Archiving Web Sites (2018) - <AUTHOR> https://lwn.net/Articles/766374/ <comment><USER2> I just installed Memex today to help with this problem for myself. I really would like an extension that recorded everything and saved as WARC or some other re-playable format. I hope that Memex can achieve what I want now which is "Crap, which web page was that quote/keyword/idea on?". Chrome history is iffy at best.

<comment><USER3> SingleFile [1] can do that, i.e. automatically save viewed pages and/or bookmarks, but it will save pages in HTML. Alternatively, SingleFileZ [2] can do the same but will produce zip files (disguised as HTML files). Disclosure: I'm the author.

[1] [https://github.com/gildas-lormeau/SingleFile](https://github.com/gildas- lormeau/SingleFile)

[2] [https://github.com/gildas-lormeau/SingleFileZ](https://github.com/gildas- lormeau/SingleFileZ)

<comment><USER4> I'm using something similar I believe. I simply wrote a puppeteer automated browser to go through every page and saves it as `.mhtml` This work quite well for my purpose. I was archiving a site with content that I pay for and sits behind my login. I often use material from it when I'm offline and hence needed to put together this hack.

The below code does the job of saving the page as a single file.

```

            const page = await this.browser.newPage()
            const response = await page.goto(url, { timeout: 50000 })

            if (response.status() === 404) {
                await page.close()
                throw new Error('not found')
            }

            // credit: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/54814323/puppeteer-how-to-download-entire-web-page-for-offline-use
            const cdp = await page.target().createCDPSession();
            const { data } = await cdp.send('Page.captureSnapshot', { format: 'mhtml' });

            const htmlFilename = "./data/" + slugify(url)+'.mhtml';
            fs.writeFileSync(htmlFilename, data);

```

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Sites that use JavaScript based cache-busting code are probably hardest to archive. Fetching CDN.com/jQuery.js?rnd=63926195 isn't exactly easy without handcoded workarounds.

</comment><comment><USER6> Mods: could we get 2018 in the title please?

<comment><USER7> The most expedient way to request changes like this is to shoot off an email to email@example.com.</comment></comment>


Scientists warn California could be struck by winter 'superstorm' - <AUTHOR> http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110117/us_yblog_thelookout/scientists-warn-california-could-be-struck-by-winter-superstorm

<comment><USER3> This is a case where the original scientific phrasing, "ArkStorm" actually has more panache than the more mundane "Super Storm" that the AP used in their title. It's even clever, Ark, not as in Noah, but as in "Atmospheric River 1000"

The interesting question that gets asked (and it can be about all sorts of natural disasters like Earthquakes) - is that for rare events, that happen only once every 500 years, what steps should we take, if any, to mitigate the damage beyond what we do for the once-every-100 year events that we are so familiar with.

Total recovery costs for the ArkStorm will be on the order of $725 Billion, if another storm like the 1861-1862 one hits California. This type of event strikes every 600 years on average or so based on archaeological records - <USER2> you take any steps to prepare for it? If so, how on earth can you sell it to a populace that has trouble getting concerned about something like Global Warming, which if it continues existing trends, will have readily apparent effects within as little as 200 years?

</comment><comment><USER4> I always try to keep a balanced perspective when reading news like this ... not to panic too much but at the same time not to get too complacent. Actually, reading this news reminds me of checking my earthquake emergency kit.</comment>


What it was like to be peer reviewed in the 1860s - <AUTHOR> http://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.5.9098/full/ <comment><USER2> I'm not a fan of returning to this form of communication.

In a recent review, which was single-blind, I had a paper from a group I know well and the principle author was a heavy-weight in my field, and certainly will review proposals I write in the future. The paper had good content but it was clearly written by a graduate student of his and it really needed work. I made numerous suggestions for revision that I would have felt very hesitant to do if the reviews were fully open (e.g. if my name had been attached). I would have been inclined to simply accept this paper with minor revisions so that the PI did not have any impression I was being unreasonable.

As another example, I had a recent double-open review for a conference where I had to attach my name to a review that was not able to accept the paper. I felt (and still do) that this submission was absolutely _not_ acceptable given the standards of this proceedings. Now, this group has seen my name and associated it with a 'reject', and I am worried that should we meet in the future, this could cloud our interactions.

For both, I've thought about this a great deal and I stand completely by my reviews, my criticisms, and I did try to come across as professional as possible. But I would have preferred to be anonymous, and I see no reason my name being attached would have helped the review process.

<comment><USER3> It's not like you can't get a 95% idea of who is reviewing a paper now, at least in CS. Look up the list of technical committee members (since CS is conference centric), find the two with enough expertise in your area to be the primary or secondary reviewer, boom you have found two of your reviewers.

Typically works when the papers are blind too, people have very different paper writing styles.

<comment><USER2> Good point. For the first paper, I bet that group would have put me in a top-5 list, and they certainly would have put my group (or someone from it) in the first place.

But that slightly anonymous element helps, because typically you aren't _sure_ who reviewed your paper.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Peer review, as it is known today, only took off at a large scale with the invention of the photocopier.

There's a story where Einstein _withdrew_ a paper of his after he found out the editor had sent it for peer review without his permission. He was offended - it just wasn't the norm back then.

[http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/three-myths-about- scientific-...](http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/three-myths-about-scientific- peer-review/)

<comment><USER5> Yes, when I looked into it I found there is actually zero evidence that institutionalized peer review is helpful at all. In fact, it looked like it's primary role was to impede science by enforcing whatever prevailing bias exists at the moment. For example:

>"In addition to being poor at detecting gross defects and almost useless for detecting fraud it is slow, expensive, profligate of academic time, highly subjective, something of a lottery, prone to bias, and easily abused." [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1420798/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1420798/)

<comment><USER6> I've met many critiques of the peer-review system (including myself), but have never heard a compelling suggestion with what to replace it and why the replacement would be better. Without peer review, editors would have to assign papers by gut feeling or perceived reputation of the author, or the scientific community would be flooded with massive amounts of papers that are way below acceptable quality or even entirely false, not the speak of the dangers of pseudo-science and fake scientists or even paid shills.

However, I believe open access journals can and should experiment with alternative forms of peer review. For example, forcing every submitter to anonymously score 5 papers before his/her own submission is accepted, a karma system, a good meta-moderation system, and a good document revision system taken together could work for online publications. There is a lot of potential for innovation in online publishing.

The problems are in the end similar to those on online forums and social media. It's hard to keep trolls and people who try to game the system away and equally hard to prevent people from scoring solely according to their personal tastes and with kind of 'political' (as in politics of science) motivations, especially when the process is anonymous. But ordinary peer review has the same problem.

<comment><USER5> >"have never heard a compelling suggestion with what to replace it and why the replacement would be better"

You can't just replace/remove peer review and expect things to improve. It is part of the whole "assembly line" science environment that was created when the US government became the primary source of funding in the 1940s or so.

If we want functioning science, we need to replace at least two things:

1) The search for "significant" p-values with comparing precise predictions to data.

2) Peer review with independent replication.

Both are pretty much just reverting to how things worked earlier.

<comment><USER4> >The search for "significant" p-values with comparing precise predictions to data.

Problems:

1\. Not sure we have a decent alternative.

2\. While p-values are heavily used in some fields (social sciences, medicine, etc) they are not in others (e.g. physics). Yet those other disciplines still have similar problems.

<comment><USER5> What do you mean about not having a decent alternative? The perfect alternative is given in the second part of what you quoted.

Also, I see that physics is now starting to rely on statistical significance (eg LIGO), which I guarantee will be to their detriment. They are just behind those other fields in adopting it.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1834) - <AUTHOR> https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43997/the-rime-of-the-ancient-mariner-text-of-1834 <comment><USER2> Something I've always wondered...

In my accent (I'm British, with a classic 'semi-posh'[1] accent) and I say 'Marin-err' however when reading the poem, it seems to me that it supposed to be 'Marin-ear' so as to rhyme with 'hear'.

Back in 19th century, did people pronounce it differently, or is Coleridge bending the pronunciation to force the rhyme?

\---

[1] Home Counties, for you other brits.

<comment><USER3> The notes in an 1885 edition say

"As printed the [hear/Mariner] rhyme is defective. In the original edition the spelling is _Marinere_ wherever the word occurs."[0]

An archaism I suppose, like _eftsoons_ etc. And about

      How loudly his sweet voice he rears!
      He loves to talk with marineres
      That come from a far countree.

it says "In the early editions this is always spelt, as here, with an added _e_ ; when the poem was revised the _e_ was dropped, except in this place, where it is retained on account of the rhyme."

And the -ear sound is better for rhyming! e.g.

      Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud)
      How fast she nears and nears!
      Are those her sails that glance in the Sun,
      Like restless gossameres?

Also, re the _there /are/prayer_ rhyme

      What loud uproar bursts from that door!
      The wedding-guests are there:
      But in the garden-bower the bride
      And bride-maids singing are:
      And hark the little vesper bell,
      Which biddeth me to prayer!

"A great many English-speaking people incorrectly pronounce 'are' like 'air,' and [this rhyme], viewed in connection with the one before us,

      [Sometimes all little birds that are,
      How they seemed to fill the sea and air]

would seem to indicate that this was Coleridge's pronunciation."

Finally,

"The pronunciation of [Coleridge] is indicated by Coleridge himself in the following couplet :

      Could you stand upon Skiddaw, you would not from its whole ridge
      See a man who so loves you as your fond S. T. Coleridge."

[0] [https://archive.org/stream/coleridgesancient00cole/coleridge...](https://archive.org/stream/coleridgesancient00cole/coleridgesancient00cole_djvu.txt)

<comment><USER4> These are very useful notes. It doesn't look like they address this one:

FIRST VOICE

But why drives on that ship so fast, Without or wave or wind?'

SECOND VOICE

'The air is cut away before, And closes from behind.

When I was memorizing this poem with my friends in high-school this was a high point. All as one, we'd say "And closes from BEE-HIHND," rhyming it with "wind" and then breaking up in gales of laughter.

<comment><USER3> Well, the lines

      With sloping masts and dipping prow,
      As who pursued with yell and blow

have the notes

" _prow_ , the Classical equivalent of the Teutonic _bow_ , rimes with _blow_ only to the eye. Such are called printers' rhymes."

Did you manage to memorize it?? It's long! I chose _Kubla Khan_ , more sensibly.

About the spelling _rime_ he says

"Rime. — This word has during the last three centuries been usually but improperly spelt rhyme, probably through confusion with rhythm"

which seems right e.g.

[https://www.etymonline.com/word/rhyme](https://www.etymonline.com/word/rhyme)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I once did a motorcycle trip across Canada when I was young, poor, and eager to ride motorcycles. One night my plan was to make it to my friend's place in Montreal, but it got late and I was still in Ontario. Ontario is long. It's not easy to appreciate how long Ontario is. It was dark and I was tired, but I wasn't seeing any campgrounds and didn't want to spend money on a motel. So I kept pushing, as one does at that age, thinking I'd simply will myself to stay awake.

Suddenly I startled awake with the awareness that I had fallen asleep and had been riding while asleep (presumably just for a second or two). What shocked me awake was realizing that these lines of Coleridge's poem had been playing in my head:

      Softly and smoothly went the ship,
      Moved onward from beneath.

I checked into the next motel.

<comment><USER6> I had this poem in high school and frankly the only one I read countless times out of leisure somehow it stuck, for me especially the following lines keep playing in my head:

           Water, water, every where,
            Nor any drop to drink.

and hence Iron Maiden song with the same name is now in my every playlist since.

<comment><USER7> [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7zk4as9kzA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7zk4as9kzA) : for those interested. I think it is one of the all time classics.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> _The Road to Xanadu_ by John Livingston Lowes is a classic study on the literary influences in the writing of _The Rime of the Ancient Mariner_ and _Kubla Khan_ that tracks down the source of almost every word and phrase in the poems, from Coleridge's wide reading. Highly recommended!

<comment><USER8> Isn't Kubla Khan opium induced, and someone killed his buzz in the middle of it? I know Rush uses some as lyrics.

<comment><USER3> I _really_ wish you hadn't left that comment.

I guess having the power to delete unwanted child comments would be too much, but moments like these it's a power I'd really like to have.

<comment><USER9> Why do you wish that?

<comment><USER3> Well..it seems to me extremely crass, more like a youtube comment, or something out of a Bill & Ted movie.

The question wasn't a real question. It seemed some kind of showing off. If you really want to know the answer you'd google it. If you ask in public like that it seems something else.

The comment felt like "Drugs! Rock'n'Roll! I'm Cool!" and little else. I'm not into opiates or rock'n'roll (or fake questions), so it was 100% turn-off.

Why, what value do you think the comment had?

<comment><USER10> > Why, what value do you think the comment had?

I can't speak for the op, but I found it an interesting bit of trivia. Sure, they could have googled it, but if they had, I wouldn't know about the origins of this poem. And thanks to the replies, I now know what a 'person from Porlock' means. Reading that comment was a win for me. If the person was jostling for status (and I don't see a reason to think that), well, I still benefitted.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Here is the cover of the (part of the) poem sung by British heavy metal band - Iron Maiden.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7zk4as9kzA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7zk4as9kzA)

<comment><USER12> It struck me as funny that you introduced the Iron Maiden. Is there anyone who doesn't know them? Or are they mainly famous in my neck of the woods?

<comment><USER13> I've heard of them, but never actually heard their music.

<comment><USER12> Oh huh, thanks. Fear of the Dark was pretty widely played, but maybe not so much nowadays.

Here's one of my favorite bands live, Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio on vocals:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ4aCUlijfw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ4aCUlijfw)

<comment><USER14> Dio was amazing at Dio and Dio-era Black Sabbath songs, but listening to War Pigs by RJD is just painful.

<comment><USER12> Yeah, Dio and Ozzie songs aren't well-suited to the other.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I wonder about the significance of the setting in which the story is told. Is there something special about weddings? I know another literary work where strange characters appear during a wedding to tell their stories.

<comment><USER16> Weddings historically have been considered one of the happiest, most spirited and fun occasions in life. Any banquet or festival implied a break from work for many and a chance to eat and drink better than usual. They were displays of excess and festivity when such only came a few times a year or less. People wrote about them the way someone might write about taking an overseas vacation today.

I think the placement at the wedding is to contrast the horrowing nature of the tale. Setting a story at a wedding would instantly evoke a specific feeling in an audience similar to setting an event at a house party might instantly evoke a feeling in a modern reader (not the same emotions obviously).

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> For those who want to listen here is a reading by Sir. Ian McKellen: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1raSUYAr0s0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1raSUYAr0s0)

</comment><comment><USER18> Note, of course, that if you want a musical setting for this, the theme from "Gilligan's Island" works beautifully.

</comment><comment><USER19> I finally understand that chapter near the end of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency a bit better. Going to have to read this, then re-read that book to see what else I missed.

</comment><comment><USER20> I misread the title to be the Rime of the Ancient Maintainer and still think that would make a good title

<comment><USER21> Especially if we pretend that "rime" starts with a silent "c" (his hair is of course grey from the many times he wrestled with the question of bumping the version number vs slipping it out as an surely-that's-still-compatible fix)

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> I can only read this with Bruce Dickinson's voice in my head

</comment><comment><USER23> Ahhhh, I can still hear "day after day, day after day..." rhyme... Awesome!

</comment><comment><USER24> > British heavy metal band - Iron Maiden

Is it really necessary to try to "explain" what Iron Maiden is? They are worldwide famous, and the least famous part of Iron Maiden is that they may be British.

It's like saying: "this device is produced by an American phone manufacturer - Apple".

<comment><USER25> I seriously doubt that Iron Maiden is a household name to most people under the age of 30.

<comment><USER26> As a GenX-er I'd love to disagree, but I just remembered when people got upset that some upstart called U2 just invaded their iTunes collection[0]. Growing old is hard.

[0] [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-09-11/-who- is-u...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-09-11/-who-is-u2-ask- itunes-users-miffed-at-apple-s-album-giveaway)

<comment><USER27> Recently I was looking for an Iron Maiden coffee mug for a friend, and I asked an employee of the shop. She looked at me with a puzzled look and asked "What is Iron Maiden"? I explained it was a metal band. She probably thought I was looking for a mug made of metallic material, so she happily pointed me in a direction and said "travel mugs are over there"</comment></comment></comment></comment>


You Have Ruined Build Systems - <AUTHOR> http://you-have-ruined-build-systems.surge.sh/ <comment><USER2> There seem to be some sound insights, even though I don't explicitly remember ruining build systems.</comment>


Samsung's Tweeting Refrigerator Could be Overkill - <AUTHOR> http://mashable.com/2011/01/09/samsung-tweeting-refrigerator/

<comment><USER2> I remember having the idea for a refrigerator that scanned the barcodes of any items inserted or removed from it. If a carton of milk, for example was removed and not replaced, the refrigerator would add it to the grocery list. If an item stayed in the fridge for longer than a certain period of time, the fridge would alert you to possible expiration. There would also be a feature that would give you recipes you could cook using items in your fridge. I'm still waiting for something like that to come along.

<comment><USER3> I said the same thing for a PM interview at a big tech company and that was the main topic of discussion for that interview slot. I did have image recognition with learning for expired food detection in addition and a big line up of other possible features. Definitely something like this will come up within the next 5 years! Many interesting and open ended questions can arise. How about products without a bar code (apples from the street vendor)? How will the scanning take place without the user having to do it?

<comment><USER2> _How about products without a bar code (apples from the street vendor)?_

I keep my apples in a bowl on the counter, so that wouldn't be an issue for me! To make sure we got a more accurate inventory of everything in the fridge, I would imagine a combination of barcodes, rfid tags, internal camera with image recognition (and maybe crowdsourced image tagging), and maybe cross- referencing with Mint data (if I put a CPK bag in the fridge on the same day I have a credit card charge from CPK as recorded by Mint, there's a good chance there's BBQ chicken pizza in it). Of course since I'm not actually going to build this product, the sky's the limit on technology and programming.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Quite disappointed to find out that it doesn't tweet on its own.

<comment><USER5> Me too! >:[

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Perhaps Zawinski's law should be modified to say "tweets" instead of email.</comment>


Software Engineer Cheat Sheet - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/conquering-corporate-america/software-engineer-cheat-sheet-c95477b060c4#.lomu8u6ef <comment><USER2> 'I used a mocking library to write the tests' = The tests are all uselessly fake

'Were using validated design patterns' = The author I cut and pasted from wrote a book

'We're using a agile methodology' = Were making it up as we go along

'Our use of functional programming techniques will increase reliability' = I'm using the project to buff my resume

'Web apps are the future' = I don't know how to write native apps

'Web apps can't recreate the native app experience' = I don't know how to write web apps

'The board and management have bet the company on this project' = Sell your stock NOW (this from personal experience, twice)

</comment><comment><USER3> Lol. A software Engineer that worked with her would write a really fun reply. This way of thinking is a the kind of bs we hear from guys (and girls) in a suit. A fun experiment is to change "software Engineer" for "civil Engineer" or "Chemical Engineer" having a "business person" saying how to work. It is awkward how them don't feel stupid.

</comment><comment><USER4> > "That's funny" = I literally hate you

I was like that, but now I just laugh and if they say "I'm serious!" I just tell them "I know!"

I don't hate anyone anymore. I stopped caring about most people and their ideas and just try to deliver the best I can do for them.

</comment><comment><USER5> This doesn't seem to fit normal cheat sheet format = funny concept, but needed more work.

</comment><comment><USER6> "We can test that" = We have the ability to test that</comment>


Show HN: Parse addresses with perfect accuracy every time - <AUTHOR> https://www.npmjs.com/package/parsie <comment><USER2> This type of package is annoying [0].

[0]: [https://github.com/madelinecameron/parsie/blob/master/index....](https://github.com/madelinecameron/parsie/blob/master/index.js?ts=2#L5)

</comment><comment><USER3> Repository 40 minutes old. The code itself is a placeholder (parser returns whatever it received unchanged). It doesn't do anything described in the Readme file so I wonder why a npm package was even created.

"If your work isn't ready for people to try out yet, please don't do a Show HN. Once it's ready, come back and do it then." [https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html)</comment>


Why the Intellectual Dark Web Exists - <AUTHOR> https://www.dailywire.com/news/30380/watch-msnbc-guest-just-showed-why-intellectual-ben-shapiro <comment><USER3> I listen to discussions on the "Intellectual Dark Web" regularly and am generally a big fan of the free flow of ideas - but this view of identity politics, as much as I try, I cannot get my head around.

It seems primarily to be a chicken and egg problem: The IDW insists that identity politics requires people to identify themselves as a group rather than free-thinking individuals. I think the point this misses is that these groups did not start by self-identifying as groups, they were identified as these groups. The black community, LGBTQ, women, religious minorities - <USER2> were first treated as a single group of lock-step individuals by those looking to oppress them. Is it crazy that to respond, they respond as a group?

This idea that they are beating down the discussion by applying ideals to an entire group of disparate individuals I really think is backwards. It is a response to being grouped by outside forces in the first place, where these groups do have a single shared problem now - that they are not viewed as individuals and treated as a single bloc.

<comment> atom-morgan > Is it crazy that to respond, they respond as a group?

I don't believe that's the issue here. I believe the concern is their response is more valid _because of_ the group they're in, not that they're responding as a group or as a member of the group.

Just look at any minority who doesn't buy into identity politics. They're labeled as traitors, haters of their own race, or trying to play cool with the other side ("cool girl" within feminism).

This is the problem with identity politics. Because you look a certain way, you must think a certain way.

<comment><USER4> > Just look at any minority who doesn't buy into identity politics. They're > labeled as traitors, haters of their own race

I really don't think they are. Look at Kanye West. People aren't objecting to him because he "doesn't buy into identity politics", they object to him because he says stupid, ignorant things like "sounds like slavery was a choice".

<comment> atom-morgan Yes, but that's one example. Now look at men like Thomas Sowell and Denzel Washington and many other people who've been criticized from within minority communities.

Black conservatives, even if they're barely conservative, are called Uncle Toms. This really isn't that uncommon.

Edit: Oh look, this thread was flagged. What a surprise.

<comment><USER4> And is Denzel Washington an outcast, shunned by Hollywood for his views? Er, no. He's a solidly working, exceptionally well-paid actor.

This is the thing I don't get about this argument. You're implying that Denzel Washington should be free to say whatever he wants, but that no one should be free to criticise what he says. I don't understand how those two things are supposed to go together.

<comment> atom-morgan True, but I wouldn't really expect someone like him to be pushed out of his industry for his views precisely because he's black. But if someone who is considered to have privilege said the exact same things he did, they'd have bigger problems.

> You're implying that Denzel Washington should be free to say whatever he > wants, but that no one should be free to criticise what he says.

Not at all.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> >The entire purpose of the exercise is to have honest conversations with people, and to not question their morality, or their wisdom just because they don't view the world exactly the same way that you do.

Isn't the entire thesis of this article questioning the morality and wisdom of the mainstream left? Accusing somebody of refusing to have honest conversations and forcing their views on others is an accusation of immorality.

Is this quote that "hits the nail on the head", at least according to the article, not a way of deflecting from the actual question being asked ("Identity politics is just simply questions of justice, right?") and shutting down discussion?

Sounds like instead of acknowledging any honest disagreement about what "identity politics" means, the author just goes ahead and matter-of-factly gives his definition and implies that anybody who disagrees is a racist who can't consider a member of any ethnic group as a "free-thinking individual".

Calling your opponents closed-minded, refusing to take certain kinds of disagreement as "honest disagreement", and then labeling yourself as "free thinking" and "intellectually honest" smells like horseshit and doublethink. Ben Shapiro and his "Intellectual Dark Web" (lol) seems exhausting.

<comment><USER6> >Accusing somebody of refusing to have honest conversations and forcing their views on others is an accusation of immorality.

No accusation need to be made. From how I understand it, the IDW was created because when there are attempts made to have honest conversations in other venues, they are actively destroyed. The point is to be able to have the conversations, not to condemn those who shut the conversations down elsewhere. If you see censorship and shutting down conversations instead of engaging rationally as immoral, that's a bit separate (although obviously closely related) issue from someone trying to create a place where such conversations can exist.

<comment><AUTHOR> _> From how I understand it, the IDW was created because when there are attempts made to have honest conversations in other venues, they are actively destroyed._

Precisely so. And it's unfortunate that HN is one of those venues where many honest conversations, such as this one, are destroyed through flagging. The person(s) who flagged this article are actually illustrating one of its points.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Here's a fantastic article that covers the absurdity of the "Intellectual Dark Web". I highly recommend anybody that's interested in this topic to read it.

[https://www.currentaffairs.org/2018/05/pretty-loud-for- being...](https://www.currentaffairs.org/2018/05/pretty-loud-for-being-so- silenced)

<comment><USER8> What an incredibly disingenuous/malicious hit piece, and proof of exactly what they are saying, because just about every MSM piece on any one of them is a hit piece.

Let's see:

Jordan Peterson _was_ threatened by his university, and there have been petitions to get the university to fire him. What he predicted would happen happened pretty much exactly as he predicted it to Lindsay Shepard at Laurier University.

Bret Weinstein and his wife were accosted by students wielding baseball bats, with the University refusing to protect them (the campus police was told to stand down against their will).

Groups regularly try (and frequently succeed) to shut them down.

For most of them, associating them with the alt-right or worse is _ludicrous_ , but that is exactly the tactic used. Every. Single. Time. Never engagement with the ideas, always the personal hit piece and guilt by alleged association. The Wilfried Laurier faculty unironically said that playing a clip from the Canadian public broadcaster featuring JBP was the same as approvingly playing a Hitler clip.

And yes, the tactic is backfiring, because we now have alternative media and alternative funding sources. That doesn't mean that it's not being attempted.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Boo, I assumed the IDW was going to be about people fighting for access to academic papers. I guess that would be ADW.

</comment><comment><USER10> A bit of a sidebar, but it really bothers me that the term "Intellectual Dark Web" has stuck. It makes them sound like a group that includes Cody Wilson, Amir Taaki, and a league of pseudonymous thinkers, instead of podcast hosts and professors.

<comment><AUTHOR> _> A bit of a sidebar, but it really bothers me that the term "Intellectual Dark Web" has stuck. It makes them sound like a group that includes Cody Wilson, Amir Taaki, and a league of pseudonymous thinkers, instead of podcast hosts and professors._

I think it's a nod to the fact that institutions that were once viewed as bastions of free debate and free inquiry, such as universities, are now largely hostile to it. In many places expressing the "wrong" opinion entails enormous risks to one's career. So this movement has to be in a sense, underground. But you're right, the people associated with it are mainstream people.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I read the article, but still confused as to what/where the IDW is.

<comment><AUTHOR> _> I read the article, but still confused as to what/where the IDW is._

It's not a literal darknet like Tor. It's more of name given to an intellectual movement, probably because it has to fly under the radar of the censors and the name callers and the doxxers and the rage-mobbers. Watch the video of MSNBC's Morning Joe show embedded with the article to get a better idea.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> An "an agglomeration of thinkers from all sides of the political aisle" who eschew "identity politics" but somehow all agree that "many on the Left refuse to acknowledge good-natured disagreement; instead, all disagreement must be due to nefarious evil on the part of those who disagree."

You can have your Model-T in any color you like, as long as it's black, and I suppose you can have your anti-establishment intellectualism in any flavor you like, as long as it's anti-leftist, I guess. And _that_ isn't itself a form of identity politics because... reasons?

Color me... unimpressed?

<comment><USER13> In other words, several diverse groups of people, engaging in respectful disagreement, are complaining about another group for being disrespectful in its disagreement.

It sounds like your Model-T reference is being applied in the wrong direction.

<comment><USER12> >It sounds like your Model-T reference is being applied in the wrong direction.

Implying that there is a "right" and "wrong" direction to which it should apply? Does the article misrepresent this movement by describing it as defined by anti-leftist dogma? Because if not, then it isn't intellectually diverse, nor does it embrace free thought.

Identity politics flying the flag of "free thought, only so long as you reject the mainstream and the left" still seems to me to be identity politics.

<comment><USER13> > Identity politics flying the flag of "free thought, only so long as you > reject the mainstream and the left" still seems to me to be identity > politics.

The rebuke here is aimed at the left's hostility to dissenting political opinions, not against the left's political opinions as such. That's the distinction.

<comment><USER12> >The rebuke here is aimed at the left's hostility to dissenting political opinions, not against the left's political opinions as such.

And yet that rebuke being aimed _only_ at "the left" seems to imply that hostility _is_ endemic to leftist political opinion, intended or not. Otherwise why mention the left at all? There is plenty of hostility and intransigence among the right as well... and among "anti-establishment" thinkers.

Rejection of the mainstream as an ideology just leads to the acceptance of an alternative mainstream and alternative orthodoxy. There is no true "free" thought, everyone is bound to some framework of prejudice and bias.

<comment><USER13> It _is_ presently endemic among the left rather than the right. That doesn't mean it's intrinsically related to the other ideas associated with the left.

> Rejection of the mainstream as an ideology just leads to the acceptance of > an alternative mainstream and alternative orthodoxy. There is no true "free" > thought, everyone is bound to some framework of prejudice and bias.

I agree, but that's not relevant.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> How did that go?

"Every comment section on the Intellectual Dark Web is ample evidence for the necessity of the Intellectual Dark Web"

Except it isn't really the comment sections, it's the commentariat.

Sigh.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> This story resonated with me. I've been very dismayed by the direction political discourse has taken in the past few years. There is relatively little persuasion attempted. Instead, it's mostly personal attacks, shaming, namecalling, internet rage-mobbing and censorship.

<comment><USER14> It's not like these members of the inaccurately titled "Intellectual Dark Web" are actually interested in changing anyone's mind. The people on the left that they argue "refuse to acknowledge good-natured disagreement" also have no interest in this. They are both the evolution of the talking heads on cable news 24/7 and have a vested interest in controversy and uncompromising views so they can sell more books and podcasts. Each side feeds the other, victimizing themselves and vilifying the others to their base.

Like you, I also wish that more persuasion and compromise was attempted but these provocateurs have no interest in that and benefit from fanning the flames.

<comment><USER13> > It's not like these members of the inaccurately titled "Intellectual Dark > Web" are actually interested in changing anyone's mind.

This is incredibly disingenous. That is exactly what they're trying to do, and quite successfully. Peterson's book sales are skyrocketing, and not among convinced rightists. Browse any conservative forum and you'll find that the _vast_ majority of the new wave of conservatives are former liberals who were convinced _by these people_.

<comment><USER14> I browse conservative forums regularly and the only former liberals I see are rather obviously so young that they only reason they were liberals before is because they hadn't given it much thought. The number of actual liberal to actual conservative conversions, and vice versa, is incredibly small.

In my opinion, the best way to describe what you call conversion of liberals is radicalization of the youth. This is happening both on the right and the left, to varyi g degrees, probably because the two sides are more divided at the moment than they have been in the past.

Anyways, Peterson's popular book doesn't really have anything to do with his political stances. It's a typical self help book.

<comment><USER13> To your first point, all I can say is that I doubt it. I see a _lot_ of moderate liberals becoming more conservative. It's anecdotal, of course, but it's everywhere.

> the best way to describe what you call conversion of liberals is > radicalization of the youth

That might be accurate if Shapiro or Peterson were radical conservatives. Both fall squarely into the "social liberal" category.

<comment><USER14> You're right, radicalization isn't the right word.

Indoctrination is a better word choice for how I feel about it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR>
      > [flagged] Why the Intellectual Dark Web Exists

This is an example of censoring ideas and opinions, rather than refuting them with logic and reason. It basically illustrates the point of the article.

If anyone wants this thread to continue much longer, they'd better click the vouch link.

<comment><USER15> Not every political discussion belongs on HN. There are other, more appropriate venues on the internet for that.

<comment><AUTHOR> _> Not every political discussion belongs on HN. There are other, more appropriate venues on the internet for that._

Could you give me a rule of thumb to follow for determining whether or not a political discussion is appropriate for HN?

<comment><USER15> The community decides by flagging stories they think don't belong.

<comment><AUTHOR> _> The community decides by flagging stories they think don't belong._

Yeah, but that doesn't answer my question. But I think I know the answer. Politics-oriented posts that get flagged into oblivion tend to be the ones where the facts favor the political right, and/or expose the moral or logical flaws of leftist arguments or tactics. I'm sure there have been exceptions, but this applies to virtually all of the cases I've witnessed, including this particular one.

<comment><USER16> I hope you revisit the comments here.

>But I think I know the answer.

Isn't this called confirmation bias?

Anyway, as a classical liberal who probably shares your beliefs, the topic is pure flame war territory, which is toxic for HN. I don't think there is any intentional persecution of ideas, and the use of political labels makes some of us older people's 'eyes bleed.'

<comment><USER15> > Isn't this called confirmation bias?

Pattern recognition is confirmation bias now? He clearly refers to cases he's witnessed where he's observed that particular pattern.

> Anyway, as a classical liberal who probably shares your beliefs

What are his beliefs? He hasn't stated any yet. This sort of thing makes people less likely to trust what you're saying, not more.

> I don't think there is any intentional persecution of ideas

There is absolutely a subset of people both here and on the wider internet who are involved in the intentional persecution of ideas. Pretending it doesn't exist doesn't help make the situation better.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: How can I "work-out" critical thinking skills as I age? - <AUTHOR> As I get older, I realized I'm not as sharp as I used to be. Maybe it's from the fatigue of juggling 2 kids, but I'm very ill prepared for interviews because I simply can't answer "product questions" and brain teasers. It's a skill I need, and truthfully I was never good at consultant type questions to begin with but I'm seeing a lot of these questions in Data Science interviews.<p>Any help or resources will be tremendously appreciated. <comment><USER2> From the description, it sounds like what you're asking about is more along the lines of mental acuity rather than critical thinking per se (the latter is more about analysis in order to form judgments -- recognizing fallacies, rhetoric, and using deductive/inductive logic to form arguments).

If you're asking about mental acuity so you can think faster and solve brain teasers at interviews, many of the other comments in this thread offer great suggestions. Achieving familiarity with the problem space and pure practice are keys.

If you're asking about actual "critical thinking" (though I suspect that is not the case from your description, but it's an interesting topic that you might want to pursue anyway), the classic methods are the Socratic method, disputation and critical discussion of ideas with other people. If you don't have that luxury, you can train yourself by arguing with authors in the margins when you read books. Writing is key -- it helps crystallize thoughts and reveal weaknesses in thinking. Courses in philosophy also help provide a foundation on different approaches to reasoning.

<comment><USER3> Any books about this ? Thanks

<comment><USER2> Try this [https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Thinking-Brooke-Noel- Moore/d...](https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Thinking-Brooke-Noel- Moore/dp/0078119146)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I'm surprised no one has mentioned, but cardiovascular exercise is the number one know method to improve the health and function of your brain. Other suggestions are great as well if used in conjunction. I'll come back and edit this with sources when I get the time.

<comment><USER5> I upvoted this but want to add that a good a diet is also a strong component. Exercise will not make much of an impact if one is eating tons of transfats, excessively drinking, abusing many drugs, etc. Mental and emotional health make a difference too. Prolonged periods of depression change the physiological and anatomical aspects of the brain.

<comment><USER4> Oh that's a great point. Maybe it would be even better to have a somewhat blanket idea of taking care of yourself physically.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I may get downvoted for this but do check your Vitamin D3 and Vitamin B12 levels.

<comment><USER7> Is this in some way controversial? Seems like good advice.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Play chess, and do physical exercise.

Both will develop your mental stamina, and chess especially will hone your adversarial thinking.

You may even find that your chess fitness is directly comparable to your programming fitness and vice-versa. When you're programming fit through working on some incredibly hard problems in the week (think distributed systems or file systems or algorithms), then your chess will show an improvement. And when you're playing several hours of chess a day against a good opponent, then your programming will likewise benefit and your bug count drop as you naturally start thinking further ahead.

<comment><USER9> I recommend go instead of chess, for the same reasons.

I played chess for years, learned go, and haven't looked back. I personally prefer it.

YMMV

<comment><USER10> Pardon me for a stupid question, but you're not referring to go-language, are you?

<comment><USER9> Nope! The game! Though I think learning other programming languages through toy projects is useful, that's a separate opinion

<comment><USER11> Do you have a favoured online site?

<comment><USER9> I play mostly on the Asian servers (Tygem and Fox Weiqi) because it is very fast to get games. For beginners and players ranked up to about 10kyu I recommend online-go.com! The Asian servers mentioned are also good for beginners, just not as easy to get into

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> It will be a combination of things. Make sure you are getting enough sleep and exercise. Pretty mind boggling that they are still asking brain teasers in interviews. If that is the type of question they are asking you can practice brain teaser and consulting type questions before an interview to. Have a good grasp of the fundamentals of any subject matter before an interview. Practice is key.

Outside of that apply the concept of katas daily ([http://codekata.com](http://codekata.com))

</comment><comment><USER13> For Data Science brain teasers, solving math problems that require clever use of the fundamentals. That means calculus, linear algebra, and basic stats.

A ninja is not defined by his sword. Reading books gives you new weapons, but you must learn to use them proficiently. Solving problems is therefore critical.

Some good sources of problems:

Sanjoy Mahajan (2010) "Street Fighting Mathematics"

Xingfeng Zhou (2008) "A Practical Guide to Quantitative Finance Interviews"

Timothy Crack (2019) "Heard on The Street: Quantitative Questions from Wall Street Job Interviews"

<comment><USER14> What do you recommend for data structure and algo interviews to keep the brain sharp?

<comment><USER15> Competitive Programming [https://cpbook.net/#CP4content](https://cpbook.net/#CP4content)

Kattis online judge you can use many languages [https://open.kattis.com/help](https://open.kattis.com/help)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I stumbled onto brilliant.org recently and while it's a bit narrow (Math skills), it seems better suited to cognitive training than most other attempts I've seen

</comment><comment><USER17> Reading definitely helps a lot. Pick up different types of books, such as entomology, city planning, history, marathon training. Even beginner level is good enough. You just want to see how people solve problems.

</comment><comment><USER18> Thinking in general is greatly affected by two things:

1\. Physical exercise. Some blend of cardio and strength training is preferable, but at least cardio is pretty much a requirement.

2\. Sleep quality. Not just duration, but quality as well. If you have sleep apnea especially (many people do and don't even know it), you need to address that.

Also, if you're getting _interviewed_ in such detail as a consultant, you're playing the consulting game wrong. People should just hire you based on your track record as exemplified by direct recommendations from previous customers and people within your network.

One of the benefits of a consultant from a customer standpoint is that if they determine they've made a mistake, they can just terminate your contract. So an elaborate interview is a waste of time for both sides.

</comment><comment><USER19> I'm not sure you can if the definition of "critical thinking" is forming snap solutions to novel problems in a few minutes. Experience is expressed by coming to quick solutions to familiarish problems and considered solutions to unfamiliar problems. And with experience comes intuition about what is and isn't so important. There is just no way to move braing-teasers to the important side of an experienced intuition when the problem domain resembles that in which a mature individual is experienced.

When I was actively providing advice on the Architectural Registration Examination, I used to see this all the time with the Site Design test. The test gave the test candidate ninety minutes to organize several components on an unfamiliar site against a set of competing requirements and constraints. A common rant in the discussion forum was "I failed even though I've been laying out sites professionally for {N} years," where {N} might be from three to ten.

The first ninety minutes of real world site design consists of opening the civil engineer's email, creating a directory to for the project, saving the attached CAD file, cleaning it up enough to be usable for architectural design purposes, printing the regulatory requirements for the project file, talking with the principal-in-charge about the client requirements, and then going to lunch because it's been four hours and maybe starting on the design in the afternoon or later in the week because that's the way the world works and the client requirements will probably change anyway.

Which is how experience made it easy to fail the test because of the ways the test did not reflect the real world. The real world has depth and a lot it- depends and experience pays off precisely because it handles the depths and makes informed choices about all the it-depends.

Or to put it another way, _Fizz-Buzz in TensorFlow_ , [https://joelgrus.com/2016/05/23/fizz-buzz-in- tensorflow/](https://joelgrus.com/2016/05/23/fizz-buzz-in-tensorflow/)

</comment><comment><USER20> I can't believe no one has mentioned writing - try thinking about something you strongly believe in (but others disagree with, like a political/philosophical view), then write out your argument for why it is true. Then write out what you think your opponent believes and think about how they would pick apart your argument. Then rewrite your side again. Have someone else read both sides and critique each.

Also try explaining how to do some task. Give it to someone else and, based only on your instructions, have them try and do the thing you laid out. We're they able to do it effectively? What questions did they have and where did they get confused? These will help you improve your explanation and argument skills.

</comment><comment><USER21> Problem solving: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_solving](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_solving)

Critical thinking: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking)

Computational Thinking: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_thinking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_thinking)

> _1\. Problem formulation (abstraction);_

> _2\. Solution expression (automation);_

> _3\. Solution execution and evaluation (analyses)._

Interviewers may be more interested in demonstrating problem solving methods and f thinking aloud than an actual solution in an anxiety-producing scenario.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant_(website)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant_\(website\)) ;

> _Brilliant offers guided problem-solving based courses in math, science, and > engineering, based on National Science Foundation research supporting active > learning.[14]_

Coding Interview University: [https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview- university](https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university)

Programmer Competency Matrix: [https://github.com/hltbra/programmer- competency-checklist](https://github.com/hltbra/programmer-competency- checklist)

Inference > See also: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inference](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inference)

\- Deductive reasoning: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deductive_reasoning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deductive_reasoning)

\- Inductive reasoning: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inductive_reasoning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inductive_reasoning)

> _This is the [open] textbook for the Foundations of Data Science class at UC > Berkeley_ : "Computational and Inferential Thinking: The Foundations of Data > Science" [http://inferentialthinking.com/](http://inferentialthinking.com/)

</comment><comment><USER22> Brain teasers are really useful for job interviews where the role involves solving brain teasers. Other than that they can get in the sea.

<comment><USER23> This.

I am about that age (that I guess the OP is) where, luckily for me, I have created a curriculum and experience that will be wasted solving brain teasers.

Haven't interviewed in a good while (at least not from the interviewed side), but if the interview consists of 'how much orange juice is consumed in the US per day' kind of questions, I'd probably excuse myself, thank everyone for their time and look for greener pastures elsewhere.

</comment></comment><comment> daniel-cussen Fish oil is a good one. It's supposed to prevent Alzheimer's if you take one gram a day, and it may improve your eyesight and heart at that dose.

You can take five a day. You can take 10. People with heavy brain damage (many minutes without oxygen) take 15 a day for six months to learn to walk and talk again, and they get recover.

</comment><comment><USER24> Joe Rogan recently had Dr Andrew Huberman on his show [0]. Dr Huberman had a lot of fantastic information about changes in mental plasticity and how to triggering learning in adults.

[0] [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gLJowTOkZVo](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gLJowTOkZVo)

<comment><USER25> Joe Rogan spam is an invasive species.

<comment><USER26> Friend, I just finished listening to the podcast after seeing this comment. It is genuinely relevant. The episode is full of useful information related to brain plasticity that OP would benefit from. Don't dismiss all of a creator's content as spam.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> I think both math and (analytic) philosophy can help. When I say math, there's two different things I have in mind. One is just solving problems. Get any old text book at your level and start doing homework problems. Same works for physics. The other thing I have in mind is theorem proving. Look at Paul Halmos' book on Naive Set Theory for example or pick something more at your level.

As for philosophy, trying to pin down subtle distinctions and following the extremely abstract arguments could help. You could start there with text books, or reading in the history of philosophy like Aristotle, Plato, Descartes or maybe by looking up concepts and problems you're already familiar with in SEP.

Good luck and have fun.

[1] hhtp://plato.stanford.edu/

</comment><comment><USER28> If you just care about brain teasers, caffeine is quite effective at inducing small temporary increases in cognitive ability and is totally safe. Try having a big 'ol cup of joe before interviews.

If you want to learn how to think more critically, you need to force yourself to continuously engage new ideas and learn to recognize an author's motivations and biases while still evaluating their arguments objectively, putting aside your own past conclusions temporarily in order to understand their argument. Then do the same for ideas you have previously agreed with, and see which ideas hold up to scrutiny. Only then can you truly call conclusions your own.

<comment><USER5> Listening to Beethoven before a test is also known to induce a small cognitive gain for 15 minutes after listening.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> Meditation can help maintain neuroplasticity and help you in many other parts of your life as well. I recommend the waking up app for a good intro

[https://www.wakingup.com/](https://www.wakingup.com/)

</comment><comment><USER30> If you haven't already, check out [https://projecteuler.net/](https://projecteuler.net/). It's a huge collection of logic problems of varying difficulty that require a mix of math and programming to solve. There are 723 problems at the time of this writing, and a new one is added each week. After solving a problem (you need an account to submit solutions, but can view all problems anonymously), you get access to a discussion thread where you can gawk at the often mind-blowing solutions that other solvers have hacked up in all kinds of languages.

</comment><comment><USER31> I notice the same issues as I approach 50.

Here's what seems to work for me:

1\. Plenty of cardiovascular exercise.

2\. Eat well, including plenty of green plants.

3\. Get plenty of sleep.

4\. Limit online consumption and other unimportant inputs (TV, gaming, podcasts, etc).

5\. Practice being bored^W^Wmindfulness. This could be meditating, or just sitting outside contemplatively, or not consuming content while performing #1.

6\. Keep spot checking yourself for where you're coming up short with the above 5 items. It's all too easy to fix the issue, feel great, and then fall out of the above habits. But you can't. You've got to stick to the plan.

</comment><comment><USER32> Develop Shamatha, which is a calm abiding mind, meditative equipoise, single pointed concentration.

Then engage in analytical meditation, typically known as Vipassanā in the Buddhist tradition, but essentially it involves analytically decomposing whatever you're meditating on.

I realized that before I ever dove into Tibetan philosophy that I was developing these two as I designed and constructed software (as I'm sure a lot of us do).

</comment><comment><USER33> 1) Think hard about things that you have to work at in order to understand 2) Engage in exercise that regularly includes anaerobic intensity 3) Sleep well and deeply

Learning is brain growth that occurs as a result of thinking, largely during rest and sleep following the activity. Exercise will increase the amount of growth that occurs (mentally and physically), and good cardiovascular health is effectively the same thing as good brain health

And, maybe obviously, practice the brain teasers and interview questions. They are a skill that is not the same thing as being mentally sharp

</comment><comment><USER34> I hope you can afford my answer. It's time to live your life for you, not "them."

<comment><AUTHOR> I agree, don't get me wrong. I'm all for that mentality and generally draw the boundaries between work and life. However, in this precarious time, I need to find another job.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> One thing I haven't seen mentioned is that you could use Lions Mane mushroom, or it's extract. There was a double blind study from Japan that shows this is a nootropics.

Also, brain teasers are a BS way to interview. One of the best interviews I had was a mock architecture session (I didn't get the job). They gave me an overview of a project, told me to use AWS tech, and let me ask questions as I worked through a rough architecture.

</comment><comment><USER35> Always be skeptical, objective, and learn to deeply appreciate originality.

I wrote this yesterday after confronting somebody saying something short- sighted: [https://github.com/prettydiff/wisdom/blob/master/faulty_prem...](https://github.com/prettydiff/wisdom/blob/master/faulty_premise.md)

<comment><USER36> Not a bad read. In the opening paragraph you conflate argument validity with argument soundness, though. Thanks for the link.

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> Grey matter is where knowledge is stored. White matter is where the connections are. Enhance those connections. For that, I recommend learning to juggle. [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091016114055.h...](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091016114055.htm)

<comment><USER30> This is a gross overextension of the results of that study. From the article you linked, emphasis mine:

> 'This exciting new result raises a lot of questions,' says Dr Johansen-Berg, > 'MRI is an indirect way to measure brain structure and so _we cannot be sure > exactly what is changing when these people learn._ Future work should test > whether these results reflect changes in the shape or number of nerve > fibres, or growth of the insulating myelin sheath surrounding the fibres.'

> _'Of course, this doesn't mean that everyone should go out and start > juggling to improve their brains._ We chose juggling purely as a complex new > skill for people to learn.

If OP takes your advice, they'd end up being decent at juggling, but at the huge opportunity cost of _not_ practicing _actual_ critical-thinking skills directly, or reading articles and books relevant to their target domain of expertise, or some other approach to prepare for interviews and a career in data science that's more effective than juggling, of all things.

Besides, OP already said they've been juggling two kids!

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> Exercise, sleep and shooting the shit with friends has the biggest impact on my perception of mental acuity.

<comment><USER5> Ah, yes. I forgot that social engagement is a factor in prolonging cognitive function.

</comment></comment><comment><USER39> Although not directly related to critical thinking, product questions or brain teasers but what works for me is reading and reading whatever floats my boat. I consider it weight lifting for the brain.

</comment><comment><USER40> It just takes practice. I had to do the same. I started solving Sudoku, George summers puzzles.

In the process, I could develop a general process to solve problems.

Using systems thinking helped a lot.</comment>


Ask HN: Does Amazon want a non-marijuana state for HQ2? - <AUTHOR> Just wondering on what people think about this topic. I've seen studies that say pot lowers IQ, especially in kids. I've seen others that show no harm to IQ. Are employers, in general, in favor of pot use among employees? Are employers seeing any negative impact on productivity in liberal pot states? <comment><USER2> I'm fairly certain that among all the factors that Amazon is considering, "legal status of marijuana" ranks somewhere around "visual appeal of the state flag."

Amazon deals in government contracts, and weed is still federally prohibited. They're looking for tax and new hire benefits.

</comment><comment><USER3> "I've seen studies that say pot lowers IQ, especially in kids"

There are so many variables that could be associated with IQ it's really easy to assume that conclusion for any of them, especially if that was the intent of the study. There is a financial incentive for some to fund and promote such conclusions.

Because of that we've endured over a century of "Refer Madness" and are just now beginning to look at this issue in a less biased way.

Newer studies worth noting:

[http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/2/e012989](http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/2/e012989)

[https://www.inc.com/cynthia-than/the-surprising-way-to-be- be...](https://www.inc.com/cynthia-than/the-surprising-way-to-be-better-at- brain-teasers-a.html)

</comment><comment><USER4> One thing that you need to get past really is that pot being illegal doesn't really seem to effect usage that much. It's not like 30% of the population was waiting for it to be legal to smoke it. If it worked any other way nobody would have had alcohol during Prohibition.

</comment><comment><USER5> Why would they care? If you are an unproductive, substance dependent addict, you'll probably be fired or not hired.

It would be a pretty useless metric to judge a population on, considering alcohol is legal and far worse. Or prescription opioids.

</comment><comment><USER6> I don't think they would care that much. I think they could just drug test employees if they were concerned about pot. And I haven't heard of any major non-DOD companies on the west-coast drug testing.

</comment><comment><USER7> I think it could be a problem if you go to work stoned.</comment>


Ruby Best Practices (full book available for download) - <AUTHOR> http://blog.rubybestpractices.com/posts/gregory/022-rbp-now-open.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RubyBestPractices+%28Ruby+Best+Practices+-+Blog%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

<comment><USER2> For the tl;dr crowd, this will take you straight to the PDF:

<http://sandal.github.com/rbp-book/pdfs/rbp_1-0.pdf>

(But please read the article, it provides context :)

<comment><USER3> you provided a tl;dr link to a BOOK???! haha, wednesday morning irony ftw

<comment><USER2> Hah, the irony here did not escape me. But good point.

So... here's the tl;dr; for the book itself:

"Ruby provides many ways to do things, many of them decent. But some are usually better than others, depending on the context."

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> I recommend this book whole heartily. I have been reading the chapters as they have been released, an excellent resource.

</comment><comment><USER4> So, is this the full version of the O'Reilly book [1] or something different? I'm curious about the business end of this project: did you sell this PDF before giving it away for free? How much revenue have you brought in? How much time have you spent writing/compiling/editing this book in it's current state. It seems like a very highly regarded book (judging from the Amazon reviews) so perhaps I am just out of the loop on this one, but I find the business aspect of these ventures most interesting.

[1][http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&tag=mozilla-20&index...](http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&tag=mozilla-20&index=blended&link_code=qs&field- keywords=Ruby%20Best%20Practices&sourceid=Mozilla-search)

<comment><USER2> It is exactly what was used to generate the print book, just with some web enabled features like links. And yes, this is the PDF you'd get if you buy it from O'Reilly.

Marketing-wise, it was a gamble, because the open source release date wasn't contingent on sales or anything like that. We launched the book and gave a 9 month exclusive rights period to O'Reilly.

This at least takes into account the fact that most books sell the majority of their copies in the first month or two, but I didn't have like a minimum sales number before I could open source the book or anything like that. In fact, the print book says right in the front cover that it'd be open sourced in March.

The book did okay sales wise, not great, but not horrible. It definitely did worse than it should given that (at least from the looks of it) people really, really like it. But this isn't really up to the readers, it's up to the distributor. Basically, much of our sales come from wholesale, and with paper book stores on the decline, and the saturation of the market with Ruby books over the last couple years, it was hard to convince them to pick up a lot of copies of the book.

As of right now, I am just about at the point of clearing my advance. I will share specific numbers at some point, but let's just say that the advance probably works out to minimum wage or less when compared to the amount of effort put in.

Interestingly enough, the gradual week by week release of chapters really led to a nice spike in sales, coming from what was essentially a steady decline except for a spike around the holidays. So actually, I think open sourcing the book was good for sales in that regard. Since it might be hard to find the book on the shelves in a book store, this gives people a chance to "try before they buy".

Unfortunately, because my book was selling above average as an ebook, I've probably effectively killed those sales today. Then again, maybe people will still buy the Kindle and Iphone editions, who knows.

At the end of the day, I think neither O'Reilly nor myself expected this book to be a big bread winner. I love the book because it embodies the most interesting things I've learned from the smartest people I know, and I think that comes through in the writing. I wrote the book because the idea popped into my head fully formed and demanded to be put out on paper. So that was my biggest win.

But from an authors perspective, RBP has given me a great boost in exposure. I already had name recognition in the inner circles of Ruby community, but after writing the book, I find more opportunities from folks I probably wouldn't have been able to reach otherwise. This has been good for my open source projects, and good for my work.

I'm glad I did this, and it worked out well. I'd recommend it to others, for sure. Of course, buying the book will make O'Reilly happy, so go ahead and do that if you want :)

<comment><USER4> Thank you for the details! Much appreciated.

Even though you may not have been paid a "fair wage" for the work that you put into this book, it sounds like you are very happy with the outcome and the experience and the future benefits that you will undoubtedly reap from this project.

Congratulations and thanks again!

<comment><USER2> Actually, I don't think my advance was unfair. I self published a book a couple years ago and it was a logistical nightmare. When you think about what a publisher actually does, it's really a daunting task.

I think there was a post here on HN about that recently, but I can't remember the link. The author who wrote it described pretty much the exact process I went through, even though I think he was working with another publisher...

<comment><USER5> Could you explain a little bit more about the "logistical nightmare" aspect of self-publishing? I'm thinking about self-publishing a book of my own, so I'd love to hear more about the obstacles you came across and how publishers make it easier.

<comment><USER2> Well, I think that it can be profitable, especially if going EBook only. There is some great advice on it here:

<http://macournoyer.com/blog/2010/03/01/promote-cyopl/>

But for me, I didn't want to spend a ton of time and effort on marketing, and my topic was a niche within a niche at the time (I wrote the Ruport Book with Mike Milner -- ruportbook.com).

After a year or so, instead of being thousands in the black, we were hundreds in the red, even though the book sold a few hundred copies. So we just made it available at cost and closed the doors at that point.

This may be because the HTML version was available for free when we started. It may be because we set price points very low (I think our PDF was like $8), it may be because I started an LLC and wasted tons of money on absurd taxes just for keeping the doors open. It was a bunch of epic fail on the business side of things, and that at least taught me a lesson.

I talked to O'Reilly and though they were very inflexible about certain things (due dates, typesetting, etc), they were open to change pretty much everything that mattered to me, and did. As a result, my book shipped _early_ and at a much higher quality level than I could imagine doing myself.

Of course, I could tell you stories about other publishers I either pitched ideas for, did tech editing with, or wrote chapters for that'd make your head spin. So I wouldn't say that professional publishers are good across the board, just O'Reilly pretty much let me run with my ideas and ended up being very accomodating.

This may have something to do with the fact that I blogged and wrote articles with them for a while before writing a book, and because my editor is also a friend of mine from the Ruby community. But I know folks who have pitched O'Reilly cold and had similarly positive experiences, so I don't think that's the case.

Ultimately, publishing is going to be what you make of it. Self-publishing gives you full control, but it also gives you full responsibility. I think you can make money on it if you market effectively, and I think it can be a worthwhile if you really want to do something unique.

But for me, someone who just wanted to get some ideas out there and maybe make a buck or two in the process, doing all of the work of self publishing really was horrible.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Keyword arguments via hashes is certainly not a best practice for "Beautiful API Design". Sending messages is part and parcel to good OO design. Code that deconstructs hashes to emulate keyword arguments is invariably hideously complicated.

<comment><USER2> I agree with you from a language design standpoint, but seriously, I doubt you have much Ruby experience if you're saying this. And if that's the case, you really don't have a basis to be commenting on my book in such a critical and dismissive way.

Using positional arguments for more than two or so things creates connascence of position, which quickly becomes annoying.

Using block based DSLs so that you can break things down into small functions that each do their part is a good way around this, but these tend to be hard to extend dynamically.

Typically well designed Ruby systems provide both: Pseudo keyword arguments for dynamic needs, and some DSL-type syntax for pleasing the eyes.

Yes, it sucks that we don't have real keyword arguments. But no, it's not nearly as bad as you think.

<comment><USER6> I've been using Ruby since 2005 and I am a top 100 contributor to Rails (<http://contributors.rubyonrails.org/>). Rails design suffers for its heavy use of "keyword arguments".

 _positional arguments for more than two or so things creates connascence of position_

Which is precisely the reason that you shouldn't pass more than two arguments to a method (unless you are creating a list or hash for their intended purpose). If you have more than two arguments to a method, it's a sign that you should reify them into an object.

 _Using block based DSLs so that you can break things down into small functions that each do their part is a good way around this_

Why do people love making things complicated by misusing blocks. Just create an object and set slots on it. Blocks are best used for delaying computation, not setting up state.

I think that Zed Shaw's essay on the "Master" and the "Expert" is applicable here: <http://www.zedshaw.com/essays/master_and_expert.html>

<comment><USER2> Wow, and this is exactly the kind of douchebaggery I was trying to get away from in my book. You know, I think on the first page I mention that the answer to "what the best way" to do something in Ruby is always "it depends". The notion that you can follow singular design principles in all situations is absurd, if you ask me.

Context is king, and what you've done is taken a single point from my book, ripped out its context, strawmanned it to death, and used it to bolster you're own "Top 100 rails" status.

I encourage readers to actually see what I had to say in the book by downloading the PDF before taking these arguments too seriously. If there are some constructive examples to be shown that seem promising and pass peer review, they'll definitely make it into the open source version.

It might even be worth it to write up a section describing the tradeoffs that richcollins has pointed out, but it's definitely not something as universal as he makes it sound.

<comment><USER6> _used it to bolster you're own "Top 100 rails" status._

I've mostly stopped using Rails and Ruby in favor of Io, so I have no interest in bolstering my Rails status. I was just providing evidence to counter your assertion that I was a Ruby newb.

 _The notion that you can follow singular design principles in all situations is absurd, if you ask me._

I agree that "it depends", but using Hashes as arguments has become idiomatic Ruby, which is unfortunate in most cases.

<comment><USER2> I wasn't assuming you were a newb, just that you didn't have much exposure to what are commonly regarded as well designed Ruby libraries. It didn't occur to me that you'd have had that exposure and yet sound as if you were shocked and appalled about what is common practice.

I still would really like to see examples of well designed open source Ruby projects that follow what you consider to be decent design principles. I think that'd make a much stronger case for your argument, and might open my eyes to something that's been in a blind spot.

Personally, I feel like a certain amount of API design is bound to what consumers will expect. We can certainly stretch and shift their tendencies, but if we fly in the face of them, our perfection in a vacuum will never be appreciated.

<comment><USER6> Which libraries do you consider well designed? I'll let you know how I think that they could be improved.

<comment><USER2> I've already written an entire book on this and given it away for free. I suggest you read it and write a review. Be specific, and show good counterexamples. I'll be happy to link you when you do.

Until then, stop acting like you're some sort of authority (NOTE: This is not to claim _I_ am -- because I'm not and no one is.) I just think it'd make sense to put your ideas into a bit of context so people can see that you're not just being critical for the sake of being critical.

<comment><USER6>
        #from your book

        def distance(*points)
          case(points.length)
          when 2
            x1,y1,x2,y2 = points.flatten
          when 4
            x1,y1,x2,y2 = points
          else
            raise ArgumentError, "Points may be specified as [x1,y1], [x2,y2] or x1,y1,x2,y2"
          end
          Math.hypot(x2 - x1, y2 - y1)
        end

        puts distance(1, 2, 5, 6)
        puts distance([1, 2], [5, 6])

        # why would you choose to make a complicated interface that requires a complicated implementation?

        # simple, clear interfaces that allow for simple implementations
        # are almost always preferrable to complicated ones that save a
        # keystrokes through syntax

        class Point
          attr_accessor :x
          attr_accessor :y

          def initialize
            self.x = 0
            self.y = 0
          end

          def self.with(x, y)
            new.set(x, y)
          end

          def set(x, y)
            self.x = x
            self.y = y
            self
          end

          def distance_to(a_point)
            Math.hypot(a_point.x - x, a_point.y - y)
          end
        end

        puts Point.with(1, 2).distance_to(Point.with(5, 6))

<comment><USER2> So you mean that you prefer this:

Point.with(1, 2).distance_to(Point.with(5, 6))

Over this?

distance [1,2], [5,6]

I guess it depends on how many interesting things you wanted to do with points. As things get more complicated, maybe something like this is worthwhile, but I don't feel that making everything an explicit object is categorically better.

But the section you're quoting is among the most contrived examples that RBP gives, it's mainly just part of a list of the different sorts of argument processing Ruby offers and the trade-offs betweeen them.

Maybe you skimmed and missed that, or maybe you read through and chose to ignore that detail.

<comment><USER7> The problems I have with "distance [1,2], [5,6]" are:

0\. It breaks the fundamental OO convention and doesn't encapsulate logic and data.

1\. It's not clear what it means unless you look up the docs.

2\. It's implementation is complex, making it more difficult to understand and maintain

3\. It fails to separate concerns, making it less extensible/modifiable. e.g. What if you wanted to override the setting behavior? You couldn't do it in one place.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> The sandal username on GitHub sounded familiar, so I checked and realised its the same sandal that does the Prawn PDF library: <http://github.com/sandal/prawn>

That gives the book some extra credibility in my eyes.

EDIT: OK, now that I've read the foreward, I see Matz himself mentions Gregory's work on Prawn. Doh.

<comment><USER2> Yes, I started Prawn via the "Ruby Mendicant" project: <http://majesticseacreature.com/mendicant/>

I'm still active in the project as a maintainer. But really, these days you have Brad Ediger, James Healy, and Daniel Nelson, along with about 60+ contributors to thank for where Prawn is heading.

My job is mostly to sit around naming things, and warning people about the fragility of the early code I wrote. But we will have a 1.0 plan soon, and no matter who does the work, that'll be good for everybody.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> This looks sweet. Thanks sandal (for writing)/figured (for posting).

</comment><comment><USER10> Thank you for writing this, and thanks for open sourcing it.

<comment><USER2> The Ruby community has taught me so much, it seems the reasonable thing to do. Also, old books tend to go out of print, and then die sad, lonely out-of-date deaths.

Maybe this will keep RBP moving forward, and keep it alive.

</comment></comment><comment><USER2> BTW, going to experiment with using a wiki page for collecting reader questions. Once I have a few lined up, I'll cut a blog post reply on the RBP blog.

<http://wiki.github.com/sandal/rbp-book/questions-for-gregory>

</comment><comment><USER11> Here's a copy on Google Docs. I hate PDFs:

[https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8mB_WI1jRkCMzgyZWY5MzY...](https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8mB_WI1jRkCMzgyZWY5MzYtOTM0NC00YTRiLTg3NWMtZDU1MTdmM2QzNzU0&hl=en)

<comment><USER2> I'll run the book through asciidoc's html generator soon enough, but thanks for doing this for now.

Looks like it loses some quality on translation to Google docs, though...

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Sweet! Thanks, Greg.</comment>


Ask HN: How do you quickly get back into a side project after several days? - <AUTHOR> I don't get a chance to work on my side project every day. So I've noticed an annoying 'reload' time when I come back to it after a few days, that it takes to figure out where I was and how to get started again. To help, I've found myself keeping a simple log in a text file with notes to myself. It's not great, and I'm sure there's a better way. (By log I mean something different than commit messages. It's more like a personal journal, with notes on what I did, where I left off and what I have to do next.)<p>Does you do something to optimize how quickly you get back into a project that you only get to work on occasionally? E.g. I have a friend who chats with Slackbot in a private room, though I'm not sure it's much better than a text file. <comment><USER2> (1) Stop working in the middle of something, so when you get back you don't have to guess what next. It's an old hack (2) Keep a "what's next" list of 3-5 items, in addition to the project plan/to-do list (3) Do try to work, or just open it, every day. Even 15 minutes a day. It's not only the time you work on it, but also you keep thinking and solving and innovating during the day

<comment><AUTHOR> I like hack (1) a lot. But at least for me, it's hard to stop my brain when it's in the middle of something, I have this rush to get it done, which is why I like working on my own stuff of the side.

But maybe stopping at a reasonable midpoint without, like a subfunction, is a good idea. What kind of midpoints do you use?

<comment><USER2> Nothing special, really. On a virtual machine you can even leave everything open as is, so it's ready to continue. If I'm near a commit, I will not commit until next time. Then I start with the commit review, and commit.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I'm not currently working on any personal projects, but at my job I'm constantly juggling several projects whose priorities keep changing. And for many years I've been doing exactly what you do - keeping logs in text files. Long-running projects get their own text files while smaller projects get recorded in a "daily log". I like text files because they're easy to grep for keywords, and because a simple text editor is free of distractions.

I find that this is even useful in the short term: if I'm working on some code and need to go to a meeting, it's easier to get back into the code later if I have a record of the last thing I did before I was interrupted.

</comment><comment><USER4> Definitely a real issue, I hit it myself.

Assuming you commit when you stop, why not make the commit message detailed enough to summarize a) where you are, b) what problems you are currently experiencing, and c) where you think you need to go next. Explicitly think what your future self needs.

I certainly value of design notes (even for small projects), but committing regularly and often to a git repo for the project (it doesn't have to be complex, a simple local repo will do) seems like the ideal amount of tracking. It generally works for me.

</comment><comment><USER5> I can leave side projects alone for weeks or months at a time, so I've gotten into a habit of having a tab in my text editor (Sublime Text) with nothing but notes to myself for that project.</comment>


Will designer brains divide humanity? - <AUTHOR> http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227083.700-will-designer-brains-divide-humanity.html?full=true&print=true

<comment><USER2> Wow. One of the links in the article lead to this:

[http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14000-robomonkeys- use-...](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14000-robomonkeys-use-brain- power-to-grab-a-bite.html)

Researchers have several Macaque monkeys controlling robot arms via a direct neural interface and using the arms to feed themselves...

The fluidity of the robot arm's movement are amazing, you can see the monkey interacting with it as though it genuinely has come to associate the arm with itself!

Watch closely and you'll see the arm move closer to the monkey at one point because it has spotted a scrap of food stuck to it that it wants to eat.

</comment><comment><USER3> The article looks at both viewpoints. Personally, I think we are aways down the path of augmentation with cell phones and laptops. I dont see any great divide coming. Just like everything else there will be early adopters and late adopters. Eventually everyone will have the choice. Again, think cell phones. It's not going to be a race war between humans and super humans.

<comment><USER4> Exactly. And besides, I'm really not sure that I want to be an early adopter.

The thought that any bugs or problems would be directly affecting my brain kind of freaks me out.

I definitely like the idea of reshaping my brain, but I'm pretty cautious. I'm comfortable with things like exercise, diet, and meditation. But I want to know that I'm in control of the process.

<comment><USER3> The early adopters will probably those who need it for medical reasons: blind, deaf, brain/nerve damage, prosthetic limbs, Alzheimer's, etc.

<comment><USER4> Brain implants have already been in use for a decade. Brain pacemakers have been successfully used to treat epilepsy, Parkinson's, and depression. So while the implants seem relatively simplistic, they do exist.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_pacemaker>

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> It's the only thing that could possibly undivide humanity.

<comment><USER6> Only if we all have to get them.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Humanity is already deeply divided by the ownership of technology; it has been for all of recorded history. Those that have the technology have won the wars, grown the food, and built the shelters to survive and propagate in greater numbers. The availability of augmented brainpower may widen the gap, but it will not create it.

</comment><comment><USER8> I predict a dilemma. On one hand, there will be an offer to become a cyborg with superior intellect. And let's just call this futuristic mind-enhancing technology "chip", to simplify further.

So, on the other hand this chip will contain methods to manipulate thoughts of people. Thus, making thought crime possible. Sex offenders and criminals will be forced to accept this, of course. So if you pee in public, you'll have to have you thoughts controlled for the rest of your life.

On the other hand, as the thought power of intellectuals will be brought further and further forward, their differences and disobediences will also be punished. The consciousness will be merged together. So, we'll have a giant brain made up of intellectually-enhanced cyborg-people that will be able to solve a crapload of problems.

Ok, this scares me. A lot.

<comment><USER9> Ever watched any Ghost in the Shell?

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> OH MY GOD IT'S THE END OF THE EARTH CYBORGS AND ROBOTS WILL KILL US ALLL!!!

I admit that some of the latest advancements in brain-machine interfaces have been impressive, but articles like these are ridiculously bogus. Even if we could make a nontrivial BMI it would still require a surgeon to plant it just right. Don't even get me started on AI.

</comment><comment><USER11> Factory-issue brains have already divided humanity.</comment>


Ask HN: As a CS student with free time, what can I do to further prospects? - <AUTHOR> Hi all,
basically the title says it all. I'm currently a CS student working towards my Bachelor's. Since I have plenty of free time (for the most part), I was thinking of picking up other skills/domains to further my prospects of acquiring an internship/job once I graduate.
I was thinking along the lines of:

  1. Learning about other topics such as security, distributed systems, graphics which I may not have the chance to formally take a course on (given limited elective choices).

  2. Developing expertise in a particular development 'domain', e.g. web development, mobile development through various side projects.
 Otherwise, I was thinking of devoting the extra time to going more in-depth than what the module may demand i.e. dive into the textbooks/relevant material and cover content beyond what may be officially covered by the course, but I am not sure to what ends this will help to improve my skillset. What do you guys think? <comment><USER2> * If you want to get better with security study for the CISSP and read security literature. Right now I am learning how to produce certificates and trust authorities from openSSL and its a huge pain in the ass even just for localhost.

* If you want to get better at programming write an ambitious open source application. With enough experience you will realize that any given application is just some variable mix of instructions and data structures.

* If you want to be a technical expert in the real world get better at writing. Spending time writing original technical documentation, revise it, and then write some more. Writing ability is what identifies the adults in the room.

* Web development is a contentious subject. If you want to be employable learn a framework. Memorize the framework's API, become familiar with the tools and conventions, and tap into the framework's development community. You can fail at everything else.

If you want to be a strong web developer and make more money spend the minimal amount of time on a popular framework to be minimally employable. Spend the rest of your time focusing on code portability, performance, and accessibility using conventions directly gleamed from the standards. Know how to quickly build a web application with confidence without a framework.

</comment><comment> rooam-dev Imho the "otherwise" option should be on the top of your list.

Tools/best practices come and go, can be learned quickly with so much information out there.

That said, be curious and try different things and you will know what you like. Passion amplifies learning by a magnitude.

All of the above is imho, that I would've told younger myself.

<comment><AUTHOR> Sure, most definitely. Although I hope I wasn't giving off the illusion of neglecting my core topics, I certainly wasn't planning on that. I was just thinking that perhaps some of the topics present a sort of diminishing 'rate of return', since going too in-depth past a certain point may not be too useful/enlightening(?). But this may just be purely ignorant thinking on my part, since I have not fully grasped the important parts of each commonly taught CS topic yet.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Meet people. Relationships are more important than specific skills. They are also harder to develop and maintain. Good luck.</comment>


Apt security update - <AUTHOR> https://lists.debian.org/debian-security-announce/2016/msg00316.html <comment><USER2> > ...circumvent the signature of the InRelease file, leading to arbitrary code > execution.

> For the stable distribution (jessie), this problem has been fixed in version > 22.214.171.124.4.

> For the unstable distribution (sid), this problem has been fixed in version > 1.4~beta2.

> We recommend that you upgrade your apt packages.

Good find, Project Zero!</comment>