and
legal community. Even the most ardent judicial activists tend to favor change
by increment.
------
middleclick
"The 13 plaintiffs - four of them veterans of the U.S. military - deny they
have links to terrorism and say they only learned of their no-fly status when
they arrived at an airport and were blocked from boarding a flight."
This truly fits the definition of a Kafkaesque system -- you are put on a list
and you are denied justice and never told what your crime is.
Great work by the ACLU.
~~~
revelation
Well, in many cases there is _no crime_. Given the ridiculous amount of people
on the list and the way the form is designed, a large number will be on there
due to a "mistake" in filling out the form.
Theres an excerpt of the form here:
[http://papersplease.org/wp/wp-
content/uploads/2014/02/vgtof-...](http://papersplease.org/wp/wp-
content/uploads/2014/02/vgtof-form.png)
Notice how you have to _check_ the box to indicate someone is _not_ to be
added to the list. It is completely counter-intuitive. I'd say it is just
badly designed, but we're far beyond innocent mistakes here, at this point
there needs to be judicial and personal responsibility for the people involved
in its creation and ongoing maintenance.
~~~
zhengyi13
Apart from the cognitive difficulties this creates, forcing you to check the
box means the default is to add someone to the no-fly list (see Dan Ariely's
research)
------
TallGuyShort
>> individuals listed under the policy may ultimately petition a U.S. appeals
court directly for relief
Why isn't it the other way around? Shouldn't they have to prove to a judge
that there is reasonable suspicion you are or have been engaged in terrorism
before they can interfere in your affairs?
~~~
adventured
You're absolutely correct. They should have to provide evidence proving
legitimate concerns about the person in question, preferably to a civilian
judicial court that is public, and each person has to be manually confirmed to
be a danger and then put on the list.
Then there should be a transparent, straight-forward way to challenge it.
------
enraged_camel
The title is a bit misleading. The judge did not rule that the No Fly List
itself is unconstitutional. The government can still have such a list and put
you on it. The only difference is that they now have to notify people as such
and provide reasons as well as easy ways to appeal your inclusion.
I find this to be a minor victory at best. In my opinion, the elephant in the
room is that there is a No Fly List in the first place. If someone is deemed
so dangerous that they should not be allowed to get on an airplane, they
should be in prison. After all, that's one reason why we have prisons: to keep
dangerous people away from society. What can such people do on an airplane
that they can't do on a bus or a train?
------
motbob
The ruling only applies to U.S. citizens. As mentioned in the article, the
vast majority of people on the list are non-citizens.
EDIT: Or perhaps it does apply to non-citizens when they are on U.S. soil. I'm
not sure.
~~~
pc86
The Constitution applies to anyone within the US, citizen or not.
~~~
dragonwriter
More accurately, the U.S. Constitution applies to the US government, not to
the people it interacts with. Some of its rules are preconditioned on dealings
with certain classes of people, however, so citizenship is sometimes
_relevant_ to Constitutional considerations.
~~~
pc86
Yes that is an important clarification. Thank you.
------
Aqueous
I do not believe a judge currently has to authorize someone's placement on the
No Fly List, which right away raises red flags. So the No Fly List is
definitely unconstitutional as it is currently implemented, but I wonder if it
would be replaced a constitutional implementation. For instance, if FBI, CIA,
or NSA had to clear a probable cause legal hurdle in order to place someone on
the list, and if a judge, rather than the TSA, had to approve their placement,
then the program might be constitutional. The proceedings might have to be
secret, so the no fly list would function like some NSA programs that I know
folks here are so fond of (note: sarcasm) - but at least it would involve the
judiciary rather than giving the executive branch carte blanche to prohibit
anyone it deems suspect from travelling.
~~~
saraid216
I'm pretty sure such a constitutional implementation already exists: namely,
they can just revoke your passport, which I _think_ has to go through due
process.
~~~
Aqueous
You don't need a passport to get on a domestic flight, though - so there's a
blind spot for existing law.
------
webmaven
Very welcome news. I hope it will have a positive impact on cases like
[http://www.papersplease.org/wp/category/freedom-to-
travel/](http://www.papersplease.org/wp/category/freedom-to-travel/)
------
adventured
At a minimum challenging these systems is a good thing. Most were put into
place with zero debate, no serious judicial challenges, and zero input from
the general public (whom they have the greatest impact on).
Whether or not the no-fly list can really be stopped through a normal judicial
means at this point, I think that's up for debate given how far the US
Government has gone past concerning itself for the rule of law.
------
higherpurpose
Now if only we'd get a similar ruling for no-warrant "border" searches, where
border can mean tens of miles from the actual border.
~~~
tobinfricke
Apparently it has been asserted that this special border region extends inward
_100 miles_ from borders _and coastlines_. This swath includes around 2/3 of
the US population.
[http://rt.com/usa/court-upholds-laptop-border-
searches-041/](http://rt.com/usa/court-upholds-laptop-border-searches-041/)
[https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights-constitution-free-
zone...](https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights-constitution-free-zone-map)
~~~
IanDrake
Youtube has got some great videos of people enforcing their rights at these
stops.
------
tiedemann
The US needs to rewrite some of that amendment stuff. It clearly sucks.
------
XorNot
About time.
There's no human being on Earth so dangerous they can't be safely put on an
airplane.
~~~
unreal37
I might question that statement. Being a passenger on an airplane requires you
to accept a certain amount of responsibility. A person unable to behave
properly and/or refrain from harming others in some way (angry, drunk, high,
insane, actively trying to crash the airplane, physically abusive, having a
communicable disease, etc) should probably be banned from air travel until
their behavior and/or ability to harm others can be controlled.
~~~
reustle
I have never smoked in my life, and I don't plan to, but did you just put
people that are high in the same bucket as drunks and insane people? They are
very different types of people.
~~~
nickpapa
Marijuana isn't the only drug that gets you high. He was using "high" in the
sense of other, more harmful drugs that completely distort your reality and
can cause you to become violent. Remember the bath salt incidents a while
back?
------
INTPnerd
"Brown wrote in her 65-page ruling." 65 pages! They need some good programmers
to help them refactor that to be shorter, more expressive, more readable, and
changeable using the DRY principal and such.
~~~
forgottenpass
_using the DRY principal and such_
Repeating yourself is actually very important in court opinions. It shows that
the court has considered all the case materials, claims, and legal precedent
to clearly spell out what all of that means and how they factor into the
findings of law.
They're very readable to people trained in the art, or the moderately-engaged
passersby. Additionally, courts typically write with narrow margins and/or
heavy line spacing.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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How MySpace Blew It - mattmichielsen
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-06-22/myspaces-dizzying-fall/?cid=hp:mainpromo6
======
Raisin
Myspace needs to focus on what they are winning in. That is local bands and
promotion for them. Almost every band has a Myspace and uses it for updates
and music samples, etc... If they could rework their music section. They are
already the leader in it and seem to be oblivious to it. Give indie bands a
way to sell/distribute their music and promote it better on a hyperlocal scale
and you win.
~~~
madebylaw
I don't think they're THAT oblivious to it, they have their own record label
(<http://www.myspace.com/myspacerecords>). I do agree that they should try to
capitalize on it more though. The only thing I use myspace for is to listen to
new bands.
------
msluyter
I must have missed it because I didn't see much to explain _why_ Myspace is
having problems. My .02 (why I moved to facebook): 1. it took forever for
pages to load. 2. I hated the "web circa 1999" look of many user's pages. 3.
Allowing songs onload of pages. 4. Lot's of spam friendings.
~~~
jwecker
Yeah, the author should have named it "How Rupert Blew it" or something- I got
to the end thinking the same thing - uh, he didn't even try to start answering
how Myspace blew it.
5\. Allowed itself to be branded as the Urinal of the Internet. Made it so all
the tech early adopters that everyone else takes the lead from avoided it like
crazy in favor of cleaner, better structured sites like Facebook.
I spent many hours convincing friends and family to close their MySpace
accounts.
~~~
stcredzero
So _that's_ how the digerati operate!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Django vs Drupal - benjy1
http://devblog.com.au/django-for-php-developers
======
daGrevis
Who would even consider to compare them... CMS with framework.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What are some niche areas of computing in 2019? - malux85
I'm interested in unusual programming languages, new hardware, unusual applications of machine learning, new areas of math, anything novel!
======
chmielewski
Redlang
------
test123test
C++
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Failure of iMessages - dr3wster
http://nuncamind.com/blog/2011/12/28/the-failure-of-imessages/
======
ddagradi
> Sending a text to either contact would get to her iPhone 4S, but the phone
> number contact would send an SMS, and the e-mail address would send as an
> iMessage.
Nope. Phone numbers also receive iMessages just fine.
~~~
dr3wster
Yes, that's how it works with the rest of my contacts, but for this one for
some reason she had an exclusive SMS contact and a separate iMessage contact.
The iMessage contact was associated with an email address and SMS contact was
associated with a phone number.
~~~
jgeorge
That's quite possible (and not a bug) if she has more than one device -
iMessage disabled on the phone (which would force phone number messages to be
SMS) but the email address turned on for iMessage on another device. I had my
iPhone/iPad set this way for a while to allow me to send messages from either
device without getting replies back to both devices.
~~~
dr3wster
That actually sort of makes sense, although I also have an iPad and used to
use it for iMessages occasionally. But no one has had a similar issue with me
as a contact (I've checked).
Edit: also I've checked with her and she has iMessages enabled on every
iDevice she owns.
------
jgavris
to be fair, distributed consensus is essentially impossible. iMessage is
definitely an improvement on SMS, though.
read up on the 'two generals problem'
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Generals%27_Problem>
"Because acknowledgement of message receipt can be lost as easily as the
original message, a potentially infinite series of messages is required to
come to consensus."
~~~
dr3wster
This is very true, but my main issue was my phone receiving a delivery
confirmation when the recipient never actually received the message. That
seems like unacceptable behavior to me. Assuming the messages are IDed in some
way, why can't phone A just keep sending message 1 to phone B until it
receives a confirmation for message 1 from phone B? And phone B can just
ignore any duplicate message 1's and send back confirmations for them anyway.
Obviously this becomes a very complex problem over a large scale, but I feel
like Apple can do better than this.
~~~
jgavris
I would be very disappointed to be able to recreate the scenario you describe.
'Delivered' should mean that the distributed transaction was 'committed', aka
Alice has committed Bob's message :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Ask HN: Would you hire a jack of all trades? - playforward
I'm looking for advice from the HN community.<p>I know a little about everything, tried lots of different things (non-technical roles), but I've never managed to find an area to pursue. This is not because of laziness or an inability to focus, thinking that the grass is greener on the other side etc. It is just something that has happened over time.<p>As such, I've become a jack of all trades and I'm almost entirely self-taught. I can code, design, write, do research etc. But not enough to be hired into any of those positions.<p>Although there are advantages to being a jack of all trades, I'm more concerned with not being able to find an area to focus on. I would love to just delve in and become "obsessed" with a subject matter. It has come to a point that when people ask me what I do for a living, I don't know what to say. I don't really have a job title.<p>Some people have a calling in life, others end up in a profession by luck or coincidence. I've had neither happen. And this isn't about following your passion and all that stuff.<p>So what should I do? Just pick an area with good job prospects and become a master of that since I can't seem to find something to focus on?<p>Would you hire a jack of all trades? If so, why? How come there are no job posts for these kinds of people?
======
lsiunsuex
I'm like that, and I'd hire myself.
A full stack developer "could" be considered a jack of all trades - someone
that can handle server administration as well as frontend / backend
development - you'd be surprised how many people are afraid or don't know
anything about servers. I've worked with many that only know mainframe
programming or only know frontend development. Theres nothing wrong with that
and in certain situations, it's a good thing. But if / when shit hits the fan
(as it often does) it's good to have someone that can look at an apache config
and relate it to why feature x doesn't work.
Keep looking - pick a skill and get good at that, while maintaining /
expanding knowledge in other areas. You'll find something.
------
davelnewton
> I'm more concerned with not being able to find an area to focus on.
Have you looked/tried? You say you "can't seem to find something to focus
on"\--why not? It doesn't "just happen", even if the reason is a subconscious
aversion to settling on an area.
Would _I_ hire a JooT? No; I don't need one--I almost always need experts, or
people with relevant experience that can become one. That requires _both_
depth and breadth, but _too_ broad-and-shallow is sub-optimal at best.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Online Advertising without Douchebaggery - brm
http://powazek.com/posts/1491
======
staunch
> _Bike Hero’s fake ad has chalked up 1.6 million views. The EA Tiger Woods
> video scored 2.5 million. Maybe honesty really is the best policy._
Or maybe one has one of the most famous celebrities in the world in it doing
something really funny? I wouldn't draw any deep conclusions based on their
YouTube views.
And which had a better ROI? I'll bet it was Bike Hero.
------
1gor
What if EA has planted "kid's mocking video"?
~~~
Harkins
They did, of course.
~~~
MaysonL
More likely, they planted the bug in the game.
------
antidaily
Chiseled in stone old. But a great ad.
------
zupatol
I'm surprised that a text praising an advertisement ends with the sentence
'Maybe honesty really is the best policy'.
Honesty would be not to advertise.
------
Herring
I can't stop laughing.
------
pgroverman
amazing.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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On extracting an element from a web page with CSS styles - nathancahill
http://nathancahill.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/on-extracting-an-element-from-a-web-page-with-css-styles/
======
vitovito
Would love to see inline examples of the output, or a bookmarklet that gives
you the generated output of e.g. an element you choose on an arbitrary site.
Also, you don't need to copy every child element's style. You only need to
copy the styles that are _different from the parent element_ and/or _different
from your current stylesheet._
For each element, I believe you can create an empty one in the place you'll be
putting the final output to see what its computed styles are, and then use
that to compare to the one you're reading from.
~~~
nathancahill
You're right, I wouldn't need to copy styles that are the same as the elements
parent. It adds an extra check though.. I'm trying to reduce the amount of
things the lowest level handler has to do. Another check would expand the
overhead exponentially.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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The maths of the paper disproving conspiracy theories don't add up - r0muald
http://littleatoms.com/david-grimes-conspiracy-theory-maths
======
kossTKR
A personal theory i have is that the "Sceptics"community is somewhat comprised
of slightly socially naive stem educated people (sorry). They simply do not
fathom the ruthlessness of the political or business world. Hackers are a
notable exception, they usually have they usually are pretty adept at seeing
propaganda and cover ups.
The notion that "i can prove that conspiracies are false with my math" makes
me cringe the same way it makes me cringe when the sceptics community "Proves
religion wrong", completely disregarding any psychological or anthropological
explanations for such a phenomenon.
A good chunk of the highly educated people from the economic fields, Law,
Public Relations and business world are much more manipulative and
opportunistic than most "science people" understands.
Go to any of the hippest (and most expensive) night clubs in a european city
and you will meet these kinds of people everywhere, earning huge amounts of
money doing dubious business deals or polishing the images of morally
questionable partners.
You won't meet many tech people there, but the ones you will meet will be in
ad-tech, data-reselling, or affiliate marketing.
You won't se any nerds these places, as you won't se any nerds at PR or upper
class "fund raising" events, where the small scale conspiracies are pretty
obvious.
~~~
snowwrestler
Having spent time in both the tech world and the politics world, in my
experience it is the conspiracy theorists who are naive.
Generally the common denominator in conspiracy theories is that there is a
group of people who are secretly in control and are purposefully causing
things to happen to further their own particular agendas.
As you point out, it is true that a lot of powerful people really _are_ trying
desperately to further their own agendas. But the false part is that there is
a small group who is really in control. The truth is, no one is in control.
Sounds scary, right? Which explains the attractiveness of conspiracy theories.
~~~
logicrook
It depends a lot on your definition of 'conspiracy theory'. If you only
consider crazy babblings about martians, sure, but...
Do you remember that before Snowden, the whole NSA thing was a tinfoil-hat
worthy idea? And what the NSA does goes beyond what moderately tinfoily people
thought.
"Conspiracy theory" is often a good way to get rid of the pursuit of truth.
~~~
krapp
A conspiracy theory is merely a theory without corroborating evidence. The
reason conspiracy theorists tend to be disbelieved is that, more often than
not, their assertions are a matter of faith, and when they're right, they're
right in the way a stopped analog clock is right twice a day. If someone's
paranoid fantasies happen to correspond to reality, that doesn't make them
more trustworthy.
So while conspiracies shouldn't be dismissed out of hand, they also shouldn't
be given special credence, either, and skeptics should be assumed to be part
of an attempt to suppress the pursuit of truth.
That said, A lot of skepticism is as much an attempt to reinforce confirmation
bias as is conspiracy theory - and one could say that conspiracy theory is a
form of skepticism about the apparent natural order of things. So both sides
tend to suffer from a tendency to not actually care about the truth when that
truth could contradict their prejudice.
~~~
TelmoMenezes
> A conspiracy theory is merely a theory without corroborating evidence.
It is interesting that the only term that we had to refer to a "theory about
an agreement between persons to deceive, mislead, or defraud others of their
legal rights or to gain an unfair advantage" became a synonym for lunacy,
while leaving us with no short way to express the former concept.
A conspiracy theorist might suggest that we can be controlled with language.
~~~
krapp
To be fair, the more lunatic type of conspiracy theories are the ones most
people hear about. The X-Files might be more to blame for that perception than
the government.
Assuming of course, the X-Files wasn't secretly a propaganda campaign intended
to discredit conspiracy theorists by subconsciously associating certain
theories with fiction. But then again, the government has used urban legends
and conspiracy theory as a cover for its own operations before, i'm personally
certain they planted the Roswell story (and retraction) in order to cover up a
more mundane secret project and retrieval, but just never expected it to go as
viral as it did.
But even so, conspiracy theorists are half to blame for their own reputation
at least.
------
schoen
It seems that the original paper didn't consider participants' incentives to
keep the secret.
> All three are based in the United States, two in law enforcement or security
> services where secrecy is part of the job description and the cost of
> breaking it is extreme.
There must be differences between conspiracies where the conspirators agree
that the secrecy is proper or beneficial, and conspiracies where people are
forced into it or simply become aware of the secret by chance or as part of a
job. For that matter, there must be differences between conspiracies where
people are trying to unmask them (for example, national security reporters who
have heard a rumor about the existence of a secret program and are
investigating to follow up on it) and conspiracies whose existence hasn't been
hypothesized by outsiders.
Just today the Washington Post reported on internal CIA use of deception
against its own staff:
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-
security/eyewa...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-
security/eyewash-how-the-cia-deceives-its-own-workforce-about-
operations/2016/01/31/c00f5a78-c53d-11e5-9693-933a4d31bcc8_story.html)
> Senior CIA officials have for years intentionally deceived parts of the
> agency workforce by transmitting internal memos that contain false
> information about operations and sources overseas, according to current and
> former U.S. officials who said the practice is known by the term “eyewash.”
In this case, there could be hundreds of people who think they know the truth
about something, but really only a handful do. (The Post explicitly says
this.) So even if one of those hundreds of people reveals what they know, the
conspiracy won't really be revealed.
------
nickpsecurity
For any interested, I wrote an entire essay and some arguments in favor of
conspiracy theory on Schneier's blog here:
[https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/06/the_psycholog...](https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/06/the_psychology_7.html#c1503021)
I argue that conspiracy, or key elements of it, is a natural part of human
behavior. You can see it in all kinds of legitimate things. You can also see
it in many criminal activities. A subset of it would be what we traditionally
call a criminal conspiracy good enough to leave only breadcrumbs. The
conspiracy theories... one's using good investigation rather than cherry-
picking... have to find and tie together these breadcrumbs to derive the
hidden activity.
Academics almost exclusively tend to analyze why people must be wrong-headed
if they investigate conspiracies, err, criminal activity. Instead, they should
look at those that were proven right and wrong to identify data points for
criteria or heuristics to help investigators get it right more often. What
constitutes good evidence of a probable conspiracy vs what is just bias of
researcher? A valid question and form of research.
However, it's nonsense and defies common sense to have their assumption that
conspiracies don't happen and investigating one is equivalent to mental
illness unless you have a confession in hand from perps.
~~~
FreedomToCreate
I agree that there are probably some conspiracies, even statistically its
bound to happen. People always have something to hide. Whats ridiculous though
are the infowars type of sites that literally state everything is a conspiracy
and that every action a government or cooperate official makes is to enslave
people and make more profits.
~~~
astrodust
These sites utterly fail to understand the difference between an active
conspiracy and merely _coincident interests_ for certain things to happen.
For example, if an industry is predicated on certain things happening or not
happening (e.g. military contractors being biased towards war) or denying
certain facts (e.g. oil companies playing down global warming) it may seem
like a widespread conspiracy but it's actually a bunch of independent actors
with the same motivations or bias.
There's also the fact that a large conspiracy needs a large motivating factor.
A group of criminals conspiring to steal something has a very clear reward.
The government spraying massive amounts of chemicals from airplanes to
do...stuff...is hardly a compelling reason.
~~~
nickpsecurity
"These sites utterly fail to understand the difference between an active
conspiracy and merely coincident interests for certain things to happen."
That's a good point. This happens a lot with oligopolies, too. Yet, there has
been evidence that some of them collude in secret often through intermediaries
to expedite this process. You usually see this with lobbyists but sometimes
outright scandals like RAM price-fixing. So, coincident interests doesn't
auto-eliminate possibility of a conspiratorial explanation but certainly
should be the _default_ belief for scheming, self-interested behavior.
"The government spraying massive amounts of chemicals from airplanes to
do...stuff...is hardly a compelling reason."
I smirked at the wording. The amount of mythology around chemtrails mostly
makes it a good example. Yet, you're off the mark on this one just as they
are.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sea-
Spray](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sea-Spray)
So, you can replace "stuff" with testing of bio-weapon systems and studies of
disease impact on unwitting subjects with legal immunity. Not sure if any of
the chemtrail claims or evidence overlapped with that as I didn't research it
much. Yet, it's a fact that the U.S. military secretly (for a while) flew
planes over U.S. cities that doused them with both chemicals and biological
agents to support our biological and chemical weapons capabilities. There were
many groups involved in that. They even blocked further investigation of all
the incidents and those effected. So, we know what's revealed is a fraction of
what went on but I'm not going to speculate size of that fraction. I just know
there's more.
This brings me to another facet of the problem: supporting irrational stuff
with rational stuff. The fact that certain conspiracies and lies happened
before seem to increase the likelihood people will believe a similar claim.
"Of course they're doing chemtrails on us: remember Sea-Spray!? Why wouldn't
they still be doing it?" That doesn't logically follow but does in many
people's minds. Hell, it often does in reality so much we have the meme that
"History Repeats." I think allowing recurring and similar rogue behavior in
industry and governments plants many seeds for other, false beliefs to show
up. Another reason to put an end to any schemes we identify. Affects signal-
to-noise ratio of our ability to detect sneakier schemes.
Good news is the biggest bullshiters in conspiracy claims are usually _really_
full of shit. Obviously. They practically out themselves. Helpful to
researchers like myself as we just filter them away.
------
creezy
Conspiracy's clearly don't exist, except when the US government is found
guilty of them in court of law:
[http://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/09/us/memphis-jury-sees-
consp...](http://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/09/us/memphis-jury-sees-conspiracy-
in-martin-luther-king-s-killing.html)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Select_Com...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Select_Committee_on_Assassinations)
~~~
c3534l
The argument in the paper (and I admit I find the analysis unconvincing) was
the a successful conspiracy requires a relatively small number of people
involved to successfully carry out and to go a long time undetected, not that
they don't exist.
------
Zigurd
If you throw everything together it's uninformative.
1\. Obviously, some things are successful "conspiracies" to continue nefarious
activities despite what would be public aversion: An obvious example is the
clergy sex abuse case.
2\. Obviously, other supposed conspiracies are bullshit: Chupacabra, Moth-man,
LGMs at Area 51.
3\. Other things are a kind of readily identifiable, if you are historically
literate, forms of opportunism: The rise of the security state and the neocon
wars after 9/11, for example. 9/11 wasn't an "inside job" but it was cynically
exploited about as far as possible. From Winston Churchill to Rahm Emanuel,
politicians have known not to waste a good crisis. "Cui bono?" Yeah, the
people who jumped on it and exploited.
------
wrsh07
Good point, worth skimming [if you've heard of the original article].
Maybe a better direction to go would be "how long until leaks occur" given the
number of people on a project. This isn't that different [although it's less
click-bait-y than mentioning conspiracies], and you'd have lots of examples
from industrial products.
How often do Apple product releases leak? How long does it usually take for
them to leak?
There should at least be enough data to do something interesting.
~~~
wnevets
>How often do Apple product releases leak? How long does it usually take for
them to leak?
how many of those are actually leaks and not "guerilla" marketing like movie
trailer leaks.
~~~
ikeboy
Wouldn't they leak every time if intentional? The fact that pics only rarely
get released in advance implies the leaks aren't authorised.
~~~
IanCal
Not necessarily, a constant reliable stream of information isn't as
'interesting' as more random results.
I think the right terms for this are "variable reward" and "variable interval"
here:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinforcement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinforcement)
------
ender89
"Paper disproving the concept of conspiracy theories found to be erroneous;
spawns multiple conspiracy theories and adds credence to innumerable more"
------
quasarj
So, he never actually said it was a cumulative failure curve. I'll admit a
graph of the probability of failure per year (non-cumulative) may be less
expected, but doesn't necessarily indicate an error on the authors part.
And the bit about his estimates of the number of conspirators in the NSA.. he
says the exact same thing: "In the PRISM case, the figure of 30,000 comes from
total NSA staff. In reality, the proportion of those employed would would have
knowledge of this program would likely be a lot less but we take the upper
bound figure to minimize the estimate of p."
------
marcus_holmes
It always annoys me when reading about this paper, that the Climategate (parts
1 & 2) incident is ignored.
It doesn't prove that there's a climate-change conspiracy, but it was a bona-
fide attempt by someone who had access to internal documents to whistleblow.
I don't understand why NSA - Snowden is an example of a conspiracy being
exposed but UEA - Climategate is not.
Unless of course, it's career suicide for an academic to come within a mile of
being seen to portray climate change as a conspiracy. Which could be taken as
more evidence that there is a conspiracy.
~~~
magicalist
> _I don 't understand why NSA - Snowden is an example of a conspiracy being
> exposed but UEA - Climategate is not._
Because when Snowden's documents were analyzed the evidence matched reality,
while when the "Climategate" emails were analyzed all that was found was
normal researcher chatter?
Seriously, the critics of the emails quoted a few phrases out of context that
sounded bad but weren't and couldn't point to any change made to data or
methods that wasn't already publicly documented. Then a bunch of independent
bodies went through the emails and data and agreed all was good.
Mainstream rejection of a story is _not_ evidence that that story describes an
ongoing conspiracy.
You might as well ask why Obama - Birthers is not considered an example of a
conspiracy being exposed. Unless of course, it's career suicide for a
politician or journalist to come within a mile of being seen to portray his
citizenship as a conspiracy. Which could be taken as more evidence that there
is a conspiracy.
~~~
marcus_holmes
my point has nothing to do with whether you believe climate change to be a
hoax or not, or whether it is a hoax or not.
The point is that someone exposed a bunch of internal documents in an attempt
to whistleblow what they considered to be a conspiracy.
The reason there's no parallel with the Birther thing is that no-one in the
Obama camp attempted to whistleblow.
The reason there is a comparison with Snowden-NSA is because Snowden was a
whistleblower.
The paper in the article holds up the climate change conspiracy theory as "it
can't be a conspiracy because no-one attempted to whistleblow it" while
completely ignoring that someone DID try to whistleblow it.
Again, whether or not there was actually any conspiracy doesn't matter.
Someone "on the inside" thought there was and attempted to whistleblow. It
needs to be included in the list of failed conspiracies regardless of whether
it actually was a conspiracy or not.
~~~
marcus_holmes
thanks for the knee-jerk downvoting too.
At no point have I criticised anything about climate change, or even suggested
that it might not be the most urgent pressing thing that human society faces.
But the automatic downvoting/criticising happens to any post that dares to
mention anything like Climategate. I had to think twice before mentioning it
because I knew I'd lose some of my precious internet points.
If this happens here, where there are no consequences, what happens in
academia, where the penalties of being sceptical are so much more serious,
even career-threatening?
~~~
magicalist
> _If this happens here, where there are no consequences, what happens in
> academia, where the penalties of being sceptical are so much more serious,
> even career-threatening?_
Looks like some of your points were restored, but I'll note I downvoted you
for the above. It's ridiculous to assert some relationship between this
message board and academia, or that downvotes are responding specifically to a
single cherrypicked idea from that post.
It ends up being complaining about downvotes with a not so subtle insinuation
that the subject wasn't given a fair shot (when it was actually _widely_ and
very publicly investigated) and you're begging the question by asserting that
any dismissal of the question is evidence of dismissal of the question for a
specific reason, when it could just be that some questions have already been
addressed and so are no longer worth more time than it takes to give a
downvote.
------
headgasket
it's was a coverup attempt!!! :-)
------
_monster_
Are there massive conspiracies? Just look at the set of religions in the world
to control people-- and you will already have your answer.
~~~
fsloth
Conspiracy is usually something that is non-obvious. The sociodynamics of
religion are quite obvious, and closer to a mass hysteria.
The parish provides a sufficient population that enables social proof to
convince people automatically of the correctness of believing and belonging.
It's not that the priesthood makes people believe things - it's the people,
and the social proof and the social pressure that does this. The priesthood
gains political power (which all men yearn, consciously or not), and when co-
operate with the state provide a channel of mass control and communication.
Thus the people perpetuate the belief, and the state has no incentive to
intercede.
------
idiotclock
The title isn't grammatical. Math and Do must agree.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
OHm – Om with Haskell in the middle - alexatkeplar
https://github.com/boothead/oHm/blob/master/README.md
======
boothead
Thanks Alex!
I really need to put a bit of effort into documenting this, but the idea is
that an immutable stream of events is folded over into a model which virtual-
dom then renders into the UI.
There are a couple of minimal examples here:
[https://github.com/boothead/ohm-examples](https://github.com/boothead/ohm-
examples)
specifically the cannonical todo mvc one:
[https://github.com/boothead/ohm-examples/blob/master/todo-
mv...](https://github.com/boothead/ohm-examples/blob/master/todo-
mvc/src/Main.hs)
It's really awesome to be able to use the excellent pipes, mvc and pipes-
concurrency in the browser!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Guinness World Record for World’s Largest Aerial Firework Shell - camtarn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgHnvbYlW2k
======
camtarn
"This new record saw a 2,200 pound shell, with a diameter of 56 inches
launched into the sky over Al Marjan island by a 7 metre mortar, weighing
15,000 pounds and buried 4 metres into the sand. The shell spectacularly
detonated at a height of 2,200 feet."
That's over a ton in weight, being launched to 2200 feet by a single charge.
That's _ludicrously_ large.
1:05 - the shell being launched 2:20 - discussion of the size and weight of
the shell 4:00 - the shell under construction
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Developers need to learn to negotiate - infinite8s
http://www.expatsoftware.com/Articles/developers-should-learn-to-negotiate.html
======
chrisbennet
If you’re interested in this topic, you really need to read patio11’s take on
this subject. (This expatsoftware article seems to be based, in part, on
Patio11’s article but doesn’t t credit him.)
[https://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-
negotiation/](https://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Elon Musk: The World’s Raddest Man - jeremynixon
http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/05/elon-musk-the-worlds-raddest-man.html
======
Rooster61
There is an inaccuracy in this article. Musk did not launch Tesla. He was an
early investor in the company, and actually took a little while to become CEO.
[http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-the-origin-
story-2014-1...](http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-the-origin-
story-2014-10)
~~~
OrwellianChild
Interesting article!
From the Wait But Why article:
Then, in 2004, as that “project” was just getting
going, Musk decided to multi-task by launching the
second-most unthinkable and ill-advised venture of all
time: an electric car company called Tesla.
I think this refers to the initial funding of Tesla, led by Musk as an
investor and chairman of the board...
A timeline from the text of your Biz Insider article:
July 1, 2003 - Tesla Motors incorporates.
April 23, 2004 - Musk leads funding round, becomes Chairman
November 2004 - First development mule
February 2005 - Series B funding
July 19, 2006 - Roadster launch party
.
.
March 18, 2008 - Production begins
October 15, 2008 - Musk takes over as CEO
------
OrwellianChild
I'm actually quite looking forward to the bio that Urban mentions:
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062301233/](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062301233/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Lords must vote against May's plan to strip Britons of their citizenship - lucaspiller
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/17/lords-theresa-may-strip-britons-citizenship
======
sentenza
The UK vehemently opposed the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, in the end
opting out of it, so UK ex-citizens can't even sue against their state
disowning them.
------
coderzach
Cool hack! We don't want to spy on, torture, or indefinitely detain _our own
citizens_. So just stop them from being citizens, moral crisis averted.
------
jlockfre
She trains at my gym. I might spark up a conversation with her on this while
we're on the mats stretching.
------
cafard
American here: how much power does the House of Lords have in the matter? I
should have thought only a delaying one.
~~~
lucaspiller
Pretty much. Once a bill has been approved by the House of Commons they can
only reject a bill, but it can be reintroduced later once modified. In this
case it serves as a measure for delaying quickly rushed through bills that
weren't clearly understood, and bringing them into public light.
Although the Lords aren't elected, their power is more of an advisory role.
They can't introduce or kill bills on their own. Also unlike politicians they
don't have to worry about keeping their respective parties happy.
------
contulluipeste
I don't get this "punishment more primitive than torture" nuance. It may be
inconvenient (for people born somewhere outside U.K. to loose an inherited
citizenship), but isn't a stretch to call that a "punishment"?
~~~
contulluipeste
Any arguments along with the down-vote?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Switching to Ubuntu - reddotX
http://support.system76.com/articles/switch/
======
zhte415
If found myself turned off Ubuntu because of Unity, despite using Ubuntu
itself since 2005. Odd orange and purple, new odd left menu, general sense
Ubuntu was changing how I didn't want it to. Moved to Mint. Seemed to
replicate Windows XP but by a pain. The upgrade path for Mint felt not
dissimilar to jumping into the sea off a cliff 50 feet up with an incoming
storm. I've done both. The sea took 15 minutes to swim 50 feet. Mint was
worse.
But then, out of chance installing on a laptop that wasn't sure it was UEFI or
BIOS (yes, BIOS in UEFI mode), lacking much in terms of storage media, plus a
weak internet connection, knew Ubuntu had a mini install, not server install,
but mini install, but had never used before. Not so well linked to on the
website but for benefit of all here's the link:
[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/MinimalCD](https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/MinimalCD)
about 40MB.
Fantastic. Complete Ubuntu ecosystem underpinned by Debian solidness. And
straight-up GNOME environment (or GUI of choosing, or lack of, selectable on
install). No cruft, but as full featured as any Ubuntu can be. And lets GNOME
actually be enjoyed with customisation, but also allows the focus and
productivity that GNOME esp. GNOME3 offer.
The OP is about OSX to Mac. Completely support Ubuntu/GNOME. Absolutely
suggest straight OSX > GNOME and it/general Ubuntu ecosystem. Avoids messing
with Unity or any 'Ubuntu minus Unity' system reinvention, and lets one enjoy
using a computer, not being frustrated by it.
~~~
tajen
I too have been put off by Unity when it appeared, and moved to Mac. It's sad
that they lost so many people, they were on the path to become the leader OS,
and not only among the Linux community. Did they even gain more of the target
users (tablets) they hoped to reach with Unity?
But there's always one guy to say "Hey, I like Unity, plus you can always
configure Gnome or get Kubuntu if you like" and the mere doubt of a debate
dillutes the elephant in the room, which is that Unity wasn't capable of
generating massive adoption, as opposed to most other DEs. Yep, some people
liked Unity, but it's only some people, that's the problem.
~~~
KKKKkkkk1
Sorry to be that guy, but I like Unity. My vie is that Unity is Canonical's
way of integrating the good features of MacOS into the Linux desktop and
moving away from the Windows-lookalike strategy the GNOME project used to
have. So I would argue that if people migrated from Ubuntu to MacOS, it's not
because they don't like Unity, but rather because they like MacOS or Apple
machines in general, and Unity was Canonical's response precisely to that.
~~~
tajen
I didn't even know MacOS when I migrated. I just did it because I literally
couldn't work anymore in Ubuntu. I just knew some people could get the job
done in Mac, which doesn't happen to be the case with Ubuntu.
------
pksadiq
I would recommend Debian GNU/Linux over Ubuntu for the following reasons:
* Stability: I consider Debian testing/unstable more stable than Ubuntu stable (Try updating an ubuntu with lots of package installed).
* Privacy: Debian is more concerned about User's privacy then Ubuntu. If your iceweasel (now firefox) automatically connects to internet to load some data against your wish, you can consider this as a bug in Debian (and several other examples).
* Community support: You get community support from both Ubuntu and Debian communities.
* Truely free software 0: No non-free software by default. No binary blobs. But you may choose to have, if you wish to.
* Truely free software 1: In Debian, if you solely install packages from 'main' repo, you can safely use it, even in commercial setup. But in ubuntu, there can be packages that may commercially have several restrictions (and those repos are enabled by default).
Everything is from upstream: GNOME, wayland, flatpak ...
~~~
blfr
_(Try updating an ubuntu with lots of package installed)_
Always do and don't remember any issues.
Mostly, Ubuntu is Debian with some niceties thrown in like AskUbuntu, Unity,
PPAs, or a release schedule.
~~~
6d6b73
I just updated Ubuntu last night..and it's no longer working. I would switch
to Openbsd but I need VMs. I guess it's time to go back to the good old Debian
~~~
gkya
If I were able to switch to a new OS now, I'd give a try to NixOS and GuixSD
(especially to the latter as it fits my love of lisp and emacs). They bring a
new paradigm to the table in package management. Unfortunately a bit busy
nowadays...
------
bshimmin
_Ubuntu has several powerful image manipulation programs. Gimp, darktable, and
Inkskape will do what Adobe products can. Plus, they are free, which is a huge
bonus. Adobe products don’t currently run on Ubuntu but there are plenty of
replacement software options._
That's a pretty debatable paragraph, and one with which most serious Photoshop
and Illustrator users would really struggle.
~~~
pkd
Yeah, I love how sophisticated Gimp and Inkscape are for open source projects,
but they don't even touch Adobe when it comes to the finesse and features,
sadly. I keep Windows on dual boot just so that I can use Illustrator on the
odd times that I need to.
------
anondon
I was configuring a 15 inch Gazelle: i7 6700HQ + 32GB RAM + 250GB SSD comes to
around $1300. Good value.
Anyone have experience with System76 laptops recently? How is the build
quality, battery life, service? There are not many reviews about the laptops.
~~~
mcguire
I have a 4 year old Gazelle that I've been mostly satisfied with. It never did
have much battery life, so that hasn't gotten better, but no major problems
otherwise.
It does use Nvidia graphics, for which driver support is crap. And unlike
previous machines, the issues haven't disappeared with upgrades. A failure to
resume is the most common bug.
A special award goes to Chrome, which likes to use the acceleration and will
leave the main Chrome window on top of the screen after the application is
hidden. (Using a nonstandard manager such as Xmonad or ratpoison.)
------
worldsayshi
Having a work computer that had Ubuntu pre-loaded I must say that Ubuntu
_almost_ hits the mark on being a competitor in user friendliness. There are
only a few things that I think needs improvement. For me it's configurability
of the mouse (in particular cursor acceleration) and dual screen high-dpi
support (which is partly on app developers). Most other things seems to be
there when using a laptop with supported hardware. But supporting the hardware
has been the main hurdle for a long time so having more alternatives that
ships with it would probably solve that one.
~~~
binaryanomaly
I agree that the out of the box mouse settings are too limited. But if it
really bothers you there's still the option to find the right driver and dive
into xorg.conf any time. I spent an hour or two to tweek my macbook touchpad
but it was totally worth the effort.
~~~
worldsayshi
Yeah, I have that for getting two finger scroll and right click and disabling
touch areas. But after the first time I tried to set it up I got a lot of
weird behaviour after suspension and such.
It took quite a bit of effort and the details were hard to understand. There
are a lot of conflicting info in stack overflow threads and such. Like I found
out after the first try that there are multiple configuration paths that are
merged. Don't remember the details now. It was confusing anyhow.
------
botto
Ubuntu ruined it when they included their advertising and marketing engine
straight up in the unity interface. Debian is at least not trying to sell all
your info.
~~~
fulafel
The Amazon thing was disabled by default in 16.04.
~~~
chronic6l
The Amazon "thing" is most definitely enabled on the sidebar by default in
16.04.
~~~
fulafel
The Unity Amazon search integration was disabled. The Amazon button is just a
shortcut that opens the Amazon web page.
~~~
nol13
Eh, close enough.
I appreciate that Canonical spends a lot of cash developing and hosting Ubuntu
but if this is the only way that they can do it then thanks but no thanks.
------
norswap
Has Unity stopped from being a slow and unresponsive mess?
My last experience with Unity was that it just lagged lagged on a machine that
could handle windows seven with no hiccups.
Most people with whom I talked about this seemed to have had similar
experiences. In truth I've never heard anyone defend Unity.
~~~
wodenokoto
Do you talk to people in real life about unity?
I have never met a person who called unity slow and unresponsive, but I always
read that complaint online.
My dad uses it full time at home and consider it just as user friendly as the
windows he uses at work.
I used it on my laptop 7 years ago, and every other update had hardware
compatibility quirks. But unless I used the XP that came with that laptop,
Windows also didn't have full compatibility.
~~~
type0
> I have never met a person who called unity slow and unresponsive, but I
> always read that complaint online.
Well everything is relative I guess. Compared to Windows Vista, Unity is
rocket fast. On older machines MATE is much more responsive then Unity without
suffering the tweak-ability issues of Lubuntu.
------
gotofritz
Great, just what I was looking for. Let's see if I can finally rid myself of
the Apple Co. for good!
Although, no Google Drive... no Evernote...
~~~
binaryanomaly
Try dropbox paper instead of evernote. Personally I find it awesome and
migrated to it from evernote. One reason for it was the (since years) missing
Linux client and the unusable web client.
~~~
gotofritz
Does it have the equivalent of the web clipper? I use Evernote mostly to save
bookmarks
~~~
kejaed
Have you considered Pinboard? I got big into Evernote for a while but the poor
app quality and losing a couple of notes' contents was enough for me just to
move to KISS pinboard.
~~~
gotofritz
Does it actually let you save the page content, or is it just the bookmarks
like del.ici.ous?
~~~
kejaed
The site-provided bookmarklet will save the text you have highlighted on the
page, and you can pay a little extra for the "Archiving" option that will wget
the entire page for you to access forevermore.
------
binaryanomaly
Too bad they don't have any good looking laptops. It could really be an
alternative to apple.
~~~
dudul
I wish they had a 13'' model. The Lemur is not bad, but still bigger and
heavier than a MBP 13.
~~~
binaryanomaly
The Dell XPS 13 looks not too bad
[http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-9360-laptop/pd](http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-9360-laptop/pd)
The only Linux Laptop I know that could be sort of compared to a macbook pro.
But still from my point of view not even close to the asethetics of a mbpro.
~~~
jpkeisala
I tried out in the shop XPS 13 and new MBP. Even though XPS is a really nice
laptop MBP is nicer looking. I changed in 2006 from Windows to Mac but now I
am really struggling to decide if I should go back to Windows with XPS or buy
that overpriced MBP.
~~~
smoe
I switched to the XPS 13 in 2015 after ten years of Apple. In my opinion, the
Macs look much much nicer overall. But after getting used to the super thin
bezel on the xps 13 screen, sitting in front of an MB feels like working on an
archaic machine to me.
------
wineisfine
Its also a good side by side graphic comparison of both OSes.
With a bit of effort, Unity could look much better.
~~~
mrweasel
It really could, and it really needs to. The default looks is a pretty sure
way of ensuring that people who are browsing for an alternative to the Mac
aren't going to pick Ubuntu.
It's a matter of personal taste, but does anyone honestly look at the default
Ubuntu desktop and think "Well, that's just the pretties desktop I've ever
seen".
Logically it shouldn't matter, the look has little influence on the
functionality, but I really think the orange, black, and purple look has
turned people away from, if not Linux, then certainly from Ubuntu.
~~~
aplaice
> but does anyone honestly look at the default Ubuntu desktop and think "Well,
> that's just the pretties desktop I've ever seen".
Data point of one, but yes, I have — I genuinely think that Unity (>=12.04)
looks better than any of Windows 7, Windows XP, and KDE4 (all of which I had
used extensively), MacOS and Gnome-3 (which I had used sporadically) and
Windows 8 and 10, (which I've only seen but not used). IMO it's also at least
as functional as any of the above.
I particularly liked the fact that they "got" the fact that one can have
limited vertical screen space and for example the menus of a maximized window
merge with the top status bar.
Tastes obviously differ widely.
------
haggy
Good article on getting started. I think the initial switch is the most
daunting part but once you do it, you won't look back. If you currently use a
mac and work primarily in a *nix environment then making the switch from OSX
-> Ubuntu should feel incredibly natural.
------
__s
I've bought twice from system76. Replaced Ubuntu with Arch on the first, &
Windows on the 2nd (would've preferred Arch on the 2nd, but alas, I'm a
Windows dev by shameful trade)
------
rocky1138
This is a really good document. I wish someone would do this for KDE Neon,
which is Ubuntu LTS paired with nightly KDE (much better experience than
Kubuntu).
------
IE6
I think the article misses a big part of the experience of switching platforms
that goes beyond what GUI applications are there by default.
------
known
Brilliant write up
------
Annatar
Why in the world would anyone switch from Apple to anything? You drop the
cash, pick up the vertically integrated product, turn it on, and get done
whatever you need to do without hardware or software getting in the way.
Time saved: priceless.
~~~
pritambaral
> without hardware or software getting in the way.
I see you and I have had different experiences with Apple laptops.
------
tjpnz
I wouldn't recommend Ubuntu to anyone after the Unity debacle. The way that
they insisted on ramming certain "design decisions" down people's throats
demonstrated quite clearly that certain elements of the project decided that
user feedback meant squat. I remember talking to someone involved with Unity
and asking him why I couldn't move the launcher to the bottom of the screen.
The answer I got was that it was a design decision that people would just have
to accept. He followed up by saying I would get used to it - despite having
already put up with it for 2+ years. Attitudes like this are why I and many
others will never trust Ubuntu again.
~~~
owaislone
You can move it to bottom now BTW.
~~~
tjpnz
You absolutely can but for the longest time you couldn't - not at least in a
way that wouldn't break between versions. The wider issue here though is the
attitude. If someone from the Unity team had explained why it couldn't be done
for a technical reason I think many people would understand that. But to be
told it was by design and that I should learn to live with it is exactly the
kind of arrogance we could all live without in the Linux/FOSS community.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions - smacktoward
http://www.buzzfeed.com/johanabhuiyan/uber-drivers-are-protesting?s=mobile
======
jefflinwood
The really interesting story here is that if drivers are so willing to switch
networks for better opportunities, there isn't a compelling reason for Uber to
have the valuation that they do.
The value of Uber isn't really in the tech or the app - it's in the networks
of riders and drivers in each city. If each of those can be aggregated into
some other kind of service, where Uber, Lyft, etc. are just providers of
payment processing, and possibly some operations expertise, that middleman
network will capture all of the value.
~~~
yumraj
This.
Basically while there are network effects in the sense that any provider
(Uber, Lyft etc.) will need to have some critical mass before there are enough
drivers and enough riders, both can subscribe to multiple providers and there
is no long-term stickiness at the moment.
In other words, this is not a winner take all market with FB/LinkedIn/Twitter
type network stickiness and the overall market is still fair game. The
driver's rating is the only sticky data, and it is unclear in this context as
to how valuable that is as riders are not going to wait an extra 30mins to get
a 5-star driver vs. a 4-star driver.
This should not come as a surprise to anyone since right now most metros have
multiple competing taxi service providers, so it makes sense that that may be
replaced by a similar multiple mobile-app taxi providers.
Also, it is difficult to re-paint your taxi when you move from one traditional
provider to another, in the Uber/Lyft/etc. world, that is no longer required,
so provider switching or aligning with multiple providers is trivial which
will imply that in future the providers' margins will be squeezed out and
riders and drivers will keep the most benefit.
~~~
toomuchtodo
How would you say self-driving vehicles fit into this? Supposedly they're
rolling out in ~3-5 years, and with self-driving vehicles, you no longer need
the middle man managing a fleet of contractors.
EDIT: I'm willing to me a Long Bet [1] with anyone regarding fully autonomous
self driving vehicles in regular use in 6 years.
[1] [http://longbets.org/](http://longbets.org/) ;
[http://longbets.org/rules/](http://longbets.org/rules/)
~~~
esMazer
~3-5 years is way too soon. The technology might be ready but the governments
(think regulations, traffic laws, car insurance companies, car manufacturers,
etc etc etc ) in addition to the public (which is not ready either). Is going
to take at least 10+ years for it to resemble something like you imagine it.
~~~
Dolimiter
The technology is not nearly ready. Not in a city. It's like flying drone
delivery. Easy to demonstrate in a single controlled setting, but nearly
impossible to actually implement in the real world.
~~~
baddox
It's not really like flying drone delivery. Flying drone delivery is far
simpler and far closer than general use self-driving automobiles.
~~~
zobzu
Actually landing UAVs is far harder than automatically parking a car. The
driving vs flying after take off is what is easier. Landing and take off..
nope.
Note that drone could mean a car in this case. UAV being an unmanned aerial
vehicule.
~~~
baddox
With a modest infrastructure of marked landing pads on roofs, I think UAV
landings are easier than automated car parking. If you're expecting delivery
UAVs to fly under the tree line along sidewalks and yards to land directly on
a residential porch, then yes, that's extremely difficult. But I highly doubt
that this is a remotely feasible plan within a decade or so.
------
smacktoward
Update -- Uber reverses policy:
[http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2014/09/12/uber_drivers_...](http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2014/09/12/uber_drivers_strike_they_protested_cheap_uberx_fares_uber_backed_down.html)
~~~
ivraatiems
I'm genuinely surprised. I imagine this is just a policy of minimum
appeasement, but it's very interesting how rapid the change was.
Edit: Also, the strike is going forward - not all of their demands were met.
Maybe this is just so Uber can say "hey, we tried to do what they asked?"
~~~
viscanti
Or maybe the strike is closer to what happened last year in SF, where a bunch
of drivers who were banned from the uber system because of low quality scores
protested for other reasons. Something doesn't add up with the strike anyway
(the threat to leave Uber because some trips might be on uberx, but to go to
lyft where all their trips would be at that level and they'd make less doesn't
make sense). The fact that the strike is still going forward makes it pretty
clear it's not about having to make more money per hour by doing uberx trips.
~~~
modfodder
Or maybe now that a large group of drivers have an impact on Uber, they want
to continue to build muscle. If it was something other than accepting UberX
fares, Uber wouldn't have caved (they're too smart for that). No this points
in at the very least a small shift in negotiating power between Uber and its
drivers. The fact that Uber caved makes it pretty clear Uber knows it was in
the wrong and they are starting to fear a unified group of drivers.
------
ForHackernews
What would it take for somebody to just build a free, open-source matchmaking
service for drivers and riders? It doesn't seem like what Lyft or Uber offer
is very technically demanding (perhaps doing it at scale is), and presumably
you could attract a lot more drivers by offering them the chance to keep ~99%
of the fare.
The existence of Lyft demonstrates that Uber's first-mover advantage isn't
insurmountable, so who's to say the third-mover shouldn't be a free utility
that provides matchmaking at cost?
~~~
calpaterson
Who would provide customer service, sales, marketing, user research and the
other non-technical elements of the business? It's true of many companies that
what they do is not very technically demanding (Amazon, Facebook, eBay, etc)
but that very often means that you _can't_ replicate them by just replicating
the technology - these successful companies are much more than just their
software.
And anyway, I bet there is a surprising level of sophistication to eg: Uber's
software
~~~
ForHackernews
> Who would provide customer service, sales, marketing, user research and the
> other non-technical elements of the business?
Do you need any of those things? How much does Craigslist spend on marketing
and sales?
Operate as a non-profit, compete only on price, and let drivers spread the
word themselves. Imagine if at the end of the ride, your Uber driver told you,
"Hey, next time call me with the CheapRides app and it'll cost you 20% less,
and I'll make more."
------
abalone
This is a much more specific issue than most of the comments here are making
it. People are talking about capitalism, competition, etc...
The problem is simply that a couple weeks ago Uber started sending UberX fares
to Uber black car drivers. Which was a dumb move, because they are
unprofitable and undercut the value of the premium car service. They've now
reversed that dumb move.
~~~
anateus
Exactly. This was a protest over a very specific issue, and Uber ended up
listening.
The article surprisingly doesn't really spin this into generalized
pontificating and really talks about this specific grievance at length. HN
commenters however are responding as if this was a general piece on Uber's
failings as a whole... Strange.
------
seanmccann
It's great to see how easy it is for drivers to switch networks if they are
unhappy, but drivers have to understand that prices are going down and they'll
likely earn less money over time on all networks.
When articles are posted about Uber drivers earning $90k/yr, I'm sure many
folks quit their $40k office job and hit the road. The thing is, driving taxi
is pretty low skilled so the growing supply of drivers will really push down
their income. There's an efficiency problem when an Uber driver "can earn"
more than 75% of Americans, and existing drivers have been reaping the
benefits of those inefficiencies.
~~~
potatolicious
Even if $90K a year is sustainable, driving a taxi is a very high-expense
business. You'll drive your car into the ground far quicker than you did
before, insurance is going to be insanely expensive (an UberX driver I talked
to once told me his insurance is $7K a year), and gasoline isn't free (and
getting less and less free every day).
The take-home from $90K driving taxis is very different than the take-home
from $90K sitting at a desk.
------
SEJeff
This is how capitalism works, survival of the fittest. If someone comes along
that allows the drivers to make more money, prudent drivers will likely switch
to that service.
It is a no brainer.
~~~
mkal_tsr
> This is how capitalism works, survival of the fittest*
* Unless you have enough money to change regulations in your favor, skirt regulations, and so on, in which case it's survival of the financially-backed.
~~~
aeturnum
Access to capital and the political world are part of "fitness" in this
environment. Generally, the companies that are seen as most likely to survive
have easier access to funding than companies that are seen as riskier. The
same can be said of companies that are likely to succeed v.s. simply survive.
~~~
jackpirate
If you're willing to redefine fitness like that, then any economic system is
by definition "survival of the fittest."
------
ChrisAntaki
Lyft drivers are creeped out by Uber. "Operation: Shave the Stache" [1] is one
of the most manipulative business practices I've heard of. Lyft chooses to
invest its money on improving the experience inside the car, and hiring
socially intelligent people, who they then treat like human beings. Uber could
learn a lot from them.
[1] [http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/26/6067663/this-is-ubers-
play...](http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/26/6067663/this-is-ubers-playbook-for-
sabotaging-lyft)
------
pkfrank
I almost hope that Lyft is orchestrating all of this behind the scenes.
It would be such an Uber-move.
~~~
canvia
BuzzFeed is almost entirely "sponsored" content so it wouldn't be too
surprising if this article was a PR move.
~~~
untog
All sponsored content is indicated as such.
------
jbigelow76
_The drivers, who are mostly comprised of SUV and black car drivers, have
planned a protest outside of the Long Island City Uber Office_
I wonder how much good the office protest will do versus just emailing Uber
saying "Adios Uber! I'm headed to Lyft because of..."
The on site picketing made sense for blue collar industrial and government
workers because the switching cost of quitting your job and (hoping) to get
hired at another plant would have been very high. For hire drivers working for
Uber and Lyft essentially have close to zero switching costs. A demonstration
of that would seem more effective than picketing.
~~~
peatmoss
The media attention that drivers get through this action help signal to
consumers that they are moving to a competitor. This might make me (a rider)
more likely to fire up the Lyft app instead of Uber next time I need a ride.
~~~
jbigelow76
True, media attention is important but I wonder if the protest will make it
onto more mainstream channels and not just the tech news/blogosphere.
Local papers in Dallas have been doing quite a bit of coverage as Uber and
Lyft taken on the politically connected taxi industry here. I don't know if
intra-service fighting would get as much attention.
Maybe some HNers in the Long Island area will chime in.
~~~
TillE
> in the Long Island area
Long Island City is right across the river from Manhattan. It's technically on
the Island, but for most people Long Island = Suffolk and Nassau, not Brooklyn
and Queens.
------
loceng
This is how free market capitalism is supposed to work - where mobility
(switching services) is low to non-existent and so then users can migrate en
mass to the ecosystem that is governed better or more in their favour.
------
sprkyco
That's awesome I cancelled my account last month due to the issue of "we are
lowering prices for summer" me thinking naively that this meant eventually
prices would go up after a month or two. However after receiving not only
notification that the prices would not go up further (Houston drivers at a
minimum) but also I would now be required to pay 10 dollars a week to maintain
service. Prior to Uber I was thinking the sharing ecnonomy was an embodiment
of a change in corporate attitudes. F me right?
------
tjbt
The current incarnation of ride shating is fatally flawed. I imagine a
superior model in which there is no direct reward for picking somebody up,
rather a network of normal people, who can submit and receive requests to pick
up. The only compensation would be that in a splitting of gas, which could
potentially be done automatically.
The main difficulty in getting a network like this to succeed is the fact that
there is no incentive for new drivers to join.
Until then, they are just a taxi company with lax employment protocol.
------
ed
I can think of two possible sources of driver lock-in: insurance (on the clock
but between rides) and car financing. Anyone heard of uber or lyft working on
this?
~~~
philiphodgen
There is another reason: employment status and the resulting side-effects.
If you lock in a driver, you start to look like an employer with employees.
This creates enormous payroll tax responsibility, workers comp insurance and
other headaches for Uber/Lyft.
I would bet that Uber/Lyft have burned a metric crapton of lawyer and
accountant brains in an effort to be on the "safe" side of the independent
contractor vs employee fight. They're not going to screw that up.
------
11Blade
Clearly the cracks are starting to show.
If the drivers create the value/provide the service and Uber is facilitating
that by taking a share, it has to make sense for the value-creator/service
provider to continue the relationship. If Uber erodes that margin, the drivers
will leave.
Eventually Uber has to change to benefit their service providers and act a
little more ethically. The drivers know of their underhanded ways with dealing
with Lyft and eventually the public will.
I am an immigrant, I drove a black car in NYC(many years ago), my cousin
drives one now. He is none too happy with the UberX situation right now.
Uber should consider the plight of the drivers and not their 100X VC
overlords. Nobody ever got rich driving a cab, why victimize the drivers?
"Because we can?"
"We are making the market more efficient"
"Frictionless"
It is just at the expense of the drivers. That's your friction point.
Hard working people just want a fair shot, not to be exploited.
Instead of a billion-dollar pay day, why not just a little human decency.
------
Pxtl
I'm going to go ahead and assume there's an app that aggregates
Uber/Lyft/whatever and just gets you the closest driver regardless of network.
Uber's service goes from being a premium product to a replaceable commodity in
a blink.
~~~
aetherson
Well, Uber, Lyft, and whoever will fight such an aggregator for obvious
reasons, and attempt to prevent them from accessing their APIs.
~~~
zorpner
Already happened at least once: [http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/02/corral-
lyft/](http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/02/corral-lyft/)
------
spiritplumber
Excellent, this shifts the balance of power a little. Looks like the whole
"everyone is a free agent" thing has some benefit for the little guys too.
------
stefan_kendall3
Sounds like the market is demanding UberX, and Uber is responding.
I'll keep using UberX in cars that don't need $80/day in gas.
------
gaikokujin
The bottom line is: If you're easily replaceable, you will feel the squeeze
sooner or later.
Been in those kind of jobs myself and the only way out is to upskill until
your value as a worker is high enough that ruthless managers that couldn't
care less about the impact of their decisions on individuals won't get away
with it.
------
jonifico
So they were fine and dandy until a better competition came around. When Lyft
has its rival, same thing will happen.
~~~
viscanti
[http://fortune.com/2014/09/11/uber-vs-lyft-the-credit-
cards-...](http://fortune.com/2014/09/11/uber-vs-lyft-the-credit-cards-dont-
lie/) It doesn't look like a lot of competition honestly. That probably paints
Lyft in the best possible light too because it just takes into account US only
trips (100% of Lyft's business and only a fraction of Uber's). But even then,
that's only competition for the uberx market. These drivers are black car
drivers, where uber has no competition at all.
------
whitej125
Wait, strike? First off...IANAUD. If you become an Uber Driver are you under
any sort of contract? Are you now an employee (W-2) of Uber or free agent
contractor (1099). If drivers think they can get better fares elsewhere... go
nuts and do it. Yay economics!
I feel like I am missing something here.
~~~
viscanti
This. Although I don't understand the argument from the driver's side. They're
upset about sometimes getting trips from uberx (and apparently making more
doing so), so they're going to a place that pays less per trip and per hour?
Something doesn't add up there.
If there was a factual claim here, I have to believe that they'd be sharing
their numbers. It would be trivial for them to show a decrease in earnings
(they can easily calculate gas and wear-and-tear) in the before-and-after
earnings. The fact that that isn't happening makes me believe this is similar
to the protests last year in SF. From the reports back then, it ended up being
mostly drivers who had been banned from the uber platform who were trying to
be reinstated (although that's not what they claimed).
~~~
vertex-four
> They're upset about sometimes getting trips from uberx (and apparently
> making more doing so), so they're going to a place that pays less per trip
> and per hour?
They're trying to convince Uber to stop doing what they don't want (according
to them, they do _not_ make more by accepting UberX fares, no matter what the
company says) by denying them labour. In the meantime, they're doing work
elsewhere, although are hoping not to permanently work there; they're hoping
that Uber will cave in.
Denial of labour ("striking") is a tried-and-tested approach to persuading
companies to do what the labourers want. They can't operate without labour, so
labourers organise to deny them that until they get better working
conditions/better pay/etc.
Assuming enough labourers agree to deny labour, this will work unless (a) what
the labourers want, the company literally cannot provide without going bust,
or (b) there are enough people looking for jobs and willing to put up with the
bad terms that the company can hire them to replace the striking labourers.
This is a relatively simple idea, and has been a thing since the Industrial
Revolution; I'm not really sure what you're not getting.
------
zobzu
Heh they get banned if they accept/deny or plain deny more than 50% of the
requests it says in the article.. that seems legit to me as a customer ;) dont
really want drivers (of uber or any similar company) to accept/refuse my
rides.
------
pptr1
Why not have a social network for professional drivers. Let that network
destroy any type of information withholding that companies like uber do.
Leverage the power of scale. Unions 2.0
------
igl
Followed this Uber thing for a little, Read a few articles from the neo
liberal tech press, specially interesting when Uber was banned in germany.
Initial Reaction to this: haha
------
innguest
Statists, take notice of how improvements in work conditions come from
competition and not from regulation. They're better off now than through the
monopoly of taxi medallions.
~~~
innguest
Why am I being modded down?
~~~
bmcfeeley
I don't yet have down vote privilege, but I have to imagine The GP (your
original comment) got nuked because it is both needlessly inflammatory and
also lacks a substantive argument. As for your response to dragonwriter, you
appear to be talking past one another; of course markets are matchmaking
services for buyers and sellers by definition, but what you've done here is
mistake this specific case of relatively frictionless movement between
employers increasing the surplus of the employees for an indictment of
regulation in general.
This particular case seems to realize said friction (and consequently, the
surplus/benefit for the drivers) precisely because the service itself being
offered by Lyft/Uber is market like, and the end-consumer product is in fact
offered by the drivers themselves. It is not clear to me (or the others
disagreeing with you here evidently) that regulation has any bearing on this
conversation -- in a world where both Lyft and Uber's respective operations
are regulated by the state, the power is still in the drivers' hands because
Lyft and Uber are competing to offer the drivers' services.
This is not exactly the common formula for most employee-employer
relationships, although it may become more common as this business model takes
off. What dragonwriter seems to be saying IMO is that there are certainly
cases that don't fit this mold that are good arguments for state intervention;
among them are cases where there is greater friction for the employees
themselves due to the nature of the business; lack of information about
compensation, working hours, or other metrics to evaluate the given positions;
or, as dragonwriter said, physical proximity to the workplace itself.
If you would be so kind, please elucidate how you feel this particular
seemingly unique scenario is generalizable to regulation in general.
PS: Apologies if this is wordy and difficult to follow, I have a hard time
writing coherently into this tiny box.
~~~
innguest
Thank you for the thoughtful response. I agree with your points, including
your elucidation of dragonwriter's reply.
I'll try to clarify my point: before Uber/Lyft, we had taxis. Just taxis.
Then, the argument went: "Well yes, for taxis we need state intervention
because if the government doesn't regulate cabs then anyone can charge fare
and conditions will deteriorate and it will be inherently less safe and..."
Then Uber/Lyft comes around and all of a sudden the taxi market is "relatively
frictionless" and has other "unique characteristics" that make it so
beneficial to employees.
I'm trying to point out that there is nothing special about taxis. It is not a
special market. I can't deny that one to one business relationships allow for
faster change in the market, as the employee can simply up and leave at any
point.
The taxi market was the furthest thing from frictionless until competition
started. The power will always be in the employees' hands so long as anyone is
free to start competition. We see this with this selfsame example - before
Uber, taxi drivers were basically employees to medallion owners (and taxis
were supposed to be a regulated system for the free enterprise of starting a
one-man cab company, not for the rich to buy all medallions and rent them).
This is an example of failed regulation that allowed the current exploitation
of taxi drivers. Competition is now allowing better conditions for those same
drivers, even though there's no pretense that Lyft drivers own their business.
It's an above-board operation and more moral than before, and not surprising
that it works better for both parties engaged in this.
So what I'm arguing is that whenever we say "but it doesn't apply to
roads/this/that", it's usually because of the blind spots we have from looking
at the system the way it is and being unable to imagine how else it could be.
The roads example is a classic one.
------
drivingmenuts
I thought the whole point of Uber and Lyft was that didn't have to be full-
time occupations.
~~~
eipipuz
That's what I thought, but now it's rare when I see a driver that isn't a
full-timer.
I'm sure the system works better with stability so the incentives push towards
full-timers.
------
omnivore
My ugly questions on this are: What about liability for when an Uber or Lyft
driver kills someone in an accident driving unsafely? Or just murders someone
because they're having a bad day? Or get carjacked? I mean, I guess it's just
one spree away from people doing dangerous things?
~~~
robbyking
The only reason to phrase your question the way you did is to increase the FUD
surrounding car services like Uber and Lyft. The same question could be asked
of any person in any profession.
Regardless, the answer to your question is the first result when you search
Google for "Uber liability coverage":
> Uber holds a commercial insurance policy with $1 million of coverage per
> incident. Drivers’ liability to third parties is covered from the moment a
> driver accepts a trip to its conclusion. This policy is expressly primary to
> any personal auto coverage (However it will not take precedence over any
> commercial auto insurance for the vehicle). We have provided a $1 million
> liability policy since commencing ridesharing in early 2013.
[http://blog.uber.com/ridesharinginsurance](http://blog.uber.com/ridesharinginsurance)
~~~
ColinCera
It's a legitimate question because Uber and Lyft are a "new thing" and they're
international brand names, something that's not true of regular cab services.
If a cab driver in New York City rapes and kills a passenger, it wouldn't make
people distrust all cabs in NYC, much less cabs in other cities; there's no
brand name to be damaged by news coverage, and as a news story it probably
wouldn't even be covered by media outside of the NYC area.
But if an Uber driver rapes and kills a passenger, it will be covered by media
everywhere, because Uber is a newsworthy company and because Uber has a global
presence, and the Uber brand will be damaged worldwide, not just locally.
Because Uber is a "new thing" there will be lots of people/media asking
questions about the safety of Uber (in many cases stupid questions, but
still).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask Hacker News: What do you think of this shopping cart on my new startup that just launched? - wmeredith
http://200nipples.com/index.php
Good morning all. I just launched a t-shirt sales site, not exactly a web app, I know. But we have a freaky business model, which required a correspondingly freaky e-commerce cart. My buddy essentially reverse engineered Ticketmaster's cart. Anyway, I love this community and respect it's opinion greatly. In fact, I learned most of my web/customer-experience design stuff by reading things I found here.<p>Anyway, I'd love to know what you think of the site's usability etc...
I opened with the cart, because I figured hacker types would be most interested in that, but all comments/criticisms are welcome.
======
wmeredith
Good morning all. I just launched a t-shirt sales site, not exactly a web app,
I know. But we have a freaky business model, which required a correspondingly
freaky e-commerce cart. My buddy essentially reverse engineered Ticketmaster's
cart. Anyway, I love this community and respect it's opinion greatly. In fact,
I learned most of my web/customer-experience design stuff by reading things I
found here.
Anyway, I'd love to know what you think of the site's usability etc... I
opened with the cart, because I figured hacker types would be most interested
in that, but all comments/criticisms are welcome.
~~~
tstegart
Yeah, while the counter is great, it could use a sentence or two more of
description. Keep the counter, add a fun sentence about why its there, not
just what it does.
~~~
wmeredith
Done.
------
Xichekolas
I think the concept is great... definitely in the vein of woot.com. Also an
easy way to make a quick $5k on a T-shirt design.
Have you thought of reversing the dollar amounts? Have the #1 in the series
cost $100 and the #100 cost $1. People are always willing to pay more for the
first of any series, especially a limited one. I personally have no drive to
pay $99 more for something that is the 100th of it's kind, but I might pay $99
more to say I had 'the original'.
(Also: Hello fellow citizens of KC area!)
~~~
tstegart
I agree, having the first is valuable, but also getting the last one before
they're never made again is also valuable. Maybe the middle ones should be $1,
and the ends cost more.
------
jey
I'd like to file a bug report.
javascript:var GM_JQ = document.createElement('script');GM_JQ.src = "http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.2.6/jquery.min.js";
GM_JQ.type = 'text/javascript';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(GM_JQ);function GM_wait(){if(typeof window.jQuery == 'undefined'){
window.setTimeout(GM_wait,100); }else { $ = window.jQuery; letsJQuery(); }}GM_wait();function letsJQuery(){alert("starting");haxor(1);}function haxor(idx)
{if(idx > 100) { alert("done"); window.location.href="http://200nipples.com/index.php"; return; }$.post("/options.php", { "design_id" : 2, "series_number" : idx });
setTimeout(function() { haxor(idx+1); }, 100);}
Put that all on one line so that it's a URL and copy it, then go to
200nipples.com and paste it in the location bar. It just posts { "design_id" :
2, "series_number" : idx } to "/options.php" for idx in [1,100], which
reserves all the shirts so that nobody else can buy them until the timer
expires.
I don't think an IP ban is the best way to deal with this problem.
~~~
mildweed
IP ban certainly isn't the best way to deal with it. Its just what I could do
untill you guys told me how you did it. Thank you for revealing your method so
I can repair the hole.
~~~
jey
Great, now can you unban me? :-)
~~~
mildweed
Ooop! You're clear to not get redirected to here anymore:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU>
------
babul
T-Shirts: You need to get better designs. They are not that special and
limited edition does nothing for them. Limited editions only really work if
_other_ people know the item is a limited edition, or the design is very
unique. There are lots of markets out there filled with handmade items that
are "limited editions" most people will not be aware of. Try and get something
like a XKCD design that _only_ is seen on one of your limited edition shirts.
Cart: Nice idea and implementation. Emphasise the sold items less (i.e. not in
black) as it is counter intuitive. Also have some basic images explaining what
is going on (especially with the release-to-wild concept) as I only really
understood it when I went through the process and not in the first 5~10
seconds of visiting. 4 or 5 should do it outlining the workflow i.e. look,
select, buy, or release.
Name: You can come up with edgy mnemonic names that won’t put people off.
------
tstegart
Launch tip: if you're posting during work hours with a URL that suggests NSFW,
put that its a t-shirt site and its safe for work in your title or post. I bet
you lost a ton of people who looked at the URL and moved on because they were
unsure. They might not have come back to check out the comments to know its
ok. You have to realize, there are serious consequences for some people at
some companies for going to a site with a bad URL, even if its not a bad site,
it puts you on the bag guy's radar.
------
shafqat
Hey dude - I love it. Great concept, good execution, very fun site. Didn't
understand why there was a timer counting down on one of the items. Instead of
trying to figure it out after 5 seconds, I went to a different page on the
site.
Anyway, great job. Not sure about the first t-shirt. I didnt find it that
funny. Maybe I'm just lame. But overall, great site. I'm hoping the next
t-shirt will be so funny that I pee a little. I'll surely be coming back to
check out future designs.
~~~
wmeredith
Nah, you're not lame. We expected that some designs wouldn't appeal to some
people. This is especially pronounced with the one-design-at-a-time business
model. Just subscribe to get a new design notification and come check the next
one: <http://blog.200nipples.com/2008/06/shirt-reminder/> :-)
------
immad
I think instead of labeling the shirts #1 to #100, you should consider
$1-$100. Would make it a lot more intuitive to understand the grid.
Also the top line said sold and was all dark, which made my mind think of it
as a title bar to the table and ignore it, not sure what a good way of dealing
with that is but that made it harder for me to work out what was going on.
------
mpfefferle
I'd look at it but the domain makes me think its NSFW.
~~~
immad
"What's with "200 Nipples?"
That's how many nipples we assume will be covered by any single run of our
high-quality shirts. (We'll have the third-nippled buyer in there
occasionally, but we didn't want to count on it when naming the company; this
is serious business, after all.)"
I think its a interesting way to brand it.
~~~
wmeredith
We debated loooooong over the naming issue. We decided to go with something
not easily forgotten and a little funny/edgy over something that is safe.
It's a boutique shop anyway, so we're after the 20% rather than the 80% of our
market. (Which made safe and bland much less desirable. In fact it made it
wholly undesirable.)
~~~
froo
You could always make a set of 25 "tea cosey"-like creations.
Market them for cows and their udders? You could get a little blog exposure
that way I'm sure.
~~~
steveplace
That's udderly ridiculous.
------
tlrobinson
Quick... if he sells all 100 shirts for $1 to $100, how much money will he
make...
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss#Early_year...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss#Early_years_.281777.E2.80.931798.29)
~~~
wmeredith
$3854.96 (net) :-)
------
immad
Feedback: If I leave the page open the cart becomes out of synch and I need to
reload the page. Either it needs to poll the server or a quick hack would be
to make it refresh after a certain delay.
Or you could have a refresh link next to the cart
------
epe
I think it's brilliantly executed. The /index.php page tells me everything I
need to know -- contrary to what some people are saying, I found the cart
instantly understandable. (To be clear, I'm talking about the version with
"These are all the shirts. If a shirt is counting down it is in someone else's
shopping cart. When someone clicks ..." in red. I'm not sure if that was there
when you first posted or not.)
~~~
wmeredith
That's the new version.
------
Mistone
confusing as heck \- took me a while to figure out what was going on - how
about a quick: here's how is works section - would be helpful -
------
tipjoy
Very clean site.
The white/gray/dark gray color scheme of the cart part isn't working for me.
They white ones look most like links, when they're the sold ones. The grey
ones look disabled, when they're the ones you want me to click on.
Also, I agree with others that the dollar amounts should be switched, and the
first one should cost the most. Do you label the shirt with the number (as in
1/100 like prints do)? I think that would add value but it isn't clear to me
if my run # will be on the shirt I buy. Update, now I see that it is on the
shirt as shown in pictures #4 & #5 but you should definitely emphasize this A
LOT more. This is the reason someone would pay more when they don't have to.
I don't really like the red treatment. Those are the instructions, not an
error message. And here's a tiny nit which might make things a bit clearer:
how about "Click a shirt number to get started"?
------
JimEngland
Cool idea, weird name. <http://200nipples.com/showcart.php> Everything is
there that needs to be when you select a shirt to order, but the presentation
is really lacking. Try making some parts of the text a lot larger, throw in a
picture of the shirt, and maybe make an icon for "releasing it into the wild."
Also, a lot of the screen is wasted with the top header. You want to make sure
people see your content above the scroll; I'd suggest making things more
compact. Good work though.
------
immad
Also I like the concept. I think anything around improving e-commerce websites
especially with variable pricing is smart.
One issue is that as you hit $100 it may seem pretty unfair to buy something
that someone has bought for $1 previously. Maybe the pricing should be non-
linear compared to quantity. As in there are 10 shirts available at $50 and 1
at $1 and it not going all the way to $100. Just a thought, but I guess if in
practice you find that the $100 are easy to shift then...
------
jbenz
Mine says it will ship August 7th. Why so long?
I really like the "Chicken Exit: If you don't want to purchase this shirt,
click here to release it back into the wild."
The whole goal is to get a customer who really likes a design but maybe isn't
sure if they want to spend the money. Well, they know their time is limited,
panic starts to set in, and of course they end up buying it. Smart.
But I didn't really dig the RIAA design. Maybe next time.
------
shawndrost
Congrats on launching! The SOLD boxes shouldn't be links... it's confusing
that my mouse changes on mouseover but clicking them doesn't do anything. When
a shirt times out and is released, its box stays dark grey... shouldn't it be
light grey? And how about using red/yellow/green for sold/in
progress/available instead of white/dark grey/light grey?
------
subwindow
I think the price points should be adjusted a little bit. Very few people are
going to want to pay more than $30 for a shirt. This means that for almost all
of the shirts, 3/4ths of them will never sell. It kind of looks bad.
Its not as catchy, but $10 + (Shirt Number/4) seems like a better formula-
$10-$35.
------
jonknee
You should really note what kind of shirts you're printing on. By the sizing
chart it appears to be American Apparel (nice shirts, I wear one of theirs
about every day).
But I'm not going to buy a shirt, especially after the first few cheaper ones
sell out, without knowing the specs.
~~~
wmeredith
Done
------
jacobbijani
Maybe I'm missing something, but why is the last shirt printed more expensive
than the first? Exclusive items with a lower item number are generally more
valuable.
Why don't the timed items revert to a regular item once the timer is expired.
Remove the grey background, basically.
~~~
gigawatt
I don't think you can really think of them as #1/100 like an art print. The
increased price has more to do with the relative scarcity of the item when it
was purchased.
~~~
jacobbijani
That makes no sense. Number 100 is $100 when there are 99 others available and
when there is 1 available.
And that is precisely what you can think of an itemized limited edition
anything as -- that's what it means.
~~~
gigawatt
Well, I guess they're going on the assumption that no one would purchase a
more expensive shirt when a cheaper one was available. I see your point,
though, and it does kind of negate what I said.
------
ashleyw
I like the site and cart setup, but the "we will reserve your item while you
checkout" model is already used at most e-commerce sites, although your info
on how many are being reserved is public. (plus the time limit is likely
shorter)
Still, I wish you luck!
------
cia_plant
Are people really going to pay more than $30 for a t-shirt? I would think that
people who like to spend a lot of money on clothes usually buy things other
than t-shirts.
~~~
Xichekolas
There is a store in my hometown that sells 'designer t-shirts' for $80 each.
Never underestimate the psychological effect of 'pricey = exclusive'.
~~~
wmeredith
There are also a few of these in Kansas City.
~~~
Xichekolas
That just happens to be my hometown... roughly.
------
radley
FAIL. sorry =(
<http://www.vcwear.com/fund-the-shirts/>
~~~
radley
It's hard enough to create a design people will not only wear, but actually
pay money for.
The pricing scheme is fun for programmers and number-concept fanatics... but
has no place in reality. As an example, I posted a link to a site with a ton
of online attention who tried a sales gimmick to sell t-shirts for $100 each.
Months later they sold a total of 18 shirts.
Compare this to Threadless.com who can sell 100k of a single design, offer
100s of designs at a time, and build a community around potential designs...
and still have a small boutique profile.
Finally, it's really uncool when a company doesn't have enough faith in it's
product to actually stock the product.
To finish on a positive note, I like the name. It's funny. I also suggest:
\- Print & sell the shirts at cost + shipping. \- Keep up the excellent blog &
artist profiles. \- Create a community voting page wherein if enough people
pledge to buy, you print.
~~~
wmeredith
"Print & sell the shirts at cost + shipping." What the hell kind of a business
model is that? (Hint: there's no profit.)
"Keep up the excellent blog & artist profiles." Thanks for the compliment,
we'll try.
"Create a community voting page wherein if enough people pledge to buy, you
print." That's a good idea, and it's what Threadless does. It's feature-bloat
we've discussed for the future.
------
wumi
_Ships: August 7th, 2008_
Why so long?
~~~
wmeredith
We send in our print orders at the end of the month. This is by far the
weakest link in our business model.
~~~
Xichekolas
How much would it cost to just pre-print 100 of them? You could always do an
end of the year grab-bag of any that didn't sell (like woot.com's woot-offs).
You'd probably not come out ahead on all designs, but I'm sure people paying
$100 for the shirt would love to have it asap.
~~~
jonknee
Then no one could choose a size. It's a tough printing job any way you slice
it. Perhaps doing it in house would be a little faster, but that takes a lot
of time and money.
------
cmos
love it. Let us know how many of the 'above market' shirts you sell. I'd be
very impressed if you can get enough people to buy all of the ones above $45.
And I'm a big fan of the name as well. Note that you have more comments here
than in most posts.
------
khangtoh
seriously, i had to think twice (nsfw .. when I saw the url).. please change
it.
------
ngvrnd
Fail.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Sandstorm gets a security review - bruo
https://sandstorm.io/news/2017-03-02-security-review
======
the_common_man
It's amusing to see that it got a security overview _after_ it shutdown it's
business operations. I am curious if it get a security review when it was a
proper company given that their USP is security.
I am still sad that the business didn't work out :( I thought there was going
to be a follow up blog on where they ended up getting acqui-hired?
~~~
kentonv
We actually didn't get acquihired -- Sandstorm is still an independent
company, and I'm still the CEO and majority shareholder, but we no longer have
paid employees. We're continuing to work on Sandstorm, and have even pushed
some major new features in the last couple weeks (e.g. the Powerbox UI for
connecting apps to each other and to the outside world with explicit user
permission).
What did happen is we're all getting new full-time jobs elsewhere, since we
aren't making enough money to pay ourselves. Most of us actually haven't
started our new jobs yet (taking a little break) but we'll have a blog post
when it happens in a couple weeks.
~~~
wingless
I wonder if you (core devs) could get full-time jobs to integrate Sandstorm
with company infrastructures.
~~~
kentonv
Probably not -- finding a company willing to hire someone to deploy Sandstorm
for them sounds at least as hard as finding a company willing to buy Sandstorm
as a product and pay Sandstorm Inc. for support, which is what we had trouble
with. I'm sure they exist but enterprise sales are non-trivial. :/
That said, my new employer is a big user of Cap'n Proto, a sub-project of
Sandstorm.
------
tptacek
SSRF is an extremely bad vulnerability; it's usually game-over on penetration
tests. The zip-file path validation bug is also bad.
I'm pretty ambivalent about these "we got a security review, they said we're
good" updates, even when they include the actual contents of the report (the
final contents of the reports you actually see are almost always negotiated
between the client and the testers).
It is a real problem for the industry that there's no clarity to be had about
what it means to have had an assessment, what the different assessors
capabilities are, how engagements are scoped, &c. I tend to mistrust
organizations that use audit results to claim a clean bill of health --- or
anything like that --- but more and more projects do that now, so I don't know
how valuable that rule of thumb will remain.
~~~
kentonv
> SSRF is an extremely bad vulnerability;
I'm not sure this blanket statement -- probably derived from the world of SaaS
-- is necessarily helpful in the context of Sandstorm. Keep in mind that
Sandstorm is meant to host internal-facing services. One doesn't normally
expect that an external attacker will have authority to create a full user
account and install their own apps, which is necessary to exploit this
particular vulnerability. (It's actually the app, not Sandstorm itself, making
the requests; Sandstorm failed to prevent apps from making requests to the
private network.)
On Sandstorm Oasis, the service we run which _does_ allow arbitrary visitors
to create full user accounts (possibly the only Sandstorm server worldwide
that does this), the SSRF did not provide access to anything sensitive.
I'm of course not saying it wasn't a problem -- I described the severity as
"high" in the post.
> I'm pretty ambivalent about these "we got a security review, they said we're
> good" updates
To be clear, I never made any such claim. The post reports facts, which is
that a security review occurred, and some pretty tricky-to-find bugs were
found and fixed. I'm sure there are other bugs to be found.
I'd very much like to receive further reviews from other parties.
~~~
simplehuman
> Keep in mind that Sandstorm is meant to host internal-facing services.
If the goal is not to run internet facing services, why is the project so
focused on security? In the enterprise, there is already F5, NIDS etc so
nobody can get in. Is sandstorm trying to prevent employees from hacking the
company or something?
~~~
kentonv
We don't think monolithic firewall-based security has been very successful at
preventing hacks. Our goal is to create an environment that involves much more
fine-grained separations, and enforces security properties at the platform
level so that bugs in apps are largely mitigated. We want you to be able to
deploy apps without having to security-review them first, which means the
platform itself must provide guarantees.
Arguably an app-driven SSRF is a pretty big problem in that threat model. I
think we missed it earlier because we imagine a future world where people
don't expose unauthenticated services on the internal network and rely on
their firewall to protect them. Of course, we need to keep in mind that the
existing world isn't going to go away when people deploy Sandstorm and so we
need to handle both worlds gracefully.
Another point to make is that we do envision use cases where someone sets up a
personal server and invites their friends to it to chat and collaborate --
usually as "visitors" (can't install apps), but sometimes as full users
sharing one server. Typically you'd only invite trusted friends to be "full
users", though, unless you are running a hosting service. Hosting services
(like ours) ought to be extra-careful with multiple layers of security.
~~~
tptacek
That's an argument people have been making for at least 10 years, and it falls
apart pretty quickly: how secure do you think most companies would be if you
opened up all their AWS security groups to the world?
~~~
kentonv
Right. As I said, it's not the case today, for most companies (with Sandstorm
ourselves, as a company, being an exception). With most infrastructure people
use today, leaving services unauthenticated makes life easier, so people are
going to do it.
One of the goals of Sandstorm is to make it easy to connect services to each
other where desired without making them open to the world, with the goal of
solving this sort of problem.
------
BuuQu9hu
Many of these problems were in third-party libraries. It would be cool if
Sandstorm were written with capability-safe languages like E or Monte or Pony
which encode Sandstorm's security properties into the structure of the
language.
~~~
kentonv
Sandstorm is of course a huge fan of capabilities, but unfortunately the
available capability-safe languages out there do not currently have the kind
of ecosystem needed to be really productive. Instead, Sandstorm compromises by
using a capability-based RPC layer, Cap'n Proto, which is heavily based on E's
CapTP.
With that said, I don't think it's really true that a capability-based
programming language would have avoided these problems.
1\. For the Nodemailer problem, no ambient authority was used to split the
email into two addresses. A capability-based implementation could have done
the same thing. This is more of a langsec issue in that the API was a bit
foot-shooty.
2\. If the zip implementation were completely rewritten in a capability
language, then sure, this vulnerability could have been avoided. It also could
have been avoided if zip accepted NUL-delimited filenames rather than newline-
delimited. It's not really practical to rewrite the world in another language,
unfortunately.
3\. SSRF can be avoided using capabilities (forcing the attacker to present a
capability, not just an address, to any third-party server they wish to
access). Ironically, though, this is a networking issue, not an in-process
issue, so what we really need is stricter application of capabilities at the
network layer, rather than a capability programming language. Sandstorm is
actually willing to push capabilities at the network layer. The trouble is,
the network is often used to talk to the rest of the world, which isn't
usually capability-based. Hence, we have to make compromises.
4\. The Linux kernel bug would maybe have been avoided if the kernel were
written in a capability language, but that's a pretty enormous undertaking.
Alternatively, it could have been avoided if we forced all our apps to be
written in capability languages, but that would mean that no existing codebase
could be ported to Sandstorm, which is far too large a cost. That said, I
would like to have some special support for apps written in capability
languages someday, e.g. to let the user know that this app is extra-safe.
Put simply, going all-capabilities is just not practical today, and we have to
make compromises in order to make meaningful progress.
------
erichocean
Was Cap'n Proto audited as part of this?
~~~
kentonv
I'm honestly not sure. I haven't been able to read the original report (which
is not in English). My guess is that it did not receive direct attention.
I note that Cap'n Proto did receive some scrutiny from security guru (and
personal friend) Ben Laurie in the past:
[https://capnproto.org/news/2015-03-02-security-advisory-
and-...](https://capnproto.org/news/2015-03-02-security-advisory-and-integer-
overflow-protection.html)
My next job is at a company that is a heavy user of Cap'n Proto, so expect
more progress on this front going forward.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Optimizing 128-bit Division - EvgeniyZh
https://danlark.org/2020/06/14/128-bit-division/
======
danlark1
Hi everyone, the author is here. Yes, I believe the title should be changed to
`Optimizing 128-bit Division`
Yet, I was not expecting it to be here. Overall, I put some knowledge hidden
in Hacker's Delight book, Knuth, GMP and GNU in the article with my knowledge
of low level optimizations. In the end it turned out to be a good thing to
write and to submit into LLVM
~~~
WalterBright
What's the license? Hopefully, Boost or Boost compatible?
~~~
danlark1
For compiler-rt it is Apache 2.0 license
[https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/master/compiler-
rt...](https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/master/compiler-
rt/LICENSE.TXT)
~~~
WalterBright
Thank you. We've standardized on the Boost license for D, as it is the least
restrictive, and well-accepted in the C++ community.
Is it possible you can make a Boost licensed version of it so we can add it to
D?
[https://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt](https://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt)
~~~
danlark1
That's a difficult question. As I am working at Google I need to consult each
open source I want to publish on my behalf. This does not involve contributing
to the list of the approved projects and telling about these contributions.
If you want to workaround this for now, I suggest looking into libdivide
([https://github.com/ridiculousfish/libdivide](https://github.com/ridiculousfish/libdivide)),
it is published with the boost license and the library contains all the needed
artifacts I described in the article (unfortunately, not combined).
~~~
WalterBright
Thanks for the pointers. I suspect Google would be ok with Boost, since they
are a C++ house and Boost is the major library. A big reason D picked it was
because Boost is corporate lawyer approved.
------
chris_st
I remember seeing a letter to the editor of an early Byte magazine, wherein
the author of the letter recommended that you "Be sure to take your 32-bit
divide routines with you when you change jobs... there's no guarantee that
your new job's routines will be correct, let alone fast!".
For the record, I have never followed this advice.
------
est31
Very nice post! I remember helping to port the 128 bit integer functions in
compiler-rt to Rust years ago [0], because clang only supported 128 bit
integers on 64 bit platforms, but the goal of Rust was to support them on all
platforms that Rust supports.
Since then, all algorithms in compiler-rt have been ported to Rust and live in
the compiler-builtins crate. This [1] is the source code file for unsigned
division. The actual logic is inside a macro and used to implement both 128
bit division in terms of 64 bit numbers and 64 bit division in terms of 32 bit
numbers.
I wonder if similar optimizations can be done to that code.
[1]: [https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/38482](https://github.com/rust-
lang/rust/pull/38482)
[0]: [https://github.com/rust-lang/compiler-
builtins/blob/master/s...](https://github.com/rust-lang/compiler-
builtins/blob/master/src/int/udiv.rs)
~~~
danlark1
Hi, I believe they can be done for 32 bit platforms also with the multiword
division in Knuth
[https://skanthak.homepage.t-online.de/division.html](https://skanthak.homepage.t-online.de/division.html)
what I've chosen for fallback if not x86_64 platform.
I will try to implement the same optimizations in Rust in the upcoming weeks
__UPD __And we opened an issue :)[https://github.com/rust-lang/compiler-
builtins/issues/368](https://github.com/rust-lang/compiler-
builtins/issues/368)
~~~
mjcohen
Many years ago I implemented a set of multiple precision integer routines in
fortran. For division, I slavishly copied Knuth's routine, using all the
sample divisions in his book to test, and it worked fine.
------
eutectic
If all you need is to uniformly reduce a number into a given range, there is a
division-free approach:
lemire.me/blog/2016/06/27/a-fast-alternative-to-the-modulo-reduction/%3famp
~~~
repiret
It took my fat fingers a while to be able to successfully copy-n-paste the
link on mobile. Here’s a proper link to save others the hassle:
[https://lemire.me/blog/2016/06/27/a-fast-alternative-to-
the-...](https://lemire.me/blog/2016/06/27/a-fast-alternative-to-the-modulo-
reduction/)
------
Stratoscope
Looks like this got bit by the HN title number ripper.
For the curious, the actual title is "128 bit division".
------
drfuchs
The article’s title is actually “128 bit division” while HN currently shows it
as just “Bit Division”. I suggest both be changed to “Optimizing 128-bit
Division”. Nice article, btw.
------
amelius
Great post. The only thing missing is a good strategy to _test_ the resulting
algorithm. Errors in arithmetic can be a nightmare.
~~~
danlark1
Hi, I thought that this is not the most interesting part of all the
benchmarks, for example, all we need to test that with the quotient and the
remainder: dividend = quotient * divisor + remainder, remainder < divisor and
multiplication does not overflow which is free of division operations.
Yet, I added several tests like dividend < divisor, close to zero remainders,
a lot of random stuff just to make sure each time I add a new approach, it is
correct.
~~~
specialist
Nicely done.
FWIW, I dimly recall a numeric library, maybe a float to string, which tested
_everything_ for verification. Took a few days to run.
Then maybe use the spot checks to test for regressions. Weird compiler,
toolchain, processor combos. That sort of thing.
~~~
lifthrasiir
> FWIW, I dimly recall a numeric library, maybe a float to string, which
> tested everything for verification. Took a few days to run.
You can definitely test against all ~2^31 IEEE 754 binary32 values to make
sure that float-to-decimal conversion is correct; that's what I've done with
the Rust standard library (took 2 hours per test). I believe testing all ~2^63
binary64 values are also feasible by now, but only with dedicated hardwares.
For that reason I believe the library had only tested with binary32.
~~~
saagarjha
What kind of hardware can crank through the 2^64 space in reasonable time?
~~~
grandmczeb
It’s actually surprisingly feasible. 1,000 cores running at 3GHz for a week do
~2^64 cycles.
~~~
bloak
Don't you mean 10,000 cores?
~~~
grandmczeb
Whoops, yes! Too late to edit.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
73 Mind-Blowing Implications of Driverless Cars and Trucks - hackerbeat
https://medium.com/hult-business-school-draft/73-mind-blowing-implications-of-a-driverless-future-58d23d1f338d
======
schoen
You can also compare
[http://www.templetons.com/brad/robocars/](http://www.templetons.com/brad/robocars/)
(which he started writing years ago when self-driving car technology was still
at a considerably earlier stage). It contains a whole lot of predictions about
these impacts.
I appreciate that Brad also thought about the negative parts, which some
writers on the subject don't examine in as much detail:
[http://www.templetons.com/brad/robocars/downsides.html](http://www.templetons.com/brad/robocars/downsides.html)
------
squeakynick
It will also turn pedestrians into jerks!
[http://datagenetics.com/blog/january42017/index.html](http://datagenetics.com/blog/january42017/index.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: I think I’ve burnt out. What should I do? - lostgame
Hi, HN. I’ve been here for a long time and I really respect the maturity and experience of this community, and so I’m asking for your advice.<p>I’m a 30-year-old iOS developer of about ten years, and last year suffered an incredible amount of trauma, including a breakup from a four-year relationship, two separate cases of sexual assault, and the passing of my mother.<p>While on an insured mental health break for months, I struggled through holding myself together, until finally returning to work in December.<p>I had been doing well for a while, but recently have been feeling significant mental instability - just disorganized and incoherent thoughts, and unfortunate bouts of overwhelming PTSD symptoms.<p>My coping method to that has been to try to hold my work together more and more, to a point late last week where I wasn’t even sleeping properly giving myself anxiety about work the next day.<p>I’ve fallen heavily behind on a lot of the personal responsibilities I’ve needed to ensure my continued healing but I’ve been terrified to step down from my job.<p>I live in Toronto, I’ve been with the company for more than a year, so I believe Employment Insurance would be possible for me...I’m honestly very confused as to what to do, and I’m sure others here have been in similar situations. I do have a medical professional who I deal with for this who I’ve scheduled to see tomorrow.<p>Thanks for reading, HN. This site has been a blessing in my life.<p>EDIT:
Wow, thanks for all the support and responses, extremely grateful.
======
adyavanapalli
Not that it's important making this distinction, but what you're describing
doesn't sound like occupational burnout; you've listed significant trauma that
are only exacerbating your work-related stress, and I'm really sorry you're
going through this!
First, I would agree with @codingslave in that you _SHOULD NOT_ quit your job,
if you can help it. Let me explain: Work provides important scaffolding when
you are in a rut. It provides routine and social contact. Without it, it is
possible you might start sliding into poor sleeping habits and withdrawing
socially, which can make things even worse. At the very least, find a less
stressful job to move to before leaving your current one. If this is hard to
do, please reach out to family or friends for help. Please understand that
it's absolutely okay to struggle and have bad days. Give yourself permission
to feel.
Second, it's awesome that you're seeing a medical professional/therapist about
this, and I encourage you to keep doing so regularly. "What should I do?" I
think you're approaching this well. I wish you the best!
~~~
nessus42
_> First, I would agree with @codingslave in that you SHOULD NOT quit your
job_
I agree with this. There was a period of several years when I was suffering
from mysterious medical issues that made functioning at work very difficult.
Fortunately, I had a therapist at the time. At times I told my therapist that
maybe I should go on medical disability.
My therapist advised that I should under no circumstances go on long-term
disability. That if I did, I would likely end up being on medical disability
for the rest of my life, and likely sit around being depressed forever.
Eventually, the mysterious medical issues went away, and I had managed to keep
my job and sanity in the meantime.
I'm sorry that that OP has been going through so much. I know how rough this
type of thing is, and it's truly hell on earth. What's always worked for me is
to just fake it til you make it. Take everything one day at a time. Work
towards getting your life to where you want it to be when you have the
wherewithal. Do things that you find to be fun when you can. Eventually, a day
comes when things are not so shitty anymore, and when that day comes, you'll
be happy that you persevered.
------
codingslave
Here's what I would advise. Do not under any circumstances quit your job. I've
lived through a similar scenario, and while I had a ton of savings, quitting
my job resulted in chaos. Poor sleep schedule, dropping motivation, etc. I
would get a therapist. Secondly, if your job is stressful, try and find
another developer job at a large slow moving, mediocre paying corporation.
Mostly recovering from burnout takes time, you just need to weather it out.
~~~
derekp7
The biggest thing that fixed my burnout was actually getting laid off during
the recession (09). And being unemployed for a few months. Fortunately this
was in the summer, and I spend many days up at the camper (we had an already
paid for seasonal spot about an hour away). I found myself sleeping so hard
during the afternoons that I slept through several recruiters calling me back.
Then when I finally landed a new job I hit the ground running so hard, that I
was an instant hit.
Problem is, after more than a decade I find myself constantly tired and
unmotivated for anything. I fear that burnout is starting again, but can't
afford another break in employment (and this job is actually really good --
very intense, but I don't have that feeling of dread going into work every day
[like I used to experience with high school], just exhausted).
~~~
mzarate06
_> Problem is, after more than a decade I find myself constantly tired and
unmotivated for anything. I fear that burnout is starting again..._
That statement relates to a feeling I have about burnout - I don't believe you
fully recover from it. At least in my experience, while I (and others I've
discussed this with) recovered by some point, I also felt something was left
permanently weakened, in a way that made me increasingly susceptible to later
bouts I'd experience.
There are probably normal factors that contribute to that, such as how much we
age between bouts. However, after each bout, I recall not feeling the same
after recovering as I did prior to when the bout started.
~~~
eq_sd_
This was how it was for me. I got burnt out coding a lot and studying for
interviews (as I'm mostly self taught). I started going to therapy, but got
fired after working under an awful manager that I didn't feel comfortable
opening up to. Interviewing while unemployed pushed me further into burn out.
Coding originally pulled me out of a funk, it gave me something to work at.
But now, I feel like I lost so much passion. I can't imagine coding in my free
time even if I wasn't a developer anymore.
~~~
oulu2006
I'm in a similar situation.
I used to code at home and read all sorts of books on various things like the
Linux Kernel, just for fun. Now when I switch off after work, just the thought
of looking at code makes me shudder.
------
hollander
Can you bring your work down to 4 or 3 days? For like the whole year? Going
back to 32 hours will give a lot of space, to sleep, to do other stuff. If the
company supports this, that would be great.
Daily chores, cooking, cleaning: do what is practical and what you can handle!
Order food if you cannot bring yourself to cook. Don't worry too much about
cleaning, but make sure pests stay away. When you go out for work or whatever,
make sure you are presentable, properly clothed and clean. Get a hair cut on a
regular basis. Shave. Having a house that is spic and span is no priority. On
the other hand, cleaning the house is a way to clear your mind. Walking,
fitness, biking, swimming - all the are good to clear your head and remove the
ongoing thoughts for an hour or so. This works better in a workshop with an
instructor, like a tennis or dance lesson.
------
MisterTea
You need to talk about your issues with someone in meatspace. Not a
"professional", but real people like friends or support groups. I've found
that a large amount of my depression, anxiety and stress comes from being
alone in my struggles. You feel like atlas holding up the world on your
shoulders. The thing is, you're not alone in your struggles, many people share
your problems. I feel like we've been conditioned to to take on the world
ourselves. In addition we also don't like to admit failure or confide for fear
of being labeled a whiner or complainer. We sabotage ourselves doing those
things.
Some of the best medicine was sitting around a fire in the middle of nowhere
with close friends and talking. Just let it all out, cry if you have to.
Talking about the really uncomfortable shit is important. Don't feel ashamed.
I don't know what else to add, other than delete social media bullshit because
it's a never ending feed of anxiety and noise. You don't need it because its
not real social interaction. You need to talk to real people in the real
world.
~~~
philpem
In my experience this is pretty bad advice.
Friends are usually good for a kind of support, but aren't a replacement for
an actual, trained therapist.
After a while, the mental load gets too much for them and they cut off
contact. (entirely understandable)
------
spac
Hang in there, friend. In my modest opinion, if you are not already (did not
read it in the OP), you should seek the aid of a mental health professional as
soon as possible. The problems you struggle with are real, and they are really
hard to tackle alone.
I wish you all the best, and please write at the email in my profile if you
feel the need to connect with someone.
Cheers, S
------
buserror
I went thru that, without external support over 10 years ago -- basically my
ability to concentrate and enjoy work vanished... It took me a year to
'recover' \-- I don't think I was ever 100% of what I was before TBH, but it's
because it helped me realise that there isn't JUST work that matters. I am a
lot more pragmatic about work these days, and I no longer 'live to work' as I
did before.
I don't know if any of these suggestions will help, but perhaps you should
pick up a hobby, something that is not too taxing and is still rewarding. It
can but doesn't have to be tech related either. For me it was Photography, and
I do a lot of landscape photography to this day -- but it could be anything,
perhaps these days I would pick Archery (field archery is a super way to 'zen'
out).
The idea is to get back the feeling of doing something you enjoy, and it
doesn't requires weeks of setup or zillions of hours of practice to enjoy
yourself.
If your company is cool with it, perhaps negotiate a 4 day week, and take that
one day for yourself to really unwind. Don't stare at the TV tho, so _the_
thing you enjoy, and go out and do it.
But ultimately, what I suggest is that in the future you watch over your
work/life balance. Take care of yourself!
~~~
eyegor
I would specifically advise against developing a tech related hobby. In my
experience, it just accelerates burn out. Something that forces you to be
outside/unplugged is ideal imo.
~~~
buserror
Well, what's "tech" in my case, photography provided a hell of lot of things
my nerdy side found interesting, optics formulas, sensors, films, whatever --
that's still 'tech'. You can't hide from tech for very long. Just curtain it
carefully.
Picking up an arduino and 'waste' a couple of days making LED blink can be
fantastically relaxing too.
~~~
eyegor
Oh no I just meant it as a general comment, adding to the "develop a hobby"
suggestion. I wouldn't put photography into a tech bucket.
I just think it's inevitable to hit burnout if you spend all day at work
staring at screens and come home to relax by staring at screens. Or at least a
way to burn out your eyes.
------
mntmoss
Hey lostgame, here are some thoughts:
1\. This time of year is notoriously tough on mental health, and that's
probably part of it. I got a subclinical case of SAD during the holidays. No
triggering reason, life is generally OK, but I really was not very active
outside of some minimum activity. I am finally coming out of it now that the
days are noticably longer.
2\. There's also been a seasonal cold going around that I just started getting
over today. Its symptoms were mild but included some amount of disorganization
and inability to focus. Really dramatic between yesterday and now in terms of
how much I accomplished and how difficult it was.
3\. All that notwithstanding, I have had a few traumatic experiences that
resurface on occasion. The most effective thing I've done is to find a hobby
that is really intensively engaging - not just idle escapism like most
entertainment but the top-end, "I have to stay 100% in it" kind of stuff. For
a while judo did this. It's a large committment, though, and I can't always
find time for it. More recently pinball has filled that gap, and pinball is
something I can get a quick fix of on my phone. Both of those games assault
the senses and require my total attention to succeed, which really does a lot
to reduce the ruminating aspects of traumatic stress.
4\. When I want to ruminate and escaping won't do the trick I will turn to a
diary. In here I try to settle my thoughts with storytelling. The goal - and
there is a goal here - is to not just report the facts and rationales like a
detective but to make a fairy tale out of it, adding in the kind of symbolic
resolution you feel is just or in character with your beliefs, even if it
means adding fantastic elements. When you do this, you change the story into
one that allows you to heal and guides your identity back towards something
stable. The "healing story" is an old folk technique, and a good, low-risk one
to try.
5\. It probably isn't the job, and like others are saying, you want to keep
that. A good rule to work from is "fix ordinary things", and if the job
doesn't need fixing then it probably isn't the focus.
Everything can be a struggle. Let yourself rest, but also don't let things go
when you have the energy and focus, even if it means silly stuff. I realized
that my habits are such that I am really focused to do a little more coding
right when I go to the gym...and so now I go and immediately use their
bathroom to get in an extra 20 minutes. I go in the off hours so there isn't a
traffic jam, but it's like, "well, my mindset is good here, why not use that?"
Sometimes it is little stuff that adds up like that, that gets me through the
day.
------
kempbellt
Whatever you have to, mate.
Break whatever cycles you feel are detrimental to your
emotional/physical/spiritual wellbeing and pave a new path for yourself.
If you have money saved up, or can sell a bunch of stuff and live frugally,
get out of your normal space so that you can gather new perspective on life. A
few ideas, as I know creativity can be blocked when you're feeling the weight
of everything. Feel free to ignore, or take any of these and run with them.
\- Go on a road trip, alone or with friends (having friends around will keep
your mind from thinking about things), for a week or two. If you don't have a
job right now, go longer. Or fly somewhere new.
\- Stay in a hotel, or go camping, just because. Break up the norm.
\- Learn a new physically engaging skill. Snowboarding takes me out of that
burnt out state of mind.
\- Go on a silent retreat. Some of them are donation based.
> My coping method to that has been to try to hold my work together more and
> more
Remember, life may be work, but work is not life.
Most importantly, breathe.
~~~
Paddywack
> Learn a new physically engaging skill. Most importantly, breathe.
I learned diving. It was great \- taught me how to slow down entirely \- you
need to be 100% "immersed" in what you are doing \- you have to breathe
consistently and calmly
I loved it and it helped me heaps (in addition to doing all the other good
things mentioned above!)
------
MrDresden
First off, I'm sorry to hear what you are going through. Having to go through
one of those events would be traumatic enough, so it is difficult to imagine
how you must feel.
I am not trained in anyway to do diagnostics. Like others answering your
question I would hazard a guess though that you may be going through something
of a more serious nature than simply burnout.
As someone who experienced burnout personally just last year as well as a
cancer diagnostic in my partner alongside that, I can't stress it enough how
important it is to seek professional outside help in these situations.
Especially in a case involving sexual trauma. You don't want that gnawing at
the back of your mind, unresolved for years.
Psychologists are trained to help people cope with, process, and get through
what you are experiencing. But they can't help you unless you reach out to
them. And know that there is no shame in asking for help. We all have done it,
whether we admit to it or not.
My experience was an eye opener. Simply the discussion, with a neutral party
did wonders for me. I was also prescribed any kind of exercise where my heart
rate would go up and, more importantly, involved deep rapid breathing. There
are bio-feedback loops involved there that help remedy some of the depressive
symptoms..
Also know that this kind of state can take time to heal from. It has been 5
months for me and just now do I feel myself coming together as the person I
was before.
Hope it all goes well for you.
------
digitalsushi
Someone quipped, "how does one untoast bread?" when asked about recovering
from professional burnout.
I've been strung up on whether this was flippant, or insightful.
------
bsurmanski
A lot of people mention therapy. If you need specific recommendations, I am
close friends with a therapist in Toronto that is starting up her own
practice:
personal page (WIP):
[https://meganpsychotherapy.com/](https://meganpsychotherapy.com/)
Association page: [http://thecalmcollective.ca/megan-lawrence-
therapist/](http://thecalmcollective.ca/megan-lawrence-therapist/)
I haven't visited her in a professional context, but I've known her for over
10 years and I have confidence in her abilities. She's very approachable and
easy to talk to.
~~~
lostgame
Hey, really appreciate this. I’ll check her out, thanks!
------
Ididntdothis
Do you do any psychological therapy? I don't think you can pull through such a
crisis alone or by working hard. I have had similar situations in the past and
I have learned that mental well-being is the most important thing. Trying to
power through usually doesn't work.
Also: When I had trouble I was too embarrassed to tell anybody but actually
talking about it is very therapeutical.
~~~
lostgame
I’ve been embarrassed to be honest and also, I suppose, being dishonest with
myself and coping with the stress in extremely stupid ways, just being with
friends all the time because I really don’t like being alone and having to
process everything.
My plan is to go to my psychiatrist tomorrow morning, I spent today with my
bestie to firstly relax and sort my thoughts out, and told her about some of
what’s been going on, but, ultimately, I thought a post to a tech community I
respect was a good idea. It’s probably the clearest-headed move I’ve done in a
bit.
I’m also going through some significant dental pain after a surgery atm as
well, so, to be honest, life’s been easier. >.<
~~~
kenshi
You are dealing with a lot, in a compressed period of time.
Try to remember that your first priority and responsibility is looking after
your own mental, physical and spiritual (I don't mean this in a religious
sense) well being.
In your situation, work really should be the lowest priority that you can
afford to make it. If you can afford to take extended time off to deal with
everything you need to, I would highly recommend that you give it serious
consideration.
~~~
Ididntdothis
I wouldn’t just take time off without a plan for doing something. It’s really
easy to spend months or years at home without improvements. Go to a
psychologist or something. I once spent a month at a yoga ashram which was a
turnaround for me.
------
stillwater56
I can only speak from my personal experience with burnout, but I found that
one of the hardest parts of recovering was the fact that it simply takes time.
I quit my job and tried to make immediate, drastic lifestyle changes expecting
immediate, drastic improvements, but burnout takes a while to develop and a
while to recover from.
For me, the best thing was to find some stability (spending more time with my
SO and exercising—albeit extremely simply, literally just going for a quick
run each day) was key.
------
newjobseeker
Sorry to hear you are going through this. I'm going through a crisis myself. I
left a bad workplace a few months ago, and took some time off. Now that I'm
back in job search mode, I'm also going through some physical health issues
and the added stress has given me a lot of anxiety. I've tried meditation,
yoga, etc. and nothing is helping. I'm having real physical symptoms and
everyone is telling me it's all anxiety, but I am not sure.
It is scary to step away from a job, because the uncertainty can be
overwhelming. But if you have a good support system (friends/parents/etc), I
would leave the job and focus on your health, it's more important than
anything else as it affects everything you do/feel.
~~~
eyegor
I'd advise taking some time to disconnect. Full disconnect from phone, tech,
internet and just focus on something else. Music, art, exercise, hiking, etc.
I went through some pretty rough anxiety when I was laid off for the first
time, the most helpful thing for me mentally was noping out onto the
Appalachian Trail for a week or so. After a couple of days away from it all,
my brain finally started to relax and I came back with a better sense of
focus. Ofc, I've always enjoyed hiking so ymmv. But I think the most important
part was the disconnection.
~~~
newjobseeker
Thanks for reading and for the advice. I've tried to disconnect but not fully,
I've still been talking to recruiters, reading job postings, etc. I just did a
remote coding interview, and it went pretty awful but it felt like a sense of
relief to do it because I had been dreading it for a while and was super
nervous leading up to it. Now that it's done, I feel like I can relax a bit
and also accept that things can go poorly and it doesn't have to be
devastating.
------
AdrianB1
I am not a therapist, so my opinion is not medical advice, but this what I
would do: take a few vacations of 2-3 weeks each and travel on the continent;
nothing fancy, just a disconnect. I have a few friends that I take for a very
long bike ride, if you have anyone that can join you it's a great thing to do;
the purpose is to disconnect, so the destination does not matter, just the
activity. The second activity: get a bunch of books (non-technical), go to a
cabin in the woods and read. I prefer science fiction or fiction, not poetry
as most of the poetry has a depressing effect on me.
Don't do this for less than a full week, it has no significant effect.
~~~
core-questions
This all sounds great, except what do I do with my wife and kids during this
time?
Vacation is not vacation for those of us with a young family - it's actually
more work than being at work is, sometimes. Good work, rewarding, but also
severely draining sometimes.
~~~
AdrianB1
You have a different situation than the person who asked the question,
assuming the same answer apply to everyone is a mistake.
How it worked for me in a similar situation: parents. I live in a country
where families are not completely destroyed, so we had 2 pairs of parents to
help with the kids. Taking the wife in vacation is doable and effective.
~~~
core-questions
True, I'm already relying on two sets, in fact. Problem is, we need them so
much already that lumping the kids on them entirely for weeks would be just
too much. Toddlers, ya know. Lots of energy.
------
Blackstone4
That sounds awful. Sorry to hear that.
I'm not sure what to say...you've raised so many things. It might be worth
spending time with friends, loved ones or a therapist to work through it.
One person once said, try and view yourself from outside yourself as a small
child. Be compassionate to yourself and love yourself as though you were
looking after that child. Go easy on yourself and sometimes it's better to
take a break and re-build and come back stronger than possible cause injury by
persisting.
I've been through some difficult periods and somethings worked for me like:
spending time in nature, cutting out the things that caused pain in my life,
doing sport and meditating.
------
avgDev
I also have problems not the same but you need to seek professional help if
you have a hard time coping. From your post it appears your job is not the
problem but outside factors.
I also suggest reading "Maybe you should talk to someone".
We are rewarded for seeming happy and excited all the time, but often we need
people in our life who we can open up to.
------
jfitzpa22
See a therapist if you have not done so already. A therapist can help you
develop healthy coping strategies, work through the significant trauma you
have experienced over the last year, and possibly refer you to a psychiatrist
for drug treatment if deemed therapeutically necessary.
------
shekharshan
Please prioritize psychological well-being over everything else. Please have a
therapist for regular counseling. As a practicing Buddhist I can tell you of
two excellent teachers in Canada, Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu near Toronto and Ajahn
Sona in British Columbia. Check out their videos on YouTube. Do remember that
there are a lot of people, who you may not know, but still they care for you.
Sending you lots of good wishes from across the border. Take care dear friend!
------
scottndecker
In my experience, when I'm burnt out, I find a new side project to get excited
about. Excitement in one area of my life bleeds into others. I've worked on
new apps, starting a company, woodworking projects, training my dog. Whatever
it is, find something that awakens you again. It's best if you can see it
possibly leading to a new career. That way it'll give you hope for and
ownership over your future.
~~~
duncan-donuts
While I tend to do this as well it is important to also say taking time to do
nothing is also a good use of time. We can’t do everything and sometimes when
you’re already burnt out putting a ton of energy into something new can make
things worse. YMMV
~~~
scottndecker
Yeah, for sure. It's a judgment call on if you're overloading or not. The
point is to find something you're excited about. Not a million things you're
excited about.
------
vigilante9
Here's what I do, in a somewhat similar situation.
1\. Control my thinking. Practicing the basics of cognitive behavioral
therapy.
2\. Fix my sleep. Going to bed at 10, waking up at six. Eight hours of sleep
per day. This requires getting rid of anything that disturbs the circadian
rhythm, screens and lights are big offenders. I use f.lux and ultra-warm
lightbulbs in the evening.
3\. Fix my diet (ties into sleep). Intermittent fasting for at least 16 hours.
Avoiding the carb/sugar spikes. I also went Keto for a while. I must advise
against veganism.
4\. Get exercise (also ties into sleep). Exercise is as potent as common
antidepressants with none of the side-effects. A little goes a long way.
5\. For work, a four-day work week and a short commute made a big difference.
I don't know if any of these can be left out. I couldn't fix my sleep on its
own, without doing the other things. You may think that it's your anxiety
keeping you from sleep, but it could actually be your eating and/or the lights
keeping sleep hormones away so that you end up awake in bed, thinking. Then if
you don't get good sleep, everything else just gets worse.
I feel perfectly stable now. Not fantastic, but stable. It's a process, took
me about two months.
~~~
SomaticPirate
Why do you advise against veganism? Going plant-based was easily one of the
more effective ways of becoming healthy for me. It lowered my cholesterol
levels and I think that it was instrumental in lowering my overall
cardiovascular risk. I agree with everything else you are saying but I don’t
understand why a vegan diet would not be considered a healthy lifestyle change
on the same level as keto. From people I have met who do keto they usually
increase their meat consumption and usually that includes things like bacon
and deli meats which the largest casual link to increased cancer risk
[https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/10/26/451211964/ba...](https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/10/26/451211964/bad-
day-for-bacon-processed-red-meats-cause-cancer-says-who)
~~~
zackmorris
I am against veganism too, but mainly because nutritionally it doesn't match
how humans evolved. So for that reason, the only fad diet I really agree with
is paleo.
That said, everyone is different. I gave up pork 20 years ago for ethical
reasons, but ended up with a somewhat rare (at least in the US) meat
deficiency because I work out extremely hard but try to eat mostly beans and
rice. But I have friends with the same lifestyle as me, but with high
cholesterol, who would probably benefit greatly from the mostly plant-based
diet I was on.
Unfortunately, there are macro nutrients and vitamins that are effectively
missing from the plant world:
[https://inourishgently.com/vegan-depression-
tryptophan/](https://inourishgently.com/vegan-depression-tryptophan/)
I would honestly love it if we had impossible burgers or almond milk with
anywhere near the nutritional content of meat and dairy. But we just aren't
there yet. Ethically, I feel a good compromise is to only buy free range eggs
and dairy, and try to avoid buying meat in the store. If someone is serving
meat (and someone always is), just eat it, because throwing it away is less
ethical IMHO.
------
xivusr
First of all thanks for your honesty here. Sometimes the hardest part is just
reaching out.
Many of the challenges you've experienced I've also experienced. I've found
that a vacation to a 2nd or 3rd world country for at least 2-3 weeks will help
me reset. I think it's a combination of going somewhere I've never been and
being able to see people less fortunate who seemingly are happy with much less
than what we have here.
Death is incredibly difficult for me to accept..and trying to pretend like I'm
fine when Im mourning a loss its near impossible. People tend to be
understanding to a point but healing is personal and everyone deals with loss
differently.
I've found that helping others is also incredibly rewarding and useful to
reconnect when life has pulled the rug out from other me. No matter what I'm
going through there is always someone going through something even more
challenging. Even if all I can do is listen to them and share their
experience. Sometimes that's all any of us need - someone to empathize with
our situation.
Finally I add one more thing I've found. I tend to try and avoid pain and have
struggled with addiction in the past. Fortunately my last bout of severe
depression I used the previous experience and decided to run the Camino de
Santiago. I ran the 500+ mile trail from France to the coast of Spain and in a
lot of physical discomfort. Most people walk this over the course of a month -
I would love to have a chance to do this again with more time. Absolutely life
changing and you will make friends from all over the world. Highly recommend
trying something uncomfortable -- its an incredible to be able to feel
physical pain and yet still be grateful!
I hope you find peace and grow from this!
------
jaw
I'm so sorry you're dealing with this.
About a year ago I resigned from a ~9-year job due to burn out (relationship
issues and the death of my father were major contributing factors). I had put
the decision off for a long time because I thought I should have a concrete
plan first, but ultimately decided I'd never have the energy to plan next
steps until I'd taken a long time off to recuperate.
So I just left. The time off hasn't fixed everything, but it has been
enormously beneficial to me and I'm much more excited and optimistic about the
future. I don't know how the gap will affect my career but at least now I feel
like I have the energy to deal with whatever obstacles I encounter.
I was very privileged to be able to do that and I know your situation may
differ; I don't have practical advice on dealing with financial concerns. But
make sure you're sharing your feelings and getting advice from people around
you, and - if you can keep your needs met - don't stay in an unbearable
situation just from fear that something as good or better won't come along in
the future.
------
Nursie
1\. Realise work is subservient to life, you work to enable life, not the
other way around. As such re-evaluate and keep your goal in mind .
2\. If work isn't taking you where you where you want to go and worse, if it's
hurting you, you need to either find a new tack or different work. I know this
is easy to say from a position of privilege, but would it be hard for you to
change post or change company?
~~~
lostgame
Firstly - thanks so much for your input.
Secondly - I’m concerned about the interim - I don’t want to leave my post
here without having a plan. My company is amazing and treats me very well. I
just recognize that unfortunately right now I’d certainly be better off in a
position where I could work remotely more, for instance. I don’t know how
possible or plausible that is. I’m in the process of figuring that out.
~~~
aguyfromnb
> _I don’t know how possible or plausible that is. I’m in the process of
> figuring that out._
Totally plausible. I wouldn't walk into work _tomorrow_ and quit your job, but
let's face it: you have experience in one of the most in-demand skills on the
planet. I'd bet you wouldn't have an issue finding another job. The problem
is: would _another_ job solve your issue? It might not.
As others have said, what you need is time. I'm not sure in what way your
medical leave was covered the first time, but as a fellow Canadian, our
country is extremely generous in that manner (and progressive with respect to
mental health). You might be able to take an extended medical leave that would
allow you to draw EI. If you can survive on the $500/week the benefit pays, it
might be worth it.
Good luck!
------
Ruphin
Hi
Shit sucks sometimes. It's not a nice feeling when you're constantly trying to
hold yourself together. You convince yourself you're doing all right, because
you're hanging on, but you have no energy to develop yourself or do new
things, and you're slowly sinking into a hole that becomes ever more difficult
to climb out of. After a while, even basic things take so much energy that it
becomes a daily struggle to keep up with laundry, cooking, cleaning.
How do you climb out of that hole? I don't know. I think there's no easy
solution. But talking helps. I don't have any answers for you, but if you just
want to talk with someone who understands what you're going through, you can
find my contact info in my profile.
------
thrownaway954
I can speak from experience on what _not_ to do. DO NOT DRINK. very, very,
similar things happened to me and my drinking only resulted in utter chaos.
~~~
g0rbongler
+1
------
logfromblammo
If work is the only stable thing in your life, you should try not to let it
fall apart, but it is designed to support you financially, not emotionally. It
can't hold you up by itself.
You're in Canada rather than the US, so there are fewer barriers to
professional mental health care, as far as I am aware. Go see a psychiatrist
or clinical therapist.
You have had _four_ major stressors in one year, and then piled on change
social behaviors and change in sleep habits. It's justified. Go talk with a
pro so they can hold you together with duct tape and baling wire while working
out a plan for more permanent repairs.
------
ericmuyser
The trick to burnout is don't believe it exists. I stopped believing I'm
actually burned out, and I've experienced much less burnout by simply not
giving into it. Perseverance. But actually it does exist and it can take a
strong hold sometimes, but you shouldn't feel yourself "becoming" or easing
into burnout. If you are, you're giving into it, letting it take you. Persist
until it's an unavoidable thing, then discuss with therapist if needed. Take
the advice from others about physical activity and whatnot.
~~~
theli0nheart
Burnout does exist, and just imagining it “doesn’t exist” will just delay the
inevitable, and probably make it worse than it would be if you just accept it
for what it is and work towards solving the core problems.
------
heymartinadams
Dear lostgame,
First of, I’m so, so sorry to hear. What you’ve gone through (sexual assault,
twice) is something nobody should have to go through; and the loss of your
mother and your breakup as well (I’ve experienced the death of a parent and a
significant breakup, too).
Your courage in sharing what’s happened to you touches me. Carl Jung, the
Swiss psychologist, famously said that “if you can feel it, you can heal it.”
And I think part of what you might be doing, by publicly sharing where you’re
at, could perhaps be to give yourself permission to feel things more deeply,
and letting yourself be witnessed doing so.
In case you’d like to consider joining our startup — we’d be honoured in
considering you for a position. We’re a different kind of startup: work/life
balance and authenticity is key. We’re basically starting a life-long family
of people who resonate with each other :) Our product is still in development,
but we’ve got an exciting brand: We are Ecstatic (accessible at ecstatic.com).
Oh! And we’re based in Vancouver, beautiful British Columbia.
Reason I’m mentioning this is because we don’t think of what we’re doing as
work, but as play (in all seriousness). We call it “plorking”. Perhaps you
need to find a company (such as ours) that let’s you be you throughout — no
stress, just creative play.
Be well, and best wishes on your path. Whatever happens, I wish you so much
happiness and peace. You deserve it. We each do.
------
lcall
Others have made good comments. My take (with some experience, and until I
read everything else here) is: don't (ever!) give up on life, be patient, be
reasonable/honest/kind toward yourself & others, and continue forward. Things
will eventually be OK, especially if we try to do what we know is right.
And to help find your purpose and real balance in life, I have thought &
written much at [http://lukecall.net](http://lukecall.net) (a simple site;
hopefully very skimmable; no sales; see the "life lessons" link about 1/2-way
down the page, then maybe the "growth/mm" links like "emotional", and feel
free to send comments). As I learn things over time, I try to add to it, in a
systematic/organized/skimmable way.
All the best.
(some edits above for clarity)
edit: ps: after they rule out enough other things, CFS is a possibility.
Wikpedia has a page, and more info for patients and practitioners is at
[https://batemanhornecenter.org](https://batemanhornecenter.org) . They seem
honest n helpful, but hopefully that link is not useful :) .
------
weq
Hey... PTSD is not something u can just walk away from. I was married to a
girl who suffered sexual assault/ptsd before we met.... Its one of those
conditions that will evolve with you and it will effect you in waves as well
as via a steady undertone of anxiety.
I recommend you really focus on your healing journey. Its not something you
can ignore. If you need someone random to talk to about about this with, send
me an email.
~~~
cynusx
Not to diminish her suffering, but I would like to counter a bit the
inevitability of PTSD causing long-term harm.
PTSD occurrence in soldiers follows a bell-curve with only the lower quartile
having a sustained psychological disorder. The middle majorities get
traumatized but after a varying length of time enter a phase of post-trauma
growth. One quartile is not significantly affected by trauma and can shrug it
off.
Apparently optimism is a key element of trauma-resistance which is a trainable
emotional intelligence skill.
I'd recommend the book "on mental toughness" from harvard business review for
some more insights on this
------
throw-666666
I've been in a similar situation, and would recommend to take some time off
and find a good therapist if that's possible for you.
In the Netherlands it's common to take sick leave and get paid 75% if you're
sick for more than 2 months. Insurance covers the sick leave for your
employer. I've been sitting at home for over a year now, working on my mental
health, and just took on a new job. I can not recommend a burnout to anyone,
for some outsiders it seems like I had a year-long vacation. This was
definitely not the case, I hated it. It has been very healthy though in
retrospect. Before my burnout I hated myself and felt like a complete failure,
I thought everything was my fault.
I can highly recommend therapy as well, I've been suffering from depression
for over 10 years, and finally sought out help last summer. It's trial and
error, but for the first time it feels like I regained some control over my
thoughts/life, and make sense of my behaviour.
In the period towards my total burnout (panic attacks/fatigue/depression), I
was very irritable, emotionally unstable, drank too much, started taking drugs
to handle the stress of working 50-70hrs a week and dealing with my life and
deteriorating relationship with a suicidal and junkie boyfriend, amongst other
things.
Taking time off, focussing on myself completely, breaking up with my
boyfriend, cooking, walking and reading helped a lot. Doing small positive
things. I cook for my ex now once a week, I like to see still him and just
want to let him know I care about him, also it doesn't take that much energy
and benefits us both.
Start saying no to people, define your boundaries, all that matters is you!
Listen to your body. All the best!
------
RobertRoberts
Find the things you are currently grateful for and focus on that any time you
feel out of it. I have faced what you are dealing with most of my life. I
still have to have a routine to get out of bed every morning.
Others have said not to quit your job. I agree, you need more stability, not
less. Maybe consider changing your focus? Maybe now is the time to try
something new at your work, just to change some aspects of your environment.
Only good can come from this from my perspective, either you realize you
actually like your previous work, or you find something else more fulfilling.
(and maybe less stressful?)
Helping others or even talking to others who are facing similar issues. (other
comments are suggesting similar) I have found that if I talk with others who
actively fight against their problems they are a help to me. If I find people
who are struggling that need some help and I can help them, this also helps
me.
But, the people I avoid are those that are actively not facing their problems
and/or refuse to, avoid these people like the plague for the time being.
(maybe down the road you will be stronger and be able to help them or tolerate
them...)
You will be fine eventually. This is a temporary state of your life. This may
seem trite, but it's true.
One thing I say to myself when I've been in real mental trouble, but not
physical is to tell myself everything, right now, is fine. I am ok. I can do
this one thing that is in front of me. This is often how I get out of bed to
take a shower, this is a low stress activity that makes me feel better than
staying in bed feeling terrible.
If I need to, I repeat this process through out the day. I am sorry you are
going through this. I hope you get some comfort and strength you are looking
for.
------
throwawaypa123
As tired as this cliche is, I have to ask if you workout.
I found that lifting or intense cardio helps me move out of my funks.
When I'm suffering through an intense workout I don't think about anything
else. When I finish the workout, I can be so exhausted that I pass out and go
to sleep. that in itself is a blessing.
Lastly, so much of stress is self-imposed. You are where you are, and whatever
plans you have, are determined by you.
Be safe. Good luck.
~~~
jurassic
Came here to say this. Even better if OP can find/afford a gym with a strong
social component; I know people who only marginally care about fitness but
really really care about seeing their friends at the gym and that is enough
get them to go to the gym several times per week. But you won't find this at
most cheap commercial chains where people just want to bang out some cardio
and get out. You have to look around at more niche facilities to find the
right vibe.
------
xzel
Take a long shower. Get a full night sleep. Take a sabbatical for as long as
you need. Relax until you're bored. Then do whatever gives you joy. Then
figure out if its your work (that is line of work etc), working conditions or
something else that lead to your burn out. Make a plan to guardrail against
it.
Personally for me, I need to take at least 1 personal day / 3 day weekend
every month otherwise I start hating my work. I also need to take at least a
week on a relaxing vacation (not sightseeing / running around doing stuff for
a week!!) about every 6-8 months. I also try to work on _my_ schedule the best
I can. I like to work from about 8am to 2pm and then some amount between
10pm-2am; for whatever reason those are my best working hours. Take as much
time as you can to learn to listen to your body because I really think you can
catch burnout before it reaches meltdown. I haven't had a proper burnout since
2016. Best of luck my friend.
------
sdegutis
Balance is of course important. But purpose is just as important. We must have
good and useful reasons for everything we do. Anxiety and pain are just
indicators that something is off balance or being done without good purpose
and reason. The question we must all ask ourselves is, what am I even here
for? Why am I alive today? What is my purpose? Whatever conclusion we come to,
everything in our lives must flow from that purpose of existence. And when
things don't seem to line up or add up, then we have to start back at square
one and ask ourselves if our estimation of our purpose was wrong, and use the
new hard earned life experience to try to figure it out all over again, and
make everything flow from that, and keep repeating until we finally have a
life without these internal alarms going off.
------
quangv
Priotize health for sure. That's the base. Everything else will come easier on
a foundation of good health.
~~~
lostgame
Thanks so kindly for the confidence of this statement. I feel like I’m
gaslighting myself - if that makes any sense. So many confusing lines of
thought that all seem valid, that settling on one just seems tough.
~~~
teekert
Perhaps try meditating? It's works for my negatively racing mind, usually. My
thoughts are clouds, the state I wish for is a blue sky where clouds that
appear are quickly dissolved or blown away. Try the trial of Headspace. I
think they nicely hit the balance of not trying to force it, just never stop
trying. An empty mind can feel very nice.
I never sunk as deep as you though. I get weeks of "stuck on negative issues
in my life". Daily meditation of only 10 min already seems to help, I am by no
means an expert by the way. Headspace helped me and when I try meditating now,
I hear the voice of the Headspace woman (you can also select a man) talking to
myself. When I feel bad again I may sign up for the service, but as said the
10 part trial is nice already.
Edit: 2 times meditation advice in 5 min ;) As below, it may not help very
much very fast, still, after trying to actively calm my mind 10 min I usually
feel better already. Even when it "fails" for 9.5 out of the 10 min.
No relation to Headspace btw ;)
------
flexq
I haven’t read a lot of the comments, but I agree with not quitting your job.
Looking for another though, maybe something to look at, at some point. For me
a vacation overseas (I choose south east Asia) where there are beautiful
beaches and people who like to have a chat, has done me wonders to get me back
on track. I forget about the world back home, create new connections (even for
a bit), and drop anxiety because the pressure of just being some where so
foreign seems to force it out of me. When I get back I always seem to have a
new sense of self. I can imagine it wont work for everyone and I could have
got lucky on the nice people Ive met, but now I swear by a trip at least once
a year for my sanity.
------
Wump
If you’re looking for someone to talk to about how you’ve been feeling and how
better to cope, I highly recommend texting crisistextline.org
(I’m a volunteer counselor there.) The conversation is purely over text, with
someone you listens non-judgementally and can offer coping strategies.
------
slics
\- at work ask for a task outside of your normal job responsibilities /
something different to try and change your thinking
\- find someone to share / bounce your concerns with or simply to hangout with
\- volunteer to a kitchen soup or some community event ( you will see with
your own eyes real pain and struggle)
\- visit a church or a social group therapy where people share their stories
and find methods to help or recommend help to one another
\- buy a camper and work remotely. Park that thing near a lake or water,
sunset or sunrise close to a water scenery helps you think and appreciate
little things in life that we take for granted due to the craziness that takes
most of our daily routine.
Good luck mate. Seek help. It’s out there, you just have to find it. -
------
dabockster
First off, don't quit your job. Your job provides a routine for you to follow.
Otherwise, you could begin to slip even further down the hole.
Next, you mentioned PTSD from sexual assault. This isn't burnout. You need
professional psychiatric help. Please get it ASAP and stop reading random
internet comments (like this one).
But if you can't find an appointment for a few weeks/months, some of the
symptoms might be fixed with a multivitamin (OneADay or a generic equivalent -
it doesn't push too far above 100% FDA daily value except for B12 and D, which
are actually beneficial sometimes in higher doses).
------
halfnormalform
It sounds like time to get back into mental health treatment so you can deal
with the trauma because workaholism is no longer working as a distraction.
The end of a close relationship, sexual assault, and the passing of your
mother are each things that can seriously challenge your self-concept in
difficult ways. They also will take a toll on your ability to trust others.
Together it sounds like too much too fast to be processed outside of survival
mode.
If you can't get into individual therapy, maybe you can find a support group?
Even something phone or chat based is better than nothing.
Please know that you are not alone and there are a lot of us here who have
struggled and continue to struggle. And go for walks with no phone or music!
------
j45
There is a possibility you could take a short term leave combined with a
honest vacation where you do nothing but sit and collect dust. Time in nature
without distraction is a big help I find.
I wish you all the best, remember to be nice to yourself as you are to others.
~~~
lostgame
Unfortunately, there’s a lot of responsibility I’ve got to take care of, and a
vacation is not an immediate option. I’m going to need to step up my mental
health care in a serious way, and that will require staying in the city
(Toronto).
~~~
j45
I hear you, I did a way too long sting that was 24/7/365 on call, couldn’t fly
more than 2 hours away. Super unhealthy over a period of a few years.
I try to remind myself of the reality is you’d likely be way more effective
with time off away. Not to be morose, if you went away work would replace you
within a week or a month.
What helped for me was learning to take one honest minute per hours, one hour
per day, and one day per week. And build from there. Find the things that get
you in touch with yourself and make them non negotiable.
------
codekendo
I want to let you know I am going through a similar situation. I did not quit
work but I am taking a break from my work.
Have a wall or separation between work and life; find balance. Do not make
work a priority in your life, separate the two.
Ask yourself brings you joy and happiness and just do it. Work does not define
you, it should be a means to bring about joy and happiness.
If work is a place where you cannot achieve balance or a really negative
place, I would work there until you find a better environment.
If work is a positive place, focus on what you have, reach out to people, ask
them if they felt the same way and how they manage those feelings.
I wish you the best of luck on your search to find balance in your life.
------
wtracy
1\. Therapy, therapy, therapy. If it's not helping, change therapists until it
does.
2\. Find activities that help you recharge. It took me a long time to
understand that "having fun" and recharging are _not_ the same thing.
3\. Look into the possibility of hiring a personal assistant to manage things
like cooking and laundry, at least until your symptoms are more manageable.
4\. Someone else recommended "Feeling Good" by David Burns. It's an excellent
book that I always recommend, but I don't know if it's up to the task of
helping with PTSD. Go into it understanding that it will help with a lot of
your problems, but probably not all of them.
------
wonderwonder
This is not work burnout my friend this is something far more caused by all
you have gone through. I am assuming the "medical professional" you mentioned
is some sort of mental health counselor, and is so that is great, if not
definitely find one. In addition you may want to look into some sort of group
therapy session. Speaking with people who have gone through what you have
(most of us on this thread have not) is going to go a long way towards getting
you the advice you need. On top of that human contact with those that have
been through something similar is likely going to be helpful.
I recommend googling support groups in your area.
All the best.
------
nemild
I've been writing a series called Notes to a Young Software Engineer, and
handling burnout was one of my first posts.
Most importantly, see a licensed medical professional. Burnout is often
confused for other health issues, and you may not be dealing with burnout, but
rather a larger health issue (e.g., PTSD).
If it is truly burnout, some that work for me are treating my body well,
cultivating human relationships, and addressing root causes at work.
[https://www.nemil.com/on-software-engineering/beware-
burnout...](https://www.nemil.com/on-software-engineering/beware-burnout.html)
------
rafaelvasco
First, sorry to hear about your situation. Hang in there. Then, absolutely
take a break from work. Don't try to power it through.
The inherent stresses of day to day work will be multiplied by 100x because of
your emotional state. Take a break;
Seek therapy. Not those useless psychologists that just hear you and say
nothing. The professional must actively talk to you, understand your situation
and give you the wisdom you lack to get out of your emotional trauma.
Very important too, don't dwell in the past. Most people keep reliving that
which has passed. Look forward. Seek what motivates you. What inspires you.
Restart with a clean mind.
------
codyb
That sounds really rough. I hope you’re okay.
One thing that has helped me when I’m low is letting myself know it’s okay to
just get a little bit done.
I don’t need to be unhappy my whole room hasn’t been cleaned, I can be happy
at least I cleared out the used dishes.
Making sure most things aren’t an all or nothing proposition has been helpful
in maintaining a more positive attitude for me.
“Boom at least did five pushups!”.
“Bang got those books in a neat pile!”.
It may not be a lot, but maybe you too can also receive some joy from the
little things you’re rocking out daily.
All the best of luck and more peaceful times ahead lostgame.
------
softwaredoug
I'm really sorry to hear this.
I can't say anything I've been through approaches what you've gone through.
However, I have been burnt out recently with chronic health issues. I have
some PTSD from some child abuse I went through, which means I struggle with
burnout and stress a fair amount.
The hardest thing I've is the pressure we put on ourselves. Nobody is judging
us harder than ourselves. There's nothing wrong with finding a work
environment that is pretty laid back, and cut yourself lots of slack. I did
this when my first child was born, and knew having a kid would really push me,
especially given my abuse background. I stuck with a pretty 'maintenance mode'
project, and wasn't stressing too much about work. I was certainly lucky to be
in that kind of situation.
Definitely seek out mental health help (maybe you are as you're on a mental
health break?). There are a lot of techniques for overcoming PTSD. EMDR, for
example, is one very effective technique. There's also somatic psychotherapy.
You can do this. Seek out support. And if you don't like your therapist, don't
hesitate to switch. A good therapist can be a very personal decision.
If you work at a good place, and you feel safe doing so, maybe consider
talking to your supervisors about your situation? I think it's tricky knowing
whether to do this, and maybe you feel safe, but maybe you're afraid of the
consequences? Both would be understandable. If you have a lot of trust in your
workplace, talking about it would at least give them context for what you're
going through, and you might be able to collaborate on a path forward that
gets you help and gets you to a place in your career you can be laid back for
a while. I've had positive results talking about my own issues to colleagues,
but I know not every work place or boss is the same...
Culturally, Westerners are supposed to be cheery and happy all the time. I
don't think this is reasonable. Forgive yourself and cut yourself lots of
slack. I'm can be somewhat grumpy a fair amount, especially when sleep is
impacted! Your negative emotions are perfectly valid and I think it's a shame
we all feel stigmatized by expressing them in social situations
Best of luck to you!
------
manishsharan
Please don't count on EIP if you leave your job on your own. Employment
insurance only kicks in if you are laid off or let go . You may be able to go
on long term disability but please consult a lawyer.
------
nojvek
It really depends on your work relationship with your manager and peers. If
you have a great manager i’m sure they’ll be understanding enough to balance
work responsibilities that you can go through the rough patch without
resorting to quitting.
I can only imagine what you’re going through. As others have said, give
yourself permission to feel. It’s okay to cry, to be angry (don’t break things
tho) to feel like shit, to have a bit of insomnia.
Surround yourself with close friends, be easy on yourself and remember that
time heals most wounds.
------
totaldude87
I would suggest to scale down a bit from work, you have already completed
almost 1/4th of your career and if it gives you stress now, imagine 30 more
years of it.
Then try to start helping people in anyway you can, like crossing a road, or
buying coffee for a stranger, or go to a elder community..
These kinds of small acts will give your breathing space to think and enrich
the mind and bring in more positivity.
Always remember that first thing is to get out of bad thoughts.. Therapy as
someone said might also help , but it comes to affordability.
------
darkmighty
My two cents: give yourself some time; try to take it easy on the job (even if
you feel pressure to complete -- "force" yourself to take it easy) or find
another job. It's incredible how a little time goes a long way in relieving
many symptoms of distress. And then, add some enjoyable things in moderation
to your routine, like a hobby, playing music, dancing, etc, to help divert
worry from the job (and reward yourself with satisfying activities).
------
mgarfias
Dunno if anyone else has mentioned this, but go get a full medical work up. I
was feeling like you - traumatic divorce, much stress, etc. as that eased the
burn out didn’t get better.
Finally went to get chemical help for the anxiety, and in the process found
out: I was diabetic, hypertensive, and had a tumor causing a hormone imbalance
(that probably triggered the first two symptoms).
Even if It turns out there is nothing medically wrong, it’s worth the time and
effort.
------
Simulacrum0
Sorry to read of your struggles. i nearly skipped to reading the next item of
interest but i recall how important it can be to echo "hang in there, as bad
as things get, know that life is cyclical and it will get better, given time,
perseverance, and reflecting"...aka 'always darkest before dawn'.
I cannot advise on the job, but the sooner you can communicate your
burnout/work-behind status, certainly the better to improving your day.
------
ArtDev
Unplug, get away. Travel. Run, eat healthy, do yoga, meditate, take
psychedelics (?).. and re-discover what you love about life. Make new friends.
It's been a very tough transition for me after a complete burnout two years
ago.
Now I am divorced and the healthiest I have been in a long time.
I took a pay cut but I am enjoying my work again. Unplug. You can retool later
when you actually care again.
Life is so much more than stupid computers, corporate bs and the technical
puzzles we fret over.
------
RickJWagner
First, I am very sorry, especially for the loss of your mother.
The answer I am about to suggest works wonders for me, and for lots of people
I know, but is not for everybody. My answer is to suggest you seek out relief
through religion. (Choose wisely, meaning investigate non-radical variants
that center on improving world conditions.) Religion is known to have many
benefits, including mental health benefits.
Good luck to you.
------
pmoriarty
Consider MDMA-assisted psychotherapy.
It has shown great promise in treating PTSD, even severe, treatment-resistant
PTSD.[1][2]
[1] - [https://maps.org/research/mdma](https://maps.org/research/mdma)
[2] - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDMA-
assisted_Psychotherapy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDMA-
assisted_Psychotherapy)
~~~
newnewpdro
Or a weekend of magic mushrooms in the woods...
------
m0zg
Watch Office Space, and learn the lessons from there. It's just a job. You
might actually be better at it if you don't give as much of a fuck - caring
too much tends to lead you to taking on too much work, and that can only end
in disappointment and burnout for everyone involved.
It's important to have some sort of a life outside of work, and to _prioritize
it_.
------
ramblerman
As most have suggested quitting without anything else in hand is indeed not a
good idea BUT that doesn't mean you should stay at your job.
You need routine, not a job per se.
So if you are financially secure you could consider going to school for a
year, and get a degree in something that interests you. It can be a nice
reset, while impacting your career and life for the positive.
------
gigatexal
“... two separate cases of sexual assault, and the passing of my mother.”
First of all I’m very sorry!!! I think that you could benefit a lot from a
professional to help you heal from this. If you are up to it perhaps pursuing
legal action to get justice might help.
When I lost my dad I got very numb and it was only a bunch of time and
counseling that helped me recognize that and reconnect.
------
albertTJames
Is it possible to ask to work part time? Get 1-2 more days off to focus on
health, personal projects, familly and friends.
------
sv1123
Wow. I don't even know what to say or what kind of advice to offer other than,
if you need a friend or somebody to talk to, I am here. Seriously. I've been
through trauma and I think I can empathize, although certainly have no idea
what you're going through. I am SO sorry.
------
sircastor
I think a lot of offered advice here is very good. Do you exercise with any
regularity? If not I would strongly suggest it. Exercise had a powerful effect
on the brain at well as the body and can help you regulate yourself. Also, be
sure to get some sunshine. Vitamin D is very important.
------
badrabbit
Second the comments about not quitting your job -- so long as your job does
not overwork you. My added advice would be to have goals and find something to
look forward to that you can hope to see through. Work on yourself as well, do
things unrelated to work or tech outside of work.
------
ssss11
I’m no expert but a few suggestions that have helped me in the past: a holiday
to clear the mind, work is not your identity you need some free time from it,
and it’s important to enjoy work so perhaps a more fun workplace or a change
if your boss gives you anxiety? Hope this helps
------
Damian_Z
Firstly, it's a very positive sign that you're reaching out. That is usually
the biggest hurdle. Getting professional help is the first critical step.
Connecting with someone who has been through this and come out the other side
(and there's thousands out there) is the second. With the greatest respect to
others here, I disagree that continuing to go to work is a must. Looking after
your health is the priority here, otherwise the ability to go to work might be
taken away due to the physical limitations that inevitably come with Burnout.
How do I know this? See below. Meanwhile, if you hit me up via email or
LinkedIn, Id be MORE than happy to set up a call. If my 5 years experience in
managing this proves to be of some value, then I'm happy to give up 30 mins of
my time. In the meantime, please take care.
[https://www.rebuildingburnout.com/about-
me](https://www.rebuildingburnout.com/about-me)
------
pvinis
I feel I need to disclaimer what I'm about to write so here goes.
Disclaimer: It's not my intention to offend anyone or brag or trivialize this.
This is me asking a question out of curiosity and concern for my wellbeing.
Ok so, everytime I read about someone having a burnout or taking 3 months off
to recover from burnout etc, I immediately think "oh here we go again, another
crybaby". I know that everyone is different and everyone has their limits and
that is ok. But I can't help but compare with myself and then I end up in the
same question:
"Are all these people just weak, quick to complain, taking advantage of an
employer, bad at managing their feelings and time OR am I just too hard on
myself?"
While reading the OP's text, I have had some of the things they had, not
everything. Reading other people's burnout stories sound familiar. I've had
big breakups, I've had long steaks of overwork with little return in the
expected results to be generated, I've had days where motivation was lacking
for anything, not just work, I've had days where the lack of sleep causes lack
of focus and motivation which causes more lack of sleep etc, and the list goes
on.
What I find myself doing is just powering through. It might take a week or a
month or three, but I end up fine or better than before. I don't know if that
means I am stronger or better OR just not as burnt out as these other people.
When talking with family and friends I have often said that what I want/need
is more free time from work. That way I can relax and feel less stressed, and
hopefully in due time work on some of my projects and ideas, yet so far I've
been doing a normal 40 hours/week job with extra times often. I have tried to
change my times to 4 days a week or 6 hours a day unsuccessfully so far. I
sometimes feel I'm wasting this time.
How do you actually know is you are burnt out? How do you know if you can
overcome it alone? How do I know if I'm not burnt out or if I'm strong enough
to overcome it or if I'm stupid enough to ignore the signs or if everyone else
is weak or if everyone else is doing the right thing?
That's all. I wish you best of luck and hope you feel better soon. Work is
always better when it can be something you're proud of, and excited to go to.
Again, I mean no disrespect to you or anyone else. This is my brain dumping
all my thoughts and concerns in the hopes that I might get some interesting
advice or food for thought. Thank you.
~~~
cynusx
If you can power through it then you've never been in a burnout situation.
Burnouts build up over months, if not years to the point you are no longer
able to function.
It's not that hard to avoid them if you remain aware of how your environment
impacts how you feel and don't just walk around ignoring an environment that
puts you in a constant negative state.
Anyway, I do agree that it's an overused term. Some people just need a
holiday, a change of job or a different romantic partner and they'll be fine
in a short amount of time.
------
jinahlee1234
Does your boss/supervisor have any idea what you've been going through?
Depending on the trust level between you guys, it may help "hint" your
situation. See if there is room to discuss minimizing hours/stress/duties or
even taking a short leave.
------
xupybd
Do what you can to find happiness again. Rest is important. Lower your stress
levels.
Talk to a professional before quitting your Job. HN is great but not able to
tell you what to do here. A therapist can help you come up with a plan. They
can help you evaluate if it's working.
------
brandon272
You mention you are in Canada. I am guessing your job comes with a group
benefits plan? Please take advantage of it. Benefits will typically range from
reimbursement for therapy sessions all the way to short and long term
disability coverage.
------
felipellrocha
All the comments here are amazing, but one extra thing to add is if you have a
good manager, work with that person to lighten your load. Having less to worry
about at work will go a long ways into making sure you are able to recover
more quickly.
------
janee
I've found great calm in doing long walks. Especially on the way down from a
good uphill hike when it's super early and there's noone else in the park.
For me it's sort of like forced meditation.
May better days be just around the corner for ya :)
------
viburnum
Read “Feeling Good” by John Burns, and be sure to do the exercises in the
book.
------
sedeki
You need a break from work and proper medical attention.
Go speak to a doctor about if they can help you get the right papers so you
can get an income and days off. That’s what the procedure is in Sweden.
------
drywater
> While on an insured mental health break for months
Keep your head up! 99,99% of this planet doesn't have mental health insurance.
I had no idea it even existed.
------
dsmurrell
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7La8-caCXpQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7La8-caCXpQ)
------
rabuse
Why does every single "Ask HN" get downvoted?
------
gjmacd
Dumb question: But have you taken a longish vacation? And I mean one that's
3-4 weeks or more that has nothing to do with work?
~~~
dajohnson89
OP is canadian but in USA, the normal amount of vacation time is 2 weeks per
year.
~~~
52-6F-62
It’s about the same in Canada. 2-4 weeks depending on your job, seniority, and
position if you’re in regular employment.
------
mewpmewp2
Pretty irrelevant, but why does OP post show as gray? Usually it is because of
downvoted, but this one is upvoted.
------
deboflo
Totally normal. Build something. Get those creative juices flowing again. Your
new career will choose you.
------
tapatio
1\. Exercise 2\. Eat healthy 3\. Reduce hours worked per day 4\. Spend time
with friends and family
------
mnemonicsloth
You're going to be okay.
You do have a huge amount of stress in your life. Plenty of people would break
down under half that. (Seriously, suppose it was one sexual assault and the
breakup. That is enough to fuck a lot of people up.)
I can't tell whether you already know this stuff. If so you can skip this
paragraph:
If I came into my therapist's office and told her I had your symptoms, she
would tell me that I had anxiety and depression from all the stress I was
carrying around. I know this because I've already done it. I didn't want to do
it because I didn't want to think of myself as crazy (mental illness has a lot
of stigma attached to it), so I resisted for a year or two. But eventually my
problems got serious enough that I couldn't deal with them any other way.
Waiting caused me a lot of trouble. I'm still pissed that I can't get those
years back.
I've never had PTSD, so I don't know what a therapist would say about your
symptoms. But I do know PTSD is treatable, as are anxiety and depression. The
treatments aren't as easy as taking a pill (though the option is there). They
work slowly, and they're process-oriented, so they discourage you from asking
_when do I get better?_ But the time does come when you feel normal again.
A few pieces of random advice:
\- Stop working until you get this sorted out. Mental health issues tend to
take away your ability to introspect. You could get worse without realizing
it, cause a lot of problems for your employer, maybe get fired and have a
black mark on your record.
\- You may not want to tell your employer why you're leaving. I don't know
what the culture is like in Toronto, but in the US people can get a little
strange about mental illness. Unless you get special mental health benefits or
something (and maybe even then) it's a good idea to just say "personal issues"
when they ask you why you're leaving.
\- You say you have a medical person. In the US medical people dispense drugs
and see you once every month or two. Therapists see you every week, and they
help you solve the majority of your problems. If it's an option, find a
therapist _that you like_. You may have to sit through a couple of duds. My
therapist is the primary reason I'm healthy today.
\- Understand that one possible endgame here is a breakdown where you suddenly
can't work or screw something up catastrophically (I've been there too :-).
Try to be graceful about it, but one way or another you should put everything
down so you can focus on getting better.
\- my email's in my profile if you want to talk.
------
say_it_as_it_is
Try vaping high cbd hemp flower daily after work for about two months. You can
mix it with thc flower to achieve a full spectrum entourage effect. Relax.
Listen to music. Let your mind wander and take you places.
Get off the amphetamines, if you're on any. Modafinil, Ritalin, whatever.
------
ankit_u_agrawal
Go on this 10 day vipassana retreat: [https://www.dhamma.org/en-
US/index](https://www.dhamma.org/en-US/index). It will immensely help you.
(its free including lodging and food for 10 days)
------
voisin
Read “The Body Keeps Score” and “Full Catastrophe Living”
------
dfraser992
My deepest sympathies - that is quite a lot to go through in just one year. I
have had my own battles with mental health issues, but never so concentrated
(just protracted). Like others, I really think you need to find a therapist
first. As for the modality, what immediately comes to mind is integrative [1].
CBT or Jungian would not be good options though, for various reasons.
A reputable therapist ought to offer a free first session (or half) to see how
you two get along and it gives them a sense of what you're struggling with. It
may take a few tries to find someone you click with (or a competent one), but
stay at it. The exact modality does not matter so much as the quality of the
relationship between client and therapist; Bowlby's attachment theory explains
this in more detail (e.g. secure attachment == good parenting).
I went through burnout a few years ago (quit the badly run by sociopaths
startup), went thru a good period (i.e. taking time off), got desperate for
work (bad idea, but couldn't focus on what I'd planned to (aka get out of
IT))), got a job, things were ok - and then went downhill again (the dead cat
bounce) due to various environmental factors and also not really addressing
some internal issues. So don't do what I did.
As for the job, you can always get another one (you're young enough). Again,
don't do what I did - I had a ton of responsibility in the startup job and so
put up with a lot of crap because a) I thought I was indispensable, b) all the
tech was my baby, etc. At the end of the day, I finally realized too late I
owned zero equity and the founders were deliberately exploiting me. Your
company sounds much better, but still, too much identification with "the job"
is endemic in IT and tends to lead to burnout.
And the PTSD worries me for some reason... just my intuition. So don't
procrastinate (like I did...) Good luck.
[1] [https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/therapy-
types/integrative...](https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/therapy-
types/integrative-therapy)
[edit] I see you have a psychiatrist - good, but you should do talk based
therapy also IMO - it may be my biases, but psychiatrists are only appropriate
for biological based issues. It is the difference in the training. A
stereotype perhaps, but when debugging software, do you immediately reach for
the soldering iron and start replacing chips?
------
greatatuin
I'm very sorry to hear about your experience.
I went through a rough patch recently with mental health too. I know how hard
it can be but I have come out the other side a much stronger person and a lot
clearer on what is important in life. Always hang in there, it gets better.
Everyone is different I know and I don't claim to be an expert but thought it
might be worth listing some of the big things that helped me and seems to help
a lot of others as well, just in case you find something:
\- Exercise like you've never exercised before. If you ever had dreams of
getting in shape or conquering a fitness challenge nothing motivated me more
than knowing I might feel a little bit better mentally for it afterwards.
\- Sleep. I got serious about making sure I got a good night sleep which was
extremely hard at times. All the sleep hygiene tips are worth learning. Not
getting too hot at night, blocking out all light, ear plugs, sleep
meditations, stretching before bed, reading something calm and positive before
bed, writing everything on your mind down so you can let it go etc etc
\- Every day writing down 3 things I'm grateful for (even small things like a
warm cup of tea), 1 happy thing that happened in the last 24 hours and 1 thing
I'm looking forward to. There's something to all the gratitude diary stuff.
\- Meditation and mindfulness were often the best way to get a break from it.
Learning these skills is one of the best things I've ever done.
\- Controlled breathing gave me some control of my nervous system. To calm
things down and slow my thoughts (especially in the middle of the night) I
personally found the 4-7-8 breathing technique worked well for me if done
properly but there's lot of others taught in yoga etc as well.
\- Socialise and talk to people a lot, even if you don't feel like it.
\- Help others. It is the right thing to do and it feels good and takes the
focus off you.
\- Learn new things, take on new challenges, things that you have no
expectations about.
\- Possibly the hardest but best lesson I learnt of all though was not to buy
into the negative thoughts my brain was having. Realising that I'm only
thinking that way because of the state my brain is in and that the state it is
in today isn't necessarily the state it will be in tomorrow, next week or next
month. The world is a great and amazing place. If it doesn't seem that way
right now it's just because of the state I'm in now but that state will change
and when it does change the world does indeed seem great and amazing again.
I also tend to agree with the advice of staying in your job. For me there was
an element of not being able to deal with too much but at the same time,
running from all responsibility and work wasn't the answer either so it was a
balance to be found until I could get back to full capacity. Taking on as much
responsibility as I could handle at each step helped to improve my self worth
and helped a lot too. But that's just me so I hope you find what is best for
you.
Hang in there and best of luck to you!
------
zackmorris
First of all, good job on taking a mental health break. I was burned out at
this time last year and should have asked for a sabbatical, but I thought I
could tough it out. I ended up having a falling out with my work and we parted
ways. A few thoughts off the top of my head:
* Do a health assessment, maybe a physical/checkup, and address any digestive or sleep issues. I had undiagnosed sleep apnea for 10-20 years which lead to severe fatigue, then acquired IBS from (I think) a meat deficiency and lack of fiber while bodybuilding, similar to what vegetarians get after 3 years if they don't meticulously watch their nutrition. I thought it was leaky gut from a sensitivity to legumes and nightshades (Dr. Gundry has info about this) but in my case, I think it was that I had substituted legumes for meat so had worn through my gut lining and also wasn’t making serotonin from tryptophan in the gut. Anyway, I went heavy on the meat and took some prenatal vitamins for a week and my digestion and mood improved within a matter of days. It was honestly a miracle.
* If your physical health is fine, start working on your mental health. I just found out a few days ago that I probably have ADHD, after reading this article on HN [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22129777](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22129777) about it. I also discovered that I have task anxiety felt as a pain between my chest and stomach when I need to do something I’m wary of (I thought I only had depression). Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has helped, mainly that I acknowledge negative thoughts as they come in and then let them pass, similar to with meditation. And I use The Secret/Manifestation to take negative thoughts like “I so don’t want to help them fix their website” with “thank creation that another opportunity fell in my lap, even though I can only save the lead right now until I’m feeling stronger”.
* My guess is that you have too much emotional baggage in your head that hasn’t been garbage collected. It will take you a period of time proportional to however long something was scribbling the hard drive in your head to recover from it. In my case, I normally do PHP and mobile development, but learned Java and Ruby for projects within 6 months that filled my head with anti-patterns that I had long ago stopped using. So I was mainly fixing mistakes in the code which I never would have made, which severely taxed my motivation. I was also on call at night 1 week out of every 3 so wasn’t dreaming. So I got so discombobulated that I was reverse engineering tasks all the way to their beginning and realizing that the entire project would have to be rewritten to make any changes. That annoyed the client and dropped my productivity to 10%. I’ve also been through PTSD due to the death of a friend 15 years ago that I felt responsible for, so slipped back into very dark and negative thought patterns of the whole world being against me. Which I realize now is what happens when someone has doubts about or loses their faith - what we might call a midlife crisis.
* If decluttering your mind through meditation and perhaps counseling feels too overwhelming right now, you can start with your immediate surroundings. I just spent the last few weeks cleaning my home office and shredding paperwork from 15 years ago. I had worked through burnout to depression 6 months ago due to my girlfriend having me do a bunch of home improvement projects around the house which got me over my starting friction. But cleaning my surroundings got me from depression to anxiety as my todo list shrank enough that I could see the forest for the trees. My task anxiety was so crippling that I was going days between getting even one thing done. But I discovered that by separating the thinking from the doing by building my todo list during one time period and working through it during another time period, I was able to act as my own boss. That let me visualize where I needed to be long term and then get into the zone while tasking, because it’s easier for me to do what other people tell me. While burned out, we often lose our ability to self-start.
* I don’t really have a fifth point, so a here’s a bunch grouped together: forgive yourself, be patient with yourself in your recovery, know that you are not alone (literally millions of people in the US alone struggle with burnout and depression), try to have as many emotional free expression tasks in your life as analytical so that you can do something constructive instead of procrastinate, talk to others who are struggling like yourself even if it’s just online forums and chat rooms.
I would say that I am pretty much back to normal, but unfortunately I haven’t
really programmed in months. I am really, really struggling with the idea of
going back to work. I need to, but feel uncomfortable taking on a full time
job right now. I’ve been looking at freelancing, but unfortunately
freelancer.com and upwork.com are completely saturated with 10-25 (as many as
85!) coder applications submitted for every contract I’m interested in. I’m
trying the gig economy, but it’s kind of the off-season right now where I live
so am only making $50-75 here and there. I’m looking into non-programming work
that doesn’t emphasize problem solving as much - perhaps CAD or copywriting.
I’m eager to work and full of energy and ideas, I just.. can’t write code..
right now. I’m hoping to get my blog back up and write some in-depth articles
about the logistical side of programming and
ADHD/PTSD/burnout/depression/anxiety, about solutions for when technical
hurdles are not the problem. I’m up for anything, if anyone is in the same
boat or needs help writing/planning/designing something.
~~~
Damian_Z
This is excellent advice, especially the sleep apnea. Wishing the best of
health & happiness.
------
i386
Go on a very very long vacation!
------
michael-ax
Hi young man, this is not burnout. You seem to have reached the point where
your outer ideas of life no longer serve the organic inner ideas of life per
se, and so you have been creating all sort of pain around yourself in order to
notice that the conflict you've created can no longer be maintained.
Go back some years to where you last re-wrote your self-definition and take
out anything that's not real. This kind of struggle is one where you are going
to have to extricate yourself from your thoughts and ideas, otherwise known as
illusions, about life, and become an actual self-reliant/psychological adult
.. which is supposed to happen at this stage/age.
If you can manage to keep your work connection as a means of everyday
grounding, by all means do that while you mourn the end of childhood.
Anyhow, you wrote in the comments: Now that it's done, I feel like I can relax
a bit and also accept that things can go poorly and it doesn't have to be
devastating.
And that's the truth. I would underline it. Remember it while your emotions
suggest that you should feel like shit. Then it will pass. Its not fair, its
not easy, but adulthood is worth it.
~~~
epanchin
Young _man_?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Senators put forward new bill to halt expansion of gov’t hacking powers - callcallcall
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/05/senators-put-forward-new-bill-to-halt-expansion-of-govt-hacking-powers/
======
scoobydoobydane
Let's hope that democracy works..
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Twitter's tech problems take a toll on developers - bootload
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9179446/Twitter_s_tech_problems_take_a_toll_on_developers
======
rick888
This is why you shouldn't base your entire business on a 3rd party service.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Oruapp – an anonymous proximity messenger for web - vasanthv
https://oruapp.co
======
fiatjaf
This is nice. What happens when I'm in within 0.5km from someone and from
someone else, but these two other people are not within reach of each other?
~~~
vasanthv
The message will be delivered only to people within 0.5km. But you can still
message anyone by @mentioning their handle even-though they are not near you.
Did I answer your question?
------
boniface316
I really like this feature! Whats your vision?
~~~
vasanthv
The idea sparked when I went to a tech conference of 1500 attendees and there
was no way to chat with the attendees.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Linus Torvalds on why he isn't nice - yuvadam
http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/01/linus-torvalds-on-why-he-isnt-nice-i-dont-care-about-you/
======
SRSposter
<3 Linus
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Breathe - a psychedelic short film - albiabia
https://vimeo.com/72494954
======
mbell
I'm quite fascinated by what effects on the brain can be achieved with content
of this type built for the Oculous Rift.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How to build a network for Investor-Operator networks? - jonas_kgomo
Venture Firms are famously known for having highly exclusive networks of their own and that is part of their identity(brand). It takes years to build that network, and most are not willing to share their connections publicly. Visible Connect[1] and Angel List seems to be building such a platform for angels and venture firms.
How would you get around getting these kind of customers without a network in VC?
Why isn't there a global scale network for Venture Firms or a YC for multiple Firms?
[1] https://connect.visible.vc/
======
exolymph
There's no way to scale personal credibility.
~~~
jonas_kgomo
Thanks exolymph, it's interesting there is no hack for this! I guess this is
why it is not easy for Silicon Valley to be distributed, since VC's are
saturated there.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How will the world change post pandemic? - zarkov99
What do HN members think will be the major short, medium and long term changes coming out of this? What are some good essays on the matter?
======
talmr
I'm hoping that people will be eager to go back to the norm of going out and
about.
I'm really not that keen of living in a future where a majority of people stay
at home or use InstaCart to order groceries. That is just lame, and frankly I
don't want that. We are social animals and we need to get back asap.
Long term I think that we will shift more towards self-sustenance. For the
most part, people are listening to the authorities and I'm wondering if this
will lead to a rise in CIVIC nationalism. This is the first time in my life
that I've seen people actually work together for the greater good. I live in
California and yeah it is a bubble here, but that's my experience.
------
zarkov99
I think a few things will change, at least for a while. I think there will be
a shift towards remote work of all sorts, likely with an accompanied
improvement in tele-presence tech. Maybe VR will benefit from this tail-wind.
I think some types of business, like restaurants, gyms, theaters, professional
sports will be hurting for a long time. I think there will be a backlash
against globalization though I have my doubts that it will produce anything
more than campaign slogans. I think there will be an exodus from great
metropolis, particularly from NY, particularly from families. I think many
people will burrow in: invest in improving their homes, prep, travel less,
focus on their local communities.
~~~
greenyoda
> I think some types of business, like restaurants, gyms, theaters,
> professional sports will be hurting for a long time.
There's another place where people are packed ever closer together: air
travel. I think there will be a significant long-term decline in at least
vacation air travel, and possibly a somewhat lesser decline in business
travel. As a result of this, the hotel and tourism industries will also take a
bit hit (including Airbnb). The cruise ship industry may take even longer to
recover.
NYC will be particularly badly hit by this, since we get a huge percentage of
our income from tourism.
~~~
AnimalMuppet
> There's another place where people are packed ever closer together: air
> travel.
Maybe one result will be to increase the seat pitch, then. (Hey, a guy can
dream...)
------
rawgabbit
Anti-Globalization/Nationalism will re-emerge. Countries such as Japan are
subsidizing moving factories out of China and back to their own country.
Remote Delivery is the new paradigm. Instacart and Doordash delivery services
to your door is the new normal. If you can afford it, why take a chance going
to the grocery store only to get infected?
Political division and tribalism will accelerate. As more people are being
cocooned in their homes and reading/listening only to their partisan news
channel of choice, identity politics will become even more vicious.
~~~
zarkov99
I really hope you are wrong on this last one but the way the virus is being so
disgustingly politicized leads me to believe you might be right.
------
zhengiszen
Human beings are prone to forget... even the most traumatic experience...
~~~
greenyoda
If someone's relatives or friends die, they're not likely to forget it for a
long time. If someone comes close to death themselves, they're not likely to
forget that either.
~~~
easytiger
That happens every day. Covid-19 or not.
------
sixQuarks
Mullets will make a comeback as a hairstyle, since we can't reach the back of
our head when we're self cutting.
~~~
perilunar
You can with clippers. I expect we'll see more buzz cuts.
------
Giorgi
I think governments will be more quick to act and close down borders if virus
breaks up somewhere else. Other than that - nothing much.
~~~
easytiger
Or perhaps we will learn that the reaction to this was grossly over egged and
completely unnecessary
~~~
zarkov99
Why would you say that? NY, Italy, Spain suffered horrifically, do you think
the reaction was exaggerated there?
------
htk
At first I thought people would be in general more afraid of debt, as the
world could stop spinning at any moment but payments still had to be made.
However, now with all these government aids it might point to the other
direction as in “if the economy stops I know the government is going to give
me a hand”.
~~~
sixQuarks
If by "people" you mean corporations, then yes. But actual working people who
don't have enough money to buy food and are waiting months for a one-time
$1,200 check... I don't think so.
------
agustif
Probably not much? We humans are pretty easy to fall twice in a same rock.
------
joshlk
I think this could be a turing point in tackling climate change. People will
be more aware of how impending existential crises are real and can have an
effect on our daily lives.
~~~
zarkov99
I doubt it. Just like nothing was done until the virus started killing people
not will be done until climate change starts to really kick in.
------
patatino
Humans are great in adapting to different environments, which is great for
survival, but in this case, not so great because when we are back to normal,
we will remember it as "wasn't too bad, next time we will be prepared" and
move on.
------
aaron695
I'd hope vanity projects like recycling and global warming are forgotten and
we work together like in the post WWII era and dream of building a futuristic
society again.
But, short term we will realise RL is better than digital life. There will be
a backlash to digital while at the same time having integrated it into our
lives even more. So a mixed model will come out.
Medium term: Nationalism has been accelerated and developing countries are 5
years poorer.
IE: China hate has now been legitimized, they are the new Russia along with
Russia is the new Russia as we realise they also hurt us in this crisis.
Elections might be funny to mess with, pandemics is more war like.
C19 doesn't allow us to see the future anymore than before. So long term is
unknown as always.
------
Ghjklov
As an Asian male, dating prospects in the US for us weren't ever good anyway,
but this pandemic may be the death sentence/nail in the coffin for us.
------
Jemaclus
I think society will remain largely the same on the surface. Underneath, we'll
see some interesting changes from an American perspective. Here are a few off
the top of my head:
1\. The Cat's Out of the Bag
\- So many things can't really be taken back. The myth of "you need to be in
the office" is destroyed. There are benefits to being in the office, but many
people are continuing their jobs as normal -- and perhaps even performing
better! We'll see a shift in the workforce as remote working becomes more
palatable and almost a necessity going forward. This will have more subtle
ramifications on the global economy as jobs no longer need to be local to be
acquired. (To be clear, most businesses will force their employees to come
into the office, but the WFH option is going to be much more attractive after
this, and successful businesses will have to adjust.) Because of this, we may
see companies eliminate physical offices altogether, and there might be a
small decline in corporate real estate. I don't really think this last bit
will happen, but it will be interesting to find out.
\- Movie distributors have started to allow "in-theater" movies to be streamed
via Apple TV, Amazon Prime, and Google Play. It's 20 bucks for a movie, which
is expensive for a digital rental, but it's far cheaper than going to a
theater. Those of us who only went to theaters for big releases might still
go, but we'll see a shift in people staying home with their families and
friends watch a $20 movie and free(ish) popcorn and candy on a giant TV
screen, rather than spending $50+ just to see a movie in theaters. The
physical movie theater experience will have to shift to something more
special, like Alamo Drafthouse or something along those lines.
\- In the education space, most parts of the United States have the concept of
"snow days", which are days in the calendar that are provided in case of
weather-related emergencies such as hurricanes or snow, where schools have to
be shut down or are otherwise inaccessible. The cat's out of the bag on this
one. No more snow days. Your classes will be taught virtually. If your local
schools don't do virtual classes now, you can bet they'll be preparing those
for the 2021-2022 school year and beyond. This may or may not have
ramifications for the idea of "school districts" as well. Private schools may
go virtual. Homeschooling rates may skyrocket. Not sure what exactly to expect
here, but at the very least, snow days are over.
2\. Industries and Businesses
\- Whoever cracks the code on virtual socialization will make billions. Zoom
and Skype are designed for businesses: 1 person talks and the rest listen.
They don't work for groups socializing or party atmospheres. Whoever can
figure out how to make that work... well, let's just say I wish I were them.
\- Along those lines, virtual entertainment will skyrocket. Virtual board
games, "pub crawls", movie nights, you name it.
\- Just as a lot of companies in the software development industry have
pivoted to "mobile first" development, we'll see businesses and restaurants
rethink their business models to be "delivery prepared". Gourmet restaurants
will have to come up with cheaper delivery menus. Who's going to pay $40 for
three pieces of ravioli with caviar on top to be delivered to their house?
Nobody. But we will pay $40 for a good pizza, some garlic bread, and maybe
some wings. BYOB, of course. Bookstores, shoe stores, board game stores, vinyl
record stores, Gap, West Elm, IKEA, and any other store that relies on foot
traffic will have to come up with backup plans in case foot traffic
disappears. If they can't do this, they'll go out of business. Worse than
that, many of those kinds of businesses will just never have newcomers because
it may be too difficult or expensive to have a backup plan. (Gamestop, for
example.)
\- Just because we can start going back to work in July doesn't mean this is
all over. We'll still need to social distance on some level, wash our hands
constantly, wear masks, and be careful. Concerts, airplanes, bars, gyms, and
other places where people get tightly packed in will have to have alternative
business models to survive in that new reality. Not only that, but for the
near term there will still be fear of those places. How do they cope when
people are afraid to come to a concert? How many people can you fit into a bar
on Super Bowl Sunday and still maintain some semblance of social distance?
Long term? They'll probably go back to normal. But for the short-to-medium
term, there will be a number of changes there.
3\. Social, Economic, and Legal Change
\- It is highly likely that we will lose protections out of fear, just like we
did post-9/11 with the PATRIOT Act. Things that seem innocuous and necessary
on the surface, but over the long term have devastating consequences. States,
counties, cities, and other municipalities now have precedent for ordering
everyone to stay at home. Not quite martial law, but close enough that the
slippery slope has started. I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist, but I can
see governments shutting down businesses or venues for "reasons" that may or
may not be true.
\- Divorces and breakups will go up in the short term, as people are cooped up
together in ways that they never had been before. There will be a ton of
babies in 7-10 months. Population demographics will change.
\- The recession will have longer lasting financial impacts in certain
sectors. I'm not an economist, so I can't go into much detail here, but
housing prices, imports/exports, transportation, and hospitality downturns
will have ripple effects across everything else. We might see investments
diversify even further into new sectors, or maybe double down on tech. Who
knows?
\- Hospitals will (hopefully) be better staffed, especially with emergency
equipment like ventilators. On the flip side, ERs will be overwhelmed for the
short-to-midterm future, with patients flooding it out of fear that their
cough might be coronavirus or whatever the next big pandemic will be. This
will have an impact on city budgets, tax revenues, and more.
\- The FDA, OSHA, and other health and safety organizations will introduce new
regulations designed to prevent the spread of another pandemic. More red tape.
Maybe it's worth it, maybe not, but it will almost certainly happen.
\- The unemployment numbers will cause a shift in the country's economy. A lot
of these people won't have jobs to go back to, so entire sectors of industry
might disappear overnight, and others might shoot up out of nowhere. The gig
economy will see a boost in the short-term.
\- Social programs like unemployment insurance, universal basic income, and
some flavor of Medicare for All will become immensely popular, even more so
than now. I'm not confident that anything progressive will come out of it in
our current political climate, but we'll almost certain see public support for
these things increase to new levels.
\- Not a prediction, but I'm a little curious as to how (or if!) the anti-vaxx
movement changes as we emerge from this pandemic.
I can think of a few others, but I'll leave it there for now. To sum it up: in
the short term, the changes will be drastic, medium-term things will be rocky,
and long term things will largely return to normal but the fundamentals
shifted with long-lasting but subtle (or not) implications. Most Americans'
day-to-day life won't appear to be that different in a year.
~~~
brianwawok
Long post so won’t comment on all of it. Many could happen.
Disagree on WFH change though. Many of us have had WFH power for a long time.
A huge percent of tech workers use laptops and have the raw tech to WFH. A lot
of developers (like me) still enjoy having an office to collaborate in. A lot
of business owners (like me) will continue to require in office employees when
this is over.
This isn’t like some shock that proved to us how good WFH is. I have worked
years of my life remote. I know the pros and I know the cons. I will continue
to have a local office and hire local developers.
~~~
Jemaclus
I agree with all of that, honestly. What I think is going to change is the
belief by the company that WFH is undesirable. Most companies, even those that
allow remote work, would prefer that everyone be in the office. There are tons
of companies (my own included) that discouraged WFH policies, but given that
we've been 100% remote for the last 3-4 weeks and the sky hasn't fallen, I can
see a lot of companies (and a lot of employees!) warming up to the idea that
WFH is not only palatable, but even a good idea and a nice perk for attracting
new employees. My company would never have allowed this many people to WFH in
a pre-COVID world, but I can definitely see that changing in the future.
Yes, there are very good reasons that people can and should work in an office.
Absolutely. I 100% agree with you. But I think that businesses will start to
realize that there are just as good alternatives to a lot of those reasons --
and especially if, as I mentioned, someone can crack the virtual social
problem. If it's as easy to hop on a video call and sort something out
(virtual whiteboarding?!) in a minute or two, then that's just as, if not
more, efficient than being in an office. If we can virtually socialize
similarly to how we do in an office, have water cooler moments similarly, hold
meetings similarly... then a lot of those reasons fall away.
To be clear, I'm not saying that businesses will move to 100% remote. That's
obviously not going to happen no matter what for 99% of companies. But I think
the _idea_ of WFH is going to become much, much, much more palatable and
desirable to both companies and employees out of this.
~~~
bruce511
Be careful what you wish for. Once an employer discovers your job can be done
remotely, it's only a small step to discover it can be done cheaper by someone
living somewhere else...
Of course some jobs are a hybrid, where you only come to the office a couple
times a week (which then limits the savings to the business anyway) but for
the genuine 100‰ work from home expect serious job insecurity.
Live in LA? Wfh to beat the traffic? Well someone living in Ohio,or elsewhere
can do the same work for less money. Live in Ohio? There's someone in Canada
that can do it for less...
~~~
Jemaclus
I think that's the future, whether we want it or not... We've already been
seeing that with respect to call centers and outsourcing tech stuff for
decades. It's only a matter of time before we become a truly globalized
economy where any white-collar job can be done regardless of location.
I think a more interesting dynamic that would arise out of this is how
compensation works. Right now, someone in San Francisco makes a bajillion
times what someone doing the same work in Kalamazoo makes. If businesses can
seamlessly hire someone in Kalamazoo for a fraction of the price, why wouldn't
they? They would! and should! But then what happens to the person in the San
Francisco Bay Area? Not just the person, but what happens to the entire area?
Will all the techies in SF start moving to cheaper places to live? Or will
they try and stay in SF? What will happen to housing prices or food prices?
Will gentrification start reversing itself?
This sort of leads into an off-topic conversation, but I'll mention it because
I'm personally fascinated by it. Right now, I get paid X dollars per year
because the business has decided that I generate more than that in revenue
somehow, and some value of that $X is due to my geographic location (San
Francisco). If I were able to work remotely and then decide I don't want to
live in SF any longer and move to, say, Jackson, Mississippi, then what would
happen to my pay? The company would likely try and cut my pay as a "cost of
living" adjustment. But that's absurd, right? I was worth X dollars/yr in SF,
and I'm still worth X dollars/yr regardless of whether I'm in an office in SF
or in a cabin in Alaska or a coffeeshop in Vietnam.
I have counterparts in an office on the other side of the country that make
half what I make for the same work, all because they live in a particular
geographic area. But that's dumb. We generate the same amount of revenue from
the company (theoretically) regardless of our geographic area. But because
they live in a place with a lower COL, they get paid less and the company
makes more off of them. The whole idea is absurd in a number of levels.
I digress, but to turn this back to your point: if this suddenly _does_
happen, what happens to "COL adjustments"? Are they still a thing?
Wouldn't I be able to say that I'm worth X dollars whether I'm based in Iowa
City vs NYC? Wouldn't everyone be able to do that? Is it a foregone conclusion
that it's a race to the bottom, or would wages and jobs stabilize into some
sort of equilibrium? Maybe $500k salaries go away, but they wouldn't
necessarily fall down to $50k salaries, and in fact might stabilize somewhere
closer to $150k, and that's more than enough for most people in the USA to
live decently. (I made up those numbers totally out of my ass, but it's the
point that matters, not the numbers.)
Anyway... interesting things to think about.
------
nscalf
A few items I've been thinking about that come to mind at the moment: *
Companies will see the benefit of WFH, and some significant portion of them
will make that a long running option (performance pending), some smaller
percentage will 100% make the leap
* A significant amount of individuals will demand WFH options for their current/future companies
* Companies will view the strategic vulnerability that is centralized manufacturing in China, and a large portion of companies will diversify, even at higher cost
* Assuming we get a vaccine in 12 months, vaccine development will likely take a higher percentage of medical research funding. Previous iterations of vaccines took 5+ years to make, so if the cost and effectiveness of mapping the genome so quickly have really had such a large impact, this will be a more utilized tool in our toolbelt.
* (US) Some portion of individuals will spend a long time out of the work force intentionally, due to the increase in unemployment benefits. This will drive up the effective minimum wage, and may well pave the way to a true minimum wage increase depending on how the next election goes.
* (JP) We might see a shift in work/life balance amongst the Japanese
* (Globally) I think there is a good chance that, on the other end of the, the WHO has large scale changes following investigations.
* (US) There seems to be an increasingly likely chance that the president loses support come election time, but there is also an increasingly likely chance that our elections have some degree of fraudulence to them (voter suppression for instance).
* (US) The president has already taken many large power grabs in the wake of this pandemic, removing the oversights for the 2 Trillion stimulus bill, removing supplies from states that are blue and giving them to states that are red, etc. You can argue whatever you like about this, but whatever your politics are it's abuse of power in the open. Get out and vote.
~~~
robk
You had me until you got to the president paranoia.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Security Flaws in Adobe Acrobat Reader Allow Gaining Root on macOS Silently - feross
https://rekken.github.io/2020/05/14/Security-Flaws-in-Adobe-Acrobat-Reader-Allow-Malicious-Program-to-Gain-Root-on-macOS-Silently/
======
katabasis
At this point I consider the Adobe suite to be basically the same as malware.
Their apps seem to want to take over your system, install all kinds of
"helpers" that run in the background constantly doing god knows what, etc. And
their security record is terrible.
It's a shame because as someone who has a lot of interest in design,
photography, etc. I acknowledge that they create some very powerful tools. I
still miss Lightroom. But I'm just not willing to give them this much control
over my computing environment any longer.
~~~
oh-4-fucks-sake
For just a free, straight-forward, full-featured PDF reader/viewer/text-finder
I've been a long time user of Foxit Reader:
[https://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf-reader/](https://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf-
reader/)
It's a mature product at this point and have had a good experience for years
now.
~~~
MaxBarraclough
I used to recommend Foxit too, but all major browsers now ship with good PDF
support.
~~~
TylerE
For me, not being in the browser is a feature, not a bug. I often want to be
able to open a PDF in a dedicated window I can easily switch to.
~~~
MaxBarraclough
Sure, but you can open a PDF in a new browser window. I'd rather not broaden
my trusted codebase by installing another PDF reader.
~~~
TylerE
OSs have this annoying habit of condensing multiple windows of a single
application down to one taskbar item/dock item/whatever.
~~~
alpaca128
On Windows this can easily be remedied in the options accessible via the
taskbar. I always turn this off and tell it to show the full window titles
instead of just the icons. Windows are not browser tabs, I don't ever have
enough of them open to need that stacking behaviour.
~~~
MaxBarraclough
Another option for Chrome/Windows is to open a Guest window or an Incognito
window, which is treated as a separate window-group.
~~~
MaxBarraclough
Too late to edit: I see now that only a Guest window gets its own window-
group. Incognito windows do not.
------
_bxg1
The good news is, unlike Windows, macOS has a fantastic default PDF viewer
("Preview") and I don't know why anyone would ever install Acrobat on it
~~~
mfer
Preview has issues with PDFs with form fields right now. It causes a bunch of
people to need to install Acrobat for that use case. :(
~~~
jmondi
Installed Acrobat a few weeks ago for this use case specifically. I feel like
Preview used to be a lot better at editing fields, recently it has been a real
pain.
~~~
ggregoire
Are there not any alternatives to Adobe Acrobat Reader on macOS for editing
fields and other use cases listed in the other comments?
~~~
leejoramo
Apple's Preview does a pretty good job with generic pdf forms. Unfortunately,
Adobe has created multiple types of pdf forms using different technologies and
very complex specs. Apple does not support all of these. (You can also find
many cases of PDF forms using Adobe tools that do not round trip between
platforms).
PDF Export does a good job of filing in the gaps.
[https://pdfexpert.com](https://pdfexpert.com)
~~~
rspeed
Not just complex specs. Some of them are proprietary.
------
pjc50
At this point Adobe have to be responsible for some overwhelming fraction of
all desktop exploits. There's _always_ bugs in PDF readers. Not to mention
their history of Flash (admittedly bought in rather than written)
~~~
nine_k
Even if a PDF viewer is full of security holes like a colander, I don't see
why this should lead to gaining _root_ access.
Why on Earth should Acrobat have any part even running as root? This design
seems detective.
~~~
saagarjha
Updater.
~~~
zamalek
And this "inventing your own launcher/updater" fetish that seems to be
pervading software. There is a corollary to Zawinski's law here: every piece
of software eventually installs yet another shitty updater alongside itself.
Fuck the perfectly functional updater built in the Mac store.
~~~
coldpie
Yeah, for all the complaining we do about the various app stores, shitty devs
like Adobe really forced the platform vendors' hands on this. Users and devs
can't be trusted with that capability, the platform vendor needs to be the
adult in the room.
~~~
vageli
> Yeah, for all the complaining we do about the various app stores, shitty
> devs like Adobe really forced the platform vendors' hands on this. Users and
> devs can't be trusted with that capability, the platform vendor needs to be
> the adult in the room.
It doesn't even have to be like this though. Why not a simple notification
directing me to the download? I guess reduced friction but is that really it?
~~~
chii
if done well, an updater is fine. See chrome/firefox's updaters.
~~~
zamalek
Those updaters do work great, probably because (at least on Windows) they
circumvent elevation by not requiring it.
The problem is that, if every app decides to use its own updater, there's a
good chance that your internet line could get saturated when everything
decides to update at once (especially when this awful PDF reader is _180MB_ ).
A system-wide updater avoids this issue.
------
nneonneo
Adobe patched this to prevent symlinks but apparently didn’t bother to add any
sandboxing to their root helper tool. Logically this means that any future
bugs in this tool will result in the same level of exploitability.
Nowadays self-updating software, from the user perspective, can be as easy as
using Touch ID, so why Adobe and other companies are still messing around with
complex, insecure and fragile autoupdate permission bypasses is beyond me.
~~~
monadic2
The idea that any pdf reader, or indeed any aspect of itself, might require to
run as root is ridiculous. We’ve had drag and drop install the entire history
of adobe-on-mac os x. What is taking them so long?
------
jbverschoor
When will I be finally able to use adobe malware through the AppStore, fully
sandboxed?
That 15% recurring is not too much to spend to have a secure system without
all the malware adobe installs on your laptop. Disgusting company.
------
numbsafari
It's amazing how the software industry has managed to insulate itself from any
kind of serious liability when it comes to the dumpster fire that is security
and privacy.
Could you imagine if other engineering disciplines had the kind of liability
protection that software companies do?
~~~
aduitsis
Faulty avionics software leading to an airplane crash will get all due
liability. Faulty pdf readers leading to a pc getting taken over, doubtful.
~~~
numbsafari
PC takeovers leading to millions of people being victims of identity theft, or
used as a backdoor for national security relevant hacking efforts... We need
to stop acting like these things are “insignificant” and accept responsibility
for our actions.
------
CivBase
Why does _anyone_ install a dedicated app for _reading_ PDFs?
Edge, Chrome, and Firefox all have built-in PDF readers. macOS's built-in
Preview app can read PDFs. Just counting those four solutions, most users
already have at least two PDF readers on their computer without installing
Acrobat, Nitro, Foxit, or whatever.
_Stop installing dedicated apps for reading PDFs! They are bloatware meant to
encourage users to buy PDF editors which most will never need!_
~~~
superhuzza
I use Okular because I like being able to:
\- Highlight
\- Leave expandable comments
\- See the page thumbnails
\- Have access to area select/table select
\- Configure my pdf reader quite a bit
I spend a lot of time reading .pdfs because I'm in grad school right now.
Using Okular is way more convenient than trying to use browsers. This is not a
strange use case at all, many people who frequently read .pdfs have the same
needs.
And it's clearly not trying to sell me on a pdf editor, because it's not
related to a paid editor. Or at least I'm not aware of it, either way is fine
by me.
~~~
Terretta
Those are all cool, and for those plus more, I prefer the relatively obscure
LiquidText for annotation:
[https://www.liquidtext.net/liquidtextadeeperdive](https://www.liquidtext.net/liquidtextadeeperdive)
(To a sibling comment, just stop using MacOS: it's not a rule, but the
usability and craftsmanship sensibilities that create software like LiquidText
tend to cluster with the usability and craftsmanship sensibilities that
appreciate MacOS.)
~~~
codethief
>
> [https://www.liquidtext.net/liquidtextadeeperdive](https://www.liquidtext.net/liquidtextadeeperdive)
I was really hoping to find a good application for reading & annotating PDFs
on Linux behind this link.
:(
~~~
superhuzza
Give okular a try!
------
tech234a
I tend to use Adobe's little-known Acrobat Customization Wizard DC for
Windows[1] to disable some of the unnecessary features in Adobe Reader. It is
free and does not require a license, nor does the enterprise installer for
Adobe Reader require a license. Features I disable include the online
subscription services (actually a checkbox labelled "Disable Upsell"), cloud
storage integrations, and Adobe sign-in. I enable Protected View for documents
from "potentially unsafe locations" (basically downloads/emails). You can also
disable automatic updates, though I tend not to. These changes make the UI far
less cluttered. I suspect that these changes also improve speed, security and
privacy, though I have not done any particular testing to confirm that.
Basically you use it by uninstalling any existing Adobe Reader installations,
installing the customization wizard and then downloading the enterprise
installer for Adobe Reader[2] and extracting it with 7-Zip[3] (or the commands
Adobe provides in the documentation). Then, you open the msp file in the
wizard and customize your options. Finally, you save the changes and run
setup.exe in the directory of extracted files. Once you're done, you can
uninstall the customization wizard.
There is also a version of the wizard for macOS[4], but it seems to be far
more limited in terms of what can be configured through the UI, and most of
the configuration has to be done by manually editing plist files.
[1]: [https://www.adobe.com/devnet-
docs/acrobatetk/tools/Wizard/in...](https://www.adobe.com/devnet-
docs/acrobatetk/tools/Wizard/index.html) [2]:
[https://get.adobe.com/reader/enterprise/](https://get.adobe.com/reader/enterprise/)
[3]: [https://www.7-zip.org/](https://www.7-zip.org/) [4]:
[https://www.adobe.com/devnet-
docs/acrobatetk/tools/AdminGuid...](https://www.adobe.com/devnet-
docs/acrobatetk/tools/AdminGuide_Mac/predeployment_configuration.html)
------
jrochkind1
> Today, Adobe Acrobat Reader DC for macOS patched three critical
> vulnerabilities
If you have a mac, you might want to know what version of Adobe Acrobat Reader
DC is necessary to have the patches.
The OP doesn't appear to say? The CVE's referenced (which ordinarily would say
the patched version I think) all still appear to be protected/private, at the
point I write this.
[https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-
bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2020-9615](https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-
bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2020-9615)
[https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-
bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2020-9614](https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-
bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2020-9614)
[https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-
bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2020-9613](https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-
bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2020-9613)
My Mac does have "Adobe Acrobat Reader DC" on it. [btw, when did "DC" become
part of the name and what does it mean?] If I open it up and choose "Check for
Updates" from the "Help" menu, it does say "Adobe Acrobat Reader is already up
to date." I'm not sure exactly when/how it would have been updated though.
Under "About Acrobat Reader DC", it claims to be version `2020.009.2063`. It
does not include a release date with the version.
Am I up to date and protected? How would I know?
------
elliekelly
And once you install anything Adobe on your mac its basically impossible to
completely remove it.
~~~
sandymcmurray
I rely on AppZapper for this. One-click delete of apps and all related files.
[https://www.appzapper.com/](https://www.appzapper.com/)
~~~
elliekelly
Has anyone had success using this with Adobe? I once had to install some
Creative Cloud apps for a short-term project so I ran tree on the root
directory as superuser before and immediately after installing and then used a
diff checker so I’d know exactly what they put on my machine.
It took forever. When I was done with the project I “uninstalled” everything
and then deleted every single file and folder from the list _and_ manually
poked around to see if there was anything lurking that I might have missed. I
thought for sure I’d won.
About a week later I got a notification that Adobe Creative Cloud was
requesting keychain access.
I’m convinced it’s un-uninstallable.
------
heavyset_go
Why does a PDF reader need a non-sandboxed daemon to escalate privileges?
~~~
tinus_hn
Because the people who wrote this are lazy and don’t know what they are doing.
They should not be writing this kind of software.
~~~
empath75
probably more that reader is a big pile of legacy code that is decades old.
~~~
tinus_hn
Mac OS X is not decades old so neither is this platform specific upgrade
mechanism.
~~~
varikin
You're right, it's only 19 years old. But it might have a cross platform C++
library for parsing PDFs that is even older that was used on OS 9 and other
platforms.
~~~
tinus_hn
So? The issues in this article are in the update mechanism, not the PDF
handling.
------
sersi
And this is why when AWS gave me the PCI AOC in a format that only works with
adobe acrobat reader, I created a VM and installed it there.
------
olyjohn
Business as usual with Acrobat Reader. There are so many PDF alternatives out
there, I don't see why so many people keep using it. I understand that there
are some Adobe-specific extensions that won't work in other viewers, but
typically those are use-cases for things that should not be done via PDF.
~~~
dylan604
Please list for me the alternatives that are so ubiquitous as PDF that I can
send someone a copy of a document that they cannot modify while still being
able to read/print/etc, and is not a pure image format that is multiple MBs in
size.
~~~
saagarjha
> they cannot modify
Except Acrobat lets you modify PDFs. If you're trying to send someone
something that they cannot usefully modify, you're kind of doomed from the
start.
~~~
reaperducer
_Except Acrobat lets you modify PDFs. If you 're trying to send someone
something that they cannot usefully modify, you're kind of doomed from the
start._
Acrobat won't let the Average Joe modify a password-protected PDF. Neither
will Preview. There are ways around it, but for 95% of the people receiving a
PDF, it's as good as locked.
~~~
2ion
That's why these "read-only" PDF are laughable. Just sign your PDFs (there is
full support, no excuses possible) to create an authoritative/accurate
version.
------
greggman3
I think I kind of wish there were fines for this kind of issue. I know all
software has bugs and I certainly wouldn't want to be on the hook for my free
software but I don't charge for free software.
IANAL but I seems like for many non-software products there would be legal
repercussions of they caused damage or had other issues. Is there any
reasonable way to apply or morph those kinds of laws to software? Ideally it
seems like it would be nice if the incentives changed so running all these
services in the background is too big a legal risk and they stop?
------
capital_guy
Of course there are. I checked the processes running on my macOS machine a few
days after installing creative cloud because it kept loading upon stat. only
to find there are like 5 creative cloud processes constantly running in the
background. No clearly visible setting within the application to stop these or
keep it from running at launch either. This type of software design is
unacceptable imo
------
Ciantic
It starts to look like Mozilla's pdf.js is the most secure viewer, at least
it's using the browser's sandbox that is way more battle hardened than
anything Adobe can come up with.
~~~
heavyset_go
Is there sufficient sandboxing going on under the hood with Firefox? I wrap it
with firejail because I was under the impression that Firefox was lacking in
that regard.
~~~
bscphil
On Linux, as of Firefox 60, Firefox now uses Linux namespaces to isolate the
various processes it starts from the rest of the system, where supported.
[https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Sandbox#Linux](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Sandbox#Linux)
This is the same approach taken by Chromium. I can't say anything for certain
about other operating systems, haven't really looked into it.
I suppose that doesn't answer the question of whether pdf.js specifically runs
inside one of the sandboxed processes, but it seems very likely that it does.
------
BaronVonSteuben
Maybe not helpful, but shout out to one of my famous apps, evince (default
gnome PDF viewer). really well polished app.
I use Xournal for editing PDFs. Would love if evince could do more than just
annotations.
------
bobbyz
Good thing the Canadian government has decided to only use Adobe's proprietary
pdf format (only openable by Acrobat btw) for all PDFs (lease agreements,
academic forms) hahaha!
~~~
rubatuga
Can you give an example? I've been using the PDFs in Preview without too many
problems
~~~
bobbyz
The official lease forms for Ontario are in proprietary pdf. The only way to
sign is to print, manually sign, and scan.
------
qwerty456127
The problem is there still are PDF forms many people need Adobe Acrobat Reader
for. I use Okular and SumatraPDF to read normal PDFs but there is a form I am
required by the state to fill regularly so I had to manually extract Adobe
Acrobat Reader from an old Ubuntu repository.
------
korginator
By my last count there were 36 separate sections in the Adobe acrobat reader
preferences, including a fair bit of internet and javascript related
preferences, and gems like "Security" and "Security (Enhanced)".
I've lost track of the services they have scattered around my Mac that are
running silently, doing things I can only hope are not malign.
Just today I was debating whether to move back fully to Preview or keep
Adobe's bloatware on my Mac, and I think this made the decision for me.
Given that Adobe has generously scattered a bunch of random stuff around my
Mac, could one expect something like AppCleaner to find and clean out all the
bits and pieces, or is that too much to ask?
------
myself248
Why would Acrobat be running as root in the first place?
~~~
sjburt
It’s a vuln in the auto-updater, which they need to plug all the vulns in the
reader...
~~~
cjbprime
Does the updater need to run as root, though? They could install a launchd
process running as the installing user who owns the /Applications folder. This
is what everything else does -- privileged helper daemons are not common.
------
indymike
It's kind of amazing that PDFs are still a thing after all of these years.
Also, the UI in Acrobat is one of the most creative (in a bad way) I've used
since Lotus Notes.
~~~
kfrzcode
Portable documents, easy support in the browser for reading. What's a good
open-standards, portable replacement for PDF, I'm curious?
~~~
jfkebwjsbx
HTML, unless you need printing accuracy, of course.
------
dilandau
I remember going blind to the "Update adobe reader" popups back in 2005 when I
was using Windows XP. I can't imagine it's gotten better in the past 15 years.
------
cemregr
I’ve been trying to delete every trace of creative cloud from my computer.
Despite scouring the file system and rm-rf everything I can find, it comes
back every restart ️
~~~
dddddaviddddd
Clean install your OS?
~~~
jfkebwjsbx
I am not sure why you are downvoted, since you are correct.
The only way to be sure is to start from scratch.
~~~
dddddaviddddd
Agreed, particularly if the software is persistent and the mechanism hasn't
been determined.
------
ogre_codes
This is one those timeless headlines which could be from any given year over
the past 20 years. Perhaps substitute "Flash" for Acrboat Reader
intermittently.
------
cjbprime
Using PIDs to lookup the calling process doesn't seem like a great idea given
the small PID space on macOS, I wonder if there could be a race there too.
~~~
saagarjha
Generally, code like this should be using the XPC audit token rather than the
PID for such authentication. Alas, Apple, in its infinite wisdom, has kept
this SPI private and undocumented but in a "if you care about security you
should be using this nudge nudge wink wink" state for many years.
------
kelvin0
Well if some malicious actor(s) would like to disseminate malware, the Adobe
suite would be one interesting vector of massive infection.
~~~
saagarjha
[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=adobe+acrobat+0+day+abused+in+the+...](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=adobe+acrobat+0+day+abused+in+the+wild)
------
dandare
Serious question: what is the reason for the existence of the PDF format
today?
From wikipedia: "to present documents, including text formatting and images,
in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating
systems."
I wish W3C would come up with container format for a HTML webpage that would
pack all assets and run in any standard browser.
~~~
jrochkind1
HTML was never designed to be "device independent", display pixel-perfect the
same everywhere regardless of user-agent.
PDF was, in relationship with _printing_.
I think this is clearly a quality people want (whether they "should" or not),
so it's unlikely they will stop using PDF unless there's another thing that
can provide that quality. I don't think HTML is the right avenue for it.
I would say the ePub format comes pretty close to what you are asking for
though, a container format for HTML webpage that would pack all assets and run
in... well, standards-based software from several different sources. I'm not
sure if browsers will actually display ePub or not? They presumably could
fairly easily if they had a desire to, since it's all standard html/web
technology. ePub is not W3C maintained though, I don't think.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPUB](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPUB)
It has moved in on PDF territory in some limited areas -- mainly ebooks of
course, the use-case it's focused on. I think this is because it turns out
"pixel perfect same everywhere" is a clear DOWNSIDE for ebooks, you want them
to be formatted properly for your device's screen size, not have the same page
size everywhere. So while PDFs were sometimes used for this, it works poorly
enough for the user that another solution was demanded. (and thankfully we got
an open standards one). Most uses of PDF still work "good enough" for most
users (certainly not all; there can be accessibilty probelms). Even if it's a
nightmare under the hood, PDFs generally work "good enough" for most
developers too (again not all). It's a lot of investment to reproduce to
replace, it would require popular use cases failing hard probably, with money
to made from serving them better.
------
dependenttypes
I do not get why people use Adobe Acrobat to read pdfs. It is extremely slow,
bloated, eats up your memory, has more holes than Swiss cheese, it is non-
free, and probably has all sorts of telemetry on it. I use Sumatra on windows
and zathura on Linux (evince if I want to fill forms) and I have been pretty
happy with it.
------
juloo
Everyone is talking about Adobe but that's not the right question to me. \-
Why the PDF reader has root rights ? Apple should never have allowed this. \-
How a programming error in a third party software can cause this ? Seems like
a bug in macOS
If you can answer positively to the first question, burn your computer now.
------
29athrowaway
Flash was ubiquitous few years ago. What happened? Of course, as browsers
added features, there was no longer a justification for Flash. But also:
security flaws.
Flash had many security issues and that was also a significant motivation for
its "deprecation".
But it did not have to be that way. Now, the same is happening with Adobe
Acrobat.
------
S_A_P
Why anyone would install acrobat on a mac is beyond me. The native PDF support
is plenty good and if there are adobe reader specific features I dont want
them anyway. I may not be the majority opinion here, but I try not to use the
format anyway if I dont need to.
~~~
riffic
Acrobat Reader DC on macOS is nearly 600 MB. wtf
------
dathinab
Why is self-updating software still a think? It has been known to be a
potential high security risk since years.
I mean there are some special software where it still makes sense, but Adobe
software clearly doesn't belong into this category.
------
wintorez
Acrobat Reader is one of the most bloated softwares I've ever seen.
------
classified
Thank Jobs my Mac does not need Acrobat to display PDF. Besides, Acrobat has
become more of an malware virus than a PDF reader.
------
agustif
So should I uninstall Acrobar Reader from my mac or not?
I don't even use it that much, only for official stuff and such that requires
it
~~~
wadkar
Is that a rhetorical question?
I mean you can try to uninstall it. But apparently it comes back.
~~~
agustif
That's a great excuse to backup + full clean OS reinstall in my book
------
paulie_a
Why does anyone actually use adobe Acrobat reader? Antivirus should outright
flag it as malware at this point.
------
fortran77
Why is this problem avoided on Windows? Is there something about MacOS
security model?
~~~
saagarjha
No, it's just that the updater code on Windows is architected differently.
------
dontbenebby
Is there a simple way to check if this exploit has been used on a system?
------
pyuser583
Adobe has been marketing pdfs on their security. Ironic.
------
jiveturkey
I wonder why Mac OS continue to allow this. They should have learned from zoom
to disallow this kind of updating altogether. I suppose they are reluctant to
drop the hammer on Chrome.
~~~
xoa
macOS is not iOS, and at least for the time being _can 't_ be iOS either even
if Apple wanted it to be because there is no crypto signed hardware chain
stack on all supported Macs. Users can still modify essentially all aspects of
the system if they want to (though Apple has made it more and more work for
system stuff), and in turn allow software to do so as well. There is also
plenty of legacy software that a lot of customers care a great deal about.
So it'd be immensely difficult to try to retrofit the kind of system that
would be needed to give users more control over this sort of thing, and
impossible/very heavy to do so in a way that wouldn't break a lot of stuff
without developers updating. It's a genuinely tough nut to crack and involves
some trade offs. Apple's chosen decent-in-principle solution is to harden the
base default system pretty heavily and have a curated ecosystem (the MAS) that
they nudge users into by default, and where they can flat out ban this kind of
thing. Ideally users who opted for other channels would know what they were
doing.
The big problem is that the MAS fucking sucks in a ton of unforced ways (like
no update pricing system), and is also far too limited in many others (from
non-Apple source options to single safety levels). So in turn a vastly higher
percentage of users than would be ideal are forced to turn elsewhere for a lot
of quality software even from small indy players. The many bad parts relieves
pressure on lazy/bad developers to deal with parts that would be genuinely
good. That's life with Apple sometimes though. They're bad at multitasking.
~~~
saagarjha
Also note that Apple has "promised" to keep this door open on macOS, unlike
iOS, although they may raise the number or annoyance of the steps required to
get to this state.
------
oneplane
But then what? You have local admin, but still no SIP bypass as far as I know.
If there is an exploit for that you do of course have the option to chain that
in there as well.
------
vernie
Imagine using Acrobat Reader on macOS...
~~~
bberenberg
What is your alternative of choice? As someone who has to fill out forms all
the time, theirs is still the most reliable in my experience.
~~~
travmatt
You can't fill out forms with preview?
~~~
mratzloff
Form editing is really poor in Preview.
~~~
crazygringo
Curious why you think so?
I've encountered PDF's that simply don't work in Preview by design -- as far
as I've been able to figure out, Preview won't run JavaScript embedded in
PDF's for instance.
But all my experiences with filling out forms, makring up annotations, and all
that jazz has been totally on par with Acrobat Reader. The same tools are
present and all seem to work generally the same way.
What specifically have you run into that is poor in Preview?
------
tomc1985
Another day, another Adobe update
------
Koshkin
> _flaw_
But, but: how is it even possible for a user-mode application to break the OS
security? It must be due to a flaw in the OS, right?
~~~
saagarjha
If you consider the ability to install code as root as a flaw in the OS, which
is the security model of some platforms such as iOS.
~~~
Koshkin
Installing code as root does not necessarily mean granting root privileges to
said code. (Even _running_ an application under the root account shouldn't
require or imply that. For example, if I use a text editor as root, I still do
not want it to be able to reformat the hard drive.)
~~~
saagarjha
The code doing the installation as root does have root privileges.
------
waynesonfire
i run foxit in sandboxie
------
thatiscool
is it security flaw or backdoor?
------
chrischen
Honestly I think this pales in comparison to the news of rampant security
flaws in iOS:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23182862](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23182862)
~~~
kstrauser
Can we agree that _all_ of these need to be addressed, and that it's OK to be
disappointed by both stories?
~~~
chrischen
Yes, if we can also agree that _all lives matter_.
~~~
kstrauser
Has anyone at all said otherwise?
------
flowerlad
Installing decades-old C++ programs on your computer is an invitation for
hackers to take over your computer. That includes Acrobat and Microsoft
Office.
Getting you to open PDFs and Office files is one of the primary ways in which
your computer is taken over by hackers. They may send you an attachment or a
link by email.
~~~
_bxg1
A big part of it is the fact that both of those formats, while nominally
"documents", have the ability to execute arbitrary macro code upon opening
~~~
kevin_thibedeau
The sad thing is that PDF was designed to be safe by removing all dynamic
features of PostScript. Office docs on the other hand don't run macros by
default and are safer today than in the distant past.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Vidgen – Generate Summary Videos of HTML Content - timbowhite
https://vidgen.io
======
timbowhite
This is a project I've been working on/off for the last few months. It makes
basic slideshow videos with music, subtitles, and TTS narration using the
submitted HTML content.
It's running on a single OVH dedicated host with 8 cores/16 threads and puts
out 100 videos in about ~30 minutes (target duration for videos is 45 seconds
and are rendered using ffmpeg). If it gets any traction, I plan on setting up
a rendering cluster, any tips in that department are appreciated.
If you generate a decent video of your content and want it for free, contact
hello@vidgen.io with the video's url. I'll enable it to be downloaded. I just
ask that you put it on youtube or vimeo and send me the embed link so I can
add it to the site's example gallery. (* today only)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Exquisitely English (and Lucrative) World of London Clerks - ductionist
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-05-23/the-exquisitely-english-and-amazingly-lucrative-world-of-london-clerks
======
beefman
As office boy I made such a mark
That they gave me the post of a junior clerk
I served the writs with a smile so bland
And I copied all the letters in a big round hand
I copied all the letters in a hand so free
That now I am the Ruler of the Queen's Navy
In serving writs I made such a name
That an articled clerk I soon became
I wore clean collars and a brand-new suit
For the Pass Examination at the Institute
And that Pass Examination did so well for me
That now I am the Ruler of the Queen's Navy
------
thriftwy
For what it is worth I fail to see English commercial law cases' results as
anything other than PRNG with weighted mean.
A very, very expensive PRNG which allegedly requires "combining academic
brilliance with emotional fragility".
(I kinda understand that it's not a topic for me-the-peon to grasp)
~~~
eyeJam
Most large commercial lawsuits settle before they ever go to court. From my
anecdotal experience, maybe only 10% go to court. Litigation is a very long
and expensive process. Some files last decades before they resolve. When
litigation is ongoing, both sides are engaging in legal wrestling to try and
get the most favorable position. Once one side has gained a clear advantage,
they will start pressuring the other side to settle. Its very expensive to go
all the way to court and then lose, so most corporations will concede and
settle once they lose the upper-hand. Therefore if a case does finally make it
to court, its because (1) both sides have a decent chance of winning, or (2)
one side - or both - hate each other so much that they refuse to settle. The
first option, (1), is the most common: the case is so close that its
essentially a coin flip. Remember, you only hear about the cases that go to
court, and most settlements are confidential and never hit the news. So the
public's perception of commercial law doesn't include the full picture.
I'm almost positive that litigation will never be fully automated. Some
aspects of it already have (such as document review and discovery). But the
majority of the work (negotiating with the other side, questioning witnesses,
arguing pre-trial motions in court, researching legal questions, writing memos
and briefs, advising clients on strategy) is far too reliant on humans to ever
be replaced.
~~~
stult
> (1) both sides have a decent chance of winning, or (2) one side - or both -
> hate each other so much that they refuse to settle.
There are three other categories of cases you missed and (1) can and should be
divided up further into two categories. The third situation arises when one
party to the suit simply cannot afford to lose under any circumstances but
somehow can still afford to keep paying lawyers indefinitely. Frequently you
will see this with large companies fighting to prevent or delay a class action
or against an adverse regulatory decision which poses an existential threat to
their industry. $50m in legal bills per year doesn't even register against a
multi-billion dollar class action risk.
The fourth situation is when one of the parties has a non-financial incentive
to continue the litigation, often from a political perspective. For example,
when Hobby Lobby in the US sued to get out of the Obamacare birth control
coverage requirement. They would have spent themselves into the ground on that
case because the principle mattered more to the litigants than the cost.
The fifth situation is when one or both parties have bad lawyers. We (lawyers)
don't like to admit how often this happens, but frequently one of the lawyers
just completely misinterprets the law or fails to recognize essential facts.
They may oversell the case to the client and then paint themselves into a
corner which they can't gracefully back out of, and so drag the case out well
past its proper expiration date just to avoid admitting they screwed up.
Regarding your (1) point, the evidence for both sides is roughly evenly
matched in some cases, so the judge or jury's interpretation of the facts will
dictate the outcome. How people weigh and interpret evidence can be incredibly
unpredictable, which may prevent settlement in those cases. In other cases,
the law is unclear or unsettled, whether because previous cases were poorly
decided, a law was poorly drafted, or the issue is truly novel. So unclear law
or unclear facts. In an ideal world, those would be the only reasons that
anyone would ever go to court.
All of these situations are extremely rare. In terms of quantity of cases,
unfortunately people that hate each account for the overwhelming majority,
though that tends to be most common where the parties have a B2C or or close
business associate relationship, or in non-commercial litigation (most visibly
and notably in family law cases). B2B/arms-length commercial relationship
litigation tends by and large to be a more coldly rational affair, though not
without exception.
~~~
eyeJam
You are correct, and I admit that I grossly simplified the situation to make
it succinct.
------
janfoeh
One anecdote from around the same time, possibly apocryphal,
is widely shared. At a chambers that had expanded and was bringing
in more money, three silks decided their chief clerk’s compensation,
at 10 percent, had gotten out of hand. They summoned him for
a meeting and told him so. In a tactical response that highlights
all the class baggage of the clerk-barrister relationship,
as well as the acute British phobia of discussing money,
the clerk surprised the barristers by agreeing with them.
“I’m not going to take a penny more from you,” he concluded.
The barristers, gobsmacked and paralyzed by manners, never
raised the pay issue again, and the clerk remained on at
10 percent until retirement.
My command of the English language fails me here. Could somebody explain his
response to me?
~~~
s0l1dsnak3123
I saw this as a veiled threat from the Clerk that they'd drop the barristers
as clients - in other words the clerk wouldn't ask for a penny more
compensation because he wouldn't be passing the barristers any more work.
~~~
zhte415
Indeed. And in this veiled threat contained a promise that as long as the fee
[10%] was paid, the Clerk would continue to work without problem or hassle.
In making so, the cost/risk of the Clerk was minimised compared, in modern
language, to changing vendor. There were no more hidden costs.
No idea why you were downvoted.
------
Bobbleoxs
The point is the 'perceived' dignity by barristers not touching money but only
dealing with their clients on the cases. There is indeed a point that
barristers are often 'academically brilliant and emotionally fragile' and
incredibly eloquent I should add. It is not an optimisation issue or machine
learning issue. It is almost the core of humanity - emotions that we will and
do not want AI to replace. Well, at least for my part.
------
bowmessage
Seems like a business ready for some automation.
~~~
Uhhrrr
>There are solicitors, who provide legal advice from their offices, and there
are barristers, who argue in court. Barristers get the majority of their
business via solicitors, and clerks act as the crucial middlemen between the
tribes—they work for and sell the services of their barristers, steering
inquiring solicitors to the right man or woman.
>Clerks are by their own cheerful admission “wheeler-dealers,” what Americans
might call hustlers. They take a certain pride in managing the careers of
their bosses, the barristers—a breed that often combines academic brilliance
with emotional fragility. Many barristers regard clerks as their pimps.
Managing relationships between lawyers? I think it seems a bit more tricky
than playing Go.
~~~
arethuza
"managing the careers of their bosses"
In Scotland the grouping of advocates with a clerk are known as "stables"
which perhaps describes the relationship more clearly!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Dogs Forget Events Two Minutes Later - Red_Tarsius
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/02/150226-dogs-memories-animals-chimpanzees-science-mind-psychology/
======
anigbrowl
Mmm....seems a bit dubious. My dog likes me to hide his rubber ball so he can
go look for it, and he's so good at remembering places I've hidden it before
that finding new places to make him really _look_ for it is a problem (he's
not very scent-motivated). Now of course he could be relying on associative
memory because I praise him when he does a good 'find' but their test here
looks overly reductionist to me. For sure, if I'm doing something else for a
while and then ask him where his ball is, he may well have forgotten where he
left it and looks in random places. So his memory is not that great; on the
other hand, when I see that he has multiple balls (which he enjoys hoarding)
in one spot I'll call him to bring one over, then wait a bit before telling
him to go get another one, in which case he knows exactly where to go. I'll
try timing the interval to see how long before he forgets his previous
position.
The other thing that occurs to me is some dogs' habit of burying bones and so
on that they may want to store for later. Sure, they are using their sense of
smell there, which is many times better than ours, but given that dogs don't
have mediocre vision to start with (by comparison to ours), I wonder again
about the quality of the experimental design. If you asked people to remember
something using one of their inferior senses - say, a series of fabric
textures that are only touched rather than seen - I suspect they would turn in
mediocre results. It seems to me that the stimuli used in the experiment were
too abstract to be sufficiently engaging to the animals, for the same reason
that we don't have a very extensive tactile vocabulary, notwithstanding the
importance of touch as a sense.
~~~
dalke
I'll be generous and suggest that NatGeo didn't translate the research fully
correctly. The quote from the researcher is "animals have no long-term memory
of arbitrary events" though there may be "specialized memory systems hardwired
to remember certain "biologically relevant information" (such as where to find
food)."
This would mean that it's much harder to have a discussion abou the topic
without a detailed understanding of what "associative memory", etc. means -
knowledge I don't have.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Compromising a Linux desktop using 6502 opcodes on the NES - scarybeast
http://scarybeastsecurity.blogspot.com/2016/11/0day-exploit-compromising-linux-desktop.html
======
pdkl95
If you are interested in this kind of multi-level attack, I recommend watching
this[1] really fun talk by dwangoAC, which he originally gave at DEFCON 24. He
is the owner of "TASBot", a custom controller interface for sending high-speed
(and occasionally reliable) controller input into a SNES.
In this talk, he uses the controller interface on the SNES to send commands to
a Super GameBoy, which is running a real Pokemon Red cartridge. Commands are
sent to Pokemon Red to activate an arbitrary code execution bug to write a
bootloader that receives the rest of the attack program at high speed. Then -
form inside the GameBoy environment - he takes over the Super GameBoy and
gains arbitrary code execution on the SNES proper.
(for a finish, a Twitch chat client is written into RAM on the SNES that uses
a custom network protocol to send requests over the controller port, so the
livestream audience can ask questions live through the SNES).
[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-bKWT9fj8Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-bKWT9fj8Y)
~~~
Klathmon
That's so insane.
Not only is there a bug consistent enough to get arbitrary code execution in
the game, but to also be able to reliably breakout of the emulator and
literally reprogram the current game all in RAM to something completely
different.
I can't seem to think of words that would do what he did justice. It's
amazing.
~~~
qwertyuiop924
You thought that was cool? SethBling (of Super Mario World Credits Warp fame)
did a single nested version of this (in Super Mario World, of course), where
he reprogrammed the SNES to play Flappy Bird.
_By hand_.
~~~
Klathmon
I actually saw that one a while ago.
IMO this is what the word "pwned" was meant to describe. When someone has not
only exploited a machine, but has literally become it's master to such an
extent that they are playing games at that point, abusing the original purpose
of the console into this tormented, bastardized version to display memes from
a twitch chat, or play a clone of a shitty phone game.
~~~
H4CK3RM4N
Expanding on what you said, I feel like in terms of personal attacks it should
only be used if you could alter someone's life through the accounts you gain
access to.
------
vilhelm_s
Which brings to mind this blogpost by Ted Unangst
[[http://www.tedunangst.com/flak/post/features-are-
faults](http://www.tedunangst.com/flak/post/features-are-faults)], in
particular this quote:
> Right now there is what I can only describe as a conspiracy to connect
> something called _gstreamer-plugins-bad_ to the internet. I do not want
> something called _gstreamer-plugins-bad_ to be connected to the internet
> because that doesn’t sound like a good idea, but apparently somebody decided
> to call it a feature, and just like that it had to happen. It’s as if
> somebody looked at the UML diagram for my browser and realized that the
> boxes labeled _malicious input_ and _gstreamer-plugins-bad_ weren’t yet
> connected, and in their utopian vision of the internet, all of the boxes
> must be connected.
~~~
scarybeast
Thanks for posting this quote! It's super awesome and is very close to my own
thoughts on the matter :) I'll be sure to cite this link in any future blog
posts on the topic.
------
makomk
"The attack surface of the Linux desktop does not appear to be under control,
or adequately monitored for regression." No kidding. I ran into an interesting
example for this a year or so back - the library used by KDE's search indexer
for reading image metadata added support for video files with a bunch of
classic buffer overflows in the new code, and even though it wasn't used to
index video files a similar filename trick could be used to get the indexer to
call it. Not sure how easy it would be to get code execution, but it wouldn't
require any user interaction thanks to Google Chrome.
~~~
pjmlp
Yes,
[http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/09/linux-kernel-
securit...](http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/09/linux-kernel-security-
needs-fixing/2/)
This is probably the only reason I can somehow understand Google's draconian
approach to the NDK APIs, versus what iOS and UWP allow for.
------
amyjess
On a similar note, last year three huge security holes were discovered in
ZSNES that allow an attacker to execute arbitrary x86 code using a malformed
ROM. [0] [1]
After seeing that and seeing this article, I'm thinking this might be the
start of a whole new era of finding security holes in emulators that allow PCs
to be compromised by running something shady in an emulator.
[0]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/3aq0t3/psa_zsnes...](https://www.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/3aq0t3/psa_zsnes_v151_native_code_execution_vulnerability/)
[1] Seriously, if you're still using ZSNES to emulate SNES games, don't.
That's a really scary vulnerability, it still hasn't been patched, and ZSNES
has been horrendously inaccurate and buggy since even before that. Do yourself
a favor and use Snes9X (or if you can, try something based on a bsnes core,
like Higan, bsnes-classic, or RetroArch configured with a bsnes core; they're
the most accurate, but the system requirements are high, and Higan's UI isn't
user-friendly).
~~~
emodendroket
Retroarch just uses cores from other emulators, doesn't it?
~~~
amyjess
Yeah, that section of my post was poorly worded. I might edit my post a bit
and fiddle with the wording.
------
gene-h
This reminds me of an old joke that the best way to make software that will
run 50 years from now is to write it as a NES cart.
~~~
WorldMaker
Between the NES, Gameboy, Commodore PET and 64, Apple I and II, Atari 2600,
and more, the MOS 6500 series of processors are truly immortal foundations in
the history of computing and videogames.
~~~
JonathonW
The Game Boy was actually a Z80 variant (or, probably more accurately, an 8080
variant supplemented with part of the Z80's instruction set).
Nintendo's hit most of the big personal computing CPU architectures through
the course of their history-- 6502 in NES and SNES, MIPS on the N64, PPC on
Gamecube/Wii/Wii U, and ARM on GBA/DS/3DS/Switch. The only ones they really
missed were 68k and x86.
~~~
swiley
It's also shockingly easy to write an 8080 emulator, on which you can run CP/M
complete with a C compiler.
~~~
WorldMaker
The MOS 6502 also has quite easy to emulate opcodes. Hence why it is perhaps
unsurprising to find one even embedded in an audio library as in the article
here.
When I had to write some 6502 code for a lab class in college I didn't like
the debugging options in most of the emulators I found and did write my own
mini-emulator in JS (or maybe it was PHP; it has been a while) to debug some
of the specific parts of code I was working on in that lab class.
------
boxfire
And hence the coding quality separation of gstreamer plugins. There is a
reason the plugin ended up in gstreamer-plugins-bad, and most of them it is
due to code quality or lack of maintainers or both.
~~~
ronjouch
Oh really, the -{good, bad, ugly} axis is coding quality? I always assumed it
was licensing status / patents clearance.
EDIT it's both:
[https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/documentation/splitup.html](https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/documentation/splitup.html)
, [http://askubuntu.com/questions/468875/plugins-ugly-and-
bad](http://askubuntu.com/questions/468875/plugins-ugly-and-bad)
~~~
NoGravitas
The good plugins have both acceptable code quality and acceptable
license/patent terms. The ugly plugins have acceptable code quality, but
unacceptable license/patent terms. Bad plugins are lacking code review,
documentation, or are unmaintained, or have other problems that keep them from
being moved to good or ugly.
~~~
gcb0
I would have expected that to be the "testing" branch, not a different
packages. but I guesd it makes sense if you gave up updating the code
~~~
phee
GStreamer is highly modular, so it makes totally sense to ship a set of
plugins with subpar code, unclear patent/licensing, barely maintained in a
dedicated package. They called it "bad", what do you expect?
The issue here is that distributions should offer more granularity with on
demand codec installation. Does it make sense that to play an mp3 (not that
sure this is the case) I get also the NSF decoder?
~~~
chipaca
This is in gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad, which isn't installed by default nor
pulled in by anything else AFAICT
~~~
phee
No idea, I don't use ubuntu. According to OP it's pulled by default in 12.04
and 14.04 as long as you choose to enable multimedia codecs at install time.
------
itsnotlupus
How would people pronounce "0day" in a way where the expression "an 0day"
would flow naturally?
I read it as "an zero day", and that feels wrong.
~~~
saganus
What about saying "a 0day" which I read as "a zero day <attack>".
This same thing happens with "MVP" I think. "An MVP" sounds good, but "An
Minimal Viable Product" doesn't. So I use a/an depending on whether using the
abbreviation or not, but I have no idea if there's a rule for this or not.
~~~
maket
As far as I'm aware, the rule is if the first syllable starts with a vowel,
phonetically.
In your example "MVP", the first syllable starts with an "em", so a vowel. In
"Minimal Viable Product" the first syllable starts with the consonant sound.
I had a major pain with this rule when dealing with auto-generation of some
API documentation. It ended up just being an issue of detecting/guessing if
the text was an abbreviation or some weird CamelCase thing.
~~~
saganus
Yeah, that's the way I've always done it because otherwise it sounds wrong. I
guess someone taught me the rule and I don't remember or something.
------
paulrpotts
As an old-school geek who still enjoys 6502 assembly, I find this fascinating
and disturbing. Nice work explaining the find!
~~~
barbs
If you haven't read this already, you might enjoy this article: A Great Old-
Timey Game-Programming Hack:
[http://blog.moertel.com/posts/2013-12-14-great-old-timey-
gam...](http://blog.moertel.com/posts/2013-12-14-great-old-timey-game-
programming-hack.html)
------
lifthrasiir
Classic:
[http://beza1e1.tuxen.de/articles/accidentally_turing_complet...](http://beza1e1.tuxen.de/articles/accidentally_turing_complete.html)
and [https://www.gwern.net/Turing-complete](https://www.gwern.net/Turing-
complete)
(Not to say that TC itself is bad, but unexpected/accidental TC is normally a
sign of bad omen)
~~~
stefs
doesn't look like this is _accidental TC_.
> NSF music files, on the other hands, are played by actually emulating the
> NES CPU and sound hardware in real time. Is that cool or what? The gstreamer
> plug-in creates a virtual 6502 CPU hardware environment and then plays the
> music by running a bit of 6502 code for a little while and then looking at
> the resulting values in the virtualized sound hardware registers and then
> rendering some sound samples based on that.
~~~
lifthrasiir
I would classify it as unexpected TC nevertheless. Audio decoding and CPU
emulation are very different things.
~~~
stefs
but in this case audio decoding by cpu emulation was the intent of the
developer. i'm sure she knew what she did.
------
qwertyuiop924
I should probably learn 6502 asm at some point. But I think I'll start with
ARM and Z80 first, because I have a physical ARM/Z80 machine (read: Gameboy
Advance).
~~~
barbs
The link he gives in the article, Easy 6502, is a great way to learn 6502. I
do recommend it.
[https://skilldrick.github.io/easy6502/](https://skilldrick.github.io/easy6502/)
~~~
qwertyuiop924
Thanks!
That was surprisingly simple, if a bit mind-bending.
------
chinathrow
Fixed in Ubuntu as of today.
[http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/changelogs/pool/universe/g/gst-...](http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/changelogs/pool/universe/g/gst-
plugins-bad0.10/gst-plugins-bad0.10_0.10.23-7.2ubuntu1.2/changelog)
------
gpvos
The title alone is already worth my upvote.
------
stefs
if i understood this right: code execution - yes, but no privilege escalation?
~~~
j_s
I too would appreciate further insight in this specific aspect of this
vulnerability. Perhaps with the amount of flexibility apparently available it
wouldn't take much work to gain root access.
There are many parallels here to the libstagefright media codec vulnerabilites
that were big news in the Android world back in 2015 - the primary problem
seems to be remote code execution, not privilege escalation.
~~~
mikeash
It gives you the ability to run arbitrary code with the same privileges as the
media player. Going beyond that would require exploiting some other
vulnerability to gain root access.
That _probably_ wouldn't be too hard. Local privilege escalation seems to be a
lot easier to accomplish. It's harder to secure a system from code running on
it than from data coming in from the outside. It's sort of a bigger version of
the article's suggestion to "watch out for scripting in unexpected places!"
You also don't necessarily need privilege escalation to do a lot of damage. If
the media player isn't sandboxed in some way, then it'll have full privileges
to access all your user's files. Traditional UNIX permissions means that you
need special access in order to write to the kernel, but not to read your
e-mails or that spreadsheet you have with your bank account details.
------
stefs
my system (linux mint, based on ubuntu 14.04.1) might be affected. the
versions match, the files are there.
i'm loath to download and execute the test file though.
while i'm almost completely sure this post is legit, i also don't want to
delete the gstreamer-0.1 in case it trashes something important. think of
trolls recommending the deletion of system32 to speed up the system and free
disk space.
can i remove this safely? is there more information from another credible
source?
~~~
skykooler
The test file, if your system is affected, will only open a calculator. (if
you are concerned whether it has been modified to an actual attack file, you
can compare it to the one on the page in a hex editor.)
Don't delete gstreamer-0.10, because many things rely on it. It is however
safe to delete libgstnsf.so.
~~~
scarybeast
It will likely only open a calculator if you run it against the exact version
of everything listed in the blog post, which is Ubuntu 12.04.5 without any
further patches.
Any different version of Ubuntu (such as 14.04.anything), will have a
different glibc binary. Among other issues, the exploit has a hard coded
offset of the delta between the memset() and system() functions inside glibc.
This offset will only be valid against the glibc binary for 12.04.5. With more
work, the exploit could be modified to dynamically calculate the correct
offset for almost any version of glibc.
If the offset is invalid, you're likely to still get a crash, just no
calculator. So the presence of a crash or not can be used to determine trouble
vs. ok.
That said, Ubuntu 14.04 isn't too badly affected. It does come with
gstreamer-0.10, but it does not appear to be used for much. As far as I could
tell, gstreamer-1.0 is used for the most important stuff (totem, totem-video-
thumbnailer, etc.).
------
bouvin
So, chiptunes are bad for you?
------
cjbprime
_stares at the screen with mouth open_
------
IshKebab
Vulnerability in gstreamer! News at 11!
Next you'll be telling me mplayer is riddled with vulnerabilities too...
------
partycoder
The UX should say: "This file is a NSF file, do you want to open it?"
~~~
alanh
1) Make an argument. This isn’t one.
2) Why suggest a prompt that doesn’t give the user an understanding of what
they are being asked and why it matters?
~~~
partycoder
Implicit information is what allowed millions of devices to be infected via
AUTORUN.INF files causing billions of dollars in damage.
People think in ways of making things simple and easy, but you end up harming
people. It's a leaky abstraction of trust.
This would fall into the same category. You don't expect risk from a MP3. But
then it's not an MP3, it's a NSF.
~~~
voltagex_
and continuously prompting people for input is a good way to train them to
always click "Yes".
[https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2016/10/security-
fatig...](https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2016/10/security-fatigue-can-
cause-computer-users-feel-hopeless-and-act-recklessly)
~~~
partycoder
Would not be fatigue. If the extension is mp3 and the detected type is mp3, no
need to show a dialog. Only show a dialog if there might be something phony
going on.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Density – Anonymous People Counter and API - jordanmessina
http://www.density.io/?ref=hn
======
Animats
The site is rather vague. They provide the hardware and install it for free,
which implies they're selling data to someone else. Who? There's no privacy
policy. No terms of service. The "order" button just brings up a blank email.
How does the device tell how many people are present based on counting at a
doorframe? Is it counting people passing through the door? Does it detect
direction? Is it good enough to estimate the number of people inside by
subtracting out counts from in counts? Will this work for wide entrances, such
as malls? Is this a passive infrared sensor? Those go blind in hot weather.
This looks like a cheaper alternative to video counting systems, of which
there are many. Video systems get about 98% count accuracy. If you already
have surveillance cameras, you can often use them for counting. Beyond that,
there's queue measurement - not just how many people are in line, but how many
gave up and left without buying.[1] (Seven people in a queue is the tipping
point – any longer and most shoppers won’t bother joining it. After 9 minutes,
shoppers are likely to give up queuing and leave empty handed (other research
says as little 6 minutes). 70% of customers who leave never come back.)
[1] [http://www.retailsensing.com/queue-
management.html](http://www.retailsensing.com/queue-management.html)
~~~
afar
[Density founder here] Hey Animats, sorry it took me all day to get to your
list of questions.
> which implies they're selling data to someone else. Who?
Typically our customers are startups who sell to SMBs (coffee shops, bars,
restaurants, museums, etc). They charge merchants anywhere between
$50-$500/mo/location for some kind of software or service. These are startups
that sell POS systems, loyalty software, marketing services, discounts, handle
logistics, and delivery.
> There's no privacy policy. No terms of service.
Frankly, it should have been there before launch but since people don't "buy"
through our website, we decided to sacrifice legal thoroughness for speed to
launch. Maybe a misstep but people seemed okay emailing us their request to
order.
> How does the device tell how many people are present based on counting at a
> doorframe?
Two closely situated, parallel infrared distance sensors. We timestamp spikes
in voltage as they come in allowing us to see o...1 = entrance. 1...0 = exit.
Giving us the current count in a place.
> Is it counting people passing through the door? Direction?
Yes. Not the line outside. Although we can do line detection and estimate wait
times. Yes.
> Is it good enough to estimate the number of people inside by subtracting out
> counts from in counts?
Yes. It's better than just an estimate.
> Will this work for wide entrances, such as malls? Is this a passive infrared
> sensor?
No. Our current model maxes out at roughly 90in -- that's with two sensors on
either side of a double door facing one another. No it's AIR.
> 98% count accuracy ... If you already have surveillance cameras, you can
> often use them for counting.
You're right. We're just betting that customer-aversion to facial recognition
and surveillance cameras is slowing adoption in the long tail of the market
we're after - the various independent merchants and sellers that comprise a
city and who are too busy making coffee and food to spend too much time on
potential controversial technology. See:
[http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/29/philz-coffee-drops-
euclid-a...](http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/29/philz-coffee-drops-euclid-
analytics-over-privacy-concerns/)
[edit: for readability]
~~~
jondubois
>> Is it good enough to estimate the number of people inside by subtracting
out counts from in counts?
> Yes. It's better than just an estimate
What if someone waved their hand in front of it (in a particular direction) in
an attempt to subvert it? Couldn't someone trick it into over-reporting or
under-reporting the number of people inside?
What if someone is standing idle in front of it (near the door frame) for a
few minutes and in the meantime a large number of other people walk in? Will
it miss them?
What if two or more people walked in at the same time with no gap between
them?
Most importantly: How would the counter ever be able to correct itself from
inaccuracies?
------
dhaivatpandya
Fantastic product idea and a landing page that's so good that I figured out
what the product does without touching my scroll wheel.
I wish however, you'd include a section that provides a reasonable explanation
as to _why_ Workroom got a 950% increase in traffic. I'm thinking that if I
saw that a place was full, I'd be less likely to head over there. But, if I
didn't know, I'd probably give it a whirl. Alternatively, if I've gone there a
bunch of times and it's always been full, I just wouldn't go. What exactly is
happening?
~~~
crindy
I think the idea would be that this helps fill dead times. If the place is
full, they don't need/want more people showing up just to be turned away. If
the place is empty, then they want to advertise that to fill it back up.
Also though, I think it was a 950% increase in traffic to the web pages
powered by this product, not to the actual locations.
~~~
jordanmessina
Right, the increase was on the webpages that included Density to show seating
capacity.
~~~
escobar
I also find this particularly confusing/misleading - since you deal mainly
with physical locations (often called sites by owners), using the word "site"
instead of "web traffic" seems odd. Also, listing a web based metric as large
as 950% without any type of time interval really kills the true significance
of that metric.
~~~
sultanofsaltin
My favorite statistic: 73.6% of all statistics are made up.
My 2nd favorite: 950% of 0 is 0.
------
codeshaman
>> "After adding Density, we saw as much as a 950% increase in site traffic to
supported locations. Our users love it." \- Darren Buckner, Workfrom CEO
When I use google maps, it shows me how busy various roads are and it also
chooses the fastest route based on how fluid the traffic is. Seems like google
maps is just observing the world and making decisions based on those
observations.
Now I was wondering, what if all the drivers used google maps at the same time
?
Wouldn't it mean that google maps is influencing and even _creating_ the
traffic patterns ?
Same here - just measuring the 'density' has the effect of actually
influencing it which is an interesting outcome and resembles quantum mechanics
voodoo stuff :).
~~~
pdeuchler
I live in Boulder and this happens all the time during ski season. When
traveling towards I-70 there's a longer, more circuitous route which breaks
off of Highway 6 and goes through Idaho Springs. This path is longer, but cuts
off the beginning of the initial drive into the Front Range... it's also just
a two lane mountain road.
Sometimes google maps will detect heavy traffic on I-70 and start re-routing
drivers the other way... unfortunately this very quickly creates a bottleneck
that Google Maps can't detect in time (traffic goes from 0mph to 60mph to 0mph
in the mountains) so it'll continue to funnel people down that "shortcut"
until the traffic essentially equalizes with the I-70 traffic.
There's an even worse side effect, as those who went through Idaho Springs
eventually have to get back onto I-70 to get to the ski resorts, so now that
on ramp (which is a metered on ramp) backs up, further hurting both I-70 and
the "shortcut" traffic. It's a real terrible feedback loop that essentially is
caused by Google Maps not being able to adequately predict how much traffic
the Idaho Springs route can handle, which seems like a hard problem to solve
(especially generally).
Edit: Thought about this more and realized predicting ski traffic is more or
less a proxy for predicting the weather, so I highly doubt this is a fixable
problem (at least in this specific case)
~~~
toomuchtodo
Would you be willing to report this to the Maps team? If not, just reply and
I'll get in touch with someone about it.
~~~
pdeuchler
Can't seem to find where to file this bug since it's not a physical mapping
error. Coincidentally the Maps team is in the Boulder office, are they not? I
guess I could just walk down and say hi :)
Feel free to connect me with the right people, my email is in my profile
~~~
toomuchtodo
Try this:
[https://support.google.com/gmm/answer/6194894?hl=en](https://support.google.com/gmm/answer/6194894?hl=en)
\----
Your directions were wrong
At this time, you can’t report wrong turns from your phone or tablet, but you
can report them on your computer.
Open Google Maps on your computer. Click Directions directions button image.
Enter the starting point and destination for the route for which your
directions were wrong. In the bottom right of the map, click Report a problem.
\----
I'm working on getting a human contact involved.
------
web007
Please don't be too clever for your own good - let me Cmd-Click on the links
to open in a new tab.
I don't want to be taken away from your page, I want to continue reading more
about YOUR product before I go to view your "partner" sites. Same goes for
your API, Twitter, etc.
~~~
bryans
This is obnoxious website behavior, and I equate it to sites ignorantly
disabling right-clicking because they're paranoid someone will steal their
photos. If your site contains any links at all, you should never, ever be
breaking such basic browser functionality. The only possible legitimate use
case would be a webapp which is attempting to create a desktop-style
environment, and even then, co-opting the CTRL or ALT keys is likely not the
best course of action.
~~~
willlll
I disable right click on my Website.
~~~
icelancer
For what reason? This is easily bypassed.
~~~
Nadya
If you visit his website [0] it's (at least I hope) intentionally poor
designed, everything terrible straight from the late 90's in web design. From
marquee, blinking, embedded mp3, and more.
There's a built-in bypass in the site.js to allow the context menu if shift is
held, though you still get the alert. Or it's just that holding shift allows
the context menu to appear after the alert. I don't actually know.
document.body.oncontextmenu = function() {
alert('Please dont right click!!')
return window.event.shiftKey // top secret
}
[0] bitfission.com
~~~
geofft
That is an amazing website, including the MP3-rendered MIDI, and I'm now
pretty sure the comment was a joke that everyone missed :)
------
tyho
Why does this need to connect to your servers? What happens if you become
insolvent? Why can't I just buy the damn thing then use it? Why do I have to
pay for a subscription to a service which is effectively a simple proxy
between the device and my infrastructure?
~~~
soggypretzels
That is my biggest thought. If this is oriented to hackers, let me own the
thing so I can do some _really_ cool stuff with it.
~~~
tyho
I hate this user hostile trend among hardware startups, that is
requiring/involving third party "cloud" infrastructure for no particular
reason other than to extort money out of customers.
~~~
mng2
The hardware sounds dead simple, not to mention cheap. The service is the
actual product here.
~~~
PascLeRasc
I don't think the hardware is simple. How would you design something like
this? I've thought about this problem for years and no elegant solution has
occured until I saw this.
~~~
icelancer
Hmm? Two beams detecting directionality + WiFi?
------
robotnoises
Had no idea what this was. Clicked link. Within one minute I figured out what
Density is. Nice job on the landing page!
IMO, this is the strongest section:
[http://www.density.io/#comparison](http://www.density.io/#comparison)
~~~
afar
At one point we went as far as to quiz our moms. "Mom, what does Density do?
What does it cost? Do we sell surveillance cameras?"
After she got 9/10 correct (she's 58)... she looks at me and says, "Ship it,
Andrew. Ship it."
~~~
toomuchtodo
"Hacker News Tested, Mom Approved".
------
sultanofsaltin
Don't camera systems beat this in pretty much every way?
[http://www.placemeter.com/](http://www.placemeter.com/) comes to mind.
You don't have to resort to infrared sensors in order to provide anonymity,
but they do inherently limit you potential accuracy and metrics you can
prodive. It all comes down to where the data is processed and what is made
available. Also, cheap camera components are coming down fast due to economies
of scale, not sure how IR will play out in the long haul.
~~~
afar
Yeah... I mean I appreciate that people pay lip-service to privacy but a
surveillance camera that counts you as a distinct individual without your
consent is an invasion of privacy. The cost is higher than the price tag,
homie.
_Edit_ I am an employee of Density and definitely biased.
~~~
dfine
I am a PM at Placemeter. We do not "use facial recognition software" in our
algorithms, as Density's website claims of video-based systems. None of our
algorithms use biometric markers for our counting—we're essentially the same
"dumb" counters as Density's IR with the added advantage of accuracy and area
of coverage.
Placemeter does much more than pay lip service to privacy. We pride ourself on
our privacy efforts. If you want to lear more about them, @afar email me:
david@placemeter.com
~~~
afar
I am curious. Particularly with your new sensor. It sounded like much of the
video processing happens on the unit itself, meaning faces never reach
Placemeter servers. Is it accurate to say that you're only getting counts and
movement data?
My other question is how you derive count without uniquely identifying
someone. If I'm entering a shop and a PM sensor sees me, will it know when I
leave?
~~~
dfine
Great questions.
1) the processing is happening aboard the sensor, counts are what are sent
back to the servers
2) we don't do unique identification like that. We use object detection, which
is different than using unique biometric markers like face detection. That
means that we can track a person or a car within a frame of view, but not if
they exit and re-enter the frame like in the case you described.
Does Density still use wifi pinging for part of its counts?
~~~
afar
That's really interesting. Given a certain level of granularity, would it be
possible for a person to have a unique object signature? I guess at that
point, you'd just use a face. Just curious.
No wifi pinging. After Apple almost killed us a year ago with their MAC
address policy change and we realized there was significant push back on
privacy, we dropped the technology altogether.
~~~
dfine
Not quite sure I understand your question. We store counts, not individual
object IDs, so at an individual granularity it would be the same as your IR
device counting one person.
------
lost_my_pwd
Any plans to offer a "disconnected" version where I could push this data to my
own aggregator+API instance? Use case for me would be where foot traffic
numbers would itself be sensitive data.
~~~
jordanmessina
This isn't in the pipeline but shoot us an email and maybe we can work
something out: team@density.io
------
sbuccini
Our student consulting group, Optimir, worked with Density to test their
product around UC Berkeley's campus. It's a fantastic product, and we're
really excited to get these installed permanently in libraries, coffeeshops,
and weight rooms around campus.
------
bgoers
(some) Kroger chain stores have a similar technology [1] to this to determine
how many cashiers are needed at any given time! Neat stuff!
[1] [http://www.informationweek.com/strategic-cio/executive-
insig...](http://www.informationweek.com/strategic-cio/executive-insights-and-
innovation/kroger-solves-top-customer-issue-long-lines/d/d-id/1141541)
------
vosper
Bug report: In Firefox, when on this page [1], clicking on the Density logo in
the top left takes me to
[http://www.density.io/undefined](http://www.density.io/undefined)
Looks like you've got a JS issue in there somewhere.
[1] [http://www.density.io/?ref=hn](http://www.density.io/?ref=hn)
~~~
jordanmessina
Thank you! Fixing it now.
------
agotterer
I have a few questions for the Density folks:
\- How well does it handle people walking in side by side?
\- What about someone pushing a cart or stroller?
\- Can it tell if someone is walking in or out?
\- How far does the laser reach? Would I need two sensors if I had a double or
triple wide door?
\- I assume these are battery powered? How long do they last?
------
aniketpant
I have always wanted to build something like this since I was a kid. The
biggest driving thought was to make traffic signals dynamic and build a
central communication system for a city's transport.
Really glad to see a product coming into the regular consumer space for this
:)
------
Smushman
I spoke with Andrew over at density.io.
His answers regarding can it see the traffic direction (answer - yes for each
individual) and how it is powered (custom length power cable, cut at install
time for both sensor and base) are inline in this thread.
Also Andrew explained the base gathers info from all the sensors for counts.
I asked also about people in a group - most doorways are a physical narrowing
that automatically places people in single file. If the doorway is wider than
that, they can place a sensor on either side (my assumption is that these
results are then filtered so a person is not counted 2x).
------
deutronium
Does this use PIR out of curiosity, or are you using an emitter, receiver in
one package.
~~~
jordanmessina
We’re using infrared sensors. Both the emitter and detector are on a single
sensor, so we only affix our hardware to one side of a doorframe. This is
different than break beam which requires hardware on each side of a door.
~~~
saosebastiao
How much accuracy do you lose when people are dressed up in full winter gear?
~~~
pkelchte
When you would wear metamaterial stealth suits maybe you can avoid being
detected by our IR sensors, we're curious as to what you have available!
~~~
thwest
Incredibly accurate and anonymous seem to be at tension here. A discussion on
your signal processing would be illuminating.
~~~
pkelchte
We made our own AIR door counter, composed of a few distance sensors. It can
tell us in which direction a person is passing, and gives a distance profile
that we process to distinguish individual people. Technically, we measure your
circumference to some degree, but you might agree that is far from enough to
compromise your anonimity.
~~~
thwest
AIR being active infrared as opposed to passive (or a particular waveband)?
Anonymity is a more interesting problem than "can distance sensors uniquely
identify a passerby among 500M North Americans" as your reply implies. What if
you are the roundest or tiniest person in town? All the sudden you are
uniquely identifiable.
You're early in development, and I bet whoever did the circumference
estimation has more in mind. I imagine you could make a good estimation of a
person's height from your data: whether the profile sees knees hips or hands.
Can you identify the asymmetric waist bulge of a CHL carrier? Does your
infrared band penetrate polyesters but not cotton? I hope the reader's
feature-vector blood is flowing at this point.
Your page needs to have way more formalization around the concept of anonymity
(outside of the registration required area) for me to feel that you are
appreciating the problem from an engineering perspective and not a marketing
one.
------
fbr
Looks great! It could be very nice with public transportation, so I'll be able
to know beforehand which wagons are not overcrowded.
------
ChuckMcM
This is pretty awesome. I mentioned doing something like this at the IoT talk
I gave, I had read a paper on counting animals by their heat signature for
conservation purposes and thought something along those lines would be a
simple replacement for the 'walk through the door ring a bell' detectors, and
given that a 32bit ARM Cortex-M is about $1.25 you could do that for not much
more money than the old light + photocell.
Something the paper pointed out was that while the temperature from animal to
animal varied, the _same_ animal often kept the same temperature (+/\-
epsilon) when moving from sensor to sensor and that give some idea of
uniqueness.
And while I also love kefka's solution I think the face recognition stuff gets
a more Orwellian reaction than just tracking heat sources.
------
kefka
Ok. So businesses already have cameras. Yeah, privacy, schmiravacy. That horse
has done gone left the barn.
So, the second problem with cameras/face tracking is cost?
I wrote this:
[https://github.com/jwcrawley/uWho](https://github.com/jwcrawley/uWho)
It does what your hardware does, but also does facial recognition. It's still
early in the build process, but I'm working on a commercial (non-QT) version
of this.
But right now, it can accurately count unique people, as well as remember
people. So when Jane walks in front of the camera, it remembers that her
database number is 1234. Tomorrow, it will also remember that she's 1234. And
tracking is all stored in few XML config files for easy calculation.
~~~
eevilspock
> Yeah, privacy, schmiravacy. That horse has done gone left the barn.
So you're using the slippery slope as justification and welcome sign instead
of warning. The world is all downhill from here exactly because people don't
have the integrity and courage to resist.
Also
~~~
kefka
Slippery slope? Humans already can do classification. Should we ban humans
from identifying and counting other humans?
I can hire 2 guards who can remember people by taking a photo. And then I can
have them recall who shows up. With people.
All my project does is substitute a computer for human. The only reason why we
don't do the above is because people cost a lot more. Computer software and
cycles are cheap.
And the procedure I used with my code saves a hash of the face. I cannot
generate faces from the hash, although it would be a one liner to spool a face
to the hard drive when a pic is captured. My software doesn't do that.
~~~
thwest
You see, humans have judgement, and obvious presence. I don't mind George and
Jim remembering I was at the pub on Tuesday, because they will consider who to
reveal that information to before they do. (A pub I don't think anyone would
be at if there were two guards photographing everyone). These giant piles of
databases are open for everyone.
~~~
kefka
Doesn't the business have a right to keep track of its clientèle? Obvious
legalities of underage-ness of a pub aside, I already can hire counters that
watch the security feed and assess numbers.
And also, CCTV isn't open to the public or traded around wanton. Instead, I
would argue, this data is highly confidential to the business and therefore
would guard it selfishly.
And as for the pub photographing: There has been a trend in bars in
Indianapolis to scan he barcode on the back of the drivers license to "verify
identity". What they're really doing is building up a clientèle database for
which they can do whatever with. And they are booming bars.
------
downandout
This reminds me of Motionloft. Their CEO was an idiot and ran into some legal
trouble [1] which hurt the company, but it was backed by Mark Cuban and is
still running afaik. I have thought since first learning about Motionloft that
this could be a big business but I don't understand why both companies refuse
to just sell the hardware. There have to be a ton of companies that would buy
it but don't want their very sensitive data about customer counts etc. being
transferred to a third party that could be hacked etc.
[1]
[http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/01/cuzyolo/](http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/01/cuzyolo/)
------
lmb
Soo I thought I had seen this somewhere, just with WiFi used to measure users,
turns out it comes straight from the past![0]
In the interests of science, why did you switch from WiFi signals to infra-red
door counters? Was it that you picked up passersby? (See [1] for previous
pitch, which explains it more than the archive.org website)
[0]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20140605031145/http://www.densit...](https://web.archive.org/web/20140605031145/http://www.density.io/)
[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRGa9-QUDWo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRGa9-QUDWo)
------
bliti
Something like one of those points rewards cards with rfid and this could
allow a merchant to get your purchase data as you enter the premises. Then
with other rfid readers throughout the store you can pinpoint where $user
spends most time and adjust $coupon for them to incite purchase. Or maybe
multiple IR beams like this one in different parts of the store to have
traffic metrics on the floor plan. Looks very nice from the design standpoint.
It is something that will not register in the mind of the customer.
If this interests you:
This type of thing can be done at the hobby level. Since this is mostly an IR
sensor with wifi connectivity talking to an API and sending mqtt data.
~~~
eli
There are already solutions that do this using your phone's wifi:
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-
switch/wp/2013/10/1...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-
switch/wp/2013/10/19/how-stores-use-your-phones-wifi-to-track-your-shopping-
habits/)
------
darrenbuckner
Great product and great team. Congrats everyone!
------
tommccabe
How does your product compare to existing traffic solutions, like Shoppertrak?
~~~
afar
Cheap and anonymous by design. Also, we're not after big retail. We're after
everyone else.
------
inoks
There many similar startups over the world:
[http://sensalytics.net](http://sensalytics.net) \- Deutch project counting
people, mobile tracking and cash register data.
[http://i-counter.ru](http://i-counter.ru) \- Russian projects - uses IR
counter with 3G transmission module, so data send directly to web analytics
server without additional networking devices.
------
watty
Looks like an awesome product and hardware but the SAAS model sucks (for us).
Here's to hoping they release a LAN model for a one time fee.
------
dtertman
Your home page freezes my Firefox (33.1 on Mac) :( . Have to pound through
five or six unresponsive script warnings.
After that, pretty cool idea and nice site!
~~~
afar
Sorry. If you can email team AT density.io with a bug report or something that
shows the latency that would be really helpful.
------
vpontis
This seems really cool! I can think of a bunch of new things to do with this
and a lot of places where I want to know how busy they are.
The one thing that really confuses me is the pricing structure. Why do you
need to pay each month? Paying $300 for one year of usage seems pretty steep.
It's service pricing but it seems like one-time service/purchase.
------
joeyespo
This looks awesome! Would love to know ahead of time how crowded my local
coffee shop is before I packed up to work there.
~~~
valarauca1
If this is the indented use case what purpose the coffee shop have to add one?
If in most cases it'll only discourage customer attendance.
To be a member of _the queue_ of an establishment can carry some of the social
status of that establishment itself. This is a primative notion yes, but
fairly ingrained culturally. As businesses often judge their _prestige_ by the
length of the queue to enter.
~~~
netfire
Too long of a queue could discourage customer attendance as well, as people
may not want to wait a long time, no matter how prestigious the business is.
In addition, a lesser-known business could use lower wait times as a
competitive advantage.
What really matters, in my opinion, is whether having a long line during
certain peak times generates more revenue for the business (by being able to
charge more, or by gaining attention due to its long queues) or whether
providing a faster and better customer experience with shorter wait times does
(and perhaps more customers during non-peak times)
Whether one is better than the other may depend completely on your business.
Also, I'm not sure this technology forces you to publish your current density
information. You could simply use the information for business intelligence
gathering and for providing promotions during non-peak times.
------
rpcope1
How do these talk with the outside world? Do you need to attach them to your
own internal WiFi?
~~~
afar
Yeah. Currently we piggy-back on a locations wifi. Relatively low upstream
data (37kb / 90secs).
We've considered things like Helium. Eventually centralizing the network will
be good but for now, wifi's cheap and available.
------
nubela
Gorgeous web design, kudos.
~~~
afar
Thanks. Took a long time to get the right balance of imagery, icons, and copy.
------
ljk
Does anyone know why is this product "Show HN" while the other product
currently on the front page, Soloshot, only has a product name and slogan?
~~~
jordanmessina
I did the Show HN. The original title was "Density Platform" because we just
revealed our new sensors and the public facing API. Not sure why a mod changed
it.
------
thedogeye
There will be a big business putting these on all the entrances of a publicly-
traded casino and then tracking activity levels.
------
wehadfun
What communications protocol is it using?
~~~
jordanmessina
We're using infrared sensors to detect ingresses and egresses from locations.
~~~
valarauca1
How does the solution handle multi-ingress/egress points?
Could it be used for tracking population leaving during a fire drill? As often
this is the first question asked by first responders, "Is anyone still
inside?"
~~~
escobar
This would be a reallly cool application if PIR's were capable of counting
"horde" foot traffic, like a giant mass of people streaming out of a door
during an alarm. I don't think that something like a PIR could handle that
number of people, since it's just the single beam.
~~~
afar
I really like you, for some reason. I think it's your green handle.
------
talsnet
Looking forward to hearing more about it when you're ready to share
------
Fudgel
Could this be done with Apple's iBeacon as well?
~~~
jordanmessina
It can! To accomplish this there'd need to be a custom iPhone app for a
location and everyone that goes in would have to have the application
installed and have their bluetooth turned on.
------
afar
Foot traffic should be inexpensive, accurate, and available in real-time. It
should be dead simple to integrate with other applications, and it should
never invade people's privacy.
imo.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A Cart with Legs - sohkamyung
https://pictures.royalsociety.org/image-rs-15878
======
foreigner
Clearly that's a prehistoric Strandbeest:
[https://www.strandbeest.com](https://www.strandbeest.com)
~~~
zer00eyz
Everything old is new again, how about a table with legs
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01sCV-
Yx6Og](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01sCV-Yx6Og)
------
mdorazio
From the title I thought this would be about something from Boston Dynamics.
It's actually more of a precursor to kinetic sculptures, which are themselves
pretty cool, ex. [1].
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jansen%27s_linkage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jansen%27s_linkage)
~~~
adrianmonk
From the title, I thought this was going to be about e-commerce, Christmas
shopping, and rampant consumerism. As in humans are, to some people (possibly
including themselves) just a walking shopping cart.
------
erk__
This and an associated document is shown in this video
[https://youtu.be/g-zku9FtNeI](https://youtu.be/g-zku9FtNeI)
------
janpot
Just asking out of curiosity. Could there be any patents that this could serve
as prior art for? i.e. Does Boston Dynamics or so have patents for a legged
cart?
~~~
erk__
This is not even the first drawing, it is a reconstruction of
[https://pictures.royalsociety.org/image-
rs-15876](https://pictures.royalsociety.org/image-rs-15876), though it is much
nicer drawn.
------
potiuper
Better than wheels when in mud.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How do I get started with Algo trading? - jklein11
I'm interested in getting started with Algo Trading, but I'm not really sure where to dig in. I have a BA in economics and finance and did a capstone in pricing derivatives. Any good recommendations on how to get started? Any good MOOCS or books?
======
remyp
If you're considering algo trading as a career then be sure to talk to a lot
of people doing it. I spent several years trying to break in to the industry
at a few prop firms with only middling success. Here are my observations:
1\. The vast majority of firms only hire people with CS or math degrees from
top 10 schools, with an MS being the minimum. There are few exceptions.
2\. Nobody is making as much money as they used to.
3\. Depending on what firm you end up at you will probably spend a lot less
time building cool strategies and a lot more time trying to shave off a few
microseconds here and there.
4\. Be prepared for a pretty rough work environment. Swearing, violent
outbursts, people being secretive and not sharing ideas.
5\. If you're lucky, management will be STEM people. If you're not, they will
be former floor traders who have managed to stay alive this long.
~~~
Rainymood
I'm like you trying to break into prop trading (Ms applied mathematics) would
you think it is still possible to 'make a career' in this kind of stuff? Or
would you advise getting a PhD first? How was your experience at the prop
firms?
~~~
remyp
I gave up ~3 years ago. I had to choose between aggressively pursuing low-
paying trading jobs or being pursued for high-paying tech jobs. The decision
was pretty easy for my family and me. As we'd say in the industry, I went were
the edge was. I'd recommend doing the same -- the security, stress level,
work/life balance, work environment, and transferability of skills is much
better in tech than trading.
Put concisely: if you can't handle seeing a smaller paycheck next month
because a guy on your team pressed the wrong button and lost $50k in 10
seconds then trading is not for you.
If you want to get in I would recommend as much math and programming as
possible. A PhD probably isn't necessary, an MS from a top school will do.
You'd better be prepared to do programming, math, AND arithmetic in
interviews, though. I once had a options trading interview that included ten
"please multiply 148 by 72 in your head, we'll wait" questions.
~~~
koder2016
_> I'd recommend doing the same..._
Sadly this advice only applies to USA... E.g. UK has such an over-abundance of
IT workforce that tech salaries are significantly below US despite comparable
cost of living.
~~~
spoonie
I would argue the lower salaries are for societal reasons (health care,
cheaper university tuition, etc) more so than Europeans coming to work in the
UK. Consider AmaGoogBookSoft salaries in London: lower but not scandalously
so.
------
grayje
[https://www.quantopian.com/](https://www.quantopian.com/) has a great
community, lots of examples & tuts available, and you can look at everyone
else's algos. It's free, there's free backtesting, etc. They're a
"crowdsourced hedge fund" using Python and the zipline library.
------
1274749637
I would start by getting industry experience and understanding how some of
these trading firms are businesses, not speculative machines. From that
understanding, you should be able to have a better idea of where algos might
provide some sustainable value.
Source: I was offered a spot at CTC, wound up at a large bank. Maybe the
better wording would be, "truly understand market making and market mechanics,
and where improvements there could be valuable, and then see if algos could
solve that problem." Algos have solved lots of problems but when you have a
hammer everything looks like a nail. Technology was the limiting factor in
markets for awhile, and right now the technology isn't the bottleneck, it's
the politics and the people - see Bitcoin. But before you go full Marc
Andressen, remember that finance is fundamentally about using the massive
trust and resource allocation system within the human society, and so to think
every valuable problem in the space can be solved by an algo may be dated
thinking.
------
ghgr
Surely you'll find interesting Stockfighter [1], a trading game developed by
three members of this community; Erin Ptacek (elptacek), Thomas Ptacek
(tptacek) and Patrick McKenzie (patio11).
[1] [https://www.stockfighter.io](https://www.stockfighter.io)
~~~
zerr
Do those people have enough insight/experience for the domain?
------
macromackie
One of the best resources I've seen is Mike Halls-Moore's QuantStart:
[https://www.quantstart.com/articles](https://www.quantstart.com/articles)
------
sshconnection
If you're in the NYC or bay area, there are a few quant groups on meetup.com
that have regular events. Might be a good place to drop in.
------
chollida1
There was an almost identical post about 3 weeks ago here.
Let me state flat out that I don't think there are any good books about
algorithmic trading all all.
Most will talk at surface level about what they are doing but non will give
you a start to finish example that can be deployed with a brokerage like
interactive brokers. Trading & Exchanges I see was recommended. I'd skip it,
most(All?) trading strategies that the average person will come up with won't
be market micro structure related, and if it is then I'm going to flat out
state that you've lost before you started.
If you really want to get into it, then please don't start with machine
learning.
I've said this many times but ask your self:
\- "what machine learning techniques could I apply that 100 fresh PHD's
haven't done on their first week at a hedge fund?"
\- "What data source do you have that the average hedge fund doesn't have
access to"?
\- "What market insight do you have that someone whose done this for years
doesn't have?"
If after all that you still want to get started then honestly your best bet is
to start with quantopian. Don't look at market data changes at a granularity
of less than 1 day until you can create a strategy on your own that makes
money.
Quantopian can give you access to a backtesting platform and clean market
data, which is the step most people get stuck on, and usually quit at.
Once you've found a strategy that makes money, put your money into an account
with Interactive brokers, If after 3 months you still want to continue then
start looking at market data slices of less than one day.
Tl/DR
\- first step is don't
\- second step is to focus on time slices of 1 day or more
\- third, put your own money into action on you strategy for 3 months
\- fourth step, there is a very small chance you'll make it this far, look at
time slices of less than a day. At this point you can start to apply machine
learning and build your own software. Even at this stage you are more likely
to be an ATM for a hedge fund than you are to make money.
Good luck
Feel free to reach out to me, personal email in profile if you'd like to chat.
------
tmaly
check out [https://www.quantopian.com/](https://www.quantopian.com/)
------
csayantan
u should be in financial engineering for algo development.get nt7 and test b/s
signal.more thing u should have a good money management rule with
wyckoff/pitch fork rules etc. u should have good understanding on OFA/MP too.
------
algotrading
hi, yes there is an excellent online course developed called trading strategy
launch framework, helped me go from zero to cracking hubdreds of robust
strategies
~~~
fosco
can you share the online course?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What can I do professionally to combat climate change? - jlevers
I've seen a lot of recommendations for what I can do in my personal life to help with climate change, but I've also seen that lot of smart people think that my lifestyle contributions are a drop in the bucket. It seems to me (and please correct me if I'm wrong) that I could have a much larger impact by focusing my software development skills/career on combating climate change.<p>That being said, I'm looking for resources to help me decide what direction to take professionally in order to work on projects that a) have a larger impact on climate change than personal lifestyle changes, and b) are interesting problems technically.<p>Some of the good resources I've found include Bret Victor's "What can a technologist do about climate change?" [1], and Steve Easterbrook's "Climate Change: A Grand Software Challenge" paper [2], both of which are great resources. I'm interested to hear if any HN'ers know of other great resources in this domain, or specific companies/organizations with which I could work on this extremely important problem.<p>[1] http://worrydream.com/ClimateChange/
[2] http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~sme/papers/2010/Easterbrook-FSE2010-wkshp.pdf
======
sn9
Figure out a way to stop people from flying unnecessarily:
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/theworldpost/wp/2017/11/...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/theworldpost/wp/2017/11/02/plane-
pollution/?utm_term=.dafc4c375ef5)
------
tmaly
I would say make training videos or do comparisons of products like reusable
drinking bottles etc.
Educating people on what they can do is probably the single most effective way
to leverage. YouTube and other video platforms are becoming the dominate way
to consume content. So figure how to educate on those platforms.
------
jryan49
Convincing everyone its a real problem and we must deal with it now is the
first step. We need to tackle this problem as a society, not as individuals.
------
antocv
Lets make such a resource together, a forum or list of things to do, and
invent/work on?
~~~
tylerpachal
A resource for finding jobs for "green" companies would be great. At least
here in Canada, my searches that intersect "software" with
"green"/"renewable"/"wind"/etc yield next to nothing.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Which distributed cache is Cloudflare using for their 1.1.1.1? - xstartup
======
palerdot
> Instead of relying on a centralized cache, DNS resolver, 1.1.1.1, uses an
> innovative distributed cache, which we will talk about in a later blog[1]
You need to wait for the official blog post from cloud flare to get precise
details on the implementation.
1) [https://blog.cloudflare.com/dns-
resolver-1-1-1-1/](https://blog.cloudflare.com/dns-resolver-1-1-1-1/)
~~~
xstartup
I am unable to sleep in its anticipation. Is there any ETA?
~~~
floatingatoll
The post is up.
------
jgrahamc
The core resolver is [https://www.knot-resolver.cz/](https://www.knot-
resolver.cz/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Surveillance shot that ruined tragic Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz's life - ttar
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2261840/Surveillance-shot-ruined-tragic-Reddit-founder-Aaron-Swartzs-life-Moment-caught-breaking-MIT-archive-sting-left-facing-30-years-jail.html
======
lostlogin
There are some obvious spelling errors in that story. I know it's the Daily
Mail, but surely they can spell check their stories.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Using Ruby Gem to root a box - r11t
http://www.reddit.com/r/ruby/comments/br9ui/using_gem_to_root_a_box/
======
jpcx01
Bad title. He was given sudo access to gem. So, of course he'll be able to run
arbitrary code as sudo.
Don't use sudo gems. Rubygems works great with normal user access. In fact,
best bet is to have a user ruby install too. RVM helps with this.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How do I write so much, you ask? Well, glad you asked - lionhearted
http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/?p=195
======
avinashv
#11 FTA:
> Try to think of every visitor as an honored guest. If you think of “web
> traffic,” 15 visitors is disappointing. If you think of 15 people deciding
> to spend time with you they could spend anywhere, and they’re choosing to
> spend it with you – they’re choosing to spend their life energy reading your
> thoughts – that’s very cool and humbling, and suddenly chugging along with
> 15 readers feels pretty good.
That really resonates well with me. Blogging feels--at least to me--like an
isolated platform. It's me writing, and people may or may not read. But the
idea that the author presents here is almost like sitting in a room with
friends and telling them a story. It's a nice image.
~~~
reitzensteinm
It really is a nice way to think about things. Once, an early Microsoft
employee reviewed one of my games on his blog, saying he'd been playing it for
hours and enjoying it. Surrounding the review were posts about taking his
Ferrari racing on track days.
I got a huge kick out of the fact that he chose to spend those hours with my
game, given the entertainment it was competing against... though to be honest,
given the choice I'd take the Ferrari!
------
jacquesm
So, is this one of the crappy ones or one of the good ones ;) ?
Agreed whole heartedly though, if you are a 'producer' there will be tons of
stuff that is not fantastic but that might be useful to somebody.
The funny thing is that it is unpredictable, what will be appreciated and what
not. Sometimes I fire off a 10 minute blog post and it gets retweeted for days
or even weeks after, and sometimes I work for hours and hours on something and
nobody cares.
I see the 'lower grade stuff' as taking a break from the other stuff whilst
still keeping busy. Sooner or later you find yourself engaged with more
interesting things again, if you 'broke the routine' just because you're not
doing anything worthwhile you'd find your source of inspiration dried up
pretty quickly.
So keep busy, by all means, and fail often, looking forward to the gems. Like
this one: <http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/?p=95>
~~~
lionhearted
> So, is this one of the crappy ones or one of the good ones ;) ?
I don't think it'll ever go into a museum, but I'm hoping there's some value
in there for people :)
> The funny thing is that it is unpredictable, what will be appreciated and
> what not. Sometimes I fire off a 10 minute blog post and it gets retweeted
> for days or even weeks after, and sometimes I work for hours and hours on
> something and nobody cares.
Isn't that the strangest thing? Yeah. Consistency of output leads to results.
> I see the 'lower grade stuff' as taking a break from the other stuff whilst
> still keeping busy. Sooner or later you find yourself engaged with more
> interesting things again, if you 'broke the routine' just because you're not
> doing anything worthwhile you'd find your source of inspiration dried up
> pretty quickly.
Great observation, this. I re-read it a couple times to get it down. Yes, even
if the magnificent work isn't flowing, you keep going for inspiration.
> So keep busy, by all means, and fail often, looking forward to the gems.
> Like this one: <http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/?p=95>
Ah, cheers for the kind words. Didn't realize you read my site Jacques, gosh
that pleases the hell out of me. By the way, I was so impressed by
<http://jacquesmattheij.com/The+start-up+from+hell> \- I won't say I enjoyed
it, per se, I was cringing through a lot of it. But wow, what a story and
learned a lot from it. Regular reader of your site as well, cheers for the
kind words.
------
dtrizzle
As an attorney, I’m always concerned that my writing will not be my best work
and people will think that I suck. Or that something I write will come back
and bite me in the ass when I run for office or get vetted for some high
powered job. However, fear or perfectionism can be paralyzing. Even as an
attorney, you have to produce a lot of crap to produce good stuff. Judge
Posner comes to mind. He blogs, writes about everything under the sun, and is
brutally honest about his opinions regardless of the cost. Some of it is
probably not the best and some of his opinions are off the wall. He also
happens to be the most cited American appellate judge. Ben Casnocha touched on
this here: [http://ben.casnocha.com/2010/05/career-lessons-from-elena-
ka...](http://ben.casnocha.com/2010/05/career-lessons-from-elena-kagan-vs-
richard-posner.html)
------
EricBurnett
Contrast this with <http://freestylemind.com/how-much-do-you-value-your-time>
, where Oscar contends that the internet is filled with mediocre content
already, so traffic-wise you are better off to write less often but spend more
time on each post than attempt to be prolific.
------
shortformblog
A few things, as someone with a daily blogging schedule myself:
1: Fixing permalinks on WP requires messing with MOD_REWRITE. It's not hard,
it just requires some .htaccess stuff.
2: Really, you're absolutely right. It's a matter of getting on the horse and
forcing yourself to do it every day. I've given myself SOME time off this
year, but I've largely blogged 95% of the time this year. It's pretty
important that you write and don't stop.
3: The getting judged on your best work thing is important. You can't blog
assuming that every post you do is going to be a big hit with the right
readers. But some will hit very hard. I've had a few that have connected VERY
well – a thing I posted on Ikea's switch to Verdana, a post on BP's
photoshopping, and general political stuff that's kind of the bread and butter
of my blog right now – but the important thing is that I keep writing and I
can improve the quality of my work as I keep going.
4: I'm a fan of having some basic ideas in mind but not relying too heavily on
notes. I'll do a lot of basic research on a topic, grabbing worth-reading
pieces from HN, certain bloggers of choice, hearting them in Pulse, e-mailing
them to myself or throwing them on Instapaper, but I think it's better to let
the sparks come to you on the fly. Sometimes, my best post of the day will be
something I spent less than ten minutes on, because I was able to put an
interesting twist on it.
5: Sometimes you get lucky. My blog's been linked by Andrew Sullivan a couple
of times. The Atlantic Wire links to me semi-regularly. Slate linked to me
once. I get the occasional follow or retweet from someone I look up to. And
it's even led to some freelance work. But the more important part is that
you're not doing it for those occasional notices (though they're nice). You're
doing interesting things because you want to do them and you can give them an
interesting, unique focus. And that focus builds you an audience.
Look, there's a reason why a blogger like Instapundit has an audience. His
blog is anemically designed by today's standards. He might as well be using
Twitter/Tumblr (rather than using Twitterfeed to link back to his page). But
he's owned his style of blogging. Same with Daring Fireball. The key to
blogging is finding a niche, or a unique way of saying things, and making it
yours.
Once you have that focus, the daily blogging comes easy.
------
jyothi
>> "You’ll get judged by your best work."
well till you get an audience, then they are going to watch your back and you
cannot the do something always, good or bad rule. you will have to be
cautious.
also there are cases where your best work gets ignored given the bad
reputation of the bad work. As long as there is humans infer this will be
there, it is extremely hard not to be influenced by previous work.
------
IsaacSchlueter
"Branches of science", eh?
I kind of think the moral of the story here is: "Wanna write a lot? Write
crap! That's why I'm so awesome!"
It's true, of course, to an extent. "Writing crap" is absolutely essential in
any creative endeavor. Otherwise that crap gets impacted, and the good ideas
can't get out.
However, the editing and refinement process is at least as important, I think.
If all you do is _just_ write a lot, most of it being bad, it might just all
stay bad. You have to be _trying_ not to write crap, knowing that's what
you'll often end up doing, and be ok with that.
It's the same in software development. Over-reliance on design can lead to
analysis paralysis. Software is best when there's code first, and analysis
afterwards.
It's probably worthwhile to have a dev branch and release branch in blogs, for
the same reason as it makes sense for code. Friends and regulars can see the
just-released content, but the mainstream page doesn't show anything that
hasn't been vetted and carefully edited.
------
kgroll
Some people, such as the author, choose to write every day. Others, like PG
for example, post much less frequently (thus keeping the SNR much higher). For
most people, I think the sweet spot lies somewhere in between.
Whenever I strive to do something every day, it ends up feeling forced or
contrived, and inevitably the quality drops. (I might be atypical in that
regard?)
Furthermore, I think there _is_ such a thing as wearing down your audience.
It’s like you’re lowering your own value. Sure, you might still produce really
good piece on a weekly basis, but they live in the same house as all your
other, potentially mediocre posts.
That said, I strongly agree that we should all try to write every day. I
started blogging earlier this year, and only at that point did I realize how
difficult it is. So, taking my first point into account – my suggestion is
that you _do_ write every day, but not necessarily share everything you write.
A journal is good for this, or even write it on your computer without
publishing it. Whatever works. By doing so, I think you still develop your
voice and style, without obligating yourself to add to your blog every day.
This approach has helped me avoid burnout. Plus, there's something I really
enjoy about writing things just for myself.
~~~
SoftwareMaven
My feeling is that you should produce a lot, but that doesn't mean you need to
_publish_ everything you produce. Writing every day is a good way to keep
thoughts flowing (most writing self-improvement books recommend doing so).
Publishing every day can be a good way to oversaturate your audience with
drivel.
~~~
robryan
Yeah that's the thing really, writing every day helps your writing, publishing
every day doesn't necessarily get you a better or more engaged readership.
Most of us follow many peoples writing online, if everyone is writing everyday
lots of it is going to be missed.
------
PStamatiou
I wish more people would bold various parts of the article and break it up
into sections like this - makes skimming much easier. I have been doing this
on my blog for sometime and it's really the best thing for my readers. You can
write the longest post ever but as long as it's well broken up and important
parts highlighted/bolded you'll still get people commenting etc
~~~
jseliger
I do this occasionally but never did it in earnest for reasons I hadn't really
thought much about until I read "A list of N things":
<http://paulgraham.com/nthings.html> .
_You can write the longest post ever but as long as it's well broken up and
important parts highlighted/bolded you'll still get people commenting etc_
I would tend to say that if some parts are important and others aren't, remove
the unimportant parts until there aren't any left, then publish what remains.
This is another practice I use, although sometimes with more success than
others.
------
petercooper
Perhaps I misunderstand the industry, but isn't this how many photographers
tend to operate? Sure, they're trained in technique, have a particular
aesthetic, etc, but if you take 1000 pictures at an event and boil it down to
the 20 "best" ones, you're going to be doing better than finding 20 out of 50?
------
Andrew_Quentin
Average does not necessarily mean crap.
------
ww520
This is an excellent blog, at least to me. I've stopped blogging for over 6
months, for one reason or the other. This will make me start again. Thank you.
------
xtho
As somebody who doesn't blog (and never did), I wonder if there is a
difference whether you want people to follow your news feed or whether you
market your articles on social news sites like this one. If it is news feeds,
I'd say one of the things that make people stop reading a blog is too many
unrelated articles with little original content. If it is social news sites a
ton of mediocre, boring articles doesn't hurt.
------
purpledove
The equal-odds rule is simply wrong. A few examples: Andrew Wiles, Charles
Darwin, John Forbes Nash. These people produced a small amount of work, but
they shook the earth. Some people are geniuses, and some are not. It appears
rather that some geniuses are prolific while others are not. Examples of some
prolific ones: Einstein, Serge Lang.
Edit: A commenter pointed out that Charles Darwin goes in the second list.
~~~
knowtheory
I think it is difficult to actually assess the veracity of the equal-odds
hypothesis. You don't know how much Darwin or Einstein threw away, or how much
of their stuff was irrelevant and forgotten.
I was just reading this: <http://matt.might.net/articles/ways-to-fail-a-phd/>
which notes that Einstein's phd thesis is both obscure and forgotten, and
inaccurate compared to his later greatness.
I should add however, that the equal-odds thing is the way that i learned to
be a better photographer. Shoot as much as you can, figure out what you did to
take the good ones (I guess it's like the monte carlo method for artistic
improvement).
~~~
purpledove
I agree - there is a vagueness issue with the rule, and it is not obviously
falsifiable. But as stated, the rule does not discuss unpublished works - it
is a statement about published work, and the statement is that each scientist
is throwing the dice when they publish, and there is nothing the scientist can
do to increase his chances.
~~~
knowtheory
yes, fair point, the domain is published works. The observation about Einstein
still stands though yeh? :)
------
hoopadoop
Sadly, you are only as good as your last piece of work - not your best piece
of work.
------
sabat
The lesson here: if you have a tendency toward perfectionism, like me, _fight
it_. Produce things, a lot of things. Let your abilities develop by actually
producing. Don't try to make One Great Thing. You're probably wrong about
which thing is your One Great Thing anyway.
I was just reading the new introduction that Ray Bradbury wrote for _The
Martian Chronicles_. It came together from a bunch of "asides" that he wrote
just for fun -- he wasn't taking them very seriously. Then an editor saw them
and suggested that they formed a whole story.
~~~
wallflower
A repost here but an important one:
> Back around the age of 19, I had started sending my short stories out for
> publication. My goal was to publish something (anything, anywhere) before I
> died. I collected only massive piles of rejection notes for years. I cannot
> explain exactly why I had the confidence to be sending off my short stories
> at the age of 19 to, say, The New Yorker, or why it did not destroy me when
> I was inevitably rejected. I sort of figured I’d be rejected. But I also
> thought: “Hey – somebody has to write all those stories: why not me?” I
> didn’t love being rejected, but my expectations were low and my patience was
> high. (Again – the goal was to get published before death. And I was young
> and healthy.) It has never been easy for me to understand why people work so
> hard to create something beautiful, but then refuse to share it with anyone,
> for fear of criticism. Wasn’t that the point of the creation – to
> communicate something to the world? So PUT IT OUT THERE. Send your work off
> to editors and agents as much as possible, show it to your neighbors,
> plaster it on the walls of the bus stops – just don’t sit on your work and
> suffocate it. At least try. And when the powers-that-be send you back your
> manuscript (and they will), take a deep breath and try again. I often hear
> people say, “I’m not good enough yet to be published.” That’s quite
> possible. Probable, even. All I’m saying is: Let someone else decide that.
> Magazines, editors, agents – they all employ young people making $22,000 a
> year whose job it is to read through piles of manuscripts and send you back
> letters telling you that you aren’t good enough yet: LET THEM DO IT. Don’t
> pre-reject yourself. That’s their job, not yours. Your job is only to write
> your heart out, and let destiny take care of the rest.
Elizabeth Gilbert, NY Times Best Selling author of "Eat, Pray, Love"
<http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/writing.htm>
~~~
jacquesm
So, did you get published?
~~~
binomial
I believe that was a quote, in case you missed it. See the bottom of the GP's
post.
~~~
jacquesm
Ah ok, I thought a repost from her own stuff with a follow up link. I get it
now. Sorry... (I should get more sleep).
------
jw84
Geeky way of saying a million monkeys at a typewriter.
This is Michael Jordan's philosophy:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45mMioJ5szc>
Ira Glass believes that some people start out producing work that isn't as
good or match their good taste. It's after a lot of work, trial and error, and
mistakes that the disparity between your good taste and your good work match
up.
Be patient, keep trying, be confidant. I should have joined a football team.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Right to Read - Jach
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
======
Jach
In hindsight this was submitted at a very sub-optimal time for exposure. Oh
well.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Playing with model trains and calling it graph theory - zdw
https://11011110.github.io/blog/2019/05/02/playing-model-trains.html
======
dekhn
The book Hackers has an entire chapter on the TMRC
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tech_Model_Railroad_Club](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tech_Model_Railroad_Club)
engineers (students) build early track switching systems using relays and
mainframes (later I think it was transistors and later microcomputers). This
let them experiment with all sorts of train routing algorithms and those
students often went on to influential positions in the telecom and computing
industries.
~~~
jpmattia
While we're on the subject of ancient history, Prof Jim Roberge's course on
feedback systems (6.302) famously included a final lecture incorporating his
love of model trains.
The goal of the lecture was that the train should have a constant speed
despite hills introduced into the track. In order to measure the speed of the
train, he noticed that there was a small glitch that would occur as the
motor's armature switched polarity, and so a time measurement of the glitches
was proportional to the speed of the engine.
[I took the course in 85 and still remember it, so he left something of an
impression. A couple of generations learned analog feedback from this course.
RIP Prof Roberge.]
Edit: By some lesser miracle, his lectures are on youtube. The train lecture
was last.
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUl4u3cNGP62in17jH_Di...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUl4u3cNGP62in17jH_DiJMkCGNM6Xni-)
~~~
dekhn
Thanks, that's pretty cool. When I was a kid I could never get my model train
to go very fast. It wasn't until about 30 years later that I learned enough EE
to understand the problem. Eventually I learned enough to build a self-
balancing robot using PID control but I'm always amazed at college students
who can do this stuff easily.
------
vibrio
Thanks for this, I've been obsessing about track layouts while playing trains
with my kid, how to avoid getting stuck in permanent loops, having bi-
drectional routes on all parts of the track etc. As I'm not a math person,
I've not had a logical framework with which to think about it. my kid doesn't
care but laying out tracks been a surprisingly fun mind game for me.
~~~
grimjack00
You may want to search for "shunting puzzles", such as those here:
[https://www.transum.org/Software/Shunting/Puzzles.asp](https://www.transum.org/Software/Shunting/Puzzles.asp)
Every time my model train interest rises, I consider setting up a small layout
for puzzles like these.
~~~
m463
I've wanted to make timesaver for quite some time now.
------
mpettitt
It is surprisingly difficult to build train tracks given a set of parts, even
without taking junctions into account - there is a challenge about it on Stack
Overflow's Programming Puzzle site
([https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/q/116607/66060](https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/q/116607/66060))
and there is only one answer in the two years it's been there. In some ways,
real life engineers have it easier - they don't have to plan routes based on
the parts in the box!
~~~
Someone
Having only one answer in two years doesn’t imply the problem is hard.
I would think all ‘large enough’ puzzles of this kind are easy. You build a
rectangle (needs four corners. If you don’t have those, no closed curve is
possible), and use pairs of left-over curves to add detours to the straight
ends, possibly compensating for an odd number of straight edges. I would guess
there is an analog to Euler’s formula
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler%27s_formula](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler%27s_formula))
that describes what number of small corners, large corners, and straight ends
can form a large closed curve.
I also suspect ‘large enough’ isn’t that large, probably everything over 16
pieces or so (Smaller problems may be non-standard because they require effort
to avoid overlap)
------
sand500
Reminds me of the lab I TA'ed college where we had to implement a track with 2
trains on it as a state machine and make it impossible for the two trains to
collide. We had to eventually implement this state machine in vhdl which was
then run on a fpga where we could simulate and control the trains:
[http://engineering.armstrong.edu/tom/engr2031/engr2031traina...](http://engineering.armstrong.edu/tom/engr2031/engr2031trainassignment.pdf)
------
inciampati
Train track graphs have applications in genomics, where they are used to build
pangenomic models in which the graph has two strands (like DNA). It's great to
see work on them is ongoing!
------
Sniffnoy
Oh man, so I'd actually been thinking about the question of what happens when
you actually play the game of Snake on an arbitrary graph:
[https://hjaltman.github.io/snake.html](https://hjaltman.github.io/snake.html)
Very interesting to see these results about the more basic model, where we
leave out the game part and just focus on movement! I may have to contact the
authors about this...
------
elsurudo
At UW (University of Waterloo), our Real-time OS class projects used physical
trains. Walking the halls of the Math & CS building, you could see kids
"playing with trains" all through the night quite routinely.
It had the reputation of being one of the hardest CS classes in the undergrad
curriculum.
------
elygre
I seem to remember an Alistair MacLean book where the secret messages (spy
business) were coded in a model train setup. It was then disguised in a set of
time tables that, when run, would end up with the train cars in a particular
order, and where the cars were encoded letters.
~~~
KineticLensman
I think you are thinking of The Enemy by Desmond Bagley. It’s on a book shelf
at home and I’m away so I can’t check. I recall that the murdered
industrialist actually uses a train set to encode an algorithm rather than a
code. Will have to check when I get back
------
dblohm7
This brings up fond memories of Waterloo's CS 452: Real-time Programming.
"Here, we've got this model train set hooked up to a PC with nothing on it.
Here are some specs. Write an RTOS and control program to make the trains do
something interesting."
------
martinlofgren
I thought a lot about this a few years ago when my son was very much into
building train tracks. I had just taken a first course in linear algebra and
started to work out a mathematical solution to this very problem. It is still
one of those projects I wish to complete... someday when there is more time.
Guess it will be when I have grandchildren.
------
new4thaccount
Wow ...I was building tracks with my toddler yesterday and wondering how to
not run into so many problems with not being able to complete an
interconnection. I had a feeling it was an open math problem.
------
dllthomas
I call it group theory when I play with my Rubik's cube.
------
mkagenius
Offtopic: I read it as model trains and calling it machine learning.. meh!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Best Buy Wants To Fund Your Startup - ciscoriordan
http://www.businessinsider.com/best-buy-wants-to-fund-your-startup-2009-5
======
dryicerx
I hate shopping at Bestbuy.
But this can be a really good thing for certain types of startups, such as
those who need access to the general population and consumer market. Not just
access, but a DIRECT/MASS access. This is a match made in heaven for those.
VCs are there for Startups who want Money. Incubators/YC are there for
Mentorship/Guidance. BestBuy will be there for those who need direct market
access.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Leveling up as a Junior Engineer - GowGuy47
https://medium.com/masterpoint/leveling-up-as-a-junior-engineer-3f6880f8af1d
======
TurboHaskal
How to level down as a Junior Engineer:
1. Start with the kool-aid: Read Hackers and Painters.
2. Appeal to your fragile ego: Read The Bipolar Lisp Programmer.
3. Learn actually interesting stuff: Read On Lisp, PAIP, Lisp in Small Pieces,
The * Schemer series.
4. Implement your own Scheme. With the help of your dog.
5. Further down the rabbit hole: Read SICP.
6. Unlearn Java, JS and PHP. Reject job offers containing such keywords.
7. Engage in CL vs Scheme internet flame wars.
8. Spend the most of your fertile years trying to find the perfect Emacs
configuration (spoiler: it doesn’t exist).
9. When the choice arises: Choose to learn Shen instead of Clojure due to the
latter being too impure for you.
Congratulations! You are now unhireable. Not that you would like a job anyway.
------
djb_hackernews
My advice:
\- Never call yourself a Junior Engineer. If you have experience, even just a
little, you are an experienced engineer.
\- Develop your communication skills. The barrier to entry to start presenting
at meetups is extremely low, do that with the goal of presenting at tech
conferences.
\- Skip the side projects. Of the 10 or so water walkers I've worked with, 0
have github accounts.
\- Don't buy into the last paragraph of this blog. Software development isn't
hard, and the last thing you want to do is think you need to constantly keep
up with the latest and greatest tech. If you step back it looks a lot like an
industry that doesn't know whether it's coming or going, don't fall for the
trap.
~~~
zer0tonin
> Of the 10 or so water walkers I've worked with, 0 have github accounts.
I have the complete opposite experience.
~~~
jandrewrogers
Many of the very best engineers are effectively prohibited from having Github
projects. The deeper down the stack you are, or the more hardcore the computer
science you work on, the more likely this is to be true because your primary
work area is deemed a trade secret.
This isn't a major issue if you are an app developer because a side project
app is unlikely to convey valuable trade secrets. A database kernel engineer,
on the other hand, can't have any side projects related to databases that
demonstrate their skill level because such a demonstration would violate their
non-disclosure restrictions.
~~~
enraged_camel
>>Many of the very best engineers are effectively prohibited from having
Github projects.
Many, sure. But the OP's comment was "Of the 10 or so water walkers I've
worked with, 0 have github accounts."
Surely people understand how asinine it is to believe that a sample size of 10
of OP's "water walkers" is a representative sample?
~~~
chasote
This comes off a little aggressive to me. People should be able to provide
opinions and anecdotes on HN without the constant "citation needed" for
everything. We all know everything isn't fully backed by 4 studies that will
be presented here and now. Just say you disagree and offer why. It will
probably be an anecdote too.
~~~
enraged_camel
On the other hand, if everyone used "anecdata" to support their arguments, we
would never get anywhere.
If you want to make qualitative arguments, make qualitative arguments. What I
absolutely can't stand is lame attempts to lend weight in such arguments using
completely unverifiable and most likely non-representative numbers.
~~~
softawre
But the guy was just giving his opinion...
------
scottLobster
My continuing critique of posts like these is that they miss far more
fundamental keys to "leveling up": energy level and psychological issues.
I bring this up because in my experience the people who outright fail to
"level up" and are actively seeking out posts like this often lack the
fundamental ability to follow through on any advice they're given, regardless
of whether they agree with it or how good it is.
Perhaps the best example is side projects. The first thing you need isn't a
good idea, "soft skills", or even being particularly skilled at coding. The
first thing you need is enough time and energy to keeping going after an 8+
hour workday, combined with enough confidence to push forward.
For most people that means getting in shape, eating healthy, getting a full
night's sleep every night, developing a growth mindset of some variety,
dealing with anxiety, making day-to-day tasks more efficient, etc. Otherwise
all the good advice in the world is only going to lead to fragmented, half-
baked sputtering efforts that ignore the root of the problem.
As for the people who have all that stuff taken care of, then I guess this
information is of some value if it's the first time they're seeing it.
Otherwise it's largely a rehash of other innumerable professional development
blog posts. Which doesn't mean it's bad, but the people who really need the
help probably can't use it, and the people who can use it likely don't need
it.
~~~
neivin
Agreed.
Finding the motivation/discipline to keep up the conscious effort of improving
at anything is the hardest task of all.
~~~
LrnByTeach
> Finding the motivation/discipline to keep up the conscious effort of
> improving at anything is the hardest task of all.
Well stated, can't agree more !!!!!
------
srdeveng
IME, as someone who leveled up from jr to eventually sr in the same org over a
10yr period, the best advice I can give is be confident in your skills and be
willing to take calculated risks.
Teams are always chasing deadlines and resolving unforeseen issues as they
arise. The go-getter willing to volunteer to fix a problem that isn't already
on their plate gets noticed.
You won't be assigned 'save the day' type work outright as a jr, but the team
will find itself in a tight spot, and you need to volunteer to go above and
beyond to help fix XYZ even though it's outside your domain.
If you succeed, you have everything to gain. Fail? You're the jr, at least you
gave it the old college try while chipping away at your key tasks.
~~~
mrisoli
Leveling up in the same org is all about the company's cost.
Some companies(especially bigger ones with names that attract new grads) will
deny you a promotion if they believe you are cheap to replace(denying a
promotion often leads to employee unsatisfaction which causes them to leave).
Most companies, especially if they are having problems finding new engineers,
will just give you a promotion to keep you happy and because they can't afford
the time and costs of losing and employee, find and train the next one.
However, I think the article is more about personal improvement than proper
leveling up within an organization, in which case it's not about being
noticed.
------
boona
If you're interested in php and/or laravel I highly recommend laracast. He'll
go through the exercise of creating a certain feature, and then refactoring
that feature with an explanation as to why. And often, that refactor is the
difference between entry level code that just works, to intermediate code
that's scalable and easy to read. I highly recommend it.
~~~
Double_a_92
Would you recommend Laravel and PHP? I know PHP is seen as outdated by some
people... But now that that NodeJS/MongoDB hype is finally receding, PHP
actually seems like a sane alternative.
~~~
jajern
Any mention of PHP's merits at this point is going to start a flame war. It's
pretty easy to be a terrible developer with it. JS/Node can allow you to be
just as bad of a developer. The key to being good and getting a good start is
to learn the fundamentals of whatever language you choose. Don't pick a
framework and definitely don't rely on one without knowing a language.
Frameworks come and go. I personally like Python but mostly use PHP in my day
job due to it being the company standard for web apps. It works just fine for
the company's needs. Most people can learn the basics of a language in a day
so it may be worth running through a few tutorials in a few different
languages to see if there is something that suits you. In my opinion it's good
to have a toolbox of languages because sometimes a certain language is just
better than others at different things.
------
y-c-o-m-b
This posting really irks me. It's reminiscent of those "agile coach" marketers
that tell you "this is the REAL way to do agile". The only thing I agree with
is the mentoring. If you have a desire to learn and you can find a strong and
supportive mentor, then you will go far. All the other stuff in the article
feels like high school popularity contest tips. You don't need to do all those
things to "level up". Side projects are nice, but you'll find most people -
especially in corporate/business software - don't have side projects. Nor
should they have to. People have families and duties outside of software, so I
hate how there's a cultural push to be a huge github contributor; it pressures
ordinary folks to take time away from their other passions. Just be a good
person and willing to learn, that should take you far enough.
------
AngeloAnolin
"At least one per year that you actually ship (the hard part) at a minimum."
I would say that this would probably be on top of my list, because shipping a
working and usable software is a testament to all the learning, communication,
mentoring and pairing that you would get as you level up.
------
haburka
In my opinion, side projects don't have to ship. Some people do need to ship
side projects, some people do not. It's important to challenge yourself with
code, absolutely, but enforcing deadlines on yourself is usually just met with
disappointment when you don't do it. Additionally, by allowing yourself to
stop working on side projects when you want, you can focus on doing the parts
of coding that you enjoy which means you can find your preferences and
passion.
However, I do believe that everyone should be able to set up a server and a
web page to show off the functionality of any side project they make (or an
app). The best part about any side project is taking your phone out with your
friends and showing it off.
~~~
vhakulinen
> In my opinion, side projects don't have to ship.
Totally agree. I have had tons of side projects and most of those have just
been for fuzzing around with new and shiny (or old and solid) things. From
side projects, I have "shipped" couple of apps but have gained the most
experience from the ones that I haven't.
Also, the blog post mentions only books and blogs for reading. I've found that
reading issue tracker/PR and other forums closer to actual code has sometimes
been extremely helpful (in those cases, I tend to end up reading the code it
self from time to time).
------
mrisoli
My opinion for the article:
Finding a mentor is good, finding multiple mentors is better, just like the
article says you don't need someone to be with you at all times, you need to
learn from someone, if you have the chance to learn from multiple experienced
people around you please do.
Do not involve in the community just because you want to level up, do it
because the community helps you and you want to contribute.
Reading should be advice for any human being, not just for leveling up tech
skills, you could say the same for soft skills.
Side projects are not obligatory, but if you have the drive to do them you
should, it can be a fun and learning experience.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Fastest IMAP implementation? - barryglenn
I set up Google Apps for my start-up and IMAP is painfully slow (in Outlook at least and I've seen it on the Mac as well). Based on research, I'm not the only one experiencing this. So, is there an email provider where IMAP is blazingly fast or do I just have to live with this?
======
madhouse
The best course of action would be to sync your imap folders to a local server
(OfflineImap with dovecot is an amazing combo). I'm using Google Apps like
that, and it's blazingly fast. It does eat a lot of disk space locally aswell,
but that's something I can afford for now.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
eBay Acquiring StumbleUpon - veritas
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/04/18/stumbleupon-signs-term-sheet-to-be-acquired/
======
wschroter
Think of ebay using it's $40m as a permanent ad placement for it's own
products and services. It's not that far off in that context.
Plus if it actually becomes a real company and has value, then it's a big
deal.
$40m isn't too much money for a decent bet. $4 billion (a la Skype - uh, yeah)
------
jkush
What is Ebay doing with stumbleupon? Doesn't seem to fit with their business.
Not in any way I can see at least.
~~~
jkush
From: <http://gigaom.com/2007/04/18/ebay-likely-buyer-for-
stumbleupon/#more-8780>
"By marrying the (StumbleUpon) toolbar to Skype client, eBay can do an end run
around Googles dominance of the search business. A simple search box inside
Skype client is all it would take. It is not that far fetched: Skype has been
slowly integrating various different services (including PayPal) into its
client, and slowly becoming eBays desktop backdoor."
~~~
Sam_Odio
A search box inside skype? Based on that logic, we should be putting internet
search boxes inside everything....
What about a search box inside iChat, iCal, and iPhoto too? genius...
~~~
danielha
It's all speculation at this point. I'm not a user of StumbleUpon, so correct
me if I'm off base here, but I can see utilizing SU's site discovery tech for
something in eBay's space, such as product or brand discovery.
Even if the acquisition has little to do with eBay's core business, it's easy
to see that companies are always looking for expansionary development.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Ask HN: Do you ever feel guilty about what you have? - thetylerhayes
I mean in comparison to people who have much less than you. You know, the old chestnut of: "I am so privileged and have so much, and yet there are people out there who don't even know if they're going to eat again this week."<p>I'm not pointing fingers, I'm just curious as I often struggle with the issue of reconciling all my privileges (and wants) with the fact that billions of people live in poverty.
======
michael_dorfman
Bill Gates, giving a commencement speech at Harvard:
_My mother, who was filled with pride the day I was admitted here – never
stopped pressing me to do more for others. A few days before my wedding, she
hosted a bridal event, at which she read aloud a letter about marriage that
she had written to Melinda. My mother was very ill with cancer at the time,
but she saw one more opportunity to deliver her message, and at the close of
the letter she said: “From those to whom much is given, much is expected.”_
[http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/060807-gates-
commencem...](http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/060807-gates-
commencement.html?t51hb)
------
blippy
First off, it's not your fault that there are other people who are worse off
than you, so there's really no logical reason for you to feel guilty.
Secondly, instead of feeling negative, why don't you help in some way. It
doesn't matter if your contribution is small. Try it, and see what happens.
------
nirajr
I live in India, and yes, I do. For anyone conscientious here, this is a very
common feeling (Even when we have earned whatever we have most scrupulously)
For me, I worry more about some people not getting an opportunity to do well.
The fact that there were many kids born at the same time as me who did not get
the opportunities that I did pains me more than me having stuff that many
around me don't.
------
ajdecon
I tend to think in terms of what the community's return-on-investment is with
respect to my upbringing and support. Society has collectively invested a lot
of money in me without demanding a direct return: some very good state
scholarships and a fellowship to go to graduate school are only the most
obvious and quantifiable contributions. There are many more indirect examples,
government services and institutions which have helped me in a more diffuse
way. These are shared and less quantifiable, but they still helped in an
observable fashion.
I appreciate the help, and I will feel accomplished in some way when I feel
that I've contributed an equal or greater amount back to the community.
Charitable contributions, volunteer work, growing a company, generating
employment and wealth, and paying taxes willingly are all activities which
contribute to society. That's not to say I won't help myself along the way--
I'm human--but I think there are plenty of ways to simultaneously support
yourself and support others, and I think it's worth keeping that aim in mind.
"Providing a positive ROI" is obviously a long-term project, but I think it's
as good a goal as any.
As for addressing unfairness, it's a hard problem and I don't claim to have
good answers. All I can think to do is be compassionate and look for chances
to help others. I can't hope to help those starving billions, but I _can_ help
the guy down the street who needs someone to watch his kids while he goes to a
job interview; there's nothing wrong with helping locally.
TL;DR: Think about how others have helped you, pay it forward and try to leave
the world a better place. The rest is details.
------
jarsj
I feel it all the time. Especially in India where high standard living goes
hand to hand with super-poor living.
~~~
thetylerhayes
What do you do about that feeling? What would you like to see done? Anything
the online tech space/startup scene can provide?
~~~
jarsj
Nothing aggressive. I make sure people I employ gets paid well. I give tips
generously. I have taught young kids in slums and I donate my clothes and
other used stuff quite generously. I don't give to beggars because it's like
supporting an industry that should not exist at the first place. It really
hurts to say not to these folks.
You really need to be on the ground to help these folks. There are NGOs and
social organizations doing this on the ground. I think online tech space can
either assist this (for example a web app for an NGO that collects clothes) or
a startup that tracks/rates various NGOs and monitors their funding/spending
etc.
I am no expert. My few quick thoughts.
------
rms
No, one of my goals in life is to save all humans. Though I could give myself
some fuzzies in the meanwhile by donating to Village Reach and saving the life
of an infant.[http://www.givewell.org/international/top-
charities/villager...](http://www.givewell.org/international/top-
charities/villagereach)
I will match the next $100 donated to Village Reach, reply here with proof of
your donation and then I'll donate.
------
spiffage
No. As a person of relative privilege, it's your duty to generate value for
the world with as much aggression as you can muster.
The world is a crazy place full of pleasure and suffering. The world doesn't
care what you deserve; what matters is what you're gonna do about it.
------
joshklein
I don't feel guilty about what I have, but I do feel guilty when I take what I
have for granted.
------
viggity
Don't EVER feel guilty about what you have unless you stole or deceived your
way into getting it.
You can feel thankful or maybe lucky, but never guilty. There were a lot of
people who have made a lot of sacrifices so I can be in the position I'm in.
The most important person who made sacrifices was myself - I've spent an
INSANE amount of time perfecting my craft and now I'm reaping the rewards.
When most classmates were hitting the bars, I was slinging code. When most
were playing xbox, I was slinging code.
I'm not trying to say you shouldn't ever help anyone else, I do all the time -
but I'm never going to feel compelled to do it.
"I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of
another man, nor ask another man to live for mine" - Ayn Rand
------
danilocampos
I feel something that might be in the neighborhood of what you're describing,
but it's different. It's more "Why haven't I figured out a strategy for
helping more people get closer to where I am?"
I have the benefit of being guilt-free overall. Statistically, I have no good
reason to be anywhere close to where I am. So many hispanic kids end up
involved in gangs, in jail, on drugs, or worse. My cousin, for example. Is
dead. With a d.
So how did I beat the numbers? I got lucky because even though my mom got
pregnant with me at 20 (common) she worked extremely hard (outlier), showed me
the right way to go about living my life (extreme outlier), and then when I
got old enough, I took over. Pushed hard, dreamed big, worked a lot, and was
enough of a pain in the ass to get toward the career I want. I have my mom,
computers and the internet to thank for everything meaningful I have today.
Still, I won the ovarian lottery in that I was born in North America in a
country whose baseline standard of living is luxurious from a global
perspective. So I feel a deep and abiding duty to advance the human condition
in such a way that a larger percentage of other people get access to the
silver bullet that cures all human bullshit: education.
Education is how we get everyone on its feet. I don't know how, yet. But
fixing education is key to giving everyone who wants it a chance to be where I
am today. Without the opportunity to learn, I'd be in jail, shooting up, or
stuck in a dead-end job with no hope.
There's got to be a way to get more people on that train.
------
stackthat
Almost all the time, also I feel even more guilty for not helping them out
enough.
------
kingsidharth
Don't judge yourself or others. And you will never feel guilty. That's my
mantra.
------
mathogre
No.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Twitter is not public infrastructure - pclark
http://tumblelog.marco.org/72580346
======
thinkzig
I couldn't agree with this more. It goes back to the "should Twitter be taking
usernames from people?" discussion we had here a week or so ago. Twitter is
free. You're not paying for it. It doesn't owe you anything. Plan accordingly.
On the flip side, this begs the question "When _is_ Twitter going to start
charging to use the API?" It seems clear that there is some demand for it.
~~~
rw
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question>
It is a logical fallacy to beg the question.
~~~
sayrer
Given the section on colloquial usage,
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question#Contempora...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question#Contemporary_usage_and_variations)
I'd say that's rather prescriptive, maybe even SNOOTy.
<http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/DFW_present_tense.html>
~~~
Eliezer
That's what I said the first time I got zapped for that, but the one said,
"'Begs the question' is a technical term with a precise meaning and we need to
preserve that precise meaning," and at that point I gave in.
~~~
sayrer
Yeah, I agree that it's still at the point where people will look down on you
for using it in the colloquial manner.
------
mdasen
This is something that's been in my head a little while: would there be
interest in Wikipedia-style, not-for-profit, in the public interest services?
We don't see a lot of this in web stuff - probably because internet has seen a
lot of competition and a lot of free stuff. However, maybe there is still
demand.
~~~
rw
Yes - but contemplate trying to get VC for that. Volunteers only, I suspect.
~~~
smhinsey
i can't come up with much in the way of existing not for profit infrastructure
institutions. do these exist in some form i can't think of? the closest i can
come up with is a rural electrical co-op but i'm not sure that's quite the
same thing.
------
sh1mmer
Unless you have a business relationship with whoever you rely upon then you
are in trouble. Even then you should be ready to jump ship. Remember when S3
and EC2 went down? If all of those services that rely on it were ready to jump
onto another service they wouldn't have gone down as well.
While it's not always possible to replace parts of your infrastructure you
rely on, it's common sense to have multiple redundancies for stuff. The
problem in the case of Twitter is their offering is users, rather than
computing. That's something you can't replace if they pull the plug.
------
okeumeni
Here is an idea for twitter to make money: User pays a small fee for bandwidth
and space the more space (and bandwidth; they will have to figure this out)
you need the more you must pay.
One more thing (It is an idea derived for my actual stealth app), you get your
own space somewhere to store your tweets. Then they will have to store some
sort of repository there for you. Bandwidth and size become your business; you
deal with the third party.
This way Twitter will somehow become more open for hackers to do stuff on
their platform.
------
paul7986
Great to see them announce OAuth support - though I'd prefer a Gmail
labs/iPhone app store approach applied to Twitter (Twitter labs).
I really want to customize my Twitter account and if they had Twitter labs I
could customize my account accordingly; add features found in these apps
directly into my Twitter account. Though instead of Twitter developing new
features take iPhone app store approach and approve/integrate developers
programs into Twitter. They could then sell each feature and share revenue
with developers!
------
boredguy8
Yeah, because services built on top of another 3rd party product are never
successful...
This makes no sense at all. True, your business will fail if the underlying
service fails, but Microsoft would fail if all hard drive production suddenly
stopped, too. A great many businesses rely on "private 3rd parties". The real
concern is "how reliable are they?"
~~~
raganwald
> Microsoft would fail if all hard drive production suddenly stopped
The likelihood of "all" hard drive (or PC manufacturing) ceasing is a very
different proposition than the likelihood of a single, unprofitable company
taking an action that puts you out of business.
Most business rely on private 3rd parties, but there is a reason that
companies work hard to have multiple sources of supply for critical goods and
services.
------
est
twitter is like the Internet's syslog to me. ^_^
------
chadmalik
Is there any reason why the whole publish+subscribe Blogs / RSS complex hasn't
settled on a reasonably easy to implement standard similar to SMTP that allows
organizations to run their own microblog server?
Its really disgusting to think of twitter (or any single vendor) "owning" this
kind of function and preventing simple things like allowing text indexing.
~~~
jonasvp
I believe laconi.ca (<http://laconi.ca/trac/>) provides exactly this kind of
functionality. As always, though, it's a chicken-and-egg problem. Look at
Jabber and how little it has taken away from the proprietary IM protocols. As
long as everybody and their mother is on Skype/Twitter/etc. there's not a big
incentive to switch.
~~~
chadmalik
Yes but there needs to be a protocol not just a competing server.
It seems like the older internet protocol standards like SMTP work better. At
least some of this generation of protocols seems to have played out in
horrible ways like the IM market where one or at most 4 vendors have walled
gardens and an open standard doesn't win. I guess in the early 70s when SMTP
was designed there weren't a bunch of big corporations looking to "monetize"
every new feature, just some bearded coding gurus in academia who wanted to
build something that worked.
~~~
gsmaverick
There is a protocol. The Open Microblogging Specification. It allows different
servers to interact!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Monte Carlo methods – Why it's a bad idea to go to the casino - whereistimbo
https://easylang.online/apps/tutorial_mcarlo.html
======
55555
It's more complicated (worse) than this. That the house has a small edge only
tells a small part of the story.
When people go to vegas for a weekend, they might have a number in their head
they are willing to gamble. If they dont, then that number is their bank
account balance. Then they start flipping coins, and often they keep doing
this until they go bust. They rarely cash out when up but they always lose
when they go bust. They scale the bets as their bankroll grows. Essentially
they are flipping coins for infinite time and just waiting to get a bunch of
tails in a row, which is inevitable. The behavioral factors are bigger than
the house edge.
The idea that people are rational is also absurd. Some people are driving to
the slots _because_ they are depressed. Or they are there for fun but they
lose a bunch of hands in a row and tilt and now they're betting everything on
a longshot to win it all back and win some because they dont want to self-
identify as a 'loser'.
You can only spend so much money on drugs and sex. Gambling is the only vice
where you can lose billions. And these days, all you have to do is pull out
your phone to place a trade or a bet.
~~~
noego
You hit the nail on the head. If you simply play the pass-line and free-odds
on craps, the house edge is extremely small. And yet, most people lose far
more than predicted by the odds. The problem is exactly as you stated - people
don't have a defined exit-strategy, and their implicit exit-strategy is to
keep playing till they lose everything. Which is guaranteed to happen 100% of
the time even if the house-edge was 0.
An approach that I've found to be useful, and have personally used in Vegas:
\- Always start off each session with a fixed $X in chips, even if you're
flush from previous winnings
\- If at any point during the session, you get to $2X or $0 in chips, end the
session immediately and cash out everything. Even if you're on a "hot streak"
\- Bet large enough that you will get to $2X or $0 in a short/moderate period
of time. The longer your session drags on, the lower the likelihood of getting
to $2X
\- Once a session has ended, have a cooling off period. Eg, no further
gambling until after the next show/meal
If done right, gambling can actually be extremely cheap. With a house-edge of
0.5%, you can gamble $10,000 and only lose $50 on average. This makes it far
cheaper (and more exciting) than eating out or going to shows.
_The usual disclaimers still apply: only gamble what you can accept losing,
no more_
~~~
arisAlexis
Can you explain what you feel playing a game that will always make you lose
money no matter the strategies and anything else? Very curious
~~~
michaelt
I've never been to a 'proper' casino, but I've seen a few in James Bond films.
Everyone is attractive, powerful and sophisticated. People look on, impressed
at his daring. Everyone has a bow tie on. Beautiful women hand him free drinks
with a smile. The atmosphere isn't even slightly tinged with the desperation
and regret of gambling addicts.
I can understand losing $50 a day to live out that fiction.
I have no idea whether any casinos offer that experience - the gambling things
I've seen in my country have all been far more tawdry.
~~~
mcguire
The people in casinos are usually senior citizens carrying their oxygen tanks
between slot machines.
~~~
Buttons840
And the slot machines are online ads incarnate.
~~~
rdiddly
I think of them as video games that are really simple, weird and boring.
------
roenxi
I have a pet peeve about Monte Carlo methods; although it might be more fairly
characterised as a rookie mistake I saw once.
MCM are not strong if the tail variance isn't an important feature of what is
being modeled. I've seen simulations where the modeler starts with an analytic
model - from which they could trivially calculate the mean and variance of a
KPI - then used a MCM simulation to find out essentially what the mean and
variance of the KPI.
So I get that this code is just for illustrative, educational purposes. That
is fine. Well done Christof, thanks for the contribution to education. But if
anyone is actually using MCM to simulate well known probability distributions
they should really put the effort in to learning how to work with well known
probability distributions. I feel pretty confident that simulating the
Bernoulli in a professional setting is a mistake, because I've seen it done
and it was a mistake. For amateurs who aren't confident with math then they
can use MCM if they like; but statistics is dangerous and they should be aware
that they are using the wrong tool for the job and it is a tell they will get
other things wrong. You get a lot of insight from a good analytic model.
If there is some interesting tail issue (eg, maybe after 3 heads there is
guaranteed to be a tails and your insurance contract pays out on a tails) then
sure, use MCM. Great tool if you have the right problem.
~~~
petermcneeley
Really dependents on your philosophy. Would you rather do error propagation
using this method
[http://lectureonline.cl.msu.edu/~mmp/labs/error/e2.htm](http://lectureonline.cl.msu.edu/~mmp/labs/error/e2.htm)
or would you rather perturbate your variables and resolve mean and variance.
My philosophy drives me towards the computational approach over the analytical
mathematical approach.
~~~
roenxi
Are you sure there is even a philosophical difference there? I'm still going
to use a program to do the heavy lifting of calculating the errors. I'm happy
to argue that there is no philosophical difference; if both approaches are
feasible and take comparable amount of time to implement then one gets the
exact answer to the question at hand and the other is a poor man's shortcut
for people who aren't confident in their maths skills.
The calculations should be arriving at the same numbers in the end, and
implementing a simulation vs. an error propagation tree isn't going to favour
the simulation for simple scenarios.
MCM is great for when doing usual error propagation is infeasible. It is
sloppy when the error propagation could be done with a one or two analytic
formula. Simulation isn't appropriate for problems that are easy analytically.
For example, in practice, most of the examples in the article are not suitable
problems for breaking out MCM (and although the author probably knows that,
maybe not everyone on HN does). The Pi one might be a standard application,
but even there Pi in particular is not a great choice for a showcase because
Pi has some very nice analytic approximations.
~~~
alexgmcm
I think the value is in checking assumptions - if the analytical approach
assumes a normal distribution and then you do MCM and get a vastly different
result then it is probably worth checking the assumptions made by the
analytical model.
~~~
roenxi
That is an inappropriate way of checking your assumptions. Assuming a normal
is assuming a model (a model is a simplification of a situation by only
considering the relative parts). Writing a simulation is _also_ assuming a
model, although the process is a lot less formal than traditional statistical
regression.
If a modeler has assumed two different models of a situation and are getting
vastly different results then that is evidence something is wrong, but it is
also evidence that the modeler is out of their depth. It is not appropriate to
fit two different models and then claim that the differences are delivering
insight. The differences are revealing big gaps in the modelers understanding
of key influences, rendering both models highly suspect. They should not be
creating models, they should be putting more time into understanding the thing
they are modeling.
There are times when a modeler would have two different models, but they
should certainly not be surprised that they give different results. Indeed,
they should be assuming two different models because they are going to give
completely different results. There will probably be other edge cases, but in
my experience they are rarer than people just making mistakes about where MCM
is appropriate.
------
TBurette
A while ago I wrote a similar interactive article to prove that the martingale
betting technique at the roulette doesn't work : [1]. The martingale is when
you bet 1, double the bet each time you lose, start again at 1 when you win.
The aim was to create a single page anybody could link to that proves without
a doubt the abysmal odds of making money off the roulette with the martingale
technique. Instead of pre-written probabilities, charts and 'obscure
complicated math' that people could easily dismiss. I wanted to give people
the ability to run simulations of playing at the casino in the browser. The
idea being that people would end up building the probabilities/charts
themselves through simulations.
It is running Monte Carlo simulations inside the webpage and outputs the
result as charts dynamically using js and D3. What it does is it repeatedly
simulates going to a casino with a certain starting amount of money and an
objective of how much you want to win. It then plays the roulette using the
martingale technique until you got your target winnings or you lost your
money.
Unfortunately I don't think I wrote the article really well and the 'generate
yourself the charts proving it doesn't work' doesn't come across really well.
I should have put a 'run' button instead of needing a page refresh for a
start.
[1]
[http://thomasburette.com/martingale/](http://thomasburette.com/martingale/)
~~~
mongol
Theoretically I learned it works, but only if you have unlimited funds.
~~~
dorgo
Wait, what could you win if you already have unlimited funds?
~~~
mongol
1 dollar, an unlimited number of times.
------
learnstats2
My experience of going to high-end casinos, mostly in London, is that:
\- Many players were plainly cheating in some way, by marking cards and
sometimes colluding with the dealer, but the casino didn't appear to mind
because they were cheating in an ineffective way and still losing money to the
house edge.
\- (Related: you would just be banned if you won an amount of money that
showed you were beating the house edge: see also the Phil Ivey lawsuit)
\- Some players were gambling large sums of money generally on games with a
small house edge, and looked bored like they were there to do a job. I assume
from their behaviour they were laundering money.
~~~
matwood
European casinos I have found to be boring compared to American casinos. A
craps game in an American casino can get raucous in a good, exciting way. Even
more so at a 'cheap' American casino.
Contrast this when I was at the Monte Carlo casino in Monaco where they
somehow sucked the fun out of craps.
~~~
learnstats2
Las Vegas-type casinos are definitely selling entertainment.
European casinos seem to be selling something else.
------
arsenide
I work on Monte Carlo simulations professionally for casino slot games.
I wish that more depth was presented here: what percentage of the time do you
get favorable vs unfavorable outcomes with each strategy? For further depth,
use different types of players (with different exiting conditions).
Perhaps I should write such a blog post at some time..
~~~
dang
That post would probably be of interest to a lot of HN readers. If you want,
we can look over a draft if you send it to hn@ycombinator.com. Sometimes we
can make suggestions that improve an article's appeal to this crowd.
Same offer goes for anyone else who's putting a lot of work into a post they
hope will interest HN.
~~~
arsenide
Thanks dang. I may very well take you up on this offer.
------
oldandtired
When I was 8, I spent 6 months in hospital and that was over 50 years ago. Not
much to do, so my parents made sure I had lots of puzzle books of all kinds as
well as story books. One of those books had a chapter on gambing, which I
found interesting, it was written for children. It made the claim that as long
as the "bank" had a significant value greater than your own (by at least 10
times), you could not win against them even if the odds were 50:50. As the
decades have gone by, I followed this up with other research and basically,
gambling is a mugs games if you are not the bank.
Yes, you can at times win and come out ahead. But on the whole, you will lose.
My father's advice has always been: "Son, treat it as entertaiment and spend
only what you can afford to lose like every other form of entertainment. If
you think you can win, you be the fool and will lose more than you can
afford." I have also found that gambling institutions are so depressing a
venue to be in.
------
trymas
I am even more impressed by the `easylang`[0] itself, which was used to create
the demo.
[0] [https://easylang.online/ide/](https://easylang.online/ide/)
------
lanrh1836
Blackjack on the strip has become a boiling frog of sorts. Everytime I go back
the rules are tweaked a little more in the house’s favor.
3:2 payouts for Blackjack were gone years ago, but more recently no even money
for Blackjack if dealer shows an Ace, only split once for two Aces...not worth
it at that point.
~~~
SmellyGeekBoy
In the handful of times I've been into casinos here in the UK I've always just
stuck to the Blackjack table (I used to play it with my grandma for buttons
when I was a kid). Every time I've walked away with more money than I started
with. My biggest profit was over £500.
The one and only time I was convinced to give roulette a try I lost everything
pretty quickly (I mean the small pot I'd set aside for gambling - I'm not
stupid enough to keep withdrawing money and bet more than I can afford).
Seems blackjack can be pretty lucrative if you're willing to walk away at the
right moment. I seriously doubt it would work as any kind of long term
strategy, however. Of course you also have to have the discipline to spend the
rest of the night drinking beer and watching your friends get poorer and
poorer.
------
WalterBright
Investing: Return on Investment > 0
Gambling: Return on Investment < 0
For the casinos, it's an investment, for the customers, it's gambling.
~~~
denormalfloat
Perhaps we could combine the two? Make a slot machine that pays out in penny-
stocks, rather than chips.
~~~
WalterBright
We call them "online brokers" :-)
------
kai101
I have similar simulation 10 years back written in C, no fancy description but
understand how casino works.
Similar conclusion, once u win enough, you leave; once you lose enough, you
leave. Never bring your whole bank account to a casino, or the figures will be
move closer to 0.
------
jaimex2
If you go to a casino play poker with other humans. Nothing else is worth your
time.
~~~
soVeryTired
Even poker in a casino probably isn't worth it unless your opponents are
obviously drunk or bad players. After the rake and the dealer tip, there's a
good chance your edge is zero or negative.
~~~
AlexandrB
I read parent as saying that playing poker with others is the most
entertaining way to spend your time at the casino, since he didn't mention
money.
------
listenallyall
This article should be down-voted, the only reason it isn't is due to the
clickbaity nature of discussing casino games. It's a terrible initial
introduction to Monte Carlo simulations, he doesn't even discuss the
possibility of seeing the distributions of the results of the games he
proposes, which is essentially the most valuable reason to perform a Monte
Carlo simulation.
~~~
screaminghawk
If you read it instead as an advertisement for easylang.online it's a pretty
nice introduction for the language
~~~
listenallyall
...and if the headline was "Learn to Program in easylang.online" it never
would have sniffed the front page of HN
~~~
chkas
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19299760](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19299760)
~~~
listenallyall
another clickbaity headline, confirming my point
------
slewis
Great article showing how easy it is to experiment with probability using
Monte Carlo methods. You don’t need any fancy libraries or deep mathematical
knowledge.
Of course you should always try to have a deeper understanding if you want to
make serious conclusions. But I felt this article got the concept across
really concisely! Nice work.
------
refrigerator
For people interested in applying Monte Carlo methods, here are some tools
that make it easy:
\- Causal: [https://causal.app](https://causal.app) (I'm working on this, web
app)
\- Guesstimate: [https://getguesstimate.com](https://getguesstimate.com) (no
longer in development but very cool, web app)
\- Palisade @RISK: [https://palisade.com/risk](https://palisade.com/risk)
(Excel plugin)
\- GoldSim: [https://goldsim.com](https://goldsim.com) (very technical,
desktop app)
------
spaceflunky
It's (relatively) easy to show the math on why casino games are impossible to
win, but what about sports betting? Does the house always have the advantage?
Perhaps it's slightly better for the gamer?
FWIW I was looking a betting website recently [0] and they were offering
DOUBLE your initial deposit for signing-up, up to $1000. So to reiterate, they
are willing to give up to $1000 for FREE just for creating an account. All I
can imagine is that they would only do this if the numbers are vastly not in
your favor.
[0] I'm not going to post the name of said website.
~~~
OscarCunningham
>Does the house always have the advantage?
The mathematics doesn't really matter because if you find a systematic way of
winning then they just ban you.
~~~
SmellyGeekBoy
So... yes?
------
TazeTSchnitzel
The language they're using seems to pretty much be BASIC with slightly
different syntax, it even lacks user-defined parameters for functions just
like BASIC does.
~~~
chkas
There are user defined functions with parameters and locals.
~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Why have subroutines then?
~~~
chkas
Subroutines have a global namespace - this is easier to understand. Functions
with parameters and local variables allow longer and recursive programs.
------
blunte
If you want to really know why you shouldn't gamble (for profit... gambling
for fun, with discipline, can be satisfying), read this quintessential book:
Scarne’s Complete Guide to Gambling
What you will probably take away from this book is that the house wins when
you win. And the reason they win is that they don't pay actual odds.
Take the roulette wheel as a simple example. There are 37 (or 38 in the case
of 0 and 00 wheels) slots. If you bet on a single number, they pay 36:1.
TFA mentioned doubling down when you lose. That's known as the Martingale
Strategy. As banks and real estate lenders discovered in 2007, regardless of
your model, there will be some condition where the near-impossible will
happen.
If you want to use the roulette wheel again as an example, and even if you
want to ignore the green 0/00 slots, you have half black and half red. You can
simply play one color and double your bet if you lose... until you finally win
it all back.
The problem there is that while it's true that for millions of spins, about
half should land black and half should land red... but in short periods it is
possible for there to be 10 or 15 or 20 or more spins of the same color. We
can all do exponential growth, so it's easy to see how doubling down will
empty your wallet eventually.
But just to be sure that strategy won't work, most casinos will set a table
limit. That limit will be designed to prevent you from doubling your bet too
many times (5-7ish times? depends on the place). Of course, if you discuss in
advance with the casino, you may be able to set a personal table limit based
on your initial bet. So you can bet 1 million on the first spin in order to
set your table limit to 1 million. But that's truly a gamble.
There is one element you can control when gambling: that is when you increase
or decrease your bets, and ultimately when you stop playing.
Yes, you can count cards in blackjack; but that's generally frowned upon
(where "frowned" means you will be escorted out and told to never return --
and they are very serious). Even levels of indirection of counting such as
employed by the fascinating experience of the MIT crews of yore
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Blackjack_Team](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Blackjack_Team))
have become obvious. So the short of it is, unless you only play a little, bet
big, and get lucky for your limited period (and then stop so you don't get
banned), you will otherwise lose more than you win.
Now for my personal opinion :). Casinos used to be a fun place. Now they are
so optimized and commercial that they are like Walmart. Yes you can go, but
you'd probably rather not. For modern thrills, we now have crypto exchanges
with 50:1 or more leverage.
~~~
dagenix
From what I've read, casinos are perfectly happy to let you count cards in
blackjack. The advantage you get is so small, that even a few mistakes per
hour means you'll lose a bunch of money. It's only if you count cards and win
that you get kicked out.
~~~
chimeracoder
> From what I've read, casinos are perfectly happy to let you count cards in
> blackjack. The advantage you get is so small, that even a few mistakes per
> hour means you'll lose a bunch of money. It's only if you count cards and
> win that you get kicked out.
It's not that the advantage is small (if it were, the MIT team would never
have been so successful in the first place). It's that most people who try
aren't good enough to do it well, so the casino is happy to let them try (and
fail), thereby making money for the casino.
~~~
TylerE
It's also worth noting that the MIT teams (and successors) stopped circa 2000.
Times have changed. Casinos are much more on top of what's going on on the
floor.
------
IngoBlechschmid
The Python examples are delightful! If you input them at
[https://www.speicherleck.de/iblech/zufall-im-
browser/index.e...](https://www.speicherleck.de/iblech/zufall-im-
browser/index.en.html)
(with slight modifications), then you get continuously-updated histograms of
the results.
------
potatote
I do not have a lot of background on statistics. Hoping someone here could
explain why in Roulette game, although the apparent chances of getting number
between 0-18 (inclusive) and 19-36 (inclusive) are the same, we lose money if
we keep playing more and more numbers of games.
~~~
obenn
The 0 does not count as a lower number. There at 18 numbers in both the groups
1-18 and 19-36. Each of these give a 18/37 chance of winning, which is lower
than 50% and therefore loses in the long run when the money is being doubled
on a win.
~~~
potatote
Ah...I see. I am not much of a gambler either, so this is a very useful piece
to know why Roulette gambling, in the long run, turns negative for the
gambler. Thank you.
------
blt
The subtitle made me expect something about a failure mode of MC methods in
some popular application...
------
nurettin
I made an effort to download previous draws form my local lotto website [1]
And parsed them and applied a montecarlo method to see:
1\. If I could find an optimal way of playing the game to maximize my profits.
2\. If I could find a bias towards certain numbers.
The result was:
1\. I found a way with 1/3 chance of winning big and paying back all expenses
you played for the past 20 years. It is a significant investment and everyone
will think you are crazy, but you have a very high chance of early retirement.
2\. I found no obvious difference between the frequency of numbers.
The idea is to spread your betting numbers as far apart as possible in order
to follow the normal distribution. If you reduce the overall gap between your
numbers, your chances of winning is significantly reduced.
[1]
[http://www.millipiyango.gov.tr/sonuclar/_cs_superloto.php](http://www.millipiyango.gov.tr/sonuclar/_cs_superloto.php)
~~~
kaoD
If you found no difference on number frequency, it's the uniform distribution,
not normal (a.k.a. gaussian) distribution.
AFAIK uniform distribution means any number is equally likely to be drawn,
regardless of distance to your other picks.
Just to check if I got that right: does that mean that playing 333333 and
666666 in a 6 digits lottery had a higher chance of winning that picking
333333 and 333334? If so, why? And, since playing more numbers will reduce the
overall gap. Does that mean the optimal strategy is playing a single number?
Did you test your method via simulation? I can't see how it works with my
little knowledge of statistics. Can someone chime in?
~~~
nurettin
Yes, I meant uniform distribution. My method was to give it a higher chance to
have a lower gap between the numbers to see if it would make a difference
within a montecarlo simulation and it did. So if you have say 16 slots and you
need to choose four numbers, according to my simulation, highest likelyhood of
winning is to spread out your numbers like [3 6 9 12] or [4 7 10 13] and
lowest likelyhood of winning is to spread like [1 2 3 4] [2 3 4 5] all the
time.
Not exactly sure why.
~~~
kaoD
Huh, that's unexpected. I'll try to reproduce it, thanks!
~~~
nurettin
Would love to hear about it!
------
paulcarroty
It's absolutely obviously for people who know the basics of Probability
theory. Not sure if modern high schools covers it now.
But it's only a part of the problem. Second part - money and gaming easily can
be addictive like drugs.
~~~
doomjunky
Everything that makes your brain feel good, can be addictive.
Not the drugs are addictive, feeling good is.
~~~
TremendousJudge
Yes, that's what psychological addiction is. Make no mistake though, chemical
addiction is very real. Alcohol withdrawals can be fatal
------
dalore
This actually taught me that the losing strategies win more often then we
thought.
I got positive 2 our 4 times for the single 13 choice.
And for the strategy to double your bet to cover your loss actually worked for
me!
Day 1: $10870 Day 2: $12980 Day 3: $10630 Day 4: $8190 Day 5: $7560 Day 6:
$9100 Day 7: $9090 Day 8: $10130 Day 9: $12080 Day 10: $12870 Day 11: $12910
Day 12: $14110 Day 13: $15450 Day 14: $15030 Day 15: $15500 Day 16: $14230 Day
17: $13700 Day 18: $11190 Day 19: $12250 Day 20: $14190 Day 21: $16070 Day 22:
$12880 Day 23: $12820 Day 24: $11480 Day 25: $12470 Day 26: $14920 Day 27:
$9940 Day 28: $10240 Day 29: $9020 Day 30: $10740 Day 31: $12600 Day 32:
$14880 Day 33: $17220 Day 34: $15700 Day 35: $17920 Day 36: $18150 Day 37:
$14080 Day 38: $16150 Day 39: $18140 Day 40: $19960 Day 41: $20000
\-------------
------
mateo411
The American roulette wheel has 38 slots, which include a zero and a double
zero. The French roulette wheel has 37 slots. The house edge on the french
wheel is half of what it is on the American wheel.
------
arisAlexis
I am very surprised that this is something that needs to be said in a hacker
news site? Would there be community members here that don't understand basic
arithmetic and stats?
------
joyjoyjoy
How about the lottery? If the Megamillions jackpot is, lets say 500 MM, your
changes are not higher to win it, but more is paid out in that drawing than
paid in.
------
stibba
From personal experience: this is absolutely true. There is this csgo gambling
scene on the internet. It's basically betting with real money but masked as a
value of weapon skins. I have made some idiotic decisions in the past
regarding these websites and I still regret it a ton. The problem really is
that these websites also allow people of any age to gamble with their weapon
skins (aka money), and it's fairly easy to buy new skins with actual money.
What's interesting though is that it's easy to observe a ton of gamblers for a
long time. And since there is usually also a chat, interacting is also
possible. These sites usually have 14 numbers for roulette where 1-7 is red
and 8-14 is black, 0 is green which gives 14x your bet. Red and black give you
2x.
If you observe enough gamblers long enough (which I did), you see the same
pattern over and over and over again. It goes like this: 1\. Gambler starts
out with a random amount of money (could be high or low). 2\. Gambler wins big
(usually like 1-3 times on green) 3\. Gambler feels lucky and gives out money
to 'passive' beggars* in the chat. ( Sometimes I would feel bad for the
gamblers and hint them in the chat that they should cash out, no one ever
listened ) 4\. Gambler continues and might win some more, or lose some but not
all. 5\. Gambler has been betting for such a long time that he/she is back at
where he/she started. ( Beggars keep begging but gambler says he is down so
doesn't give out money right now ) 6\. Gambler suddenly wins big on green
again (or went all in) and feels like a king again. 7\. Now Gambler cashes out
(by buying a skin) the money with which they started and continues with what
his/her leftovers. 8\. Gambler loses the leftover money on the website. 9\.
Gambler deposits the skin that was previously withdrawn again. 10\. Gambler
loses everything now and the beggars focus on a different big gambler. 11\.
Gambler usually comes back within a week or month and loses more money. 12\.
The cycle continues.
* People, usually kids, that lost their (usually small amount of) money earlier and our now cheering for some big gamblers so these gamblers might send them money on the website.
I personally also lost a (for me) quite big amount of money on these sites
over a decent period of time. Later, I was able to sort of stop my addiction
and I made a bot which predicted random results (red/black/green) in the chat.
It got me like 30 dollars of tips from people that had probably used the bot
but the website changed some things so my bot stopped working and I have been
too lazy to fix it.
Last thing: I also kept some stats of the roulette because I had to know the
timing of the roulette so my bot wouldn't predict if it was already rolling. I
added an extra feature for myself so I could see how many times red/black and
green were rolled and how many times my bot got the predictions right.
Obviously this always ended up in a big loss for my bot (in terms of
predictions, I did not bet money with my bot) in the long term.
------
wavefunction
Blackjack has been a source of success for me though I'm unconventional in my
betting strategy which seems to enrage the other players even when I break the
dealer consistently.
~~~
phkahler
Dont they kick you out if you're consistently winning?
~~~
forbiddenvoid
Not necessarily. Casinos will kick you out for a particular set of behaviors.
Just winning isn't enough.
Playing a minimum bet for a long time, then suddenly increasing to the max
near the last half of a shoe is a good way to get a casino to ask you to stop
playing blackjack.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How to keep energy levels consistent every day? - ge96
I wish I could like get a "read out of my vitals" it's probably a dehydration/blood sugar problem.<p>I find that after drinking coffee/eating food I want to pass out. Also when binging on junk food (I don't do this everyday) same thing happens. I mostly eat a diet of lentil beans, onions, ground turkey and snack on some carrots. In the morning if I get good sleep, I feel good, clear mind, I can code/think and solve hard problems. But after eating/drinking coffee there is always that risk of a momentary shutdown for at least half an hour to two hours where I want to do nothing. Sometimes I don't eat and just drink water as I'm able to keep that good energy when you first wake up. But I also have this "feeling of need" that I need to drink coffee to get in motion.<p>What can I do? I'm not obese or anything but I'm also not running every day/exercising. Also my family has high-blood pressure problems at least on the father/male side. (I'm next in line for the grave)
======
Broken_Hippo
First things first, I fully suggest heading to the doctor. Feeling faint after
eating/drinking coffee can be your blood sugar or your blood pressure
bottoming out. It can be a myriad of other things too [1], some quite serious.
I'd mention your low energy levels to the doctor as well, as it sounds like it
is worse than normal. I think taking care of this will make a big difference
in your energy levels.
As far as other things you can do, it is really all diet, exercise, and
consistently getting good sleep. I eat most of my food in the evening because
I'm not hungry in the morning. I drink a cup of coffee sporadically through
the day (rarely do I have two cups in a row). I walk as my main form of
transportation. This stuff is more likely to give you consistent energy levels
from day to day, but it won't even out some of the ups and downs throughout
the day.
You mentioned dehydration: I had a spell where I was getting a bit queasy and
dizzy through the day. I called the doctor, and the nurse held off on making
an appointment because it sounded like dehydration. It is something you can
get over fairly easily. Her instructions? Take it easy for a day. Eat healthy
foods. A banana is especially helpful (potassium). Drink lots of fluid. It
should get much better that same day - and it did. Otherwise, off to the
doctor with me, but luckily that didn't happen.
Good luck, and I hope you get feeling better.
[1] [http://www.md-health.com/Dizziness-After-Eating.html](http://www.md-
health.com/Dizziness-After-Eating.html)
~~~
ge96
Hehe, unfortunately I will be taking some of that ~$700.00 tax refund loss due
to not having health insurance. yeah, bananas okay, can't help myself from
eating them all at once.
Thanks for the insight.
------
bobzibub
Armchair medical advice here:
1) see a doc. While there, along with other checks, check for diabeties and
insulin resistance. The tests that don't require testing glucose levels after
drinking a lot of sugar aren't as effective. 2) Assuming insulin related
issues, check out the keto diet or something siimilar. One can become a fat
burner instead of a sugar/carb burner. Thin people who are also fat burners
have a month's worth of energy even without eating. Not a couple hours of
fluctuating glucose levels like many. It has worked for me. I couldn't keep my
eyes open in the afternoon, would frequently feel awful especially after
eating high sugar things like a milkshake, and I did OK at the doctor's tests
for diabetics which runs in the family. After a number of months I am no
longer overweight. (Note that the FDA recommends we eat what the Agricultural
industry happens to sell most of--mostly grains.) None of this may be
applicable to you. But for me it was quite a puzzle after seeing a doctor and
getting nowhere so consider it a possibility if you get no working answers
from your doctor.
~~~
ge96
This is me being dumb, I find it hard to believe that I would have diabetes
(not saying that's what you said). I also realize (I think as you mentioned)
that skinny people can be diabetic. Seems bad like how did I get this? Eating
too much sugary foods over time? I've come across the ketogenic diet. I'll
check it out/try things, doctor is not an option at this time. I will also try
to not eat salt anymore. It's tough life changes. Thanks.
------
roystonvassey
Sample size of one caveat
Firstly, I think it is impractical to have consistent energy levels every day.
IMO and experience, human beings operate in phases. There are days where I am
ultra-productive, not even distracted by mails or messages and there are other
days when I keep checking WhatsApp every minute. There are also days where I
am not producing much but I am excited about something new in my field and on
which I am reading. And so on - you get the drift.
Second, from an energy-diet linkage perspective, I've found that I am sharpest
on days when I skip breakfast and snacks until late into the day (2-ish). I
fathom this to be related to the absence of insulin spikes and the subsequent
carb-induced inertia. This is a variant of intermittent fasting and it has
clearly had an impact on my work productivity.
Curious to read others' experiences on this.
~~~
ge96
Thanks for your input. I understand the "productivity phases" just sucks when
you don't have the luxury to say "Well I guess I'll take today off" though I
guess really you can do that. But have things to do, yeah that's something I
read about regarding the insulin spike.
------
ramtatatam
I'm continuously occupied with thoughts on this subject. You will need to
study your body, I was experimenting a few years and from that I know what
makes me sharp and what doesn't. In my case - refined sugar in any shape or
form is affecting me a lot in negative way and I can see results straight
away. This also holds for food rich in carbs as well as anything that contains
processed grains. And my problem is I found myself to be addicted to sweets
and bread (cravings when I'm trying to cut these off). I'm not sporty type of
person (and there are periods of time when I'm extremely loaded and working
long hours).
But I'm also lucky that my wife is very much into the subject of healthy
living and food/dietary requirements. And for about 6 years she is attending
seminars about different types of food and what effect they have on our
bodies. Through those seminars she found a few easy tips that worked for me
(though I am aware they are only shortcuts that let me survive until I can do
things properly, i.e. treat sport seriously in my life). I'll share them with
you so maybe they will be a good start on your journey:
One of those tips was bulletproof coffee (original recipe by Dave Asprey
though in principle it's mycotoxins-free coffee with raw butter and coconut
oil - healthy type of fat). In essence your brain can burn either carbs or
fat. Carbs are preference though after immediate energy spike body gets crash.
If you avoid carbs for long enough (more than 12 hours, different depending on
person) your body may go to ketosis - state where your brain can switch to
burn fat - and that's where bulletproof coffee comes to the game - since most
of it is fat.
Another tip was avocado - it keeps me filled (much less cravings) and in the
same type it's healthy fat too!
Another one was to keep a bottle of water (high PH) with me all the time. I
started doing this when I realised there could be whole day past by and the
only liquids I would drink was coffee! I aim to drink 1.5 litre a day, this
bottle stands on my desk so I reach and have a gulp every now and then. Our
body is mostly build from water so it's helping to keep water level within
levels allowing normal functioning (you will need to find how much is `normal`
in your case).
I started testing above three on myself 3 years ago and get consistent result.
Less crash from coffee, need much less coffee (essentially one in the morning
and that's it), longer high-focus sessions without shaky hands syndrome (since
I drink much less coffee). And local coffee shop started making bulletproof
coffee about 2 years ago too which helped :-)
Another `discovery` of my own is I am really not benefiting late nights
sessions (wow! though not so obvious when you are coding). If I stay late at
night the very next day I'm less focused and generally less happy of the
outcome when day ends. So I tend to shift from late night to early morning,
which also made my family to benefit too.
Regarding "feeling of need" \- I had this too, it goes away when you go into
routine and find your own rituals that you celebrate each day. Morning
bulletproof is one of my rituals :-) and it helps since my brain is focused on
following my way - even if I smell coffee later during the day I'm not
intimidated.
Good luck!
~~~
ge96
Thank you very much for writing this well thought out response. I don't know
if it's mood swing as well. Today I brewed light coffee eg. 1 table spoon per
2 cups, 3->6, and made the usual onions,lentils,ground-pork soup and put a
little bit of salt (couldn't eat it plain). Oil too. I was pretty productive
throughout the day, but this was later after the shut down from sugars/energy
drinks. I know contradicting.
That bulletproof coffee is interesting. I also wonder if that 12 hour period
thing... I've done this a couple times to reset sleep patter eg. not eat for
16 hours, man it sucks.
Lots of things to fix in life... sucks when sometimes you want to just say F'
it and take it. Whether prison, death, whatever seems weak though I realize.
we are responsible for our position in life I guess, unless you don't have
control (many scenarios I can think of) but I mostly do have control.
~~~
ramtatatam
I have good and bad days. Sometimes I just can't resist and have bigmac - and
when I'm having it I know what effect will it have on me. Still - I tend to
simply accept it and enjoy bigmac with big smile on my face - endorfines are
better than worrying :-) Same with good/bad days in terms of performance :-)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Best resources, books, & courses on Data Engineering? - elamje
Hi everyone, I'm searching for resources for learning data engineering, but I can't find anything on google because of SEO bullsh<i></i> ruining the results.<p>My background is a Computer Engineering undergrad (lots of Java & Clojure, and an intro course to Hadoop), so I'm not starting from scratch. I want books/online resources that are up to date, and extremely practical from the perspective of someone doing big data in tech. E.g. Algorithms for Big Data, Hadoop, Spark, Kafka, Cassandra, Scala, etc.<p>I really appreciate all suggestions, and comments on the quality of others' suggestions.
======
nw__dataeng
I'd highly recommend reading [Designing Data-Intensive
Applications]([https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Data-Intensive-
Applications...](https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Data-Intensive-Applications-
Reliable-
Maintainable/dp/1449373321/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1JFD2NONOK4OG&keywords=designing+data+intensive+applications&qid=1562940898&s=gateway&sprefix=data+intensive+app%2Caps%2C196&sr=8-1)).
The book gives you a great overview of designing data systems - foundational
knowledge you'll need in any DE role.
The reason you can't find data engineering materials online is because real
data engineering really only happens at a handful of companies - and those
companies maintain this knowledge base internally and do not share it.
I noticed that you listed tools / frameworks to learn, as well as languages.
Another piece of advice would be to not focus on those because they come and
go (for example, Hadoop is pretty much deprecated in any DE-heavy company).
What lasts is an understanding of distributed systems, distributed query
engines, storage technologies, and algorithms & data structures. If you have a
firm grasp on those, you won't have to start from scratch every time a new
framework is introduced. You'll immediately recognize what problems the tech
is solving and how they're solving it, and based on your knowledge you can
connect the dots and know if that solution is what you need.
Another thing to do is watch CS186 from Berkeley in its entirety. This course
is about relational databases, but will give you the foundation you need to
speak the DE language.
Source: I work as a data engineer at what some would call a big company :)
~~~
elamje
Great advice! I actually got that book last night as I researched more. I’ll
be looking into the Berkeley class as well!
------
mindcrash
List of resources here:
[https://github.com/adilkhash/Data-Engineering-
HowTo](https://github.com/adilkhash/Data-Engineering-HowTo)
And here is a (free) book you might like:
[https://github.com/andkret/Cookbook](https://github.com/andkret/Cookbook)
"I get asked super often how to become a Data Engineer. That's why I decided
to start this cookbook with all the topics you need to look into.
It's not only useful for beginners, professionals will definitely like the
case study section."
Also +1 for Kleppmann's book mentioned below. That thing is awesome.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Security: from Linux to Windows - CircleJerk
I'm looking for a "Windows for Linux users" kinda of guide, any suggestions? I'm not talking about how to use the OS, but how to protect myself from it.<p>My new job "requires" that I move to Windows ASAP but I'm worried about all the cloud stuff. I'm waiting for the Windows 10 release to start the dual boot pain.<p>- Is there a "Microsoft Block" list for the hosts files for all the cloud, ads on MS apps (like Skype) and data collection stuff? That would still allow me to receive updates<p>- I hate everything about Antivirus software. Is there any lightweight solution? Any options besides UAC on max level to increase security?<p>- For shaddy .exe's, is there a battle tested sandbox solution or I'm gonna need a VM? Is it worth paying for Sandboxie?<p>- Windows Firewall: good enough?<p>Feel free to share your experiences about switching to Windows, security related or not.<p>Thanks!
======
LarryMade2
Setup a limited user account and use that to work and surf from, that keeps
bad programs from jacking your access rights.
Never use Internet Explorer (well, only to install another browser - make sure
you get it from the official site, there are so many underhanded
browser/utility download sites there.)
Install the adblock plugin on Firefox
MS Security essentials is good
use Malware Bytes - it will catch a lot of stuff.
When in doubt (especially on suspicious messages,) do nothing, shut down and
reboot.
Be prepared to wait a lot for updates to complete
If you can avoid outlook, go with Thunderbird, otherwise be wary of emails
(addresses are hidden)
Turn "on" view all file extensions in folder options.
Be very wary on installer dialogs, some have checkboxes you need to uncheck to
not install additional unwanted things, others frontload installers for
unwanted apps ahead of the main installer, etc.
Make sure you keep acrobat, flash, office, java, etc. updated.
If you don’t just click on any link you will be fine for the most part, a lot
of the traps are crafted to get the rubes, be careful on clickbait.
------
higherpurpose
Create a Standard user account after the default Admin one. Use that.
Use EMET on max settings.
Try to use whitelists if possible (AppLocker). Relevant post:
[https://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/59664-free-almost-
pe...](https://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/59664-free-almost-perfect-
malware-protection-with-gpo-app-locker)
I would use Avira over Microsoft's default antivirus. Use Malwarebytes.
Always stay up to date.
You can try GlassWire as well for easy monitoring of your traffic:
[https://www.glasswire.com/](https://www.glasswire.com/)
Use Chrome (most secure for now) - uBlock Origin, WOT, HTTPS Everywhere
extensions.
Windows 10 should be much better security wise, especially if you only stick
to store applications, but I think it will include some security features for
older programs, too (app signing, I think some virtualization/isolation stuff,
etc). In about a year laptops with fingerprint authentication should come out,
too. Unfortunately you'll still have to get the Pro version to get Bitlocker
(or you can use one of the Truecrypt forks like Veracrypt).
~~~
CircleJerk
GlassWire, EMET and AppLocker are new to me but they sound promissing!
Why do you prefer Avira? I find hard to compare since the reviews are usually
personal experiences without any real data, and since they are usually closed
source it's even harder.
~~~
higherpurpose
Avira is usually among the top for free antiviruses and Microsoft's antivirus
is last. For some reason I can't find the links anymore right now but I saw it
on a recent AV comparison chart.
------
brudgers
Microsoft Security Essentials is a free download from Microsoft [I suspect
it's not bundled to avoid running the risk of antitrust litigation]. Anecdote
is not data, but I've been using it for five years and have had no problem,
and unlike commercial antivirus, its business model isn't based on selling
your browsing history or recurrent credit card charges.
Windows firewall has a bad wrap because XP shipped without it turned
on/installed for years. Since Vista and the new security infrastructure it's
about what one would expect as part of an OS. It just took Microsoft a while
to overcome the problems of Windows' success in less technical installations.
None of which is to say a person can't easily do something stupid. But the
same is true for Linux or a BSD based OS.
~~~
pzxc
Security Essentials is bundled starting with Windows 8, but it's been renamed
to "Windows Defender". Same thing though.
------
znpy
I used to use ZoneAlarm free firewall back in the day I was using Windows.
At first it's annoying because it'll ask every single time a process wants to
use the network, but after you train it, you'll get warned and explicitly ask
whenever a program outside your regular ones wants to access the internet.
But keep in mind that if, for example, you allow Firefox to access the
internet, you won't be protected from code run by Firefox doind nasty
networking stuff.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Postgresql: Auditing Changes with Hstore - radimm
http://tapoueh.org/blog/2013/08/27-auditing-changes-with-hstore.html
======
rpedela
This is really awesome! I did not realize it was so easy to audit data changes
and get diffs. In 9.3, they added triggers for create, alter, and drop which
should mean that all CRUD operations can be tracked using triggers and hstore.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ Sound So Similar in So Many Languages - nols
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/10/words-mom-dad-similar-languages/409810/?single_page=true
======
myVocatio
In India where there are dozens of languages, this plays out interestingly...
Granted, in few indian languages 'M' sound is not there.. but it uses even
more basic sound 'aa'(as in used by babies earlier than 'm' sound) e.g. Aai in
Marathi etc - or a similar Baa in Gujrati..
~~~
Manishearth
There's a joke in a Marathi children's book, which goes roughly as follows:
A: Know why we call our mothers "Aai"?
B: No, why?
A: The reason is because "aaaaa" is the sound you make when hurt or in
trouble, and it's your first instinct to call to your mother for help in such
cases.
B: Nonsense. Do English-speakers^ say "maaaaaaaa" when hurt?
I think Indic languages have almost every permutation of "a" and "m" for
"mother" \-- we have "Aai", "amma", "maaa", "mamma", ...
^Might have been Hindi speakers, I forget now.
------
captainmuon
I think its not just a matter of naming the closest person with the easiest
sound, and the second closest person with the second easiest one. You know how
parents say they can tell by the cries of their baby what the baby needs?
After the birth of our kid I found there is actually some truth to it. When he
was hungry, he smacked his lips (like when sucking) and it made a mamamama
sound, or myammyammyam or maybe even nomnomnom (overlaying the crying). When
he had pain, it sounded more like auääää (excuse the umlaut) or auayyyy, due
to the way he suddenly opened his mouth. I can imagine this is the source of
expletives like Ouch or Aua in many languages. Now that he is a bit older (~10
months) he has more control over the sounds he makes, and is experimenting
with speech, but the mamama and auäää seems to stick. Funnily, he seems to say
"daddy" to me, although thats not the word in this region of the world (that
would be papa) and I don't know where he got it from. Also, its too early to
tell if he is consciously using it for me or just experimenting with
interesting sounds. I guess parents tend to overinterpret the first utterances
of their kids a lot :-)
~~~
filoeleven
> You know how parents say they can tell by the cries of their baby what the
> baby needs? After the birth of our kid I found there is actually some truth
> to it.
In fact there are five or more "words" that newborns have that can tell you
what they need. A friend showed me a video from Oprah discussing it. Below is
the first link I found describing them. Her newborn nearly always calmed down
immediately when she responded to him based on what she heard. I was surprised
I'd never heard of these before and that they don't appear to be well-known
among new parents.
[http://www.whattoexpect.com/blogs/motherhoodinthemountains/n...](http://www.whattoexpect.com/blogs/motherhoodinthemountains/newborn-
cries-the-five-cries-you-need-to-know)
------
sundarurfriend
The author, John McWhorter, is a great guy to listen to. His TED talk[1] is
interesting, his TED-Ed lessons[2] are even more interesting, and his "Story
of Human Language"[3] course is so enormously interesting and fun, I listen to
it as entertainment when bored.
[1]
[https://www.ted.com/talks/john_mcwhorter_txtng_is_killing_la...](https://www.ted.com/talks/john_mcwhorter_txtng_is_killing_language_jk)
[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ted+ed+john+mcw...](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ted+ed+john+mcwhorter)
[3] [http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/story-of-human-
langua...](http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/story-of-human-
language.html)
------
imron
And then in Finnish it's äiti.
~~~
iagooar
Basque, which is one of the oldest, European languages with no direct
relationship to any other modern language, uses "ama" for saying mom, and
"aita" for saying dad (both putting the stress on the second "a").
~~~
ocean3
Kannada language has something simialr - amma(mom) and appa(dad).
------
jonnathanson
I guess I'll be the geek who brings Tolkien into this, but for the curious:
even the Elvish word for mom is basically a phonetic equivalent to "mommy."
(I'll leave it to someone more enterprising to give us the Klingon word.)
~~~
Thorondor
It's SoS in Klingon.
I wonder what this tells us about Klingon physiology? After reading the
article, the words for 'mother' and 'father' actually seem like interesting
pieces of information to learn about any newly discovered race of aliens.
~~~
eru
And whether they even have the concepts.
------
princeb
japanese falls completely outside this generalization. edit: on further
investigation mama and baba are used very informally but it appears these are
loanwords.
~~~
euske
Traditionally, they were "o-toh" for dad and "o-kah" for mom. You might add
"-chan" or "-san" or remove the "o-" prefix, depending on your taste.
Personally, a phrase like "every language" immediately flags a BS sign to me.
~~~
ss248
Kids use okasan/otosan only when they are talking about third party mom/dad.
They use haha (which make even more sense, according to article) or chichi
when speaking about their own mom and dad.
~~~
princeb
haha and chichi are more formal.
------
westiseast
It's a nice article, but isn't this something every parent realizes after
their first kid? 'Aaaah' sounds come first, then maybe an 'oh' and then the
lips come in to make 'mamama' or 'bababab' and then it takes a longer time for
complex words involving the tongue or non-aspirated sounds to come in (like
'teh' or 'keh').
------
gweinberg
Everyone with a brain the size a walnut already knows this:
[http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1581](http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1581)
------
gggggggg
I am in Australia, and we say 'Mum' not 'Mom'. Does anyone know why?
I have always found Mom weird.
~~~
hugh4
Just one of many pronunciation drifts that occurred between the UK and its
American colonies at some point between 1620 and 1788. Largely it seems the
Americans kept the old pronunciations while the mother country changed theirs,
which is why the English of Shakespeare's time sounds a bit American.
~~~
panglott
This claim is generally made less about Standard American or General American
and more about regional Appalachian dialects. Even this is a myth.
[http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002699.h...](http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002699.html)
[http://lrc.ohio.edu/lrcmedia/Streaming/lingCALL/ling270/myth...](http://lrc.ohio.edu/lrcmedia/Streaming/lingCALL/ling270/myth9.pdf)
English and American dialects both originated in (Shakespearean) Early Modern
English, but both have changed over time, as languages do.
~~~
hugh4
To my ears an Appalachian accent doesn't sound that different to a regular
American accent, it's just an exaggerated version of it.
------
sgustard
In Korean "mam-ma" means food.
~~~
enraged_camel
Very similar in Turkish! Minor difference: "mama".
Mother is "ana" (traditional) or "anne" (contemporary).
~~~
utku_karatas2
You'd be surprised how similar Turkish and Korean actually is. Both coming
from Altaic language group the grammatical structure is very similar. It blew
my mind when I first learned about that. Take a look at this...
yap-mak == ka-da
yap-ma == ka-jima
yap-ma-yin == ka-jima-yo
They even have the same kinship rules as us (Abi, Abla, etc.). The more I'm
digging in Korean culture the more similarities I'm finding during my short
stay here.
------
xacaxulu
Mater Pater
------
avodonosov
Imho it's an obvious thing. Strange that it takes so song article
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Telegram desktop app leaked internet addresses when starting calls - walterbell
https://www.engadget.com/2018/09/30/telegram-desktop-app-leaked-ip-addresses/
======
parsadotsh
Posted by Telegram's founder Durov on his channel:
Some tech media reported that the Telegram Desktop app wasn’t secure because
it “leaked IP addresses” when used to accept a voice call.
The reality is much less sensational – Telegram Desktop was at least as secure
as other encrypted VoIP apps even before we improved it by adding an option to
disable peer-to-peer calls. As for Telegram calls on mobile, they were always
more secure than the competition, because they had this setting since day one.
During a peer-to-peer (P2P) call, voice traffic flows directly from one
participant of a call to the other without relying on an intermediary server.
P2P routing allows to achieve higher quality calls with lower latency, so the
current industry standard is to have P2P switched on by default.
However, there’s a catch: by definition, both devices participating in a P2P
call have to know the IP addresses of each other. So if you make or accept a
call, the person on the other side may in theory learn your IP address.
That’s why, unlike WhatsApp or Viber, Telegram always gave its users the
ability to switch off P2P calls and relay them through a Telegram server.
Moreover, in most countries we switched off P2P by default.
Telegram Desktop, which is used in less than 0.01% of Telegram calls, was the
only platform where this setting was missing. Thanks to a researcher who
pointed that out, we made the Telegram Desktop experience consistent with the
rest of our apps.
However, it is important to put this into perspective and realize that this is
about one Telegram app (Telegram Desktop) being somewhat less secure than
other Telegram apps (e.g. Telegram for iOS or Android). If you compare
Telegram with other popular messaging services our there, unfortunately, they
are not even close to our standards.
Using the terminology from the flashy headlines, WhatsApp, Viber and the rest
have been “leaking your IP address” in 100% of calls. They are still doing
this, and you can't opt out. The only way to stop this is to have all your
friends switch to Telegram.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to Lay Off Your Developers the Right Way - edw519
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/web/620559733.html
======
edw519
It wasn't just THAT he did this or WHAT he said. It was HOW he said it. I feel
like I practically know these 3 people already.
You can't make this stuff up.
------
iamelgringo
I don't understand why managers don't do stuff like this more often. Good
people are always in demand, and if you must get rid of people, then do it in
a way that they'd want to work for you again in a heartbeat.
And not to mention, someone should hire the guy who just posted that listing
to Craigslist. Really. That's the kind of guy that you want to wrangle your
engineers. (Code Monkey and Geek comments aside).
~~~
albertcardona
"I don't understand why managers don't do stuff like this more often."
Because it requires insight and to put in extra effort -what is commonly known
as traveling the extra mile- which most people simply lack.
~~~
a-priori
It requires -- dare I say it? -- _humanity_.
------
mixmax
This is great recruitment tactics if he ever needs to hire in the future. The
word of something like that gets around.
------
parker
I've seen people get culled with a tap on the shoulder and a littany of basic
platitudes. Seeing something like this really makes me believe in the decency
of people.
~~~
wallflower
My friends who are managers say it is one of the most difficult things to do
as a manager - tell someone they are being let go. "You're not a manager until
you have to do that"
Some managers disassociate with the actual task - by acting very remote
------
mtts
Commendable as this is: it's of course a lot easier for employees you think
highly of than employees you dislike or with whom things simply didn't work
out:
"I'm letting go Bob. Bob is an ok coder, but it didn't really work out with
him. Bob is more interested in trying out new tricks than in writing solid,
maintainable code. He's also arrogant and won't listen to a word you say, even
when you're trying to tell him what the specifications for the project are."
Who'd want to do that?
------
JulianMontez
Wow, this gives me a lot of hope in humanity. I'd be mad/sad if I was fired,
but knowing that people are looking out for your ass once they drop you really
says something about the integrity of that person.
Kudos to the boss, and I hope the ex-employees find some work. :D
------
mynameishere
I had a manager write a recommendation for me once. It was an embarrassing
mischaracterization, and I never used it, since I couldn't live up to it.
On the other hand, at least I didn't get called a "geek" or "code monkey".
------
brentr
It's certainly a lot better than the result I got when I was told by KeyBank
that I was being laid off: "Here's your HR rep. She will work with you to help
you find placement within another department."
Little did I know that "She will work with you," means she will never contact
you and thus you will be forced to move halfway across the country to find a
job that is nowhere near what you used to do. She sure did manage to help me
find work in another department, albeit at a different company.
------
kschrader
It would be interesting to see if these guys actually get work from this. It's
a nice thing to do, but if you're hiring people you still are going to need a
lot more information than this.
~~~
dreish
As someone who is trying to hire a really good Perl programmer right now, I
can almost guarantee you they will (if they're actually as good as the ad
promises). I'm more worried about competing with the other offers I expect
they'll get.
------
Tichy
"they may not survive a long commute"
That makes them sound VERY old and frail. Other than that, nice touch.
~~~
xirium
Coding, telecommute, 9AM start. Choose any two.
~~~
icky
Wait a sec... Telecommute makes _possible_ the 9AM start...
------
dd7199773f
I agree: developing a strong relationship with coworkers in every direction is
highly important, and this is a stunning example!
------
tonyvt2005
That's awesome. I live near Herndon VA and if I was hiring I'd definitely give
those guys a look.
------
byrneseyeview
This is pretty schmaltzy. Nice, if true.
------
michjeanty
If a startup is thinking about laying its developpers, it should do it fast.
If you're going to make mistakes, make it as fast as possible. However, a
startup should always prevent mistakes. Don't hire developers, software
engineers, scientists, CEOs, CTOs unless you're sure the person is an
evangelist of your business. An early startup should never hire to fire.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: A site to help Bitcoin hodlers make sense of the new forked coins - forkdrop
https://forkdrop.io
======
forkdrop
Everybody holding BTC over the past few months has probably heard about the
projects that fork the chain to give everyone 'free money'. However, all these
projects are confusing among other things, so a lot of people have put off
getting up to speed on the topic. We created a directory that makes it easier
to check up on the current state of affairs. We put together a table
presentation and maintain dataset see which new coins are most relevant and
have the markers of some legitimacy and value by also tracking the exchanges
they trade on and some of the technical specifics of individual projects. AMA
------
bradknowles
What is a bitcoin “hodler”?
Seriously, what is it?
~~~
forkdrop
A "Bitcoin hodler" is a Bitcoin holder, just intentionally misspelled for
reasons of style and social signaling, such as 'teh' rather than 'the' and
'pwned' rather than 'owned'. It is something that people take pride in
identifying as because they have a long-term investment thesis. When the price
crashes, this identity gives them strength.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Rules Change on I.R.S. Seizures, Too Late for Some - adamnemecek
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/us/politics/rules-change-on-irs-seizures-too-late-for-some.html
======
jMyles
"...law enforcement agencies get to keep forfeiture proceeds. Such a windfall,
critics say, creates perverse incentives..."
'Critics' say? Is there anybody who doesn't concur with this assessment? It
seems like a flat, unambiguous fact.
This toxic style of perspective hijacking is a huge part of the problem. It's
always, "[government interest] says sky is green; critics say blue. The facts
remain elusive."
~~~
guelo
I'm sure there are law enforcement officers that disagree that there are
perverse incentives. So the reporter has to quote somebody, he can't just
state it as fact.
~~~
toomuchtodo
> So the reporter has to quote somebody, he can't just state it as fact.
Why not? Its economics 101 [1]. Incentives matter, and the existing rules
create "perverse incentives."
Or are we talking about offending law enforcement and government agencies?
Because fact and ego are two different things.
[1]
[http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/10_Principles_of_Economics](http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/10_Principles_of_Economics)
------
norikki
[http://reason.com/blog/2015/05/01/irs-steals-107000-from-
con...](http://reason.com/blog/2015/05/01/irs-steals-107000-from-convenience-
store)
The above article doesn't leave out the fact that this seizure was initiated
two months _after_ the policy change. Looks like the policy has only changed
on paper.
It also doesn't fail to mention that the justification for the gag order was
to prevent tipping off the suspect, but it has already been established that
McLellan committed no crime, so its explicitly being used to keep this from
the public's attention.
It's unfortunate that NYT is so bad at reporting the relevant facts.
------
drawkbox
Civil forfeiture law is one of the most despicable aspects to our current
system. The echoes to monarchy and state power greater than individual rights
is too much. If you are in the US, this is exactly what smarter people before
us crossed the ocean to get away from.
~~~
discardorama
> Civil forfeiture law is one of the most despicable aspects to our current
> system.
And yet, under Democratic and Republican presidents; under Democratic and
Republican House control; and under Democratic and Republican Senate control,
the policy persists. Why is that? How much power _do_ these agencies have over
the elected officials?
------
ScottBurson
_“Your client needs to resolve this or litigate it,” [prosecutor Steve] West
wrote. “But publicity about it doesn’t help. It just ratchets up feelings in
the agency.”_
My jaw dropped when I read this.
Dear Mr. West: your job isn't about your feelings. And it certainly isn't
about your need to be right or your refusal to admit a mistake. You need to
grow up -- and I also think you need a new job.
~~~
mattdeboard
Yeah I was about to quote & comment on that same part. Who cares about your
stupid feelings? This is a _legal case_ , that's not how it's supposed to
work.
~~~
discardorama
Well, the fact that _feelings_ are being hurt means that it's not purely a
legal case.
------
fiatmoney
"the prosecutor on the case, Steve West, was unmoved. Notified of the hearing
by Mr. McLellan’s lawyer at the time, he responded with concern that the
seizure warrant in the case, filed under seal but later given to Mr. McLellan,
had been handed over to a congressional committee...
'Your client needs to resolve this or litigate it,' Mr. West wrote. 'But
publicity about it doesn’t help. It just ratchets up feelings in the agency.'"
That's pretty breathtaking. He's admitting that complaining to one's elected
representatives in government about what is admitted to be an abuse of
government power will result in those agents retaliating against you. So shut
up and pay us, peasant.
------
kabdib
"He [Steve West, a prosecutor] concluded with a settlement offer in which the
government would keep half the money."
How do these people sleep at night?
~~~
300bps
They start out with the "guilty until proven innocent" maxim that civil
forfeiture operates under and then convince themselves they're doing you a
favor by taking all your money and returning half of it.
~~~
adventured
Some of them are simply crooks, using their positions for pre-planned theft:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/10/us/police-use-
department-w...](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/10/us/police-use-department-
wish-list-when-deciding-which-assets-to-seize.html)
------
tomohawk
It's too bad the president is only lukewarm at best on this issue, as shown by
his nomination of Lynch.
[http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeleef/2014/11/25/loretta-
ly...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeleef/2014/11/25/loretta-lynch-has-no-
problem-with-civil-asset-forfeiture-and-thats-a-problem/)
~~~
PhantomGremlin
It really doesn't matter whether or not the President nominated Lynch. The sad
reality is the Senate was too chickenshit to "just say no".
In the President's defense, the USA has a long and sordid history of bad
Attorney's General. I'm sure that Lynch is nowhere near the bottom of that
list.
------
jkestner
"Don’t bother with jewelry (too hard to dispose of) and computers
(“everybody’s got one already”), the experts counseled. Do go after flat
screen TVs, cash and cars. Especially nice cars."
Ugh. This language sounds similar to the language thieves use in hitting
homes.
~~~
Everlag
This is the language being used by thieves to hit homes; these are just lawful
thieves.
------
hurin
One thing I never understood -- and these articles don't appear to cover, is
how laws enabling civil forfeiture were never struck down as unconstitutional
in the first place. Isn't this an obvious disregard for the fourth amendment?
~~~
pmorici
The economics of disputing it don't work for the person who's assets were
seized most of the time. Either the amount that was seized is relatively small
and it would take several times that amount to battle the government over
years. On the other hand say that clean out your whole bank account then you
have no assets to fight them even if they took your life savings and it would
make sense to fight them.
------
mikerichards
There's absolutely no accountability by the government. Nobody is ever
prosecuted, reprimanded for these thefts from American citizens. These agency
representatives (Lerner) have no fear of congress and thus the checks and
balances that would typically be in effect are meaningless.
Until these agencies have their budgets severely slashed (like someone would
get a fine for breaking the law), there's no hope that these bureaucratic
thugs will change their ways.
~~~
jqm
A few criminal prosecutions for abuse of office and forfeiture of pensions
would do even more. But you are right. Many government bureaucrats feel
completely unaccountable to the populace, and this needs to change.
~~~
fennecfoxen
_" Your client needs to resolve this or litigate it," Mr. West wrote. "But
publicity about it doesn’t help. It just ratchets up feelings in the agency."_
yep
------
seansmccullough
How was this legal in the first place?
~~~
adventured
It wasn't, and arguably is not in any way constitutional. This became a thing
mostly after 9/11\. Terrorism and drug laws were significantly expanded in
scope. For years the public was looking the other way - distracted by fear -
while the government began openly breaking or bending the law, almost without
any concerns.
During that time, many behaviors became routine (with or without actual laws
backing the behavior up) that have extremely questionable legal standing, and
typically zero moral standing.
~~~
rosser
Asset forfeiture rates were actually significantly _down_ in the years
immediately following the September 11th attacks. It wasn't until 2006 that
annual forfeiture recoveries reached the rates they did during the 90s (at
which point, yes, they increased _sharply_ — nearly quadrupling in just two
years). [1]
As for the constitutionality of asset forfeiture, you'll have to take that up
with SCotUS, who've (unfortunately) rather consistently disagreed with you.
[1]:
[http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Forfeiture](http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Forfeiture)
------
imaginenore
I don't get why he can't simply sue the government. It's a decent sum of
money, and it seems like a pretty easy case to win.
~~~
fennecfoxen
Well, he _can_ try to sue, but it's complicated because the case isn't against
him, it's a case against the money, and probably named something like "United
States vs $107,702.66". He's a third-party claimant.
If you're thinking that this sounds an awful lot like "guilty until proven
innocent" then you can find _loads_ of _really fun reading_ over with our
libertarian friends at [http://reason.com/tags/asset-
forfeiture](http://reason.com/tags/asset-forfeiture) where they've been
raising alarms about the trend since _1989_ (long before its abuse in places
like Ferguson, MO made talking about it cool)
Postscript: Oh, I think I was spot on about the name; thanks Google.
[https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/North_Carolina_Eastern_Dis...](https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/North_Carolina_Eastern_District_Court/7
--14-cv-00295/United_States_of_America_v._$107702.66_in_U._S._Currency/)
~~~
jkestner
> It's a case against the money
Not only are corporations people, money is people, my friend. This means that
money has free speech, which probably has recursive implications for campaign
fundraising.
Seriously - has the idea of an object without will being named a defendant
ever been challenged in the courts? Don't tell me that the person who owned
the money has no standing - they certainly had property taken from them.
~~~
jamestnz
> Seriously - has the idea of an object without will being named a defendant
> ever been challenged in the courts? Don't tell me that the person who owned
> the money has no standing - they certainly had property taken from them.
Funnily enough, the idea of suing the property is actually a well-established
legal concept, at least generally [1]. It falls under the "in rem"
jurisdiction of the court, which is its power over things, as opposed to power
over people (which would be the more familiar "in personam", where a person is
named in a suit or complaint).
Where in rem jurisdiction gets problematic is its use in civil forfeitures,
for the reasons you say: The presumptive owner of the seized property is in
fact readily available (i.e. the person it was seized from), and so any
complaint should rightly proceed against them in personam, not against the
property in rem.
Also note that the money isn't being named as a "defendant" as such -- a
defendant is a party you'd find in a _criminal_ case, and this is a _civil_
forfeiture. In a civil forfeiture, since the complaint is indeed against the
property, the owner of the property is a third-party to the case.
At this point the government pretends that the true owner of the property is
unknown, so to fight the seizure it's first necessary for you to (a) legally
assert ownership, and (b) legally deny the allegations in the seizure
complaint. And only THEN can you proceed to the long and costly litigation
against the government in which you must actually prove these
assertions/denials. If things go well, some months or years later you'll get
your stuff back. If you're really lucky, the legal costs won't have exceeded
the value involved in the first place.
Meanwhile, in many civil cash seizures, the money has gone straight into the
slush fund of the local police department that confiscated it... and the whole
thing starts to look like one big end-run around due process and
constitutional protection.
BTW, the government/courts also perform _criminal_ forfeitures, which might be
what you're thinking of where a confiscation involves a named defendant. For
example, a punitive forfeiture doled out to a guilty defendant in a criminal
trial.
[1] The legendary case of _United States v. Article Consisting of 50,000
Cardboard Boxes More or Less, Each Containing One Pair of Clacker Balls_
provides an amusing example of the way these suits are styled.
~~~
jkestner
Thanks for the awesome knowledge, law-nerd. To your footnote, I've lost Tell
me, why do we have civil forfeiture and civil courts? Other than the second-
rate satisfaction when an OJ Simpson gets sued after being acquitted of
criminal charges.
The dictionary definition of 'democratic' includes: "available to the broad
masses of the people". Between the cost and the knowledge needed, asserting
your rights in forfeiture cases is not practically available to the broad
masses, i.e. the socialeconomic class that is targeted. This is not
democratic.
So if it's starting to look like a constitutional violation, when are we going
to see a lawsuit? ALCU should be on this, right? Or while police departments
are on the defensive, do we get the political will to roll back the seizure
laws that led to this?
------
ams6110
I don't defend asset forfeiture for simply making large cash deposits, but on
the other hand there is no way a guy selling sandwiches for $2.75 is taking in
more than $10,000/day in cash. We aren't getting the full story here.
Making a daily bank deposit is not "structuring" it's a common (and a best)
practice. So if he was accumulating cash for a week or more and making large
deposits, he was being stupid. Not that it justifies forfeiture, if that's all
it was. But something isn't making sense here.
~~~
pmorici
That's the point. The guy _didn't_ make more than $10k in cash /day. His
deposits each day were for less than $10k they said that because of that he
was trying to evade the 10k reporting limit since he made regular deposits
under the limit. ie: they are claiming if you made a daily deposit of say
$3,000 that is suspicious and are seizing your money for structuring.
~~~
ams6110
Still not buying. Every fast food restaurant makes at least one, if not
several <$5,000 deposits every day of the week. It's completely normal for
that type of business. He got flagged for some other reason that is not being
disclosed.
~~~
function_seven
Well for some truly bizarre reason, the government is keeping that "other
reason" a secret, and not charging them with anything at all.
That is not something the government should ever be allowed to do, at all,
under any circumstance.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Quantitative Finance Reading List - Programming - shogunmike
http://quantstart.com/articles/Quantitative_Finance_Reading_List_Part_2_-_Programming/
======
tzs
Note that the submitted link is to part 2 of a three part (at least so far)
series of reading lists. That particular part seems pretty useless for the HN
crowd, as it is just a list of resources for learning C++. That's something
most HN readers could easily find themselves, on the off chance they don't
already have such resources already in the libraries.
I'd have though part 1 (reading list for financial and math background) or
part 3 (reading list for numerical methods) would have been much better
submissions.
The site is organized a little sub-optimally for navigation, as the parts do
not seem to link to each other. To find parts 1 and 2, click the "articles"
link on the left. That takes you to a list of all articles, but it is a small
list so the reading lists are easy to pick out.
~~~
shogunmike
Actually, in regard to the navigation, this is something I'm working on.
Another visitor had trouble with a finite difference method article I wrote
and so it is high time to make an "Article Series" banner.
In regards to the HN crowd, perhaps an article on how to use C++ for quant
models may be more appropriate? How many of us on HN are interested/practicing
financial analysts?
If you have any more suggestions (particularly about navigation improvement!)
I'd be keen to hear them. I want to make the site as useful as possible.
------
Nick_C
There's not anything there that is specific to quant work, it's just a reading
list for C++.
As an ex-quant, I very much agree with the comment made by Karan (on the
site). Our modelling was developed on statistical software such as SAS and
SPS. The actual production code was simply Powerbuilder or C++.
~~~
shogunmike
It is a similar situation to legacy Fortran code in the academic physics
community. Fortran is used because some guy wrote the core algorithm 30 years
ago in Fortran 77 and never wrote any docs about it. "If it ain't broke don't
fix it."
I don't agree with this mentality at all. In fact, I make use of Python almost
exclusively for the work I do (in a small fund). My NumPy/SciPy is not good
enough though to choose it over C++ when I need to perform some hefty number
crunching.
How did you find using SAS/SPS? Is R not a good candidate for what you're
doing?
~~~
Nick_C
It was over ten years ago and I just don't remember. The development modelling
was done by a couple of other guys.
I recall seeing R around, but I don't remember it being used for my markets,
which were bonds and currencies. The data sets were very large and took hours
to process (pre-Pentium 4); would that have anything to do with it?
~~~
shogunmike
R has certainly gained some traction in recent years, as people have added
more packages. It is interpreted so I'm not sure how this will affect speed. I
haven't had a chance to use it personally so wouldn't be able to comment.
I know a guy who has a dual processor Xeon machine, each with 4 cores, running
MatLab. Once the code was parallelised it zipped along.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Alibaba's Singles' Day sales exceed predictions at $9.3B - theklub
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29999289
======
redwood
That's one site doing 3x the combined total sites' 2013 Cyber Monday.
Pivotal moment as the center of gravity of the world's consumer economy shifts
to China.
The fervent dive into consumerism is incredible. Anyone in China seeing a
counter culture emerging against this? Or is it too early
~~~
melling
Yes, we're in the Century of China. It's amazing how far China has come in the
past 15 years. Next person on the moon will be from China? 20,000 miles of
high-speed rail? Largest subway system in the world. From 0 to the biggest in
20 years. The largest everything...
~~~
maxerickson
Why 20 years?
A reasonable zero for modern China seems to me to be the end of the Cultural
Revolution (I went and touched up my history to phrase it that way, but my
notion was that the early 80s provide a better starting point than 1994 or
2000).
I'm curious what you (and others) think, not trying to have a hair splitting
argument about it.
~~~
melling
Sorry, I was referring to the Shanghai Subway. It was built over 20 years and
is bigger than the NYC Subway. I checked and Beijing is actually bigger and
started much earlier, however, and carries about a billion more people.
[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Subway](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Subway)
[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Metro](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Metro)
[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Subway](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Subway)
------
w1ntermute
_Singles ' Day sales that reveal a lot_:
[http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-11/09/content_188894...](http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-11/09/content_18889439.htm)
~~~
spydum
sooo, not exactly related to Alibaba, but they sure do take this Singles Day
thing seriously?! that is a heck of a sales promo stunt
~~~
untog
Having seen the videos of Walmarts opening on Black Friday I wouldn't say the
US is much different.
~~~
georgemcbay
We wear a lot more clothes to the sales here, which is a good thing because we
are in far worse shape.
------
adventured
Here's an interesting fact that a lot of people don't seem to realize about
Alibaba: they're an advertising company. They generate over 50% of their
revenue from ads.
~~~
irollboozers
Makes you think about the sheer amount of traffic. Incredible.
~~~
adventured
It's an interesting concept they put together. It's akin to the problem Google
posed for Microsoft, in that there was no price to undercut as they did with
Netscape (since Google's search is obviously free). That's how Alibaba was
able to essentially eliminate eBay from the China market (eBay purchased a
leading market / platform play, and had a meaningful position in China, prior
to Alibaba's lift-off); eBay was charging fees for listings, mirroring their
approach in the US, and Alibaba didn't. How do you compete against that? You
pretty much have to be another Chinese juggernaut like Tencent or Baidu to
even attempt it.
------
westiseast
I blogged about this the last two years - it's an incredible technical
challenge as well as the huge sales side of things. Amazing
------
mrfusion
I must be misunderstanding Alibaba. I thought it was related to buying
wholesale goods to resell?
~~~
smtddr
Alibaba.com is geared towards wholesale, aliexpress.com is geared more for
single item(s) purchases. I've been buying stuff from Aliexpress for years.
Both Aliexpress.com and Alibaba.com belong to the same company; i.e. my login
works on both websites.
Kinda like Myhabit.com's login is the same as your Amazon.com's login.
~~~
Pxtl
I'm curious, what payment method do you use? I was looking at buying something
on Aliexpress but the lack of Paypal or Google Payments turned me off.
~~~
smtddr
I use my debitcard. I trust them. Based on their wiki[1], they look like a
huge company(e.g. Amazon) that doesn't necessarily have incentive to be
randomly ripping people off via CC fraud.
That said, word of caution though
\- Unless you want to pay insane shipping, your order won't arrive in the USA
for like 4 to 6 weeks.
\- Clothing sizes are tricky. I usually go one size bigger than my US/UK size.
For my wife who wears S or XS, I have to get her medium - sometimes even
that's too small.
\- Clothing quality varies especially for lady's clothing. Nearly always it
looks fantastic, but if you dare put it in the washing machine it will
disintegrate. Wash by hand or dryclean.
\- Order electronics at your own peril. That's just rolling dice. I've seen
Android phones & tablets from them. When I have a few extra hundred lying
around, I'm gonna try getting a laptop - and I fully expect to get junk. But
I've also seen orders fulfilled surprisingly well.
\- Customer Support doesn't usually have english as first language.
\- So far, out of like 20+ orders. They've gotten maybe 2 completely wrong...
or I misread the product-details _(some of those pages can be tricky)_
1\.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alibaba_Group](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alibaba_Group)
------
kev6168
This seems to be Alibaba's github page.
[https://github.com/alibaba](https://github.com/alibaba)
Among the projects Tengine is the powerful web server (based on Nginx) used at
Tmall.com and Taobao.com.
~~~
samstave
Was looking at Tengine as well, it seems pretty awesome. Anyone use it in
production (that is not Alibaba?) and have comments on it?
------
Igglyboo
I wonder if Amazon is worried.
~~~
innguest
They should be. Amazon makes no profits and operates in dollars. Those are two
things you don't want to get caught doing right now.
~~~
eclipxe
Amazon's profits are redeployed into investments.
~~~
pessimizer
That's Amazon's PR, yes.
[http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-
press/franklin-...](http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-
press/franklin-foer-confuses-amazons-subsidies-from-the-govvernment-with-
profits)
"The people who say that this is due to the fact that they are investing in
building up their business are showing their ignorance. Reinvesting and
profits are two separate issues. Profits reflect the difference between
revenues and costs on current business operations. These can all be used for
investment in expansion (as opposed to being paid out as dividends and share
buybacks), but they should still show up as profits. Amazon doesn't show
profits or at least not much. This means that it costs them as much to run
their business as they are getting from customers in revenue. That is not
viable as a long-term model even if they are always expanding."
\-----
edit:
[from a comment on that page]
Title: "Nothing Depreciates In Less Than 5 Years"
"Sorry folks, there is no way that would keep Jeff Bezos out of jail where
their greater investment would explain the lack of accounting profit. There is
nothing that depreciates in less than 5 years (20 percent annual rate) and
most items at a considerably faster rate. This means the difference in re-
investment rates could at best knock off a small share of Amazon's profits if
they are not committing fraud.
"The math on this is simple. Assume Amazon's 'true' profits are rising 15
percent a year. Assume that they re-invest 100 percent of their profits, as
oppose to the 30-40 percent that would be more typical. The higher
depreciation over the last five years in this case would account for just 47
percent of Amazon's current year profits. The number would fall sharply if we
assume the true rate of profit growth is 20 percent or higher and that some of
Amazon's investments depreciate in more than 5 years."
------
tszming
You can get an authenticated Gap's Shirt (from their official tmall) for
around $15-20 USD (after discount/coupons, currently $40-50 on gap.com), so
the deal is not bad even you compare with the coming US holidays discounts.
------
merrua
The aliexpress sales are really good this year. Around 40% of users on mobile
[https://twitter.com/Alizila](https://twitter.com/Alizila)
------
joelthelion
I wonder to which extent these predictions are willingly underestimated in
order to make the headlines?
------
foobarqux
Were there any good deals for Westerners?
~~~
icebraining
Aliexpress has plenty of stuff today with 50-90% discount. Like an MP3 player
for $1.6 - with free shipping!
~~~
notastartup
that breaks on arrival
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Uber in Talks to Buy Postmates for About $2.6B - radkapital
https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-in-talks-to-buy-postmates-for-about-2-6-billion-11593487498
======
runnr_az
That's a lotta food deliveries.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
8k Cisco RV320/RV325 routers are still leaking their admin credentials - bad_packets
https://badpackets.net/over-9000-cisco-rv320-rv325-routers-vulnerable-to-cve-2019-1653/#2019-03-28-update
======
threatofrain
> Cisco firmware update for RV320/RV325 routers simply blacklisted the user
> agent for curl.
Oh Cisco.
~~~
harry8
So, lawyers. Do we short cisco? Are they going to be sued out of existence.
They know the problem. They have claimed a fix that does absolutely nothing.
It will be the vector for a hack. Hundreds of thousands of people's personal
details will be stolen with Cisco responsible through criminal negligence or
worse.
Bye bye Cisco? (Bankrupt, assets sold off to other companies).
Or is this not going to happen because there's a computer involved so nobody
can switch their brain on and think in the entirety of both lawmaking and
enforcement?
~~~
zamadatix
It's not going to happen because that doesn't even make sense. This concept
"you will have perfect security or you will be fined out of existence" is just
a long way to saying "you will be fined out of existence" as there is no such
thing as perfect security or a security patch that covers every possible
attack.
~~~
diffeomorphism
There still is the fact that they released a non-fix but claimed it fixed it.
At that point it is not unreasonable to infer either negligence or bad faith.
Having "perfect security" is obviously not expected, but it is expected that
you act on receiving knowledge of risks in a reasonable manner instead of
basically writing a sign saying "please do not exploit" and wrongly claiming
you fixed it.
~~~
zamadatix
I guarantee the security patch didn't claim to permanently fix the class of
bug which is what I was getting at. Unless Cisco has been signing contract
agreements claiming their security patches will do <x> where <x> was something
that wasn't done here then you're essentially asking if they'll be sued into
the ground because you don't think their patch was good enough.
~~~
diffeomorphism
> you're essentially asking if they'll be sued into the ground because you
> don't think their patch was good enough
No, that is distinctly not what I am saying. Again, nobody demands a perfect
fix and a valid attempt is all that is needed. Their "patch" however is not a
valid attempt, not because it is not good enough, but because they are not
even trying but just pretending to do something.
The question thus is: You are notified of a big security problem and do
absolutely nothing, can you be sued for that? Since you are mentioning
contract agreements, it seems that the US does not have any minimum standards
here?
~~~
zamadatix
> Their "patch" however is not a valid attempt, not because it is not good
> enough, but because they are not even trying but just pretending to do
> something.
If not according to you than who? If not "I don't think that patch was a good
enough attempt" then what is the quantitative evaluation used to say "Cisco
never guaranteed security but it didn't meet base security measurements <x> or
<y> and is therefore responsible for $<z> of damages"? In fact the Cisco sales
and support contracts are going to state the opposite, as almost any software
does, because nobody is foolish enough to be in the position to agree blindly
their stuff is so good you'll never be hacked.
> You are notified of a big security problem and do absolutely nothing, can
> you be sued for that? Since you are mentioning contract agreements, it seems
> that the US does not have any minimum standards here?
The US has many laws about minimum standards but not "pass the buck" style by
default. E.g. a hospital doesn't get to pass the fine to Cisco because they
left the management interface open to the internet and someone hacked the
router to steal patient information in the same way it doesn't get to pass the
fine to HP for documents printed on an HP printer being stolen. The hospital
is responsible for providing the security it claims to provide. If it wants to
pass that responsibility to a 3rd party it needs some other agreement to
stating that as Cisco is not bound by HIPAA simply because the hospital bought
a Cisco switch (new or used).
It's more common that a role be outsourced than straight out responsibility
taken. Taking the example above Cisco isn't going to want to take
responsibility the router is secure unless they can manage the router's
security otherwise something like the above "they left the management
interface open to the internet" is going to bite them in the ass. A more
common example would be PCI compliance for small businesses can be outsourced
to a "use this blackbox register and payment system" with an insurance style
agreements in case you get fined but the business is not allowed to mess with
the black box.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
GitHub allows you to add a bio on your profile - Eun
https://github.com/settings/profile?focus_bio=1
======
Eun
So apparently you can add a bio to your profile and mention other users.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
American chestnut trees are “technically extinct” - mixmastamyk
https://timeline.com/american-chestnut-trees-disappeared-39217da38c59?source=collection_home---7------1----------
======
spqr0a1
Good news! this article understates the current stage of development for at
least one of the reintroduction projects.
A blight resistance gene (oxalate oxidase) has been added by state university
researchers in new york. The genetically modified trees are being crossed with
pure-bred chestnuts for improved genetic diversity before wider distribution.
[http://www.esf.edu/chestnut/](http://www.esf.edu/chestnut/)
The plan is to distribute seeds from these trees within 5 years through a
partnership between SUNY-ESF and the NY chapter of The American Chestnut
Foundation.
I've committed to planting at least 4500 of these trees (interspersed across
60+ acres) in their native forest setting once available. If you care about
the chestnut or ecology but agroforestry isn't your thing, these organizations
could really use donations to ensure this project continues.
~~~
bluejekyll
I don't know if it understates the status of these new breeds. They haven't
been proven, yet. It could be 50 years before it's clear that they are
resistant.
My parents are also doing this on their property, it is exciting, and I hope
this new breed is resistant to the fungus.
~~~
cpfohl
You can be pretty certain the plants they've got are extremely resistant.
They designed a brand new type of testing for resistance to be able to make
the progress they've made as quickly as they have. Instead of testing a whole
tree they can effectively test blight resistance on a single leaf, allowing
their time between generations to be measured in weeks rather than years.
(Time to first leaf, rather than time to whole tree).
~~~
bluejekyll
I hope that you and they are correct, of course. While reading through the
information the NY organization had sent, it just appeared that they were less
certain than that.
I am very excited. What was strange is that in order to accept the trees, you
had to agree to an entire set of restrictions. You can not sell any nuts was
one; another was you must cut down the tree if you ever sell your property, I
suppose there is an exception if the new owner also signs onto to the
agreement. Seemed a little awkward, but still worth it.
------
doomlaser
The emerald ash borer is currently having the same effect on the billions of
ash trees in North America.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_ash_borer#Invasiveness...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_ash_borer#Invasiveness_and_spread)
It's a similar story. The species was accidentally introduced from Asia in the
1990s, and it's spreading dramatically across the continent. No effective
strategy has been discovered to stop the destruction as of yet.
~~~
rotten
They have effectively wiped out all Ash trees around central Ohio. Once these
beautiful trees were 20 - 25% of our forest, tree lines, and even shade for
parking lots. Now they are all gone. You can really notice it in areas where
they haven't been removed by tree services. We have an abundance of
woodpeckers now because of all of the dead standing trees around us. I wonder
what they'll make baseball bats out of when the lumber supply runs out?
~~~
panglott
Louisville Slugger has started shifting to yellow birch and maple.
[https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/baseball-bats-
mad...](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/baseball-bats-made-from-
ash-may-fall-victim-of-climate-change/)
------
panglott
This article almost criminally understates the amount of success the
restoration program has had in the last few years. The American Chestnut
Foundation's effort to backcross the American chestnut with blight-resistant
Chinese chestnuts has been successfully producing trees for over 10 years. Our
local parks department has planted a number of these in our urban forest,
including an orchard of a dozen trees or more.
[http://www.kychestnut.org/louisville-american-
chestnuts](http://www.kychestnut.org/louisville-american-chestnuts)
------
aresant
From Wikipedia:
"Salvage logging during the early years of the blight may have unwittingly
destroyed trees which had high levels of resistance to this disease and thus
aggravated the calamity."
One of many good examples of humanities best intentions having adverse effects
on an ecosystem or species.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_chestnut](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_chestnut)
~~~
tabeth
Isn't salvage logging entirely just to make money? Humanity reaps what it
sows.
~~~
kbutler
The implication that anything done to make money is automatically bad is
completely false.
The economic effects of "the invisible hand", whereby voluntary exchange
yields benefits to both parties and provides an economic surplus, is a "win-
win" whereby both parties are better off.
This is not without possible negative effects ("negative externalities") but
it is the most effective way to improve people's lives we've found so far.
Remember that nature and natural selection works by a more damaging mechanism
- "take what you can" \- and yet still manages to produce beneficial results -
though obviously not better for every individual or species.
~~~
panglott
Much of the economic history of economic exploitation has been "take what you
can" rather than free exchange.
It leads to the liquidation of a valuable long-term resource for a quick
short-term gain. A fishery that would be worth many billions over centuries is
liquidated for millions in a few years, for example.
This is especially true in the US, where so many plants and animals did not
live within a system of property. The American bison was saved only because
one or two landowner had a sentimental attachment to a local herd and spared
them from the carnage. The passenger pigeon was exterminated for cheap meat
with industrial hunting methods. Markets create positive sum games, but this
was just destruction.
The opportunity cost of billions of American chestnuts producing valuable nuts
and timber over the last century is incalculable.
------
joecool1029
Everytime I hike in the region I wonder what it might have looked like 100
years ago with these trees.
I still find myself looking for them sometimes, have spotted a few here and
there, many old giants that keep trying to send up shoots only to have them
re-infected and die again.
------
bhouston
The North American Elm tree is also being wiped out as we speak in a similar
very thorough manner:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_elm_disease](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_elm_disease)
~~~
ComputerGuru
Yup. We lost two, massive elms in our yard this past spring to Dutch Elm
Disease. By the time you spot it, it's too late.
~~~
gyrgtyn
I hope we've learned from the Chestnut fiasco that the 'solution' to this is
probably not to cut down all Elm trees.
------
nickparker
Lost biodiversity fills me with a bizarrely deep sense of sadness.
I'm really hoping biotech will advance far enough to A) stop the anthropocene
extinction and B) eventually reverse it, if not by reviving species then by
creating new and wonderful additions to our ecosystems.
On an odder tangent, this is also part of why I'm really excited about space
habitats and eventual Mars habitats. When we start creating massive enclosed
spaces where we fully control the conditions, I think we'll start seeing some
beautiful engineered ecosystems. Utilitarian stuff at first, like those ugly-
yet-functional urban hydroponics setups you see today, but eventually I'm
hopeful we'll create some 'natural' beauty.
~~~
annnnd
On a different tangent: do you think thus created nature will be beautiful to
us? Will it be beautiful to people who are born there?
I wonder why the trees are beautiful to us.. Maybe because we are used to them
and connect nice memories to the image of trees?
~~~
nickparker
I don't think we'll create anything radically different enough to _not_ be
beautiful.
Modifying what already exists is usually easier than creating something from
nothing, and I would expect that to apply for engineering new organisms.
If you mean will the ecosystems be beautiful to us, as in, will a forest in a
space station really be a forest, or more of a gaudy tourist attraction and/or
a sterile research environment, I'm hopeful that we'll choose to include some
allowance for beauty in our planning.
Kim Stanley Robertson's Mars trilogy touches on these themes a lot, and I'm
also drawing to some degree from the Culture series' vision of orbitals. We're
clearly centuries (at least) from being able to build orbitals, but I think
far smaller ring structures - and even more likely mere two-body tether set
ups - may be just decades ahead.
------
wyclif
I'm old enough to remember large chestnut trees on our old farm in eastern
Pennsylvania, but they're all gone now. It's a genuine tragedy, and I hope
botanists can produce a blight-resistant tree soon.
------
pogba101
This makes me very sad. I love eating roasted chestnuts as a snack. This might
be part of the reason why I find chestnuts to be so expensive when compared to
back home (spain).
Seriously, try to get some chestnuts and roast them (oven or microwave) with
some salt. They are delicious, especially during the cold months.
~~~
panglott
In the U.S., chestnuts were one of the cheapest foods in the 19th century.
They were gathered up in huge amounts and sent into the cities. Like passenger
pigeon meat, which was so cheap that it was regarded as a food for the poor.
~~~
yareally
Coincidentally, both are now extinct.
~~~
panglott
The American chestnut is not extinct. Every single passenger pigeon is dead.
Whereas there are genetically pure, blight-resistant trees still living in the
wild, but they are so widely distributed that they couldn't breed
naturally—each surviving tree is documented, and researchers are still
searching for more, such as on isolated Appalachian mountainslopes. But new
American chestnuts are being planted. The American chestnut is more like an
animal that was nearly extinct in the wild, but rescued in zoos and captive
breeding programs, and is now being reintroduced to the wild.
The American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation breeds genetically pure blight-
resistant American chestnuts and plants thousands (4,090 in 2015) of seeds
every year in an effort to grow genetically pure blight-resistant saplings.
[http://accf-online.org/](http://accf-online.org/)
The American Chestnut Foundation spent decades back-crossing American
chestnuts with Chinese chestnuts to develop a variety with the characteristics
of the American tree and the blight resistance of the Chinese one. Since
getting nuts in 2005, they've planted hundreds of trees in national parks;
there's an orchard of a dozen in our city's nature center; there are thousands
planted at the Flight 93 memorial alone.
[https://www.npca.org/articles/939-cracking-the-
nut](https://www.npca.org/articles/939-cracking-the-nut)
[http://www.acf.org/](http://www.acf.org/)
Chestnuts are similar to American bison: only a few very small bison herds are
genetically pure; but there are numerous large herds of American bison with a
small amount of domestic cow genes.
------
ommunist
I will be very happy to see a blight-resistant chestnut in the US as a result
of some genetic engineering. I am even ready to donate for such a good cause
if this effort will ever be crowdfunded by known biologists in the field.
Heck, I am even ready to get the US visa just to take part in planting them
back, once they get saplings. Guys, do it!
------
devy
And there is this promising news recently.
[http://scienceline.org/2017/01/american-chestnut-tree-
good-s...](http://scienceline.org/2017/01/american-chestnut-tree-good-shot-
making-comeback/)
------
mixmastamyk
Growing up in CA, I had no idea about the former glory or struggle of the
chestnut tree, and so found this piece quite interesting.
------
droithomme
Didn't realize it was that bad.
I'll continue to keep secret the location of the small grove of ancient mature
trees where I gather the nuts each year. If word got out you'd have the
crazies showing up wanting to cut them all down.
------
eppp
There are a few still alive near my house. Several professors have come to
take the seeds for use in these projects.
~~~
dmm
Perhaps they were acting on behalf of the American Chestnut Cooperators
Foundation, they have been working to cross various American Chestnuts with
demonstrated blight resistance to create a fully resistant strain.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Chestnut_Cooperators_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Chestnut_Cooperators_Foundation)
------
billfor
There are a number of hybrid American chestnuts that are blight resistant. I
have a Dunstan Chestnut that is doing rather well after a few years. It still
gets the blight but heals itself over time.
------
orasis
The real tragedy was that people were implored to chop down blighted trees. A
few of those may have had genetic resistance that could have kept the species
going.
------
51Cards
There is one in Stanley Park in Vancouver. I came across it and didn't know
what the nuts were so collected several off the ground to look up. I didn't
know anything about the tree before that.
For the curious: [http://imgur.com/a/eis4a](http://imgur.com/a/eis4a)
~~~
patall
I am not a botanist and cannot say from the pictures but that might as well
have been a european sweet chestnut, as its outside of the natural range
either way and the european is probably more common.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castanea_sativa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castanea_sativa)
------
mvidal01
If you want to help the Chestnut tree join The American Chestnut Foundation -
[http://www.acf.org/](http://www.acf.org/). They do research into developing
disease resistant varieties of Chestnut.
------
driverdan
They have it backwards. They're technically not extinct, just rare. I've seen
them in the wild.
My parents have one in their front yard they planted around 30 years ago from
a sapling they found while camping. It makes me wonder if it's a resistant
strain.
~~~
aacook
I think the term is "functionally extinct". The blight doesn't affect them
until they're 20-30 years old. There's a very good chance they'll die. I don't
think they've found a blight-resistant strain yet, just isolated trees, which
always eventually get blighted.
------
Pxtl
Butternut is also on its way out too thanks to canker fungus, but some have
been identified that are resistant so those are getting bred.
------
ttoinou
I always wondered if Americans cook chestnut spread ?
------
ausjke
Can I buy trees from lowes or homedepot or walmart to plant them? At Texas we
do have some chestnut trees, but not too many.
------
petre
It's always a fungus or a bug imported from Asia. The Emerald Ash Borer, the
Asian Longhorned Beetle etc.
------
virtualwhys
Cambridge, MA. Lone chestnut tree Enchanting fruit To a 70s child
Long gone now :\
------
Pica_soO
Hack its genom? Grow kevlar crusted chestnuts! There under the chest-nuttree,
i betrayed humanity and it betrayed me.
Curious question- is there a law against CRISPR-terrorism?
------
mac01021
The best kind of extinct.
------
lutusp
> There used to be 4B American chestnut trees, but they all disappeared
Not long ago this would have been rendered as, "There once were four billion
American chestnut trees, all now gone." People are no longer learning how to
write, they're learning how to type.
~~~
CalRobert
Can you elaborate? The title, as presented here, is nothing spectacular, but
it's not necessarily inadequate to the task. Also, the "all now gone" phrase
in your alternate strikes me as somewhat awkward.
While reading your version I also wondered why you might go with "There once
were" rather than "There were once"?
We all have our own pet peeves, though. I weep at the loss of the subjunctive
in English (For most usages it's "I wish I WERE there", not "I wish I WAS
there", dammit!!!)
~~~
lutusp
> The title, as presented here, is nothing spectacular, but it's not
> necessarily inadequate to the task.
I just see too many uses of "There used to be", which to me is a crude way to
concatenate two stock phrases without reflection, but in a awkward way that
grates on my ear. Also I think Strunk & White's concision emphasis still rings
true.
> I also wondered why you might go with "There once were" rather than "There
> were once"?
Voicing the candidates shows the difference. I imagine speaking anything I
write, which reveals phrasings that would be hard to say out loud.
> We all have our own pet peeves, though. I weep at the loss of the
> subjunctive in English (For most usages it's "I wish I WERE there", not "I
> wish I WAS there", dammit!!!)
I have a funny story about that. A depressed child enters the kitchen and
says, "I wish I was dead!" The child's mother says, "Oh no! Not that! Don't
you mean 'I wish I _were_ dead'?" :)
> Also, the "all now gone" phrase in your alternate strikes me as somewhat
> awkward.
Perhaps, but in my view not compared to "They all disappeared," which suggests
proactive agency (did they run away?) rather than passive fate.
~~~
CalRobert
'Perhaps, but in my view not compared to "They all disappeared," which
suggests proactive agency (did they run away?) rather than passive fate'
Ah, I see your point. Sadly I think a generation or two of teachers maniacally
chastising their students for ever using the passive form could have something
to do with this.
Even in this forum, you'll find plenty of people saying that all writing need
be direct, simple, and brief. There's virtue in that for quick memoranda, but
to say that there's no place in the world for complex, abstract writing or the
expression of nuance in careful word choice (as you describe) is a real shame.
Too often I've been corrected by people who say "you mean 'I wish I _was_'
because the subject is singular".
There's some evidence that language is what makes abstract thought even
possible. Perhaps we're leaving our minds unable to comprehend abstractions
when we reduce that available in our language. More discussion is at
[https://neuroanthropology.net/2010/07/21/life-without-
langua...](https://neuroanthropology.net/2010/07/21/life-without-language/).
Or maybe I just need to get over it. I overcame my violent aversion to
starting sentences with "or" and "and", after all.
~~~
coldpie
Just want to say that what I feared was going to be an angry grammar-nazi-
stand-off was actually a pleasant, friendly, and informative discussion of the
possibilities of language usage in different contexts. Cheers for keeping your
heads, all.
~~~
Ensorceled
I was thinking pretty much exactly the same thing, more "grammar gentlepeople"
please!
------
toodlebunions
They were all turned into peanut butter. True facts!
~~~
jacobush
Eh, alternative facts.
------
cmrdporcupine
The American chestnut has become some sort of poster child for GMO advocates,
but there is no need to resort to genetic modification to bring it back.
There have been and are blight resistant trees developed through conventional
breeding programs.
I have hybrids on my own property that are blight resistant. There are some
that are 95%+ American chestnut genetics and are not blight susceptible. There
are programmes in both Canada and the U.S. breeding these trees.
Marker assisted selection might be used which I suppose is a kind of GM
technology, but there is no need to resort to gene _editing_ or _splicing_.
That is a far more expensive and has the disadvantage of having extremely bad
PR.
Same thing for the non-browning apple, BTW. There was no _need_ beyond
availability of funding and various ag department/company politics to resort
to GM for that. There have been non-browning apple strains around since the
19th century.
I should also point out that there are rare instances of what appear to be
naturally blight resistant mature trees in the wild found here or there. Maybe
they're natural hybrids, or just lucky to avoid the blight, but if you find
one, various breeding groups would love to know.
~~~
Neliquat
This is the kind of anti science drivel I never expect to see on HN, but here
goes.
You paint this as being a 'gmo posterchild' when clearly, it is humans,
scrambling with Every technology at our disposal, to save a species. Your
whole rambling post harbors the implicit notion that 'GMO BAD, "Natural" GOOD'
with no statement to support that backward notion.
The GM strains are superior in apples for a plethora of reasons, or they would
use your obscure, bitter, non-browning, and less disease resistant apples
requiring even more pesticides. But they do not.
I concede that quite likely we can use thousand year old tech to accomplish
these goals. However the timeframe may be much longer (omitting red tape) for
a result, and time is of the essence.
If you can substantiate the unsaid evils of GM vs breeding by selected random
mutations, please, be my guest.
~~~
gyrgtyn
Tree genes work way differently than plant (like corn) genes. Trees evolve
very rapidly. Genes vary wildly between generations.
Planting a ton of Chestnut trees, maybe mixing in come Chinese genes, and re-
breeding the ones that seem immune is probably the fastest, cheapest way to
get immune trees again.
\--
Side thought, is the company making GMO Chestnuts going to have IP on the
seeds? That seems like it would create some bad incentives recreate this whole
scenario with other tree species -Kill all the 'native', free trees of some
species, reintroduce your expensive super-tree.
~~~
astrolabe38
> is the company making GMO Chestnuts going to have IP on the seeds?
No. The ACF's only problem is insufficient funding -> insufficient production.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why Renewables Can’t Save the Planet - vixen99
https://quillette.com/2019/02/27/why-renewables-cant-save-the-planet/
======
jaclaz
Well, at least finally someone noticed (and had the courage to write) that:
>We tend to think of solar panels as clean, but the truth is that there is no
plan anywhere to deal with solar panels at the end of their 20 to 25 year
lifespan.
And wait until someone will consider (car and home solar) batteries waste
after their lifecycle is over ...
~~~
jaclaz
Addition, previous realated discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13249628](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13249628)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13250258](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13250258)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13250584](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13250584)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hidden Chrome Features on CR-48 - Calamitous
http://calamitylane.com/articles/programming/hidden-chrome-features-on-cr-48/
======
liuhenry
The real fun lies in getting shell access in developer mode:
[http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-information-
fo...](http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-information-for-chrome-
os-devices/cr-48-chrome-notebook-developer-information)
From there, you can open a terminal and start experimenting, installing
outside software, and working on ChromeOS development.
~~~
Calamitous
Actually, you can get to a terminal without going to developer mode:
[http://calamitylane.com/articles/programming/chrome-os-on-
th...](http://calamitylane.com/articles/programming/chrome-os-on-the-cr-48-it-
has-developer-bits/)
...but that's pretty sweet. :)
~~~
mtigas
That "crosh" shell is actually _extremely_ limited, only allowing a handful of
basic commands. (ssh, ping, traceroute, top, a couple of other misc utilities
-- but no text editor.)
You still need to enable developer mode to get to a "traditional" linux shell:
<http://www.chromium.org/poking-around-your-chrome-os-device>
------
mtigas
One missed in that article is chrome://system which brings up a bunch of
hardware-related data. (For example, cpuinfo output. If you're wondering:
Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N455 @ 1.66GHz.)
As other commenters have mentioned, a bunch of those work well in the Chrome
Browser, too. (I'm on dev channel, 10.0.612.3)
------
abhikshah
In "about:flags" on Chromium (10.0.613.0 on OSX) there's an option to enable
expose-style viewing of tabs by swiping three fingers down.. which is really
convenient because swiping 4 fingers down is the default on Macs to invoke
expose.
------
antimatter15
All of those (except the file browser) works in the normal version of Chrome
as well.
~~~
sorbus
about:network doesn't seem to work in normal Chrome either.
------
milkshakes
+1 for "tab overview" flag in about:flags -- three finger swipe down brings up
an expose like interface for selecting a tab
~~~
calebegg
That's not a feature in Chrome OS....
------
gunmetal
Is there a way to watch an offline movie with the media player?
~~~
calebegg
Yes, if it's in one of the supported formats (Theora and H.264 iirc). You can
also just open the (local) video in a tab to view it.
------
drivebyacct2
These aren't specific to the CR-48 or even Chrome OS. The flags are insanely
useful and make Chrome the pleasure it is to use day to day.
Click to enable plugins is the killer flag in my opinion.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Let’s Stop the Unix Time Insanity - luu
http://creativepark.net/1408
======
nl
I have no idea what the author is proposing, but I'm just posting to point out
that it isn't the unix timestamp that is broken: it's dates in general.
There is simply no algorithm that accounts for their behaviour all the time.
The best you can do is have one that works most of the time, and then have a
table of exceptions (which has to be locale based).
For example, what date is 15330 days after February 30(!) 1712 in Sweden?[1]
_In November 1699, Sweden decided that, rather than adopting the Gregorian
calendar outright, it would gradually approach it over a 40-year period. The
plan was to skip all leap days in the period 1700 to 1740._
Great.. except:
_In accordance with the plan, February 29 was omitted in 1700, but due to the
Great Northern War no further reductions were made in the following years._
Oops. Oh well:
_In January 1711, King Charles XII declared that Sweden would abandon the
calendar, which was not in use by any other nation and had not achieved its
objective, in favour of a return to the older Julian calendar. An extra day
was added to February in the leap year of 1712, thus giving it a unique 30-day
length_
But the Julian calendar sucks[2], so:
_In 1753, one year later than England and its colonies, Sweden introduced the
Gregorian calendar, whereby the leap of 11 days was accomplished in one step,
with February 17 being followed by March 1_
Once you start doing date work you'll find these crazy cases all the time. Try
and tell me today's date on Mount Athos...
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_calendar#Solar_calenda...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_calendar#Solar_calendar)
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar)
[3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Athos#Date_and_time_reck...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Athos#Date_and_time_reckoning)
~~~
buro9
His main beef seems to be that time isn't as simple as i++ and he really wish
it were. But that's a lot to do with the fact that time is based on the spin
and orbit of Earth around the sun.
I think, that he's seriously suggesting that we find a unit of time that can
be guaranteed to just increment and not be subject to leap stuff or calendar
adjustments and can go forward and backwards in time as simple increments and
decrements.
A de-coupling between the time counter and our perception of time as a human
concept.
Maybe use the concept of a second, but not in relation to our calendar. So
instead of being "seconds since 1970" it's just "seconds".
I guess the idea being that you'd have a guaranteed increment only counter for
seconds that have passed, but without coupling that to an actual calendar.
I'd probably ask what the problem was that created this thought, maybe there's
an answer to that instead.
~~~
Udo
_> I'd probably ask what the problem was that created this thought, maybe
there's an answer to that instead._
OP here. That article is old and I really wish it wasn't on the front page. If
I remember correctly, at the time this was written, there were some pretty big
outages and failures that originated from apps assuming time was pretty much a
linear monotonic value. So the motivation to write this was not only for
myself, but to attempt and find a better solution for timestamps as needed by
many apps.
There is no technical reason for the timestamp to jump around, and to convert
to and from "human" time we already need libraries (especially if we're
looking at points in the past or the future), so the argument that system
timestamps _MUST_ map to actual time of day is somewhat moot. As it is, the
Unix timestamp attempts to be somewhat in the middle, in the end satisfying
neither computer nor human requirements. So the idea was to separate those two
timing formats completely.
~~~
pdonis
_a linear monotonous value_
I think you mean "monotonic". Though lots of non-geeks would probably say that
"monotonous" applies too. :-)
~~~
Udo
You're right. Corrected.
------
haberman
The author's proposal, for those who (understandably) did not glean it from
the article, is that the UNIX timestamp becomes absolutely monotonic and, in
the case of leap seconds, a day becomes 86,401 UNIX seconds long. Right now
UNIX days are always exactly 86,400 seconds long, and time goes backwards a
second when a leap second is added.
> I know there is a lot of smugness going on in developer circles where people
> get high on posting comments such as “of course it is like this. it’s the
> way we’ve done it forever, it’s the only way.”
What the author perceives as "smugness" is a reaction to criticism of the
status quo without understanding and addressing the benefits of the status
quo.
I'm not preemptively dismissing the author's proposal, but you would have to
overcome some fairly serious hurdles. Most notably, you would not be able to
reliably construct dates in the future, because it is not generally known when
leap seconds will be added. So it is unknowable what the "monotonic timestamp"
for Jan 1, 2023 00:00:00 is, for example.
I think a better answer to the problem is the leap second smear that Google
has implemented: [http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/time-technology-
and-l...](http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/time-technology-and-leaping-
seconds.html)
~~~
Udo
OP here. I really wish this hadn't been submitted, but it's here so I might as
well...
_> Most notably, you would not be able to reliably construct dates in the
future_
You already need libraries for these functions. The only difference is that
right now, those libraries have to calculate against a moving target instead
of one that behaves predictably. I wrote this post a long time ago to suggest
a strict(er) divide between computer timestamps and human timestamps, because
Unix timestamps are in effect neither.
There are countless apps that implicitly assume timestamps are linearly
counted upwards. Most people would say those are bugs, but they'd only be
right on superficial grounds. What most applications rightly want is a
monotonic, predictable way to count the passing of time and to exchange that
data with other apps.
My idea was to introduce such a linear counter for apps that want it, not (as
some people here obtusely suggested) replacing the Unix timestamp with this no
matter the ecosystem breakage.
~~~
haberman
> You already need libraries for these functions.
I'm not sure if you caught my point. Library or no, it is _impossible_ to
construct future dates because it is _unknown_ when leap seconds will be
inserted until six months or so before it happens.
Leap seconds are based on minute changes in the rotation of the earth, which
are unpredictable.
I added this to my comment later, but I think a better way to get a strictly
monotonic timestamp is to smear the leap second:
[http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/time-technology-
and-l...](http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/time-technology-and-leaping-
seconds.html)
> There are countless apps that implicitly assume timestamps are linearly
> counted upwards.
There are also countless apps that implicitly assume that minutes are 60
seconds, hours are 3600 seconds, days are 86,400 seconds. Your scheme would
break these apps.
~~~
Udo
I think we're misunderstanding each other.
> Library or no, it is impossible to construct future dates because it is unknown
> when leap seconds will be inserted until six months or so before it happens.
This problem exists whether the Unix timestamp actually jumps or not. At some
point, a reference table will have to be updated with the most current leap
second data - otherwise you couldn't accurately count seconds between to
points in time anyway. If that much precision is actually needed is another
thing entirely. Again, the idea is just to make a cleaner separation between
the two worlds.
> Your scheme would break these apps.
Again, and I already said this multiple times now, the idea is not to abolish
the Unix timestamp and ignore whatever breaks. Instead I suggested to
introduce a linear counter for apps that want it. I might be wrong of course,
but I believe using this monotonic counter instead would greatly reduce
complexity and potential for bugs in many applications.
~~~
haberman
> This problem exists whether the Unix timestamp actually jumps or not.
No it doesn't. I can tell you authoritatively that the UNIX timestamp for
2023-01-01 00:00 UTC is 1672560000. That value is not dependent on future
changes to the rotation of the Earth.
Now it _is_ true that I cannot tell you precisely how many physical seconds
there are between now and then, because I do not know how many leap seconds
will be added in the meantime. But in practice I think this is less critical.
Applications that care about this probably use a more specialized time scale
anyway. But it would be strange to put an appointment in your calendar for
midnight and find that later on it had flipped to being at 11:59pm the
previous day.
> Again, and I already said this multiple times now, the idea is not to
> abolish the Unix timestamp and ignore whatever breaks. Instead I suggested
> to introduce a linear counter for apps that want it.
I understand what you are saying. I'm just saying that your proposal trades
one surprise for another. An app author might think "oh yes, a monotonic time
sounds nice" and start using it, only to find that they are broken later
because they were surprised that a minute could be 61 seconds long.
~~~
__david__
> I can tell you authoritatively that the UNIX timestamp for 2023-01-01 00:00
> UTC is 1672560000.
That assumes the calendar definition does not change. What if a 10 month
calendar with a new year that starts in spring somehow becomes widely popular
and adopted as the standard sometime in the next 10 years?
Then suddenly 2023-01-01 is _not_ 1672560000 and is actually 1680332400.
~~~
haberman
UTC is defined in terms of days. UTC calendar dates are presumed to use the
Gregorian calendar. 2023-01-01 in the Gregorian calendar maps to a specific
day (Julian day 2459946).
If you wanted to use a different calendar, you would need to map it to Julian
days also to convert between the two.
The idea that the world would suddenly change to a new calendar is highly
unlikely, and if it did happen it is not at all clear what the correct
behavior would be for future dates that had been specified before the switch.
------
azov
_> Unix timestamps are thoroughly and unnecessarily broken. They should be a
continuum._
If you assume that system time is a continuum I have some bad news for you:
system time is actually a user preference. Users can change it any moment to
whatever they feel like, no time machine required. Given that, leap seconds
are small potatoes. If you propose we change this and take away user's ability
to set system time... well, there might be some merit in this from purely
theoretical point of view, but in real world where batteries die, clocks get
out of sync, and tons of software already rely on existing behavior - I don't
think your proposal is likely to get very far :-)
Now, if you want a continuum, it's already there: look up CLOCK_MONOTONIC.
------
jasonlotito
> "a date like this:" > R(I, T, Z) = D > Those four final words...
So yeah. Maybe I'm missing something obvious, or maybe the author is referring
to another random set of 4 words?
~~~
pedantpatrol
Congratulations! You have won the pedantic comment of the day award!
~~~
AndrewBissell
I didn't really get what the author was referring to with "those final four
words" either, this hardly seems like pedantry to me.
------
nemetroid
Meh. Sounds to me like the author recently got burned by not knowing how Unix
timestamps work.
~~~
kbar13
I wouldn't assume anything, but it would be great if the blog post provided
any kind of possible alternative. Right now it really just sounds like a
misguided rant.
~~~
Udo
The idea is, instead of making the timestamp jump around (leading to both
overlap and gaps), to make it a continuous linear counter. What's misguided
about it?
I realize we've been stuck with the Unix timestamp for so long it's become
somewhat impossible for many to acknowledge the points where it breaks.
------
btilly
If you think that the problem is something called "Unix Time", then you do not
actually understand the problem.
The time used for "Unix Time" is actually UTC, which is a standard that is
specified in international standards that predate Unix. It is specified in
current international standards for everything from aviation to HTTP requests.
If Unix tried to use something else, you'd generate massively more confusion
for every Unix developer as they were having to figure out the current
conversion to what is actually required for interacting with the rest of the
world.
~~~
haberman
> The time used for "Unix Time" is actually UTC
Unix Time is not UTC; it is a linear representation that is surjective onto
UTC. It is easy to map between the two but they are not the same. They are not
even isomorphic or bijective because leap seconds have no unique
representation in Unix Time.
The Unix Time representation gives up full equivalence with UTC in order to
provide some useful guarantees (days are always exactly 86,400 seconds long,
midnight always satisfies x % 86,400 == 0, etc), but also creates other
surprises (time can go backwards when a leap second occurs).
------
brianpgordon
What exactly is the call to action here? For kernel developers to change how
time works, and probably break thousands of drivers and applications, based on
a blog post?
~~~
Udo
No, willful misunderstanding aside, the idea is to provide a single continuous
counter to apps that want it. If you look closely at most implementations,
that's how many apps actually expect it to work.
~~~
jonhohle
There already is a continuous monotonic timer available in most operating
systems, it just happens to be relative to some internal counter local to that
system (and depending on virtualization layer doesn't always provide monotonic
guarantees). This value can generally be translated into a fixed (and vice-
versa), serialized timestamp for persistence.
------
dap
At least on a single system, it's not that hard. You have to get over the fact
that you can't compute accurate intervals by recording two human-datetime
timestamps. Even aside from the myriad edge cases around date arithmetic, an
administrator (or NTP) can always reset the clock between the endpoints of
your interval, and your computation may be very wrong.
If you want a human timestamp, use gettimeofday[0] and related functions. If
you want something to compute actual elapsed seconds with, use high-resolution
timestamps([2] and [3]). You just can't have both, and that's because of the
way human dates work, not the way we represent them.
[0]
[http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/get...](http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/gettimeofday.html)
[1] [http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/cgi-bin/man-
cgi?gethrtime+3](http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/cgi-bin/man-cgi?gethrtime+3) [2]
[http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/cl...](http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/clock_gettime.html)
------
AndrewBissell
One of the happiest moments for me when starting at my current job was the day
I saw that all our servers were set to UTC as the default time zone. Leap
seconds may cause some pain every 3 years or so, but a huge number of problems
in system time accounting can be avoided by just keeping everything in UTC,
and translating into a given timezone representation only at the highest
possible level, just before displaying information to end users.
------
seagreen
There's some great stuff about Unix time on this page:
The Future of Leap Seconds
[http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/onlinebib.html](http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/onlinebib.html)
See especially the 'Distinguishing the two different meanings for time'
section. It makes a good distinction between _time-of-day_ and _time
interval_. Unix time measures the first.
------
peterwwillis
Time is relative, right? If anything we need a protocol to describe how the
observer views time, not a rigid definition of expression of time as viewed by
other people.
Toward that end, unix time is totally usable, as long as you make the
assumption that all unix time was created in a specific space and time. Then
you just have to calculate what your observation of it is. That way, two
bodies sitting next to each other may calculate the time that applies to them,
and communicate by simply returning the time to the standard before comparing
with other bodies.
(Apparently this already exists; the _Einstein synchronization procedure_
defines a method to establish universally (in the astronomic sense) temporal
coordinates, which is in effect both location and time)
~~~
haberman
I think you are missing the point that UNIX time moves backwards by a second
whenever a leap second is added. It is discontinuous with respect to the
actual passage of time.
~~~
peterwwillis
UNIX time is simply an indicator of where you are in relation to the event of
the epoch. Leap seconds are just our immature way of dealing with time
dilation. You can always add or remove time as an observer to conform to
whatever your view of time is in relation to that older fixed point.
~~~
haberman
> UNIX time is simply an indicator of where you are in relation to the event
> of the epoch.
That is true except in the case of leap seconds, in which case UNIX time is
not monotonic or continuous.
> Leap seconds are just our immature way of dealing with time dilation.
Leap seconds have nothing to do with time dilation. TAI, on which UTC is
based, is defined as the passage of proper time on Earth's geoid. This gives a
stable base that is not influenced by the frame of the observer. UTC does not
change based on where you observe it from. It is the same on Earth, in space,
etc. regardless of your frame. None of this has anything to do with leap
seconds.
Leap seconds compensate for the fact that a mean solar day is slightly longer
than 86,400 seconds, and can vary slightly due to irregularities in Earth's
rotation. Leap seconds are added to keep UTC noon within a second of mean
solar noon at the prime meridian.
> You can always add or remove time as an observer to conform to whatever your
> view of time is in relation to that older fixed point.
UTC is defined at the geoid, and everybody uses UTC seconds even though they
are slightly shorter than seconds as observed by most people on Earth.
------
acqq
It seems that the author thinks that Unix typically shows leap seconds to the
application programmer? In fact, there aren't leap seconds there unless you
intentionally turn that feature on. The seconds you get with the time() call
will increment one by one. You will not have to care that leap second
occurred. If you want to see leap seconds, then it is assumed that you know
what you are doing. If you don't know the effects of that, please, please
don't turn it on and don't write about how it's broken.
If you want to learn more about leap seconds read:
[http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/time/leap/](http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/time/leap/)
------
BerislavLopac
The obligatory link: [http://infiniteundo.com/post/25326999628/falsehoods-
programm...](http://infiniteundo.com/post/25326999628/falsehoods-programmers-
believe-about-time)
------
JulianMorrison
Use "bignum Planck units since the big bang". That is the ur-clock.
------
axus
"GPS Time" is UTC without the leap seconds. But it only goes back to 1980.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Introduction to Data, Context, Interaction Pattern - beberlei
http://www.whitewashing.de/2012/08/16/oop_business_applications__data__context__interaction.html
======
ExpiredLink
DCI makes no sense. It hasn't gained traction in the real world.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Cisco Entering Tablet Market with Android-Based Device - Concours
http://www.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2010/06/cisco-entering-tablet-market.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+readwriteweb+%28ReadWriteWeb%29
======
callmeed
Does "aimed at the enterprise" == overpriced ?
------
stretchwithme
comes with a command line so you can configure your router :-)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
This site produces a browsable tree of related info if you enter a keyword - slashdotaccount
http://exploresion.org
======
roryokane
Perhaps this uses DBpedia
([http://wiki.dbpedia.org/About](http://wiki.dbpedia.org/About))?
This is similar to the site Freebase
([http://www.freebase.com/](http://www.freebase.com/)), which has a lot more
data. Example node: India
([http://www.freebase.com/m/03rk0](http://www.freebase.com/m/03rk0)).
~~~
PaulHoule
This definitely is based on Wikipedia categories, which can be extracted from
DBpedia.
------
pepsi
This reminds me of "Nested" from Orteil, the creator of Cookie Clicker.
[http://orteil.dashnet.org/nested](http://orteil.dashnet.org/nested)
------
captn3m0
I'm not sure but it seems to use the category pages on the wikipedia pages to
show you the tree.
------
anigbrowl
Could use another few iterations of the interface (I don't like the way the
lists vanish right after they appear), but the concept and execution are first
rate. I will be making regular use of this. Most semantic-web-like thing I've
seen so far this year.
------
vonuebelgarten
This site also summarizes what I hate in the current webdesign trends: broken
back button and spurious event handlers attached to the not-quite-linky-links.
------
unhappyhippie
For almost all of my queries, this is just giving me the list of "categories"
on the corresponding wikipedia page, leaving out the wiki-specific ones such
as " Articles with Open Directory Project links", etc. Clicking the categories
just opens the listings on the corresponding Wikipedia category page.
------
alan_cx
Quite possibly I don't understand what its doing or why, but I entered the
word "stylus", meaning the needle on a turntable, and I got an opening
suggestion of "writing implements", and the tree related only to that. So,
unfortunately for me a bit of a fail. Like I say, perhaps I missed the point.
~~~
IanCal
I assume it didn't have that meaning in whatever database it's using. Writing
implements is a valid interpretation at least. It does seem to do
disambiguation if you search for the classic 'pitch'.
It's just a fun way of walking from one concept to another, like browsing
Wikipedia and ending up miles from where you started.
------
fenollp
You could maybe couple that with links found with
wikipedia.org/wiki/*_(disambiguation) results
------
mherdeg
This is very cuil!
~~~
chinpokomon
Nice. I thought Cuil had some interesting things they were doing.
------
waterlion
Really impressed with results for words like 'twirling', 'homoiconicity',
'ferromagnetic', 'mahler'.
Unimpressed by 'sandwiches', which surprised me.
~~~
rainbowgarden
'sandwich' gives a great result. there is some song called sandwiches and it's
taking that into context. may be looking for the closest match of the given
word.
------
jamessb
Annoyingly, the contextual menu makes it impossible to open the wikipedia
articles in new tabs. One solution would to have actual links (either text or
icons) after each title.
------
obphious
Interesting visualization -- perhaps having a link to the wikipedia page for
each item or using an iframe to display the wikipedia page would make it a bit
more useful.
~~~
uaygsfdbzf
alt+click is going to the wikipedia page
------
vdm
Nice idea.
The "Explore " text is unnecessary spam. As is the fact that they are not real
links.
------
coldcode
There are other platforms that don't have alt keys or where control click is a
second mouse button.
------
hsmyers
Good start but a little shallow. Try 'Tolkien' or 'Lord of the Rings'...
------
raihukonen
I liked the idea. it's information travel.
------
timpattinson
Did we kill it? Not working for me in Firefox.
------
rainbowgarden
it's fun to browse through. I started with "India", ended up at Charlie Sheen
..
------
maplesyrup87
i like the way we could wander around :)
------
rebekacarleback
oh! well lots of data here. good one
------
uaygsfdbzf
wow. The best use i found is if you know something of a kind and want to find
something like it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Lifestyles of the Rich, Young and Homeless - nchuhoai
https://medium.com/better-humans/6620882dde89
======
transfire
It gets harder to do the older you get though.
~~~
gomattymo
yep.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
“Shooting the Messenger” is a Psychological Reality - yarapavan
https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/05/08/shooting-the-messenger-is-a-psychological-reality-share-bad-news-and-people-will-like-you-less/
======
yarapavan
Abstract:
Eleven experiments provide evidence that people have a tendency to “shoot the
messenger,” deeming innocent bearers of bad news unlikeable. In a
preregistered lab experiment, participants rated messengers who delivered bad
news from a random drawing as relatively unlikeable (Study 1). A second set of
studies points to the specificity of the effect: Study 2A shows that it is
unique to the (innocent) messenger, and not mere bystanders. Study 2B shows
that it is distinct from merely receiving information with which one
disagrees. We suggest that people’s tendency to deem bearers of bad news as
unlikeable stems in part from their desire to make sense of chance processes.
Consistent with this account, receiving bad news activates the desire to
sense-make (Study 3A), and in turn, activating this desire enhances the
tendency to dislike bearers of bad news (Study 3B). Next, stemming from the
idea that unexpected outcomes heighten the desire to sense-make, Study 4 shows
that when bad news is unexpected, messenger dislike is pronounced. Finally,
consistent with the notion that people fulfill the desire to sense-make by
attributing agency to entities adjacent to chance events, messenger dislike is
correlated with the erroneous belief that the messenger had malevolent motives
(Studies 5A, 5B, and 5C). Studies 6A and 6B go further, manipulating messenger
motives independently from news valence to suggest their causal role in our
process account: the tendency to dislike bearers of bad news is mitigated when
recipients are made aware of the benevolence of the messenger’s motives.
(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
Link:
[https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-19962-004](https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-19962-004)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Clojure now available in Ubuntu repos - macmac
http://packages.ubuntu.com/karmic/clojure
======
pavelludiq
I personally prefer to use a more up to date version, so i don't use the one
from the repos, but im sure people who just want to have a simple install, or
a stable release could benefit from this.
~~~
j_baker
Well, it's _extremely_ helpful if you want to make a Debian package that
depends on Clojure. But for development work, a more unstable version would
probably be better.
~~~
rbanffy
It works like this: you start developing now. By the time you cut through all
the red tape, you got the HTML templates, the servers were installed, the
solution validated and you can finally deploy it into production, the package
will be the same version you started development with ;-)
------
bmunro
This isn't new. I have had Clojure installed via the Ubuntu repository for
some time now. Maybe since Karmic was released.
~~~
macmac
Agree - appears to have been around since Jan 2009, but judging from all the
problems people seem to be have getting a simple Clojure install up and
running, it does not appear to be well known.
~~~
gtani
the simple clojure install is coordinating JVM 5 or 6(almost always sun, tho
link below mentions openJDK), emacs 22 or 23, slime, swank, ELPA, etc.
[http://thoughtadventures.blogspot.com/2010/01/setting-up-
clo...](http://thoughtadventures.blogspot.com/2010/01/setting-up-clojure-repl-
with-emacs-and.html)
[http://measuringmeasures.blogspot.com/2010/01/clojure-
quick-...](http://measuringmeasures.blogspot.com/2010/01/clojure-quick-start-
guide.html)
[http://groups.google.com/group/clojure/browse_thread/thread/...](http://groups.google.com/group/clojure/browse_thread/thread/868c8ac36d55d674?pli=1)
------
mapleoin
Fedora seems to have it since 2008.
[http://cvs.fedoraproject.org/viewvc/rpms/clojure/F-10/clojur...](http://cvs.fedoraproject.org/viewvc/rpms/clojure/F-10/clojure.spec?view=log)
------
ivenkys
Why is this here ? This is old news.
------
macmac
BTW it is presently available only for karmic.
~~~
j_baker
Actually, that's not true: <http://packages.ubuntu.com/jaunty-
backports/clojure>
~~~
mgunes
And is in the current development branch as well:
<http://packages.ubuntu.com/lucid/clojure>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Most Smart Home Developers Are Hobbyists, Not Professionals - werencole
http://arc.applause.com/2015/09/15/smart-homes-apps-developers/
======
werencole
Take that, Bob Vila. Or Tim Allen. Or ... ummm, who is the current "it" guy in
DIY home projects? Mike Rowe?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why don't more women participate in programming contests? - arnioxux
https://www.quora.com/Why-dont-more-women-participate-in-programming-contests?share=1#MoreAnswers
======
arnioxux
A female IOI medalist offers some perspective on why it was harder for them
even from an early age. (IOI is the high school age computing olympiad)
Posting this in response to an article (gone from the front page now) which
accused Google Code Jam for being sexist since "Google Code Jam Finalists Are
All Men For 14th Year In A Row". But you can't do well in these contest if you
haven't already been doing well in them since early high school.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Aireal: Interactive Tactile Experiences in Free Air - pain_perdu
http://www.disneyresearch.com/project/aireal/
======
philwebster
Very cool. If you're interested in this technology, you can get larger
handheld air cannons that shoot big blasts of air quite far. (They're a ton of
fun!) See
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_vortex_cannon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_vortex_cannon)
------
haberdasher
Wait, is any portion of the device 3D printed?
~~~
adamnemecek
Yeah, I was wondering why they kept repeating that.
~~~
kenrikm
My guess is that they want to make sure the Patent covers 3D Printed versions
as well.
~~~
solistice
Or simply because 3d printed is a huge buzzword right now. Technically, 3d
printing these offers no benefit over more conventional technologies like
injection molding.
------
spyder
Using ultrasonic seems more promising, because no moving parts are used and
one "tactile pixel" is smaller than that air cannon thing.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd9DgsI95hc](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd9DgsI95hc)
[http://www.ultrasonic-audio.com/products/syntact.html](http://www.ultrasonic-
audio.com/products/syntact.html)
~~~
solistice
I would like to disagree that there aren't any moving parts used whilst
generating ultrasonic waves. After all, something needs to vibrate.
Ultrasonic levitation is pretty cool, and the tacile interface isn't bad
either. I just somewhat pity that they've looked at the technology and told
themselves "Ohh, that'd be great for musicians", which I think isn't the right
assumption to make in this case. I mean HD-MIDI still hasn't been adapted
widely after being discussed in 2005 (that's 8 years now), so I wonder if
musicians are a fertile breeding ground for "paradigm changing tacile
interfaces".
------
6ren
Very cool, but it looks like latency is a problem, since vortex propagation
speed is limited by the medium of air (I'm guessing...) It might be OK when
very close to the device, as in the tablet examples.
Compared with rumble/vibration in console controllers/phones, it's directional
and hands-free. I wonder if gyroscopic twisting forces might be better for
giving actual forces of resistance?
~~~
joshuak
For certain types of games latency shouldn't be a problem since you can map
the future interaction point between hand and target. If you miss then, well
you missed. Boxing games would work well, FPS not so much. In a POV game you
can't predict the view angle so also not the interaction point.
------
paul9290
I've been seeing a few disneyresearch links on HN and wondered if someone who
works there has been submitting them?
~~~
ibudiallo
As long that the links are interesting and provide something as relevant as
this one I see no problem.
------
31reasons
Calling it a haptic device is a stretch.
~~~
ricardobeat
Care to explain? Haptic = tactile feedback, regardless of the medium used to
achieve the effect. Even rumbling gamepads qualify as such.
~~~
31reasons
If you go by such a broad definition even the vibrator in your phone would
make it a haptic device. But many people will argue that its not.
------
transfire
Holoemitters version 1.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
React with C++: Building the Quip Mac and Windows Apps - finiteloop
https://medium.com/@btaylor/react-with-c-building-the-quip-mac-and-windows-apps-c63155c1531b
======
fooshint
As users are editing a doc, do you send diffs? What diff algorithm do you use?
What's your logic like for merging changes and handling conflicts?
~~~
finiteloop
Our documents are broken into lots of smaller components we call sections. So,
in a billeted lost, each list item is its own section.
Sections have a GUID and can be modified without touching any of the other
parts of the document. This is useful in that it minimizes most common merge
conflicts - they only happen of people edit the same sentence or spreadsheet
cell while offline, but simultaneous edits of the same doc generally don't
result in the need for any merge algorithm.
For offline edits of the same section, we use a fairly standard three way
merge algorithm. Then, we show the edits we chose in the left hand side of the
doc with the conversation along with a "Revert" button so you (the end user)
can revert if our algorithm was wrong.
------
djanowski
Already using Quip for Mac, loving it. Great job.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Paypal sucks! Should I start a LLC in the US to be able to use Stripe? - codequeen
Hello there,<p>I have a predicament and would like to hear what you think about it.<p>I'm a freelance frontend developer based in a third world country and the only ways I have to get paid by my clients are Paypal, Transferwise or Wire Transfer.<p>Here are my issues with those 3:<p>- Paypal withdrawals take 4-5 days to arrive in my bank account and they charge $10/witdhrawal. Their fees are also 5.4% for my country and, as you most know, their support sucks.<p>- Transferwise is awesome but I have gotten some pushback from my clients with this method since a lot of them want to use their credit card/PayPal to pay me.<p>- Wire transfers are too expensive for me and my customers.<p>After some research, the only solution I see is to open an LLC in the US and travel there to open a bank account (which I can do) and use the new company info to open the Stripe account.<p>I tried Stripe Atlas but they rejected me because it looks like I posed a financial risk to their banking partners (that's what they said).<p>What do you guys think about it? Would it be worth it to go through all this hassle just to use Stripe? I keep fearing the day when PayPal freezes my account for no apparent reason (I have heard stories...) and I lose my only way of getting paid.
======
patio11
(I work on Stripe Atlas.)
Would you mind sending us an email? We'll see what we can do.
~~~
codequeen
Just filled your support contact form. Thank you for taking a note of this!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
City of London: Tax haven in the heart of Britain (2011) - lowmemcpu
https://www.newstatesman.com/economy/2011/02/london-corporation-city
======
sprafa
An enormous amount of money going through Britain appears to be money
laundering. Look into real estate in london. An absurd situation.
Anecdotally - I spoke to a Goldman Sachs guy who quit - he made software to
flag “suspicious” transactions. He said it flagged millions everyday. Money
coming in from Saudi Arabia, Gibraltar, Panama, Jersey etc.
I asked him why did he quit? This seemed like a useful thing. Stopping such
transactions is a good thing, no?
He said “you don’t understand. All the software did was flag the transactions.
It didnt stop them. It just marked them as ‘suspicious’”
I was blown away. “Why have a piece of software that just flags the
transactions and does nothing??”
He said “Because that’s what the law demands. And so that when we get caught,
we can go to the Parliament in the inquiry and say ‘you’re absolutely right,
our software did mark this as a problem!’”
~~~
xxpor
Wasn't one of the theories why the UK wanted to get Brexit done by New Year's
this year that there was a new EU financial transparency directive coming into
effect that might have exposed a lot of Conservative MP's financial dealings?
~~~
DaiPlusPlus
I'm a die-hard remainer, but I know that's untrue:
[https://fullfact.org/online/brexit-not-concealing-
offshore-a...](https://fullfact.org/online/brexit-not-concealing-offshore-
accounts/)
~~~
rjmunro
That is specifically true, but I suspect being out of the EU will make the UK
easier for money launderers and similar in the long term.
------
hpoe
For those interested in learning more about the City of London there is a
youtuber, CGP Grey, who has to great 10 min vids on what it is why it exists
and how it operates. Link here:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrObZ_HZZUc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrObZ_HZZUc)
~~~
twic
If you think the City is wild, wait until you find out about the Temples - a
couple of office complexes for elite lawyers, descended from a Templar church,
which are their own local authority, carved out from the City:
[https://www.middletemple.org.uk/about-us/freedom-
information...](https://www.middletemple.org.uk/about-us/freedom-
information/local-authority-functions)
[https://londonist.com/london/things-to-do/middle-temple-
hist...](https://londonist.com/london/things-to-do/middle-temple-history-
explore)
------
Havoc
>usually with secrecy as their prime offering.
lol. The only ones selling bank secrecy these days is Hollywood action movies.
It died out in the real world years ago. All the major offshore locations
report holdings to the US tax authorities (FATCA) and the EU tax authorities
(CRS).
~~~
zymhan
and yet
> Then there is the City’s Cash, “a private fund built up over the last eight
> centuries”, which, among many other things, helps buy off dissent. Only part
> of it is visible: the Freedom of Information Act applies solely to its
> mundane functions as a local authority or police authority. Its assets are
> beyond proper democratic scrutiny.
Tax laws aren't the sole way of ensuring financial transparency.
~~~
Havoc
Well yeah - if you grant someone autonomy you do lose a fair bit of control.
To some extent it's a case of can't have your cake and eat it too.
It's not exactly a coincidence that the City is in the center of London. Or
rather the rest exists around it. London's prosperity is linked to it's
existence to some extent. Services account for 77% of London exports & a big
chunk of that is financial services.
------
slashdotdash
The Spider’s Web is a documentary film which covers this subject in detail.
Well worth watching if you have an interest in finding out more.
“An investigation into the world of Britain’s secrecy jurisdictions and the
City of London. Today, up to half of global offshore wealth may be hidden in
British offshore jurisdictions and Britain and its offshore jurisdictions are
the largest global players in the world of international finance.”
[http://spiderswebfilm.com/](http://spiderswebfilm.com/)
------
boring_twenties
This book from around the same time goes into detail into global tax havens
(including lots on CoL and its history), and the insidious ways that system
has integrated itself into the "legitimate" global financial system.
I'm not an expert on the topic but I found the book hard to put down.
edit: The book: [https://smile.amazon.com/Treasure-Islands-Uncovering-
Offshor...](https://smile.amazon.com/Treasure-Islands-Uncovering-Offshore-
Banking/dp/0230341721)
~~~
waterfowl
The book is by the same author as the article.
~~~
boring_twenties
Good catch.
------
juskrey
UK got one thing right: it is not only beneficial, but also rightful to help
other people part with dirty money. Pretending that all money can fit some
"clean" model and fully feed the economy at the same time, like (part of) EU
tries to do, is a dangerous fallacy. Switzerland got that too, but they fell
prey to US long before that banking privacy defeat.
So now, like in old good times, UK plays on par with US.
~~~
Barrin92
It's neither beneficial nor rightful. First, it's not rightful because
laundering money for corrupt states aids their oligarchy or corrupt regimes,
which directly harms the people in said countries. I'm not sure what moral
standards you have that somehow sees supporting corruption as good.
Secondly, it's not beneficial to the UK in the mid and long term because this
money flows into assets like London real-estate without providing any actual
jobs or innovation, thus not providing any value to ordinary British citizens
while pricing them out of the city.
It's endemic corruption on both sides, and a direct result of the lack of
British competitiveness in most other fields for decades now. The UK is well
on its way from being the world's most inventive nation to an oversized Canary
Islands.
~~~
raverbashing
> Secondly, it's not beneficial to the UK in the mid and long term because
> this money flows into assets like London real-estate without providing any
> actual jobs or innovation, thus not providing any value to ordinary British
> citizens while pricing them out of the city.
So, it will increase rents for the landlords. Good for the UK overall? No.
Good for people on the real-estate business (a lot of them very well connected
politically)? You bet)
~~~
imtringued
Foreign investors aren't renting apartments. They are buying them and this
means they are the landlords.
~~~
raverbashing
Yes, that's what I'm saying
> it will increase rents (received by) the landlords
might be a better wording
------
dang
Discussed at the time:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8181308](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8181308)
------
twic
This article weaves together lots of weird and wonderful historical detail to
depict the City as a malign and unstoppable force, but it's all bollocks. It's
a pile of allusion and errors, written for an audience who will accept this
stuff uncritically.
Some examples:
> The term “tax haven” is a bit of a misnomer, because such places aren’t just
> about tax. What they sell is escape: from the laws, rules and taxes of
> jurisdictions elsewhere, usually with secrecy as their prime offering.
There are no laws, rules, or taxes which apply everywhere else in the UK which
don't apply in the City.
> A few examples illustrate the carve-out. Whenever the Queen
The queen is a purely ceremonial figure.
> The Remembrancer, whose position dates from the reign of Elizabeth I, is the
> City’s official lobbyist in parliament
That particular official is unique to the City, but other local authorities
have their own lobbyists in parliament:
[https://www.local.gov.uk/parliament](https://www.local.gov.uk/parliament)
> The City Corporation is different from any other local authority. Here, hi-
> tech global finance melds into ancient rites and customs that underline its
> separateness and power with mystifying pomp. Among the City’s 108 livery
> companies, or trade associations
The livery companies don't play any role in the government of the City.
> They were astonished to find that the corporation was a big shareholder in
> the development - a public authority acting as a private company, outside
> its jurisdiction.
I can believe that this was something unique back in 2002, because that was
before local authorities were granted the "general power of competence". But
they got that in 2011, and now it's routine for them to make investments in
all sorts of things.
[https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/gener...](https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/general-
power-competence--0ac.pdf)
> Unlike any other local authority, however, individual people are not the
> only voters: businesses can vote, too.
Nope. Businesses can appoint some of their employees as voters, and the voters
can then vote. The businesses get to chose who is a voter, but votes are by
secret ballot as usual, so they have no real influence on the actual voting.
You can read the rules here:
[https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/about-the-city/voting-
electi...](https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/about-the-city/voting-
elections/Documents/wardmote-book-june-2014.pdf)
> Political parties are not involved - candidates stand alone as independents
> - and this makes organised challenge to City consensus all but impossible.
It's not that political parties are banned or anything, just that they so far
haven't managed to unseat independents. Mostly - Labour won five seats in the
2017 elections.
> This “missed time” is significant, Glasman says, because it means the City’s
> rights pre-date the construction of modern political Britain, and this has
> placed it outside parliament’s normal legislative remit.
The City has various rights and privileges that don't stem from legislation,
because they're so old. But that doesn't mean they're outside parliament's
legislative remit. If parliament passed an act changing something in the City,
that thing would change. It's a similar situation to royal prerogative powers.
> So, the corporation has two main claims to being a tax haven: first, as a
> semi-alien entity, floating partly free from Britain (just as the Cayman
> Islands are), and second, as the hub of a global network of tax havens
> sucking up offshore trillions from around the world and sending it, or the
> business of handling it, to London.
Neither of which make it a tax haven in any sense at all.
> Not only that, but the Lord Mayor and colleagues promise to “take up cudgels
> on behalf of the City anywhere in the world on any subject which is of
> concern to the City”.
Yes, in much the same way as every local authority will work to advance the
interests of its local businesses - including Cornwall:
[https://www.cornwallti.com/about-us/](https://www.cornwallti.com/about-us/)
Honestly, this article is sensationalist nonsense.
~~~
tomcam
That was a great reply. A couple of nits: I believe the queen can technically
veto any bill from Parliament and can also appoint the Prime Minister.
~~~
twic
Decline to sign rather than veto as such.
Those are indeed formal powers the crown has, but in practice, they are used
strictly in accordance with convention, rather than at the queen's discretion.
The crown is a sort of legal machine which operates through the physical body
of whoever the monarch happens to be at the time. It would be much better if
all that was properly set down in law, but in practice, it works smoothly
enough that nobody has bothered.
Except in Australia:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Australian_constitutional...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Australian_constitutional_crisis)
~~~
mcv
In 1990, the Belgian parliament declared the king "unable to govern" for day
because his conscience didn't allow him to sign a law. So Belgium was a
republic for a day, the government signed the law in absense of a king, and
the next day the parliament voted to declare the king fit to govern again, and
everybody was happy.
------
amiga_500
The UK is the biggest enemy to western democracy.
[http://spiderswebfilm.com](http://spiderswebfilm.com)
~~~
devmunchies
i'd say hedonism and emotional control is more of a threat.
~~~
amiga_500
I'd say The City siphoning off tax money from governments who are cutting
services is a bigger problem.
------
oxAAAFFB
By the way, I just arrived in London for holiday and am in self quarantine.
Any suggestions on what I should do when I get out?
~~~
throwaway_12351
\- A morning stroll through Hyde Park, by far the best health activity ever,
especially in summer.
\- Paddle boarding in Camden, one of my favorite summer activity while social
distancing!
\- Borough Market for food!
------
linuxftw
The presumption is that this area deserves to have less autonomy. Perhaps the
author should consider the reverse: the rest of the country deserves more
autonomy. If you are so concerned for the city's special privileges, perhaps
you should vote (ha!) for the same privileges to be applied to yourself.
Instead, predictably, the author wants the states power to expand ever
further.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: 8Tracks for Video. Watch Handcrafted Online Videos. - seankim53
http://cliip.me
======
seankim53
Cliip is allowing early users to claim their username before everyone else.
You should register before your name gets taken!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Has AI surpassed humans at translation? Not even close - andreyk
https://www.skynettoday.com/editorials/state_of_nmt
======
RenRav
Measured solely by quality, maybe, but it is often faster and cheaper.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
AngelList Gives Smaller Investors A Piece Of The Action - timjahn
http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/19/angellist-now-gives-smaller-investors-a-piece-of-the-action-with-launch-of-angellist-invest/
======
ojbyrne
Smaller _accredited_ investors. I not entirely up to date on how the JOBS act
changed the definition of "accredited," but otherwise that seems like an
oxymoron.
~~~
dsl
The JOBS act did not change the definition of accredited at all (despite what
most people in the valley believe). It added a new "crowdfunding offer" that
allows individuals to invest 5% of their annual income if less than 100k, or
10% if over 100k up to a maximum of 100k. AFAIK that part is still tied up in
the SEC working on implementation details.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Petition against UK Home Office plans for surveillance and encryption backdoors - ianopolous
https://act.openmedia.org/saveoursecurityuk
======
ianopolous
The actual document is here:
[https://www.openrightsgroup.org/assets/files/pdfs/home_offic...](https://www.openrightsgroup.org/assets/files/pdfs/home_office/ANNEX_A_Draft_Investigatory_Powers_\(Technical%20Capability\)_Regulations.pdf)
~~~
JupiterMoon
Is it safe to share this if a UK citizen? I.e. would a UK citizen be
criminally liable under the Official Secrets Act or similar.
~~~
nthcolumn
The Official Secrets Act must be signed by you and pertains to 'official
secrets' you may become party to as a servant of the Crown. It is not illegal
to share this as a common civilian. Whether it is safe to do so is another
matter entirely.
~~~
Guyag
If the Official Secrets Act applies to you, it's an offence to break it even
if you've not signed it.
[http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summ...](http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-7422)
edit: beat to it by a minute!
------
satysin
Not only is this stupid from a technical point of view but it could ruin the
UK software industry because who in their right mind would buy any software
knowing it is deliberately compromised?
~~~
mike-cardwell
Yet people and governments around the World still use IT services provided by
the USA, even though they know their data is utterly compromised by doing so.
~~~
JupiterMoon
The USA does not ban secure software completely. At the moment there is a
chance that a US or UK company's software is government compromised. If this
bill becomes law in the UK then all UK software must legally be government
compromised.
~~~
ukname
they do. Steven Levy's crypto wars highlights the lengths America went to
destroy secure software.
------
infinity0
interesting loophole:
“relevant telecommunications operator” means a telecommunications operator, or
a person who is proposing to become a telecommunications operator( b ), but
does not include a person who provides, or who is proposing to provide, a
telecommunications service only in relation to the provision by that person of
banking, insurance, investment or other financial services.
~~~
MarkMc
Smart move. I am planning to add end-to-end encryption to my UK accounting
software. Without this loophole I would have been forced to move my business
outside the UK.
------
piqufoh
> 7\. To ensure that any hand-over interface complies with any industry
> standard, or other requirement, specified in the technical capability
> notice.
... Presumably now that the "industry standard" contains a backdoor, we (the
people) can have a backdoor into this hand-over interface too?
------
ed_balls
It seems there is no official petition
[https://petition.parliament.uk/](https://petition.parliament.uk/)
------
FullMtlAlcoholc
If this comes to fruition, i will never use software originating from the UK
again.
~~~
turblety
Me and a bunch of IT colleagues are all planning to leave and goto Europe once
this and the Brexit stuff happens. The UK's going to be left with a bunch of
uneducated, old fashioned, racist and obedient zombies. So don't worry, the
UK's basically done. I'm guessing less and less products and research will
come out of the UK until it basically becomes an irrelevant country.
~~~
stevekemp
If you're really committed to leaving I suspect it would be better to do so,
and get settled, in advance. Instead of on the flag-day when "everybody" else
is also leaving.
Moving countries isn't easy, and getting settled in a new location takes time.
~~~
bazzargh
It's already too late in most cases, getting permanent residence rights
elsewhere in the EU requires you to have lived there for 5 years; but there's
under 2 years left before UK citizens lose their rights to work elsewhere in
the EU. So you'd have to emigrate as a non-EU citizen, unless you qualify
under one of the get-out clauses (eg joint citzenship, or you go to work in
the EU and then have an accident that prevents you from ever working again(!))
~~~
fauigerzigerk
No, that is not necessarily the case. It will depend on the outcome of the
negotiations.
The 5 year rule is part of the existing freedom of movement regulation. It
provides additional protection against getting kicked out in case of sickness
or unemployment.
Exercising the right to live and work anywhere in the EU before Brexit takes
effect may well mean that you can keep those rights after Brexit and acquire
permanent residence rights later on.
Anything else would mean that hundereds of thousands of people would have to
be deported, which would go against every promise made in the referendum
campaign.
------
CyberDildonics
You would think they might be a little less sympathetic to back doors with the
NHS currently having problems with ransomware
~~~
lordnacho
My bet is they will turn it into an even better reason to have back doors. And
no, logic doesn't come into it.
------
infinity0
"To provide and maintain the capability to disclose, where practicable, the
communications, equipment data and other information in an intelligible form
to standards specified in the notice and to remove electronic protection
applied by or on behalf of the telecommunications operator to those
communications, equipment data or other information, or to permit the person
to whom the warrant is addressed to remove such electronic protection."
Could this be interpreted, legally, to exempt end-to-end encryption?
\- When implemented properly (i.e. with proper key verification UIs) it should
not be "practicable" for communications operators to force disclosure of the
contents of users' communications.
\- End-to-end encryption is not "applied by [..] the operator" but rather
applied by the users' device.
~~~
rocqua
They might argue that it is 'practicable' to force-push a software version of
whatsapp that also sends the messages to the government. Alternatively, they
could argue that since e2e services can't provide this backdoor, they aren't
legal.
------
CommanderData
I've advised a few companies to register (if feasible) a company in the EU or
use Atlas to try and complicate being legally compelled in issues like these.
These ideas are dangerous and backward.
I can't see overseas companies trusting UK start ups with confidential trade
and commercial secrets. There is already enough cooperate paranoia after the
NSA was accused of spying on European corps and there seems to be evidence to
suggest such a thing actually happened.
Atleast I'm not the only person who thinks these policies are making the UK a
unpopular place to open shop as long as there are countries with not so
oppressive laws.
------
driverdan
News article:
[http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39817300](http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39817300)
------
hacker_9
Seriously.. how many leaks have there been in the past week?? I'm losing
track.
~~~
Symbiote
Maybe it's time to watch Yes Minister again.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Oculus Stops Selling Headsets in Germany - haywirez
https://uploadvr.com/oculus-germany-sales-pause-regulators/
======
Tepix
I hope the other European countries' regulators act on Facebook as well.
Their unlawful bundling of VR hardware with Facebook accounts must be stopped.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Our restaurants are failing. Why should food delivery apps thrive? - aloukissas
https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2020-05-16/food-delivery-app-commissions-ubereats-grubhub-doordash
======
orev
Apps are doing well because they are solving a real problem — translating
restaurants’ abysmal web sites, PDF menus, and awful online ordering
experiences to apps that “just work”. If restaurants put any effort at all
into fixing those things, there would not be such a strong demand for apps.
Obviously this is different for different restaurants, and the skill set
needed to run a restaurant is vastly different from running an e-commerce
site, but just like they need to figure out how to do taxes and read lease
agreements, online presence is a necessary thing in 2020.
~~~
ramraj07
Apps are doing well because this is another one of those protective moat ideas
where once they have established themselves they have no need to innovate
further. Sites like grubhub have no physical reason to gouge 20-30% commission
on top of charging both sides delivery fees (further on top of guilting
customers into tipping more). In the end it's an app serving a few web pages
and APIs (these filthy companies don't even deal with the credit card mess).
But because they have an insurmountable most (not earned via any sheer
technical breakthrough, just through cunningness and being ruthless) they
don't need to care if they have too many engineers,whether these engineers are
any good, or if their nodejs ec2 instances serve 100 queries a minute. So they
just keep it like that.
Companies like IBM needed decades to get into such a rot, modern VC funding
and cloud computing have just accelerated this phenomenon.
~~~
nerfhammer
But aren't there like 2 dozen competing apps trying to do this? Shouldn't that
drive prices down? Or is actually legitimately expensive to provide this
service?
We've been told that evil VCs subsidize service to run at below cost to drive
competitors out of business. Uber is often accused of this. Why aren't we
seeing that phenomenon here? And Uber is literally one of the competitors.
~~~
Jommi
I would not be surprised if the US market had some level of collusion going
on. It just doesn't make sense to me that they aren't currently competing on
price.
There are some other possible reasons tho, like food actually not being as
"commodity"-like as we think it is (like rides are)
~~~
nerfhammer
That would surprise me. It's unlikely a dozen apps would be able to coordinate
like that. The thing about cartels is the first defector can cut prices and
capture marketshare, which is what we're supposed to believe evil VC funded
cutthroat startups are inclined to do. Raising prices to increase profit but
reduce revenue growth is the exact opposite of that.
The other hypothesis is that delivery is simply expensive. The driver has to
drive to the pickup place, find parking, stand in line potentially for awhile,
drive to the delivery, park again, walk to the delivery location to drop off
the item. Most of those things an ordinary uber fare would not have to deal
with.
~~~
heavyset_go
This is naive. Cartels are a market failure, and your argument against cartels
existing is that market forces in an ideal world would prevent them.
Reminder that Adobe, Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit, Pixar, Lucasfilm and eBay
all colluded to keep engineer compensation below market value[1].
[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-
Tech_Employee_Antitrust_L...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-
Tech_Employee_Antitrust_Litigation)
~~~
Jommi
Well that's also just a naive view. Industrial Economics takes a deeper look
at this for example.
------
crazygringo
This article is misguided, based on a false premise. Food delivery apps are
_not_ thriving, if thriving means making big profits.
GrubHub's stock price isn't much different from where it was 5 years ago.
UberEats isn't expected to turn a profit for another _five years_ as they
continue to lose money on every order.
There are no monopolies here taking advantage of restauranteurs. There's an
entire ecosystem of food delivery apps competing with each other.
The reality of the situation is that delivering meals is _extremely
expensive_. It doesn't have meaningful economies of scale the way package
delivery does. Both restaurants and customers have to pay these huge delivery
fees because that's just what delivery costs. (In fact, many are _still_ being
subsidized by massive VC.)
Running a restaurant is always a precarious business proposition in the first
place. Adding delivery is another precarious choice -- you can massively
increase revenue but only at the cost of massively decreasing profit
percentage, and if you don't calculate exactly right it'll seem like a big
waste-of-time wash in the end, or you'll even lose money. That's just how it
works.
I have tons of sympathy for restaurant owners, but just because it's hard --
not because they're being taken advantage of, because they're not.
But laws that restrict the ability of food delivery apps to charge what the
market will bear isn't going to solve anything. They don't have these extra
profits lying around they can just moderately reduce. The inevitable result
will be them dropping the restaurants that are least profitable for delivery
entirely, and reducing deliverypeople so your food will take two or three
times as long to deliver. That's just Econ 101 -- if your revenue is reduced
to where there's no path to profit, you need to cut quality. End of story.
~~~
blancNoir
from the article
"While neither Uber nor Grubhub turns a profit delivering food, they are
nonetheless venture-backed and raking in mountains of cash: Grubhub reported
revenue of $362.98 million during the first quarter this year, a year-over-
year increase of more than 12%. Uber Eats’ revenue surged 53% from the same
quarter a year ago, to $819 million.
Restaurants, meanwhile, are facing utter devastation. The restaurant industry
lost 5.5 million jobs nationwide in April, according to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics. In L.A., the overall unemployment rate now stands at 24%, an
increase from 4.7% in February."
_edit_ : additional context from article
~~~
crazygringo
Right, but "raking in mountains of cash" is skipping the "in the face of even
larger mountains of costs". That's why this article feels deceitful -- using
words like "raking in" and "surging" as if revenue before costs means anything
at all.
If you lose money on every order, you're not thriving in any sense. You're
_hoping_ to thrive some day in the future. The fact that they're venture-
backed is irrelevant. Restaurants are backed by investors and bank loans too.
~~~
matthewdgreen
Most growth-oriented tech companies are “unprofitable” in the sense they
invest their revenues into growth rather than dividends. This does not mean
their core products necessarily make less money than it costs to operate them,
without those massive growth investments. The real question people are asking
here is: what necessary costs do the food delivery apps actually incur in
operating their business that causes them to have such high commissions and
fees and still lose money per transaction?
~~~
crazygringo
> _This does not mean their core products necessarily make less money than it
> costs to operate them_
Generally, yes it does. The up-front costs for building and marketing a
platform so that it ultimately becomes profitable are enormous. In today's
climate, the idea that a company could just "choose" to be profitable now and
in the long-term rather than grow is disingenuous: over the following few
years, other companies will eat their lunch and they'll fold.
But with delivery apps, answering your question is not hard. First, paying
delivery people is _expensive_. Crazy expensive. That's obviously the main
variable cost. Then there are huge fixed costs with creating and maintaining a
multi-platform app, customer service to deal with late/missing/wrong orders,
sales and support for restaurants, marketing, and all the normal business
stuff.
That's your answer. Food delivery apps aren't spending half their revenue on
frivolous side projects like space rockets or cities of the future, or
questionably/fraudulently siphoning revenue to a founder. They're just trying
to operate as normal businesses, and there's zero evidence to the contrary.
~~~
Jommi
I think you're slightly misrepresenting what the parent comment is saying. You
both are right.
Food delivery can be profitable, and they could switch to being profitable if
they wanted to. That's what the parent company is saying - they chose not to
as they want to operate on the hypothesis that investing in growth as early as
possible will put them on an expontential trend in a network effect -based
business. Which is true.
However, what you say is right as well. If they switched to a completely
profit skimming model, their competitor would keep them in check very fast.
However. what data that I've seen in ridehailing shows, is that if you invest
in growth and achieve the 1 or 2 position in volume, you can grow and reap
profits simultaneously - at least for some time. It's a massive juggling
effort.
------
kevindong
> While neither Uber nor Grubhub turns a profit delivering food, they are
> nonetheless venture-backed and raking in mountains of cash
The author acknowledges that the delivery services are losing money. And yet,
the author is essentially saying that the apps should lose even more money
because someone else is willing to fund the apps.
~~~
dathinab
It's not that simple.
First we need to know why they don't turn in a profit. Potential reasons
include:
\- Because they pay to the people delivering (I don't think so).
\- Because keeping the app running is to expensive, i.e. server costs (I don't
think so to).
\- Because they payed a lot upfront to create the app and are still paying it
of (Maybe, still unlikely, this would have been their own mistake and go away
after some time).
\- Because they are spending to much on "external" cost, like advertisements
(likely).
\- Because they know they don't have to yet make profit so they take maximal
advantage of venture capital by reinvesting much profits in R&D and similar
(somewhat likely)
\- Because they are selling a service for to little to the end customer, i.e.
making losses to "kill of" competition by taking advantage of venture capital
(I think that's the main point).
The thing is paying people to deliver stuff is expensive just the wage which
needs to be payed can noticeable increase the price and doing much
advertisement isn't cheap either.
_So normally I would expect <price in restaurant> \+ <not small additional
delivery cost>_
_Or alternatively <price in restaurant> \+ <a small bit more> \+ <constraints
like only delivery if destination close to restaurant (max 15min time) and min
order amount (20+$) etc.>_
But what we see is prices nut much higher then restaurant, not limited to
close proximity, no or low min amount.
So someone has to pay for it, and by using a combination of intransparency and
their (perceived) marked power they force a not small amount of the cost they
have to operate somewhat profitable onto the restaurants...
Which is the actual problem I think.
~~~
ramraj07
They seem to be charging enough to pay delivery drivers on top of their
outrageous commission so I don't think that's the real expense. Not like they
pay for their insurance or even social security!
~~~
Jommi
Why would they pay for social security of a contractor?
------
haltingproblem
They thrive because people are lazy - both restaurant and their customers.
Restaurants can make a concerted effort to ask regular clients to order from
their own websites/apps but rarely do even when they can make an extra 10-15%
after giving the customers 10% off.
Customers are lazy because inspite of all the talk of supporting local, they
are too hooked on click-click-click and ordered.
The delivery apps have hundreds of millions in investment in technology and
marketing, a lot of it shady. The apps can offer addictive flows that
restaurants cannot compete with.
The solution out of this is an app co-op model - payment processing (3%) +
2-3% overhead. There are similar offerings in the ride-share world and this
should work on the delivery apps as well. I would rather support an app that
provides a healthy living to a small company in Tulsa or Talinn that subsidize
rents in SF and fatten VC portfolios for an online menu with checkout
supported by hundreds of millions in marketing dollars.
~~~
ericzawo
Restaurants are a lot of things. But lazy is not one of them. Have you ever
worked at a restaurant?
~~~
haltingproblem
You are right, lazy is the wrong word, irrational perhaps?
I have worked in commercial kitchens and have plenty of friends who run
restaurants and have spend time in their operations. They regularly complain
about the 30%+ they fork over to grubless. 30% is an insane fraction in a
business that barely makes an accounting profit!
In established restaurants, a significant fraction of the orders come from
repeat customers. Moving these repeat customers to a 5% friction channel from
a 30% channel can be a game changer.
Now when I walk past restaurants, I see banners imploring folks to order from
their website. I guess, one silver lining from this pandemic.
~~~
KirinDave
The challenge is how they would do that. It requires expertise which itself
costs money and time to gain, and it's an ongoing maintenance cost for a small
restaurant that may have extremely seasonal revenue.
It's not actually clear to me that every restaurant acting individually can
actually recover that delivery service fee. There's no economy of scale for
them to exploit.
------
mhh__
> why should
I'm not a huge fan of moralistic takes on business. If you're selling
something dangerous then that's wrong, but it's very easy to be blinkered from
a high position.
If people want to buy food in a certain way I can't really blame them -
arguably the same with Uber and taxis, Uber has disrupted an industry which
was fairly uncompetitive and politically charged (Their prevalence indicates
the customers appreciate their presence in the space)
~~~
xenocyon
> prevalence indicates the customers appreciate their presence
Focusing solely on consumers ignores negative externalities. There are many
situations in which cost benefits from such externalities (slavery, pollution,
human rights abuses, animal mistreatment) can lead to a favorable marketplace
position vs competitors who do not exploit such externalities.
What is more, many of these exploits (slavery, pollution, human rights abuses,
animal mistreatment) were or are legal at the time such exploitation occurred.
Therefore using legality as sole criterion of propriety is insufficient. A
moralistic/ethical take on business is, far from a negative thing, highly
necessary.
~~~
kgantchev
I don't think the poster used legality as the moral compass, rather, consumer
choice was the moral compass.
If consumers lack the moral conciousness on their day to day transactions,
then how can we expect them to make the right moral choices when they vote?
~~~
xenocyon
I addressed consumer choice in my first paragraph. Let me expand on that:
There have in fact been successful consumer-led movements, but the most
successful of these concern cases where the consumers also happened to be the
same people being exploited (colonial India's rejection of dumped British
textiles, the Montgomery bus boycott, the Boston tea party, etc).
Cases where consumers have acted en masse on behalf of _another_ exploited
class are a lot fewer and weaker. To some extent, one may point to the current
growth of organic animal products as an example of this, but even in this
case, this has been boosted by consumers seeing these choices (in some cases
rightly, in some wrongly) as also healthier for human end consumers besides
the question of animal cruelty.
History's guide suggests that while morally-minded consumers can and should
vote with their wallets, such personal virtuous choices are largely useless
without a larger movement to effect change.
~~~
kgantchev
If consumers are not morally-minded enough to act on the behalf of another
exploited class, then how can you expect them to vote on behalf of the
exploited class?
And if history suggests that people's virtuous choices are largely useless,
then how is their voting going to be any better?
------
aianus
If 30% of dine-in prices go to rent / seating / storefront marketing, why
shouldn’t 30% of the takeout price (which is the same) go to subsidize the
delivery infrastructure?
Why are restaurant owners ok with paying so much for rent on a useless (during
COVID) storefront in a high traffic area, but when Uber Eats gives them more
marketing and orders than the storefront does, Uber Eats is the bad guy.
Be mad at the landlord or COVID, not Uber.
------
jqcoffey
The question I keep asking myself is, if Domino’s can be their own delivery
system and now most restaurants are 100% delivery why can’t they do the same
thing?
I was, a long time ago, a delivery driver for Little Caesar’s and it seemed to
work out for everyone without any technology to speak of.
EDIT: I am aware of the three party optimization problem for food delivery
services. In housing seems to simplify that problem immensely given there is
no /fourth/ party trying to optimize it from the outside and take a cut in the
process.
~~~
MattGaiser
1\. Location. Dominos has been within 10 minutes of everywhere I have ever
lived or vacationed. My last order of Chinese food came from the other side of
the city.
2\. Tips. Most people do not tip the app drivers. I suspect more people tip
the pizza driver as he sees that you stiffed him. Customers are no longer
paying for the delivery.
~~~
jqcoffey
> Location. Dominos has been within 10 minutes of everywhere I have ever lived
> or vacationed. My last order of Chinese food came from the other side of the
> city.
Sure, but that doesn’t preclude that Chinese restaurant from having their own
delivery function. Each Domino’s restaurant needs to be self sufficient as
well. Googling “Chinese food near me” seems to provide the look up.
> Customers are no longer paying for the delivery.
Have you seen the charges from an Uber eats delivery? We stopped using food
delivery services entirely and just pick up now to save the ~$20 overhead on
dinner.
------
saadalem
Food delivery is a complex, three-sided marketplace problem area. Balancing
the needs of all stakeholders, especially during a time of consistent
innovation is challenging.
------
SpicyLemonZest
The author doesn't seem to have any ideas on how to help restaurants thrive
too. A cap on Grubhub fees isn't going to save most restaurants. He just wants
to bring the pain on food delivery apps too, which will improve the situation
by... sympathetic magic?
I feel bad sniping at him, because I agree with the general principle that the
economics of the restaurant industry are worse than they ought to be. But this
genre of social reform take, "we must smash this business because it's doing
well when others aren't", is just incredibly toxic.
------
softwaredoug
Our city has some local restaurant driven “drop points” for getting lots of
restaurant prepared meals at a margin better for restaurants. Please see if
your city has something similar as an alternative to grubhub, etc
~~~
wdb
Sounds interesting, good examples of this? Curious, if it's available in
London (UK)
~~~
BukhariH
In London these dark/cloud kitchens are becoming more & more common.
You might have already been ordering from them & not realised - they used to
be marked as “Editions” on Deliveroo:
[https://foodscene.deliveroo.co.uk/promotions/deliveroo-
editi...](https://foodscene.deliveroo.co.uk/promotions/deliveroo-
editions.html)
------
yoleg
The problem is that these delivery apps are trying to scale a business on top
of a product that already has thin margins. They're trying to squeeze in
between the restaurants and consumer and both sizes is feeling the squish.
IMO the relationship between delivery apps and restaurants could be a bit more
mutually beneficial.
How this could potentially work -
1\. Restaurants modernize their web presence with the help of the app company.
They make it easy for consumers to order online through their website, or some
sort of aggregation app, but the restaurants maintain their brand, and process
payments.
2\. Restaurants put out a bid to deliver an order through the delivery app and
someone in the area agrees to pick it up
3\. The delivery person receives the fee and perhaps a few bucks as tips upon
delivery
The app company would make money through long term contracts (partnerships)
with the restaurants to service their delivery needs. These types of long term
partnerships could be much more valuable to both the app (tech company) and
the restaurant - the app company could help the restaurant modernize and
maintain their online presence which is much more valuable than pinching them
with fees.
Obviously this is more challenging for both sides since it requires buy-in,
long-term collaboration, etc but the other option is to not adapt and continue
fighting delivery apps for tight margins.
I feel like Yelp would be in a perfect place to do this if they weren't too
busy pinching restaurant owners for ad money.
------
perlpimp
I thought delivery apps aren't making a profit either.
~~~
dmix
Foodora was extremely popular here in Toronto, you’d see the bike delivery
people all over the place and they signed up tons of restaurants but they just
shut down citing the margins simply not making sense for the business.
It didn’t help that a month before shutting down a group of workers unionized
in Ontario, and further threw a wrench in a terribly low margin business and
now none of them have a job and the entire city is stuck using Uber
Note: Foodora only shut down their Canadian business, not their European one.
Foodora had acquired Hurrier which was our other homegrown food delivery
service here in Toronto, which is obviously no longer an option either. They
too were struggling with margins, which I know from speaking to people who
worked there.
~~~
dathinab
> It didn’t help that a month before shutting down a group of workers
> unionized in Ontario, and further threw a wrench in a terribly low margin
> business and now none of them have a job and the entire city is stuck using
> Uber
I don't think unionizing is ever a problem. I you do moralistic acceptable
business practices. If your business is only profitable by paying below
acceptable salary, push side costs onto employees or cutting corner wrt.
employee safety then it IHMO it is better for your business to close.
Additionally if a whole industry is affected by this then IMHO it needs a
major reform in how it works or it should just cease to exist.
Sure food delivery can not cease to exist, it's needed but if their is no way
to operate it profitable without taking advantage of delivery personal and/or
restaurants then it needs a major change. Either people need to accept that
delivered food is more costly or the state needs to subvention it (during
epidemics and similar where it's an somewhat essential service for some
people, like when your stove just broke yesterday).
~~~
dmix
Wake me up when that fantasy world becomes reality. In the mean time I’d
rather not have to give Uber money.
------
aloukissas
Many restaurants are asking for a flat-fee alternative, similar to the Shopify
model for e-commerce. Whoever brings this to market will win the restaurant
owners. And then does the consumer loyalty lie with the app or the restaurant?
I.e., would I rather order from restaurants on my favorite app or from my
favorite restaurant, regardless of the app? Probably the latter, but who
knows!
~~~
selectodude
I use ChowNow, which apparently is a fixed fee. I’m not sure if they’re lying
or not but there’s a pretty large number of restaurants in my area that send
you to their app for online ordering.
------
6gvONxR4sf7o
I don't understand why it's a commission price structure. Take uber eats. You
buy some price of food, then there's an uber eats service fee on top of that,
and then a delivery fee (and you're supposed to tip the driver in addition to
the service fee and delivery fee?). It seems like that price structure already
clearly splits the restaurant's and uber's (and the driver's) portions, but I
guess uber takes a commission _in addition_ to that? Like, why fees and
commissions instead of just fees? Consumers would understand that delivery is
an added cost, so you just add the cost.
~~~
dehrmann
They definitely don't explain it well:
[https://help.uber.com/ubereats/article/how-do-fees-work-
on-u...](https://help.uber.com/ubereats/article/how-do-fees-work-on-uber-
eats?nodeId=65d229e2-a2b4-4fa0-b10f-b36c9546cf55)
------
vegannet
Uber Eats isn’t really in the business of delivering food, it’s in the
business of discounting the cost of food delivery. If your favourite local
restaurant raised investment to be able to reduce their prices to below cost
they would have a queue of people at the door... but would they be thriving?
The moment Uber Eats can’t afford to continue to subsidise the cost of their
food delivery model they won’t be “thriving” any more and local players will
fill the vacuum.
------
libertine
You're missing one thing - a restaurant is more then the delivery of food to a
plate.
Just because they can have food made for food delivery services, doesn't mean
it will be the best choice for regular customers.
Where restaurants compete with food delivery is by being in a physical
location that people seek to have an experience. Or a quick stop on a car
ride. Or a fast snack near work.
For some restaurants food delivery simply won't work.
~~~
ikeyany
There is still an opportunity for innovation. A restaurant that specializes in
"experiences" is not doomed to optimize in food alone. For example, when a
customer places an order, a restaurant could offer personalized wine pairing,
or affix interesting recipes from the chef, or send you a coupon for the
neighboring business.
------
luord
This doesn't even need a moralistic judgment: if the application owners don't
change their practices, most restaurants are going to go under and then
they'll lose revenue anyway.
So this is not only abuse of the restaurants, it's economical self-injury.
Possibly self-destructive entirely.
------
say_it_as_it_is
Restaurants without their own delivery service would have no business at all
if it weren't for delivery services. I see no ethical issue here.
A formerly prestigious newspaper is arguing against a new business benefitting
in a strained supply chain. It's a weak attempt to gain status.
------
dathinab
Just a random idea:
Maybe some people could setup a non-profit platform to connect delivery driver
and restaurants and is focused on transparency?
Operating such a platform shouldn't be to expensive. The major cost (I guess)
lies in advertisement and paying people to actually do the delivery.
I believe customer being able to see how much of the price goes to the
platform, the delivery driver and the restaurant (maybe required by a law?)
would not just open up the eye for unfair practices but also for understanding
why prices are higher when delivering (as it becomes clear that 3 parties
instead of one need to live from the money).
Given how many complains against delivery services cropped up in the recent
half year on hacker news it maybe might be time for (small&mid-sized)
restaurants to organize?
~~~
MattGaiser
> paying people to actually do the delivery.
I have both DoorDash and the Dasher app. I've seen the order I might regularly
pay a $2.99 fee for (I don't as I have DashPass) be offered to drivers for $13
with a $4 tip. This was on a $30 order for two.
How you pay for delivery is a major issue.
~~~
dathinab
> Operating such a platform shouldn't be to expensive.
What I meant is the cost for the platform not the products and service on it.
I.e. the costs to keep the app running and doing the bookkeeping on in the
server.
The idea is that if it's hard to profitable operate platforms for food
delivery if you properly pay the delivery person and the restaurant, then
maybe it would be better to not try to do so and instead operate such a
platform as a non-profit (or shared responsibility of a large group of
restaurants) focused on connecting independent delivery personal and
restaurants.
With that you would only have the service/app operational cost and if the area
you cover is large enough you probably could have something like a fixed $1 or
less cost per delivery (+food cost + delivery personal cost).
Naturally this also would mean you don't have money for doing much R&D or
advertisement. So it would be in the responsibility of the restaurants to
advertise that people can order online over that platform.
I.e. it would turn the whole delivery business conceptually upside down by
putting the focus on the restaurants. Or you could say it's just going back to
the roots.
I'm not sure if that could work in the US. But I think it has a chance of
working in many EU countries.
------
Udik
It feels a bit like reading about the industrial revolution, when masses of
destitute workers were exploited by rich factory owners. Their salary was just
barely enough to keep them alive and their work perfectly fungible: for any
worker that decided the deal wasn't good enough there was a queue of others in
wait.
Eventually the workers improved their condition through massive and
coordinated strikes that entirely blocked the production and prevented anyone
to replace them until their requests were met.
(On the other hand the fact that delivery apps are funded by VC money and
don't turn profits either sounds even more ominous: does it mean that consumer
spending is fuelled by debt and still not producing profit for anyone
involved?)
------
jariel
They pose it like a moral question that is wrong.
Restaurants left with ugly payments to 'delivery apps' sounds bad, but most of
the reason is _delivery is expensive_!
The bulk of the cost here is not some magical money-making software, it's the
time, effort, gas, wear and tear, energy of someone delivering.
Most delivery app companies are losing money anyhow.
A better approach might be to strongly deregulate delivery and taxi services.
Let anyone do it, have some industry-standard practices (i.e. you have to
register, certain vehicles for certain things, some minimum pricing laws etc.)
and then let's see how that works.
Restaurants can literally order a regular taxi for food delivery and such
general taxis could be used for a lot of things.
------
sebringj
IMO it does show that restaurants have to downsize their footprint to not
really be restaurants anymore as the costs are just too high for the slim
margins. An idea would be to convert to smaller purposeful rented kitchens or
even food trucks that are in zoned parking lot delivery pickup areas for app
services to quickly go to and deliver to clients. I lean toward the food truck
model as you have the best of both worlds where you have a gathering of food
choices in-person when nearby and a way for delivery areas to be centralized
and more efficient. In the end, the margins are too high from apps though but
it does show a need to start changing how things are done.
------
softwaredoug
As restaurants open a bit, tables will be scarce due to distancing.
Restaurants should charge a premium for their limited space.
If I could have a nice meal out right now, I’d probably spend 2x what I would
pre covid! Anything just to do something nice away from home.
------
ganstyles
As part of trying to provide benefits one would normally get in the office, we
provide unlimited Doordash for lunch/dinner. I would prefer to order from
places directly, but the choice is either free for me but I order through DD,
or pay out of my pocket and order directly. This isn't common I don't think,
and we won't have DD anymore after we all go back to the office, but it's a
data point.
The accounting is significantly easier apparently when the company just gets a
monthly Doordash bill rather than having to deal with individual receipts on
concur or something.
~~~
MattGaiser
DoorDash probably offers the company a discount on everything as well for the
volume.
------
tehlike
I use chownow. It has a fixed fee (based on pricing page on their site). Made
me feel good. Probably true, too, because I checked the menu of one of my
favorite restaurants, doordash prices were much higher.
------
chiph
At work we use Foodsby, and it's been difficult watching their offerings drop
week over week. I think they have solved some of the major inefficiencies in
the Grubhub/Doordash models [0], and I hope they make it.
[0] Foodsby delivers to company offices, not individuals. They coordinate
orders with the restaurants, so that they aren't delivering single meals, and
the restaurants can put a cap on the number of orders so they're not
overwhelmed. The restaurant does the delivery so they control that cost (no
hidden charges to them)
------
chvid
The truth is that in the current situation most restaurants should not be in
business.
And the fees charged by delivery services are artificially low due to the high
level of competition and all the investor money.
~~~
dathinab
> And the fees charged by delivery services are artificially low due to the
> high level of competition and all the investor money.
And them forcing part of their costs onto the restaurants. ;=)
Still stopping operating a restaurant doesn't stop all costs, so operating it
on a small flame and doing a bit of not very profitable delivery jobs can
still be better then not operating at all.
------
ackbar03
Does anyone think these food delivery companies are ever going to go away? I
mean the restaurants don't seem to like them, the delivery people are pissed,
vcs are burning money, and through all this these huge companies are still
having a trouble turning a profit. This doesn't seem to be working for anybody
except maybe the consumer who is just currently subsidized directly and
indirectly through all the above parties. It doesn't make too much sense to me
~~~
code_duck
In Portland there are efforts from local businesses to form their own delivery
consortiums, such as
[https://www.pdxccc.com/restaurants.html](https://www.pdxccc.com/restaurants.html)
~~~
code_duck
Oh, and I wanted to add a company I was looking for when I made this post.
[https://atyourdoor.co/](https://atyourdoor.co/) does delivery for a lot of
local distilleries.
I think this local consortium thing is the way a lot of smaller businesses
will go.
------
dvduval
Google ranks apps higher than restaurants. It would not be all that difficult
to roll out a more open source technology that all restaurants could use. Then
Google can rank the restaurants more and the apps less. or perhaps a search
engine like being might move into this space. This would be a savings for the
restaurants and the consumers.
------
quotemstr
Because that's what the market says is important --- and the market is just
the average of the true preferences we individually reveal through our
spending choices. The market isn't just some abstraction: it's the will of all
of us combined. And who is the author of this article to override this will?
------
JohnTHaller
Someone put this together in NYC:
[https://www.eatnyc.org/](https://www.eatnyc.org/)
"EatNYC.org is an updated list of restaurants that are still open for pickup
and delivery in New York City*. Ordering directly ensures restaurants keep
100% of what you pay. "
------
AzzieElbab
The restaurants are squeezed by landlords,and high labor costs. What does this
have to do with food delivery?
------
excalibur
I don't feel like their fees should be capped necessarily, but I DO feel like
they should be required to charge them all to customers directly rather than
bleeding small businesses dry. Let informed consumers decide how much app
overhead they're willing to put up with.
------
sturza
This is one of the reasons why marketplaces that took the place in customer
interaction make most of the money and the supplier(restaurant) is poorly
paid. Getting in between the customer and the supplier can put you on the top
of the food chain.
------
remote_phone
People appear to be forgetting how horrible food delivery was pre-
UberEats/DoorDash et al. It was horrible and the food was always cold. Once
they started doing food delivery it was a game changer. My food arrived hot
enough that I had to wait sometimes but almost always pleasantly warm. To me,
it’s worth paying the fees, especially since I don’t have to spend time going
out, waiting, driving back. When I go for In’n’out these days, it’s almost an
hour spent in total. I would rather pay fees and a tip to get someone to bring
it to me.
And quite honestly, without food delivery most of these restaurants would be
dead anyway so they really should be thankful. There’s no way they could
coerce enough customers to drive down, find parking and wait while they expose
themselves to COVID just for a meal.
~~~
derrekl
I worked at a pizza place in the early to mid 90s in the suburbs of Chicago.
The place ran its own delivery service. The service was fantastic, pizzas
delivered piping hot most of the times. It wasn’t very hard for the restaurant
to set up and operate the service. 15 year old me understood it pretty well.
That said I think where these delivery services have come in is at places that
historically didn’t have their own delivery. Now these places suddenly have
“delivery as a service” to add on with Seemingly no additional work, a fee,
and additional revenue.
These places could easily start their own delivery service if they want, but
they must still think it’s easier to pay the delivery as a service fees.
~~~
blfr
Yes, pizza places had it figured out. Everyone else, not so much. And on Uber
Eats or many of their competitors you can order pancakes with coffee, burgers,
traditional food, Georgian, whatever.
In Poland, Pyszne.pl is usually better and offers a wider selection than Uber
Eats. The delivery is often provided by the restaurant itself, just like you
suggest. In fact, I made two orders from Uber Eats today and both are
delivered by the restaurant. But even then the intermediary keeps them honest
with reviews and access to the platform. It's not pure rent seeking.
Before that, these platforms do a lot of promotion, marketing, and allow for
easy discovery. They have greatly expanded the market. Just like Uber did for
taxis.
------
xnx
I wish there was more discussion around how to get these delivery apps to
compete with each other on price. Are there any meta-delivery apps where you
can easily compare prices?
~~~
MattGaiser
They compete for customers on price. Until I got DashPass, I routinely checked
all three for lunch info.
------
naveen99
It’s easier to prune the leaves than to cut out middle branches.
------
projektfu
Diversity loss is a problem. A too-strong middleman will eventually cause roll
up in the field to businesses with enough size to have bargaining power.
------
xtiansimon
I’m shocked people will pay the surcharges for delivery. Not everything
travels well. But people do, and don’t seem to care.
------
okareaman
Title should say "Our restaurants who depend on sitdown dine in experience for
profitability are failing"
------
neonate
[https://archive.md/hKM5i](https://archive.md/hKM5i)
------
yalogin
The delivery business is in a bubble right now, deservedly so. But it's going
to come back to earth once we have a vaccine. I don't think the price model is
sustainable at all. They are trying to get into the middle of an already tight
equation between the service industry and the customers.
To me the main issue is for restaurants the margins are thin and the
price/profit equation is very different for every restaurant. So applying the
same business/pricing model for all restaurants won't work. The only
sustainable way is to let customers pay for the delivery. Right now the apps
are forcing the restaurants to pay up in some ways by service shaming them to
sign up and offer delivery. Of course profitable restaurants will become do
more business and the rest will lost more money. Not a good thing for the over
all ecosystem.
I guess this is when the concept of kitchens set up just for delivery will
take off.
------
thrill
Will restaurants fail slower or faster without food delivery services?
------
TomMarius
Because they can save my credit card for all restaurants.
------
LatteLazy
Well right now you either live or die together...
------
cmurf
The internet needs to be destroyed.
------
scarface74
So capping delivery fees on unprofitable delivery platforms now means they
lose more money or they cut the pay of the drivers.
The only answer is shockingly enough for both the delivery services and the
restaurants to charge enough to be profitable and then people will have to
choose to get out or pay the market rate. Capitalism is the answer.
On the other hand, since I am a bleeding heart capitalist, I have no problem
with the government giving people money who can’t or shouldn’t go out to make
it easier for them to get delivery.
------
lwb
I thought the whole point of capitalism is that you don’t have to answer
“should” moralisms about any particular business. Consumers will decide and
competition among vendors will drive down prices. Why do so many outsiders
feel so confident that they know better than Grubhub/Uber Eats/DoorDash what
their prices should be?
------
JCharante
The industry in the US is ridiculous. In a different country my friends run a
newish (7 months?) cafe where they aren't on any apps. Instead you can send
them a facebook message or call, and they will dispatch a shipper to you. They
will then send one of their baristas who aren't busy, or if necessary they've
built up a list of delivery drivers who like to hangout near their restaurant,
they "sell" the food to the shipper, and then the shipper is in charge for
collecting payment to compensate themselves.
The restaurant loses some money because they have to pay for take out
containers instead of being able to use a reusable plate, but they're not
having 30% taken from them. I guess it helps that their customer base is those
who probably aren't going to try to pull a fast one on the restaurant (one
that caters to foreigners) but I don't think screwing over delivery people is
very ingrained in the culture eitherway.
~~~
vinay427
This is definitely not limited to the US, for what it's worth. The type of
informal arrangement you describe seems rather undesirable if we're trying to
enforce safety and labor regulations, tax collection, etc. I'm sure there are
some exceptions but where I live as well as in other western European
countries in which I've looked into food delivery, there were companies that
operate an app-based platform, similar to in the US.
~~~
dathinab
I have seen similar business model in Germany.
Basically small shops doing 40-80% of their revenue by delivery but limit
delivery to places reachable shortly with a scooter and min amounts of 20€ or
so.
This shops then have their own delivery person working part time for them and
when they have many orders or orders at times where the delivery person
doesn't work they order an external delivery person (and then often make very
little profit with that delivery).
The only difference is that you pay the company and they pay the delivery
personal.
Orders are mostly done per phone. And payment mostly done in cash. Through
often the delivery personal has a mobile card reader, too.
Through we also have US stile apps, with similar problems (but better labor
laws, so at least wrt. employee abuse they tend to be slightly less terrible).
(Ref: Germany, Berlin)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Finland’s weekly news show in Latin cancelled after run of 30 years - situationista
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/28/finland-latin-news-radio-bulletin-nuntii-latini-cancelled-30-years
======
FabHK
The mic drop:
Nuntii Latini finiti
Nuntii Latini Radiophoniae Finnicae Generalis, qui inde ab anno millesimo
nongentesimo undenonagesimo (1989) iam triginta annos septimanatim emittuntur,
post hanc emissionem finiuntur et decreto moderatorum radiophonicorum post
ferias aestivas non continuabuntur. Auscultatoribus, quorum grex ad omnes
orbis continentes amplificatus est, propter fidelitatem gratias quam maximas
agimus et valedicimus.
A translation (not idiomatic English, staying closer to the original, but
better than Google...):
Latin News Terminated
Finnish General Radio's "Latin News", which have been transmitted from here
since 1989 already 30 years weekly, will be terminated after this transmission
and, by decree of the radio directors, not continued after the summer break.
To the listeners, whose flock has grown to all continents of the earth, on
account of their faithfulness we give the greatest possible thanks, and bid
farewell.
~~~
JetSpiegel
This is almost intelligible for this Romance language native...
------
schoen
Apparently some students at Western Washington University have started an
analogous project:
[https://nuntiilatini.com/](https://nuntiilatini.com/)
It's interesting to compare the accent of native English speakers and native
Finnish speakers in Latin. :-)
~~~
superpermutat0r
> It's interesting to compare the accent of native English speakers and native
> Finnish speakers in Latin. :-)
Finnish has a phonemic orthography, almost. So it's quite easy to just read
Latin the way it is written.
~~~
schoen
This doesn't necessarily mean that their vowels are closer to ancient Roman
vowels than Americans' vowels are, though, for example.
~~~
Mediterraneo10
The vowels of English are pronounced as narrow diphthongs. This really sets
English apart from the pronunciation of modern European languages, and also
from Latin as reconstructed. Finns certainly have a distinct accent in many
foreign languages, but they do less violence to Latin than people from the USA
or UK.
~~~
asveikau
It's possible for Americans to do the correct vowels, though. We have most of
them elsewhere in the language. I started learning Romance languages fairly
young and at my peak fluency [a little rusty these days] I had people telling
me I sounded near-native in Spanish.
Personally the thing that bothers me most about American accents with these
languages is failure to make diphthongs out of adjacent vowels. An American
accent will stretch a Romance diphthong out into lengthy syllables. For
example in this audio link above, the speaker says _hodie_ has "HOE-dee-ay". I
speculate someone more used to speaking a Romance language would say /'hodje/,
two syllables. (I note English wiktionary has it as 3 syllables. Not sure what
an ancient Roman would do.)
In any case I think a lot of the confusion is orthographic in nature. An
English speaker is used to an <e> being /i/. It's not that they can't do an
/e/ sound if they tried. A lot of people in the US also have very little real
exposure, eg. we have language classes in school where making a real attempt
to drop our accents and interact on a level plane with natives is never even
seriously considered, it's just a place to hold you in a desk and fill out
worksheets.
~~~
learc83
>it's just a place to hold you in a desk and fill out worksheets.
The US education system is incredibly diverse--as is the US as a whole. That
may the case in some schools, but it's certainly not the case everywhere. My
southern high school was suburbun/almost rural and had enough kids on free
lunch to qualify as a low income, but my German classes were extremely
intensive. The French and Spanish classes were no joke either.
And in much of the country almost everyone will interact with native Spanish
speakers fairly often.
------
greendestiny_re
_Sic transit gloria mundi._
~~~
FabHK
Requiescat in pace.
------
MasterScrat
Wow, I studied latin for many years, and this would have definitely been
interesting to know then.
------
bytematic
Maybe they can do some sort of podcast, change the format a bit? Latin
students would love this, worldwide!
~~~
Mediterraneo10
I suspect many Latin teachers might be uncomfortable with their students
getting into Latin that enthusiastically.
Many high school Latin teachers are actually not very proficient in Latin,
they are merely capable of teaching from a syllabus that is usually quite
modest. Except for some elite schools, Latin is taught just to give students a
taste of the language and expand their vocabulary in their native language by
recognizing Latin borrowings. The pupils aren’t intended to actually master
the language and read non-set texts comfortably, let alone follow Neo-Latin
materials or practice spoken Latin. If the students surpass the syllabus, that
makes things difficult for the teachers. If a student has taken up the
language so enthusiastically, the teacher may simply demand that he/she simply
test out of the course instead of continuing to come to class.
~~~
busterarm
I took 8 years of Latin through Catholic school. By the second year of High
School, we were required to read history texts written in Latin.
~~~
Mediterraneo10
> I took 8 years of Latin through Catholic school.
This just proves my point. Catholic schools in the US are private
institutions, and one that would teach Latin with vigor is a rare case.
However:
> we were required to read history texts written in Latin.
It is common for Caesar’s _Gallic War_ to be assigned early on, but students
working through it with the support of a tailor-made glossary and commentary
is not a particularly impressive achievement. _De bello gallico_ (like
Xenophon’s _Anabasis_ in Greek) is assigned precisely because it is an
extremely easy text, and it is not very representative of Latin literature in
general.
If your school expected you to read Livy, or even Tacitus, that definitely
puts it into the “elite” category.
~~~
busterarm
> If your school expected you to read Livy, or even Tacitus, that definitely
> puts it into the “elite” category.
Yes to both :D
~~~
joycian
Livy, Seneca, Cicero, Virgil also featured in my Latin classes. I'm not sure
of the relative difficulty levels anymore, though. All of these were
fascinating for different reasons: Livy for the narrative, Seneca for the
wisdom (see also Montaigne who heavily quotes Seneca in his essays), Cicero
for his personal involvement in Caesarian politics and Virgil for his role as
Augustus' propagandist and continuation of the Homeric tradition.
I should read more of these texts, I remember being really fond of Latin
classes.
Edit: to concur with GP, Caesar's writings (de bello Gallico) were somewhere
in the first half of the curriculum and were definitely regarded as relatively
easy.
------
unmole
Sort of related: India's public broadcaster has had a daily 5 minute bulletin
in Sanskrit for as long as I can remember. A weekly 30 minute news show too
started a few years ago.
~~~
aatharuv
Interestingly enough, Sanskrit is an official language of India, both at the
national level, and in at least one state (Uttarkhand).
~~~
Koshkin
Nice. Looks like the EU, on the other hand, has missed the chance to make
Latin its official language.
~~~
Mediterraneo10
The EU has now expanded to countries – Bulgaria, Greece – where Latin did not
play a major role historically. Even Romania, where the language is Romance,
never employed Classical Latin as a language of learning (Greek and Church
Slavonic were used instead). So, choosing Latin would seem unfair for the
Orthodox world.
~~~
eaandkw
Wouldn't want to be unfair to anyone. Perhaps Esperanto could be the official
language
~~~
sansnomme
Interlingua is better.
------
lwhalen
Oh man, I would've watched the HELL out of this show in highschool. Pity, I
didn't even know it existed! I had a beloved Latin teacher back then
(regrettably, he passed years ago) who would've been all over this too.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Change.org Petition: Tell media not to use 'Hacker' when they mean 'Cracker' - idlecool
https://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/huffington-post-please-use-the-word-hacker-in-a-positive-sense-and-the-word-cracker-when-you-want-to-talk-about-someone-who-breaches-computer-security-for-a-wrong-purpose
======
leephillips
This is probably as futile and misguided as Stallman's effort to get everyone
to say "GNU/Linux". Once a word serves its functional purpose within a
community it's going to be used to communicate whatever idea it communicates.
Words are often used contrary to what their etymology and history would seem
to imply. I don't use "hacker" to mean "intruder," but I'm not going to waste
any effort "correcting" people who do.
~~~
davb
I agree. I think the generally accepted meaning has evolved over time. Hacker,
to most people, now means cracker/intruder.
Perhaps a more positive way to approach this is to popularise a different term
for what we mean by hacker (tinkerer, maker). It's not admitting defeat by
abandoning the original meaning - it's taking the path of least resistance and
evolving with the language.
~~~
imdsm
The thing is, a cracker/intruder is also most likely a hacker, in the more
mild sense of the term. They wouldn't be able to crack/intrude without
'hacking' in order to have that ability/knowledge.
The problem is that people think of A when they read B, because to them, they
don't understand, or care, enough about the history of word to properly use
it.
~~~
rpenm
Most crackers are script kiddies, using exploits or code developed by someone
else. So most crackers are not hackers in the Stallman sense.
------
ig1
Earliest recorded usage of the term "hacker" in a technology context:
\----
1963 The Tech (MIT student newspaper) 20 Nov. 1 Many telephone services have
been curtailed because of so-called hackers, according to Prof. Carlton
Tucker, administrator of the Institute phone system. … The hackers have
accomplished such things as tying up all the tie-lines between Harvard and
MIT, or making long-distance calls by charging them to a local radar
installation. One method involved connecting the PDP-1 computer to the phone
system to search the lines until a dial tone, indicating an outside line, was
found. … Because of the “hacking,” the majority of the MIT phones are
“trapped.”
\---
(I wrote an article on this many years ago
[http://imranontech.com/2008/04/01/the-origin-of-
hacker/](http://imranontech.com/2008/04/01/the-origin-of-hacker/))
~~~
hitchhiker999
Yep, sorry guys - I know I'll get crap for this, but:
The word is the clue as it implies 'invasive force'. Any other meaning is only
going to be accepted when enough of you agree 'it is so'. The original meaning
(and I've always known it as such, 30+ years) is perfectly outlined by the
paragraph above. It does not refer to white-hat stuff.
The original word is 'hack':
_cut with rough or heavy blows._ _hack off the dead branches_
_a rough cut, blow, or stroke._ _he was sure one of us was going to take a
hack at him " (in sports) a kick or hit inflicted on another player._ _a cut
or gash._ _a tool for rough striking or cutting, e.g., a mattock or a miner 's
pick._
I'm going to catch shit for this. Can't we all just get along? :)
EDIT: Fine down-vote me you evil b'stards - _b 'stard is a person without
married parents_ :)
~~~
nl
Actually, that definition matches the other usage, too: people force a system
to do things it isn't supposed to do; they "hack" at it until it works.
(But I agree that "hacker" has meant invading systems as long as it has meant
anything else)
~~~
hitchhiker999
Fair enough: It will ultimately depend on what the majority decide on. It's
all just another perspective I guess.
------
noonespecial
I'm afraid that ship has sailed, returned, unloaded the cargo and then sent
the crew home for hiatus.
~~~
austinstorm
Agreed - it's waaay too late to change this now.
------
nl
I'm pretty sure I read this complaint on Slashdot, circa 1997.
Despite what people claim, it wasn't true then and it isn't true now. For
example the movie "War Games"(1983)[1] uses the term Hacker to refer to
someone who hacked into computer systems.
A word can have multiple connotations without causing problems.
[1][http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WarGames](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WarGames)
~~~
keyme
I hope people get this already. Hacking is a skill set, and a general approach
to doing things. As with everything, you can use it to do all sort of things,
some of them less nice.
------
kissickas
I feel like this does a great job at exemplifying the futility of petitions on
Change.org.
------
IanCal
"Dear media, please stop using a word your readers understand, instead say a
racial epithet that's been used for the last 140 years."
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_(pejorative)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_\(pejorative\))
~~~
err4nt
I have an idea, let's use the term 'honkey', it even almost sounds like
'hacker'…
------
krisgenre
Back in the 90's and early 2000's this is what I thought 'Hacker' and
'Cracker' meant
Hacker - A person who circumvents a walled network.
Cracker - A person who circumvents a walled software.
~~~
davb
By the late 90s this is exactly how I understood the terms.
Even now I don't hear many people in the local tech community (Scotland) refer
to hackers as we mean here (unless it's prefixed with something, for example
"Python hacker").
------
MattBearman
We'd have more luck just inventing and adopting a new word to replace hacker,
any suggestions?
~~~
artumi-richard
Craftsman or Artisan strike me as a good place to start.
~~~
waterfowl
oh yes venerated software 'craftsmen' because we don't have enough ego as
programmers.
~~~
sp332
In some countries, e.g. Canada, you can get a serious Software Engineering
degree that's right up there with mechanical engineering etc. In fact, you're
not allowed to call yourself a software engineer without that degree.
------
davidgerard
"cracker" was invented as a derogatory neologism to attack one group of people
that called themselves "hackers" by another group of people that called
themselves "hackers".
That ship sailed approximately with the first documented use of the word
"hacker": [http://imranontech.com/2008/04/01/the-origin-of-
hacker/](http://imranontech.com/2008/04/01/the-origin-of-hacker/)
This petition is bad and its creator should feel bad.
------
oneeyedpigeon
In my experience, even those who use the term not in the 'Cracker' sense
disagree on its meaning. Definitions range from 'elite programmer' to
'programmer who operates in a disorganised, haphazard manner'.
'Cracker' also has racial connotations in the US, doesn't it? Language is
complicated.
------
jacknews
It's just not going to happen.
Either resign to the fact, or simply come up with a better term to describe
what a hacker is.
In fact, what is a hacker anyway, just a talented coder? What about hardware
hackers? A maker? Someone technical, but concerned with beauty? What about
jailbreakers, are they crackers?
------
adlpz
I'm afraid I'm just adding to the pile here, but still: this is complete
nonsense.
Hacker is a word that always had several interpretations. And, in fact, the
_network intruder_ one is of the oldest.
In fact, cracking, in software, _is_ a very specific thing: bypassing
copyrights/copy protections/limitations.
If you don't like what Hacker has meant and still means, don't apply it to
yourself.
------
pgl
Shouldn't this post title have a "(1998)" next to it?
------
mwww
We started using "intruder" instead of "hacker"/"cracker" at Rublon. It seems
to work pretty well.
~~~
hmsimha
I usually refer to 'crackers' as 'black-hat hackers'
------
barrystaes
I have seen the term "hacking" been used to describe using a device via its
interface, as intended..
Starting my car with a key is not hacking, starting my neighbors car with his
key is neither. Obtaining the key without consent, might be. But that again
could in fact be social engineering.
In comparison, using another (master)key that happens to fit would be akin to
"cracking". If one engineered the key himself, thàt (along with the required
investigative research work) might be hacking.
------
dingdingdang
Listen please: the original meaning of "cracker" is someone who defeats
locally installed software protections through patching/modifying the compiled
program code. "Cracker" as a term is historically unfit for describing online
exploits. Look up "SKIDROW" or "Phrozen Crew" or "Razor 1911" for examples of
groups that (at least originally) worked/works primarily as crackers.
------
motters
Finding a word other than "cracker" to designate people using computers for
illegal purposes would be a useful exercise. Otherwise a lot of entirely
legitimate activity gets tarnished and if you describe yourself as "hacking"
then ordinary folks get the wrong impression.
------
tool
Rather make a petition to stop people with no real technological skillsets
glorifying themselves as "hacker" every chance they get. Be it on HN, their
own blogs or facebook.
Making wordpress themes isn't hacking, no matter how hard you want to ride the
web 2.0 train.
------
xiaoma
I first heard of pg through a slashdot article on his book _Hackers and
Painters_. I remember lots of people writing that that word "hacker" was
utterly lost and should be retired. The mere existence of the petitioner in
this article—Hacker Rank—a company that is taken seriously by the tech
industry shows how wrong those commenters were. That the site I write this
comment on—Hacker News—is so heavily trafficked by creative builders rather
than malicious intruders is icing on the cake.
It's hard to change the meaning of a word, but in this one case a reclamation
is well underway.
------
mkohlmyr
Personally I would settle for them not referring to heartbleed as a virus..
------
comeonnow
Isn't the definition of hacker infact a cracker?
I don't think a community (not HN, just in general) can just coin a term and
expect to change the definition for all.
~~~
nanofortnight
> Hackers from this subculture tend to emphatically differentiate themselves
> from what they pejoratively call "crackers".
This has been going on for tens of years. Hackers feel like the media has
wrongly appropriated the word, but nothing has changed in the meantime.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_%28programmer_subculture...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_%28programmer_subculture%29)
~~~
_delirium
I think there's a bit of an attempt to retroactively broaden the historical
scope of this specific usage of "hacker", though, which is part of the
confusion. Until at least the mid/late-1980s, "hacker" in this sense was more
or less local MIT slang, used at MIT itself and at some MIT-linked
organizations (the FSF, Symbolics, Lucid, etc.). I don't believe it was in use
by people doing similar things in other locations, without MIT ties. For
example, nowadays people cite Woz and the Homebrew Computer Club as
archetypical examples of the hacker ethos, but as far as I know, they didn't
use the term themselves in that period to describe what the HCC was doing.
------
brador
Cracker also has a racial definition.
------
richbradshaw
Thing is that 'cracker' is already two things - a flat savoury biscuit, and
something you pull at christmas. Hacker only has one popular meaning.
------
xxs
How to accomplish this: need some group to determine and call themselves
'hackers' and sue everyone for actually associating with crackers by calling
them hackers. Hence it'd be politically incorrect to call them hackers. Done!
------
__david__
Am I the only one not concerned about a word having two (or more)
connotations? It seems common in English...
Sometimes I say "painter" and I mean a guy who paints walls, and sometimes I
mean a guy who paints pictures.
------
duncans
Whilst you're there, get them to stop using "cyber" too...
------
jdg1
At first I thought this is the most pointless petition ever. But then I
realised the whole point of it is to promote their website. It's kind of sad
to see petitions being used in this way.
------
Shorel
While we are at it, we can tell modern religious literalists that 'Baal' means
Lord, and that El and YHVH are different Gods as well, and that all three once
competed for followers.
------
mynameismonkey
Better to petition them to use the term "malicious hacker".
------
jacquesm
Don't sweat it and let context guide you. It's not as if hackers are some kind
of minority group that needs protection. Moniker, no moniker, who cares.
------
genofon
I would like to sign a petition not to use 'Hacker' to hype basically
anything. Shorter even banks will look for "Hacker" accountants.
------
eli
How about just stop reading the Huffington Post if you don't like the way they
write?
~~~
kanungoparth
It's not just Huffington Post. There are more newspapers and publications
added in the list.
------
slowmotiony
I'd also like to petition SV people to stop using the term "growth hacker".
------
return0
How do we call "people obsessed with how mainstream media represents them" ?
------
jamesrom
No. Own it. Hackers share many of the qualities and flaws. Get over it.
------
dethtron5000
Fighting semantic drift is literally the hardest thing in the world.
------
smcl
Can we not just accept that "hacker" now has two meanings?
------
NaNaN
PLEASE HACK INTO THE ENEMY FIRST
------
rpenm
More lost causes on Change.org
------
eruditely
Change.org is one of the most accurate signals of "ineffective people".
------
ForHackernews
Hackers can be either white hats or black hats (or something in between: grey
hats). The moral ambiguity is part of what makes the appellation interesting.
This whole attempt to make "cracker" happen feels like a bunch of people
desperate to call themselves "Hackers" and feel cool, but without scaring off
boring BigCorp employers.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Easy data migration for MongoDB using Python - erayarslan
https://github.com/skynyrd/cikilop
======
adumbledore
Not entirely sure, but is the idea to implement something like
[https://github.com/emirotin/mongodb-
migrations](https://github.com/emirotin/mongodb-migrations) in python? If so,
what's the difference to other tools like:
\-
[https://github.com/ClearcodeHQ/migopy](https://github.com/ClearcodeHQ/migopy)
\- [https://github.com/DoubleCiti/mongodb-
migrations](https://github.com/DoubleCiti/mongodb-migrations)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Kanoa won’t ship its $300 earphones to customers who pre-ordered them - prostoalex
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/08/26/crowdfunding-disaster-silicon-valley-startup-takes-customers-money-shuts-down/?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook
======
khazhou
> "...with the quick turn of events, we are emotionally overwhelmed"
I didn't preorder and have no skin in this.
But, it really irritates me when companies share their feels after screwing
people over. I dont care that you're super sad! We're not compadres, and I'm
not going to sympathize on a personal level when your professional failure
cost me.
Same with touchy-feely status updates when hosted services go down and paying
customers are losing money. Github used to do that back in the day. Extended
outages and their status log was smiley and cutesy as if we're buddies through
all this. We are not.
~~~
meddlepal
Agree on the point of cutesy bullshit marketing/PR fluff when your team or
service fails to deliver. I'm really tired of the infantilization of
communication. I think this is a West Coast thing. It seems to have originated
there but it doesn't translate outside of SF.
~~~
dguaraglia
And yet, here we are, talking about a service that has become known around the
world... maybe it does work outside of San Francisco, it's just some people it
doesn't agree with?
~~~
khazhou
I doubt their downtime communications were a factor in their huge success.
~~~
dguaraglia
It clearly wasn't their demise either. My point being that people - including
myself - form very strong opinions about what "works" and "doesn't work",
while failing to acknowledge the bigger picture.
Companies with this kind of global presence have a better way to measure
marketing impact than reading through random Hacker News comments. For what's
worth, I think the concept for Snapchat is stupid and I can't see a single use
for it, and yet... they managed to get to an IPO.
~~~
khazhou
You're right. I'll refrain from commenting on how large tech companies conduct
their business from now on.
~~~
dguaraglia
Please don't. Just be aware that making comments such as "that doesn't work
outside of the Bay Area" like the original poster did are kind of silly.
------
dingo_bat
The troubling thing is people ordered the headphones on the website too, not
just on kickstarter. I'm sure taking an order on your website and not sending
anything is some kind of fraud. It's not like kickstarter where you are
funding the company and the company promises to make it up to you.
~~~
bbarn
That's really the thing to read into here. Too many people will blow this off
and say "yep dumb kickstarters" but bottom line, they took people's money for
purchases and didn't deliver on them. These purchasers should all be covered
via chargebacks on their credit cards though.
~~~
jacalata
Credit card charge backs are generally only possible within six months of the
purchase date.
~~~
nunez
Also, those that ordered with debit cards are more or less out of luck
depending on their bank. Some will do an investigation for you and credit you
the purchase amount while they do it; others aren't so lucky.
------
maddyboo
The review video that "killed the company" was great. The entire time, I was
bracing for the moment when the founder would offer a kickback for a good
review, expecting a number above at least $2500.
$500.
He offered this guy 500 bucks for a false review of a product that they both
knew was absolute shit. What a joke!
~~~
drdeadringer
URL for the video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36Gw3tErUSM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36Gw3tErUSM)
------
mcroydon
I'm still a little confused why the story posted the other day fell off the
front page so quickly, there was some good discussion and a link to a youtube
meta-review that gave a pretty interesting view in to the last few days of the
company:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15095861](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15095861)
------
throwaway2016a
To provide a counter anecdote:
I have never been burnt by a KickStarter yet and I've backed about 7 of them.
I have had to wait a very long time though. Once almost 2 years.
But I am prepared knowing that one day I might back a losing horse.
With that said, I'm surprised there is no recourse for the people who bought
from the website.
~~~
gervase
I really can't imagine that these types of scams are the norm, and not the
exception. I've backed 33 campaigns, and I've _never_ been burned (yet). Two
turned out to be pretty shitty executions, though - not sure if I should count
that, since I did still receive my rewards.
The key is to ask yourself some common sense questions like: * Is this product
possible in our current reality? * Does the business exist only for the
purposes of this campaign? * Can the product realistically be made with the
money raised so far?
The first is obviously a deal breaker, and the second can be a red flag. The
third might be hard to gauge, but is probably the best filter. For example,
raising $6MM to make 6 million milled titanium wallets obviously isn't going
to work, even though it's a lot of money. OTOH, $6MM for pretty much any kind
of software product is going to scale fine as long as it's not an ongoing
service.
Note that that third point also means you basically can't back any electronics
hardware project unless the answer to the question "Will this company make
this product anyway, regardless of this Kickstarter?" is an unequivocal 'yes',
since hardware development is _so_ damn hard.
Just my 2 cents.
~~~
bsder
> since hardware development is so damn hard.
I think I would put it as hardware development is _different_. And it's the
differences that burn folks used to software.
However, even as an experienced "hardware" designer, the _BANE_ of my
existence is anything having the word "mechanical" associated with it.
I'm so good, I can design electronics that _anticipates_ the failure modes
(For example: Want good soldermark coverage? Never use the default green
ink.). I can get 100 fully populated boards in about 7 days for about $5K. If
I go to China, I can get about 1000 in 3 weeks for the same price.
Cases? Clips to hold a component? Packaging? If SLA isn't good enough (and
it's rare that it is), God help you, you are about to need it.
Dealing with mechanical engineering feels like stepping back into 1953. And
not even that good. Back in 1953, lots of people knew how to operate milling
machines, lathes, etc. so you could get a small number of parts made for a
small amount of money fairly quickly from somebody out of their garage.
Nowadays? Anything that touches mechanicals is chunks of $5K NRE and 6-8
weeks.
I'm an electrical engineer by background but have had to learn TIG welding,
CNC machining, injection mold design, and a whole host of other plastic and
metal manufacturing techniques simply because I can't afford to be shelling
out $10K up front every time I want to prototype something.
I'm really hoping that SLS will evolve now that the patents have all expired.
I would pay real money for a machine that lets me torch mechanical engineers
and machine shops/injection molders.
(Side note: I have had the pleasure of working with a few very good machine
shops and injection molders. They are wonderful, but they tend to be quite
expensive. It is almost a tautology: a good shop is at 100% production
capacity and a shop not at 100% capacity is, by definition, not a good shop.
The fact that such shops are at 100% capacity means that they don't want to
waste production time on a client who wants a maximum of 1000 units.)
~~~
gonzo
I'm an ME, and still had to learn TIG / MIG welding (long before studying ME),
machining (both CNC and not), injection mold design (smallworks.com), CAD
(wasn't taught back in the day).
Oh, and software engineering, 'cause that's what I ended up doing.
------
Clubber
You have to know, anything crowdfunded is very high risk. I'm not sure why
people even do it if the reward is maybe a product at a discount.
I'm amazed some unscrupulous company has't abused it to take money with no
intention of ever delivering a product.
~~~
BugsJustFindMe
_I 'm amazed some unscrupulous company has't abused it to take money with no
intention of ever delivering a product._
I assume that this is sarcasm.
~~~
busterarm
I backed a kickstarter for $20 that I'm pretty positive did exactly that.
Communication I had with the project seemed to indicate that they used the
money to pay for a move. In retrospect, looking at this Kickstarter, it has
got all the warning signs of a project that won't deliver, but then again,
it's $20. Luckily it's the only project out of several dozen where I've gotten
burned. Still, it's a wonder that Kickstarter lets this crap go on on their
platform.
[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/743096088/bonerwood-
the...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/743096088/bonerwood-the-game)
~~~
throwaway2016a
A lot of app developers do that on mobile... "Man, this app sucks and doesn't
do what it should. Oh well, it's only $0.99"
That's why I am a proponent of easy refunds and/or trial periods on apps.
Like: if I uninstall this from my phone within 7 days I don't get charged.
As a seasoned KickStarter backer I do a lot of due diligence. and haven't lost
money yet But the average project I have backed is $300 so I'd be very pissed
if I did.... not like losing $20.
~~~
busterarm
Aye, I'm mostly in the same boat as you as far as kickstarter and literally
backed this one on a lark. Live and learn.
------
stephengillie
ICOs to the left, "KickStartups" on the right. I'm stuck in the middle with
you.
------
Geekette
With more cases like this popping up, it seems the safer route is: Back
product on Kickstarter and set reminders for 2 weeks before chargeback
deadline for credit card used. If product is undelivered by that date, then
cancel order with maker AND initiate chargeback too, to be on safe side.
~~~
Viper007Bond
Won't Kickstarter be not happy about the chargeback? I know many sites will
kill your account if you do it.
~~~
Geekette
They might be unhappy but a higher frequency of chargebacks (and possibly
bank/card issuer responses) may be the kick they need to re-evaluate and
overhaul their current system of maker accountability.
~~~
origami777
Chargebacks seem like one of the worst ways to deal with it. If you're that
afraid of losing money this type of transaction probably isn't for you.
What seems to be the biggest failure with most of these companies is setting
the expectations right. It also seems like a subset have good intentions, but
lack the experience and/or ability to execute. And an even a smaller subset
are actual fraud.
Edit: I would think that if it's proven fraud then some other form of legal
action should be taken. It'd be interesting to see if that should be on
Kickstarter or not. Perhaps they should step in on such cases to protect their
customers.
------
mgv11
Sorry for the people who lost their money. I've backed quite a few KS projects
as well, but have stopped doing that mostly now. Just because there seems to
be bit more of these sketchy projects and from all the projects I've backed I
can say that I am "only" properly satisfied with half of them.
Of all the Kickstarters I've done been only been "scammed" once. That was some
mobile game that never got the Android version they promised. Or actually they
did release it as a free pay-to-win game years later, but had already counted
it as a loss. Have had couple of very disappointing hardware projects, but at
least I got the product. Oh and there are still couple of games in
"production" that should have been released years ago.
------
on_and_off
The video mentions how the headphone can't transmit through the body.
The Kanao does seem to have a very weak connection, but isn't transmitting
through the body an issue with most headphones ? With my metallic case phone
and jaybird plugs, I often have a better sound if I switch front pockets in
order to have the phone on the same side as the plug's bluetooth receiver.
Transmitting electromagnetic waves through a body is just hard and to be
honest makes me a bit uneasy.
I have never tried with the back pocket though
------
Brajeshwar
Ah! Like how HydraDock[1] did.
I ordered 2 Hydradocks. Never got the product nor the refund; emails
blackholed.
1\.
[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kickshark/hydradock-11-...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kickshark/hydradock-11-port-
usb-c-dock-for-apple-macbook)
------
eveningcoffee
[https://youtu.be/36Gw3tErUSM?t=662](https://youtu.be/36Gw3tErUSM?t=662)
Yes, he really got an unpolished product. This is obvious.
What is a bit surprising for me is that he is being asked to turn the thing
off and on again and it just does not click with him.
------
Overtonwindow
This is about Kanoa but the headline will bring to mine many others.
------
honestoHeminway
They had feedback in there earphones. How can you have feedback in your
earphones? All thos DTFs, all thos dedicated signal processors, they are all
just useless junk?
------
DiabloD3
Can some of the garbage be trimmed off the end of the URL?
------
earlyadopter2
light.co was mentioned on the corresponding reddit thread. I'm getting afraid
I'm going to be burnt by laforge's shima glasses. They are 'super open' with
updates showing disassembled hardware components but despite promising press
reviews and shipments in Q1, I haven't seen a single hands-on demo or press
review or evidence that even their proof of concept exists.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Data is the new lifeblood of capitalism – don't hand corporate America control - mpweiher
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jan/31/data-laws-corporate-america-capitalism
======
mark_l_watson
All too true. I try to explain to my tech friends why it is in my self
interest to contribute to the ACLU, FSF, etc. but donating a hundred dollars
or so a year is a hard sell because people tend to look at the ‘free’ services
they get, and think ‘no problem.’
------
joeblow9999
"According to the Internet Association, governments should be prohibited from
requiring that certain kinds of data, such as sensitive personal information,
be stored or processed in the country where it’s acquired. They should be
banned from treating platforms like Facebook and Google as publishers and
holding them responsible for the content that appears on their sites. They
should be forbidden from requiring companies to disclose the secrets of their
algorithms, such as the all-powerful Facebook News Feed. They should be
prevented from regulating online services as public utilities, or imposing
tariffs on digital trade."
These all sound reasonable to me.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why MIME-Version will forever be "1.0" - tzury
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIME#MIME-Version
======
tzury
The original interview is available here:
[http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/020111-mime-
internet-e...](http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/020111-mime-internet-
email.html?page=3)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Minority Report holds up because it's about surveillance, not gadgets (2017) - aaossa
https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/30/15865462/minority-report-steven-spielberg-surveillance-technology
======
planetzero
So does Fahrenheit 451: The government isn't the real threat, it's society. We
are already living in a world where online mobs rule a person's career,
livelihood and just publicly disagreeing with the current political narrative
can ruin your life.
The scary part is even when you are found innocent, the damage is already done
and many people will continue to believe it anyway.
Jealous and spiteful people see this as an opportunity to strike down the
people they don't like. It truly is a modern day witch trial.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: If I store encrypted data but throw away the key does that violate GDPR? - devjungle
I thought this would be a violation as I'm not able to decrypt that data today, but as soon as technology got to a certain point, or true quantum computers become a thing, I'd be able to decrypt that date possibly trivially.<p>I was listening to a podcast where they described this as being a viable way of adhering to requests to delete personal information.
======
luckylion
Was any reason given as to _why_ doing that to (effectively) delete data over
just deleting or overwriting them?
~~~
devjungle
One point that wasn't mentioned in the podcast, but that I thought of, was
that if you had sort of blockchain that meant the data could not be deleted.
~~~
luckylion
Yeah, that's an interesting problem and would make sense in that context. They
wouldn't be encrypting it when the data needs to be deleted, but encrypt it
from the start, keep the key offchain and delete the key when they are
required to delete the data. The data would still be "available" ("it's in
there somewhere, but we have no way to get it out"), but useless. Would be
necessary to make sure that no metadata can be gathered from the encrypted
data on the chain, so when my doctor deletes the key, you mustn't be able to
ascertain that I was even a patient.
I don't know whether it would hold up in court though, but it's an interesting
idea. With a private block chain, the risk would be a lot smaller that a
single leaked key (i.e. the customer accidentally releasing it) would result
in big problems. I've recently talked with a lawyer friend of mine about a
similar topic, but he didn't know immediately whether that's legally sound.
------
new_guy
INAL but if you've kept the personal data - in whatever form - after they've
requested it to be deleted, then you're in violation.
------
discordance
Seems like more of a philosophical question.
If it's not accessible then it's essentially lost. If a new technology comes
about that makes it accessible, then you would be liable.
If you've lost the key, and have no intent on recovering the data due to GDPR
or whatever, then why not just delete it to avoid any potential future
liability?
~~~
vardump
> If you've lost the key, and have no intent on recovering the data due to
> GDPR or whatever, then why not just delete it to avoid any potential future
> liability?
Perhaps there are a lot of backups of this encrypted data, some of which are
not under control of the person asking the question.
Or just consider a tape backup. How would you efficiently delete a part of
data stored on a tape?
Deleting data can be a hard problem in some cases.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Compiler bug in MSVC? - ibobev
https://godbolt.org/#z:OYLghAFBqd5QCxAYwPYBMCmBRdBLAF1QCcAaPECAKxAEZSAbAQwDtRkBSAJgCFufSAZ1QBXYskwgA5IILERyAgGoAchkxKOAdj4AGAIJKjSvC2UBrTAE8OAZj37tAETsOOBgpgC2AB2afNWwBhAisfTBYmLw0AFTtsJQA3VDx0JQAzVFQIAEpXd0cDZNSlCAAqdJzcwKdNAFY%2BOqdc7QdjDKy7IKxkBlDwiDUsEBBLKzzbbBb7Aud8gykcxmk6qVIWaV011Gkg/n4lYTEJTS5bWjWCTcWl8xAuOoA6LQAOABZaF4BOL7qvt90dTev2WUjeaw2Ui2pB2UjWghAulIVyhi1IcFgSDQvjwDEwZAoEGxPlx%2BJAwC0XFI6VxnmICIgAH1mbpKEsAEbXUjs0xMYhWaQXUjY6JmADyLAYAtRpCwXlYwDxXPwxEwijwiUwCJlmAAHmqRJ5BWtTJ4GFyqABHET46W2R5cR5CvFsAhIeg%2BVWJMXsqhqq5MlmUQR4ABeobxtDqgIAbC9vr9dLYY5QRCwsDSWJh0JQ8cAIjnIHVSEipBcchWli7gG66KRPZhvb7/ZRmYzWdQAIo2/m2Li0XRaX79160ZN1GPAt79yj4QR%2BJjStEh8OR6MT%2BM/aPJ1PpzCZ7O5zD59PwYul8uVxgRGvuivI4h4LzGqsKlD7XiMPDshGQJaoHwCDwVAWG1ABaWR0DsJxOF4fhaFoJQwLFWwkIAdXxYgSHhURxEkWgqxWCEuVhXUXhjMDJyUYBkGQJQtAdUpcEIEhTnOUglCCVAcTxYg2IIziPx4S5rnvO4zmeLgvgQrRdC4AE3gBWxQXBdYSOkeFEWRUT0RgRAUG4klePIShiVJYgUGYNhoyRGk%2BnxBk2w7DkuR5SJ%2BWNYVuNFAgJSlZVvAVJUZRVf0NS1Lk9QNI0yxNMxMHNGUrR7O0HSdNZq1rD0vR9P1FFbIMIBXCNMCjWNN0THcIDTDNTEPCA8wLeABxLUhYsrKsbyy%2BscubfLA3bSgqG7W0%2BwHIc6hHF4xxjCcpxnCA5wXJclmKtdyoTbcU2qvcDxzBrjyayAWovG570yu8ljkJ8X0YN9YL4T8GG/X9chhQDgNA6QIIIKDbBgoSEKQlD0Mw7ChFwiQ6EIqRVjUmVSPIyi3iUXoFSUJ5dEeXQmPwIg%2BO4djOMM8y2K4HJBLg3gRNRMT7ieN5yJjL5bF0WhZujRmqUS1TIWhWFNKRFEtiWDF9LM4zCQlsleloL5GUnalaQcgrBrezkZTcvlpSFEUIl8yVpWhOUgskEK8FVdVNW1aEouQQ0zaFU0Eota1bWke1HWdLr3R6xtcpbAaOzW0r1zjTak22mr9zq/bGtPItWvaq8LrrBsmzygMnKGkbe37Qdh1oUdx0nf4FqW5gVqEMMSrKjcI6q6O9qPE9Cwgc82svc6fehq7H2fdq7rYd8qYEZ6f3gf8PpA7UAHoxV1JRZ7QgANHDjnwmG4b57ZpDIiiqIAWQAZQANSCJQ5aULg2a0JQACUYjQ3GWIJs56GJnj8TY2wKb2UeaYi1uPTFSxEEYaSEFpYWNxQRcDAfzCB0D7yanpJ9EAbwgA%3D
======
ibobev
This is from Jeff Preshing's post on Twitter
[https://twitter.com/preshing/status/952289083778269185](https://twitter.com/preshing/status/952289083778269185)
------
remy_luisant
Try compiling without treating warnings as errors, maybe?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
WSJ: Young Entrepreneurs Face Higher Hurdles - vlad
http://www.business-opportunities.biz/2007/03/21/young-entrepreneurs-face-higher-hurdles/
======
vlad
[http://www.startupjournal.com/howto/soundadvice/20070228-garton.html?mod=RSS_Startup_Journal&sjrss;=frontpage](http://www.startupjournal.com/howto/soundadvice/20070228-garton.html?mod=RSS_Startup_Journal&sjrss=frontpage)
Sorry, I meant to link the actual article, above.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why doesn't this code simply return a to z as the output? - hardik988
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4098345
======
alextgordon
It seems to me that the issue is that $i++ is nonsensical if $i is a string
(and $i _is_ a string, not a character). But instead of raising an error, PHP
soldiers on and tries to apply some completely unexpected function.
~~~
photon_off
Perl does this, too. And is it really _that_ unexpected? How many possible
things could 'z'+1 return? The only possibilities that make sense to me are
"{", "aa", or an error. I like PHP because it's flexible, and this often makes
life easier. If you're really going to try to use strings as integers, then
you deserve what's coming to you. If you're going to use this behavior as a
feature, then you've just saved yourself a chunk of time.
~~~
pbhjpbhj
>How many possible things could 'z'+1 return?
That are less than or equal to z?
~~~
eru
To z or to 'z'?
~~~
pbhjpbhj
Yes.
------
rll
Well, the choice was between having 'z'++ go to 'aa' vs. '{'. In most cases
when you are comparing strings you want to do so alphabetically, not by their
underlying character code. As mentioned in the thread there, Perl made the
same decision. If you want to compare by character code, use ord() on it.
Writing a loop like that is also a bit of a weird edge-case. You would
typically just call range('a','z') to get an array of a through z.
~~~
bdr
There is a third, correct choice: don't allow incrementing of strings.
Everything you say about _comparing_ is true, but that's a separate issue.
~~~
photon_off
Please explain: what makes this choice "correct?" Is it because it's your
personal preference?
Different languages have different features. I've been coding PHP for years,
and I've never encountered this feature before. I suspect that's true because
I don't usually treat strings like integers. However, now that I know it's
possible, I might actually use it to generate random strings or do something
useful. I don't see it as something that is incorrect, I see it as how the
language is implemented.
~~~
prodigal_erik
$x++ doesn't overflow (repeat a value you've already seen), yet produces a
value less than the prior $x. This means PHP has two different total orderings
over strings, one of which is inaccessible except by brute force. I find that
indefensibly wrong. The odds I wanted this are zero, so silently getting it
anyway is the kind of ridiculous misbehavior that makes me glad I can avoid
the language.
~~~
BrandonM
> The odds I wanted this are zero, so silently getting it anyway is the kind
> of ridiculous misbehavior that makes me glad I can avoid the language.
Not all useful values have to be order-able. If you just want to generate
dictionary keys or unique IDs, you don't care about the ordering property of
the values at all. And if you do care, all that matters is that ordering a
given set of values is consistent. This behavior satisfies that criteria.
------
gregable
That is ridiculous.
~~~
msbarnett
PHP is like that. Few other languages would feel comfortable with
simultaneously defining 'z'+1 as 'aa', while asserting that 'aa' is strictly
less than 'z'.
~~~
toolate
While I agree that 'z'++ being 'aa' is a bit silly, I can't ever see anyone
making the case that 'aa' should be greater than 'z'.
~~~
zackattack
'z'++ is _not_ 'aa'. 'z'++ is not even valid PHP. $z='z';$p=$z++; does nothing
either.
it's only in the for-loop context.
~~~
Nitramp
Not really, after $p = $z++ $p is 'z', $z is 'aa', as you'd kind-of expect.
But the difference between literals and expressions/variable references of
course just adds icing to the cake of bizareness.
------
TimothyBurgess
This actually makes perfect sense to me. Knowing this would have really come
in handy a while back when I was creating my dynamic excel spreadsheet
generator in PHP. While it doesn't follow ASCII char indexes, it follows a
base 26 numbering system.
Edit: Oh... and if anyone was wondering, PHP's "char" function (provided an
index) should perform similar to incrementing an ASCII char in C/C++.
~~~
daeken
Note: _chr_ not _char_
------
zackattack
people talk about RoR, Django, Haskell++, Node.js, you name it. me? i'm
sticking with PHP. i'm gonna be damn good at this language eventually.
~~~
mahmud
PHP can remain insane longer than you can remain alive.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Building an Open Source Doctor - hsikka
Hey HN,<p>My grandfather, who is in otherwise great health, recently got diagnosed with late stage cancer of the kidneys.<p>How feasible would it be to build an open source suite of diagnostic programs that people can use to build longer term, longitudinal health system?<p>The idea is that by building transparent, open source diagnostic models and looping it into a platform where you can track your health data, we could build a preventative system.<p>Am I being completely irrational, or missing something?
======
JPLeRouzic
Here are a few projects that bring nice ideas:
[https://hackaday.io/project/12352-low-field-mri-
continued](https://hackaday.io/project/12352-low-field-mri-continued) by Peter
Jansen
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADN9__zOmls](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADN9__zOmls)
by Jean Rintoul
[https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanrintoul](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanrintoul)
There are others also.
------
verdverm
The hardware is the hard part, though I expect things to change over the next
decade. Image devices will become better and cheap, blood and microbiome
sensing will improve.
The barrier is getting the input data for software, ML / AI is not perfect,
health rules and FDA.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
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