HelpAround Startup Uses Ad Technology To Help You Out - <AUTHOR> http://www.fastcoexist.com/1682368/using-advertising-technology-to-data-mine-your-social-network-to-help-you-out

<comment><USER2> Sounds like a cool service!</comment>


Here We Go Again: Why Is It Difficult for Developers to Learn Another Prog Lang? - <AUTHOR> https://conf.researchr.org/details/icse-2020/icse-2020-papers/61/Here-We-Go-Again-Why-Is-It-Difficult-for-Developers-to-Learn-Another-Programming-Lan <comment><USER2> IMO, most of the difficulty comes due to developers having full-time jobs programming in languages they already know. Learning a new language takes a few weeks of focused effort, then a few months of practice using the language almost exclusively to really solidify it.

That's almost never possible while employed: most employers aren't paying their developers to spend weeks-months to learn a new language they aren't already using. It's only in extreme cases where a business decides to change for some reason that they'll pay for the training and require devs to take the time to learn & practice. It does happen (my employer did this, swapped the backend from Java to Go, and paid every dev, even non-backend devs, to take training) but it's rare and expensive so there needs to be a very good reason for it.

Many developers (if not most, I have no real data) don't program much outside work, and even if they do they'll keep going back to work and reinforcing the existing language's style in their minds.

It takes time and effort. Maybe not a whole ton of time, especially if the languages are of similar paradigm (OO, functional, procedural, etc), but that's time and effort many wouldn't want to put in on their own.

</comment><comment><USER3> Interesting. I think there are more factors at play here. Learning a new language has a definite "cognitive cost". One issue is the perception of banality/drudgery i.e. lack of excitement/motivation involved in learning a language which is not too different (computation modelwise) from what you already know. As an example, having worked with C/C++ for a long time i just cannot summon the motivation to learn Python/JS etc. They are "boring". The constant comparison of features/syntactic sugar soon becomes tiresome. And subconsciously you feel that the effort/payoff ratio is not worth it until external circumstances force a change (eg. a new project requiring the language).

I think it is better to be fluent in one or two languages so that you can focus on the problem without bothering about other incidental complexities. The only time where the effort in learning a new language is worth it is when you learn a new model of computation/thinking that expands your mind (eg. Erlang, Haskell, Mozart/Oz)

</comment><comment><USER4> I think there is a fallacy that people can pick up a new language in short time. If you know C, you will write C code in the new language for a while. It takes quite a while to pick up the new concepts. Good documentation geared towards experienced developers would be very helpful.

<comment><USER5> It depends on your approach, if you try to learn the idioms as part of the learning process as opposed to just syntax, you can prevent this.

<comment><USER6> Yes and no.

Learning Rust is a good example. Sure, you can learn the borrow checker and other stuff fairly easily. Patterns are fine. Error checking was a bit more iffy before "?".

And then you try to build a doubly linked list and the language fights you at _every_ _single_ _turn_. (for good reason, but it fights you nonetheless).

Nobody expects that. That's the kind of thing that languages often aren't good at documenting.

<comment><USER7> Personally I see this a lot in normal interview style questions. They are geared towards an imperative approach, find this thing in a 2d matrix based on some way of manipulating the indexes is a common example. If you try a functional approach it is possible but often times akward or super dense looking code much like the double linked list example above.

I feel like this comes from the fact that while languages are extremely easy to bend into a shape that fits the problem and take a long time to learn so it's often easier for programmers to put out a bad solution instead trying to get the problem and the language to meet in the middle.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This line from the abstract is the key takeaway for me:

> The interviews revealed that programmers make failed attempts to relate a > new programming language with what they already know.

This is the map-territory problem. Folks think that they know the territory (computation) because they know a map (one particular language). I find it telling that some programmers explicitly used cheat sheets to literally map their understanding from one map of the territory to another.

Folks are too quick to think that something is alien just because they do not understand it. A moment's reflection will assure us that _every_ programming language ever used by people has also been invented by people. The feeling of alienation that folks have upon encountering a new language is entirely only a feeling, although understandably perhaps fear of the unknown is the most fundamental fear [0].

I personally know about a half-dozen languages for my daily work, and I suspect that that is also the case for most other programmers; I am not the sort of person that learns new languages for no reason. But the paper only shows small slices of each investigated programmer's thought processes, because it only shows one or two old languages for each new language being learned. I wonder to what degree there are common languages that are used perhaps as linguafranca (e.g. that two-thirds of us know JS and two-fifths know Python [1]) or for the ambient semantics of computation (e.g. that most programs are written with C's behavior in mind).

[0] [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S088761851...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0887618516300469?via%3Dihub)

[1] [https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2019#technology](https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2019#technology)

<comment><USER9> _The interviews revealed that programmers make failed attempts to relate a new programming language with what they already know._

I've seen this a lot in shell code while working on Oil [1]. For example, ${array} means ${array[0]} in bash and ksh-derived shells. That is, if you don't put an index on array, it evaluates to the first element in an array.

This is a weird semantic that basically no other language has. And it's been true for decades, and is documented. But people still report bugs about it on the bash mailing list (I saw on a few days ago).

I got rid of this behavior in Oil for exactly that reason, along with fixing tons of other warts, while remaining compatible. You can opt back in with 'shopt --set compat_array'.

Another issue is using (a; b) to mean grouping when { a; b; } is technically more correct. () starts a subshell in addition to doing grouping. You wouldn't really know unless you mutate a variable in the group -- it will show up in one case but not the other.

The wart where ; is required before } and not ) doesn't help.

\---

So shell is full of surprises, and Oil is meant to be more comfortable for programmers coming from say Python, JS, or Ruby. People bring those expectations to shell, and they get frustrated with it.

[1] [http://www.oilshell.org/blog/2020/01/simplest- explanation.ht...](http://www.oilshell.org/blog/2020/01/simplest- explanation.html)

<comment><USER10> > The wart where ; is required before } and not ) doesn't help.

Also the spaces are required between the {} and commands in Bash which is another brainclunk to deal with.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I switched from C++ to Java at one point in my career (fortunately long in the past). I remember sweating after several hours of trying to put my head in the different environment, coming home shaking and exhausted.

After 2 weeks it got better, and I think I got pretty good at it.

The good news: switching back to C++ took only a few days, no sweating. It was 2 days before I remembered about header files, and thought "What the hell? Oh yeah" but that was about it.

</comment><comment><USER12> This article is another great take on this topic: [https://www.hillelwayne.com/post/learning-a- language/](https://www.hillelwayne.com/post/learning-a-language/)

</comment><comment><USER13> Why is it difficult for any human being to learn another language?

</comment><comment><USER14> Pay me and I will learn.

</comment><comment><USER15> Actually - Is it?

</comment><comment><USER16> This isn't my experience at all.

The only talent developers who I have encountered who have learning another programming language are those who don't want to learn it.

JavaScript being a great example. I know a lot of developers who would rather spend hours picking about the language itself, rather than just learning how to use it.

This is mainly older developers, in my experience, who have seen "the hot new thing" many times in their career, so they no longer want to put in the effort to learn something new - instead choosing to explain why it's a fad.

<comment><USER6> To be fair, web programming isn't programming in Javascript.

Instead, it's programming FrameworkDuJour(tm) in Javascript.

And the half-life of that is measured in months. So, the longer someone can drag their heels on learning FrameworkDuJour(tm), the better off they are.

You can know _Javascript_ cold and still be useless at web programming.

<comment><USER17> This is sooo true. By staying on the back-end for a few years, I managed to avoid front-end JavaScript long enough to watch Angular come and go.

Unfortunately, React has had quite a bit more staying power and I ended up having to pick up some proficiency with it. That said, the ecosystem evolves enough that no two projects ever seem to use the same tooling.

<comment><USER16> This is kind of my point. Instead of just accepting that web programming is rapidly evolving, a developer just says "I'm not going to learn this".

And that's completely fine. It's definitely a choice.

What I'm saying is that it's not difficult to learn. It's a cognizant choice that learning isn't worth the effort.

<comment><USER18> What the developer is saying is you can do a perpetually shallow crap job in a new context for every job, it's definitely a choice.

Or you can do a deep not-crap job in a context you've actually invested time and experience in.

<comment><USER16> If the developer chooses to do a shallow crap job, then sure. But that's the developer's choice, not the programming language's.

<comment><USER18> That's all you got? Developer should just be sophisticated and experienced in every new thing immediately?

We can all get by and pick up anything well enough to do a functional job, and we can all apply some bits of general experience in any language or other domain.

But you confuse that with an actually good job?

I submit that you just outed youself as never having done an actually good job.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Welcome to Netscape [1994] - <AUTHOR> http://home.mcom.com/home/welcome.html

<comment><AUTHOR> A fascinating piece of internet archaeology. It's somewhat surreal to recall that there was a time when everyone needed to be taught what hyperlinks were!</comment>


The Sparkling Programming Language - <AUTHOR> http://h2co3.github.io/ <comment><USER2> The link compares it to Lua. Further reading reveals several improvements over Lua (IMO):

\- "var", "let", and "extern" means no more accidental globals

\- Arrays are separate things than Hash-maps

\- Simple C API [1] that's not stack-based

\- More built-in operators (even the conditional operator ?!)

\- More "traditional" object/class concepts

\- Strict typing!

\- Fuller standard library

Neat!

My next project may very well be a Sparkling-scripted window manager for OS X.

[1]: [https://github.com/H2CO3/Sparkling/blob/master/doc/capi.md](https://github.com/H2CO3/Sparkling/blob/master/doc/capi.md)

<comment><USER3> So OS X can have window managers? Are there any already?

<comment><USER2> Kind of. You can do it with Apple's Accessibility APIs, but lately they're making that harder and harder. Apps that use those APIs can't be put on the app store, and there's no automated way to give an app permissions to use Accessibility: the user has to go deep into the System Preferences panel to enable it. And even then, the APIs, which aren't quite meant for window- managing, are very limited and sometimes don't work like you'd want them to. I forget how specifically, but I've written about a dozen of them so far and it's not a super pleasant experience. It's a little nicer in Swift, because you get to wrap the ugly C APIs in Swift using generics.

<comment><USER2> Also, iTunes tends to crash your program if you try moving/resizing it via Apple's Accessibility API if you're playing a video in it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I threw together a quick, naive, FizzBuzz in it on their online demo, was surprised to find that it doesn't have a modulus operator. Can anyone come up with something simpler?

      let divisible = fn (x, y){
        return (x-(x/y*y))==0;
      };
      for let i=1;i<=30;i++ {
        if divisible(i,15){
          print("FizzBuzz");
        }else if divisible(i,3){
          print("Fizz");
        }else if divisible(i,5){
          print("Buzz");
        }else{
          print(i);
        }
      }

Edit: Correction, apparently it does have a modulo operator.

<comment><USER5> Hi, author here. Sparkling does have a modulo operator, it's spelled '%', just as in C (in fact, it maps directly to C's % operator).

<comment><USER4> Oh! I didn't see it in the list of operators on the tutorial so I assumed it didn't.

<comment><USER5> No problem – documentation may still be somewhat incomplete at some places, sorry for that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Ideas looks like ACPUL. ACPUL is simple & easy algorithmic declarative language. It based on C-like languages syntax & sugar-free without noise, designed for minimalistic coding on mobiles.

Code sample: [https://github.com/d08ble/acpul- demo/blob/master/atests/test...](https://github.com/d08ble/acpul- demo/blob/master/atests/test.storage.acpul)

<comment><USER7> This repo can haz README.md? :P

Seriously, this looks really interesting, but "firehose of code!!1" is generally ideal for dispersion, not retention, and when combined with "ooo, I want to try this" results in a small sense of panic :P

<comment><USER6> Please provide your iOS DeviceID to PM (encrypted, shure). I can make build for your personal demo. My native language is so bad, I'm autistic, pls understand me. Thanks.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Looks great and straight forward, just need a syntax.vim plugin and off to races with Sparkling for me.

</comment><comment><USER9> Does it have GC? Or does it perhaps use reference counting? Can it detect cyclic references?

<comment><USER2> The readme seems to suggest it uses reference counting and doesn't do anything special about reference cycles:

> Another thing is garbage collection. It seems to be the silver bullet of > automatic memory management when it comes to scripting languages, but it has > some definitive, serious downsides. Non-deterministic behavior is one, speed > is two, memory overhead is three, the difficulty of a decent implementation > is four. Reference counting is a simpler approach that is more lightweight, > easier to implement, completely deterministic and it has no memory > allocation overhead (a program uses only as much memory as needed). > Refcounting has its disadvantages too (e. g. memory leaks caused by cyclic > references), but I believe that its good properties outweigh them.

<comment><USER5> Exactly, Sparkling uses reference counting, and one of the major TODOs is the introduction of weak references in order to address the issue of cycles.

<comment><USER2> Implementing weak references sounds like a feature that will make the language's source code much more complex than the simplicity emphasized in your goals.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Why are parentheses optional for functions? The big thing one can borrow from Python 3 is that there should be one way of doing something to save the community the endless unproductive fights of which one of the many ways of doing something is best!

<comment><USER5> I can remove that option at any time, if it turns out to be an important enough issue :)

<comment><USER11> And you'll break backwards compatibility with every app written prior.

<comment><USER5> Yes, exactly. So this should probably be decided early.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


In Defense of Elections - <AUTHOR> http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/proelections <comment><USER2> I'm not sure I understand why elections need defending...who is arguing that democracy is _bad_ , and is anyone really taking them seriously?</comment>


Server Power-ups That Worked For Our Startup: Handling 10x Traffic - <AUTHOR> http://mygengo.com/talk/blog/server-power-ups-that-worked-for-us-handling-10x-traffic/

<comment><USER2> Having been there a few times there are a few suggestions I'd like to put out there. The points here should take a very minimal amount of time (< 1 week combined) but they are meant to be easy ways of getting more mileage out of what you currently have.

#1. Move all of the non-db specific crons off of your db servers (those that don't specifically involve the rotation of logs/cleanup of tmp directories) and onto one of your web heads. There is nothing more painful then seeing your master db crash because of a cron job or other non-essential role on your db server. It's much easier to recover from / spin up a new web head if it crashes then to restart mysql after your master db crashes (a slave db is easier, but still more of a pain point than a web head). If at all possible, since you're already on EC2, spin up a worker server just to perform these cron jobs (stats collection, db cleanup scripts, etc). EC2 affords you this kind of flexibility. Take it.

#2. Hooking into a CDN is very easy to do and can allow your web servers to offload the serving of static files. As an easy way of doing cache-busting set up a global version variable in your code that gets injected into each static url that's generated (so a request for cdn.mygengo.com/images/29384/bar.jpg would be rewritten to look for /images/bar.jpg on your web heads if and only if the cdn'd cache had either expired or the unique # had changed in the request).

#3 Set up some sort of perfomance monitoring if you haven't already. Almost every startups #1 pain point is the db server, specifically queries. It's great that you've been able to see such a vast improvement through adding indexes / cleaning up some queries, but as long as your data is growing you will need to continue to keep on top of your query logs as their impact footprint will change as the size of your data does. Since you're on AWS, enabling Cloudwatch should be very easy and provides the basics. You can then move onto implementing Nagios/Munin or look to something like Cloudwatch/ServerDensity for an in-the-cloud solution.

You also didn't mention anything about having a K/V system like Memcache or Redis (yes @antirez we all know Redis rocks and how dare I place it after Memcache ;) which can really take the load off your db servers.

Best of luck with continued growth.

</comment><comment><USER3> You can get away with following oral(blog)-history scaling lore at that low end, but before you scale much further the most important thing by far is to be more metrics and measurement oriented. The most basic one to start with is average http response time and http requests per second.

For instance, say your slicehost returned a page at an average of 200ms, but only below 10 req/second, over that it started to bottleneck somewhere and responses would shoot up to 500+ms. Then your question is "how to I handle 100 http requests per second while keeping the average at or below 200ms".

Eventually you'll need to step up to full-browser-render (gomez, keynote, browsermob, homegrown-selenium) time, appdex or 95th% based numbers instead of simple averages, and backend components like mysql req/s and service time.

The point is, this is engineering, use numbers.

</comment><comment><USER4> Thanks for the writeup. Hope to have these problems myself someday soon!

Fwiw, one pain point for me has been using EC2. I started off with EC2 from the start, so that I could learn the system now and scale up whenever I need.

Unfortunately, it seems that the performance of EC2 instances is _terrible_. Or at least, that's what it looks like for me. After a few weeks of trying to get performance boosts by tweaking code, I decided to try a small Slicehost slice, which performed much better at running the exact same system.

My friend (who recommended Slicehost) did the same test on Large EC2 instances as well, and reported that they _also_ appeared oversubscribed.

</comment><comment><USER5> I haven't really had to scale a system up like this before. As a freelance web developer moving to a bigger slice? on linode has been good enough for any wordpress blog or simple site.

That said, I didn't realize what a massive undertaking it could be like this describes.

Anyone had any similar scaling challenges with less conventional web-stacks? Im particular I'm wondering how a node.js/mongodb stack would do this same thing.

<comment><USER6> I have scaled many systems in the past and the easy answer is: Know what you're doing or hire someone who does.

There is no blanket answer because applications and workloads differ. E.g. MongoDB has a number of documented issues under high load (esp. high write load), in some scenarios they can be worked around with reasonable trade-offs, in some they can't and Mongo needs to be replaced.

If there's one general thing to say about scaling then that you scale _applications_ , not stacks. The stack will usually change in the process.

<comment><USER7> > If there's one general thing to say about scaling then that you scale > applications, not stacks.

very true! which is why i think it usually is a good idea to analyze how you could split up your application into more or less discrete subsystems/"services". that way it becomes easier to react to bottlenecks in the subsystems instead of having to operate on the whole system.

ideally you design your system like that in the beginning but usually you grow and find out the harder way... step by step.

still there are a couple of things that are "always (about) the same": for example do session mangagement or logging/sitestats usually put quite a bit more write load (INS/UPD/DEL) on a system than other parts of a system.

so if your product grows the write stress these subsystems/functionalities put on a system on the one hand and the read load from other subsystems on the other hand make it hard to optimize your db/storage systems because they have quite contrary I/O needs.

if you have separate subsystems that run as discrete services with their own API it becomes much easier to put out a fire that breaks out due to growth or load spikes.

so to add to the comment by moe: "you scale applications" - and you get into a better position to do so if you design your applications in a way that they are composed of seperate subsystems that communicate via apis.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> | _In some cases we managed to speed up integral queries by over 8000%! That's both an indication of the growing pains_

That is an indication of sloppy db planning and bad SQL use. You should test with a data-set size and type that resembles a live data-set in the outcome you become successful. Yikes.

<comment><USER2> While I share your 'hype' skepticism, that gain could easily be gained by adding a missing index. By itself the above statement really doesn't say much, either about the amazing improvement or the quality of the current schema in place.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> This is a great writeup Robert. Thanks for the overview.

What were the primary factors that signaled it was time to move to AWS for you guys? What else were you considering at the time?

</comment><comment><USER10> Good topic, but of course if you were starting now you would just begin on EC2 and be done with it.

<comment><USER6> Depends on the goals. They didn't say how much their "10x traffic" actually is, but by the sound of it they could probably save money by moving to dedicated hardware.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Text gets cut off in mobile safari.

<comment><USER5> Thanks for the heads up - this will be fixed in a few hours.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> This is a remarkably sane and bullshit-free description

<comment><USER5> Ya, but that comment is not bullshit-free.</comment></comment>


How to Optimize Nginx Configuration for HTTP/2 TLS - <AUTHOR> http://leandromoreira.com.br/2015/10/12/how-to-optimize-nginx-configuration-for-http2-tls-ssl/ <comment><USER2> Very very useful explanation. Great Article</comment>


Ask YC: Recommend a Web Based Scheduling Software - <AUTHOR>

My barber is looking for a way for customers to schedule appointments.  Something simple and reliable. I should be able to check his current availability and request an appointment.
He should be able to approve it (with email notification to me).
He currently keeps his schedule in his phone (Verizon on the built in calendar).  So access from the phone is important.
A reminder to me the day before my appointment would be nice.
This isn't hard stuff, but it seems silly that I'd have to write it.
Anyone have a recommendation for something that already exists?
I've hunted google, but mainly it looks like some salons are easy to rip off because the software sucks, but my searches haven't been exhaustive.
I'm hoping someone has come through here with just the thing I need or someone has seen it already.
thoughts? <comment><USER2> The solution is easy. Google calendar. You can share your calendar with others (so they can see your availability, add appointments) and you can schedule reminders, etc. As far as requesting an appointment you can create one and invite someone else (your barber). Then you get to see if he approved your invite.

Not all customers might be savy enough to use this, so your barber (or you) can manually add appointments for people that schedule offline. This way everyone can check the calendar online to get an idea about availability.

<comment><AUTHOR> thanks for the thoughts.

Does anyone know if Google Calendar supports invites from other systems? Outlook for instance.

Lots of lawyers with black berries as clients, but few tech savy ones.

<comment><AUTHOR> Getting closer to an answer [http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?answer=...](http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?answer=37130&topic=13759)

Looks like I can invite anyone, but still not sure if anyone can invite the google calendar.

<comment><AUTHOR> alright, I figured it out. Set up a gmail account for the barber. Set up a standard email request on his site. They click the button sending him the request. gmail is smart enough to recognize key words (like event) and tag them. Right click to add them to his calendar. gives him "approval" rights allows anyone to email a request for a specific time. shared calendar can limit everyone to free / busy to keep privacy clean.

good suggestion. I'm going to give it a go.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> They are dying under SXSW load and fairly new, but <http://sched.org/> seems like one worth keeping an eye on.

</comment><comment><USER4> Similar thread on project management software: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=124253>

Top 3 were Trac, Basecamp from 37 Signals, and Fog Bugz.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the quick summary and the link. These are too complex for the need. I could hack one down to the right size, but I'd rather not be in the barber support business.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> It might be overkill for what you need, but the open source Freeway (<http://www.openfreway.org>) ecommerce platform does that natively. There are also a number of bridges for Joomla! to bring specific Freeway functions over without wrapping the whole thing into Joomla!.</comment>


What led you to TeX and LaTeX - <AUTHOR> http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/2110/213

<comment><USER2> I started using LaTeX because it just looked great for writing papers, but my "latex is awesome" story is different:

A few months ago I needed a letterhead for my company. I designed one in InDesign which looked nice, but it weighed just over 5 MB, and I wasn't prepared to store and sync 5 MB of the same file just to change 1 KB of text each time.

So, after one or two days of frustration, I managed to convert it to LaTeX. It looked the same, pixel-for-pixel (except I made some small changes afterwards), and it was _much_ easier to write:

<http://media.korokithakis.net/files/sample-letterhead.pdf>

Basically, the above is just a few \sections and a \tabularx environment. The minimal document is:

        \documentclass{stochastic}

        \title{Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet}

        \begin{document}
        \maketitle

        \section{Lorem ipsum dolor}
        \subsection{Dolor sit amet}

         Vivamus consectetur enim a leo luctus vitae
        aliquam nisi volutpat. Proin nec mauris tellus, ac venenatis purus.

        \makelightcover
        \end{document}

I'm very proud of that letterhead.

</comment><comment><USER3> I started using LaTeX after I adopted Emacs as my default text editor. This was my research path: info -> Texinfo -> LaTeX -> XeLaTeX.

Now I use the swiss-knife Memoir class for nearly everything and I have understood the importance of beautiful typesetting.

Worth reading:

<http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/memdesign> (the memoir manual of style)

The Elements of Typographic Style, Robert Bringhurst (the bible)

<comment><USER2> I use XeLaTeX also, it just seems better than the others and the system font support is not too shabby either.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I was the sole user of LaTeX in my class of M.S.E.E. students in grad school.

It was like a well-kept secret; someone years ago had written the thesis template for an older version of LaTeX. Because my thesis included a number of mathematical formulas and equations and I _hated_ the MS Word formula editor, and because my thesis advisor used LaTeX to write exams and had a few books on it, I chose to do my thesis in LaTeX instead of Word.

This meant updating the old template to work with a modern version of LaTeX, which took me about a week. After that it was pretty smooth sailing, and when I found I could include encapsulated Postscript output directly from GnuPlot for graphs, I was very happy. The output looked much better than anything Word would have produced.

So my thesis advisor has a copy of the source code to my thesis for the next person who comes along and wants to use LaTeX. I wonder how long that will be...

</comment><comment><USER5> I use LaTeX since I started grad school, so writing papers was the main motivation. I wonder how some people still write anything with equations using Word. I would use LaTeX exclusively, if wasn't for job requirements.

</comment><comment><USER6> I started using LaTeX heavily because of the advantages--why else would I use it? My experience is much like "Bran the Blessed" on the posting--I love using vim, git, not dealing with the quirks of GUI editors like anytime I have to make a list--only I started in high school but didn't really pick it up until I had to write weekly papers for a college course a year ago.

And interestingly the more I use it, the more I use it. That is, now that I have a base of essays, math homeworks, and research papers, I can usually just copy from one of those as a template for whatever I'm doing and don't have to look up how to do things over and over.

</comment><comment><USER7> I came to LaTeX from LyX, years of frustration with the office metaphor evaporated in seconds. I have more fun writing a presentation in beamer ([http://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/software/tex/help/Catalogue/en...](http://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/software/tex/help/Catalogue/entries/beamer.html)) than I could've ever imagined possible in the various presentation tools

</comment><comment><USER8> I haven't used a word processor in 2+ years (last time, APress wanted Word compatible files so I used Pages, which was sort of OK). I have switched to the super lightweight TextEdit (styled text mode) for short design notes, etc. I use Google Documents a lot (and about once a week automatically export everything to my laptop). LaTex is my preferred system for writing books and long project documents.

I started to pay attention to how much time I spent futzing around with formatting, etc. using Word, Pages, and OpenOffice and decided a long time ago to really learn to use Latex. BTW, although I do like TeXShop (for OS X) for editing, I like to set up plain old Makefiles to generate multiple formats, run scripts to annotate output HTML with advertisements, etc. Another setup I used for my last Java book was to edit Latex from inside Eclipse with a project for the book's Java examples; combined with Mylin that was a nice setup for that specific project.

</comment><comment><USER9> I used LaTeX when writing papers for my PHD thesis. After that, I haven't really touched it. It is great for scientific books and papers (especially the $math$ is superb), but it is just too complicated for the usually simple documents I write. These days I prefer RestructuredText, Markdown.

</comment><comment><USER10> LaTeX was part of a class I had to take in my freshman year of college.

This makes me feel even older than usual. See, it was a little different back then. You didn't run LaTeX and immediately look at the output in Ghostview or some other tool to see how it looked. I had to submit a batch job then wait up to 15 minutes for an operator to pull my print job off the big Xerox laser printer so I could see what it looked like.

I didn't have a lot of options to compare it to at the time. MacWrite and Microsoft Word for the Mac were the only WYSIWYG word processors available to me and those took fighting for time on a rare Mac in a campus lab.

I'm glad things changed by the time I got to grad school.

</comment><comment><USER11> I recently co-authored a book for a major tech publisher. They formatted it using -- I kid you not -- MS Word.

The late stages of the editing process (where I was working with the publisher's .doc files instead of just sending them text) were so painful that I vowed to learn Tex and/or LaTeX before helping my mother self-publish her upcoming quilting book.

</comment><comment><USER12> I attempted to use LaTeX when I was in college but the school required Word documents so they could load them into software that detects cheating. Now I'm a coder so I rarely write except for documentation. I'd love to use LaTeX again but don't have a reason, really. I could for a resume but Google Docs is too convenient.

<comment><USER13> LaTeX Labs allows you to write LaTex and is hosted through Google Docs.

<http://docs.latexlab.org/docs>

<comment><USER12> This is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> The school ponied up for some DEC laser printers to supplement, eventually replace, the daisy wheel printers, and the output both looked great (despite the DEC output being relatively "fuzzy" [1]) and allowed for foreign characters.

Knuth's book on TeX was a very enjoyable read.

[1] IIRC, the Math Dept. eventually acquired an Apple LaserWriter or two, and if you pushed the output there, the lines looked significantly cleaner.</comment>


Ask HN: ToDo app that was posted here a while ago that I need help finding. - <AUTHOR>

Hello HN,
I'm looking for a web site app that was posted awhile back here (about 1 year ago?) it was a website that you could login to and create tasks using keyboard shortcuts and you could create sub tasks under each task also using keyboard shortcuts. I remember the site being very simple and clean with a white/grey back ground? And once a task was completed you could check off the task and it will strike the task off with a line in the middle.
I also remember the site being a paid service with one project being free and if you wanted to create more ToDo projects it was subscription based.
Can anyways help me find this once again and help get re-united? I miss it dearly.
Thank you. <comment><USER2> Maybe [http://workflowy.com](http://workflowy.com) \--- the pro version gets you unlimited items when the free one has a maximum monthly limit.

</comment><comment><USER3> Was it todoist.com ?

</comment><comment><USER4> [http://todo.share.ac/](http://todo.share.ac/)</comment>


Now that anyone can be a DJ, is the art form dead? - <AUTHOR> http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2016/08/tables-are-turning <comment><USER2> > Before digitisation, mixing records in a nightclub was a technical > discipline as difficult to master as learning chord progressions on a > guitar.

This is not true. Learning to beatmatch vinyl or with CDJs is mainly a matter of rewiring your brain to hear sound from each ear separately, and a little bit of muscle memory. You can learn it with about a month of daily practice.

DJing has always been about selection, and crowd reading.

EDIT: if you're interested, everything you need to know about DJing is in this book: [https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-DJ-Properly-Science- Playing/dp/...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-DJ-Properly-Science- Playing/dp/0593058119)

<comment><USER3> I was taught to beatmatch on CDJs a few years ago. Going from having never touched a CDJ before to being able to beatmatch two (fairly straightforward) house tracks reasonably well if given enough time took about an hour. Learning the basics is fairly easy, but that doesn't make you a DJ.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Disagree.

First off, we now have Controllerism ( see: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controllerism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controllerism) ).

Controllerism can be vastly more complex than Turntablism, requiring custom software and several input controllers.

Second off, digging for digital tracks is just as hard ( if not harder ) then it use to be digging for vinyl tracks. There is _so much_ new digital music available coming out everday, that being able to dig out a good not-very-well- known track is like finding a needle in the haystack.

Are some DJs simplying hit play on a Top 40 tracklist in Traktor? Sure. Does that mean the art form is dead or doesn't have room for vast improvement? Not at all.

<comment><USER5> Exactly right much harder than DJing every was. Effectively you're a one man band and knowing the skills of both a drummer and a pianist can help. You really need to have great music chops and knowledge to be a great controllerist. But here in Los Angeles there is no love for controllerism we need an outlet for this amazing art form, here people are still obsessed with vinyl but controllerism elevates the art form far past what is even possible with vinyl.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Now that anyone can be a painter, is that art form dead? Art is a form of expression, not a popularity contest. Geez Louise, if there's nothing to write about, _just don 't write_.

<comment><USER7> So now that anyone can be a writer, is writing dead?

<comment><USER8> So now that anyone can think, is thinking dead?

<comment><USER9> Signs point to yes

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Can't bypass the paywall, but let me guess:

\- It used to be the handmade art of a few select dedicated people, who were very underground \- then it became more and more diluted as technology got better and better \- first it was CD-s, then now MP3-s \- clubs are not the same as before \- now all you have to do is press the sync button and call yourself a DJ \- it lost it's value, because those "oldschool" DJ-s were so dedicated that it became art

Whether my outline is correct or not, DJ-ing was never about technology or better put, it was never about fighting with technology. Because let's admit, mixing one track's tempo to another's is just the side effect of dealing with vinyl. I can beatmatch perfectly and put on a horrible set.

I think being a good DJ is not about technology, it's transforming the vibe on the dance floor from one state to another. The DJ is a pure function (for the FP folks). It's more about knowing your tracks, your audience and having an artistic integrity. Who cares if I use a software to help me be more creative?

<comment><USER11> Can't really be a pure function if it's changing state

<comment><USER10> I've read a different definition :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Ridiculous question, if you ask me. Everyone has access to pen and paper, so does that mean anyone can be a novelist? Or even wants to?

</comment><comment><USER13> There is and was an art form called turntablism. It's always been more common in hip hop than club and rave, though it showed up in all those places. You can search YouTube for examples of "scratch competitions" and that kind of thing.

There are also a good number of techno and hip hop DJS who take mixing with vinyl to amazing levels of agility.

That stuff's really hard, and those folks actually became "virtuosos" on turntables.

Just hitting beat match on an mp3 player or a dual CD deck... not so much. About the only thing you can call those is showmen and great self promoters.

</comment><comment><USER14> Definitely not. So much more is possible with DJing now that you don't need to swing vinyl or beatmatch.. and it's still easy to tell the difference between an okay DJ and a great one. I'll paste some words from one of my favorite DJs:

> And its sad, if your sport was showing off how wonderfully you can beat > match, because that has really become obsolete. Although i can beat match as > instantaneously as the next DJ, i don't give an at's rasss about doing it > and making people watch me do it. I'm rather much more interested in > creating and collecting awesome sounds, and layering, combining and > broadcasting them as a means to conjur up an energetically cathartic > experience for other humans.

More details: [http://www.bassnectar.net/2012/06/pushing-buttons-or- pushing...](http://www.bassnectar.net/2012/06/pushing-buttons-or-pushing- boundaries/)

</comment><comment><USER15> Maybe - but the same argument can be made for photography. In my opinion when you have more people engaging in something the bell curve tends to expand, with outlier individuals having natural talent and abilities at the highest ends being uncovered. This is similar to sports, where the genetically gifted can only be found if they participate.

</comment><comment><USER16> The title itself implies a kind of answer. If you boil the question down to art: "anyone" has been able to do art for a very long time, and art is not dead. So, for any particular art form the same might be true.

Seem to me when more people participate in an art form, the art form will evolve and become more diverse.

<comment><USER17> > If you boil the question down to art: "anyone" has been able to do art for a > very long time, and art is not dead.

No, but it can change. Centuries ago, there was a certain magnificence to seeing a famous work of art. Reprinting was difficult and there was no internet. Now, I can load up everything in the Louvre on my laptop.

The growth of DJs post digitalization is not necessarily good or bad, but it does change the experience.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> The article is pretty spot on, except for the title.

DJs today are a combination of DJ and Producer. The article doesn't mention it but a lot of DJs outsource that job to 'ghost producers'.

It also seems that some groups work together in that sense too. One focuses more on Djing and the other on Producing.

Compared to Vinyl, CDJs and Controllers such as Traktor give you more freedom to manipulate the sound. With Vinyl, I've always felt limited to the sound compared to a traditional instrument. With Traktor I have more ways to manipulate the sound.

DJing has always been using technology to transcend the medium. I don't understand the argument with Digital vs. Analog. The fact that people don't have to carry crates full of songs anymore is because of Digital.

</comment><comment><USER19> DJ-ing with decks has died. DJ-ing lives on. 1210s are no longer made and although there is plenty of vinyl out there, it is not the same. Not the same? You cannot buy new stuff on a constant basis, you don't have friends that only know vinyl and times have moved on from the 90's. People have got older.

Incidentally CD came along earlier than the article states, standard equipment from the early 90's with lots of beatmatching gizmos.

DJ-ing was an analog skill. Original early dance music was analog production of digital instruments.

Kids today are using digital technology for the whole chain of music creation including DJ-ing.

<comment><USER20> >> You cannot buy new stuff on a constant basis

Uh, yes I can. Play de Record, where I live here in Toronto alone would have more than enough to satisfy my lust for both brand new releases... I have 'Views' by Drake, I have 'To Pimp a Butterfly' by Kendrick Lamar, I have 'A Moon Shaped Pool' by Radiohead...I haven't been able to find a new release that I have lusted after for I haven't been able to get...not to mention the scores of breaks and house/techno I'm able to score that would be hard to find online...

>> you don't have friends that only know vinyl

Again, not true at all. Not 'only' vinyl, but a lot of our friends are really getting into it and don't consider a lot of other stuff, especially in conversation.

Vinyl has made a huge resurgence in the last 5-10 years. Our band is looking at pressing ourselves. <3

<comment><USER21> > _' Views' by Drake, I have 'To Pimp a Butterfly' by Kendrick Lamar, I have > 'A Moon Shaped Pool' by Radiohead_

These are some of the most popular musicians on earth though, not surprising that you can still find their music available in physical stores.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Now that everyone can buy paint and canvas, are the visual arts dead?

</comment><comment><USER23> A few years back, I was out with some friends - one's a drummer. We were sitting there, in a nightclub, drinking our way through the evening when the DJ mixed tracks with different rhythms and time signatures. The one thing that sticks in my mind about it was his physical shudder as it happened.

</comment><comment><USER24> My guess is that now that anyone can be a DJ, true "art" is not dead, is just a lot more diluted.

</comment><comment><USER25> Even if anyone could be a DJ, which is doubtful, not everyone can be a good DJ, and certainly even more so some people would be better more creative dj's.

</comment><comment><USER26> Anyone has always been able to be a DJ

<comment><USER27> I don't think that's quite true.

When I first started in the early 1990s, it was pretty expensive to get into as a hobby. I could have been fairly economically comfortable in my college years, but was constantly making myself broke by pouring every dollar I could spare into records.

The flipside of this was that the people who _did_ take it up tended to be serious about it. From time to time there would be some rich kid who would blow a few grand of daddy's money on gear and music, declare himself a DJ, and then get bored a month later. For the most part, though, the financial burden meant that new arrivals would take it seriously and were interested in improving.

As CD decks and CD-Rs became common I thought we'd see a lot of fresh talent from people who wouldn't have been able to afford starting out when I did. Instead there was a flood of people who just wanted to call themselves a "DJ" but had negligible interest in learning much about their music genre or developing any technical skills. Instead of stronger wheat, we got buried in a ton of chaff.

The other underappreciated change was to how clubnight promotion works. In the olden days, the promoter would take care of making flyers and getting people in the door. They'd seek out DJs that they thought would keep this crowd happy. So as a newb DJ, if you would work yourself up the ladder by impressing the local promoters and developing a good reputation with them. They would provide the crowds that you'd make your name with.

Today, with effectively all promotion being done online the biggest thing that a rookie DJ can bring is a built-in audience. There is a huge advantage to the social butterflies of the world, who can now effectively self-promote their appearances to a wide circle of acquaintances, saving the club promoter work.

That might seem like a small shift (or just sound like sour grapes from an old geezer), but it has been a striking difference in who gets started. For a long time a lot of DJs fit a certain archetype of music nerds.. often the most introverted people at the nightclub. Once when I met rookie DJs I felt like I saw a younger version of myself in them. Now I don't get that feeling... it's just a different set of people who take it up.

It's certainly possible that there could be a renaissance. The technology available today lets DJs do live manipulation that the best turntabilists a generation ago couldn't have dreamt of. However, I'm not optimistic -- I think that realistically 95% of the people showing up simply don't care about what part of the process is being done live. I think increasingly clubs are just going to move to playing livestreams or pre-recorded sets and avoid the cost of an onsite DJ entirely. As long as people still show up and buy alcohol that works fine for them. I think ultimately the notion of a nightclub paying someone to haul in music, select what to play, and mix it live will be an anachronism.

<comment><USER28> "That might seem like a small shift (or just sound like sour grapes from an old geezer), but it has been a striking difference in who gets started. For a long time a lot of DJs fit a certain archetype of music nerds.. often the most introverted people at the nightclub."

I'm pretty new to DJing, but that's what I've seen too. The people I know who are hardcore music nerds, introverted, and have found some success doing performances are those who get good with FL Studio and write their own music or do complex premade mixes.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> "art form"

<comment><USER30> Feel free to argue why you think it's not an art form, otherwise your snarky opinion is of little value other than to highlight the likelihood of you being both ignorant (of the topic) and closed-minded (in general).</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Could Amazon be the next Standard Oil and suffer the same fate? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> I think Google is more like that. I think there is pretty fierce competition for AMZN in most markets it is in.</comment>


Congress's Approval Rating Hits 9% - <AUTHOR> http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/21/opinion/obeidallah-congress-failure/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

<comment><USER2> This isn't happening just in USA. People in other countries too are realizing that the Parliament is barely representing them anymore, and they are there mostly to represent themselves.

Changing parties every 4 years has become more like a false choice, as the end result seems to be more or less the same, with the parties being run by more or less the same type of people.

I do believe it's a system problem, though. I think our democracies or republics or whatever you want to call them are way overdue for some changes and some evolution in the way they work. Any thoughts on how that could be done? I think there ought to be some major changes, but also a lot of small ones, too.

<comment><USER3> The major problem is that the powers that be have so ingrained themselves into our politics that nothing short of a full on violent revolution will oust them.

Its no secret anymore that our representatives actually represent their own interests, not ours. I would argue that corporate interests are _not_ what they represent. It's their _own_ interests. The lobbies give them money, status and power. If a different suitor came along they would turn on their current lobbyist buddies in a heartbeat if they got a better offer.

So right there, that needs to change. When the electorate is able to provide the representatives with more incentive to represent us than the lobbyists do only then will we get our representatives back. How do we take money out of politics?

First we overturn the Citizens United ruling and end corporate personhood or at least restrict what constitutes free speech for corporations. As long as money is considered speech in politics we'll have trouble.

The problem with this is that money actually can be speech. We vote with our wallet all the time. So how can we stop this without unintended side effects?

Government sponsored campaigns and strict limits on contributions is probably the most common sense and easy way to do this. A system where there is a limit to campaign expenses and the government subsidizes candidates that doesn't have as much money as their opponent up to the limit is a good plan. I know some states are trying to enact policies in that vein. I hope more do and succeed.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Yeah, these guys are doing absolutely nothing helpful at all. You know why I'm an entrepreneur? Because the job market is so shitty that it made more sense to create my own job than be unemployed for an indefinite period of time. And even if we're able to find a job it would pay below poverty levels. Before I went into business I was a manager at a fast food restaurant. After two years and 3 promotions you know what my pay was? $10/hr. I was lucky if I could even afford the employee discounted food there.

So terms limits sound good but it's just not happening soon. The way we can impose term limits without amending the constitution is to educate people, organize them, and then make sure each of our communities bands together to vote out all incumbents after 2 or 4 years. In order to appease everyone we should also make sure there is a republican and democrat running for that office during every "vote out the incumbent" year regardless of what party currently holds the seat.

Yeah, it sounds idealistic and it is. I wouldn't try to convince anyone it would work in reality but in theory it sounds good. Too bad reality sucks.</comment>


The Masculine Mystique - <AUTHOR> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704100604575145810050665030.html

<comment><USER2> There are some considerable weaknesses in concluding causation here. Their theory is a sound proposal, but countries with higher levels of health, also are wealthier, more socialist, and other factors. All of which might be relevant.

<comment><USER3> One possible confounding variable that immediately lept to my mind was a study published sometime in the past couple years indicated that women's preferences change depending on whether they are currently taking hormonal birth control. I believe it did say that more "feminine" characteristics were more attractive when taking such birth control - and these birth control methods are probably more common in countries with better medical systems in general.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, I remember reading about this as well... Perhaps it does play a role whose 'share' hasn't been taken into account.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I'd be interested to know what effect the womens rating on masculinity had to do with what position they where in their own life, sexually and socially.

From what I've read of evolutionary pyschology, when women are younger and adventurous, or when their friends are single, they are looking for alpha males. But when they want to settle down they often lean towards less masculine beta males.

<comment><USER5> dominant strategy is sleeping with alphas and keeping a beta for resources/security. cuckholdry rates being far higher than is generally assumed seems to support this. avoided topic because it makes people uncomfortable.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> "In 1970, women represented only 43.3% of women of the labor force, compared to 55.8% today. "

Uhm...

<comment><USER7> I think the article meant to say that 43.3% of women were in the labor force in 1970, and 55.8% of women today are in the labor force.

<comment><USER6> clearly. the error was... amusing, though.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Author misses an important point. Evolution by sexual selection only applies to a woman's choices 3-5 days out of the month, when she is able to conceive and become pregnant. Any study that doesn't take this into account is going to get some misleading data - a woman's preference in men the non-conceiving 25 to 28 days out of a month has a lot less bearing on evolution and sexual selection than the other 3 to 5 days.</comment>


Limitless Worker Surveillance - <AUTHOR> http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2746211 <comment> rm_-rf_slash This kind of thing is why I EXCLUSIVELY browse the Internet on my phone while at work (without using work wifi, of course). I also never use my work email for personal correspondence, ever.

Granted, I work at a remarkably lax institution that cares more about getting the job done and less about managing our lives, but these are habits I picked up working in Silicon Valley and I couldn't even imagine the kinds of perpetual monitoring that some of my friends from college have to put up with.

Nobody cares about how long I'm in the bathroom. They like the software I write. And then we all go home at 5.

<comment><USER2> Yeah, I am always shocked when I see people logged in to services and stuff at work. I use my phone, never on work wifi, to check e-mail, and if something comes up that needs a real interface, I use my laptop (on work wifi, but with a VPN to my home router). Doing anything else seems like madness to me.

<comment><USER3> I use personal accounts at work. If texts to my wife are a problem, sure have at it. I'll start circulating my resume.

Luckily I've never worked at an organization that wanted to own my life to that extent.

<comment><USER4> Also, if my work is being measured by time spent on task instead of output, I'm working in the wrong place.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The company I used to work for required that you give them backdoor access to your cell phone if you wanted to check your work email from it. This gave them the ability to factory reset your phone remotely, as well as change your pin/unlock, along with who knows what else. I refused and was terminated.

<comment><USER6> You lost your job over the ability to check work email from a personal device?

<comment><USER5> I lost my job because of "noncompliance" to their demands that they have complete access to my personal phone.

<comment><USER7> We're confused because above it seemed as if your other choice would have been just not checking your work email with your personal phone. That doesn't seem as if it would have been a hardship.

<comment><USER5> Management required that you send a group email if you were going to arrive late to work. So when I'm stuck in traffic because of an accident how do I email them? Before you ask, they said no text messages were not acceptable.. their requirements were if you had any issues that you had to send an email.

<comment><USER8> If they require one to send an email outside of the company network, then should supply the equipment. I would never give my employer control of any personal device. If they don't give employee equipment to send the email on, then I don't see how they can reasonably require one to send an email. What happens if one does not have a smart phone? Do they require one to purchase one?

Also, if one is stuck in traffic one most definitely should not be sending email or a text message because that is dangerous to you and others on the road; it also gives the impression that the company does not care about the safety of people.

If I could not call my boss (or coworker) when I hit bad traffic and have said person send the email for me, I think that there is something wrong with the company or group. What exactly is the problem? Do they think your boss or co- worker are lying?

Anyway, sounds like a company that I would leave and save them the trouble of firing me.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I refuse to participate in the worker wellness program for this very reason. The $10/mo I'm giving up isn't nearly worth the data that I'm coughing up in exchange...

<comment><USER10> Yea, having worked for a big health insurance company with many "wellness programs" it's a bit scary what you agree to when you do the biometric screenings. All of your vitals go into a database for them to analyze and calculate risk. We weren't quite smart enough to really utilize it and most of the drive to implement these programs were not nefarious. Our intentions were primarily around the fact that requiring people with certain BMIs to lose weight does reduce healthcare costs.

<comment><USER11> > Our intentions were primarily around the fact that requiring people with > certain BMIs to lose weight does reduce healthcare costs.

I've never seen a wellness program that "required" that. Most of them are just designed to bring attention to the issue so that you yourself start to address it (i.e. it is a subtle prod, not a hard shove).

If requiring weight loss has been implemented I'd be interested to read about it. In particular how employers and insurance companies avoid violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.

They started out as a way to stop people ignoring their health until it was too hate. Essentially they're designed around giving out health information and requiring annual checkups (either full health check or biometric screening, employee's choice).

<comment><USER10> Yep totally agree, I always found that to be a slightly bothersome but they are ultimately trying to reduce costs and don't have much control.

We had various stipulations as part of the wellness program:

First off, this is a "optional" wellness program but opting out could cost the typical employee hundreds of dollars.

If you fall within a certain threshold for BMI, blood pressure, and haven't smoked within 30 days you immediately qualify for the health premium discount (or some other custom incentive including PTO, cash, giftcards, etc whatever we negotiated with the group).

If you failed the BMI or blood pressure criteria, you have the option to show improvement in your BMI over the course of a period of time.

If you smoke or can't/won't improve your BMI or blood pressure you immediately fall into the third ring which involves third party programs that you have to prove you attended. Some of which include achieving a particular goal at Weight Watchers, smoking cessation programs, Walkadoo, etc.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> My employer MITMs my https sessions. The result is that I can not use Firefox to google stuff or use any site that uses HTTP Strict Transport Security . And since we are still on Windows 7, we end up using IE which is a pain in the ass.

<comment><USER13> Just add your employer's public key to the Firefox trust store. If you explicitly trust the signer, it shouldn't block you.

<comment><USER14> It's a MITM attack so I'm guessing the traffic is no longer secure.

<comment><USER13> It is, but he's using IE so that isn't an issue.

Firefox provides it's own TLS root certificate store, while Chrome and IE inherit the system's.

<comment><USER15> It _may_ be secure against outsiders (depending on what the MITM does with it) but is almost certainly being monitored by the employer.

<comment><USER16> Some of those 'security' platforms are pretty terrible.

I can't remember which vendor it was, but at least one of them was accepting invalid certificates, and re-encrypting the traffic with its own certificate chain. Completely hiding any errors that should have been visible to the end users.

<comment><USER17> I've noticed some popular Windows anti-virus software doing similar things recently. Trying to check one of our own (HTTPS/HSTS enabled) sites after a report from a customer suggested something might not be set up ideally, we looked at the certs showing on someone's laptop and it turned out their anti- virus had rewritten the whole thing anyway.

I understand why some scanning tools decrypt SSL traffic and effectively MITM their own system so they can do their job, but when this results in rewriting the chain of credentials to use some phantom authority that isn't who you originally thought you were talking to, that seems a significant downside.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I work at a school whose Wi-Fi requires you to install some suspicious software, I mask my browsers user-agent to pretend I'm on a platform that software does not run on, stops them from nagging me. Now I am on a platform they can't support anyway (Linux).

</comment><comment><USER19> I use a VPN on my phone while on work wifi. Openvpn is free for ios and Android and a digital ocean server costs 5 bucks</comment>


U.S. Bans Large Printer Ink, Toner Cartridges on Inbound Flights - <AUTHOR> http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372313,00.asp

<comment><USER2> This is such a predictable _reaction_ to the threat.

9/11 - ban all sharp edges, nailcutters and knitting needles included.

Richard Reid - make everyone take off their shoes.

The bipartite liquid bomb plot - strict controls on amount of liquid, except for contact lens solution (!?!)

The Underwear Bomber (a.k.a. Mr Fizzypants) - intrusive pat down searches ("encounter resistance") or nudie X-rays.

Yemeni printer cartidge shipping plot - ban printer ink and toner.

Geez, you'd think that the TSA would learn since they've been burned 5 times, or that whatever terror organizations exist would start doing stuff just to see how far they could push the TSA.

Or maybe that the rest of us would learn that the TSA is _making it up as they go along_ and not actually preventing anything, just inconveniencing everyone with nonsensical civil liberties violations.

<comment><USER3> So, just for me to make sense of the TSA fury, do you imply that

– these aren't even real threats (more people die in car accidents) and not trying to prevent them the way TSA does will not increase bombings

– if the terrorists want to blow up a plane, they will find a way to do so anyway, albeit at a higher cost/etc.

– there is some better way to fight off these threats

Also, when 9/11 happened, I was still a kid, but I clearly remember everyone always saying "they [bush/gov/cia/etc] knew X and did nothing, that's why that happened". What would be the natural response from and average American, if a couple months from now you had a printer cartridge bombing. Would not everyone blame TSA et al for not banning them, especially since it's not as big of a deal as these nudoscopes?

<comment><USER4> _Also, when 9/11 happened, I was still a kid_

Wow you just made me feel old. To me it still seems like a recent event.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> _In a predictable move, as part of a United States Homeland Security directive […] includes the passage "…Toner and ink cartridges over 16 ounces will be prohibited on passenger aircraft in both carry-on bags and checked bags on domestic and international flights in-bound to the United States…."_

Sigh...I know people in authority have to be seen to be doing something (or they'll be accused of doing nothing, no matter how assiduously they work behind the scenes), but these robotically specific prohibitions verge upon the farcical. Apparently this dangerous shipment was uncovered by good old- fashioned intelligence work in the form of a tip-off, which is the message that we ought to be sending - 'we have spies everywhere, fanatics can easily be deceived or corrupted.'

Personally, I don't think there was actually any intent to blow up an airplane. It's a possibility, of course, but an explosion in cargo airliner doesn't upset people en masse beyond sympathy for the families of the crew. And if it were a dry run, then the fake printer consumables would have been addressed to a dead address or a collaborator. That they were sent to a Jewish organization, and given that such devices have onboard electronics activated by current, it's a much more reasonably supposition that they hoped to blow up someone leaning over a printer.

The fact is that there are any number of electronic devices which could conceivably be packed with explosives and fitted with a detonator designed to go off when current is applied. I'm typing on such a device right now; I've never opened up this keyboard and for all I know it could go off _at any moment_. I count 13 similar devices on or underneath my desk right now, and some would be very difficult to detect even on close inspection. High-quality speakers, for example, are heavy, draw electrical power, and have big magnets in them by necessity, which would probably throw off many kinds of electrostatic detectors. Millions of them are shipped every day; we simply cannot inspect every last package shipped.

It seems quite reasonably to temporarily block all shipments from failed states like Somalia or Yemen. But adding each new bomb format to an ever- growing list of prohibited items is an exercise in futility. At some point one of these fanatics with a little more media savvy and imagination is going to hit on the idea of exploiting this reactive behavior and start sending out lots of dud bombs encased in popular or ubiquitous formats purely to provoke bans and cause economic injury - digital music players, handheld videogames, laptops all seem likely candidates. I avoided mentioning any popular brands but I think we can all imagine the the consequences if a few well-engineered explosive versions were 'accidentally' discovered by security professionals.

For that matter, with the holiday season coming it would be easy to throw a wrench into Santa's supply chain that would lead to grim-faced security workers impounding everything from Barbies to blankies. Let's hope nobody in Al Qaeda has read _the Grinch That Stole Christmas_.

<comment><USER6> Many people assume the primary goal of the TSA is some kind of safety assurance. Their primary goal, like that of any other bureaucracy, is self perpetuation. Thus each new threat needs a new counter-measure to show how on- the-ball they are.

The future is video conferencing.

<comment><USER7> Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Pournelle#Politics>

"In any bureaucracy, the people devoted to the benefit of the bureaucracy itself always get in control and those dedicated to the goals the bureaucracy is supposed to accomplish have less and less influence, and sometimes are eliminated entirely."

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> What happens when the terrorists put bombs in blackberrys or ipads or laptops? No more tech in your carry on? No more tech in your checked bags? Come on. This is so knee-jerk it is comical.

<comment><USER9> I wish they would try putting a bomb in the seat recline button so all of those would be removed. My knees would be thankful.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I'm waiting for the first terrorist to put bombs in as breast implants. Let's see what the TSA does then.

<comment><USER11> The next step is for a terrorist to put a bomb inside a TSA agent forming a mighty ouroboros of security-theater.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> The logical conclusion that can be reached is eventually we'll end up taking our clothes off at the security checkpoint and putting them after we retrieve them from baggage claims.

Interesting times people.

</comment><comment><USER13> Dear TSA, why not just ban airplanes altogether?

They just ban things, to make it look like they are in control, I think this is a sign of weakness.</comment>


Ask HN: How do you find work? - <AUTHOR>

I'm a freelance RoR and PHP developer with every other relevant skill set (XHTML, CSS, AJAX, SQL, et cetera), but I'm having a rather difficult time finding work.
I'm rushing Craigslist, writing on my blog, and asking everyone I know if they know anyone in need.
The economy has been treating me miserably lately, and I haven't had work in over a month.  Do any of you guys have tips for me? <comment><USER2> I found my first job by going to my highschool job fair and begging a guy from Boeing to let me work as a programmer. He told me I was too young (just turned 17 at the time) but since I was "highly motivated" he would call some friends on my behalf. He referred me to a local business that develops frimware. After I explained that I had been developing game development skills for years using C++, they said I'd probably be a better fit at Ageia (a St Louis company that developed physics middleware called PhysX, and was recently acquired by nVidia).

I thought, "How am I going to get the attention of the executives? I'm 17, there's no way I can just submit a resume and get hired." So I scoured the internet for any Ageia phone numbers I could find. I called one of them, and a guy who spoke Chinese picked up. "Um... hello?" and he hung up. But I noticed a pattern in all of the numbers I found. They all started with the same 5 digits (for example, 555-1212, 555-1286, etc). So I changed the last two digits to 01 and tried, and nobody picked up. Then I tried 02 and got one of the top execs on the phone. I convinced him to let me show him some of my gamedev demos the following day. After that, he told me that he was impressed, but to prove my skills, I had two weeks to create a demo using PhysX. Two weeks later, I had created three simple but effective demos.

He seemed pretty impressed at that point, and even told me "you definitely have a job here". Then I didn't. He couldn't get special permission to hire a 17-year old, because I couldn't sign the NDA. But he asked John Ratcliff (who worked at Ageia at the time) if he knew of any local companies I'd be a good fit at. He did, and it turned out that there was a gamedev studio about 30 minutes away from where I lived. I was really excited, and they invited me to take their programmer test.

The guy who handed me the test said "I hope you know your C++"... he wasn't exactly confident in me, apparently. (I don't blame him, most candidates suck.) But I took the test and got a decent score. Up next was the interview phase, where around 8 programmers came in and sat at a large table in the conference room. I presented my demos to them (including my three previous Ageia demos).

I dropped out of high school and worked there as an unpaid intern for about 8 months, at which point I was hired and worked there for three years. Also, the time between the job fair and my first day on the job was several months, so the whole process took a lot of effort.

So my advice is, demos are key; talk to the decision-makers, not the middlemen; and demonstrate your skill in every other possible way (but mostly shut up and let other people talk, because you don't know 1/10th of what you think you know).

Also, be genuinely interested in other people. Almost everyone likes the idea of being a mentor.

<comment><USER3> "So my advice is, demos are key"

Exactly correct. If you don't have any, you're likely not as skilled as you think.

<comment><USER4> Ok, so demos are great to have. As a person in charge of hiring, what kind of demos would you like to see in a candidate? What kind of portfolio should a person without demos try to develop for the purpose of trying to get a job?

<comment><USER5> It depends on the job. I'm hiring web devs at the moment so cool functioning sites are great(but rare). I'm certain a few little games I wrote in javascript(blackjack, and copies of a few of the games from kde games) got me my first job in web development. The CTO loved the blackjack game in particular.

I guess the best advice would just be anything interesting that shows off your skills.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Hm. My work finds me most of the time, but every now and then I'm running on 'idle' for a month or more and I start to look around. One of the things I've found over the years that it pays big time to keep in contact with all your business buddies. Let them know you exist and that you still remember them and every now and then a job will pop out of that.

Networking is a thing that I seriously hate, you won't find me on cocktail parties / friday get togethers, I live far away from my customer base but an occasional email does wonders in staying attached and maintaining mindshare.

It's a bit like a pipeline, jobs are always pushed in on one end and out the other when they're done, if you neglect the 'in' queue while focusing on a job you'll see a longer gap by the time that you're ready for the next one. That's a tricky balancing act when you are a single freelancer, maybe teaming up with a few other people with similar or complimentary skills would help you to find work easier, and if too many people say 'yes' at the same time you can always divide the load.

Also, the economy really is down, and lots of tech projects are on hold or being scrapped right now, this is not the best time to be looking for work.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for this. I need to network a little more.

<comment><USER7> Be careful about what you do when you 'network'. If you contact people without a having a good reason for it, they'll learn to think of you as someone who doesn't value their time. Instead, it's just good to get in the habit of thinking, every time you learn something, "I wonder who among my business contacts would find this most useful."

<comment><USER6> Yes, that's an excellent point, I make sure I really do have a reason. Part of that is to keep an eye out for stuff that is useful to my 'network' and alerting people to that. The funny thing is that they repay in kind and you'd be amazed at some of the stuff that comes 'back' to me in this way. It really does seem to work like the karma counter on this site.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Write tutorials on your blog. Don't hesitate to share your knowledge. Even if you don't have great writing skills, people are attracted to quality content and tips & tricks. Put a link on your blog that you are available for hire. Publicize your blog through the right medium (reddit, digg, dzone).

There are plenty of wall in the hole restaurants that don't have a good website. Offer to build them one for just $100, it doesn't take more than 3 hours to finish a website for a small restaurant. Some of the mom and pop restaurants don't even know how to host websites, so offer them to do all the hosting and maintaining for them in exchange for free food every week (or an extra fee of say $100). Put a webcounter and keep track of who is visiting and try to publicize it in Yelp, local.Yahoo, local.Google etc. Expand your offer to small businesses (clothing stores or boutiques) and show them your portfolio. Don't just try to impress them with the webdesign showcase. Try to show them how a website for a restaurant had brought more customers to them. Show them some numbers.

Start building something on the side and try to make it popular. It doesn't have to be the next big thing. It can be a small news aggregator or a recipe collection site with some user interaction. Keep your skill set sharp and use it to market yourself. If you truly made a new product that people love you won't even need to find work, you'll be working for yourself.

<comment><USER9> > so offer them to do all the hosting and maintaining for them in exchange for > free food every week

I do this with a local vegan restaurant. They're the only one in the area and although I love eating there, they are a bit expensive.

One day I was having trouble getting on their free wireless network, so when I went to the counter to pay for my meal I mentioned the problem to the owner. Recognizing that I eat there all the time, she asked if I wanted to take a look at the wireless router in the backroom. All I did was restart the router and it worked again. The owner said the $18 meal was on the house for fixing the wireless.

Now I'm hosting their website and taking care of all tech support in return for an open tab. I bill the owner but mark the balance as $0 and in return I never pay for food when I eat there. My good relationship with the owner has led her to introduce me to other local restaurant owners and now I do work for them too.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> You need to find the thing that distinguishes you from your peers. My story is undoubtedly different than yours, but I'll share parts; perhaps it can help you.

I went to college on a military scholarship. After four years of school, I spent 6 years in the military. Three critical things came from those years: contacts, credibility and experience.

After a couple tours, the military's plans for my career and my own ideas didn't sync up. I left and used a contact to land a nice job doing exactly what I wished. I floated my resume around, but serious offers only came from those I knew. I got other offers, but they were in a different class.

I've been with the same organization for several years. It's awesome. I get calls occasionally from those old contacts, asking if I'm ready to move on yet. I'm not, but when I do, I'm unlikely to "hit the market." I'll make a few calls, express some interest and find a home.

I'll say this: your technical skills alone will not land you the _awesome_ work. There are plenty who (claim to) have the same skills; in the world we live in, it's very difficult to distinguish between us and charlatans without experience. For me, the military provided the contacts and touch of reassurance a hiring manager needs to make a decision.

You need to find your distinguisher. If you don't have one, make it. The other comments here provide plenty of ideas how you can do so.

<comment><USER11> _You need to find your distinguisher. If you don't have one, make it._

Best advice you will ever get here. True for _everything_ , not just freelance work.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> You're doing the right things. It's just very bad right now for freelance work. I have an artsy-fartsy startup but do heinous "enterprise" style Rails contracting to make money. My contract was just terminated, because I was too expensive. I think I was replaced by two others who were charging a lot less than me. So, I guess if you want to keep working you'll probably have to lower your rate or else get lucky.

That sounded a bit pessimistic.. I guess for practical tips, Twitter seems to be a new venue for finding work that actually seems fruitful.

</comment><comment><USER13> I often think it would be beneficial if HN had some directory that people could list their skills if they are willing to freelance.

Often times I would like to work with someone more skilled in UI and design and would rather work with someone who posted on here regularly. Seems like it would be less risky then say any of the elance/ rent a coder type deals.

I have thought it would be nice if there was a site devoted more to building a business relationship then just low-ball pricing to get projects done. Maybe I should just build one, but getting enough people to make it worthwhile would be the difficult part.

<comment><USER14> The rentacoder but for long term freelance relationships is a great idea. Email me if build one. I'd like to help.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> For one thing it is not obvious how to contact you. Your blog has one ambiguous link for email but it doesn't even load. Maybe obvious, but you need to make it simple for someone to reach you.

Nevertheless I am actually looking for RoR help. Hit me up: sam dot huleatt @ yahoo dot com

</comment><comment><USER16> As simple as it sounds, be social. There are countless times where I've been looking for work and a simple twitter message has resulted in business friends pointing me in the direction of their friends, and so on.

Use twitter search to check out who is looking for a RoR or PHP dev. This is how I get most of my SEO work - there's usually a business asking for someone and I just follow and send them a quick message.

</comment><comment><USER17> Did you try Scriptlance.com, HireACoder.com, or any of those type of sites?

I know there are some cheap people on there, but those that use that kind of site often know not to hire the least expensive.

Do you have any ideas of your own?

Take this time to create your own startup. I have a ton of ideas that are self-sustaining if you're interested.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, I have two startups that are on their way to being very successful. Though, it'll take 4-6 months before I'm financially free of working at all.

Unfortunately, I don't have that much saved up.

<comment><USER18> So you're saying in 4-6 months you'll be free of working at all but worry about these 4-6 months? Sorry, sounds fishy to me.

<comment><USER19> When I read that, I assumed there was an implicit "if all goes well". :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> If it's an option for you relocate. I'm desperate for PHP/Ruby developers in Sydney and I know when I was last in Toronto it was the same way. We just can't find decent developers that aren't already in a great job. Even if moving isn't an option try finding cities with real shortages and looking if you can telecommute?

<comment><USER20> What exactly is involved in relocating across international borders? Perhaps I should post this as a Q. I would love to relocate to another country for a while, but I find the paperwork to be intimidating.

<comment><USER5> I posted this in your submission as well but just posting it here for anyone that didn't see that.

It honestly depends where you are and where you are going. I'm from Canada originally. When I moved to England I had to go to the embassy and fill out a form and show some birth certificates(I was claiming ancestry). I'm now in Australia on a working holiday visa. To get that I filled out a form on a web page and got an email a few hours later with my visa number.

In both cases I found a job when I got there.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> There was a similar thread not long ago: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=445776>

And my comment from that thread: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=445836>

</comment><comment><USER22> _I'm...asking everyone I know if they know anyone in need_

Good, but: Are you clear on exactly what your ideal client looks like? If you're not, then this question won't be clear. If the question is vague or general, it's easier to answer 'no' than to think about it.

You'll get more responses with a clear question like "Know any business owners with less than 20 staff who want to use their technology better?" than asking the vague "Know anyone who needs RoR and PHP work?"

(Obviously, you know how to phrase this for your service offering better than I.)

Also, don't just ask if they know anyone in need. Ask who _they know that may know_ anyone in need - this will open more doors, and prevent dead ends in your contact base.

</comment><comment><USER23> Put a some info in your profile here; you never know who needs help with their startup.

Have you tried some of the Gig boards that are out there like 37Signals and Joel on Software? I've had good luck with those before trying to find a way to make some spending money.

<comment><USER24> Seriously. People who are freelancers and don't have stuff in their profile irritate me. We're always looking for people with skillsets like yours.

<comment><AUTHOR> Fixed. :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I find this very difficult as well (although I am just getting started), but I can only really blame myself for not being more social (as mentioned here). It is just much easier to code up more stuff or work on a new project then it is to really market ones self. I also worry that I focus too much on learning different things and should instead focus on a just one or two specialties.

I am glad I came across this thread, very good information and advice to really keep motivated. Thanks again for the great advice HN.

</comment><comment><USER25> Think about the things that you've done. Think about the sectors, the solutions, the requirements.

Find similar things. If you can re-use what you've already done you're halfway to a profitable solution, but it lets you bid lower than the next guy.

Find your niche. Exploit it. Reuse it. Recycle. The possibilities are endless.

</comment><comment><USER26> Network like your life depended on it (maybe it does?). A few good contacts are worth more than any job board or anything else.

You need to find other good networkers. Once you find them, help them before they help you. Prove to them that recommending you will make them look good, too.

</comment><comment><USER27> Create a profile on LinkedIn (if you don't have one already) and subscribe to 'Ruby on Rails' and other specific groups. I have seen quite a few contracts (both full-time and part-time) on 'Ruby on Rails' group. May you will find some luck there. Good luck.

</comment><comment><USER28> Open source projects are a way to keep yourself visible, although of course that's not an immediate way to find work. Ask friends, lower your prices... it's probably tough with the current economy.

</comment><comment><USER29> Have you tried oDesk or Elance type of venues? There are also Rent-a-coder type sites as well. Good Luck! Send me your resume in case I hear of anything.

</comment><comment><USER30> Are there any relevant local meetups or foo/bar/startup/etc camps? Any sort of gathering where there'll be other local people you can meet and talk to?

</comment><comment><USER31> There are lots of people looking for freelance Rails developers. You need to engage with the community more somehow to ferret them out.

</comment><comment><USER32> I suggest you publish a really useful and re-usable .Net/J2EE/Android/FLOSS (for e.g. memcached) code on your website.

</comment><comment><USER11> Your existing customers are your most easily converted prospects. Surely, there's something else they need, right?

</comment><comment><USER33> Start offering free weekly classes on programming at your local starbucks. Make it something real general like homepages for small business. Or facebook profiles, crap like that. Then if somebody wants more substantial private help or consultation you can charge them for it.

<comment><USER34> On a similar note, look into teaching continuing education classes at your local community college, or giving presentations at, e.g., ACM/IEEE meetings.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> I made a website for a tiny open source project of mine, that addressed image segmentation and 3D visualization of meshes.

I added a link to that web page: "Hire me". And I got hired at a very nice research institute for an intership. Later I became group leader there.

Bottom line: have something to show, and don't be shy about it.</comment>


Ask HN: Could QRCodes be Abused/Hacked Like This? - <AUTHOR>

First, I know nothing of QRCodes except how to use them for price comparison so this may be a dumb question to those of you who are up-to-speed.
Basically what would stop someone from getting QRCodes assigned to a url, 301'ing that url through an affiliate link, printing their QRCodes and slapping the stickers on price tags in major chain stores like BestBuy?
I'm not going to do this. I'm just curious if this is a vulnerability in them??? <comment><USER2> Interesting idea - you would need the means to replace something like this [[http://blog.crowdscience.com/wp- content/uploads/2011/08/qr_c...](http://blog.crowdscience.com/wp- content/uploads/2011/08/qr_code_bestbuy.jpg)] or just be able to cleanly cover their QR code with your new QR code sticker.

Then they would have to purchase the item on their phone, otherwise you wouldn't get the commission for it.

</comment><comment><USER3> The fact that affiliate links can be trivially traced back to your identity by law enforcement should be a serious deterrent.

</comment><comment><USER4> The same thing that would stop someone from using fake card slots on ATMs or doing what you described with phone numbers & websites on printed ads.

(Hint: In most cases -- nothing)</comment>


Bringing back RSS won't decentralize web publishing - <AUTHOR> https://jameslittle.me/2018/04/24/rss-decentralized-web.html <comment><USER2> >In this hypothetical decentralized future internet, discoverability would be the responsibility of individual readers,

Older readers may remember this as 'surfing the web' and it works just fine. I often click through to load up the page of an interesting RSS post (usually even). And it's there on the blogroll (read: webring) or the like that I find new sites.

>Publishers have complete control over what goes in their RSS feed,

And they don't over their web pages? At least on RSS I'm not getting embedded JS ads with tracking and analytics.</comment>