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Open Rights Group has launched a UK Censorship Monitoring API and Botnet - namos
https://www.blocked.org.uk/
======
namos
For the past 8 months we've been working on building a series of probes;
\- Android
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.org.blocked...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.org.blocked.app)
\- Python
[https://github.com/openrightsgroup/OrgProbe](https://github.com/openrightsgroup/OrgProbe)
\- Raspberry PI images
[https://github.com/openrightsgroup/lepidopter](https://github.com/openrightsgroup/lepidopter))
And an open API to power them:
[https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Censorship_Monitoring_...](https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Censorship_Monitoring_Project_API)
This is helping to build a picture of what the UK Governments Internet
Blocking/Filtering/Censorship actually looks like.
You can submit URLs to be tested by visiting
[https://www.Blocked.org.uk](https://www.Blocked.org.uk) by installing the
Android app or by tweeting a URL with the hashtag #IsBlocked
Once we receive a URL it is dispatched to all probes over a period of time
where it is checked against a know list of blocking methods.
The results are returned back to the API for public evaluation.
For example:
[https://www.blocked.org.uk/results?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.yc...](https://www.blocked.org.uk/results?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.ycombinator.com)
Please help us build a picture of UK Internet Censorship by adding URLs to be
tested, by helping develop new probes (browser extensions, an iPhone client
etc etc) or just by spreading the word that
[https://Blocked.org.uk](https://Blocked.org.uk) is available.
Please also see
[https://www.blocked.org.uk/faq](https://www.blocked.org.uk/faq) which will
explain the level of filtering enabled on some of the probes which will
explain why some sites may appear blocked even if you, being on the same ISP,
can reach said URL.
~~~
mike-cardwell
Please consider freeing the data and make it downloadable as a simple CSV. I'd
like a list of all of the sites blocked by particular ISPs...
~~~
namos
Snapshots are made available:
[https://www.blocked.org.uk/assets/data/alexa_100k_isp_latest...](https://www.blocked.org.uk/assets/data/alexa_100k_isp_latest_status_2014_06_29.ods)
------
lucb1e
Wow, I had not expected this. My personal blog (which is about technology) is
being blocked by one of the ISPs. I don't host porn nor have I ever, so why is
it blocked behind their porn filter? Interesting....
[https://www.blocked.org.uk/results?url=http://lucb1e.com](https://www.blocked.org.uk/results?url=http://lucb1e.com)
Edit: TalkTalk live chat support reports that I am not being blocked.
Citation:
> I can confirm that is not blocked by our Adult Filters as your website does
> not have any adult content.
So it seems blocked.org.uk has a false-positive...
~~~
blueskin_
TalkTalk are a completely awful ISP. Not sure what the US equivalent would be,
but they're the kind who do promotions of "Broadband for £3/month"-level. You
get what you pay for service-wise, but they are also by far the most
enthusiastic ISP around when it comes to censorship; they have a spider that
follows their users to all URLs they visit to categorise the sites[1] (giving
them the nickname StalkStalk), and have been doing this long before the
current set of idiots in Parliament forced censorship in (at least since
2011).
I'm in a similar situation, one site I run is blocked both by StalkStalk and
BT. No porn, no other 'adult' content; it's deliberately kept PG-13 to use the
US ratings.
[1]Check your logs for HuaweiSymantecSpider. It obeys robots.txt though, so a
quick "Disallow: /" in robots.txt stops it, although they still grab content
from unencrypted pages via DPI.
~~~
lucb1e
No HuaweiSymantecSpider in my logs in the past 8 months (grepped access.log),
but the site is available over both http and https so they might have
classified it using DPI (talk about evil...).
------
justincormack
Ah I knew something was in the works as Andrews & Arnold were writing about
obtaining connections from ISPs to test what was blocked. Great to know what
is being censored (if you are not on A&A).
~~~
dfkvldfmv
"(if you are not on A&A)."
Or if you're on any of the ISPs who do not have filters, including but not
limited to A&A.
~~~
SideburnsOfDoom
Who are the other ISPs who do not have filters?
~~~
dspillett
There is no handy list that I know of.
The big six definitely do have the filters. Some smaller players do too, but a
fair few don't. The only people I know for sure are A&A because they put their
heads above the parapet and made a stand.
Some simply haven't implemented it because it would be work and they therefore
won't until forced to (rather than because of any moral objection) - they'll
not make any statement about not doing it as it will look bad if they
eventually do.
There may of course be others in A&A's position who haven't done as good a job
getting the message out.
------
spingsprong
I've been checking various websites I go on that are completely fine for kids.
It's amazing what's getting blocked. One example according to that website is,
TalkTalk blocks
"[http://www.writingexcuses.com/"](http://www.writingexcuses.com/") It's a
podcast that teaches story writing.
Blocking that is insane!
And the blocked website itself is blocked on two ISPs
[https://www.blocked.org.uk/results?url=http%3A%2F%2Fblocked....](https://www.blocked.org.uk/results?url=http%3A%2F%2Fblocked.org.uk)
~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
I think TalkTalk is either using a whitelist or an oversensitive keyword
filter.
~~~
vidarh
My personal website is blocked by Talk Talk apparently. I guess compiler
writing must be harmful for children.
~~~
keithpeter
Here we go. If a lot of harmless or potentially even useful material gets
blocked, people who want to use that material will simply opt out or route
round the blocking, hence making it pointless.
~~~
vidarh
I kind of hope they overreach drastically for exactly that reason. It'll be a
lot easier to get the filters dropped entirely if we can attack them with
"useful website X is blocked for no good reason" over and over and over again,
than if we have to argue using examples that many people would actually have a
problem with.
~~~
keithpeter
OK, so I'll be keeping an eye on personal Web sites put up by teachers (of
which there are many, a couple of examples[1], [2], neither blocked to my
knowledge) that can be accessed from UKERNA provided College connections but
become blocked by domestic connections.
[1] [http://www.hegartymaths.com/](http://www.hegartymaths.com/)
[2] [http://www.themathsteacher.com/](http://www.themathsteacher.com/)
------
blueskin_
I just learned that one of my personal sites is blocked on BT and TalkTalk...
there is zero adult or other inappropriate content on it. Time to complain, I
guess, but I'm sure they will just go straight to /dev/null :(
~~~
AlyssaRowan
Have you considered legal action?
~~~
blueskin_
Nope. It's a medium sized site I don't get any money out of, not linked to any
business. I suppose I could theoretically small claims court them, but I'm not
sure if I'd win as they can probably piss about with their customers'
connections in whatever way they please due to their T&Cs :(
------
jamesbrownuhh
Sad to see that The Best Page In The Universe
([http://maddox.xmission.com](http://maddox.xmission.com)) seems to be blocked
by a non-zero number of larger ISPs.
Obviously all those children need to be protected from harsh reviews of their
artwork.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ray Ozzie gets it but Mesh won't save Microsoft - fromedome
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/4/microsoft_live_mesh_ray_ozzie_gets_it_so_is_microsoft_saved_
======
jeroen
One step at a time. At least they are moving in what seems to be the right
direction.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
1.6k-Year-Old Goblet Shows Romans Were Nanotechnology Pioneers (2013) - bookofjoe
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-1600-year-old-goblet-shows-that-the-romans-were-nanotechnology-pioneers-787224/
======
bookofjoe
>Colorimetric Plasmon Resonance Imaging Using Nano Lycurgus Cup Arrays
[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adom.2012000...](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adom.201200040)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Scribd Expands Its Subscription E-Book Service with 30K Audiobooks - rahij
http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/06/scribd-audiobooks/
======
pbreit
Scribd keeps plugging along. Is it still considered the "Youtube for
documents/PDFs"? Has it stumbled onto a viable business?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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53 p.c. of Indian households defecate in open: World Bank - denzil_correa
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/policy-and-issues/53-pc-of-indian-households-defecate-in-open-world-bank/article5367467.ece?homepage=true
======
claudiug
so the soil will be very very fertile! good for you India, good for you!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why game developers hate the Facebook-Zynga marriage, how Google+ can benefit - tilt
http://venturebeat.com/2011/07/29/facebook-zynga-google-games/
======
cageface
Is it just me or is this whole industry starting to feel increasingly sleazy?
I guess it's inevitable when so much money is on the table but I don't feel as
proud to call myself a developer as I did a few years ago.
~~~
tilt
I think that no matter who you are and how big you are (Facebook) you have to
come out clean.
If you say that every developer has the same deal going on, no matter how much
money they pump in, you should give them the same tools. If you DO think that
who performs better should get better deals, as every business would, then
just say so.
Playing the way they played so far (giving poor support, shutting down apps,
making subtle deals, etc) do Facebook think they can really leverage
developers with the HTML5 platform when they release it?
The only reason why developers want to keep working on Facebook is for their
(official) userbase. Facebook knows that and they didn't do anything better
than showing muscles so far.
------
doomlaser
I kind of hate the Zynga revenue model more than anything. It doesn't seem
like an ethical way to make money, and has absolutely nothing to do with any
of the things that spurred me to get interested in game development in the
first place.
------
inkaudio
Ironic thing about this is Zynga sees their relationship with Facebook as one
of the weakness, as reported in their S1:
_"Facebook is the primary distribution, marketing, promotion and payment
platform for our games. We generate substantially all of our revenue and
players through the Facebook platform and expect to continue to do so for the
foreseeable future, the filing explains...Any deterioration in our
relationship with Facebook would harm our business and adversely affect the
value of our Class A common stock."_
So Google+ could even benefit from working with Zynga, if they wanted to that
is.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Bay Area Transit Agencies Among Several to Recieve Billions in State Funds - jseliger
https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-Transit-Agencies-Among-Several-To-12871351.php
======
jseliger
Now if only those funds were combined with more housing at transit sites:
[https://reason.com/volokh/2018/04/22/the-failure-of-
californ...](https://reason.com/volokh/2018/04/22/the-failure-of-california-
bill-827-and-t)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Humorous highway signs aim to steer drivers safely - hhs
https://www.npr.org/2020/03/05/812130695/humorous-highway-signs-aim-to-steer-drivers-safely-down-the-old-town-road
======
dash2
Indian signs are the classics. "go gently down my curves"... "Hurry will give
you worry"... And many more here:
[https://www.wanderlust.co.uk/content/9-funny-indian-road-
sig...](https://www.wanderlust.co.uk/content/9-funny-indian-road-signs/)
~~~
cgriswald
Redwood City, CA has actual, printed signs scattered around that say things
like:
“Traffic school is boring. Slow down.” “Speed limit 25 mph. It really won’t
hurt.” “Is today the day your speed hurts a child?” “In a hurry? A speeding
ticket will make you late!” “What don’t you understand about 25 mph?”
and maybe a dozen more. They’re actually great indicators that the city
doesn’t enforce the speed limits. Which makes the “ZERO TOLERANCE” speed sign
the funniest one.
Edit: The city of Hayward, CA has a pedestrian crossing sign that says
something to the effect of “Heads up! Cross the street, THEN update Facebook.”
~~~
sev0
Signs are cheaper than properly-designed roads. They're safety theatre,
designed to make people feel better without actually doing anything.
------
wenc
I'm in Illinois and I enjoy reading humorous signs because it takes the
monotony out of driving and makes me chuckle while navigating Chicago traffic
and helps me tolerate grumpy Chicago suburban drivers. Road construction
information etc. are still displayed so it's not either-or. Funny messages in
the past on I-55 have included:
* Han says Solo Down. Obey speed limits. (when Star Wars came out)
* Buckling up is always a good Goooooooal! (during the World Cup - soccer)
* Slowing down in Work Zones is so fetch. (when Mean Girls came out)
* OMG R U Txting? I can't even.
* Please stop taking pictures of this sign while driving
There's a website with all the current messages [1].
[1]
[https://www.travelmidwest.com/lmiga/dms.jsp?location=GATEWAY...](https://www.travelmidwest.com/lmiga/dms.jsp?location=GATEWAY.IL)
~~~
mickdeek86
Posted at my dad's cemetery, facing a busy road in suburban River Grove IL:
"Drive carefully, we can wait"
[https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/fjAXrFcLzRE8UN4TYTGC...](https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/fjAXrFcLzRE8UN4TYTGCYQ/o.jpg)
------
lubujackson
I really hate signs like this.
I expect to be reading an important alert about an exit closure or upcoming
road construction but instead end up having to parse some inane quip about
buckling my seatbelt.
It feels like a misuse of attention that would be better served by letting
drivers keep their eyes on the road.
~~~
ahnick
As a counter data point, I fairly enjoy alerts like these. Whether you like
them or not is quite subjective. If it was a really serious distracted driving
issue, then the entire billboard industry likely wouldn't exist.
~~~
adrianN
Billboards next to highways are illegal in many countries.
~~~
dsfyu404ed
That's for aesthetic reasons though.
~~~
wtdo
Maybe. But it also seriously helps to avoid being distracted. I live in
Seattle and drive to my parents house in Vegas, almost always driving I-90 ->
I-82 -> I-84 -> I-15. Washington is great. Hardly any billboards. Oregon and
Idaho are about the same. Driving through Utah is awful. Billboards everywhere
some of them are brightly lit and flashing. I feel much more distracted by
them.
------
rconti
These make me so happy. It feels like the kind of humorous approach to life
I've seen in other countries, but too often the US errs too much on the side
of being cautious, of being conservative about messaging.
It just makes me warm and fuzzy inside when someone can actually use humor in
a very public way, and there isn't some stern boss telling them to stick with
the script because it's 'safer'.
------
standardUser
All of these signs should just say "USE YOUR BLINKER" because most drivers in
California never do.
~~~
tejtm
In Maine (US) last fall there was;
``` PUMPKIN SPICE DRINKERS USE YOUR BLINKERS
```
this is during the time tourists drive around looking at the fall foliage
[0][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaf_peeping](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaf_peeping)
------
wolfgang42
You can drive
A mile a minute
But there is no
Future in it
_Burma-Shave_
~~~
kylek
[https://www.xkcd.com/491/](https://www.xkcd.com/491/)
------
joezydeco
The previous messaging was a lot more serious and somewhat morbid:
[https://chicago.cbslocal.com/wp-
content/uploads/sites/151160...](https://chicago.cbslocal.com/wp-
content/uploads/sites/15116062/2013/01/road-deaths-sign-0107.jpg?w=640)
~~~
nkrisc
I saw it all the time when I was commuting out to the burbs from the city on
90. Every day when I was coming home, I always got a little excited when I saw
it had finally incremented! Then I would feel sad about it because of what
that meant. It was strange, I had some weird desire to see the number continue
to go up, apart from the clearly tragic context. In a way, quantifying it like
that kind of abstracted away the human element. As the cliche goes, those who
lost their lives became just another statistic. If they had put the name of
the last person killed, that might have driven the point home more
effectively, privacy issues aside.
------
UncleEntity
They have a contest on the morning radio show semi-often when some band comes
to town for these messages in Phoenix--Bernie's in town later today so they
would put up something like "feel the bern, use signals to turn" (though don't
think they do political ones for obvious reasons).
------
sigmaprimus
With legalization in Canada there have been several "Funny" don't drive high
tv adds. Strange thing is I don't every recall seeing a funny don't drive
drunk commercial.
I guess it's just less funny when you crash and kill someone after a few
drinks.
~~~
westmeal
Well cannabis and alcohol are two way different beasts. It is true that both
reduce your reaction times, but cannabis doesn't really mess too much with
your motor skills. Obviously this depends on dosage and other factors and you
really shouldn't drive high or drunk but I'd rather have someone drive me
somewhere high than drunk. Alcohol makes you think you're hot shit and
invincible which is extremely dangerous behind the wheel.
------
nineumbrellas
In the Boston area, these signs typically have some variation of "USE YAH
BLINKAH"
------
sp332
Be careful, or be roadkill!
[https://imgur.com/a/kBQtJVJ](https://imgur.com/a/kBQtJVJ)
------
Vysero
Um, "humorous" might be a bit of a stretch.
------
sev0
It's safety theatre. Signs don't work, properly-designed roads work. But signs
are cheaper and make it possible to continue to live a sprawling life in
suburbia, so.
------
njharman
> sacrifices the company’s well-known identity
Challenge author to find any person who is unable to correctly attribute new
logo to BMW but can do so with the old logo.
~~~
a_t48
Wrong topic :)
------
huebomont
Love to force distracted driving!
------
vangelis
MODOT did it first.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Developer strikes it rich with iPhone game: Makes $250K profit in two months. - makimaki
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/11/18/iphone.game.developer/index.html
======
stillmotion
Now that the mainstream knows that this is some type of gold rush, we'll see a
lot more crap being thrown at the app store.
------
tsally
Is it just me, or every time I see a story like this in the mainstream media,
I think of O'Reilly's comments at the Web 2.0 Summit about getting serious. I
mean, it's great for iPhone and Facebook application developers. Hats off to
them for producing a great product, but how much real world impact does it
have? I feel like students are more likely to spend their time trying to make
the next big Facebook app, as opposed to solving the next big problem. Still,
obviously give credit where credit is due, and clearly this guy did a good
job.
~~~
tdavis
Well, it's not _me_.
This former banker taught himself a new platform, realized an idea, and
created a game that obviously many people are entertained by. The real-world
impact? He got to quit a job he (apparently) didn't like very much, created a
product that entertains people, and got to start his own company.
What real-world impact are you looking for, exactly? What's the "next big
problem?" Should we all be trying to cure cancer? Save the environment? Create
true AI? This may come off condescending, but I truly do want to know.
I have yet to find a single useful Facebook app, but that doesn't mean there
are no apps which other people, perhaps thousands, consider to be useful
improvements. Presumably, every successful product solves some sort of real
world problem for some number of people, otherwise why would anyone pay for
it?
Seriously, what should I be doing instead? I'm not smart enough to create
SKYNET and since I'm not a pharmaceutical company there's no money in finding
the cure for cancer. If entertainment and "poking" aren't enough for Tim and
you, then that's on you guys to do something more with _your_ lives. As for
me, I'm perfectly happy to help people find cheaper tickets.
~~~
tsally
No worries, you don't come off as condescending.
There is no doubt that this man has been successful and he seems to have
changed the course of his life for the better. I am happy for him. However,
consider the long term impact of cases like these. It's not about his success,
it's about the type of behavior his success will inspire. People will look at
him and they wont see someone who started his own company, they will see
someone who made $250K in two months. Above all, people are attracted to short
term profits (it's what got America into the current economic crisis). Someone
who might have tried to start his own company will instead go for the quick
profit creating Facebook and iPhone applications. He may be happy with his
large payday, but the loss to society is large. At the end of the day, I'd
rather have people starting new companies.
My concern is that cases like these will be sensationalized in the media and
result in the incorrect perception that "social networking application things"
are the best thing to go into. Hell, maybe this guy has real world impact.
After all, people who don't normally play games are emailing him to tell him
how much they enjoy it. But the way the media has presented his example will
not inspire people to create value, rather, it will inspire them to go for the
quick profit via the next big Facebook app.
I will admit I was a bit careless in my first post. Even entrepreneurs not
skilled enough to come up with "the next big thing" should still strive to
work towards solving real world problems. At TicketStumblr, you do have a real
world impact. You are solving a situation that cause markets to fail: when
people have incomplete information. Your service allows people to find cheap
tickets because you give your users enough information to judge the market
accurately. That is the type of real world impact I am talking about.
~~~
tomsaffell
This feels like a _value judgment_ to me.
Did any of the following 'solve the next big problem'?: Jerry Seinfeld, Seth
MacFarlane, Claude Monet, Francis Ford Coppola, Kubrick, the list goes on...
This guy made something that entertains people (although he's probably not yet
in the league of those above ;). It seems to me that you're not valuing works
of _entertainment_ as highly as some other works. That's a judgment on your
part, which makes your, "should still strive to work towards solving real
world problems" sound quite judgmental. I like to think there is more to life
than efficient markets (even though I _love_ efficient markets)
~~~
tsally
Fair enough, and perhaps I am being a bit too harsh. :-) I would point out
that I haven't wished anything but the best for this guy, and have
congratulated him several times in my comments. I also like seeing a Second
City showing in downtown Chicago as much as the next guy :-). I can't say I
have any specific criticisms with regard to entertainment. What bothers me is
when things of little value are assigned a very high value.
I will say this: entrepreneurs are people with particularly powerful talent;
with that power comes a responsibility. Imagine the choice between developing
a Facebook application that lets friends buy digital icons of drinks for their
friends (why not just real drinks :-p) versus an Facebook application for
FreeRice [1]. A responsible entrepreneur would develop the FreeRice
application, even though profit might be smaller. A more concrete example can
be seen in Google. They own the most valuable piece of real estate on the
internet (their homepage), yet they don't monetize it. Their restrictions on
content on AdSense are stricter than they are required to be by law. The list
could go on.
As tdavis pointed out, there will always be people looking for a quick buck.
Let them monetize the things that don't really matter. Instead, skilled
entrepreneurs should tackle the more difficult problems and monetize things
that create value and have real impact on lives.
I may be stretching your analogy, but I would compare Google search to the
works of Claude Monet and most Facebook/AppStore applications to paint by
number. If the media keeps sensationalizing paint by number, eventually people
will believe in it.
[1] <http://freerice.com/>
~~~
Tichy
I don't see the point of the freerice game. Why don't they just donate the
money directly? I suppose the rice is paid for with advertising, but all the
ads seem to be from wellfare organizations, so they are paid with donations
that otherwise could go into rice directly. The only time this would REALLY
yield some rice would be if somebody playing the game would end up donating
money to one of the sponsors.
Anyway, that is a bit off-topic. Yesterday I had a discussion with friends who
were all very depressed about their prospects on the job market. Basically
they saw it as a given that everybody would either be jobless or be forced to
work 60 h weeks and take shit from their bosses. So apart from the
entertainment (which I personally value, too), I think it is a worthy
achievement to show that there can be an escape from living as a drone. (Too
bad none of my friends were programmers or engineers, but that is another
problem).
As for trading drink icons on facebook, I don't know. But maybe it would serve
the networking and socialising of human beings, which in turn might yield
other positive effects. Maybe Unicef could win some sponsors for rice by
giving out free drinks to people on Facebook, for example.
------
savrajsingh
Here's a question -- what percent of iPhone developers see this sort of
success? Would be interesting to know. C'mon Apple, please share the data with
us?
~~~
tc7
We may end up 'finding' the magical secret of making money in any medium; make
good stuff.
Are complete crap apps making tons of money? Probably not. I don't see the
surprise in well-made or original apps being successful.
I guess the surprise may come from the fact that this amount of success is
relatively unheard of in the mobile market. Shows that the iPhone is a new
ballgame, or at least an old ballgame prettified and brought to the masses.
Mobile sucked before, now someone's created something that doesn't, and
there's not much to compare it to.
------
geuis
Man, CNN is sooo behind the news cycle. Steve announced this like a month ago.
The private release of his Onyx platform is going into testing in a couple
days.
~~~
iigs
There are no links in the article either. (Not counting the garbage "other
news in this category" links that stay in-house)
~~~
light3
I didn't even read the article because it was on CNN, anything from CNN is sus
enough, even more so with such a hyped title.
------
josefresco
250K would pay half of one of my (arguably over-inflated) mortgages. I
wouldn't refuse money like that, but it's far from 'striking it rich' when you
factor in what people paid for homes 24 months ago.
------
zandorg
I talked to a guy who wrote a 'map' route finder for the Psion 3c in about
1996-1997. It paid his mortgage...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
WebGL Insights book - adamnemecek
http://webglinsights.com/?
======
davidwparker
Excited to read this! Looks like some good deep technical issues.
Shameless self promotion:
I have a Youtube channel where I do WebGL screencasts, as well as a myriad of
other topics. Currently up to 99 WebGL episodes, and 21 3D Math episodes.
They're a lot more low level, and if you start at the beginning, you get to
really understand each piece as it builds up over time. I find that a lot of
topics and books rely on the user/reader to check out the source code to grok
what's going on (which, often times, needs to be the case because the topic is
advanced already, and has a level of expectation that the user will do their
homework). That said, it's been nice building up over time because it's easy
to see where things come from.
Channel:
[https://www.youtube.com/iamdavidwparker](https://www.youtube.com/iamdavidwparker)
WebGL playlist:
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPqKsyEGhUnaOdIFLKvdk...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPqKsyEGhUnaOdIFLKvdkXAQWD4DoXnFl)
~~~
rymohr
Surprised to see that your profile says "limited experience working with
WebGL" when it looks like you clearly have your hands in deep.
~~~
davidwparker
Oh- that's really old. Will update, thanks!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Apple Inc, going for free within 8 years - aaronbrethorst
https://kirkburgess.wordpress.com/2016/02/01/apple-inc-going-for-free-within-8-years/
======
meric
Yes, free cash flow increases the value of the company by close to that amount
of cash every second the company makes more cash.
But don't take this article as investment advice. It is at or just after
market tops people point out things like 'company will make its value in cash
in X years' or 'it's not market timing, it's time in the market', or 'the
market is cheap on a forward earnings basis' or 'when everyone is selling,
it's time to buy'. Be very careful if you're thinking about investing in the
stock market right now. Stay away from index funds because there's a lot of
alpha in shorting the most popular stocks and buying the most hated ones,
which means betting against index funds.
Do not take this as financial advise. This comment is for entertainment
purposes only. Do your own research.
------
dontscale
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. The only question is: When?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Scroll – Search or share articles with clean view - lukastsai
https://getscroll.com
======
Gys
Seems not very legal...
I am sure this is illegal in Europe. There are strict rules for how much one
can use from another website (limited number of words plus max size one
image).
Google News complies to these rules (without adding its own ads) and still
many publishers are battling it... Google News has stopped in Spain last week
because it has to pay the publishers starting Jan 1st.
Excerpt of Terms of Service of nytimes.com (just as an example, every
publisher has something similar):
2.2 The Services and Contents are protected by copyright pursuant to U.S. and
international copyright laws. You may not modify, publish, transmit,
participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce (except as provided in
Section 2.3 of these Terms of Service), create new works from, distribute,
perform, display, or in any way exploit, any of the Content or the Services
(including software) in whole or in part.
2.3 You may download or copy the Content and other downloadable items
displayed on the Services for personal use only, provided that you maintain
all copyright and other notices contained therein. Copying or storing of any
Content for other than personal use is expressly prohibited without prior
written permission from The New York Times Rights and Permissions Department,
or the copyright holder identified in the copyright notice contained in the
Content.
~~~
lukastsai
Thank you for the direction. I'll go into more detail about it immediately.
------
lukastsai
Hi,
I just launched an online service called Scroll.
* Scroll can turn news website into a clean HTML view.
* You don't have to share a URL with fullscreen ads anymore. You can share the readable article URL by Scroll.
* You can search articles. Every link is clutter-free just before you read. Your battery will thank you.
* It's mobile optimized.
* No Sign Up required.
I would love any and all feedback. Be harsh, be helpful. I really appreciate
any help you can provide.
~~~
forlorn
I clicked on random link (
[https://getscroll.com/r/vl25i](https://getscroll.com/r/vl25i) ), got this
[http://i.imgur.com/PwpUs0y.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/PwpUs0y.jpg) (notice
formatting)
~~~
lukastsai
Thanks. I'll take a look. Would you please tell me what web browser are you
using? eg. Chrome, IE, or firefox ?
------
thomasfoster96
Firstly, copying the articles and displaying them is very likely to be
illegal, although some websites do release their content under Creative
Commons or similar licenses.
And secondly, there's two design things that bug me: 1\. The title links on
the front page are tiny (Chrome 39, Windows 7, 12 inch laptop screen), and are
very hard to read. 2\. Why is the design of the article pages so different to
that of the front page? The brown background and serif font makes it look very
1998. Keep the design consistent if possible.
------
Canada
I love it. What I'm about to say will not likely win me any popularity
contests here, but I would love to see this constantly copying all articles
from the most trafficked 10k news outlets. Then we can read and comment on
what comes out of the media without putting up with garbage like taboola. Run
it as a hidden service. Or just post your code and let someone else do it.
There is no way you will be able to run this as a business, for reasons other
commenters have discussed.
------
empressplay
Tried this article as a test, only got a portion of it:
[http://us.cnn.com/2014/12/27/world/asia/north-korea-the-
inte...](http://us.cnn.com/2014/12/27/world/asia/north-korea-the-interview-
reaction/index.html?hpt=hp_t1)
~~~
lukastsai
Thanks for the feedback. I Just figure out a possible reason and will fix
soon.
------
1971genocide
Wow ! what an amazing app.
You should make it into a chrome/firefox plugin which allows me to keep a
blacklist of sites that will be redirected from your site whenever I go to
them. ( like the economist,bbc,forbes,vice,atlantic,etc )
Again, great work !
~~~
lukastsai
Thank you for the great suggestion. Blacklist is a good idea. And we can even
build a new BBC homepage which 'optimized' for reader.
------
jpetersonmn
I also think you're going to run into legal issues with this. Certainly can't
just copy/paste whole articles on your server like that. Good luck with
everything.
~~~
lukastsai
thanks. I should researching any possible legal issue before I start building
a public product.
------
elwell
Font size is looking pretty small on landing page. Chrome / Windows
------
lfender6445
great work, very clean
~~~
lukastsai
I'm glad that you like my early stage product.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Italy mandates closing all shops but groceries - alanfranz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_UPvJOs1mE
======
alanfranz
Pharmacies and newsstands can stay open, too. Pubs and restaurants will be
closed, but home deliveries will be permitted. Factories can stay open if they
take additional prevention measures.
~~~
klez
And public transportation will keep running as well.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Copy What You Like (2006) - Jimmy
http://paulgraham.com/copy.html
======
6stringmerc
It's kind of funny to see such a profound and important lesson distilled in to
such a kitsch cross-stitch type musing. That might sound harsh but look
closely - it took Graham 10+ years of following the wrong mental path before
finally finding the right one. It's not about "copying what you like" it's
about "finding yourself first" \- and, even then, there's no guarantee self-
actualization will put food on the table or pay medical bills.
All that in context, this would make a great inscription on a whisky flask:
> _A guilty pleasure is at least a pure one._
~~~
jasode
_> It's not about "copying what you like" it's about "finding yourself first"
_
That's not what I got from the essay. PG is actually saying that a lot of
works out there are blessed by the authoritative elites as good and worthwhile
but _what you actually like and enjoy is also authoritative as well._ Rather
than get sidetracked on what others think is important, what you truly like
can be a better guide to avoid wasting time.
Therefore, the things you like may not necessarily change over the years (e.g.
always liked Harry Potter) but your _self-confidence in holding that opinion_
is now solidified (e.g. I now know that liking JKR "Harry Potter" more than
Joyce's "Ulysses" doesn't mean there's something wrong with my brain. If I
choose to write my own novel, I won't feel inadequate just because my writing
style is closer to JK Rowling rather than James Joyce.)
~~~
Jimmy
>I now know that liking Harry Potter more than Joyce's "Ulysses" doesn't mean
there's something wrong with my brain.
Oh, I do wish people wouldn't bash on Ulysses as much... there's some nonsense
in the book to sift through, yes, but there's also some truly wonderful stuff
as well. One of my favorite passages:
>"and those handsome Moors all in white and turbans like kings asking you to
sit down in their little bit of a shop and Ronda with the old windows of the
posadas 2 glancing eyes a lattice hid for her lover to kiss the iron and the
wineshops half open at night and the castanets and the night we missed the
boat at Algeciras the watchman going about serene with his lamp and O that
awful deepdown torrent O and the sea the sea crimson sometimes like fire and
the glorious sunsets and the figtrees in the Alameda gardens yes and all the
queer little streets and the pink and blue and yellow houses and the
rosegardens and the jessamine and geraniums and cactuses and Gibraltar as a
girl where I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair
like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me
under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I
asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to
say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him
down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going
like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes."
The novel's moments of beauty are worth working for, I think.
But you're still entitled to your opinion. :)
~~~
euyyn
Is this for real? The guy didn't grace the world with punctuation?
~~~
Jimmy
The final chapter is a lengthy stream-of-consciousness with almost no
punctuation. Other parts of the novel are structured more traditionally.
------
emtel
It's kind of sad that PG couldn't get anything more than that out of the short
stories he read in high school english. Sure, a lot of them are forgettable,
but if I think think of the stories I read that stuck with me, they all had a
heck of a lot more going on than just being a random slice of mundane
unhappiness. A few that really stuck with me: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
(James Thurber), The Open Boat (Stephen Crane), The Long Sheet (William
Sansom). If PG couldn't find anything funny, gripping, or worthwhile in
stories like these, well, his loss.
It wouldn't even be worth making this comment, except that PG seems to
consider himself some sort of authority on writing
([http://www.paulgraham.com/talk.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/talk.html)) -
and for him, the one and only rule of style seems to be simplicity. I'll
agree, simple beats overwrought, but c'mon. Great writers have a style that
makes you _want_ to copy it, which is something that PG doesn't seem aware of
even as an aspiration.
~~~
hashhar
I agree with you. I have been reading Stephen King's "The Body" which is a
short story/novella and there he describes the journey of 4 friends to see a
dead body somewhere in the middle of the desert out of town. There's a section
where the kids are walking on a railway bridge and a train comes up and they
have nowhere to go but to jump to a 50 feet drop into a river. That scene is
so beautifully written that I could feel myself watching the events right in
front of me.
He also talks about how his feelings towards storytelling changed after he
started doing it as his primary income source instead of a hobby he had during
childhood. Very interesting stuff.
~~~
lemonberry
A movie was made 1986 based on this called "Stand by Me". It was a favorite
when I was young. River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Wil Wheaton are in it. It
may seem dated and shallow compared to the story, but it's worth watching.
------
pascalxus
I happen to agree with him on this post. And, although it's excellent advice,
you have to understand, its not a popular view point, and that by taking this
advice to heart, you'll deviate significantly from social norms. The vast
majority of people value "impressive" things as he's defined them and won't
put up with your Objective analysis of what's good.
Case in point, They'll sneer and look down upon you for buying the 10$ jeans
(that are the same or better quality as 100$ jeans!), or a refurbished 2 year
old 150$ android phone, that works perfectly and has everything you could ever
need. They'll hate on you for buying 2nd hand excellent products at low
prices. I could care less what they think, but nevertheless, it still impacts
how they interact with you.
~~~
taurath
Which is funny, because being extremely frugal/minimalist in some circles I
know is seen as a status booster. But again, don't worry, there'll always be
some group that holds up your values. Just keep making sure that you're still
actually into it and not just trying to hold onto the group.
~~~
bittercynic
I think the values of the groups you're a member of influence your values, and
that's not necessarily a bad thing. A well-adjusted adult probably has to have
many values that they don't compromise on, but also many where there is some
flexibility, and where continuing good standing within the group is more
valuable that clinging to a value that conflicts with the group.
------
scandox
Assuming intellectual dishonesty across a whole group of people or discipline
is a mistake. Most things are bad but this approach actually blinds you to
what is good within the bad and it sets your views in stone and prevents
development.
------
notadoc
Fair advice. You see this frequently with art, startups, technology, and
business in general.
Reminds me of a quote told to me by a very successful entrepreneur: "The best
idea I ever had was someone else's"
------
dredmorbius
Bad advice.
At the very best, grosssly incomplete and misleading.
After rejecting what _other_ people like, the best pg can come up with is ...
to follow what _you_ like. That's an equally fraught heuristic, though it may
be more avaialble for observation and examination.
Realise that what works _does so regardless of appeal_. But that there's a
great deal which has (near-term) appeal which doesn't work (long-term).
Sometimes it's a false start, sometimes it's a fad, sometimes it's cargo-
culting, sometimes it's an establishment of common ground which facilitates
communication or understanding but not _effectiveness_.
I'd suggest instead:
Look at what is being practiced, and ask _why_?
In the case of the short story: the history of literacy, amusement,
entertainment, postal delivery, publishing and printing technology,
advertising, bundling concepts, and the lack of subsequent alternatives
(radio, television), increased literacy, and free time, made the short story a
popular format. Different dynamics brought forth the radio serial, soap operas
(first on radio, then television, now the White House), sit-coms, movie
serials, blockbuster movies, space operas, and comic-book franchise preboot
requels.
Funding environments can create entire classes of research or application --
surveillance capitalism, AI, national security, moon shots, abstract art
COINTELPRO.
I'm the last space alien cat to ask what you should do that leads to _success_
, though my own heuristic has been to look for fundamental questions, ask a
lot of _why_ , and question premises. Going back to roots and history can make
a lot of foundations look far less firm. There may or may not be opportunity
there.
I'd also focus very hard on being lucky.
------
voidhorse
Interesting. PG provides a thought provoking opinion, and he's a fine writer.
However, I think this idea is a bit naive.
Sure, maybe he came to realize depressing, moody short stories weren't his
thing, but I damn near guarantee his imitation of said stories was crucial to
his learning how to write half-way decently. The vast majority of philosophers
are not good writers. A few stand out as fine men of letters, Nietzsche,
Schopenhauer, Cioran, and some others, but the vast majority of them are more
concerned with the clear step-wise elucidation of an argument which, while
important, rarely leads to an enjoyable or noteworthy result in the domain of
literary style and is frequently bland and dry. There is some special
enjoyment one derives out of the works of the like of Russell and Frege, but
it relates to the crystalline nature of their ideas, not the genius of their
literary style.
Take for instance the rhetorical technique Paul utilizes in the first graph--
the repetitions of Mistake n. x. Mistake n. x. Mistake n. x...etc. That sort
of structure, and indeed the casual tone, is pretty rare in academic
philosophy, and in academic computer science. Where is it more common? In the
efforts of short story writers, informal essayists and other such literary
folk.
I do agree that its natural to imitate what you like, and beneficial, but
there's something to be said for imitating things you are averse to as well--
they present more of a challenge because you have to _overcome_ your natural
dislike for the thing and _really_ evaluate it--you have to question your own
opinion of it, have to see if you can uncover any diamonds in the muck, have
to see if, even if you dislike it, you have the chops to pull it off. In
short, you _grow_ as a person. Sure, the same thing happens when you make an
easy picnic of your studies and imitations, but its silly to discount the
value of forcing yourself to engage with views opposite your own, or things
you are naturally disinclined toward.
I think Paul makes the mistake of assuming his conclusion in this essay before
reaching it. He seems to have decided that none of his history copying these
things he didn't like was valuable from the start, when, if he reflected a bit
more, I'm sure he'd be able to find that, in fact, those were important links
in the chain in some sense, and not total wastes of time.
That being said, he is correct that we need to determine value for ourselves
and to come up with our own metrics and schemes of judgement. However, there
is still value in the old pantheon--in the recommendations of all the men who
walked before us, in all those stuffy critics and analysts babblings. After
all, giants are giant for a _reason_. While it's important, as Paul says, to
get over blindly accepting as good or special what everyone else considers
good or special, it's just as important to be able to understand _why_ these
things are considered special in a particular domain. You have to learn your
own predilections--but you also have to learn the rules, the history, the
techniques, and the value scales coupled with a field of art--the master is he
who can bridge the two, he who engages in tradition while changing it, he who
plays by the rules while making his own.
~~~
Jimmy
>The vast majority of philosophers are not good writers.
I never understood this claim. I have to assume that people are letting their
judgement of the content affect the judgement of the writing style. Plenty of
canonical philosophers were absolutely beautiful writers - Plato, Hume,
Nietzsche. Modern analytic philosophers are almost fanatical in their
adherence to simple, straightforward language. The result might not be
beautiful, but I certainly don't think you can call it "bad" either. Some
philosophers may be bad writers (Hegel is a pain), but on the whole they seem
to be mostly good writers. It's all that they do, after all.
>After all, giants are giant for a reason.
Well... are they? All of them? I think you can make this claim with a good
deal of confidence about math and science, because we have a pretty strict set
of rules for evaluating good and bad work. But do you really think that
everyone in the artistic canon has a good reason to be there? What about all
the still-living artists who have only recently been "canonized" via a flurry
of academic attention (writers like DeLillo and Pynchon would be good
examples). Are we confident that we'll still be talking about those guys 200
years from now? If not, how far back in time do we have to go before we can
confidently say, "these giants have a reason to be giants?"
I'm not endorsing pure aesthetic relativism, nor am I saying that _none_ of
the canonical artists deserve to be there. I'm just saying that I've never
heard a convincing explanation of why the canon is a good judge of, well,
anything.
~~~
voidhorse
The three philosophers you cite are among those commonly cited as good
writers! I cited Nietzsche myself above. I suppose it depends on how you
define 'good' writing. In the case of literary style I think for most people
it boils down to there being some amount of creativity and play on the level
of language itself (i.e. see Nietzsche) which is disconnected from the
content. e.g. I'm sure Bertrand Russell was capable of comprehending
Nietzsche's ideas(though the actual Russell never would have) and could just
as easily have written a treatise on eternal recurrence or the history of
morality as Nietzsche conceived of it. Point is, Russell's rendering of these
ideas would have been _entirely_ different, even though they are employing the
same medium of communication. Another person could very well have formulated
the same ideas as Nietzsche, but probably wouldn't have conveyed them with as
much creativity and grace. There's writing that shines as writing and there's
writing that is in service to some goal, i.e. the clear work of modern
analytic philosophers--they'd hardly gain any attention for literary ingenuity
or clever turns of phrase, but you are correct that if our judgement is based
solely on the effectiveness of the communication of the idea, they are in fact
quite fine writers. And actually, in this sense Nietzsche would be pretty
poor, because as Analemma mentioned his loose play with metaphor, while
incredibly delicious on the level of style, does not communicate very well, if
the idea is that a 'good' piece of communication delivers a single idea all
the consumers of that communication can agree upon.
So perhaps I'd revise the claim to something like, most philosophers are not
good _stylists_ (that is, they don't frequently engage in play at the level of
language, as a skilled poet or essayist might)
As to your second point yes. There is always a reason. You can question that
reason--i.e. you may think the reason is simply that academics were bored and
decided to laud the first sap whose writing they came across that day--but
this is a pretty absurd claim. You'd essentially be stating that a whole
domain of tradition, practice, and procedure which organically grows and
evolves, and I might add, in almost logical progressions at times, was ousted
by the whims of one foppish professor who gamed everyone into liking something
he liked simply because he liked it and was impassioned enough about it. When
you plunge into a field of art, technique is often the criterion and leveling
factor. For instance, you say you have never heard a convincing argument as to
why Pynchon would be considered worthy of canon status--well, I'm not going to
be so absurd as to claim he'll still be there in 200 years, but if you have
knowledge of literary craft the reasons why he's there now are pretty clear--
his maximalism is both well crafted and unique and his style is a turn away
from the still dominant style of american literature (Hemmingway based
minimalism) which is positively refreshing (the same could be said for DFW,
who was consciously, I believe, rejecting the minimalistc style--I recall he
wanted to move away from his maximalism too around the time of his unfortunate
death). It's because he utilizes traditional structures and devices in a
unique way--but in a way that is importantly _still comprehensible_ under the
lens of this tradition. Take for example the dawn of the unreliable narrator--
it utilized a familiar technique in the field of literature, namely the
narrator, and modified it in such a way as to generate interest--as to who
gets the credit for such developments--well, it probably comes down to luck
and knowing the right people. Yes, all these aesthetic considerations are
ultimately conventional and wispy--as all human values tend to be--but they
nonetheless obtain, and traditions develop, evolve, die, or persist. There are
indeed plenty of 'rules' when it comes to art forms--that is how, at the most
basic level, for instance, I know that something is a painting and not a piece
of music--the medium and form follow particular restrictions (and then we have
great fun blending and challenging these notions).
That's why any critic worth his salt often delves into art history, the
artists personal development over a series of works, and analysis of form and
technique over simple and baseless value judgement. I may wretch at every
Jackson Pollock piece I come across, but if I am educated in the discipline of
painting, its history, and its techniques, I can understand where his pieces
_fit_ into the narrative of painting history, what they challenge, what they
change, and ultimately how unique his forms are and what they communicate
within this context. If I dislike it, if I find it shouldn't be considered art
--well I have to argue it from _this_ perspective, from within the _game_ of
homo sapiens art history. This is why anyone who makes a snap judgement
against such artistic efforts and says things like "anyone could do that, it's
not art" always comes off sounding dumb and uncultured--they are treating the
work entirely out of context and clearly lack an appreciation for the _medium_
as a whole--unless of course they provide _reasons_ which leverage knowledge
of this medium.
At root our aesthetic explanations and investigations ultimately boil down to
our base value judgements of simply "I like this thing or don't"\--but
artistic forms exist because there are elements of these traditions a large
number of people can generally agree they appreciate, can describe with a
common language, and can critique in comparative ways.
Thus the cannon isn't a good judge of anything other than what your precursors
believed should be appreciated. It's essentially the historical development of
a shared value judgement, or a shared human prejudice. So of course you can
repudiate the whole thing. But at that point you are no longer even _engaging_
in that art form--or at best you are engaging with blinders on, and any
aesthetic mastery you manage to pull off is largely lucky and unconscious. You
are starting from a different base. you are playing your own game. Thus you
shouldn't be too upset when other people don't appreciate what you do, or your
work isn't considered interesting. You're not even speaking their language.
It's funny to compare different advice on reading material in this context.
Faulkner suggested you ought to read everything. Schopenhauer suggested bad
books ought to be avoided like poison--the old garbage in garbage out
principle. Both work, but if you _forget_ your contexts and say, suggest to a
film critic that the marvel movies rival Citzen Kane, they won't even begin to
agree unless you layout a sophisticated argument that appeals to the criterion
generally recognized by adherents to the art form, elements of cinematography,
the quality of the script, etc. etc...
Wittgenstein's notion of language games, I think, is very informative when
applied to the realm of aesthetics.
Sorry for the lengthy reply. You got me on a role. Good stuff.
~~~
Jimmy
>You'd essentially be stating that a whole domain of tradition, practice, and
procedure which organically grows and evolves, and I might add, in almost
logical progressions at times, was ousted by the whims of one foppish
professor who gamed everyone into liking something he liked simply because he
liked it and was impassioned enough about it.
I mean, take this argument and apply it to something like theology. "Are you
_really_ going to say that an entire tradition, one which has produced
innumerable great thinkers and has proceeded on a logical progression towards
truth, is entirely mistaken in its most fundamental assumptions?" It turns out
that, yeah, I would say that. Sometimes people make mistake. Sometimes lots of
people make lots of mistakes and the mistakes go on for thousands of years.
>For instance, you say you have never heard a convincing argument as to why
Pynchon would be considered worthy of canon status--well, I'm not going to be
so absurd as to claim he'll still be there in 200 years, but if you have
knowledge of literary craft the reasons why he's there now are pretty clear--
his maximalism is both well crafted and unique and his style is a turn away
from the still dominant style of american literature (Hemmingway based
minimalism) which is positively refreshing
But this is exactly the issue. _What_ does it mean for writing to be "well
crafted", what does it mean for writing to be "positively refreshing"? If we
can't give rigorous, verifiable definitions for these concepts, then we're
just saying "he's good because he's good".
>It's because he utilizes traditional structures and devices in a unique way
Originality has at least the hope of being a more objective metric, although
originality is clearly a very slippery concept. If I take a famous novel and
change one word, the result may be a work that has never existed before, but
that's not originality. If I use a computer to generate a completely random
image, then again, that image may have never existed before, but that's not
originality. So it's very hard to define. But I at least see the hope of a
project there.
>I can understand where his pieces fit into the narrative of painting history,
what they challenge, what they change, and ultimately how unique his forms are
and what they communicate within this context. If I dislike it, if I find it
shouldn't be considered art--well I have to argue it from this perspective,
from within the game of homo sapiens art history.
I can certainly appreciate and enjoy playing games, since some games are very
beautiful. But this "game", the game of "make an original contribution to art
history and get academics to talk about it", seems to have no rules! What good
is a game if no one can tell you the rules? The judges of the game can gesture
towards criteria like "originality" that might conceivably give you some
guidelines on how to play, but no one can definitively prove that one person
deserved to win and another didn't.
>artistic forms exist because there are elements of these traditions a large
number of people can generally agree they appreciate
Yes, I agree. But if we tried to submit the works of the canon to an analysis
of this kind, to see how many of them contain "artistic forms that people
agree they can appreciate", how many of them would survive? Some would, I'm
sure. I think Shakespeare and Homer, for example, are still legitimately
appealing to people today, if they can work past the archaic language. But
exactly how many works of the canon would survive this analysis? Does
Schoenburg's music have "forms that people agree they can appreciate"? If not,
then what does that say about the validity of Schoenburg's status as a great
canonical composer? (I happen to enjoy a lot of Schoenburg's music, but I
don't think someone is stupid if they don't).
>Thus the cannon isn't a good judge of anything other than what your
precursors believed should be appreciated.
All that effort, and this is the conclusion we're left with!
>It's essentially the historical development of a shared value judgement, or a
shared human prejudice. So of course you can repudiate the whole thing. But at
that point you are no longer even engaging in that art form--or at best you
are engaging with blinders on, and any aesthetic mastery you manage to pull
off is largely lucky and unconscious. You are starting from a different base.
you are playing your own game. Thus you shouldn't be too upset when other
people don't appreciate what you do, or your work isn't considered
interesting. You're not even speaking their language.
Ok, this is a really interesting paragraph. You say it's the development of a
"shared value judgement", but who, exactly, shares this value judgement? We
have, on the one hand, a comparatively small community of academics who share
the value judgement that Proust and Melville are wonderfully nourishing
authors who deserve to be read again and again by new generations, and on the
other hand, we have hundreds of millions of people who would just as soon
throw Proust and Melville in the trash so they could go watch the latest
Marvel movie or listen to the newest Justin Bieber song. Taking your comment
about the "historical development of value judgement" seriously, what can we
say by looking at this concrete historical moment? What can we say about what
that value judgement has become? What authority can the university canon
possibly have in the face of this sheer numerical onslaught? You say that "you
shouldn't be too upset when other people don't appreciate what you do, or your
work isn't considered interesting. You're not even speaking their language,"
but who exactly are the artists who are being appreciated these days? Who is
speaking the language that most people find congenial? It's certainly not the
academics or the purveyors of "high culture", the defenders of the "artistic
tradition". MoMA exhibits of great theoretical sophistication are laughed at
while Jay-Z packs stadiums. Your warning applies much more to all those who
would play that slippery, ephemeral game known as "art history", rather than
those who would simply "copy what they like".
All that being said, I do think the notion of a "canon" could be saved, but it
has to be grounded in genuine, verifiable scholarship. With Shakespeare, for
example, we could do research on his influence on the English language, his
influence on other artists, his continuing popular appeal, etc, and come to
the conclusion that his plays constitute a major accomplishment. But this game
of "aesthetic criticism", or declaring this or that work to be beautiful or
enlightening or whatever, that doesn't need to be done in universities. People
can do that on their own time. Like I said above, a game where you can't even
know the rules can't hold your attention for very long. You're better off
playing Go or doing math. At least there you can know that you're winning.
~~~
voidhorse
Great stuff Jimmy. I appreciate your response, and your willingness to address
the lengthy post--most would give up! You've clearly got an intellect.
I know before you said you weren't totally advocating aesthetic relativism,
but I think you should go ahead and take the plunge! I think you're most of
the way there, and why not commit to the position? Why not elucidate it?
Examine it, explore it? I think you'd be a fine proponent.
Anyway, I'd love to continue this discussion, but I don't want to clog the
thread here since we are getting a bit far away from PGs essay at this point--
my email is in my profile. Shoot me one if you're interested. Otherwise, you
can be certain I'll be mulling over your reply for the next few days.
------
omginternets
Part of me agrees with this, but another part says "this is the best way to
avoid discovering anything new and profound".
I've often read things I haven't enjoyed (or even understood) until much
later.
------
samirillian
> It was so clearly a choice of doing good work xor being an insider that I
> was forced to see the distinction.
Not sure I get this. Doing good work would seem to go along with being an
outsider in a corrupt economy.
~~~
fenwick67
XOR meaning exclusively one or the other. He's saying it was apparent that if
you're an insider, you won't do good work. And if you're doing good work,
you're not an insider.
~~~
omilu
I didn't get this either even though I understand XOR. I get it now.
------
EGreg
I don't trust the authorities on HN for what's a good comment.
I am going to type something amazing that might get me downvoted.
Vive la difference!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
America’s Need for Skilled Immigrants Isn’t Going Away - petethomas
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-10-24/america-s-need-for-skilled-immigrants-isn-t-going-away?srnd=premium
======
firedrakerage
I do not typically post, but these suggestions seem like genuine improvements
to the existing system:
"Kerr suggests allocating H-1Bs not by lottery as they are now, but by salary
— the more that a company is willing to pay for a foreign worker, the quicker
they can get a visa."
"A second change would be to allow H-1B workers to apply for permanent
residency green cards on their own, without having to be sponsored by their
employers."
Both of these would ensure that we can get smart and talented individuals from
outside the US and would drastically improve the ability for the US to compete
while continuing to provide broad-based wage increases.
~~~
bduerst
The problem is that pay isn't uniform across skilled labor demand, and the
purpose of the H1B program is to fulfill demand in the economy.
If you set a quota and give to the highest bidder, you're going to see private
sector executives and financial roles being filled in cities with high costs
of living and competitive wages. Salary is a function not only of demand but
also location and industry.
This will discriminate against rural and middle America by depriving them of
the skilled labor that they need to survive.
~~~
ivl
> This will deprive rural and middle America on the skilled labor that they
> need to survive.
That's kind of already happened. Since the recession almost all new jobs
created were in cities and metro areas, and mostly to educated workers.
Rural and middle America have this problem all on their own: skilled labor
does not want to live in rural and middle America. Especially young skilled
workers. There's even the concept of rural brain drain, as the top 5 % are
sure to leave right after they're done high school.
~~~
zjaffee
> skilled labor does not want to live in rural and middle America.
I'm unsure about this, and think it's kind of a chicken and the egg problem. I
know tons of people who are from the midwest that would prefer to be there,
but tend to flock to the coast simply because it's hard to find as rigorous of
a professional environment back home.
~~~
ivl
It's not a chicken and egg problem. Cities are much more efficient for labor
and companies. You have a larger pool of talent, a larger pool of freshly
educated replacements for those who retire or leave, and often more services
available for said talent.
Edit: Now that I'm thinking about it a little more I can maybe sympathize a
_little_ bit. I prefer to live in rural areas in some ways due to my hobbies,
but I'm never going to as the economics of a tech company, or even a company
that needs skilled, educated workers makes no sense in rural areas. So there's
something to the want vs. choice angle, but what one fantasizes about has
little to do with economic realities. Plenty of people want high paying low
skilled manufacturing jobs to be a thing again, that doesn't mean it's
realistically going to happen.
~~~
iguy
Another factor is the 2-body problem. If most of the workers are looking for a
city with enough jobs for two different careers, then that's where employers
will need to be to hire them.
------
tabtab
The H-1B topic strikes a personal tone with me. After the dot-com crash in the
early 2000's, IT jobs in California were hard to come by. I almost got one
job, but the company decided to go with an H-1B worker instead. I had a new
young family, but had to go out of state to find work, leaving my family
behind.
I'm NOT summarily against H-1B's but wish to insist they be used ONLY to fill
in true skill shortages instead of those manufactured via job ad word-
smithing.
~~~
kevin_thibedeau
> I almost got one job, but the company decided to go with an H-1B worker
> instead.
This scenario is explicitly forbidden by the provisions of the visa program
and it is illegal to select a guest worker in preference to a domestic
candidate. That is why there is a public notification requirement for all jobs
open to guest workers. Obviously all it takes is one minor reason to deem you
unqualified. The Disney IT incident shows that there are no consequences for
abusing American employees.
~~~
JoeAltmaier
They can go get hired elsewhere I suppose. Does it rise to 'abuse'? Who is
entitled to a particular job anyway?
~~~
leereeves
Who is "entitled" to work in America is defined by the law, which disallows
replacing American workers with H1B recipients.
Are you suggesting that everyone in the world should have the right to live
and work in America?
------
nimbius
Theres a ton of talk about skilled immigrants and the american education
system, and as a blue-collar automotive mechanic, I have no problem with
immigrant doctors and engineers. Where I see the real problem is _unskilled_
immigrants.
Take for example a job posting I had up for more than 3 months. I needed a
solid mid-level mechanic. oil/air/tires/suspension and electrical a plus. I
dont want my apprentices doing this work because theyre learning to do
manifold rebuilds and such. And i dont want my old timers doing it because it
will cost a fortune and i need them on harder problems.
So for weeks on end, I get at least 3 interviews a day from grossly
unqualified immigrants. Why immigrants? nobody wants a kid who grows up to be
a successful mechanic i guess. Everyone "goes to college" now. just ask my
alignment tech with a masters in english.
\- Ive had a slew of random tourists from europe backpacking around in the US
who want a job, and cant seem to understand the gravity of a visa violation.
They all want three times what I'm paying and health insurance.
\- Ive got college drop-outs from china, russia, you name it, who either blew
through all their money or were never qualified for college in the first
place, and need something to keep afloat while they fake college.
\- and finally, perhaps most controversially, I have central and south
americans. Theyre either trapped here because of american immigration policy,
or theyre fresh off the boat with a slip of paper written by a friend
dictating what they will work for in cash. Most of them speak about 8 words of
english. They are radioactive as far as im concerned; you would be insane to
hire them.
We're always going to need doctors and engineers. not everyone grows up to be
a rocket scientist, and thats okay. But im frustrated at how Americans have
turned trade jobs (plumbing, auto work, electricians, linemen, pipefitters,
etc...) into some kind of field that no kid can ever enter lest they be
disowned.
__update __: I should clarify. These applicants are upset they must wait 90
days for benefits. we do provide health /dental/401k, just not on day one.
~~~
toomanybeersies
So you're complaining about unskilled immigrants applying for your job
opening, and apart from being unqualified for the job, they apparently can't
even legally work in the USA anyway.
What about if you had skilled immigrants applying for the job? Say, some
qualified mechanics, whether from Germany or China or Mexico?
The problem with America's immigration system (from an outsiders perspective)
is that skilled immigration visas (i.e. H1B) are only worthwhile for high
skill white collar jobs, and in particular for larger companies who can be
bothered with the visa lottery.
I see no reason why skilled immigration for lower paying, but still skilled
jobs, like auto mechanics shouldn't be possible. In most developed countries,
they run a points system. If you want to move here to Australia and become an
electrician or any other high demand job, it's relatively easy as long as you
have a qualification, good health, and can speak English, and I think that's
the way it should be. Obviously long term you should be trying to train more
mechanics, but that's a 5-10 year process, and doesn't fix the problem that
you're facing right now with a lack of mechanics.
It sounds like you have a bigger problem than simply a lack of qualified
candidates. Do you have any unqualified Americans applying for your job? How
little are you offering that European backpackers (who in my experience will
work for a pittance) are asking three times what you're offering?
~~~
ryandrake
> Do you have any unqualified Americans applying for your job? How little are
> you offering that European backpackers (who in my experience will work for a
> pittance) are asking three times what you're offering?
Bingo. I think you nailed OP’s problem right there. If you’re offering to pay
in bananas, don’t be surprised when you get a line of monkeys out your door.
------
calvinbhai
I agree with what Kerr is suggesting. It makes a lot of sense.
I also agree with a many Americans who are anti-H1b that it suppresses wages,
hence makes it attractive to higher foreign workers, quite often for jobs that
are not truly state of the art, but do require the technical know how.
This is why it makes sense for the H1-B to be a highest paid gets first kind
of a visa. That way there's a strong incentive to not hire lowest paid
employees.
In fact, I think a better way would be to give two 3-year temporary green
cards. if at the end of 6th year if the person still has job, it becomes a
permanent job. This removes any control that an employer has to depress the
wages, and be fair to the American as well as immigrant labour. Such a system
can be made available to at least the undergrad/grad/doctoral degree holders
from the US universities.
By limiting the immigrant talent, US has already ensure China is taking a huge
leap in terms of tech advances. India will figure out how to make the leap
soon.
All the while, Canada is making the most of USA's anti high skilled immigrant
situation, but inviting them in droves. We'll see a different Canada in the
next 5-10 years, mainly due to the huge number of tech immigrants (of Chinese
or Indian origin) moving to Canada.
~~~
httpz
Though it should be divided by industry. Otherwise, highly paid software
engineers will take all the visas and other industries will struggle to match
the salary required get a visa. How to divide industry is a very messy
business though. Some of our immigration laws divide by industry and those
were written 30 years ago. A lot of jobs we hire now didn't exist 30 years
ago.
~~~
drankula3
So what? Wouldn't that just make wages rise in those other industries, pushing
more Americans into those apparently underserved fields?
------
petermcneeley
I think Eric Weinstein covers this question in a relatively academic way in
his article:
[https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/how-why-
gove...](https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/how-why-government-
universities-industry-create-domestic-labor-shortages-of-scientists-high-tech-
workers)
"During the late 1990s I became convinced that in order to orchestrate lower
wages for scientists, there would have to have been a competent economic study
done to guide the curious policy choices that had resulted in the flooded
market for STEM PhDs."
------
Kephael
The supply of technical workers is artificially limited by Leetcode style
interviews. There doesn't seem to be an actual supply side limitation,
especially not at the entry level.
~~~
mohaine
Maybe on the west coast but here in the Midwest we often have issues finding
candidates that can write fizzbuz.
We recently had a candidate who's main language was python but failed to even
run his code on the command line. Saddly this isnt overly rare.
~~~
max76
I use to work in the midwest before moving to the west coast.
We had a guy come in for a programming interview. He claimed to have 3 years
experience with a programming language we commonly use. We gave him a simple
challenge (connect to a database using a database connector, read some fields
and update another field based on data from the read fields). We told him it's
fine to use google, and left him alone for four hours with a computer.
He asked to expand his interview time at the end of the four hours, we grant
him an additional two hours. At the end he didn't have code that compiled,
much less connected to the database.
This story is not atypical from my experience.
~~~
amrx431
First I thought thats not straightforward to make a DB update because you
know, not everything is loaded into our brains working memory like which
package to use, exact syntax etc etc. But then I read that you guys gave 4
hours + Google and I am shocked. BTW are you hiring :)
------
ALittleLight
My intuition is that H1B and similar programs hurt my personal compensation as
a domestic provider of skilled labor. My reasoning is that less supply of
skilled labor should result in increased cost - which gets paid to me.
I understand it's better for the companies and perhaps the economy as a whole
to import labor, but it seems worse for me. Is there research on this subject
or something I'm missing?
~~~
landryraccoon
This intuition only holds as long as you believe there is zero chance of new
large competitors arising in other countries.
If protectionism causes a rival to Google to be viable in other countries,
that could hurt your salary prospects back home quite a bit.
~~~
ALittleLight
It seems like the current model, which is import large numbers of software
related folks to the US, hurts competition. What I mean by this is that
Amazon, Google, etc have a few core businesses that are monopolies (search,
online retail, etc) and many ancillary endeavors. Most software people don't
work in the core business. If so many software people weren't imported to
extend US software giants then some of those people would stay home and
develop regional competitors. This would be bad for the company I work for,
but for customers it would be good, for foreign software developers who could
stay home AND work in a successful domestic company it would be good, and for
me it would be good - I'd be paid more.
------
slothtrop
Hire graduates and train them, problem solved. Cheap immigrant labor is a case
of employers having their cake and eating it too.
The vast majority of these jobs aren't that challenging, hence the immigrants.
They're mostly looking for monkeys, not 10x devs.
~~~
jws
This doesn't work for widely usable skills with a mobile workforce. Consider…
Company A hires a worker and invests in training them, then before they can
get their value back out of the education the worker changes to a higher
paying job at Company B which doesn't have the training expenses to recoup.
Our example worker and Company B are both making their best possible rational
decisions.
There are solutions to making this work:
• It could be unlawful for the worker to use their skills, paid for by Company
A, with another company until they had 'paid off' their training. Effective
non-competes based on skills. Not a PR win for Company A. Also, you never want
a judge to cite the Emancipation Proclamation to you in court.
• Company A could train a worker and have the worker incur unavoidable debt so
that should they switch companies Company A will still be reimbursed for their
training costs. This combines student loans with for profit workplace
training. The conflicts of interest are huge and the optics are horrible for
Company A. Again, you don't want a judge to say "indentured servant" to you in
court.
• The worker could independently train themselves in something they feel might
be advantageous in the work place, incurring any costs themselves in the hope
of recouping that investment. This is the usual method in the US, there are
some problems with workers making bad investments and incurring lifelong
financial burdens.
• Both Company A and Company B could shoulder the cost of training/educating
workers and have access to the resulting workers. This is known as taxation
and state sponsored education. Workers still may make bad decisions in their
training selections.
This is the paragraph where I espouse the best way to move forward. I've got
nothing. I like the fourth one, but when you add in educational institutions
with their own interests and some desire to steer the educational funding to
studies which are in demand it gets very complicated.
~~~
ryandrake
Company A could simply pay the (now more qualified) worker a higher wage to
remove the motivation to move to company B.
------
NTDF9
My god! The amount of discussion here is nuts. Skilled immigration is already
a settled case. Just look at how Canada and Australia does it.
America has the whole idea of skilled temporary immigration completely
backwards. You want the equivalent of Ivy leaguers from other countries but
want to treat them like slaves with a ton of documentation and constant fear
of deportation?
That is not a life Ivy-League level folks of any country want to live. Just
look at other developed countries. America has really not kept pace.
~~~
gnulinux
Even worse, you study in a true Ivy League in the US, be successful, work for
years, but still be treated like a slave with tons of bureaucracy. I'm not
trying to be an asshole, and I understand I'm somewhat of an "outsider"
because I'm not a citizen, so I don't have the same rights, but having lived
in the US for years and learned everything technical I know here, it's really
harsh that my existence here is debated every other week. Understandable but
depressing.
------
malandrew
One thing that is incorrect here is how the Republican position on immigration
is portrayed. They want comprehensive immigration reform that specifically
allows skilled immigrants to come to the US, do away with the lottery system
and eliminate exemptions for those that broke immigration laws. Basically,
most Republicans would prefer a system that is more like Canada's or
Switzerland's, where you need to earn your way in.
Here's one site that better explains the Republican position:
[https://www.republicanviews.org/republican-views-on-
immigrat...](https://www.republicanviews.org/republican-views-on-immigration/)
"Republicans believe that family and skill should be prioritized when granting
citizenship to those who go through the proper legal channels to enter the
country. Priority should be given to children and spouses of immigrants that
are already legally in the country. They believe the government should
emphasize the skills that our economy needs most when determining eligibility,
and that the Labor Certification Program should be overhauled. These two
measures together would help match qualified workers with work that is in
urgent need of filling positions in the country. Despite accusations of being
anti-immigration, Republicans do understand the value that immigrants bring to
this country, when entering via legal methods. In the Republican Platform
adopted at the 2000 GOP convention, the Republican Party declared that it
supports increasing the number of H-1B visas, to ensure that high-tech workers
are provided to specialized positions, as well as expanding the H-2A program
for temporary agricultural workers."
~~~
ojbyrne
That page references John Boehner and Mitt Romney, who don’t have any
influence in Republican policy anymore.
The current administration has repeatedly demonstrated their antipathy to
legal immigration.
~~~
jki275
Cite please.
The current administration has never done anything to show antipathy to legal
immigration, the first lady is a legal immigrant as are her parents.
~~~
georgeburdell
"Muslim ban" affected the ability for Iranians to immigrate. All of the top
engineering/science schools in the U.S. lost an entire cohort of Iranian
students this past year.
~~~
jki275
First, there was no "muslim ban", and second the list of countries affected
had been defined already by Congress years previous, not the President or the
current administration.
Also school visas are not immigrant visas if one wants to be pedantic about
it.
~~~
spiznnx
There is an Iran ban, call it whatever you like.
The existence of a list at a certain point in time doesn't mean anything if
the current administration is the one that uses it in a policy it created
itself.
School visas are the foot in the door for young scientists and engineers to
employment in the US.
~~~
jki275
They restricted immigration from countries who posed a threat. That threat was
defined previously.
You're being disingenuous in claiming it was motivated by religion. You're
incorrect in stating it restricted legal immigration. It stopped immigration
by countries deemed a threat to the security of the US by Congress and the
previous administration.
~~~
freeone3000
Oh, come on, there was a given number of legal immigrants and now there are
fewer because of a change in government policies, that's a restriction on
legal immigration. You're arguing it's justified, but stating it didn't reduce
legal immigration is simply incorrect. Because it did.
I also don't think it's disingenuous in stating it was motivated by religion
when the circuit court for Hawaii declared it was and 4 members of the supreme
court agreed.
~~~
shaklee3
Can you provide a source for that? I tried finding information showing a
decrease in legal immigration, but couldn't find any statistics that were
current.
------
colechristensen
Immigration is a complex topic.
Putting all other issues aside positive and negative, if you turned off the
foreign immigration tap, the people in power (corporations) would be screaming
at Washington to fix American education system so they could actually find
qualified candidates. In that would be a lot of value.
------
jorblumesea
The biggest problem with the H1B visa system is that it's mainly an
outsourcing tool. Cognizant, Infosys etc are just offshoring companies and
spam the system. The really talented engineers go to the FANGs but these
represent a small proportion of visas used.
------
let_var
I support a point-based H1B and Green Card system allowing individuals to
apply for their own green card. Salary should take precedence over lottery any
day. Someone mentioned about making it industry specific, but that's just
opening a loophole. Something like this might improve domestic salaries across
sectors.
------
thedaemon
We could recover from needing skilled immigrants if we would educate our
population for free like most of the world. We still only allow rich or lucky
people to receive high level educations. How can we complain about skilled
labor when we make no effort to create said skilled laborers?
~~~
merpnderp
Why would you think only rich or lucky people can go to college in the US?
With grants and student loans pretty much anyone can go to college that wants
to. And at my local state university, where tuition is a mere $5k/year, lower
income kids make up over 90% of the student body.
Yet my area has a gross shortage of skilled trade labor. Want an electrician,
prepare to wait 6 months. Need concrete poured at your house? Zero chance of
getting a legitimate contractor, you'll be hiring someone doing it illegally.
And you'd better treat your plumber like your best friend and not grouch when
they pad the bill by a couple of hours.
~~~
thedaemon
Because it has been my experience. I personally was able to do 2 years of
college but the student loans killed me after I wasn't able to get a high
paying job. I love when they take money out of my paycheck. Most people have
to work for a living, especially poor people. They cannot afford to not have
an income, to just go to school... You are talking about lower middle class
kids, not poor people. If you've never been poor don't assume you know
anything about it.
Also a student loan is how you claim the poor can go to college. But I stated
that most countries have free schooling. Being poor then immediately adding
debt doesn't help yourself at all. Perhaps you should go hang out with some
poor people and hear it straight from the source. Not trying to be rude or
anything, as you make good points about skilled labor.
------
_iyig
What is the difference between this headline and one that might read,
“Americans’ Access to Affordable, High-quality STEM Education Needs to
Improve?”
I’ve know too many friends and relatives, all American-born, who got into tech
despite of rather than because of their state-funded primary and secondary
education.
------
throwingay5556
The option that isn't being discussed is the one that would align the
interests of the working class in America and the immigrant population.
Namely, a federal job guarantee for everyone in the country with a minimum
standard of living and the requirement that everyone be treated the same. If
the buisness community can't stomach that, then maybe they shouldn't get any
desperate immigrants that essentially function like scabs because of the way
they engineered the system. Our true enemy is the elites and the business
community. Immigrants are just ordinary and often desperate people who deserve
our kindness. Rise up!
------
giardini
Emphasis on "skilled" and add "legal", please. We don't need more chicken
pluckers - there's a machine that does that faster and cheaper.
~~~
gotocake
But not a machine to affordably and accurately pick strawberries or citrus, or
clean your house and office park. Let’s not pretend that the demand for
relatively unskilled work isn’t very high, because the work is perceived to be
beneath the dignity or price range or natives. It would be nice if we could
benefit from the immigrants willing and able to do this hard and unpleasant
work, without also castigating them for doing it.
~~~
giardini
gotocake says: "But not a machine to affordably and accurately pick
strawberries or citrus":
[https://www.bing.com/search?q=strawberry+picking+machine&for...](https://www.bing.com/search?q=strawberry+picking+machine&form=OPRTSD&pc=OPER)
gotocake says: "this hard and unpleasant work":
[http://whvaustralia.net/fruit-picking-hard/](http://whvaustralia.net/fruit-
picking-hard/)
Certainly we don't need to castigate anyone. But we don't need more (illegal
or legal) unskilled immigrants taking jobs that will soon be supplanted
entirely by automation. We need skilled professions: doctors, engineers,
nurses and (God forbid) lawyers.
We'd be fine (indeed, we'd be better off) w/o _any_ of the 7,000-14,000
migrants headed toward the USA's southern border right now.
~~~
iguy
Right, it's a mistake to think that there are a fixed number of low-skill jobs
which need filling. A mistake encouraged by propaganda from those heavily
invested in industries set up to employ them.
Swiss people clean their own damn homes at a wage which, in India, would
justify several servants. This in turn drives a market for Roomba early
adopters... but also just for less obvious technology, like houses well-enough
sealed against dust.
------
sbr464
A side benefit that I hadn’t really considered but seems obvious; By taking in
skilled workers from other countries, it’s like poaching talent from another
company. Then they aren’t contributing to or building companies in their
former country. Not sure the scale you would need to make a dent, but is there
a name for this?
~~~
dudul
The choice of word is interesting: encouraging immigration of skilled workers
to the US has the _benefit_ of preventing them from participating in the
development of their home country.
Short term, sure it's beneficial for the US, but I don't think it's a good
idea to reflect in a vacuum or only thinking short term. Emergent countries
being able to develop is beneficial for everybody.
~~~
damnyou
What about the _immigrants_? It's a huge benefit to them!
~~~
dudul
Of course, but that's not what the original message was pointing out.
Comparing countries stealing other countries skilled workers and companies
poaching employees is not a good idea IMO, that's all.
~~~
damnyou
It's the same thing, it's just the barriers are different.
Silicon Valley is successful partly because noncompetes don't get enforced in
California. It makes things slightly worse in the short term for each company
but better for both the individuals and the world overall.
The US has been successful partly because it's attracted so many skilled
immigrants. It makes things slightly worse for other countries in the short
term (though remittances!) but is better for both the individuals and the
world overall.
~~~
rhexs
Citation? Brain drain, so that Silicon Valley can produce various ride-sharing
and world-changing pizza delivery apps, is better for the world?
I certainly think it's better for the rich as it drives the stock market up,
but a blanket "better for the world overall" is certainly an interesting take.
------
kvhdude
While H1B debate is ongoing, vmware invests $2b in india
------
cwperkins
As when any immigration topic comes up on here, I am in full support of
getting the best talent from anywhere in the world to help create the next
innovation or invention that makes people lives easier, better and richer. I
just ask, because I know there are many immigrants on this forum, that if the
American people are given a referendum on what they think is proper on how to
handle immigration (whether it be legal or illegal) that you respect the vote
of the electorate. With that being said I wish anyone that wants to immigrate
to America has a good experience with the people here, works hard and achieves
the American dream for themselves and their offspring.
------
coldtea
> _America’s Need for Skilled Immigrants Isn’t Going Away_
Really? Why? It can't find enough people to educate among 350 existing
million?
------
sid-
I think we should have a world without borders and countries, only states.
People should be able to live and work wherever they want to irrespective of
where they are born. Most of the problems arise because we have divided the
world into countries. This is really something the world needs rather than
immigration reform
------
seshagiric
Wouldn't this favor large companies? e.g. someone like Google, Amazon may pay
the top $ to get talent from abroad but startups or small companies are not
able to?
While the pay gap between companies exist even today, the difference is today
small & medium companies can afford the foreign labor.
------
dkhenry
I have a modest proposal to help with the need for skilled labor. Reject all
skilled applicants for visa's. Only accept the unskilled and uneducated. If
you have an advanced degree and specialty skills you are not allowed in and
have to remain in your country of origin. If you get a visa to study in the US
you have to return to be employed in your home country. I think this will have
two primary effects.
1\. It will create a huge shortage of skilled professionals in America and
will significantly drive up their costs and salary. This will result in more
people choosing to enter those fields.
2\. It will increase the global support of skilled persons as those who remain
in their country of origin will be able to train and support more
professionals.
My basis for this is looking at number of engineers per capita, the developed
world produces an order of magnitude more engineers and doctors and scientists
then the developing world, but then we take the few they do produce which
inhibits future growth.
~~~
basilgohar
This is fine for the purpose you are outlining, but it completely neglects the
fact that the primary reason people are emigrating from their home countries
is seeking a better quality of life for themselves and/or their families.
Closing the door to them shuts them out from this path.
Moreover, a lot of immigrants that arrive to the US end up having a greater
impact on the world as a whole than they would or could have had in their home
countries. This is the ideal scenarios of the sometimes true concept, "Land of
Opportunity". I don't presume you are ignorant of this, but conditions in many
other countries are worse for a lot of reasons.
My own anecdotal evidence: One of the main factors the lead to my own father's
emigration from his home country was because the "old guard" at his university
effectively blocked him from progressing any further lest it be a threat to
their own established position. Arriving at in the US, he had no problem
rising up to the top in the more merit-based system here and effecting major,
positive change in his field.
So, as is the case with so many other issues, this one is not as cut-and-dry
as your comment makes it out to be, and prevents a lot of other good from
flourishing as well. There are not equal opportunities for world-benefiting
success everywhere.
~~~
onemoresoop
Also nobody here mentions that immigrants to the US pay taxes and spend most
of their money inside the US propping up the economy.
------
gumby
Interesting: according to Kerr, recent restrictions on immigration
shouldmindeed _help_ they US be encouraging bright workers to go elsewhere and
send remittances back to the US. Hmm.
------
geff82
You want good healthcare, good salary, the real Autobahns, good houses and you
are talented, have at least a bachelor in IT and are willing to try something
out? Come over to Germany. Honestly, no I other country I know of has such a
fast and well thought out way to permanent residence for foreign talent than
Germany. If you are interested in working here, drop me a message to
eriklistserve at gmail dot com.
~~~
dunpeal
Correct me if I'm wrong, a friend of mine who looked into it, all he could get
in Berlin was less than half his American salary, while his taxes were very
substantially higher.
His take-home would have been slashed by about 70%, so he gave up the idea.
Have things changed since then?
~~~
geff82
Berlin is the worst place if you want to have a good paying job. If you only
want to work for startups, then Berlin is the place to go. But if you are open
to work in Big Enterprise IT, then there are many places where you can work
and earn very good salaries (especially Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg where
Enterprise IT usually pays between 80k$-140k$ depending on your role). While
taxes and contributions for singles are quite high, it also includes health
insurance, retirement money and unemployment insurance. For food, Germany is
one of the cheapest places in the world. Property taxes are REALLY low
compared to the US (I mean, in the US or in Germany, you as a renter pay them,
so rent is also cheaper here, even in the hubs). In big cities, many people do
not need a car as public transportation is very affordable and available
everywhere (so that money gets saved for some).
The biggest challenge: to stay here for longer, try to learn German well. It
is not that difficult if you take your time.
~~~
shados
> 80k$-140k$
Thats the problem. You used the dollar symbol, but even if its euros, the
upper range you gave is 160k. That's way, way too low for an upper range if
someone's thinking of salaries on one of the US' coasts (especially west, but
also east). Insurance is mostly for if you lose your job...as long as you have
one, its a pretty tiny part of the paychecks, retirement matching is pretty
common, food isn't that expense (I dunno about Germany, but compared to other
countries Ive lived in, its cheap). After the difference in taxes, the delta
in the upper range is a significant factor.
Im curious about the property taxes part though. Do you have some examples?
Real numbers are hard to google.
~~~
pastor_elm
If you want to make 600k as a software developer, stay in San Francisco, live
in your 2.5 million dollar .2 acre ranch house, and enjoy walking over
homeless people on your way to work.
~~~
shados
The last part is definitely the right point to make. To me there's no argument
that taken in a vacuum, there is no country in the world where you'll be
better off as a software developer than in one of the big tech centers in the
US (not just SF, but NY, Boston, whatever. There's a bunch).
But it comes at the cost of...well, everyone else.
------
AngryData
That is what happens when you put meaningful education behind a wall of
private business.
------
collyw
Couldn't they skill up non immigrants? That would improve inequality ad seems
clear from Trump being elected that not everyone is happy with immigrants.
------
crusso
deleted
~~~
learc83
No mainstream politician is pushing for completely open borders. That's a
complete straw man.
The closest quote I can find from a national politician calling for open
borders is Donald Trump in 2013.
"We will have to leave borders behind and go for global unity when it comes to
financial stability."
~~~
lenkite
AFAIK this is not a "complete straw man". Democratic National Committee deputy
chair Keith Ellison (Minnesota) is strongly in favor of open borders, goes
around wearing T-shirts saying the same. He has even been quoted saying that
"America’s national borders create an injustice by keeping Mexican workers
from traveling to the United States to look for higher-paying jobs". Maybe he
has a point, however he does not share that opinion alone.
~~~
learc83
>"America’s national borders create an injustice by keeping Mexican workers
from traveling to the United States to look for higher-paying jobs"
That's an inaccurate summary of what he said that's been going around right
wing news sites. Here's what he actually said:
> “And so corporations, certain people who get certain rights, can go back and
> forth across the border seeking out the lowest wages, but people, regular
> people, cannot go back and forth across the border seeking out the highest
> wages. So what it creates is an imbalance. It creates an injustice.”
He isn't calling for open borders. In the context he was pointing out problems
created by allowing corporations to move back and forth between borders to
seek out the lowest wage employees, but not allowing employees to move back in
forth to seek the highest wage employer. In the context of the interview, he
was talking mostly about market protectionism to correct the employer side of
that imbalance.
With respect to the shirt he was wearing. It was band merch for an rap group.
It's an inspirational quote empathizing with people crossing the border to
improve their lives, not a literal call to remove border checkpoints. He may
even prefer a world with open borders, but he's not saying we can or should
actually implement that unilaterally.
Again no one thinks Donald Trump wants open borders because he thinks one day
we will have to "leave borders behind".
His his actual immigration platform:
"I believe immigration rules need to be straightforward, fair, and
predictable. They currently are not. I am committed to passing comprehensive
immigration reform and have co-sponsored such legislation in my two terms in
Congress. I believe that our reformed immigration system should include a
clear path to citizenship for those who are already in the U.S. working and
paying taxes. We need to put families first and have an expedited process for
family reunification and believe that the federal government has an obligation
to clear up the lengthy backlog of family visa requests. I also believe we
need to pass The Dream Act, which is legislation designed to increase access
to higher education for the children of immigrants and give them an
opportunity to succeed and give back to their communities."
Notice nothing about open borders.
~~~
lenkite
I haven't observed this from right wing media, but from his own twitter
channel.
I don't understand this. Corporations are not allowed to move back and forth
between borders at the drop of a hat- you have to satisfy legal obligations to
be recognized as a corporation and hire people in any nation. Legal immigrants
have also have to wait in a queue and satisfy formalities. The analogy just
breaks down for illegal immigrants who are neither interested in following
laws or awaiting their turn. So national borders are not creating any
injustice.
Please note that he wore that T-shirt at a "May-day" parade in a video
published on his own twitter channel. It is rather "nice" of you to re-frame
his stance that it was in support of a "Rap Group", but you and I both know
that certainly wasn't the case.
~~~
learc83
You got text you quoted from right wing media. He never said the words you
wrote, and if you google them, you'll find they only appear in right wing
media.
I'm not arguing for or against open borders. But I'm telling you Keith Ellison
isn't arguing for what you think he is.
>Legal immigrants have also have to wait in a queue and satisfy formalities.
For 99% of the population there is no queue to wait in.
>who are neither interested in following laws or awaiting their turn
Again this is a right wing talking point. For the average person in Mexico,
there is no turn. There isn't even a line to get in.
>So national borders are not creating any injustice.
You're arguing with a straw man. He never said that. He said that it's too
easy for corporations to move between borders because of NAFTA (not
frictionless, but too easy), and too hard for employees. That imbalance is
what he's saying creates the injustice, not border security.
>but you and I both know that certainly wasn't the case.
I do know that it wasnt to support a rap group (also no need for scare quotes
here--rap group is an accurate description.).
I never said it was only or even partially to support the group itself. It was
to show solidarity with a group of desperate poor people with an aspirational
quote.
You can believe and even advocate for a future world without borders as an
aspirational goal, without believing that it's possible today or likely
possible ever.
Do you think Donald Trump's quote that we need to leave borders behind meant
that he wants to just stop gaurding the border?
~~~
lenkite
My last comment as I really don't like to talk about politics on HN.
Speaking from an immigrant family - there are _lot_ of procedures to formally
migrate into the US. You need an immigrant visa for starters and this is not
easy to get - you can be rejected for several reasons and need to reapply.
Then you need to work towards getting a green card for at-least 5 years. There
is a waiting list. You may not get your card for more than a decade -
sometimes even 20 years!. So I do not understand what you mean by "99% of the
population, there is NO queue to wait in". That doesn't make any sense to me
at all. The only way there would be no queue if you hop the border and claim
false refugee status. For folks who have had a long, long road to legal
immigration into the states, this is very bitter pill.
About Donald Trump - it obvious that he is a closed border/anti-immigrant
politician. Thats the plank he ran on for office. His one misleading quote is
offset by thousands/ten-thousands of his other statements in favour of reduced
immigration.
About a future world without borders - only possible when world-wide legal
frameworks are in place, common law enforcement, similar systems of government
and world-wide elections.
~~~
learc83
You seem to be very misinformed because you are overgeneralizing your family's
experience. I don't blame you, but you are very wrong and you need to research
this yourself, because right now you are angry over an imaginary situation.
>there are lot of procedures to formally migrate into the US.
There are specialized visa for celebrities, athletes, people with
extraordinary abilities, investors, refugees from certain countries, and
qualified asylum seekers. Almost none of the of people in Mexico will qualify
for these visas, and there is nothing they can do to change that.
For everyone else in Mexico, there are 3* ways to immigrate to the US.
1\. You have close family who are US citizens, who are willing to sponsor you.
2\. You marry a US citizen.
3\. You have an occupation that is in high demand, _and_ you can find an
employer to sponsor you. (For most professions the employer must also win one
of a few slots in a visa lottery)
For all of those categories except refuge and asylum, your family must make
1.5x above the federal poverty level for your family size including yourself
(this disqualifies most of the Mexicans who do have family in the US), you
must pass a Civil Surgeon exam, and a background check.
If you don't fit into one of those categories there is no way for you to
legally immigrate to the US. There is nothing you can do about it. There is no
line to wait in. There is no immigration visa to apply for.
When you see poor Mexican families crossing the border, it’s because they had
absolutely no way to legally immigrate. Even if they waited 20 or even 50
years, they wouldn’t get in because there is no line, no process.
>You need an immigrant visa for starters and this is not easy to get - you can
be rejected for several reasons and need to reapply.
Again unless you fit one of the above categories, and the vast majority of
Mexicans do not, this does not exist. There is nothing to apply for.
*There are also a small amount of diversity visas awarded each year in a lottery. People born in Mexico and most other large countries don't qualify for the diversity lottery.
------
jmpman
This still seems like a waste of resources. If the H1Bs are willing to come
over for $40k, why should a bidding war result in them being paid $100k? Have
the companies bid on slots. That money is a tax that should be used to train
US workers for that same job. Pay the H1B $40k, pay a tax of $60k, and in 4
years you have a newly minted US College graduate qualified to do that job,
with no college debt, and they’ll be willing to take the job for $80k.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Big brother wants to place black boxes in your car - joe_bleau
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/29/AR2010042904700.html
======
tptacek
The government has essentially dictated what goes in ECU's for a decade and a
half. Why is this news?
------
pmccool
I fail to see how a black box is Big Brother-ish. The recent Australian
proposal to charge per kilometre, now that sounds a bit Big Brother-ish.
Poor headline, I think.
------
jackfoxy
I suppose the big-brotherish aspect is the assumption they will eventually be
configured to track all the important parameters of usage.
On the other hand these could also be gateway devices that evolve into a
necessary component for smart roads.
------
tvon
Kind of silly editorializing in the headline, no?
------
dminor
Aren't these pretty standard in new cars already?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Quantum entanglement of a single particle has been observed by researchers - jonbaer
http://www.cnet.com/au/news/researchers-demonstrate-quantum-entanglement-prove-einstein-wrong/
======
beloch
That's a pretty brutal press writeup.
1\. "For the first time, quantum entanglement of a single particle has been
observed by researchers." \-- No. This has been done many times previously.
This is just the first time it's been done with the efficiency loophole
closed. That's good, but not what the the reporter who wrote this thought.
He'll probably write the same thing all over again the next time somebody
repeats this type of experiment with one of the other loopholes closed.
2\. "A single photon (particle of light), for example, can be split into two
particles that are still connected " \-- No. The photon is path entangled.
It's still just one particle/wave.
3\. "Using homodyne detectors -- that is, instruments that can measure waves
and wave-like properties" \-- This is hilariously imprecise.
If you're even remotely interested, do yourself a favor and check out the
arXiv preprint posted by timnic. This cnet article is much worse than the
usual low standard of journalism when it comes to QM.
~~~
stangeek
Hi Beloch
I just read the arxiv paper, but with my limited QM understanding it's tough
to really grasp the significance of this experiment. Would you be able to
explain it in layman's terms (assuming basic knowledge of QM) or is it too
tricky to explain?
Many thanks
~~~
xaetium
In these types of quantum reality-probing experiments, any problems of
experimental design that affect the validity of the findings are referred to
as loopholes, as though there's some awkward legal wrangling going on, because
the experiments were conceived originally to determine whether the
controversial Bell's inequalities hold. The inequalities were designed to test
Bell's theorem which states that any hidden variables (things not yet observed
that have a causal influence on experimental outcome) are required to be non-
local if they are to hold with the predictions of quantum mechanics. Non-local
here means 'spooky action at a distance'.
Showing the inequalities to be violated (incorrect by experiment) was
originally controversial because Einstein and Bohr had differing notions of
what the quantum mechnical theory implied about reality. They engaged in a
lengthy, open discussion about it which was never resolved. Einstein believed
in local realism, in which there is no spooky action at a distance and
properties like position and momentum exist even when not being measured.
Bohr, on the other hand, insisted that there simply wasn't an underlying
reality and that only when measurements are made are properties like position
and momentum condensed out of the quantum mechanical reality. So, you see, the
significance of the experiment is in line with the underlying nature of
reality; by closing another loophole, we get closer to what's what.
[The rest here is historical context.]
The familiar refrain, "God does not play dice," is almost always taken out of
context - within its original statement, Einstein was also talking about a
kind of telepathy required with it - the non-local aspect of quantum
mechanics. Einstein said in 1954 'it is not possible to get rid of the
statistical character of the present quantum theory by merely adding something
to the latter, without changing the fundamental concepts about the whole
structure'. He was saying he lost conviction in using a hidden variable theory
to replace quantum mechanics.
Bohr's view, like Einstein's later view, is more in line with modern thinking.
A team led by Aspect in 1981-82 ruled out either locality or objective
reality, by testing the inequalities experimentally. This left possible a non-
local reality. In 2006, a group tested Leggett's inequality, and showed it to
be violated, which refined experimentally what the nature of reality is,
though showed only that realism and a certain type of non-locality are
incompatible, without ruling out _all_ possible non-local models. (Nature,
April 2007) Aspect remarked that philosophically, the 'conclusion one draws is
more a question of taste than logic'.
~~~
stangeek
OK - but what's the difference with previous experiments? Is it that they did
it with a single photon? Or is it because they managed to do it from two
remote laboratories?
~~~
xaetium
It may be the combination is new; I don't know the exact state of the field,
but: This experiment uses a single photon, so they don't have to sample
multiple times and make a statistical analysis on that part. If they did, that
might open the efficiency loophole. The communication loophole isn't opened,
as they are in sufficiently distant labs, with short enough measurement
frames, but that's been done before.
As far as I can tell, the disjoint measurement loophole doesn't apply here,
either, as it opens when correlations are drawn from multiple samples; here
there's one. I'm not sufficiently expert to tell whether the rotational
invariane, or other loopholes are closed here. Can anyone shed some light on
this?
~~~
stangeek
That would be most useful indeed. Re-read the paper and still can't pinpoint
the main difference vs. previous experiments, and why this is a significant
achievement...
Any QM expert around here who could help us?
~~~
lisper
I wouldn't really call myself an expert so take this with an appropriate
quantity of NaCl, but AFAICT yes, what is new here is an experimental
violation of the Bell inequalities with a "single particle" rather than an EPR
pair.
Note that the reason I put "single particle" in scare quotes is that there
really is no difference between a "single particle" and an EPR pair. Both are
single (non-separable) quantum systems. The only difference is that the
"single particle" is in a state that constrains it to deliver its energy at a
single location whereas the "EPR pair" can split its energy between two
locations. So a "single particle" is really just a special case of an EPR
pair, which is in turn a special case of an EPR N-tuple.
------
timnic
Preprint: [http://arxiv.org/abs/1412.7790](http://arxiv.org/abs/1412.7790)
------
lisper
Previously on HN:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9283263](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9283263)
------
ck2
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9288941](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9288941)
------
phkahler
AFAICT no one has ever been able to distinguish a particle whose wave function
has collapsed from one that hasn't.
That would of course allow faster than light communication by modulating the
"collapsedness" of a stream of entangled particles.
~~~
nsm
Could you explain how this would be faster than light? Wouldn't the particles
be traveling at the speed of light?
~~~
phkahler
>> Could you explain how this would be faster than light? Wouldn't the
particles be traveling at the speed of light?
As maxerickson says, you emit streams of entangled particles from a central
location heading in opposite directions. People equidistant from that location
can communicate instantaneously. Alice modulates the wave function collapse by
either taking a measurement or not. Say measuring indicates a 1 and non-
measurement indicates a 0. Bob over at the other end uses his ability to
distinguish a collapsed wave function from a non-collapsed one to get 1's and
0's out the other end. Because the measurement induced wave function collapse
is instantaneous this will be faster than light communication. Bob can tell
weather Alice is measuring or not, right now.
I stand by my assertion that physicists can not tell the difference. I'll also
add that the reason is that there is no difference. But by all means continue
to downvote without a counterexample.
~~~
maxerickson
So if I understand correctly, this experiment is demonstrating that prior to
Bob's measurement the wave function is spread out between the labs. I don't
think that is the same thing as being able to detect a non-collapsed wave
function (the design just assumes it exists, and the outcome implies that it
is a useful description).
Are you talking about something more than that?
------
Devid2014
This is just another example of Sensationalismus.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
PythonTurtle - the most low-threshold way for learning/teaching Python - cool-RR
http://pythonturtle.com
======
cool-RR
This is my little side project that I've been working on for a few months.
It is a way for curious people who are not computer-savvy to teach themselves
Python. Of course, it can also be used in a class with an instructor.
Yes, I am aware of turtle.py, the turtle module shipped with the Python
standard library. It has a few problems which I found unforgivable: mainly
that it's not geared towards people who may not know anything about
programming, or how to use IDLE. This is why I decided to make this project.
I'd love to get your comments and feedback.
~~~
orp
Hi,
Cool project.
The only issue I found with it so far is that unlike the old logo, the borders
of the 'world' aren't circular. That means that if you type 'go(500)' from the
opening position, the turtle disappears.
But it's a minor issue, really. My kid is 4 and I'm going to show it to him
tomorrow, see how he likes it.
~~~
cool-RR
I agree, it's a bit annoying that it continues into infinity; I considered
having a "spherical" world, but the problem is that the window size may
change, and I don't know how I could keep it consistent when it happens. If
you got an idea on how to solve that I'll consider it.
------
pasbesoin
I have some friends whose kids are approaching the computer-capable age. I've
been keeping my eyes open for environments that might intrigue and inspire
them. I'm adding yours to the list.
I like the idea of it being Python, so that perhaps they might smoothly
transition from fun to "real" problem solving (which is, I find, the most fun
of all).
~~~
davi
What else is on your list so far?
~~~
pasbesoin
Off the top of my head (it's a mental list and some saved pages/bookmarks I'd
have to track down):
Scratch (MIT)
Alice (Cornell, IIRC -- just saw that an update is due next week)
One or more versions of Logo (e.g Berkeley) (recently, there's at least one
that's hosted in the browser; might lower the gap since no explicit
installation is required).
A couple of things I'm forgetting right now.
When I run across these or particularly a nice introduction to one or another,
I forward the page on to the parents FYI. When/if they start to respond with
"tell us more", I'll go more in depth (and excavate those pages and
bookmarks).
Suggestions welcome. Since they're not my kids, my approach has been somewhat
lackadaisical.
------
davidalln
Reminds me a lot of Logo. I think back in 1st grade computer class it was a
turtle we controlled as well.
Also, in AP Comp Sci we went over the basics of functions by making a turtle
move across a plane.
Why turtles?
~~~
cool-RR
Yeah, it's directly inspired from Logo. Logo was great because you were
immediately able to program, and immediately see the results on the screen.
There wasn't any annoying procedures to do before you could start, no graphics
packages to learn. That was my goal here -- to have as few barriers as
possible between the person and the programming.
Why turtles? I don't know actually, I'm just following Logo's convention. Some
implementations make it a little arrow - I prefer the turtle, especially
because kids like it better. Though there isn't really a reason that a turtle
should leave a trail, so maybe a slug would make more sense.
~~~
pasbesoin
Yes. I'm very much in favor of "desired results quickly". For kids, that may
be something cool and graphical and/or audible.
For adults, it's often solving a problem at hand.
I think that the ability to gets things done, that one desires, draws many
people in. A large initial learning curve before that happens is often a deal
breaker.
Once you're engaged, that's the time to keep teaching you more.
------
le_dominator
Just gave it a try on a Windows Vista box and it crashes on startup. I'm going
to give it a try on Windows XP later when I wake up from my "nap" as I haven't
slept yet ;)
This is a great and noble initiative and I look forward to checking it out
when I'm more than semi-conscious. Please, no wise ass correlations between
semi-consciousness and the use of Windows Vista :D
I'm Swayze.
~~~
cool-RR
Thanks for telling me - I don't have a Vista box, but I should definitely
solve that. I think I'll install Vista on VMWare and look at that.
------
Akin
Crashes on Windows 7 as well at startup. Compatibility modes and running under
admin privileges didn't help either.
~~~
cool-RR
I'll get on it.
~~~
Akin
requires administrator privileges at startup. Once launched with admin
privileges, fails with following error: Failed to load shared library
comctl32.dll (error 126: the specified module could not found)
Note that there's a comctl32.dll on windows\system32.
Edit: Never mind, I left it at compatibility mode. Reverted back to native run
mode and it's working fine now except that at upon exit, it complains about
not being able to open log file because of privilege issues.
~~~
cool-RR
Right, I saw that log file thing on Vista too, I'll look into that. But as
long as it works, that's good enough. Thanks to you I don't have to start
downloading Windows 7 :)
------
aneesh
This reminds me of Karel, another beginner language that lets you move a
robot.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_%28programming_language%2...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_%28programming_language%29)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Bitcoin vault offering insurance is 'world's first' - louthy
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25680016
======
jerf
Speaking as still-a-BitCoin-skeptic, this is interesting news because if this
currency is going to make the leap into something truly useful, this is what
it is going to take. People speak about the "transaction reversibility" that
the current financial system has as if it's the _only_ possible way to provide
security, but that's not entirely true; an insurance-based system may also
work. I say "may" on purpose; we don't know. Indeed, I've heard it
occasionally proposed that we use more insurance-like aspects in the current
system because the way the system leans on the reversibility ends up resulting
in a lower level of security than we might otherwise like. It's not out of the
question this will be a superior result considered globally.
This is, in its own way, _the_ most interesting story coming out of the
BitCoin world right now; in long-term importance it dwarfs Overstock.com
taking BitCoin for orders.
I will concede that if this can work and becomes entrenched that my skepticism
level will be forced by the evidence to decrease.
~~~
fragsworth
I don't think insurance and transaction reversibility are mutually exclusive.
The current financial system is already insurance-based (at least in the
U.S.). You are protected from fraud in every money system you use. Transaction
reversibility seems like a natural result of this, because it significantly
reduces the insurance risk.
Essentially, if you have insurance, transaction reversibility becomes
desirable (by both parties - bank and client) because it reduces insurance
costs.
~~~
pyre
> You are protected from fraud in every money system you use
If I buy a car that was stolen (which I didn't know was stolen), law
enforcement will repossess the car, send the seller to jail, and I'm out all
of the money I spent.
What is the protection from fraud here?
------
ck2
I always find it funny how news articles and TV news have to show some kind of
physical "coin" for bitcoin news.
The whole point about bitcoin is it is virtual. I guess at most a QR code is
just not sexy enough.
BTW this is how news is manipulated about what to cover. If you want a lot of
coverage for your product, make a lot of media available, photos, video, etc.
If you have bad news, political, judicial, etc. makes no audio, video, or
photos available by law or otherwise and boom, little to no coverage. Because
of "dog vs squirrel" attention span.
Now let's look at this tidbit they repeat in every bitcoin story:
_James Howells lost about £4.6m when he threw away his hard drive, forgetting
that he had bitcoins stored on it._
This is bbc news, not fox news. I expect better. Did the BBC confirm how many
bitcoins were on his hard drive? Did someone look at the blockchain or some
other detail? I think not. So I say he lost nothing until proven otherwise.
~~~
gelutu
Bitcoin is not virtual, its digital.
~~~
ck2
It's actually both.
Digital in generation and transmission.
Virtual in that we treat it like something that has financial meaning and
weight.
------
oleganza
1\. It's a single company where all NSA, FBI, IRS will go.
2\. The insurance is fixed in GBP (mostly for financial compliance purposes,
rather than malicious intent). So when your holdings rise 10x, you'd have to
adjust your contract.
3\. "Easy withdrawals" do not sound reassuring on the frontpage. However,
somewhere in the FAQ they tell you that there's a 1 BTC limit a day and they
get it manually.
We need a personal wallet that locks up your wealth in a multisignature
transaction 5-of-9 with 9 of your friends. The key part is to solve privacy
issues (I have some ideas) and make UX usable by grandma, even if she forgets
her password and loses all backups (I have some ideas). Then, all folks will
lock up their funds in a distributed fashion, without any single place
becoming too tempting to invade privacy or take funds.
~~~
frabcus
I'd recommend gfshare as part of that solution - it's used by Debian
developers for their core server keys. We interviewed the founder at
[http://redecentralize.org/interviews/2014/01/02/10-daniel-
gf...](http://redecentralize.org/interviews/2014/01/02/10-daniel-gfshare.html)
------
jtchang
This is fundamentally great news. Insurance is a great hedge against risk. In
this case a bitcoin "bank" believes it can reduce the risk of someone stealing
all the deposited bitcoins and running off with them. Llyod's has a very
interesting and long history of insuring things that are outside the realm of
"normal". Read about it on wikipedia.
The end result is I now have a choice. I can store my bitcoins on my own
computer or pick an insured bank. If the bitcoins are stolen out of the bank I
can be sure I will get my money back because they are backed by a very large
insurance company.
Llyod's has a huge amount of capital available and they have been in the
business a long time. As an insurance company this is important because you
get to see lots of black swan events (and realistically how often they end up
happening).
I am sure their analysts have looked at what happens if someone ends up
stealing all the bitcoins vs how much money they can make off insuring against
this risk. They can give bitcoin websites discounts for security audits and
how they store their data.
------
chmars
I do not see a 'world's first':
Elliptic does not offer insurance to customers but has to get insurance itself
according to the published terms:
_' Elliptic Vault shall effect and maintain with a reputable insurance
company a policy or policies of insurance providing an adequate level of cover
in respect of all liability which may be incurred by Elliptic Vault under this
Agreement or in respect of any loss of Stored Funds up to a value of the
Specified Cover.'_
_' In the event of any claim against the insurance company by Elliptic Vault,
in respect of any loss, damage or corruption of Stored Funds up the value of
Specified Cover, any Stored Funds subject of the insurance claim will be
valued at the average USD ask price offered on the Bitstamp exchange in the
24-hour period ending at 00:01 am GMT on the day on which Fees are payable, or
on such other basis as the insurer may adopt from time to time.'_
[https://www.elliptic.co/vault/terms](https://www.elliptic.co/vault/terms)
Insurance coverage for data loss, data theft etc. is not new, on the contrary,
it is quite common if you store digital data and do not plan to go bankrupt
because of customers suing you …
------
minimax
Transaction metadata is public. Transactions are irreversible. You have no
FDIC protection of your savings. Volatility, volatility, volatility. Oh and
now I guess if you really want to hold on to your bitcoins you have to keep
them in "deep cold storage," whatever that means.
Bitcoin is the technology equivalent of the emperor's new clothes.
~~~
VMG
> Transaction metadata is public
So I can verify the transaction
> Transactions are irreversible.
I can be sure the transaction is final
> You have no FDIC protection of your savings
I can be sure that no currency can be created out of thin air. I still have
the option to buy third-party insurance
> Volatility, volatility, volatility
Better than artificial stability that hides risk
> Oh and now I guess if you really want to hold on to your bitcoins you have
> to keep them in "deep cold storage," whatever that means
Ownership of the private key(s) is equivalent to ownership of the funds.
> Bitcoin is the technology equivalent of the emperor's new clothes.
Either that or
[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UnderdogsNeverLos...](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UnderdogsNeverLose)
;-)
~~~
foobarqux
> Ownership of the private key(s) is equivalent to ownership of the funds.
You don't hold the private keys when using a third party service, including
this insured storage.
~~~
VMG
You also don't really own your Bitcoin then.
------
xedarius
This seems to form the basis of a central clearing house, which is exactly
what Bitcoin is designed to defeat.
~~~
gtirloni
Exactly. I don't understand how people can be so naive.
The "freedom fighter" and "fighting the man" themes are going down the toilet
so quickly people don't even realize.
Many people, including these self called entrepreneurs, are jumping in because
they see an opportunity to make money. Plain and simple, they couldn't care
less about Bitcoin, privacy, fighting the man, whatever.
People should be angry the established monetary powers are taking an interest
in Bitcoin. At the end, Bitcoin will be just another currency the powers at
the top manage, make money on top of it, tax, etc, and what will remain of it?
------
amalag
How can anyone prove where the coins came from if they are spent? If there is
a copy of the wallet that is not with this third party and is spent, how can
they insure the coins?
------
gremlinsinc
what's to stop someone essentially robbing from themselves, ie logging in and
stealing bitcoins, sending to an anonymous account, then filing a claim? Also,
why not have a wallet that has optional insurance built in. Take 2% of every
deposit to cover losses,
------
moe
This is an easy 5 on the Cuil-meter (cf. cuil theory).
------
notastartup
I think this bitcoin craze is seriously going to hurt the chance of
cryptocurrency ever being accepted. Most likely the governments are letting it
slide because they probably know it's not going to work. Let a black swan hit
and crash the bitcoin that robs it of any trust. Is a government that invades
a country who tries to accept Euros for petro oil seriously going to allow a
currency they can't tax? People couldn't do shit when NSA snooping on them hit
the news, and they are seriously thinking that this new cryptocurrency will
replace the status quo?
~~~
mahyarm
You can tax bitcoin, just like you tax P2P cash transactions. Whats even
better is there is a permanent record that will never go away once you start
attaching identities to addresses, which exchanges contain the vast majority
of, so you have plenty of time to tax these people.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why we can execute JavaScript through Rundll32 - fla
http://thisissecurity.net/2014/08/20/poweliks-command-line-confusion/
======
SchizoDuckie
I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand it's a brilliant hack and I
can only applaud them for getting this to work. On the other hand, it's time
that MS makes a proper effort to remove the old .hta bloat from the core of
the OS.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Close to launching first startup - Omnipresent
http://www.thecitybee.com
After months of reading/planning/coding I'm close to launching my first startup. Please signup and spread the word. I'll share with HN before the live launch.
======
ColinWright
Heroku | No such app
There is no app configured at that hostname.
Perhaps the app owner has renamed it, or you
mistyped the URL.
~~~
Omnipresent
>_< apparently adding www is throwing it off. For what it's worth...please use
<http://thecitybee.com> as I can't seem to edit the URL in the link.
~~~
angryasian
set up a cname.
~~~
Omnipresent
Did that. Damn godaddy...takes 24 hrs.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
New Twitter has Gist Support - vamsee
http://thechangelog.com/post/1138803213/new-twitter-with-gist-support
======
lunchbox
I'm skeptical.
Twitter's beauty resides in its 140-char limit: authors of Tweets don't feel
burdened to write long messages, and readers know the messages will always be
short and sweet. Sure, authors can circumvent this limit by linking to blog
posts, but followers hate clicking on links so there's a disincentive to do
so.
With these new changes, Twitter is making it easier for readers to visit
linked content, but they're also making it easier for Tweet authors to be more
verbose. Before, I had to painstakingly craft my 140-char message; but now if
I'm having trouble doing that, I can just use the Tweet as a title and write
my full message in an embedded text box. But isn't this just reinventing the
blog?
~~~
balac
"but followers hate clicking on links"
Can you qualify this statement? I don't hate clicking on links.
~~~
daleharvey
I cant bring up the exact stats right now, but everything I have seen would
suggest the same, if I remember off the top of my head 2 things with a
reasonably large reach on twitter ( between 100,000 and 1,000,000) had around
0.5% clickthrough rates, that struck me as tiny.
~~~
Wilfred
That would seem to be consistent with the statistics of users with less
followers: [http://twitterfacts.blogspot.com/2008/06/tweetburner-
clickth...](http://twitterfacts.blogspot.com/2008/06/tweetburner-clickthrough-
rates.html)
However I would consider clickthrough rates to be a poorly suited metric for
Twitter. If you're not using Twitter to just follow your friends then your
typical use case is just dipping in and reading some tweets when you have the
time (the 'fire hose' model). Having one million followers does not mean that
one million people will read a given tweet.
------
fizx
Any other things people want in the right panel?
~~~
dschobel
3rd party plugins so that I can get evernote or snaptic or remember the milk
or whatever third party content to display in there.
there are a million and one public custom data sources, don't let us be
constrained by the ones you bless.
or if you don't want to deal with the security headaches, just allow a
standard way for 3rd parties to inform twitter that their content is
#newtwitter friendly and allow it to display formatted text.
basically, instead of using twitter through all of those sites, I just want to
go to twitter and have all my content there and not be redirected all over the
web (or at least have the option).
and 'lest I sound too demanding, great work and congratulations :)
~~~
thwarted
_basically, instead of using twitter through all of those sites, I just want
to go to twitter and have all my content there and not be redirected all over
the web (or at least have the option)._
Just what we need, a new, centralized portal website. Oh, that reminds me, I
need to go add some widgets to my iGoogle page.
~~~
dschobel
a portal comprised 100% of content that my friends recommend? yes please!
------
wccrawford
I'd like to think that if I ever created something like Twitter, I'd do cool
things like this, too.
I hope they keep it up.
~~~
johnglasgow
When you do...Please don't crush your developer community.
~~~
fizx
Where's the crushing?
------
zbanks
I guess it makes it easier to fit crazy programs into a single tweet ;-)
------
basicxman
As much as this pleasures every software-engineer-neuron in my brain, this
kills what's so great about Twitter - it's brevity.
Twitter + Tumblr/Facebook Angst = #NewTwitter = #FailTwitter :(
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Views on Ali Damo's CT scan Covid-19 diagnostic AI with claimed accuracy of 96% - pspct
https://www.covid19readings.com/articles/2020/02/23/How-To-View-Ali-Damo-AI-COVID-19-CT-Technology
======
pspct
The top two answers from Zhihu (Quora style question-answer site from
China)represented the views from a doctor on the COVID-19 frontline and a
medical imaging + AI researcher. Super interesting!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Philly Emerging Technology For the Enterprise Conference - Tomorrow and Friday - kyleburton
http://www.phillyemergingtech.com/
======
brianm
I'm going to be there. Anyone else going? Would be great to meet up.
~~~
stewiecat
I'm there. Taking vacation and paying out of pocket to go as they only send
our "architects" here, not us lowly developers ;).
I'll be the guy with the black glasses and the macbook pro, should be easy to
find...
~~~
brianm
sorry to use comment for personal message, but email me :-)
(email in my profile)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why does divshot requires all this permissions? - leonvonblut
Yesterday I try to sign up to divshot with my github account, but I abort that after this:<p>This application will be able to read and write all user data. This includes the following:<p>Private email addresses
Profile information
Followers<p>Why does it ask for write permissions?
======
mbleigh
Oops! We had the "user" scope set on our GitHub authentication thinking that's
what was needed to be able to _read_ user info. We only actually needed the
user:email scope. This should be fixed now.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
4096 - ianopolous
http://ianopolous.github.io/4096/
Trivial extension to Gabriele Cirulli's 2048. It doesn't seem impossible to reach 4096. Post if you reach 4096 (then I'll put up 8192)!
======
013
Maybe if it was a 5x5 grid instead it would be more interesting. This version
you basically have to complete the game twice in a row.
~~~
ianopolous
I would expect that to make it easier, although there may be a parity effect
of a 4x4. It just seemed arbitrary to stop at 2048 (and I'll increase it if
anyone beats it until it becomes impossible). Proofs of impossibility welcome.
:-)
------
message
So 2048 is too easy?
~~~
kybernetikos
Definitely too easy. I got it on my third day of casual play, and it's not
like I'm doing deep thought or anything. Just trying to keep the biggest
number in the top right, and a full, decreasing right hand row so I can do
up/down/right without any danger of messing up.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Lyft Burning Cash on the Way to $500M Round - zhuxuefeng1994
http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/18/lyft-burning-cash-on-the-way-to-500-billion-round/
======
xur17
In Austin they've had a 50% off promotion for several months straight now.
They keep claiming it's going to expire only to extend it at the last minute.
I'm curious if they're doing this in other cities too to try to promote
growth.
I'm curious how this strategy will work long term - it's obviously not
sustainable, and I have to imagine they'll lose a large number of customers as
soon as they stop the promotion as they're simply more expensive than Uber.
I'm happy to use the discount right now, but I can't imagine I'll continue to
use them afterwards as Uber costs less.
------
vex
I've been really disappointed with Lyft, even as I've used it for over 100
rides. The driver quality has been getting worse and worse. I got an email
months ago telling me that I had gotten enough rides to be in the top 10% and
be a part of "Lyft Nation", and then never heard about that again. And today
they tried to get me to buy Justin Bieber music of all things, right from the
app.
So I downloaded Uber today. I really wanted to like you Lyft, but your
problems are of your own doing.
~~~
thatswrong0
Uber is even worse. And they pay their drivers worse and seem to be a worse
company to work for.
But I do agree - I've used it over 200 times in the last year and I've been
giving a lot more non-5 star ratings lately. Drivers who are dangerous..
Drivers who don't pay attention to their GPS.. Drivers who fiddle with their
phone while driving.. Drivers who plain miss me and cancel the ride.
I started using Lyft because I didn't want my drivers to drive like cabbies
(as Uber drivers often felt like).. maybe that's simply something you can't
expect in this market for very long.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What F. Scott Fitzgerald’s tax returns reveal about his life and times (2009) - danso
https://theamericanscholar.org/living-on-500000-a-year/
======
roymurdock
_Before World War II, the government did not know what anyone made. Only the
wealthy and upper-middle class filed returns—less than 10 percent of the
population. The system was based on what the irs called “self-assessment,”
which meant that the taxpayer told the government what he or she earned the
prior year and then sent a check on March 15. Some information returns were
sent to the government, but the government had no capacity to match the return
to the taxpayer and the returns piled up in warehouses. Not until 1962 did the
government’s computer system begin to efficiently match the information
returns to the taxpayer. During the 1920s and 1930s, the tax system relied
almost entirely on the honesty of taxpayers._
It's amazing to think that there was once a time in US history when the
government could sustain itself through the honesty and goodwill of the
richest 10% of its citizens.
I wonder what would happen if we returned to the goodwill tax model. If we had
a simple tax code with self-reported earnings where we spent far less on
hunting down and punishing cheaters and freeloaders, and instead left it as a
matter of conscience for those who had amassed their wealth and raised their
families through the good grace and fortune of living in the US.
Do you think our collective social fabric would be strong enough to fund an
effective government? Or are we too far down the path of the self-centered,
get mine at all costs, cheat the system if possible mindset?
~~~
rayiner
The top 10% of earners paid 68% of federal income taxes, so in terms of
dollars we could probably get rid of federal income taxes for the bottom 90%
without too much trouble.
Of course, the bottom 90% pays most of the FICA taxes. But it's kind of
illusory to say that's different from what the system was like in the 1920's
and 1930's. The first Social Security check wasn't cut until 1940, and
Medicare didn't exist until the 1960's. Prior to that the bottom 90% paid for
old age and disabled care directly by supporting their elderly parents or
disabled family members directly instead of indirectly funding social security
and medicare. A lot of the "growth" in government tax burden is those programs
moving what was previously a household economy onto the government ledger.
And note that the article talks about federal tax receipts, not state taxes.
Direct state tax burden isn't all that different from what it was in the
1930's:
[http://taxfoundation.org/sites/taxfoundation.org/files/docs/...](http://taxfoundation.org/sites/taxfoundation.org/files/docs/Chart2_1.jpg).
And I assure you state property tax collectors were not on the honor system
even back then.
It's really interesting to look at where the money goes. Total federal + state
spending was about 10% of GDP in 1930. It's now almost 35% of GDP. That's
almost entirely attributable to two things: defense spending (3-5% of GDP) and
transfer payments (20% of GDP): [http://fortune.com/2012/08/27/wheres-all-
that-government-spe...](http://fortune.com/2012/08/27/wheres-all-that-
government-spending-really-going). In other words, almost all of the increase
is government programs to move money around in the economy.
~~~
selimthegrim
There are certain states whose employees are exempt from FICA. This makes for
some interesting double-dipping case studies cf.
[http://www.governing.com/columns/public-money/FICA-free-
lunc...](http://www.governing.com/columns/public-money/FICA-free-lunch-
crowd.html)
~~~
spinchange
This is somewhat misleading: It's not exempt statewide for all employees in
those locales, only for certain employees like teachers and firefighters who
are paying into alternate pension systems.
The headline number is 6MM people aren't paying in, but the combined
population of those states is almost 112MM and the total population is 319MM.
It's a substantial number, I suppose, but not like 30% of the workforce.
------
danko
It's interesting how this article conflicts the narrative (and indeed,
Fitzgerald's own narrative) about his life. The narrative was that they lived
fabulously until the simultaneous stresses of the the stock market crash and
Zelda's mental breakdown in 1929. Turns out that at least from an _income_
perspective, he was doing quite well up until the moment he died. But Zelda's
healthcare costs ruined him anyway, and he cognitively backed himself in a
corner in terms of making adjustments.
It reminds me of a quote from another famous author, one Charles Dickens:
_" Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen
[shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds,
annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."_
~~~
dang
He gave that line to Mr. Micawber and of course was intimately acquainted with
poverty, but by the time Dickens wrote that he was as rich as a 19th century
rock star. Indeed he made piles of money by touring—writers used to moonlight
as performing artists. Once movies came out, that dried up, so they wrote
screenplays instead, like Fitzgerald.
------
gwern
Remarkable to think that in those days one could become so wealthy off short
stories, of all things. Business models keep changing, in literature as
elsewhere.
------
Amorymeltzer
To me, the most fascinating thing about this story is the starkly different
picture it paints of wealth in America. We're currently debating how much of a
middle class there even IS anymore, and they're talking about how upper-middle
class families had servants.
There's a lot going into the difference, for sure, but its quite a different
world.
~~~
rayiner
That's the wrong takeaway from that point. It's a good thing that upper middle
class people today can't afford to have lower class people do domestic
services for them. It's an indication that lower class people can make a lot
more money doing non-domestic work.
Although the task rabbit economy is pushing us back in that (wrong) direction.
~~~
yummyfajitas
It's actually an indication that lower class people can consume quite a bit
regardless of whether they work. It's hardly clear that this is a good thing.
[http://www.bls.gov/cex/2011/Standard/income.pdf](http://www.bls.gov/cex/2011/Standard/income.pdf)
It's hardly clear how task rabbit is pushing is in that "wrong" direction -
it's not as if task rabbit has somehow eliminated other good options (such as
not working and receiving wealth transfers, or perhaps those unsustainably
overpaid factory jobs politicians like to talk about).
~~~
rayiner
TaskRabbit is pushing things in the wrong direction because people should work
together for institutions, not work for other people as personal servants.
That's not how you build an equal society.
------
rsp1984
What I don't understand is how in the US in the 1920s the tax rate was in the
single digits while deficit was negative (!) and debt was low [1], while today
tax rates are at 40%, deficit is about 17% (!) of budget and debt is over 100%
GDP. What on earth went wrong?
[1]
[http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/debt_deficit_brief.php](http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/debt_deficit_brief.php)
~~~
dllthomas
_" What on earth went wrong?"_
Immediately thereafter? The Great Depression.
~~~
rsp1984
Well that one wouldn't have lasted until today, would it?
~~~
mhuffman
The govt. began to care for people that had previously been cared for by
family members or religious groups. This includes the very poor, the elderly,
the disabled, etc. That makes the bulk of it.
~~~
cft
In exchange for votes from such people. Before, many of those people were
disenfranchised.
~~~
cubancigar11
Family system used to take care of elderly and the disabled, which ultimately
meant housewives were supposed to do that, unless you could afford a caretaker
(which was socially frowned upon in middle class).
Then women got voting power and family system broke down, replaced by social
structure. In a way today's capitalist Europe is closer to what Marx suggested
than USSR.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
DBGo: a light-weight relational database engine in Go - fogus
https://github.com/HouzuoGuo/DBGo
======
danieldk
From the README:
_"DBGo" is a light-weight relational database engine implemented in Go
programming language. It is a programming exercise I gave to myself when I
began to learn Go._
That's one epic programming exercise ;). Did anyone try how it performs,
compared to SQLite?
~~~
pflanze
I don't see any code for indexing, which should answer the performance
question.
Which I don't mean to be derogative, he mentions "A flat-file relational
database engine implementation" in every file, and it looks like it may be
neat code to learn from when you're interested in Go.
~~~
BarkMore
I took a quick look at the code and noticed that error handling is not
idiomatic Go. This might not be the best place to start if you want to learn
Go.
~~~
dextorious
How is this, say, not idiomatic Go?
fi, err := directory.Readdir(0) if err != nil { db = nil logg.Err("database",
"Open", err.String()) return db, st.CannotReadDatabaseDirectory }
~~~
BarkMore
The package uses integer to represents errors instead of os.Error.
This fragment of code is not idiomatic because st.CannotReadDatabaseDirectory
is not an os.Error.
~~~
dextorious
I see -I missed that part.
I think even os.Error is not idiomatic anymore, they move Error outside the os
package to a type of it's own in a later version.
~~~
BarkMore
The pre-declared type _error_ replaces _os.Error_ in the next release of Go.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
1-on-1 meeting questions - yankit
https://github.com/VGraupera/1on1-questions
======
RotaryTelephone
My 1on1's at a 100k+ international corporation always went like this: Manager:
so how's it going? Me: great Manager: any issues? anything you want to
discuss? Me: everything is fantastic! I'm very happy with my job :D Manager:
cool cool... well let's do this again next month. Me: yay!
I don't want someone in a similar situation like I was to get inspired by
lists like these and go into their next 1on1 wrecking havoc with the status
quo. When you, your manager, his manager and the next guy up are just cogs in
a machine churning for years through the same kinds of faceless conglomerates
- you either shut up and put up or end up on someone's Excel spreadsheet
highlighted in yellow. Then during the next round of layoffs (you know they're
coming) the yellow cogs will be replaced with fresh green ones and you'll be
out on the street cramming algorithm questions all over again and interviewing
with A.I. HR filters for the next 6months. Understand where you work before
opening your mouth, people ;)
~~~
koonsolo
What a strange, helpless way to look at the world.
Employment is not a boss->servant relationship, it's a relationship where both
parties gain something. You offer a service, and they pay for that. End of
story. They act out? Then you find someone else who needs your services.
As a programmer myself, I'm in this great position where there is a shortage
of good developers, and plenty of companies searching for good developers.
When I go to my manager, I'm not going in there with "please don't fire me
sir, please.", I'm going in there with "Hey, fix your shit or I'll have a new
job next week that pays more from day 1, and you will search the next 6 months
for my replacement and train that person another 6 months before (s)he's
somewhat productive."
~~~
hw
First of all, if your manager is any good, (s)he will already have
replacements in the pipeline, given the musical chairs nature of the industry.
Second, why aren't you already at a different job that pays you more instead
of hanging that over your manager's head?
Third, don't underestimate how many other good developers that are out there,
looking for the next job. It might not require 6 months of training for the
next person, who could be as competent, or even more than the person that's
being replaced.
I'm not sure what kind of company you work for, but 6 months of training is
ridiculously long, unless there is a lot of institutional knowledge that's
siloed amongst a small subset of employees - which should never happen in the
first place, if your manager was any good.
~~~
koonsolo
> replacements in the pipeline
Depends on the company. Some still want to grow at a faster pace than they can
hire.
> instead of hanging that over your manager's head
You are correct that this in not actually something you say to your manager.
This is the thought that should be in your head. The real conversation needs
to be constructive.
> 6 months of training is ridiculously long
I didn't mean training, I meant "to become as productive as you". My point is
that the employee has the advantage on new hires: you instantly get full pay,
but still need to ramp up your productivity.
~~~
hw
> This is the thought that should be in your head. The real conversation needs
> to be constructive.
Agreed on that. If your manager isn't doing his/her job, or just wants quick
outs of 1:1s, that conversation needs to be had instead of the status quo
On training, I have seen companies where it just takes a few months for a new
hire to get anything done. Silo-ed institutional knowledge, spaghetti
codebases, too much emphasis on processes and meetings, no proper new-hire
onboarding, etc. Those are usually red flags. But yes, I wouldn't expect a new
hire to be completely as productive as a seasoned employee even after a few
months, but should be enough to get going.
------
anonred
Questions aside, I honestly thought the steps to submit a new question was
satire...
Contributing
1. Fork it
2. Run npm install
3. Add your resource to questions.json
4. Run node index to update README.md with your changes
5. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
6. Commit your changes (git commit -am "Add some feature")
7. Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
8. Create new Pull Request
[https://github.com/VGraupera/1on1-questions#contributing](https://github.com/VGraupera/1on1-questions#contributing)
~~~
JMTQp8lwXL
If they ever make a website for the collected data, consuming JSON is less
brittle than parsing a README file.
~~~
daeken
It's Markdown, not just "a README file". It's designed to be easy to edit by
hand _and_ easy to parse; there's literally nothing at all gained by using the
JSON file that they have. At all.
~~~
JMTQp8lwXL
You'd be more likely to have a bug parsing the markdown file than the
structured JSON. There aren't many tools out there for converting markdown
files into JSON and piecing what you want out of it.
------
skizm
As a grunt IC 1 on 1s are a nightmare for me. I never know what to talk about.
All current project stuff is hashed out in or after scrum. Career development
is more of a once per year thing (at least not weekly). If I had a problem
with any of my team members I would have brought it up by now (assuming I
thought others felt that way, I don't want to be the only one to bring it up
or I'll be seen as the problem). For your feedback, I'm just going to tell you
whatever I think you want to hear. Am I happy? Not really, but more because
I'm stuck with a 9-5 for the next decade and obviously I'd never tell a
manager that... what's left? Personal life nonsense? I'm your co-worker, not
your friend. The less I know about other people's personal lives the better.
> I’m trying to make my 1-on-1s better and would appreciate your honest
> feedback on this one — what did you like about it, and what could be
> improved?
Make them optional or email me your canned questions so I don't have to squirm
trying to think of an answer on the spot that will keep the status quo and get
me out of the meeting without any "action items" for the next one.
~~~
empath75
> Personal life nonsense? I'm your co-worker, not your friend.
Changing this attitude contributed as much to my doubling and then almost
tripling my salary over the course of a few years as much as anything
technical did.
Your managers and coworkers are human beings and engaging with them like human
beings will open doors for you.
I pretty much only talk about personal stuff in one on ones, and will use
maybe one out of five as a venting session or to talk about ideas I have.
You want to be someone that people, particularly managers enjoy seeing come in
to work every day, and that’s not always or even mostly about being
productive. Sometimes they just want someone they can talk about sports or
video games with, or someone they can talk about their home life with over
drinks — and sometimes I do, too. Spending 40 hours a week with people you
don’t like is lonely.
It’s not just about kissing ass— I’ve started more than one project because of
conversations I had over drinks where people were just venting about their
jobs and I realized I could do something to make their jobs easier.
~~~
skizm
Oh yea, I'm well aware, and I play the game as best I can. I go to the
occasional happy hour, I shoot the shit with my managers and co-workers, I
talk about their kids or hobbies or whatever they want to talk about. I just
don't want to do any of these things. It's draining to pretend you care all
the time. But if I don't it affects raises / bonuses (only job related things
I care about) and also project placement (which indirectly affect my raises /
bonuses).
I also realize my lack of genuine interest probably bleeds into my work
personality, but there's not much I can do about that. It's not like something
is going to magically make me actually care about work, so faking it is the
best option I have.
~~~
Gene_Parmesan
Yes, faking it is not the ideal, because as you said, it's very draining. The
idea is that you aren't faking it, you're genuinely finding something
fulfilling about work, or at least the people there.
To be honest it sounds like you're experiencing a poor culture fit. I felt
similarly to you until I went to a smaller team for the first time in my
career. My team-to-be was in one of the interview phases with me, so we could
all gauge fit ahead of time. It's been an entirely different feel, and I'm now
genuinely enjoying work -- not because of what I'm working on, but because
it's a good team to be a part of.
No, I'm not hanging out with my coworkers after work -- everyone has long
commutes so we all scatter at 5 -- but I genuinely enjoy working with them. It
doesn't feel like a game anymore, like I'm purposefully playing politics.
Whether it's good for my career or not, I really don't care -- what I care
about is the fact it's done wonders for my general quality of life.
Not everyone can find a place with a perfect fit, but you sound kind of
miserable to be honest, and I just have a guess that you'd maybe have better
happiness elsewhere. You say that raises/bonuses are the only job-related
things you care about -- my hunch is this might change for you if you found a
place where you genuinely liked the people.
------
awakeasleep
Many of these will come off as frustrating and manipulative.
When I, a manager, ask “what is the biggest obstacle facing you and how can i
remove it,” I’m offloading the manager-level work of identifying blockers for
my team on the individual.
And hey, that might work, your teammate might have an insight you’re missing.
But then, if they do have that insight, you’ve volunteered to do a shitload of
work for your team.
Thats is, in theory, good- but ive never had a manager that was willing to
actually do the work when they asked the questions on this list. They'd squirm
out of their offer, and try to rephrase it as something i could do. Leaves a
bad taste in your mouth.
~~~
NikolaNovak
>>When I, a manager, ask “what is the biggest obstacle facing you and how can
i remove it,” I’m offloading the manager-level work of identifying blockers
for my team on the individual.
That gets a bit circular. In my mind, "asking my team members" is THE number
one method of "identifying blockers for my team". Think about it - if a
manager _didn 't_ ask for input from their team members, and instead assumed
they can identify blockers, on their own and in vacuum, how would we portray
such a manager? :-)
>> ive never had a manager that was willing to actually do the work when they
asked the questions on this list
That is indeed the crucial second part; works for anything though - whether
it's "lessons learned" at the end of the project, or "requirements gathering"
from the client/user-base, or "soliciting feedback" from team members -
obtaining information is critical #1 step; only useful if you then action it.
Just because both effective and ineffective, willing and unwilling managers
ask questions, doesn't make _questions_ themselves bad. It does depend on the
actual manager and the relationship they have with a team member.
So I'd say such questions are "necessary but not sufficient" criteria for
managerial success, and having a list is similarly "useful but not sufficient"
:)
~~~
TeMPOraL
> _Think about it - if a manager didn 't ask for input from their team
> members, and instead assumed they can identify blockers, on their own and in
> vacuum, how would we portray such a manager?_
A smart manager can also observe things, but on top of that, in a healthy
atmosphere some employees will provide that feedback on their own. If
subordinates trust that voicing their concerns will have positive, or at the
very least non-negative impact on how they're seen, they'll tell you all about
the blockers and the uncertainties.
~~~
NikolaNovak
>>in a healthy atmosphere some employees will provide that feedback on their
own.
Absolutely; but again, such atmosphere does not come out of nowhere. It may
get boot-strapped by the initial cycle of:
1\. One-on-one meetings where team members are encouraged to bring up
thoughts, concerns, ideas, etc.
2\. Manager who reacts positively to such feedback; actions it (within the
constraints of organization & reality); and communicates outcomes honestly
3\. Faith & mutual trust are established and team members feel more
comfortable bringing up feedback on their own.
At least in my experience, not everybody is willing to provide feedback of
their own initiative to a new manager. You have to earn it...
------
A_No_Name_Mouse
Am I the only one who scrolled down the whole list looking for the questions
and issues you can bring up as a coworker? On the 1-on-1's I have with my
manager I determine most of the agenda because I know where the gears need
lubrication. How would she know if I don't tell her?
I'm a professional and I don't need a boss who tells me what to do or how to
do it: that part I'll find out by myself. But my manager needs to know what
I'm doing and what issues I could use help with (like problems that need
attention of upper management) and occasionally I'll ask for backing for a
decision that might have consequences for our or other teams.
So this feels like a useful but very lopsided list.
~~~
yankit
How do you make sure you do your best work without proper feedback?
~~~
A_No_Name_Mouse
Not sure I understand your question. I will tell my manager what I'm doing. If
she likes me to do different things (or the same things differently) the
1-on-1's are the best moment to talk about that. That's how I get feedback.
------
PragmaticPulp
The best 1-on-1 meetings feel like a natural conversation between two
professional adults. This list of questions can provide some ideas for
starting points if you pick and choose carefully, but not all of the questions
are a good idea.
Specifically: While it's important to listen to your employee's complaints
about the company, it's equally important to avoid giving them the wrong
impression that you're going to fix everything for them. Questions like "If
you were CEO, what's the first thing you would change?" or "Are there any
aspects of our culture you wish you could change?" or "What’s the No. 1
problem with our organization, and what do you think's causing it?" can make
employees resentful of the company when the manager can't actually make
changes.
Many of these questions can also create a false expectation that it's the
manager's job to solve all of the employees' problems for them. It's important
to listen to your team and work to improve their situations, but it's equally
important that you work on empowering them to solve their own problems where
possible. A common mistake for first time managers is to try to absorb every
small issue their team encounters, which creates an unsustainable atmosphere
of dependency on the manager.
Another common mistake of first-time managers is forgetting that managers must
also represent the company to the employee. As a first time manager, it's
tempting to think you're going to be the super manager you never had, using
your powers to fight back against the company and make everything right for
your employees. In reality, you need to balance the employee's wishes against
the company's direction. You can't force the tail to wag the dog. Make sure
you communicate what is and isn't within your power to change. Avoid
commiserating with employees with employees about minutia, and instead set a
tone of professionalism and reasonable boundary-setting.
Most importantly: Don't forget to reiterate the organization's goals, project
updates, and other company information to employees. It's easy for managers to
forget that their employees might not see or hear important developments
unless their manager communicates it down the chain. As a manager, it's your
job to keep your employees informed and up to date. Simple updates in the form
of "Your work on X project is very important for the delivery of Y product,
which the CEO identified as our top priority for retaining customers" are much
more effective than "When do you think X project will be finished? We really
need it." Context and relevance are critical for helping your team make the
right decisions.
~~~
TeMPOraL
Agreed, with perhaps a small wish of my own:
> _Simple updates in the form of "Your work on X project is very important for
> the delivery of Y product, which the CEO identified as our top priority for
> retaining customers"_
If, as a manager, you don't want me, your employee, to just smile politely and
roll my eyes, make sure I can trust that when you say "top priority", then
it's _actually_ a top priority. Personally, I work better when I can identify
and align myself with the goals of the organization (I'm a sucker for the
"something greater"). But I hate the bullshit. "Your work on X is critical" is
demotivating if I can tell that all work is described as "critical", and every
project in the company is "top priority".
------
kreetx
I don't understand the negative attitudes here. Yes, a 1-on-1 should be a
normal conversation, but this is a great starting point to those who don't
have the experience yet!
~~~
yankit
What kind of questions and data do you prepare for your 1-on-1s?
~~~
rwilson4
My 1:1s have the following format:
\- Current tasks
\- Career development/Goals (we have 6 week and yearly goals that the
employees select for themselves with a little guidance from me)
\- Special topic, different each time and very much aligned with the posted
list. My question for next time is about values.
\- Feedback, both delivering and soliciting (this has proven to be the hardest
for me, as it takes time to think about and articulate feedback well)
I do the 1:1 at a nearby coffee shop since I think people feel more open
outside the office.
~~~
dehrmann
It's also important to talk about relationships with others on the team and
other teams.
~~~
rwilson4
I like that! I’ll think about how I could incorporate it. Thanks!
------
ratherbefuddled
Contrived wooden questions like these would be a solid reason to not work for
a manager.
If someone isn't able to empathise with other humans well enough to discover
how they're doing without trying to artificially manipulate a conversation
with a checklist, they certainly shouldn't be managing anybody.
Just talk. Do it often and do it honestly. That's all.
~~~
BurningFrog
> _Just talk. Do it often and do it honestly. That 's all._
One good thing to always keep in mind:
What comes easy and effortlessly to you can be a real struggle for others.
Some people need help with things that you find utterly trivial, just like you
probably struggle with things others excel effortlessly at.
~~~
sweeneyrod
People have different strengths and weaknesses, and should try to find jobs
that fit theirs. It seems doubtful that someone for whom the conversation
starter suggestion "How’s it going?" is useful has the strengths needed to
make management a good choice.
------
KingOfCoders
I think 1on1s are the managers Swiss army knife and the best way to support
employees in their development.
If possible I do them as walk'n'talks, people are more open and ideas often
flow better when walking outside the office.
~~~
mattrp
Walks n talks are great but they aren’t 1:1’s in the way the author is
envisioning them. The difference is a walk n talk is something you do when you
have unscheduled free time and want to sidestep email for a direct
conversation. A 1:1 is More like a weekly postmortem.. you celebrate wins, you
figure out how to not repeat mistakes. But from a manager’s perspective, a 1:1
is all about ego management. For example, if I am a ceo, there’s some things I
can do in a staff call to resolve conflict and bottlenecks but not much -
otherwise I squander the energy of the staff meeting. Instead, I can have
1:1’s starting first with revenue... what are the roadblocks. Outside a 1:1
setting I can’t get the sales manager to get honest with me and own up
roadblocks that his/her own doing vs the ones from other departments. From
there it’s a cascade of meeting with successive department leads until I’m
down to the one guy who owns fixing them all - product. If you’re the manager
of a team further down in the org, you don’t have this end to end ownership
for the entire business but the theories are the same... organize your week so
you’re building a pipeline of issues and then meet with the people most able
to resolve them. Doing it in a regular 1:1 session helps isolate egos and
creates consistency.. if you’re trying to solve roadblocks that appear/resolve
inside that weekly cadence, you’re doing too much of your own employees work
for them. Ideally you’re focused on the next major milestone and the one after
that.
~~~
lonelappde
Gp's "walk and talk" just mea s having a meeting while walking outsit instead
of sitting down. it's good for casualness and rapport but terrible for
organizing thoughts and remembering what to follow-up on.
~~~
KingOfCoders
Yes. I'd often have at least once per month the weekly 1on1 in the office.
Also depends on people, some are ok with broad development, some feel better
with action items and todos to follow up on.
------
epicgiga
My 1:1s with last boss I had went like: "how are things..." "good" "1:1
complete".
And that was on Slack.
The guy just hated them, so that was my idea and made him happy.
And I don't disagree with that. Sticking rigidly to one true cadence of one
true meeting is a religious ritual we can do without.
If a 1:1 adds anything to your team, it indicates defects. Everyone should be
raising issues as they come up and have a close enough working relationship
with their boss that a cyclical meeting adds nothing.
And most of those questions are weak: bosses annoy and lose respect of their
subordinates when they go all "facilitator" and "servant leader". A leader
guides, they don't ask subordinates to tell them how to do their jobs. There
are plenty of traditional ways to glean improvement information than appearing
weak by asking "how can I be a better boss".
------
m0zg
Not once in my 25 year career did I work with a manager who gave 1/100th as
much shit as this list would require. They may exist, but I've never seen one.
I strongly suspect that the author of the list hasn't either, and this is a
highly idealized, "spherical cow in a vacuum" type list.
------
seattle_spring
It's disappointing that 100% of the questions are from the perspective of the
manager.
~~~
abbadadda
Agreed! Was looking forward to some questions from the employee perspective. I
find constructive criticism and feedback to be very helpful in staying on
track.
------
yitchelle
A great one-on-one begins with good questions. This post gives some great
hints.
[https://marcgg.com/blog/2019/11/30/one-on-one-
openers/](https://marcgg.com/blog/2019/11/30/one-on-one-openers/)
------
m_b
Can someone point to me the goal of using NodeJs to produce a list like this?
Why not just modifying the .md file directly?
~~~
febeling
Looks like the questions are actually collected in machine readable form in a
JSON file, and only rendered to Markdown
~~~
johannes1234321
Now if there were just a markup language for adding smeantic meaning to
hypertext ...
------
muratk
Looking at the responses here … it's not about
“1:1s are basics, if you don't do them you are a failed manager.”
Nor do I believe the truth is best described as:
“a 1:1 is a creepy corporate checkbox to be checked and best avoided”.
Isn't the answer always …
it depends?
On the person, on the company and team? On you, as a manager?
I have had colleagues who probably would have sent me a resignation letter
within days after doing a 1:1 with canned questions like that.
I've also had colleagues who thought that a regular 1:1, going through the
motions, was a sign that I cared and did something formal for them. (Despite
normal chats and checkins.)
Even if you have a 1:1, it doesn't mean that you need to go through an ever
same set of stale questions. But structure can help you both to make sure the
basics of the work relationship are covered.
With that in mind, I see sets of questions such as this as a toolbox.
Sometimes it's a good thing you can just look at the toolbox, try a few tools
out, see how they fit and choose the right one for the job at hand (situation,
person). I think it's great those exist.
If you're doing a 1:1 to check a box, then it doesn't matter. If you care and
want to use a 1:1 as a tool, then it doesn't hurt to try out different
approaches.
------
huhtenberg
> _How are your parents /grandparents?_
"Grandparents are dead. Parents are divorced. Father is a roaring alcoholic,
mother is on a death bed with cancer. Also they are both A-grade assholes that
made my childhood miserable."
Really sets the mood for the rest of the interview, doesn't it? In other
words, stay the hell away from any personal questions.
~~~
Forge36
Thank you for your honesty. It sounds like you aren't close with them. There
is nothing wrong with that.
Do you have anyone you are close with to talk about things? Is there anything
going on in your personal life you need to deal with which may be impacting
your work?
IE: I care about more than just the work you do, I care about you. I'd like
you to be happy and know more about your life to ensure when you turn into an
ass I can justify the behavior and dismiss it. "His dad died recently. His dog
died this week. People have been taking at him due to projects being behind
and he was on vacation the week all hell broke lose retiring his involvement"
Shit happens, if you're looking for happy things from your employees don't ask
them these questions.
If your quote is truly what's happening in your life, I'm sorry. That sounds
miserable, in posting here: I can't tell why you shared that. If I was your
manager, is this a recent development and you need time to process? If not
what prompted you to be so honest with me? Is there anything else you'd like
to share?
~~~
lightbendover
Not the OP, but his or her situation is very similar to my own. There's a
really good chance I would give my director a snarky "full truth" answer about
my disaster as a family if asked. If she then took the opportunity to pry
further, I would be greatly annoyed to say the least. I'm an adult and can
compartmentalize an atypical family, thanks. It's not miserable, it's just
nothing.
~~~
Forge36
Thank you. I agree: prying further would be very rude. Knowing that detail can
help determine the implication/feelings on other responses, such as if you
later shared "my parents stopped by last night". I can avoid asking "did you
have fun?" and instead ask "how did it go?" Or "anything you need today?". The
answer may be "no", however you may add something (ie: I just need a breather)
which helps let me know to avoid placing additional burdens on you today if
they are not urgent.
------
kureikain
Have people really save the thing like "I stuck because of this of that..."
for 1-1 questions. Arn't you suppose to raise awareness among your team before
that point, ask for help from co-worker etc...
I just cannot understand how a technical block is saved for 1-1 meeting.
I would love 1-1 meeting is more about:
\- personal life: where thing that block you are person/family duty and
manager can help with your schedule such as flexibility of wfh.
\- vision/long term goal: some wish list you want to implement or improvement.
But even so, I already created google doc for these and 1-1 are just to
discuss more about them.
So when 1-1 happen too frequently, I'm out of question and feel stress and
don't know what to ask/talk. Any advice for people like me?
Some of question on this list is just bad because they cannot be asked more
than one. Example: "How do you prefer to receive feedback?"
------
KKKKkkkk1
I would say that a manager who brings up personal questions in 1:1s is
leveraging their power to cross boundaries. In my mind it's akin to
harassment.
~~~
throwaway0217
So much this. I don't have kids. We are struggling with fertility issues. In
my 1:1 my ex-manager would bring up that topic EVERY SINGLE WEEK. He also
tried to develop a family relationship, where his wife would 'advise' my wife
about what type of treatment we should seek. At one baby shower for a common
friend, his wife asked me if we are sad seeing other people having babies.
Being on H1 visa, I could only push back so much. From his perspective, he was
providing 'emotional support'.
I sucked up. And quit the job when the right opportunity came.
Since then, I made sure to not bring any personal stuff in conversation with
any colleague, including my manager for whatever reason.
------
yankit
Can someone recommend tools, hacks or techniques they use to run a perfect
one-on-one meeting (tools like [https://PullPanda.com](https://PullPanda.com),
[https://Gitalytics.com](https://Gitalytics.com) or
[https://valycs.com](https://valycs.com))?
~~~
abhi426
You can try peoplebox([https://www.peoplebox.ai/](https://www.peoplebox.ai/))
to run meaningful 1-on-1s. It integrates with your calendars so before every
1-on-1, it sends some pre one-on-one questions to your reports and suggestive
talking points. You can collaborate on agendas, action items and track them
all in one place.
------
magicroot75
I'd much rather see a list of things to bring up as the subordinate that will
actually effectively improve one's lot.
------
betaby
We have mandatory 1:1 and yes, questions are similar. I found them useless and
not productive at all. Most hypocritical ones are about carrier development.
Let's say 1:10 ration of the managers and deportees, not matter how you
'develop' there is simply no place for promotion. Technical track is rather
rare outside of FAANG.
------
syspec
My favorite conversation starter for work related or at social events is:
”So, what’s keeping you busy these day’s?”
People always have things keeping them busy, work project, home project,
personal project.
This question is much more inviting to conversation than “how is it going” or
“what’s new”
I have never asked this question and received “nothing” in response
------
zisermann
Managers and team leads in my company have to make 1-on-1 meeting with their
team mates every month on an published calendar schedule. We have made
everything possible to help them: learning materials, master-classes, QA
sessions, etc. At the beginning, they were anxious that these meetings look
like getting into one’s personal zone and they didn’t known what to talk about
and how to get rid of embarrassment.
Now they say that they are amazed how much information people are willing to
share to find support and solve common problems in work, which managers have
no ideas about. I’m one of those who thinks that 1-on-1 meeting is a great
tool to make workplace better. Surely, everyone has to understand its goal.
------
devmunchies
Speaking of career progression and management... has anyone here been able to
transition from an IC to management/leadership at a remote company?
Remote work feels like the ideal job when your happy with your position long-
term. I don’t know how to do it working remote.
------
ClearAndPresent
Do you feel you’re getting enough feedback? Why/why not? Feedback.
Do you have any feedback for me? Feedback.
Do you think that you receive enough feedback? Feeback.
Is feedback helpful for your personal development? Feedback.
What can I do to help you get the feedback you want? Feedback.
All replicants will be detected.
------
chadlavi
Title's a bit unclear, these are _manager_ questions for 1-on-1 meetings.
Would be interesting to see a similar list for questions you should keep in
mind as the direct report in a 1-on-1.
~~~
fixie
Looks like there are career development questions in the section below the
manager questions. [https://github.com/VGraupera/1on1-questions#career-
developme...](https://github.com/VGraupera/1on1-questions#career-development)
------
yankit
I've just made this - [https://1on1hacker.com/](https://1on1hacker.com/). It
shows questions from the list in random order.
------
wiz21c
>> Are you on track to meet the deadline?
So wrong if not put the right way... I'd prefer : I see you're struggling,
maybe we could make your life easier by removing some work, accepting the
quality to be a little less good, maybe we could just accept that some things
will be late...
I usually get :you're late, tell me why. Then I explain. Then my manger says :
"I don't understand"... Then I fail to explain the obvious : I'm f __*in
overloaded.
------
throwawaygo
When did 1:1's become manager interrogation sessions? What happened to just
connecting and providing space to talk about whatever is on the emp's mind?
~~~
jevanish
A lot of employees either A) don't know what to talk about or B) aren't sure
what their current manager considers safe topics.
Questions like the above (though not all of them) can help spark discussion
and get them to open up. I've personally seen a number of times where team
members have a lot to say about something and didn't realize I wanted to hear
their ideas on that topic.
Obviously, delivery matters, and choosing a good question is important. If you
have a foundation of trust already built (see Psychological Safety research)
then a lot of those questions can help.
------
different_sort
Thank you for sharing this.
I'm a strong technologist who has inherited people management responsibilities
for some junior technologists and I definitely consider people management to
be the thing that I suck the most at in worklife.
~~~
yankit
I think this is what happens to a big portion of devs after promotion to
management. Do you have any advices for people in your situation?
------
kovacs_x
imo 'development discussions' is wrong as it creates apparent power hierarchy
in the company and very often does more harm then good.
having a mentor and doing regular self reflection is the way to go.
------
vermooten
"Are you on track to meet the deadline?" is the worst 121 opener, I can't
think why it's on the list. Unless you're an old-skool command-and-control
type of course.
------
rcarmo
I looked at these and had immediate flashbacks of Eliza. Given the recent
(hopefully by now tempered) enthusiasm for chatbots, this might be a great
starting point for one...
------
stared
For my taste, "Are you on track to meet the deadline?" is an intense
discussion starter, as strong as a punch.
~~~
lexicality
I think that depends entirely on _when_ the question is asked. If you get
asked "Are you on track to meet the deadline" 50% of the way through the
scheduled time then it should be a) An opportunity to reflect on your progress
b) A chance to ask for help if needed
Of course, if a shitty manager asks you that 3 hours before the deadline then
ha ha ha good luck
~~~
stared
Well, it is an important question, when talking with a manager.
But I find it to be of a totally different caliber than "Hey, what’s going
on?" or "How are you? How is life outside of work?".
Vide asking "How was your last medical checkup?" in a personal conversation.
Well, if it is good or OK-ish, it may be fine. In all other cases, it may turn
a conversation into much more emotionally instense and sterssfull.
~~~
lexicality
I honestly think that is a reflection of the kind of management your company
promotes.
In previous places I've worked, "are you on schedule?" would be an implicit
attack - but in my current workplace checking in on people and making sure
they're not silently struggling is a regular and casual thing.
------
learnstats2
"Are there any obstacles I can remove for you?" is a poor first question.
If you (as a manager) haven't spent time figuring that out before the meeting,
then you haven't done your share of the work. You'll be wasting your staff's
time and energy in awkward 1-1 meetings.
"How is it going with [obstacle that has already been identified]?" is what I
would expect a vaguely competent manager to say in place of this.
------
jshowa3
This would be one long, wasteful meeting if I asked all these questions.
------
blahfuk
The meeting so useful, you have to crowdsource the agenda!
------
stephc_int13
Wow, this is amazing. I can't help but think of all the sarcastic answers I
would give the so-called manager with a slight grin on my face.
Seriously, I think this list is a potent illustration of modern management
bullcrap.
Come on guys, don't do this to your team, they are not children...
~~~
DyslexicAtheist
it's like talking to a superior who poses as a psychologist without any
training in it. lots of power to the manager and an invitation for abuse.
pretty much the reason why I'd never slave as an employee. sorry you're being
downvoted. it seems there are many here who have underlings and therefore
benefit from such a farce.
~~~
scarface74
You’re always answerable to someone - clients, investors, the board.
But even barring that, “just don’t work for anyone else” is not actionable.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Most creative and/or effective use of a domain name? - jasonid
The question should be explanatory, but I think some domain names are more effective or eye catching than others. This is especially true with the new tlds available.<p>Any favorites? I recently saw deno.land that I thought fit perfectly.
======
mathiasrw
The domain bico.media serves media files from the Bitcoin SV blockchain
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Kubetap – kubectl plugin to deploy intercepting proxies to K8s Services - eriner
https://soluble-ai.github.io/kubetap/
======
alpb
Hope you consider distributing with
[https://krew.sigs.k8s.io](https://krew.sigs.k8s.io) to reach more platforms
and users.
~~~
eriner
Hi, I actually cover this specifically in the project site: [https://soluble-
ai.github.io/kubetap/kubetap_development/cav...](https://soluble-
ai.github.io/kubetap/kubetap_development/caveats/#krew-plugin)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Precious Plastic Version 3.0 aims to fix plastic pollution - mattia_io
https://preciousplastic.com/
======
andrewstuart
I urge you to stop believing in recycling.
Here's some things to think about:
__The "packaging" industry, is in fact a nice way of saying the "garbage
manufacturing" industry.
__At least in Australia, the "recycling industry" is owned by the "packaging
industry". Hmmm.. why is that? It put it to you that the garbage manufacturing
industry has in fact worked out how to "own" the environmental movement by
pushing "recycling" as the "balance" to the spewing forth of garbage from the
packaging industry. The packaging industry must be laughing so hard at how
easily it has owned the environmental movement.
__Have you ever wondered if all that packaging you put in your recycle bin
gets recycled? It 's a question worth thinking about.
__I have come to believe that recycling, which environmentalists embrace
deeply as a core value, is in fact just a smokescreen that allows everyone to
feel OK about the garbage manufacturing industry creating an unending quantity
of plastics that have made their way into every nook and cranny of our
ecosystem.
Please, __stop believing in recycling.... if you recycle, then you do not
question the unbelievable, and unrecyclable, quantity of plastic packaging
that you consume __.
One you stop believing in recycling, you start to ask the question, "why the
heck do we permit the packaging industry to create this unstoppable flow of
garbage"
Seems to me that world MUST eventually move to a solution which is a set of
standardised containers for all products, which are durable, washable, have a
refund value attached, and may have paper corporate brand stuck on them after
being washed.
Another strategy worth bringing forward is the idea of "garbage brands".....
showing off all those precious brands but in their true context... as garbage
in our creeks, rivers and oceans, drains and footpaths. Once brands start to
become associated with garbage, they might rethinkg whether they want their
names and logos on the digusting mess destroying our environment.
Please, stop believing in recycling and the smokescreen will clear and you
will start to ask questions about the packaging industry and our
community/commercial system that supports it.
Asbestos, tobacco, sugary foods, packaging - all industries that have fooled
us into believing things that are wrong but served their own ends. The
packaging industry has fooled us into thinking that it is OK because recycling
exists.
~~~
blacksmith_tb
I have had similar thoughts, but it's also worth considering the products that
all that garbage protects, whether that's to prevent manufactured goods from
being broken in storage and transport, or foodstuffs from spoilage. In either
case, not protecting things also wastes huge amounts of resources - which
isn't to say that there aren't other options for packaging than plastics.
~~~
andrewstuart
My post suggests that we need a set of standardised, reusable, washable
containers. These containers have a refund value attached to ensure they are
returned.
Say for example maybe 150 different sizes and types of containers.
Companies would be legally required to ship their products in these
standardised containers, or pay some penalty somehow that is a strong
disincentive not to make products that do not fit the standard packages.
~~~
colordrops
I looked into starting a company around this idea about 10 years ago but I
don't think the world was ready for it. I think my number was 250 heh. I still
don't think the world is ready for it. Manufacturers gain too much from pretty
and clean and unique packaging. One solution could be to create a system
whereby environmentally friendly dyes could be sprayed onto and washed off the
containers to allow for differentiation.
------
Animats
Precious Plastic is using far too much labor to recycle tiny amounts of
plastic. This is an art project, not a solution.
Here's a solution at scale - CarbonLite's plastic recycling plant in LA.[1]
Bottles turned in for recycling go in, and food-grade plastic pellets for
making new bottles come out.
Separating items in mixed recycling is heavily mechanized, and the advanced
systems use computer vision rather than humans to pull out unexpected junk.
There are many cool videos on line of big plants where trash goes in at one
end and gets separated by machinery.
[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAr4BZM_Tzk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAr4BZM_Tzk)
------
chromaton
People occasionally contact us wanting us to waterjet cut the parts for the
Precious Plastic shredder. Unfortunately, the designs on the website require
metric thickness metals, and that's just hard to obtain in the US.
From what I've been told, it's much more practical to buy a used Chinese made
plastic shredder off of eBay.
------
spodek
One of the best actions in my life was to avoid packaged food. Now I throw out
my garbage once or twice per year.
More importantly, my eating is more
\- Delicious
\- Convenient
\- and Cheap
than ever. Plus more social, in that I met the farmers who grow most of my
food, more people come to my place for meals, and get-togethers are
friendlier.
It took a while to learn to prepare food from scratch, but worth it.
~~~
fovc
I would love to hear more about this. Do you buy everything in bulk with
reusable packaging? Does that require driving out to the farms? Do you end up
eating seasonally and locally? What equipment did you have to buy to achieve
this?
~~~
spodek
I write tons about it on my blog:
[http://joshuaspodek.com/?s=farm](http://joshuaspodek.com/?s=farm)
[http://joshuaspodek.com/?s=fly](http://joshuaspodek.com/?s=fly)
[http://joshuaspodek.com/?s=packaging](http://joshuaspodek.com/?s=packaging)
To answer your questions: I buy dry legumes, nuts, seeds, and grains in bulk
with containers I bring to the store.
Most fruit and vegetables I get from a CSA, which means picking it up weekly
from a drop-off point a few blocks away. I get a lot from the local farmers
markets, where I also drop off my compost.
Yes, I eat seasonally and locally, not that I decided to. It just worked out
that way.
I didn't buy anything to start the change, but buying a pressure cooker
enabled cooking lentils and beans in five or ten minutes, which facilitated
things a lot. I don't buy a lot, but the pressure cooker is one of the best
purchases I've made.
I didn't plan to get into food and cooking. It's just that with every change I
made, my food got more delicious, more convenient, cheaper, and created more
community.
The results, in my friends' words: [http://joshuaspodek.com/food-world-
reviews](http://joshuaspodek.com/food-world-reviews)
------
ricardobeat
Praise to the authors for a very well done project. I always wonder though,
what's the ultimate impact of recycling plastic like this? One or two extra
cycles is still nothing compared to its 500-year life span. We should start
reducing usage in mass produced items altogether - with current purchasing
habits you don't even need the durability it offers for most products.
------
Varcht
California isn't even on their map, guess they don't want me...
edit: the one on the front page doesn't, clicking through to the interactive
one has it.
------
jaggederest
This comes up in 3d printing often.
The bottom line is that grinding and pelletizing and then extruding even pure
PLA post-use for use in the same machine is nigh impossible. It degrades, it
gets dust in it, you block your 3d printer nozzle and damage your hot end.
------
sharpercoder
> 'We don't know what to do with it'
Is there a $1M prize for solving this problem?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A touch table you can stand on – see the video - humelab
http://humelab.com
======
qf433332
I want one
------
sfds323
nice! :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Major publishers issue joint statement to Chinese regarding expelled journalists - treycopeland
https://www.washingtonpost.com/pr/2020/03/23/an-open-letter-chinese-government/
======
Dahoon
Propaganda flying in both directions.
------
bitxbitxbitcoin
The joint statement, an open letter really, was written to the Chinese
government - not the Chinese people as the current post title implies.
The title of the WP post is "An open letter to the Chinese government"
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Chromium Snap Starts Slowly - vdfs
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/chromium-browser/+bug/1847069
======
perryh2
I got so tired of issues with snaps and switched entirely to Debian for both
servers/desktops.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Memory Layouts for Binary Search - rcfox
http://cglab.ca/~morin/misc/arraylayout/
======
flgr
Sorry for the blatant plug, but it might be relevant — in my M.Sc. thesis I
surveyed main memory optimized index techniques and also provided some
background for why traditional binary search is not very optimized for modern
hardware. There's lots of illustrations and I cite some great material. :)
See here:
[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Florian_Gross/publicati...](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Florian_Gross/publication/275971053_Index_Search_Algorithms_for_Databases_and_Modern_CPUs/links/554cffca0cf29f836c9cd539.pdf)
Along those lines:
* CSS Trees: Pointerless b-Trees with a layout optimized for cache lines ([http://www.vldb.org/conf/1999/P7.pdf](http://www.vldb.org/conf/1999/P7.pdf))
* Intel & Oracle's fast architecture-sensitive tree search (combines huge pages, cache line blocking, and SIMD in an optimal layout): [http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jatin_Chhugani/publicati...](http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jatin_Chhugani/publication/221213860_FAST_fast_architecture_sensitive_tree_search_on_modern_CPUs_and_GPUs/links/0c96051f5d2990770d000000.pdf)
* Adaptive radix trees ([http://codematch.muehe.org/~leis/papers/ART.pdf](http://codematch.muehe.org/~leis/papers/ART.pdf))
~~~
misframer
> _ResearchGate is currently down for maintenance, but we 'll be back online
> very soon._
Do you have a mirror?
~~~
flgr
Since I haven't set up any other domain to put it right now (should get to
that), I put it here:
[http://webclonk.flgr.me/index-search-modern-
cpus.pdf](http://webclonk.flgr.me/index-search-modern-cpus.pdf)
------
danbruc
Here is a really good article on the topic [1], »Binary Search Is a
Pathological Case for Caches«.
[1] [http://www.pvk.ca/Blog/2012/07/30/binary-search-is-a-
patholo...](http://www.pvk.ca/Blog/2012/07/30/binary-search-is-a-pathological-
case-for-caches/)
------
vvanders
Data locality matters _so_ much.
This talk from Herb Sutter at 29:00 shows this wonderfully:
[http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2014/2-661](http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2014/2-661)
~~~
melling
The table in this Coding Horror blog helps to show the point:
[http://blog.codinghorror.com/the-infinite-space-between-
word...](http://blog.codinghorror.com/the-infinite-space-between-words)
1 CPU cycle 0.3 ns 1 s
Level 1 cache access 0.9 ns 3 s
Level 2 cache access 2.8 ns 9 s
Level 3 cache access 12.9 ns 43 s
Main memory access 120 ns 6 min
~~~
vvanders
That's not even the half of it though.
One of the main points from Herb Sutter's talk is your prefetcher is a cache
of _infinite_ size. This is why Radix destroys other in-memory sorting
algorithms and why the way you access data is the most critical performance
thing you should focus on.
It's also incredibly hard to retrofit when you find out you really need that
performance back.
~~~
wfunction
> One of the main points from Herb Sutter's talk is your prefetcher is a cache
> of infinite size. This is why Radix destroys other in-memory sorting
> algorithms
Can you elaborate? Radix sort seems like the most unpredictable sorting
algorithm out there last time I checked... it jumps all over memory.
~~~
vvanders
Radix sort on a fixed width key is actually one of the most predictable
sorting algorithm. In a traditional Radix sort the complexity is O(kn) where k
is how much bucketing you want to do on the key size. Buckets are fixed at 2^n
bit size so more buckets = less space, less buckets = fewer passes.
Say for a sorting 32bit values you might split your buckets by a factor of 4
aligning to a byte boundary. This would give you 4, 256 entry buckets.
The sort then becomes a linear walk of the data doing the standard Radix sort.
This is where the prefetcher and packed arrays really start working to your
advantage. Your memory access is trivially predictable and the prefetcher gets
to work eliminating all DRAM cache misses. Most algorithms will hint at the
fetches but it usually takes just a few loops for the prefetcher to do just as
well. If you want to some parts of the passes can be batched to get better
than O(kn).
Now if you want to get fancy you can take your key, and find out what bit
width for your buckets line up nicely with your cache line size and watch
Radix really scream.
This used a lot in computer graphics for determining draw order, intersection
tests, etc(in fact the book "Realtime Collision Detection" is one of the best
data structure literature I've read, it just happens to be about 2D/3D problem
spaces).
This is why understanding the implications of memory access is so important.
Paraphrased from the talk: Big O notation is really a blunt tool and sometimes
those constant factors can be incredibly painful.
[edit] They also have the nice property of being stable which can have some
useful benefits.
~~~
wfunction
> on a fixed width key
Okay well that changes things a bit. I was thinking on general data, like
strings.
> The sort then becomes a linear walk of the data doing the standard Radix
> sort.
Does it? What about all the buckets which you write randomly to?
~~~
vvanders
Strings are going to be bad anyway because there's a high chance you're
hitting a cache miss just to get access to the heap allocated string data.
Yes, only the histogram pass has random writes and if you pick your bucket
size appropriately(like I mentioned above) then the surface area for those
random writes can land within a cache line or two.
Summing the histograms are a very nice linear read/write pass.
------
codepie
Deciding memory layout is a sub-task of designing cache-oblivious algorithms.
Cache-oblivious algorithms optimize the number of memory transfers. I found
this very interesting
[http://erikdemaine.org/papers/BRICS2002/paper.pdf](http://erikdemaine.org/papers/BRICS2002/paper.pdf)
~~~
agumonkey
Everything Demaine works on look so new, simple and interesting. Succint DS,
origami/folds proofs, now this.
------
gsg
Interesting.
A while back I did some rough tests on search of arrays in depth first order.
The hope was that the better contiguity (the next element in the array is the
next element to test 50% of the time) would lead to better search performance,
but I wasn't able to observe much of a difference in practice.
I also found that while writing the search operation was very easy for arrays
in this order, insertion was much more difficult.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How to monetize & market Get In Anyway - eriksanchez
Hey guys (and the few girls on here too), Similar to the Fat Ninja Hot Sauce, my startup is also a little different from those normally submitted on here. I'm selling a physical product - my 'Get In Anyway' (GIA) guide. It's a step-by-step guide on how anyone can earn a Harvard degree, taking mostly online classes, and for about the same tuition as your state school.
Initially, I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity for myself. But after realizing how few people were aware of this degree-seeking program, I decided to take it upon myself to let would-be students know that they have a second shot at education from a prestigious institution.<p>I decided to go physical to circumvent any and all piracy issues. Currently, I have everything setup to print/bind at FedEx office and ship via USPS to every country that ClickBank (CB) supports. Oh yea, I was recently approved as a CB vendor. And, yes, they now accept physical products. I also have an Amazon payments button commented out on my pages. But I recently noticed it's still showing up on some browsers. Anyway, back to monetization & marketing...<p>One monetization option I'm considering in lieu of selling a physical book is lead generation. i.e., I'd make the contents of the guide available (section by section) online and generate leads for relevant offers.<p>This article made lead generation appear wonderfully lucrative: http://blog.mediadroit.com/2009/11/14/what-is-the-ideal-way-to-monetize-lead-generation/<p>And on marketing, I'm wide open to suggestions. Although I'd love to hear something crazy with the potential to put GIA on the map.<p>So I'd love to hear your ideas as to how you think I should monetize & market this guide.<p>This is my site: http://www.getinanyway.com<p>Thanks!<p>P.S. I submitted this in the afternoon to see if that made a difference in the response I get.
======
anigbrowl
I presume you're talking about Harvard's extension school and their distance
learning options: <http://www.extension.harvard.edu/DistanceEd/>
I'm put off by the $49.95 price, which immediately reminds of of 'Make Money
Fast with this AMAZING Secret Technique' courses - you know, the kind that
start 'Dear Reader, a few years ago, I was just like you....'. You actually
seem to be offering something more serious and less snake-oily, but as with
every other 'secrets of...' pitch I've ever seen, it seems to be a repackaging
of information that's fairly easily available already.
I personally think you'd be better to lowering the price to that of an impulse
purchase (eg $14.99), selling it via Amazon and accepting the revenue split in
their favor with CreateSpace products, and then sending out a few press
releases, along with complimentary copies to a few key education writers
(perhaps timed for a slow part of the academic news calendar). This is a bit
old-fashioned, but OTOH the whole cachet of a Harvard degree depends on its
institutional antiquity so you want the pixie dust only a serious endorsement
can provide.
~~~
JacobAldridge
Curious as to whether the target market is students choosing a college,
parents supporting their kids, or individuals later in life (after first
degree or even later).
If it's parents, and maybe even individuals with some life experience after
high school, then $49.95 may not be much. Everything else you say makes great
sense, especially the endorsements.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How Much Reliance on 3rd Party Tech Is Too Much? - charliesdad
My partners and I came up with an idea for a product and simultaneously started building a product and scouting around the market to see what competition was out there. In that process we found a couple of API's available to use that basically took care of the data processing we needed to be done, so we started using them. So now our product is essentially repackaging these API's* and selling to the customer (with very little of our own proprietary IP). We're finding demand in the market place for the service and signing up customers. We all use 3rd party tech at some level (from AWS up the stack), but this tech goes to the core offering. I'm wondering what people think about businesses like this?<p>*Our API usage is in compliance with the terms of service, so this is really a business question, not a legal one.
======
poof131
Congratulations. What a great way to prove out the usefulness of your service.
Minimal effort to fulfill a need.
1\. Try to form a relationship with the companies whose APIs you depend upon.
Try to find out their plans for the APIs, if they’ll keep them up, if the
terms of service will stay okay for you, and if they are likely to become a
competitor.
2\. Depending upon one, either put your resources into expanding into new
areas or replacing the APIs. Expanding would be preferred, but you may need to
do both if one of the companies may become a competitor.
Again, sounds like you are in a great spot. More value provided with less
effort is always a good thing. Sounds like an eloquent solution. There’s risk,
but you recognize it which is important. Focus on growth if you can rather
than de-risking the API usage since there are probably a bunch of other unseen
risks and growth will help you find these and deal with them. Then gradually
de-risk the API usage as you grow.
------
austinhulak
This is something I often debate as well. On one hand, it allows you to go to
market faster. On the other, your business is perhaps less defensible. That
said, even if you went out built your own solution from the ground up who's to
say someone else wouldn't come along and just piggyback the API you're using
now?
As long as you're aware of the potential business risks and are taking at
least some steps to mitigate it (or have plans to), you might as well keep
adding as much value as possible to further position yourself in whatever
market you're playing in.
Focus on the value add, and if you start to reach a scale where pricing
becomes prohibitive, great! Now build your own.
If their API changes, well, that's a bit harder to handle. The second you
start to see any level of serious traction you'll probably want to either a)
lock down a long term contract or b) build a replacement that frees you from
this dependancy.
------
stephenr
If the company whose api you're selling, goes out of business or changes their
service to no longer off the service, can you carry on doing business?
What if they keep offering the service but at 10x the price?
for reference i would say the same about more generic things like app servers,
databases, email processors. The moment you rely on a vendor specific thing,
you have a dependency on them. Some are unavoidable, and/or low risk. Some are
avoidable and/or high risk.
~~~
charliesdad
If they pull the API we would be scrambling to find an alternate solution.
Likewise, if they 10x the price our business metrics would be turned upside
down. So that is a massive risk.
------
siquick
Reinvest any profit you make into weening yourself off the 3rd party tech.
Starting with the most mission-critical tech...
------
yolesaber
Is the API something that would be difficult or impossible for you to
replicate on your own? If that's the case, you might have to just stick it
out. There's nothing inherently wrong about building a business on top of an
API, just there's a higher risk factor involved if say, the company pulls a
Twitter and guts the API or goes under etc.
Otherwise, I would advise possibly building a functional clone of the API in
earnest (if you have the cycles available to do so) and keep it on the
backburner until needed.
~~~
charliesdad
The API could theoretically be replicated - its not based on proprietary data
from the provider - but it would be a resource intensive effort to do so. And
would involve an ongoing to hill climb to match its performance.
~~~
yolesaber
Ah, a tricky situation. Honestly if you can, the best choice would be to
buckle down and at least replicate _some_ functionality on your own - that way
you have at least a safety net if the API is revoked or pricing goes way up
------
SyneRyder
There's definitely value in wrapping APIs - an API is useless to someone who
doesn't know any programming. If you can provide an easy interface for non
programmers to use the service, that definitely has value, even if the API
does all the actual work.
You should aim to have a way to switch on the fly between 3rd Party providers
though. On my (small) e-commerce website the payment processor would
occasionally have issues with a customer, so I had actually signed up for
multiple services that I could switch between at any time. That was useful
when one of the providers I'd signed up with ended up getting out of the
consumer e-commerce space at short notice.
------
theaccordance
What I would do:
1\. Determine your liability to the customers in the event the APIs are
discontinued
2\. Assess the risk of the APIs getting shut down
3\. Have a contingency plan in place in the event you have to scramble.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A list of resources for learning Go language - firatcan
======
firatcan
Hello everyone I just curated a list of resource for learning go language. I
thought, this extraordinary times might be helpful for you to spare time to
learn new skills. You need to sign up for check to list but it’s totally free.
[https://www.jooseph.com](https://www.jooseph.com)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Despite Accord With Apple, Music Labels Still Fret - ALee
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/business/media/02apple.html?_r=1
======
josefresco
Best part of the article is the end ...
"In some ways, the tension stems from Apple’s power over the industry, but it
also echoes the traditional divide between suppliers and distributors. Several
years ago, some labels withdrew their videos from the Yahoo Music service over
a dispute about compensation. Before that, when MTV began in the early 1980s,
the music industry eagerly provided videos in the belief that they would help
sell records, though they later regretted having provided free content for the
cable channel.
They believe they created MTV, and will say they revived Apple,said Mr.
Goldberg, speaking about the music industry in general."
~~~
mlinsey
The best thing about that part is that the labels should have been very
accustomed to the divide between suppliers and distributors...but they were
accustomed to finding themselves on the other side.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How Facebook Envisions the Future of Our eLives And Why It's Not a Good Idea - xpressyoo
https://plus.google.com/111297306144520956414/posts/JLQogwzooYd?hl=en
======
Hyena
I think we should just add this to the pile of "why the advertising supported
model is one of the more dangerous systems in technology".
~~~
dinde
You can't get something for nothing, eventually we'll have to pay some price
for these services and we're finally beginning to realize what that is.
------
ShawnJG
the act of collecting information is not inherently bad. What is, though is
the fact that no one knows exactly how companies treat your information now or
in the future. Data collection has moved into a wild West phase. It is
outpacing governmental regulation by leaps and bounds. What's even more
harmful is the fact that most people do not know what they're giving up. The
same information that a governmental agency would need a warrant to acquire
the same information that people give up to social networks or other websites
in general without a second thought.
~~~
rhizome
Nothing is "inherently" bad. Badness is a human construct, a value judgement,
and nobody is talking about a future where it is required to instantly forget
everything learned.
_The same information that a governmental agency would need a warrant to
acquire the same information that people give up to social networks or other
websites in general without a second thought_
And FB is a single-source for that warrant who likely has more informal
processes for satisfying some requests without warrants. This is why the
Carlyle Group (CIA) invested in Friendster (and probably FB too).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
UK intelligence and security committee to review legality of PRISM - jumblesale
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/17/prism-nsa-gchq-review-framework-surveillance
======
mtgx
And then give themselves some high-fives.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A 5 Minute Intelligence Test for Kids - fogus
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/nurtureshock/archive/2009/08/30/a-5-minute-intelligence-test-for-kids.aspx
======
skolor
_A previous intelligence test, taken about a year-and-a-half previously, had
won them entrance to gifted primary schools. So how many of the kids still
classified as gifted just eighteen months later? Only half_
Now, that's disappointing. Newsweek has a fascinating article there, but they
missed the best part. Sure, a 5 minute test is interesting, and the
correlations are too, but that is fascinating fact. Only 50% of the gifted
students are gifted a year and a half later? That really makes you think. What
about the other way around? How many students, not originally classified as
gifted would be classified that way after a year or two? It also seems to help
the claim that school dumbs you down.
~~~
tokenadult
This replicates the finding of Lewis Terman's longitudinal study of high-IQ
elementary-age pupils that many of those young people did not qualify as
"gifted" on a subsequent test that Terman gave them at high school age. But he
kept them in the study group anyway.
Shurkin, Joel N. (1992). Terman's Kids: The Groundbreaking Study of How the
Gifted Grow Up. Boston: Little, Brown.
An especially odd result of the Terman study is that Terman tested and
rejected for inclusion in his study two children whose IQ scores were below
his cut-off line who later went on to win Nobel prizes: William Shockley, who
co-invented the transistor, and physicist Luis Alvarez. None of the children
included in the study ever won a Nobel prize.
~~~
boredguy8
Keep in mind, self control is a better indicator for real-world success than
is IQ. searchyc for the article, it was linked here.
~~~
mmt
I thought _that_ article was about indicating academic success, rather than
real-world success.
~~~
btilly
It was, but in the discussion I linked to the famous marshmallow test, which
tied a self-control test at age 4 to real world success decades later.
See
[http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/18/090518fa_fact_...](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/18/090518fa_fact_lehrer)
for an article on this test.
------
run4yourlives
Somehow, testing for above average intelligence in children all of 5 years old
seems akin to trying to figure out the best wines by tasting them 3 weeks
after you've picked the grapes.
I would hazard a guess that at 5, the kids who score high on these "IQ" tests
correlates strongly to their environment at home. i.e., the ones with the most
involved parents do best.
The child's mind is not properly developed yet, and the best way to continue
to develop it is to challenge it at the fastest pace it can handle. That has
nothing to do with intelligence. At all.
~~~
fburnaby
<q>The child's mind is not properly developed yet, and the best way to
continue to develop it is to challenge it at the fastest pace it can
handle.</q>
But, to be fair, it should help to identify the ones who can handle more
intellectual stimulus now and then give it to them, wouldn't it?
~~~
run4yourlives
Yup, have no issue with that. My issue is that they're called gifted.
------
tokenadult
"They are phenomenally accurate at predicting full-scale intelligence scores."
I call baloney on this. I want to see the peer-reviewed publication that says
so. This is the kind of mental test that Galton and James McKeen Cattell did a
century ago, and those tests were found to have no valid correlation with
intelligence.
<http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html>
This further paragraph in the submitted article provides better information:
"The team wanted to evaluate several intelligence tests, including their own.
So they recruited 77 gifted children through the Parents’ Association for
Gifted Children in Switzerland. A previous intelligence test, taken about a
year-and-a-half previously, had won them entrance to gifted primary schools.
So how many of the kids still classified as gifted just eighteen months later?
Only half, no matter what test was used. (And that was using a relaxed cut-off
line, to account for standard deviations in testing.)"
This is in accord with many findings by many researchers in many places over
decades: preschool IQ tests have remarkably poor reliability for predicting
subsequent school-age IQ scores. By the way, the Newsweek blogger's
terminology is incorrect. Where Po Bronson wrote, "to account for standard
deviations in testing," he should have written, "to account for standard error
in estimation," which is a different concept. A "standard error" is something
different from a "standard deviation."
The later paragraphs somewhat rescued this casual blog post, but I fear that
most news reporting on IQ testing is at the level of excessive credulity found
in the earlier paragraphs. It takes time and effort to read and understand the
better published literature on IQ testing
<http://learninfreedom.org/iqbooks.html>
and alas many journalists don't bother to make that effort. Even less do most
bloggers bother to check their facts on this contentious issue before posting.
~~~
jerf
"They are phenomenally accurate at predicting full-scale intelligence
_scores_."
You are arguing against the statement without the word "scores" in it. That's
not the same statement. The statement as it was made is correct, and there's
no need for a study to be cited; this _is_ the study being cited.
Note how the authors go on to point out that if this simple test has a 99%
correlation with the complicated test, then, logically, they are effectively
the same test, and if you can't believe that line sorting is an adequate
intelligence indicator, than neither are the conventional tests.
Slow down with the shooting-from-the-hip there; this entire article is all
about how bad tests are for determining intelligence, if you actually read it.
It's not just the "later paragraphs".
~~~
tokenadult
_You are arguing against the statement without the word "scores" in it._
I agree with you that the overall tenor of the blog post is skepticism about
early childhood IQ tests, but I am additionally skeptical of the Swiss test-
giver's claim that his sensory perception test correlates well with IQ scores
of children at the same age. That's just his claim so far. The blog post
doesn't include anyone "showing the work" to show that that is replicable
result. It would be a very strange result, actually, inconsistent with results
that have been replicated many times (as mentioned in a scientific publication
I linked to in another reply in this rapidly growing thread).
<http://www.personalityresearch.org/acton/sense.html>
But, yes, even if the quick-and-dirty test correlates very well with preschool
IQ tests, that doesn't mean much, because preschool IQ tests--all of them--
correlate poorly with anything of interest, including subsequent IQ scores,
that shows up at school age.
~~~
jibiki
I think this is the paper, unfortunately, it's behind a pay wall.
[http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&...](http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=2008-12082-007)
~~~
gwern
I have a copy. The .99 correlation seems to be coming from this:
> Paired sample t-tests showed that children diagnosed as gifted in this study
> (N = 44) achieved equal scores on the HAWIK-IV (M = 126.9, SD = 7.1) and the
> IDS (M = 128.9, SD = 8.2), t(43) = –1.30, p = .20. Average nongifted
> children (N = 69) scored equal as well on the HAWIK-IV (M = 101.2, SD = 8.5)
> and the IDS (M = 99.86, SD = 0.03), t(68) = 1.42, p = .16.
(IDS is this new line/weight-based test, the HAWIK-IV the usual IQ battery.)
~~~
tokenadult
Thanks for the reference and for the quotation (to the parent and grandparent
of this reply). Yes, the HAWIK would be the usual child IQ battery in a
German-speaking country. I'm not following the statistics shown there
completely, but I note the sample size. Did the same group of test-givers give
both tests? Were they "blind" as to the results of each test when giving the
other?
I appreciate the references. I'm still doubtful that the general finding would
be that the five-minute test would be strongly correlated with full scale
child IQ batteries, e.g. the WPPSI. The way to find out would be for other
groups of test-givers to attempt to replicate the result.
------
btilly
Sounds like someone needs to re-read Piaget.
Piaget identified a number of intellectual stages that children go through at
fairly predictable ages. Children transition between them during growth
spurts. There is variance in when the growth spurts happen, and therefore when
those mental leaps happen.
Most children transition from the "intuitive" to the "concrete operation"
stages around age 7. Concrete operations include tasks like ordering objects
in a logical sequence. This is EXACTLY what the "5 minute IQ test" is testing.
The longer test is almost certainly testing a variety of different mental
skills that are also enabled by the same transition. Hence the strong
correlation.
Furthermore someone who is "gifted" at age 6 on a test like this almost
certainly is gifted because he or she hit that growth spurt early. A year and
a half later more kids have gone through the same transition, and having
acquired those mental skills early hasn't necessarily translated into
acquiring them better. That would explain why so many once-gifted kids aren't
gifted 18 months later. (Of course the additional time with those skills does
help, explaining the fact that many still are gifted relative to their peers.)
In short the results should be unsurprising to anyone who has studied child
development.
~~~
tokenadult
Piaget didn't prove that no child can be genuinely gifted over the course of
childhood compared to some "average" child--he didn't have a data set adequate
to prove such a proposition at all. It's not clear yet that his proposed
stages of development are as invariant as some readers of his books, think,
either. MIT professor Seymour Papert actually studied with Piaget when Piaget
was still alive, and this is what Papert says about how little Piaget's
developmental hypothesis constrains profound giftedness: "The case [of Jean
Piaget] has a mild irony in that this man, so often quoted as the authority on
what children cannot do because they are not at appropriate stages of
development, published his first scientific article at age eleven!" -- Seymour
Papert, The Children's Machine: Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer
(1993).
~~~
btilly
I'm not saying that this research is rendered obvious by Piaget's work. Nor
did I say that the age at which children make certain transitions is fixed in
stone. Nor would I try to imply that Piaget discovered everything about the
subject. Nor did I try to indicate that there are not gifted children.
However I stand by my claim that Piaget's work provides a framework to
understand why a young child's ability at one task (sorting lines by length
and objects by weight) is indicative of a much broader range of cognitive
skills. Furthermore the fact that cognitive abilities go through periods of
rapid advance over a broad range of areas makes it less surprising to me that
you see fairly large shifts in where children stand relative to each other in
ability.
------
mrshoe
_Every five-year-old who can answer “paper” won’t turn into a financial
analyst who puts a buy rating on Honda at $25, or have the mental skills to do
so._
Slightly OT:
I had hoped that our current economic situation would help obliterate the myth
that our best and brightest work on Wall St., but apparently we still have
some convincing to do.
A good intelligence test will predict which children will grow up to be
doctors and engineers. If you want to find the future financiers, you should
put them all in a room and see which kids start bullying the others.
~~~
cema
No, that's wrong. It may predict MBA types but not financiers.
------
brk
The problem with _any_ of these tests is that over-competitive parents and
schools simply start training their kids to pass these tests at an early age.
You end up with kids who only are able to properly process a line-length test.
Asking them perhaps to discern a series of squares of different sizes could
potentially roadblock them.
IMO, the bigger issue is that we expect all children to be at the same
learning development stage at any given point in their life and to respond
equally to a given teaching approach. So, all 5 year olds get lumped into a
particular curriculum, and then as 6 year olds move as a group to the next
stage. Actually, I think the schools don't REALLY expect that,they just don't
care to figure out a better approach.
~~~
tokenadult
Schools used to use a better approach. They began using lock-step age grouping
in the 1850s.
<http://learninfreedom.org/age_grading_bad.html>
------
mtkd
Interesting that they use 'financial analyst' to represent an equivalently
intelligent adult.
------
shalmanese
Ugh, I hate it when science reporting makes you go on a massive hunt for
primary sources. Does anyone have a reference to the original paper?
Something is definitely fishy about this article. Line testing has a R of 0.99
with intelligence tests but intelligence tests themselves have a poor
correlation after 18 months. Does that mean line tests are still 0.99
correlated after 18 months? It's hard to see a plausible explanation that fits
this data.
~~~
tokenadult
jibiki kindly shared the link in another reply:
[http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&...](http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=2008-12082-007)
I see the abstract, but the full text is behind a pay wall for me. I'm very
doubtful about the reported result being generalizable.
------
fnid
I suppose the test measures the ability to differentiate details among items.
I can see how this would be a sign of intelligence. If two people cannot
understand how two things are different, then they cannot learn. Learning is
about assimilating new information, but if the person doesn't believe or see
that there is new information there, then no new neurons will be formed to
store the new information.
~~~
tokenadult
_I suppose the test measures the ability to differentiate details among items.
I can see how this would be a sign of intelligence._
This was Francis Galton's theory of intelligence more than a century ago, but
repeated studies have shown that sensory discrimination is very poorly
correlated with anything that can properly be called "intelligence" among
adult test-takers.
<http://www.personalityresearch.org/acton/sense.html>
~~~
fnid
Interesting. Wouldn't this also reduce the validity of this 5 minute IQ test?
I suppose there could be physical issues, like poor vision or tactile
sensitivity that would affect a test like this. So I wonder, perhaps people
who can see better are more likely to be smarter simply because they can
observe more items in the world.
------
gehant
Why do we still defer to IQ? It's a 2D approach at measuring intelligence in a
3D world.
"The scale, properly speaking, does not permit the measure of intelligence,
because intellectual qualities are not superposable, and therefore cannot be
measured as linear surfaces are measured." -Alfred Binet, 1905
~~~
mikedouglas
Isn't IQ only one dimensional?
~~~
Confusion
Neither. IQ tests are more like a 163 dimensional approach in a 882
dimensional world. They measure a subset of all human capacities.
~~~
mikedouglas
Right, but those are all projected onto a scalar.
~~~
tokenadult
It's important to note that IQ test scores have only ordinal properties--one
cannot make interval inferences from them validly, for example the frequently
heard assertion that "A child with an IQ of 150 is as different in
intelligence from a normal child as a child with an IQ of 50." Such a
statement is very hard to verify in the first place, but in any event IQ
scores show ORDINAL relationships (subject to a lot of error of estimation)
but don't show interval relationships of how far (on the same scale) one score
is from another in any valid way.
------
martincmartin
> [The two tests] are phenomenally accurate at predicting full-scale
> intelligence scores.
Citation needed.
------
pchristensen
Makes sense - it's a measure of the resolution of your sensory input and
ability to discern differences. I can see small differences there accruing
into huge gains in learning, confidence, etc over years.
------
AGorilla
_But to do the tasks correctly, your brain is fundamentally making a series of
comparisons, incorporating visual and haptic sensory information. The key here
is that the white space of the cards prevents you from putting the two lines
exactly next to each other._
What if you just hold the cars facing each other so the lines are just short
of touching? Then you can see the lines pretty much side-by-side.
Yes, I am smarter than a fifth grader.
~~~
algorias
If a five year old actually did that, wouldn't you think it's a clear
indication of intelligence?
------
asciilifeform
Cue the IQ-denialists.
------
pbhj
It's 99% correlated (in line with) the longer test method. OK. Then you learn
that there were 77 in the study. So they got the result wrong 1% of the time,
for 0.8 of a child?
Shenanigans.
"the two tests have a 99% correlation"
"they recruited 77 gifted children through"
[yes, it could be a rounding error]
~~~
req2
That's not at all how correlation is measured.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation>
~~~
pbhj
lol
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Corpus of network communications automatically sent to Apple by Yosemite - haywardsmyfault
https://github.com/fix-macosx/yosemite-phone-home
======
song
I'm very glad for that thread. I didn't know that I also needed to uncheck
"Include Spotlight Suggestions" in Safari additionally to Preferences.
I do not understand why there's such a backlash against anyone that points out
that:
1\. It's not intuitive to have to both disable "Include Spotlight Suggestions"
in Safari and in Preferences.
2\. People like my father who are privacy conscious but are average computer
users would not think to look for this in Spotlight and Search and instead
would look in the privacy tab instead
3\. Apple released and advertises cool privacy features like MAC address
randomization that actually do not work. It only works with Location Services
and 3G disabled according to the reports which is never going to happen. This
makes me feel that the new focus on privacy from Apple is more for PR purpose
than something they really care for.
That said, I like Apple products, I've been using macs since 2004 and I would
have a hard time going back to using Linux (still have nightmares about all
the work needed to support my laptop correctly) but that doesn't mean I'm
giving them a pass on those privacy issues.
I know a lot of people here feel that all of this is much ado about nothing
but really, it's clearly not obvious and if I hadn't read yesterday's thread I
wouldn't have been aware that Safari sends my search to Apple even if selected
Duck Duck Go and disabled Spotlight Suggestions in preferences.
~~~
deadweight4
The text when you open spotlight explains that it's looking on the internet.
The first icon is safari. Every search you do, including siri, kortana, and ok
google sends information to the respective company. Apparently bendgate didn't
satisfy the fans, so they had to come up with a tortured reason to be all
upset. I really tire of this horse shit, and would expect better.
~~~
song
I disabled spotlight suggestions in the preferences but didn't in Safari
(since it never came into my mind that I'd need to disable it there too).
When I searched on safari, I didn't see spotlight suggestions but I can
confirm that it phoned home.
I don't get why people get so defensive when it's just a simple fact. Even
someone technically minded like me who actually disabled Spotlight suggestions
in Preferences because I didn't want to send information to Apple, ended up
sending information when searching on Safari. This is an issue.
~~~
arrrg
Why would you expect Safari to not communicate with the web? I'm mystified by
this attitude.
~~~
song
I expect Safari to communicate with the web, I just don't expect it to send my
search data to apple's server when I selected Duck Duck Go as a search engine
and when I disabled Spotlight suggestion in the preferences. Having to disable
"Spotlight suggestion" a second time in Safari's preferences is the issue and
is what I blame Apple.
~~~
arrrg
That makes no sense to me to be honest. I really don’t understand this
attitude, even on a basic level.
~~~
scintill76
Would you be bothered if full video of your browser window was constantly
streamed to Apple by default, with no ability to erase footage? If not, I
don't know what to say. But if so, being told "It's just communicating with
the web, what'd you expect from a browser?" wouldn't help, would it?
Obviously this is the extreme, and I'm not likening sending search queries to
fulltime video surveillance, but the point is people have different thresholds
of what they will tolerate. Apparently most HN users' tolerance is high, or at
least they are willing to defend Apple on this for whatever reasons. Some of
ours is low, so that's why we are complaining.
~~~
scintill76
These threads are amazing. I thought this was a reasonable explanation of my
problem with this, and an attempt to show why people disagree, and how we can
empathize better. But I get downmodded with no response. Is my opinion really
so stupid that it doesn't deserve a response or to be read by anyone else? Is
the idea that these things should be opt-in (or much more transparent), to
protect privacy, so foreign, that I'm assumed to be trolling or merely anti-
Apple if I espouse it? I expected at least "That's your ideological position
on opt-in vs. opt-out, on which we simply disagree."
Maybe people got the message, irreconcilably disagree, and are sick of reading
it again. I don't know why you'd still be in the thread, then.
~~~
song
All of my comments in this thread started with negative points from down votes
then stabilised. It seems that whenever there's a controversial topic, there
are a few people who down vote every comment that goes against their
viewpoint.
~~~
scintill76
I've had the impression that people who have the ability to down vote are
reasonable and well-respected in the community, so it kind of surprises me
that these things happen. Maybe down voting just seems lofty to me because I'm
not karmic enough to have it.
It's also funny that I talked about being downvoted, and am now a little above
0 afterward, oops. I figured the thread was dying down and I'd respond before
it was abandoned completely.
~~~
song
Getting enough karma to downvote doesn't really mean that much, it just means
you've been here long enough and maybe submitted a few articles that got on
the front page (it's much easier to get karma by submitting articles).
------
madeofpalk
That Mail one is probably the least alarming, and I would assume that Outlook
does the same thing. When you first set up a mail account, it sends your email
domain to [https://mac-services.apple.com/iconfig/dconf](https://mac-
services.apple.com/iconfig/dconf) and, provided Apple has a match for it, it
will return auto-configure POP/IMAP/SMTP settings.
If you enter your email as @apple.com, it returns back:
<domain>
<name>apple.com</name>
<service>
<hostname>mail.apple.com</hostname>
<port>993</port>
<protocol>IMAP</protocol>
<ssl />
<requires>MACOSX</requires>
<authentication>PLAIN</authentication>
</service>
<...>
</domain>
~~~
JetSpiegel
Thunderbird has a similar service, but you can click on Manual Config and
input that by hand.
~~~
valleyer
Option-click the "Create" button in the setup wizard in Mail.app for the same
thing
------
tkubacki
Funny - just compare how Ubuntu was bashed for Amazon lens in Unity and how
differently Apple is treated for the same (or even worse) things here on HN
~~~
the_mitsuhiko
My mac has not yet shown me advertisements for when I was looking for my
files.
~~~
esolyt
They weren't advertisements. They were product search results.
And the concern wasn't about the fact that it shows products, but about the
fact that data was being sent to Amazon (unencrypted as well, I believe).
~~~
spacefight
" They weren't advertisements. They were product search results."
That line is blurred these days.
~~~
beagle3
But it wasn't in the shopping lens.
It was a bad idea. But let's not throw random general statements in a concrete
discussion.
Did you ever get a result from the shopping lens which could be mistaken for
an advertisement rather than a product result you can buy on Amazon?
~~~
spacefight
It's a product you can buy on Amazon trough an affiliate link. If't that's not
advertisement...
~~~
beagle3
No, it's not [0]. You searched for something, and the default installation
searches for it among your menus and in Amazon.
Copyright infringement is not theft.
Amazon lens is not advertisement.
[0] [http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/advertisement](http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/advertisement)
------
simme_
Original discussion can be found here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8479958](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8479958)
~~~
pilsetnieks
This one might be more relevant: "Disable sharing of Spotlight searches with
Apple"
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8473580](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8473580)
Hint: you have to uncheck two checkboxes that OS X explicitly tells you about
in the very same Spotlight preferences, plus another one in Location
preferences.
~~~
facepalm
The spotlight preferences are not explicit. I would never have opened them
without reading this news item first.
However, I can understand the philosophy of searching the wen and the desktop
in parallel.
Ubuntu does the same (they search Amazon, not sure if also the web in
general), and they also got a lot of flak for it.
~~~
pilsetnieks
What I meant with explicit was that they are explicitly described in the text
that is shown on clicking the button called "About Spotlight Suggestions and
Privacy."
If one would never even open Spotlight preferences, then yeah, it is not
possible to see, enable or disable those preferences. But then one should also
not complain that it is impossible to enable or disable these preferences. By
that logic, every application that does anything with any privacy implications
should have it's primary interface littered with preference toggles to make it
completely obvious how it's functionality can be altered.
~~~
izacus
I think a basic warning, information or other type of system making a user
aware, that all their searches are being shared with 3rd parties is not an
unreasonable demand.
Having people go to two preferences dialogs just to find out that contents of
search box are being sent to USA datacenters is a dangerous dark pattern.
~~~
batmanthehorse
It gives a basic warning to make the user aware. Any time they use Spotlight
until they disable the related features.
[http://core0.staticworld.net/images/article/2014/10/spotligh...](http://core0.staticworld.net/images/article/2014/10/spotlight_fullscreen_new-100525222-large.png)
------
eknkc
Am I missing something here? The web search / autocomplete functionality
contacts some servers.. You can disable them. Mail client tries to fetch known
IMAP / SMTP info for a given domain to ease setup.
Are there some weird data being sent? Honestly, I might have missed some
concerning communication but as far as I can tell, this is just for the sake
of added functionality and can be disabled.
Expecting OS level stuff to work without network data at year 2014 seems
somewhat bizarre. This is like complaining that apt-get leaks info to home,
telling about the packages you install.
~~~
userbinator
_Expecting OS level stuff to work without network data at year 2014 seems
somewhat bizarre. This is like complaining that apt-get leaks info to home,
telling about the packages you install._
No, the difference is that people do have a general idea about whether things
should be done locally or sent out into the Internet, and searching files
stored locally does not belong in the latter category.
~~~
matthewmacleod
Spotlight is no longer a tool for searching local files, and is now a search
tool which combines local and remote data.
You can disable this feature.
~~~
vertex-four
Which is an issue as this is not clearly stated, and it appears at first
glance to be exactly like the desktop search tools we've been using for the
past couple of decades.
UX design is partially about making pitfalls like this clear to users (and,
where possible, getting rid of pitfalls altogether).
~~~
batmanthehorse
It is actually very clearly stated when you first use it (and every time
thereafter, until you disable it):
[http://core0.staticworld.net/images/article/2014/10/spotligh...](http://core0.staticworld.net/images/article/2014/10/spotlight_fullscreen_new-100525222-large.png)
------
esolyt
I recently replaced Spotlight with Alfred and realized how much I was missing
out. It's surprisingly faster and cleaner. I would really suggest it to anyone
who haven't tried it yet.
~~~
nodata
Have you compared Alfred with Spotlight in Yosemite?
~~~
Tyrannosaurs
I recently replaced Alfred with Spotlight when I upgraded to Yosemite.
Alfred feels like it was very much an "inspiration" for the new Spotlight but
as is often the way with little helper type apps, if it's good enough, sooner
or later it will get rolled into the OS.
The business model Joel Spolsky referred to as grabbing nickels from the path
of an on-coming steamroller.
------
davidw
It searches the web as well as your local drives, so sending those searches
out is exactly what I'd expect. Now, I can also see the case for not making
'do a web search too' the default, but if you can't have that and not share
your searches with Apple.
~~~
ctz
> you can't have that and not share your searches with Apple
Why on earth not? Why can't the search box just talk to DDG?
~~~
davidw
Isn't what people are getting hot and bothered about is that " _local_ "
searches are sending data out on the internet, rather than where they happen
to be sending it?
~~~
gutnor
Yes, people that knows the difference between local searches and online
searches are probably upset about it.
As a HN user, I'm in that category of people. However, I was surprised, when
using my phone that I expected Spotlight to search both locally and online.
The difference is that I never use spotlight on my mobile, I just don't have
that much stuff to look locally, so I had fresh user expectation: "cool I can
make search anywhere", so when spotlight did not do it was a bit of a let down
and since then I have never used Spotlight on IOS again, I just open the
browser.
Not saying that Apple is right or anything, but the reasoning may simply be
"if I have a global search button not looking online by default, will regular
user not think of that as a bug"
------
adsr
Can't this just be turned off with the Spotlight setting in system preferences
though? For browsers it seems to be the same for all that uses the unified
search field, it was last time a checked Chrome with tcpdump. I personally
preferred to have the URL field separate from the search field for that
reason.
~~~
masklinn
> Can't this just be turned off with the Spotlight setting in system
> preferences though?
Yes. Although note that it will not disable Safari's "spotlight suggestions"
which have to be disabled separately via Safari's own preferences.
------
f3llowtraveler
I am extremely disturbed by this report.
I have been a faithful Apple user for years, but this single report causes me
to seriously consider switching to Linux for good.
~~~
coldtea
You mean to get something like Ubuntu that does the same thing?
Let's set this straight: anything that gives you suggestions (for search,
products, dictionary definitions, songs, etc) from the internet, is by
definition sending your query to some internet server.
Next drama: Google searches send my search queries to Google.
~~~
inclemnet
> You mean to get something like Ubuntu that does the same thing?
He obviously means something not like Ubuntu (or at least Unity in particular)
that does not do the same thing. There are many many distros meeting this
requirement, it's disingenuous to try and imply everyone is doing it.
~~~
coldtea
> _He obviously means something not like Ubuntu (or at least Unity in
> particular) that does not do the same thing._
You'd be surprised:
[http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/09/ubuntu-bakes-
amazon-...](http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/09/ubuntu-bakes-amazon-
search-results-into-os-to-raise-cash/)
------
dustinfarris
Is the data sent to Apple personally identifiable? How long is it retained? If
the NSA (inevitably) decides to crash the party, what is the nature of the
information that they walk away with?
These are all questions that should have readily available answers.
------
jason_slack
Has anyone found a way in 10.10 to completely disable spotlight and
notification center? I know I can disable in system preferences but what about
getting rid of the icons and completely stopping the services all together?
------
abritishguy
I like what I have seen with Apple's (apparent) focus on privacy with regards
to iOS and the later iPhone models but this is pretty worrying - I'm not one
to care about sending my data to some cloud service when it offers some
tangible benefit to me, but some of this data is pretty intrusive and I can't
see what benefit it is adding.
Assuming everything here is accurate then Apple have screwed up and really
ought to rectify this pretty quickly if they want anything they say about
privacy to be taken seriously in the future.
~~~
stephen_g
How else would they provide Apple Maps and web results in Spotlight though?
It actually has an explanation of exactly what it's sending and where in the
Spotlight preference pane (click 'About Spotlight Suggestions and Privacy'),
and exactly how to turn it off (you switch off 'Spotlight Suggestions' and
'Bing Search' in the list of things to search). It's not like this secret...
------
blinkingled
> About this Mac
When the user selects 'About this Mac' from the Apple menu, Yosemite phones
home and s_vi, a unique analytics identifier, is included in the request.
(si_vi is used by Adobe/Omniture's analytics software).
Wow. I am waiting for "Team Apple" to invent a radical defense on this one.
But regardless this is shameful on Apple's part.
~~~
rimantas
Does it by any chance depend on checking "Send usage and diagnostics data to
Apple" checkbox? Is that identifier used for anything else, i.e. can it be
associated with something identifying the user, not just saying that all these
requests came from the same machine?
~~~
blinkingled
If you read the link it says upfront that this happens after disabling all
privacy related options including usage and diagnostics data.
Besides why does Apple need to know the user clicked About This Mac? A crash
log I can understand but this is unprecedented level of tracking on a desktop
OS.
------
higherpurpose
Microsoft has been doing this, too, since Windows 8.1, and it's going to do it
even more aggressively with Windows 10.
I'm not saying it to mean that it's okay - in fact quite the opposite. Both
are doing it wrong, and I hope they stop, or at least give me an _intuitive_
(not hidden within 100 other settings) way to disable it.
~~~
dvhh
citation required
------
JamesBaxter
I wonder if the iPhone does something similar
~~~
madeofpalk
Yup. Fire up Charles SSL proxy and you'll observe very similar behaviour (at
least with Mail and Spotlight/Safari)
------
tsenkov
Disclaimer: I am building the mentioned app.
Pagehop ([https://pagehopapp.com/](https://pagehopapp.com/)), a launcher
targeting only the Web, doesn't send your search queries to any server of
ours, and allows searching in many different sources (Google, Bing,
DuckDuckGo, Wikipedia, StackOverflow, YouTube, even some very specific sources
such as jQuery's API documentation, the Mozilla Developer Network or the NPM
archive). You can add sources (recipes) yourself.
We don't use a central server, instead the app taps into free web services
(where possible) or scrapes the sites (where not).
It basically is a pack of many horizontal and vertical search engines with a
single UI and the ability to use tools for post-processing of web results such
as Regexes and Fuzzy Matching.
Pagehop queries are a simpler version of executing commands in the Terminal
and you can pipe tools, one after another, just the same.
You should check it out (or not) - it has an unlimited, free and fully
functional evaluation period (nothing is locked, just like SublimeText).
------
teamhappy
We've read plenty of interesting explanations in this thread. Anybody care to
explain to me what great feature is hidden behind the "About This Mac" cookie
or where to find the button to disable it?
------
nashequilibrium
mmmmmmm
------
steffenfrost
What are they sending to the NSA?
------
rplnt
If you like the title of this post, you might like this subreddit:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/titlegore](https://www.reddit.com/r/titlegore)
edit: all right, jokes aside, the title is horrible and unparseable for many
reasons:
"Yosemite" without stating it's OS X Yosemite throws you off with the first
word. It "Sends Spotlight" (comma). All right, sends spotlight what? Is sends
a verb, why is it capitalized? Let's move on... "Safari Searches", Safari
searches what? Again with the random capitalization of searches? Or I guess it
was a verb and "Spotlight, Safari" is a list. The fact that both are also
common words doesn't help - it would be more obvious that we are talking about
products/brands if "searches" and "sends" weren't capitalized. Continue... "to
Apple" \- yeah, this makes sense (first time in this sentence). Even "to" is
not capitalized (but it makes you question your decision about
sends/searches). Comma. Third parties. What?!
Seriously, it's awful.
~~~
zimpenfish
Whilst it's not great, it's hardly awful or unparseable. Headlines have been
written in this kind of truncated form for decades; people know how to read
them.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
OFA + AWS - dylanvee
http://awsofa.info/
======
siliconc0w
Anyone know of a good tool to make these types of diagrams? Preferably
automatically? I've been meaning to create something that plugs into Chef and
or nmap/netstat. In my experience, any diagram/inventory/whatever that isn't
automatically updated invariably drifts from reality.
~~~
danoprey
We're attempting just that at <http://www.madeiracloud.com/> , would love to
chat more: dan [at] mc2 [dot] io
------
jared314
The diagram follows the style of the AWS Reference Architectures[0]. I have
yet to find a published set of diagram components that compare well to that
style.
Edit: Juan Domenech[1] has a small custom made component pallet in png form.
And, it looks like the original diagrams are custom Adobe Illustrator
drawings[2].
[0] <http://aws.amazon.com/architecture/>
[1] [http://blog.domenech.org/2012/06/aws-diagrams-
palette-v10.ht...](http://blog.domenech.org/2012/06/aws-diagrams-
palette-v10.html)
[2] <http://blog.domenech.org/2012/05/aws-diagrams.html>
------
mappu
That's an awesome diagram and quite a few servers (but latency kills the map-
overlay experience, i think a static png or svg might have been better...)
Interesting that servers are are either paired autoscaling over two AZs, or
statically provisioned in three AZs - or am i mis-reading the diagram? Two
entire mirrors for testing and staging must have become a pretty big cost.
For others outside the US confused about what the application actually does,
and what the Narwhal in the testing/staging pictures refers to, this helped;
[http://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2012/11/built-...](http://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2012/11/built-to-win-deep-inside-obamas-campaign-tech/)
~~~
DrJ
Looks like the AutoScaling groups are applications or stores where they do not
need to coordinate their actions. The 3-az deployments seems to be APIs, which
I am guessing scales with each regions (to reduce data cost?) and probably
brought up/down automatically with Puppet to handle post-launch
configurations. (you are reading it correctly).
I would guess testing is a skeleton version of the entire deployment so the
cost is minimal and just need to test new deploys and verification for tests.
Staging probably wasn't a full mirror, at best I would venture to guess they
had hot swaps coming up in staging and then being switched against production
via ELBs.
They mention costs a few times in articles, so I would venture to guess they
did optimize around many of those corners.
------
vosper
This is really great - I'd love to have a similar diagram for data flow and
components of the systems I work on. It might not benefit engineers very much
but it'd be fantastic for clients or some of the less technical people in the
company.
I wonder how hard (I'm thinking hard?) it would be to have a tool for
something like this, making the layout easy and revealing more and more
information as you zoom in.
Even better if it was live and updating with system metrics.
~~~
chubot
Yeah it looks kind of cool, but kinda hard to read. Is this graphic based on
something else?
I would like to see one where the labels are clearer. It doesn't seem like the
3D perspective adds any clarity.
------
doctorpangloss
When folks from the Romney campaign complained of technical deficiencies in
his get-out-the-vote operation, pundits and news outlets intimated that the
complaints were scapegoating IT for bad policy.
But looking at this diagram, I'm pleased to see that engineering was a big
part of the Obama campaign. It really hammers home how badly out of their
league Romney's TechOps team was.
------
obilgic
<http://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/obama/>
------
twic
Is each one of those little grey cuboids an virtual machine? If so, that is
rather a lot of virtual machines. I am surprised so many were necessary. What
kind of load was this system handling?
------
harper
i guess this leaked. ;)
~~~
sneak
Please watch this: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNsePZj_Yks>
You are materially responsible for the re-election of someone who commits
large-scale crime (in the form of blatantly unconstitutional surveillance of
Americans under no suspicion of criminal activity).
Please reconsider your choices. You are working for the wrong side.
~~~
SkyMarshal
_> You are working for the wrong side._
Which side should he be working for that doesn't do any of that?
~~~
sneak
The side building tools to resist surveillance, tyranny, violence, and war.
You know, the one trying to prevent all the stuff his boss is up to.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hackers’ Attack Cracked 10 Financial Institutions in Major Assault - eplanit
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/hackers-attack-cracked-10-banks-in-major-assault/
======
robin4hood
These institutions always start with a lie, then the truth comes out.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Stand Up and Join the Urination - Jarlakxen
http://www.the-stand-up.com/
======
afafsd
Unless they're going to start installing urinals in ladies' bathrooms I'm not
sure I see the point.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Minecraftwiki serving more traffic than Stackoverflow with 4 servers (and PHP) - Keyframe
http://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/drg0n/minecraftwikinet_and_minecraftforumnet_now_serve/c12ckss
======
citricsquid
I'm part of the Minecraft forum/wiki team (I created them both originally) so
if you guys have any questions, feel free to shoot them at me, or you can join
#rsw on irc.esper.net.
(in advance I'm not one of the sys admins, although I guess I'm a php
developer, but I suck too much to work on the sites at these traffic levels, I
just do the whole community stuff)
Also to clarify, the forum + wiki combined when ignoring our downtime are
pushing more traffic, not _just_ the wiki.
Edit: Also to hijack my own comment, if any of you guys with your fancy
startups want to advertise to a community of indie gamers feel free to email
sam@redstonewire.com :-)
------
points
Is this the shape of things to come?
Comparisons of apples to oranges... It's not about traffic, it's about what
sort of website you have, how dynamic/static it is, etc
A wiki likely has relatively few writes compared to reads, so caching should
work very well.
That said, always nice to see people optimizing properly and using a sane
number of servers.
~~~
superjared
That's kind of the point. Yesterday Spolsky asked why Digg had 500 servers and
less traffic than StackOverflow, yet StackOverflow had 5 servers.
False dichotomies huzzah!
~~~
bad_user
Yes but StackOverflow is very similar to Digg:
you've got articles that have rating, you've comments to those articles that
have rating, articles and comments are sorted according to rating, people earn
karma from posting good comments / articles, everything has tags.
So personally I don't see a false dichotomy; even if Digg is more dynamic /
complex ... WTF are they doing with those 500 servers?
~~~
qeorge
Digg is more like Facebook and Twitter than StackOverflow. Each of Digg's
logged in users gets their own "News Feed" based on the users they
follow/friended/are most similar to.
StackOverflow on the other hand is much simpler - questions and responses,
plus users and voting. AFAIK there's no collaborative filtering going on at
SO, be it user or item based.
I don't know why Digg needs so many boxen, but I did find Spolsky's comparison
disingenuous.
------
rythie
I think these types of stories are misleading for startups.
Many startups would do better to add server capacity in the short term, rather
than spend lots of time optimizing to cut costs, when this is typically hidden
from the user.
For example, a 4GB linode VPS is $160/month, so you can have 34 of those
($5440/month) for the cost of one developer (Salary of $67k based on:
[http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-php+developer/l...](http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-php+developer/l-california)).
Also, many startups struggle to recruit good developers, so would it make
sense for them to spend all their time optimising code to perform on cheap
hardware? rather than improving the product in a visible way to the user?
~~~
patrickgzill
For $200 per month you can get a quad core X3220 with 8 GB RAM and 2x 500GB
disk with a large amount of bandwidth included: <http://www.100tb.com/> .
I don't fully understand the love for large VPSes (that aren't even all that
large) compared to dedicated hardware that have a better chance of having
higher memory bandwidth, more RAM, and faster disk access; though I do
understand that many are very happy with Linode as a business.
~~~
citricsquid
The ability to grow with a vps is much easier than with dedicated hardware.
Also on a semi related note, I (like you) suggested 100tb.com but we tried
them out (just to test speeds) and they're pretty poor...
~~~
patrickgzill
May I ask what part of the speeds were poor for you? I am curious.
~~~
citricsquid
I'll talk to the guy who actually tested them when he wakes up, but from what
I understand network speeds were terrible. I'll get back to you when I know
:-)
------
jbk
Sorry, I don't get the fuss about this.
I do 1M pages/day in average since more than 1 year on one unique server that
is a bi-opteron 250 at 2,4Ghz with a load average of 0.3...
We just serve mostly static content, and most php content is cached. I just
think that this comparison to SO and /. is flawed.
~~~
necro
I agree. Over here we do 70m (high write ratio) pages per month on 1 server
handling all apache/php/mysql. Hardware is really fast these days if you tune
it to any degree.
Heck, if we're showing off, here is how we do it...pretty graphs and all.
<http://www.pinkbike.com/news/pinkbike-speed-efficiency.html>
~~~
StavrosK
That was a very interesting article, thanks. One question, if I may: When
using a reverse proxy, it makes no sense to have keepalives on for Apache,
correct? The proxy takes care of the keepalive and leaves Apache free for
other requests?
~~~
necro
Correct. The reverse proxy pulls from the fast, local network apache, and then
passed the data to the slow clients. Apace is connected for a shorter time.
Basically you're trying minimize the time a "memory expensive" process like
apache is open per client.
~~~
StavrosK
Yep, makes perfect sense, thank you. I've disabled keepalive and increased my
mancrush on varnish.
------
bill-nordwall
If they enabled gzip compression on their CSS/Javascript files could cut down
their page weight by several hundred kb.
Even just running their pngs through a lossless compression tool like Smush.it
would probably be worth it: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1796101>
PageSpeed and YSlow yielded many other fruit-bearing ideas.
Update: Added link to Autosmush HN item.
------
astrange
I'm running a website with 15% more quantcast visits than stackoverflow and
~200MiB/s traffic from 3 servers, one of which is nearly at 100% idle.
The trick is not to have any of those dynamic page things.
------
citricsquid
Also a request if any of you are experience with it, we're interested in new
ad strategies (that retain our "minimalist" approach, allowing expansion
without upsetting users) so if anyone either works for an advert company _or_
has experience at our volume (or similar) we'd _love_ to hear from you.
sam@redstonewire.com :-)
(Hopefully this is okay, I'm not a regular HN user, mainly lurk, it isn't
mentioned in the guidelines but it might be one of those secret rules that are
learned as you go along... be gentle!)
~~~
benologist
Isn't minecraft making like, a house a day in revenue? Is it really worth
tossing ads in forums?
Anyway I'd suggest you guys chat with CPMStar - <http://www.cpmstar.com>,
they're the king of gaming-ad-stuff.
Drop me an email (check my profile) and I'll pass you the addresses I know
there.
~~~
citricsquid
We're _not_ connected with the people behind Minecraft, we're totally separate
entities. The forums and wiki are community ran and while we've had brief
discussions with the Minecraft company (Mojang) nothing has come of it. The
general consensus is that we're best operating as separate entities, it means
Mojang can focus on game development and we can focus on growing the
community, it means that we can remain impartial (although whether or not that
is an issue, I have no idea). We've never had a penny of Minecraft proceeds
:-)
I'll send an email now, it'd be great to talk to some people over at cpmstar!
~~~
benologist
Oh sorry mate my mistake heh.
------
sams99
It has been quite a while since we served one million page views a day....
even on public holiday weekends we serve more.
I'm surprised this got upvoted so much, I could easily serve 2 million static
pages a day off one server, if I needed to and the pages were static.
The assumption that we are using the same hardware and have similar workloads
and so on, is clearly wrong.
We could spend months and months tweaking everything so we need 2/3/4 less
servers .... but ... servers are cheap, developer time is expensive.
Also, we happen to have backup servers, we are not running at 100% utilization
an we also happen to run chat off the same servers.
I think it is awesome that minecraft are serving lots of traffic, I love
nginx, we use haproxy. But the headline is misleading.
~~~
citricsquid
Just to clarify, the OP here titled it in a manner that misrepresents what we
were saying. Also, we're far from serving static pages. Granted the wiki
(which is 50% of our traffic) is pretty static and we could easily run that
from a single server, the reason we have such high number of servers is
because of the forum, which is the other 30m page views and it's phpbb,
it's... well, let's not go there.
This submission is poorly titled, our intention was never to claim we're
better than SO (we're very different... just like SO is very different to
Digg) it was just a good comparison to make, as in "Joel said they're serving
60m page views a month and SO is huge, well we're doing the same, now you can
see how big we are!" not "We serve the same as SO, therefore they suck!".
~~~
sams99
You really should be using community tracker, my other baby :)
<http://community.mediabrowser.tv/> I'm so happy I moved off phpbb it was
causing nothing but grief.
No hard feeling here, I think you are building an awesome business
~~~
citricsquid
We're in the process of moving, it's just a lot of work at our size, we have
to make sure everything works :) We actually started out with fluxbb (my
choice) but users got tetchy and as we moved from being "just a forum" to
being a "community" we had to go forward with new features, but this was back
before we had adverts and the $250+ for "proper" forums wasn't something we
wanted to do. Here's an idea of how much we've grown:
<http://i.imgur.com/eenut.jpg>
That software looks _interesting_ although as I'm not a sys admin, all that
matters to me is how pretty it is and that doesn't have enough rounded corners
;)
------
spolsky
I don't get how Minecraftwiki is serving "more traffic than StackOverflow." I
think we have at least twice their daily traffic. All our numbers are on
Quantast--feel free to check.
~~~
citricsquid
As I've said elsewhere, the person who titled this is a silly person, they
misrepresented what we said.
Wiki + Forum = 60m page views a month, so _combined_ we serve the same amount
of traffic as you, as per this tweet:
<http://twitter.com/#!/spolsky/status/27244766467>
We weren't challenging you or anything, I just noticed that tweet (it was
mentioned here) and I thought "hey we're doing the same, we can use them as an
example of how big we are!". I'm just a dumb kid who has never had anything he
created this successful before and being able to say "We're as big as
stackoverflow" is _crazy_.
~~~
Keyframe
_As I've said elsewhere, the person who titled this is a silly person, they
misrepresented what we said._
Yes, you've said that several times. Intention was two-part. One, to show how
previous post by spolsky was false dichotomy, and second to point out to your
success - which almost everyone here understood as such.
However, your original post on reddit (well your sysadmin) was titled:
"Minecraftwiki.net and minecraftforum.net now serve more traffic than Slashdot
and Stackoverflow" - so you can't blame that part on me, just the server count
and php part.
~~~
citricsquid
I'm not good at the whole English thing (even though it's my only language). I
didn't mean to imply you were at fault, just that your title didn't represent
what was _actually_ happening. Also I didn't realise that you'd posted a
comment here pointing out it was supposed to be a joke, I'm used to reddit
where it points out that a comment is by the submitter.
Poor wording and a mistake on my part, sorry! :-)
------
joshu
iirc 4chan is doing radically more traffic on even less hardware. different
sites have different performance... so what?
~~~
enneff
Does anyone have any actual numbers on 4chan's traffic or hardware setup?
~~~
joshu
I do, but am not at liberty to share.
------
Fluxx
This is more a testament to HTTP caching and varnish than PHP, 4 servers or
Mediawiki. If you can cache the entire page and serve it out of cache for most
of your requests, you're in a very position.
~~~
swah
very position
^- insert word here
~~~
Fluxx
"good" :)
------
JoelSutherland
Is minecraft that big, or is the tech world that small?
~~~
citricsquid
No, Minecraft is seriously that big. If you trust Alexa much you'll find that
we (forum/wiki) are in the top ~5k for both sites, Minecraft is top 3k last I
checked. It's been insane recently... what really hammers it home is that this
is a product people have purchased, so it's going to be around for a long
while. While we probably won't maintain the current traffic once the game
settles down into a normal routine, we sure won't be dying for many years,
which is what I love about this.
Minecraft is like garrymods, the game is what _you_ the player want to make
it, this will lead to a lot of future success along side this current success.
Also if you want to see the sales figures, I've been tracking them for the
past few months: <http://m00d.net/minecraft/sales/> :)
*If you're interested, here's a (not very accurate) list of where Minecraft has been featured: [http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2162](http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2162) which includes Australian TV, Physical magazines, huge tech blogs, gaming blogs, forums... everywhere! I don't think I'll ever see anything happen like this again in my life (and I'm only young) -- Minecraft is incredibly unique.
~~~
mayank
> the game is what you the player want to make it
Interesting -- I know nothing about it, but it sounds like it might appeal to
people who want to learn video game programming, at least perhaps the ones
that don't want to go into hardcore engine programming.
~~~
AdamTReineke
It's more like playing with LEGO than anything else.
------
piotrSikora
I'm just wondering... Why do they use Varnish _and_ HAProxy _and_ nginx? This
is quite redundant setup. It would be _a lot_ more efficient to put nginx on
lb01 and leave only PHP on fe* nodes.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What do you use for recurring billing? - tamalsaha001
I am looking for a simple solution for recurring billing. My requirements are:<p>- Per user per month. New users can be added or removed any time. Support for initial 14 day trial.<p>- Per user billing for annual subscription. New users can be added during the year.<p>I am looking for something that supports True Up accounting model. I have looked into Braintree and Stripe api. None of them seem to support anything beyond simple recurring billing.<p>What have you used for this type of common billing patterns in SAAS apps?
======
dangrossman
Roll your own. Start with a subscription table with a paid_through column, and
a payment table for recordkeeping. Your billing code is a daily cron job
running a single simple script, that selects all rows with paid_through less
than current date, charges each user's card on file, and updates the two
tables. Discounts, different subscription terms, receipts, dunning mails are
all simple additions to the daily billing script that you can add as you grow.
This has worked for me with tens of thousands of customers and millions in
billings, and I've never had to worry about being locked into some payment
company's proprietary system. Whatever pricing scheme you initially come up
with for your app probably won't be right. You might have 6 plans when you
only need 2. You might find out you were charging a flat monthly rate when you
really need to be charging per widget or per user or per server. The more you
rely on someone else running your billing, the harder it will be to experiment
and find the right way to do billing for your customers.
You can avoid being locked in to a payment processor for storing and charging
payment info too. I use Spreedly
([https://www.spreedly.com](https://www.spreedly.com)) which provides payment
card tokenization and a single unified API for over 100 payment gateways. I
can use Braintree today, Stripe tomorrow and ShinyPaymentStartup next year
without changing any code or re-collecting billing info from customers.
~~~
pcglue
This means you actually store customer credit card numbers and have to deal
with PCI compliance? Is ensuring PCI compliance very onerous?
~~~
dangrossman
Nope, I don't store credit card numbers, payment info never touches my servers
at all. I mentioned that I use Spreedly. Spreedly works exactly like Stripe
Checkout if you've ever used that. You only store a token referring to payment
info they're storing, and pass that token to the API to make charges against
it as needed.
~~~
brianwawok
That's at least $200 to use Spreedly. What benefit have you gotten with it so
far? Do you find yourself switching gateways to get lower rates, or do you
just stick with one gateway?
~~~
dangrossman
Actually $150/mo for up to 5000 stored cards. The benefit is mostly peace of
mind: a "PayPal horror story" type situation (frozen account), processor
raising rates, or payment gateway having an extended downtime event are non-
issues instead of major headaches or potential company-enders.
~~~
brianwawok
Is there reason example of a gateway that was down more than a day or 7? A big
player like stripe just vanishing in the night?
Would rather spend $150 on some AdWords or something that has a more realistic
chance to do something.
------
Urgo
Not thrilled with it but we use paypal for our reoccurring payments. Users
trust it and don't have to fork over their credit cards, but I get scared
every time someone lies and says they didn't authorize the charge and having
to prove to paypal that they indeed did get what they ordered fearing they'll
freeze our account or something. Also it does cause confusion where the
subscription is managed at paypal instead of on our site. That said, it does
work 99% of the time.
------
alexgaribay
Chargebee works on top of payment gateways like Stripe or Braintree. They give
you more flexibility around subscriptions than those payment gateways support
out of the box. Plus they don't charge you a fee (excluding payment gateway
standard fees) until you make your first $50k in revenue with them.
Your other best bet is Recurly. They have lots of options for subscriptions
but it may not make sense if you don't have any revenue yet.
------
ramsr
Check out these guys [https://www.chargebee.com/](https://www.chargebee.com/)
~~~
dhendo
Yup, we've been using chargebee for about 4 years, can confirm they're great.
Get in touch with
[https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=skrish](https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=skrish)
------
nitai
I've looked at all the providers and couldn't find one that was flexible
enough and also isnt overcharging, I.e. paying for the service, credit card
charges, payment gateway, etc.
That said, I've found cheddargetter to work quite nice. Has an API, includes
the payment gateway, and provides enough flexibility for custom prices per
subscription. So far I've implemented three startups with it.
Hope this helps.
------
symisc_devel
[https://paddle.com](https://paddle.com)
~~~
ollieco
Yes, I've also had a good experience with Paddle. It is easy to setup and also
handles VAT/taxes.
------
barile
Open Source [http://killbill.io/subscription-
billing/](http://killbill.io/subscription-billing/)
------
adamfeber
Check out: [https://www.chargify.com/](https://www.chargify.com/)
------
jlebrech
use a provider if you can integrate in a day or two, then later think of
rolling your own if you anticipate any issues. you could find a provider that
might be interested in writing certain features for you or has a decent enough
api for you to extend.
------
drstewart
Recurly, Aria, Zuora
------
deedubaya
Memberful.com
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hacker Who Leaked Scarlett Johansson Pics Gets 10 Years - uladzislau
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2413342,00.asp
======
Ronsenshi
From the title it might seem like a harsh sentence (especially if you haven't
heard about this case before), but considering that he hacked accounts and
stole personal data from at least 50 more people, this is a very reasonable
sentence.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Datagridxl.js – No-nonsense fast Excel-like data table library - robbiejs
https://datagridxl.com
======
robbiejs
Hello HN,
I’m Robbert, the creator of DataGridXL.js.
DataGridXL is a free (and commercial) editable data table library written in
ES6.
My goal is to develop the most performant & user-friendly spreadsheet-like
data table out there:
\- It has zero dependencies. You don’t need any framework to use DataGridXL.
\- It is lightweight (~200kb) and easy to use. It does not even require
messing with CSS.
\- It has its own Virtual DOM implementation to prevent DOM errors.
\- Developer friendly. Supports all modern web browsers
Please take a look at the performance demo
([https://www.datagridxl.com/demos/one-million-
cells](https://www.datagridxl.com/demos/one-million-cells)) to see the
difference with other data grids out there. And let us know if you have any
suggestions.
Please let me know if you have any suggestions or comments!
~~~
sgarrity
How did you implement the scrolling such that it feels smooth/fast/native, but
scrolls in one row/column steps (so you never see half a row)?
CSS Scroll Snap?
Nicely done.
~~~
robbiejs
Thanks! I'd to write a proper "How It's Made" article about it in the future,
but this is basically how it's done:
There is a blank DOM node "scrollArea" in front of all others that catches the
native JS scroll event.
It then converts these scroll offsets (scrollTop and scrollLeft) to
cell/viewport coordinates, by default 40px actual pixels per row/column.
So if the scrollArea has a scrollLeft of 40px and a scrollTop of 200px , an
underlying DOM node that renders the cell values and column lines, will render
at viewport position {x: 1, y: 5}.
The other important part that makes it snappy, is that a viewport of let's say
20 rows by 10 columns does not actually consist of 200 DOM nodes. Only columns
are DOM nodes. The values inside a column are made to look like rows by CSS
white-space property. So it only updates 10 DOM nodes when scrolling.
~~~
janci
There is a bug that is caused directly by this whitespace hack. If you copy
two lines of text and paste it to one cell, it displays as two cells and
shifts the column content below the affected cell (if the affected cell is in
the viewport)
~~~
robbiejs
I am not sure if this is actually a bug, that will probably also happen when
pasting those two lines to Excel or G. Sheets. Correct me if I'm wrong.
~~~
janci
Yes, it is possible to paste cells in excel and shift cells below in Excel.
But here the cells are shifted if the corrupted cell is visible and shift back
if it's not. Definitely a bug.
~~~
robbiejs
Ah I think I know what you mean now. I think you mean when you paste multi-
line text inside the cell value editor! You're right, thanks for spotting it!
This does not happen when you paste when the editor is not open, am I correct?
~~~
janci
Yes, exactly.
~~~
robbiejs
Hi janci, just letting you know that the bug has been fixed. Thank you for
spotting it!
The current solution that I came up with: replace \n with Return HTML-entity.
Not sure if that is the best solution for you (or anybody else) but at least
it prevents the unwanted shift of column contents.
Thanks again!
------
rowsncolumns
Another plug - [https://rowsncolumns.app](https://rowsncolumns.app)
It's a canvas based SpreadSheet. The Grid works with React and Konva -
[https://konvajs.org/](https://konvajs.org/)
You can see the demo here -
[https://rowsncolumns.app/demo](https://rowsncolumns.app/demo)
And a whole bunch of features and upcoming roadmap -
[https://rowsncolumns.app/#features](https://rowsncolumns.app/#features)
We are launching formula support with Web Workers soon.
~~~
xyzzy_plugh
On mobile it _looks_ like a spreadsheet but seems entirely unresponsive to,
for example, selecting a cell.
~~~
robbiejs
For a moment I thought you were talking about DataGridXL, but your comment is
on the canvas grid?
I actually made quite an effort to make DGXL work on touch screens. It's not
there yet. It's basically read-only on touch for now, but you should have no
problem selecting cells and copying values.
~~~
dkersten
For me, DGXL on iOS lets me select and scroll beautifully, but I cannot
actually edit (I guess because the cells aren’t text fields, the device
doesn’t know to open the on screen keyboard). So it works very well for output
but doesn’t work for input.
~~~
robbiejs
You're right, the editor does not open on touch screens in this version.
It's still possible to enable editing on touch screen, but it asks for a
custom <input> element on the page that interacts with the grid, using methods
setCellValues & getCellValues. It's certainly possible. Will put up a demo for
it when I find the time.
~~~
dkersten
I just saw you actually do say its readonly in your documentation:
[https://www.datagridxl.com/docs/touchscreen-
support](https://www.datagridxl.com/docs/touchscreen-support)
That solution would actually work perfectly well for me: tap a cell and an
edit widget pops up.
------
randtrain34
How does that compare to
[https://github.com/paulhodel/jexcel](https://github.com/paulhodel/jexcel) ?
~~~
kanobo
jexcel is great, it has more features (sorting, formulas, colors, etc)... but
those same features are not very performant with many (>1000) rows since each
cell is a html table cell. datagridxl looks promising if you need to display
lots of data. I'm a fan of any open source data grid library so I'm happy both
exists.
~~~
iopuy
are both open source? click the buy button on datgridxl.js, only 800 euros!!
~~~
TAForObvReasons
jexcel still maintains an open source community edition
[https://github.com/paulhodel/jexcel](https://github.com/paulhodel/jexcel) ,
no such thing exists for this project.
------
hadrien01
So from what I understand this works by displaying data on a JS canvas. How
does that work for accessibility? Do screen-readers read the data as if it was
an html table?
~~~
robbiejs
Hi, it does not use canvas. It uses HTML. Sure, DGXL contains one or two
canvas elements, but they're used for measuring strings length and drawing
cell background colors.
The actual values are all in HTML. The benefit is that you can use CTRL+F and
values are found and selected. You can zoom the page and text will remain
crisp.
The values are not in a <table> tag however. <table> values are sorted y,x
(rows first, columns second). DGXL sorts values x,y (columns first, rows
second). I have to admit that I am not sure what that means for screen
readers: I am not an accessibility-expert at this stage. What I do know is
that HTML is better than canvas by default in this regard.
~~~
whylo
Unfortunately screen reader support isn't great at the moment, but using HTML
instead of canvas is definitely going to make it easier for you to improve.
I'd encourage you to download the free NVDA screen reader
([https://www.nvaccess.org/download/](https://www.nvaccess.org/download/)) and
compare DataGridXL with Excel, or Google Sheets with screen reader support
enabled (Tools > Accessibility settings). Announcing the column, row and cell
content as you navigate the sheet with the keyboard would be a great start.
Google Sheets does this by updating the content of a visually hidden ARIA live
region ([https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/Accessibility/A...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/Accessibility/ARIA/ARIA_Live_Regions)) as you navigate.
~~~
robbiejs
That you for this valuable advice! I have to admit that I have never worked on
accessibility before (apart from writing meaningful HTML). Will definitely
look at improving screen reader support when I get to it.
------
bennettfeely
It looks really great and the one million cells demo is impressive, but that
price is way out of reach.
~~~
lights0123
The price only includes support and the ability to remove branding. You can
use it sans source code with branding for free.
------
amanzi
Looks great. I couldn't see any way to sort by column - is that possible?
~~~
lecarore
In the docs they precisely tell that this is not supported
[https://www.datagridxl.com/docs/features-
limits](https://www.datagridxl.com/docs/features-limits)
~~~
robbiejs
Hi, you're right. At this time it's not supported, but we're working on it.
Probably next week. The other features are still a definite "no" for now :-)
~~~
amanzi
Thanks for the update!
~~~
robbiejs
You're welcome! Did you see the demo? It has sorting now:
[https://www.datagridxl.com/demos/sorting-
columns](https://www.datagridxl.com/demos/sorting-columns)
~~~
amanzi
Yes - that's perfect. So fast and smooth. I have a small side project on the
cards that could use this, but unfortunately wouldn't be a paying customer
though.
Cheers.
~~~
robbiejs
That's alright, no worries :-) Curious to know what you'll be making. Feel
free to send me us an update at contact@datagridxl.com
------
robbiejs
Hello everyone,
Not sure if anyone is still reading this thread. Just wanted to express that I
am very grateful for all the positive responses that we got in this thread and
by e-mail.
Also, good news: We just released a new minor version today that adds the much
requested Sort Feature to the grid: [https://www.datagridxl.com/demos/sorting-
columns](https://www.datagridxl.com/demos/sorting-columns).
------
ddgflorida
Nice. I read a CSV file with one mutli-line column in the last field with no
problem, but when I copied the data, refreshed the page, and copied to empty
grid, now the multi-line field incorrectly was split to the next line.
~~~
robbiejs
Hi! Thanks for sharing the issue. Mind sharing the CSV file and steps, so I
can attempt to fix the issue? support@datagridxl.com.
------
matyunya
Shameless plug! [https://ellx.io/](https://ellx.io/) is a programmable
spreadsheet with extended JavaScript for formulas (plus operator overloading
and automatic async resolution)
------
vandermark
Awesome! Clean design + nice UX. I would have used it in my previous project.
~~~
robbiejs
Thanks! It would have been a great FIT for your project. Much appreciated
Vandermark! ;-)
------
jbverschoor
Nice man. Dutch Design.
Can't wait for features / extensions!
~~~
robbiejs
Thanks! What features would you like to see implemented?
~~~
jbverschoor
Probably a plugin system for datatype => renders/editors. ex: (numbers,
datepickers, select, checkboxes, etc.)
~~~
robbiejs
Ah, that's something I would very much like to implement. Probably only in
'21... More pressing stuff first.
Until then, have a look at Jexcel, it implements numerous pickers/editors (not
all of them mobile-friendly I believe).
------
darkmarmot
Doesn't work for me in chrome.... because it seems to break with Ad
Blockers... that could be a real killer for you.
~~~
bdcravens
I'm not having the same experience (using uBlock Origin)
~~~
darkmarmot
Ok, disabled it and I still get a big blank blob where the grid should be...
looks like the js load keeps failing. oh well.
~~~
robbiejs
Really? What browser + OS are you on?
------
nurettin
The features of a commercial grid that I'm currently using:
* incremental updates, inserts, deletes
* nested grids
* formula based coloring of cells
* column based filtering
~~~
robbiejs
Hi. Can you explain what you mean by "incremental updates"?
Regarding other bullet points:
* Nested Grids: no * Formulas: no / not anytime soon * Column based filtering: not on top of the list, but definitely doable.
~~~
nurettin
Hi, for an example, check out how the devxtreme datagrid uses a datasource
object to manipulate the data in the grid in real time. Which means, instead
of loading all the data into the grid before it is rendered at the time of
declaration, the data can be appended, updated or deleted as it streams from a
backend.
~~~
infinite8s
My issue with most grids (and charting libraries for that matter) is that the
API is push based (ie they all have some kind of API like setData, etc),
instead of pull based (where the grid utilizes an adapter model with simple
functions like getRowCount, getColumnCount, getData(row, column) and you can
build subclasses that adapt to any data model you have). This means that it's
really difficult to implement highly performant grids that support changing
data, more data than can fit in the current viewport, etc. It also makes it
difficult to share large datasets between different views - ie a chart and
table both showing the same data, or two tables showing different sections of
the same dataset, without multiple copies of the data in memory.
~~~
robbiejs
Not 100% sure what you mean, but it sounds like a "server-side first" approach
(if that word exists). As grid & chart libs are always built by (front-end)
Javascript experts, you'll always see a front-end first approach.
However, have a look at this Codepen example:
[https://codepen.io/datagridxl/pen/XWXGGGq?editors=0010](https://codepen.io/datagridxl/pen/XWXGGGq?editors=0010).
It combines amCharts and DataGridXL. Update any value in the grid and see the
chart adjust. Quite snappy right?
------
kevas
Beautiful work. Will be using
~~~
robbiejs
Thanks kevas, I appreciate it!
------
araker
How does this compare to ag-grid?
Https://ag-grid.com
~~~
robbiejs
Ag-grid has a lot more features. Very mature, big team I'd guess. However, Ag-
grid does not offer quick Excel-like editing. If you're looking for this type
of editing, don't bet on Ag-grid.
------
captivechains
Please improve the screen reader support
~~~
robbiejs
Thanks, I have seen this suggestion a couple of times now in this thread. Will
have to study it, as right now I am a non-expert when it comes to screen
readers. Will make an effort to seriously improve this aspect!
------
pictur
Who are you targeting with 800 euro?
~~~
robbiejs
Do you think it's too little or too much? This is my first commercial product.
I have looked at other professional grids like Handsontable & Ag-Grid and have
decided to choose a similar price, just to have some reference.
There will always be people that find it too expensive or that find it too
cheap.
Even though the product looks like a simple <table> tag; the reality is that I
spent 2 years working on it. (I am almost embarrassed to admit it.)
Let's say an employee of your company (or perhaps yourself) is a much better
programmer than myself. He/she could perhaps build a similar data table in
perhaps 6 months, including all these features that don't meet the eye:
keyboard controls, context menus, touch events, virtual DOM implementation,
clipboard support on all browsers and devices...
That would cost an employer perhaps 6 months worth of programmer salary, which
is, depending on where you are, at least $10,000+.
Then 800 euros is not such a bad deal, I believe. At the same time, I hope
it's affordable for solo makers as well.
How would you price the product?
~~~
dkersten
Handsontable has a lot more features, though. Maybe your unique selling points
are enough, I don’t know, just on paper handsontable appears to provide a lot
more for the price. I’m not suggesting you change it, just something to be
aware of for your marketing.
For me, personally, handsontable was too expensive too though (I’m just one
guy self funding my project) so ended up going with an open source table
component instead.
~~~
robbiejs
It all depends on what somebody is looking for: a sortable data table for
presentation, a table (structure) editor, a spreadsheet, a data grid? All
these things look very similar, but they require different approaches really.
You'll always lose on one of the other. Ag-Grid and DataTables are perfect for
presentation, not so much for Excel-like editing. Handsontable & Jexcel try to
implement all features of Excel, at the cost of performance & bugs.
I have to make sure that in my marketing I make very clear that my product
won't be able to do X,Y and Z, but it's the best at A,B and C. To prevent
disappointed buyers.
I hope I am doing that with my Features & Limits page:
[https://www.datagridxl.com/docs/features-
limits](https://www.datagridxl.com/docs/features-limits). (Column sorting will
be implemented soon by the way. Ignore what the page says.)
I am thinking to add some interactive comparison pages like: DataGridXL vs
Handsontable, DataGridXL vs Ag-Grid, DataGridXL vs DataTables, etc... to
really show & describe the differences between the products.
Anyway, you're always welcome to use the free version. It only requires that
you keep the branding link visible, which might not be too bad for your app
~~~
dkersten
> You'll always lose on one of the other.
Absolutely agree and the open source alternatives tend to do one or two things
only (while HoT, DGXL etc seem to offer a lot more in a single package), so
for me, it came down to deciding what exactly do I need and if I need
something else, maybe I need to use a different one for that.
> I have to make sure that in my marketing
I don't think you need to do too much over what you already have. Maybe put a
bit more emphasis on why the "Reliable" part matters. The little blurb on your
page about not messing up the DOM isn't really selling it to me, I just looked
at it and thought "yeah ok whatever", but this and performance seem to be two
of your main distinguishing factors, so I'd lean on them more. Focus on what
makes DGXL special. That's just me though.
> Anyway, you're always welcome to use the free version.
I may give it a try. For my main use case, I think the branding is a bit too
in-your-face (it would look out of place inside the rest of my web app --
maybe you can provide multiple styles to pick from, just thinking out loud),
but overall it looks great so its definitely getting bookmarked.
In any case, great work!
~~~
robbiejs
Thanks for your feedback, really appreciate it! I think you're right that the
"Reliable" feature might not tell the user much.
Perhaps I need to show GIFs of other products to show the numerous ways these
products get messy. Anyway, just an idea. Will think about it more, very good
point.
You're allowed to adjust the color & type of the branding link, as long as it
remains visible :-)
~~~
dkersten
Ah, great, I will try it out when I get time! Thanks.
------
w-ll
oh man javascript devs are looking at what winform devs have been getting away
with for years...
on top of the unimpressive feature set and price, they really dont have a good
remote support... like Im just gonna send a json object with nearly 100
million rows.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Beware the Metagame - amasad
https://amasad.me/meta?hn=1
======
alexandercrohde
I think to understand such phenomena we have to ask another "why?" Why is it a
profitable path for people who have no hands-on-expertise to be trite advice
gurus spouting untestable platitudes at conferences and through blog posts?
And I think the reason is because there is a huge community of, for lack of a
better word, "stupid" self-help consumers who are always looking for a new
simplistic panacea, and forgetting the one they read 5 months ago.
Everybody wants a guru to give them a magic formula for success. But the
reality is the reason a Zuckerburg suceeds is largely luck, or a Buffet
succeeds is largely just innate skill and a methodical lifestyle of reading
public financial statements. No number of blog posts will make you Steve Jobs.
------
platz
This is straight Taleb.
But I'm not sure the examples fit.
Entrepreneurs aren't judged by the market?
Skin in the game is all about having a p & l and surviving.
------
t0astbread
Does that mean this article is in the metagame of the metagame?
------
walterbell
Are there test cases for metagames?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Good Home Treatment of Influenza [pdf] - haagen
http://drgcwoodson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Good-Home-Treatment-of-Influenza.pdf
======
haagen
In addition to the points in this article, there is advice to not give
children aspirin:
[https://www.healthline.com/health/headache-reyes-
syndrome](https://www.healthline.com/health/headache-reyes-syndrome)
Kevin Rose Podcast with Dr. Andrew Weil had some suggestions I had not heard
before:
[https://podcastnotes.org/kevin-rose-
show/covid-19-coronaviru...](https://podcastnotes.org/kevin-rose-
show/covid-19-coronavirus-andrew-weil/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
SpaceX rocket glitch puts satellite in wrong orbit - hammock
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/09/us-space-spacex-idUSBRE8941GP20121009
======
Pwnguinz
Well shucks. That puts a minor damper in an otherwise fabulous show of great
redundancy engineering.
~~~
hga
Indeed, but the article is seriously lacking in that it was ISS safety rules
that prevented SpaceX from doing this secondary payload's normal orbital
insertion burn. Even if this risk wasn't fully appreciated by the customer,
the very fact that they were paying a reduced rate for a secondary payload was
because they'd only get a "best" vs. "maximum" effort to put their satellite
into its proper orbit.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Super Tiny Website Logos in SVG - edent
https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2017/11/super-tiny-website-logos-in-svg/
======
kekub
I have been using [https://simpleicons.org](https://simpleicons.org) for a
while now. It is super light and looks great. License is CC0. Although I
prefer inlining the icons over using <img> tags.
~~~
everdev
Is there an easy way to generate SVG icons from image files (.png, .jpg,
etc.)? Or are each of these SVG icons created by hand?
~~~
jankovicsandras
ImageTracer is a simple raster image tracer and vectorizer that outputs SVG,
100% free, Public Domain.
Available in JavaScript (works both in the browser and with Node.js),
"desktop" Java and "Android" Java:
[https://github.com/jankovicsandras/imagetracerjs](https://github.com/jankovicsandras/imagetracerjs)
[https://github.com/jankovicsandras/imagetracerjava](https://github.com/jankovicsandras/imagetracerjava)
[https://github.com/jankovicsandras/imagetracerandroid](https://github.com/jankovicsandras/imagetracerandroid)
You can use svgo to optimize the SVG afterwards:
[https://github.com/svg/svgo](https://github.com/svg/svgo)
------
teej
In case anyone else was suspicious of the 20k file size for a 512x512 PNG with
essentially two colors - it's way off. I dropped it into Photoshop and
exported as PNG and it spit out an identical file that weighs in at 6k.
~~~
dawnerd
And if you run it through [https://tinypng.com](https://tinypng.com) it should
get down even smaller. PNG compresses surprisingly well when it’s basically
two colors + alpha.
~~~
vladdanilov
Photoshop: 6 705 bytes, 128 colors, 1-bit alpha only
TinyPNG: 6 179 bytes, 92 colors
Optimage: 5 761 bytes, 154 colors
TinyPNG + Optimage (lossless): 5 226 bytes, 92 colors
[https://imgur.com/a/X9DnJ](https://imgur.com/a/X9DnJ)
TinyPNG tends to use fewer colors. But its compressor is pretty suboptimal. I
could reduce the image further by 15.4% with the tool I'm making
([http://getoptimage.com](http://getoptimage.com)).
~~~
mrb
3545 bytes: [https://i.imgur.com/dHIaRh1.png](https://i.imgur.com/dHIaRh1.png)
Used Gimp to convert to 4-bit paletted colormap, and processed through
optipng.
The original PNG icon was very clearly suboptimal at 20 225 bytes...
~~~
ricardobeat
Imgur converts everything both of you posted to JPEG...
~~~
icebraining
What do you mean? It's serving me a PNG image.
~~~
mkl
Are you sure? Zooming in here I see JPEG artifacts. Imgur also often lies
about the image format in the URL.
~~~
CapacitorSet
ImageMagick's `identify` claims it's a PNG:
$ curl -OL https://i.imgur.com/dHIaRh1.png
$ identify dHIaRh1.png
dHIaRh1.png PNG 512x512 512x512+0+0 8-bit sRGB 3545B 0.000u 0:00.000
~~~
mkl
Yes, I can reproduce that. I get served different versions depending on
device/browser, and on my phone I got a 7883 byte JPEG!
------
escape_goat
A lot of these are logos that I had assumed to be registered trademarks. As
such, they would only be usable under the terms of a licensing agreement with
the owning company, terms which I had assumed would be pretty anal-retentive
regarding the exact details of the representation. IIRC, Facebook has a
specific art package with specific image files that one is suppose to use, and
no other.
On the one hand, this is pretty common knowledge. On the other hand, none of
the responses so far have brought it up, and the logo website itself seems to
think that the cited sources can license the use of the artwork in question. I
do not quite know what to make of this.
~~~
matthewmacleod
What you have said is simultaneously completely true and totally pointless.
Yeah, we all know that brands have tediously anal rules about usage of their
logos in particular. In practice, so long as you aren’t obviously abusing it,
nobody is going to care. Have you seen some of the stuff what people do with
social media logos??
------
tlb
Just to pick on the one I know best, the Y Combinator logo is way off. The
corners shouldn't be rounded, and the Y is too big and its top branches are
too thick.
Correct version: [http://www.ycombinator.com/images/ycombinator-logo-
fb889e2e....](http://www.ycombinator.com/images/ycombinator-logo-fb889e2e.png)
this project:
[https://camo.githubusercontent.com/08ae881e8ce6d8f2278fa20d7...](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/08ae881e8ce6d8f2278fa20d7ef2c3ef61c64361/68747470733a2f2f6564656e742e6769746875622e696f2f537570657254696e7949636f6e732f74696e792f6861636b65726e6577732e737667)
------
vortico
Amazing! With SVG being supported on all browsers you should care about today,
it obsoletes icon fonts, which require the entire icon set to be downloaded.
Anyone know of a FontAwesome-like project, ideally with a CDN, that serves SVG
icons like Font Awesome has so including them in a website is easy and
compact?
~~~
michaelbuckbee
No CDN, but there's multiple repos of people taking the FontAwesome icons and
converting them over to SVG.
Here's the one I used: [https://github.com/encharm/Font-Awesome-SVG-
PNG](https://github.com/encharm/Font-Awesome-SVG-PNG)
Also, the new "Font Awesome Pro" comes with all icons as SVG out of the box -
[https://fontawesome.com/](https://fontawesome.com/)
Last, one annoyance (in the midst of many benefits) of using SVG instead of
fonts as icons is that you can't change their color via CSS if you're
including them via <code>img src='file.svg'</code>
So I use BoxySVG. Boxy is to Illustrator as Acorn or Pixelmator are to
Photoshop. A tightly focused editor that lets you do simple things (like edit
colors) very rapidly and doesn't bog you down with a ton of extraneous
features.
[https://boxy-svg.com/](https://boxy-svg.com/)
~~~
MayeulC
I am pretty sure you can change a lot of SVG properties trough CSS (use
"currentColor" to change the color, for example).
There was a discussion about [http://slides.com/sdrasner/svg-can-do-
that/](http://slides.com/sdrasner/svg-can-do-that/) some time ago, which gives
some nice SVG styling examples.
~~~
michaelbuckbee
So the distinction is inlining SVGs vs referring to them like you would a png
with an img src=filepath.svg|png in your HTML.
It's handy to just treat them as you would images, but you lose some
flexibility wrt being able to manipulate them via CSS b/c the browser now
"thinks" of them like an image.
This SO post has a clever workaround (with I'm sure more caveats wrt
performance, etc) that will auto-inline your svgs that you need to manipulate
so you can get a best of both worlds type situation going.
[https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24933430/img-src-svg-
cha...](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24933430/img-src-svg-changing-the-
fill-color)
------
darekkay
GitHub posted a write-up [0] on how they switched from icon fonts to SVG
icons. It's worth a read.
[0] [https://github.com/blog/2112-delivering-octicons-with-
svg](https://github.com/blog/2112-delivering-octicons-with-svg)
------
helenius
Remember to always (every time) set width/height for the <img> tag, otherwise
it will fill the entire screen/container.
~~~
ozaark
Yes! Loading many sites without width/height set on mobile connections display
a horrible jitter with logos and social icons polluting the entire screen
initially.
------
jordache
At what point does using a vector SVG is worse than raster image? Level of
image complexit, requiring a ton of path elements?
the Twitter logo can be create in basically 2 path elements.
What if my logo is much more complex? Is there a threshold at the complexity
of my image results in an SVG payload > than a properly compressed raster
image?
~~~
agumonkey
That's my issue with the svg reflex, re-rendering complex geometry is more
demanding than byte copy. That said
[https://edent.github.io/SuperTinyIcons/tiny/twitter.svg](https://edent.github.io/SuperTinyIcons/tiny/twitter.svg)
is really really really simple. I had no idea svg.fill could encode such
things, and expected a bad mix of overlapping ovals to create the
illustration.
Not bad
~~~
edent
I have made a "circles only" version of the Twitter logo - it's at
[https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2017/05/the-twitter-logo-as-svg-
cir...](https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2017/05/the-twitter-logo-as-svg-circles/)
It's a bit of a silly way to do it - and is probably more complex to render.
~~~
agumonkey
but easier to understand :)
------
chrisweekly
Slight tangent, but for anyone coming late to the party, here’s a sampling of
why SVG matters:
[http://slides.com/sdrasner/svg-can-do-that#/](http://slides.com/sdrasner/svg-
can-do-that#/)
~~~
Mindless2112
I'd say that's a sampling of how SVG went wrong.
What we wanted was a vector image format; what we got was PowerPoint.
~~~
CamperBob2
I don't understand this argument. The ability to do more complex stuff doesn't
alter the fact that SVG is a perfectly reasonable vector image format.
------
freshyill
They aren't _all_ under 1KB, but there a few repos on GitHub hosting all of
the Font Awesome icons as SVG.
Also, if you can avoid it, don't use <img src… to display SVG images, as the
article suggests. By using <svg… directly, you avoid extra requests, you gain
the ability to manipulate them directly in the DOM, and to restyle them.
[https://github.com/ivanvotti/font-awesome-
svg/tree/master/SV...](https://github.com/ivanvotti/font-awesome-
svg/tree/master/SVG)
~~~
grenoire
Unfortunately you cannot reuse the icons that way, which does end up being
wasteful unless you use compression.
~~~
thinkloop
You can reuse inline icons with JS - for example if you made a react component
of it.
------
aw3c2
Very cool! I would advise to try minifying with svgomg, some icons seem to
benefit. Eg bitbucket.svg can be reduced by 20% without any visual change.
~~~
edent
Most of them were already minimised with SVGO and svgcleaner. If you can make
them smaller - I'd love a pull request :-)
~~~
baybal2
Do you care about readability? Does ungzipped size counts or you assume that
users will be using gzip?
Here is DO logo that you can gzip down to 221b
<svg role="img" aria-label="DigitalOcean" viewBox="0 0 512 512"
xmlns="[http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"](http://www.w3.org/2000/svg")
fill="#0080ff"> <rect height="512" rx="15%" width="512" fill="#fff"/> <path
d="M256,391v85a220,220 0 1 0 -220,-220h85a135,135 0 1 1 135,135
H51v-55h55v120h65V306h85z"/> </svg>
Do you think it is ok to pull out newlines?
~~~
edent
In the readme, I've said that I want to keep newlines for readability. That
helps with people learning about SVG.
I'm not fussed about compressed size - but I'd certainly welcome a Pull
Request if you've managed to shrink that icon.
~~~
Bromskloss
How about keeping readable versions in the repository, along with a script
that compresses them? The compressed ones could be automatically served on a
separate site.
~~~
edent
Could be fun! Please send a pull request.
------
phaed
> You could fit over 3,000 of these images on a floppy disk.
So small it will take you 20 seconds to count on an Abacus.
~~~
tibu
If you find a floppy disk or drive at all nearby :D
------
vanderZwan
I'm still a bit sad that Raphaël.js never _quite_ caught on[0]. Same for its
successor Snap[1]. I guess the main reason is that SVGs themselves weren't
quite popular (and I assume there were also a few bugs) and take a proper
illustrator to draw, compared to the ease of fetching JPG assets off the
internet.
[0]
[http://dmitrybaranovskiy.github.io/raphael/](http://dmitrybaranovskiy.github.io/raphael/)
[1] [http://snapsvg.io/](http://snapsvg.io/)
------
mgalka
Really cool. I've always wondered why nobody was doing this. Just about every
website in the world could benefit from it. Nice work!
------
userbinator
I bet many of these would be even smaller in SWF, since that's a very
efficient (bit-packed, and then compressed) binary format specifically
designed for small filesize, as opposed to the textual XML of SVG (although
SVG is not really "XML-ish" in the sense that path data is still a list of
points, and not one-element-per-point.)
~~~
CodeWriter23
I'd rather trade a little bandwidth for the increased security of not running
Flash in my browser.
------
firefoxd
Where do we find a good SVG editor? That might be the reason the mass hasn't
switched to svg.
~~~
arca_vorago
Perhaps Inkscape?
~~~
IshKebab
Inkscape is ok. It has serious issues though - pretty terrible performance,
confusing UI, still requires X11 on Mac, etc. Probably still the best free SVG
editor but I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call it good.
~~~
Bromskloss
> confusing UI
Anything particular you have in mind?
~~~
CamperBob2
Most of the time, when I run InkScape to edit an existing .SVG, it's because I
want to just select and drag a few vector endpoints a bit to one side or the
other to make minor tweaks. I'd venture that's true for most users. However,
it doesn't seem to be the default behavior. I always have to remember how to
get into the right selection mode, because the authors seem to think I most
likely want to drag the entire image around. Why I would want to do that, I
can't imagine, but that's how it works.
That's a problem for many common actions -- for instance, I normally want to
resize the view box to enclose the content tightly before saving an edited
file, so why is that common action buried multiple layers deep in the UI?
_File- >Document Properties->Page->Custom size->Resize page to content->Resize
page to drawing or selection->Seriously?_ It's almost easier to do this in a
text editor.
Finally, people who write apps that don't remember their previous desktop
window size and position, but that instead auto-size themselves to cover the
entire screen every time they're launched, should die in a grease fire.
Unnecessarily-aggressive hyperbole aside, this kind of obvious forehead-
slapping behavior is never good news because it means that the maintainers
don't use their own app.
All that aside, InkScape is really a very powerful application that could be a
lot harder to use. A great deal of hard work has clearly gone into it, and at
the end of the day it _is_ free software, so it's hard to complain without
seeming ungracious. If it weren't such a great app, it wouldn't be worth
criticizing at all.
~~~
Bromskloss
Thanks for sharing your comments. That's interesting.
> the authors seem to think I most likely want to drag the entire image
> around.
I don't think that is the default, unless the whole image happens to have been
grouped into a single element, which might of course be the case.
------
londons_explore
When most webpages have a megabyte or more of javascript libraries, having a
20kb twitter icon which is probably cached doesn't sound bad really.
------
foxhop
I wish I could submit my SVG, its not a hugely popular service but it seems
like this idea could be expanded.
------
amelius
But _why_ , when I zoom in with my browser (using Ctrl-+) on that page, the
icons don't look sharp?
EDIT: I mean the table.
~~~
dave5104
The second Twitter icon (which is an SVG) looks very sharp when zoomed in. The
table of other icons is a screenshot, not in SVG, so those won't look sharp
when zooming in.
------
abritinthebay
I love that people are rediscovering SVG
I hope this gathers stream and forces Google (and others, but especially
Google) to fix the bugs they have in the format
~~~
stinky613
Could you elaborate on the bugs in SVG? Are there any usability issues beyond
the bugs? I tried some cursory googling 'why not to use svg', 'svg bugs', etc
and didn't really find any common/recurring.
~~~
spiralganglion
Historically, the SVG-related systems in most browsers haven't seen a lot of
love, so it's lagged behind other web technologies. This seems to be getting
better — I know Safari just landed a nice 3x performance improvement to one of
the SVG filters.
Here's a handful of issues that I still encounter, due to cross-browser
differences.
* You can't use the full range of CSS3 colors.
* You can't set certain style properties via CSS (requiring the use of attributes).
* You can't use self-closing tags for certain elements.
* Differing behaviour when you set an attribute to "null" (which is fine, it's just a gotcha)
SVG performance also varies wildly, more so than JS perf, HTML DOM perf, or
CSS perf. This seems to correlate with the visual quality of the rendered
result — Chrome is the fastest but has excessive smoothing, poor sampling of
scaled images, etc; Safari is the slowest but produces the cleanest result.
------
mozumder
Make sure you inline these in your HTML directly so you don't add an
additional 1-2KB (or more) in headers for each access.
------
ss64
Someone should build a web service for delivering these social icons. They
could place a random selection of 3 or 4 popular social icons on the page, and
then, like AdSense the social sites could pay to get an increased number of
placements, with a percentage paid back to the site owner.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Linux Mint 15 “Olivia” released - tebou
http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2366
======
doug4hn
Surprised I haven't seen it announced on Distrowatch or OSNews yet. Also have
to admit I miss Live-CD images and minimal/network install images.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What is your favorite website for posting code snippets? - blairanderson
Its pretty common that I want to save/share a tiny generic chunk of code to be re-used later.<p>Its typically too small/useless to be packaged, and seems to be about method signatures while switching around languages:<p>- parsing data<p>- jekyll helpers<p>- ruby/js/bash/etc. syntax for reading/writing/appending/etc.<p>just small junk that I'd like to reference very quickly and help others reference quickly if need be.<p>I have written and answered my own Stackoverflow question before but it feels stupid so I won't do that anymore. github gists don't often come up in google results and not easily categorized and such.
======
mobitar
I use Standard Notes [1] for this. Code editor + sharing lets me do this
pretty seamlessly. Actually code snippets is part of the reason I developed
this app.
[1] [https://standardnotes.org](https://standardnotes.org).
------
Axsuul
gist.github.com
It also integrates well with Sublime Text 3 via a package
------
melezhik
Hi, probably a bit off topic but -
[https://sparrowhub.org](https://sparrowhub.org) \- repository of (reusable)
scripts.
------
wheresvic1
You can very easily get a free blog and just start blogging!
[https://wordpress.com/](https://wordpress.com/)
------
addcn
Related question: what are people looking for in these tools? Anything feel
like it's missing?
~~~
blairanderson
Stack overflow is pretty great except people go there when they have a problem
and it is majority beginner with minority advanced.
I'd like to see a place that promotes sharing sharing code snippets and
curating it.
Almost like [https://bootsnipp.com/](https://bootsnipp.com/) but entirely
generic for code of different languages
~~~
addcn
Yes that's interesting. One thing that's always dogged me is that you can't
really encapsulate snippets the same you can code.
For instance - it's easy to find a snippet for Quick sort, but if I want to
add a user system to an app (something just as standard), that's like 30
snippets and across 4 files and it might not work.
------
salmanpathan30
gist.github.com
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How do you balance being a dual-income household with a baby? - mh5
For background, my spouse and I both work. We never considered one of us being a stay-at-home parent since we both need the feeling of accomplishment that comes with working and put a lot into building our careers. And thankfully, our jobs are understanding when we have to leave early or stay home because our young daughter is sick, daycare is closed unexpectedly, etc. However, we always end up feeling guilty about it and worry their patience will wear thin soon. Additionally, it seems like we only have enough time to barely keep our heads above water at home, never mind be able to enjoy the few hours a day we get with our daughter. (We haven't cleaned our house or mowed our lawn in over a month, and only read to her 2 or 3 times a week.) Life feels like one long, never ending to-do list where we can never perform well in any area of our life (work, being parents, home, etc), and we're both exhausted.<p>So my question is: those of you with children whose spouses also work, how do you handle it? Or are you barely treading water too? Or, does one of you work from home/work part-time/etc? Interested to hear all arrangements.
======
eduardordm
We decided one of us would stay at home or we would hire a nanny. After A LOT
of research we found that daycare services does not replace focused attention.
I'm a strong advocate against putting less than 2 years old in childcare
unless you absolutely need to. They need focused attention and the cognitive
difference between kids that used childcare and had focused attention (at 2
years old) is very visible. Does that causes long term IQ disparity? Probably
not, but it's something to consider. Specially if you feel that your child is
developing fast and in need of stimulus. (this is visible at 6 months old).
We hired a full time nanny. Yes, it's expensive and takes a substantial part
of one of our incomes but by doing that we had both a focused attention of a
human and could keep our both jobs as we wanted. My wife only went back to
work 6 months after the baby was born. This is our daily schedule:
7:00) Nanny arrives starts working on baby things (food, etc), me and my wife
play with our daughter until 9, she usually wakes up somewhere between 6 and
7.
9:00) We both leave to work, nanny takes the wheel, at this point baby is
tired and takes a nap
12:00) I come home to play with her a little bit and unwind for 30 min, then
head back to the office
17:00) We both arrive, nanny leaves (I usually get earlier) we spend time with
her until 9
21:00) Baby sleeps, I get back to work until 00:00, my wife is either studying
or working
When the nanny is taking care of the baby she is doing a list of activities we
both discussed (since the nanny is a pro), the baby also is always in contact
with other kids, we pay a child care to let our daughter stay there for a
couple of hours with our own nanny.
This is how we are doing, there isn't a right or wrong way since children are
usually so unique in the way they develop.
~~~
tacoman
Childcare is a thing people feel really strongly about and there is clearly no
right answer. It's all about what's best for the kid(s).
"They need focused attention and the cognitive difference between kids that
used childcare and had focused attention (at 2 years old) is very visible."
I think this is true for some kids, but not mine. My kids both started daycare
at 13 months. The caregiver to child ratio was 1:2 until about 20 months, then
it was 1:4.
My kids at 3 and 5 are more verbal and handle social situations better than
any other kids I know. The have the ability to focus on tasks like no other
kids I've spent any amount of time with. Maybe this is genetic or was a result
of being home full time with their parents for the first year of their lives.
(The norm in Canada)
We decided against a nanny because of what we saw in the neighbourhood. The
nannies we saw were most of the time detached from the situation and not
paying attention to the kids. The interactions were generally not positive. It
was rather sad to see.
An accredited daycare on the other hand is staffed by professionals where non-
positive interactions are not tolerated. Staff can take breaks and get help
when they need it.
It took us a long time to find a daycare we like though.
------
tacoman
We went through all this over the last few years with two kids and
grandparents/family on the other side of the country. Both of us work full
time and have the kids in daycare. I live in Canada though where a parent
(mother or father) is given 12 months of leave after the birth of a child, so
the first year is a lot less stressful than it could be.
If you're letting your house get dirty and the lawn grow wild it sounds like
you're doing a good job or prioritizing things. It can be a tough thing to let
go of, but anything not directly related to your health or paying bills can
wait until you have more time.
"Life feels like one long, never ending to-do list where we can never perform
well in any area of our life (work, being parents, home, etc), and we're both
exhausted."
Yes, it's really fricken hard at times. There is no other way to put it. If
you have family nearby, get as much help as you can from them.
This is cheesy and annoying advice, but live in the moment when you're with
your kids. The days are loooong and the years are so short.
~~~
japhyr
> The days are loooong and the years are so short.
I've never heard it put into these words before. This is a perfect description
of being a parent.
~~~
specules
I also like that and agree it's the perfect way of expressing the perception.
------
andymurd
You're not alone - this happened to all parent with very young children that I
know, whether both work or not. Keep struggling, it gets better.
I have one son, now 3 years old and a spouse who is also a coder. Here's how
we did it:
When son was born, my spouse took 6 months off work whilst I continued to work
full time. We were exhausted, house was a mess, lawn not mown etc. It was
HARD, but we coped. Mum got to take a couple of short holidays, which helped
her a lot.
At 6 months, Mum went back to work 2 days/week, with son attending childcare
on those days. These are long days for us and son but great for his
socialisation, learning etc. Mum gets to have an adult conversation and
exercise her brain. House/lawn still a mess.
At 12 months, son started crawling. We had to learn to tidy up just to get the
dangerous/breakable things out of his reach. Lawn still a mess, house is a
little bit better.
At 2 years, son started walking (late developer, I know). He can now follow
around the house as we do simple chores, but he also learned how to switch off
the vacuum.
At 2.5 years, he is happy playing on his own just knowing that one of us is
nearby. Mum & I can now tag team on weekends, she cleans whilst I sit with him
or I mow the lawn whilst she reads him a story. House & lawn start to recover
but we can't take on big projects.
At 3 years, son is potty trained. Words cannot describe just how awesome this
is: we can go places, we can do activities, we can be people again!
Mum still works just two days/week but also has a side business and volunteers
for some committees, flexibility is still very important. Son has childcare,
kindergym, swimming lessons, early learning so lots of variety and learning
opportunities. There have been some low points (kids get sick), but also small
victories to celebrate.
------
brothe2000
We have a 2 month old and it's not. It takes discipline to focus on what you
NEED to get done versus what you WANT to do.
I would recommend a checklist of things (like mowing the lawn and cleaning)
and figuring out how long those things take and then start to schedule when
you can do them. Apply project management to your home.
The good thing is that you can buy yourself time. For example, pay a neighbor
kid to mow the lawn. 1 hour of time saved for $20 - $30. Pick up dinner versus
making it.
If cleaning the dishes is a hassle, switch to paper plates for a week to buy
yourself some time to get other tasks done.
Established schedules and routines will give you some structure to get that
time back.
Keep in mind that if the house is a mess, the lawn isn't mowed, and the dishes
are piling up, it will add to the anxiety of life getting away from you so try
to take an extra minute to complete a task (get the mail, sort it, and put
bills in an area to pay later all in one motion versus piling it up to go
through later).
The good thing is that you have a spouse to help share in the duties.
I can't imagine how tough it is for a single parent.
------
hkarthik
My wife and I have been doing this for the past 5 years with two children that
are now 3 and 5.
The key enabler for both of us has been working remotely. We have a good
preschool just across the street, so there is no commute to work or school for
either of us. In the first year for the second child we had an in-home nanny
and we were both in the house in the event that she needed something.
This arrangement provides enough cushion to absorb the occasional out of town
trip, sick kid (we trade off when that happens), and just being around to let
the lawn guy in, house cleaner, etc.
Also we live in a low cost area and work remotely for CA-based companies so
our income is in a sweet spot.
So my advice is to start paying for lawn/house care and find a way for one or
both of you to eliminate the commute. This will allow you to keep working
while making you feel less overwhelmed.
------
joeclark77
Do you have help from either of your parents? Many of my friends who are
trying the dual-income parenting thing (especially my friends from China for
whatever reason) will tend to have one of their mothers come and live with
them, especially when the baby is young. If you live far from family members
who can help, then you're trying to do TWO difficult things at once:
1\. Dual-income parenting. 2\. Parenting without extended-family support.
You need to recognize that this is a thing. You may see other dual-income
families and think "they make it look easy" but fail to realize that they are
not attempting the same challenges you are. So don't feel discouraged if you
can't do what they do. Either set your sights lower (one challenge at a time!)
or try to get that help.
------
brogrammer90
Are the grandparents in the picture? I know my parents would have no problem
watching my baby a few times a week. Throw in the other set of grandparents
and you're gold.
------
specules
I'm an interaction designer and have 2 kids, ages 2 and 5. During the school
year when my husband has his full-time public high school English teaching job
("English" = "tons of lengthy essays and never caught up until the end of the
school year"), I am barely treading water. I dream of quitting constantly. It.
Is. SO HARD. To afford the Bay Area mortgage in a modest little home, I work
full-time year round, from the office 2-3 days a week, the other days from
home. The WFH helps, but it's not the panacea people think. You save time on
the commute but you are surrounded by the things you didn't prioritize (read:
mess, unfinished to-dos) because you prioritized your kids and bills higher.
And because you're home, your work stops (if you're Mommy) when the kids come
home or when you pick up, whereas if I'm still at the office, I can (guiltily)
still work an extra hour while my husband deals with pickup and dinner for
both kids. It's a trade-off, really.
Husband handles groceries and dishes and most cooking. We order more
takeout/delivery than my parents ever dreamed, maybe once or twice a week.
That helps a bit. I handle laundry and everything else, including hiring help
to clean our house every two weeks, all the bills, money- and health-related
stuff, clothing, school-related anything, buying whatever we need for the
house, and I'm the person who drops their job when I get the dreaded and
frequent call that one of my kids is sick at school, and then has to stay home
while they recuperate and either burn a sick day and then inevitably my
vacation days, or "work from home" meaning divide my attention ten ways from
Sunday.
We live across the country from all our family except my younger brother who
is not in a position to help watch kids. We do it all ourselves. So hard. I
think about moving all the time but almost all our relatives whom I'd trust to
watch our kids in a pinch all still have day jobs. In reality they couldn't
help. The one whom I'd trust has her own toddler to look after and I wouldn't
want to dump my sick kid on her so that her own child gets sick. My parents
are retired but I don't trust them to watch our kid. So moving across the
country to be near family wouldn't improve our situation at all. I think about
moving to a cheap place where we could own the house outright, which would
help some, but I did the math and I would still need to work at least part-
time to pay the rest of the bills. And then I'd be stuck in upstate NY with
its freezing winters and sweltering summers. So I haven't made the leap yet.
I'm hangin' on, in protest sometimes.
Our summer time schedule is more lax and I'm just figuring out this year's
schedule at a new elementary for the older one, but it will go something like
this.
\----- start -----
6 - 6:30) every damn day, 2yo wakes up and makes Mommy get up
6:30 - 7:30) I diaper, dress, feed, and pack lunch for the 2yo. (I can not
pack ahead of time - picky guy only eats soup or dumplings which has to be
warmed up and put in a thermos in the morning.) In that time, I also shower
and get dressed, and my husband wakes up, showers, eats, and gets dressed.
7:30) Husband takes 2yo to daycare and goes to teach
7:30 - 8:15) 5yo wakes up, rush through morning routine: potty, get dressed,
eat, tame her long hair, brush teeth. At same time, shove food in my face and
pack AM and PM snack as they are not provided by school. Get out the door.
8:15 - 8:30) I take 5yo to school
8:30 - 4:30) Work/school/daycare. If working from office, hour-long commute
for me from Lake Merced to downtown on Muni. Same if I drove to nearest BART
with parking. Joy.
4:30 - 5:15) Husband picks up both kids OR
4:45 - 5:15) Husband and I split kid pickup if I'm working from home (see?
save time commuting, spend time picking up kids)
5:15) cook, eat dinner, 2 allotted TV shows, play, see spouse if I've WFH
7:00) baths/pajamas, reading. If I worked in the office, I come home around
this time.
8:00) one last snack
8:30) brush teeth
8:45) bed - I lie down with them as I still nurse my 2yo and enjoy the snuggle
time. It means I don't get things done like other parents, but it won't last
forever and I know they'll grow up fast.
Middle of the night) I wake up from typically having fallen asleep with the
kids, and cross things off my to-do list or catch up on work I never finished
6 am) Do it all over again, maybe having gotten a few more hours sleep,
sometimes having worked all through the night
\----- end -----
There's no exercise in that schedule, no watching shows regularly. I could fit
exercise in the workday but feel guilty at how much time I have to spend with
family as it is, so I am loathe to take more attention away from work (except
when procrastinating by commenting on threads like this!)
I know other people would make different choices and criticize mine, tell me I
could fit in more if I moved this or that around, but fwiw that is our life,
that is how we're getting by at the moment, to answer your question.
I wish you all the best. Each family situation is different and I'm sure
you'll find something that works, even if barely, haha. And once it works, it
will change. :-)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Christmas Tree War - Stronico
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/11/not-from-the-onion-the-christmas-tree-war.html
======
dorfmueller
Is this a tax on Christianity ... or attacks on Christianity? Obama can do
better than tax Christmas trees.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
JustHackIt - Post your idea and find people to start building it with - gasull
http://www.justhackit.com/
======
comatose_kid
Breck, commendations for taking the initiative. As someone who is looking for
a good hacker to team up with on an iPhone (+ server side) project, I have a
few observations:
1) Although being too secretive about a project isn't usually a good thing, I
don't really want to plaster my idea on a site, either.
2) I think another (more controversial) approach to solving the 'co-founder
problem' would be to create a database of users populated with answers to
questions similar to the YC application form. So, one could filter based on
interest level, availability, proximity, etc. Real names would be optional
(news.yc user names could be used instead). Think YCombinator meets LinkedIn.
The more I write about 2), the more I like it. If I weren't working on another
project, I'd implement this myself. In any case, contact me if you want more
ideas (see my profile).
~~~
breck
Thanks. Of course SlinkSet did all the heavy lifting.
2 is actually a very interesting idea. I know that among my friends some are
interested in different types of startups(music, video, commerce, social
networking, etc.). Finding people who want to start a company in the same
space would probably be helpful.
I'm surprised by the response to JustHackIt. Already, in 1 hour the site's
gotten over 400 unique visitors. Mostly from HN but also coming from Reddit
now too.
I don't think JustHackIt will take off, but I do think that if a version of
this idea was integrated into HN it could help a lot of people. I'm sure the
rockstars here don't need this, but the average startup-rookie on this site
could find it helpful.
~~~
ncbutters
Thanks for using slinkset for this. Yet another creative application of our
service. We would really love to help get JustHackIt to take off for you.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any thoughts or ideas.
~~~
13ren
BTW it's cool, but how do you make money from slinkset?
------
axod
Cool idea + site. However, I think too much importance is placed on finding
co-founders sometimes. There are a lot of good points about working alone.
Obviously lots of bad ones as well, but it's certainly doable if you are
determined enough.
------
dnordberg
I've just created a similar site, cofounding.slinkset.com, the idea is
similar, except its focus is on people who have already started creating or
are nearly complete with their startup and want to share, get feedback, or
join up with other people in a joint venture.
It's private so please send me an email (on my yhacker profile).
------
bayareaguy
What's wrong with the comment view on that site? Several articles say there
are N comments yet clicking on the N comments link almost always takes me to a
page with <N comments. Often the page is blank except for the original post?
There is also a ton of wasted whitespace in the middle of the screen on those
pages.
~~~
brett
That's odd. Would you mind letting me know what browser/OS you are using? You
can email me at brett (a-t) slinkset.com
~~~
bayareaguy
Here's the info from the browser's about box:
Version 9.51
Build 4886
Platform Mac OS X
System 10.5.4
Java Java Runtime Environment installed
Browser identification
Opera/9.51 (Macintosh; PPC Mac OS X; U; en)
Here are some screenshots showing the issue:
First Page - <http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr266/justhackit/P1.png>
After clicking on a link showing 2 comments -
<http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr266/justhackit/P2.png>
Second page zoomed to 50% to show the whole page -
<http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr266/justhackit/P3.png>
~~~
brett
Awesome. Thank you.
------
hooande
I have been saying we should do something like this on hackernews for a long
time. This is a great idea, I hope people really start using it!
And let me get my obligatory YC08 mention in...way to go slinkset on your 3rd
consecutive week with a site on hackernews. Keep pumping them out.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Before the Flood — Sea level rise map - davidbarker
https://www.beforetheflood.com/explore/the-crisis/sea-level-rise/
======
M_Grey
That's a website promoting a new NatGeo/DiCaprio film.
~~~
davidbarker
Looks like this[1] is the original data source, if the mods want to change the
URL.
[1] [http://ss2.climatecentral.org](http://ss2.climatecentral.org)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Wikileaks: A war for the future of the Internet - antonioono
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2010/12/08/the-wikileaks-scandal-is-more-than-just-a-diplomatic-scuffle-its-a-war-for-the-future-of-the-internet/
======
DupDetector
Dup: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1988933>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What device do you use to read academic papers with? - jingwen
======
StreakyCobra
The device? My laptop.
The setup on my laptop:
\- Zotero ([https://www.zotero.org/](https://www.zotero.org/)) A software that
allows you to easily keep references to academic papers right from your
browser. Available as standalone app with multiple browser extension, or
directly integrated into firefox. When you are on a paper's webpage, clicking
on the button extracts its information, its PDF (if available) and do a
capture of the webpage and store everything structured. You can then copy
citation directly from zotero, generate a bibtex file, or use libreoffice
extension. It also allow to sync between computer up to 300M, and extending
the storage is quite cheap.
\- Zotfile
([https://github.com/jlegewie/zotfile](https://github.com/jlegewie/zotfile))
An Zotero extension that monitor the download folder to let you attach
downloaded PDF to existing entries. It also rename PDFs with the pattern you
want. And the killer feature: It is able to extract what you electronically
annotated on the PDF (Highlights, comments)!!
\- Okular ([https://okular.kde.org/](https://okular.kde.org/)) For reading and
annotating PDF. Straightforward use, nice annotations tools (F6 to open,
double click items to make them permanent). Ctrl-S to save the annotation to
file (otherwise stored somewhere in the user home file).
All these are open source software and are available on Linux!
~~~
ropeladder
If you want to sync larger Zotero libraries for free between computers you can
use SyncThing to sync the libraries and then let Zotero sync up the database.
SyncThing isn't cloud based, so your machines have to be on at the same time,
but otherwise it works great.
I posted instructions on the Zotero forums a while back:
[https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/50191/syncing-zotero-
wi...](https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/50191/syncing-zotero-with-
syncthing)
~~~
StreakyCobra
Yes, I know this is possible, and as I mentioned in a response to a comment
below:
«I thought about doing so with owncloud, then I decided that paying when I
reach the syncing limit would be a nice way to encourage the project.»
------
teekert
A printer.
What I need is an e-ink device that lets me take notes on it and is large and
fast and shows the images in color. Zooming would make it superior to paper.
It's just not there yet. I tried to read articles in NCBI's ebook format on my
kindle but you can't hop back and forward easily on a Kindle and note taking
is of course not an option.
~~~
f_allwein
Have you tried a tablet? I'm really happy with my iPad for academic paper
reading. Yes, eInk is very nice, but today's tablets are good enough for
reading as well. Plus, it's a different kind of reading compared to, say, a
novel. I tend to read academic papers quite quickly to glean the main bits of
information. For leisurely reading, paper or Kindle would be better.
~~~
f_allwein
just realized there's also
[https://getremarkable.com](https://getremarkable.com) , which looks
promising. Has anybody tried it?
~~~
dx034
They must spend fortunes on Facebook ads, don't think I've seen any advertiser
that often.
Sounds interesting, but for $420 I doubt it would pay off compared to printing
(black&white anyway).
~~~
victorhooi
I pre-ordered one earlier - for me it's not just about costs, but also about
replacing all my notebooks and pieces of paper everywhere.
If the stylus is as real-time as they claim (input latency of 55 ms) - it's
basically my holy grail device - e-ink that is just like real paper.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34I27KPZM6g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34I27KPZM6g)
Device is shown with drawing on it at 0:41.
------
kijin
A dumb old laser printer that doesn't know I've been feeding it cheap
aftermarket toner for more than 10 years.
It's not a waste of paper if paper is the most efficient way to get my work
done. Paper has a large viewport and unlimited battery life, while only
weighing a fraction of most electronic alternatives.
The only thing that a computer does better is searching, but this problem can
be easily solved by having a PDF open on some other device as well. You don't
have to choose one or the other.
------
rleigh
Print out onto paper, then I can read it anywhere, annotate it and file it
away if I will need it for future work. I vastly prefer it to reading on a
screen.
------
crieff
Had a library of about 800 articles that I read on a laptop with a large
format external monitor.
Related question: doing the above had some pain points so I wrote an app to
give me the ability to give files and directories human readable names. Read,
annotate, and bookmark the pdf within the app. Then be able to search across
the whole library on annotations and keywords which would open the pdf to the
page and paragraph the annotation referenced. The big thing it does is answer
the question: I have read something that I need right now, but where in this
huge pile of paper (or directory) is it?
I have gotten the app to the MVP stage, is there any other functionality that
would be useful, and would anyone else find this useful?
~~~
cr0sh
I would find such a thing useful, if it worked on Linux. I don't even know how
many academic papers (and datasheets, and other PDFs) I have - but it's a ton,
and increasing all the time.
Ideally, it would be nice if the app could do a search across a drive (or NAS,
or whatever) for PDFs, pull out a summary and title, and then use that for
naming/search/etc. Maybe your app already does this?
To be honest - what I wish I had was a personal Google Search appliance
spidering all of my data on my NAS, which was also linked to normal Google,
with priority of search results given to local information.
Maybe something like that already exists - I've found open-source solutions
that come close, but all for the search/spidering typically required a machine
waaaay better than my desktop...
~~~
crieff
There are some applications that will do a full text search of pdfs across
directories, but seem geared towards server rather than desktop, with
commensurate levels of cost and complexity. Conceptually you could use image
magik and lucene to make a Linux solution, but without any added features such
as summary or title.
I am experimenting with a lightweight solution, but am working out which
compromises are reasonable to take so that it is worthwhile but not
overwhelming of the machine it runs on. Still have to give it a real test with
a large number of files as well.
~~~
cr0sh
After I posted, I did some searching, and it appears like something could be
made using SOLR or Elasticsearch. Both seem to have methods/plugins for
filesystem indexing and document importing/analysis, as well as easy
interfaces to allow for any language to be used for development. Combining all
of that, plus some dev work and such a search appliance looks doable for a
home system, using only a single node.
For the hardware, I figure I could potentially use some old stuff I have
(thinking like a Core2 Quad with 16gb RAM and a large hard drive would be
fine). I could probably stuff it into an old half-depth 1u server case. The
problem now is finding the time to build it...
~~~
crieff
Thanks, I had missed SOLR and TIKA even though I had investigated Lucene.
One criterion I had for a lightweight solution was to not require Java. No
problem with Java, just that it is a big dependency and my perception is that
it is not a common install on the laptop or desktop of people reading pdfs, at
least out side of the STEM stream.
------
ridgeguy
Device is a MacBook Pro running Papers [1] to organize and read references.
Works well with over 18,000 references and their pdfs in my database.
[1] [http://papersapp.com/mac/](http://papersapp.com/mac/)
~~~
100ideas
Me too, but god the UI is buggy! Shamefully so for the price.
~~~
ridgeguy
I agree. Version 2 was the absolute worst, v.3 is better, but still needs
work.
------
ChuckMcM
These days I read them in Drawboard PDF on a Surface Pro 4. Easy to write
notes on. I keep them in Evernote in notebooks by topic. I'd really prefer a
better indexing scheme but that is what I have. As a small product idea I
expect that a way to both manage a library of papers and let me write notes on
them and let me cite them easily when writing a paper, would be a handy thing
to have.
------
rgejman
I find it much more difficult to read long sections of academic text on a
computer or tablet than on paper. When I need to read a paper thoroughly, I
print it out.
For storage I use Papers ([http://papersapp.com/](http://papersapp.com/)).
Highly recommended if a little pricey.
~~~
EdwardCoffin
I've been using Papers on the Mac and on iOS since they came out, I second the
recommendation. I, too, will print out a paper if I really want to go over it
thoroughly.
------
nwuensche
I really tried to use a 6'' kindle for that, but it just doesn't work. I tried
it with .pdf, but the screen is just to small and scrolling is not really
comfortable. When I tried to convert them to .mobi with calibre, all formulas
just looked nasty. Today, I read them on my 14'' ThinkPad with Redshift
installed. It does its job well, but it isn't as handy as a Kindle would be.
~~~
TheCowboy
What is Redshift? (Tried Googling it.)
~~~
JD557
[http://jonls.dk/redshift/](http://jonls.dk/redshift/)
(If you know f.lux, it's an open source version of that)
------
probably_wrong
Kindle DX, the discontinued one with the really big screen. It fits a whole
page nicely.
One day its battery is going to die, and I have no idea what I'll do then.
~~~
jofer
Yeah, I have one that I loved for reading papers. My only gripe was that it
gets heavy/awkward for "light" reading at night. I wound up switching to
reading fiction on my phone and papers on the DX.
It really is perfect for PDFs. I'm sad they never made an updated version.
I've stopped using mine as much after grad school, but I do miss it quite
often.
------
merraksh
Sorry for nitpicking: shouldn't the question be
_What device do you use to read academic papers?_
or
_What device do you read academic papers with?_
Non-native speaker here, so my nitpicking might actually be useless.
~~~
mdlap
In this case your correction is better, and would probably be more acceptable
to most educated English readers (especially in formal contexts). But the
original is still fine, in this informal context.
What you're nitpicking is a common and frequently-taught misconception. You
_can_ end a sentence with a preposition. Some elitists in the 17th century
tried to make English conform to the rules of Latin and those rules have stuck
around even though they weren't necessary in the first place, unlike in Latin
where a sentence doesn't make sense if you don't follow the rules.
This article gives a few examples of when it's more natural to end a sentence
with a preposition (and mentions the history):
[http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/11/grammar-myths-
pre...](http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/11/grammar-myths-
prepositions/)
~~~
merraksh
Thanks for the link. I do know that prepositions are just fine at the end of a
sentence (and I often use them that way), in fact the second version I propose
has one. I think my nitpicking is at the presence of the preposition itself,
not its position. Replacing it with "With what device do you use to read
academic papers?" would be equally wrong.
------
wycx
Portrait orientation 24" Dell Ultrasharp monitor, with the page fit to screen.
I find viewing at >100% scale makes a difference.
Zotero + Zotfile + Dropbox keeps my papers synced across all devices. PDF
X-change is such a good PDF editor/viewer that I happily pay for it.
As as aside: Why do journals permit authors to submit plots and other line art
as raster images. Have they no shame?
------
mwest
To organise/track papers:
I’m currently using Mendeley[1]. Previously, I used Papers[2]. Unfortunately,
the latest version of Papers (3.x) is terrible compared to how slick the old
version (2.x) was. I’ve tried ReadCube[3], but somehow I find Mendeley easier
to work with. I used EndNote[4] before I discovered Papers, and wouldn’t
recommend it. I keep all my .pdf files in Dropbox.
Discussions/recommendations for papers:
In-person, well run, reading groups still seem to work best. Although I’ve
seen good discussions on /r/maths and /r/physics on Reddit. ResearchGate[5] is
useful for finding recent papers, while Mendeley is good for more historical
connections.
Reading papers:
I’ve tried a Kindle, but having to convert with Calibre adds too much friction
to the process, and the result still isn’t that easy to work with. Reading for
long periods of time on a laptop or desktop monitor is painful. An iPad with a
Retina display comes close, but old school paper printout still wins the day.
You can carry paper anywhere and scribble annotations on it with ease. I also
find being able to have multiple pages “in view” at the same time is sometimes
helpful for understanding. Not easily (cheaply) done with iPads or laptops.
[1] [https://www.mendeley.com/](https://www.mendeley.com/)
[2] [http://papersapp.com/](http://papersapp.com/)
[3] [https://www.readcube.com/](https://www.readcube.com/)
[4] [http://endnote.com/](http://endnote.com/)
[5] [https://www.researchgate.net/](https://www.researchgate.net/)
~~~
ericbrow
I'll second Mendeley. I've used several other options, but Mendeley has a
Chrome plug-in that will download the PDF as well as try to read author and
other bibliographical info. The desktop app helps in searching for key words
within all documents as well as individual documents.
~~~
Y_Y
Combining the mendeley plugin with the automatic .bib generator and LyX means
I can cite stuff pretty much as quickly as looking at the page.
------
izym
Mendeley. Not the nicest UX, but it syncs, has tags relevant for academic
papers and can export everything as a bibtex file.
~~~
rmm
I second Mendeley. Highlighting features, sharing. Awesome software
I only wish it had pen support (surface). If I could markup papers as I go
with my pen it would be the ultimate tool.
~~~
therobot24
try qiqqa
------
acveilleux
HP LaserJet 4200dtn and 20 lb white paper.
------
jedisct1
I use an iPad 1. The very first one.
Apps don't support its completely obsolete iOS version any more, but the
device itself works perfectly well.
I only use it to read academic papers, but it's still fine for that task.
------
ktaylor
I've just recently started to read academic papers and have fussed a bit with
the best workflow. My hardware that I owned when I started the process were a
Macbook Pro and Android Samsung Tab e 8.0. I've avoided purchasing any new
hardware so far but may end up going with an iPad Pro or iPad Air if I cannot
get satisfactory results with my Samsung Tab.
My software setup currently includes: \- Zotero -- reference management \-
Zotfile -- pulls annotations out of the PDF for saving in Evernote, among
other things \- Evernote -- The workhorse of my setup. I use this for both
organizing my research projects, task lists, etc and also for notetaking while
reading a PDF. This includes pulling annotations out of the PDF with Zotfile
and storing them in an Evernote note. \- Google Drive -- for storing my PDFs.
Each PDF has an Evernote note linked to it. This allows Evernote to full text
search all my PDFs that are stored in Google Drive with OCR, so it will even
detect any handwritten notes in a PDF. \- XODO -- I've tried many Android PDF
annotation tools and currently XODO has been the best as far as UX while
reading/annotating and also stability and integration with Evernote via Google
Drive. Ideally I would use the built in annotation tool in Evernote but it is
frustratingly slow on my Android device and the UX is suboptimal.
I've had a few issues with the Samsung Tab \- It is only 8" so it involves a
lot of zooming and panning while reading. \- It has a split screen mode so I
can have my notetaking app in one pane and my pdf annotator in the second
screen. This works well except that, again, there is limited screen space \-
I've struggled with finding an acceptable PDF annotation tool on Android.
------
chubot
I print them out on paper. I have a huge bookshelf full of them which is not
ideal...
I stare at a screen for way too long otherwise, so my eyes need a break.
------
Schiphol
Laptop when I'm at my desk, but otherwise I actually use my smartphone. It's a
biggish one, and in landscape orientation it's enough to fit the (printed area
of) the width of a pdf page in a decent font size.
The convenience of just taking the phone out of my pocket and start reading
more than compensates for not having a whole page in view.
------
robotiamsowhat
Notes & tracking: emacs + org-mode. Not ideal, but I can have it and it does
60% of the job out of the box.
Storing: filesystem (notes include where I stored it).
Reading: E-ink.
I started with Pocketbook 622 (a 6", 800x600 display). Worked very well. Can
open many formats _natively_ (doc, rtf, djvu etc, check specs for full list).
One of the first docs was anatomy atlas from 19century via archive. Rendered
only decently, required huge magnification/landscape mode/margin cutting to be
of any use. I had varying experience with other pdf/djvu documents - depending
how they were created. Some djvus rendered excellently on 6", despite being
meant for bigger (close to a4) page size. No problem with rtf/epub and other
such formats. Magazines in pdf (a4) very hard to read, not worth it really.
Arxiv's pdfs looked good/very good, sometimes they could be reflowed or put
into column view, which helped a lot but with reflow I learned math not always
shows up properly. Old computer manuals (my hobby, they are just scaned
typewritten books) - not good enough.
Next model was Inkpad 840 (a 8", 1600x1200 display). What looks good on Pb622,
looks good too on Ip840. Magazines look better, but they require a good light
for really comfortably reading. Otherwise, I can go with dim night light. This
model has backlight, but I don't like the idea of shining into my eyes.
Huge plus: sd card slot. I go on for months airgapped. Huge minus: maybe it is
just me, but reading html docs almost always sucks one way or another. What to
look for: external hard case so I don't have to be oh so wary. It was a PITA
trying to find case for Ip840 thanks to its nonstandard dimensions. I settled
down with some oversized tablet case. Ip840 feels a bit slow and awkward
(compared to Pb622) but I got used to it. If I had to buy again, I would have
had a closer look on Kobo models too. Kindle does not cut it for me - requires
too big commitment.
All of this just MHO, of course.
------
kiliantics
I tried using docear for a while but couldn't get into a good groove with it
so I'm still stuck in ad-hoc mode with a side of zotero. Has anyone found a
good workflow with docear and mind sharing? It seems like it could be pretty
powerful for projects with a lot of literature reading (like a PhD...)
------
victorhooi
I'm a big fan of e-ink devices for reading - I've gone through Nooks and
Kindles.
This upcoming one looks interesting - 10.3" E-Ink tablet, with a stylus - and
they claim they've got input latency down to 55 ms:
[https://getremarkable.com/](https://getremarkable.com/)
[https://blog.getremarkable.com/better-paper-better-
thinking-...](https://blog.getremarkable.com/better-paper-better-
thinking-432d8a283300#.kp7wkjftl)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34I27KPZM6g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34I27KPZM6g)
The YouTube video above shows them drawing with the device at 0:40 - I asked,
and apparently that's the actual device in use.
------
billconan
this device looks nice:
[https://getremarkable.com/](https://getremarkable.com/)
~~~
dx034
But $400? Seems incredibly expensive for a device that is just able to display
text and take notes.
~~~
mrmondo
$400USD is with 40% off too! and it's really low ppi, not even up to my
personal minimum of 350ppi which really makes for decent, clear reading.
~~~
Tepix
PPI really depends on the viewing distance. You're usually very close to a
phone but much further away from a 27" monitor and further away still from a
65" TV.
I'd say for a large 13-inch ebook reader, a 167ppi grayscale display (for
anti-aliasing) is pretty good.
Until very recently all ebook readers were around 167ppi (most of them 6
inches diagonally) and most people were OK with it.
The high prices are due to the eInk panels, they must have a very low yield at
large sizes making them very expensive.
~~~
mrmondo
I agree on distance but there is a _massive_ difference between an 8" device
with 300+ PPI and one that's 224~ PPI, and if I'm getting a slightly larger
device I'm going to want it as sharp as possible, it's a bit like having a 27"
monitor - they look dreadful at 1080P, and I think they're only just good
enough at 2160p which is generally 163 PPI - now you can _really_ see the
difference between that and a 27" 5K display at 218 PPI which lots a lot
clearer.
------
Rainymood
Laptop, but in all honest I am still waiting eagerly for a good and fast
enough e-ink second monitor, reading on a Kindle is such an improvement over a
regular screen but the sluggishness is horrible ...
~~~
mdibaiee
I have a Kindle but I would never use it to read academic papers. Reading a
PDF on Kindle is a real pain as
1\. The screen size is too small for a readable, fit-to-screen experience
2\. Scrolling is too sluggish to even try, you don't want to scroll
horizontally and vertically on a PDF which is zoomed a few levels
Currently, laptop works much better I'd say.
~~~
Rainymood
There are some tools which can turn an academic pdf (i.e. double column,
images) into a nicely formatted epub/mobi file, look into it. It makes it
somewhat bearable.
~~~
ralfk
can you recommend one in particular?
~~~
parmegv
I used to use K2pdfopt,
[http://willus.com/k2pdfopt/](http://willus.com/k2pdfopt/)
~~~
ralfk
Thanks, that looks awesome!
------
terminalcommand
My laptop, I use SumatraPDF with bookview (Ctrl+8).
Seeing two pages side by side, like a book, even on small screens makes a huge
difference for me. Also the ability to switch between documents easily
(ctrl+tab and ctrl+shift+tab) is really handy, when I am researching a topic.
I haven't figured out the annotation and highlighting part yet. I just copy
and paste important parts into an Emacs org-mode document and summarize the
article I read.
It's also easier to remember, what I tought when I read the article at the
time, if I take extensive notes.
~~~
martinralbrecht
I have some code for extracting PDF annotations into markdown or org-mode:
[https://github.com/malb/emacs.d/blob/master/malb.org#pdf-
vie...](https://github.com/malb/emacs.d/blob/master/malb.org#pdf-viewer)
------
afandian
Let me piggy-back on this question: What platform do you use to discuss /
recommend / get recommendations of academic papers?
(I see Mendeley mentioned for example; there's some overlap here)
------
coverclock
I'm a little surprised at the number of people that are saying "paper" or
"printer". I agree. The technology to read complex technical topics online
just isn't there yet, remarkably. I do plenty of reading online as I'm working
on stuff, and I read recreationally (fiction and non-fiction) almost entirely
on a Kindle. But for some stuff, there's just no substitute yet for paper.
High contrast, portable, annotatable, and persistent.
~~~
milesrout
Yeah there's this weird attitude that's quite prevalent that there's something
wrong with printing things out on paper. There isn't. Paper that we buy in the
west to use for printing things out on is almost all sustainably farmed
timber, and consuming it promotes the creation of sustainably farmed young
growth wood, which absorbs CO2 very effectively.
------
neutralid
Macbook:
\- Bibdesk ([http://bibdesk.sourceforge.net](http://bibdesk.sourceforge.net)):
archiving papers (automatic rename / custom citekey generation), Google
Scholar bibtex extraction, and bibtex interface w/ TeXShop
\- Google Drive: storing archive ... it's not a great archive solution because
of google's special system of renaming files, however stuck with it because of
work
iPad:
\- Goodreader: fast PDF renderer
I wish there was a bibdesk app for the ipad linking to goodreader.
~~~
goerz
There's an app "PocketBib" that synchronizes Bibdesk to the iPad (through
Dropbox or Google Drive). It has a basic reader built in, but you can open
individual papers in Goodreader (or any other reading app). Of course, if you
have the papers in Dropbox/Google Drive anyway, you could also open them
directly in Goodreader. In that case, PocketBib is just an interface for the
database.
------
saurabhjha
I like to print them out. Reading from any type of screen hurts my eyes. Has
anyone got experience reading papers in Kindle. How does it feel like?
~~~
robotiamsowhat
They feel like paper to my eyes. Sometimes like a xerocopy. See above for a
bit longer reply:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13591030](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13591030)
I had some doubts myself before buying my first e-ink based device. It helped
a lot to watch movies on y-t where guys were test driving them.
Not all e-ink displays are of equal quality. The newer ones should be ok,
those claiming 16 levels of grey. However the definitive test should be made
by your very own eyes.
Edit: I don't have a Kindle.
------
santaclaus
An iPad for the initial pass. If it looks interesting and in depth, I'll print
a copy so I can mark it up and take tons of notes.
------
cube2222
I'm always using my Surface Pro 4 in tablet form, it's great for that. (And I
can also mark up using my pen)
------
gcb0
not a kindle.
their stupid idea to make it just small enough to not fit a page from a pdf,
and the completely broken scrolling killed it. even tried the larger one. same
problem.
they may have prevented the two people that would have read a pirated pdf of a
novel instead of buying it from amazon. but it cost them the entire academia
market.
~~~
csydas
It's hit or miss, but sometimes Calibre's conversions for native formats is
pretty good at getting the conversion+scaling right. My partner is a chemist
and she's had a lot of luck with various ACS publications rendering right
after a conversion
~~~
gcb0
most older papers are pdf images. I know it's a dumb format but the screen
scroling were not purposeful broken, it would have been fine.
------
Fannon
A Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (2015?) with Xodo PDF Reader. The screen is very
good and big enough to read and highlight/comment PDF's, even for todays
standards. Xodo also saves the annotations directly back to the original PDF.
Using Dropsync/Dropbox for syncing with the PC.
------
iopuy
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/5ssv16/what_are_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/5ssv16/what_are_some_websites_that_dont_usually_show_up/)
~~~
iopuy
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/5tmxzh/what_webs...](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/5tmxzh/what_website_is_not_very_well_known_but_is/)
~~~
iopuy
[https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/5v4cq6/per...](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/5v4cq6/personal_finance_loopholes_updated/)
------
fsloth
IPad Pro 9.7 but if I need to actually understand what I'm reading on a deep
level I print it.
------
sweetdreamerit
[Boox
M92]([https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Boox_M92](https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Boox_M92))
It is great to study academic papers or read any pdf document.
------
cicloid
Off topic: I expected to see more iPad instead of laptop as a response.
Would the reason be economical, information density (more real state on a
modern laptop/desktop) or something else?
~~~
hurbledr
Latency is the biggest issue with ipad for me. Laptops and desktops respond
almost instantly when you type or scroll, while ipads and other tablets have a
lot of latency built into the OS. I know an extra 20-60 milliseconds doesn't
seem like much, but it definitely adds up, and it really ruins the feel of
things.
When you read a physical book, you can flip through pages instantly and scan
the contents with zero wait time. A laptop is much closer to this ideal than a
tablet.
------
bane
Ubooquity to organize them, tablet to read.
[https://vaemendis.net/ubooquity/](https://vaemendis.net/ubooquity/)
------
plg
HP laserjet + red fineliner pen
Sometimes iPad Pro
More rarely, on a desktop or laptop
------
rahimnathwani
GoodReader on iPad
~~~
CapTVK
Agreed, an iPad with goodreader is the way to go (in particular its notetaking
and extensive file management options). I might even go for the 12.9" pro
model at some point but the standard 9.7" model is enough for most pdf's.
~~~
rahimnathwani
GoodReader's zoom in-out is so fast (at least on iPad Air 2), even on complex
PDFs, that it's easy enough to zoom in on the occasional thing that's too
small to read.
I've been thinking about upgrading to a 12.9" iPad Pro myself, but the
additional benefits (larger screen, Apple Pencil support, better colour
fidelity) aren't worth it for my use cases.
~~~
macintux
I tried switching from an iPad Air 2 to a 12.9" iPad Pro primarily because I
wanted something larger to read PDFs with, and quickly discovered it was too
large to be my iPad for everything else.
So, I'm waiting for a refresh and then I'll decide whether I can justify
having two iPads.
~~~
rahimnathwani
"too large to be my iPad for everything else"
Because it's too large to carry around all the time, or because it's not
comfortable to use when lying down, or something else?
~~~
macintux
You nailed it. Too large to casually take with me when I leave, too
large/awkward to comfortably use lying down.
I don't remember whether there were other problems because it took all of 15
minutes to realize I couldn't sell my smaller iPad to help pay for it and
still have an iPad to use most of the time.
------
brtknr
I use Mendeley on my desktop which has a big screen and allows me to take
notes side by side with a text editor.
------
chriswarbo
I find kbibtex quite nice, and emacs for editing the raw bibtex if I feel like
it.
mupdf is pretty lightweight for skimming.
------
EvgeniyZh
I'd really love to have A4 sized e-book, with colorful screen if possible.
Meanwhile, printer
------
theaustinseven
My desktop. Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is actually really nice for reading and
annotating pdfs.
------
porker
If you've tried the Kobo Aura One (7.8" screen) would love your feedback.
~~~
marten-de-vries
I've been using this e-reader to read papers last semester. In short, the
screen is still a bit small to read A4 sized papers without zooming, but it is
actually possible, while I didn't do so with the smaller Kobo's I had before
(Aura HD/H2O).
I much prefer the e-reader over a laptop (14" Thinkpad), but there are some
downsides. Taking notes on the e-reader is clunky (so I don't do that), and
the battery life is less than that of the earlier models (still workable,
though).
The color-adjustable backlight is quite nice. The only e-reader I've seen
that's better for this kind of thing is the Sony DPTS1, but then you are
talking about a completely different price class.
------
yanhangyhy
SONY DPT
~~~
jesuslop
A4 size, pdf scribbled annotations with stylus, synched with a 20GB Box.com
account
~~~
Tepix
It's more than 12% smaller than A4 size. (13.3 vs 14.32 diagonally)
~~~
jesuslop
thanks for the correction
------
mrcactu5
i read arXiv on my android smart-phone using Xodo PDF viewer , which lets me
highlight and underline in color.
Reams of paper saved and I can read anywhere... but I can't do scratch-work on
my cell phone!
------
dvfjsdhgfv
Kindle Voyage. A bit slow for some graphics-heavy papers though.
------
ftkr0
iPad. It's can use multiply purpose and it's already installed "iBooks" App.
So, It's useful.
------
f_allwein
iPad plus iAnnotate. Syncs with Dropbox and works brilliantly. GoodReader
would work as well apparently.
------
sriram_malhar
12" iPad Pro + Apple Pencil.
Really a game changer.
------
kyrre
X1 Yoga + Mendeley or paper printout
------
apas
Print.
------
therobot24
qiqqa - has bibtex support and decent ocr
------
general_ai
If I'm working with a paper (i.e. running experiments, writing code) then my
workstation. If I'm just reading a paper, then iPad Pro.
------
ouid
I usually read with my brain.
~~~
ComputerGuru
You're new to HN, but as you'll find out, we don't really recommend posting
jokes or wisecracks in the comments in an endeavor to keep the signal-to-noise
ratio a little higher.
~~~
ouid
it was definitely glib, but I was trying to make the point that there's only
one device that matters for such things.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ethereum's DAO Wars Soft Fork Is a Potential DoS Vector - jarsin
http://hackingdistributed.com/2016/06/28/ethereum-soft-fork-dos-vector/
======
Fej
> and buy the community some additional time to debate longer term strategy.
There is no long-term strategy. Ethereum and the DAO are dead. No one would
dare put money in after this disaster.
------
fovc
> One alternative is to avoid forking at all. Depending on how events play
> out, this would lead The DAO investors to lose somewhere between 30% to 100%
> of their investment
What determines how much investors actually recover?
~~~
mikeyouse
I think this is in reference to the attacker already have 'stolen' 30% of the
available funds. Without a fork, the remainder of the DAO is at risk, so the
same attacker or copycat attackers could take the remaining 70% leading to the
30% - 100% range.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Your startup is dying - nikhildaga
http://www.foundingfuel.com/article/your-startup-is-dying/
======
SQL2219
Cliff Notes
#1 How many of your customers repeat
#2 How often do they repeat
#3 The rest of your business is just a support system for #1 and #2
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Which IDE do you use? - rohitv
I'm fairly new to programming but, I use Netbeans for web development (PHP/JavaScipt/HTML5), Eclipse for Java and Notepad++ for anything else. These might sound terrible, any alternatives or suggestions ?<p>Actually, I just realized I am always switching between Notepad++ and NetBeans for JS so, would love to know what everyone else uses.
======
yati
I use vim with a few plugins like syntastic and command-t and my
system(XFCE/Debian) terminal emulator for most of my development. For
Java/Scala, I've found IntelliJ IDEA CE to be the best. Also, the Aptana
Studio(an Eclipse based IDE) is very good for doing webdev.
------
darsadow
It depends: For bigger, structured projects in PHP I use PHPStorm (89 euro,
but it's worth it) For smaller PHP projects and for Ruby and Python I use
SublimeText 3 Vim only for really small changes on remote servers.
------
CodeThree
For Web Development I use Aptana Studio, as I love the layout and
functionality for web design.
Eclipse for Java, and Visual Studio for C#.
Everything else, I use Sublime Text (Unregistered atm)
------
bloodorange
tmux + vim
I avoid plugins to be able to work on any system at work.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google propels Linux to the top - taylorbuley
http://www.techrepublic.com/article/google-propels-linux-to-the-top/
======
jordigh
Meh, Android is a locked-down OS that happens to use the Linux kernel.
ChromeOS is a crippled internet-only OS that happens to use the Linux kernel.
Sure, this makes a lot of people have "Linux" in their hands, sort of, hidden
away where they'll never find it and where it doesn't matter. I'm not sure
this is much of an "open source" victory.
~~~
sroerick
Everyone says how great Google is for Linux, but nobody talks about how good
Linux is for Google.
Not that I think Google is exploiting the free software movement or anything,
but Google would have never had a chance with Android without the Linux
kernel. The Google play stack is the opposite of a free software victory.
I'm tired of hearing all the things Google has done for Linux. Maybe we could
talk a little more about how free software has facilitated the growth of one
of the top tech companies on the planet.
~~~
lutusp
> I'm tired of hearing all the things Google has done for Linux. Maybe we
> could talk a little more about how free software has facilitated the growth
> of one of the top tech companies on the planet.
I think the case can be made that both are true -- Linux desperately needed a
way to win public acceptance, Google needed an unencumbered foundation for
various projects.
Also, we mustn't forget the snowball effect -- when an operating system gets
to a certain point in installed base, it becomes _the_ operating system. All
signs are that Linux will get to that point, and Google will have been one of
the primary reasons.
~~~
Zigurd
Quite so: It took a company with the resources to give Linux a modern touch-
based managed language userland to make it popular. If you want to know where
the next Ubuntu is coming from, look to fully open Android distributions like
CyanogenMod. With their deal with Oppo, you can make a good case that Cyanogen
has done better than Ubuntu in making OEM deals.
------
Pxtl
I'm constantly surprised at how Google drags its feet with getting Android out
to more uses. I mean, we've seen 3rd-party hardware manufacturers sticking
Android on All-In-One PCs, netbooks, HDMI sticks, mini-PCs, video-game
consoles, etc. Even Android support for tablets came out well after
manufacturers had released hundreds of Android-based iPad clones.
In spite of its various UI failings, android is well-positioned to be the next
Windows, and with it the Play Store could take over the world. And yet Google
sits in their hands and sticks to phones and tablets.
~~~
Zigurd
Android is already 60% of all interactive devices:
[http://www.telirati.com/2014/03/who-makes-how-many-of-
things...](http://www.telirati.com/2014/03/who-makes-how-many-of-things-we-
code-for.html)
Google was correct to focus on dominating handsets. If you dominate handsets,
you dominate devices as a whole.
Android also has a very strong position in embedded UI in "appliance" devices.
There is an argument to made that Google sucks at marketing tablets, and gave
iPad too big a lead in the market. But overall execution is hard to find fault
with.
~~~
Pxtl
Devices sold each year is not the same as devices in use at any given moment.
Because of the break-neck pace and carrier subsidies, consumers replace
smartphones faster than anything else. So obviously you're going to see fewer
set-top boxes, portable gaming devices, notebooks, etc. devices being sold.
But Google doesn't care how many Android devices are sold, because they don't
make a dime from sales. They want the OS to be _used_.
~~~
Zigurd
Android's dominance in sell-in in handsets is not new, so you won't find a
large lag between sell-in and the installed base.
~~~
Pxtl
No, but my point is that most people still have a PC that doesn't run a Google
OS, they just don't buy a new PC every 2 years - but that PC may see equal or
greater use than their phone.
~~~
Zigurd
I don't want to argue because we agree completely that Android has more
potential that it has yet accessed. And I have been sharply critical of how
Google has handled marketing of Android in some contexts. But they're not
bunglers. They got 90% of the task 90% right, and Android is on track to have
a multi-decades dominance, surprisingly similar to how dominant Windows was.
Criticism has to be tempered by reality and the reality is that Andy Rubin
made the right first moves and executed about as well as possible. And if that
makes Google late to an enterprise focus, which will get more love in the next
version of Android, that's a relatively small price to pay for total focus on
and crushing what really matters. Also, embedded Android isn't completely out
in the cold in terms of becoming "Google logo" products. The newer Android-
based cameras from Samsung have the Play store. These are real Android
cameras, with a fully Google-blessed, general-purpose Android OS in them. in
addition to sharing photos to any app, you can edit your Drive documents on
your camera.
------
ForHackernews
Android/Linux is not the same as GNU/Linux.
From the perspective of users, a proprietary userland with a free kernel is
not meaningfully different than an entire proprietary OS.
By this article's logic, OSX is a massive victory for FLOSS because, hey, it
uses the XNU kernel.
~~~
Shebanator
True enough, but the article's main premise was that Google's products
propelled _Linux_ to the top of the OS heap. That only indirectly benefits
FLOSS.
~~~
ForHackernews
> the top of the OS heap
Fair, but again to be specific, _Linux_ isn't an OS--it's a kernel. When
people talk about "Linux" as an OS, they typically mean some variant of
GNU/Linux: RedHat, Ubuntu, Debian, etc.
Android (as promoted by Google) is not a member of that club. Maybe ASOP is,
but more and more of Google's development effort is shifting to Play Services,
and away from ASOP.
------
coreymgilmore
I do agree with what the article states, but I feel the author misses on a key
point.
Google was based on linux and grew around it. As Google grew, they needed more
linux boxes and started to develop more. They built their entire
infrastructure around linux OSes and contributed most of their knowledge back
to the open source world. Examples: MapReduce, GFS,... Google build it for
internal, people redevelop for open source, and therefore Linux grows in
usage.
However, the growth in Linux could also be attributed to the boom in
software/app development which theses days mostly runs on Linux anyway. Think
of a big-name web or app company that doesn't use linux. Not too many I can
think of.
~~~
CanSpice
I'm not quite sure what AngularJS, a JavaScript framework, has to do with
Linux.
~~~
coreymgilmore
touche...removed.
------
rkuykendall-com
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the next big Linux distributer: Valve.
I had my doubts about how well SteamOS would do, until recently when the
Unreal and Cry engines were opened to licensing and both touted SteamOS
support as a major current or upcoming feature. People seem to be taking this
seriously.
~~~
FD3SA
Mark my words, SteamOS will do for the desktop what Android did for mobile.
~~~
Zigurd
There is an interesting symmetry there: ChromeOS is taking traditional
notebook form factor devices away from Windows. Steam OS might do the same for
gaming PCs. With the high price of current-generation consoles, people will
increasingly ask "Why not a PC?"
------
jsnell
> [ChromeOS] is gaining ground faster than any operating system ever has,
> thanks to dirt-cheap hardware and an amazingly simple interface.
Citation seriously needed on that. I'm not aware of any sales figures on
ChromeOS, but at least the usage numbers still appear pretty pathetic, 3 years
after the launch of the first commercial devices. By what useful and publicly
available metric would ChromeOS be growing faster than any OS ever?
------
ericraio
Linux is easily the most used OS for servers. Linux has been at the top for
awhile, just because the consumer doesn't run the OS natively doesn't mean
that they are not using Linux machine. I disagree that google "propelled"
linux to the top.
~~~
cgh
No, Windows is if you count individual deployments. Any big enterprise runs
countless Windows file and print servers.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_system...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems#Servers)
(look at the second, smaller table)
~~~
ericraio
Accordingly W3
Tech...[http://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/operating_system/al...](http://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/operating_system/all)
~~~
cgh
That's only web servers.
------
__abc
Ugh ... the prose and overall writing style .... not for me.
~~~
seabrookmx
And the content..
Android is the most popular mobile platform?!? Who knew?!? /s
------
cryptos
What a bullshit! The user has no idea that there is a linux under the hood and
the user cannot use the power and freedom of linux. Would Android be a
proprietary system nobody would care (besides some cyganogenmod users). So
Android is not about linux from the end users view point.
------
sebnukem2
What is the Linux market share across all platforms?
~~~
coreymgilmore
Take a look at this wiki article.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_system...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems)
Basically: desktop wise linux is small, but smartphone/tablet it is huge.
Also, Mark Shuttleworth closed Bug #1 for Ubuntu: Microsoft has a majority
market share. It really depends on how you count market share though.
[https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1](https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1)
~~~
jessaustin
ISTM that bug should not have been closed. From the bug:
Steps to repeat:
1. Visit a local PC store.
2. Attempt to buy a machine without any proprietary software.
These conditions still obtain.
~~~
coreymgilmore
This is true. Very, very true.
But then again, go visit a Verizon/ATT store and count the amount of Android
vs. Windows phones. Its all about how you count market share.
~~~
jessaustin
Sure the market has changed so that PC numbers aren't quite so important. But
even Android phones have some "proprietary software", don't they?
~~~
scholia
Android is really a Dalvik VM that runs Java bytecode. You could port it to
any OS, and BlueStacks runs it on Windows
[http://www.bluestacks.com/](http://www.bluestacks.com/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
HireFire - The Heroku Worker Manager - meskyanichi
http://jeffkreeftmeijer.com/2011/managing-herokus-workers-with-hirefire/
======
icefox
As you are most certainly already aware you never start a article with "As you
are most certainly already aware" because it is looking down on your reader.
~~~
nborgo
Just as important: if I am already most certainly aware, why are you wasting
my time by telling me?
The same goes for people who write "obviously". If it's obvious, why write it?
If the person doesn't already know, then you sound pretentious or the person
feels like they missed out on something. It's pretty much lose-lose.
On a more related note, I'll probably check this out sometime. The dashboard
looks nice.
~~~
meskyanichi
Good pointers! Definitely will take that with me to my future posts! Also,
thanks for the compliments! Hope it helps!
------
bengl3rt
How fast do Heroku workers come up and start crunching? I'd consider porting
my worker code to Ruby (right now it's in Clojure) if it meant I could bring
it up in seconds.
And they're billed per minute or per second?
~~~
meskyanichi
Heroku Workers are pro-rated to the second, just like Dyno's. So the second
you shut it down, the timer stops ticking.
The time it takes to boot a worker mostly depends on your ruby application.
The heavier it is, the longer it takes to boot up. Heroku spawns them fast, I
think instantly because they are spawned from a compiled slug which is
generated each time you push your app to Heroku.
The HireFire checkup interval takes at most 60 seconds, and less if more
resources are available on HireFire's servers.
~~~
bengl3rt
And presumably if I ran the HireFire open source library I could check even
more frequently..?
~~~
meskyanichi
The open source library checks immediately when job gets enqueued, but this is
because it does a post-create API request to Heroku every time it does it.
Problem is that doing an API on reqests is terribly slow, which is one of the
reasons that led me to create a hosted service out of it.
See the HireFireApp homepage's text for more information, or check out it's
knowledge base.
------
joshuacc
Very cool. Though I don't see myself needing the hosted version for a while, I
can see how it would be useful for people who need tight control over the
scheduling of their job queue.
~~~
meskyanichi
Definitely. The open source solution is fine in some cases. Though because it
does post-create api calls it tends to be slow. Something I had not thought
about prior to developing it, ironically. :)
------
herval
I might just have skipped something o heroku's docs, but is there any similsr
service/app to allow spinning dynos automagically as needed (in traffic
peaks)?
~~~
meskyanichi
If the demand is high enough I may incorporate such functionality in HireFire.
There used to be another service but they have been down for I think a couple
of months.
If you feel this is an important feature, please submit it to the forums. I'll
definitely keep it in mind and see what the possibilities are for also
handling Dyno's!
------
swampthing
Sweet! Any plans to provide this as an add-on in Heroku?
~~~
meskyanichi
Good question! I have actually considered doing so! I haven't taken an in-
depth look at to how their add-on platform works but it's on my short-term to-
do list.
Would be nice to get an even more "plug-and-play" feel. Though, thankfully
setting it up manually isn't hard at all, but it is indeed a nice touch to
create an add-on for it.
~~~
dotBen
Why would Heroku let you be an add-on provider in order to under-cut their
pricing model? Makes no sense.
~~~
hopeless
You've made this remark twice now. The fact is that Heroku have always been
open this sort of scaling (and there's a fork of delayed_job which does
autoscaling of workers on Heroku and... it's _written_ by a Heroku employee.
It's regularly mentioned on the mailing list too.
<https://github.com/pedro/delayed_job/tree/autoscaling>
------
dotBen
What happens when Heroku bans requests coming in from your IP address?
I actually think it would be reasonable and justifiable for them to do it too,
given that you are preventing a revenue aspect of their business model.
Heroku's pricing has always seemed VERY fair and generous to me - it costs
them money to provide the service even at the free tier but rather than
charging by cost lineally they charge based on value. If you need to start
using Workers then you probably are deriving a larger degree of value and so
it makes sense for them to charge for that.
Their model seems fair to me, and is what gives them the ability to offer the
free tier.
I'm all for disrupting big businesses, and yes, Heroku is now part of
SalesForce. But their pricing is what I call "nice guy" pricing and as a
community we should be supporting that, not undermining it.
~~~
meskyanichi
Really? I don't know if you've ever set up a VPS or dedicated server, but you
should compare the cost of that to what Heroku charges for the same resources.
You'll see a significant difference.
Let me put it this way. 1 Heroku Worker (roughly 80-100mb of ram) $36 a month.
Now, what can you get for $36 a month? Go look at 6sync.com linode.com
webbynode.com prgmr.com. You can easily fit 10 workers in any of them. With
this I come to the conclusion you're paying 10 times more than with a quality
VPS provider. Sure, you don't have to monitor these processes, and it scales
up and down easily, but 10 times more expensive is reasonable? Please. :)
Let me tell you what I find reasonable: If you're charging me 10 times more
for the same thing, I find it reasonable I shut down my resources when I don't
need them so I only pay for what I actually use. Why else would you offer the
ability to set the worker quantity via their API?
Or how about this: You park your car, you pay for a parking ticket that lasts
until the next month. Reasonable? I think not.
You should also consider the fact that this could also potentially encourage
more people to actually host on Heroku, rather than be scared off by
ridiculous pricing at early stages. I'm also not trying to "disrupt" their
business. If this would greatly affect their business then I'll be damned, and
I think I'm not the only one. So don't count on it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Doctor Fortran in “The Future of Fortran” - nkurz
https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2015/03/27/doctor-fortran-in-the-future-of-fortran
======
QuantumRoar
Fortran is still going strong. At a High-Performance Computing seminar I
attended a few years ago, the speaker said that around 50% of high performance
computing applications are written in Fortran (you know, these shiny little
programs that can hog a million CPUs for a few hours or weeks or months). The
other half being mostly C and C++.
However, programming in Fortran is uncomfortable. Just like programming in C.
The advantage of Fortran over C in High-Performance Computing is that it's
less uncomfortable to write maths and things with arrays in Fortran.
If you ever need to handle enormous arrays without breaking a sweat or solve
systems of equations with hundreds of thousands or millions of variables, you
can give Fortran a try. The syntax has come a long way since FORTRAN 77.
Fortran's strength has always been speed. In the early days most Fortran
programs would run faster than C programs. The trick is to intentionally leave
out features that bloat the language such that all there's left in the
language can easily be optimized by the compiler. Only after the C99 standard
(I think), C caught up to Fortran in most applications due to stricter
aliasing rules.
~~~
yiyus
The main reason Fortran is so extensively used today is not because of the
merits of its new features but the incredible amount of (intrinsically
complicated, but even more because it is highly optimized) legacy code. I
guess that most of that 50% running in HPC is FORTRAN77 written many, many
years ago, with a bit of Fortran90/95 and only an insignificant fraction of
Fortran 20xx.
~~~
cbd1984
Assuming the FORTRAN77 was optimized for hardware circa a period when
FORTRAN77 wasn't considered an ancient language, is it still optimized on
modern hardware? Because it seems the vast increase in the relative importance
of cache alone, not to mention the great changes in cache sizes, would make
some optimizations fairly pessimal these days. (For example, loop unrolling
blowing out I-cache.)
~~~
colechristensen
Languages aren't optimized, compilers are, and fortran compilers commercial
and free are released regularly.
~~~
cbd1984
> Languages aren't optimized, compilers are
Actually, specific pieces of code get optimized, and compilers that can "undo"
optimizations put in to the source code by hand are so rare I daresay they
don't exist.
~~~
brorfred
The intel compiler is considered to generate runtimes that runs about twice as
fast as runtimes from gfortran. Haven't seen any recent tests of CLANG/LLVM
yet. The statement that compilers, not languages, are optimized generally
holds true for Fortran.
~~~
gnufx
"Considered" maybe, but not measured in practice. Of course you need
equivalent optimizations to generate similar code -- Intel even defaults to
incorrect optimizations. GCC is also substantially more reliable in my
experience watching users who insist on using Intel on HPC systems without
actually measuring anything.
Of course compilers are relevant, but Fortran has long presented optimization
possibilities that aren't typically available in other languages, like not
passing by reference.
------
punch_card
unpossible.
DO 100 I=1,10
100 SUM = SUM + X(I)
No longer supported ? hWhat ? And don't get me started about COMMON and
EQUIVALENCE.
To be blunt, FORTRAN 77 was probably the most practical language ever devised.
What is this monster ?
I predict more code written in FORTRAN 77 is being used today that all of the
code written in later dialects. And this will be the same for the next 20
years.
~~~
AlexeyBrin
_Note that none of these will actually be removed from any compiler you are
likely to use, but their use will be flagged if you ask for standards
checking._
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Paraxial ray optics cloaking - mhb
https://www.osapublishing.org/oe/fulltext.cfm?uri=oe-22-24-29465&id=304785
======
thebooktocome
Disappointing that they don't cite the work of the of Greenleaf, Kurylev,
Lassas and Uhlmann:
[http://www.rni.helsinki.fi/~mjl/invisibility_publications.ht...](http://www.rni.helsinki.fi/~mjl/invisibility_publications.html)
They were the first to do conformal cloaking, which was later publicized in an
article in Nature circa 2008 that also failed to cite their work.
------
mhb
Video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtKBzwKfP8E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtKBzwKfP8E)
------
jasmcole
There is really nothing physically interesting in this - a two lens telescope
(in the geometric optics approximation) admits a point where rays from the
object are focussed. It's not surprising then that there are regions in
between which are unable to propagate rays to the collection optic.
------
Mithaldu
I wonder if this could be used to make traffic corners slightly less
dangerous. If it could be scaled up enough, you could maybe put a tube
diagonally through a hedge, with a big viewing assembly on one end.
Otherwise, i'm a bit at a loss as to possible uses of this.
~~~
tizzdogg
In this setup it looks like you can't obscure the center of the cylinder
defined by the lenses. That's where the background light goes. So the cloaked
region is actually a long tube with a hole through the middle, and probably
wouldn't work for street corners. It's a neat demonstration though. It seems
like the point is to show cloaking with the simplest materials and optics
possible.
~~~
Mithaldu
> the cloaked region is actually a long tube with a hole through the middle
Exactly, and if you can make that hole small enough and long enough with the
viewport being large enough, you could use this to tunnel view through static
large structures that aren't bothered by small tunnels through them.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Can I send customers items from Amazon or Ebay from my personal account? - ikeboy
I had an idea that would entail visitors to my website to make a purchase using their credit card, and I would then fulfil it from Amazon or other online retailers, using my own methods of payment. (It's a little more complicated than that, but this is the aspect I'm looking for advice on.)<p>Will that work as is? Will Amazon/Ebay allow me to spend from my personal account and credit card to random addresses in many other states? Or do I need to order the items myself and ship them separately, which would make this much harder?<p>(I'm not worried about the fees. I'd rather not explain exactly what I'm referring to until I actually launch it.)
======
lsiunsuex
A few months ago, I had to order about 130 copies of the same book from
amazon.com all of them to be delivered to a different address, but paid from
the same CC.
While the orders went through, Amazon didn't like this and eventually sent us
an email roughly saying to stop doing this (which we did, it was a 1 time
thing)
It was a PITA, having to enter in each of the addresses, going through the
checkout process 130 times, etc... but was easier then having all 130 shipped
to my address, then re-packing them and mailing them out individually.
I don't think I'd build any kind of business around doing it this way; they
appear to not like it.
~~~
ikeboy
Could you perhaps send me a copy of that email (with identifying details
blocked out if you want?) It would hopefully mention which part of terms
doesn't allow it.
Also, would ordering it as a gift make any difference?
~~~
lsiunsuex
I don't think ordering as a gift makes a difference. The email, below.
Hello,
We're writing to you because we have concerns regarding the ordering behavior
on your Amazon.com account with an Amazon Prime membership. The shipping
activity by you or your invitees is similar to patterns we've seen when Amazon
Prime is used for reselling (as described in our Terms & Conditions).
This e-mail is a courtesy notice, and no action is being taken at this time.
We encourage you to continue using your Amazon Prime Membership according to
our Terms and Conditions, which you can view here:
www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=13819201
If future activity on your account continues to follow a pattern consistent
with reselling or shipping to customers, we may terminate your membership
without refund and without further warning.
If you think you received this message in error, or would like to clarify the
order activity, please contact us directly at pai@amazon.com.
We appreciate your cooperation and understanding.
Best regards,
Account Specialist. Amazon.com
~~~
ikeboy
That seems specifically Prime, which I don't have and isn't important to my
idea.
The page linked says
>Prime members are not permitted to purchase products for the purpose of
resale, rental, or to ship to their customers or potential customers using
Prime benefits.
I can't find similar language in the regular terms.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Charlie Rose w/ Bill & Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett - cakeface
http://www.hulu.com/watch/156879/charlie-rose-bill-gates-melinda-gates-and-warren-buffett-in-an-exclusive-conversation-about-the-giving-pledge
======
cakeface
As much as I like to criticize Microsoft and Bill Gates, I am nothing but
impressed with the way Bill, Melinda, and Warren purport themselves here.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Slack Warns Investors It's a Target for Nation-State Hacking - LinuxBender
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/pajbj8/slack-warns-investors-its-a-target-for-nation-state-hacking
======
mfatica
Um... Duh? Any significant technology company, especially one dealing with
communications, could be a potential target for malicious actors. How is this
even news? Can't wait for "Banks warn customers they're potential target for
robbers." This is straight up FUD from vice
~~~
1f60c
FUD?
~~~
cutety
Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt
------
x0ner
While it's expected a technology company dealing with communication would be
the target of external threat actors, I think there's value in Slack being
very clear that eliminating the risks from a strongly motivated actor is not
completely possible. As commonsense as that would seem, most of the public do
not have a strong grasp on these more advanced cyber actors. What's nice in
being proactive is that it opens up a proper conversation prior to a breach
(yes, I know they were breached before) and could get us closer to coming up
with a better solution for dealing with these attacks.
------
SteveNuts
Duh, any major communications platform is a target.
------
KingFelix
So does this also reference sensitive information private companies are using?
The article says your boss can look at your stuff, but if you're using it I
assume that would be the case anyway. What about IP etc?
------
holografix
That sounds like a canary alarm to me. Prob receiving several requests from
the US gov?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Unlock honest feedback by asking for “advice” - mpweiher
https://m.signalvnoise.com/unlock-honest-feedback-with-this-one-word-dcaf3839e7ee#.6245ug2d8
======
reubenswartz
Feedback implies critiquing a past performance.
Advice suggests guidance for a present or future task.
I agree that this small distinction is important. Even if it's something like
"here's what just happened, what's your feedback on how I handled it?" vs
"here's what just happened, what's your advice on how to deal with these
situations in the future."
------
ry_ry
Horrible title aside, it's actually a fairly reasonable point, but feels like
a missed opportunity to write something more compelling about trading
business-speak for empathy.
~~~
tzakrajs
I would have read it, good premise.
------
altendo
Asking for advice is perfectly fine, provided that those giving it have no
expectation that it will be followed. I mention this only because sometimes,
when advice is given, there's an implicit assumption that it will be followed
- "You asked for advice, I told you to do X, but then you didn't do X! Why'd
you even bother asking for it then?!" \- when the person asking for it can
(and will) do whatever they want.
Of course, this doesn't help with hurt feelings when a person doesn't
implement advice, but that'd happen regardless of whether you're giving
feedback or advice.
------
tylercubell
This article reminds me of sales techniques in general. For example, there's a
talk somewhere on YouTube by a sales guru I can't remember the name of, about
the art of closing. In the video he suggests using the word "agreement" over
"contract". People never want to sign a contract but everybody loves to agree
on something. The point is some words have unintended negative connotations
and word choice is very important when trying to steer a conversation or a
decision-making process.
------
onion2k
Don't ask for feedback or advice. Ask for money. If someone is willing to buy
that's a very positive sign and you have a new customer. If they're not then
you can have a conversation about why, which either leads to some useful
feedback or you get to quickly ascertain that the person doesn't need what
you're building, in which case their advice (or feedback, or questions) would
have been pointless anyway.
~~~
someotheruser1
Not really relevant to the article's premise of a CEO asking her board for
feedback - but a great idea in many other situations!
------
pricechild
I don't think this has much at all to do with the words used.
Give it a few goes and eventually "advice" will become the bad word. People
will realise that they're just getting the same response that dissuaded them
originally from responding to requests for "feedback".
It's not the word you use, it's way you respond to what you receive.
My CEO currently asks for (and receives no) "questions".
~~~
kornakiewicz
Words you use matter as well (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis).
~~~
colanderman
Sapir-Whorf is about grammar, not individual words:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity)
"The principle of linguistic relativity holds that the _structure_ of a
language affects its speakers' world view or cognition." (emphasis mine)
------
vonnik
In SV, the old chestnut goes: "If you want money, ask for advice, and if you
want advice, ask for money." ;) So basically, never ask for money...
------
burntrelish1273
Another approach is "how does this suck, and how do you think it could be
better?" starts off with a premise of unpolished-edges seeking honest input.
Also, only ask strangers, preferably likely customers, for feedback/advice
because it can seem a catch-22 to most friends and family.
------
ejfox
tl;dr - talk like a human and not an MBA and people might actually communicate
with you.
------
krackers
Ask for advice instead of feedback — saved you a click
------
stonogo
Is the word 'clickbait'?
------
ryan-allen
... that doctors hate?
------
marak830
Side note: aren't these title styles becoming such a common click-bait trope
that everyone automatically discounts any information in the article by now?
~~~
HenryBemis
a kind of Betteridge'a law of headlines, but on this one we are missing the
question mark..
Apart from that, being a "hated auditor" for more than a decade I agree that
"seeking advice" has a better ring than "seeking feedback".
Advice can be considered friendly, (sometimes) unofficial and positive, while
feedback "will be permanently put on your record!"
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Microsoft shares flirting with $30 for first time in nearly 2 years - bdking
http://www.itworld.com/software/243227/microsoft-shares-flirting-30
======
bishnu
I wonder how much Android royalties have to do with this. Which is especially
perverse given Google's below-forecast earnings. Heh.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A Google Analytics Alternative That Doesn't Exploit User Data - mjcarp
https://pulsemetrics.io/blog/google-analytic-alternative/
======
4ensic
Hmm, you need to sign up before they reveal pricing. But they won't exploit
that data, eh?
~~~
mjcarp
It says in big words on the front page that the product is free for the time
being.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
At Uber, a New C.E.O. Shifts Gears - krebby
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/09/at-uber-a-new-ceo-shifts-gears
======
kelamrani
_“The company brought me on board because of a lot of things that happened in
the past,” he said. “We were probably trading off doing the right thing for
growth, and thinking about competition maybe a bit too aggressively, and some
of those things were mistakes.”
When I reached Khosrowshahi by phone shortly afterward, he seemed
disheartened, and disarmed by the intense scrutiny that comes with his new
job. He told me that the autonomous division had been working toward offering
driverless-car service by the end of the year, and that there would inevitably
be “bumps and bruises” along the way. “What happened last week was truly
tragic,” he said._
Are there any instances of Khosrowshahi condemning these mistakes more
forcefully? If this is all he has to offer in response, then I don't see much
shifting besides the language the problems are couched in.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Where IS Guy Kawasaki's Garage Ventures in the pecking order? - brett
======
brett
He seems pretty well respected due to his writings, but I don't have any sense
of what people think of Garage. I recognize a few names:
http://www.garage.com/portfolio/index.shtml, but they're not on the list that
Paul compiled: http://ycombinator.com/topvcs.html
Does YC have a relationship with them?
~~~
pg
That's not my list; that's just the list of names I got from asking people I
know. There are a few firms on it that I haven't met partners from personally,
and quite a lot of partners I know who didn't make the list. We don't have an
official relationship with any VC firm, but we did invite GK to Demo Day.
~~~
JMiao
Guy gave a fantastic talk at Stanford a few weeks ago. I'll admit that I was
initially skeptical given the many posts that have appeared on the web
questioning his track record. In response Valleywag's sarcastically-titled
"Guy's Golden Touch," Guy had this to say:
"It's not really Guy's golden touch. It's more like 'anything golden, Guy
touches.'"
In all seriousness, though, my first-hand experience with Guy has given me a
lot of confidence in him as a VC. He's frank about his own professional
experiences, going as far as to count his time at Apple a "failure" because
Apple never realized their initial goal of dominating the personal computer
business.
I understand how track record plays a role in fundraising, but too many people
overestimate a VC's track record and underestimate personal attention/advice.
This isn't to say that the big VCs aren't good -- one of Sequoia's partners
gave me great advice when I was a sophomore in college -- but I think that
there is a false pretense amongst startups that raising money from big-name
investors is somehow in itself a measure of success (it's like being proud of
your mortgage).
~~~
juwo
"(it's like being proud of your mortgage)."
that was funny!
~~~
JMiao
Thanks. I do my best to keep it interesting on YC News.
------
staunch
Guy said Garage is a $20 million fund. Other VCs do single deals for more than
that. I think he's a straight shooter with upper VC stardom written all over
him.
His interview with Venture Voice talked a lot about Garage and he was very
candid:
http://www.venturevoice.com/2006/10/vv_show_39_guy_kawasaki_of_gar.html
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Qajack - missing link in social media - fatadam
http://qajack.com/play
Qajack uses video to play with what you know and what you want to know. It's monkey simple, no profiles to fill out, just login, play and gamble with your reputation.<p>If Twitter is about brevity and inanity, Qajack is about authenticity and rich relevance.
======
Scriptor
Is there any way to see answers without signing in? Because otherwise, you've
already put a significant hurdle to getting people to keep visiting you.
People don't want to make an account without seeing _anything_. It'd be like
HN requiring a user to make an account just to click the links.
~~~
fatadam
Very good point and something we're working to rectify, thanks for head's up,
input very much appreciated.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Most Common Error in Coverage of the Google Memo - Garbage
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/the-most-common-error-in-coverage-of-the-google-memo/536181?single_page=true
======
merricksb
Active discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14959601](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14959601)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Factor: An impressive stack-based language environment - yumaikas
https://www.junglecoder.com/blog/factorlang-review
======
undecidabot
For those who want a taste of Factor, check: [http://re-
factor.blogspot.com/](http://re-factor.blogspot.com/) (You might want to
scroll down past the release notes.)
~~~
pome
And if anyone is interested in knowing more about Factor, this tutorial is
pretty good, from basics to the web development using Furnace (Factor Web
Framework) - [https://andreaferretti.github.io/factor-
tutorial/](https://andreaferretti.github.io/factor-tutorial/) :-)
------
3rdAccount
I didn't think Slava was involved anymore.
It certainly seems like a neat language, but I could never find enough
beginner material to make any headway (not sure if anything has changed in the
past few years).
There is a Google tech talk where Slava talks about Factor @ Google.
~~~
dom96
Slava is working on Swift at Apple now AFAIK
~~~
3rdAccount
Thanks Dom. I recalled he was working at either Apple or Google, but couldn't
remember which.
------
doublec
I have a PDF of some of my Factor related blog posts here if interested:
[https://bluishcoder.co.nz/2008/04/04/collection-of-factor-
ar...](https://bluishcoder.co.nz/2008/04/04/collection-of-factor-articles-in-
pdf.html)
It gives an overview of using some Factor libraries and features. Some have
bitrot by now but many still work.
------
foldr
Factor is definitely very cool. Apart from being stack-based, it's also
impressive for compiling to native code on Windows, Linux and OS X without
going via LLVM or anything similar. It can even produce self-contained
executables.
IIRC, named local variables have been available as a library feature for a
long time now, so you don't have to write in a concatenative style when it's
cumbersome to do so.
~~~
pome
How Factor compiler is different from something like SBCL? It's interesting
because Factor have plans to support ARM/Android/iOS, how hard to achieve
these goals? It's interesting because Common Lisp's (SBCL, CCL), Scheme (Chez
Scheme), Smalltalk (Pharo, Squeak) also have native compiler's, but no one
have iOS/Android support, SBCL also have self-contained executables and ARM
port. What are the biggest problems to these projects from having iOS/Android
support.
~~~
lispm
LispWorks has a native compiler and supports Android and iOS:
[http://www.lispworks.com/products/lw4mr.html](http://www.lispworks.com/products/lw4mr.html)
The iOS situation is difficult, because Apple does not allow runtime
compiled/loaded code in general. LispWorks pre-compiles Lisp code and one
creates an App with the help of Apple's Xcode. LispWorks has still an
Interpreter at runtime. Generally it is a very complete implementation of
Common Lisp (minus the runtime compilation), but without a Lisp-based GUI
library. They also had to write a special Garbage Collector for the 64bit ARM
iOS. Seems like it was not possible to have their usually more advanced GC,
which for example is available with their 64bit ARM Linux port of LispWorks.
~~~
ppseafield
That's not exactly Apple's policy - there are React Native apps in the iOS
store, and that runs on nodejs. Apple specifically forbids applications that
download and run code or allow for other code outside of the application's
code to be run. I.e. any and all code that your application will execute has
to be submitted with your app.
[https://developer.apple.com/app-
store/review/guidelines/](https://developer.apple.com/app-
store/review/guidelines/) specifically 2.5.2
~~~
lispm
[https://code.janeasystems.com/nodejs-
mobile](https://code.janeasystems.com/nodejs-mobile)
> On iOS, V8 cannot run because the operating system forbids just-in-time
> compilation; so instead of V8, we use our own port of the ChakraCore engine,
> on top of the integration with Node that Microsoft created in Node.js on
> ChakraCore. ChakraCore has a well-optimized, pure interpreter mode which
> complies with iOS’ restrictions.
[http://www.janeasystems.com/blog/node-js-meets-
ios/](http://www.janeasystems.com/blog/node-js-meets-ios/)
> Apple does not allow Just-In-Time compilation on iOS (except for its own
> JavaScriptCore engine).
So the claim is that Apple will not allow a third-party Javascript engine
which provides a JIT - even though interpreted code engines are allowed and
this is what their node.js version did.
My impression is also that this is a technical restriction.
Has that changed?
~~~
ppseafield
Ah, you're right. I should have read your comment more carefully.
> ChakraCore has a well-optimized, pure interpreter mode which complies with
> iOS’ restrictions.
(Which does not include runtime-compilation.)
------
eggy
I'll have to check out the new 0.98 release. I always enjoy playing with
Factor, and I even wrote a program to munge data from a sensor many years ago
for work. It's one of those languages that if it took off, I'd be happy to use
it for work all the time. It is a lot of fun though!
------
platz
What is the value prop of a stack-based language?
~~~
cultus
Everything is based on composition, which makes it easy to build computations
up like building blocks. Stacks are also efficient. The JVM bytecode is
actually a stack language, for example.
There's a newer one called Kitten that is statically typed and uses term
rewriting to allow for more normal syntax when you want. It's pretty cool. Too
bad none of these languages will ever take off.
~~~
bgongfu
And since composition is seamless, and they're relatively trivial to
implement; they make great glue/DSL/process description languages. Take off as
in replace C++ or Java, probably not. I see them more as a complement to
existing languages, a more convenient way to glue the pieces together. Even
wrote my own [0] to see how far it's possible to push that idea in C.
[0] [https://github.com/basic-gongfu/cixl](https://github.com/basic-
gongfu/cixl)
~~~
rurban
Interesting. But does cixl really do refcounting on stack values? It should
only be done on aggregates or objects reaching out into the heap, not on int
or float primitives on the stack.
~~~
bgongfu
Primitive types such as booleans, int, floats, times etc. are passed by value.
Reference counting is only used for heap allocated values and types that
themselves reference values, like pairs and tables.
[https://github.com/basic-
gongfu/cixl/blob/master/src/cixl/bo...](https://github.com/basic-
gongfu/cixl/blob/master/src/cixl/box.h)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Our weekend project - HN Showcase, browse "Show HN" posts - ssong
http://www.hnshowcase.com<p>Moses (nnythm) and I browse Hacker News daily. Show HN posts are some of our favorite parts of HN. We wanted to create a way to browse Show HN articles, even those that might not quite make it to the front page. We created http://www.hnshowcase.com last weekend to make discovering projects posted on HN easier. It searches all "Show HN" posts and generates a thumbnail view for each of them. You can sort by submission date, points, and number of comments, and navigate with left/right or j/k keys.<p>We used the following technologies:<p>HN Search API, Pyramid web framework, jQuery, url2png and thumbalizr for thumbnail generation, and dotCloud for hosting.<p>Let us know what you think and how we can improve the user experience!
======
ssong
Direct link: <http://www.hnshowcase.com/>
------
adam-_-
I was tickled by the fact it included a link to itself, for endless browsing..
Nice work though!
------
karmalizer
Nice!
Someone should make a website linking all the little improvements like this
people have made to HN.
EDIT: When I'm on page 2 ordered by date, then click on order by points, it
takes me to page to ordered by points. It should take me to the start.
~~~
lostbit
I guess you haven't been on <http://www.hnsearch.com/apps>. It has not
everything but is a good summary.
------
hacker007
Oh, wow..love the site! I frequently check out "Show HN" posts. I mostly view
the feedback that was given. I like that you included a preview and link to
the comments section.
EDIT: I tried it out more. It would be nice to have a search option too.
------
jamesgagan
Looks great! One suggestion, maybe have the links open in a new window. I know
this annoys some people, but it makes it easier to get back to your site after
looking at someone's project. I don't always remember to control click on the
links.
------
euroclydon
Definitely found some stuff to vote up.
Interactive JavaScript PID Demo: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2810771>
------
andrethegiant
Sweet, bookmarked. Thanks for sharing the services you used too, url2png looks
awesome, can't wait to try it out
------
slater
Nothing much to add except that it's a great idea, and really nice-looking
implementation.
------
sebkomianos
Just so you know, I just finished browsing all 82 pages. Thanks guys! :)
------
tobin
Very slick! I like it a lot (: anything to improve HN is a + for me!
------
scottkrager
Very cool, and very Meta.
------
JonLim
Neat! Definitely bookmarked, I love Show HN posts the most!
------
jvdmeij
Cool! Would love to see endless scrolling in there though.
------
Udo
Awesome, thank you guys!
------
karlzt
why is this better than searching "show hn" on hnsearch?
~~~
ssong
hnsearch is certainly a great way to find the same information, and in fact we
use it underneath to get our data. However, going through hnsearch requires a
few steps and many casual readers might not bother to go there. Since most
"Show HN" posts link to the project homepage, we hope that displaying a
thumbnail of each page in a visual gallery can help views discover interesting
content faster.
------
pp33
Nice!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
China’s Bitcoin Trading Volumes Fall to Insignificance - smokielad
http://www.trustnodes.com/2017/09/22/chinas-bitcoin-trading-volumes-fall-insignificance
======
sharemywin
wonder how it effects mining difficulty
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Optiver Report on High Frequency Trading - zipstudio
http://www.optiver.com/hft.pdf#zoom=100
======
praetor
I love it how people stay silent after flaming several topics on this subject
in the past year.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: I learnt React by building a narrative-driven funny(?) web game - kinoro
https://www.tapsify.com/
======
kinoro
For anyone that enjoys this, well, firstly thank you for your time! It's
hugely appreciated!
You may be interested to know that this website became the inspiration behind
my new game Hello Human (iOS/Android). In fact, the android version is
currently on sale (50% off!)
Check it out here -> [http://onelink.to/gevh44](http://onelink.to/gevh44)
Stay safe, and feel free to get in touch.
Kind regards,
Russ [https://twitter.com/kinorogames](https://twitter.com/kinorogames)
------
johnfn
This is great! Reminds me of those websites people would make a decade or two
ago that would spam you with nonstop alert() boxes saying ridiculous things.
Fortunately this is a lot easier to take a break from. Congrats on your first
React project!
~~~
kinoro
Thanks very much :)
I just wanted to make something simple-yet-effective. The code could have been
better but it was definitely an eye opener, particularly coming from an
Angular background.
------
WesleyJohnson
Maybe I was just looking for a fun distraction, but I thought this was
awesome. Clever. Funny. People overuse LOL, but I literally LOL'd at the
unexpected countdown. Good stuff.
------
jedberg
Ok I'll admit, I got about 3/4 through the content with a lot of tapping
before I gave up and did view source. But it made me laugh!
~~~
kinoro
No doubt, viewing the source gave you another laugh! haha
------
yadco
Most annoying website (in a good way)
------
anitil
My RSI does not thank you. (good game though)
------
PopeDotNinja
My finger hurts from tapping so much XD
------
quickthrower2
I'm suing for RSI
------
maps7
So what did you learn?
------
blisseyGo
That was surprisingly enjoyable. I did end up looking at the source code
though ;)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
DripStat MMO Game - Eduard
https://dripstat.com/game/
======
joshdance
Mini rant: Everyone can use their time as they please of course, but I feel
like these types of games rely on addiction, and obsessive compulsive
tenancies to succeed. Surely there is a better use of time than clicking
thousands of times. These games have literally one variable (click speed) and
it is mathematically impossible to get 'better' faster. It all depends on
time, and time is one thing we can't get back.
------
zyxley
> signup wants a real name and company
No thanks.
------
lectrick
It's a copy of CookieClicker
[http://orteil.dashnet.org/cookieclicker/](http://orteil.dashnet.org/cookieclicker/)
------
TrainedMonkey
For people who want to see where this goes without spending half a day
clicking there is a chrome extension that makes this game "easier".
------
gerbal
How is this an MMO?
~~~
Eduard
Because the more people play this game, the faster new DripStat features will
be released
~~~
amphi
Seems like a weak reason to call it an MMO. I would say this is true for most
projects, unless I'm missing something
------
Chromozon
/productivity
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
On Data Persistence...and Confide - jkopelman
http://redeye.firstround.com/2014/01/confide.html?utm_campaign=&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=frc.vc-static&utm_content=awesmsharetools-publisher_static&awesm=frc.vc_tT
======
read
This is a great example of challenging assumptions. One of the most valuable
lessons I learned is to look at something in its existing, boring state and
try to imagine what it's opposite would be like.
Looking for opposites seems to be a way of seeing things that are obvious and
yet that you hadn't seen.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to Cover the One Percent - xoher
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/01/14/how-to-cover-the-one-percent/
======
jnbiche
I'm ambivalent about this article. While I agree that the hidden power of
mega-philanthropists is unsettling, the hidden players of our "public"
government are orders of magnitude more powerful.
Frankly, differentiating between the "public" and "private" when discussing
the ills of the %1 is pointless [1]. People at this level of society move in
and out of the top levels of corporations and government all the time. They
socialize together, intermarry, and share family bonds. Only together have big
business and big government created this massive feedback loop that promotes
inequality and loss of freedom for the common man.
It pains me to see my "right" and "left" leaning friends blame one side of the
coin while completing ignoring the damage wrought by the flip side.
1\. To be clear, the top 0.01% is what the article is really referring to,
since the top %1 includes people like successful everyday doctors and lawyers.
Perhaps a small cadre of powerful bureaucrats at this income level could be
reasonably included in the top tier group the article refers to, but for the
most part, these are people who are wealthy and influential in their local
communities, but decidedly not actors at the level the article describes.
~~~
laotzu
>It pains me to see my "right" and "left" leaning friends blame one side of
the coin while completing ignoring the damage wrought by the flip side.
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and many others explicitly
warned about this.
>The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit
of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries
has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.
But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The
disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek
security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or
later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than
his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation,
on the ruins of public liberty. Without looking forward to an extremity of
this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the
common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make
it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
-George Washington, Farewell Address
It's the age old strategy of divide et impera. It couldn't work if the masses
weren't arguing futilely among themselves:
>Now, what does all of this mean in this great period of history? It means
that we've got to stay together. We've got to stay together and maintain
unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in
Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He
kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get
together, something happens in Pharaoh's court, and he cannot hold the slaves
in slavery. When the slaves get together, that's the beginning of getting out
of slavery. Now let us maintain unity.
-MLK, I've Been to the Mountaintop. Last speech given the night before assassination.
~~~
cmdrfred
I consider myself a skeptic. To me JFK was killed by a lone gunman, we went to
the moon, and 911 wasn't a inside job. Then I read I've Been to the
Mountaintop and wonder if there wasn't some involvement, at some level, from
the US government (or those who control it) in MLK's death. It is already
proven they attempted to discredit him, did they simply take that one step
further?
Then I look at stuff like black lives matter. More white people were killed by
police last year than black people. What did all the people murdered by police
have in common? They were male, and they were poor. Are we sure this is a
white/black problem and not a rich/poor one? Framing it in the black/white
context seems to keep the for profit prisons humming along happily.
~~~
adam1davis
There's a kernel of truth here, but you have to be careful about comparing
_numbers_ of white/black people killed/jailed. You need to look at the per-
capita (percentage) killed or jailed. There are way more "white" people so of
course there are more of them killed/jailed/whatever! But when you look at the
percentage then you see the injustice. "The country is about 63 percent white
and 12 percent black... death rate due to legal intervention was more than
three times higher for blacks than for whites in the period from 1988 to
1997."
Source:
[http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/aug/21/...](http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/aug/21/michael-
medved/talk-show-host-police-kill-more-whites-blacks/)
~~~
cmdrfred
I understand that but black people have statically lower incomes and that
might be a reason that they are over represented. What you never see is police
killing women or the wealthy of any color.
------
rubidium
"Ten years ago, for example, Google had a one-person lobbying shop in
Washington; today, it has more than one hundred lobbyists working out of an
office roughly the size of the White House. " ... to the tune of $16.8 Million
dollars.
[https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D00002200...](https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000022008)
I really like this article. It's a well-researched call to action for
journalists to do real investigative work.
------
eliben
Top 1% is (based on [http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/income-
rank/](http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/income-rank/)) >$400k / year income.
The billionaires this article talks about are in much, much higher brackets -
maybe something like top %0.01
* P.S. based on another source [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2015/01/26/...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2015/01/26/what-the-top-1-percent-makes-in-every-state/)], it's state-dependent and the highest I see is $678k in CT
~~~
rubidium
1% in journalism = the elite wealthy controlling banks, businesses and
bureaucrats.
------
ideonexus
Summary: The wealthy are using non-profits, charities, and foundations to push
political agendas at the expense of taxpayers who are footing the bill because
these institutions are also tax write-offs.
The article focuses on these organizations pushing advocacy, but I would also
add that many "non-profit" organizations are actually incredibly profit-
focused. An early introduction to this for me was growing up next to the
Christian Broadcasting Network, a charitable organization that was raking in
millions of dollars selling alternative medicines, opening five-star
restaurants, hosting luxurious retreats, while also raking in donations from
the poor people who would tune into the show seeking god's grace [1].
I see the same thing with Mega Churches, which are springing up like fast food
franchises all over the DC-Metro region. These enormous buildings are raking
in profits every Sunday while giving nothing back in taxes to pay for the
roads, utilities, and emergency services the community provides for them.
Taxpayers are losing $71 billion a year in revenues because of these for-
profit franchises [2].
It isn't just religious institutions either. I've stopped giving blood to the
American Red Cross in favor of donating it directly to my local hospital so
they don't have to pay the overhead that comes with Red Cross blood [3]. The
DC-Metro area is packed with "non-profits" that are really for-profit
companies that pay out their profits directly to CEOs and board members while
sending lobbyists to the National Mall to buy expensive lunches for our
Representatives.
The article notes that the alternative is the European system of not providing
tax-breaks for these organizations--which results in much fewer organizations.
It's hard for me to accept that when I think of all the organizations I
_perceive_ as doing good in America, but maybe they aren't really doing good
and are simply enjoying the good sentiments that come with the words "charity"
and "non-profit?"
[1]
[http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20070327/NEWS/70327037...](http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20070327/NEWS/703270372?Title=Lawsuit-
says-evangelist-Pat-Robertson-abuses-tax-free-status-to-push-product)
[2] [http://bigthink.com/21st-century-spirituality/how-to-
make-71...](http://bigthink.com/21st-century-spirituality/how-to-
make-71-billion-a-year-tax-the-churches)
[3] [http://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/07/business/all-about-
blood-b...](http://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/07/business/all-about-blood-banks-
a-multibillion-dollar-business-in-a-nonprofit-world.html?pagewanted=all)
~~~
lmm
> The article notes that the alternative is the European system of not
> providing tax-breaks for these organizations--which results in much fewer
> organizations. It's hard for me to accept that when I think of all the
> organizations I perceive as doing good in America, but maybe they aren't
> really doing good and are simply enjoying the good sentiments that come with
> the words "charity" and "non-profit?"
You've got to ask how much of those sectors' income is going to organizations
that are doing good, and how much is not. And remember that taxes are used for
the public good, so the bar to be tax exempt should not be merely "is this
organization doing good?" but rather "is this organization doing more good per
dollar than is done with general taxation?"
~~~
barney54
Is the government "doing good?" There is some good, but there is a case that
non-profits such as the Red Cross, churches, food banks, are more accountable
and do more good.
To me non-profits do far more good per dollar than the government does through
general taxation. The biggest reason why is that non-profits have a much more
defined scope and mission.
~~~
eli_gottlieb
I find it _very_ difficult to believe that the Red Cross does more good than
Medicare and Medicaid, or that food banks do more good than Food Stamps.
~~~
dignan
You're comparing an organization with a budget of about $3 billion to one with
a budget of over $1 TRILLION. It's a nonsensical comparison.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Do you have a Privacy Policy and ToS for your side projects? - mromnia
Do you have a Privacy Policy and/or Terms of Service page on your sideproject's website? If so, how did you get it? Did you write yourself, had a lawyer write it or used some online generator? What about a cookie consent popup?<p>Myself, I've recently realized I have a few sideprojects online that don't provide that information, so I started looking into it. If I find a decent template I'll probably add it to some of my sites.
======
tsyd
I use a paid generator: [https://termsfeed.com/](https://termsfeed.com/). It
asks you a few questions about how you will be using the data and generates
the text based on your answers.
~~~
tpetry
Termsfeed.com looks really great. Nice find!
------
medmunds
Automattic has released their policies under a Creative Commons license:
[https://github.com/Automattic/legalmattic](https://github.com/Automattic/legalmattic)
------
jakehilborn
Yes. I created a free app involving speeding in your car so ToS absolving me
of responsibility for misuse was necessary. I also included a privacy policy
about analytics data collected. I worded it in plain terms myself without
involving a lawyer.
[https://jakehilborn.github.io/speedr/](https://jakehilborn.github.io/speedr/)
~~~
smt88
Do you think your app encourages or discourages people to speed?
~~~
jakehilborn
It's meant to be informational. I left out achievements, leaderboards, and
flashy lights/noises so that I wouldn't encourage speeding. You'll find that
for almost all driving scenarios that you save very insignificant amounts of
time by speeding. Furthermore, based on my low daily active user count I'd
conclude that Speedr isn't making speeding all that fun.
~~~
FatAmericanDev
Speeding is not about saving time. It's about excitement and adrenaline...
~~~
smt88
That might be how you feel, but I have many often-late friends who speed only
to save time.
------
madamelic
I actually made them for my side project last night.
I just googled around and found a ToS / Privacy Policy generator but they
wanted like $60 for each. They publish a template so I took the mostly
completed template, added a few details (emails are saved, analytics are
collected, I'm not selling or distributing your info, email me if you want
your account deleted, etc)
~~~
mromnia
Could you link the generator here? Perhaps it'll help someone (perhaps even
me!).
~~~
madamelic
[https://termsfeed.com/](https://termsfeed.com/)
It seems to gate the more generic options (to obviously get money).
It does work though. I can't really speak to how well their documents hold up
though legally.
------
SchizoDuckie
Yes. Explicitly.
Not worded as a lawyer, but as an actual sane person:
(Since the project is free and open source and deals with torrents, I wanted
to make it clear from the beginning that we're not logging anything)
[https://github.com/SchizoDuckie/DuckieTV/blob/angular/LICENS...](https://github.com/SchizoDuckie/DuckieTV/blob/angular/LICENSE.md)
[https://github.com/SchizoDuckie/DuckieTV/blob/angular/README...](https://github.com/SchizoDuckie/DuckieTV/blob/angular/README.md#privacy-
statement)
------
graystevens
Interesting question, and one I've been debating with myself for a bit too - I
have a launch page setup for my new side project, currently in development but
put a page up to gather interest.
Would folks expect a some terms or a privacy policy to be applied to this? All
it is collecting is an email for notification of launch, and this is hosted by
MailChimp. I suspect a ToS is overkill, but a privacy policy may be sensible
for folks?
~~~
mromnia
Technically, you're required by law to have a privacy policy, at least in most
places. If you're collecting emails I'd say you should have one.
I was mostly curious what people do with their free sideprojects being a
single github.io page with possibly Google Analytics or something. You are
still technically breaching the GA ToS by not having one, but it seems a bit
of a hassle.
------
tmaly
I have one as there is a CA law that requires it.
I am not sure how I found it, but I got mine from termsfeed.com they were even
nice enough to modify it for me when I realized I did not check the correct
boxes.
------
skaplun
Are you providing a paid service? privacy, tos, faq, help, about us, our
mission, etc etc pages can help to confirm your authenticty to someone who
intends to buy.
Cookie layer is mandatory in the EU
~~~
mromnia
If something's generating money, I'd say it's a bit different. I'm mostly
taking about free stuff on your github.io pages.
~~~
chauhankiran
Then it might not needed and ToC or Policy as in most cases it will not going
to take serious user data that user are primarily concern with. But, If you
are storing data from users, then I must say you need to give an idea about
how you will going to use those data.
------
skdotdan
Off-topic: this was exactly an idea I had for a side project (a ToS/Cookie
pop-ups generator), but there are already some services providing it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Installing - saint-loup
http://xkcd.com/1367/
======
lmm
If it means the web starts using better application technologies than HTML/js
then this is actually a very good idea.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: 3D Book Image CSS Generator - scastiel
https://3d-book-css.netlify.app/
======
svl
Nicely done! We've been using a very similar setup at the Dutch public library
for the last many years - e.g.
[https://www.bibliotheek.nl/catalogus/titel.263072924.html/th...](https://www.bibliotheek.nl/catalogus/titel.263072924.html/the-
confusion/) \- complete with thickness based on number of pages (though only
in three steps) - but it took a lot of tinkering to get the CSS down to
something relatively clean. Great job making something like this accessible to
everyone with a handy tool like this!
One trick we're using which you might care to copy over (and improve upon) is
a linear gradient to fake the pages. I think for thin books, I prefer your
white version, but for thick books, it feels pretty sterile.
~~~
kreetx
Did you ever make it available as a library?
~~~
coopsmgoops
Its available at the library
~~~
Gabriel_Martin
very clever :)
------
TheHideout
Nice work. It looks like the book thickness isn't corrected for rotation
angle. If you made the horizontal width of the inside pages = thickness *
sin(rotation angle) it'll be zero when laying flat and full thickness when
rotated 90 degrees.
~~~
scastiel
Good to know, thanks :)
------
LeonB
Very nicely done. Consider adding a slider that controls a neural net that
generates the content of the book as well. ;)
~~~
zxienin
Using GPT-3 API (chuckle)
------
_Microft
Very cool. The rule for class "book" is missing a border-radius as far as I
can tell.
Test: set color to e.g. pink, increase radius to maximum value, see that the
front image gets cropped but the pink area behind it is not. The backside of
the book has a border-radius by the way.
Edit: might be nice to only apply it to the right-hand side as the side with
the spine is unlikely to have rounded corners.
~~~
scastiel
Thanks, let me check!
------
njsubedi
For some reason the Width parameter is working weirdly in Firefox on Android.
Dragging the slider halfway resizes the book to become larger than the whole
screen. Screenshot:
[https://9gag.com/gag/aLwvLY6](https://9gag.com/gag/aLwvLY6) (because I don't
have accounts elsewhere)
~~~
BrandoElFollito
You can use imgur.com without an account - this is often the to-go service to
publish images to be shared (stack exchange, ShareX,...)
~~~
njsubedi
I'll try that the next time I need it.
------
itcrowd
Cool, very nicely done.
Would it be possible to add a different set of parameters that describe the
physical book instead? What I mean is specifying the page size in some
standard way (e.g. A3 or letter size) and the number of pages and let the
algorithm decide the parameters of book thickness (in pixels) automatically.
~~~
scastiel
Very good idea, adding it to my to do list :)
------
exikyut
My current favorite feature: you can manually override the maximum thickness
:] 160px thick book ftw
The only comment I have is that the width slider tends to make an aggressively
flickery mess of my screen anywhere above 250px.
~~~
roudaki
I love increasing size so book overlaps other page elements. It makes it more
3D
~~~
scastiel
Increase it again and it grows out of the screen ;)
Seriously, this bug is one of my top priorities :)
------
codetrotter
This is nice work and furthermore I would also like to commend the author for
the elegant way of integrating marketing of their own book that they are
writing into it.
------
janvdberg
Really cool! I can probably add this to my personal book app to make things
look a bit nicer: [https://books.j11g.com/](https://books.j11g.com/)
~~~
SwiftyBug
It would look very cool in the Book page:
[https://books.j11g.com/search.php?id=484](https://books.j11g.com/search.php?id=484)
~~~
gppk
Agreed - [https://imgur.com/qbVZUk8](https://imgur.com/qbVZUk8)
------
zxcvbn4038
Impressive! I know a number of people who self publish who will love this.
------
ChrisMarshallNY
That's really nice!
I have no idea how well it works on various browsers (the bugaboo for all
CSS), but it's noice!
------
__ka
Very cool :) Feature request: can the thickness be a function of the number of
pages?
~~~
scastiel
It has been suggested before, it’s a very good idea :)
~~~
dubcanada
Well each page is 100mic roughly for 80gsm paper which is pretty standard. So
if you did something like a 200 page book that is 20mm's which at 72 dpi
roughly 54px's or roughly 27px's for a 100 page book.
That's excluding any cover page, which heavily depends on binding/hard
cover/what ever else.
------
lpellis
Thats pretty cool, things go a bit crazy when you move the width too far
right.
~~~
scastiel
True, it still needs some adjustments, but thanks!
------
LoSboccacc
radius only apply to the back cover in firfox
[https://i.imgur.com/nv6locC.png](https://i.imgur.com/nv6locC.png) (works as
expected in chrome)
excellent work otherwise
~~~
rgovostes
Likewise on Safari. But it's really nice even with that small issue.
------
slimsag
Very nice, I shared this with my sister who will love this, is it possible to
make the book have a paperback appearance?
------
swyx
another in this category for multiple devices:
[https://diybookcovers.com/3Dmockups/](https://diybookcovers.com/3Dmockups/)
i love collecting little tools like this, lmk if anyone has one for mocking
phones, tablets and desktops.
~~~
scastiel
Haha believe me if you want, I used this website previously, but it was down
yesterday, so I developed my own tool xD
------
runawaybottle
That looks good. You should combine it with a landing page generator for self
published books or docs.
~~~
scastiel
I’ll think about it, thanks :)
------
martyz
I love this so hard. Love the ability to adjust width as well. Great work!
~~~
scastiel
Thank you :)
------
de6u99er
Just as an idea, adding overlay stamps to it. Something like "Recommended by
developers", "Only for limited time", or just a lens flare effect.
~~~
scastiel
Good idea :)
------
xwdv
What would really blow me away is if you could set the text on the cover with
CSS too, and then just drop in a background image behind it.
~~~
scastiel
It’s totally feasible, but cover generator is a lot of complexity to add: you
want to be able to move the text, resize it, change the color, add some other
text, etc.
Many websites are doing it a lot better than I can (in a weekend), but it’s
definitely something that I would do in the future.
------
flareback
That is quite impressive. Setting the perspective to 0 made the cover look
like it was a front on shot but I could still see the side of the book which
looks strange to me. Still nice though.
edit: please take this as a helpful suggestion and not a criticism. I still
really like the work you've done.
~~~
scastiel
Thanks! Yes in CSS the perspective set to 0 basically removes all perspective
(but for the pages it’s a different element in perspective, this is why you
can still see it ;))
------
vibesngrooves
This is awesome, thanks for sharing! Would've been great for my latest
release, [https://music101.press/](https://music101.press/), but I'll
definitely use it for the next book I release
------
andykais
This might just be tangentially related, but I recently built a css booklet
that has turnable pages for my personal website
[https://andykais.com/moleskine](https://andykais.com/moleskine)
------
shahinrostami
Very cool! Would be great as a WooCommerce plugin, I would love to use it for
the books on here
[https://store.shahinrostami.com/](https://store.shahinrostami.com/)
------
chrismorgan
What you’ve called transition delay is actually transition _duration_.
~~~
scastiel
Woops ;)
------
edent
That's brilliant! Is there any way of downloading the resultant image?
~~~
scastiel
Thanks! That’s on my to do list! For now the best I can suggest is to make a
screenshot (not ideal, especially because you don’t get a transparent
background…).
------
shahinrostami
Gave it a go - looks great
[https://codepen.io/StamiLabs/pen/wvMRpwp](https://codepen.io/StamiLabs/pen/wvMRpwp)
------
bilinualcom
Interesting, thank you so much. I am going to use it for the bilinual book
library: [http://www.bilinual.com](http://www.bilinual.com)
------
arpitbatra123
looks impressive. could be a nice addition on my personal library page -
[https://arpit.tk/komura](https://arpit.tk/komura)
------
YoungWeb
Had a good time setting thickness to 1000 and width to 500.
------
masukomi
as the thickness of the book grows the cover doesn't also grow. towards the
end of the scale the contents are taller than the cover.
------
dandigangi
My mom runs an e-book company in the health space. She's love this! I have to
put it on her website by tonight. Haha Great tool!!
~~~
scastiel
Awesome! :)
------
blisseyGo
I can see someone like Amazon or Chapters wanting to use this on their site.
You should try contacting them!
------
atum47
seems to break when you fiddle with the width slider, but it's a nice work
never the less
------
kalbfled
This is pretty cool. I sent the link to a professional author friend with a
dated website.
------
neetrain
I'd like to make the book facing right. In Japan, books are bound right side.
------
sharanm
This is really impressive
~~~
scastiel
Thanks! :)
------
omarchowdhury
Would we be able to adjust the drop shadow?
------
vms20591
Wow, that's really cool, nice work!
~~~
scastiel
Thanks! :)
------
keithnz
radius on front cover doesn't work in firefox
------
dmcclurg
Well done sir
------
iworkfromhome
This is a WOW thing! Very cool. Easy to use. Success for you.
~~~
scastiel
Thanks :)
------
staycoolboy
odd, only the last two controls do anything. Firefox, Safari and Chrome on
macOS 15.5.5.
~~~
solrac9
Some of the other controls have to do with hover effects.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Science Is in the Details - robg
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/opinion/27harris.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=all
======
tokenadult
Relating this to your previous submission from the Boston Globe, is Francis
Collins the answer to the concerns raised about Richard Dawkins and PZ Myers,
or is he part of a worse concern?
Thanks in general for all the interesting submissions about imparting science
knowledge to the general public.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Do you regret taking investment? - forgottenacc57
======
luckydude
I regret not taking it. Hummer-Winblad really wanted to give us some money but
I couldn't figure out what they brought to the table. In retrospect, it was
marketing, the money could have paid for marketing. And because they were
invested they would have insisted on marketing.
Did I mention we needed some marketing? We really needed some marketing.
So, while it's very common to ask about taking investment, also look hard at
the whole picture and see if there is a part of it that you'll (perhaps
secretly) admit that you don't want to do. If you are in complete control you
can kid yourself that you'll get to that part and never do it. Or, in our
case, not do it until it is too late.
Investment can be viewed as adding some adult supervision. I screwed up by not
taking it, I was so worried about the dreaded VC's screwing up my company that
I didn't consider the possibility that they could also help. Well I did, but
was too stupid to value the marketing part (I'm a hard core engineer at
heart).
~~~
ascendantlogic
This is a problem that a lot of engineering types fall into. We as technical
people think that the best technology will win, but that's not true. The best
technology that the most people have heard of for the most reasonable price
will win.
~~~
Gustomaximus
I used to think the best product was key. Over the years I've realised I'd
prefer a standard product with a brilliant distribution channel than a
brilliant product with a standard distribution channel.
Obviously the goal is to develop both!
------
neom
I've been through a few startups and in all of them I've been within the first
15 or so employees, some of them took on hundreds of millions in VC funding. I
regret instances where we took on too much funding, or in instances we took on
funding without a good investment strategy for the capital we raised. In the
startup I am running today we have taken on about $1.5MM from Samsung,
Fontinalis, Story Ventures and a few others, before we did that, we put
together a detailed plan of what we wanted to do 2017, and how much it would
cost for us to do that, then we went out and sold enough of the company to
hire the folks we needed to get to our next proof point. We lightly padded (6
months) additional runway incase we had trouble. We also discussed with our
investors why we wanted to prove what we wanted to prove with the money they
gave us, how much time the money would give us, and how much more money they
would have to give us if we're either a) wrong or b) spot another opportunity.
~~~
jasim
That's a very helpful walk through, thank you.
I'm very naive about this and would appreciate any more thoughts - If you hit
a sustained 20% net profitability with just this funding, would you be able to
avoid raising more? Would investors demand an exit, and in what time-frames,
and is it feasible to pay it out from your profits?
Essentially my question is whether you would be forced to keep raising the
stakes for your business, and if so, till what point?
~~~
contingencies
Investors understand that projections are fantasies and risk is present: do
not worry about them. You are only truly forced to do things as a company if
you lose decision making power due to reduced voting rights. To avoid this
situation, there are numerous strategies available many of which are outlined
in the book _Venture Deals_.
~~~
jasim
Thanks very much!
~~~
neom
I would caution that the poster has maybe never raised over $5-10MM. This is a
very early stage mentality and does not jive with investors as partners,
certainly, there is truth in it, but it's not the crux.
~~~
contingencies
I agree that this is not an attitude to take to the detriment of partnerships.
However, as an antidote to worrying about potential future demands in lieu of
focusing on business development, it is an available and effective if perhaps
heavy-handed mental modeshift!
FYI: Our next round is $10M and we are oversubscribed, but I do not claim to
be an expert at raising or anything else for that matter.
~~~
neom
Totally fair.
------
smirksirlot
I've worked at 2 different startups - currently in management capacity at one.
2 cents:
1) Appreciate the $ that it provides for income + ability to grow 2) If we
could do it again I would not recommend it to the founders and instead focus
on bootstrapping
Managing and dealing with pressures from investor is a giant suck on ability
to think. No matter how much you say you're going to ignore them, they will
ALWAYS weight on you and you will always weigh their opinion. This is despite
them not knowing much about your industry or tech or market.
I've increasingly come to the opinion that investors become a drag on the
company, and the best investors are the ones who put money in and stay
completely out of the way.
~~~
siegel
The typical terms of a VC round give the VC sufficient actual power that they
are difficult to ignore. They will have veto rights on major company
decisions. And, assuming they have a board seat, you will be having regular
board meetings in which they will have the opportunity to weigh in on
strategic decision-making.
I have been involved with board meetings pre and post-VC investment, including
with top-tier VCs. And it is night and day. Pre-VC investment, these meetings
(if they happen) are informal. Post-VC, they become akin to a presentation to
the VC, with the VC taking the role of the real "boss" in the room.
What I tell founders I am advising is this:
1) Delay VC funding until you really have use for the money and cannot fund
through other means (bootstrapping, angels, etc...); 2) The best time to get
funding is when you have leverage to negotiate; and 3) Most importantly - USE
that leverage.
The terms of your VC financing round massively impact the founder's ability to
control the company's future and enjoy the economic fruits of their labor. So,
you really need to push as hard as you can - as hard as the VCs will - to get
terms in your favor. Your VC will sell you as your partner and that can be
true. But when you are negotiating investing terms, they are not your partner.
That negotiation is simply a zero-sum game.
Your VC will want to position the company to their benefit (which is totally
rational) by: 1) Minimizing their risk and pushing risk onto the founders; 2)
Extracting as much of the economic benefit of any potential exit or pre-exit
liquidity; 3) Obtaining as much control as possible.
This does not end when your Series A closes. For example, your VC will likely
pressure you to hire their hand-picked attorneys. This is a smart and
calculated decision on their part. These will be attorneys who count on the VC
(and not you) for repeat business and there will always be an element of a
conflict in the representation. Think about it - when you are negotiating your
Series B and the VC's hand-picked counsel is trying to "help" you negotiate
with the Series B investors, are they really going to play hardball with your
Series A VC to take or share the dilution and control hits that your Series B
investors are trying to foist on the company? Of course not - at least if the
attorneys want the VC to come back to them with work again...
Don't get me wrong. A high-quality, well-chosen VC can bring experience and
connections that can help your company immensely. And funding can help you
achieve things you cannot achieve by bootstrapping.
But, at a minimum, go into any funding round with your eyes open, good
advisors on your side, and a willingness to negotiate as hard as your VC will.
Remember, a good negotiator will usually respect you more if you negotiate as
hard as they do.
------
yesimahuman
I don't regret it, but at the same time I no longer buy the peer pressure to
fundraise for startups anymore and I see a lot of bias and hidden motives in
the system. I think we're going to see a lot more majorly successful
bootstrapped tech companies in the future (at least until a much later stage
than Seed or typical A/B). So, I think the current system is perhaps
suboptimal.
Also, many go into business to not have bosses, and having a board and
investors can often feel like that even if that feeling is just self-
inflicted. So, stick to your values if that's something you know you really
want, and don't feel bad about it.
------
mjohnre
Some startup post-mortem stated that they had problems with investment. Some
are because of mismanagement. Others are because of conflict with the
investor. Getting investment seems to have become the mainstream metric of
success like it's the end-game. Success should be realizing the purpose of
taking the investment.
------
imsofuture
I worked at a company that was almost entirely bootstrapped, and honestly I
think it was for the worse. When they had early momentum, they could have
raised money but chose not to. It was an okay choice at the time, and the
founders were rightfully proud of this -- that they'd grown as a profitable
company on their own.
But when things got leaner, they didn't have a reserve of cash to use, nor did
they have the accountability or advisory capacity of investors to help them
out. And when things were lean, they didn't have the momentum to raise money
any longer, just a 'lifestyle' business's revenue which isn't very exciting to
VCs.
Just my personal, uninformed, opinion. And while it's clear to me that not
raising money was a mistake, that's only with hindsight.
------
mifeng
I'm glad that we only raised a small amount and that subsequent amounts to
raise capital failed.
This is because we were eventually acquired, which turned out to be a decent
outcome for us and our investors. Had we raised more capital, the price would
have been higher and the probability of it actually happening would have been
lower.
------
fudged71
In the Canadian prairies, it took so long to raise funding that the overhead
wasn't worth the time. We travelled elsewhere but got little interest because
we weren't local. Joining a remote accelerator helped but by that time we were
behind in the market.
~~~
johlindenbaum
Prairie funding is changing pretty quickly, at least here in SK. We don't
really focus on getting SK-money, but we've had great funding and interest
from Toronto, Chicago and some Valley funding. Locality didn't matter to any
of our investors as much as what the plan and growth strategies are.
------
jasonkester
I feel like I dodged a bullet by not taking VC money for Twiddla back when
everybody was fighting to give it to us.
Considering how happy my life is now, and how often you see the Technical
Founder get pushed out of his own company in place of a board-approved CTO, I
don't imagine it would have left me net happier.
Best case might have been an acquihire, a few years couching it out waiting to
vest at a big company, then a medium sized payday. Actual case was a
(different) bootstrapped product and a bit of consulting that was a lot more
fun and left me in a similar spot financially, 10 years later.
Anything less than best case, I'd be responding to the actual question posed
here today.
------
paulmatthijs
Never, not for a second. It's the investors that made it possible to go full
time with our venture. We couldn't have done it without. Be happy.
I sometimes hear founders regretting it, thinking the returns are too high
compared to the initial investment (angel, seed). That's unfair, I think. It
reeks of jealousy. You can't put a value on the peace of mind you get, for a
while, of being able to do it your way.
FWIW, we only did a large seed round, no need for VC since, so things might be
pretty different for Startups in the Series ;)
------
ythn
I think the real question is whether or not the extra money is worth being
beholden to other stakeholders... I know a lot of people like complete control
over their company
------
Alex3917
It seems like ten or fifteen years ago most startups went out of business due
to not being able to raise money, whereas today most startups go out of
business due to raising money.
Whether or not people regret this probably depends on personal utility, but I
think the way most people think about this (and the standard startup advice)
hasn't caught up to the new reality.
~~~
eloff
"most startups today go out of business because they raised money" citation
please.
~~~
kordless
Speaking from observation, the claim may be considered true if the primary
purpose of investment firms is to exit the position as either a large gain in
value, or a complete loss. In other words, investment strategy today causes
the outcome of the company to _avoid_ finding a "happy medium" where the
company is able to just make enough to pay the employees that work there to
build a good product the customers like and which serves those customer's
interests, even at the expense of additional revenue.
VCs don't invest in breakeven, or slightly ahead of breakeven companies. They
would rather force a product move by the company to try to make more money for
the stakeholders, even at the risk the move kills the company OR hurts the
customer's privacy/UX experience. Case in point, Facebook.
~~~
bingojess
Maybe a better way of phrasing it would have been "most startups that raise
money still go out of business"
------
dmritard96
In many cases, there simply aren't many good alternatives. I'll illustrate
with our (flair.co's) example. FYI we are a hw/sw play.
Why Not KS/Indiegogo We are building a product that has a large b2b angle and
while the b2c angle is perhaps substantial enough that Kickstarter and
Indiegogo could work, they have big enough draw backs that we decided to
forgo. Specifically, it forces you to share your idea (AND its popularity
which is more important) publicly. This is bad because 1) right now successful
campaigns are immediately cloned since the market has been proven publicly
before you even ship and 2) because it forces you signal the b2b viability via
the early adopter b2c channel which of course makes zero sense but most
investors don't think that hard... Thats not to say we couldn't do it or even
that we shouldn't do it, but rather that if we didn't have to we didn't want
to. There are other advantages to preorders on our own site, namely, the
ability send traffic our way instead of staying on KS which ultimately plays
well for your SEO and also the ability to iterate on your pitch over time.
Kickstarter is a very all or nothing proposition but if you are convinced that
you have a large market, opportunity, and inevitable product market fit, why
take the risk on kickstarter if you don't need to.
Costs
There is of course the people time. If you are wealthy or have a ton saved
then maybe you can work for free for 6-12 months but we weren't/aren't. If you
can build your entire product in 6-12 months with 0 money, you also have to
wonder if this is something that is simply too easy to make and thus has no
moat unless you have some sort of other advantage (former employer that has
promised to be your first big customer, key network in the industry/space,
etc.). So there are people costs that need to get paid from somewhere and its
also worth noting that when you start working on your company, you don't have
a preorder campaign ready to go day 0 - you will need time to develop at least
some aspects of the product and hopefully have tested that its physical
incarnation/features/etc make sense before you decide to start committing to
making and selling it.
If you make hardware and software there are some costs around initial
prototyping (lightweight or maybe even free hosting, small print or
prototyping jobs etc.) These will be in the thousands and likely 10s of
thousands if you are iterating over 6 to 12 months. Especially if you need to
make some pilot units and send them to people for testing. Now I'm sure some
of you are thinking - but I can just 3D print an enclosure and make a cheap
pcb for nothing. The answer is maybe at best. I would argue the age of simple
little sensors in plastic boxes has come and gone for getting a new connected
hw company off the ground. Also, how many of the companies that you have
seen/heard of have done this successfully past the first 3 months? I'm sure
there is some anecdata out there but most quickly move on to higher fidelity
techniques (CNC or SLA at least) and those begin to get pricey. And you need
to buy and ship all those components. If you are buying in the states its,
mouser/digikey which means $. If its Shenzhen, well, unless you live there you
still are spending to fly and live somewhere so its not really free but the
cost of the components is at least considerably cheaper.
Tools are the next big hurdle. Depending upon your product size/materials/etc,
you are likely to pay between 10k and 200K for tools (variance here can be
quite high). Don't forget, the designs for these processes need to be very
carefully modeled before hand for moldability/formability and this is
nontrivial to do if you are an EECS type person. Even your mech-e if you have
one may or may not be qualified to do this well so it may cost time or money
to get this done. Also, its worth noting that this assumes your mechanical
design doesn't have too many moving parts otherwise you need a lot of testing
at the pretooling stage with all of your draft angles etc in place. Also,
tools can take between 2 and 6 months in our experience and even after the
tool is finished, you will spend plenty of time testing different plastic
forms, verifying your powder coater isn't shipping something toxic/unallowable
etc. Getting rid of sink/flow/flash literally can mean a new tool if you have
complex/unbalanced shapes and that means time/money. Tools are literally set
in stone so the changes you can make are rather limited.
Inventory
So lets assume magically, you were able to do all those things above without
any VC/Angel money. Now you need to make units. So you have a few thousand
preorders maybe. Great. If you have a large CM, MOQ (minimum order quantity)
is often 5K so you are on the hook for paying off the rest. If you can get
good credit with your CM, thats great, but also unlikely on your first run
unless you have worked with them in the past. What about bank loans? Banks
will do nothing for you. They want collateralized loans so they will loan
money to a likely to fail restaurant because they can sell the
stoves/ovens/chairs etc to he next likely to fail restaurant that will move
in. Same goes for xyz you name it non 'startup' businesses. We sell smart
vents as an example - so if the bank funds the inventory and you can't sell
it, they aren't going to be able to sell it either. So no banks. Even with a
sales agreement in hand, you are likely not going to get the bank to fund you
unless its from a brand/company that is well known (Big Box store maybe).
So what does that mean? It means, many of these things are precisely what
Venture money is there to solve. Riskier bets than banks are willing to take
but with a higher upside. If you had the money in hand already, this is a
different discussion but for the many hungry first time founders, this is one
of the only ways to get your product to market. What you do after getting to
market is almost an entirely different angle. Post getting the product to
market, you may want to keep the company small/nimble/innovative and your
investors won't care about that as much as growth since thats how they make
their living. But for that early stage, there aren't really substitutes from
what I have been able to surmise.
~~~
mifeng
Great insights. Given the investment in time and money required to simply get
to prototype, how did you develop the conviction to plunge ahead into the
business at the outset?
~~~
dmritard96
A couple hacks helped us. First was finding some short cuts to test the core
functionality of the idea and make sure that when we pulled X string, Y things
happened (in our case, adjusting air flow of vents had a material impact on
temperature across the home was a critical thing to test) and measured with
arduinos and raspis. Also, LOTS of nights and weekends 'moonlighting'
------
skdotdan
I actually regret _not_ taking investment.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How To Create A Minimum Viable Product - nikunjk
http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/13/how-to-create-a-minimum-viable-product/
======
volaski
Does this guy know what the hell he's talking about? Here are some of the
highlights. Anything else?
1\. "Bootstrap.js" 2\. "Heroku is built on top of S3" 3\. "Bootstrap depends
on jQuery" 4\. "You no longer have to mess with sessions, logout scenarios"
(talking about Facebook connect)
~~~
jusben1369
Also mentioned that all the subscription providers run on Authorize.net so you
can just switch over there. Not true - sort of a random comment. Still, it'll
be helpful for some folks in general.
------
citricsquid
I went through point by point noting why this post is nonsensical, but I have
now come to the conclusion that this post is "Emre Sokullu's best development
practices" and he needed a way to _sell_ the post and so he went with the _hip
and happening_ startup phrase "MVP".
He seems to now have a clue about what the point of building a minimum viable
product is... he also seems to be confused about which products are which.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Effects of Sexual Activity on Beard Growth in Man: letters to Nature (1970) - frozenport
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v226/n5248/abs/226869a0.html
======
dang
To judge by
[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v226/n5248/pdf/226869a0...](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v226/n5248/pdf/226869a0.pdf),
this article is unavailable. Am I missing something?
~~~
plorg
It's showing up for me: Imgur mirror for the non-academic (it's two scanned
pages): [http://imgur.com/a/oE0jX#I3o57rh](http://imgur.com/a/oE0jX#I3o57rh)
------
frozenport
_The identity of the author of this communication has been suppressed for
reasons which may be self-evident, but the author, whose work has been vouched
for by a colleague, has answered a number of questions raise by a referee._
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Digital Enhancement Of Amateur Plane Crash Site Footage In Smolensk - mmphosis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEx7HL4H5yk
======
varjag
Let me just say, none of what is claimed in the subtitles is actually audible
in the presented recording. The only recognizable part is "ни хуя себе", and
contrary to subtitles it's not "we'll never get away with this" but loosely
along the lines of "fuck me harder".
------
yread
There is quite a long discussion about it here:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:2010_Polish_Air_Force_Tu-1...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:2010_Polish_Air_Force_Tu-154_crash)
There is a lot of healthy skepticism and some debunking of wrong translations
------
alexb17
What was the point of this on HN? Conspiracy theories are down the hall, third
on the left. We saw a seriously wobbly, low quality video, something inaudible
spoken in a foreign language and that's about it.
------
MikeCapone
Can anyone provide context for this? I know this is the presidential plane
crash, but what am I supposed to understand from looking at this? Some
conspiracy to kill survivors?
~~~
varjag
That, and probably an assumption that the whole plane crash thing was carried
out by Russians. There is a tiny fraction of Polish populace who find that
more comfortable than the idea of accident caused by excessive frugality
combined with incompetence.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
2^64 bytes is enough for any human - s3arch
https://lwn.net/Articles/80696/
======
M_Bakhtiari
What an idiotic argument. Has he never heard of virtual memory? You might want
to memory map things that aren't necessarily on a die inside your computer, in
fact that's already a very common pattern, with mmap(2) and similar system
calls.
And the idea can be extended to large computer clusters if not the entire
planet, in which case you might be looking at 128 or 256 or a non-power-of-two
figure, IPv6 addresses already taking up 128 bits. In which case it would
probably also be a good idea to think about variable length pointers to
decrease the overhead and address Donald Knuth's complaints in his "Flame
About 64 bit Pointers" [1]
1\.
[https://cs.stanford.edu/~knuth/news08.html](https://cs.stanford.edu/~knuth/news08.html)
------
brudgers
date, 2004
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Deep Learning with Elixir: Building and Training a Multi-Layered Neural Network - weatherlight
http://www.automatingthefuture.com/blog/2017/2/20/deep-learning-building-and-training-a-multi-layered-neural-network-in-elixir
======
weatherlight
What are the advantages of doing deep learning with something like Elixir/OTP
over another language and framework?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google's Dumb Nexus 6P Policy - anandvc
https://medium.com/@anandvc/google-s-dumb-nexus-6p-policy-94131caca96d#.ud2sj4ytu
======
skuunk1
I think they are banking on the fact that fewer people are inclined to return
their phone and order a new one to save $50 than would claim a $50 refund
outright.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
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