Mapping Migration in the United States - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/16/upshot/mapping-migration-in-the-united-states-since-1900.html

<comment><USER2> Does anyone know what JS library was used to make that interactive graphic? I tried taking a look at the source, but couldn't figure it out.

<comment><USER3> it's D3.js

<comment><USER4> And more specifically d3.geom.voronoi() [https://github.com/mbostock/d3/wiki/Voronoi- Geom](https://github.com/mbostock/d3/wiki/Voronoi-Geom)

These examples are by D3.js author Mike Bostock, who currently works at The NYT. [http://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/4060366](http://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/4060366) [http://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/4360892](http://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/4360892)

<comment><USER5> Mark DiMarco gave a talk at JSConf 2014 called User Interface Algorithms which touches upon this

[http://youtu.be/90NsjKvz9Ns?t=4m10s](http://youtu.be/90NsjKvz9Ns?t=4m10s)

relevant section starts at 4:13

rest of the talk is good as well</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Bike Size Chart: The Definitive Guide for Choosing Your Bike Size (2019) - <AUTHOR> https://rinascltabike.com/bike-size-chart-guide/ <comment><AUTHOR> Guess some of you guys like cycling, here is the bike size chart guide, hope it could help :)</comment>


What Is Peter Thiel's Grand Trumpian Plan? - <AUTHOR> http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/11/what-is-peter-thiel-grand-trumpian-plan <comment><USER2> I think what most 'passers-by' have wrong, is that they think this is some kind of fluke like a random personality quirk or even a midlife crisis. Hence the whole affair may be dismissed as the ramblings of a strange mad billionaire.

If you watch Thiel's presentations going back over a decade, you'll see something different. These are all public but it takes about a hundred hours or more so most people have jumped around, looking for the gist of what is going on, such as all these journalists attempting to psychoanalyze Thiel, with the obvious motives that first: something weird needs to be explained (100 journalists at the recent press conference!) and less honorably second: he has to be vilified as a prominent opposing political entity external to their tribe.

This is unfortunate because the truth is far more interesting albeit _very difficult_ to explain in a way that would impart an understanding. It does not get picked up on because I believe it takes slow-thinking, it takes some reflection to absorb what is being suggested. Reading old books helps. I think somebody said once "the past is a foreign land, they do things differently there", and that intuition is of use here. Darwin, Gibbons, Girard, Spengler and many others, the basic theme is 'this basic reality you think you have? Well, it ain't so. Here is a deeper level'. In present day parlance this is called 'redpilling' by reactionaries but that should not put you off this, this is an old way to give knowledge by undermining former assumptions (the Christians call this 'revelation' I believe) and not the sole providence of a single political sect.

I see a disturbing picture emerging I call the Wolfian World after Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun. If there is a shortcut to understanding, then that book is it. Ancient institutions are crumbling due to age and corruption. The frame of reference the narrator has is bizarrely warped as things familiar are perceived with alien eyes. The past is without context. The accretion of crud is literally geological. The spirit of renewal, has evaporated. The keyholders are creatures of mimicry going through the motions. Many parts are vestigial limbs and do not know it. The peripheral shrinks literally and spiritually as the World turns inward, navel gazing instead of looking to new frontiers. Enemies, ancient and modern, are at the gates. What is more, the gates are abandoned, forgotten because the peoples who manned them no longer understood their purpose and left their posts generations ago. It is unclear who is controlled and who are the controllers. In Christopher Nolan's Interstellar humanity experiences not just empty future prospects but also _a diminished expectation of the past_. We did not really go to the moon in that future, that is very telling of human nature's chronocentricism - They cannot even imagine their past, let alone their future.

In short; our World is becoming like the Wolfian World. It is likely that we are on the threshold of sliding into a new Dark Age. In order to fight back one would need to utterly readjust his thinking and expectations of the future. The people who prepare (e.g. sama) for a systems collapse, are appreciating the possibility but those kind of actions are mostly in microcosm, a self preservation instinct. A sudden shock is more immediate and so more energizing for an individual to take action, but the more likely option is actually a long steady stagnation punctuated with the occasional shock.

tldr; Thiel believes our civilization has Alzheimers.

I repeat; if you want a shortcut to Thiel's worldview in my personal opinion the best way to see that is to read The Book of the New Sun. The suggestion you might find weird, but go with me on this, is to listen to the Voyager Recordings - Symphonies of the Planets while you're reading it. It is hard to escape our inherent chronocentricism. When demands are made of our presence from moment to moment, it becomes much harder to appreciate anything outside of that. If it feels 'weird' then good, it is supposed to, you have to get out of your comfort zone. If you wanted the material specifics of the Stagnation Thiel believes is going on, then I've written about it at length in my history on HN dozens of times, some samples are included below. There is a list of statistics, attributes and artifacts a mile long that cannot be explained in any other way than we have been plateauing. We ought to anticipate that the future will be much stranger than the present, and not in a good way.

[12] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12197054](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12197054)

[11] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12242497](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12242497)

[10] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12420696](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12420696)

[9] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12413729](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12413729)

[8] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12527867](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12527867)

[7] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12572091](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12572091)

[6] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12608052](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12608052)

[5] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12626864](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12626864)

[4] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12627138](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12627138)

[3] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12757955](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12757955)

[2] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12772091](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12772091)

[1] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12853180](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12853180)

<comment><USER3> Would you say that Gene Wolfe's books mentioned bear thematic similarity in this sense to the Foundation series? Trying to build on something I already know.

<comment><USER2> There is a little bit of similarity, but to be honest the complexity is completely different.

Gene Wolfe is several orders of complexity higher than the Foundation series. Its threads are tied together in ways that will blow your mind. You need to be totally, totally awake to understand what you are reading. You don't get 'clues'. You get one chance to grasp something Wolfe is telling you. It is extremely rewarding as well as intellectual.

I cannot count the number of times I had a "holy fuck" moment, Wolfe is unbelievably smart.

You know how people on Reddit and 4chan look for 'mindfuck' movies.

This book, The Book of the New Sun, is on another level. My mind changed its frame of reference about a dozen times reading it. Normally a good author manages to accomplish that _once_.

There is basically no way I can ruin this book for you by hyping your expectations. It is just that good.

Also; I must beg a favour so I can return one to you. You must read the book (there's two volumes of 4 books total) while listening to a piece of 'music'. The Voyager Recordings.

This is not actually music. It is what the sensors picked up on the spacecraft as they pointed their arrays at the different planets.

If you listen to this while you read the book, it'll make it much more immersive.

I know this sounds dumb as hell, but it is hard to explain. Just do it, you'll thank me later.

P.S. Your initials won't happen to be N.D would they? Foundation is his favorite book also. If so I won't hold it against you, I'm not that kind of guy, but do read and listen. It is rewarding, and important, I think. I know I somehow changed after doing this, it was as if the world had deeper textures and certain things just clicked or something. Maybe I'm a strange person on the internet, but it is worth taking a risk to find out.

<comment><USER3> I'm afraid those aren't my initials. I'm in California, just been enjoying the hell reading through your posts that you nicely collected into an index recently I stumbled upon.

Your arguments are intriguing. I was tempted to fire off half thought through replies to what initially struck me as gaping holes in logic, but am glad I did not. The more I read, the more I realize that I need to put more effort into understanding what you're really trying to say before I can begin to evaluate it.

Almost a "see it as the painter intended" moment. Anyhow, thank you for your writings, for although I don't know yet if I agree with anything you said, it's certainly exposed me to new perspectives I hadn't considered.

edit - and yes, I do promise to read the books listening to your recommendation.

<comment><USER2> I'll be the first to admit that there may be holes in my arguments. I hazard perhaps it just hard to articulate for ordinary mortals such as I but there is a thread running through out I feel passionately about. That is why I recommend Wolfe. He manages elegantly illustrate concepts that remain mere fizzing and bubbling of ideas in my brain. He is the master artisan, so go to him rather than me.

I am convinced Thiel has seen a glimpse of something really important in the big picture. Events are in motion, as we can see from recent events, formerly influential stories we tell ourselves about the world appear to be flying apart.

Please tell me what your experience was when you finish your first Labour! (My email is in my profile.) :-)

Here are the specific recordings I meant, there's a few alternatives drifting about:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjz9m1TkQ_A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjz9m1TkQ_A)

They themselves are remarkable, they took electromagnetic sensor data from Voyager 1 and 2's trip past Jupiter and Saturn and then converted the radio waves into sound accessible to ears.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


The Vigilante Who Hacked Hacking Team Explains How He Did It - <AUTHOR> http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-vigilante-who-hacked-hacking-team-explains-how-he-did-it <comment><USER2> As a half-Italian living in Milan with a more-than-cursory acquaintance & (somewhat stale) interest in computer security (I used to be very active on HITB in the mid-2000s) I always took Hacking Team's existence to be something of an insult, and though I'm no left-leaning anarchist sympathiser, I must admit feeling deeply satisfied when these folks were served a strong dose of their own medicine. To read that their CEO also had the temerity to sign his emails with the odious echo of " _Boia chi molla_ " makes me angry in the deepest recesses of my core. What is wrong with these fascist nostalgics?</comment>


Since you asked, Gruber, here are my Android "killer apps" - <AUTHOR> http://perpetualstudent.net/blog/2010/11/20/my-android-killer-apps/ <comment><USER2> None of those are "killer apps" in the classical definition of the phrase. Those are apps that are awesome to you, but not killer apps. People use killer app now to mean any good app, kind of how every model today is a super model if you know their name. Halo was a killer app for xbox 360. People bought xboxes to play halo, hence a killer app. People arent going to buy an android phone to use a music player with a neat cube interface.

<comment><USER3> I agree. There are four killer apps to date, and they exist on all the big players: 1) Web browser 2) Email client 3) GPS/Navi 4) SMS

There is no application I've never heard anyone, other than a Gruber/Scoble like geek saying, "I need to buy an iPhone because of this app". In fact, ask someone who does NOT own an iPhone to name one iPhone application. Just one. Any one will do. I bet most of the time the answer will be a blank stare. If you're lucky you might get "there's Facebook, right?". And maybe if they're a gamer you'll get "Angry Birds" or "Doodle Jump".

The notion of a killer app for phones is a dead notion. People have a need for phones first. Then they decide which one to get. They are NOT looking at apps and deciding that since app X is on iOS that they'll buy a smartphone or an iPhone.

<comment><USER4> No-strings attached free wireless tethering is a killer app. I expect more than one Android+US Carrier to have it before AT&T+iPhone does.

<comment><USER3> Doesn't Nexus One TMo already have it? Well not completely free... you do have to have a phone plan.

<comment><USER4> That's why I qualified with more than one. The Nexus One is an unsubsidized model that the carriers effectively fought and T-Mobile tries to make up for having terrible coverage by doing the technical side correctly. Specifically, I'm saying Verizon or Sprint with Android will drop the additional monthly fee (like Verizon used to push on their navigator service) before AT&T does for iPhone.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> * A redesign of touch-based text input.

* A music player with a unique interface.

* control Youtube on your computer from across the room

* A fork of the stock Android home screen

* Automatically do anything in response to anything.

* The best todo list.

* Get notifications for Gmail labels

* Get notifications for Craigslist search terms

* Easily track packages

This list would appear to prove Gruber's (subtextual) point. Most of these don't seem interesting enough to break into "Featured", "Top Free", or "Top 25" (for utilities) on the app store.

<comment><AUTHOR> > Most of these don't seem interesting enough to break into "Featured", "Top > Free", or "Top 25" (for utilities) on the app store.

Why not? These are high-quality, well-designed apps based on excellent ideas.

<comment><USER5> Yeah, you might be right. I don't know. My gut is, no. But, for what it's worth, here's the current app store lists:

 _Featured, New_ :

* Apple Remote - control iTunes & such from phone.

* Path - the social network.

* Airbnb - the iPhone interface to the rental service.

* ComicStrip CS - a comic strip creation app.

* Edmunds - car ratings.

* Pushpin - grocery coupons on your phone (incidentally: what a great idea! Wish I'd thought of this.)

 _Featured, Hot_ :

* Pageonce Bills - track your bills (Comcast, etc) on your phone.

* Cinch - an A/V microblogging app.

* Steinway Metronome - a metronome.

* MotionX GPS Drive - turn-by-turn GPS

* Instagram - the very famous photo sharing app

 _Top, Paid_

* TuneIn Radio - AM/FM from 40,000 stations

* Food Network In The Kitchen - iPhone FoodTV recipes

* Perfect Photo - photo touchup

* Color Splash - another photo manipulation app

 _Top, Free_

* Google Voice

* Doodle Buddy Premium - a drawing app

* Facebook

* The Find - price comparisons

(Top free is just _dominated_ by games).

 _Utilities, Top Paid_

* Perfect Photo

* Skyfire - Flash video browser

* Barcode Scanner

* Alarm Clock Pro

* Splashtop Remote Desktop

* Flashlight

* Battery Management (BTW, the closest thing I see here to one of those maintenance apps that seems to top the Android list)

* Craigslist Pro (our version of that Craigslist notification app)

* 5-0 Pro - Police scanner

This is _today's snapshot_. These are _not_ the killer iPhone apps (with the possible exception of Instagram). This is just the noise you'd have to beat with one of those Android apps to have a _shot_ at being an iPhone killer app.

<comment><AUTHOR> The only point I really care to make with my list is that Android's app offerings do not lack superb content, no matter how much other catalogs may have. Does Android appear to suffer in comparison to iTunes? Maybe, but that doesn't stop me in any meaningful fashion from finding apps I love on my Droid.

<comment><USER5> Then the only point you care to make is orthogonal to Gruber's question. He's asking, where are the apps that:

* Are standouts,

* Are exclusive to the Android platform,

* Have high production values, _and_

* Aren't system enhancements.

You're entitled to say "that's a dumb question", but you can't claim to answer the question by rejecting it.

<comment><AUTHOR> That's a great point, and it really gets at the heart of the difference in design goals between iOS and Android.

'Course, I would argue that all of the listed apps fit all four of those criteria (even if some of their features exist in other apps on iOS), but I'll admit there's some room for disagreement there. ;)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This is becoming a religious war like vi/emacs spectrum/c64 , i think that everyone should use the phone that needs or wants. Find the apps you like or need and choose the phone stop talking about it like if it's a matter of life. I think we all know Gruber has embraced the Cupertino church , that's his choice. If you don't like it don't read him, at least when his talking about how good are Apple products and how wise is the word from the prophet Jobs. If someone finds a good app is good to read about it, but to make it a song about how good is a platform i think is childish.

<comment><USER7> Interesting parallel (vi/emacs). Accordingly, given that people have been arguing about vi vrs. emacs for >30 yrs, I doubt this one is going to be put to rest anytime soon.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I'm really surprised a couple app titles are missing on this list.

Swype? I've heard many iPhone owners wish they could have such a utility on their phone.

WinAmp WiFi sync? Wasn't this similar to an app Apple rejected and later popped up on Cydia? I know I've heard a lot of interest when it was submitted to the AppStore.

Barcode scanner? I know, I know. Both can do this today, BUT the G1 was capable of barcode scanning as a result of autofocus and preceded the iPhone's ability.

Chrome to Phone. Probably classifies as a system enhancement. Same goes for the ability to wipe and restore all over the cloud. Since Gruber disqualified it as part of his article, it doesn't get mentioned but this is huge, IMO.

Grooveshark?

I'm not taking sides as I own both and appreciate the similarities and differences in both platforms.

</comment><comment><USER9> Parcels seems to be a knock-off of the iOS Delivery Status app, which I use a lot: [http://junecloud.com/software/iphone/delivery-status- touch.h...](http://junecloud.com/software/iphone/delivery-status-touch.html)

I've noticed this about the Market - there are a _lot_ of blatant clones of better-executed iOS apps.

<comment><USER10> "I've noticed this about the Market - there are a lot of blatant clones of better-executed iOS apps."

Is this not also true of the Apple app store?

<comment><USER9> Not from what I've seen. There may be multiple apps for one task, but generally they don't directly copy one another.

<comment><USER10> Which is pretty much what I've seen on Android. When I go looking for something I find an assorted of apps but rarely are they just bad clones.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> In response to Gruber's criteria, a much more objective comparison from end- user perspective would be to compare android only apps to iOS only apps, without further restrictions (eg., Who the vendor is or whether app is _invalid for comparison_ , because one platform policy wont allow it.)

As a user/buyer, I am only interested in what I can or cannot do with a product, while comparing it with a competing product. Everything else is just _details_

<comment><USER12> Every time this comes up, my response is always "Google Navigation." This app is essentially superior in every way to a stand-alone gps device. The only constraint is that you need to have signal when you first request the directions. Aside from that I'd prefer it to any of the in-car systems that typically cost ~$2k. The biggest difference is that it accesses Google's index of places and businesses, and Google's ability to understand whatever mishmash of things I speak or type in.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> My killer app is a SDK that lets me develop apps for a device I own without having to pay $99 a year to keep them from expiring.

</comment><comment><USER14> To me, the biggest killer app for the iPhone is iTunes integration. I know many people with Android phones who don't use it for music (myself included) because it is fairly difficult to put music on it. And, given the fact that something like 75% of the media player market is iPod, that means that a lot of people have iTunes installed, and getting an iPhone set up is pretty painless. I know there are several music sync apps for Android, but from my experience, none of them are any good, and the fact that you have to actively look for a way to sync your music turns a lot of people off from the idea.

<comment><USER10> "I know many people with Android phones who don't use it for music (myself included) because it is fairly difficult to put music on it."

You plug it in into a USB port and drag files over to the mounted drive.

Conversely, any app or product that requires me to use iTunes is pretty much out of the running for me because it is too damn annoying to work with.

<comment><USER15> _You plug it in into a USB port and drag files over to the mounted drive._

I hope that's not the only way to get music on an Android phone because it sounds like a PITA. I don't want to pick through 30GB of music looking for song files to add to my phone. With the iPhone I have selected some playlists that stay on the phone and are updated anytime I plug the phone back into the computer (also works for movies, books, documents, photos). I never have to think about it beyond adding a song to the playlist. I can also tell iTunes to finish filling the phone with whatever music it thinks I might want. From what I gather it uses play counts and date the music was added the library.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> iPhone is - by far - the platform with the most interesting apps. Here's a few things that impressed me:

* I have this small "survival tips" paper book written by an ex-SAS guy. Now there's an app for that.

* Revolution studios have published their Broken Sword games for iDevices, with UI and audio improvements.

* There are paper magazines that ONLY discuss iPhone apps.

</comment><comment><USER17> Google Maps bike directions are my killer app.

<comment><USER18> Same here with walking directions. Without street view I found Maps on my iPhone to be nowhere near as good.

<comment><USER19> Can you clarify what it is you're missing? Both walking directions and street view work well in Maps on my iPhone.

<comment><USER18> I like to see the street I'm walking down with an arrow pointing me where I need to go.

The iPhone can't do this at present because street view and walking directions are two separate things.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> I'll leave the debate over what makes a "killer app" to you guys. I just want to thank the OP for his list. I'm really digging 8pen so far. It's changing how I interact with my phone (which, one could argue, deems it "killer").

</comment><comment><USER21> 8pen doesn't seem to be quicker or simpler than a on screen keyboard. Is there any prove that it's worth learning? Why not just put a Shorthand keyboard? At least the method is prove to work!

</comment><comment><USER22> well at least I don't have to worry about lusting after the Android, after reading this list...

</comment><comment><USER23> No mate, that's not what he asked. He asked:

3\. Third-party apps that are exclusive to Android.

And followed it up with this:

"At this point, I'm guessing, Android fans are ready to exclaim that the fact that Android supports things like home screen replacements (or other system- level tools, such as touchscreen keyboard replacements) — and that iOS does not — is precisely why they prefer Android, and/or consider iOS to be an unacceptable toy, or what have you. But, again, that's not the argument I'm making. I'm talking about third-party developer exclusives — and the only ones Android has are ones that Apple doesn't want."

And yet you provided:

4 system enhancements (keyboard, media player, homescreen, email labeller)

4 apps available on the iOS

1 possibly genuinely killer app, but that falls into the geeky automation category

<comment><USER24> I fail to see why that matters - a killer app that is exclusive for Android would by definition be one Apple didn't want.

What matters is what its users wants, and clearly at least one user wants this app.</comment></comment>


Business Secrets Of The Trappists - <AUTHOR> http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/14/trappist-business-lessons-leadership-management-mepkin1.html <comment><USER2> I like the idea expressed in this article, working with the faith of a greater good.

It gives you a reason to sit 8 hours a day on an uncomfortable chair.

</comment><comment><USER3> I found this very compelling, very relevant to my personal life. You should read all four parts.</comment>


Never Hire Job Hoppers. Never. They Make Terrible Employees (2010) - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-suster-never-hire-job-hoppers-never-they-make-terrible-employees-2010-4 <comment><USER2> So hilarious. I think he's absolutely right, but I take the opposite conclusion:

> You were recruited away three times? You aren't loyal. The first company > that offers you a higher check means you going to jump ship. You're only > about the money and yourself." Believe me – people WILL offer you employees > more money. Job hoppers take it.

He's caught on to something that most people are just beginning to realize. Millennials don't give a fuck about your "vision." They will relentlessly and ruthlessly drift to competition if they could make more money or any sort of appreciable advantage doing so.

I'd eat my CEO if I thought it would make me a dollar. You can say you won't hire job-hoppers, but years of corporate malfeasance and broken promises means we're all job-hoppers now.

</comment><comment><USER3> I've been in the tech industry for a while and my experience is that people who stay longer, learn deeper, and do better over the longer term. Have I done a long term longitudinal study over everyone I've ever worked with/for? No.

Of course people will argue that "companies screw employees so I'm just looking out for #1, its just a job." and like all generalizations, including this one, its wrong.

It really comes down to what value you bring to the company, if it isn't sufficient you won't get the offer.

</comment><comment><USER4> Translation: "Never hire people who dare to leave for better opportunities. Never. They want to be paid what they're actually worth!"

</comment><comment><USER5> He values loyalty above all else. No harm in that. Hopefully those who are loyal to him are paid handsomely when they could have fielded better offers, otherwise, this guy is an asshole and a user of people.

</comment><comment><USER6> My main objection is that technology companies appear to have very high turnover rates. By design? Are the companies "loyal" to their employees?

Many surveys have reported extremely short average or median durations for technology jobs, meaning 1-2 years, especially in software development.

Payscale did a survey that listed both Google and Amazon as having extremely short durations among employees.

[http://www.payscale.com/data-packages/employee- loyalty/least...](http://www.payscale.com/data-packages/employee- loyalty/least-loyal-employees)

The New York Times recently published an article reporting extremely difficult working conditions at Amazon resulting in a perhaps intentional high turnover rate:

[http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside- amazon-w...](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon- wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html)

See also coverage of working conditions at Electronic Arts and other gaming companies.

It is true that _some_ people are able to get jobs at technology employers and stay for several years. Even among these, very very very few seem to make it past ten years at a single employer.

There are those who suspect that many companies have a covert policy of hiring young, single, mostly male employees, getting them to work large amounts of unpaid overtime through various deceptive tactics ranging from free food to continuous grossly unrealistic schedules and deadlines, often coupled to PR events like trade shows intended to create a perpetual crisis atmosphere. Inevitably and by design this burns out large numbers of people, leading to large turnover rates and other problems.

</comment><comment><USER7> What a load of lazy nonsense, it's the startup equivalent to the "never do this" chum buckets at the bottom of penny ante media websites. There is _no_ formula for successful hires, especially in tech, especially in startups.

A "founder" who sells 6 startups at age 30 and makes a bundle off of each is a raging success, but a potential employee who climbs the ladder and lands a better job at 6 different companies by age 30 is "suspicious". I'm surprised the author hasn't collapsed under the weight of the cognitive dissonance.</comment>


Hacker News Tokyo Japan Meetup #19 – 6th of February, 2013 - <AUTHOR> http://hntokyo.doorkeeper.jp/events/2515

<comment><USER2> See you all there! ( _knock on wood_ No major Rails security release at 3 AM the morning of this time.)

</comment><comment><USER3> Hope I can make it!

Many thanks for organising this. It's like a lifeline for me. :-)

Peter

</comment><comment><USER4> Does the group keep a website/blog/vlog of eveyr meetup?

<comment><USER5> Not really. Just loosely around the hashtag #hntokyo. It's a pretty relaxed meetup without too much structure - it's mainly based around chatting and meeting people.

<comment><USER4> Cool, thanks. I'll keep posted to twitter.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This is really embarassing... I put it in my calendar wrong, and made the trip up to Tokyo today. Oh well... maybe next time I will come.

</comment><comment><USER5> See you guys there. Looking forward to putting up the tweet wall again #hntokyo #lovethattweetwall

</comment><comment><USER7> Have fun guys!</comment>


Simplifying the build, test, and run cycle with Rock - <AUTHOR> http://bits.shutterstock.com/2013/09/17/simplifying-the-build-test-and-run-cycle-with-rock/

<comment><USER2> This is super nice for anyone running RHEL/EL, lets you use recent versions of Python, Ruby, Perl, etc.. without having to package everything yourself.</comment>


Will reading and writing remain important? - <AUTHOR> http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=11392128 <comment><USER2> <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=191692></comment>


Raft: A Fantastical and Absurd Exploration - <AUTHOR> https://www.chronicpizza.net/posts/leekyraft/ <comment><AUTHOR> Raft is all the rage right now. A while ago I implemented Raft in Golang.

Here's my attempt at explaining one of its core mechanisms: log replication, through the life of a entry.</comment>


Uber Coding Problem Interview Challenge / Daily Coding Problem #2 - <AUTHOR> https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6480539896296673280 <comment><USER2> Isn't the answer fairly simple. Multiply them all together and divide by the value at i. Not having division would make the problem more interesting.</comment>


It feels to have millenial burnout - <AUTHOR> https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/c384d54a-0116-437f-83e8-ddbca65b6c06 <comment><USER2> If anyone has a fix for this. Let me know. I recently quit my job to spend time with my family and think about what's next but somehow I'm still busy. Find myself getting pulled into all sorts of interviews, random side projects, books to read, MOOCs with not a lot of focus.

<comment><AUTHOR> There's lots of temporary fixes such as meditation, exercise, etc However, a permanent fix would be to break off from it, choose time to relax as a priority, or set time to learn to relax as a priority.</comment></comment>


Dassault Systèmes acquires Netvibes - <AUTHOR> http://www.3ds.com/fr/company/news-media/press-releases-detail/release/dassault-systemes-acquires-netvibes/single/4030/

<comment><AUTHOR> On his blog, former Netvibes co-CEO Pierre Chapaz writes that Dassault bought Netvibes for €20m: [http://www.kelblog.com/article-netvibes-naissance-vie-et- reu...](http://www.kelblog.com/article-netvibes-naissance-vie-et-reussite-d- une-startup-98923919.html)

Enough to allow investors to recover their stake, not much. Netvibes turned down a €50m offer a few years ago

<comment><USER2> Thanks, the intranet business makes a little more sense.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Direct URL: [http://www.3ds.com/fr/company/news-media/press-releases- deta...](http://www.3ds.com/fr/company/news-media/press-releases- detail/release/dassault-systemes-acquires- netvibes/single/4030/?cHash=bee5345fe546ca6f07ad593ffe6ee6c5)

<comment><USER4> With Video: <http://www.3ds.com/company/announcement/netvibes>

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Netvibes was pretty much dormant right, didn't Tariq move on a while ago?

Not surprised someone picked it up.

</comment><comment><USER6> For what it's worth, I'd like to point out that Dassault Systemes makes the only free (not OSS) 2D CAD/drafting program that is usable on an equal footing with the big commercial software in the industry (Autodesk etc).

</comment><comment><USER7> really strange.

<comment><USER3> why?

<comment><USER8> Techno-Military organization purchasing a web congregator and watching user reading habits? Hmm ..

<comment><USER9> Dassault Systèmes (3DS) is not Dassault. See <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Systèmes#Products> for an idea on what 3DS does.

<comment><USER8> Yes, I know, Dassault Systèmes is the de-militarized tech base of much bigger industry, true .. My point was, we are now owned by Big Data.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Your Gas Gauge as User Experience - <AUTHOR> http://autos.aol.com/article/gas-gauge/?ncid=AOLCOMMautogenlfpge0006&a_dgi=aolshare_email <comment><USER2> As far as user experience goes, having a non-linear gas gauge is, for me at least, infuriating. My 94 Accord had a fairly linear gas gauge, I knew that when I got to 1/4, there was roughly 1/4 tank of gas left. Now, in my new Mazda 6, there's a definite non-linear effect, and have been surprised more than once by how little distance I get out of that last "1/4 tank."

I find it somewhat dangerous to have a non-linear gas gauge, especially at the bottom end if you're not used to it. Let's say I just drove 150km and used a 1/2 tank of gas, then I see a gas station and a sign that says that the next gas station is in 100km. Given that I've got a 1/2 tank left, I should have 1/6 of a tank to spare when I get there right? Well, no, turns out that it's cutting it really close. My gas light goes on when I'm about 10km away from the gas station. Not a pleasant experience at all.

I'm seriously considering doing some math can hooking up some sort of microcontroller to the gas gauge to undo the "calibration" done at the factory. Really wish there was some kind of bolt-in mod for this.

<comment><USER3> What I do is to ignore the gas gauge completely. I keep track of the miles driven. My driving is fairly consistent, and I know the rated capacity of my fuel tank, so I can fairly easily determine when I should fill up based on how many miles I have driven.

<comment><USER4> I like your style. However, this can be a problem when you're switching between city and highway driving. My vehicle gets 1.5x the mileage (300 miles vs 200) on a full tank when I drive on highways as opposed to in a city. So it is helpful to have a sense of what the gas gauge is telling you.

<comment><USER5> 300 miles? The tank in my 1.6 VW Golf is 55 litres (12 imperial gallons) and I get between 420 and 500 miles out of a full tank (I get around 37mpg combined and 42mpg on highways). Do your cars generally use more fuel than European cars? Do automatic cars really affect the gas usage /that/ much?

<comment><USER4> I drive a monstrosity.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This isn't rocket science. My Audi (and BMW before that) have nice clean digital displays of predicted miles remaining based on driving history, tank capacity, and measured fuel consumption. Turns out 'How far can I go?' is a better metric than 'About how much of a tank is left?'.

<comment><USER7> My 2010 MINI (BMW-made) has the same deal, and you could use the stats it gives you (kilometres until empty, average kilometres/litre, and actual tank size in litres) to calculate what's left in your tank, but why not just add it to the displays that already exist?

I also notice European cars (Audi, BMW, MINI, Saab, even VW etc.) tend to be more accurate and linear than American/Japanese vehicles. But that's just me.

<comment><USER8> When I was a kid my family had a Mercedes diesel and my aunt had a Cadillac. I remember noting that the Mercedes fuel gauge was labeled "Tank" and marked off in a round arc with equal distances between each of the markings. The Cadillac had a square gauge labeled "Fuel Data Centre" with a needle sweeping across markings in a straight line. The Mercedes was much more practical.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> The pinnacle of gas gauge experience has to be the Toyota Prius. The article was interesting, but I was a bit bummed to see no reference to my favorite driving experience.

Here's an the Prius's in-dash energy monitor: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqP_eS_f1qY>

<comment><USER10> The Honda CR-Z has trees which lose their leaves if you drive inefficiently, and you have to drive really carefully to get them to grow back.

<comment><USER11> The Honda CR-Z is a great car, it's too bad so much focus is paid to 0-60 times.

I think it's a really innovative blend of driver involvement, education about efficient driving, and sporty driving dynamics. A really cool "hack" of a car.

<comment><USER10> Reminds me of the problems Transmeta had with their low-power processors. The laptops made with them had like 8-hour battery life, but at that time, everyone was looking at performance benchmarks and thought they were crap. Intel bought them and later used a bunch of their tech in mobile processors. I think people will eventually learn to appreciate good mileage, but the first 5 years or so will be pretty rough in the market.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> On the other hand, the "full reserve" is handy when you need to return a rental with a "full" tank of gas.

<comment><USER13> Or un-handy not, when it turns out that the last bastard to use the car left it two gallons from full.

In a car rental context it's basically a transfer of wealth from the honest to the dishonest.

<comment><USER12> It's less a case of dishonesty than it is that airports (the usual place for car rentals) are a bit out of the way and often have uncompetitive fuel prices.

<comment><USER13> Yeah, I'll generally fuel up a few miles from the airport, but not fifty miles from the airport. As long as everyone has a similar idea of what's acceptable it works out fine.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> The gas gauge is just another 'idiot light' to me. It doesn't really tell me anything reliable but it does spur further action. Similar to how a maintenance required light lets me know I need to plug in the code reader and check it out. When the gauge indicates low, I'll pay attention to how much mileage I'm expecting and then time the next fill-up around that.

(Tracking mileage is done on my phone. Using the data stored there I can accurately gauge how many miles I can get using the odometer. I've done this for the entire life of my truck and I can peg a 3500 mile roadtrip's cost within 5$)

That said - I feel that I would prefer an accurate reading on the tank status through the gauge to be standard. I wouldn't feel so uncertain when driving someone else car past the last gas station for 50m en route to Vegas.

</comment><comment><USER15> I came across an interesting illustration of some calibration taking place a couple of years ago. To cut a long story shut, I lifted up the hood/bonnet and was dismayed to see petrol spewing everywhere from a leak in one of the hoses supplying the inlet manifold.

At this point I'd noticed that the petrol gauge was reading around an eight of a tank left. I fitted a replacement hose, and the gauge shot up to over 1/2 a tank! This happened about two years ago in a '92 BMW E36 325, and I can only guess at what the ECU was interpreting from all of this...

</comment><comment><USER16> There are similar UX concerns for progress bars. Users will perceive an operation as taking less time if the progress bar accelerates (i.e. the last half takes less time than the first half) than if it decelerates, regardless of actual time taken. This was an annoying problem with file copying in Vista where the typical behavior was to progress along to close to 100% then hang there for a while, which people hate experiencing.

</comment><comment><USER17> This article is impeccable -- I have consciously observed every effect noted in the article on my 97 Ford Explorer.</comment>


U.S. Says Russia Directed Hacks to Influence Elections - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/us/politics/us-formally-accuses-russia-of-stealing-dnc-emails.html?_r=0 <comment> rafi-bz Most Americans under 40 don't care about the Russian boogeyman anymore.

What did the average American gain from 40 years of nuclear chicken?

Of all Europeans, Russians are the most similar culturally ( what group do you think would be more natural at a football-watching beer barbecue? ).

This just comes off as scare tactics from an organization (DNC) desperate to divert attention from dozens of instances of documented felonies contained in the leaks.

<comment><USER2> I completely agree that this is an attempt to divert attention. The Times did the best they could to support the DNC with those headlines, but if you actually read the article, the director of national intelligence himself says that he is uncertain who is responsible for the attacks.

</comment></comment><comment><USER2> The Times is one of the most biased sources of media these days. _Obama_ blamed Russia for directed hacks, while if you get past the NYTimes headline, you'll read this:

> The statement from Mr. Clapper and the Department of Homeland Security, > which is primarily responsible for defending the country against > sophisticated cyberattacks, said the intelligence agencies were less certain > who was responsible

It's very sad, but it's getting harder and harder to trust the New York Times with anything that could have a political element lately.

<comment><USER3> We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities," the statement said

It's very clear the official statement points their finger at Russia at authorizing the attacks. What is not clear is who did it.

<comment><USER2> That's the official statement _by the Obama administration_. Mr. Clapper, who represents the agencies that actually know anything at all about the attacks, says otherwise.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> So let me get this straight - DNC was corrupt as exposed by Russians and we are supposed to be mad at Russians... not the corrupt DNC?</comment>


Ask HN: Dvorak or Dvorak-Qwerty? Shortcuts not useful anymore? - <AUTHOR>

So, I switched to Dvorak keyboard layout not too long. My only "problem" is shortcuts. They seem to not be as convenient as they are with qwerty. Any thoughts? <comment><USER2> It seems to me I had similar concerns when I switched. In particular copy, cut and paste. I ended up using the CUA standard versions: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Common_User_Access#Descript...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Common_User_Access#Description). Although looking back I think the awkwardness had more to do with muscle memory than anything else. I also was concerned when switching to vim. The purpose of using the motion keys h, j, k and l was defeated. I recall there being a dvorak layout for vim but I never switched to it. On the other hand, some of the other commands became much more convenient. Looking back I don't think it has been a big issue. What shortcuts in particular are you concerned with? You could always remap shortcuts using AutoHotKey or some other means. But I'd give muscle memory some time to build up first, unless there are some shortcuts you have found to be extremely inconvenient.

<comment><AUTHOR> my main problem is with copy, pase, and cut. For dvorak they seam to be scattered and in inconvenient places; I have to use both my hands to copy, e.g.

<comment><USER3> I use Ctrl-Ins and Shift-Ins on Dvorak for one handed copy paste, but I also don't really find the standard ctrl-c ctrl-v a problem with two hands, I sort of poise my middle finger over "c" and pinkie over "v" with left hand on the ctrl .....feels comfortable to me, but I've been on Dvorak for over 10 years now :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Just keep using it. You'll get used to them quickly and find that it's really not a big deal. I find that I must use two hands centered on the home row to begin with, so the distance/time needed to cut/copy/paste/undo/etc isn't bad. I remap vim's hjkl to dhtn (move d->j) and everything's great.

</comment><comment><USER5> You might want to look into Colemak, which keeps some shortcut keys in place, is easier to learn than Dvorak and has similar speed/ergonomic advantages. Of course some shortcuts like vi's hjkl break but it keeps zxcv in place.

<comment><AUTHOR> arastdhneio You got my attention! I really like this!

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> This is the only thing preventing me from making the switch to Dvorak. I'd be interested in people's thoughts as well.

</comment><comment><USER7> Learned to touch type recently. I opted for Dvoraks. This is probably my biggest pain point.

</comment><comment><USER8> I use Dvorak for shortcuts. They're fine. The Emacs shortcuts are better, actually.</comment>


A call to honesty in pandemic modeling - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@wpegden/a-call-to-honesty-in-pandemic-modeling-5c156686a64b <comment><USER2> We are entering a new era. We need honesty, integrity, and humility. We need to lower our expectations of others and raise our own standards instead. We can no longer pretend that the hard things are someone else's responsibility.

Right now we're stuck with academics creating models that attempt to predict outcomes.

We need pandemic models that give us insight into how we can gain leverage over those outcomes.

That means assumptions, variables, long term forecasts, and short term checkpoints for testing and recalibrating the assumptions.

Many of the decision makers and influencers of the world are still in sport mode.

Which is why this is probably going to look a lot more like war.

</comment><comment><USER3> If in four months, we have readily-available fast tests and plentiful masks, it is possible to end the heavy-handed mitigations and follow the model of the East Asian countries that have already brought the disease under control.

<comment><USER4> [https://youtu.be/gAk7aX5hksU](https://youtu.be/gAk7aX5hksU) This interview was quite helpful.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Thanks for sharing</comment>


Letter from U.S. House of Representatives to Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos CEO [pdf] - <AUTHOR> http://democrats-energycommerce.house.gov/sites/democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/files/documents/Theranos%20Holmes%20%20Device%20Questions%20Letter%202016%2006%2030.pdf <comment><USER2> Do they still have any customers? Why would any sane person want to work there or use them?

If any Theranos investors are reading this: Please just shut it down already and save all of us in Silicon Valley further embarrassment.</comment>


Bad News: Germany Can Borrow for Free.  - <AUTHOR> http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/05/bad-news-germany-can-borrow-for-free/257527/

<comment><USER2> USA basically borrows "for free", also.

[http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart- center/in...](http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart- center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=yield)

Shorter term rates are close to zero. Borrow 10 bucks and pay back $10.02 a year later.

</comment><comment><USER3> at least Germany doesn't invade other countries for oil</comment>


Find engineering teams that share your values - <AUTHOR> https://www.keyvalues.io <comment><USER2> One thing that I've noticed about ethical or socially responsible investment firms is that they have a very specific list of ethical concerns that they offer to help investors use to make investment decisions (maybe the most commonly-expressed ones, maybe ones that are most similar to the founders' concerns, and maybe the ones that are easiest to measure). But of course there are lots of things that people feel passionate about, and some of them are more obscure and not the subject of major current divestment campaigns, and some of them are opposite of each other!

For example, some people find it very important not to invest in nuclear energy (often because of the risks of radioactive waste, among others), while other people find it very important to invest in nuclear energy (often because of the lack of greenhouse gas emissions) -- especially given the alternative of, say, hydroelectric power. Some people find it very important to divest from Israel, and other people find it very important to invest in Israel. Some people want to invest in developing countries, and other people want to promote employment in their home country. People might strongly disagree about which of {porn, alcohol, tobacco, marijuana} they don't want to invest in.

So, this hiring-oriented service has a similar set of challenges -- although it's easy to argue in both cases that the default is having would-be investors or employees be totally in the dark about _every_ dimension, so it's better to light a candle than curse the darkness.

To give a "niche" example, two of my own traditional concerns are animal rights and free software, both of which could be relevant to investment and employment but both of which can be seen as obscure or marginal concerns in particular settings. But it's easy for me to notice that "promotes software freedom" isn't on the values list here, even though it's perhaps pretty relevant to technology jobs (maybe too few prospective employees or too few prospective employers have mentioned it?).

I was actually talking to someone a few years ago about the question of whether one could make a hyper-specific ethical investing firm that really gave people lots of fine-grained choices, and not just, say "environmental- friendly" (according to one single organization's criteria) or "good labor conditions" (again according to one single organization's criteria) or "not invested in vices" (is there a pattern here?). It might be courting far greater controversy to do that for employment and workplace culture, but it's easy to see that there are lots more details and more attitudes than are yet represented here. And also there's the straightforward question of who has assessed these things and whether different current and prospective employees employees would all agree.

Anyway, I don't mean to be super-negative here. It's a very interesting attempt at a very thorny, complex problem.

<comment><USER3> Hi Schoen,

My name is Lynne and I built Key Values. I wasn't the one who posted my website to HN but I do love discussing it! :D

I don't think you're being overly negative at all. Here are my thoughts:

1\. Missing values? The values list will certainly evolve over time. I started working on Key Values in May and this is the curated list of value tags that I put together after interviewing dozens of engineers and drawing from my own personal values. "Promotes Software Freedom" is an incredibly interesting one and who knows, you might see it on there some day ;) I am sure that I've missed several important values (and that I'll need to remove some of the ones I currently have on there).

2\. Who assessed these things? I worked with CEOs, CTOs, engineering managers, engineers, and in some cases, technical recruiters to put together their engineering team's profile. They have 100% control over the content of their profile. The issue of accuracy was one that troubled me a lot in the beginning, but at the end of the day, who can trust anything on the internet? And really, when I'm in an interview and ask my interviewer these exact questions (ie. "how do you practice inclusion here?"), who's to say that s/he is telling the truth?

I can't force teams to write anything in their profile but my hope is that limiting teams to 8 values forces them to (a) be thoughtful in describing their culture and (b) implicitly say what they _are not_. After choosing and ranking their 8 values, teams then have to prove it. If they can't talk at length about why they chose a particular value, they end up re-evaluating and choosing another. Finally, I care about the quality of their profiles (they're on my website!) so I work really hard to get thoughtful, detailed explanations from teams before publishing their profile. If you read some of them, I hope you'll agree that I've done a pretty good job (they list examples, link to individual team members, and provide details about their paid family leave policies, deployment processes, and/or regularly scheduled meetings).

3\. Complex problem? Yeah, but so is dating. There are hundreds of dating apps out there (maybe more?!) and finding a job really just like dating, yet there is nothing similar for job-seekers and employers. Just like dating, you don't have time to meet every available employer out there. Just like dating, you can learn a lot about a team based on how they rank their top 8 values from a list of ~40. Just like dating, reading explanations to somewhat tricky questions can illuminate things that resonate (or repel) you.

Anyway, sorry this was a novel! Thanks for your thoughts on the matter and let me know if you have other questions/comments/feedback!</comment></comment>


Build Your Own NASA Apollo Landing Computer - <AUTHOR> http://www.galaxiki.org/web/main/_blog/all/build-your-own-nasa-apollo-landing-computer-no-kidding.shtml

<comment><USER2> "It was the first computer to use integrated circuits (ICs), running at 1 Mhz it offered four 16-bit registers, 4K words of RAM and 32K words of ROM. The AGC mutlitasking operating system was called the EXEC, it was capable of executing up to 8 jobs at a time."

And it ran in a little metal can we sent to the moon in the 1960s. Wow.

</comment><comment><USER3> There are lots of amazing stories about the AGC:

\- It has a mysterious intruction named EDRUPT ("Ed's interrupt") that took several years to be reverse engineered afterwards.

\- The 32k ROM was stored on rope memory: bundles of wires with a ferrite core assembled by hand in factories.

<comment><USER4> EDRUPT does the following:

* Inhibits interrupts until the next RESUME instruction (as if a hardware interrupt had been encountered).

* Loads the Z register into the ZRUPT register. (Incidentally, so far I've seen only a single instance of this instruction, in Luminary 131, and the return address is never used.)

* Takes the next instruction from address 0 (which presumably has been pre-loaded with "TC something").

The instruction also shoves a couple of register values onto the data bus, but does not save them into memory. My assumption is that some kind of external instrumentation was able to capture these values, but that they were irrelevant to normal execution.

Source: [http://www.ibiblio.org/apollo/assembly_language_manual.html](http://www.ibiblio.org/apollo/assembly_language_manual.html)

Supposedly it was mainly used for self-testing.</comment></comment>


Don't Suck At Email - <AUTHOR> http://markosullivan.ca/dont-suck-at-email/

<comment><USER2> Instead of using 'unread' another option is to archive all messages and leave only in the inbox the pending ones.

<comment><USER3> It seems that there is more work associated with your option. If A = all emails, P = number of pending and A>>P, then

his method: click "unread" P times

yours: click "archive" A-P times

A-P >> P

His method is less work.

<comment><USER4> Assuming maximal interface fluency with GMail, you actually perform [on the order of] the same number of input actions for both. Remember, in order to take care of the messages, there has to be a point at which you initially _read_ them. You can then combine the read + file steps into a single triage step.

In triage method A (his method), you first page through all your unread mail (1 click/keystroke to open the first, then A - 1 clicks/keystrokes to advance to the next conversation without returning to the inbox, and 1 final click/keystroke to go back to the inbox.) Then, once you've seen them, you select the mail you want (P clicks requiring dexterity, or A+P keystrokes; it's a compromise) and mark them as read (1 keystroke.) M_a = O(A + P) = O(A). (Because, as you said, A >> P.)

In triage method B (the "naive" method), you page through all your unread mail, and at each step, you _either_ advance to the next conversation, _or_ archive the current conversation _and_ advance to the next conversation. (1 click/keystroke either way.) M_b = O(A).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Rule #8: Don't CC people who don't know each other. Use BCC for that. Nothing bothers me more with email than seeing my email listed next to hundreds others belonging to people I don't know. It's a personal privacy thing. I don't know these people. I don't want them to have my email address.

</comment><comment><USER6> A minor addition to #2, in which he says that you should only have one question:

If you communicate with someone who only bothers to skim your email (tech support and sales people rarely impress here), or with people with limited reading comprehension for any other reason:

State that one question _three times_ throughout the email, each formulated in a different way but with the exact same meaning.

<comment><USER7> His point #2 is only have 3 sentences in TOTAL, and make the last one the one question you have for them.

Your comment is by no means a minor addition to #2, but more of a refutation.

<comment><USER6> I do not refute it. In the _general case_ , you really _should_ stick to three sentence total and possibly one question at the end.

I provided a special (but annoyingly common) case where it is useful to diverge from the rule. The case is where there is a low probability that the reader will understand any given sentence.

Given that the reader has an estimated 60% chance to understand any given sentence, if you repeat the content in three different sentences, you get a 94% chance that at least one of them will be understood.

As an actual example, I give a shortened transcript from a recent discussion with PayPal support. My first 3 emails were all variations of:

        I keep getting "The card cannot be used, try again
        later" when trying to pay.  This has been going on
        for months.  What should I do?

2-3 sentences and one question; they were completely unable to understand any of it (likely because the support people are paid by the number of tickets they reply to and just skim any incoming case). I estimated their reading comprehension hit rate to about 30%, which means I had to fire at least 7 explanations at them to get a >90% chance of success. This is my 4th email to them, which was rewarded with an actual helpful answer:

        Hi.  Thank you for the answer, but since you also
        recommend "just try again at a later time" it seems
        you are missing a vital point I'm trying to make:

        I have been "trying again" for months.

        I have been trying again weeks later several times.
        This has been going on for months.

        As you recommended, I tried repeating the process at
        a later date, but this did not help.

        [skip 5 more reformulations]

        Please let me know typically how long this "security-
        related" issue takes to pass through PayPal's bowels.
        How much "later time" do I have to wait to try again?

        [signature]

When trimming the fat, this email is identical to the first one which has 3 sentences, the last one of which is a question.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Another thing: don't cc everyone that _could possibly_ want to know about your email's existence. That annoys me to no end.

<comment><USER9> The email thing that infuriates me is when people send something to a mailing list that I am on, that they think that I should read _and copy the mail to me as well_. At work, we have people sending the same mail to three mailing lists and then I receive a fourth copy too. Aarrggh!

For a tool that has been around for the last 30-odd years, I am amazed that people are as bad at email as they are. And I'm not talking here about secretaries, or non-technical staff. I'm talking about scientists in a research institute!

<comment><USER10> I blame the mail clients. Most don't have a "reply to list" feature, so respondents end up "group reply"ing in order to make sure the mailing list features in the list of To: addresses.

It's lazy, and I hate it, but it gets the job done for them.

<comment><USER11> The clients have degraded because many list managers are inconsistent with how headers on list messages are set.

<http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html>

There isn't any way, for a given client, to ensure consistent behavior when replying to all lists, and for the lists there isn't any reasonable expectation that all users will have the same client behavior. Things are a mess all around now.

<comment><USER10> Mutt lets you define mailing lists, so if you press list reply (Ctrl-l by default) it will know whether to reply to the address the message was sent to.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> If you have taken the time to send an email, give the recipient time to read it. Do not send the email and immediately walk over or send and IM asking the same question.

</comment><comment><USER13> I guess the days are gone when top posting is considered bad.</comment>


When crime prevention strategies are effectively crime promotion - <AUTHOR> http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/teenage-virgins-ii/

<comment><USER2> So when my mom asked, "If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?" I wasn't merely being snotty when I said "Yes!"

I was right, too!

Instead she'd have been better served by asking, "Do you realize that out of dozens of friends and hundreds of peers, only 2 of you thought that was a good idea?"

</comment><comment><USER3> Somehow I doubt it matters one bit how you use reverse psychology (or don't), they'll have sex anyways. It might work fine for things like "Walk against red at a crossing", but with sex your fighting hormones.

The legal age for consent is 15 in my country, so the idea is somewhat absurd to me. There was plenty of virgins in my high school, plenty who wasn't (and some lost theirs quite a bit earlier). Doesn't seem to matter one bit.

Although maybe that mind trick worked on me when mother told me to go out and have fun partying with the other kids when I hit puberty, I go out drinking substantially less than my peer at the university do.

This needs to be sent to our alchol stores that are a monopoly controled by the government (I think that's absurd too) who are only allowed to run adds against drinking, it would be hilarious if they started running adds telling you to drink.. so you wouldn't.

I live in Sweden, btw.

</comment><comment><USER4> makes sense.

the most effective anti drinking campaign I saw during my undergrad days was a group called the "silent third" or and the message was to highlight that a third of college students don't do any drinking at all contrary to MTV's and the film industries portrayal of college students.

</comment><comment><USER5> He uses a false analogy in my opinion. Hotel guests don't congregate and ask each other, "Do you reuse your towel?" The ad campaign may be effective in that case. But if you tell a group of teenagers, "Most teenagers don't do drugs" they'll know the campaign was lying when they go to their first party and someone comes back from college and passes the pipe around. (College kids are cool, so do what they do.)

A better campaign might be to explain _why_ using real life cases. It isn't hard to do this with alcohol or heroine, but it may be difficult with something like weed.

</comment><comment><USER6> I think this can apply to drug prevention strategies as well:

DARE - to teach kids about drugs.

</comment><comment><USER7> In other words, don't say thing to kids like, "don't stuff beans up your nose."

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:BEANS>

<comment><USER8> Or even "don't say things to people like 'don't say things to kids like "don't stuff beans up your nose"'"?</comment></comment>


Larry Page Steps Down as CEO of Alphabet - <AUTHOR> https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/03/larry-page-steps-down-as-ceo-of-alphabet.html <comment><USER2> From Page & Brin's letter:

> [An original core tenet is] "Google is not a conventional company. We do not > intend to become one."

> [...]

> We believe those central tenets are still true today.

I think that Page & Brin are mistaken. Google has clearly become more like a conventional huge international corporation than not.

But perhaps I'm thinking of different things than they when I consider what makes a "conventional company".

</comment><comment><USER3> Now Google is going to be more evil than ever before, Larry was a good man based on what I read. He always respected every single employee even the juniors.</comment>


Show HN: Responsive Dashboard Templates for Bootstrap - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/keen/dashboards

<comment><USER2> We just started making one of these for internal use - will probably use this instead now.</comment>


Green Dot reveals savings account with a rate 30 times the national average - <AUTHOR> https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/30/online-bank-green-dot-reveals-savings-account-with-a-rate-30-times-the-national-average.html <comment><USER2> So, what's the catch?

I currently have my money at a credit union with an abysmal rate, but all the banks I've looked at have terrible rates as well. What's Green Dot doing that's unsustainable or unethical? Because that's my suspicion.

<comment><USER3> I don't know if there's a catch there, but there are several high-yield savings accounts that will get you above 2% interest rates. Usually it's just due to the fact that they are online-only, no branches to go into. A few off the top of my head: American Express Personal Savings, Ally, ING...

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This reads almost like a clickbait ad.</comment>


Why your open source project isn't getting attention - <AUTHOR> http://www.grok-programming.com/2008/08/29/why-your-open-source-project-isnt-getting-attention/

<comment><USER2> In general, you'll be working on your own on an open source project until it's actually useful enough for someone to want to try it, but just barely broken enough that they want to contribute a patch.

</comment><comment><USER3> There are some very valid points in there; the inability to perform a successful build locally has caught me on a couple of projects. Unfortunately, as the number of dependencies increases, this inevitably becomes more difficult. If the project depends on more than 2-3 libraries, I think it's reasonable to include the more obscure (obscure = isn't supplied with the top 5 Linux distros & OSX; slow release cycle) in the source code repository, and maybe supply the more mainstream ones in one ready-to-use .zip for those poor Windows folk.

The lack of infrastructure (version control, bug tracking, mailing lists) around open source projects is a real issue as well, and one for which there are no excuses, as sourceforge etc. will supply you with said infrastructure for free. (in money _and_ time) It can seem somewhat silly when it's literally just one guy churning out the odd release, but I think it's appropriate even then.

The main barrier to entry I've encountered is just reading my way through the code so I understand it well enough to be confident enough to change anything. Yeah, documentation would be nice, but let's face it, it's never going to happen.

I've found the best way to get started is to reserve a free weekend...

<comment><USER2> Really? On my Debian system, at least an old version of the software is in the repositories 90% of the time, and simply doing:

        sudo apt-get build-dep $PACKAGENAME

gets all the stuff I need to build the software, and then all that's left is

        ./autogen.sh --prefix=/local/test/prefix
        make
        make install

and things Just Work. I've never had a big problem with dependencies -- other than Xorg, where the issue wasn't with obscureness. The issue was with requiring a number of dependencies from git. That sort of problem really isn't something you can resolve by anything other than documentation.

As for Sourceforge.net, it's bug tracker software has the worst UI I've ever seen. Even email beats it, IMO.

But I agree with you about the need for easier code browsing and documentation. Still, tools like 'cscope' go a long way to figuring out what's going on with the source, and grep + ctags in vim will take you the rest of the way.

edit: fix formatting

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> "My eyes! The goggles do nothing!"</comment>


Know Thyself: Tracking Every Facet of Life, from Sleep to Mood to Pain, 24/7/365 - <AUTHOR> http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/17-07/lbnp_knowthyself <comment><USER2> I made a big graph of time spent on my business:

<http://files.dangrover.com/timechart061509.png>

never thought of doing that for just normal life stuff, though.

At some point, I want to run some sort of statistics software on my time tracking data, sales, customer support volume, etc.

<comment><USER3> That's really interesting. Are you using any tools to do the actual time tracking? Are those productive hours per day? How do you cope with distractions? I noticed you don't have "idle" time in your chart.

<comment><USER2> Right -- only actual, focused work. I track it manually with an app called OfficeTime.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Just last week I started hacking together a tracking app to do this sort of work... but I quit when I found

<http://your.flowingdata.com/> and <http://www.daytum.com/>

Does anyone think there is room for multiple players in this space? If so, what would they need to do to set themselves apart?

<comment><USER5> I'd be interested in getting more biometric feedback, including my food consumption - but it's a pain in the ass when you make something from whole ingredients, and then on top of that have to find out what fraction of the prepared meal you actually ate.

If I make a stir fry, it would take me 20 minutes just to figure out how many calories I ate, much less other stats. Sell me a widget that'll somehow track if for me, and I;ll just give you my wallet.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I've been doing this for myself in one form or another for years. I've tried logging my weekly life in hourly chunks via a spreadsheet. I've set up multiple blogs for the different facets of my life.

Lately, I've just been going by the maxim of "go to bed better (at something) than when I woke up." The only thing I'm tracking in detail is my daily weight and the progress of my web app.

I'd love to be able to use something that could track all sorts of my personal data (mood, health, food intake, etc.). The biggest hurdle is gathering and retaining the data. My iPhone is probably the best tool that could be used for this at this point, but it's still not convenient enough for everything.</comment>


Watson in the Wild: March 12th 2015 - <AUTHOR> https://developer.ibm.com/watson/blog/2015/03/12/watson-wild-march-12th-2015/

<comment><USER2> Check out the new Housing app! It is pretty cool!

<comment><USER3> Why is it limited to just FHA</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Is there a no-nonsense device that lets me measure my heart rate? - <AUTHOR> I would like to measure my heart rate and download the data to my laptop so I can do my own statistics on it.
I don't want something that pairs with my phone, needs me to install software or to become member of some cloud service.
Is there something like that? <comment><USER2> I have not tried myself, but maybe Polar H10 strap or older H7. I didn't realize that H10 works with free app, so I bought expensive HRM too. :( The strap has internal memory that can train one session of data.

[https://nob.ro/post/polar_h10_ubuntu/](https://nob.ro/post/polar_h10_ubuntu/)

[https://github.com/rsc-dev/loophole](https://github.com/rsc-dev/loophole)

[https://reprage.com/post/how-to-connect-the-raspberry-pi- to-...](https://reprage.com/post/how-to-connect-the-raspberry-pi-to-a- bluetooth-heart-rate-monitor)

Polar H10 is very accurate. I personally pair it with free PolarBeat app (I also have the Polar HRM) and download raw data.

\---

[https://support.polar.com/e_manuals/Team_Pro/Polar_Team_Pro_...](https://support.polar.com/e_manuals/Team_Pro/Polar_Team_Pro_user_manual_English/Content/Export_Data.htm)

>The export raw data function exports second-by-second data from a training session. Raw data export gives you a zip file with player specific folders which contain a CSV file, and a .txt file and a GPX file.

> The CSV file contains second by second information about heart rate, speed, > distance, acceleration/deceleration and running cadence.

>The .txt file contains unfiltered RR interval data that can be analyzed with third party heart rate variability tools.

>The GPX file contains location information that can viewed in third party tools.

<comment><AUTHOR> That looks good! Will buy one next time I am in an electronics store.

I find it surprising that a we still need a chest belt to measure heart beats. I can put a finger on my wrist and feel every beat perfectly. Strange that a wrist band cannot do the same.

<comment><USER2> You don't need chest belt. I can go running without the strap and use only the HRM from wrist (it's optical).

The chest band is still more accurate (and cheaper). It gets the minor variations in HR from beat to beat. When you get closer to your maximum HR your hard beat gets more even. HR variability gives more info.

<comment><AUTHOR> Now I am confused. You can use the "Polar H10" on your wrist? The product description seems to only mention strapping it to your chest.

<comment><USER2> Heh, no. I have Polar M430 and H10.

M430 in my wrist. It has it's own optical HR sensor. It does not need H10 to measure HR. Polar H10 is the chest strap, it used electrodes with skin contact to measure HR.

When H10 is available and paired to M430, M430 uses H10 to get more accurate HR measurement data from the strap.

H10 works also alone with a free Polar app so you don't need the wrist monitor, although M430 has GSP and screen so it can measure also distance.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Your best option is a Garmin ForeRunner and the USB cable it comes with.

If you're a stickler about getting the best HRM results then get one with a chest strap but the wrist-based HRM is great for most cases.

<comment><USER4> I second this, I had a Garmin ForeRunner 645 and now a 935. You can have:

\- live data at your wrist, streamed to your phone over Bluetooth.

\- A chart for the past 4 hours on your wrist.

\- Longer charts with zones, averages etc on the app.

\- Abnormal heart-rate warning on the watch.

\- Export all data via USB to your computer.

Edit: I also got a companion HRM chest-strap (which is more precise and also provides more data related to running), but I only use it for more intense runs/training its not super comfortable.

<comment><USER5> I thought the wrist-based heart rate monitoring techniques were very flawed and inaccurate, and were not useful if you want exact heart rate data (but could be used for relative comparisons over time for example). This is why I've stuck with the uncomfortable and more fiddly chest strap based monitor. Has the technology improved in the last few years?

<comment><USER4> Newer Garmin models are pretty accurate. You will know in which zone you're and if you're just sitting around or doing basic cardio it's more than accurate enough.

<comment><USER5> Thanks for the input, maybe it's time to budget for that Fenix after all...</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>