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Craigslist ad: Developer offers unpaid internship for room and board - medell
http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/van/web/4412363817.html
======
medell
Curious what this guy is up to, I don't know of anyone who has tried this in
Vancouver yet. Particularly odd is the wide net he's casting for "programmers,
designers, marketers, and project/business managers" The poster might run into
roadblocks as it's illegal to offer unpaid internships in BC.
| {
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Visual Studio does not copy assemblies of transitive dependencies (2011) - btschaegg
https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/652785/visual-studio-does-not-copy-referenced-assemblies-through-the-reference-hierarchy
======
btschaegg
Just got bitten by this, and the "bug" seems to be around for 6 years now.
Might be worth being aware of.
| {
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Announcing Designer News - kellysutton
http://layervault.tumblr.com/post/40099135528/announcing-designer-news
======
salzig
arg! 'target="_blank"', i've already 168 tabs open, don't need more of them!
~~~
allang
If you're having tab problems I feel bad for you son...
| {
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} |
Show HN: Nirvana Pilot Yume – A Modern Take on Skyroads - eerikkivistik
http://store.steampowered.com/app/716680/Nirvana_Pilot_Yume/
======
antares88
Hi, developer here. We've been working on this since August, but the idea
dates back a few years. We really loved the early nineties game Skyroads and
played it extensively at the time, and it was a sign for us to discover that
it was made in Estonia, the very same place where we established our team in
2013. Nirvana Pilot Yume is also an experiment of mixing two different genres:
space races and visual novels with a '80s anime style. To complete the recipe
and exhalt those retro atmospheres, a synthwave soundtrack by the hungarian
band Retröxx. Looking forward to get feedback and suggestions!
Website:
[https://nirvanapilotyume.dev9k.com/](https://nirvanapilotyume.dev9k.com/)
~~~
jaakk
Awesome graphics! Can't wait to try it out! :)
~~~
antares88
Thank you jaakk, much appreciated!
------
eerikkivistik
This is a game devloped by dev9k, inspired by the DOS cult game Skyroads. I
gave it a try yesterday, really enjoyed the soundtrack and the gameplay. The
story driven aspect is a bit slow for my taste though.
------
DrOmBo
It reminds me of the 90s arcade games. I spent tons of coins on those evil
machines... And I'll spend some good time on this masterpiece too :)
| {
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Show HN: Vesper, a plug and play Ruby web framework (Sinatra + Rack + Plugins) - jarrodtaylor
http://vesperapps.com/
======
jarrodtaylor
After building a lot of apps with Sinatra, I decided to pull out the code I
always end up using (the framework) and package up the code I almost as often
use (the plugins), then write generators for everything and wrap it up in a
gem.
There are still a few plugins I'm writing now (DataMapper REST services,
Stripe boilerplate, user accounts, URL based commenting, Linode stack script,
etc.), but since the whole project is moving along nicely, even getting a
decent amount of downloads, I thought I'd share.
It's my first gem and my first public project.
~~~
judofyr
Looks interesting, but isn't Padrino already trying to be the "Sintra with
more"? <http://www.padrinorb.com/>
What's wrong with Padrino? Why did you make this? Why is this better?
~~~
jarrodtaylor
I don't think there's anything wrong with Padrino.
I just wanted to use something a little more lightweight and unstructured.
Without the plugins, Vesper is basically just a Sinatra app. You can organize
it as MVC, or not. There's not much abstraction from adding code to a Sinatra
app, and everything glues together nicely. Also, I really like developing
plugins this way (put the code from an app into a git repo, and you're done).
~~~
Argorak
(Wrong parent - this was intended to land in the other thread.)
I didn't understand it that way :).
Well, the thing is that I see your approach as equally "structured" as
Padrino. If I want to use Vesper Plugins, I have to use Vesper. So your
approach - in my eyes - is not "more unstructured", its more "a different kind
of structure". As far as I can see it, you don't put a lot of weight into
controller/routing-things, but have more emphasis on plugins, which Padrino
mostly lacks.
But the fact that you didn't use Padrino and implemented your own structure on
top of Sinatra shows that Padrino didn't fit your bill - so my curiosity just
springs from the that fact. I always see this as a chance to find new needs
and insprirations that Padrino can support and use. So, rant away :).
Aside from the asset-handling problem, bundler can easily support loading
plugins from git(hub), as long as they are gems. Why didn't you just settle
for that? Then, the only problem that remains is asset handling. There, I am
quite in favor of not polluting the main project, but I also don't want to add
a asset compilation toolchain just for that :/.
~~~
jarrodtaylor
Ah, I think more explanation is in order.
Aside from the plugins, the structure of Vesper is just Sinatra, Rack and Rake
(/public, /views, config.ru, Gemfile, Rakefile, etc.) plus application and
config directories. When the app is run, it does all the normal rackup stuff,
and loads everything in /config and /application. There wasn't a need to do
anything more.
That's where this whole thing started. I got tired of the routes file in Rails
(my biggest Rails complaint), so I switched to Sinatra, and this is how I
ended up writing a lot of apps.
Sidenote: /data and /tests are both generated by default plugins.
By unstructured, I just meant the MVC thing. Most frameworks I've used start
off with the assumption that I want to use MVC directories. Sometimes I do,
sometimes I don't. Most of the time I want to use the concept of models and
controllers, but instead of separating them into different directories and
files, I want to group related models and controllers together - i.e. a
users.rb file with the User class and the associated routes for sign in,
profile editing, etc.
The plugins were extracted from code I use in a lot of apps, but not all.
That's why a plugin is so similar to a full project, with a few extras thrown
in, like hooks (they just run code are certain times during loading). I'm
mixed as to polluting the main project with assets, so I just did both. A
plugin's /application, gemfile and /tasks don't get moved into the main
project. But sometimes it makes sense, such as DataMapper and a /data folder,
and MiniTest and a /tests folder. It's really optional.
Now for gems: There's nothing stopping anyone from adding gems to a project.
They should work just fine, and I do it all the time. But at the same time, I
work with a lot of designers and just-getting-started programmers who have no
idea how to write a gem, but still have code they reuse a lot. The 'plugins-
as-a-repo-in-a-live-folder' allow for that, while not stopping them from using
gems if they fit the bill. A few of the plugins are nothing more than wrappers
for gems with a little config pre-written.
------
dpkendal
Incidentally: for those wondering about the name and logo:
“Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet.
Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon
peel.”
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesper_(cocktail)>
~~~
jarrodtaylor
Haha. That and I was watching Casino Royale at the time.
Glad someone caught it though.
------
Argorak
I definitely like it. As a Padrino developer, might I ask how your project
compares to padrino, which seems to have similar goals? (Multiple Applications
per project, superset of sinatra, flexible usage of rack, etc.)
We do use the Sinatra plugin system only, though...
~~~
jarrodtaylor
I just wanted to use something a little more lightweight and unstructured.
Without the plugins, Vesper is basically just a Sinatra app. You can organize
it as MVC, or not. There's not much abstraction from adding code to a Sinatra
app, and everything glues together nicely. Also, I really like developing
plugins this way (put the code from an app into a git repo, and you're done).
~~~
Argorak
So your main complaint about Padrino is Padrino::Application as an extension
to Sinatra? Because in every other regard, Padrino (padrino-core) is mostly a
convention on how to load and organize code. I use it as a raw library on a
regular basis.
I admit that we are a bit behind in regards of apps-as-libraries, but I would
prefer to handle that in standardized ways (using gems as distribution format
and copying assets using an asset compiler instead of an installation
routine).
Also, Padrino encourages not developing any plugins for it - raw Sinatra
plugins are very much preferred, but are not compatible to your format.
~~~
jarrodtaylor
I don't have a complaint against Padrino. I'm not out to replace it or
anything, I've just been having a good time writing apps this way.
If Padrino encourages not developing plugins, then yes, that would be a big
difference.
By Sinatra plugins, I'm guessing you're talking about extensions
(<http://www.sinatrarb.com/extensions-wild.html>)? If so, how are they not
compatible with Vesper?
------
weavejester
What benefit do Vesper plugins have over plain gems?
~~~
jarrodtaylor
They're easier for non-programmers (I work with a lot of designers) to create
and use. In fact, most of the plugins use gems and then add their own config
and assets.
~~~
weavejester
If these non-programmers are using Git and adding Gemfiles and such, is adding
a dozen line gemspec to the repository that big a deal? And if it is, couldn't
you fill out most of the gemspec automatically using a command line script?
~~~
jarrodtaylor
None of that would be particularly difficult. And nothing here is stopping
that from happening, or replacing it. It's just another, fairly simple way, to
organize and share code.
| {
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Prospector: Python Static Analysis for Humans - doismellburning
http://blog.landscape.io/prospector-python-static-analysis-for-humans.html
======
ekimekim
"you will consider most of the warnings that come from tools like pylint or
pep8 or pyflakes to be a bit picky."
I use pyflakes, and out of the box it doesn't give ANY stylistic warnings,
only basic "I don't think this variable exists" and common symptoms of typos
like unused variables and overwriting a local var with a loop variable (I
suppose you could argue that that could be a stylistic choice, but the
intention is to catch errors, not correct your code style).
~~~
abecedarius
I've tried all three, and pyflakes is the only one I'd keep using regularly. I
agree that the OP misrepresents pyflakes.
------
chair6
"The whole purpose of this project is to get people using static analysis. I
think they're an excellent resource for projects and can help you find
problems in your code and even learn new things." \-- agreed! I'm looking
forward to having a play with Prospector.
For those who are interested in this, check out the security-focused Python
static analysis tool that I built an initial PoC for and we've been building
out within the OpenStack Security Group. The Bandit project page is at
[https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Security/Projects/Bandit](https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Security/Projects/Bandit)
and the code at
[https://github.com/stackforge/bandit](https://github.com/stackforge/bandit).
~~~
carlio
Bandit looks like a really great addition to the various Python checking
tools. Expect some pull requests soon!
------
sbochins
I think a better alternative is to use python mode for vim and get all the
static analysis checks as you're coding. I tend to do half my development
using an IDE (java/scala), but I don't really miss any of those features using
this great plugin and vim.
~~~
MaxGabriel
I don't think the author's tool is in opposition to IDE/plugin based static
analysis. For one thing, tools like python-mode for vim
([https://github.com/klen/python-mode](https://github.com/klen/python-mode))
call out to libraries like pylint to implement their functionality. Prospector
also supports machine readable outputs that IDEs/plugins can use to determine
how to display linting issues.
Even if you prefer not to use a command-line based linter, a non-GUI option is
essential if you want to do linting with CI. If you run an open source Python
project, you can't assume that everyone will use a linter to check for
warnings before submitting a PR (and even then, can't assume their linter
settings match yours)—but you can check easily lint all PRs using Travis CI or
the author's company Landscape.
------
of
I haven't tried PyLint -- I use flake8 for static Python analysis:
[https://pypi.python.org/pypi/flake8](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/flake8)
------
the_mitsuhiko
This "for humans" trend really needs to stop :)
~~~
afarrell
Why? So long as it doesn't get watered down and actually meaningfully
indicates "I've made a serious effort to think about the user interaction and
engineering psychology issues involved in my design.", I think its a trend
that advances the industry.
~~~
sitkack
It is pretentious in the same way 'with love' is tacked onto startup tag
lines.
It implies that all the other libraries are for Asperger's wielding non-
persons.
~~~
afarrell
No, it implies that other libraries are written primarily for computers to
execute and secondarily for humans to use.
It is only pretentious if it is...actually pretending.
------
12ifrb
GPLv2 License -
[https://github.com/landscapeio/prospector/blob/master/LICENS...](https://github.com/landscapeio/prospector/blob/master/LICENSE)
Warning for those who don't use that license.
~~~
davvid
If you're using it as an external tool then the license is an irrelevant
detail. Folks don't typically do "import pylint" in their code.
------
president
How do all these libraries check comments? As far as I know, the Python ast
library does not parse comments?
~~~
rcfox
They check for docstrings. From PEP 257[0]: "A docstring is a string literal
that occurs as the first statement in a module, function, class, or method
definition. Such a docstring becomes the __doc__ special attribute of that
object."
[0]
[http://legacy.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0257/](http://legacy.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0257/)
------
joelthelion
Is there a way to use it with YouCompleteMe/Syntastic?
~~~
carlio
There is not right now, although I hope to add some plugins for common IDEs
and editors. You may have success using [https://github.com/davidhalter/jedi-
vim](https://github.com/davidhalter/jedi-vim) though - the guy who writes it
is adding static analysis.
------
jdimov
This is an awesome tool with a lot of potential and I can't wait to see it
evolve. Even though all the hard work is actually done by the 3rd party
checkers, THIS ties all these other tools together and makes them an order of
magnitude more accessible. Well done!
| {
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Germany’s SEC Dismissed a Decade of Warnings About Wirecard - bitcurious
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-germanys-sec-dismissed-a-decade-of-warnings-about-wirecard-11594907212
======
bitcurious
I’d previously read about BaFin investigating FT journalists but have never
seen a comprehensive list of all of the times their protections of Wirecard.
This jumped out at me:
> An early chance to look into Wirecard came in 2008, when an association of
> small shareholders filed a suit with a Munich court targeting Wirecard’s
> accounting practices. It alleged Wirecard counted customer deposits as its
> own cash and that its margins were suspiciously high.
> BaFin opened a probe into the accusers. Wirecard had complained after the
> suit caused its stock to slump. Two former officials of the staid
> association were charged, convicted of market manipulation and handed
> suspended prison sentences.
I’m struggling to see a non-corrupt explanation to this pattern of behavior.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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2011: The Year the Check-in Died - mjfern
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/2011_the_year_the_check-in_died.php
======
harryh
So two points here:
1) Usage on foursquare is up 40% since the beginning of the year.
2) We've always seen the checkin as just the beginning of what we want to
accomplish. With the launch of explore and specials 2.0 we've started to get
more of our vision out into the world. You can expect more of this sort of
thing from us over the course of 2011.
-harryh, engineering lead @ foursquare.
ps: Want to be a part of it? We're hiring! <https://foursquare.com/jobs/>
~~~
chailatte
explore = chasing yelp
specials 2.0 = chasing groupon
Foursquare's vision appears to be looking backward. Dennis Crowley's been
thinking about this space for 10 years?
~~~
scorpion032
Those are the natural extensions to the product. What would you rather do?
ultra-checkin, super-checkin and more badges. "Cool quotient" is good enough
to begin you with; but you need to get some real value out of it as well.
~~~
IgorPartola
What real value can a checkin service potentially provide? (Serious question)
I think there are a few things: deals from local businesses, meeting new
people, interaction coordination.
Deals are booming now. Groupon and LS are huge and do manage to provide me
with value. I think Groupon's upcoming mobile offering is brilliant. The likes
of foursquare can use this model successfully as well.
Meeting new people is always a tough one, but it is what people want. Give
someine a way to make new friends through your service in real life in a safe
way and you'll strike gold.
Interaction coordination is probably the most interesting thing I can think
of. Imagine communities organizing events by using foursquare. You get
invites. You check in. You pay for the event from your phone. You monitor long
distance races by the participants' checkins. You participate in live events
virtually by having your name flash on a giant screen. At a town fair you are
randomly assigned a person and if you find them within a time limit and check
in together you get a prize. A giant game of assasin based on checkins.
The checkin itself is just a tool. Playing with a hammer is fun at first but
unless you have something to nail it will get boring.
~~~
scorpion032
Thats exactly what I meant to say.
Too bad the sarcasm in the first sentence is lost on you.
~~~
IgorPartola
No need to be brash. I understood your sarcasm. Just continued the thought
further.
~~~
scorpion032
My bad then. Since you were trying to make the same point as I was, I was
under the impression you got it wrong.
To be fair, most replies in HN are arguments than "thought continuation"
------
aaronmarks
Foursquare is something that became wildly popular at the same time smart
phones were becoming more and more ubiquitous. It is a cool sort of "Hey check
out what my new phone can do" kind of tool.
As smart phones are becoming more the standard and less the shiny-new-thing,
though, Foursquare and the like are turning out to not actually provide that
much value, and are losing their stickiness.
------
unohoo
Personally, I think that 4sq should have taken up the acquisition offer that
it supposedly had.
No matter how much they try and innovate and launch new features, the premise
of 'checking in' is forcing a user behavior - and sooner or later, checkin
fatigue is going to set in. Just like most other shiny things, the shimmer
wears off real quick.
~~~
brk
I agree. Not to mention that for many places the whole check-in bit a moderate
hassle.
EG: Panera Bread.
Go in to get a coffe and a bagel in the morning. Take out phone, launch app.
Oops, can't connect. Panera has free wifi, but I have to open the browser on
my phone and check a little box and hit submit. Go back to the app, let it
figure out where I am. No, I'm not at Baby Gap (next store over) at 7AM, I'm
at Panera. Finally check in. And then... nothing... kind of anti-climatic
really.
Meanwhile, I'm juggling credit cards and rewards cards and a drink and a bagel
with the cashier.
If I'm lucky, I might get to be Mayor and get $1 off or something, which
equates to earning about 2 cents for every checkin.
I played with 4sq and some of the other location services for a while, but
just never got any value out of it proportionate to what I put into it time-
wise.
------
willifred
While the article raises some valid points, I question the use of compete.com
figures to make any claims about foursquare's declining traffic.
~~~
troymc
Compete.com measures _something_ , and whatever that something is, it's
declining.
~~~
barrkel
Latest stackoverflow blog post also shows that site declining on compete.com,
despite all other analytics showing it growing.
[http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/04/stack-exchange-
traffic...](http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/04/stack-exchange-traffic-
still-growing/)
------
bhousel
Location based checkin sites are basically games. The problem is that, like
all games, people eventually get tired of them and move on to something else.
~~~
Aramgutang
Tell that to Zynga and Blizzard. Social games (which Foursquare would fall
under) have a very long-lasting grip on people.
------
bricestacey
Foursquare reminds me of this fake RPG called Progress Quest[1]. It's like
SETI@Home, but for RPGs. In other words you do nothing while it automatically
advances progress bars on the screen and your character advances and there is
nothing else to it. Ironically, a lot of people actually wind up running it
for quite some time, myself included, but then the joke ends and they stop. To
me, it seems inevitable the same will come of Foursquare.
[1] <http://progressquest.com/>
------
po
Declaring a whole class of new and growing startups as "dead" is the most
hipster thing I can imagine: Checking in? I guess. _I_ haven't checked into a
venue since 2010.
There is some interesting thoughts in here but they're so mixed in with flawed
analysis that I don't think I actually learned anything from reading it.
~~~
URSpider94
True, except for the fact that Foursquare rode to prominence on the backs of
hipsters, roaming Brooklyn and SXSW in droves with their smartphones. So, one
might argue that if hipsters have moved on, then that's a leading indicator.
------
daimyoyo
When I first started using foursquare it was neat but I didn't get the appeal.
Then I grabbed my first mayorship and for a few months, I checked in
religiously. Recently, checking in to places has become a chore. I still do
check in when I remember to, but it's not a priority any more.
~~~
andybak
No-one has ever explained to me why I would want to be the 'mayor' of
anything.
I don't even see in what sense it's a game. What. I have to go to Starbucks
more than some other person to win?
I thought I was missing some important aspect like I did before I 'got'
Twitter but in this case apparently not.
------
baconface
Checking-in is tedious. Most of the benefits of location-based services are
happening through better uses of wireless communication. Excluding GPS,
Shopkick uses high frequency audio signatures and ZuluTime just patented some
new wifi based stuff ([http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/11/zulutime-issued-
patent-for-...](http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/11/zulutime-issued-patent-for-
location-aware-wireless-networks/)).
------
bergie
I was quite enthusiastic about check-ins when the good old Plazes service was
launched back in 2004. One of the great things about that service was that
originally check-ins were based on the WiFi access point you were connected
to. This made them effectively automatic.
Unfortunately they had a very problematic rewrite from PHP to Rails that lost
them quite a bit of their user base, and later Nokia bought the company.
Here are some notes from the one and only PlazeCamp they held just before the
acquisition:
<http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/plazecamp/>
<http://fourstarters.com/2008/01/17/plazecamp-wrapup/>
The key points with Plazes were: automatic check-ins (it only asked you for
information when nobody had connected to that network before), nice statistics
(how much you travel per day, who spends time in the same place as you), and
also some fun stuff like racing to see who registers most new plazes.
------
joe42
The author gives four reasons for why people check in. He didn't mention the
reason I would like to use a checking-in service (I'm not sure if there is a
popular one like this yet). I'd like to check in at a bar or a club (I often
go alone) and have the service match me with another checked-in person (or
people) to hang out with. Instead of using the service to hang out with people
I already know, I'd like a service to help me meet new people.
Seems like a check-in service could be a nice way to lower the barrier of
introducing oneself to a stranger. It's so easy to talk to strangers online,
it would be nice to bring that to the meat world.
~~~
URSpider94
I think the author's point is that this sort of usage is only actually
feasible with a very narrow demographic, in one or two places in the country
-- maybe New York, Boston and San Francisco. Elsewhere, the chance that there
would be even two people in a given bar or club running that app and looking
for new friends at the same time is basically zero point zero.
Besides that, in the introductions world, "meeting new friends" is marketing-
speak for meeting people to date, or more precisely, to hook up with. And, I
can imagine, as the author does, that women would be pretty squeamish about
getting involved with a service that announces their presence in a particular
bar and invites people to meet them.
In any case, Loopt has this service, or at any rate did at one point -- in one
of their iterations, they cordoned it off into its own application (Loopt
Mix). I turned it on briefly once, to see what it would do, and to be honest,
it was pretty creepy, a lot like the parts of Craigslist that have been shut
down ...
~~~
joe42
Yes, those would be the two big challenges:
* It needs to be widespread to work well.
* No creepy factor.
------
wazoox
OK, so please bear with me for a second. What the heck are these check-ins
about? foursquare? Huh, I can't make any sense of their horrid front page,
what is this about? Where is the explanation (no, not a video, thank you I
_can read_ )? Allow me to play the grumpy ol' man here, but this look like
another useless toy for teens. And yes, I include facebook and twitter in this
category, too.
~~~
mryall
You're judging a book by its cover. Why not try them out before you criticise?
Also, today's teens are tomorrow's free-spending twenty-somethings, so their
preferences can be quite relevant for many businesses.
~~~
wazoox
> _You're judging a book by its cover._
I'm judging a website by its front page, godammit. What else could I do? I
clicked a bit around, but my PC slowed to a crawl, so much for a first good
impression.
> _Why not try them out before you criticise?_
I could try it out if I could make any sense of it. I don't have time to open
accounts on random websites just in case it may be interesting. I'm tech-savvy
enough, but if I can't understand what a website is about at first glance,
either 1° it's definitely targeting an audience I'm no part of; or 2° there's
a serious presentation problem.
So I'm not criticizing, I'm leaning towards the gentler side : I'm probably
not their target. Or else, in case they're actually targeting 40yo geeks and
entrepreneurs, they may be doing it wrong.
------
mkramlich
I also thought Foursquare was a fad. Who cares if you checked in there? Who
cares if you're the mayor?
I actually have one LBS idea that for me would be really useful, I'd love to
have it, and thinking about building it. However I'm slammed with other stuff
right now and I'm loathe to switch to Yet Another Shiny Thing rather than
build up an existing project further.
(Credentials: I wrote the original Postabon/Signpost iPhone app (a deals LBS
startup now backed by Google Ventures), and the iPhone app for a different and
more recent AR/ecommerce LBS startup that's currently in stealth.)
------
dr_
I agree with the article's predictions with respect to foursquare, but I'm not
sure about Facebook, there's still tremendous potential there. Facebook
appears to have released Places without putting much thought into it beyond
allowing people to simply check in wherever they are and share it with their
friends. But I wouldn't be surprised if they were working on incorporating
deals with local businesses, etc on a much larger scale, some time soon,
either on their own or in conjunction with Groupon or Living Social.
~~~
klochner
facebook was actually pretty quick to launch deals:
<http://www.facebook.com/deals>
------
justinxreese
\- Look at compete.com traffic estimates
\- Extrapolate
\- Make assumptions based on extrapolation
\- Write sensationalist headline
------
Tichy
Missed one reason to check in: to promote the location (being a fan). That
alone probably isn't enough to sustain a checkin service, though.
------
neutronicus
The article made me wonder: are any of these accurate enough to be used for
"where did I park"? I would love it if my smart phone had a way to eliminate
"standing around in a parking lot looking bemused" from my day. I would love
it so much that I would permit it to have a "social" component.
~~~
StavrosK
Why can't you just add a star in Google maps or something? it should be
accurate to two meters... I bet there are tens of apps that do it.
~~~
mgkimsal
there are apps for it, but i've found launching any app as I leave the car and
head in to a shop to be too much trouble. By the time I get the app loaded and
ready to record, I'm many meters from the car's location.
It'd be better if the device had a feature to just replay your GPS locations
for the last 60 minutes.
------
cheez
And I thought this was about some new source control system that didn't need
checkins.
------
InclinedPlane
Yes, yes, sure, in the greater sense of things everything is dead or dying.
However, I think it's a bit silly to write off a phenomenon, market, or
product while it's still in the explosive growth stage. I personally don't
like foursquare but it seems to be going even strong as ever, which is all the
more impressive after having weathered some rather strong competition (such as
facebook).
------
jsavimbi
The check-in is way too egalitarian in order to transfer any perceived social
wealth through using the service.
What value can it have when I spend $300 on tickets to an event and some
schmuck in the nosebleed seats who spent $30 can check-in with the same social
weight? He's not in my class and I don't want him to be associated with me,
never mind competing with me in a game.
It's all fun and games until the normals start playing.
------
rwmj
Lacking context. What's a "check-in"?
------
jmtame
correction: foursquare is up to 7 million users, I spoke to dennis a week or
two ago. pretty impressive by comparison, I think Facebook had 6 million at
their year 2 mark.
~~~
teej
Woah there, wait just one minute. Facebook had 5.5 million active users after
two years _[1]_. Foursquare has 7 million registered accounts _[2]_. I
shouldn't have to explain how different those two metrics are.
[1] <http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?timeline> (active user defined as
having visited in the last 30 days)
[2] [http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/21/foursquare-closing-in-
on-7-...](http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/21/foursquare-closing-in-on-7-million-
users/)
~~~
jmtame
ah missed the "active" part ;) I quoted that from memory on my phone--not an
apples to apples comparison but makes me wonder. I'm interested in what
portion of 4sq's users are 'active', so I'll see if I can do some digging and
find out.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Towards frameless (clockless) video - mblakele
http://ideas.4brad.com/towards-frameless-clockless-video
======
shalmanese
The problem is, video cables need to handle the worst case scenario and the
worst case is a full refresh. Consider full motion video, whenever there's a
jumpcut, nearly every pixel changes. There's no way to compress that data down
without loss of fidelity.
I question how necessary all this is. Display resolutions have stagnated while
cable bandwidth has followed Moore's law. Until we get past the dpi impasse
and start producing true high res screens, we can afford to just keep on
upgrading cables occasionally.
~~~
jmah
_Consider full motion video, whenever there's a jumpcut, nearly every pixel
changes. There's no way to compress that data down without loss of fidelity._
I think the author is proposing a non-causal protocol, where the data isn't
necessarily sent in order. In FMV, perhaps the preceding scene can be sent
with less than the full bandwidth of the cable. The computer can send the
display many of the commands to generate future frames in advance, tagged with
when they should be executed. Now that there is some buffering, there is more
time to send the next full refresh.
At least, that's the intention I got from reading the piece.
~~~
shalmanese
That doesn't work in the case of interactivity (ie: games) since you can't
buffer.
------
akamaka
A solution looking for a problem. The author goes straight into the technical
details without actually mentioning why we need this.
~~~
Andys
It is analogous to Variable Bit Rate mp3 audio encoding.
It is a way of using slightly more bandwidth to increase the framerate of
video, instead of just the usual increasing resolution of each frame.
It should also provide a way to degrade gracefully to output devices that
don't support high frame rate.
~~~
DarkShikari
_It is analogous to Variable Bit Rate mp3 audio encoding._
No, it would be analogous to variable _sample rate_ audio encoding, which
doesn't exist.
_It should also provide a way to degrade gracefully to output devices that
don't support high frame rate._
Hierarchical B-frame structures in H.264 already provide this feature. For
example (where A is the highest level, B middle, C lowest, and P frames are
"ordinary" frames):
Full framerate: P A B A C A B A P
Half framerate: P B C B P (drop the As)
Quarter framerate: P C P (drop the As and Bs)
Eighth framerate: P P (drop the As, Bs, and Cs)
This is possible as P/B/C can't reference As, P/C can't reference Bs, and P
can't reference Cs.
Some broadcast hardware encoders are known to use an even more extreme
structure that involves 15 frame per hierarchy, allowing down to one
_sixteenth_ of the framerate.
------
bradtemp
No, the point of the article (or at least the problem to be solved) is driving
a high resolution display from a device or cable or network that doesn't have
the bandwith to do it the old fashioned, constantly updating frame way. DVI is
really just a digital hacking up of analog VGA which is not far above old
style video, and this makes no sense in a world where all displays sold have
frame buffers of their own and memory and graphics hardware are super cheap.
We should move everything to fully digital protocols, and share cables, and
get power on the cables (in both ways) too.
------
pronoiac
He's reinventing Display PDF, badly.
------
CamperBob
FTA: "Today, the world has changed. Displays are made of pixels but they all
have, or can cheaply add, a “frame buffer” — memory containing the current
image. Refresh of pixels that are not changing need not be done on any
particular schedule. We usually want to be able to change only some pixels
very quickly. Even in video we only rarely change all the pixels at once."
The trouble is, the system has to be designed to accommodate the worst case.
"Usually" and "rarely" are of no more use in video than they are in realtime
3D graphics.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
This Inventor Said He Could Clean Up the Ocean--Now He's Really Doing It - prostoalex
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3047064/hows-that-working-out-for-you/this-20-year-old-inventor-said-he-could-clean-up-the-ocean-now
======
mikro2nd
Alternatively
[http://www.theoceancleanup.com/](http://www.theoceancleanup.com/)
Watch the video (15m). No, seriously, watch it.
I take my hat off to this guy. He had an "out there" idea and has followed up
with solid science and engineering to prove the principles and technology
needed to bulk remove plastic trash from our oceans.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Living with a Jail Breaked iPhone - ToFab123
I look easy enough to jail break an iPhone, which I consider, so I can install the cydia appstore.<p>I have not been able to find any articles regarding the daily life with a jail broken IPhone.<p>Except for obvious security implications, what is your experience doing this.
Have your phone become unstable? Does it stop working each time apple push an update. Anything you would like to share in this regard?
======
ksaj
I extended the life of my iPad 2 by jail breaking. I can't say for the updates
since Apple stopped updating it. It only very recently truly gave up the
ghost, so that is one positive.
The negatives: You _must_ re-ailbreak at each upgrade because the
vulnerabilities they exploit change by definition between versions.
A lot of the time, the jailbreak fails and you simply restart and do it again.
Perfectly fine if you are patient enough to put up with a 15 minute boot
cycle.
Eventually it makes you hyper-averse to anything that might cause a reboot -
updates and battery drains are dreadful.
And after an update, there is no guarantee that a newer jailbreak will work. o
all your cydia-installed apps won't work until you get it jailbroken again.
Sooo, jailbreak for the novelty. Bu be aware the caveats can very easily mak
it totally not worthwhile. It did keep my iPad alive and usable for years, but
there was nothing smooth about the process.
Of course, ymmv. There are people out there that probably find cydia to be
awesome in every regard.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
More features in the Qt for iOS port - guruz
http://labs.qt.nokia.com/2011/08/09/update-on-uikit-lighthouse-platform/
======
potatolicious
No. _No_.
As a developer this is interesting and cool. As someone who loves good UX, and
as an iPhone user, I sincerely this doesn't catch on.
The look and feel of iOS is an _incredibly_ core part of the user experience
of the platform (as it is with any platform), the wholesale replacement of
these stock widgets with completely custom ones breaks user expectation,
generates inconsistencies, and if the goal of cross-platform write-once-
compile-anywhere is being sought, will simply create lowest common denominator
UI - i.e., leverages none of the strengths of any platform, leaving only the
most bland, mundane, and uninspiring intersection of all its target OSes.
To be clear, I'm not at all opposed to innovating with custom widgets and UI
elements (the drag-down-to-refresh is one of the more ingenuous new UI
patterns that's come from the community instead of one of the big companies),
but this is trying to completely build a completely parallel UI layer beside
the native OS one.
It's the same reason why I oppose Java-based UIs. No matter which platform you
use it on, it never really behaves like the native widgets, and there are
inconsistencies big and small that drive users up the wall. The core _theme_
of consumer software in the past few years has been that superior UX trumps
everything, up to and including having inferior features to your competition.
Have we learned nothing? Why are we still so lazy with our UIs?
~~~
tomjen3
I understand your reluctance, but from a developer time perspective it may
make sense to use a cross-platform toolkit even if the users isn't going to
enjoy it as much.
Ultimatively it comes down to economics: are you willing to pay five dollars
for a native app or 1 for a cross-platform one?
~~~
potatolicious
That's precisely my point though - I think the software market has reached a
point where developer laziness like this simply won't fly.
There was a time when the functionality of our products compared to the status
quo (e.g., word processing vs. typewriters) was so ridiculously skewed that we
could get away with bloody murder. And we did. We invented insipid modal UIs
that jerked users around the app. We invented gigantic toolbars with hundreds
of vague icons because we were too lazy figure out how to let users access
their most used functions quickly. We created unforgiving apps where just
_glancing_ at it wrong resulted in data loss. We abdicated our responsibility
to make features accessible, and instead printed large manuals and tear-out
cheat-sheets, and made fun of people who couldn't handle the information
overload.
That era's long gone. Look at the App Store - it's a parade of failed apps
eviscerated by users for bad UI. It's a gallery of obscure apps that never
made it out of the gate because they didn't put thought into their UX. Now
look at any of the top apps (in whatever way you define it: top grossing, most
downloaded, highest reviewed, whatever), and you will see that one main common
thread that connects is that their UI _doesn't suck_.
People's tolerance for bad UI has decreased rapidly for years, continues to
decrease, and the number of places where you can get away with it is rapidly
shrinking. On the desktop you might still have that much breathing room - on
the hyper-competitive winner-takes-all arena of the App Store, you have no
chance.
As a side note - I highly doubt Qt will save a developer enough time to make
the difference between a $1 app price vs. a $5 app price. There are so many
low-level fundamental UX differences between iOS, Android, and any of the
other mobile platforms that full abstraction is simply not possible in the way
that we have been able to do on the desktop.
~~~
zileazy
What does "having a UI that doesn't suck" to do with using native controls?
When I look at the top 20 paid apps (germany), 13 of them don't use a single
native control (most of them being games). Most sucking applications in the
App Store suck even though they are using native controls.
------
demallien
Does this mean that Nokia is keeping Meego going as a skunkworks project? It
would certainly help with leverage when negociating OS supplier contracts.
~~~
pavlov
When Nokia announced the switch to Windows Phone, they relegated MeeGo to
"research project" status. According to Elop, the work done on MeeGo is
supposed to anticipate the next disruptive technologies, rather than aiming to
compete in the current smartphone market.
Nokia also has said that they intend to use Qt on their Series 40 operating
system, which powers the hundreds of millions "dumbphones" that Nokia sells
each year.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Real Reason Silicon Valley Coders Write Bad Software - dsr12
http://theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/the-real-reason-silicon-valley-coders-write-bad-software/263377
======
zachgalant
Totally agree. When people learn to code, it's important to teach them that
code is written for other humans to read and understand.
I'm making CodeHS (<http://codehs.com>) to teach beginners to code and stress
coding style and code readability.
We give every students real live tutors who help them out and critique their
code to improve their understanding.
------
tomkarlo
Engineers are hired, and paid, to code and write new functionality. It's
unsurprising that they're generally not going to prioritize the quality of
documentation, since that effort primarily benefits someone OTHER than the
author.
While it's great to encourage better composition by the developers, companies
should also consider the benefits of hiring proper technical writers - people
who work primarily to improve and refine the quality of internal and external
communications.
There's an added benefit: sometimes it's harder to write documents for people
unfamiliar with a subject when you yourself are very deeply immersed in it.
(E.g. an API is written a certain way BECAUSE that made sense to the guy who
designed it. He's not going to see what has to be explained to a third party,
because he sees it as intuitive.) Having a technical writer provide a more
detached perspective on the quality of a document can be invaluable for both
the developer and the final reader.
------
bjhoops1
"Telling somebody to "look it up in the Wiki" is tantamount to telling them to
go f __* themselves." Ha! So very true.
~~~
dmorgan
True.
Putting up a Wiki as documentation for a project/API, essentially means "we
don't have time to write documentation, so we jotted together some napkin
notes, maybe you can come in and fix them".
I've never seen "wiki for documentation" work in practice. It's always left in
some semi-incoherent state, stale and incomplete.
------
ikailan
This article is wrong. Here's why: [http://ikaisays.com/2012/10/09/why-the-
real-reason-silicon-v...](http://ikaisays.com/2012/10/09/why-the-real-reason-
silicon-valley-coders-write-bad-software-is-wron/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why CSP matters I: Keeping things in sync (2016) - tosh
https://www.reaktor.com/blog/why-csp-matters-i-keeping-things-in-sync/
======
skybrian
The FDR4 checker [1] looks pretty slick. I'm not that familiar with the area,
though, so I'm wondering how it compares to model checkers? How does using a
model checker compare to using a refinement checker? (I've read that there are
model checkers for TLA+.)
[1]
[https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/projects/fdr/](https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/projects/fdr/)
~~~
peteretep
I used FDR4 extensively for a week. It's as much a simple IDE as anything.
------
sdenton4
I wonder if the real solution here is just better UX... The WhatsApp model for
message delivery gives visual confirmation when a message is sent, and then
more once it's been ACK'ed by the receiver's phone. This manages the
uncertainty, instead of trying to solve it. I know that my change to the
grocery list isn't 'real' until I've gotten ACKs back from everyone.
~~~
lathiat
iMessage almost does this if the recipient turns on "Message Receipt" \- you
get sent to server, and then received by the person.
I fully understand in a privacy conscious scenario wanting to have the option
to opt out of the second step.
------
amelius
Differential sync is not a very clean solution, because it doesn't encode the
intention of differences.
If one person increments a variable from 10 to 11, and another person sets the
variable from 10 to 11 independently, does that mean that the final value
should be 11 or 12?
Of course, in practice, you can work around cases like this. It is just not
very clean and feels like a hack.
------
idle_processor
Saw "CSP" and immediately thought of constraint satisfaction problems [0].
Unfortunate acronym.
[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constraint_satisfaction_proble...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constraint_satisfaction_problem)
~~~
atticusCr
When I saw "CSP" I thought of Content Security Policy instead
[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/HTTP/CSP](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/CSP)
~~~
m0dest
Me too.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Tech worker resistance is crucial to preventing human rights abuses in the U.S - sp332
https://blog.valerieaurora.org/2016/12/13/why-tech-worker-resistance-is-crucial-to-preventing-large-scale-human-rights-abuses-in-the-u-s/
======
morgante
We need a code of ethics for software developers, with actual teeth (violating
it means you can't commercially build software any more).
Edit: it's amazing how much the alt-right has infiltrated Hacker News. The
notion that we, as developers, should have a professional obligation to engage
ethically should not be so controversial (yet here I am with negative karma
for proposing it).
To expand on my point:
1\. This is hardly a novel suggestion. Lots of positions have professional
associations with ethics rules. See engineers, doctors, lawyers, librarians,
etc.
2\. This is not a union. Lawyers don't bargain collectively.
3\. Nobody is talking about illegal immigration. The worry here is around
proposals for a database of Muslim-Americans (who are almost all here
legally).
4\. Nobody is coming for your code. Obviously you won't need to enter your
professional PIN to compile code. It just means you'd have to be a member to
work for a major tech company.
~~~
abstractbeliefs
But who decides what's ethical?
I struggle with the same issues here in the UK, where the professional body
for tech, the British Computing Society (BCS) is not just toothless, but in my
eyes, actively harmful (for example, chose to vote _in favour_ of NSA-like
practices at GCHQ - including giving evidence (in the form of an expert
statement) to the government).
I think what is important to realise is that something approximating the
majority of people do actually go against the values typically espoused by the
people who visit HN, not just in the wider public but also within tech. And
even discounting those, how many people are quite happy to just do as told?
How do we work to distill the concept of professional ethics in tech from
these people, and then instill it?
~~~
idlewords
I think a good first step is to learn from groups—doctors, librarians,
lawyers, engineers—who have such a working system of professional ethics in
place.
~~~
slavik81
They define a much more narrow set of ethics. Nobody's losing their
engineering license for designing missiles. You lose your license for sneaking
in last minute changes in without proper review, accidentally causing missiles
to explode in their launch tube.
~~~
morgante
Doctors lose their medical license for deliberately harming people or engaging
in inhumane experimentation.
~~~
slavik81
How many doctors lost their licence over capital punishment?
~~~
morgante
Actually, since 2010 anesthesiologists have refused to participate in capital
punishment. [0]
> In at least one case, the planned execution of Michael Morales, the
> execution warrant was stayed indefinitely due to the objection of the
> contacted physicians to participate.
[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participation_of_medical_profe...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participation_of_medical_professionals_in_American_executions)
------
legostormtroopr
> We refuse to participate in the creation of databases of identifying
> information for the United States government to target individuals based on
> race, religion, or national origin.
This would mean I can never work on a system to support a social program that
identifies at risk minority children to improve health care initiatives. No
one can ever work on a national census again, or demography surveys.
It also highlights the "Americ-centric" view from a lot of tech people. The US
government is right out, but despite this pledge talking about their recent
Genocides, its perfectly fine to build these systems for Bosnia or Rwanda.
I'm also curious to know to whom anyone can "whistleblow" to now days,
especially now that people are trying very hard to paint Wikileaks as a
Russian front.
Ultimately, this is too broadly worded and toothless. I'll just stick to
"First do no harm".
~~~
idlewords
That's kind of a wilful misreading of the text. The mention of "targeting
individuals" explains the intent of the pledge.
This pledge is US-centric and _should_ be US-centric, because that's the
jurisdiction these enormous sets of user data live under.
As far as who people can whistleblow to, there are any number of tech
journalists and public figures with a well-earned reputation for integrity.
~~~
legostormtroopr
> identifying information for the United States government to target
> individuals based on race, religion, or national origin.
> to minimize the collection and retention of data that would facilitate
> ethnic or religious targeting.
Those are the only two instance of "target" in the text on
[http://neveragain.tech/](http://neveragain.tech/). There is no context on the
pledge and that's what they are asking people to sign.
Governments target individuals for a broad number of entirely valid reasons,
for healthcare, social services or law enforcement. Some genetic diseases are
racial or ethic - if a new genetic disease is discovered, is a national health
service obligated to or discouraged from contacting members of that racial
group? Scientology is a "religion" that has had a sketchy background, should
we make it impossible to build a database to track members?
~~~
anigbrowl
This is wildly disingenuous. But then with your username, that's about what
I'd expect.
~~~
aptwebapps
That's a pretty silly ad hominem from someone who usually writes interesting
and helpful comments.
~~~
anigbrowl
I'm not above the occasional cheap shot.
~~~
aptwebapps
To be honest, if I'd read further down the thread first I wouldn't have
bothered to say that.
------
jtcond13
Sure, force your boss to have the H-1B guy write that SQL query.
Then hop on the Google Bus and try not to think about the ways in which the
tech industry is rotting away American democracy (c.f. "Facebook is
confirmation bias at scale").
~~~
idlewords
The H-1B guy is not going to write the query to get himself deported. Even we
immigrants are smarter than that.
~~~
legostormtroopr
Why would the HB-1 guy be worries about deportation? HB-1 guy has a legal visa
to be in the country.
------
threatofrain
I don't view a decentralised resistance of technology workers as the right
remedy behind this "Never Again" movement.
* It underestimates the amount of diversity which exists within the tech community in terms of political or moral beliefs and attitudes. Just a small fraction of disagreement is enough technical capability to build a lot of things for big entities.
* The AMA or ABA is useful for censuring activities which are obviously noxious to broader society, which helps it manage its standing within society, but I think that is almost the entirety of the motivation and scope of professional ethics. Nevertheless I think there are advantages to organization and I hope for more of it. That being said,
You can't stop a metaphorical database of Muslims at a time when there's
sufficient political support to do so -- and there's plenty at the moment.
There's also enough political support to build illegal mass surveillance
machinery, and then lie to Congress about it. The aggregate of the US is okay
with that, just like how the aggregate of the UK is okay with even more in-
your-face surveillance. Likewise, you cannot stop the documented abuses of
psychiatry when there's all too much political support for it.
* I anecdotally see tech workers as constituting a small % of society, and as too politically diverse and unorganized to do anything interesting. The tech community places too much responsibility on itself without a commensurate degree of reliable power to back it up.
------
brighteyes
It's true all human beings - including software engineers - need to think
about ethics and to avoid participating in human rights abuses. But the "Never
Again" pledge is a simplistic, knee-jerk way to do that.
Refusing to build a database of people based on their ethnicity or religion
sounds like a good idea when you think of the possible abuses it can be used
for. But the US census gathers precisely that information, and (almost) no one
freaks out about it. Google and Facebook already have that information, and
(almost) no one freaks out about it.
The only reason someone is freaking out now is because Trump was elected. Now,
that might make sense - maybe a normally harmless database will be put to
horrible use by him. He has said horrible things. But he's also shown a lot of
what he says isn't intended literally.
We do need to be careful and vigilant. But "Never Again" isn't a good way to
do that.
Another issue is with this kind of thinking:
> But history tells us that, whether you do it humanely or not, this kind of
> large-scale human rights abuse requires huge numbers of people working
> together with the full knowledge that they are committing human rights
> abuses.
No, as Hannah Arendt and many others have shown, large-scale human rights
abuses often do _not_ involve lots of people consciously doing evil. Instead,
they usually think there are good reasons for what they do.
~~~
anigbrowl
_But he 's also shown a lot of what he says isn't intended literally._
I am so sick of this bullshit meme. The price of all the privilege and power
of being President is that you take responsibility for what you say and how
people could interpret it, because your actions have potentially life-changing
consequences for people and so people have a strong interest in knowing
(through your speech) what sort of actions you intend to take. If Trump can't
or won't control his own speech, why should we assume that his actions are
rooted in competence? You're basically saying that the concept of honesty is
irrelevant when it comes to politics, which is an invitation to the worst
sorts of corruption.
It also overlooks two things: one, that it's incredibly disrespectful of
people who are victimized by his casual remarks to say that the anxiety and
fear stimulated from his position of power don't matter and thus (implicitly)
that it's OK to provoke anger and fear in other people - in a word, bullying.
Two, that many of Trump's supporters do take him literally - about building a
wall, or how to treat Muslims, or about it being OK to grab women by the
pussy, and Trump is empowering them while simultaneously disclaiming
responsibility for their actions.
I can't believe I even need to explain what a steaming pile of bullshit that
position is.
_No, as Hannah Arendt and many others have shown, large-scale human rights
abuses often do not involve lots of people consciously doing evil. Instead,
they usually think there are good reasons for what they do._
You mean like in the opening sentences of your comment?
~~~
brighteyes
The problem is that in fact half the US population interprets Trump the way he
intends. You and I belong to the other half, and we are puzzled by his non-
literalness.
Apparently for the last 8 years the opposite was happening, you and I had a
president that spoke "our language", while the other half of the US kept
misreading him.
I don't know what to do about this except to try to listen to the other side
and understand them the way they intend to be understood.
~~~
anigbrowl
I've been listening to the other side for a good 15 years now and I have a
very good idea of where they're coming from, thanks. And I don't mean
secondary sources like liberal commentary websites or hand-wringing books on
America's changing social fabric, I mean that I read all kinds of right-
leaning sources, from think-tank publications t forums, public and private,
from abstract economic theory to neo-nazi groups. I pay close attention to
everything from what sort of humor they like to their religious and
philosophical justifications for a wide variety of radical views. I have spent
many thousands of hours immersed in conservative thought, which is pretty much
the opposite of being in a filter bubble.
------
clarkmoody
How about we work to make the government small and weak enough that it doesn't
have the capability to commit large-scale human rights abuses?
~~~
krapp
Then you have two problems: large-scale human rights abuses by private
interests, and small-scale human rights abuses by the government.
------
jimmywanger
This article is fairly silly.
> “We refuse to participate in the creation of databases of identifying
> information for the United States government to target individuals based on
> race, religion, or national origin.”
National origin - don't you have to declare what country you were born in to
visit/emigrate to the United States? This is trying to legislate intent, which
fails miserably. One thing we've seen is that if the database/tool exists,
it'll be used in ways that nobody had ever thought of before.
> I’m not one of the people who seriously believes that the cost of deporting
> millions of people will deter the Trump administration from doing it (one
> easy way to reduce costs: don’t deport people humanely). But history tells
> us that, whether you do it humanely or not, this kind of large-scale human
> rights abuse
I like how she goes straight from deportation to large-scale human rights
abuse. If you deport illegal immigrants (regardless of national origin or
faith), you're enforcing the law. Period, point blank. To stretch that into
human rights abuse is far-fetched at best.
~~~
tptacek
I am so far batting .750 with my conservative friends trying to convince them
that mass deportation is an issue they should be concerned with. Every one of
them begins by pointing out that "illegal immigration is illegal, full stop".
Here are the issues they're not immediately considering:
* For many Latino immigrants, the wait list for permanent residency is over 20 years long. The wait isn't that long because we want to restrict immigration; we broadly agree that if we drastically reduced the immigrant population in the US, the economy would suffer, because those people are staffing the meat packing plants, cleaning the hotels, working the line at practically every high-end restaurant, harvesting crops, laying bricks, and putting up tile. Rather: the 20 year wait list is simple bureaucratic cruelty: there are loud constituencies who are uneasy about formally allowing people to stay here while being totally content with allowing them to work here undocumented, so long as they're kept second-class.
* That's bad enough, but not dispositive. The real problem is that we've created the expectation that people can work here for years and years without obtaining permanent residency, and so people put down roots _and then have children here_. Children born in America are American citizens, full stop. We are idiosyncratic in having a Constitution that guarantees birthright citizenship, but we do, and we are a nation of laws. To deport undocumented workers with children born here is to put young American citizens in the position of having to choose between losing their parents or their home country. _Pointlessly_. We owe our fellow citizens better.
* A huge number (pretty much everyone agrees it's a plurality) of undocumented workers are undocumented not because they've done something wrong, but because they've somehow fallen off their visa track --- which the law makes incredibly easy to do! We put them on an untenable 20 year legal obstacle course that really requires professional representation to complete. They spend that time working and raising children. Then we punish their children for technicalities, while quietly replacing them with other Latino immigrants.
* The due process concerns about deportation are overwhelming. More than 70% of deportation cases in which the subject is represented by an immigration attorney fail --- the immigrant isn't deported. But the overwhelming majority of deportees aren't represented, because we don't guarantee counsel to people in immigration court. All we give them is a translator. If I sued you on some bogus libel charge for pissing me off on HN, how well do you think you'd do if you were denied a lawyer?
I am ultimately ambivalent about immigration enforcement. I recognize that we
are in many ways more lenient than much of Europe. My objection to the big
dumb wall isn't moral, it's just that it's a big dumb waste of money.
I am not ambivalent about pointlessly tearing up, or, worse, forcibly
relocating families that include American citizens. There are hundreds of
thousands of those. I would absolutely quit a job, refuse investment from a
firm that supported, or sever ties with a client that participated in a mass
deportation program that forced children to choose between their parents and
their country.
~~~
jimmywanger
> there are loud constituencies who are uneasy about formally allowing people
> to stay here while being totally content with allowing them to work here
> undocumented, so long as they're kept second-class.
If you have to get smuggled into a country without papers to live in this
country and work for wages less than people who already live in the country,
you sort of already have the expectation of being second class. Yet, people
still come. It's a choice they make. It's not an easy choice, but still a
choice.
> we are a nation of laws
and then
>To deport undocumented workers with children born here is to put young
American citizens in the position of having to choose between losing their
parents or their home country. Pointlessly.
The law is the point, as you said, we're a nation of laws.
> The due process concerns about deportation are overwhelming.
Due process is only a right guaranteed to citizens. Not quite sure what your
point is.
~~~
pcwalton
> It's a choice they make. It's not an easy choice, but still a choice.
And as for the children who never had a choice to make...?
~~~
jimmywanger
That argument works for really any situation involving children.
Children never had choices to make when born into an alcoholic family, or in a
country in a war torn third world country, and yet they still suffer. That's
just sort of how life is. The children suffer based on the mistakes of their
parents.
We have limited resources, and we have to decide how to partition these
resources.
~~~
pcwalton
So because children suffer injustices, it's fine to spend billions of dollars
of taxpayer money to deliberately cause more injustice? That can't be your
argument.
~~~
jimmywanger
> it's fine to spend billions of dollars of taxpayer money to deliberately
> cause more injustice?
To enforce the law and to prevent these injustices to happen in the future.
How are you causing more injustice? That's sort of like saying "Why spend
money to evict squatters in houses they don't own? They have children, and it
costs money to evict them."
~~~
pcwalton
Childhood arrivals are not squatters!
~~~
jimmywanger
Childhood arrivals are definitely squatters. If they're not born in the states
or citizens. They're here when they shouldn't be here.
Those that were born here are citizens, and get the choice like every other
citizen - move to be with their families, or stay here alone. The fact that
they're children is immaterial.
------
chrismcb
I don't get it. You are saying you don't want to make a database that the US
can abuse(but it is OK for other countries?) but then you concede that the US
probably already has the best database, but, wink-wink, they won't abuse it?
~~~
tptacek
No. The pledge acknowledges that abusable databases exist. It doesn't ask that
people leave companies that maintain those databases. What it demands is that
signatories commit to resist abuse, and, ultimately, to sever ties with
employers that abuse those databases.
The fundamental idea is that if enough people sign, management at tech
companies will have to make decisions to comply with unethical government
orders knowing that the discovery of their compliance (which is inevitable)
might cause significant retention problems.
~~~
brighteyes
> The pledge acknowledges that abusable databases exist. It doesn't ask that
> people leave companies that maintain those databases. What it demands is
> that signatories commit to resist abuse, and, ultimately, to sever ties with
> employers that abuse those databases.
In practice, developers work on those databases in Google and Facebook.
They'll be "ok" because they don't know they are abused. Other engineers in
those companies will work on giving the government access to it (as Snowden
documented), and they too will not see any abuse so they are ok. The
government gets that information and does what it wants with it. It might be
abusing it right now. (There have been many deportations under Obama, for
example, with little uproar; it's possible tech databases helped in those.)
The pledge is toothless. To be actually effective, it should have called on
people to not work at Google and Facebook.
~~~
tptacek
The pledge commits them to resign from Facebook or Google should either comply
with a USG mass deportation program. That's not "toothless".
~~~
brighteyes
As I said, Google/Facebook data may _already_ have been used in Obama's
deportations. No one knows either way. So the pledge can have zero effect.
The real problem is the existence of the databases, and government access to
them. Both of those things are facts right now. The pledge ignores that.
~~~
tptacek
That the pledge doesn't instantaneously solve all problems does not imply that
the pledge is "toothless".
------
stale2002
" target individuals based on race, religion, or national origin."
Ok, but what about a database used to target people who aren't in the country
legally? Is that a human rights abuse? No race, or gender targeting.
------
wcummings
Strongly agree, the lack of ethics in our field is deplorable. If people were
building software for gas chambers HN commenters would find a way to excuse
it.
~~~
adrienne
I've literally seen different HN commenters say some variation on "maybe some
people are just not valuable enough to keep alive" three times _today_.
------
brador
One step closer to a software engineer union. Move faster. It's time.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Are you friends with your manager? - aurbano
I’m intrigued by the psychology of the relationship between managers and directs.<p>For instance, can it ever be the same as it can be if you didn’t work together for?<p>Do you instead maintain a layer of “professional distance”, that means you won’t ever be as close?<p>I imagine it could just depend exclusively on the personality each has...
======
Jemaclus
I get a long fantastically with my manager. We do happy hours every other
Friday. I'd probably invite him to a BBQ at my house or something like that.
But I don't think I consider him a friend. That said, I _am_ friends with some
of my old managers, and (as a manager) with some of my old employees.
For current, active working relationships? Nope. We keep that professional
distance. Once we no longer work together, I'm open to closer relationships
with them. It usually doesn't happen, though.
The truth of the matter is that the thing most of us have in common with one
another is that we work together, and once that's no longer true, there's just
not that much more to the relationship, and so we inevitably drift apart.
~~~
yibg
I'm the same way. I'm friends with previous managers and reports but I try to
keep current ones professional. Even if there are no playing favorites I want
to avoid any perception of playing favorites for myself, my reports and my
managers.
------
mathieuh
I think it’s dangerous to be friends with bosses, it can cause you to lose
perspective on what the relationship between you and your work actually is:
you sell your labour, usually for far less than it is worth to the company.
I believe it is healthier to have a stark perspective on what is actually
happening in employer/employee relationships, and keep work as something that
I do in order to be able to afford a place to live and food to eat and nothing
more. Whether I enjoy whatever job I have at the time is secondary to this:
it’s a bonus, but again I try very hard not to let my job become a part of how
I see myself.
If you let yourself become “friends” with your boss I think you’re in danger
of blurring these lines and getting into the strange position where not only
must you do something you don’t necessarily want to do, but you must do it or
let a “friend” down. This seems like a fast-track way of burning out.
~~~
sokoloff
I _hope_ that I'm selling my labor to my company for less than it's worth.
Otherwise, I've put a giant target on my back for elimination. The company is
taking a risk by employing me and paying me no matter what I produce; I don't
mind at all at they make a profit on the transaction and seek to keep it that
way.
~~~
arkitaip
How does that mentality serve you when it's time to negotiate your salary or
benefits?
~~~
restingrobot
IF you're worth way more than you're getting paid, negotiations should be
super easy. This is probably a terrible analogy, but think of working like
mining diamonds and the employer like selling cut stones. If you mine huge
diamonds with fairly regular frequency asking to get paid more is a no brainer
for you and the company.
------
jkchu
I think the major hangup for this discussion is that each of us probably have
a different definition of what counts as a friend. I think there's certainly a
gradient between "friendly" and "friend", but I honestly don't think the exact
label matters much. For the sake of my discussion, I will consider a "friend"
someone that I would want to hang out with 1-on-1.
But I think there are certain boundaries that both sides must be respectful
of. For example, as a manager you need to make it clear to your
employee/friend when you are communicating as a manager vs as a friend. That
distinction should not be left ambiguous as that will make things potentially
awkward if there is a disconnect.
As an employee, you need to respect that fact that your manager cannot tell
you everything, and understanding that being their friend doesn't mean they
will give you any special treatment. You should be extra careful to avoid
this, as your manager will be sensitive if they notice you are trying to take
advantage of the friendship in any way.
In the end, I think these boundaries can cause the friendship to not progress
past a certain point if you are actively working together, mainly because it
is just extra work to move past a certain level of friendship if so.
~~~
aurbano
I think you’ve nailed it.
It’s something that’s possible, but very difficult and it requires a lot of
additional work to keep it going and progress the friendship.
------
baron816
I like to think of my manager as working for me, rather than the other way
around. I never receive orders from them, nor do I feel I need to impress or
“perform” for them. But, they do have go out and find information for me, or
do stuff to unblock me. Plus, it’s their responsibility to keep me around and
keep me happy. At the very least, it’s a partnership, so that makes it easier
to have a personal relationship.
~~~
rdtwo
Absolutely agree it’s a partnership where both succeed together. If things are
working well my manager is busting his but to promote me and I’m busting mine
to make him look good so he can get his promotion.
------
sabellito
I've been a manager for only 7 years now, but so far I've actively avoided
managing personal friends.
Good work colleagues, having a pint after work once in a while, sure. But I
wouldn't manage people I spend time with on the weekends.
I can easily see myself either being too harsh on them to compensate, or
inadvertently giving them a pass instead of feedback when necessary.
------
loopz
There are places where people are more friends, even with their managers.
Sometimes it cannot be avoided. It can be great or bad. Great is rare, and
managers cracking the whip makes people work harder, not smarter. If I get the
choice, I prefer being friendly with eachother. There's no need to be mean,
and there are ways to convey messages without condescending arrogance or
unsolicited advice. Being friendly means a safe space to lift spirits and
spread new ways of working and thinking. If you think somewhat similarly, you
can even be allies and play to eachother's strengths. If your manager cannot
ally with you, you should seriously consider finding somewhere else that got
your back. Don't lean on it though. It can be gone in an instant, and you
should stand on your own feet as much as you can.
------
stevekemp
I suspect things are different, where I've been (UK, and Finland). But I'd
expect to become friends with colleagues, take children on playdates, etc.
Often times colleagues will go for beer after work, especially on Fridays, and
otherwise hang out at lunchtimes. Here in Finland I've sat naked in a sauna
with upper-management, drinking beer, and relaxing.
Sure they're often not the people I'd expect to become friends with, but by
virtue of having similar interests and spending a lot of time together you'll
often have good relationships - not distant-ones - with colleagues.
(It is worth noting, for example, just how many romantic relationships start
in the workplace ..)
------
jnwatson
Yep. Last four jobs. In 3 of them, we were friends beforehand. Almost got
hired by a fifth.
Huh I just noticed I have a tendency to work for friends.
It is much like a marriage. There’s stuff that has to get done, and you have
to work together to get it done. And like marriage, moving on can be tricky.
Trickier is befriending higher-ups. Keeping confidences is important when you
know before your boss does.
I’m still friends with 2 of the 3 former bosses, so it is possible to maintain
a relationship.
------
skim_milk
I have an interesting professional and personal relationship with the boss -
he secured me a contract with one of his clients so not only do we have a 9-5
together, but also work for the same client in the afternoon. Personally we're
fairly close and like to talk about deep, risky topics you'd normally reserve
for close friends although we only get together maybe once a month.
I sometimes wonder if professional distancing/shyness varies by region in the
USA and the world - mine seems to lack all professional distance compared to
my coastal peers. Someone I know worked in Brazil and they seem to go the
extreme end of shunning distance with professional peers - traveling long
distances to go their subordinates' weddings and such.
------
ljw1001
All human relations are increasingly subject to the criteria of «is it good
for the corporation?». Or, is it good for me financially. Which, considering
how work is increasingly central to our lives is unfortunate. We’re Charlie
Chaplin in Modern Times without the factory.
------
chrisbennet
I'm friends with _everyone_ I know, including my managers, if I've had some
sort of extended contact. I went kayaking with my last manager for instance.
I've even made friends during interviews (where I didn't take the job).
I've had "managers" that I've only talked to once a month that I didn't become
friends with but that's to be expected.
------
codezero
A good manager needs to be able to have really hard conversations, including
firing people.
It's great to be close, but it's important both people are fully aware of the
power dynamic, and that it is real.
Your manager should be like a coach on a sporting team (in more ways than one)
- you can go hang out after the game, but during practice they will wear you
down. The important point here is the context - it's when and where.
Also, keep in mind, your job is just your job, and people are more important
than a job. You'll have other jobs, and other managers, so if you value the
friendship, go for it.
------
notyourwork
I've always taken the stance that I don't mix personal and work. That way I
have a clean separation between the two. Rough days at work, I can shift focus
to a different social circle. However, a few years ago I joined a team and we
all got along too well. It became a group of friends that worked and played
together. It was great in so many ways and after 2 years we all parted ways.
I doubt I'll ever experience something like it again and we still are friends
but we all wish we had a team dynamic like we used to have.
------
softbiz
Wrote a blog post on this a while back[0]. Short answer: no, not friends with
my manager, nor my subordinates. We get along great, and have a good time at
work-social events, but that's the end.
[0] [https://softbiz.io/posts/why-i-am-not-facebook-friends-
with-...](https://softbiz.io/posts/why-i-am-not-facebook-friends-with-
employees-or-my-boss)
~~~
restingrobot
I disagree with a lot the points in your article. The things you listed as
cons with having office "friends" all sound like things no real "friend" would
do. I don't generally use social media, so maybe I don't understand that
aspect, but honestly if someone came to work and gossiped about me, they
wouldn't be considered a friend. This article seems to specifically mean
Facebook friends so I guess my opinion isn't super relevant as I don't use
Facebook.
------
cmwelsh
I prefer to work for managers who recognize me as a person who can grow in the
team. I get a lot of support because I foster a relationship that our combined
success is important. Is this friendship? No. But it’s worked out very well.
We both have our own friends. However, I haven’t ruled it out - we just aren’t
a good match (often there are gaps between us in life stage).
------
tootie
I'm friends with some ex-managers as well as my ex-reports. I've hired reports
to new companies when I moved before. I still talk to them over text/slack
since our department dissolved in the recession. I was hoping I'd be in a
position to hire them all at a new place by now, but it hasn't worked out.
------
iends
My current manager was a peer until we decided to combine teams and for me to
back to more of an IC role.
It's been weird for me ever since. Not friends. In fact, sometimes I've felt
he's had the exact opposite of my interest at heart.
------
piercebot
Yes, I consider myself friends with my manager.
I also consider myself friends with 2 of my 5 direct reports.
These are people that I've known for half a decade or more, though. Also, I
think the manager aspect came after the friendship aspect in most cases.
------
emerged
I suppose you can't really answer that question for sure until you're fired.
Do you still feel like friends? Then you are friends.
------
booleandilemma
I’m not friends with my boss, nor do I want to be.
I have a coworker who regularly chats with our boss on social media and it
bothers me.
I feel like it’s the road to nepotism.
~~~
rdtwo
And it is and it will will work in his favor
------
lazyant
You cannot be truly friends with someone when there's an imbalance of power.
------
fmakunbound
I'm good friends while I'm getting raises.
------
gorpomon
Your relationship should ideally be convivial, fun, mutually informative and
beneficial for you both. You should be getting both guidance navigating your
company's politics from your manager, and overall career growth by working on
their team. Sometimes they won't be technically stronger than you, but in
those cases they should be helping you grow in other ways (giving talks,
mentoring others, taking on leadership tasks). In cases where they are
technically more proficient you should be learning from them, perhaps not
actively but at least they're pointing you in the right direction. During all
this you're enjoying spending time working with this person professionally.
In return what you offer your manager is someone who's capable of doing work
and becoming increasingly capable of working with less direction. Eventually
you take ownership of initiatives. You should advocate for your team where
appropriate, but never fanatically. You should be brave enough to speak up if
you're worried about their course of action.
The main dynamic is this: In return for them helping you grow and navigate,
you're trying your best to be someone who's self-sufficient, capable and
someone they don't have to worry about.
There are a few things you should definitely not be doing. You shouldn't be
spending too much time with them outside of work (an occasional happy hour or
office event is a-ok). You shouldn't be getting drunk with them. You shouldn't
be getting counseling or guidance on intensely personal issues like romantic
relationships or personal life goals. Your relationship should pass a simple
smell test: if you were to tell someone you were engaging in a behavior with
your boss would they be shocked or surprised. If so it's probably not
appropriate. Here's an example: "I eat lunch with my boss a few times a week."
Seems fine to me. "I've eaten lunch with my boss every day for the last six
months" Seems a bit off to me. Of course different people will have different
limits-- it's up to you to set healthy boundaries that work for you.
Finally, when one of you moves on from the company, feel free to have any type
of relationship you want with the manager. You're both now two independent
people. I would still overall caution from becoming too intimate with them,
but it's your life and you should trust yourself to steward it correctly. The
reason I caution is that it's because you really don't know this person on a
deeper level, and you might be surprised with what you find out. Most likely
you'll maintain some professional friendship, perhaps even help each other out
for several years, but after that lose touch. Ideally, you'll always look back
on working with this person as a time of great fun, enjoyment and growth.
------
goatinaboat
A manager who is your friend is either a bad manager or a bad friend. One day
he will have to decide between you and his own managers interests.
~~~
bpodgursky
This really gravely misunderstands how teams are formed in a lot of growing
companies.
5 new engineers start fresh out of college. They work directly under some VP
of engineering. They become friends, as young people of like interests who
work together every day are wont to do.
The company grows! Now you need to organize into an actual team. So someone
becomes a team lead, and others stay ICs.
Do they now divorce themselves of friendship, since one is a manager and the
others are not? No, that's stupid. They are friends where one is a manager.
Source: myself, and hundreds of thousands of other people who have been
friends with their manager.
~~~
rdtwo
And the friends get benefits, that’s life as much as people here don’t want to
admit it, life ain’t fair that way.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Focused Crawling - bravura
http://bixolabs.com/about/focused-crawler/
======
pedalpete
Are these guys just offering to write 80legs crawlers for customers?
Maybe I'm missing it, but with the ease of web crawling, and the capabilities
of open source data mining tools, I think these guys are serving a VERY small
market.
~~~
kkrugler
Hi Pedalpete - I'm the founder of Bixo Labs, so this comment caught my eye. My
first thought is "We need to add some additional context to that page", for
cases like this where it's the first time somebody is reading about what we
do.
As to your question, we don't use 80legs. We build workflows on top of
Hadoop/Cascading/Bixo, and run them in EC2.
As for the size of the market, I agree that just writing a webcrawler isn't
that interesting; you can easily use Nutch, Heritrix, or (for small stuff)
roll your own, though the ins and outs of large scale webcrawling are
definitely non-trivial.
We've found our sweet spot to be customers who use the raw webcrawl results as
the starting point for a data processing workflow. Sometimes what happens next
is simple (extract particular types of data off pages, turn into XML, push to
the next step) and other times it's more complicated, where natural language
processing & machine learning are key steps.
You mentioned open source data mining tools - which ones are your favorites?
We use a lot of open source, but after my Krugle startup days I know there are
always 10 more alternatives to every project that I haven't yet heard about.
Thanks,
\-- Ken
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Heroku - Bamboo Routing Performance - nigma
https://blog.heroku.com/archives/2013/2/15/bamboo_routing_performance/
======
redguava
I don't understand why people think this is a great response. They know how
their routing works, just say so. It can't be that hard to give a basic
overview of it before they release a more comprehensive post.
As for the comment "Improving our documentation and website to accurately
reflect our product". That is a very round about way of saying "our website
indicates our service does things that it does not" which is a VERY bad thing.
People are paying for this service based on what Heroku claims it does.
If the website has been inaccurate for years, that is false advertising and
really a bigger problem than they are giving credit to.
If anything, I am more disappointed now that I have read this response, it has
not appeased anything.
~~~
spiralganglion
Documentation discrepancies happen. I've seen them with pretty much every
platform I've worked on.
Just yesterday, I found a critical discrepancy between the ActionScript
documentation and the actual behaviour of the ActionScript compiler, costing
my team a day of work. (I tried to report the issue to Adobe, but the Adobe
Bug Reporting System was down. Perhaps they need a Bug Reporting System for
the Bug Reporting System.)
I think it's pretty heroic (yeah, pun) for Heroku to own their mistake, make
the changes they've proposed, and accept the fire we've been pouring on them.
They could have easily tried to weasel their way out of this, or attack the
claims (Tesla/NYT comes to mind). Instead, they've accepted their own
wrongdoing, and have pledged to make it right.
Who cares if the explanation comes today or tomorrow? Give them a few more
hours to make sure their new round of technical claims are accurate, since
such accuracy is exactly what's at issue.
~~~
redguava
In answer to "who cares if the explanation comes today or tomorrow", I care if
the explanation comes today or tomorrow. I use Heroku and have hit scaling
issues in the last few weeks very similar to this. More information on what is
going on behind the scenes will help me immediately.
As for discrepancy in documentation, this is one of the most major parts of
their infrastructure and directly relates to how well applications scale. To
claim they have intelligent routing and then not having so, that is completely
misleading and not just a minor documentation discrepancy. This isn't a tech
document that got out of date, this is straight from their main "how it works"
page... <http://www.heroku.com/how/scale>. Read the bit on routing.
~~~
bitcartel
Well, for marketing purposes, random doesn't sound as impressive as
intelligent. It's a discrepancy but it does appear to be disclosed.
On the page you link to, it says: "Incoming web traffic is automatically
routed to web dynos, with intelligent distribution of load instantly as you
scale."
When you click on "Read more about routing..." it says: "Request distribution
- The routing mesh uses a random selection algorithm for HTTP request load
balancing across web processes." <https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/http-
routing>
~~~
RobAley
It may sound more impressive, but it's simply wrong. It's not even ambiguous.
If they had said some thing like "with advanced algorithmic distribution of
load instantly as you scale", its wishy-washy enough that its technically
correct and those that need to know exactly how it does it will need to go and
look at the docs.
As it is, intelligent distribution tells those that need to know that the
distribution of load is based on intelligence gathered from the system, so
they may not look farther. And it's simply not true.
------
antoko
That's actually a pretty impressive response as far as it goes. Obviously
there's no details at this point, but he absolutely takes responsibility,
doesn't try to deflect or sugar coat it, and manages to find a tone that is
both professional/serious, yet also down-to-earth and earnest. I guess the
real impact will be how they go about "making it right" but in terms of a
first response to the situation the tone is near perfect.
~~~
kami8845
No this is not impressive. This is them fucking up and misleading customers
for 3 years, enjoying a great reputation and now FINALLY getting called out
for their BS. They're about to lose that great reputation that they've spent
the past years building up, so of course they're in major crisis mode and
doing everything they can to fix this.
~~~
antoko
Your response doesn't really seem to be directed at my comment. In your first
sentence you're using "this" as if you're talking about the blog post which is
what I praise in my comment(the tone of it), but then in your second sentence
"this" refers to the routing issue raised by rapgenius, I wasn't commenting on
that at all - I'm not a Heroku customer I was merely commenting on a GM's
response to negative press.
~~~
kami8845
Yeah, it's still not impressive. The only thing that I'd say is impressive in
response to the situation would be:
"Hi, CEO of Heroku here.
Sorry. We've been misleading customers and only telling the truth when
pressed-hard for years. We've created this financial model for all of our
customers who have been overpaying on dynos because of our shitty routing and
will be reimbursing them based on that.
We've also rolled out a second dyno-tier, called "dyno with non-shitty
routing". It's 10x as expensive, but at least we're being honest about it. All
current customers will enjoy our "dyno with non-shitty routing" for the price
they're currently paying for the next 2 years. Enough time for them to migrate
away, like any reasonable person would expect them to after this."
~~~
white_devil
This is spot-on.
_Of course_ they're going to post _something_ , and of course they'll make it
sound as good as possible. But it's baffling how so many people applaud such
meaningless damage control drivel time after time.
~~~
antoko
Considering how many people/companies fail so spectacularly at it, why would
it be baffling? I also think you underestimate the difficulty in making things
"sound as good as possible" that one quality is the basis of the entire
marketing and political industries - and a large component of many others.
You're basically saying "It's obvious - just be perfect!" - it is not that
easy.
All that being said - I'm really not "applauding" Heroku or their actions
(which are what matter) I'm waiting to hear what they'll say. In the mean time
I thought their messaging (which matters much less) was good.
~~~
kami8845
No worries antoko. We're not really banging up on you, just pissed off at
heroku :) Their wording was good, better than usual when companies fuck up.
But they're deeply embedded in the startup community so good PR with us is
expected, betraying our trust like this, however is not.
------
ibdknox
It's a good response in that they _are_ taking responsibility, but it is
pretty obvious that they are reluctant to say anything about a fix. In my
mind, "it's hard" isn't a valid excuse in this case, especially when there are
relatively straightforward solutions that will solve this at a practical
level. For example, you could imagine a naive form of intelligent routing that
would work simply by keeping a counter per dyno:
\- request comes in and gets routed to the dyno with the lowest count. Inc the
count.
\- response goes out. Dec the counter.
Since they control the flow both in and out, this requires at most a sorted
collection of counters and would solve the problem at a "practical" level. Is
it possible to still end up with one request that backs up another one or two?
Sure. Is it likely? No. While this isn't as ideal as true intelligent routing,
I think it's likely the best solution in a scenario where they have incomplete
information about what a random process on a dyno can reliably handle (which
is the case on the cedar stack).
Alternatively, they could just add some configuration that allows you to set
the request density and then you _could_ bring intelligent routing back. The
couple of milliseconds that lookup/comparison would take is far better than
the scenario they're in now.
EDIT: I realized my comment could be read as though I'm suggesting this naive
solution is "easy". At scale it certainly isn't, but I do believe it's
possible and as _this_ is their business, that's not a valid reason to do what
they are.
~~~
gojomo
What if their inbound routing is hundreds of machines, each of which may get a
request for any of their thousands of apps, spread across tens of thousands of
web dynos?
Do you have a distributed sufficiently-consistent counter strategy that won't
itself become a source of latency or bottlenecks or miscounts under traffic
surges?
~~~
ibdknox
Atomic counters are pretty fast. Redis, for example, should be able to handle
it without breaking a sweat: <http://redis.io/topics/benchmarks>
~~~
gojomo
I doubt they want every inbound request to require:
• query remote redis for lowest-connection-count dyno(s) (from among
potentially hundreds): 1 network roundtrip
• increment count at remote redis for chosen dyno: 1 network roundtrip (maybe
can be coalesced with above?)
• when connection ends, decrement count at remote redis for chosen dyno: 1
network roundtrip
That's 2-3 extra roundtrips each inbound request, and new potential failure
modes and bottlenecks around the redis instance(s). And the redis instance(s)
might need retuning as operations scale and more state is needed.
Random routing lets a single loosely-consistent (perhaps distributed) table of
'up' dynos, with no other counter state, drive an arbitrarily large plant of
simple, low-state routers.
~~~
nikcub
This has all been solved previously. In Google Appengine the scheduler is
aware of, for each instance:
* the type of instance it is
* the amount of memory currently being used
* the amount of CPU currently being used
* the last request time handled by that instance
It also tracks the profile of your application, and applies a scheduling
algorithm based on what it has learned. For eg. the url /import may take 170MB
and 800ms to run, on average, so it would schedule it with an instance that
has more resources available.
It does all this _prior_ to the requests running.
You can find more docs on it here:
[https://developers.google.com/appengine/docs/adminconsole/in...](https://developers.google.com/appengine/docs/adminconsole/instances)
For eg.
> Each instance has its own queue for incoming requests. App Engine monitors
> the number of requests waiting in each instance's queue. If App Engine
> detects that queues for an application are getting too long due to increased
> load, it automatically creates a new instance of the application to handle
> that load
This is what it looks like from a user point of view:
<http://i.imgur.com/QFMXeT1.png>
Heroku essentially need to build all of that. The way it is solved is that the
network roundtrips to poll the instances run in parallel to the scheduler. You
don't do:
* accept request
* poll scheduler
* poll instance/dyno
* serve request
* update scheduler
* update instance/dyno
This all happens asynchronously. At most your data is 10ms out of date. It
would also use a very lightweight UDP based protocol and would broadcast (and
not round-trip, since you send the data frequently enough with a checksum that
a single failure doesn't really matter, at worst it delays a request or two).
~~~
kawsper
> It also tracks the profile of your application, and applies a scheduling
> algorithm based on what it has learned. For eg. the url /import may take
> 170MB and 800ms to run, on average, so it would schedule it with an instance
> that has more resources available.
That is very awesome technology, but it something like that available for non-
google people?
~~~
nikcub
Expensive commercial appliances like the popular f5 big ip's can, and that is
what a lot of large-scale websites use:
<http://www.f5.com/glossary/load-balancer/>
In terms of open source, HAProxy has layer 7 algorithms but they are much
simpler:
[http://cbonte.github.com/haproxy-
dconv/configuration-1.5.htm...](http://cbonte.github.com/haproxy-
dconv/configuration-1.5.html#4-balance)
If you were inclined, you could write an algorithm to implement something
similar in one of the open source routers.
------
nikcub
There is a perverse conflict with platform service providers - the worse your
scheduler performs the more profitable your service will be.
You replace intelligent request scheduling with more hardware and instances,
which you charge the user for.
How much investment is there in platform service providers towards developing
better schedulers that would reduce the number of instances required to serve
an application? That answer, in this case, is "not a lot"
The incentives between provider and user are not aligned, which is why I am
more inclined to buy and manage at a layer lower with virtual machines.
Edit: AppEngine went through a similar issue. Here is an interesting response
from an engineer on their team:
[https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/google-
appengine/y-LnZ...](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/google-
appengine/y-LnZ2WYJ5Q/j_w13F4oSSkJ)
~~~
praptak
> There is a perverse conflict with platform service providers - the worse
> your scheduler performs the more profitable your service will be.
I think the practical significance of this kind of incentives is overrated.
The company I work for does outsourcing work, paid by hour. Do they have
incentives to make me produce less so that their customers pay for more hours?
Theoretically. Do they act on it? Hell, no - there is competition and customer
satisfaction matters.
~~~
quahada
The business of government contracting shows these conflicts of interest are
real and lead to Billions of $ of waste annually.
There is plenty of competition for government work, but there are many ways to
game the system even in the rare truly open/fair competitive bids.
~~~
chc
That's because competition for government work is not really based on customer
satisfaction in the same way it is in other industries AFAIK.
------
programminggeek
Wow, I feel like Heroku is really dropping the ball here. Like, they are
acting punch drunk or something. Basically all this says is "we hear you and
we are sorry". They could have posted that a day ago. This still says nothing
about what is wrong and what they are doing to fix it.
Also, I'm not sure at what point this is, but at some point around say $3-5k a
month, (100+ dynos) you really should rethink using Heroku. At that point and
higher, you really ought to know about your infrastructure enough to optimize
for scale. The "just add more dynos" approach is stupid because adding more
web fronts is often the lazy/expensive approach. Add a few queues or some
smarter caching and you'll need fewer web servers. Throw in something like
Varnish where you can and you need even fewer servers. Point being, at some
point scaling is no longer "free", it takes work and Heroku isn't magic.
~~~
7952
At $3-5k a month Heroku may as well start offering a consultancy service
rather than hosting. Wanting unlimited scaling without needing local talent is
a reasonable thing to want, but its unrealistic to expect if from one single
platform.
~~~
ceejayoz
A lot of their success stories at <http://success.heroku.com/> are sites you'd
expect to be spending the $3-5k/month.
If their platform can't handle higher amounts of load, they really should
indicate as such.
------
aneth4
This is a horribly inadequate response. Prices for hardware have dropped 30%
over the last 3 years and heroku is admitting their performance has degraded
by many orders of magnitude. It's completely unacceptable to simply say, "yeah
there's a problem, we'll give you some metrics to understand it better."
Sure, it's great they responded. The response should be "you're right, we are
fixing it and issue credits" for revenue gained from fraudulent claims about
the performance of their product and a credibility straining bait-and-switch.
------
salman89
Most people are going to come here and mention how they are not planning on
fixing the problem.
Put it into context. Heroku made this change 3 years ago, and also has had no
issues admitting the change to users. Their documentation has lagged far
behind and I believe they will be more transparent in the future. This is an
engineering decision they made a long time ago that happened to get a lot of
PR in the past 24 hours. Until there is a business reason (losing customers),
I don't see them "fixing" the problem.
~~~
twog
I think this PR has already hurt Heroku & caused them to lose customers.
~~~
WestCoastJustin
_The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about - OW_
You are almost investing in heroku by using their stack and tool chain, it
isn't easy for well established customers to just up and move. This is
probably a PR win for them, rather than a loss. Truth be told, it will be how
they handle this in the coming months that will make them win/lose customers.
~~~
camus
If you are locked in the trunk with any cloud solution , then you are a bad
programmer/syst admin/whatever taking bad decisions, period.
You should be able to move your project infrastructure quickly from a service
to another ,if you cant to that, well too bad when your infrastructure
fails...
------
xwowsersx
What the hell? It's good he owned up...I guess. But the response basically
sounds like "yeah, we've been charging the same prices over the last few years
for increasingly degraded performance and we would have continued to do so,
but someone finally caught on so I guess we have to now do something about
this, right?"
------
ibrahima
I think this is really a fine response considering the pretty terrible way the
original post was written and the community responded. The simulation was a
bit of a stretch because the supposed number of servers you need to achieve
"equivalent" performance is highly dependent on how slow your worst case
performance is, and if your worst case isn't that bad the numbers look a lot
better. Don't remember the precise math, but back when I studied random
processes we studied this problem and the conclusion was that randomly routing
requests is generally not that much worse than doing the intelligent thing,
and doing the intelligent thing is nowhere near as trivial as Rapgenius and
random HN posters would have you believe. Given generally well behaved
requests he random solution should be maybe 2-3x worse but nothing near 50x
worse.
And besides, I really don't see why someone who needs that many dynos is still
on Heroku.
~~~
tomlemon
Rap Genius cofounder:
> The simulation was a bit of a stretch because the supposed number of servers
> you need to achieve "equivalent" performance is highly dependent on how slow
> your worst case performance is, and if your worst case isn't that bad the
> numbers look a lot better
It's still pretty bad. Here's a graph of the relative performances of the
different routing strategies when your response times are much better (50%:
50ms, 99%: 537ms, 99.9%: 898ms)
[http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/1360871196_routerstyles_fa...](http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/1360871196_routerstyles_fast.png)
See <http://rapgenius.com/1504222> for more
~~~
gingerlime
Disclaimer: I've never used heroku :)
if I understand the chart correctly, using unicorn with two workers gets you
pretty close to intelligent routing with no intelligence. I imagine adding up
to three or four would make things even better... I don't know about puma/thin
etc where you can perhaps crank it even further without too much memory tax(?)
To me this seems like the easiest approach for everybody concerned. Heroku can
keep using random routing without adding complexity, and most users will not
get affected if they are able to split the workload on the dyno-level.
On a slight tangent: On the rails app I'm working on I'm trying to religiously
offload anything that might block or take too long to a resque task. It's not
always feasible, but I think it's a good common-sense approach to try to avoid
bottlenecks.
------
drchiu
What I find incredibly irritating about this blog response by Heroku is that
it took a very visible post on Hackernews for them to act and reconsider their
way of doing business.
They saw the potential loss in customers, and then acted. What this means is
that they never had in mind to provide the best support and product they could
for their customers before this news broke out.
Sad.
------
mcgwiz
Credit for owning the scope of the problem (allowing serious discrepancies for
3 years), which is sure to cost them trust from the community. But the skeptic
in me reminds me that it's likely there was no way out of admitting it.
What disheartens me is that the documentation discrepancy caused real,
extremely substantial aggregate monetary impact on customers, yet there is no
mention of refunds. Perhaps that will come, but in my opinion, anything short
of that is just damage control.
This is a time excessively demonstrate integrity, for them to go above and
beyond. It's in their interest not to just paper over the whole thing.
------
spankalee
It's so refreshing to see this kind of communication. I don't use Heroku, and
don't know much about this specific issue, but they're responses to downtime
and complaints have been so direct and BS-free that I'll definitely consider
them when I need a PaaS.
------
ivzar
I feel like there is an answer for this, but why are two companies in the "YC
family" at odds so publicly? If RapGenius is "starting beef" like is done in
the music industry, I find it odd that it would happen with someone on their
own "label".
Perhaps this is ignorance on my behalf of how companies who have already been
sold (Heroku) fit into the picture, but some explanation would be appreciated.
~~~
damian2000
Heroku has been owned by Salesforce.com since dec. 2010
------
auggierose
Well, let's put it like this. Those of us who know our programming shit and
aren't afraid of a little math know exactly what has being going on here and
that this answer is pretty much BS (what else is he supposed to say? basically
he makes minimal concessions given the facts).
------
timothya
_Working closely with our customers to develop long-term solutions_
Of the five action items they listed, it seems that only the last of them is
about actually solving the problem. I hope they are committed to it - better
visibility of the problem can help, but I'd rather not have the problem in the
first place.
~~~
raylu
Actually, that's the only one that smells like BS to me. The others have clear
meaning and goals.
~~~
dragonwriter
The other ones are things that are obvious and immediate responses to the
problem on description that don't take any deep analysis of alternatives.
Long-term fixes actually do require deep analysis of alternatives (and even
what the appropriate parameters are for a solution that will deal with
customers problems while maintaining Heroku's scalability), and aren't
something you can do much more than make vague references to off the cuff.
The key question on that point will be follow-through.
------
RaphiePS
Interesting -- he seems to be saying that they'll explain all about the
problem, but not do anything about it.
~~~
gojomo
That's not fair. What do you think "tools to understand and improve the
performance of your apps" and "develop long-term solutions" from his bullets
mean?
But, I'm surprised they didn't wait until the "in-depth technical review" was
available to apologize. And the idea that they were informed of a problem
"yesterday" doesn't quite match the impression RapGenius gave, that they'd
been discussing this with Heroku support for a while.
~~~
callum85
I think RaphiePS's comment is fair.
"tools to understand and improve the performance of your apps" only commits
them to updating their docs and tools to reflect how their system really
works. It doesn't indicate any intention to fix the actual problem (the fact
that requests can be routed to busy dynos), nor that they will make any kind
of reimbursement to people who made business decisions based on incorrect
docs.
"develop long-term solutions" doesn't really mean anything.
~~~
RaphiePS
Yeah, that phrase is a bit suspect. It could easily mean "teaching people how
to effectively deal with our dumb routing."
------
kevinfat
Can someone explain, to people who know nothing about scaling infrastructure,
why routing to idle dynos is a hard problem?
~~~
gojomo
It requires statefulness and decisionmaking at the routing layer, and that's
another thing that adds overhead and can go wrong at scale. (For example,
there may be no one place with knowledge of all in-process requests. Traffic
surges may lead to an arbitrary growth of state in the routing layer, rather
than at the dynos.)
There are probably some simple techniques whereby dynos can themselves
approximate the throughput of routing-to-idle, while Heroku's load-balancers
continue to route randomly. For example, if a 'busy' dyno could shed a
request, simply throwing it back to get another random assignment, most jam-
ups could be alleviated until most dynos are busy. (And even then, the load
could be spread more evenly, even in the case of some long requests and
unlucky randomization.) Heroku may just need to coach their customers in that
direction.
~~~
jacques_chester
I must be stupid, because surely it can't be _that_ hard to partition the
routing groups?
For example, use a hashing algorithm that switches to 1 of N intelligent
routers based on domain name.
If you pick the right algo you can pretty much add routers whenever you like.
(It would be nice to know what Heroku have tried so far, at the very least to
drive off know-it-all blowhards like me.)
~~~
gojomo
They could partition the routing, and maybe they do. But then (a) there's one
extra hop mapping to the specialist routing group; and (b) it's still nice to
have super-thin minimal-state routers, for example with just a list of up
dynos updated once every few seconds, as opposed to live dyno load state
updated thousands of times per second.
I too hope their full response givss more insight into their architecture... I
have a couople of small projects at Herooku already and may use them. for
several larger ones in the future.
~~~
jacques_chester
> _there's one extra hop mapping_
I thought about mentioning this. Because 1 small hop is still less than random
blowouts in response time.
You can even cheat by pushing the router IP into DNS. Hop eliminated.
> _it's still nice to have super-thin minimal-state routers_
I imagine Heroku's customers are not interested in what is nice for Heroku,
they want Heroku to do the icky difficult stuff _for them_. That was the whole
pitch.
Anyway, we're arguing about Star Wars vs Star Trek here because we have no
earthly idea what they've tried.
~~~
gojomo
_...pushing the router IP into DNS..._
Maybe, but they don't currently give each app its own IP, and might not want
the complications of volatile IP reassignments, DNS TTLs, and so on. (Though,
their current "CNAME-to-yourapp.herokuapp.com" recommendation would allow for
this.)
_...want Heroku to do the icky difficult stuff..._
Yes, but to a point. Customers also want Heroku to provide a simple model that
allows scaling as easy as twisting a knob to deploy more dynos, or move to a
higher-resourced plan. Customers accept some limitations to fit that model.
Maybe Heroku has a good reason for thin, fast, stateless routing -- and that
works well for most customers, perhaps with some app adjustments. Then,
coaxing customers to fit that model, rather than rely on any sort of 'smart'
routing that would be overkill for most, is the right path.
We'll know a lot more when they post their "in-depth technical review" Friday.
------
encoderer
(Wonders what this response would look like if Elon Musk was running Heroku.)
~~~
pkulak
RapGenius wasn't deliberately making shit up to get page views.
------
damian2000
So the issue only affects Bamboo? that's what it seems to be saying
~~~
thenduks
It does _seem_ to be what they are saying but, unfortunately, no :(
Random request routing is also present on Cedar [1]. The difference is that,
on Cedar, you can easily run multi-threaded or even multi-process apps (the
latter being harder due to a 512mb memory limit) which can mitigate the
problem, but does not solve it. Modifying your app so all of your requests are
handled extremely quickly also mitigates the problem, but does not solve it.
Seems to me the obvious solution is to do these things (multi-threaded app
server, serve only/mostly short requests) _and_ use at least a somewhat
intelligent routing algorithm (perhaps 'least connections' would make sense).
[1] - [https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/http-
routing#request-d...](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/http-
routing#request-distribution)
------
zensavona
Maybe I'm missing something here, this response speaks specifically about
Bamboo - do all new services now not run on Cedar?
------
mhartl
This is a great response, and I'll look forward to the follow-ups in the days
to come. Kudos to the Heroku team. Bravo.
------
tyler_grady
Is it me not understanding disqus, or did Heroku's moderator just deleted my
comment?
~~~
benatkin
I think I saw your comment and that they must have deleted it. Apparently
their idea of keeping it civil means keeping out links to the blog post that
it was a response to.
------
alberth
It seems strange for me to read in Heroku's response how forthcoming they are
to accept blame and responsibility for the "a degradation in performance over
the past 3 years".
Yet they state their action plan to "fix" this issue is to update their
DOCUMENTATION and no mention of fixing the DEGRADATION issues itself.
Just bizarre.
~~~
dragonwriter
> Yet they state their action plan to "fix" this issue is to update their
> DOCUMENTATION and no mention of fixing the DEGRADATION issues itself.
This is flat out untrue. The third bullet point in their action plan is to
update their documentation, and the fifth is "Working closely with our
customers to develop long-term solutions".
Updating the documentation to accurately reflect what the platform does is
obviously critical to allow people to make decisions and manage applications
on the platform as it is, so is an important and immediate part of the action
plan.
Long-term fixes to the problem are also important, and are explicitly part of
the action plan. Its clear that they haven't identified what those solutions
are, but its not at all true that they haven't mentioned them as part of the
action plan.
------
austingunter
I'm very curious to see what the technical review turns up tomorrow.
This feels like something that would have been connected to the Salesforce
acquisition 3 years ago, and then making the service less efficient in order
to increase profits or revenue targets on paid accounts. Not to mention saving
money on the free ones.
It would be a little bit like Tesla not only selling you the Model S, but also
selling you the electricity you charge the vehicle with. At some point, they
make the car less efficient, forcing you to charge more often, and then
claiming they didn't document this very well. Frankly, there are only so many
people who will be a capable enough electrical engineer (or in Heroku's case,
a sysadmin) to catch the difference and measure it.
The apology should be, "we misled you, and betrayed your trust. Here's how
we're planning on resolving that, and working to rebuild our relationship with
our customers over the next year. [Insert specific, sweeping measures...]
------
podperson
Seems to me like a classy response to a real problem from Heroku.
We all need to remember that there are no magic bullets. The fact that Heroku
can get a startup to, say, 5M uniques per day by dragging some sliders on a
web panel and running up a bill on a corporate AMEX is pretty impressive.
At some point scaling a web business becomes a core competency and one needs
to deal with it. I'm guessing by the time scaling an app on Heroku becomes an
issue, if better understanding your scaling needs and handling them directly
isn't going to save you a TON of money, your business model is probably
broken.
------
tomlemon
Rap Genius cofounder:
Our response: [http://rapgenius.com/Oren-teich-bamboo-routing-
performance-l...](http://rapgenius.com/Oren-teich-bamboo-routing-performance-
lyrics)
------
habosa
So do the issues in the RapGenius post only affect those on the Bamboo stack?
I'm procrastinating migrating to Cedar now but this could be a very good
reason.
Also, I really love seeing a company take responsibility like this. I know the
situations (and the stakes) are not comparable but this is a lot better than
what Musk did when Tesla got a bad review. As a company just take the blame
and say you can and will fix it, that's good enough for most people.
------
twog
Honest question, why would Rapgenuis still be on Heroku if the y needed 100
dynos? Why not go directly to AWS at that scale? The cost savings would be
pretty significant. Am I missing something?
~~~
ibdknox
Ops guys cost a lot more than just using Heroku, not to mention the cost of
simply having the responsibility of servers (even if they are virtual). Never
underestimate the value of just not having to think about something,
especially when you're small group of people.
~~~
philwelch
I think the amount of time and energy they've invested in studying Heroku's
routing and queueing strategy counts as having to think about something.
------
mattquiros
Did they just say that they have no plans to return to intelligent routing,
just making naive routing more visible to you?
------
instakill
Bamboo routing? Is Cedar not affected?
~~~
psynapse
I think Cedar is just not affected _as badly_ because it will route > 1
request at a time to a dyno, which helps if you're using something like
Unicorn.
------
wowzer
At this point they haven't really done anything. I'm really curious to see
what they come up with.
------
seivan
Wait, so those guys were on Bamboo, and complaining? Fuck, that is so not
cool.
We've been on cedar ever since it launched, and been running puma threads or
unicorn workers. The idea of one dyno per request is bullshit, and I wasn't
sure if they were on cedar or not. A dyno is an allocated resource (512mb, not
counting db, k/v store etc)
How ballsy of them to complain when they are doing it wrong.
~~~
badgar
> We've been on cedar ever since it launched, and been running puma threads or
> unicorn workers. The idea of one dyno per request is bullshit, and I wasn't
> sure if they were on cedar or not. A dyno is an allocated resource (512mb,
> not counting db, k/v store etc)
It doesn't matter if you think one dyno per request is "bullshit" or not,
Rails isn't multithreaded, so what do you propose they do? Using unicorn_rails
on Cedar lets you fork off a few subprocesses to handle more requests on the
dyno queue which gets you a constant factor bite at the dyno queue lengths, a
few weeks or months of scale at best - it's not a real solution.
Heroku knows that Rails on Cedar is _just_ as affected by their inability to
route requests and they're only not copping to it in this blog post because
they don't have a customer running Cedar complaining so loudly. Which is
cowardly.
> How ballsy of them to complain when they are doing it wrong.
If you mean that deploying a rails app to Heroku is doing it wrong - a
sentiment many are agreeing with right now - then yes, you're correct!
~~~
btilly
If you pay attention to queueing theory, you'd know that even a modest amount
of parallelism per worker will let you run much closer to capacity while still
having very few bad request pileups.
Another way to put that is that using Cedar lets you get acceptable end user
performance with far fewer dynos.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
This startup sucks. I want to work at another startup. - cliffdailey
https://medium.com/p/6800367d3cc5
======
antidaily
The interesting part:
[http://www.poachbox.com/home.html](http://www.poachbox.com/home.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Trucker Explains What You're Doing Wrong on the Highway - prostoalex
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/trucks/a17482/how-to-drive-highway-advice-from-professional-trucker/
======
SeanDav
Where I drive (UK), truck drivers are by far the worst drivers on the road.
Many of them are from Europe and used to driving on the right side of the
road, not the left side in the UK. If this was the only issue it would be bad
enough, but truck drivers in general have some very dangerous and nasty habits
I see every day, without fail, while driving.
The biggest issue is overtaking of slow trucks by other trucks. Trucks will
indicate and then change lane simultaneously, into gaps that only barely have
room for their truck. Bad luck if you are approaching at normal highway speed
and now have to brake heavily to avoid rear ending a truck that has just
appeared in your lane, travelling 20 mph more slowly. Bad luck if you are the
driver that just had a huge truck appear 2 inches behind you and now you have
to do an emergency stop. Also bad luck if you happen to be next to the truck
and in their blind spot. They just don't care, after all they would not even
notice if you rear ended them, or they squashed your car against a side
barrier.
Many accidents are caused by this, to the extent that there is talk about
banning overtaking by trucks on some highways. Truck drivers are also guilty
of travelling way too fast for the conditions, tailgating and other cardinal
sins of the road.
This seems to be particularly bad in the UK, as I have lived/worked in other
countries and usually truck drives in other countries realize they are driving
huge, slow to stop killing machines and are far more aware and respectful of
that.
~~~
Piskvorrr
Not much better on the continent, either - except for the right-side driving,
of course. (There actually _is_ a law around these parts that says "no trucks
in the fast lane" \- guess how effective it is)
~~~
georgerobinson
I don't think it's just an issue of no trucks on the fast lane.
If you drive on 3 or 4 lane roads, such as the M25, there is a visible
disturbance to traffic flow even when a truck enters lane 2 on a 4 lane road.
This has the effect of pushing all people that drive between 60 and 70mph out
of lane 2 and into lane 3, where the average speed is between 70 and 80mph.
This, in turn, pushes slower moving traffic into Lane 4 (inside lane) where
its not uncommon to see people driving between 80 and 90mph. The overall net
result is an awful amount of breaking, lane changing and short spacing between
cars.
------
eagsalazar2
If a trucker is tailgating you: immediately let them pass, read the phone
number off the back, report them.
~~~
cooking_liquid
Former truck driver from germany here. Sure, you shouldn't tailgate as a truck
driver. His point is still valid. There are very few good reasons (read
exceptionally bad conditions) for going slower than a truck's max speed. 90%
of the time, people are just not paying attention. From the truck drivers
perspective, this is nearly coercion, especially where overtaking is
forbidden. I once tried to overtake a car on a highway in southern Germany
which went like 80 km/h. I drove a 60t mobile crane, limited to 89 km/h (like
most of the trucks in Europe are). When she realised that, she accelerated and
I had to stop the maneuver. Then she fell back to 80 km/h again. Rinse and
repeat for two times. Guess what I did then. Hint: There was some serious
honking involved, too.
Also please keep in mind there is a grey area between tailgating and starting
a passing maneuver and at least in my country it is tolerated to reduce the
safety distance in order to start overtaking.
~~~
dhoe
Comments like this are why I'll cheer for that profession being automated
away.
~~~
cooking_liquid
There are a lot of reasons for automated driving and most of them have
something to do with human behaviour. Sorry for trying to put the statement
about tailgating into perspective.
~~~
tombrossman
I think many truckers would welcome more automation. I know I would have when
I was driving. The scenario you describe happens very regularly - A truck with
speed limiter going down the road with cruise control for many hundreds of
miles consistently - A car driver who makes a conscious decision to become a
nuisance. The choice for the trucker is to either allow the other driver to
choose a new lower speed for the truck, or attempt to intimidate the car in
front which is actively preventing the pass and choosing to antagonize you.
Neither choice is a good one, and that's where the automation comes in, to
remove human emotions from the equation.
One thing that you should remember if you are the type of car driver that does
this is that truckers are communicating with each other and not all of them
are safety minded, or driving a company truck with a phone number on the back.
What this means for you is that you may succeed in your little power trip
against the truck behind and then have an unpleasant experience with one of
the trucks up ahead. It's not right but it does happen. Some of these drivers
are sociopaths who would be delighted to run you off the road.
For clarity, I'm not talking about quick little misunderstandings or short
periods of distraction while a car driver makes a mobile phone call or sends a
text. I'm talking about the parent comment with a truck attempting to pass a
slow car and that car speeding up to prevent the pass, and then repeating that
process several times. This happens often and it's maddening. You have to just
let it go but you do wonder about the car driver, and why they choose to have
a pissed off trucker following them. Automation can help with this for sure,
and the car driver can go find another person to annoy.
------
iaw
Having known someone who was crushed to death by a trucker rear-ending their
car in stop and go traffic: truckers should _never_ tail-gate.
~~~
mytochar
He said tail-gating as in 3-4 car lengths. Admittedly, that is tailgating for
a vehicle that takes forever to stop; but, this isn't the big scary monster
right behind you situation. They're further back, but just as unable to stop
------
im2w1l
It's 2016. Cameras are a thing. Why are blindspots still legal?
------
AdamJacobMuller
> I almost ran this guy off the road because I couldn't see him. [...] He was
> right along my right-hand side. What can I do?
Stopped reading and started screaming at the computer after that comment. What
can you do? Pay attention to what you're doing before you change lanes. You
almost killed someone and you're blaming them? My vehicle has blind spots too,
when I'm changing lanes I look to make sure that there isn't someone there
prior to changing lanes.
This whole article just screams stereotypical "I own the road" egomaniac
trucker to me.
> If you see a truck in your rearview, the first thing you need to do is put
> down your phone.
Seriously, just assuming that someone is on their phone?
> when you see it's a soccer mom with a van full of kids.
_sigh_
I know this is in popular mechanics so they're just playing to their audience,
but, this is low even for them.
~~~
snatoeusntaoeu
_This whole article just screams stereotypical "I own the road" egomaniac
trucker to me._
Your comment just screams stereotypical "I have never driven anything larger
than a station wagon" to me.
Seriously, consider the length of a tractor-trailer. Then consider the size of
the mirrors and their location. Add in bad weather, where the crap coming off
the wheels creates a veritable fog bank alongside and behind every vehicle.
Don't drive in _anyone 's_ blind spot. And especially don't drive in a large
truck's blind spot. Being legally in the right doesn't matter if you're dead
or stuck on the side of the road with weeks of chatting with your insurance
agent ahead of you.
------
dschiptsov
It could be worse - riding a heavy loaded bike in Uttar Pratesh and Bihar. You
have no idea.)
------
mirimir
> People think we are the safety hazards. But we're not. We know how to drive
> defensively.
E=mv^2
Semi: 36000kg
SUV: 3600kg
Compact: 1800kg
Cycle: 360kg
For a semi moving at 100kph, these are the speeds where smaller vehicles would
have the same kinetic energy:
SUV: 316kph
Compact: 447kph
Cycle: 1000kph
Just sayin' ;)
~~~
im2w1l
It doesn't make a difference for your results, but it's
E = 0.5 mv^2
~~~
mirimir
How embarrassing ;)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to design a better open office - anjalimullanyny
http://www.fastcompany.com/3021206/dialed/how-to-create-an-open-office-that-is-more-awesome-for-both-introverts-and-extroverts
======
anjalimullanyny
I wrote this in response to an article a colleague wrote about our office. He
really dislikes the open office layout and argues that everyone should have
their own private office. I agree with him that our office isn't perfectly
planned, but I don't agree we should all be in private offices -- I don't
think that's the best solution, given the work we do. I sought out a lot of
advice this week to find out what makes open offices work -- would really like
to hear from any of you who have ideas about how to design these open layouts
more intelligently.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
NASA researches windowless cockpits; future businessjets might employ - DabAsteroid
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/FA18101008.xml&headline=Blind%20Aft-Cockpit%20F-18%20Points%20To%20Biz%20Jet
======
SlowOnTheUptake
BSoD
~~~
DabAsteroid
Indeed.
<http://images.google.com/images?q=aircraft+birdstrike>
------
DabAsteroid
Article excerpt:
_Testing is under way of an F-18 with a covered aft cockpit to help prove
that a camera-equipped aircraft with no forward view windows could be a viable
option for a future supersonic business jet.
The external vision system tests involve Gulfstream Aerospace and are taking
place at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.,
using the agency’s F-18 systems research aircraft (SRA). The aircraft’s aft
cockpit canopy is shielded with only small cut-outs to represent side windows,
while the forward view is taken up with a a 22-inch high-definition (HD)
display. Gulfstream is exploring supersonic business jet configurations
affording little or no forward view.
The liquid crystal display, bolted in place over the glareshield, is being
used to display an image from an HD camera mounted behind the head-up display
in the front cockpit. A safety pilot flies in the front cockpit, ready to
assume control if the situation warrants, while the mission is flown from the
aft cockpit by a pilot using only instruments and the visual display on the
external vision system. ...
Five flights have taken place since mid-September, and the work is expected to
culminate with three night flights around the end of October._
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Facebook with slowing growth in Asia. Is Facebook slowly running out of steam? - zhiQ
http://www.greyreview.com/2011/07/01/facebook-in-asia-more-than-150-million-users-but-slowing-growth-in-quarter-2-2011/
======
nextparadigms
I think it was to be expected in Asia, with China blocking them, but the real
surprise was that people are _quitting_ it in its core market: North America.
And that was even before Google+ was announced. The launch of Google+ will
only accelerate the exodus, because I believe there are a lot of Facebook
early adopters who got tired of it, and they couldn't wait to move on to the
next big thing. Unfortunately, until Google+ there was no such thing.
------
Uchikoma
Not sure where there is really the news. With a limited number of humans and a
percentage of social media users of X% of human population, this needs to
slow. The slowing down seems to come early, but only because FB is such a huge
success.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How It Took Me 10 Minutes to Rank in Google Featured Snippets - marvinrussell
https://medium.com/@checkli/how-it-took-me-10-minutes-to-rank-in-google-featured-snippets-42ec9fec377
======
matchbok
Spam - this is just an advertisement for a silly checklist website.
~~~
marvinrussell
Thanks for the comment. Why do you consider it spam? Can you elaborate? I'm
not selling anything. It's a case study with examples, and a step by step
guide, on how to rank higher in Google in far less time, and for free, by
doing doing a different method content marketing.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
If you're looking for startup ideas this might help - samh
http://www.querycell.com/Business_Forum_Discussion.html
======
acgourley
This thread caught my eye:
<http://www.mechanicslounge.com/showthread.php?t=4982>
~~~
iamcalledrob
If this (screenshot of UI) is what people are paying $250/m for, and it's the
best thing around then it looks like room for a simpler web based solution.
<http://www.m1products.net/sms/manager/images/orderscreen.jpg>
~~~
nopassrecover
The market is the biggest problem - mechanics probably don't have a decent
internet connection at work to start with, don't want to learn new software,
and wouldn't even think to look for new software.
~~~
samh
Im not sure about that. How many mechanics in the world are there ? A lot. So
even if a small percentage have internet and are willing to try new stuff it
could well be a market that is worth tens or hundreds of millions. Maybe.
How many mechanics have email ? I think a large percentage.
How many people starting up new mechanic businesses are in their 30s or even
20s and reasonably net savvy ? I imagine quite a few.
Course these questions are best answered with some research and discussion
with mechanics.
~~~
nopassrecover
Definitely, it just reminds me of PG's musings on "Art Museums Online" because
of my own past (but limited) research into this market.
------
avk
Another great technique that I read about recently: be the opposite of
secretive <http://cdixon.org/2010/03/14/developing-new-startup-ideas/>
------
SlyShy
If you are looking for startup ideas, start talking to customers, basically.
~~~
samh
Well yeah, I mean you don't necessarily have customers per se but get out and
talk to people with real problems.
People who have money at stake in some way is probably best.
My 2 cents anyway.
~~~
samh
Also I like the idea of non-glamorous businesses. There is an English saying
"Where there's muck there's brass".
------
akshaybhat
This link is a perfect example of how a tangential article is being used to
boost page rank of his website.
~~~
samh
Do you think it is spammy ? I think it adds value. What happened was It
occured to me as a useful thing to post and then I considered which of my
websites to put it on.
I think google does a pretty good job of providing good incentives. I mean
there are a lot of people competing to create content that other people are
interested in. That's a lot better than many of the alternatives.
My 2 cents.
~~~
akshaybhat
I never complained its spammy! It is one of the useful ways of boosting your
page rank and getting it linked.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Passed.pw – Random password generator seeded by mouse or touch motions - cxam
https://passed.pw/
======
allendoerfer
Congratulations for shipping but it does not seem like a good idea to me to
use a web-based password generator.
~~~
cxam
Thanks.
I agree that a web-based password generator is not ideal and have mentioned
this in the about page. This is mostly due to Math.random() being
pseudorandom. However, the application does try to be a bit better than some
of the services currently out there by seeding Math.random() and using
window.crypto.getRandomValues() to generate cryptographically random values
where available.
Also, it goes without saying but the passwords are generated on the client as
all similar services should.
~~~
rubbingalcohol
> passwords are generated on the client
Using remotely loaded JavaScript code. This is just not safe.
~~~
artursapek
Hey now, I wouldn't disregard this project completely just because it's built
on web tech. The most popular Bitcoin paper wallet generator is the same way -
and using that directly involves your money. Their approach to the "it's not
safe" argument is by open-sourcing it and letting people run it locally
(bottom right) [1]. Maybe that would work well for this project, too.
That said, it's a nice UI, OP. I wouldn't abandon this because of the lack of
response you got here.
[1]
[https://bitcoinpaperwallet.com/bitcoinpaperwallet/generate-w...](https://bitcoinpaperwallet.com/bitcoinpaperwallet/generate-
wallet.html)
~~~
cxam
Thanks for the feedback and link, much appreciated. Since the application is
fully client-side, anyone could download the site and run it locally without
any issues. Maybe making this more apparent by providing a download link
(similar to Bitcoin paper wallet) is a good idea.
I have a GitHub project
([https://github.com/cxam/passed.pw](https://github.com/cxam/passed.pw)) open
at the moment to track issues and plan to make this open source soon after
fixing any bugs found during the initial trials.
All the libraries used in this project are open source and I have listed these
on the about page with the relevant links.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
360° Oculus rift music video: Steye and the Bizonkid – What do we care 4 - MeProtozoan
http://www.surroundvideostream.com/api/2/staff/videos/986/preview
======
MeProtozoan
Proof of concept made by a few friends of me.
Install the Surround Video app
([https://appsto.re/nl/QdvDL.i](https://appsto.re/nl/QdvDL.i)) and use your
iPhone/iPad as a Oculus rift alternative.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Solar Roadways Awarded DOT Contract to Pave Roads with Solar Cells - auferstehung
http://www.physorg.com/news171545860.html
======
LeBleu
$6,900 per panel adds up to about $3 million per lane-mile.
Typical rural highway costs for new highway are $3 - $9 million per lane-mile,
with urban highways costing $5 - $20 million per lane-mile. (per
[http://www.railstotrails.org/resources/documents/whatwedo/po...](http://www.railstotrails.org/resources/documents/whatwedo/policy/07-29-2008%20Generic%20Response%20to%20Cost%20per%20Lane%20Mile%20for%20widening%20and%20new%20construction.pdf))
The estimated 7.6 kwh per day per panel mentioned in the article, if you
assume it gets that every day, adds up to 3.344 mwh per lane-mile, which at
average US retail electric rates, adds up to $120,000 per lane-mile per year.
According to their website, these panels will supposedly be designed to last
21 years, vs. the 7 typical for asphalt roadways. That would bring the
lifetime electricity production per lane-mile up to $2.5 million. (not
accounting for inflation nor electric price changes over 21 years)
Frankly, I find their 21 year projected life absurd, but then again I live in
a state with yearly freeze-thaw cycles shortening the life of roadways. Other
than that, it seems like if they could meet their claims, it would be
financially feasible to build roads using this stuff.
------
ernop
Do we have a lack of unused space, which isn't crossed every day by tons of
heavy cars? If we're going to build these panels, there's no need to build
them in distant places that often get damaged, like highways - better put them
in unused land near a city to minimize power transportation costs.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How Google Ambushed Microsoft and Changed the Subject - HardyLeung
http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/03/how-google-ambushed-microsoft-and-changed-the-subject
======
brudgers
> _"I can’t condone any kind of plagiarism or cheating—and that is what
> Microsoft’s usage of Google data seems to amount to."_
By academic standards, Google plagiarizes many times a day.
In Google's "sting" operation the description Google provides for
www.cfacu.org is copied directly from DMOZ. Academic standards don't cut any
slack for the ODP license and similar terms.
See:
[http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/microsofts-bing-
uses-...](http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/microsofts-bing-uses-google-
search.html)
and
<http://www.dmoz.org/search?q=clyde+findley+area+credit+union>
~~~
maeon3
The best argument Microsoft has is: "You Too". Basically: "What I did wasn't
wrong because the person complaining does it too."
~~~
brudgers
My comment was not a defense of Bing but an attempt to point out the absurdity
of applying academic standards Microsoft's conduct. Were one to apply academic
standards to Binggate, it seems somewhat probable that Google's experimental
results would have difficulty passing peer review.
Interestingly from a plagiarism standpoint, the description returned by Bing
for cfacu.org is far better cited, since it is directly from the website
itself rather than from an entirely uncited site like Google's.
In terms of academic standards, the results returned by Bing would probably
not to be categorized as plagiarism but rather as not meeting style guidelines
[such as APA format].
------
eitally
Most of Wadhwa's essays just get a "meh" from me. Nothing particularly
original, not always pointed, and they usually don't leave me fulfilled.
Perhaps this one may have been useful if the reader had been living under a
rock for the last week, but those people don't frequent tech blogs.
------
jefe78
If Blekko sticks to their word, I'd be inclined to give them a real chance.
Sick of my search results being padded with spammy results.
EDIT: Having looked at them, I'm a little unclear about what they're trying to
do. Are they actually letting end-users tag the web? I.e., Google not allowing
users to block certain sources.
~~~
greglindahl
Yes, we're letting end-users tag the web. Try this video:
<http://vimeo.com/14593120> ... for the spam example, you can mark a site as
spam with a single click. That blocks it only for you, but occasionally we
look at aggregate data, and that's why we dropped those 20 sites from our
index: because our users don't want to see them.
~~~
jefe78
That is great to hear! I'm going to put it through its paces! I'd love to
share feedback with you once I do.
------
narrator
>"We need a standard measure of web quality. "
To think that you can come up for an objective standard of quality for any
search term is ridiculous. Why not just have a search engine return whatever
your objective standard demands everytime and have a perfect score, if it's so
easy?
~~~
extension
A metric that can measure the quality of results but not produce them is
entirely plausible. Many problems can be verified much more easily than they
are solved.
For example, you can measure how often results are clicked but there is no
straightforward algorithm to generate click-prone results.
------
recoiledsnake
Many articles on TechCrunch seem to be the gossipy type and are not much
better than articles in a content farm that the author is railing on.
~~~
jacques_chester
Humans like to gossip. That's why almost all reporting is boiled down to
variations on horse race calling and theatre critique.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Malthusianisms - blasdel
http://scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=418
======
grandpa
Two economists are walking down the street when they see a $20 bill lying on
the sidewalk in front of them. The first economist goes to pick up the money
but his colleague stops him and tells him not to bother.
"Why not?"
"If it were a real twenty dollar bill, someone would have picked it up
already."
------
swombat
_Why can’t everyone just agree to a family-friendly, 40-hour workweek? Because
then anyone who chose to work a 90-hour week would clean our clocks._
Well, if you look at a fair chunk of Europe, everyone _has_ agreed to work
reasonable hours, largely, and the nutters like myself who work their socks
off are few and far between. Of course, you could say that the rest of the
world is about to clean Europe's clocks, but that's by no means certain.
~~~
321abc
Unfortunately, at least France and Germany seem to want to start emulating the
US in this regard. So they're increasing length of their work weeks:
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124835745710975827.html>
<http://www.thelocal.de/national/20090731-20935.html>
Also muddying the waters is that, by some measures, Americans have more
leisure time than Europeans:
[http://www.examiner.com/x-14795-Page-One-
Examiner~y2009m8d13...](http://www.examiner.com/x-14795-Page-One-
Examiner~y2009m8d13-Those-ever-longer-working-hours-of-Americans)
------
hristov
In my opinion Malthus is getting way too much credit considering real life
proved him wrong.
The examples provided in the article are actually pretty good and clever
examples, but they are accurate because they do not apply to the one thing
Malthus talked about -- human populations. If you actually consider human
populations, you will quickly discover that all these Malthuisms fall apart
pretty quickly. Which makes sense considering humans are complicated beings
and not simple autonomons like mice that will breed at any opportunity.
According to Malthus, the richer a population is the more it will grow and it
will get poorer, so please do not bother helping poor countries, or poor
people. Instead let them be poor so they automatically limit their
populations. Oh and also we cannot achieve a great society where there is no
poverty, because when there is no poverty people will just starts breeding
like rabbits until everyone is poor again.
But of course in real life everything is backwards. The poorer a country is
the more its population grows. In a country with income disparity the poor
income groups grow much faster than the rich, and sometimes the rich ones do
not grow at all.
This planet suffers from population overload but most of it is caused from
poor populations (poor countries, or poor groups of rich countries).
If a poor country becomes richer relatively quickly it does not suffer a
population explosion. On the contrary, population growth rates plummet and may
even go negative. See Japan and South Korea.
So yes, Malthus is not really correct, and yes we can improve society and
helping the poor is not a waste of time.
~~~
xenophanes
> In my opinion Malthus is getting way too much credit considering real life
> proved him wrong.
Additionally, William Godwin refuted his arguments, at the time. But gets no
credit.
BTW, no one seems to have mentioned it, but Malthus said that food production
grows linearly, whereas human populations grow geometrically, so food
production won't be able to keep up.
------
wwalker3
A common thread to these Malthusianisms is that you can't understand dynamic
phenomena by assuming they're static.
Something like the number of hours in a work week isn't just a fixed number;
it's got a history behind it and driving forces on it that are needed to make
sense of its current and future values.
Aaronson implies that he thinks about these situations by trying to figure out
what Nash equilibrium they might settle to, but I think even that concept's
not general enough. In the real world, people don't make their minds up once
and then stay the same afterwards -- they'll change their behavior over time,
and not always towards any equilibrium state.
------
tarkin2
The idea that usage will always fulfill capacity is a little too general for
my liking. Sometimes, perhaps often, the case, yes; but always? No. Population
decline in Europe despite a very high quality of life and an abundance of
resources, anyone?
~~~
bokonist
It will be interesting to see how long the population decline lasts for. At
some point, ethnic/cultural/religious segments of the population with the
highest birthrates will begin to be a large portion of the population. As that
happens, birthrates will bottom out and then start to rise back up again.
~~~
rsheridan6
Already happening in Israel:
<http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4956>
------
asdlfj2sd33
You know what struck me about this? It was really well written. Not the
greatest of ideas or observations, but I can't recall the last time I red
something on the internet that was this well written!
------
jrp
Why are freeways crowded?
------
dmoney
Am I the only one who's been reading this as "malthusiasms", i.e. anti-
enthusiasms?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Accuracy of JavaScript Time [2008] - franze
http://ejohn.org/blog/accuracy-of-javascript-time/
======
jgrahamc
It's such a pity that he doesn't dig into why this is. He makes this funny
statement:
Internet Explorer 8 (I also tested 6, for good measure,
with the same results), Opera, Safari, and WebKit Nightly
all bin their results. There is no 'normal distribution'
whatsoever. Effectively these browsers are only updating
their internal getTime representations every 15
milliseconds.
He can't really think that all those browsers have implemented a binning
algorithm. Underlying this is the GetTickCount (<http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/ms724408.aspx>) Windows API function: "The resolution of the
GetTickCount function is limited to the resolution of the system timer, which
is typically in the range of 10 milliseconds to 16 milliseconds." That goes
all the way down into the bowels of the PC where there's an interrupt
occurring that is used to update the tick count. Depending on the
machine/operating system that you are using the system timer updates at
varying frequencies (the original IBM PC had an 18.2Hz timer giving updates
about every 54ms).
Related to this is how Windows' GetSystemTime is implemented and how often it
updates.
He goes on to say:
It's pretty obvious that the Wine layer is tapping into some
higher-quality timer mechanism and is providing it to IE - giving
us a result that is even more accurate than what the browser normally
provides
Use the source, John! Wine is calling gettimeofday(). GetTickCount is defined
here:
[http://source.winehq.org/source/dlls/kernel32/kernel_main.c#...](http://source.winehq.org/source/dlls/kernel32/kernel_main.c#L205),
it calls GetTickCount64 which is here
[http://source.winehq.org/source/dlls/kernel32/kernel_main.c#...](http://source.winehq.org/source/dlls/kernel32/kernel_main.c#L180)
which calls NtQuerySystemTime which is here
<http://source.winehq.org/source/dlls/ntdll/time.c#L447> which calls
gettimeofday.
Wine's GetSystemTime implementation is going the same thing:
<http://source.winehq.org/source/dlls/kernel32/time.c#L933>
In Chrome this is quite well documented, see comments here for Windows:
[http://www.google.com/codesearch/p?hl=en#W9JxUuHYyMg/trunk/s...](http://www.google.com/codesearch/p?hl=en#W9JxUuHYyMg/trunk/src/platform-
win32.cc&q=void%20Time::SetToCurrentTime%20package:http://v8%5C.googlecode%5C.com&sa=N&cd=1&ct=rc&l=446)
------
TimJYoung
Windows has a "GetSystemTime" resolution of 10-15 milliseconds, hence the
results:
<http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc163996.aspx>
Some comments found via Google indicate that this has changed to 1ms in Vista
and higher, but I can't confirm this.
~~~
omellet
I just ran a quick test on Win7, it's 1 ms.
------
bmcleod
tl;dr getTime in windows only updates every 15 ms, so if your performance
benchmark cares about that kind of period then it isn't going to give very
good results.
Every time I hear about performance testing in JS it seems to be that it
doesn't really handle IE very well for whatever reason it is today. It looks
like this bug would have made IE look like it performs better than it actually
does though.
------
rix0r
I thought it was pretty well-known that standard system timers (except the
High Performance ones) could/would be inaccurate. I'm actually surprised by
how reliable the OS X timers are.
Normally, if you do any kind of benchmarking, you would run the test N times
and average the times out.
------
AshleysBrain
Why don't browsers on Windows implement QueryPerformanceCounter (a microsecond
precision timer)? In fact, I thought Firefox 4 had done this.
~~~
pjscott
On Firefox, the console.time and console.profile functions provided by Firebug
do this. On Chrome, you can use the chrome.interval object for the same
purpose.
<http://getfirebug.com/wiki/index.php/Console_API>
<https://github.com/eligrey/timer.js>
------
izuzak
a more recent study of getTime() here:
[http://mivankovic.blogspot.com/2011/03/research-results-
can-...](http://mivankovic.blogspot.com/2011/03/research-results-can-
javascipt-gettime.html) ("Can JavaScipt getTime() be used for measuring
performance of JavaScript code?")
------
broofa
Why is this making the front page of hacker news? This article is 2.5 years
old.
~~~
franze
a) it's still an awesome article b) it's probably time to revisit that topic
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Persistent, Stealthy, Remote-controlled Dedicated Hardware Malware [30c3] - j_s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck8bIjAUJgE
======
j_s
HN-er cfrantz2 mentioned this talk on today's discussion of the 'Secrets of
Intel Management Engine' explaining that it has been cracked:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8815765](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8815765)
The detailed overview of the presentation can be found here:
[http://events.ccc.de/congress/2013/Fahrplan/events/5380.html](http://events.ccc.de/congress/2013/Fahrplan/events/5380.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Strong candidate for worst graph of the year - DevX101
http://money.cnn.com/technology/interactive/tech_ipos/?source=cnn_bin
======
jtreminio
Hmm.. I don't know, I immediately grabbed the triangle scrubber and started
moving it to the right and it very quickly clicked for me what was happening,
and why the bubbles were growing or shrinking.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Two simple hacks for Weebly to get two pro features for free - nayan
http://nayan-ambali.blogspot.com/2010/06/two-simple-hacks-for-weebly-to-get-two_27.html
======
vishm
simple but nice tricks !!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Rejected from Y Combinator Winter 2017, Want Feedback - theodin
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a5eSou1VbeSpeWbk2yjXUIS6ZWiTs0u1K2BfxUwgfhI/edit?usp=sharing
======
CM30
Probably a stupid question, but did they specify a reason why you were
rejected? Or was it just something vague like 'sorry, but you weren't chosen
this year'?
Just wondering, cause something like that might help us understand where they
were coming from a bit better.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Cross-Platform SDK for Mobile Phones. C++, HTML5, Native UI. Apache License - zura
http://www.mosync.com/
======
zura
Also on github:
[https://github.com/MoSync/MoSync](https://github.com/MoSync/MoSync)
Other projects:
[https://github.com/MoSync/](https://github.com/MoSync/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Startup Climate - marketer
http://patriciahandschiegel.tumblr.com/post/75896607/startup-climate
======
jwesley
I think the last point is the most important:
"6. Everybody seemed to feel the web game has shifted to the higher level. A
lot appeared to feel that small publishers and sites would start to be
squeezed out of the market in the coming years."
This is true, but I don't think it's completely accurate. To succeed as a
small publisher, you will need to be remarkably talented and know how to
efficiently market your site.
Gone are the days of lame content sites succeeding on pure bulk, like
About.com. Except for Mahalo I guess.
~~~
unalone
I always thought Mahalo was a sort of fameballer site. The only people I know
who've heard of it know it because of Jason Calcanis' reputation as "most
obnoxious person in the world". I used to like it, but half a year ago it
turned cluttered and ugly. Is that really a popular web site, or does it just
get attention from Media 2.0?
~~~
jwesley
Yea, it's a total SEO play. Just look at the way they interlink their pages
and shamelessly promote high search volume queries like video games.
------
matthewer
1\. Nobody expressed interest in content, social media or social network
sites.
It think this is a real shame. All the Facebook, but for my dog / Facebook,
but for my garden / Myspace, but for my Facebooks have really given a bad name
to this genre of site. It became the type of site for people who were looking
to cash in quickly or had no business getting involved in the internet.
The problem is that the web is a social animal. People want to interact and
share. I hope we see the move toward social/crowd-source sites with loftier
goals. I think there is still a lot of value to be had in these types of
sites.
------
andreyf
None of these are extremely surprising:
#1 considering VS's have probably heard half a dozen "Facebook, but with
FeatureFoo" pitches a dozen times a day for about a year.
#2 and #3 go hand-in hand - Google seems to have gotten the top of the hill on
monetizing people going from one place to another on the web. If you figure
out how to take away 1% of their tolls, you've got a successful startup.
#4 is an old one - education doesn't scale. Web can make it scale, with money
to be made.
#5 is the core of "Web2.0"
#6 seem to be off - as jwesley expounds on well.
------
nir
Keep in mind these are the authors' impressions from talking to VCs, who
traditionally (and perhaps by definition) are at least one beat behind what's
really going on.
~~~
jeremyw
Right on. This is conventional and repetitive thinking and should be ignored
at all costs.
------
emson
Very interesting.
I think the web game for general apps has shifted up a gear. However I believe
this down turn in the economy is going to drive more 'less tech savy' users to
try and make a buck on the web.
To Jo Bloggs the web is an income stream he should be using to get through
this economic downturn. As an entrepreneur this is a market worth tackling?
What do you think?
------
fiaz
FTA:
_If the above seems vague, it’s deliberate. Details are reserved for
[whatis9.com] clients. But, the above should be enough for some entrepreneur
to be dangerous._
Given the entrepreneurial spirit of HN, let's try to collaboratively dissect
each one of these together.
------
volida
This reminds me of posts I read back in 2002 and in 2005. Which of cource
prooved to be wrong.
------
larryfreeman
Thanks for the posting this link. It is concise and written by a very
experienced entrepeneur.
Good advice for those in startups now. If you don't have funding and you're
not focused on monetization of web traffic, don't go to VCs.
~~~
axod
"and you're not focused on monetization of web traffic"
If you are, perhaps you don't need VC though...
~~~
larryfreeman
I'm not clear I follow your logic. If you are focused on monetization, that
just means you have a business plan with a great monetization story.
To get from a Business Plan to a staff, office, and working product, you need
to get some moolah. If just a small amount of money, then you don't need VCs.
Angels or bootstrapping will do. If you need a large amount of money, then VCs
are the way to go.
------
edw519
_Real solutions to better monetizing the web are what investors are interested
in._
Such as...
~~~
SystemOut
They're looking for someone that has figured out a better a way...or rather,
that they (they being the VCs) believe has figured out better/different ways
of monetizing web traffic.
It's all a crapshoot until it's actually been done and works.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Bruce Eckel on JavaScript - tbassetto
http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=329840
======
jsvaughan
From a synopsis of a Crockford presentation (here
<http://www.catonmat.net/blog/javascript-the-good-parts/>) here are some js
bad parts:
* Global variables.
Global variables make it harder to run independent subprograms in the same
program. If the subprograms happen to have global variables that share the
same names, then they will interfere with each other and likely fail, usually
in difficult to diagnose ways.
* Newlines get converted into semicolons. JavaScript has a mechanism that tries to correct faulty programs by automatically inserting semicolons. It sometimes inserts semicolons in places where they are not welcome.
* Operator typeof is not very helpful. For example, "typeof null" is "object", "typeof [1,2,3]" is also "object".
* Operator + adds numbers and concatenates. The + operator can add or concatenate. Which one it does depends on the types of the parameters. If either operand is an empty string, it produces the other operand converted to a string. If both operands are numbers, it produces the sum. Otherwise, it converts both operands to strings and concatenates them. This complicated behavior is a common source of bugs. If you intend + to add, make sure that both operands are numbers.
* Operators == and != do type coercion. Use of the === and !== operators is always preferred.
* Too many falsy values. 0, Nan, '' (empty string), false, null, undefined are all false.
* for ... in operator mixes inherited functions with the desired data members (it does deep reflection).
~~~
jashkenas
Nice list. One of the things that CoffeeScript manages to do, with greater or
lesser success, is to avoid many of these "bad parts":
* Global variables can no longer be created by accident ... you must explicitly `window.global = ...` them.
* Semicolons are gone, along with the headaches of automatic semicolon insertion.
* I'm afraid that not much can be done about `typeof` without a more invasive replacement, unfortunately.
* The + operator continues to work the same way.
* CoffeeScript does not have `==` or `!=`, only `===` and `!==` for strict equality comparisons. In the one location where `==` can be helpful, checking for either null or undefined, you may use the existential operator.
* When dealing with too many falsy values, there's an existential operator, which allows you to ask the question: Does this value exist? (Is this value not null or undefined?)
name = ""
if name?
# Exists, so this will run.
* There's a shortcut to only list the "own properties" when iterating over the keys and values of an arbitrary objects, without including members from the prototype chain:
for own key, value of object
alert key + ": " + value
~~~
boucher
Amusingly (to me at least) the only thing Objective-J really addresses from
that list is 'typeof', which we have a much better replacement for :).
~~~
jashkenas
Nice! Got a link to the implementation, or more info?
The only reference I found to it is this thread:
[http://groups.google.com/group/objectivej/browse_thread/thre...](http://groups.google.com/group/objectivej/browse_thread/thread/f7489e3d71ee95f)
~~~
boucher
You're not going to like it :)
Rather than use typeof, CPObject has a runtime feature for asking about its
class
([https://github.com/280north/cappuccino/blob/master/Foundatio...](https://github.com/280north/cappuccino/blob/master/Foundation/CPObject.j#L179)).
Because we also do "toll-free bridging", you can ask if strings are CPStrings,
numbers are CPNumbers, and arrays are CPArrays (though we don't toll free
bridge null to CPNull, which we probably should).
~~~
jashkenas
[https://github.com/280north/cappuccino/blob/master/Foundatio...](https://github.com/280north/cappuccino/blob/master/Foundation/CPObject.j#L164-173)
Nice. Pure class-object-reference equality up to the root. Won't work calling
functions across windows, but who cares.
~~~
boucher
So, we actually have this feature where we "bridge" windows: you can basically
tell a CPWindow to map to an actual browser window. And we implement it as a
display only thing, so all of your actual code runs in the parent browser
window and just manipulates the DOM elements in the child window. It doesn't
completely work in IE I think, but I haven't tried in a while (it's kind of an
experimental feature, but it's been in the release for a while).
------
jwilliams
Not sure I follow the logic of this article - starts with closures, moves on
to somehow conditionally endorse Flex/ActionScript, references you off
elsewhere without being specific, talks about closures again, then complains
about standardisation with Browsers in general (W3C and CSS) included.
What's the beef here? Does ActionScript (JavaScript's ECMAscript cousin)
provide something that JavaScript should have? Admittedly ActionScript does
hide a lot of the nastier parts of prototypical inheritance / closures / etc
from you, but you also lose a bit of power in that. From a pure language point
of view the two also have a lot in common.
Part of the argument is around standardisation and varying implementations -
and on the same for the APIs rather than the language - but that's another
debate entirely... and probably one that has little to do with the use of
closures.
Probably some valid points here, but I can't see it making any conclusion to
take away.
~~~
ryan-allen
I'd say that's classic Eckle.
Take pity on the man, he's coming to terms with his irrelevance. I read his
books, they were rubbish. You don't teach programmers Java by starting off
with polymorphism. You don't offensively pepper example code with unit tests
to make sure the code in your book works.
Tripe such as that he has written here is the kind of talk that had poor old
JavaScript derided for years. Correct me if I'm wrong, but JavaScript always
had closures, it always had anonymous functions, it always had objects and its
for in loop, and functions were always objects! The fact it has a 'new'
keyword is because of Java bozos completely missing all the points of
JavaScript's features and demanded some familiarity.
The fact something such as CoffeeScript can generate running, valid JavaScript
is a testament to it's flexibility.
The truth is that there's an awful lot of complexity left to capitalise on,
and I'm not sure why he's complaining. He's been capitalising on it for years.
So while some people will still listen to him and avoid these new hipster
technologies, other developers are busy paving the new way and building cool
things. The tech we have ain't that bad.
~~~
j-kidd
I beg to differ. It is a good article, and it makes me want to buy and read
Javascript: The Good Part.
Other people have recommended me the book before, but they were just hipsters
who just follow whatever technology that is regarded by other hipsters as
cool.
If you read some pages and go "WTF?! This JavaScript is a helluva bad
language. WTH is the good part?", the hipsters will just come back with "Dude,
you just don't get it".
By opting for "Hell yeah, the language is super bad", Bruce Eckle presented a
strong case why the book is a required reading.
~~~
euroclydon
"JavaScript: The Good Parts" : The Good Parts:
1) Explaining the language syntax and structure.
2) Exposing all the little gotchas in the language.
"JavaScript: The Good Parts" : The Bad Parts:
It's too opinionated. Crockford has this style of presenting multiple ways of
doing things, e.g. inheritance, culminating with _his_ cute little way.
I'm not surprised a Java developer would love the book, because Crockford
evaluates the merit of the strategies he presents by how close they come to
implementing Java in JavaScript.
I've written my first large JS application over the past year and by far, my
biggest struggles have been with performance, documentation, and catching
nasty syntax errors. Private variables and information hiding? Not so much.
What's helped me the most is dumping all of Crockford's opinionated
suggestions, and using the Closure Compiler. I get great static code checking
for errors, and their JSDocs are top notch. JSDoc won't work with functional
inheritance, only prototypical, but the tradeoff is totally worth it, because
I get beautifully formatted HTML docs for all my code.
~~~
yid
Re: closure compiler, not to mention dead code removal, type checking,
conditional compilation via @define, function inlining, and a configurable
flood of useful warning and error messages. I, too, dumped Crockford for
Closure on a large web app and have been thrilled.
------
sturadnidge
Disappointing post from someone who really should know better - he confuses
JavaScript with the DOM and other things in several places (i mean really...
is he suggesting that JavaScript should have some native capability to
"include standard headers and footers on a web page"?). Maybe a better title
would be "Bruce Eckel on the W3C / DOM", as that seems to be the primary
target of his negativity.
Every language has bad parts. If you're going to call something an
abomination, you should at least take the time to understand what you are
talking about first, lest your opinion be cast aside as another uninformed
rant.
~~~
pietro
He used the lack of standardized ways of inserting headers and footers as a
example of the ineffectiveness of the W3C, not as part of his critique of
JavaScript.
~~~
sturadnidge
Yeh that's kind of my point though... it's pretty much just a jumbled rant and
somehow JavaScript wound up being the target for the headline.
------
mmahemoff
"Interestingly, the Google Apps Scripting language appears to be a (civilized)
form of JavaScript, and it looks very powerful"
This doesn't really compute. Google Apps Script is a (very cool) JavaScript
API to interact with Google Apps. It's not a replacement for JavaScript, it's
not a language at all.
"you read it you begin to understand why it's taken so long for AJAX libraries
to appear"
It _did_ take a long time, but libraries have been around for many years now
(e.g. Dojo since 2004 and jQuery since 2006).
Saying that, the article has a valid point about the language being hard to
use without such libraries. The trends in the video he linked to ("Learning to
Love JavaScript") will begin to address that, but it will take time. There's
the risk of browser fragmentation and the large legacy base.
------
tbassetto
For a newcomer, it's clear that JavaScript's inconsistencies between browser's
implementations is a real burden. I learned to love JavaScript, but I'll not
ask everybody to do so.
~~~
locci
FWIW, javascript implementations all behave very similarly surprisingly. There
are some quirks of course, like JScript not accepting trailing commas, not
allowing array like access to strings and leaking out the names of named
function expressions, or like some nastiness in IE behaviour with the global
object and window.
Especially considering the history of javascript, it's a miracle we're having
it this good. Not so much with the DOOM.
------
jorangreef
After starting out with Ruby, I now prefer Javascript to Ruby for a number of
reasons, not least performance, clarity, ubiquity, and expressive power.
Sometimes I think the detractors are more upset with their own lack of
facility in Javascript relative to their proficiency in something else, than
with flaws in the language itself.
A penny for every "accidental global variable" and "ugly {".
------
podperson
So JavaScript (or is it "JaveScript" is an "abomination" but we should mourn
Flash?). Oh wait, it's the browser implementation that's the problem.
Argh.
------
pandeiro
Tl;dr: "I need to learn a new language and it's different than Java, Python,
and C++. WAAAHHHHHHH"
~~~
akdetrick
Every problem in computer science can be solved with blaming the programming
language.
------
Hrundi
> _JaveScript_ is an Abomination
Ouch
~~~
demallien
Sure, but the guy freely admits that he is not yet very experienced with
Javascript. My own personal experience with it was definitely love/hate for
the first 6 months or so, but once I started figuring out what idiomatic
Javascript looks like, it started seducing me. My current project is a roughly
50/50 split of Javascript and C - at the start I preferred to do things in C
if possible, and avoid Javascript, but now the reverse is true.
~~~
macavity23
My JavaScript experience was similar. I blame it on the name, stupid as that
sounds, because the first thought of a newbie is likely to be 'Oh, this is
like Java'.
As JavaScript syntax is similar to Java at a glance, this leads one to try and
write Java-like programs, which end up being a hideous mess, because of course
JavaScript is _nothing_ like Java. Once you get the light bulb moment when you
realise 'hey, this is Lisp!' (though an extremely limited Lisp), your approach
to the language changes instantly, and it actually becomes quite elegant in
its own way.
Also, JQuery. JQuery, JQuery, JQuery. Removes entirely all the browser-
dependent annoyances and all the DOM annoyances. Don't even think of writing
JavaScript in web pages without it!
~~~
ludwigvan
> My JavaScript experience was similar. I blame it on the name, stupid as that
> sounds, because the first thought of a newbie is likely to be 'Oh, this is
> like Java'.
Even worse, because JavaScript is one of the few languages that people think
they can use without actually learning it, because it was somehow designed to
be that way: an easy to use scripting language. Copying and pasting small
snippets from the Web adds insult to injury, so that someone might claim to
know JavaScript after working out some issue with the help of a JQuery plugin
(Not that I'm against JQuery, I use it and love it, I'm talking about people
not learning JavaScript at all, due to the easiness of JQuery possibly.)
The thing to realize is, as you mentioned, and as Crockford says, JavaScript
is Lisp in C's clothing; I'm not sure where Eckel got the idea that JavaScript
is an abomination, reading Crockford's book should make someone think that
JavaScript is an elegant language.
------
va_coder
Let the code speak for itself: V8, Node, jQuery, Underscore, CoffeeScript, etc
~~~
nirvdrum
Aren't like half of those projects designed to normalize the language? And a
third of them are actually written in C, not JavaScript? I guess your comment
is technically neutral, so I don't really know what point you were trying to
make. But I assumed it was a refutation of the article.
~~~
yid
"normalize" is a relative term. Does CPAN normalize Perl? Does STL normalize
C++? The prevalence of a suite of libraries and tools is a _good_ thing.
~~~
nirvdrum
Perhaps "language" was the wrong term, but "execution environment" might work.
jQuery allows one to treat browsers uniformly so you're not dealing with DOM
quirks all over the place. CoffeeScript is designed to basically replace
JavaScript syntax. CPAN wouldn't really be a fair comparison, but boost would
be.
------
funkah
He's not really wrong about anything, but none of this is novel or insightful.
We're all set on "JaveScript[sic] is an Abomination" and "CSS -- who thought
that was a good idea?" rants.
That last quote just makes him sound crotchety. I guess he wants all these
dang web developers to get off his lawn.
------
deferredviod
is he trolling?
------
Tichy
He should have stayed with Java.
------
d0m
Disapointed by Bruce Eckel :-/
Javascript != Java; it doesn't mean it's an abomination. I do agree that there
are pitfals.. but damn, get over it as it's such a beautiful language. I love
JavaScript.
I feel like the guy just read the book of Crockford and just got it all wrong.
~~~
nirvdrum
While he did write the Java books we're all familiar with, Bruce has abandoned
that language and doesn't speak kindly of it. He's largely been all-in with
Python, although he recently had some kind things to say about Scala. In any
event, I'm quite certain he's decidedly not looking for anything that looks
like Java.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Announcing HackStars - brianculler
http://www.techstars.org/2009/04/03/anouncing-hackstars/
You do some unpaid programming for interesting TechStars startups, in exchange for the ability to listen to other startups get advice about their startups. Can't wait to sign up!
======
mechanical_fish
If you're going to donate this much of your time, spend it writing open source
software. Stuff that you can take with you. Stuff that will remain in your
toolkit and in your portfolio until _you_ decide otherwise.
------
akeefer
In general, any sort of unpaid internship biases against people who aren't
well enough off to work for free (i.e. whose parents won't support them while
they do). It's really a kind of class discrimination that prevents people from
lower socioeconomic standing from having much of a chance at certain jobs
(like in the finance world) that tend to rely heavily on unpaid internships.
One thing I've always liked about my profession is that we tend not to do that
in the software industry, which I think makes it more egalitarian and at least
helps open up opportunities to people who actually do need to get paid for the
summer. It's disappointing to see a reversal in that trend.
~~~
BobbyH
Besides any ethical considerations about class-discrimination, unpaid
internships are illegal unless the intern gets class credit, because it is a
violation of minimum wage laws. Calling a job an "unpaid internship" does not
revoke the minimum wage laws. However, these laws are not enforced, which
results in more and more companies offering unpaid internships...
~~~
gojomo
IANAL, but I believe a strict literal enforcement of minimum-wage laws also
prohibits founders working for their own corporation without salary. (Equity
doesn't count for minimum wage calculations.)
Much of the bootstrapped-startup culture we celebrate may thus rely on lax
enforcement of these laws.
~~~
BobbyH
Good point, but only employees must be paid the minimum wage. If you founded
the company, you are not an employee because you direct your work. The IRS
says an employee is "anyone who performs services for an organization is an
employee if the organization can control what will be done and how it will be
done" (<http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=131137,00.html>).
~~~
gojomo
But as soon as you incorporate, take on cofounders and investors, and adopt a
title, you're essentially working at the direction of the organization. Your
equity is likely subject to a vesting schedule and (given the right
constellation of agreement among the other founders and investors) you could
even be 'let go'.
Also, the IRS doesn't enforce minimum wages and labor laws, so its definitions
aren't necessarily relevant. (For example, it will tax equity compensation
that doesn't count toward minimum wage calculations.)
So you may be right, but I'm not yet convinced. The strict letter of the law
seems to suggest that corporations must pay even their founders minimum wages.
And if there's some 'bright-line' rule that clearly tells us when this is not
the case, I've never heard it. (For example, if "5%" is traditionally enough
ownership, by statute or administrative ruling, to count someone as an owner
rather than employee, that would be very good to know -- you could have
exactly 20 equal founders and no investors and still have founders bootstrap
with their own donated labor.)
~~~
wheels
I'm pretty sure it's tricker than that because there are a number of high
profile executives with their $1 salaries and now even some of the bank folks
that are in non-executive positions that have elected to take no salary. It
seems like those would be more prone to scrutiny than unpaid interns.
------
mechanical_fish
Any software startup that would accept an "intern" on the team is failing one
test of viability. The last thing you need in startups is more than one level
of hierarchy. [1] You don't want people to expend valuable mental and
emotional energy trying to figure out if task X is "right" for a mere intern,
or if it's really important not to have conversation Y in front of the intern,
or (in general) whether or not the intern is really a member of the team. One
likely result is that your team will not gel. Another is that the team will
gel, but suffer a breakdown when the intern inevitably quits. A third is that
the team will defend itself by shutting out the intern, assigning him or her
to go mend broken XHTML tags or make coffee while everyone else does the real
work. Which is another good reason not to be that intern. ;)
Interns are for big companies, where they make only a tiny marginal
contribution to the already massive political overhead. ;)
\---
[1] Two levels, if absolutely necessary. But the best leaders are the ones who
always manage to convey the feeling that it's _really_ only one, that they're
only the leader because _somebody_ has to have their name on that line of the
corporate charter and be forced to take tedious phone calls from big clients.
I can also attest that, if it grows, eventually your software startup _will_
need a hierarchy. But at the beginning it's probably just unnecessary
friction.
~~~
jeremytliles
I think this is a great point. At the stage a TechStars company is at, they
need founders and advisors. Anything else is going to create inefficiencies.
And if they're lacking in hacking talent such that they _need_ one of these
interns, then they just don't have the right founder mix.
If a team is missing some key capabilities for producing a functioning
prototype, then it should bring someone else in and provide some equity.
------
kapitti
$6,000/founder and as many 0.375 FTE slaves as they can round up - MBAs around
the globe rejoice, TechStars has solved the "I've got this amazing idea, if
only I could find some developers" problem.
~~~
dasil003
How many do you think they'll round up? If I was fresh out of college and
didn't need any money I'd just start my own and hang out at the meetups
instead of working for free for someone who may or may not have a clue.
------
feverishaaron
I am going to reserve judgement on this for now, but I am really going to be
surprised if this works out well for the TS companies. The old adage, "you get
what you pay for" is especially true with developers/UI designers who are
interested in startups. Without some sort of compensation, whether it be cash
money or equity, I wonder if you are going to get the "right" kind of
interest.
You have to ask yourself, who is their target talent here?
The real talented AND motivated developers/designers in Boulder and probably
Boston (AKA "The Gurus"), who have an affinity for startups and TechStars
probably applied to the program themselves and didn't get in. Either way, they
know the value of their time and are hard at work on their own startups.
The other talented and motivated people are probably consultants or working
full time at a company. Despite this being a poor economy, I've found that
there is no shortage of work for the "right" people.
And of course, there are a fair share of those that fit a combination of the
above.
This leaves us with the last two groups. The people that are either talented
and unmotivated, or lack talent, but have the motivation. My suspicion is that
you will get people volunteering to the HackStars program who are TechStars
fanboys at best. They like the idea of doing a startup, or being a part of the
"startup culture" but in truth may not want to put in the work, or worse, are
benched because no one wants to work with them.
I may be totally wrong. Either way, I don't fault the TechStars team for test
driving an idea like this. But if I were a founder who made it in to the
program, I would be very skeptical of the value of the volunteers.
------
gojomo
Even if this program deserves a critical assessment, that doesn't belong in a
sarcastic headline.
~~~
vegashacker
Agreed. Headlines are not supposed to editorialize. The HN editors should fix
this one.
~~~
brianculler
Yes, lets sanitize and PC everything, instead of calling things like they are.
Read all the other comments in this thread.
~~~
allenbrunson
there is a time and place for everything. everyone is being allowed to express
their opinions. just not in the headline.
snark is never productive. it only serves to harden other people's opinions
against you. if you believe techstars is in the wrong here, you're certainly
not going to change their minds by mocking them.
------
andr
So, like, I can be in the same room with the mentors? WOW!
~~~
evdawg
You mean I'll finally get to meet Paul Graham?! No wait... that's not
TechStars...
------
dawie
I can't help to wonder if adding more people that are "Learning" won't just
get in the way of the founders actually getting work done.
~~~
mahmud
Cf. Fred Brooks.
------
donw
It's all about mutual benefit. For example, I'm going to be doing a few server
installs for a friend while I'm traveling, in exchange for some cycles on
those machines to use for my own project.
My friend is happy, because he doesn't need to spend $2k per server to have an
engineer fly out and install them. I'm happy, because I'll be traveling
anyway, and I get to use a pile of machines around the world without having to
pay for and install them myself.
No money is changing hands, and we both benefit in a way that we find
acceptable.
An unpaid 'internship' for a 'guru'? Fifteen hours a week for no pay and no
equity?
I think not.
------
tptacek
If you really want to commit 15 hours a week to doing free work for an up-and-
coming startup, don't do it this way. Make a list of the top 20 companies
you're fascinated by, and contact them directly, one by one.
If you can't be bothered to "sell" free dev/tech work to the companies you're
most interested in, you're not going to make it as an entrepreneur anyways.
------
mhp
Unpaid internships are becoming EXTREMELY common (if not in the CS field,
certainly elsewhere). In NYC this used to be only the case for fashion, but
has now spread to basically every other industry.
We had a discussion the other day at lunch whether this was legal/ethical. I'm
still not sure how I feel about it...
~~~
physcab
I'm in an unpaid internship right now and I love it. The employer actually
hires most of their talent through the unpaid internship program. They get to
see if the people who do the internship are really there because they want to
learn and contribute regardless of monetary compensation.
I know everyone can't do this because at some point you need compensation, but
the arrangement has taught me a great deal about how to program scalable
applications that I will definitely use in the future.
~~~
mechanical_fish
_I know everyone can't do this because at some point you need compensation_
Which is why using unpaid internships to screen your hires is unethical. It's
an artfully disguised form of class discrimination.
Lots of very smart and hardworking people cannot afford to work for free.
Apparently those people are at a severe disadvantage when applying to work at
your company. And it's not as if unpaid internships offer financial aid, like
schools do.
I think it's fine to screen prospective employees as _paid_ interns. I also
think it's fine to try them out as consultants first, or even to have them
perform a _few_ hours of work for free, as a test. But in general work should
be paid for. Unless, as I've said elsewhere, it is 100% free-software work.
Of course, just because it's unethical doesn't mean it doesn't happen or that
you can do anything to change it.
~~~
physcab
Unethical is way too harsh. This is NOT class discrimination. If you ask
me,judging on the basis of GPA alone is class discrimination. Poor people
don't stand a fighting chance.
But that's a slightly different argument. Unpaid internships don't impose
requirements that would keep you from getting paid elsewhere, so regardless of
your economic situation, you can decide how much you want to work. My employer
doesn't care if you work 30 hours or 2 hours...they just want to see how much
you enjoy doing the work.
Any smart and hardworking individual wouldn't be at a disadvantage because
they could find a way to make it work.
For the record I'm pretty poor myself. I have two jobs to pay my bills. But I
don't see anyone who has significantly more money having more of an advantage
than me.
~~~
mechanical_fish
_they just want to see how much you enjoy doing the work._
Here's what I'd say to that: "I enjoy doing work that _adds value_. If you
have something valuable for me to do for your company, pay me what it is
worth. If not, I'll be happy to sit in your air-conditioned office writing
free software that has value for _me_. And then you will be able to see how
much I enjoy doing that."
But you probably shouldn't say that out loud. You're not in a very strong
negotiating position, after all.
This illustrates another reason why unpaid internship is pernicious: It
doesn't teach _anyone_ how well you add value. Because your time is unmetered
and unpaid, you have no incentive to spend it wisely. And your employer
certainly has no incentive to track it -- at least not out loud. (Imagine the
conversation: "Wow, last week you worked 10 hours for free and saved the
company $100k. Have a muffin!") What, exactly, is either of you learning? I
guess your employer is learning how much value you can be coerced to add, for
free, without you noticing or complaining. And you're learning how to look and
act like a model employee.
Onward. "You can decide how much you want to work?" Yeah, I guess. I could
also "decide" to live in a cardboard box and save on expenses. If I have a
family, I could "decide" to never see them because I have to work two jobs
instead. If I've got elderly parents I could "decide" not to take care of
them.
But, more likely, an unpaid internship requirement will tend to select for
young people with no family and a lot of time to spend at work. How
convenient. Especially since _overtly_ screening your employees for these
traits is against the law.
Do you see why I'm tempted to call this "unethical" yet?
Anyway, none of this is to suggest that _you're_ doing the wrong thing. We
have to live with the hands we're dealt. Congratulations for finding a way
forward, and good luck with your jobs.
~~~
physcab
Wow. You are very passionate about this aren't you? (I'm not being sarcastic,
I really admire you for voicing this).
I guess I just don't see this practice as unethical because if I look at the
whole spectrum of unethical behaviors, this seems very minor to me. Does that
make it excusable? Probably not. But to me this is just about acquiring a
skill which I previously did not have. It's not about recognition or
compensation.
But even still, I fail to see what my employers are doing wrong. You will be
compensated for the skills you bring to the company and what you produce. And
if you're middle aged with a family to support you could get a paid job there
if you had the skills. If not, you could apply for the unpaid internship.
But nothing bars you from getting hired, so that's why I don't view it as an
injustice. At the end of the day, its a choice, and if you didn't like the
terms, you are perfectly free to go somewhere else.
~~~
mechanical_fish
_You are very passionate about this aren't you?_
I went to graduate school. A Ph.D. program is like being an unpaid intern for
_six years_.
(And, yet, in some ways it's better. There is _some_ pay. And a Ph.D. is a
regular old-fashioned apprenticeship program: The bad news is that you're a
slave, but the good news is that your adviser has a fairly strong incentive to
help you graduate. The commitment goes both ways.
And, of course, if you've got an apartment and a web connection you can teach
yourself to be a professional programmer -- _especially_ if you already have a
CS degree -- but you can't say the same for semiconductor engineering.)
------
bhb
(Disclosure: I'm one of the founders of Devver, one of the TechStars 08
companies)
I think that some of the variables will likely need to be adjusted (for
example, 15 hours per week seems high to me), but I think the fundamental idea
is interesting, although it's clearly not for everyone.
At 15 hours a week, it's clear that a volunteer developer is not going to come
close to replacing a technical founder or a full-time employee. Any team that
tries to primarily rely on volunteer developers will suffer for it.
I can imagine this appealing to developers (including those in college) who
are strongly considering doing a startup or working for a startup, but want to
learn more about the process and want to make great contacts (both technical
and business).
There may very well be problems with the quality of some applicants, but
assuming the application process doesn't filter them out, I would guess things
will work themselves out during the summer. That is, the so-so devs will be a
net drain and teams won't ask for their help, while any talented hackers won't
be donating their time for long - they'll quickly get snapped up by the
companies they help out (either during the summer for all equity or after a
funding round for salary + equity).
Of course, this is all speculative. Maybe it won't work at all. But I suspect
that connecting a group of hackers with teams that will, either immediately or
in the near future, want to hire hackers could work out for everyone involved.
~~~
bhb
Just something to consider - there were at least two TechStars 08 teams that
had summer interns that they have hired as employees. Granted, they worked
more than 15 hours per week (and I think one of them was paid, but I'm not
sure). In any case, if HackStars can successfully make more matches like
these, it'd be a good program.
------
bbuffone
Fuck That! - EDIT
I think that they should at least mention what the benefits of such an
arrangement would be. Just hanging out with cool people doing work for free
people isn’t really that beneficial.
Everyone also knows, once a developer starts working on something like this it
will be more than 15 hours of work; they will work all night and day to get
things done. It should be more formal and give the developers something in
return. The companies will be looking to sign up "real advisers" during this
time but they will get something in return. Also this will need to be very
carefully orchestrated because if people are working on things that are
patentable; the volunteers will need to be listed on the patents.
~~~
mechanical_fish
+1, Hilarious Insight Into The Compositional Process
------
bradgessler
Jeff said it best when he was asked the question at an event in Boston, "What
is better, YC or TechStars?"
Jeff's answer: "You can teach a hacker business, but you can't teach a
businessman how to hack".
'nuff said.
~~~
ryanwaggoner
Ah yes...there's something magical about hackers that means they can learn
business, but "businessmen" can never learn the mystical arts of hacking.
Give me a break.
Actually, rather than repeat myself, here's my comment from a couple weeks
ago:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=515978>
~~~
ericb
Magical hits it on the head, except not the way you think. Magical thinking is
what you can't do and be a good hacker. Magical thinking won't stop you from
being a good business person with good instincts for opportunities who
understands the bottom line, or from being a great sales guy who can close
faster than a bank at 4.
The subset of hackers who can learn "business" is greater than the subset of
business people who can be hackers because the particular style of thinking
needed to succeed as a hacker has a unique rigor and need for persistence, and
is comparatively rare.
This is true for comparing any less common skill to a more common one. The
subset of NFL quarterbacks who could be good programmers is surely
proportionally greater than the subset of programmers who could be NFL
quarterbacks.
It isn't all about arrogance (although I don't deny arrogance is a factor).
~~~
mroman
It's not arrogance when it is the truth.
If I could stay awake long enough, that MBA spiel is ELEMENTARY
PLEASE
~~~
unalone
Ah, so you have an MBA? Which you earned while sleeping through that
simplistic spiel? Please talk about your experiences so I can develop a
similar distaste for an oversimplistic overhyped major, or else stop talking
about things you have no personal experience with.
~~~
mroman
(YAWN)
(YYAAAWWWWWWWNNNNNNNNNNNN)
Here is one you can understand:
Successfully represented myself in US Federal Court as a plaintiff in a civil
rights case, and won! no legal training at all, just read a couple of books,
went at it, won, no help, nothing, just me and a couple of books, oh, and I
did most of this over the US Postal service, while locked up in a US
immigration jail, with a barracks full of neanderthals around me whom I didn't
get along with (but I held my own, no one fd with me), and neanderthals in
uniforms on my case . . . want a docket number? 98-0711-CV-W-2-P Roman v.
Conard, US District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Kansas City,
Missouri . . . Law is at least a somewhat interesting topic that I can
respect, it can at least be intellectually challenging (for some time anyway)
at times . . . but MBA crap? PUUUHLLLLEEEEEZZZZZ PUHLEEZZ
------
gscott
When I went to the Techstars for a Day thing last year I did notice that many
of their teams were light on developers. Several had people who learned to
program right there or one person who could program a little but all had at
least one who knew what he was doing. This may be more of an unofficial way to
fill out the teams a little as someone else noted it would be hard to do only
15 hours a week. Either you are in all the way or your not serious therefor
likely not reliable except maybe as a programming mentor if you drop by once
and awhile.
------
MicahWedemeyer
I think part of the problem is that some hackers might sign up thinking it
will give them an inside track to TechStars in a future round. But, giving 3
months of part time as an uncompensated intern is a high price to pay for the
possibility of a second look at your application.
------
richieb
One problem is that they will not get good developers. According to Joel
Spolsky, good developers never look for jobs (they re always working), so they
are not likely to work for free...
------
brezina
Question - does anyone else get offended by the name "coder" I've always found
that people who write code prefer to be called developers or hackers. I'm a
bit of a hacker myself, so maybe i'm overly sensitive, and i know this is a
small point, but i always feel like the people who use the word "coder," don't
understand them or what they do.
~~~
mechanical_fish
This is offtopic, but...
...the problem, as always, is that the words have different connotations
depending on the community.
As you probably know, the word "hacker" means "computer criminal" to the
majority of the English-speaking world. As a result, calling yourself a
"hacker" only works if (a) you only care about your reputation with other
hackers, or (b) you are trying to cultivate an ambiguously dangerous persona.
It is not a word I would put on my resume if I were applying at SAP, unless I
were already well known for being Steve Wozniak.
So you're down to "programmer", "developer", or "coder". My impression is that
most people use "developer" as a highfalutin synonym for "programmer"... but
in some environments it connotes "a person who spends a lot of time talking
about software but never uses the computer except for Outlook, Office, and
Twitter". So, if you want to emphasize that you actually spend the majority of
your day in emacs, lean towards the other words.
Sometimes "programmer" carries too strong a connotation of "code monkey". I
find it best to just avoid places where this is true.
I don't like the word "coder" -- it doesn't offend me, but it's ugly. So I use
the other words at random as whimsy strikes me.
~~~
brezina
i don't think it is off-topic because "coder" is exactly the terminology the
author used in the blog. I believe it reflects his general misunderstanding of
programmers/developers/hackers
------
jmtame
Here's my initial impression: 15 hours a week? Is that even going to get
anything done?
~~~
quellhorst
Basecamp was made with 10 hours per week. Doubt you'll find a DHH working for
free.
~~~
jmtame
Basecamp is among the only applications I know of that were built on 10 hours
per week (assuming that's true), and even then it was a side project.
Most successful start ups I know of were spending that much time in a single
day.
~~~
colins_pride
The Apple II was a side project
<http://www.foundersatwork.com/steve-wozniak.html>
------
gord
Mind you... it might be much better use of time than jobhunting.
but then you'd have to seriously compare with Open Source contribution - a
faster way to learn, smarter people to work with and more social benefit...
OSS work likely has even more commercial potential...
------
wastedbrains
Um everyone mentions that the money isn't the real value of TS or YC. This
lets hackers that didn't get accepted into the program get many of the
benefits. They get to meet the mentors, see some of the presentations, spend
time working with and getting to know the community. I don't see how that is
considered so much worse of a deal than the actual program. Consider hackers
still in school, hackers not ready to make the leap and start their own
companies...
It seems like an interesting way to become involved and learn a ton about the
start up process.
(disclosure I was part of Techstars 08)
~~~
petewarden
(disclosure, I've received a lot of free help and advice from David Cohen and
Brad Feld, two of the main TS backers)
I would have changed the way they presented this but the idea of opening up
these sort of programs to the wider community is a good one. TechStars offers
a _lot_ of benefits to its members, this is another door to getting involved.
------
hotpockets
I agree working for free would be foolish. But, once you meet your prospective
team just ask them how much equity you'll be able to get. If it doesn't meet
your standards I think you could just say no thanks. Seems like a reasonable
way to join an interesting startup (if there are any interesting ones in their
summer class). If you have actual skills they need, you do have a good
bargaining position.
------
gord
I guess there is a real market niche that ycombinator flushed out-
namely, Impedance matching between -
a) investors with too much cash and too little time for small startups
b) startups who don't need or want large amounts of cash
You'd think it would be more efficient to cut out the middleman, but I guess
the aggregator / 'broker' serves a valuable role, as a retailer.
------
Tichy
Let's have a TV show, I think in the US they are called "American Idol"? In
Germany we have "Germany's Next Topmodel" and "Germany's next Superstar", both
concepts could be easily extended into a show that portrays the making of a
HackStar.
~~~
mroman
I am sorry, that would be NAUSEATING.
------
pclark
wouldn't you agree internships are a good opportunity for students?
Seems like a similar thing but specifically orientated around startups. They
should get (a slither) of equity, maybe..
~~~
endtime
To me, an unpaid internship can make sense if you're making coffee and hoping
to absorb some experience/wisdom from the bankers/lawyers/whoever you're
working for. But if you're someone with actual skills (e.g. " a UI/UX guru
and/or a strong coder with PHP, Java, Flex, .NET, Ruby/Rails, or Javascript
skills"), making an actual contribution, you should be paid.
~~~
jpwagner
"should" is a word that doesn't belong in this discussion. The "hackstars"
don't have to take this opportunity. They can choose to find a paying job.
~~~
endtime
I agree with you 100%, and my reply nearly included that if one believes in
free markets then one can't call it unethical. The only thing that gives me
pause is that interns are often young and inexperienced and may not realize
that their skills have value. While the burden of such education is on the
interns (intern candidates, young 'uns, hackstars, whatever), it still seems
morally questionable to me for companies to intentionally exploit that
inexperience.
------
mroman
What really gets me is how these types, the come-work-for-free scammers, don't
give up - but then again that is assuming they have enough presence of mind
and brains to realize that
A. This has been tried before, many times
B. There are many who have seen this, and can see right through it
Never fails to amaze me, the room temperature IQ crowd. The crowd that really
thinks that someone who is bright enough to do what we can do will - at the
same time - be dumb enough to fall for a 7th grade level scam.
------
sscheper
They can spin this any way the want, at the end of the day, they're trying to
do one thing:
find programmers dumb enough to work for free.
~~~
mroman
Notice how bright the suits are?
The people that would get into that, are EXACTLY the kind of people that they
need least.
~~~
swalkergibson
Why is this us vs. them? Starting a successful company requires a balanced,
capable team, a ton of luck, and long hours. If this is your attitude, I would
not want to hire you regardless of your self-proclaimed technical prowess.
~~~
mroman
HAHAHA
out of all 4 strawmen you posted, you hiring me was the funniest . . .
"self-proclaimed technical prowess"
Ok buddy, please quote me proclaiming my technical prowess or do STFU
------
dinkumthinkum
Some people also call this slave labor.
------
twoz
Dark comment: Could this be the perfect opportunity for a genious hacker with
enough "fuck you" money _(yet doesn't care about their own reputation
afterwards)_ to sneak behind enemy lines (whatever that means), work for
nothing, and provide a totally unexpected mentor experience - possibly have
them running around in circles and setting up a bunch of startups for failure?
_"You're using PHP! That doesn't scale! You'll need Java. I'll show you
how."_
_"You're using Java! Performance will grind to a halt! You'll need PHP. Lemme
see that keyboard."_
An infamous HackStar, indeed.
~~~
tptacek
Nobody with "fuck you money" got it by caring that much about what companies
in a third-tier seed fund are doing.
------
defendersown
I think that there are some people on this forum that are missing the point.
Just because you are a hacker, does not mean that you have the ingredients to
make a successful company. As some have already noted, this is a program for
those people who were rejected from TechStars initially to get into the
program and glean most of the benefits by donating some of their time. Fifteen
hours per week is only two hours per day, and that time could be spent simply
providing another set of hacker eyes to a new feature (not building the whole
thing from scratch), or another techie to bounce your idea for server
architecture off of. What I don't understand is why they do not provide this
same system for business types to "hack" into TechStars.
~~~
mroman
"I think that there are some people on this forum that are missing the point.
Just because you are a hacker, does not mean that you have the ingredients to
make a successful company."
AND?
Who cares?
You are talking as if making a "successful company" is the be all end all and
the ultimate objective of hacking.
Hacking is about Hacking, it is not about money, companies, meetings, sub 90
IQ's in suits, etc etc etc
~~~
swalkergibson
Well, I think that based on the context of this forum (YCombinator is a seed
stage incubator fund) we can assume most people here are interested in either
starting a company themselves, or getting involved with one. So, is making a
"successful company" the be all, end all? No. However, TechStars is attempting
to open a door here, and many people are slamming it shut.
~~~
mroman
it is called Hacker News for a reason
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Sobe, the anti-Switch? - psranga
http://curdrice.com/ranga/sobe.html
======
dbr
"We were trying to go after what [SOBE] had done because we were seeing the
success they had with that young market," says Hargis, now the company's CEO."
[http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/eating-drinking-
plac...](http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/eating-drinking-places-
eating/4130082-1.html)
------
ggruschow
Darn. I was hoping for a new keyword that did something cool, useful, and
concise.. e.g. if, for, map, switch, sobe.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: WikiReverse reverse links to Wikipedia articles - rossf7
https://wikireverse.org
======
deskglass
This is awesome. Now, if I come across an interesting article, I can find
places that may link to other interesting articles.
A suggestion: It'd be nice to be able to specify an article URL in the article
search field. That way you can specify exactly what article you're interested
in finding links to. For example, to get to the SMBC article page, I had to
manually make my URL
[https://wikireverse.org/articles/en/Saturday_Morning_Breakfa...](https://wikireverse.org/articles/en/Saturday_Morning_Breakfast_Cereal)
, I couldn't get there by searching for "Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal"
(at least it wasn't in the first page of results) or "SMBC."
Anyway, thanks for making and sharing this.
~~~
rossf7
Thanks! Being able to search by article URL is a great idea. I'll try and
implement that over the weekend.
------
yellowapple
Your site's broken, yo.
Has a spinner for a second, then redirects to a 500 error page.
~~~
rossf7
Sorry the API went down. Its back up now.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
40 Years Of Data Show The MBA Effectively Does Nothing -- It Has No Impact - SkyMarshal
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-mba-effectively-does-nothing-it-has-no-impact-2010-10
======
cjlars
There are about 1000 MBA programs in the US, for about 900 of those, this is
true. However, I think it's worth noting that plenty of students who go to
Boston College, Boulder, Seattle, or any other program in the lower ranks of
the top 100 can expect salary increases of 40-100% for two years of study, and
financially, it makes plenty of sense.
The MBA's easy to rag on. Trust me, I do, and I'm getting one as we speak. But
the problems in business school are the same as you had in your undergrad.
Half the classes are required and you already know the material, some of them
are so fluffy as to be useless, and every fifth professor is hands down
incompetent. However, a few are really good, and suddenly you understand in
intricate detail how a couple headlines in the WSJ are interrelated.
Business management is a soft science, and like many soft sciences, a lot of
supposed experts don't get it even after many years of focus. Similarly, a lot
of not-so-well credentialed people understand it intuitively without lifting a
finger. In instances like these, I think it's pretty easy to show the numbers
not working out. Has anyone checked the 20 year return on a master's of fine
arts degree lately?
~~~
RobGR
It is silly to say "Has anyone checked the 20 year return on a master's of
fine arts degree lately". The 20 return on a swimming class at the Y may not
be that great either, but at least you learn how to swim.
But MBA programs advertise themselves as producing higher earners.
I'd like to propose a few hypotheses -- I think the truth is a mixture of
these:
* There is no special skill at managing business, any more than there is a special skill at reading goat guts or tarot cards. Trends in outsourcing, in large companies shedding their disparate divisions into separate companies, are a tacit admission that the person who knows how to manage one way of making money has no special capability in another. This often goes under the motto "focus on core competency", and the very MBAs who once claimed a competency in managing business now admit that the best strategy is to pick the money maker that is somehow already working and just ride it.
* In contradiction to the above, there is such a skill as general business management; however, like debugging, certain kinds of highly end programming, medical diagnosis and bedside manner, it can be learned but not taught. The only hope for acquiring it is to do it as much as possible, there is some subtlety of the skill that is simply not communicable from one human to another.
* MBA programs are actually a kind of negative education, in that they make the participants stupider. That this is possible in humans is demonstrated by examples of cults and other fanatical movements. Like a cult compound, the MBA program provides constant uncritical validation of particular points of view, and isolation from the rest of the world, particularly the cold, hard realities of real work.
Much of the criticism of MBA programs applies to other higher education as
well, of course.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Desktop Muon Detector: A project for university students - sohkamyung
https://arxiv.org/abs/1606.01196
======
sohkamyung
Write-up about the project at Symmetry Magazine [1]
\- "The $100 muon detector" [
[http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/the-100-muon-
detecto...](http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/the-100-muon-detector) ]
~~~
brudgers
Recent discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12325943](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12325943)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Migrating from Mac to PC as a Software Developer - NikolayN
https://medium.com/@nemshilov/migrating-from-mac-to-pc-as-a-software-developer-c8e23527f31a
======
simonh
>My new laptop is the new thinkpad, the quintessential corporate black square
brick. Fingerprints all over it. Eww, right?
When Steve Jobs returned to Apple he needed a computer that ran NeXTSTEP. Was
it a sleek trendy Sony VAIO? Nope, a simple black IBM Think Pad. Design is
about how something works, not just what it looks like. Jobs was one of those
people who really got that, right down in his bones and that's where Apple has
gone astray recently. Hopefully the 16" is a sign they're course correcting in
the right direction.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Quoting command line arguments the wrong way (2011) - moopling
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/twistylittlepassagesallalike/2011/04/23/everyone-quotes-command-line-arguments-the-wrong-way/
======
makecheck
If an API has a problem, you fix the API. If necessary, you release a free
library to back-port the improved API to older OS versions as well. You come
up with a fixed version, make it as convenient as possible, call it the “new
standard”, officially deprecate the alternatives, and _then_ write a blog
post. Except the blog post would only need two lines of sample code showing
how easy it is to work around the problem now.
Not this. Frankly, few developers will even know about the need for careful
coding such as this, and even fewer will actually do it because it will muck
up each and every program with dozens of lines of extra stuff to work around a
deficient part of the PLATFORM.
~~~
tetrep
I'm absolutely amazed that Windows doesn't offer a process spawning API that
takes an array of strings as arguments[0], if only because that's exactly how
a C program expects them anyway.
[0]: [https://linux.die.net/man/3/exec](https://linux.die.net/man/3/exec)
~~~
dom0
These APIs _do_ exist, they just don't work that way:
> These functions appear to be precisely what we need: they take an arbitrary
> number of distinct command line arguments and promise to launch a
> subprocess. Unfortunately and counter-intuitively, these functions do not
> quote or process these arguments: instead, they’re all concatenated into a
> single string, with arguments separated spaces
~~~
Dylan16807
Or in other words, those APIs _don 't_ exist, and mentioning a function that
has the same C-type but does something totally different is trivia at best.
~~~
dom0
... which is exactly my point. They apparently exist, and would even appear to
work correctly, until some scrutiny is applied.
~~~
Dylan16807
> They apparently exist[...]until some scrutiny is applied.
But that's the opposite of " _does_ exist"?
------
rusanu
Looking _now_ at how Windows handles console application arguments, it sure
looks broken. But you have to put your mindset in cca. 1990 and think what
Windows applications looked like back then, and what was the model Microsoft
was betting on. Arguments were passed via DDE[0], and then later all the bets
were on OLE[1] and finally COM[2]. System components were all the time
accessed via in-process DLLs communicating with services over LRPC[3]. In this
world, the command line, the pipe philosophy and the 'less is more' mindset
were not only not welcome, they were the _adversary_.
Even when finally it was aknowledged that the command shell needs some love
too, the answer was PowerShell, which yet again defined an _object_ interface
between cmdlets[4].
[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Data_Exchange](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Data_Exchange)
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_Linking_and_Embedding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_Linking_and_Embedding)
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component_Object_Model](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component_Object_Model)
[3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Procedure_Call](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Procedure_Call)
[4]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerShell#Pipeline](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerShell#Pipeline)
~~~
sukilot
That's a long way of saying that Microsoft spent many years promoting a
overcomplicated bad ideas over simple correct ideas.
~~~
wongarsu
>promoting a overcomplicated bad ideas over simple correct ideas.
Encode the program name together with all arguments as one big string,
discarding all type safety, spawn the process of your favorite shell, let that
shell process the string in order to spawn one or multiple processes, in each
process have the standard library process the arguments into an array called
argv, and have your average process call out to yet another library to parse
these string argument strings into flags and parameters, and prints a not
standarized, potentially localized string if an error occurs, and if the error
is fatal exits with a semi-standarized return code. The calling program tries
to make sense of the output of the called program, often by fuzzy matching
against known output.
That's the standard way how it's done since the beginning of Unix. Some APIs
skip the shell, but that's a minor detail in all this. If this sounds simple
and like the obviously best solution, then congratulations. The windows
developers disagree and tried (and continue to try) to find a better way. They
mostly failed so far, but I think we should thank them for at least trying to
innovate.
~~~
arielb1
If you use some API other than system(3) - even if you literally use a shell-
script - it's:
1) serialize data structure to semi-typed array of strings 2) pass array of
strings directly to target program 3) have target program parse the array of
strings to flags & parameters
With no shell or C library touching the command line arguments at all.
The only way this could be more direct would be if you used JSON instead of
arrays of strings, web-API style.
------
ajross
Everyone does this "wrong" because every app does this differently. The core
reason windows command line options aren't (or at least shouldn't be) used to
pass complicated data is that way back when DOS simply provided a single
command line string to the executed program and let it parse it itself. So no
two command line parsers are the same. The glitch with escaping here is merely
one symptom of a broader problem.
Unix got this right by forcing the shell to provide the kernel a pre-parsed
list of strings, so the only insanity the tool integrator needs to understand
is the shell's quoting syntax. Which is still insane. But it's only insane in
one particular way.
~~~
pwdisswordfish
Unix got something right in that you can unambiguously pass a list of separate
strings to launched processes. However, it does nothing to ensure unambiguous
_meaning_ of those strings.
This is for example why you should avoid giving your files such cute names as
'-rf'.
~~~
quotemstr
> This is for example why you should avoid giving your files such cute names
> as '-rf'.
The kernel should ban these names. I'm a big fan of dwheeler's proposal for
fixing filenames: see [http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/fixing-unix-linux-
filenames.h...](http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/fixing-unix-linux-
filenames.html)
These is no god damn reason why a filename should be able to contain, say, LF,
DEL, or BEL. None whatsoever.
~~~
kalleboo
> These is no god damn reason why a filename should be able to contain, say,
> LF, DEL, or BEL. None whatsoever.
OK you want ASCII 0x07 to be disallowed. Should a filename be allowed to
contain "㜇"? (U+3707)
~~~
kazinator
That's not a problem because the UTF-8 encoding of U+3707 will absolutely not
contain any USASCII control characters, or any special shell or filesystem
characters. It will all be bytes in the range 0x80-0xFF.
~~~
kalleboo
There are other encodings than UTF-8 though. Which is kind of my point. If you
have your file system set to UTF-16 (doesn't NTFS do this?) then 0x07 will be
present.
~~~
quotemstr
I _also_ believe that filesystems should require that all filenames be fully
normalized UTF-8. I don't think the benefits (slight, IMHO) of allowing
filenames to be arbitrary byte strings outweigh the costs of code complexity
and security problems.
------
pwdisswordfish
This is a quite good example of the kind of problems you run into when you
follow the philosophy of representing all data in informally-specified ad-hoc
text formats. Everyone thinks they can just roll their own parser/serialiser,
which they then neglect to test thoroughly enough, creating subtle bugs when
the serialisation side forgets to escape data somewhere, or the parsing side
doesn't even provide any way to escape grammar-significant characters.
~~~
grymoire1
I think this indicates a huge difference between Microsoft/UNIX mindsets.
Microsoft allowed
rename *.txt *.bak
To do this, the "rename" command had to understand how to parse the asterisk
character while being familiar with the contents of the directory. However,
creating a new replacement "rename" command is difficult, as well as creating
new commands that can parse wildcards.
In the Unix environment, the shell expands the asterisk to all files that
matches that pattern, and then passes these files to the "rename" command, who
never sees the asterisk. Therefore it's trivial to create a new "rename'
utility because it doesn't need to parse wildcards. However, renaming all .txt
to .bak is awkward in a UNIX system.
~~~
sukilot
find --name *.txt --exec mv {} {}.bak\;
That's imperfect because find doesn't provide a nice way to do the pattern-
replacement but it's a pretty simple pattern.
If this use case were important, it's simple enough to write a purpose-built
program that generated command-line argument pairs according to a spec.
~~~
Asooka
I would probably do
find -name '*.txt' -exec bash -c 'mv -nv "$0" "${0/.txt/.bak}"' {} \;
That's not at all user-friendly, but these are supposed to be programmer
tools... If you want user-friendly file operations on UNIX command line, use
midnight commander. It can do mass rename, etc.
------
joeyh
That's about Windows, but many uses of system() that involve non-static
strings also probably get quoting wrong.
Of course, avoiding the shell is the best way to avoid the problem. Sometimes,
you can't avoid the shell.
My preferred shell quoting method, for unix, is to wrap each parameter in
single quotes. Then only single quotes inside a parameter are a problem. They
can be replaced with '"'"'
Probably a lot of things use double quotes and perhaps try to escape $ and '
and " but miss details to do with \ and perhaps other characters that some
shells treat specially.
Another way is to pass the filename in the environment: system("rm -rf
\"$DIR\"")
~~~
pwdisswordfish
> Sometimes, you can't avoid the shell.
What circumstances have you got in mind?
~~~
tene
My favorite awkward environment to cite is running a command remotely over
ssh. As far as I've been able to tell from casual testing, without having read
the source code yet, ssh does something very similar to what Windows does here
and just glues everything together with spaces and passes it to the remote
shell for interpretation, so you have to deal with the shell and provide your
own quoting.
~~~
dozzie
>>> Sometimes, you can't avoid the shell.
>> What circumstances have you got in mind?
> My favorite awkward environment to cite is running a command remotely over
> ssh.
Dude, if you run remote commands by calling them through SSH, you didn't just
got things backward: you fucked things up heavily. SSH was never ever designed
as a batch, unsupervised tool, despite many people using it as such.
Remote code that is parametrized should be run exactly as that: as a remote
procedure call, a technique known for _over thirty years_ now. One of the
reasons is quoting (because for non-interactive SSH call the command needs to
be quoted exactly twice if in shell, and exactly once when run from exec()),
but there are problems with distributing keys, maintaining usable home
directories, and disabling unnecessary things that are enabled by default
(port forwarding, among the others), and that _doesn 't exhaust the list of
issues_.
Proper RPC protocol, like XML-RPC (which was released _twenty years ago_ and
is still usable while being quite simple), covers quoting -- or actually,
_serializing_ data -- without programmers worrying if they got their list of
metacharacters right and did enough passes for things to work correctly.
On the other hand, I'm not surprised that people do this through SSH (and a
variant of this stupidity: adding _apache_ user to sudoers, so a web panel can
add firewall rules). After all, I've never seen an easy to use RPC server that
has all the procedures passed in its configuration. I needed to write such
thing myself (once in Perl, as xmlrpcd, and recently in Python, with custom
protocol that can do a little more, as harpd of HarpCaller project).
~~~
tene
You're entirely right; I completely agree.
And yet, sometimes you're working in an environment that already has a good
ssh configuration for other reasons, and you're very low on engineering time
that you can invest into something, and ssh is good enough for a first pass
implementation. Alternately, you may be working on some kind of ad-hoc data
collection or maintenance task that's not going to become part of any long-
term infrastructure (or will be replaced by something better), and you don't
yet have any better systems in place to run ad-hoc programs across the
cluster.
I completely agree with you that good RPC is a much better foundation to build
reliable systems on.
[edited to add]: HarpCaller looks like a pretty interesting project, and
similar to several things I've considered building in the past. Nice work.
~~~
dozzie
> sometimes you're working in an environment that already has a good ssh
> configuration for other reasons, and you're very low on engineering time
> that you can invest into something, and ssh is good enough for a first pass
> implementation.
I would agree personally before I wrote xmlrpcd. After I wrote it, I, its
author, have no excuses for using SSH as an RPC protocol. Though I'm not good
on the marketing side, so I understand that people just don't know about such
tools.
> Alternately, you may be working on some kind of ad-hoc data collection or
> maintenance task that's not going to become part of any long-term
> infrastructure (or will be replaced by something better), and you don't yet
> have any better systems in place to run ad-hoc programs across the cluster.
Honestly, this is yet another matter.
To properly manage a set of servers, one needs three different services[&],
each for different thing. One service is for running predefined procedures
(that can possibly be parametrized) -- this is what HarpCaller and earlier
xmlrpcd are for. Another service is for managing configuration and scheduled
jobs -- this is a place for CFEngine and Puppet. Then there is what you just
said: a tool for running commands defined in an ad-hoc manner and collecting
their output _synchronously_. From the three, the first and second don't match
how SSH works and is used, but for the last one it actually makes sense.
[&] It doesn't _have_ to be three services, but we don't have one that would
cover all three in an uniform way.
> [edited to add]: HarpCaller looks like a pretty interesting project, and
> similar to several things I've considered building in the past. Nice work.
Thank you. I'm quite proud of how it turned out, and the middle part of it was
an excellent pretext for me to write something for production use in Erlang.
------
nilved
I'm going to use this opportunity to ask a question I've been thinking about
for a long time. Why do we have both environment variables and command line
arguments? They are the same thing, except one is key-to-value and one is
positional and often needs to be parsed by hand in an ad-hoc fashion. I don't
think that people should use command line arguments when environment variables
are an option, and I'm not aware of any use cases where they are not an
option.
~~~
Animats
A more interesting question is, why do we pass in command arguments and
environment variables to a subprocess, but only get an integer status code
back? The original reason comes from the way fork/exec was implemented in
PDP-11 UNIX. But that was a while ago. At some point, the subprocess concept
should have been extended to handle return values, like all other forms of
function call. "exit" should have an argc/argv, which get passed back to the
caller.
~~~
quotemstr
It's always bugged me that the POSIX exit status can only really communicate
seven bits of information reliably. (The other half of the byte is overloaded
with signal-exit information from the shell.) Windows does it better: there,
you at least get 32 bits, which is enough for an HRESULT.
Also, I've never understood where this exit(-1) idiom comes from. It's
nonsense.
------
quotemstr
Oh, hi. This is my article. I'm a bit sad that I lost edit rights when I left
Microsoft.
~~~
ronsor
You should always host your own blog and then post a summary on the MSDN blogs
-- always have control over content
------
zkhalique
Oh brother, this is one of the reasons UNIX was much more developer-friendly.
~~~
agentgt
Actually Bash does have some issues with command line arguments if doing
variable expansion. For example in Java apps it is actually fairly difficult
to pass -DsomeParameter="something with a space in it" if doing variable
expansion.
~~~
kbp
Could you clarify what you mean? What's wrong with -DsomeParameter="$var"? Or
am I misunderstanding?
~~~
agentgt
I'm trying to find the exact situation but basically if you have something
like:
PROPS="-Dprop1=foo bar -Dprop2=bar foo"
java $PROPS SomeClass.class
You can try to escape with backslashes and what not but it becomes fairly hard
if not impossible to expand multiple parameters correctly as a single
variable. I believe one solution is to use arrays and another is just not use
arguments and instead rely on other configuration mechanisms (env variables,
files, etc).
You see this often rear its ugly head with daemon scripts.
~~~
colemickens
A bit hard to understand your exact scenario here (basically the same shell
lexing problem...), but I think this is what you're looking for.
I left an example of an argument with a space in there (the last one).
PROPS=("-Dprop1=foo" "bar" "-Dprop2=bar foo")
java "${PROPS[@]}" SomeClass.class
(The quotes around `${PROPS[@]}` is important.) Do note, there is an
unfortunate edge case here if PROPS is empty, you'll get a false `""` arg
passed to java in that case. There's a less pleasant syntax that avoids that
issue but I don't recall it off-hand.
(edit: Please read the replies to my post, I didn't think about the fact that
this syntax is bash specific. Thanks to those who pointed it out)
~~~
agentgt
Oh I am sure there are ways around it but the big issue is that almost all of
the daemon scripts out there do not do it. That is you can't just set some
configuration in /etc/default/some_daemon as the script will try to
concatenate the command.
I tried to find a failsafe solution once while rewriting a daemon script and
just gave up.
------
saurik
A friend of mine had to fix this recently for PowerShell, which had a
regression that caused arguments you passed to programs to be incorrectly
escaped to executed commands.
[https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/pull/2182](https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/pull/2182)
It is extremely common to get this wrong. Apache Portable Runtime even gets
this wrong :/. (I haven't submitted a patch for this yet, but I intend to: I
ran into it a couple months ago and then got distracted after working around
it in my program by predicting what incorrect escaping might be performed by
APR and compensating by adding quotes and escape characters to my input to
their open process function... my build is statically linked so I don't feel
bad about this temporary hack ;P.)
~~~
quotemstr
Wow. Microsoft really has changed for the better since I left. Not a
coincidence, I'm sure. ;-)
------
kazinator
This should be "quoting command line arguments the right way for passage into
applications developed using Microsoft Visual C, and linked to its C run-time
library that parses the command line string and calls main or wmain".
There is no general correct way to quote command line arguments in Windows,
because every application receives just a character string which it parses
however it wants.
There is no single specification for the syntax by which arguments are
delimited within the command string.
------
jdright
I dont really know what to say from this without risking being downvoted. But,
this coming from a Microsoft blog is a little... awkward. DOS heritage +
really bad shell implementations, well.. I avoid the hell out of using command
line on any Windows. Luckily there is mintty.
~~~
marcosdumay
> well.. I avoid the hell out of using command line on any Windows
How do you avoid it if it's the only API available for spawning processes on
Windows?
~~~
alkonaut
High level Api's could easily provide this, e.g. the C#
Process.Start(executable, args);
Takes a single string as args, and has no overload taking an array as args,
which formats it safely and correctly so that the receiving process would see
the same string in its args vector.
So while it seems to be pretty easily fixable, it hasn't been.
~~~
marcosdumay
The right way to do it would be to change the OS API into accepting an array
of strings, and turn this function into an overlay that will have its
parameters parsed and broken apart in user-space.
But yes, if MS ever fixes this it's more likely that they'll go into the route
you described. I can't wait to see how many bug reports with crazy
descriptions it will create, and how many more overlays will be written to fix
the bugs preserving backward compatibility.
------
vram22
IIRC, Microsoft C (quite some years ago - had worked on a product using it)
had different variants of functions to spawn or execute a process from another
one - like the exec family - execlp, execvp, execvpe, execlpe, etc., which
varied in things like fixed vs. variable number of args, checking environment
vs. not, etc. I also remember reading about it in a Waite Publications book,
The Microsoft C Bible, by Nabajyoti Barkakati. Not sure if the issues
mentioned in the OP could be solved if those functions were present - need to
check.
Edit: and the DOS / Windows exec family of functions was likely derived from
Unix's exec().
------
Pxtl
What I find frustrating is how many MS tools freak at the sight of a quoted
path when quoted paths are what "copy filename with path" (or whatever the
context command is called) gives.
------
wfunction
I recall seeing different behavior between the C runtime and
CommandLineToArgvW. I don't remember what the difference was, but I remember
it driving me nuts.
------
jaclaz
[2011]
------
grymoire1
Oh. I was confused until I realized the publishing site was Microsoft.
Apparently "Everyone" only refers to Windows programmers, and
Unix/Mac/whatever programmers do not exist in this universe.
~~~
chc
It's an MSDN article. Most of the articles on Apple's developer site are
equally inapplicable to Windows development without explicitly saying so.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament Russia Report - iamacyborg
https://docs.google.com/a/independent.gov.uk/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=aW5kZXBlbmRlbnQuZ292LnVrfGlzY3xneDo1Y2RhMGEyN2Y3NjM0OWFl
======
mhxion
Mostly things against Russia. Only one thing that was particularly interesting
that, unlike US, EU never did an investigation on possible influence of Russia
in their 2016 referendum/Brexit even though they were aware of it.
> We have not been provided with any post-referendum assessment of Russian
> attempts at interference, __*.53 This situation is in stark contrast to the
> US handling of allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential
> election, where an intelligence community assessment54 was produced within
> two months of the vote, with an unclassified summary being made public.
> Whilst the issues at stake in the EU referendum campaign are less clear-cut,
> it is nonetheless the Committee’s view that the UK Intelligence Community
> should produce an analogous assessment of potential Russian interference in
> the EU referendum and that an unclassified summary of it be published
------
klelatti
Eliot Higgins of Bellingcat fame is not happy about this report!
'It's honestly genuinely rare I get wound up about things, but this Russia
report has done the job.'
[https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/1285517283159347201](https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/1285517283159347201)
------
iamacyborg
Apologies for the Google Docs link. This is how the British Government has
chosen to release the report.
~~~
sorokod
Well, that is embarrassing. Taking back control and all that.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Should we give incentives ? - joseakle
I've been thinking how to, or if we should, give incentives at my company.<p>We are slowly becoming profitable. We are "ramen profitable" since both of the founders live from our salary. But we have three angel investors who would like a reward on their investment. And seven more employees.
I've been reading articles by HBS and some blogs.<p>One possible scheme i've thought of is this one.<p>First cover all costs including salaries, taxes, credit, etc.
Build a 5% reserve for legal or other.
As long as profits are 20% of sales or lower, pay them as dividends to investors.
Redistribute any profits above 20% of sales to founders and employees.
======
marilyn
This may be more theoretical than you are hoping for, nonetheless, I'd like to
suggest Dan Pink's TED talk on _The Surprising Science of Motivation_
<http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html>
Pink explains how financial incentives often have the opposite effect on
motivation than we would want or expect. He suggests that the causes of true
motivation boil down to autonomy, mastery and purpose. The video is worth the
20 minute investment.
~~~
joseakle
Great! I watched it.
So now i'm really thinking if we should have financial incentives ...
The thing is most articles that say incentives don't work area about pay for
performance, but the problem is if performance is not measured in money it's
kind of hard to compare.
------
JacobAldridge
Incentives to employees work best when they meet two criteria:
1) They are directly linked to performance. Giving our random amounts of money
(eg, Christmas Bonus because the business had a good year) can backfire
because it sets the expectation that such incentives will be standard, not a
bonus. Rewarding those employees who meet or exceed their targets - financial
or otherwise - encourages them to keep working hard.
2) They should be personal. Most people would rather you spend $x on a
personal gift (eg, movie tickets) than give them some multiple of x in cash.
It shows you care.
Regarding the angels, I would again ensure you understand their personal
motivation and expectations. If they want an equity stake because they think
you could be huge, chances are they would rather you reinvested in strategic
growth than return a dividend.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A Building in Motion: First Design of its kind - noone
http://www.dynamicarchitecture.net/building.html
The Dynamic Tower offers infinite design possibilities, as each floor rotates independently at different speeds, resulting in a unique and ever evolving shape that introduces a fourth dimension to architecture, Time.
======
noone
What a awesome design: Each floor rotates independently at different speeds,
resulting in a unique and ever evolving shape that introduces a fourth
dimension to architecture, Time. Building has got wind turbines, self
sustainable power source.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Using Adderall to Get Ahead, Not to Fight A.D.H.D - andrewl
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/04/21/using-adderall-to-get-ahead-not-to-fight-adhd
======
Errorcod3
I don't see anything wrong with this. However I would not do it myself. I have
no issues being productive throughout the day.
Can this drug be abused? If there are no harmful side effects all should be
good to go!
~~~
andrewl
Any drug can be abused. Although that doesn't mean it shouldn't be used, it
does mean you have to be careful. There is also the question of short-term
effectiveness versus long-term consequences. Strong stimulants are definitely
effective in the short term, but they come with costs. Actually, in the short-
term, smoking helps users focus, and quite effectively. The damage doesn't
show up immediately. And short-term effects are much easier to see and
research than long-term effects. So benefits might be easier to see than
damages.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Scala founder: Language due for 'fundamental rethink' - snydeq
http://www.infoworld.com/t/java-programming/scala-founder-language-due-fundamental-rethink-249845
======
cies
> Essentially, the fusion of [functional and object-oriented programming] can
> have a power that neither of the two paradigms individually can have.
I tend to disagree. OOP can borrow some FP stuff (as we see with
map/each/select/reject in Ruby for instance, or lambda's in Java); or to take
it broader: imperative can borrow some from declarative.
But "fusing" the two will cause FP's ease-of-reasoning ("just functions and
data structures") to be lost. On top of that, when using a strictly typed
discipline (like Scala does), the types will become really messy.
So when it comes to FP, I like it pure-and-typed (a la Haskell), or untyped
(like the Lisps), but not mixed-paradigm.
When it comes to OOP/imperative I like to mix in as much of FP/declarative as
makes sense (like Ruby does for instance).
~~~
tel
I think there's a huge opportunity for FP+OO... but that OO will have to be
rethought from first principles (which are lacking in OO).
More specifically, I think OO-style code interactions are great but that they
need to be separated from ambient mutability, subtyping, subclassing,
inheritance, etc. Late binding/open corecursion is really cool however.
I would like to see a language which starts with ML modules as a base and
build a totally novel semi-OO system into FP. I don't think it would, at the
end of the day, look much at all like OO the way that OO appears today, but I
think it could still gather many of the advantages while maintaining ease of
reasoning, good type inference, etc.
~~~
bunderbunder
_I think there 's a huge opportunity for FP+OO... but that OO will have to be
rethought from first principles (which are lacking in OO)._ _More
specifically, I think OO-style code interactions are great but that they need
to be separated from ambient mutability, subtyping, subclassing, inheritance,
etc._
This has already happened. Ideally, good object-oriented code should always
prefer immutability over mutability, should prefer interface polymorphism over
inheritance polymorphism, should prefer has-a relationships (the OO version of
composition) over is-a relationships (subclassing), and so on. Much of this
was originally figured out a very long time ago.
So the issue isn't that these standards don't exist; it's that they aren't
widely understood among users of object-oriented languages. That, in turn, is
because OO is so widely used by so many programmers, including a lot of people
with very limited formal training in computer science, that most users of OO
languages have very little exposure to any of the literature about what
constitutes well-crafted object-oriented code. Certainly less so than in FP,
which benefits (in this department) from the fact that it hadn't even begun to
escape the ivory tower in any sort of serious way until just a few short years
ago. In short, object-oriented programming is a victim of its own success.
It doesn't help that the first really widespread object-oriented language
wasn't particularly object-oriented, either.
~~~
tel
> _Ideally, good object-oriented code should always prefer_
Really what I'm referring to is a language which outlaws instead of one that
leaves it up to preference. And by outlaw I don't mean entirely, but instead a
language which requires the programmer explicitly opt into these richer
domains as they are needed.
My understanding is that while these principles are understood as valuable, OO
is generally constructed as too permissive to enforce them.
In a similar story, unbounded recursion is generally "bad" in almost every
part of a program---nobody likes mysteriously hanging programs---but only
total languages have a formalism which allows you to profitably outlaw it.
So I'm convinced there are the beginnings of the theory of objects lurking
around out there even if they rarely see the light of day (really) in
practice. But I also recognize that modern functional semantics grew over the
last 80 years. I don't think (maybe I'm wrong) that the whole package of OO
has had so long to mature.
------
aaronharnly
How did Odersky miss Yammer's citing Scala's complexity as a reason for moving
away from it? Odersky said:
> _In terms of complexity, I don 't know whether Yammer featured that, but you
> definitely do hear that a lot [from] many people. _
The first paragraph (after introductory greetings) of Yammer's letter which
explains its action [1]:
> _Scala, as a language, has some profoundly interesting ideas in it. That 's
> one of the things which attracted me to it in the first place. But it's also
> a very complex language._
[1]
[https://gist.github.com/anonymous/1406238](https://gist.github.com/anonymous/1406238)
~~~
the_af
Indeed. Another example from the fourth paragraph of the letter:
_" Scala, as a language, has some profoundly interesting ideas in it. That's
one of the things which attracted me to it in the first place. But it's also a
very complex language. The number of concepts I had to explain to new members
of our team for even the simplest usage of a collection was surprising:
implicit parameters, builder typeclasses, "operator overloading", return type
inference, etc. etc."_
It seems very clear the language's complexity was a major problem for Yammer.
------
tel
I find Odersky's comments on Swift very apt. I think both Scala and Swift are
aimed at being mergers between FP and existing OO systems and both of them
feel a little warty for the effort.
I really applaud trying to merge the benefits of FP and OO. I think it's going
to be a much larger and harder project than either Scala or Swift will benefit
from, but I'm really glad that they're exploring the design space.
------
noelwelsh
It's reassuring to see that the various groups working on Scala seem to have
the same broad goal in mind. I also think it is important to not let the
language ossify due to legacy -- which is the problem that kills many
languages.
~~~
Avshalom
Outside of maybe Fortran and Cobol I can't think of anything that was A)alive
enough to be killed B)killed by ossification.
~~~
rch
> Each new release of Delphi attempts to keep as much backwards compatibility
> as possible to allow developers to continue to use existing code without
> incompatibility of interfaces or functionality.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi_(programming_language)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi_\(programming_language\))
~~~
Avshalom
I'm pretty sure Delphi died from having to compete with essentially free C#
and its better integration with Microsoft's ecosystem.
And a little bit from the shifting of the overton window away from paying for
languages.
And mismanagement of Borland/Inprise.
And about a dozen other factors before "lack of (breaking) change in the
language".
~~~
Roboprog
It's 1996. Java runs on Linux, Delphi doesn't. Java also runs where Delphi
runs. Java is free. Java 1.1 with inner classes looks much like recursive
blocks in Pascal (albeit without procedural types -- function pointers to C
folks).
THE END.
(sadly, as I really liked Borland Pascal)
------
zak_mc_kracken
Funny, when I read the headline, I thought this was referring to Paul Phillips
saying that "Scala is unfixable" [1] in the other thread. He's also a Scala
founder and he's also saying the language needs a fundamental rethink.
Interesting how the interpretation can vary.
[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8277626](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8277626)
~~~
TheDom
Paul is not a "Scala founder". Martin Odersky started to create Scala, the
language, by himself 10 years ago. Typesafe, the company around it, was
founded 5 years ago and Paul was one of the co-founders.
------
matwood
With the release of Java 8 I wonder if Scala is getting squeezed from both
sides. Java 8 on one and Clojure on the other.
~~~
virtualwhys
Unlikely, Clojure is very much its own thing, won't draw those that are drawn
to Scala (rich type system, (G)ADTs, performance, etc.). That branch of
potential adoption is minisicule anyway (even compared to Scala which relative
to Java is itself tiny).
So, the elephant in the room is indeed Java 8. Will Scala at long last be
killed? Perhaps, but highly unlikely, Scala lives and dies on its ecosystem
(Akka, Play, Spark, Spire, Spray, etc.) which are seeing ever increasing
_enterprise_ adoption.
If anything Java 8 and the JVM improvements made and coming will aid _all_
languages on the JVM that are different enough from Java 8+, which Scala,
Ceylon, and of course, Clojure, are. The only JVM language made vulnerable by
Java 8 is, IMO, Kotlin.
~~~
pps
Clojure is becoming increasingly popular in banks in the UK. (as I heard from
trusted person)
~~~
seanmcdirmid
What's up with the UK? Scala is also becoming increasingly popular in banks in
the UK (as I heard from trusted persons).
CLOS, Smalltalk, and Objective C (before it was cool) were for a long time
very popular on Wallstreet.
~~~
seanmcdirmid
Supposedly, Haskell and F# are also big in UK banks. Wow.
~~~
ckarmann
For what it worth, this website ranks the popularity of some keywords in UK's
IT job ads: [http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/](http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/)
Bank jobs are a big part of UK's IT jobs.
There is a category "Programming Language", in which you can see Scala and
Clojure has taken steam since 2010, even if interest in Clojure seems to have
waned a bit this year (and now it trails COBOL or Delphi). Interestingly, the
salary advertised for Scala and Clojure jobs are also larger than for the more
popular programming languages.
------
_random_
"Essentially, the fusion of [functional and object-oriented programming] can
have a power that neither of the two paradigms individually can have."
Very aligned with my opinion. I would add that having strong static type
system with opt-in dynamic types system (syntax integrated) adds even more
power (e.g. C#).
------
mjburgess
What a confused interview. If the audience is for people who are interested in
knowing scala's timeline then saying "isnt Java 8 functional now because it
has lambdas" is either dumb or trying to be dumb on behalf of a java audience
who doesnt care about the scala timeline.
~~~
mseepgood
Or "another language that's becoming popular, Node.js"
~~~
_random_
Lol - "language", it's not even a platform.
~~~
seanmcdirmid
Libraries, frameworks, and languages are actually quite similar; it was long
ago that when people said "Ruby" they actually meant "RoR".
------
bubblicious
I'm really hoping that functional languages will evolve in a way that they
become more readable at a glance.
~~~
shepardrtc
Haskell is very clean and readable. The problem, however, is that its such a
departure from imperative languages that you can't bring much of anything you
already know over to it. You really do have to forget everything you're
learned about programming and start from scratch. Until then, its all alien.
That being said, I think that Haskell is the most clean looking of all the FP
languages, but that's purely my opinion.
~~~
tormeh
Haskell suffers from people who want to make things look clean and achieve it
by using symbols and very short names. These things have to be memorized
before you can understand anything.
Basically, people are trying to make Haskell code look like math and the truth
is that math's symbolic notation is optimized for hand writing speed, /not/
reading comprehension.
Take a look at Ada code. Maybe they're taking it a bit far, but it's very
readable. Spelling words out and being very very sparing with symbols is a
very good thing, I think.
~~~
the_af
I don't think this is true. I think Haskell's notation is the way it is
because it emphasizes the "look" of certain abstract patterns that would be
obscured by the notation used in other languages (I believe this is the case
for math as well... I doubt it's that way for hand writing speed, since I
doubt that's the bottleneck in maths). This is not what many of us who come
from other programming languages are used to, and therefore we identify it as
"more difficult", but it actually is lack of familiarity. Not only with
Haskell itself, but with the abstractions and the way of looking at programs.
I doubt the majority of Haskell programmers would prefer a more verbose
notation. I think that, like the parent post, they consider Haskell very clean
and readable.
A friend of mine who is a proficient Haskeller told me he often struggles to
understand new Haskell libraries. Then the library "clicks" for him and he can
begin to use it. I -- who program in Java for my day job -- have trouble
understanding this, because this is seldom the case for Java: you may not
understand what problem a Java library is intended to solve, but _using it_ is
usually trivial (and mis-using it is trivial as well, of course!). I think
it's unfair to compare both languages this way, because in Java there is a
fairly low use of general abstractions, and Java's syntax (and coding
practices) have evolved to reflect this. The verbose syntax that works (1) for
Java is not suitable for other kinds of programming.
(1) for some values of "works".
~~~
klibertp
> since I doubt that's the bottleneck in maths
I'm not a mathematician, but I heard that math is most frequently written on a
whiteboard. If that's true, then optimizing for speed and space efficiency of
hand-writing suddenly makes sense.
> I doubt the majority of Haskell programmers would prefer a more verbose
> notation
The exact same thing can be said about PERL programmers. But why stop there,
take a look at APL, J, K languages. J, for example, ships with all standard
verbs aliased to words, like "under", "behead", "curtail" etc. Of course,
nobody uses those, they write "&.", "}.", "{." instead.
The difference is that in J you have small, consistent core vocabulary
([http://www.jsoftware.com/help/dictionary/vocabul.htm](http://www.jsoftware.com/help/dictionary/vocabul.htm)),
and once you learn it and it "clicks", you very much are ready to do anything
with the language. Haskell way makes you go through the same process again and
again with almost every library. The sad thing is that you _could_ write
Haskell in a way which wouldn't require you to internalize large numbers of
new symbols, but you generally don't. Is it really because of how much better
the abbreviated, symbol-based notation is so much better, I have to wonder.
~~~
the_af
> I'm not a mathematician, but I heard that math is most frequently written on
> a whiteboard. If that's true, then optimizing for speed and space efficiency
> of hand-writing suddenly makes sense.
But a lot of math is read from papers as opposed to written. Math and logic
papers employ the concise notation we're talking about. You'd think
mathematicians would have evolved a better notation for paper-writing if one
was lacking (there being already many conventions and style guides that apply
exclusively to paper writing and that are odd for everything else).
> The exact same thing can be said about PERL programmers. But why stop there,
> take a look at APL, J, K languages. J, for example, ships with all standard
> verbs aliased to words, like "under", "behead", "curtail" etc. Of course,
> nobody uses those, they write "&.", "}.", "{." instead.
Indeed, the same could be said about other languages. I was even going to
write in my original post "of course, Haskell programmers are self-selecting".
There are problems with the syntax of some of the languages you mentioned,
probably because they require a special keyboard, which is an obvious hurdle.
Others may not have prevailed because they were jarring to programmers _that
also had to program in mainstream languages_ (therefore, the familiarity
argument all over again). Yet others are arguable -- PERL for example is joked
about as a "write only" language, but how much of that is _truly_ because of
its syntax? Maybe idiomatic PERL merely leads to barely understandable
programs. Maybe PERL is simply not a good language, no matter what (note: I'm
not arguing this is the case, not being a PERL programmer myself). And maybe
it's not true that PERL programmers find no fault in its syntax; maybe they
have trouble reading their own code, which would put them in a different
category than Haskell programmers!
In the end, all of this amounts to: a language syntax is aimed at its intended
audience, programmers using that language and familiar with its intended
degree of abstraction and with the problems it aims to solve. Programmers from
other languages will often find it weird (and in Haskell this problem is
increased by the fact it seems to belong in a different category than
languages such as Java/C++/C#/etc.). It is a mistake to say that, because of
this, language X has a "harder syntax"; the more correct claim would be
"language X has a syntax that will likely be harder to learn for programmers
used to F-inspired languages". This is probably related to the Blub paradox :)
~~~
klibertp
> It is a mistake to say that, because of this, language X has a "harder
> syntax"
Yeah, I mostly agree. But I believe there _is_ some objective notion of
readability and that syntax can be objectively more or less readable. However,
that's only my belief, as we have no objective way to measure readability yet.
(There's this wiki article:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Readability](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Readability)
but as far as I can tell nobody bothered to apply methods mentioned there to
code)
So, as it's almost impossible to have a meaningful discussion on readability,
I don't try to argue that Haskell is or isn't readable at all. However, the
fact(? seems intuitive enough, but maybe it's wrong?) that it's easier to
associate meaning to words than to abstract symbols and the frequent use of
abstract symbols to name things in Haskell makes me argue that Haskell is
harder to learn than for example J (btw, J and K use only ASCII characters).
But that, too, is open to discussion - one can claim that names like <*> are
easier to learn and more precise, because they come without any prior
associations in the reader's mind.
In the end, the only thing I can say is that for me - probably because of a
whole lot of factors and influences - word-based identifiers are easier to
learn and use than symbol-based ones. It's entirely possible that a majority
of Haskell programmers are different in this regard (and yes, they - as for
all languages - are most certainly self-selecting).
------
cies
"The language is the code's biggest API" \-- my own words.
Breaking that API will result in a new language.
Scala, like several other languages (JS, PHP, Perl), has had very little time
to iterate on it's syntax before it got widely used. All these languages
want/need to make breaking changes to their syntax, at which point they are at
risk of becoming fragmented.
Python3 was not even so much different, still it was (and still is) a hard
upgrade for the community.
I really hope Scala manages though, it's the largest FP-on-JVM community I
guess, so good luck!
~~~
MetaCosm
Well -- they have the Python 3 disaster to learn from... you can't break
backwards compatibility for minor gains -- if you are going to break it --
break everything you must and make the new thing much better -- half measures
in this regard suck.
~~~
Pacabel
It's really absurd when people call Python 3 a "disaster". There was nothing
disastrous about it. In fact, hindsight shows us that it was actually a very
good path to take.
Python 3 didn't negatively affect Python 2 or earlier users. Their code still
runs fine, and is well supported by a huge number of libraries. They weren't
forced into upgrading against their will at any point.
Python 3 allowed the Python developers to make some breaking changes to the
language and libraries. These have, without a doubt, improved the language.
Much Python 2 code, especially well-written code, can be automatically
converted to Python 3 code with little to no effort. Anyone with any
sensibility who has been writing new Python 2 code within the past few years
has been keeping an upgrade to Python 3 in mind. Their transition should be
quite painless.
Over time, more and more existing Python libraries have supported Python 3, or
been replaced with significantly better replacements, as the need arose.
The fact that we see so many libraries simultaneously supporting both Python 2
and Python 3 goes to show that the community is not "divided" or anything like
that.
The only downside is that it took a few years longer than people may have
initially been expecting for certain libraries or frameworks to support Python
3. But at this point in time, Python 3 is a clean, usable language with very
good third-party library support. Existing users weren't forced into using the
new version, yet those developing the new version weren't constrained by
compatibility concerns. The end result is an improved and usable language,
achieved with minimal disruption.
Perl 6 is an example of a real disaster, on the other hand. It still doesn't
have a truly good implementation, even after 10+ years. Not only is Perl 6
pretty much unusable in practice today, but the uncertainty it caused stunted
the growth and development of Perl 5 for quite a while. It is only recently
that we've seen people finally realize that Perl 6 is a lost cause, and get
back to using and evolving Perl 5. Compared to Perl 6, the Python 3
development process was perfection.
~~~
orangecat
_Python 3 allowed the Python developers to make some breaking changes to the
language and libraries. These have, without a doubt, improved the language._
Sure. But the improvements aren't really that great, and IMO they weren't
enough to justify breaking everything. Some combination of a JIT compiler, GIL
removal, and optional typing might have been.
_The end result is an improved and usable language_
And this is why I view Python 3 as instance of choosing purity over
practicality. Python 2 was and is a very usable language. It's vastly better
than JavaScript, which took over the world by virtue of being available
everywhere and having halfway decent performance, which ended up outweighing
its huge flaws as a language. I can't help but think that we'd be better off
if the effort spent on the Python 3 migration had instead been directed toward
speed and browser support.
_Perl 6 is an example of a real disaster, on the other hand._
Certainly can't argue with that.
~~~
bwilliams
It's a major release and the language does need to evolve at some point. I'd
agree that Python maybe got a little too ambitious with the upgrade but it was
definitely a good thing.
------
stevewepay
Are there any risks to adopting Scala as a language for a project knowing that
it will change over the next few years? It sounds like as opposed to an
evolution, they are going to change the language itself, which sounds like
backwards incompatibility and refactors within a few short years if you don't
want to be considered legacy.
~~~
frowaway001
No, not really.
There might be a few changes, but probably nothing which can't be fixed
automatically by a tool/IDE. (They are investing in that currently.)
Additionally, if your code compiles with version X without warnings, it should
compile with version X+1, too. (Otherwise that would be a bug.)
Apart from that, stable versions are supported for a long time, so just like
in Java you can migrate when you feel comfortable with it.
------
VLM
Comments on compiler speed as a problem? I find it sometimes to be a bit slow.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Interactive collection of artificial life, lambda calculus animations - xorand
https://chemlambda.github.io/collection.html#222
======
xorand
Some numbers: There are 264 posts with animations, a bit more than 1/2 of the
original collection, with the possibility to rerun in js the simulations.
Whenever possible there is a mol file attached to the animation. There are
about 490 mol files. If they are too big to be used without stalling the js
reduction, this is signaled by the message “mol too big” in the post. If there
is no mol which matches, this is signaled as “mol unavailable”.
Of all 264 posts, 36 of them fall in the “mol too big” category, 46 in the
“mol unavailable” and there are 6 posts which don’t have a chemlambda
simulation inside. So this leaves 264-88=176 posts which have matching mol
files to play with.
The original revived collection is here [1], but since 2 weeks the traffic is
too big, or something strange happens [2], I made a copy with smaller images,
to fit the github constraints.
[1]
[http://imar.ro/~mbuliga/collection.html#153](http://imar.ro/~mbuliga/collection.html#153)
[2] [https://chorasimilarity.wordpress.com/2020/01/29/ddos-
attack...](https://chorasimilarity.wordpress.com/2020/01/29/ddos-attack-or-
huge-number-of-hits-from-china/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Review My Startup, TagtheBird - tagthebird
Hi Everyone,<p>I’ve seen how helpful answers to “Ask HN” requests have been in the past, and now that I’ve released the first version of web I’ve been working on, I figured I would make my first post to HN to ask for some feedback from you all.<p>TagtheBird is a site where you can do some things that you can't do on twitter. I copy paste what we say in about us page:<p>We love Twitter. We can follow interesting people, but sometimes we do not want to know everything they do in their private lives.<p>On TagTheBird users can post tweets from Twitter and tag them. Users can indicate their interests and can see tweets that match them. This will eliminate "noise" and gives a new perspective: interests.<p>For example, if you like basket and video games, you can indicate this on TagTheBird and by clicking on My interests we will show you tweets related to basket and video games.<p>TagTheBird gives you the chance to find interesting tweets from users you do not follow.<p>You can see top voted, most commented and most retweeted tweets of the day, week, month, year and all time.<p>You can vote for tweets and you can comment on tweets without having to answer to the author. More than 140 characters are allowed. You can paste a tweet link, an image link or a youtube link.<p>If you are a Twitter user, you can know how community values your tweets through the votes, comments and retweets.<p>I’d love to hear what you all think. Website is http://www.tagthebird.com/<p>Thank you for your feedback.
======
agilevic
\- Managing interests was a bit hard too find \- Adding an interest tag is not
that intutive as I would click Submit button instead for hitting Enter key to
make it a tag first \- Despite setting up a few interest keyword nothing gets
found
~~~
tagthebird
Thank you for your feedback.
You are right. I am working to solve these problems.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Pangolins found to carry viruses related to Covid-19 - hhs
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52048195
======
balola
Good luck telling the rich and powerful they shouldn't eat this what they
believed is the most tonic and upscale meat of late.
Remember that girl who paid 6.5 million dollars to get into Stanford last
year? Her dad's listed company sells billions of dollars of TCM every year
that claims to cure thrombus because the ingredients used (earthworm, scorpion
and leech) are adept at digging things. Yes TCMs don't need to go through any
FDA-like process or trial to prove anything, coz it's national treasure.
Pangolin meat and scales are prized in TCM coz you know, it dig rocks.
~~~
dcolkitt
This is kind of an off-the-wall idea, but... what about creating artificial
meat substitutes for these prized exotic animals?
Couldn't Beyond Meat create a pretty close facsimile to pangolin or bat or
snake or whatever? Obviously this wouldn't eliminate 100% of demand.
Particularly among those eating the animals for their magical properties,
instead of their taste. But even if artificial versions of exotic meats could
cut consumption by 20-30%, the corresponding risk of zoonotic virus
transmission should fall linearly along with that.
~~~
balola
It's valueded because it's wild and natural, they don't care about the costs,
many of the eaters show off this dish on social media coz they are rich and
powerful, and won't be punished for eating endangered animals.
And it's not that exotic meats are all delicious so people prize them, what
flavor do shark fins/cubilose have? It's the supposed power they got.
------
jorge-d
Emphasis should be put on the fact that it's both an endangered and
internationally protected specie (from which China is a signatory [1]). It had
nothing to do in those markets in the first place.
[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CITES](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CITES)
~~~
jeltz
So does that mean that the sale of pangolins at the market in Wuhan was
entirely illegal? If so this seems like a huge enforcement issue if endangered
animals could be openly sold at a market.
~~~
rhombocombus
It was entirely illegal and remains so. It is a huge enforcement issue, and
hopefully this encourages the Chinese Gov't to crack down on these wildlife
markets, but it didn't happen after SARS-CoV-1 (which IIRC also came out of a
wildlife meat market in China) so I don't hold out a lot of hope.
~~~
corndoge
The wildlife markets are permanently banned now, as I understand it
~~~
bobthepanda
They also did this after SARS for a short bit. Let's see how long it lasts.
------
chrisco255
This article actually says nothing new. It does not draw a direct Covid-19
evolution path from pangolins to humans. That pangolins and bats carry
coronaviruses is well known. That these viruses are related is well known, but
it's still not clear that pangolins are the source for Covid-19. Very
misleading headline on no new information.
------
drtillberg
Since we already know the virus shared up to 96% of the same DNA as horseshoe
bat virus collected by Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2003 from a cave 600
miles away ... why are researchers still agonizing over all these alternative
theories? The only place near Wuhan the virus existed prior to the outbreak
was at the institute of virology. And the first places the outbreak occurred
were in the immediate neighborhood of the institute. I'm really genuinely
curious why bigtime news outlets keep talking about Vietnamese pangolins.
[1] E.g., [https://metro.co.uk/2020/02/17/coronavirus-start-chinese-
lab...](https://metro.co.uk/2020/02/17/coronavirus-start-chinese-lab-bats-
attacked-scientists-peed-12252873/)
~~~
leetcrew
isn't 4% difference in DNA pretty significant? that's comparable to the
genetic difference between a human and a mouse, iirc.
~~~
romski
It’s not DNA, it’s an RNA virus. More changes happen with them.
~~~
cjf101
There's also a lot less genetic information in a typical virus than in a
human, so each mutation represents a much larger percentage change.
For context: The entire SARS-COV-2 genome is 29,811 nucleotides long. The
human genome is around 3 billion base pairs.
------
jcims
Michael Osterholm called this out during his episode on the Joe Rogan podcast
back on 3/10, presumably from prior research -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3URhJx0NSw&t=1180](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3URhJx0NSw&t=1180)
------
TrackerFF
I wish we could direct focus on those responsible, the smuggles and illegal
(or legal) markets that enable this kinda of stuff - but without getting into
heated "that's racist" arguments, because certain places traditionally value
these animals so high.
------
swsieber
There's actually a really nice documentary on Netflix about pangolins. It's
mostly a black market for being able to eat them. They are mostly being
poached/smuggled/etc.
------
dna_polymerase
"The presence of a large reservoir of SARS-CoV-like viruses in horseshoe bats,
together with the culture of eating exotic mammals in southern China, is a
time bomb. The possibility of the reemergence of SARS and other novel viruses
from animals or laboratories and therefore the need for preparedness should
not be ignored."
[https://cmr.asm.org/content/20/4/660.abstract](https://cmr.asm.org/content/20/4/660.abstract)
A paper from 2007.
------
IdontRememberIt
I bet PETA & Co will take this once in a life time opportunity to put pressure
on all governments (shaming and pressure campaigns) so they put pressure on
China to ban wild life and some crazy wet markets
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet_market](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet_market)).
Having visited many markets like this in Asia. I will not miss most of them as
long as they are so unregulated/dirty.
------
haunter
Vice had a nice report from the Ebola outbreak in Liberia 2014. Showing how
people can just buy bush meat from the markets: monkey, bats etc. Worth a
watch.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XasTcDsDfMg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XasTcDsDfMg)
~~~
dirtyid
At the start of this outbreak, people were blaming Africans for eating
bushmeat from wetmarkets using less than civil rhetoric, then later scientists
traced the source of the outbreak to kids playing in an hallow tree where bats
roosted. Wetmarkets do need to be either modernized or eliminated, but that
doesn't mean initial speculation is correct.
------
muizelaar
Anyone have a link to the actual paper?
~~~
pks016
From top comment.
[https://www.cell.com/pb-assets/journals/research/current-
bio...](https://www.cell.com/pb-assets/journals/research/current-
biology/CURBIO_CURRENT-BIOLOGY-D-20-00299-compressed.pdf)
------
blondie9x
People of China, please step up and protest the government to stop the sale of
wild animals such as this to prevent future outbreaks and protect humanity
from animal-borne illnesses.
~~~
slg
What makes pangolins more dangerous than pigs or ducks which have been a
similar source of human diseases? Because I can't tell if pangolins are a
greater threat or if they are just an easy target because the practice of
eating them is not as widespread as eating other common disease carriers.
~~~
JumpCrisscross
> _What makes pangolins more dangerous than pigs or ducks which have been a
> similar source of human diseases?_
It's less the species than the wet markets.
Putting lots of species in close proximity, particularly ones that don't
naturally co-exist, facilitates host jumping. Its only comparison is with
medieval European cities, where people, sewage and livestock had constant and
close proximity to one another.
~~~
jonny_eh
> Putting lots of species in close proximity
Live ones at that.
~~~
sharatvir
"Close proximity" does it a disservice when there are cages of animals stacked
on top of one another such that the animals in the bottom cages may be covered
in the feces of those above them.
------
luxuryballs
More like BANgolins now amirite
------
gadders
I wish Chinese medicine would just die already. An absolute pile of horseshit
invented by Mao etc because he'd killed the actual doctors in his cultural
revolution [1] It's main purpose now seems to be to claim that the rarer the
animal you eat, the harder it makes your dick.
[1] [https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/traditional-chinese-
med...](https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/traditional-chinese-medicine-
origins-mao-invented-it-but-didnt-believe-in-it.html)
------
throwawaysea
[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/opinion/sunday/coronaviru...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-
china-cause.html)
> A second cultural factor behind the epidemic are traditional Chinese beliefs
> about the powers of certain foods, which have encouraged some hazardous
> habits. There is, in particular, the aspect of Chinese eating culture known
> as “jinbu,” (進補) meaning, roughly, to fill the void. Some of its practices
> are folklorish or esoteric, but even among Chinese people who don’t follow
> them, the concept is pervasive.
~~~
vvram
People having been practicing these for centuries, what has changed recently
that it has become a global pandemic ?
~~~
typon
It's possible that these viruses jumped to humans all the time in the past and
killed a particular village, town, city. Now we have global travel enabled by
planes/cruises/cars. The spread is what's killing us with this latest
pandemic.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Quora Feeds Will No Longer Show Data On What Other Users Have Viewed - spathak
http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/14/after-privacy-uproar-quora-backpedals-and-will-no-longer-show-data-on-what-other-users-have-viewed/
======
minouye
I don't think TechCrunch really understands what's going on here. Views are
still being tracked and shared, albeit not as broadly.
<http://www.quora.com/blog/Removing-Feed-Stories-about-Views>
[http://www.quora.com/Views-on-Quora-feature/Which-of-my-
view...](http://www.quora.com/Views-on-Quora-feature/Which-of-my-views-will-
and-which-views-wont-be-shared-through-Quoras-Views-feature)
------
djtriptych
I believe Quora is taking the Facebookian view of going overboard with privacy
issues, then pulling back iff users revolt. It is, technically, the best way
to push social interactions as far as possible, especially if you are not
punished for temporary lapses in judgement.
Users WILL NOT actually punish Quora for stunts like this, so, from the
company's perspective, it's a good bet, temporary bad press notwithstanding.
I remember successfully arguing down a similar bad privacy decision at another
well-known company I once worked for. It took a treatise on social software,
including multiple citations of other social snafus, the painstaking gathering
of stakeholder acceptance, and a near-fanatical perseverance to stymie a
feature that was absolute poison to our privacy model. The guys at the top
were happy to launch-and-see. I suspect that's what's going on here.
tl;dr - For this to get out at all, either Quora's process is broken, or their
strategy is to overshare and pull back only when necessary.
~~~
mhp
Why do you say "WILL NOT" in such a definitive way? It doesn't seem like a
good bet as a company to rely on your users and the public to forgive you when
you step too far, especially if you do it repeatedly.
~~~
djtriptych
Can you point to a company that actually got bitten by this strategy? I can
point to several for whom it's working well.
~~~
chefsurfing
In my opinion it's more of a bad sign that they are so desperate and not
focused on generating passionate users who are gaining some inherent value
within the system itself. I don't have any hard evidence but anecdotally I can
say I know perhaps 100 people in my life who love Stack Overflow but I know
nobody who really loves Quora. Personally I think they are blowing it due to
impatience.
------
diego
Quora's latest investment round (May) valued the company at $400M [1].
According to Alexa, Quora has perhaps 1% of the traffic of Wikipedia. It seems
to me that Quora has two options:
1) Be acquired by Facebook or Google. The problem is that it's no Instagram,
so today it could not command a significant premium over the valuation of the
latest round.
2) Find a way to make money. Just like Facebook or Twitter, ads seem to be the
only way. Only, it does not have the traffic; no growth at all in the past
year [2]. Therefore, the management must be doing everything they possibly can
to improve their metrics. It's do or die, goodwill be damned.
[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quora#cite_note-15>
[2] <http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/quora.com>
~~~
JumpCrisscross
I always wanted an internal Quora at my company - I figured that was a
possible product for them in the future.
~~~
diego
It's possible, but run the numbers. Companies that would pay for that *
monthly price = ?
Very hard to justify a Twitter-like valuation with that.
~~~
true_religion
Yes its true, they can't be twitter but they have a fine product which can be
monetized without taking away from their shoot for the stars plans.
I always believe in having a profit, so when you fail in shooting-for-the-
stars you fail into profitability, stability, and the dolldroms of merely
having six figures in your salary instead of eight in your stock portfolio.
------
samstave
I deleted my account. There was a fair bit of a debacle in doing so, which
appears to have been rectified.
Honestly, I really liked Quora for some of its content, but the UI/UX is just
simply atrocious (I have said ad nausea here on HN and other places that Quora
suffers from the Digg Effect; trying to wrap their idea of UI/UX around the
content too much and thus preventing users from fast, mass consumption of its
content.)
I deleted my account on principle: Facebook is simply the wrong model to
follow on privacy issues, and the founders of Quora, being ex-facebook have no
fucking clue what is an acceptable level of privacy.
And before HNers like Wpeitri and people like Brin/Schmidt can chime in; NO
you're fucking wrong. 100% transparency in every little aspect of life is NOT
the future, because fuck you, that's why.
I estimate about ~500K active users on quora (pure guess) which puts the user
account value quite high (which would put the account value at $800) -- and
personally, if my account is that valuable, then fuck them screwing with the
privacy settings on the account I make there.
I refuse to be a part of this BS, and will not go back to quora.
~~~
adastra
Can I ask how precisely you deleted it? When I tried a few months back, they
wouldn't allow a deletion, they would only allow it to be "disabled".
My reason for trying to delete it was also privacy related, although it will
seem like a minor thing. It turns out that when you initially sign up, they
turn any friend you have on facebook into someone you "follow" on Quora. My
list of facebook friends is not public information. The list of people you
follow on Quora is. Ergo, they turned a subset of my private friends list into
a public list that anyone could see, and without warning.
Again, seems like a minor thing, but in principle it was a privacy violation,
so as soon as I realized this I attempted to delete the account.
~~~
roc
You have to email privacy@quora.com
I also deleted my account when news of this nonsense non-feature hit. And
their disabling it doesn't earn them back any points in my book.
There's no way to _honestly_ make that move as a mistake. There's no way to 1.
implement this feature as an opt-out and 2. do it without any notification to
the userbase, as a _mistake_ or as a "failure of communication".
This move can only happen, and only happen the way it did, because there is a
core irreconcilable difference between my concept of privacy and theirs.
And as far as I'm concerned, their concept of 'privacy' can go get fucked with
a rusty pitchfork.
------
alexqgb
Worth noting: they won't let you get rid of your account. All you can do is
"deactivate" it, meaning other users can't interact with you. Oh, and you
won't get email updates. But as soon as you log in again, your account is
"reactivated".
It's very Hotel California.
~~~
codezero
You can have your account deleted by emailing in to privacy@quora.com see:
[http://www.quora.com/Quora-product/How-do-I-delete-my-
Quora-...](http://www.quora.com/Quora-product/How-do-I-delete-my-Quora-
account)
~~~
joe_bloggs
Is this common practise, to not provide an option to delete your account
except by contacting customer service? Personally I'm not aware of any other
product being so sneaky in making it hard for users to quit.
Facebook was one of the first companies that started this trend of burying the
"delete account" feature deep inside and making it hard to find. But by
removing the option altogether, Quora seems to have raised the sneakiness bar
much higher.
~~~
Volpe
You can delete your account in facebook? I can only find "Deactivate"?
~~~
bhrgunatha
[https://ssl.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_a...](https://ssl.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account)
------
RonWeasley
But this feature is still partially turned on. Thanks for misleading us
TechCrunch and Quora. Stop compromising our privacy.
------
juddlyon
Reminds me of the "oh shit" SOPA backtracking GoDaddy did. Too late, you
creeped a lot of folks out.
------
slaven
"In some ways, this could be seen as a failure of communication more than
anything."
What communication? If they had let people opt-in, or even asked them to opt-
out then that would have been communicating.
~~~
rdl
It _was_ opt-in. The opt-in message wasn't at all clear (even to me, and I'm a
top-100 Quora user), and was presented on first use, not in a settings pane,
when you first tried to view a view list -- it wasn't really clear that it
reciprocally opened your own views to tracking.
The feature itself isn't horrible (followers on questions and topics are
already public, and this is well understood and IMO worthwhile -- you CAN
follow anon too, but it at least increments the counter), but was badly
presented to users. I think just out of incompetence, not malice.
~~~
sanxiyn
It definitely was not opt-in at the beginning.
<http://www.quora.com/blog/Introducing-Views-on-Quora> states "All Quora users
participate in Views by default, but you can delete any individual view from
the content's views page, or you can turn off Views anytime on your settings
page."
------
hkmurakami
It is truly an era of "do it, then apologize later if it blows up in my face."
I see this kind of new feature -> public outrage / privacy breach -> apology /
retraction progression far too many times over the past 6 months.
How have we come to this? :(
~~~
manaskarekar
"It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission."
\- Grace Hopper
------
pbreit
Merely hiding Views is even worse since the data is still public but people
are now less likely to find out. Stupid Quora.
------
kamaal
I don't what people are even doing on quora. I hadn't even heard about it. It
was only a incidence that a colleague tweeted a link, and only one answer was
displayed it required login to proceed further and read more answers. At that
moment I lost interest and closed the browser tab.
I can understand the need to demand login to answer or ask questions. But
asking people to login to read answers is just too much for today's internet
environment.
This is just a re incarnation of expertsexchange all over again.
------
dinkumthinkum
Too little too late. Honestly, I have a lot of other problems besides this
recent dust up but I think it was a last straw for a lot of people. They have
just as arrogant a view about privacy as Facebook, just far less users.
I think StackExchange is far superior with a few notable issues, such as the
lack of breadth and long road to go from the Area 51 or whatever it is to
actually being a full site. I think StackExchange.com should have an easier of
finding subject sites. If nothing else, SE shows you don't need to surrender
your identity or privacy at the door just to ask and answer questions, which
for many people is the time they'd raher not surrender their identity.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Edushi: Beautiful, isometric city maps for China - drinian
http://hongkong.edushi.com/?L=en
======
carbon8
These are pretty, but they are not accurate. These are not just inaccuracies
due to omission, either; there are innumerable added elements that don't
actually exist.
The inaccuracies are actually very interesting since I can't fathom why the
creators think it's OK. The high level of detail on a map suggests accuracy,
which is deceptive. It's one thing to add obvious design elements outside of
the context of the information, but in this case they've actually decided to
be creative with the information itself.
------
kiwidrew
I spent some time in Hangzhou (near Shanghai) last year, and remember asking
around about online maps -- none of the usual suspects like Google had
anything for China at the time. Everyone pointed me at the edushi.com (which
means "e-city" in Mandarin) and it truly amazed me the first time I saw it! It
reminded me of the Sim City scenarios that were based around real cities.. All
of the buildings are modeled quite accurately, even individual trees and small
landscaping details are represented. I guess that's what happens when labour
is cheap and there are lots of aspiring art students without many good job
prospects. :)
(The company behind the maps, Aladdin Information Technology, is based in
Hangzhou. I can't wait until they expand to non-Chinese cities around the
world!)
------
anigbrowl
_Build spaceport: You do not have enough points to do that._
It is very impressive, although I would have liked to be able to rotate around
the compass - but presumably they are using the fake 3d to keep load times
down, especially given the potential for traffic spikes on the Chinese
internet. Obviously there is some potential for painting over any
underisarable information (no half-finished buildings here, everything is neat
and shiny!), but there is also utility in the 'cartooned' abstraction. I
wonder to what extent it was generated vs. hand-textured.
Also a good excuse to repost this: <http://www.c3technologies.com/> (warning,
noisy video autostart). Astounding working demo under 'Reference' menu.
------
hyperbovine
Pretty, but of questionable utility.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Is there a HN blackout against SOPA on the way? - FredBrach
======
stonemetal
Why would there be? Most if not all HNers already know about SOPA so there is
no need to raise awareness.
~~~
FredBrach
I'm realizing that you are totally right: a Hacker who isn't at least aware of
SOPA is not a hacker =)
------
chrisacky
No. People who use HN would be damaged by a blackout.
You need to hit ordinary people, not those who already know how damaging the
passing of SOPA would be.
------
pasbesoin
I could see this supporting it, in spirit. However, I think we need to keep
some back channels open, and HN seems to be one good candidate for this.
I would suggest, though, that a repurposing of the black bar at the top might
be appropriate. We're facing the "death" of the spirit, and functionality, of
what many luminaries have devoted significant portions of their careers
towards creating and promoting.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ayurveda for building innovative organisations? - bakbak
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/features/corporate-dossier/Ayurveda-for-building-innovative-organisations/articleshow/6909645.cms?curpg=1
======
port80
Perhaps teams need a bit of combination of VP and VK to be truly great. If you
only have one then you will only get so far.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Scale TikTok Ads: 5 Customer Acquisition Strategies - WalterJT
https://jungletopp.com/scale-tiktok-ads/
======
WalterJT
Being such a new platform, there is a ripe opportunity to scale TikTok ads and
customer acquisition with TikTok Advertising, when implemented well. ⠀
~~~
verdverm
What are your thoughts on a potential TikTok ban? Seems like it could shoot
this in the foot, except I hear TikTok users say another app will quickly
replace it. Apparently it's about the people and network, not the app per se
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why Vietnam Is Quitting Facebook - tomohawk
http://www.atimes.com/article/why-vietnam-is-quitting-facebook/
======
timwaagh
the title should be 'why some vietnamese activists might move on from
facebook'. i think conducting any kind of foreign policy operation would be a
mistake.
the problem is: people seem to enjoy great freedom and are generally content.
by supporting the activists by having facebook pull out the USA might cause a
few problems but it is not going to force regime change, so they might as well
do nothing. it would just make the lives of ordinary vietnamese a bit worse.
------
tim333
There doesn't seem much evidence in the article or otherwise that Vietnam is
quitting facebook. As it says facebook had 53 million users out of a
population of 96 million. Also I've got about 40 Vietnamese facebook friends
and have not noticed any quitting. It's pretty well known there that if you
publish overthrow the government type stuff in any public media it's asking
for problems and I don't think anyone thinks of facebook as a secure medium
that no one can track you on. At least it's openly available as is the rest of
the internet unlike China next door.
re
>"there is now no safe place left in Vietnam for people to speak freely,” said
Clare Algar, Amnesty International’s director of global operations
You'd imagine if they want to post overthrow the government type stuff they'd
use some anonymous service like reddit etc. Facebook isn't really the place.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Multilingual CMS suggestions for startup company - terjeto
Hi,<p>I searched for similar posts but didn't find any relevant and this topic has to be important for more than me.. I guess.<p>My company has a very slow process for updating our webpages. We host the pages ourselves using Django which has support for internationalization and localization. Transifex is aiding us doing the actual translations.<p>With this setup there are many steps and parties involved in updating/creating a webpage.
1) write english content
2) design/program the html/template files
3) extract language files (.po)
4) upload language files to Transifex
5) wait until translations are complete (we have several translators helping us out)
6) download translated language files
7) deploy servers
8) cross fingers and hope we didn't forget a translation key or misspelled a word<p>We'd prefer to have our service and the webpages completely separated so that our marketing folks can be fully in charge of all webpages and our tech people can focus on our service.<p>Other info:
We'd prefer a SaaS CMS service for easy maintenance.
We tried Wordpress but didn't like the multilingual side and design constraints.
The webpages today consist of a front-page with a few sub-pages (django), the account pages e.g. login and forgot password (django) AND a blog section blog.company.com (Wordpress).<p>What CMS do you recommend?
======
ilhackernews
What was your exact problem with Wordpress? We seem to share the same
architectural needs (although we only work in 2 lanuguages, but one of them is
LTR and the other is RTL) and we have Wordpress working perfectly for us. We
had to tweak it a little bit, using plugins and some extra dev adaptation
(mostly for performance, not language related), but it does the work.
We've tried a few other like silverstripe and Ionize, but both were way to
complicated and required a cumbersome process much like the one you mentioned
in your post.
~~~
terjeto
Thanks for your comment.
We try to be very playful and original with our design and Wordpress don't
give the sort of freedom we are after.
When testing out wordpress for the translation aspects, I guess it could work.
However we are not found of the solution. It duplicates and dumps a document
to the database which slows down the pages. Django handles translations much
better.
------
tga
Since you are already using Django, you could try Django CMS.
[https://www.django-cms.org](https://www.django-cms.org)
It does support internationalization and you will be able to reuse your
templates and integrate Django apps into your pages.
[http://docs.django-cms.org/en/latest/advanced/i18n.html](http://docs.django-
cms.org/en/latest/advanced/i18n.html)
~~~
gaellelo
Do you use it yourself? If so what are your favorite features and where do you
see room for improvement?
------
ibstudios
Joomla can manage it. Google Website Translator would allow you to just have
the english and you can edit the translation on google's side for
customization. You get 71 languages at once!
~~~
gaellelo
Joomla would also slow down our website and I never like the way it's
structured. I enjoy working with more straightforward CMS such as Drupal,
Typo3 or WordPress. We encountered this list of cloudbased CMS:
[http://www.cmscritic.com/dir/cloud/](http://www.cmscritic.com/dir/cloud/)
Has anyone experience with them? Squarespace is out of question as they don't
allow to host an app on an external subdomain.
------
matthijs_
I use wordpress with WPML and I love it! Have you looked at WPML?
~~~
gaellelo
Yes we did use it for a few months. We're actually thinking going back to it
but want to check first all the other possibilities.
------
tsm
If you're okay with PHP, Drupal 8 looks really promising.
~~~
gaellelo
Cool. Any idea it will be released? :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
FileSilo.co.uk Registration Database Compromised – Passwords in Plaintext - termhn
http://www.grayolson.me/assets/filesilo/future
======
termhn
Email re-hosted on my website because I couldn't find an official public
announcement.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Half Your Brain Stands Guard When Sleeping in a New Place - stared
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/04/21/474691141/half-your-brain-stands-guard-when-sleeping-in-a-new-place
======
nicwolff
This is a familiar feeling to me as a sailor; when cruising, every place is
new, and at anchor I'm never fully asleep the way I am on land. Any little
sound, or the cessation of any regular sound I've gotten used to, and I'm up
like a shot with the flashlight trying to identify it. Even the relatively
slow rotation of the boat around the anchor as the wind shifts is enough to
bring me awake thinking "what changed?"
~~~
wierdaaron
It sounds like the brain will only sleep as deeply as it's safe to. That lines
up more with the results in the article than the notion that it's directly
about how many times you've been in that location before. When you're in
charge of a boat, you have to be alert for any danger. When you're a fireman
on duty, you have to be ready to hop into your pants. When you're in a strange
sleep lab and covered in biosensors, you're going to be creeped out and on-
edge.
~~~
mercer
My grandfather often took the engine room night shift on 'mud barges'. He'd
just sleep and any change in sound that might indicate an issue would wake him
up instantly. He likes to joke that he got rich sleeping.
------
spoiledtechie
If anyone has a baby, I feel this is what its like having a new born at your
home for the first year. I slept HARD before I have ever had kids, but for
some reason, that first year, I slept very lightly and would wake up to a cry.
~~~
overcast
I don't have a child, but this happened after buying a house, and living
alone. I went from dead to the world sleep, to hearing everything happening in
the house. Even ten years later, I still sleep significantly lighter.
~~~
xeromal
I struggled with sleeping when I moved to a new state years ago. I still am a
little anxious when I sleep and I have my sleep regiment down to the minute in
order to get a solid night's rest.
I think sleep has some innocence until you lose it and afterward it changes
permanently. It has in my life so far.
~~~
Florin_Andrei
> _I think sleep has some innocence until you lose it and afterward it changes
> permanently._
Yeah, it's called 'getting older'.
~~~
mirimir
I'm older than many here, I suspect. And I use modafinil and coffee. But if
I'm tired enough, and I know that I have enough slack, I have no problem
sleeping. Indeed, if it's quiet enough, I can still sleep for 12 hours or
whatever.
------
morgante
Like many others in this thread, I sleep very well in hotels. Usually better
than at home.
My best sleep comes when I'm camping though. This is definitely not a
comfortable or familiar environment, but I still sleep very well and feel
refreshed in the morning.
That being said, I usually sleep terribly in friends' houses or AirBnBs.
~~~
ekianjo
Maybe because hotels are usually "standard" and therefore fall in the bucket
of "sleep as usual" ?
~~~
MicroBerto
My theory is that hotels often have thick doors and very solid locks and
deadbolts. Plus the added "security" of the front desk... Makes it feel more
secure.
~~~
developer2
>> Plus the added "security" of the front desk... Makes it feel more secure.
For me, there's also the fact that you are one unit out of very many within
the hotel. Even if someone is going to be bold enough to break into a hotel
room in the more "public environment", the odds are fairly low you'd be the
victim from a pool of hundreds of rooms. Your stay is also brief, so you don't
have a routine schedule a would-be criminal has time to study. Plus there's
typically not going to be much worth stealing out of a hotel room anyway (wide
screen TV, computers, etc).
I've always felt fairly safe in large apartment/condo buildings. I've never
lived on the ground floor, so it feels like the odds of someone entering the
building (or climbing the outside), coming to my floor, and choosing my
specific unit to break into are quite low. You're very unlikely to be targeted
by outside strangers; and there is a much smaller pool of people who live in
the building capable of targeting you.
Three years ago I moved into an apartment with a street-level door. Basically
a neighbourhood of townhouse-like buildings. It's been almost two years since
I was burglarized while at work. I still don't sleep well anymore, with the
ever-present feeling of dread that a nighttime home invasion is coming any day
now. I can't leave the apartment for longer than 30 minutes at a time without
expecting to come home to another completed burglary. I can't afford to move
yet, but I can't wait for the day I go back to doubling my current rent to
live in a higher class, 100+ dwelling building.
I will probably never buy a house. As I get older and save for a down payment,
I'm sure it will be for a condo. I don't care for condo associations with
their politics and fees, and the fact you only own or semi-own a section of an
entire building. But I would never feel safe in a house where I have only a
single door sitting between myself and my things, and an entire city full of
parasitic people.
~~~
solipsism
Shouldn't an entire suburb full of houses identical to your own yield the same
peace of mind? Do you think being separated by walls instead of air makes a
difference mentally?
~~~
pyre
When you're on the ground floor you are more likely to be targeted than when
you're on the 40th floor.
~~~
morgante
Oh no! You might get "targeted." How scary!
This thread has been really illuminating for me. I didn't realize so many
people were so afraid of "criminals" that they can't even get good sleep.
~~~
developer2
Have you ever been burglarized by someone unknown and uncaught? The violation
is extremely personal. These people watch you for days or weeks to ensure they
know your routine. They know when you leave for work, and when you come home.
They know you don't work Fridays.
It could be a neighbour you've said hello to dozens of times, watching from
their window. It could be a stranger who finds it worthwhile to sit in their
car watching your home. You'll never know.
Either way, they've invested time in observing you, and have specifically
chosen you as their target. Yes, it makes you "targeted". When you come home
to your back door broken open, and find $5000 worth of shit missing, and every
drawer in your home opened and sifted through? When you can't possibly even
know exactly what's missing. A month after the incident, you're still finding
new things that were taken from you.
It's not just about the stolen property. It's your entire personal space
ripped apart. It's a form of psychological rape. Hope you get to experience
that some day.
~~~
morgante
> It's a form of psychological rape. Hope you get to experience that some day.
Wow.
I can understand why you might feel emotional about a robbery. I imagine it's
very invasive.
Given that, I cannot imagine why you would wish it on someone else.
My point was that it's an irrational fear: you're likely not going to get
robbed and it's not worth spending a bunch of time worry about it.
~~~
developer2
>> you're likely not going to get robbed
You realize I posted as someone who _has_ been through that? "Likely not going
to get robbed" doesn't apply, as it's already happened. And if it happens to
have been one of my neighbours who committed the crime? Great, next time they
see a large box delivered to my place, they know I'm ripe for another round.
I don't really want to compare being burglarized to sexual rape, as obviously
the latter is much more damaging. But would you even dare telling a woman that
was raped once that she's being irrational because she's terrified every time
a man walks 5 steps behind her on the street?
Do I really want you to have to experience it? No. That was a reactionary
remark for making light of a victim's mental state.
~~~
morgante
> But would you even dare telling a woman that was raped once that she's being
> irrational because she's terrified every time a man walks 5 steps behind her
> on the street?
Yes. It is irrational, because the likelihood of rape from a random stranger
is actually extremely low.
I'm not disputing the pain of your experience. It likely was very traumatic.
However, just because something was very painful doesn't mean it's rational to
live your life in fear of it happening (when its probability is low). I
likewise recognize that being the victim of a terrorist attack is traumatic,
but it would still be irrational to avoid planes for that reason.
~~~
pyre
> Yes. It is irrational, because the likelihood of rape from a random stranger
> is actually extremely low.
This is when averaged across the entire population. A 14 year old girl walking
through a "bad neighbourhood" alone at night doesn't necessary carry the same
risk of rape that a 6-foot tall, bulky body builder does.
------
stared
And the paper: [http://www.cell.com/current-
biology/abstract/S0960-9822(16)3...](http://www.cell.com/current-
biology/abstract/S0960-9822\(16\)30174-9)
------
DanielBMarkham
Related personal story: I have severe obstructive sleep apena (OSA), and I
went for several years before it was diagnosed.
During this time, it was not unusual for me to get very little sleep many days
in a row. As a coping mechanism, I learned somewhat to "half-sleep", where I
would close one eye and relax that side while continuing to do things using
the other eye.
I wouldn't consider it sleeping just on one side of the brain, but there was
definitely something different going on. I found that 2-4 hours of that would
help my overall wakefulness.
Fortunately I had my condition addressed, but it would have been interesting
to see if over time I would have developed into a full sleep-wake state of
consciousness.
~~~
yitchelle
> As a coping mechanism, I learned somewhat to "half-sleep", where I would
> close one eye and relax that side while continuing to do things using the
> other eye.
That is intriguing. Can you share some techniques on doing this? If I try to
close one eye only, my brain would be full engage just to keep the one eye
closed.
~~~
cableshaft
I'm pretty sure I have sleep apnea as well, and I've done something similar. I
will often let my right eye stay closed while I'm getting ready for work, or
going places that aren't work, and that seems to satisfy part of my brain that
demands sleep otherwise.
It actually takes some effort to keep my left eye closed, but for some reason
its super easy to keep my right eye closed and takes pretty much no effort at
all. So it might be a biological thing. I also struggled to keep my left eye
open enough to put contacts in it back when I bothered using contacts.
~~~
solipsism
This is amazing. My initial response to this was, "That's weird, I haven't
experienced that." But, thinking back to being a teenager and getting little
sleep because I was up on the internet all night, I remember taking a shower
and getting ready in a state of half-consciousness.. and I remember closing
one eye.
~~~
Mo3
... me too! And since I read about it in this thread, I also have sleep apnea
and ADHD. Very interesting :)
------
jdimov9
Not my experience at all. In hotels I tend to sleep like a baby, often better
than I do at home.
~~~
Edd314159
Perhaps, then, this isn't measuring sleep in any different place (a hotel
room, a friend's house), just sleep in a weird, inhospitable place like a lab
with weird stuff strapped to your cranium to measure your brain activity.
~~~
abovemind
I've taken part in a number of sleep studies and I can say from experience
that sleeping with electrodes strapped to your head does make it very
difficult to get any sleep.
The worst part was the feedback loop of feeling that I have to sleep, or else
this study will be useless; then those feelings contributing to more
sleeplessness.
~~~
DougWebb
I've done some sleep studies too, and had the opposite experience. I was
suffering from sleep apnea, which makes it impossible to sleep well. The
electrodes during the sleep study were weird, but for much of the night
(especially after the first night of study) they were running a CPAP at
various levels to determine what I needed to keep my airways open. I slept
better than I had in months.
I've been using the CPAP ever since, and now I sleep very well most of the
time. I fall asleep in just a few minutes (used to lie awake for hours) I
sleep all night through, and I often wake up a few minutes before my alarm
goes off.
~~~
MicroBerto
Offtopic, but have a look into myofunctional therapy. Get better at nasal
breathing and you'll be amazed at the results. Life changing.
~~~
kdamken
Thanks for the recommendation - I've recently realized that I have a lot of
trouble breathing through my nose, I'm going to look into this.
~~~
MicroBerto
An ENT may be able to help if it's a physical problem. Tongue placement at the
roof of your mouth is paramount though. It will help open the nasal sinus. If
you can't put your tongue up there, you may be tongue tied, and can look into
a frenectomy to untie it. A myofunctional therapist will then help you learn
how to properly strengthen and hold your tongue in the right place, as well as
swallow properly.
It might sound crazy, but mouth breathing is linked to ADHD and all kinds of
issues, likely due to lower nitric oxide levels and less stimulation of the
pituitary gland. Expect the field to grow in the next decade. Lots of us are
now having problems because of the reduction of breast feeding, amongst other
things.
~~~
kdamken
Thanks for the info - seeing an ENT is also on my todo list. I never realized
this was an issue until recently, but looking back I've always been a mouth
breather.
One night a few weeks ago I tried the method of taping my mouth shut before
going to sleep. I woke up the next day feeling super sick and lightheaded,
presumably due to lack of oxygen. There definitely seems to be an issue with
my nose breathing.
~~~
MicroBerto
Yes, taping is a great strategy but if you have bad tongue placement or just a
physical nasal airway restriction, you might not be ready. ENT is your first
stop, in my experience. Schedule it up!
------
kinai
@hotelpeople A hotel is a safe environment and probably is usually associated
with positive experiences. No wonder you sleep better there ;) I am the same
~~~
hrktb
Is this a cultural difference ?
An hotel room is a place where I am supposed to sleep while a decent number of
people (the hotel staff + anyone caring to social engineer) has full access to
the door key and I rely on an unfamiliar security system to warn me when
things go awry (fire, blackout, water leak etc)
The only places I would feel less safe would be a night train or a taxi in the
middle of nowhere.
~~~
pbhjpbhj
>An hotel room is a place where I am supposed to sleep while a decent number
of people [...] has full access to the door key //
Do you normally sleep in an especially secure room? There seems as much
likelihood that a hotel staff member would "break" in to my hotel room as
someone would break in to my home. It's marginally easier for staff but then
they stand to lose their livelihood, are much more likely to be caught, _et
cetera_.
Do you leave a door propped against the door handle, or a handle alarm, or
anything, to mitigate your feelings of exposure?
~~~
hrktb
I feel it might be different depending on where you live, but in Japan/France
I always have a inside lock that prevents someone to unlock the door from the
outside.
In Japan it was a door chain, in France you leave the key in the door and it
blocks external keying. Also you'll have to pass the building gates before
reaching an appartment.
It's not infailable, but it's significantly more protected than any standard
hotel room.
More than anything I remember unintentionally screwing hotel keys by having
them with other devices, and the hotel front would reprint them pretty easily
without asking anything more than the room number and the registered name.
~~~
morgante
Serious question: are you really so afraid of the tiny possibility of someone
breaking into your room while you're sleeping that you can't sleep well in
hotels?
If that's true, I seriously wonder how you ever get in a car.
~~~
hrktb
I sleep decently in most conditions (I can sleep in parks for instance), it's
more that hotels feel inherently 'public'. It's a place owned by someone else,
maintained and cleaned by employees, ruled about under a company's rules. If I
had to put it in a bucket, it would go with shopping mall bathrooms, train
compartiments or compamy shower rooms.
As a sign of that you wouldn't leave valuable stuff on an hotel room table
while you're out, as you would in your house.
~~~
morgante
> As a sign of that you wouldn't leave valuable stuff on an hotel room table
> while you're out, as you would in your house.
Speak for yourself.
I routinely leave my most valuable possession (my laptop) in hotel rooms. I'm
not paranoid.
------
justifier
Unfamiliar seems the wrong word
I tell people you need a place you can trust
Both wholly from a safety perspective to quelch this brain patrol
But also to trust your environments' behaviour
For instance, does your brain trust your phone on the night stand to leave
your sleep uninterrupted? Or will it always be monitoring for familiar signals
similarly, can you trust your hotel to have consistent environment, or did you
request a wake up call that your brain will be looking out for?
------
blowski
I'd like to know who funded the research.
The Economist also reported it, and explicitly made the point that a hotel
chain can use this in their marketing. Where we normally think of unique as
being a good thing, this promotes consistency, so it's better to always stay
in the same hotel chain instead of using Airbnb or whoever is cheapest on
hotels.com.
~~~
nmjohn
Thankfully you can usually find this info:
> This work was supported by grants to T.W. and Y.S. (NIH R01MH091801,
> R01EY019466, and NSF BCS 1539717). This work also involved the use of
> instrumentation supported by the NCRR Shared Instrumentation Grant Program
> and High-End Instrumentation Grant Program (specifically, grant numbers
> S10RR014978, S10RR021110, and S10RR023401). This research was carried out in
> part at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at the
> Massachusetts General Hospital, using resources provided by the Center for
> Functional Neuroimaging Technologies, NCRR P41RR14075. Part of this research
> was also conducted using computational resources and services at the Center
> for Computation and Visualization, Brown University. [0]
[0]: [http://www.cell.com/current-
biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(16)3...](http://www.cell.com/current-
biology/fulltext/S0960-9822\(16\)30174-9)
------
kevindeasis
Every time I sleep in a new place I've always wondered why I can't sleep more
than 5 hours.
However, when I'm sleeping in Inn, Hotels, etc. I can sleep comfortably.
I wonder what the reasoning might be for those situations
~~~
christophilus
I suspect that your mind doesn't register a new hotel room as a brand new
experience, but rather as a familiar one. I bet the very first time someone
sleeps in a hotel, their sleep quality is inferior to the 100th time, say.
Even though not all hotel rooms are identical, the ones I generally stay in
are similar enough that I doubt I subconsciously experience them as a strange
new place.
~~~
kevindeasis
Interesting, that's a good thought
------
randomgyatwork
I can not sleep if there isn't a door that I can lock / control. Stranger
around, ever worse. Probably same reason I can't fall asleep in a public
place, like on the train etc.
------
diegoloop
Once I decided to turn around on my bed by sleeping by putting my head where I
usually put my feet... That was one of the most awkward weake up and dreaming
experience I've ever had
------
Cyph0n
Given that this behavior was studied decades ago, why has it taken so long to
record the brain's activity when sleeping in a new place? Is neuroscience that
new of a field such that relatively obvious findings are publishable in top
journals? Or am I oversimplifying the results acquired in this study?
------
Jabbles
Would anyone with deep statistical knowledge be able to comment on the
validity of results based on an experiment involving 11 people?
[http://www.cell.com/cms/attachment/2054006051/2060445893/mmc...](http://www.cell.com/cms/attachment/2054006051/2060445893/mmc1.pdf)
~~~
lisper
The number of subjects doesn't really matter all that much. You can get a
statistically significant result with a single subject under the right
circumstances. This doesn't happen much in biology and the social sciences,
but it happens all the time in physics. The best example is how the precession
of Mercury (one "test subject") confirmed general relativity.
What matters is how likely it was that the result you got simply arose by
chance. This can only be measured relative to some a priori probabilistic
model. If the odds of the result having arisen by chance (the "null
hypothesis") is low, then you can confidently "reject the null hypothesis" and
conclude that something else must have happened. Of course, the statistics
can't tell you what that "something else" was. That requires an explanatory
theory.
The problem is that the probabilistic model is also kind of arbitrary. For
example, suppose you flip a coin ten times and it comes up heads every time.
That odds of that happening by chance are, naively, one in 2^10. But that is
only true if you only do the experiment once. If you have, say, 2^8 people
flipping coins, then the odds of _someone_ seeing 10 heads in a row is one in
four. Parapsychology experiments and stock-trading schemes often fall into
this trap.
This is a general problem with "big data". The more data you have, the more
likely you are to see things happen by pure chance that are intuitively
unlikely.
~~~
Jabbles
None of that is relevant to this experiment or my comment.
And I disagree that the number of subjects doesn't matter. It matters
enormously, precisely because this is a biology experiment.
~~~
ASpring
> And I disagree that the number of subjects doesn't matter. It matters
> enormously, precisely because this is a biology experiment.
It's ironic that you say this so definitively when you were the one asking for
help interpreting the statistics originally.
Lisper is completely correct. Given a large enough effect size, detecting
significant differences in a small population is very possible.
The statistics are sound. The assumption we should be questioning is where the
subjects came from and if they are actually representative of the population
that we are extrapolating this result to.
~~~
conceit
What Lisper said may be correct, however he really doesn't mention the
application of the null-hypothesis in this experiment. To a skeptic it would
seem the null hypothesis might be susceptible to the confusion of correlation
and causation.
Edit:
The correct interpretation is that the model, the foundation of the null
hypothesis, didn't fail yet.
Part of this model is backed by more experiments: _" The reason that we
focused on SWA is that it is the only sleep characteristic that reflects the
depth of sleep"_ [1].
The model doesn't consist of a single variable. 11 people choosing the same 7
numbers out of 49 by chance is rather unlikely. The null hypothesis would
include that there are only 11 people picking, that they don't cheat, and that
random chance is indeed a thing. If now 11 people would indeed all choose the
same, then the experiment could be repeated, e.g. to show that they are
cheating or to increase the significance.
[1] [http://www.cell.com/current-
biology/fulltext/S0960-9822%2816...](http://www.cell.com/current-
biology/fulltext/S0960-9822%2816%2930174-9)
------
Taylor_OD
What about long term travelers? Do people who travel the world get "used" to
this and adjust?
~~~
jzwinck
Either we adjust or we are self selected in the first place. Maybe both.
Taking many short flights for work practically forced me to learn to sleep
sitting up even during the day if I was not fully rested. Many of my
colleagues and frequently flying friends can do it too. But some people seem
unable to do it. I found that once I understood I could do it, there was no
further practice needed. Like riding a bicycle that half your friends always
fall off.
In the past year I have slept in approximately 200 different beds. About once
a month I do wake up in the middle of the night with the feeling that
something is very wrong. Sometimes I don't understand why there is no wall
next to the bed, or why there is a window there. This feeling is acutely
unpleasant, even alarming. But it goes away and I go back to sleep. It doesn't
seem to drag my sleep quality down.
------
robg
_Sasaki says that brain response is involuntary and there 's nothing people
can do to prevent it, even if they've just flown in for a big presentation the
next morning._
Really hope she was misquoted there and especially since it's not a quote.
There's is no evidence or tests in this study to support this claim.
------
gonchs
As a nomad who has been living in over 30 Airbnb flats for 2 years, I had this
feeling in the past but I don't feel this anymore. Any place I go to feels
"normal" to me the minute I step inside.
------
solipsism
I think there may be some subtleties here. Like many others, I've experienced
great sleep in hotel rooms, or as a guest in homes that set me up very
comfortably. That said, I definitely have noticed I remember my dreams much
more frequently if I'm not in my own bed. Whatever my subjective evaluation of
the quality of the sleep, it seems like something different is going on in my
brain when I'm in unfamiliar surroundings. Maybe the effect shown in this
study explains that.
------
eva1984
For me it is true, at least for the first 2 days. I was thinking it is because
I was excited
------
rcthompson
This seems to have potentially important implications for people who fly
across the country the night before a big presentation. Maybe they should be
leaving 24 hours earlier.
------
linhchi
True for me, also if sleeping w a new person.
I sprung up from bed, said smth i couldnt remember, and just like that passed
out again when a friend got in the room in my sleep. Weird.
------
fareesh
Can confirm anecdotally that this is true for me - although this seems to be
specific to cases where it's somebody's home and not a hotel room.
------
ommunist
Looks like we are not that far from the dolphins.
------
joonap
I tend to sleepwalk when sleeping in a new place for the first time. I wonder
if this could be related to it.
------
perseusprime11
Great! Now I can tell my wife why I don't like to sleep at her parent's :)
------
shepik
But the human brain was shaped during a time when nights were dark and full of
terrors, Rattenborg says.
Lol, Game of thrones quote.
------
rokhayakebe
How about taking sleep aid?
------
sanatgersappa
but what if you have only half a brain to begin with?
------
dschiptsov
Oh, really? What if I am trekking in Nepal for 20 days, each time sleeping in
a new place, at different altitude?
~~~
castis
I would imagine that someone trekking through Nepal has experience with
backpacking and finding themselves in a new place in the outdoors. A few
people in this thread that have mentioned camping say they sleep better while
camping. No idea if thats because they go to the same place to camp every time
though.
~~~
JoeAltmaier
I sleep worse the first night. Then I sleep like a baby the rest of the trip.
Because I'm worn out by the end of the day, and a bomb going off wouldn't wake
me up.
------
polvs
Other interesting brain tricks, illusions and biases:
[https://www.propublica.org/article/how-information-
graphics-...](https://www.propublica.org/article/how-information-graphics-
reveal-your-brains-blind-spots)
~~~
metasean
Completely off-topic!
Should be submitted as it's own article.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Cost of JavaScript Frameworks - AngeloAnolin
https://timkadlec.com/remembers/2020-04-21-the-cost-of-javascript-frameworks/
======
OptionsDude420
Had to be said, also never heard of alternatives like Preact and Nuxt.js,
looks like i got some digging to do.
Super insightful, thanks man!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Omnispeak – A Commander Keen Reimplementation - rocky1138
https://davidgow.net/keen/omnispeak.html
======
techtalsky
Even though the second Keen trilogy had richer graphics, I really loved the
first Keen trilogy for the gameplay. The jumps and movement felt so much more
physical. Keen would make this tiny pause as if winding up for a jump each
time he jumped. The later Keen just did big floaty isometric jumps that didn't
have the same snap. That said, I loved and played every single one of those
games.
~~~
djsumdog
They were super cute. Boy genius builds a space ship powered by a car battery,
fuelled by your parents wine and .. yea I forgot all the other things you had
to collect in the first one.
They were all good, but I think one of my favourites was Keen Dreams with the
giant potato monster at the end.
~~~
jff
The Bean-with-Bacon Megarocket was fueled by Dad's Everclear, as I recall, and
propelled with the vacuum cleaner.
~~~
endgame
Yep, and you needed the car battery and the joystick.
------
giobox
Oh man, I loved the keen games. As a young lad in the UK, it always frustrated
me how hard buying the full version of shareware software was - the buy
screens always had US address/phone numbers for purchasing, and back in the
early 90s convincing one's parents of the legitimacy of such a weird foreign
transaction was no easy task.
I think I eventually managed to get floppies with the full versions of most of
Apogee's catalog through various friends/acquaintances.
~~~
teekert
Ha, True! The strangest thing was that you could often buy games on floppies
at the stores but they were almost always shareware, with just a single level
to play. Never did we get original games, at least, not in the stores.
Floppies were traded like crazy, legal games just didn't seem to be available
back then. (At least here in the Netherlands, in the early 90's)
------
fapjacks
Holy smokes!! Commander Keen takes me back to when I first discovered hacking,
clear back in the early/mid 90s. I actually met a good hacker friend of mine
on a completely different continent on a train. He was playing Commander Keen
on a laptop and playing the music super loud. I recognized it and introduced
myself. That was almost fifteen years ago and we still work on projects
together!
------
Endy
I'm sorry if I seem a little obtuse here, but... why? If you need the files
from the actual game, and the actual game comes with the tools to run it (i.e.
DOSBox), what is the benefit, or in fact the real purpose, of this project as-
is?
~~~
khedoros1
Dosbox is slow; you need a relatively powerful computer to run most things.
That also means it's not really something that you want to run on battery for
a long time.
Even if that weren't true, I find value in documenting the old file formats
and having readable implementations of the games that used them. From the
point of view of the developer, it can be incredibly satisfying to see the
functionality come together, and to get a picture of how things were done 25
years ago.
~~~
Endy
Thank you for putting it this way. I think the documentation's been done and
released by the Apogee/Id guys, though - but I can understand someone else
just wanting to be able to mess around with it. But I will say that I've never
had any problems with DOSBox, personally speaking; even in terms of battery
life.
~~~
khedoros1
Implementing the game is a good proof of the documentation ;-)
I'm obviously biased in favor of efforts like this. Part of the reason is that
I'm going through another DOS game with a disassembler and trying to
understand, document, and reimplement the game engine (it's going glacially;
I'm no reverse-engineering expert, and I don't have much experience in
assembly). To me, it's a fun subject for a hobby. And I don't like that a game
that would run on a 25MHz 386 natively won't run at full speed in Dosbox in a
computer built 10 years after the game's release (or on my various ARM
machines, a modded game console, etc). Something feels "wrong" about that. I
have the same feeling about the game being unmodifiable. I've seen how much
came out from the open-sourcing of various id engines, and it would be great
to see modifications, enhancements, and remixes of the other classics, too.
------
djsumdog
Is there a word for that deep realization of your mortality and existence;
almost pain, that comes nostalgia?
~~~
MattRix
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudade)
~~~
i336_
Nice!
------
albertzeyer
It looks very cool! How does it compare to Commander Genius?
[http://clonekeenplus.sourceforge.net](http://clonekeenplus.sourceforge.net)
~~~
khedoros1
I kept running into bugs while using Commander Genius (even before entering
the first level, I managed to get Billy stuck "behind" the map. This one feels
exactly like I remember.
~~~
gerstrong
Pretty funny that you mention that. You should know that a lot of Omnispeak
Code is in Commander Genius. Not sure what version you tested, but you should
take another look. Also the developers were part of the CG team.
------
badsectoracula
> Omnispeak requires a computer with OpenGL 2.0 support
That is the strangest requirement. I could see requiring OpenGL 3.1+ Core for
someone who _really_ wants to use a GPU (despite how unnecessary that would
be) and thinks that glBegin is Teh Devil. I could see requiring OpenGL 1.1 for
someone who still wants to use the GPU but doesn't want to bother with GLSL or
any of the later more complex APIs.
But why OpenGL 2.0? I could see it if the games needed some special effects or
something through GLSL, but all Keen games do is basically blitting pixels
around (and from a quick glance at github, all the pixel shader code in the
source does is to draw the bound texture, nothing else), so they don't need
that (nor the code does anything more than that).
~~~
jononor
OpenGL 2.0 was released over 10 years ago. Why is this requirement a problem?
Anything that is supposed to work should be tested, I can see why people don't
want to test against more-than-10-years old APIs.
~~~
dTal
Because it's unnecessary, and precludes it from running on fun platforms
otherwise fully capable of it - like the Zipit Z2 I am currently hacking on
(which come to think of it is probably even fast enough to run the original
inside Dosbox).
It's just less fun.
~~~
throwanem
I think I still have one of those with an Emacs 23 install.
Watch out you don't leave it on the charger too long with a battery in it. The
charge limiter is lacking or nonexistent, and the battery will overheat and
swell.
------
bobbybroadcast
Wow, takes me back to the BBS days of 28.8. Good times.
------
eon1
This link leads to an HTML full of garbage data that automatically downloads
for me. What am I missing?
~~~
NTripleOne
This is old so I guess it was probably a momentary problem for me, but it
works fine in Vivaldi 1.8.770.25 on Windows for me.
~~~
khedoros1
Yep, it worked fine when I got home, a few hours later. There was a while
where it was "wonky".
The header looked fine, the body started like this:
<body>^_<8b>^H^C¥XÛrÛ8^R}¶¾¢<87>^OñLE"}M%^N]¯¥x<q¢<94>í©ÔÖÖ^Vdb$Ê$Á^E@Ë<9a><9a><87>ù<88>ýÂý<92>=
r7;<89>3µ~<90>%^BÝèËéÓ="" Æ?<8c>&ç·<9f>?<8d>)we1ìÅü<
Oddly, there was random entified data in there: ^V[^P¿8û0þpöé&<
~~~
NTripleOne
That's... absolutely bizarre, I've never seen anything like that before.
Garbled characters, but the hex in chevrons I've never seen, that combined
with an intact body and html entities too...
I guess the server sharted and that was the result? Haha.
~~~
khedoros1
The hex is just the way that the editor chose to display it. I think it's just
random-seeming binary data.
------
xupybd
How does the copyright work with a Re-implementation?
~~~
djsumdog
The dev is just re-implementing the game engine. I think the Ep4 game files
only included because it was a shareware release.
Still, I'm not entirely sure what the legal ground for the engine here is. It
goes back to the whole issue with formats like mp3s/H264 (If you write a
decoder entirely from scratch; do you still have to pay party x?)
~~~
allenu
I think the answer to the mp3/h.264 question today is yes, you do have to pay
party X. The payment is for the license of the spec, I believe, and not the
implementation.
~~~
chii
for the patent you mean? if you didn't read it use the spec, but did a black
box reverse engineering of the format, you'd still have to pay for the patent.
------
death667b
amazing
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Gamblers bet on marbles and trotting as pandemic hits sport - samizdis
https://www.ft.com/content/71aa11ad-cf3e-47b3-8cfe-9233c436ea32
======
samizdis
De-paywalled: [https://archive.is/9Ln7q](https://archive.is/9Ln7q)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Twitter Just Permanently Suspended Conservative Writer Milo Yiannopoulos - Jerry2
https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/twitter-just-permanently-suspended-conservative-writer-milo?utm_term=.gw85D2JjAx#.jgl15YZ86e
======
smt88
Free speech is vitally important, but this decision has nothing to do with it.
Yiannopoulos can still speak and write in many other public places, including
any public part of the US, his own personal blog, and any other unrestricted
platform (such as Facebook).
Twitter is selling a product, and they have a right to decide what kind of
product it is. They have a right to decide what their brand is connected to.
If you argue that free speech requires private companies to be neutral toward
everyone who wants to use them as a medium, you're also arguing that
newspapers must publish any editorials that are sent to them. You're arguing
that TV networks accept all ads, no matter how repugnant, and that phone
carriers allow stalkers to contact anyone they wish.
People should be willing to die to defend free speech, but let's also be clear
on what is and isn't actually an attack on free speech. Yiannopoulos is a
troll, and Twitter (in the interest of their shareholders) should have started
banning people like him a long time ago.
~~~
elgabogringo
hmmm.... It certainly has nothing to do with the first amendment protections
since twitter is a private company, but - at least from my POV - it does have
to do with censorship, bias, and, depending on how you define it, free speech.
~~~
DrFunke
I’d like to posit this scenario to everyone, and hear your responses:
A privately-held telecom provider (i.e. utility) disagrees with my political
views. As a result my internet service is terminated.
Let's agree the definition of a public utility is "Furnishes an everyday
necessity to the public at large".
Has the provider restricted my First Amendment right?
At what point (if ever) would you consider Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter public
utilities?
~~~
croon
In your scenario: Yes.
Is Twitter or any other application layer non-government service on the
internet a utility? No.
So is this what happened? No.
They didn't ban him for his political views, nor are they a utility.
~~~
mieses
They did ban him for his political views. But it's clever how you snuck in
that one subjective statement into an otherwise objective line of reasoning.
~~~
dragonwriter
> They did ban him for his political views.
No, they banned him for soliciting harassment, not for the views which
motivated the solicitation of the harassment.
~~~
mieses
That policy is used to silence dissenting opinion. Don't spread this PR. It's
equivalent to police claiming they detained you for a broken tail light.
Dorsey and his Saudi owners are on a purge.
~~~
NotSammyHagar
You have it backwards.
I believe you are referring to twitter being used to silence a dissenting
opinion when you said "that policy", in reference to Nero. I actually think
it's the other way, the bullying sent toward the SNL actresses' way, the
sexist and homophobic comments, those were actually meant to silence a
dissenting view, someone those people did not like.
Stopping bullying is a good thing. No good comes from bullying someone you
don't like.
~~~
mieses
Nero's alt-right followers "actually meant" to ridicule her. Twitter actually
silenced him.
------
elgabogringo
Everything and everyone the left disagrees with now gets labeled as "hate" and
increasingly gets flagged and then banned. Why is the left so afraid of a
debate?
~~~
XMPPwocky
What debate was involved here?
~~~
ericras
The debate that's been unfolding for a couple months about the Ghostbusters
movie as leftist propaganda.
~~~
st3v3r
And what part of that debate was calling Leslie Jones an ape?
------
partiallypro
A private company can do whatever they want on their platform. The problem I
have is that they pretend that they are unbiased arbiters, when history
suggests otherwise.
I also have a problem with this as Twitter investor (I'm a huge critic of
Twitter, if you look at my history; and I'm specifically an investor hoping
for someone to just buy the company and fire Jack and his team.) I don't know
how to balance the harassment policies (which I think should be enforced in
some cases) and free speech.
I think free speech is vital to the success of any social media platform. I
also know the tendencies of internet trolls is that if you come at them, they
often go much harder towards you. It would make more sense if you could auto-
block mentions that contain keywords, almost like a spam filter. Basically
filter bubbles or groups/channels, with the ability to see unfiltered
mentions. I really do not think this solves the problem, as we saw with
Reddit, 4Chan, 8Chan, (or basically any forum that has operated since the
early 2000s) etc.
When Reddit started mass banning people and subreddits it saw a huge uptick of
"shitposts," eventually a lot of those people formed "The_Donald" and now they
basically control most of the front page, and have for months. Banning in many
instances can give the banned users a much louder voice, especially if they
have any sort of movement or following behind them. I think anyone with
experience in online forums dating back to the early 2000s knows this to be
true. Forum "fallouts" happen often, and usually occur after a significant ban
or power grab...it often ends up killing the platform or community. I don't
think social media platforms are any different.
I fear unless Jack and many others are removed from the company, it will
become like a Yahoo, with core assets that are marked as virtually worthless
and no one willing to buy and catch the falling knife.
------
zorpner
About damn time. It's a shame that it took him & his followers harassing a
celebrity to get this done, given how many people they've threatened before,
but hardly surprising.
~~~
elgabogringo
Really, who has Milo threatened?
~~~
smt88
1) GP said "they've threatened", which referred to the followers, rather than
Yiannopoulos himself.
2) It's possible to inspire your followers to threaten people without making a
threat yourself. Yiannopoulos has painted groups he dislikes (feminists,
Muslims, etc.) as threatening and dangerous to his followers, which is a tacit
justification of violence and threats against them.
~~~
elgabogringo
#1 Was anyone actually threatened or just insulted and, regardless, what does
that have to do with Milo?
#2 Very tenuous justification there. One that twitter certainly doesn't hold
other groups to.
~~~
smt88
> _#1 Was anyone actually threatened or just insulted and, regardless, what
> does that have to do with Milo?_
His followers have threatened some horrific stuff to lots of people,
especially during the height of GamerGate harassment. It has to do with
Yiannopoulos only if he intended to create those reactions among his
followers, which I (and others) suspect he did. We'll never know for sure.
> _#2 Very tenuous justification there. One that twitter certainly doesn 't
> hold other groups to._
Agreed. Perhaps Yiannopoulos has grounds to sue Twitter for unfair treatment.
I doubt it, though IANAL.
In this case, Twitter may not be using "inciting followers to make threats
using dog-whistle rhetoric" as a criterion for banning people. It would ban
Yiannopoulos and not, say, a black nationalist for one simple reason:
Yiannopoulos was more famous and created more consternation among potential
users.
------
AlwaysBCoding
I understand that the first amendment protects against government censorship,
and not the censorship of a private company.
But honest question, what is the difference between a private business
refusing to bake a wedding cake for a gay wedding (which courts have ruled
illegal), and twitter refusing their platform to a conservative writer.
~~~
croon
1) He's not banned for being a conservative, nor writer. 2) They (likely) did
not order a cake with writing on it targetting someone. They just wanted a
cake for themselves. IANAL, but I'm assuming the bakery got ruled against on
grounds of bias crimes against sexual orientation.
He's not targetted for either being gay or conservative or any other personal
trait other than on their service portraying a seemingly vile human being
through targetted harassment of other user(s), which they deemed a breach of
their ToS.
------
pseudo_monkey
Good, just because you may have the right to free speech doesn't mean you
should be given a platform to spread your hate.
~~~
mveety
Yes it does. Censorship by public or private entities is dangerous because it
destroys the open marketplace of ideas. The best ideas, given time, will rise
to the top, and censorship in all forms prevents this from happening. Speech
that is agreeable to the public/government/whatever doesn't need any
protection, but speech that isn't does. We all should protect speech in all
forms even if it's hateful or abhorrent.
~~~
smt88
Yiannopoulos can still be hateful and abhorrent on Breitbart.com and many
other widely-read outlets. He can hold an anti-Leslie Jones rally on a major
street in the US, and police will protect him (including black police).
This isn't a blow to free speech. It's Twitter deciding not to let someone use
its service and its resources for the purposes of rallying racists to berate
an innocent woman who acted in a movie.
------
flukus
If anyone wants freedom of speech then they should be using open platforms,
not corporate controlled ones.
I have no idea why anyone allowed twitter to ever have as much influence as
they do.
~~~
st3v3r
In what world is a targeted harassment campaign considered "freedom of
speech"?
And why do you care so much about the harassers, yet offer nothing for those
who's speech is silenced because they are harassed off the platform? Do those
people not matter?
~~~
flukus
>In what world is a targeted harassment campaign considered "freedom of
speech"?
Who decides where that line is drawn?
>And why do you care so much about the harassers, yet offer nothing for those
who's speech is silenced because they are harassed off the platform? Do those
people not matter?
The can block/ignore/filter, just like everyone has always done.
------
kelukelugames
_It’s clear that existing hate speech laws are inadequate for the social media
era. And if we decide, as we perhaps might, that a lifetime ban on the
internet is unworkable and disproportionately punitive, given the centrality
of the internet to our professional and personal lives these days, what on
earth are we to do? No one has yet offered a convincing answer. In the
meantime, we are all, bit by bit, growing ever more fearful of the next wave
of molestation.
Together with other commentators, I have in the past argued for verified
identities on social networks, so those responsible for abuse and persecution
of public figures and the vulnerable might be held accountable for their
actions. That seems redundant when trolls are now so brazen they don’t care
about disapproving words from their loved ones back inside Facebook when they
leave furious missives using that social network’s commenting system elsewhere
on the internet.
So perhaps what’s needed now is a bolder form of censure after all, because
the internet is not a universal human right. If people cannot be trusted to
treat one another with respect, dignity and consideration, perhaps they
deserve to have their online freedoms curtailed. For sure, the best we could
ever hope for is a smattering of unpopular show trials. But if the internet,
ubiquitous as it now is, proves too dangerous in the hands of the
psychologically fragile, perhaps access to it ought to be restricted. We ban
drunks from driving because they’re a danger to others. Isn’t it time we did
the same to trolls?_
\- See more at: [http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/yiannopoulos/3359/the-
internet...](http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/yiannopoulos/3359/the-internet-is-
turning-us-all-into-sociopaths/#sthash.SNvn8OTL.dpuf)
------
feylikurds
Let me get this straight, Milo is of foreign-descent, homosexual, and has
inter-racial relationships, but is a hardcore conservative? Why people take
him seriously, I will never know.
~~~
dogma1138
Conservatives have to be straight and racist?
~~~
smt88
They don't, but homophobia, denial that sexuality is mutable, denial that
homosexuality exists, and racism are all driven by conservatives.
There have been times when liberals were racist (e.g. some, but not most,
eugenicists), but generally speaking, conservatives want to preserve the past,
and the past is incredibly racist.
Conservatives fought the abolition of slavery, and to this day they support
laws that marginalize or infringe upon the rights of homosexuals. A gay
conservative is someone acting against his/her interests, and a pro-equality
conservative is an oxymoron.
~~~
AlwaysBCoding
The logic (agree with it or not) is that the biggest threat to homosexuals in
2016 is Islam and Sharia. There are 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, at least
half who want homosexuality banned. And Muslim countries are much more likely
to legislate religious doctrine than Western countries right now.
Conservatives tend to be more combative with Islam than liberals are, so the
thinking is it's logical to be Conservative now if you want to push gay rights
forward. Especially since the Orlando massacre which saw a Muslim terrorist
kill 50 unarmed gays.
~~~
st3v3r
Except Christian areas are just as likely to legislate religious doctrine. All
of the gay marriage bans in the US were driven by Christian groups, and mostly
enacted in Christian heavy states. The countries in Africa which are outlawing
homosexuality are doing so largely lead by Christians. And there is no way you
can tell me Russia is a Muslim country.
------
emjoes1
In general this is my prob with society today. Why do we have to be nice to
people? Why do we have to show empathy? Why can we not say hateful things? No
violence/assault no harm.
~~~
dang
I can tell you what the answer is on Hacker News, at least. You have to treat
others respectfully here because if we allowed users not to, the community
would decay, the best people (who incidentally have no trouble being
respectful) would leave, and this place would become uninteresting, like
scorched earth. That's the biggest risk to this site so we take it seriously.
~~~
greatemployee
I see this sort of argument a lot and I don't know how true it is.
Is it /really/ true that the best contributors are so sensitive? In my
experience, these days it's actually the worst contributors or those who
contribute not at all who are the most sensitive and liable to throw in the
towel.
I'm sympathetic to your view but there is another risk that by overmoderating
or catering to the most sensitive of contributors, HN will be left with non-
interesting content, or controversial opinions will be silenced.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
India's New National Education Policy Is Inherently Casteist - vijaybritto
https://twitter.com/s3nkul/status/1288833075904831495
======
rpiguy
Nationalism taken too far. Learning regional languages and Sanskrit instead of
English? Having a lingua franca is incredibly advantageous in the global
economy.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Why hasn't anyone done this sort of hack for (intro) textbooks? - realitygrill
(originally submitted for the $9.99 textbook thread, but it's already dead)<p>I've been tinkering around with the textbook/publishing problem in my head for a while (nothing concrete yet, sorry!) and am thinking of applying to one of the upcoming YC rounds. Might try to do this in the meantime as a pure hack:<p>Students hate being ripped off by frequent 'new' editions of textbooks, which basically just reorder the text slightly and shuffle the problems. (I'm aware quite a few people download illegal textbook copies, but I find reading on a computer screen difficult.) Why hasn't anyone hacked this system? You could just OCR the textbook editions, have the computer identify similar/identical bits, and create a database of dependencies. Then write a web app to query it.<p>Someone has the 7th edition and their class uses the 9th? Every time they get an assignment, they can go to the site and type in: "I need to read Chapter 8.2-8.6 and do the end of the chapter problems 7-30, odd. The class uses ____ 9th edition. I have ___ 7th edition."<p>Then the site shoots back, "OK, you should read pages blank through blank. Below is a list of the 9th edition problems matched to their 7th edition counterparts. It also tells you if there's anything different or new."<p>I'm sure the textbook industry would <i>hate</i> this and try to do anything to shut it down, so it's probably not a great startup idea. They've already taken rear guard action with clickers and web homework.
======
Fixnum
I haven't really investigated, but I suspect that in the introductory
math/phys/chem courses you'll find that variable names/values also change in
various ways. So in keeping track of what's "different or new", you end up not
needing just dependencies but, realistically (in terms of reader convenience,
but also due to difficulty of parsing OCR'd math problems to determine which
are 'isomorphic'), all the problems from the latest edition. Which might not
quite be 'fair use.'
I am not sure about other courses like bio or psych.
Good luck solving the textbook problem, though ...
~~~
realitygrill
I hadn't thought about the math OCR (nor 'fair use', obviously), since intro
books tend to use very simple math. But your point with variable names seems
especially difficult.. thanks!
For more verbose subjects like bio, or psych, or econ something like the
software they use to check for plagiarism should work beautifully.
------
jasonlbaptiste
Other idea is to build a network around everyone using a particular book. The
popular books out there have thousands of students using them at the same
time. There's probably a lot of value of connecting them all together. Notes,
answers, questions, etc.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
My startup was acquired and I want to reward my NPM dependencies - mluggy
how would you go about it?
======
andreimiulescu
Congrats, maybe start with contacting the maintainers. The publishers of npm
packages will have an email
~~~
mluggy
thanks. some projects have 20+ collaborators/contributors, you're suggesting
i'll let the maintainers distribute funds?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
RockMelt Unveils a Web Browser for the Facebook Era - bjonathan
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/08/technology/08browser.html?src=twt&twt=nytimestech
======
languagehacker
So, uh, what component of this browser isn't already addressed in a Firefox
plug-in? I doubt it has things like performance increases that would make me
choose it over, say, Chrome when I need to go faster than FF.
If its intended audience is less tech-savvy folks, I think they'll have a hard
time getting them to even try something that's not IE.
------
nickbarnwell
This is different than Flock (which was a failure) how?
~~~
alanh
To be pithy — Flock was for nerds (Del.icio.us users); RockMelt is for people
(Facebook users).
Not convinced they’ll catch on, but at least their target market is bigger,
no?
~~~
nickbarnwell
Neither is a particularly good idea. People find the current tools perfectly
adequate, and as 3/4 of them tell me "I use the big E" or "the red fox" when
asking what browser they're using, I doubt this is going to gain much
traction.
------
bhiggins
almost as underwhelming as what it turns out kiha is doing
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How Good Names Can Help Products Succeed - aytekin
https://medium.com/start-up-vision/5e98414cbcc4
======
gk1
You can't possibly attribute the success of docker or Hemingway to their name
alone. You can just as easily take any successful company and create a
narrative about their name and how it somehow made them successful.
~~~
aytekin
I could be wrong but it is my understanding that:
\- Dotcloud was around for 3 years and it did not become popular until the
name change to docker. I personally couldnt make myself try a product with
dotCloud name. So, it could be only me.
\- Read Hemingway App coverage (I have never seen a release from a small
company covered by so much media) they are all talking about Hemingway. It is
an incredible name.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
CTF365 Real Time Cyber Attacks Map - kerosen
Hi everybody<p>CTF365 it’s a “Security Training Platform for IT industry with a focus on Security Professionals, System Administrators and Web Developers”. The Platform implements CTF (Capture The Flag) concepts and leverages gamification mechanics to improve retention rate and speed up the learning/training curve.<p>Because of its Security Gamification Engine, CTF365 makes InfoSec trainings become, entertaining, challenging, community driven with continuous improvement and hands on<p>We've manage to implement CTF365 Real Time Cyber Attacks that shows everything is happening on the platform.<p>It shows all the attacks and connected users on the platform http://ctf365.com/pages/map.<p>Blinking dots = CTF365 VPN connected users
Blue Balloons = Fortresses (servers) build by our users
Blue Doted Lines = The attacks<p>It's an work in progress and works on Chrome and IE. There are some bugs in Firefox. Also we'll add some gamification things in the future like most active users, perform levels and so on. Things that can help companies to see their employees improvements.<p>Any feedback would be more than welcomed.
======
nivertech
so these attacks are not real?
~~~
kerosen
Those attacks are real on our platform. There are teams around the world, that
have build servers on our platform and attack each other while defend their
servers. It shows you who attacks whom.
~~~
nivertech
Can those servers act as honeypots and attract real attacks too?
~~~
kerosen
No! Not that it can't but because not this is its primary scope. It act like a
private network where you can connect via VPN and start practice your hacking
skills against real users and servers and not "vulnerable by design" ones as
you find in any traditional penetration testing lab.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Text of Y Combinator article in Inc Magazine - garbowza
http://zgarbow.posterous.com/paul-graham-and-y-combinator-article-in-inc-m
======
yan
"5. If you could go back in time and do one thing differently, what would it
be?
I wish I had taken advantage of all the free time I had in high school and
actually learned stuff, instead of spending so much time hanging out with
friends."
Really? That seems to me to be a minority opinion. Most people wish they did
more "high school"-type things than spend time studying. They're not
exclusive, but surely spending all free time studying and not socializing is
bound to rob you of valuable experiences.
~~~
pg
That wasn't a verbatim quote. All the things in that list were boiled down
from a long conversation.
What I really said was that I wished I hadn't wasted so much time in high
school-- that I'd realized earlier that it was my responsibility to teach
myself, instead of thinking that all I had to do was learn the stuff we were
taught in classes. Then he asked me what I did spend my time on in HS, and I
said basically the same thing as any other teenage kid: just hanging out with
friends, doing nothing in particular.
~~~
yan
Hm, the use of the "I" pronoun implied it was verbatim to me. I'd hoped the
reporter did a better job at distilling the intent behind interview answers
rather than providing third-grade summaries. Do you feel the article did yc
justice?
~~~
pg
The article was above average for accuracy. But average is not very high:
newspaper and magazine articles tend to contain a lot of mistakes.
The most misleading thing in the article was the whole guru theme. Maybe it
made the story seem more interesting, but there is very little dispensing of
abstract wisdom at YC. 99% of the conversation I have with people is about the
specific problems of individual startups. Car mechanic would be a more
accurate metaphor than guru.
~~~
gcheong
To me, one of the more interesting pieces of the article was when it talked
about the years you spent from '91 - '95 in a kind of consulting/painting
period where you would consult for a while then stop and paint until you ran
out of money then repeat until eventually you decided it was time to make some
"real money", which was apparently when you decided to start a company. My
question is, were you considering other options at that time (such as just
getting a regular job) or were you always dead set on starting your own
company?
------
jgrahamc
I flagged this. Surely this is a copyright violation. If Inc hasn't put the
text up on their web site then it's because they don't want the text in that
form, no doubt they want you to buy the magazine.
~~~
mixmax
Agree - even though I'd like to read the article I think we should accept the
choices and income models of fellow entrepreneurs and businesses.
------
falsestprophet
Rather than a link to a blog post with a link to scribd with a link to a pdf,
here is a pdf:
[http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/zgarbow/czK...](http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/zgarbow/czKBpnLyL8og7wIyznr5xHW4rjpF6FVZBArcROjStc2IE3AHEnCeQxXlpxAq/INC_Startup_Paul_Graham_articl.pdf)
~~~
jsonscripter
Kind of ironic that scribd isn't working right for this PDF in particular, I
must say.
------
adamsmith
The picture is just like of Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper"!
~~~
pg
Yeah, that made me a bit nervous. I realized what they were up to as soon as I
saw how they had the table set up. But I figured few readers would get it, and
it would at least be a good composition.
~~~
quizzical
The picture gives me a sense of the youthful inspiration and commotion much
like the articles does. A great picture and a great article. Anybody in their
40s founding startups these days or have we just accepted our waterboarding?
------
kirubakaran
My favorite quote:
"Running a start-up is like being punched in the face repeatedly. But working
for a large company is like being waterboarded."
~~~
staunch
Not a terribly good analogy. Working for a big company is painful in a very
different kind of, much more depressing and sluggish, way.
~~~
ph0rque
I was going to say the same thing... it's more analogous to being drugged.
~~~
Xichekolas
I was thinking it's more like spending time in solitary confinement. No
explicit torture, just the slow creep of insanity due to social isolation and
routine.
------
mattmaroon
They had to play the cult card didn't they.
------
rokhayakebe
Hate it or Love it, you want to be part of the gang.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
CompLearn: Apply Compression to Discover Patterns - agarttha
https://complearn.org/
======
carapace
I first heard about this in the context of language categorization.
You compress samples of each language and then to categorize a new sample you
compress it with each compressor and the one that does the best job tells you
what language.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Could This App Create A Free, Secret Web? - chippy
http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2014/06/05/could-this-app-create-a-free-secret-web/
======
ENGNR
Just a caution because it's not clear from the article or app, Open Garden
volunteers your mobile data connection. That seems to be the intended purpose
for meshing your personal devices, but it volunteers your connection to the
entire mesh, ie everyone nearby[0].
That'd be fine for eg my home wired connection (especially if bandwidth
throttled so mostly for the use of firechat), but metered cell data could
potentially be blown just by sitting near someone with a laptop that wants to
do an update... it seems like something you'd want to warn people of and not
hide in a forum post.
0: [http://forum.opengarden.com/discussion/345/i-want-to-know-
is...](http://forum.opengarden.com/discussion/345/i-want-to-know-is-it-open-
garden-sharing-internet-connection-for-my-devices-only/p1)
------
schoen
I'd like to hear more of the story of how mesh supposedly avoids surveillance.
I talked to a few people working on mesh projects (not Open Garden) who
readily admitted that a spy node could join the mesh and monitor user traffic
(even apart from the possibility of passive wireless monitoring).
Does "secret web" here just mean "normally within your own city and not using
someone else's faraway data center as an intermediary"? Or is there a stronger
privacy claim? I don't see one in the Forbes story.
~~~
vidarh
Depending on project, some aims for obscuring or hiding the ultimate
source/destination from intermediary nodes, as well as ensuring end-to-end
encryption of _all_ data.
Generally the idea seems to be that the mesh functionality is there to prevent
blackouts, while the surveillance avoidance is down to layering encryption to
various extents.
Key to surveillance avoidance then becomes to get enough "legitimate" traffic
over such a network that just monitoring traffic amounts isn't enough to look
for potential suspects.
------
pkulak
But you still need to get out to the main internet somehow right? And then
whichever poor sap has an outgoing connection is going to end up sharing it
with everyone else and get cops coming to his door about the child porn.
~~~
twobits
Maybe just get over caring about the "main" internet, and leave it to be the
ad ridden, surveillance clusterf*, old and rusty one?
~~~
chenster
Or you can use ham radio.
~~~
dTal
Encryption is outlawed on public radio bands.
------
cowbell
Open Garden: Not open source. Nice one guys.
~~~
foobarqux
Serval Mesh is an open alternative.
------
nickthemagicman
This is really cool. Combine this with IPV6 and decentralized DNS and it will
be very hard to censor the internerd.
------
higherpurpose
> _There’s been similar interest for FireChat in Iran. Users in the country
> have started 1,800 FireChat groups, according to Open Garden, making Iran
> the second biggest user of the app after the United States. India, Brazil
> and Mexico follow close behind, and Open Garden says people in Cairo and on
> the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq are using the app too._
Oh god. What have they done? Please tell me they have encrypted the
communication between users by now.
~~~
cowbell
Wouldn't it be illegal for an American company to export strong encryption to
Iran? At least, that's the gist I get from the JCE unlimited strength policy
file. If not illegal, it would definitely go against the agreement for
distribution of that.
~~~
schoen
Historically, clearly so. But since 2010 there has been a "General License"
for exporting "Personal Communication Services" technology (essentially based
on the idea that individuals' communication weakens the government's hold on
society, or, as OFAC put it, "are a vital tool for change").
[http://www.treasury.gov/resource-
center/sanctions/Programs/D...](http://www.treasury.gov/resource-
center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/soc_net.pdf)
I don't know how the General License applies to cryptographic technology in
particular. Paging Collin Anderson...
~~~
ixwt
I do know there are requirements that need to be met for exportation of
cryptography [0]. Interesting fact related to this: Strong crypto used to be
considered a weapon. This is why the DVD standard is 40 bits (iirc, it's
possibly 64 bits).
0:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Export_of_cryptography_from_the...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Export_of_cryptography_from_the_United_States)
------
unix-dude
Interesting concept. A year or two ago I was pretty interested in the various
dark/mesh-net projects that kept popping up, but there were a few problems.
Namely the fact that they were somewhat difficult to set up, and the fact that
they were somewhat like TOR in the sense that accessing the "regular" internet
required someone to tunnel traffic through.
Packaging this up into an app pretty much solves any difficulty of setup,
making it accessible nearly to anyone.
I have no idea about how secure/sound current implementations are, but this
looks like a cool first step.
Combined with something like TOR to bridge local communities, it certainly has
the potential to become a truly useful technology.
------
ackfoo
Tested just now between an iPad3 and an iPhone5. Breathtakingly unusable and
flaky as hell.
Requires you to pick a bunch of chat categories at startup, which is
ridiculous if you only want to use it in nearby mode.
Could not see the other device unless both were logged into the same WiFi
network, which is going to be totally useless in the middle of a field. Even
with both devices on the same WiFi, only about half the messages showed up.
Made no difference if BT/WiFi were on. Completely unreliable. Deleted the app.
Nice try. Better luck next time.
------
shutupalready
> _A note on the technology behind this: For iPhones, Open Garden harnesses
> Apple’s Multi-peer Connectivity Framework_
While it sounds like the iPhone has a secret new radio transceiver inside,
it's actually based on existing WiFi and Bluetooth[1].
[1]
[https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Multip...](https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/MultipeerConnectivity/Reference/MultipeerConnectivityFramework/Introduction/Introduction.html)
------
glomek
The Serval Project is already working on this:
[http://www.servalproject.org/](http://www.servalproject.org/)
Unfortunately, they are limited by Google's very long standing lack of
response to requests to support peer to peer WiFi on Android. See
[https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=82](https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=82)
------
po
_“This can be a billion dollar company if we can get to the tipping point,”
says Benoliel, referring to the 7% uptake in urban areas._
It might hard to monetize an app up to a $B where you have no real insight
into/control over the audience… which is kind of the point. The company sounds
super-cool but it should probably be operating more as a non-profit or
lifestyle business, not as a hyper-growth startup company.
------
runeks
This is pretty cool.
I had no idea a smartphone was able to communicate with another smartphone 70
meters away. I had always thought that the reason a smartphone can communicate
with a distant WiFi network, or a cellular tower, is because the recipient has
a large antenna, which means it can send data over long distances, and pick up
relatively weak signals up over long distances.
------
jsemrau
The wonders of this world. An app that that is hardly ever working is getting
all this coverage on Forbes et al.
Just shaking my head in disbelief...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Jsong: faster than light streaming JSON parser and writer in C - garnetius
https://github.com/garnetius/Jsong
======
mabynogy
I'm very impressed by the high level of quality of your code. It's clear,
beautiful and looks extremely efficient at the same time.
For example, the way the feature detection is done with "#if HAVE(INT32)" or
"#if C(MSC)".
I learned a trick with Debruijn sequences to count bits here:
[https://github.com/garnetius/QUANTUM/quantum/bitops.h](https://github.com/garnetius/QUANTUM/quantum/bitops.h)
It could be useful for a bitmap memory allocator I'm working on.
~~~
garnetius
I'm flattered. Jsong definitely wouldn't be possible without QUANTUM.
I learned the trick that you mentioned from WebKit source:
[https://github.com/WebKit/webkit/blob/b387856b9e42476169271f...](https://github.com/WebKit/webkit/blob/b387856b9e42476169271fe2c1739d799f2f170c/Source/WTF/wtf/Platform.h#L43)
It's slightly different there though. I don't think that boolean definition
tests (as in `definied`) should be mixed with actual definition value: what if
we want to check if `USE_STUFF` is defined, and zero is among possible
definition values?
~~~
mabynogy
I submitted QUANTUM separately:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15063359](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15063359)
------
marcofatica
nice
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
I Wake Up at 5 Am Every Day - thegeekbin
https://thegeekbin.com/why-i-wake-up-at-5-am-every-day/
======
beachman
My cat makes sure I'm up by 4:45am each day... No idea why.
------
icemugger
I wake up at 7 am and still manage to make ends meet
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
School that spied on students with laptop cameras says it was security feature - fromedome
http://www.businessinsider.com/school-that-spied-on-students-with-laptop-cameras-says-it-was-security-feature-2010-2
======
DanielStraight
Bollocks. If it was only used for finding lost or stolen computers, why did
they turn it on in the case that was reported and why did they act on the
information obtained to punish a kid for something done outside of school?
That doesn't compute.
~~~
tdoggette
Yeah, this is a thorough PR apology, but it doesn't address the actual
incident, just the circumstances around it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
NASA's "intriguing planetary system" press conference @ 1pm EDT - ANH
http://www.nasa.gov/news/media/newsaudio/index.html
======
RiderOfGiraffes
Why oh why does an organisation like NASA use something like EDT without
qualification? I've had to go look it up on Google, then follow the link, and
now I know that it's UTC-4, or Zulu-4.
Why couldn't they say that? It's almost as if they think everything happens in
the USA, and surely NASA of all organisations should know better.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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I'm Beating The NSA To The Punch By Spying On Myself - anjalimullany
http://www.fastcolabs.com/3012908/tracking/im-beating-the-nsa-to-the-punch-by-spying-on-myself
======
gabestein
Author here. Beating everyone here to the punch: yes, I know this is pretty
basic. I'm new to data-mining. I will happily take suggestions about what else
to look for and how to improve it. Also, if anyone wants to donate their own
Google Voice data to improve the model, I'd love to see how accurate we can
get on some classification (I'm thinking family or not family, but open to
suggestions).
------
quchen
I think the author's good intentions are taken a little bit too far here. As I
understand it, it is claimed that the gender is "correct with 67% confidence",
which I assume means "67% of all educated gender guesses are correct", with
50% standing for pure guesswork.
As is the case with any statistical data, a single value holds only very
little information. The article does not do any analysis on how good these 67%
are: could it be that changing the parameters changes it to 50%? There's a
pretty large configuration space in question, and therefore I think giving out
a simple number is very misleading.
What I also don't agree with is the conclusion, "Most importantly, if that's
what I can do with a limited set of my own data, imagine what the NSA can do
with the datasets it has access to." In the light of the previous paragraph,
this draws the conclusion that the NSA can do pretty big things, but it's
based on the wrong premise that the analysis of the "own data" has any
statistical significance.
Note that I don't want to argue about the conclusion - data mining is very
powerful, and so is statistics - but this kind of approach is _very_ easily
abused, be it intentionally or unintentionally.
So, in short: be careful trusting statistics, even when you really really like
the result.
~~~
slashcom
Another problem is he doesn't include any sort of meaningful baseline. Maybe
67% of the people he talks to are male. In which case, he's not predicting
anything. Just guessing randomly biased by his own calling habits.
[EDIT: I had some other criticisms that were incorrect and overly harsh
anyway. I've removed them.]
~~~
gabestein
Thanks for the feedback. As I'm fairly new to all of this, I'd love to hear
how I can turn this into a more viable experiment.
Also, to defend myself a little: I think I'm at least being responsible by in
no way claiming that it's statistically valid, and in fact making the point
that it's not, and citing the reasons why, several times in the article.
I do stand by my point, however, that this helps the public understand the
danger of metadata for data-mining, as well as introducing them to the
pitfalls of statistics.
~~~
quchen
> As I'm fairly new to all of this, I'd love to hear how I can turn this into
> a more viable experiment.
The most important thing is getting an estimate of how good your averages are.
Try to modify a couple of things, for example how do the 67% change with
sample size (verification)? How does the number turn out if you feed it biased
data, e.g. only male phone numbers (falsification)?
~~~
gabestein
Thanks. I solemnly swear to not abuse statistics, so I'll play around and
update the piece.
The goal is to use this as a hook to get the public interested, then take them
for the ride as I learn. That's why I tried to be really cautious about
pointing out all the reasons why this particular model is bad.
~~~
quchen
I didn't mean to say you specifically were abusing statistics, it's just very
easy to draw dubious conclusions. (Doing this intentionally would be the abuse
I was talking about.)
~~~
gabestein
I know, but I still want to take it seriously, and thank you for your
criticism.
------
omonra
I think the basic flaw here is that author assumes that NSA does data-mining.
I personally doubt it.
Rather (and here I'm going off on pure speculation myself) I think they can
use the system to start with some off-line lead (say one of the Chechen bomber
brothers) - and see who he was calling / emailing and then checking if there
is anything valuable there.
Ie - how in the past FBI would do an investigation off-line and talk to people
and piece things together - they are looking to be able to replicate it
(possibly by going back in time) online.
~~~
gabestein
"As part of K.D.D., an algorithm was applied to the broader data set in
efforts to detect patterns of behavior fitting models that had been previously
established as being indicative of the activities of a terrorist cell."
[http://m.vanityfair.com/online/eichenwald/2013/06/obama-
veri...](http://m.vanityfair.com/online/eichenwald/2013/06/obama-verizon-cell-
phone)
~~~
omonra
Thank you. But the next sentence reads " It is also run against a large set of
what are known as “dirty numbers”—telephones linked to terrorists either
through American signals intelligence or information provided by foreign
services. Even the Libyans under Qaddafi turned over huge stacks of dirty
numbers to us."
So that seems to correlate with what I am saying - they have some _flag_
generated offline that they use as a marker to find something online.
~~~
gabestein
Oh, they definitely do both, I'm not disputing that.
------
kewk
I'd love to some of this myself but don't know Ruby.. I've used Google Voice
since 2009 full time.
Anyone up for a Python Google Voice to csv script?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Ask HN: Your experience with startup advisors - ibagrak
My co-founder and I have been working on a startup for the last 6 months, and we are getting pretty close opening it up to a small group of users for the first round of feedback.<p>Both founders are technical and hands on, but neither has experience launching consumer web applications, and neither has the name or established following outside our immediate social circle to bootstrap a user base or a sizable following.<p>What we do have, however, are personal connections to some well-established entrepreneurs in this space who could be a great asset for our startup going forward, primarily in terms of introductions and advice.<p>What has been your experience turning a personal acquaintance into an advisor? What in your opinion would be an appropriate relationship "structure" with such an advisor, i.e. what are the typical terms? Should it be more formal or informal? I know it depends on how well you know the person, so I am just trying to get an overall sense for what I should expect and some obvious no-no's.<p>Looking forward to your comments. Thank you.
======
gyardley
I would try and keep it informal - just establish a relationship and call to
ask advice from time to time. Setting up the paperwork for something formal
with shares changing hands is just another hassle you'd be better off not
dealing with.
If they _do_ want equity as compensation, then tell them they're welcome to
invest in your company, take their money, and treat it like any other angel
investment. Angels are expected to automatically provide advice and
introductions - that's part of the package.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Ask HN: Are there any good forum engine in Node.js - cool_guy
======
gexla
A forum is basically a multi-user blog with comments. For many cases, that's
all you need. If you need something more like vBulletin, then you should
probably just use vBulletin.
I can't see anyone coming up with a forum system like what already exists in
the PHP world. These things were created when forums were big and have massive
man hours of work to build on. To create something like that from scratch
today probably wouldn't be worth the effort. If it were worth it, then there
would be more available in different ecosystems.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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2020 Stack Overflow Developer Survey - pca184
https://stackoverflow.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eL0mFVwuo7KWeXP
======
na85
Well... That was cathartic.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Alternative tips for quitting smoking? - oxplot
I have a friend whose attempts at quitting smoking has been unsuccessful to date. Most of the material that I find to help with quitting at best sound cliché to them and fall off the radar of the quitter very early on.<p>So I'd like to know if any of you know or have successfully made use of non-mainsream material that caught your attention and stuck with you through your trip out of smoking?
======
hoodoof
I tried at least 60 times and eventually stopped 15 years ago.
The secret for me was not to "give up smoking" because then you are
psychologically giving something away for nothing in return - your
subconscious mind does not like that. So don't try to give up smoking. Just
stop smoking temporarily.
So each time the urge came up to smoke I said I would defer the decision for a
few minutes and make the decision about having a cigarette a little bit later.
So I never stopped forever I just "stopped for a short while". So far the
decision to have a cigarette has been deferred for about 15 years.
I also made the decision to smoke a tangible choice between all the good
things I would get from not smoking, and the things I would get from smoking.
"I choose to be healthy and have clear lungs and not die young, instead of
choosing to have this cigarette". As opposed to "I'm going to deprive myself
of a cigarette that I really want, for nothing good in return."
~~~
sherjilozair
This right here made me stop as well. I used to keep a box in plain view. That
facilitated the thought of "It's right here, I can smoke any time I want. I'll
just not smoke right now, maybe later if I still feel like it, the box is
going nowhere."
~~~
roninresearcher
+1 to the mental attitude and intermittent fasting, has got me to quit
fasting.
------
drinchev
I stopped smoking for 2 months starting January this year. What helped me was
a reddit thread
[https://www.reddit.com/r/stopsmoking](https://www.reddit.com/r/stopsmoking) .
It was a very helpful community and also full of suggestions what to do when
you have cravings for a cigarette.
There is one special book that I highly recommend . Allen Carrs - easy way to
stop smoking. [http://www.amazon.com/Allen-Carrs-Easy-Stop-
Smoking/dp/06154...](http://www.amazon.com/Allen-Carrs-Easy-Stop-
Smoking/dp/0615482155)
It just works. But you need to be persistent with the decision.
~~~
jaseflow
My wife and I both quit after reading this book.
------
kenOfYugen
In order to quit smoking you really need to want to. Else don't even bother.
Best way to get off smoking is to start vaping. Get two high drain 18650
batteries, a quality charger, a dripping atomizer and a mechanical or
regulated device.
Actually vaping can be much more fulfilling than smoking, whether you are
looking for a nice flavor or a nicotine high.
Building and wicking coils yourself, mixing glycerin with flavoring to produce
your own blend, as well as maintaining your equipment clean, are part of
keeping your mind interested and occupied when it comes to getting your fix
which in my opinion is key.
Nicotine absorption is much more efficient and you end up ingesting less of it
when you find your sweet spot.
Then you must replace smoking with vaping in activities that are linked with
the smoking addiction, (like when waking up, or during coffee, or after lunch,
or after sex, when having a drink, etc.)
Then before you know it, you won't be craving cigarettes any more as the
psychological addiction would have been cured. After that you can either
continue vaping or slowly stop vaping as well. Some people keep vaping just
flavoring and drop the nicotine completely.
If you stop vaping, keep your vaping equipment around, because triggering a
smoking habit in the future due to unforeseen events, is highly probable.
That's anecdotal information of course, but works for me and a lot of other
people it seems.
~~~
tlarkworthy
I second this. I swapped quite successfully to vaping. I prefer it now, and
even occasionally I get drunk and smoke real cigarettes, only to drop them the
next day in favor of vaping.
Those kind of 'accidents' were the trigger to start smoking again in all
previous attempts to give up smoking. I genuinely prefer vaping now. I am in
no hurry to give that up either as it's not particularly bad for you
(comparatively).
~~~
kenOfYugen
Yeah, being a happy drunk and not smoking a cigarette is tough, and
'accidents' do happen. For me that's the toughest part of the psychological
addiction to drop completely. But it's fine, like you, I get back to vaping
when I sober up in the morning.
------
ggreer
I assume your friend wants to quit for health reasons. In that case, have
e-cigarettes been tried? Compared to tobacco, vaping is healthier, more
fragrant, and often cheaper. Sure it's worse than _not_ smoking, but it's a
hell of a lot better than the status quo.
Note: I have no dog in this fight. I don't smoke or vape, and I never have.
I'm just pointing out that even if your friend doesn't quit, it's possible to
get the nicotine without the cancer.
~~~
stinos
_Compared to tobacco, vaping is healthier ... without the cancer_
While that is certainly possible, I'd rather wait for some longer term
research before making such claims.
~~~
ggreer
E-cig vapor is propylene glycol and nicotine. If that causes cancer, then
either fog machines cause cancer or nicotine patches cause cancer. In either
case, it would be a very surprising discovery.
~~~
danieltillett
Nicotine is none too good on your heart on its own. Heart disease is a bigger
killer with smoking than cancer. While probably safer than smoking, vaping is
likely to have some non-negligible risk.
------
coolvision
I just returned from a 10 days vacation.
Nice side effect was that I quit smoking during this time, and don't actually
want to continue now.
I had cravings several times during this 10 days, but I had too much stuff to
distract myself with, because I packed my vacation with as much activity as
possible -- road trip, visited 5 countries, spent time on beaches and in the
mountains, etc...
There are few reasons for which vacation is needed for quitting:
\- much less stress when on vacation, so less reasons to smoke (for me smoking
was in some regard for dealing with stress).
\- often smoking is for stimulation and out of boredom, less need for that if
having fun on vacation
\- often smoking is associated with daily habits (morning coffee with
cigarette for me), and on vacation you break out of daily routine, and can
skip that
\- being physically active (trekking, cycling) during quitting is cool because
you start feeling effects of quitting on your endurance immediately (after few
days of non-smoking), so it's a good motivation
\- even better would to go hiking/camping far from any sources of cigarettes,
I did not do it this time, but would do in future if i would relapse into
smoking
------
bambax
I quit smoking 15 years ago by just quitting -- stopping abruptly. I was a.
ery heavy smoker (over 2 packs a day) but the trick was that I eally, really
wanted to quit. It was not something people around me asked me to do, or a
fear of getting sick in some distant future, it really was me, now.
The reason I wanted to quit so much was I felt enslaved; when getting to a
place for dinner for example, the first thing I did was check where I could
buy cigarettes and at what time the tobacco shops would close, so that I would
not be short on the drug -- although I also carried at leat two new packs with
me at all times. It was cazy.
The hard part is the first week, which is quite horrible, but after that it
gets easier.
That said, I had started smoking relatively late (at 23). In my eperience,
people who started young (16 or younger) can never really quit. They sometimes
stop for extended periods of time (5 years maybe) and then invariably start
again...
------
Sevrene
This might be a bit controversial and even if it does turn out to be useful
for addiction therapy, that doesn't necessarily mean it will be for your
friend.
Anyway, when I was smoking tobacco every day (albeit only 1 pack a week) I
took LSD for the first time at a very small dose (probably around 90µg) with a
close friend. I wasn't doing it for any real reason except to see what it was
like. Strange enough though afterwards I had no intention at all of continuing
smoking tobacco and I now get extremely nauseous at the slightest smell of
tobacco.
You can find quite a lot of information on psychedelic therapy although a lot
of research was halted after those drugs became stigmatised and illegal. There
is a sort of psychedelic research renaissance occurring and there's been quite
a few new studies on their usefulness.
------
eagsalazar2
I quit smoking after trying and failing several times over a two year period
by following a simple rule: if the urge to smoke even flickered into my mind
for a split second, I _had_ to smoke a cigarette. Initially I went from
smoking 1/2 pack up to 3-4 packs/day. Within a short period of time (2-3 weeks
or so), the smell of cigarette smoke made me want to puke. I got very good at
controlling my thoughts regarding smoking and controlling my impulses. I was
totally off smoking within a month and never went back.
I'm not sure that is a _good_ technique but it did work for me.
edit: inspired by this episode of he-man,
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnmMyqffSQU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnmMyqffSQU)
------
fierycatnet
Well, this might not be popular opinion and many will think it's a sham, but
I've used Allen Carr's book to quit drinking... His is actually more known for
his 'stop smoking' book and I've known people who used it successfully as
well. From my personal experience, a lot of this is in the head, so if your
friend is open minded and really wants to quit then Carr's book just might be
the answer. I can only vouch for his 'method' that helped me with a drink, not
smoke, but it's the same principle. Just my 2c.
------
ChoGGi
I quit by not quitting; I tried herbal cigarettes, that didn't work too well
(nasty things).
Personally I like the act of smoking, just don't like everything else that
goes along with it. I found these things called Beedies (it's kind of an
Indian Cigarillo), they make an herbal version.
no nasty chemicals and they don't taste half-bad (slightly harsh). They have a
campfire smoke smell, so interestingly enough non-smokers compliment me on it.
If I ever have (had) an urge I just puff on one of those. I stopped inhaling a
long time ago so my lungs feel fine. Now I just smoke them because as I said I
enjoy smoking (and most of my friends still smoke).
You can usually find them at head shops or online as well. The brand is SoeX
Herbal, just make sure to get the herbal ones or you will be getting Tobacco.
[http://www.soex.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=84...](http://www.soex.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=84_92)
Edit: Forgot to mention, a pack costs between 4-6 bucks, and they keep
decently in the freezer.
~~~
hoodoof
Are you still at risk of mouth and tongue cancer?
~~~
ChoGGi
Not sure, but it is still smoke. It isn't healthy for you.
I smoke at most once a month so I don't care
Edit: That said you don't have any chemical urges using them, just the mental
enjoyment of a good smoke. I find I still get a slight urge when I'm drinking
with friends (5+ years quit)
------
lacker
E-cigarettes are a huge change. It seems to be much easier to quit smoking
using e-cigarettes than other methods. First, switch to e-cigarettes. That
already improves your health because you aren't getting the tar. Then you can
lower the nicotine dose and it's easier than quitting smoking because you can
do it gradually.
------
svs
Quitting smoking is about practice. Keep quitting and do it sincerely.
Eventually you will learn how to quit.
The trick is to avoid the "F __* it " mentality. After yet another failed
attempt, it's easy to say f __* it and go back to smoker mode instead of
staying in quitting mode.
Quitting is not something that just happens. It takes years to quit. Nicotine
rewires your brain to the point where you identify as a smoker. Deprogramming
that is a lot of effort. Therefore quit as often as you need to. As long as
you do it sincerely, eventually it sticks.
Allen Carr's book is also very nice. It is a mild hypnosis, repeating the same
four things over and over again until they become as ingrained as the habit,
so read it cover to cover and don't stop half way through
Also, every time you smoke, focus on the bad things about smoking - the smell,
the taste, the cancer.....
Good luck.
~~~
vixen99
Alan Carr's book finally worked with a friend who'd failed twice before.
------
riffraff
FWIW, I quit after something in the 15-20 years range, by mostly saying "I
will quit".
But: I did give myself some "escape hatches", i.e. I decided I'd still have a
few cigarettes in the case of wedding and bachelor parties, of which I had a
couple coming up in the following six months. I knew those would be really
hard spots to go through, so I just made them into goals, "I will go this
three months without a smoke, then when we go party hard and I'll have as much
as I want".
By the time you get to the third or fourth time, you have lost the habit
enough that it doesn't matter anymore.
£DIT: but honestly, I believe most of the clichéd advise is probably correct,
and that you can effectively quit only if you want to quit. Most people who
try don't really want to.
------
b6
I think it's often a good approach to take the time to understand the current
situation, understand the future desired situation, and commit to a doable
plan to get from the one to the other.
For example, if someone wants to quit cigarettes, they could figure out how
many they smoke per day. Now, this week, could they smoke only N-1 per day?
Next week, could they smoke only N-2 per day?
Maybe it seems excruciatingly slow, but is it really? Plan it out. Get a
calendar and hang it somewhere prominent and write down what is supposed to be
taking place each week.
Slow and steady can accomplish anything. No heroics necessary. Just be
relentless.
Best wishes to your friend. I often thank my parents for quitting smoking when
I was born; if they hadn't, they'd be gone now, or in absolute ruins
healthwise.
~~~
Broken_Hippo
This is one method I've known to help people quit.
Quitting is a lifestyle change, much like losing weight. While doing the
above, the trick is to gradually change habits. Instead of that cigarette, do
Something else. Remember to be forgiving - one day messing up is simply one
day messing up, tomorrow is a new day. Same for 10 days.
An additional suggestion is before or during the gradual cutdown on
cigarettes, I suggest breaking smallish smoking habits as well. For example,
waiting a little longer every day after meals and after waking (two major
habit times), going one workbreak a day without a cigarette (I suggest reading
or drinking liquid).
And keep in mind that part of the process is learning to be around others that
smoke. Smoking can be a social activity and flavors your social life to a
point.
Lastly, find something to help with the bits of enjoyment/relaxation the
person loses through the day. This is, I think, the true reason an
antidepressant helps some people quit. Perhaps developing a relaxation
technique (used for anxiety or for things like meditation) would help, or
having varied little daily rewards.
Good luck to them, for sure.
------
egze
I switched to vaping in May and haven't had a cigarette since. In fact,
cigarette smoke disgusts me now.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/electronic_cigarette](https://www.reddit.com/r/electronic_cigarette)
was a lot of help.
------
tretiy3
+1 vote for e-cigarettes. After 22 years of smoking and lots of tries to quit
i switched to e-cigarettes. After 2 weeks smoked only e-cigarettes switched to
Nicotine gum. 3 days later quit gum. It was 3 years ago and i am not smoker
since then.
~~~
mirimir
For me, it was snuff, then nicotine gum, then nothing. That was long ago,
before e-cigs existed. Snuff was gross.
------
jacobkg
A major predictor of how easy or hard it will be to quit is how long the
person can wait after waking up before having their first cigarette:
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2933747/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2933747/)
~~~
bambax
I used to smoke my first cigarette _while still in bed_ (best smoke of the day
BTW), but then I quit abruptly 15 years ago and never went back (hate the
thought of smoking about as much as the smell now).
But I really wanted to quit (see my other comment). If you don't actually, you
personally want to quit, you can't quit, and no lecturing or examples of
people getting sick or even dying around you will change that.
------
seanccox
If possible, relocate. David Sedaris packed up and moved to Japan to quit, and
I found success when I moved from Istanbul. It's not a practical solution for
everyone, but some effort to change one's environment can have hugely positive
effects.
------
siquick
I only smoke when drinking but just cannot seem to shake this habit.
The smell and act of smoking disgusts me when I'm sober but as soon as any
booze hits my lips, I instantly want a cigarette.
Any tips for kicking this? I've been doing it on and off for 18 years so time
to stop.
------
FemtoJoule
I was not able to stop, too. I skipped the materials and "geeked" myself into
e cigarettes. I was able to quit (tobacco) smoking immediately. Thats not
perfect, but the lower harm of e cigarettes compared to tobacco is already
evident.
~~~
FemtoJoule
To back my evidence statement:
[https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/e-cigarettes-
an-e...](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/e-cigarettes-an-evidence-
update)
Fairly comprehensive list of studies related to the matter, commented in
german:
[http://blog.rursus.de/studienliste/](http://blog.rursus.de/studienliste/)
I think its worth a shot.
------
MehdiHK
Watch this:
[https://www.ted.com/talks/johann_hari_everything_you_think_y...](https://www.ted.com/talks/johann_hari_everything_you_think_you_know_about_addiction_is_wrong?language=en)
------
brudgers
I can't quit somebody else's smoking. Odds are you can't either. The material
is cliche because short of a lockdown or death, people have to choose to not
smoke in order to quit. There's no silver bullet.
Good luck.
~~~
DrJokepu
Yep, to quit smoking you need to stop smoking cigarettes.
------
hkmurakami
From a friend who has been clean from more serious substances for a few years
now:
"It's a battle every day."
The mentality that the war is never over is an elucidating one for those of us
without a substance abuse history.
~~~
baddox
My late grandfather quit smoking in his early 30s, and he said he would
occasionally have nightmares that he started again, in his 70s.
~~~
dbasedow
I quit at 23 and now at 32 i still have the occasional dream of buying
cigarettes. Although in the last couple of years the dreams changed. Now I
realize that i no longer smoke, but start smoking again in the dream. I guess
deep down in my subconscious I still fear failing.
------
giaour
Acupuncture helped me quit after 8 years of smoking and several unsuccessful
attempts w/ nicotine gum or patches. It was probably an elaborate placebo, but
I've been smoke free for 7 years.
------
aharonovich
Embarressingly enough- "the easy way", e- cigs, declaring it to myself four
months ahead of time & lastly doing it on the first day of a two week
vacation.
------
hueving
e cigarettes are the easiest first step. They appear to be much less harmful
than tobacco so far and they satisfy the nicotine craving. They also have the
added benefit of getting the smoke smell out of everything.
Even if your friend can't give up nicotine, he/she will be worlds better
vaping.
------
ssalat
Watch lung cancer videos on YouTube. Quitted smoking 6 years ago, never would
do it again.
~~~
drinchev
This didn't work for me. You always say to yourself : "that's not gonna happen
to me" and "back in the 60's nobody cared about that, why should I care now."
Although people are different and motivation is different for everyone.
------
Adamus
my friend got a girlfriend and had sex, hasn't had a fag since, might sound a
bit odd but yeah I guess its changing one buzz for another
------
teen
switch to e-ciggs (vape). it's about 95% less harmful and is actually way more
enjoyable
------
cammil
Quit alcohol.
------
jcr
Many addictions are thoroughly enjoyable but ultimately harmful. Smoking is
one such addiction. Some people shy away from the term "addiction" due to all
of the horrible connotations, but absolutely everyone is "addicted" to
multiple things. The addiction might be a substance like nicotine, or the
addiction might be a mannerism, or the addiction might be over-eating, or the
addiction might even be a way of thinking, but none the less, human beings are
always creatures of habit.
There's an old and jaded phrase, "You're unique, just like everyone else." The
same can be said about addiction, "You're addicted, just like everyone else."
When put in such simple and straightforward terms, the commonality of harmful
addictions like smoking shines through. You're not the first person or the
only person with a harmful habit. The good news is that we can change our
habits. The bad news is that changing a habit takes effort.
The problem is not smoking itself since if only done on rare occasions it can
be exceedingly pleasurable, instead, the real problem is the habit of smoking.
It's the _repeated_ and _extensive_ exposure to smoke entering your system
that eventually kills you. The rates of emphysema and cancer (lung, mouth,
throat, stomach, colorectal, ...) due to smoke exposure are extremely high in
poor places where people cook their food over open flames or burn wood for
heat without adequate ventilation. If you are a habitual tobacco smoker, then
you're certainly not the only one killing yourself with smoke, and unlike you,
many must endure the smoke to get the food and heat they need to just survive.
You have it easy. You have a choice.
The harmful habits are reinforced by the positive feedback of pleasure.
Another old and jaded phrase, "Too much of a good thing," comes to mind, but
the misguided phrase, "All things in moderation," is dangerous. The trouble
with the idea of all things in moderation is some things are simply too
addictive to even try, so they pose an irrational risk of addiction. Nicotine
is __immensely__ addictive on a chemical basis. In fact, the neurotransmitter
receptor often used to measure the addictive qualities of substances is
actually named after nicotine:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotinic_acetylcholine_recept...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotinic_acetylcholine_receptor)
You may, or may not, understand all the biochemistry involved, but most people
can understand the logic of how a simple chemical compound like nicotine can
cause a pleasurable response, and the pleasure can lead to a habitual
addiction.
If you are already addicted to a pleasurable but harmful habit, a mental trick
to solve the problem is to decide to never quit, but also decide to break the
__habit__ of pursuing your addiction regularly. You can harness your inner
procrastinator to your advantage by simply saying, "Maybe I'll have a smoke
later," when the urge hits you. Over time, the beneficial procrastination gets
easier and easier. The common "Smoking Cessation" products, both prescribed
and over-the-counter, like nicotine patches, gum, and mints may be helpful in
your procrastination efforts, but be wary of the all too common problem of
replacing one addiction with another.
Some have claimed that "electronic cigarettes" (e-cigs, vaporizers, vape) are
useful for smoking cessation, but I have not personally seen any peer reviewed
research results to support such claims. Similar to the proven "Smoking
Cessation" products (patch, gum, mints), the e-cigs can provide nicotine in a
form other than smoke, but since the nicotine itself is addictive, you still
have the same substantial risk of merely replacing one addiction with another.
The common claims nicotine infused e-cigs being harmless are pure bullshit --
There is a reason why all the major tobacco companies now have their own
brands of e-cigs; they want you to become addicted.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26270431](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26270431)
[http://www.ccjm.org/cgi/doi/10.3949/ccjm.82a.14054](http://www.ccjm.org/cgi/doi/10.3949/ccjm.82a.14054)
> _ABSTRACT_
> _Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes)—devices that generate a nicotine vapor
> that can be inhaled by the user in a fashion that mimics the experience of
> smoking—are increasing in popularity, and many people seem to view them as
> reasonable alternatives to nicotine replacement therapy to help them refrain
> from smoking. Physicians should not encourage such a view. E-cigarettes are
> unregulated nicotine delivery systems that have never been subjected to any
> kind of testing of safety or of efficacy as nicotine replacement therapy.
> Moreover, for young people who have never smoked, these devices could
> potentially serve as a gateway drug._
The claims of nicotine itself being harmless are also bullshit.
Nicotine itself causes cancer (i.e. it's carcinogenic). You don't need to be a
genius or even particularly adept in chemistry to realize how nicotine is
carcinogenic due to how it reacts in the body. Without being too fancy or
confusing, when Nicotine loses its methyl group, it becomes Nornicotine which
when exposed to mild acids (syliva, digestive tract, lungs, or even acids in
blood) becomes Nitronornicotine (NNN) which __IS__ classified by the
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as a Group 1 Carcinogen.
Smokers die of colorectal cancer, but it's not due to being assholes, instead,
it's due to simple chemistry that everyone can understand.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine#Carcinogen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine#Carcinogen)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methyl_group](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methyl_group)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nornicotine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nornicotine)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-Nitrosonornicotine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-Nitrosonornicotine)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_1_carcinogen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_1_carcinogen)
Yes, wikipedia disagrees with me about nicotine being a carcinogen, but
wikipedia is dangerously wrong. The above linked pubmed paper is a good place
to start reading (references) about the role nicotine plays in carcinogenesis,
but there is a lot more research out there if you dig. The tobacco (and e-cig)
industry is continuously doing everything it can to prevent nicotine from
being properly classified as a carcinogen by the International Agency for
Research on Cancer (IARC). The editing wars on the wikipedia nicotine page
between the tobacco industry and health (research) professionals are
staggering and notorious. You do not need to be a conspiracy theory kook to
see all the blatant corruption and manipulation at work under the guise of
fake "neutrality" on wikipedia.
Additionally, since nicotine is an effective appetite suppressant, you can
expect to be hungry. Unless you can avoid replacing the satiation pleasure of
smoking with satiation pleasure of eating, you will gain weight, possibly a
lot of weight. In this overly image conscious world, the very idea of possibly
getting fat(er) can be reprehensible enough for some to chose smoking over
weight gain -- This is a false dichotomy. Using a fallacy of false choice to
justify a continuation of a harmful habit is simply irrational. Human biology
has evolved to both crave salts, fats, proteins, and sugars for survival, so
the risk of replacing a harmful smoking habit with a harmful eating habit is
very significant. Once you learn to harness your inner procrastinator to defer
smoking (indefinitely), you may need to also harness it to eat less by
deferring eating until later. Also, when you do mistakenly gorge yourself on
food, you'll notice something extremely odd, namely, you're still hungry, so
you'll eventually learn how eating fails to actually solve the (new) problem
of a perceived hunger sensation/craving. Small snacks of low fat cottage
cheese (or tofu) and fruit may help, and some healthy salt cured foods like
olives and pickles may also help. The goal is to have a small amount of
reasonably healthy food that checks off all the required boxes (salts, fats,
proteins, and sugars).
Your friend may be (rightfully) skeptical, but one of the know ways to stop
smoking is refusing to quit, and surprisingly, the procrastination method
works well for breaking or changing all sorts of harmful habits. I wish your
friend the best of luck.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
ThinkPad X1 Yoga (2017) (AKA ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch Convertible) - ElijahLynn
http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x1-yoga/
======
ElijahLynn
I am super excited about this:
\- USB-C (w/Thunderbolt) (hello great docking solution)
\- 14" WQHD OLED (2560 x 1440) Touch 300 nits
\- Convertible, keys retract when converted in tablet mode
\- Up to 16GB ram
\- Up to 1 TB SSD PCIe TLC OPAL2
\- I7-7650U Intel® Core™ i7 vPro™ processor
\- Touch fingerprint reader (like a Pixel or Nexus, not swipe)
\- Dockable, rechargeable pen/stylus (great if you give technical
presentations
\- MicroSD
\- WWAN + MicroSIM (great for a no-extra monthly charge, free data only SIM on
Project Fi)
\- Trackpoint touchstick for those who love it (myself)
\- Still has a full size HDMI port
\- Starts at 3lbs
\- Black or Silver (not aluminum)
\- Thunderbolt 3 USB dock available
Cons:
\- Ships with Windows only, no option to ship without an OS
\- No factory GNU Linux options available (Ubuntu etc.)
\- Webcam doesn't jump out at being great, will probably still use my Logitech
c920
------
ElijahLynn
Only video I can find so far.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO38KmaPIuY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO38KmaPIuY)
~~~
ElijahLynn
Another video from a Lenovo ambassador via CES 2017 -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As1TcYVkqNo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As1TcYVkqNo)
~~~
ElijahLynn
\- Charge stylus pen for 15 seconds, 80% charge
\- 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
International Entrepreneur Rule - buechs
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/01/17/2017-00481/international-entrepreneur-rule
======
Finbarr
Reading through it. The gist is you can get 30 months of parole from USCIS if
you are a startup entrepreneur that has raised investment. Seems like the
threshold is $250k and it can support up to 3 founders. You must own at least
10% to be considered a founder.
Looks like you can also get an additional 30 months by raising a further
$500k, or having at least $500k ARR with 20% annual growth, or employing 5 US
persons full time. You need to maintain a 5% stake and continue to serve a
central role in operations in order to qualify for the additional 30 months.
The investment has to be raised from investors with a track record of
investing in high growth startups.
This will come into force from July 17 2017.
~~~
cma
One thing that will let you in is if you are invested in from
> investors with established records of successful investments
The rich get richer. Established investors get cheap labor, while upstart
competitive investors get buried behind an artificial government wall. I
wonder if any established investment firms lobbied for that?
~~~
lend000
Same with hedge funds. Government 'protects' the average investor by only
letting qualified rich people invest in hedge funds (and get richer). I love
how the government asserts that it knows what's best for me and protects me
from myself. Such a free nation we live in.
~~~
bsder
> Government 'protects' the average investor by only letting qualified rich
> people invest in hedge funds
Having dealt with this situation recently, I'm a little more sympathetic to
the government's position.
Most investors are dumb. Really dumb. No, dumber than that.
It's really easy for a con man to set up shop. It takes _forever_ to get him
shut down, and the scammed will fight you.
Scammed investors will _defend_ the scammer even when you present them with
incontrovertible proof. You can stand in court and have a judge hand down
rulings of the level of "worst case I have seen" and they will _STILL_ defend
him.
Preventing these kinds of "investors" from even getting into the game is
really the only way to keep it under control.
Trump being elected was hardly a surprise to me given my recent experiences
with dumb investors.
~~~
lend000
Sounds like a problem with a different part of the system (too many legal
protections to effectively shut down ponzi schemes/cons/etc.). In general,
I've never heard a compelling argument that the government should pass laws
that limit people's freedoms, solely for the purpose of potentially defending
people from their own willful decisions that affect only themselves.
~~~
bsder
> too many legal protections to effectively shut down ponzi schemes/cons/etc.
The problem is that the the person carrying out the scam is playing with
"house money" while the ones trying to stop him are paying cash. He is paying
lawyers with the money from the investors and burning up the assets. So, by
the time you are done, it may be a Pyrrhic victory.
~~~
lend000
How many hedge funds fall into this category of scammers? And with our
protective legal framework, how come you still had to deal with a situation
like this?
Not only do I dislike the freedom limitations _in principle_ , but I've been
giving everyone the benefit of the doubt that limiting freedoms will actually
prevent the targeted type of scams. In reality, scammers will always find a
way, criminals are not bound by laws, and we're still stuck with the inherent
flaws of only giving the rich access to wealth-generating funds.
------
beagle3
Ok, that's the immigration side. What is the tax status of people admitted
under this rule? IIRC, only F and J visas are exempt from becoming American
taxpayers
Being an American taxpayer is fine and dandy if you never plan to live outside
the us again; but if you aren't, it's a very expensive and labour intensive
deal; your home country bank will fire you as a customer because of FATCA, the
reporting requirements to the us are insane (FBAR and every single foreign
transaction needs to be reported), and your e.g. Pension savings and other
holdings likely become a losing proposition because they are PFICs.
Most people ignore these issues, but almost everyone is liable under the us
tax code, and especially with the just announced sharing of NSA data with the
IRS, it will all be legally documented for the IRS to pursue.
~~~
FallujahJane
Holders of F and J visas do pay taxes in the US, though they may also be
liable for taxes in their home countries. (Depending on treaties with their
home countries, they may or may not be better off than a regular US taxpayer.)
You may be thinking of the rule requiring American citizens to pay taxes over
their worldwide income, not only their US income. That rule applies to
American citizens as well as permanent residents ("green-card holders"), but
generally not to anyone in the US on a temporary visa. That means that someone
in the US on a temporary visa will generally be paying US taxes over any
income from a job or business they have in the US, but if they have, e.g.,
income from renting out real estate in another country, that income may be
taxed in that other country, but not in the US. Only US citizens and permanent
residents are required to report any such foreign income in the US and pay
taxes over it, even when they move abroad (with some exemptions).
FATCA is not as onerous as you describe for most regular people. As a US
taxpayer (whether a citizen or permanent or temporary resident), you have to
report foreign bank accounts that at any point during the year contain more
than the equivalent of something like $10,000. That's it. There is no
requirement (as far as I'm aware) to report "every single foreign
transaction."
You're right that retirement planning can be complicated for immigrants and
temporary visitors. Many countries have rules like the US, where you have to
pay into the system for a certain number of years before you become eligible
for social-security payments in old age. So for many immigrants retirement
becomes a patchwork of sources (a bit of social security, a bit of foreign
social security, and otherwise savings in whatever accounts are available in
the US and abroad.)
~~~
beagle3
> You may be thinking of the rule requiring American citizens to pay taxes
> over their worldwide income, not only their US income. That rule applies to
> American citizens as well as permanent residents ("green-card holders"), but
> generally not to anyone in the US on a temporary visa.
It is indeed what I'm thinking about, but I believe you are wrong about the
"temporary visa" thing - As far as I know, only F and J visas (inherently
temporary) are exempt; H-1B, L-1, E-1, O and K visas which are temporary in
the sense that they expire on job termination / divorce, but they still
subject you to taxation of your worldwide income.
> There is no requirement (as far as I'm aware) to report "every single
> foreign transaction."
There is a requirement to report the details of every transaction that has
capital gains and losses associated with it, if that transaction did not
happen in the US.
A few years back, I got a call from my foreign bank one day, saying that
because I was a US taxpayer (for several years, at that point, well documented
with the bank), they could no longer maintain any of my accounts other than
checking and saving. At that point, my bank was also my broker keeping some
long term bonds, stocks, mutual funds, etc. So, they had me choose whether I
want to transfer them to a SEC-regulated bank/broker (impossible - non had the
facilities), or liquidate them -- which is what I did.
Had this been done in the US, I would just have to report aggregate capital
gains/losses. and that's it. However, as this was outside the US, I had to
fill a 2-page form describing every liquidation transaction that the bank did.
I ended up filing north of 300 pages that year. "Luckily", now I can't
purchase any of these securities so that won't happen again, except ....
> You're right that retirement planning can be complicated for immigrants and
> temporary visitors.
No, I'm not talking about retirement planning, which is indeed complicated.
Almost every country has a pension saving system independent of the social-
security (or equivalent) system. In the US, for example, it is IRAs and 401K.
These things get preferential tax treatments, usually "no tax (up to some
limit) as long as you only cash it when you retire". However, the US does not
recognize any other country's preferred retirement saving. Those savings are
in 99% of the cases, a PFIC from the perspective of the US tax system.
Which leaves you with three choices: Either cash it, retroactively forfeiting
any tax benefit (possibly 20 years of it), and move it to a US equivalent; Or
.. pay a tax each year on the theoretical profit of those pension accounts ...
or, pay a lump compounded interest-and-penalty tax the day you actually cash
it, which will likely be 50%-100% of that sum.
Now, if you've moved to the US for good, then, by all means, you have to take
the hit to switch systems. However, if you can't guarantee that you can stay
forever, all your options regarding taxation of your pension saving are awful.
~~~
piotrkaminski
> However, the US does not recognize any other country's preferred retirement
> saving.
This is not completely true: Canadian RRSPs are recognized by the IRS at the
federal level due to a tax treaty, though may not be recognized by all states.
(For example, I had to figure the interest on the investments for my
California return, until I decided to sell the RRSPs to simplify my life.)
Other countries may get special treatment for their tax-deferred retirement
accounts via a tax treaty too, though it can be tricky to ascertain -- you may
end up actually having to read the treaty!
------
forgottenacc57
This will be gamed hard by rich people to get into the U.S.
Essentially a red carpet side door if you have a slab of cash.
~~~
franciscop
I am not native English speaker so I might be misreading, but isn't _parole_
meant to be for people in prison? So how does this have anything to do with
getting into the U.S.?
There _is_ already something like what you are suggesting in the U.S. AFAIK,
just $500k or $1M depending on the situation.
~~~
emilyfm
Parole is a term used by immigration for cases where they use their own
authority to let someone in when the law doesn't quite allow it.
For example in late 2000 the US government didn't get around to renewing the
"visa waiver" law in time. Rather than suddenly requiring visas from everybody
from the former visa waiver countries (and cause travel chaos), passports were
stamped "PAROLED" for visa waiver people (mostly tourists) entering until the
law was renewed. (I had a stamp like that in October 2000).
------
xolb
This is good news for YC, and I bet that the amount of international founders
accepted will increase in the next batch.
------
nikon
Should you not be offered some sort of permanent residency in return for
"growth and job creation that they would provide a significant public benefit
to the United States", especially after the first 30 months?
So you get 60 months and then have to leave the country? How is that
attractive?
~~~
hkmurakami
People usually convert themselves to H1B at some point in the process.
------
trvlngsalesmn
When was this passed?
~~~
tingletech
it is a regulatory action, so it was never "passed" per se.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rulemaking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rulemaking)
it is post-dated next tuesday, I didn't know could post-date a rule
~~~
xenadu02
Because it isn't legally "published" until the next business day and Monday is
a federal holiday.
Federal law says rulemaking isn't valid until 180 days have passed so it kicks
in July 17.
All of these rules are to keep federal agencies from changing the rules out
from under people, and to give Congress/Courts time to act.
~~~
trvlngsalesmn
Interesting. Thanks for the background and links. So this is how federal
agencies that report to the executive branch legislate. I had always wondered
what the actual process was.
~~~
tingletech
They don't "legislate" they "regulate".
------
SwaroopH
The status is iffy and still no easy path to a permanent residence. They
recommend the usual route of O-1A or EB-2 and no adjustment of status either.
------
gcb0
everyone should remember this is the port of entry body. allowing them to
decide in case of urgency makes sense fully.
entrepreneurs already can request a visa in their home country usa embassy.
why the people validating documents at the airport should now decide on
startups sounds crazy at least.
------
throw345hn
Does anyone know if you could apply for permanent residency while on this
visa?
~~~
ricardonunez
No, you can't. This is not a visa.
~~~
Finbarr
You can apply for any kinds of visa you want while taking advantage of the
parole according to the linked article. You would need to leave the US to
change status though.
------
general_ai
250k is way too low a threshold. I'd put it at at least a million, if not
more. But hey, it'll all be repealed shortly anyway, so who cares.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Enhanced Analysis of GRIZZLY STEPPE Activity [pdf] - CarolineW
https://www.us-cert.gov/sites/default/files/publications/AR-17-20045_Enhanced_Analysis_of_GRIZZLY_STEPPE_Activity.pdf
======
CarolineW
From page 53:
> Organizations should ensure that they have
> disabled HTML from being used in emails, as
> well as disabling links. Everything should
> be forced to plain text.
Well, that ship has sailed ...
Further, a comment on twitter[0]:
> ... webmail UX robbed users of clues as to
> links' effects or origin. Then we blame them
> for not learning.
How can we become serious about security?
\--------
[0]
[https://twitter.com/sergeybratus/status/830864841866874881](https://twitter.com/sergeybratus/status/830864841866874881)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Rackspace Open Sources Atom Nuke, The Fast Atom Framework - jarito
http://www.rackspace.com/blog/rackspace-open-sources-atom-nuke-the-fast-atom-framework/
======
jarito
Check out the product page for more information: <http://atomnuke.org/>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
TSA Removes X-Ray Body Scanners From Major Airports - hornokplease
http://www.propublica.org/article/tsa-removes-x-ray-body-scanners-from-major-airports
======
sologoub
""They're not all being replaced," TSA spokesman David Castelveter said. "It's
being done strategically. We are replacing some of the older equipment and
taking them to smaller airports. That will be done over a period of time.""
In other words: "So, we have these machines that may be harmful and cause a PR
disaster, so instead of doing the right thing (protecting people from harm,
and all), let's move them to smaller airports, where it's much less likely to
cause a stir."
This is so messed up!
~~~
moskie
How about giving credit where credit is due? This shows that the situation is
better today than it was yesterday.
Yes, I know the ideal would be that all of our issues get resolved
immediately. But how about we recognize that this could be a step towards that
end?
~~~
daeken
How is the situation actually better? If you believe that these scanners are
harmful, then it's pretty hard to argue that shuffling them around has
actually done any good; it's just doing harm in a different place.
~~~
HelloMcFly
If something is harmful, I consider the situation "better" every time
significantly fewer people are exposed to the harm. I'd rather have three
backscatter scanners operating at Yeager Airport in Charleston, WV than
operating in Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta.
~~~
mosburger
Yeah - as a resident of Portland, Maine who frequently flies out of my home
airport to visit clients, I'm not so psyched about the small airports getting
the old radiation machines.
~~~
HelloMcFly
Just opt-out. I always did. It's not a great situation, but slow progress
beats no progress.
------
driverdan
Backscatter doesn't pose any health risk to travelers. You get a _much_ higher
dose of radiation from the flight. The only real health concerns are for the
workers who are exposed to them continuously.
X-ray, mm-wave, magic pixie scanners, I don't care what type they are, I'm
still opting out because it's a blatant violation of the 4th amendment (when
mandated, staffed, and managed by the gov).
I'll be celebrating when body scanners and other security theater is ended
entirely. I'm not getting my hopes up.
~~~
goostavos
I'm glad to hear that others still opt out.
I fly constantly for work, and I've watched the number of people opting out
slowly drifting down till it feels like, well, just me.
If I'm getting my rights violated, I'm at least getting a reach around for it.
Plus, even though I know it's terribly childish, being able to ask if they're
happy that they grew up to make a living by touching my balls gives me a
little bit of false empowerment in a crappy situation.
Ya, just can't get that satisfaction when walking through a scanner.
~~~
hartez
My wife and I opt out every time. Whenever possible, we just aim toward the
line that's using the old metal detectors* (since the new machines are either
slow or prone to breaking, this is an option most of the time). But when the
only option is the new machines (backscatter or mw), we opt out.
FWIW, we have a friend who sells mw equipment, and he refuses to go through
them for safety reasons. So even if I weren't opting out for moral reasons, I
wouldn't go through them.
* I'm sure glad no terrorists are smart enough to do this.
~~~
ktizo
_"FWIW, we have a friend who sells mw equipment, and he refuses to go through
them for safety reasons."_
He should probably stop selling them then.
------
JagMicker
I went through security at the Dayton airport last year. I refused the L3
"body scanner" (backscatter) machine. The TSA worker asked me why. I told him
I thought it was an unnecessary risk. He laughed and basically told me that I
was wrong, and that the machine poses no safety risk. But I still opted for
the pat-down. Shortly thereafter, the TSA issued a recommendation that
backscatter workers wear "radiation badges" to monitor their exposure. Never
trust manufacturers of security products (like L3) on their word alone...
~~~
talmand
Never mind that having a person that stands next to that machine for hours on
end wear such a thing is probably not a bad idea. It's the same thought behind
an x-ray tech hiding behind the wall as they push the button.
But you did give me a thought, it would be interesting to have several people
who travel quite a bit to wear these badges to see how they turn out over
time. For some people you have to show the danger, not just describe it.
~~~
rom16384
Airplane crews are exposed to more ionizing radiation than the rest of the
population because at the high altitudes the planes fly the thinner atmosphere
doesn't protect as well as when at ground level.
~~~
stcredzero
Yes, and that's part of the data we've been gathering about radiation dosage.
The problem, is that is about radiation that mostly deposits its energy evenly
throughout your body. The backscatter machines are set up so most of it goes
into your skin, which is particularly cancer prone.
Note that the formulas that doctors use to calculate cancer risk from dosage
are based on the evenly deposited energy data. These numbers would suggest
that skin is less cancer prone than other tissues, but this is mostly because
most of the energy would be deposited elsewhere.
I don't think I'm unreasonable in suggesting that lots of animal testing would
need to be done before unleashing such machines on the general public and 10's
of thousands of TSA workers. You don't risk public health on "spherical cow"
assumptions.
------
crcsmnky
Maybe I'm just naive but it seems that if the TSA were significantly more
transparent about how they deploy new screening procedures, US travelers would
hate them a little less.
Why not just say safety testing results were inconclusive and in the best
interests of passengers we'd prefer a more efficient alternative?
Meh, whatever. I'm still going to opt-out until I'm required by law to go
through whatever contraption they have deployed.
~~~
jemfinch
Why should the TSA care how much US travelers hate them? Minimizing traveler
ire does not affect their funding.
~~~
cwb71
Maybe not in an immediate or significant way, but over time the negative
public perception and constituent complaints might affect Congress come budget
time.
(Please don't downvote me for being naïve.)
~~~
gknoy
A decade of people's ire seems to have done very little; unfortunately, there
are a large subset of Americans willing to put up with it "to prevent
terrorists" at all costs, and even more willing to be a sheep and just go
along with it because it's more convenient.
I'm one of the latter, frankly. I feel violated every time I go through
airport security, and a little part of me cries inside every time I think
about it... but if it means that I get to visit my family in an affordable
manner, rather than losing two extra days of travel + vacation, I'll do it. I
feel so much shame for admitting that.
~~~
sukuriant
Welcome to part of the reason this system still remains in place.
But I understand where you're coming from. I just opt-out. I don't mind the
pat down. I understand what they're trying to do. I don't hate the agents for
their work, they're just doing what they have to do to get money.
------
jpdoctor
Let's see: Michael Chertoff was head of the TSA, oversaw the decision about
the _safety_ of the scanners, and held a financial interest in the company
that made the scanners.
Sounds legit, nice work Mike.
~~~
markbao
Digging into this turned up this Huffington Post article:
[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2010/11/23/fear_pays...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2010/11/23/fear_pays_chertoff_n_787711.html)
Rapiscan (the scanner subsidiary of OSI) rebutted the claims:
[http://www.rapiscansystems.com/en/the-
checkpoint/article/the...](http://www.rapiscansystems.com/en/the-
checkpoint/article/the_real_story_rapiscan_and_the_chertoff_group)
~~~
emidln
The name of the company that makes the scanners is actually called Rapiscan?
How did I miss this?
~~~
mh-
dunno, I try to point out that irony every time I'm in line there..
------
fjorder
I was rather encouraged by the headline, only to discover that instead of
ripping out unnecessary security theater they're actually just wasting more
money on new machines. Man do the companies making those things ever have good
lobbyists! By screwing up they actually get even more business!
~~~
mdc
I agree. I think this change is motivated by two things. First, it's a planned
obsolescence by the manufacturers finally admitting a small health issue and
offering a solution. Second, it's a move by the TSA to combat opt-outs and
other pushback by providing the same privacy violations but now with slightly
less cancer risk.
------
cwb71
So the TSA is saying “if something slows down the lines enough and costs us
headcount, we will eventually make changes?”
Sounds like a great argument to keep opting out!
------
majorlazer
_Asked about the changes, John Terrill, a spokesman for Rapiscan — which makes
the X-ray scanners — wrote in an email, "No comment on this."_
Rapiscan? Could they have chosen a worse name for their company?
~~~
MattSayar
They're going for "rapid scan," not what you're thinking of. Still terrible
either way.
------
rayiner
I find the people complaining about X-Ray scanners in airports as if they're
some unprecedented weakening of the 4th amendment to be a little bit silly.
Where we're you guys in the 70's, 80's, and 90's, when things like stop and
frisk destroyed the 4th amendment for inner city minorities?
~~~
typicalrunt
I was not in the inner city and I was not alive/aware for the 70s and 80s
(childhood innocence and all that).
Just because we didn't stand up when it first happened, due to whatever
reason, doesn't mean we can't be outraged.
~~~
rayiner
Call me cynical, but if it didn't affect middle class white people I don't
think there would be much outrage. As it is, the outrage is totally
disproportionate to things like stop and frisk. Searches in high risk areas
like airports seems less offensive to me than searches of people who are just
walking around their own neighborhood, but you don't see middle class people
complaining about the latter.
Indeed, I wonder how much of the outrage is because the TSA is so ineffective.
People seem to be pretty on board with how techniques like stop and frisk have
helped bring crime rates in the big cities down dramatically over the last few
decades.
~~~
bcoates
Stop-and-frisk was only new because the newly expanded federal civil rights in
the early 60s would have made the long-standing police practice illegal
without a special exception. It's not like the cops discovered hassling people
based on stereotypes in 1968.
How would a new legal justification for something cops have been doing forever
suddenly cause a crime reduction? You'd have a much better case arguing that
the semi-professionalization of the police in the aftermath of Warren court
rules complicating police procedure caused it.
I'm not sure I understand your larger point at all: Singapore is a police
state and people there seem to be pretty on board with it, so until everywhere
is like Singapore we shouldn't do anything about it?
------
mikeash
Extremely misleading headline. The body-scanning machines are being replaced
with newer body-scanning machines.
------
hack_edu
The most frustrating part of all this is the astronomical cost of the defunct
X-ray scanners, and now the cost of their replacements :(
------
listic
Is metal detector a different thing from full body scanner?
In Russia they have installed metal detectors (I believe) on entrance to
suburban and subway train stations. Of course, with the huge amount of traffic
the police officers simply cannot inspect every person who rings positive, so
they just ignore the detector altogether.
~~~
sukuriant
Very different.
"Backscatter X-ray is an advanced X-ray imaging technology. Traditional X-ray
machines detect hard and soft materials by the variation in transmission
through the target. In contrast, backscatter X-ray detects the radiation that
reflects from the target. It has potential applications where less-destructive
examination is required, and can be used if only one side of the target is
available for examination." from Wikipedia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backscatter_X-ray>
------
linuxhansl
I never went through one of these and will never go through one. I rather get
a pat-down.
I'm not that concerned about the health effects... This is a matter of
principle. Everybody knows the security theater is just that... a theater. No
need to participate in it any more than necessary.
9-11 by its very nature can never happen again. It could only work once,
because the passengers still operated under the assumption that as long as
they comply they will get out of this alive. After 9-11 this assumption is no
longer valid and hence passengers will no longer comply.
This, btw, is exactly what brought the 4th plane down. Some of the passengers
heard what happened over cell phone and then decided to do something about
their own situation.
Edit: The usual spelling corrections.
~~~
krickle
It's infuriating that we have to buy tickets to the play from the
manufacturer. The whole thing is a study in unethical business practices.
------
pnathan
Money quote by the PR person.
> The radiation risk and privacy concerns had no bearing on the decision,
> Castelveter said.
/sigh
------
marquis
I passed through one of the largest airports in the U.S. recently, being early
and prepared to opt-out, and was pleasantly surprised to see the line moving
faster than I'd seen it in a long time. Perhaps it's not just public
perception but the very long waits this was causing.
------
lsiebert
From the article, "The Transportation Security Administration has been quietly
removing its X-ray body scanners from major airports over the last few weeks
and _replacing them with machines that radiation experts believe are safer."_
------
autodidakto
"... but the TSA has not confirmed which ones" and "No study comparing the two
machines' effectiveness has been released. The TSA says its own results are
classified."
... who do these people work for?
------
Zigurd
There should be plenty of time to test them now, to see if they are dangerous,
and to see if they were correctly calibrated while they were deployed. Right?
------
Tipzntrix
One small step for mankind....and one giant leap for privacy
------
gasull
Right on time for the presidential election.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Nassim Nicholas Taleb: The Corona Crisis Is Not a Black Swan - kervokian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb2pXXUSzmI&feature=youtu.be
======
cjbenedikt
Seriously? Does anybody care if it is or isn't?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ten things the driverless generation will never experience - Perados
http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20160122-lost-in-automation
======
dalke
1) Speeding tickets, 2) Drivers Ed classes, 3) Getting lost, 4) Parallel
parking, 5) Driver prejudice, 6) Fender benders, 7) Road rage, 8) Car theft,
9) Roadkill, 10) The Stig
At the least I expect that drivers ed courses will still be present for those
who go off-roading, or snowmobiling.
Even in a regular car, I've been on the Bonneville Salt Flats and some
driveable beaches, where there are no marked road, and of course events like
Burning Man have their own street system and speed limits that won't be on any
car nav system.
Regarding 7's "they will not drive too fast or too slow" \- I suspect
passengers will be able to select how to optimize the route, as some people
will want to minimize cost, rather than time, and have the car drive more
slowly. Or a loaded vehicle may drive more slowly uphill than an unloaded one.
I therefore imagine there will still be road rage should a slow vehicle,
especially one which is voluntarily going slower, should block someone who
wants to go faster.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Twilio Contest Entry - PhoneSimon - jazzychad
http://jazzychad.com/phonesimon/
======
mcav
That's awesome fun.
Tip: Try to hear the intervals -- the lower pitch distinguishes between rows,
while the higher pitch distinguishes between columns. If you can learn to
differentiate between the two pitches, it's easier to map it to the different
numbers.
~~~
jazzychad
Yep, that's my strategy. The hardest part is getting the first number. After
that distinguishing changes in intervals makes it easier. Congrats on getting
two scores of 8 on Insane. Sure you're not cheating? :)
~~~
mcav
No, not cheating. I play [jazz] piano, so I'm used to hearing intervals and
stuff (Useful when comping for solos). So I visualize it like this:
Lower tone: Eb, F, or G
Upper tone: C, D, or E
So as the note's played, I tried to visualize what keys I'd have to hit on the
piano to make the same noise. Also, i put the phone on speakerphone so that I
can look at the digits while they play back.
The middle combinations are the toughest, because if you don't have a good
bearing on where the previous pitch is, it's easy to get disoriented.
------
domodomo
Boy, it's really hard when you are using a digital phone system where all the
beeps you hear back are identical =\
------
dmor
Fun use of Twilio! I'm trying to keep up with fastest963 on the leaderboard
but this is tough
~~~
jazzychad
Yes, it really turned out to be more challenging than I anticipated. I'll be
surprised if anyone can score 5 or more on the insane level. It was really fun
learning about DTMF tones, though.
~~~
catch23
seems like this thing would be pretty easy to automate (aka cheating). Fire up
an asterisk box and have it record, decipher, and play back the tones!
~~~
marcus
That seems like an awfully complicated way of doing it, why not use a digital
voice recorder (your pc/cellphone) to record each set of beeps and play it
back.
~~~
furyg3
Tried it, didn't work. I do have a crappy phone (though the digital recorder
is quite good).
------
jeffiel
I didn't do well. I was trying to speak DTMF back to it :(
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Unemployed for 2 years, looking to find a steady programming job - achicagodevdude
I'm an experienced web developer, always worked in Chicago, but now I'm having trouble finding a company that would hire me. I feel like I've been displaced from the programming industry.<p>* Got my first web dev job in 2007<p>* Graduated 2007 with an unrelated degree<p>* Worked on-and-off. I never had another job lined up when I left/laid off from the old one.<p>* Looking to settle into a salaried job. I don't even know what it's like to be a salaried employee. All the job offers I could get have been contract-to-hire, and they paid well below average.<p>Based on the last point, I quickly learned that "being a bargain" doesn't make you any more employable. In fact, I'm starting to think there is a correlation between programmers with low salaries and having more difficulty finding jobs.<p>I don't know where to begin filtering for higher yields in getting interviews. At this point, I'm just throwing anything at the wall waiting for something to stick.<p>The programming job doesn't have to be web dev related. Maybe the glut of bootcamp graduates is making it harder for me to stay relevant? I am okay with working in one of the bigger but non-sexy places if they are the easier places to get in. So what are some places in the Chicago area that:<p>* Don't care what tech stack you've used<p>* Have a large enough tech team to tolerate a greater ramp-up time for new hires<p>* Years in the field mean less to them, because they can just hire and place someone where it's appropriate<p>So where to begin changing my approach so I get higher yields for interviews, and offers?
======
partisan
Have you tried city or utility jobs? They are not as sexy, but they have the
potential to meet every one of your requirements.
Secondly, the way you talk about your abilities makes me want to shake you.
You are no less capable than the next person. You're not going to be the next
big developer evangelist or the founder of some amazing startup, but neither
are 99% of the other people. HN is a concentration of successful, smart
people. It can skew the way you view yourself so don't use this site as a
barometer for your skills.
Also, you sound depressed and defeated and that is understandable after what
seems like a constant onslaught of rejection, but the only way to change that
is by building your own self worth and confidence in your skills. You can't
expect an employer to meet you where you are so you have to meet them where
they are. Find your passion in this field and run with it.
I have 13 years in the industry and I still feel like a fraud most days. That
doesn't seem to go away.
------
chuck32
Seems like you are looking for a company who will accommodate your needs (i.e.
"Don't care what tech stack you've used") but maybe you need to think about
what you can do yourself to accommodate what companies need from you?
You say you're looking for somewhere that will "tolerate a greater ramp-up
time for new hires" and thats fair enough but there are also plenty of things
you can be doing now to prepare for a job to minimize the ramp-up time.
Also your approach of "looking for a job as a web dev, or anything really" is
not going to look very attractive to employers. I'm sure you wont be saying
that in an interview of course but why would they hire someone with that
attitude when there are plenty of people who can say "I love working with
Rails/Python/Javascript/whatever because x, y and z and even though I've been
unemployed recently I've done this, this and this which is related to this
technology".
I'm not saying you have to become one of these web-dev obsessed hacker-newsy
types who spend all their free time reading tech blogs and experimenting with
no-sql databases but at least pretend to have an interest in one or two
particular aspects of web development and spend a bit of time to code
something or do something to demonstrate that interest.
~~~
achicagodevdude
I've had a Github profile for a couple of years, usually filled with some
graphics programming or game projects, coded in C#. That's one of the
languages I'd be interested in finding a job in. In 3 years went from learning
what a reference type in C# is, to writing a graphics engine using .NET that
uses object pooling for best performance, and can be implemented as a DLL for
other projects. And learning HLSL for writing my own shaders, doing thing like
optimize a parallel split shadow mapping algorithm to run in a single pass
within the 512 instructions limit of the Shader Model 3.0 spec.
I also made a software rasterizer in JavaScript, it's very small in size uses
no 3rd party libraries but supports z-depth checking and texture mapping.
As you can see I like doing graphics stuff in my spare time. But I'm not sure
how to sell my skills in those projects to more "mainstream" web development
jobs. My real world JS work is not as novel or even up to current standards.
At the last startup I worked on a front end JS code base totaling over 25K
lines. And it didn't use any modules. No Grunt or Webpack, no packages to
automate builds, bunch of jQuery function calls with little grouping to them-
it is JS but JS circa 2009.
So basically I have some novel projects but my dev practices may be "out of
time" with certain companies. So I'm looking to see how to show the better
side of my skill set.
~~~
chuck32
Ok well it sounds like you've done some pretty solid work there and should
have things to talk about in an interview. Have you ever gotten an feedback
from employers or recruiters as to why you were not picked for a job?
~~~
achicagodevdude
It's usually pretty generic stuff. I wasn't a good fit, or they found someone
else that's a better candidate, etc. Liability reasons cause them to withhold
details. Many people consider all interviews practice, but practice only makes
you better if you get proper feedback.
------
Mz
The Gig Economy is on the rise. I keep seeing posts similar to yours saying "I
have been unemployed for a year a longer. How do I fix this?" Meanwhile, I
have seen articles that suggest that by 2020, about 40% of the US economy will
be gig work/freelancers/contractors and similar.
Let me suggest you look for paid work. You can keep looking for a job too, but
just figure out how to get money coming in the door.
~~~
achicagodevdude
Well, I started in 2007 so your projected statistic wouldn't have been very
relevant. In 2007 I should have been able to get a full-time job more easily,
yeah? Yet even in 2007-13 I only have gotten cheap contractor offers.
I'm not interested in part time gigs. My contract jobs pay too low, highest
paid one was $25/hr. I'm looking to settle down for a salaried position with
benefits (as any decent job would have) while I still can. Nearly all the jobs
on the local boards are still full-time with benefits.
~~~
ahazred8ta
Go meet more people in person who already work in the industry -
[https://www.meetup.com/topics/web-
development/us/il/chicago/](https://www.meetup.com/topics/web-
development/us/il/chicago/)
------
achicagodevdude
By the way, I've been with countless recruiters in the past. They haven't been
very helpful.
I've been to their offices a few times, have been on many phone calls and get
moved around from job opening to job opening but I never have gotten an offer
because of a job recruiter.
Currently I use BuiltInChicago, Indeed, Craigslist, WeWorkRemotely, Angel.co,
and LinkedIn for sending in applications.
I still need the following questions answered, as mentioned in the OP...
What are some places in the Chicago area that:
* Don't care what tech stack you've used?
* Have a large enough tech team to tolerate a greater ramp-up time for new hires?
* Years in the field mean less to them, because they can just hire and place someone where it's appropriate?
~~~
clark-kent
Use recruiters, they are very good in landing you interviews, put your side
projects on your resume and bring them up during interviews. Try hired.com.
The most important thing is to get exposure to as many job interviews as
possible. I have no doubt that you will land a job soon.
------
telebone_man
In answer to your questions..
\- Don't care what tech stack you've used
I would argue that most companies aren't too concerned about your tech-stack.
You're applying to businesses with dev's who like you appreciate development
skills are transferable to other stacks and languages.
HOWEVER, if you are one of 10 applicants, of which 2 just happen to have
experience in their tech-stack, then they will get preference over you. This
is a logical route for them to go down.
\- Have a large enough tech team to tolerate a greater ramp-up time for new
hires
If this was the case, they'd be looking for 'juniors'. If you're applying for
anything other than that, assume that they don't have the capability to
tolerate a slow learning curve.
\- Worked on-and-off. I never had another job lined up when I left/laid off
from the old one.
If I see a CV with noticeable gaps in employment, I will put it to the bottom
of the pile. I suggest you fill in those gaps with something.. personal
projects.. volunteering.. you must have been doing something other than
looking for your next job?
\- Years in the field mean less to them because they can just hire and place
someone where it's appropriate
Again I think the majority of businesses don't care too much about years, as
such. Context matters. Again, if you're one 10 applicants, and the other 9
have 5 more years than you, then they'll preference them.
Can I suggest you reconsider your approach to applying? 1000 applications in 3
years are almost 1 a day. That's crazy. Your CV must be all over the place,
and that isn't always a good thing (for example, if you've adjusted it over
time, it may look like you were lying before).
Have you considered sending a portfolio with your applications?
~~~
achicagodevdude
I do send my resumes with a list of projects in them, with Github links. Only
a few have said anything about them. If you want to take a look, it's here:
github.com/ccajas
If I have to be considered as a junior to be on boarded and learning from
other, so be it. I never had much guidance from more experienced people
anyway. Small companies usually cannot provide that, so it's possibly time to
get a fresh start as a junior at a large company. A good old "soft reset"
might be the thing my career needs. I'll remove past jobs from my resume, and
just keep my education info and list of projects.
> Can I suggest you reconsider your approach to applying?
Yes, you can suggest that. What other approaches do you recommend for
applying?
~~~
telebone_man
Something other than what you've done 1000 times?
------
sbahr001
Best thing to do is create a portfolio with the latest tech stacks, and make
them open source so they can see what your capable of.
------
throwmeaway32
Have you actually found positions you're interested in?
Have you been applying, but not getting interviews?
Have you been getting interviews but not succeeding?
~~~
achicagodevdude
>Have you actually found positions you're interested in?
Yes.
>Have you been applying, but not getting interviews?
about 1000 applications since late 2014, and about 20 interviews
>Have you been getting interviews but not succeeding?
No offers from any interviews in the current job hunt.
What is the usual percentage of offers that I should expect? How many
applications is the usual to send before someone gets their first offer?
~~~
throwmeaway32
1000 applications and 20 interviews in around ~3 years?
I don't have stats to back up my opinion but that to me is crazy crazy low
(unless you were applying for completely unsuitable jobs).
\- Do you alter your resume per applications?
\- Is there a common theme amongst positions you're applying for? (i.e.
'junior' or 'senior' etc) or are you applying for just every dev role you see?
\- Do you do any networking (i.e. meetups?)
\- Would you be willing to share your resume? (perhaps remove identifiable
things if you are concerned).
\- Can you share some links to recent job postings you've applied for?
~~~
achicagodevdude
Finally, I can show my resume (with most names redacted)
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/6290viuyjbr09jc/web_resume_swe.pdf...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/6290viuyjbr09jc/web_resume_swe.pdf?dl=0)
~~~
throwmeaway32
I agree with another poster regarding the 'not very compelling' and that I
would classify you in the junior range of experience.
Honest feedback coming up..
Initial advice:-
\- Remove 'professional' from the experience subtitle, it immediately frames
your resume to me that there will be non-professional experience later on and
therefore you might not have much professional experience.
\- Remove the professional and personal experiences programming
languages/tools parts, merge them into one. Rank them in order of your overall
experience, splitting them makes it look amateurish.
\- If you've been unemployed for 2 years, then I would expect your github
profile to be way more active if you're really looking and planning to get a
job.
\- A lot of your experience descriptions don't really mention much tech and
come across as vague; reading your resume fills me with doubtful questions
about you rather than answers that make me picture you clearly in your head
and what your capabilities are.
i.e. 'Migration of [startup's] corporate websites and blogs to a new host' \-
what tech were they running on?, what tech did you move them to?
'Addressed the needs of dozens of business and non-profit clients to improve
their online presence via CMS websites' \- what does this even mean? You made
some wordpress sites? You wrote your own framework?
\- Have you been practising for interviews? (phone and onsite), P.S. This
advice is given based on the variable state of interviews that are
given.....buy a whiteboard and pen and practise coding and explaining your
thoughts whilst writing, revise for the interview ('Cracking the coding
interview' etc).
~~~
achicagodevdude
Regarding interviews I hardly get any algorithm questions that are found in
CTCI.
Most of the technical interviews ask me practical knowledge on languages or
tools, like how would I write a query for some problem, build a simple splash
page with X set of features, etc.
It may be more of a west coast thing to ask CTCI questions. Interview styles
might be like hip hop or food styles...it probably varies by reason. Local
companies don't ask them much. The only companies that asked me those are
Amazon and TripleByte.
I don't know of any resources for mock interviews.. my friends and family
aren't familiar enough with my work to do a proper one. There doesn't seem to
be much of a market for professionals to do mock interviews, which I find
interesting.
Also, looking into the future, when I get my next job, what can I do _on the
job_ that will keep my interview skills fresh?
------
Glibaudio
@achicagodevdude
If you're open to chatting 1:1 I could try and give you some advice.
Do you have a profile I can DM you at?
~~~
achicagodevdude
I'm newish to HN so I don't know if I can DM you through here. Do you mean
another website, such as LinkedIn?
------
stevenwu
You are right to think that there is a correlation between previous salaries
and difficulty in finding jobs. In an ideal world, if your true worth is
$X/year but you're willing to work for $(0.90X)/year, then you should be able
to nab a job right? After all, you're a bargain. I struggled with this myself
as a student job hunting, fighting the mentality of self-worth. All my jobs
previous to my new one were low pay for our industry (highest was $25/hr CAD).
As someone who's had to learn to embrace this mental shift when negotiating
with much better offers relative to what I was used to, the first thing I will
say is that you are spot on: a race to the bottom helps no one.
So OK, let's talk about your main question: where to begin to command
interviews and ultimately a better salary? The advice here so far has been
standard: (a) look outside of one area (b) do side projects and (c) talk to
recruiters/network. This is fine advice, but IMO, not the most helpful. Advice
like "find your niche" is better... but that is a difficult task on its own,
to decide on one path that is by definition obscure.
Again I will draw from personal experience to try and share what I've learned.
What worked most for me was to aim for a dream job, and to do things that
would lead to building skills that would make me qualified for this dream job.
I was in my 3rd year of undergrad - at the time, it was to work in an NBA
front office - I was studying stats, and didn't have many interests besides
having fun and following basketball. In following this pursuit to its limit, I
learned many skills along the way _that I didn 't have until I decided what I
most wanted_: web scraping, web development, databases, scripting, algorithm
development, computational statistics, explaining statistics to non-technical
users, trying to build a business, etc. Side projects, building a network
(both local and out of town), and finding my niche (data science + web dev +
product skills) _resulted from this goal_. They would have never happened on
my own initiative - I would have been one of many people dreaming of app ideas
and side projects to start but never finish. This has a nice benefit that
comes for free: you are now different than the rest. Your perspective to
solving problems and your experiences will be unique (to what degree, matters
based on whatever it is you choose).
The downside of my advice is that it is not a short fix: myself, I am now 3-4
years from when I started this story, as I am soon to graduate from my MSc
Stats. But you can accelerate this process, and I can tell you it works:
applying to jobs coming out of my undergrad, I only heard from companies that
you wouldn't recognize. This year, I got on-sites at Amazon and Capital One
before deciding to accept a dream job offer at Shopify. You can do it - and I
hope that this is an answer and story that can help you in your search of
where to begin your change in approach.
P.S., when you get there, do not underestimate the truth behind how useful
resources like CTCI, whiteboarding, etc. are for the interview stage.
------
smt88
Talk to a recruiter
~~~
achicagodevdude
I've already tried. None of the recruiting firms have been able to lead me to
job offers. I got a few interviews, but that's it.
There's a lot of detail in my original post, so you would need to provide more
detailed, personalized advice. "talk to a recruiter" would be already
attempted for someone that's been on the job search as long as I have.
~~~
smt88
Check out Rural Sourcing. They look for bargain devs specifically.
~~~
ahazred8ta
as long as you relocate to one of their four locations...
[https://www.ruralsourcing.com/about-rsi/development-
centers/](https://www.ruralsourcing.com/about-rsi/development-centers/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Desperate For A Job - apruss
http://scriptogr.am/asko/post/desperate-for-a-job
======
dguaraglia
Some friendly advice from someone who's been in your situation:
The post is overly dramatic for my taste. By adding drama and name calling
your ex employers you only harm your own image.
There's lack of qualified programmers pretty much everywhere you look, so
writing a normal resumé, listing your expertise and experience should be more
than enough. Send it to as many job boards as you can find, and try to find a
few agencies looking for your kind of talent and pitch yourself to their
agents. Sure, agency jobs are not as cool as getting hired by a startup in
Palo Alto, but hey... you've got to start somewhere.
Be realistic about it: considering your situation you might want to look for
jobs in countries that don't make immigration a pain in the ass. You could be
a truly kick-ass programmer for all I know but you are still completely
unqualified for a Skilled Worker visa in most countries (too young, not much
to show). Don't even get me started on an H1B. Take advantage of your
citizenship to try England and Germany, where there are lots of open
positions.
Finally, as others have suggested, don't just stop and moan: DO STUFF! If you
have the time and resources, maybe write an open source project. If you want
to improve your skills while still getting paid, go the freelance route. It's
not great, but it pays the bills. Better yet, at the end of the day you'll
have a much bigger portfolio of knowledge (notice I didn't say projects, but
_knowledge_ ) to woo your next employer.
In any case, good luck! :)
~~~
apruss
I shall do stuff, in fact I already do stuff, an idiotic open source project.
And thanks for the advice and luck, all so very much needed.
~~~
dguaraglia
Haha, there is no such a thing as an 'idiotic' open source project. Remember,
most open source has always started as someone scratching his own itches, be
it something as awesome as Linus developing a whole new OS just to run Prince
of Persia, or one of my many lame contribution to other projects (e.g: fixing
some weird behavior on new tabs in Gedit. How 'revolutionary' is that?).
If your itch is displaying all colors in the RGB palette with all their
possible alphas, well then... just do it. If nothing else, it'll definitely
help you think about how long it takes to iterate over the millions of values
that you can represent in 32 bits. It's good programmer food for thought :)
------
jeremyx
I cannot read this because the writing is soooo bad. If this is your job
application, I will not consider hiring you.
~~~
markyc
what does it say? (CodeIgniter says database down)
~~~
markyc
Edit: working now
Re: "My average day is spent behind a laptop reading Hacker News, Lifehacker,
The Next Web, Smashing Magazine and whatever I happen to discover online."
how about you stop doing that for a while and crank your own side project.
then you'll have smth to show, learn new stuff and connect with people.
desperation will probably not land you a job, but creating opportunities for
yourself and showing how you can be useful to others may.
Good luck!
~~~
apruss
I've thought of that, but good ideas are hard to come by and a bad idea is
never worth the execution. However yes, I need to be more active. This article
is the first step.
~~~
GotAnyMegadeth
Probably better for you skill set, and you CV, to work on a bad idea until a
good one shows up.
~~~
apruss
As in cut through a forest till I see a field? Good point. I already have an
idea (bad idea) cracking.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Freicoin: a P2P digital currency delivering freedom from usury - maaku
http://freico.in/
======
jamespitts
While technically interesting, this project is riddled with fallacious
economic ideas that undermines its credibility. I do appreciate it that new
kinds of money are being developed though!
A few particularly ridiculous notions from the about page:
\- that money-hoarding is the primary cause of wealth disparity
\- that the role of money as both a savings instrument and a transactional
instrument is problematic and leads to financial crises
\- that demurrage would benefit working class people
If governments adopted a currency like this (or if it otherwise became forced
upon us), banks or other institutions would issue alternatives and people
would flock to them.
<http://freico.in/about/>
~~~
DennisP
Apparently it worked for Worgl, Austria during the Great Depression.
~~~
Steko
Demurrage, not freicoin mind you, worked over a very short term in Worgl, and
there are questions about whether the success there was sustainable[1].
Demurrage on it's own doesn't operate very differently than the mildly
inflationary currencies used in the real world (dollars, euros, etc.).
Freicoin on the other hand is promising all sorts of other things.
[1] Quoting at length from:
[http://bionicmosquito.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/more-on-
worgl-v...](http://bionicmosquito.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/more-on-worgl-
velocity-of-money.html)
" _So, would this be sustainable? If not, why not?
I believe the activity would not have been sustainable. I believe that once
the taxes in arrears were completely paid and once the people paid in advance
to the degree they felt sufficient (one year in advance? Five years in
advance? I don’t know, but at some point they would stop), the scrip would
lose a key part of its attractiveness.
One way a government can ensure the demand for its currency is to demand (or
accept) that taxes are paid in the subject currency. The other way is through
monopoly legal tender laws. Wörgl obviously could not legislate or enforce
monopoly legal tender, so the demand for the scrip could certainly be
attributed to the need to pay taxes.
The demand could certainly not be attributed to the demurrage – not when there
was the national schilling available – paying interest, and at a one-for-one
exchange (setting aside the conversion fee).
Once this tax need was satisfied, what would happen to the desirability of a
depreciating-value scrip vs. currency that did not come with a 1% monthly
penalty? The answer to me is clear, not that we have to agree. I suspect the
depreciating scrip would begin trading at a discount, and sooner than later
would be regularly returned to the bank for the national currency, even with
the 2% loss. Two percent might be too big a loss when one owes taxes and can
satisfy these taxes with the depreciating scrip at full face value. However,
when there is no benefit to holding a depreciating currency to the national
one, I suspect many would eat the one-time 2% charge to avoid paying the
recurring 1% charge.
In my opinion, this is exactly the situation that was immediately in front of
Wörgl when the national government put an end to the experiment. Depending on
which estimate of taxes in arrears used (see the discrepancy as pointed out in
my first article), within one month, but not more than six, all taxes in
arrears would have been paid. At that point, I suspect demand for the scrip
would have fallen – resulting in the exchange for national currency that I
described above."_
------
acslater00
Someone has invented a digital currency based on EVEN more dubious economic
ideas than bitcoin itself!
We did it!
~~~
redegg
Theres a lot more where that's coming from:
<https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=67.0>
------
ef4
Time-preference (and therefore a non-zero interest rate) is an inherent
feature of being a human being, for the simple reason that we all have a
limited amount of time to live.
Present goods really are worth more than future goods, and interest is just a
reflection of that difference.
Anybody who really "value[s] present and future holdings equally" is advised
to try eating next year's crops this year.
~~~
maaku
But that is precisely the point - we each have our own time preferences. I'd
rather have 1 apple a day for 1,000 days than 1,000 right now, but if I was a
baker making apple pie, I don't know what I would do with just one fresh apple
a day.
However both inflationary (USD) and deflationary (BTC) currencies force an
external influence on our time valuations. With inflation I'd rather buy
things now if possible because the price could go up at any time, whereas
deflation results in the opposite: exchanges are delayed as you can get a
better price in the future.
Demurrage allows interest rates to drop to zero, which eliminates the
influence monetary policy has on time preference, allowing me to be free to
choose when and how much I buy without penalty.
------
Giszmo
Ok, so I am a Bitcoin fan and I am a demurrage fan but I couldn't figure out
how you could combine these two.
5% of all coins disappear per year. (BTW: Gesell's Wörgl had a much much
higher demurrage.) I read this would be equal to the block reward which I
guess is the asymptotic value and not the truth from day one (constant block
reward as opposed to halfing block reward like bitcoin with 5% demurrage will
lead to an equilibrium).
Proof of work: Approximately the amount of money goes into mining that newly
mined coins are worth. If the client shows me that I have less in my wallet
every day, the block reward is simply worth more. The proposed system means
that 5% of the freicoin's money reserve is spent on mining per year. Today's
banks most likely burn the same order of magnitude of world's money supply.
Hmm, might work but it's a waste of resources to burn 5% of the world economy
to keep book of transactions.
Proof of stake: As mining might get excessively expensive if the value of Ƀ
rises faster than the reward halves, proof of stake is an option to bring this
waste of resources to an end. In Freicoin this would directly reverse the
demurrage.
I assume the developers of Freicoin picked 5% exactly because of these issues.
Else 25% would be much more reasonable. 5% is the average weekly volatility of
bitcoin and was the average daily volatility last year. $ vs € have this
volatility yearly. Calling this demurrage is a joke.
[My approach was to have - high - demurrage be cashed out evenly to people as
a basic income. Only problem is that you would have to qualify as a natural
person to get such a cash-out address which would lead to very very
schizophrenic scammers or to total control if governments pick up the idea.]
~~~
maaku
Ok, quite a bit to tackle. Here we go:
_5% of all coins disappear per year. (BTW: Gesell's Wörgl had a much much
higher demurrage.) I read this would be equal to the block reward which I
guess is the asymptotic value and not the truth from day one (constant block
reward as opposed to halfing block reward like bitcoin with 5% demurrage will
lead to an equilibrium)._
The initial distribution is split 20% to miners and 80% through foundation
grants via an open, transparent, competitive selection process. The 20% miner
subsidy started at approximately ~255frc per block, and linearly decreases to
~95frc per block over 3 years of block time, at which point it will
perpetually sustain a monetary base of 100MM freicoins.
_Proof of work: Approximately the amount of money goes into mining that newly
mined coins are worth. If the client shows me that I have less in my wallet
every day, the block reward is simply worth more. The proposed system means
that 5% of the freicoin's money reserve is spent on mining per year. Today's
banks most likely burn the same order of magnitude of world's money supply.
Hmm, might work but it's a waste of resources to burn 5% of the world economy
to keep book of transactions._
It is excessive in the long-run; the 5% value was chosen for other reasons.
However we have ideas for fixing this, but would require a hard-fork (and
therefore community acceptance).
_Proof of stake: As mining might get excessively expensive if the value of Ƀ
rises faster than the reward halves, proof of stake is an option to bring this
waste of resources to an end. In Freicoin this would directly reverse the
demurrage._
And here you get to the meat of the issue, although I'm not sure what you mean
by "directly reversing the demurrage". With proof-of-stake along the lines of
Meni Rosenfeld's proposal ( _not_ PPCoin), proof-of-stake voting could be used
by a plurality of stakeholders to mandate that a portion of the perpetual
subsidy go to groups other than the miners. On the freicoin.org forums we've
put together an outline of a proof-of-stake proposal nicknamed "republicoin"
that would resemble parliamentarian system of proxy-voting for parties which
enter majority-vote governments giving them to right to claim budgetary
control over a portion of the perpetual subsidy, the amount of which would be
negotiated with the proof-of-work voters. Government-by-protocol, if you will.
This would obviously represent a hard fork. There are a lot of issues to sort
out first, which is why it's been shelved for the moment.
Baby steps :)
_I assume the developers of Freicoin picked 5% exactly because of these
issues. Else 25% would be much more reasonable. 5% is the average weekly
volatility of bitcoin and was the average daily volatility last year. $ vs €
have this volatility yearly. Calling this demurrage is a joke._
To be pedantic, it's closer to 4.89% per annum (1 __-20 per block), but 4-5%
was the design goal. The reason has to do with interest rates, specifically
what Gesell calls "basic interest" and what modern economists call the
"liquidity premium." The reasons why demurrage should equal the liquidity
premium of money is outlined on our about page and covered in detail in
Gesell's manuscript, Natural Economic Order
(<http://www.ces.org.za/docs/Gesell/en/neo/index.htm>).
------
tptacek
I'm confused. Why would anyone hold assets in a currency designed to penalize
people who hold assets in that currency?
~~~
socmoth
When I was five I asked this question and got a simple answer. I'm not an
economist so it is probably incompletely or completely wrong.
If you notice that your money is worth more tomorrow, you are going to save
your money and spend it tomorrow. This is true in situations of "deflation".
This sounds good to you, because all you have to do is wait and you'll be
better off tomorrow. You don't even have to work to get more stuff.
However, you aren't the only person with this idea. Everyone saves their money
in the bank. The people who sell goods and services, sell fewer goods, and
maybe go out of business.
The economy slows down.
On the other side, if you design an economy so that inflation exists. People
want to spend because in the future their money will be worth (a little bit)
less.
Money flows around a lot. People who sells things make money and stay in
business. People have jobs and the money is still worth something.
Remember money isn't worth something, trading good fluidly and efficiently is
worth something. Money lets us do that. So a currency that lets us do that is
good.
If anyone knows more about the situation, please add it. I don't know any
economists so this story is probably pretty incomplete.
~~~
tptacek
I'm not asking a deep economic question. I'm saying, why would any real
business accept payments in a currency that overtly and deliberately penalizes
them for holding that currency when alternatives that don't do that are even
more available? It just makes no sense to me.
~~~
maaku
Because the customer wants to pay in freicoins, and tools exist (or will exist
- I'm talking from the future) to make acceptance hassle-free, and the value
will be stable long enough to convert into the currency of your choice.
(Of course the macroeconomic recession-proof nature of demurrage currency
makes it desirable for merchants as well, and the zero-interest loans are a
boon for entrepreneurship. I'm just saying even if you're skeptical, that
shouldn't be a barrier to acceptance.)
~~~
fleitz
Why would anyone want to make an interest free loan with an arms length party?
I understand that from time to time these things happen, like KIVA, but
seriously why would I lend out my money for the opportunity of not getting it
back?
~~~
maaku
Then add appropriate interest representative of the risk you are taking on.
When we say zero-interest, we're talking about basic interest/liquidity
premium: the interest which is attached to loans simply because of the
opportunity cost of lending, not the risk taken on.
------
maaku
Original discussion on HN during it's Indiegogo campaign:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4157456>
------
rdl
As long as we're in the business of building cryptographic financial systems
to test out the theories of economics -- I want a "market basket of
commodities" currency to test out Hayek's theories.
(I am not sure if I could make a sustainable business out of it, or even a
fundable business, but a chaumian blinded digital token system (software and
then multiple hosting options) where people got to then run their own
arbitrary currencies, with a lot of them choosing to do commodity or
equity/debt currencies, would be a pretty awesome thing. It would probably
cost $2-5mm to do, though, and while I think you could avoid most legal
challenges by separating out the software dev vs. hosting mints vs. hosting
exchange vs. currency underwriting vs. marketing vs. wallets vs. merchant
services vs. end users, I'm not sure how you could realistically make money
doing it.)
~~~
maaku
You might want to look into Open-Transactions [1], which is a Chaumian blinded
token system supporting basket currencies out of the box. You'd presumably
have a list of reliable issuers that mint their own tokens backed by real-
world assets, then do a basket currency over all of them together.
[1] <https://github.com/FellowTraveler/Open-Transactions>
~~~
rdl
I wonder who that is (is he public?)
~~~
maaku
Chris Odom:
<http://monetas.net/team>
------
mooneater
5% fixed seems pretty arbitrary. Would be nice if this could be variable to
get the desired liquidity properties, in some kind of feedback control system.
I doubt there is one permanent ideal depreciation rate that could be
determined ahead of time.
I realize that would be harder to design but isnt a fixed depreciation just a
hacky band aid solution compared to a properly designed "control system"?
The ideal target variable might be: what % of existing money that was
transacted per month perhaps? Make 50% the target and adjust the depreciation
to track this target. Then we get into a debate about that 50% number, but at
least we are getting closer to measuring the effect we want.
~~~
Giszmo
Demurrage's value is equal to miners' reward. This greatly limits Freicoin to
not set a too high percentage. Imagine 50% of the existing money reserve going
into bookkeeping of Freicoin transactions. To put 5% into perspective consider
exchange rate changes between well established currencies. 5% per year is
nothing.
------
andylei
this entire thing is nonsense. seriously.
> Freicoin's parameters are carefully chosen to eliminate the basic interest
> component of investments, called the liquidity premium by economists
Liquidity is a real thing, not a product of currency "parameters" (whatever
that means). I prefer to hold dollars over gold because I can go to McDonalds
and buy a cheeseburger with dollars, but I cant do that with gold. Thus, if
someone was like, would you rather have a dollar bill, or $1.01 worth of a
gold bar, most people would probably say the dollar bill. If you wanted to
eliminate the liquidity premium of a currency, you would have make the
currency super illiquid. (Ironically, they've already achieved this because
nobody accepts Freicoin right now)
> Usurious non-zero basic interest distorts the free market, incentivises
> poisonous greed, excess, and short-term thinking, and perpetuates a vicious
> cycle of boom/bust recessions
No they don't. Maybe if this "argument" had some reasons behind it, I could
refute it.
> When business is conducted in Freicoin, participants value present and
> future holdings equally, and favor sustainable processes.
This sounds pretty magical. Do YOU value present and future holdings equally?
Would you rather that I give you a iPhone now, or in 1 year? Okay, now let's
say that iPhone is denominated in Freicoin, what now?
> Separation of money's roles as store-of-value and medium-of-exchange allows
> money to flow when it is needed, in good times and bad
Is money flow an issue? In the modern era, has the quantity of cash available
ever deterred anyone from spending money?
------
Tichy
Congrats to the "Freigeld" proponents to actually put something in motion. I
wish this would see some adaption so that they could finally get a reality
check of their theory (which I personally think wouldn't be very positive)
------
tree_of_item
If there's anything on this Earth that's subject to network effects it's
currency. If the creators of Freicoin appreciate Bitcoin enough to name their
efforts after it, why would they even try to fragment it in the first place?
Does demurrage make it _that_ much better?
~~~
jerguismi
I would argue that the network effects belong to cryptocurrencies in general.
Since there can't be any barriers of entry to implementing cryptocurrency
exchanges, exchanging them from one to another will always be trivial and
cheap, if they have any kind of market.
In fact, it is possible to make a hosted bitcoin wallet, which can be
integrated with an exchange, and users can pay in any cryptocurrency the
merchant requests.
So I believe that the more different cryptocurrencies, the better.
------
thingylab
Don't you fuel asset bubbles by targetting 0% interest at all times ?
If your incentive is to just get rid of your money because of the inherent
penalty, aren't you tempted to, say, buy overpriced houses, to use a recent
example ?
~~~
maaku
It's too lengthy an explanation to get into, but it's the combination of
inflation plus low interest plus the usurious liquidity premium that leads to
asset bubbles. Gesell covers this in great depth in his work, Natural Economic
Order (<http://www.ces.org.za/docs/Gesell/en/neo/index.htm>).
With Freicoin we're talking about counter-balancing that liquidity premium
(which, historically, has always been around 5%), thereby eliminating basic
interest and keeping price levels stable.
------
andrewcooke
does it require an external port to listen on? i started the client but it
doesn't seem very happy (i am behind a firewall with no way to open a port).
~~~
maaku
It listens on port 8639, but a firewall rule is not required (it does help).
You should be able to connect to other clients that are port forwarding.
There's a small chance that you might have connected to a bad peer and
therefore have a limited view of the network. Try restarting the client if the
block chain doesn't start downloading within 30 seconds.
~~~
andrewcooke
ok, so i tried again and have the same result (still says "out of sync") and
there's what looks like an error icon with a red x bottom right (this is the
QT client).
if you want i can file a bug report? if not, no problem (i was just curious,
don't have any plans to use it, particularly since it doesn't contain a miner
so i'd need to buy something just to play around).
~~~
maaku
A bug report would be helpful if you include the debug.log file in your
Freicoin data directory (~/.freicoin on UNIX, Library/Application
Settings/Freicoin on Mac OS X, %APPDATA%\Freicoin on windows).
There's a couple of faucets popping up where you can get some free starter
coins: Here's one: <http://endlessfreico.in>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Multiprocessing.shared_memory – Shared memory for direct access across processes - pjmlp
https://docs.python.org/3.8/library/multiprocessing.shared_memory.html
======
sametmax
Great, the support is still basic, but it's a huge improvement over message
passing when you need speed. 2 months ago a student asked me exactly that
question: how to share data between processes, and when I told him that with
the stdlib he had to manipulate mmap by hand
([https://blog.schmichael.com/2011/05/15/sharing-python-
data-b...](https://blog.schmichael.com/2011/05/15/sharing-python-data-between-
processes-using-mmap/)), he was not happy.
Now that asyncio is production ready (we really have had a decent doc and
asyncio.run() for a short time), and this, the concurrency story in Python is
starting to look decent.
Since the 3.6, things are really going nicely.
Maybe we'll see an async django-like framework emerging from now on instead of
the myriad of async flask copycat and django-channels. This would open the
gate to live settings, manipulating tasks queues in URL enpoints, having
RPC/PUB-SUB baked in. After all, I don't need async to just have exactly the
same features as a WSGI framework.
~~~
j88439h84
I like [http://trio.rtfd.org](http://trio.rtfd.org) way more than asyncio.
~~~
sametmax
Me too, although the scheduling syntax is not to my taste. But trio is not in
the stdlib, and is incompatible with most of the current ecosystem. There are
talks to integrate it in the future, meanwhile there are compat layers, but
it's still in infancy.
For now on, I just use asyncio with a lib to add nurseries to it.
~~~
j88439h84
I'm curious what you dont like about the syntax, and which parts of the
ecosystem you're waiting on?
------
ldng
Now combine that with Apache Arrow and you can do some interesting things.
------
malux85
This is great! As someone who codes lots and lots of multiprocessing + queue
code I'd love better shared memory support
------
neurohacker
This rules, but until 3.8 is out I've been using
[http://semanchuk.com/philip/posix_ipc/](http://semanchuk.com/philip/posix_ipc/)
which unfortunately doesn't work on Windows.
------
jmakov
Doesn't Apache Arrow solve this problem partially already?
------
zozbot123
Both 3.7 and 3.8 have so many performance improvements. But still, what people
like most about Python is code readability. Performance isn't as important as
in the past, because of how hardware performance has scaled.
~~~
gpderetta
wait, hardware performance hasn't really progressed much in the last 10 year!
~~~
anonymou2
Not CPUwise. But they have increased the number of CPUs available and that's
where python has problems because of the GIL. Fortunately the multiprocessing
library seems like a good workaround to the GIL issue.
~~~
gpderetta
Agree, which means that python actually got worse!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What's the current status of face recognition APIs? - apawloski
Just doing some preliminary research for a potential project. Are there any CV experts who can weigh in on the current state of libraries or APIs for recognizing faces?
======
ecesena
Have a look at Mashape [1], there are a few APIs registered there.
[1] <http://mashape.com>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What interesting stuff are you working on? - abda0180
Please inspire us!
======
brettkromkamp
Contextualise, a (personal and collaborative) semantic knowledge management
tool: [https://contextualise.dev/](https://contextualise.dev/).
~~~
abda0180
Cool. What is it built with?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: what's the next booming industry or technology field? - roschdal
What will the next booming industry or technology field be? I'm looking for a new area where technology can solve real problems for people, and which will require problem-solving skills. Where do you think great innovation will happen in the next few years?
======
mattgratt
This sounds terrible, but when industries really boom (in the US at least),
it's largely because I-bankers have figured out how to chop up and sell
unprofitable businesses to people at home watching CNBC.
See, for instance, internet entrepreneurship, 1997-2001, construction,
2005-2008.
That being said, I say Green/Energy.
------
AmberShah
Energy
Green/Eco
Mobile/Location
Combine all three and you've probably got a hit on your hands...
~~~
Reedge
Mmm combining this. Something that generates green energy at home or any other
location.
~~~
drtse4
[http://www.greenpacks.org/2010/07/19/green-battery-shake-
it-...](http://www.greenpacks.org/2010/07/19/green-battery-shake-it-to-
generate-energy-with-vibration/)
------
jshotwell
Just two random thoughts.
* Data mining, data analysis, predictive analysis, etc. applied to absolutely everything.
* Health care management and all of the related sciences/technologies.
------
trev0r
Bioinformatics Synthetic Biology Genomics
If you're got a a good handle of biology, statistics, and computer science you
should be set.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Compensation for joining 2 month old startup - robyates
Hi Hacker News readers, I'm looking at joining a 2 month old startup. They have showed me a detailed website mockup and initial functionality of the site. The plan is to have the site go live in 6 months or so after working on it on nights and weekends. I'm more interested in equity upfront and little pay in order to be in more of a cofounder role. What would you suggest I take? There are two dedicated founders, one part-time tech lead, and one part-time developer. So that's 4 people total who are working on this product already, but only 2 or maybe 3 are really committed long term. Also, one founder is in college (as am I), while everyone else is working full-time. I'd hate to make a really bad decision so early on. Any suggestions?
======
ianpurton
It really depends what you're bringing to the table.
------
rorrr
Nobody will give you any particular answers.
Start with a high % and negotiate down. I doubt you will get 25%.
If they offer you X number of shares, but don't tell you what % of the total
number of shares they represent, don't take it, it's a ripoff.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
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