Availability.is  - <AUTHOR> http://availability.is/ <comment><USER2> We tried to do something along these lines in Melbourne, Australia. It was called Dragonfly. A few points:

\- We emailed people to update their availability. If they were available this week, we'd email. Otherwise they could set their busyness to between 1 week and 3 months.

\- We tracked where people were working and used that to bill the companies that hired them. First we charged a flat subscription rate of $3600 per year but people didn't want to pay that. We then charged $100 per week per freelancer. They wanted to go back to paying the subscription again. Then we went broke.

\- People won't keep their availabilities up to date. They won't like you asking them to keep their availabilities up to date either. They really won't like you asking them where they're working this week.

\- People will ask you how you're curating the list. If you're not curating it, theirs no point in using it as I can get list of people to hire anywhere. I want a list of people that are good at what they do.

\- Recruiters function because they hide the cost of hiring freelancers. You're a design agency, your charge out rate is $250/h. Hiring this gun front end developer through a recruiter costs me $100/h. I make $150/h, simple math.

The most important things to solve from POV is how you're going to curate the list and keep the bad coders off it. You want to start with A's and only have A's. As soon as B's creep onto the list then your reputation goes down. Also, because you want to keep showing growth, C's and D's begin to creep onto it. Also, your friend who you like but sucks at JavaScript will ring you up and ask to be placed on it.

Good luck.

<comment><USER3> >\- People won't keep their availabilities up to date. They won't like you asking them to keep their availabilities up to date either. They really won't like you asking them where they're working this week.

StackOverflow Careers handles this rather nicely. If you mark yourself as available and are contacted, you get a notification email. If after N days you don't respond (through SO) to the contact, you are automatically marked as unavailable.

It's not perfect, but in most cases it should remove stale list entries after their first contact.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> QA:

\- The settings link is a 404 if you haven't completed your profile yet.

\- There isn't a link to complete the registration flow from the rest of the app. If you click Settings prematurely and get that 404, your profile is hosed unless you know to find [http://availability.is/users/calendars](http://availability.is/users/calendars) in your history.

\- There's no obvious way to choose a profile photo.

\- The calendar listing doesn't auto-update. I just went and made a calendar (thinking it was required) in GC, but I can't link it to your site.

\- It isn't made clear during registration that the availability calendar is a feature, not a requirement.

<comment><USER5> Also, some twitter links are broken

e.g. [http://availability.is/for/sebinsua](http://availability.is/for/sebinsua) links to [http://twitter.com/http://twitter.com/sebinsua](http://twitter.com/http://twitter.com/sebinsua)

<comment><USER6> Not broken, you just don't need to include the full link to your twitter profile - just your handle.

<comment><USER7> If the app automatically adds a prefix and doesn't automatically strip that prefix if it's present in supplied data, it's broken.

<comment><USER8> Yep, should be parsing input for twitter prefix I agree.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> It is missing an explanation of what it is, ratings, reviews, resumes. Also how is this different than other sites where you can hire programmers?

<comment><USER6> You're right, some explanation wouldn't go amiss - I'll be sure to add this soon.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Most customers don't look just for available candidates but for ones that also match the required skill set. Just looking for some available "backend developer" wont work.

<comment><USER6> My experience as a freelancer tells me this is not always the case.

Besides, even if it is, knowing when a particular freelancer is available still is useful - isn't it?

<comment><USER10> I don't think so. If you need external support to fix a problem, it's because of their skills, not because of their availability. Most businesses can shift feature development for some weeks/months until an expert is available (if they can't find one) but an instant, crappy solution wont help them.

It's about skills + price. Not about availability. I don't know many freelancers with full-time exclusive projects that last more than 12 months.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Guessing it's built in Lithium ([http://lithify.me/docs/manual](http://lithify.me/docs/manual)). The favicon is the default one from the sample application ([https://github.com/UnionOfRAD/framework/blob/master/app/webr...](https://github.com/UnionOfRAD/framework/blob/master/app/webroot/favicon.ico))

<comment><USER6> You guessed right.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> The page is not....available right now. Haha.

<comment><USER6> I also operate the domain [http://available.is](http://available.is) \- we'd discussed using it for checking whether availability.is was available...

A friend pointed out we'd then need a subsequent site for checking available.is's availability too

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Backend / Frontend developer is kinda vague. Would be more useful if you could explain your specialty in more detail

<comment><USER6> Yup, sure thing - I'd like to add tagging for descriptions of skills.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Just a minor thing: You could replace the "tick" icon with Font Awesome [1] icons so they wouldn't look pixelated on retina displays.

[1] [http://fortawesome.github.io/Font- Awesome/icons/](http://fortawesome.github.io/Font-Awesome/icons/)

</comment><comment><USER15> I'd love to sign up, but I'm unable to do so without adding it to a Google account.

</comment><comment><USER16> The registration form is terrible: each time it doesn't like some input all the fields are reset and you have to start from scratch. Then the website URL validation is broken: for instance, I can't use a domain with a hyphen for it, but I can in the e-mail field. Also, the twitter field could be optional, and in any case tolerate getting the handle with the @ symbol prefixed. Anyway, the really bad part is the first point because it promotes the others from annoyances into pain.

The site looks good, though. It might end up working very well with some refinements as others noted.

</comment><comment><USER17> Neat idea. I would expect there to be a link to each freelancer's portfolio/personal website before ever considering clicking on "Hire Me".

<comment><USER6> There is. Immediately under the freelancers name, if they've added it. Here's mine: [http://availability.is/for/niftydigits](http://availability.is/for/niftydigits)

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Maybe a signup via email as an alternative to those of us that don't like to use our various google, twitter, facebook, github accounts for signing up?

<comment><USER19> [http://persona.org](http://persona.org) maybe?

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> 1\. Oh that looks totally cool!

2\. Sign up...

3\. As a freelancer...

4\. Google account?!

5\. Go back. Is there no other option?

6\. Seems not. Fuck you. I'd much rather create an account than give you my gmail address, have you use my fake name that I set on my google account, and have a single point of failure for authentication availability and security. That is assuming you only request read access.

<comment><USER21> _Seems not. Fuck you._

Not the OP, but don't take it personally. When someone's building a side project, there are so many things to do, and making using of an existing authentication system is fairly reasonable in the interests of time and effort vs value.

Of course, you have a right to your privacy, but you don't need to be so rude.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Are you living abroad in Iceland? I was under the impression that was the only way to get at .is domains.

<comment><USER23> No, they opened them up to everyone a few years ago, I believe. I had no problem getting one living in the US, although it does cost significantly more than a normal domain would.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Any good freelancer/contractor knows your availability is largely unimportant to the success of your own business. In other words, you don't normally lose money because you're unavailable, you lose it because you don't have work lined up.

<comment><USER25> It's up to the freelancer to develop a solid pipeline for work.

Downtime isn't uncommon either, it happens, but it's also one of the reasons your rate should be high enough to support your downtime.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> As someone who hires developers, it would be great to see a link to a resume. It often takes a lot of digging to find out what kind of experience a developer has from their website.

</comment><comment><USER27> I see that "UX" is not an option.

User Experience is a skillset that many clients need, and that many also mistake for visual design or front-end coding. They're very different things.

<comment><USER28> I'm genuinely curious, what are examples of the typical work product you produce for "UX"?

I must be biased into thinking it is either visual mockups (ranging from paper to balsamiq to powerpoint to adobe) or working prototypes (ranging from a UI builder on the web, a UI builder in an IDE, or HTML/JS/CSS coded by hand).

The former case I would label "design" and the latter case I would label "front-end developer" (with low technical skills and high artistry).

What am I missing? What else is "UX" for freelancers?

 _Edit and P.S. I just read through[http://www.jaysonelliot.com/about/](http://www.jaysonelliot.com/about/), and I like the candor and approach. One bit of a small friendly feedback: Please add measurements for the outcomes of the projects you want to highlight.

For example, it looks like Preferio (the first example) is no longer around. That's cool, we've all worked on failed projects. What are some of the decisions you made while working there and designing the app? You had to have had some influence... was there a visual style or conversion flow you updated that increased X% of some valuable activity? Of course there was, so add it :) That is the kind of behavior and thinking I want to see from UX people. The entire presentation talks about things you did and omits outcomes. The things you did are great, but please add more outcomes. They will complete an otherwise good message._

<comment><USER27> That's really valuable feeback, thank you for taking the time to look at my stuff!

UX, for me, is a very upfront strategy role, which culminates in static or prototype wireframes, but doesn't involve visual design or coding. User research and testing are also big parts of it.

Of course, roles are fluid and I might answer differently in a year.

I think UX is a role that's often misunderstood in startups, as it's often most prevalent in larger corporate teams. I've been trying to find ways to make it more accessible for everyone, though.

Thanks again for the feedback, it's been a while since I updated my own portfolio, and I will take your advice.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> Just as a fun polish, you should build really awesome "unavailable" pages for your 404s and 500s that points out the obvious semantic irony.

</comment><comment><USER30> Did I read this right: "Collin Price is available permanently". Or should it be "Collin Price has been available forever"?

</comment><comment><USER31> If I could sign in with GitHub, absolutely.

<comment><USER32> I agree - The weird thing is I have a google account that I use for work, but I'm not comfortable using it to sign up to other services. Where as I have no issues signing up for things with GitHub.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> Brilliantly simple. I'd love to see some permanent/freelance and location filters for employers though.

<comment><USER6> Yup - I want to do this too..but I need a certain number of people in the same location to make it worthwhile. You can hack the urls to include the "location" parameter in the meantime though.

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> Not so available.

</comment><comment><USER6> Just beefing up the server. Two ticks ;)

</comment><comment><USER35> my website/blog morenoh149.github.io isn't being accepted as a valid website address :(

</comment><comment><USER36> Please use infinite scrolling, nobodies want to click "next" every 10 profiles.

<comment><USER37> I don't think everyone appreciates infinite scrolling, perhaps showing more profiles per paginate would be better (or give the user a choice between the two, or how many per page).

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> availability.is HTTP 500 (Internal Server Error)

</comment><comment><USER39> ratings would be awesome :)

</comment><comment><USER40> It works!</comment>


YC sourced on ValleyWag: Yahoo to sell at $36? - <AUTHOR> http://valleywag.com/355173/yahoo-to-sell-at-36 <comment><USER2> I like how they confused Y Combinator and news.ycombinator.com.

<comment><USER3> You have to admit, that wasn't exactly unintentional on PG's part. The site isn't hackernews.com, it's news.yc. That comes with certain connotations.

One of which is that the site gets free publicity and name recognition. Another is that people are on their "best" behavior, since their comments might be counted as part of their YC app.

The downside is that people are going to associate anything that goes on with the core YC project.</comment></comment>


Dwarf Fortress: An actual look at graphical improvements - <AUTHOR> https://steamcommunity.com/games/975370/announcements/detail/2082292794864361478 <comment><USER2> I never thought the ASCII graphics were a big problem in Dwarf Fortress; once you get used to it using a bunch of symbols as decoration, almost all the weird stuff ends up being things you placed yourself. On the other hand, the complete lack of UX consistency - whether a given submenu will use primary/secondary cursor keys, nested menus, or a pile of hotkeys - is a lot harder to deal with.

<comment><USER3> I completely disagree. The ASCII "graphics" (if you can really call them that) are a huge reason why I've never even considered playing it. I've read all about the mechanics, and they're interesting. I just don't understand why anyone would spend so much time developing so many intricate features when the presentation is so poor.

<comment><USER4> The thing is, it's really not. Granted, I always used the Lazy Newbie Pack which gave you basic tiles, but once you get used to ASCII, things tend to be a lot easier. Also, this is a detailed simulation, so things move a _lot_ faster if you're not spending CPU on graphics.

Remember, each creature has a bunch of parts with individual health, each tile can get stained by various materials (that can spread disease) and everything is made of various materials with all sorts of mostly-realistic properties. I mean, DF is the _sole_ reason you can find the solid density of Saguaro rib wood on the internet and the value came from an empirical test of a small cube of Saguaro rib wood. It's in the DF raws.

So yeah, you might enjoy DF with a tile set like the LNP if you like the mechanics. But it's a super-complicated game so it takes a while to learn to control things, to learn the requirements to make various items, etc. It's not a game for everyone, you do have to sink quite a lot of time into learning it to enjoy it.

<comment><USER5> "this is a detailed simulation, so things move a lot faster if you're not spending CPU on graphics"

Consider Battlefield or COD Warzone, which simulate the effects of actions by multiple players (including projectile travel) in real time and still manage upwards of 100FPS of near photorealistic graphics.

Or factorio, where people build insane megafactories with millions of machines in them and yet performance is great and the graphics will still show you the shadows of clouds passing overhead.

Dwarf fortress is a very interesting game and a very deep simulation, but the idea that it's such a detailed simulation that graphics would not be possible is just untrue.

Honestly the UX in dwarf fortress is generally just insanely user-hostile and graphics are only a tiny symptom of that. And I say this as someone who plays and enjoys the game - I've had forts with upwards of 100 idiots^Wdwarfs in them, magma moats, breaching multiple cavern layers, surviving necromancer seiges etc. But every time I play I have to go through that thing over again where I try to figure out how to assign a pet to a person, when I set up a military squad getting them to wear the right equipment is a total chore, minecart UX is completely baffling. Also the simulation is very detailed but kind of broken in lots of annoying ways, like female dwarfs randomly dropping their babies while working, forgetting where they put them and then freaking out, random tantrum spirals because someone went out in the rain and so just decides to murder their colleagues etc.

<comment><USER6> >Consider Battlefield or COD Warzone, which simulate the effects of actions by multiple players (including projectile travel) in real time and still manage upwards of 100FPS of near photorealistic graphics.

>Or factorio, where people build insane megafactories with millions of machines in them and yet performance is great and the graphics will still show you the shadows of clouds passing overhead.

Compared to DF, both of those are an incredibly simple simulation that doesn't lend itself to emergent game play. If you're trying to make the argument that they're just as complicated and still have fancy graphics, that's not the case. DF is far, far, beyond anything in those "simulations" in terms of the back end.

I lament the lack of graphics in DF not because the UI is awful... I've played worse, and in fact Fallout 4's builder interface comes to mind... but because it's incomplete. Certain things that have shown up in third party utilities like Dwarf Therapist are nearly impossible to do without, making the base game more or less unplayable after a release until the third party stuff catches up.

A lot of what you mention regarding tantrum spirals has been fixed in the new release... the issues with dwarf emotions are much more balanced now. It's still the same game, though, so I haven't gotten decades into a fort yet, but I'm hopeful it'll be worth playing beyond the point it was in the past where things spiraled into angsty dwarf death.

<comment><USER7> >Certain things that have shown up in third party utilities like Dwarf Therapist are nearly impossible to do without, making the base game more or less unplayable after a release until the third party stuff catches up.

I called this Kerbal or Skyrim Syndrome amongs friends.

Games that are no longer playable vanilla after you've had the luxuries of some of the simple convenience addons.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Eagerly awaiting the graphical version to finally be available on Steam so that I can buy it and throw some money their way.

I know the regular version has been available for free forever, but the ASCII graphics have always been a turn-off. I'm not opposed to MUD-style graphics in general, Dwarf Fortress is just so _dense_ with stuff that I found I spent most of my time just trying to figure out what was going on.

<comment><USER9> If it's encouraging at all - after some hours into the game the ASCII actually starts looking like what they represent, enough that even when you see a new character given its context you can figure out what it's meant to represent without really thinking about it.

<comment><USER10> It's a bit like the Matrix. At first it's an overwhelming amount of mostly tiny green symbols and after a while things make more sense.

I'm definitely looking forward to this graphical version, though. And hoping that one day the game will even support multiple threads, but that's probably wishful thinking.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Don't let Dwarf Fortress put you off ASCII graphic games if Dwarf Fortress is the first you've played. I tried DF a while back but didn't have the time available to get comfortable with it.

I found Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead much easier to get into. As a new Cataclysm DDA player I spent most of my time learning how to survive in the early days of a zombie apocalypse. Finding food, learning how to craft weapons, what the zombies are capable of.

In one game I found a large mansion in the woods. There were a few zombies inside but not too many to prevent me from clearing it out. I set up camp in one of the bedrooms. The mansion had loads of food, water, materials for crafting. Good times!

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead [https://cataclysmdda.org/](https://cataclysmdda.org/)

<comment><USER12> CDDA also has a whole bunch of graphical options. I find it way easier to parse that way and I think most players use the tilesets these days.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> One day when I am retired and my kids are grown up I will have the proper bandwidth for DF and play it. Until them I am an admiring fanboy from afar.

<comment><USER14> That's my thought but for Eve Online. I've read and heard about it, and the idea of it fascinates me. However I just dont have the time required to dedicate to it.

<comment><USER15> Same for DF and EVE. :D

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> The biggest single thing DF can do after graphical improvements is fixing the performance, perhaps make it not single threaded. I've been able to get past the graphics, and work through using the keyboard menus, but having the fortress come to a screeching crawl when there's a ton of things going on is when I stopped playing.

<comment><USER17> I picked up dwarf fortress 7-8 years ago when I was in eighth grade, and have been playing it on and off since. Performance is always what kills the game for me.

The game is supposed to be hard, but if you at all know what you're doing it's very easy to keep your fort well, and the only real risk of losing your fort is from you intentionally doing stuff that puts your fort at risk. You literally can defeat entire enemy armies by capturing them all with cage traps, for example.

This I can forgive.

Dwarf fortress is all about the crazy stupid ideas you can come up with after all. Want to build any interesting structures? Prepare for your dwarfs to get stuck every conceivable way one could possibly get stuck trying to build a simple wall. It can be incredibly tedious to accomplish something that ideally shouldn't take more than a few simple commands.

All of this I could live with. The performance without fail is what eventually kills my will to play. Want to do cool stuff with magma? Watch the game slow to a crawl. Want to run a big society? Watch the game slow to a crawl. Want to do anything remotely interesting? Watch the game slow to a crawl.

People go to obscene lengths to keep their performance, such as generating atom smashers that will 'delete' unwanted stuff from their fort completely, so the game stops wasting energy rendering 5000 rocks and how each dwarf is reminded about their childhood traumas as every rock reminds them of how their father died from a falling rock.

This game is so close to being great but falls short at the very last mile because the basic gameplay is fundamentally flawed. This is a simulator first, game second and it shows :(

<comment><USER18> Concerning it being a simulator first and a game second, that's definitely true, but it makes me wonder if the very old 2D versions (before there was a Z-axis or fancy worldgen) was more enjoyable as a game. I didn't start playing until after those versions, but I get the impression there was a lot more consistent narrative as to what you discover while tunneling into the mountain, as opposed to so much depending on the worldgen.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> I spent significant time in DF in the early part of 2010s, but in the end found that it's just too much to micromanage - the game (at the time, at least) didn't offer much help with it, and after awhile, all the clutter really got in the way.

If you like this kind of game, but would want something not as demanding, try Rimworld. Out of all dwarffortresslikes (I don't think that calling them Dward Fortress clones is fair), it's got a good amount of polish, reasonable 2d graphics (nothing too fancy, but looks nice) and most importantly, you don't feel as if you have to manually tweak every little thing. You still can, you just don't have to.

<comment><USER20> the key thing about rimworld for me is the multiplayer mod. there are many things i am willing to sacrifice for that experience.

<comment><USER21> Unsure if RimWorld is getting multiplayer or if they're planning on developing a new multi-player game, but they're advertising for a role that inc's multi- player experience at the moment.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/RimWorld/comments/fpe522/tynan_is_l...](https://www.reddit.com/r/RimWorld/comments/fpe522/tynan_is_looking_for_multiplayerfocused_developers/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> There is already a pretty excellent 3D isometric front end for Dwarf Fortress. The name eludes me but it's well known within the community.

However - I found that many parts of Dwarf Fortress disappointed me (and I was hyped as heck to play it - given that I'm a fan of Nethack, DCSS, Cataclysm, and basically any rougelike or rougelite). The game just feels extremely unfinished. Adventure mode is a total joke. Performance is totally garbage. The creator refuses to open source his game (no one will laugh at you man!). The documentation is horrific (no one quite knows how some of the BASIC SKILLS work or what they do)

It's got the potential to be a true gem, but right now, it's like an uncut diamond in the rough.

Might as well just play Rimworld. Rimworld solved every single problem that Dwarf Fortress had and its world is more compelling to me.

<comment><USER23> > pretty excellent 3D isometric front end for Dwarf Fortress. The name eludes > me

[http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Utility:Stonesense](http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Utility:Stonesense)

It's not a complete front end. It cannot control the game, just provide a visualisation of the world.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Seems like simply upgrading some of the characters to equivalent emoji would have been a big improvement. I know many people don't like emoji, but for the most part they are pretty universal and easy to understand.

<comment><USER25> This is not really needed. The game doesn't actually use ascii output, it renders the text (windows terminals would probably be too slow), and it supports graphic packs than can show the dwarves as actual pictures of dwarves. The biggest problem is when a glyph is reused for multiple things, as in that case the graphic has to pick one of them or stay generic.

<comment><USER23> > The biggest problem is when a glyph is reused for multiple things, as in > that case the graphic has to pick one of them or stay generic.

Solution: [https://github.com/mifki/df-twbt](https://github.com/mifki/df-twbt)

This is included in various content packs, so setting this up manually is optional.

> The game doesn't actually use ascii output, it renders the text (windows > terminals would probably be too slow)

Linux and OS X terminals are fast enough. The init.txt setting [PRINT_MODE:TEXT] switches the renderer to ncurses.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Nice to see the classic getting some modern graphics. I love text based games, but something as complex as DF really benefits from graphics that can make it easier to determine what is going on on the screen.

<comment><USER27> My main DF consumption is through Kruggsmash playthroughs/stories on Youtube [1], so I don't live it, but I know I would would enjoy watching the game more if I knew which of the more than 30 creatures the "C" that I'm looking at represents [2].

[1] Kruggsmash: [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaifrB5IrvGNPJmPeVOcqBA](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaifrB5IrvGNPJmPeVOcqBA)

[2] Creature characters: [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Creature](https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Creature)

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> In case you dislike Steam, take note Dwarf Fortress Premium is also available at Itch: [https://kitfoxgames.itch.io/dwarf- fortress](https://kitfoxgames.itch.io/dwarf-fortress)

</comment><comment><USER29> Dwarf Fortress strikes me as a game that would benefit from a strong engine / UI split, with an API for querying the world state.

That said, DFHack is probably sufficient for this purpose.

[https://docs.dfhack.org/en/stable/](https://docs.dfhack.org/en/stable/)

<comment><USER30> I haven't used it, but Dwarf Fortress Remote for iOS seems to accomplish this somehow; the whole UI is iOS native.

Obviously there's no official API, but the developer has somehow managed to achieve something similar.

[https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dwarf-fortress- remote/id100366...](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dwarf-fortress- remote/id1003660287)

<comment><USER31> I just got this, thanks to you. Appreciate it!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> Next step: going 3d [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=167533.0](http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=167533.0)

A raytraced DF front end would be breathtaking.

<comment><USER33> Get someone to write a DF to Minecraft map converter and then use Mineways to export to Blender? (Admittedly, this won't be a real-time affair...)

<comment><USER23> only works on old versions

[https://github.com/TroZ/DF2MC](https://github.com/TroZ/DF2MC)

[https://github.com/Thutmose/dorfgen](https://github.com/Thutmose/dorfgen)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER34> The actual changelog of this game is legend.

\- "Dwarves form grudges with animals"

\- "Flying creatures stop flying, fall to the ground, and explode"

\- "Knocked out teeth dont bleed"

\- "Rodent men don't use their new teeth to bite."

\- "Eyes can't be gouged out"

[https://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/mantisbt/changelog_page.p...](https://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/mantisbt/changelog_page.php)

</comment><comment><USER35> If you like the Ascii aesthetic, check out Cogmind. It has amazing Ascii graphics. Full animations.

</comment><comment><USER36> Having curiously perused the source for one of Tarn's earlier games, Liberal Crime Squad [0], and running away in horror, I'm really curious what the source for DF looks like... especially considering for how long they've plugged away at it.

Looking at LCS source was a lesson in how unimportant good programming can be when it comes to making a fun game. But I still can't bring myself to shed all my hygienic programming practices whenever I sit down to hack on a toy. It's really kind of frustrating, since it does add significant time to the development process from waffling about good names and clean abstractions.

[0] [https://sourceforge.net/projects/lcsgame/](https://sourceforge.net/projects/lcsgame/)

</comment><comment><USER15> I think the problem is not the ASCII. It is the UX. I've been playing DF for years and what made the game for me from horrifying (not the complexity, but the UX!) to bearable is DFHack! It fixes a lot of the UX issues (not all of them of course) and obviates the need to use 3rd party tools like Dwarf Therapist. I also enabled TWBT and added a nice color theme. Take a look [here]([https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/469471886598995968/55...](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/469471886598995968/556182297989349377/unknown.png)). I think the graphical tileset is kinda...empty and it doesn't hold that much information as the ASCII.

</comment><comment><USER37> I didn't know they were doing a graphics update, this looks great!

It will be interesting to see what they do with the interface. I've thought before that a complete mapping and redesign of all Dwarf Fortress screens and actions would be material enough for an entire thesis on UX.

</comment><comment><USER38> One thing worth checking out if you're looking for DF-Lite with nice graphics: Odd Realm.

</comment><comment><USER39> I wonder how this will affect the performance; last time I played DF it was pretty much single-threaded and the performance would tank noticeably once your colony grew to around 100+ dwarves.

Granted, it's been about 10 years since I played it.

<comment><USER40> I don't think the graphics will add significantly to the work the simulation is doing.

<comment><USER39> No, but they are presumably going to add a little extra time per frame over the very basic display it uses now. It's certainly not going to make it any faster.</comment></comment></comment>


The school prepping for apocalypse - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/t-magazine/bali-green-school.html <comment><USER2> When I string these three sections together:

 _The local Balinese schools were all about learning "by rote," he said; at the other end, the traditional expat-driven international schools were a "monoculture" of privilege._

[...]

 _Ambitiously idealistic experiments often collapse under the weight of their own internal contradictions, and it is certainly possible to find these at Green School: Here are mostly Western, affluent families, many of them temporarily abandoning their comfortable lives for a metaphysical gap year of voluntary simplicity (or life rebalancing or spiritual reawakening) in an exotic stage-setting, at a school whose annual tuition (roughly $15,000 a year for a sixth-grader), while a bargain compared to New York City private-school standards, is far beyond the reach of the average Balinese. (Hardy's original vision of having at least 20 percent of the school comprised of Balinese scholarship students was, Druhan noted, easier to scale when the school had 90 students. Today, about 9 percent of the student body are on scholarships.)_

[...]

 _Diamond was struck by how different it felt from the "traditional boarding school model — you go here because your grandfather went here and then you're going to go to Yale and then work at this law firm and charge people $500 an hour to argue about nothing."_

It's hard for me to see this article as anything more than a wealth admiration puff piece. I mean if you locate in a super cheap country, court the kids of Yale graduates and rockstars to get $15,000 a year from them and give up on your mission to also educate the poor locals then yeah, it's easy to build a super impressive, large, expensive school. What's the point? These kids will be the next generation's leaders whether this school exists or not.

<comment><USER3> I agree that it's a huge fluff piece. That said, I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with setting up shop overseas like this. They're not going there and trashing the place, first and foremost. Money is being brought in to the area and the kids are getting exposed to the outside world more than they would in NY or SF schools. It's probably not the worst idea anyone's ever had regarding education.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Is this an example of burying the ledge? The first few paragraphs tell me nothing, and I don't want to waste a free article with an article that is rambling from the outset.

Is this just me though? Why not get to the point and intrigue me to read the rest of the article?</comment>


Cast a HN Poll to a Ruby Hash - <AUTHOR> https://gist.github.com/2284925

<comment><AUTHOR> For more efficient discussion/analysis of polls on HN :).</comment>


A new kind of review - inspired by Stephen Wolfram's book - <AUTHOR> http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A3KL7ITUIPVNOI

<comment><USER2> I haven't read this book, but this other review was a great overview.

[http://www.amazon.com/review/RUGSCP3XBNBUV/ref=cm_cr_rdp_per...](http://www.amazon.com/review/RUGSCP3XBNBUV/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm)

</comment><comment><USER3> That was beautiful. It perfectly captured everything about the book that rubbed me the wrong way.

</comment><comment><USER4> Clever satire! ANKoS is a worthwhile read full of great nuggets of interest. You could read the Notes as a standalone work. But it is not quite as important as Wolfram believes.

<comment><USER5> It is not clear that anything could be quite as important as Wolfram believes ANKoS is.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> For an equally scathing but more contentful review, it's hard to beat Cosma Shalizi's at <http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/reviews/wolfram/> \-- I love the title: "A rare blend of monster raving egomania and utter batshit insanity".

</comment><comment><USER6> What I find striking is the huge _approval_ ('helpful' votes) that this (1-star) review and two other thoughtful pans (a 1- and a 3-star review) received on Amz.

For a 2002 book that still sells quite well in hardcover (coffee table book to impress geeky friends?), the huge overbalance of negative reviews is something this Amazon addict does not recall seeing:

5 star: (89)

4 star: (38)

3 star: (50)

2 star: (60)

1 star: (104)

Perhaps somewhere in all those I'll find someone who's culled the gems from it. "Hacker Readers Digest" where are you?

<comment><USER7> "Helpful" might mean "helped me decide to spend my money elsewhere."

<comment><USER6> But the "stars" are the ratings of the book in concern - not of any reviews' "helpfulness".

What is striking is the modal rating of people _about the book_ is _one_ star - something seldom seen at Amz.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> "It is staggering to contemplate that all the great works of literature can be derived from the letters I use in writing this review."

However the author of the review left out the letter "z". Thus none of the works of e.g. Zola can be properly derived ... or is that the review writer's intention?

</comment><comment><USER9> Also see Ray Kurzweil's take on the book:

<http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0464.html?printable=1>

</comment><comment><USER10> great, no words</comment>


Nick Carr: Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty, With Real Dangers  - <AUTHOR> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703748904575411682714389888.html

<comment><USER4> This is Murdoch's attempt to hurt the online ad world which subsidizes many sites Murdoch thinks should be paid. And because they are not paid, they are hurting sites that _are_ going paid...such as the WSJ.

Ah Murdoch.

<comment><USER5> I dislike Murdoch (and WSJ) as much as the next guy, but from what I understand, Nicholas Carr has been writing this type of articles all over the place recently (not only on Murdoch's newspapers) to promote his book "The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains".

<comment><USER4> Fair enough. Though I think this goes beyond Nicholas Carr. WSJ's been doing hit pieces on cookies and online advertising pretty regularly the past few months. In that case, Carr may be someone they invited to join their attack team.

<comment><USER5> If you try hard enough eventually you will find a reason to justify a conclusion you have already reached in your mind. While I can only assume why Carr was invited to write on WSJ on this specific topic, it would seem that promoting his book would be the most probable reason.

Carr has some very valid points however.

<comment><USER4> Note that it is unlikely that WSJ would invite Carr _so_ that he could promote his book. WSJ doesn't really give a shit about _Carr_. They do give a shit about certain _stances_ and promoting them.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I think privacy would become less and less important over the years. There is no much harm from lack of privacy. There is a bad component in privacy violation though: it's when privacy is violated _exclusively_ by some powerful entity, such as government. But if privacy is just not there and life of all individuals is available to the public -- there is almost no real harm in it.

</comment><comment><USER7> It might just be one of my personal pet peeves, but when I read "The incorporation of GPS _transmitters_ into cellphones" I automatically switched to the assumption that the author is an idiot. (or at the very least, so careless with his writing that he's unlikely to be saying anything worth spending the time to read)

</comment><comment><USER8> ''The very idea of privacy is under threat''

it is very possible that the author wrote this piece -or at least he had it in his laptop- while he was in an airport waiting to get scanned - or at least once in his lifetime embarked on an airplane in an airport - while he was in an airport his privacy is not --under threat-- he has -no- right to privacy - his lagguage is opened - his body is scanned naked -- his privacy is violated to the core and he can do nothing about it - except to take the humiliation and rationalize it later

-or-

the author may be walking in the streets of new york -or any big city- where he is vidotaped non-stop - he has no privacy - some entity is violating his privacy by videotaping him and he can do nothing about it - his privacy is not -under threat- his privacy is non-existent -because- his privacy -is- violated - he has no privacy while he is walking in the streets of new york

you may say that his home is his castle -and- he has his -right- to privacy at home - even this is not true

the fact that he appears to have privacy at home is because the enity who -owns- his right to privacy does -not- care what he does at home --but-- if the entity who owns his right to privacy -suspects- that he is doing something in his -castle- that he is not supposed to do according to the entity who owns his right to privacy - his privacy at home will be violated just like his privacy is violated in the airport

the fact that at a certain place at a certain time --supposedly at home-- he has a -semblance- of privacy does not mean that his privacy is not violated - he has lost his ---right--- to privacy long time ago

i dont know how to explain this - if he had his -right- to privacy no one -can- violate his privacy -but- his privacy is violated all the time and he can do nothing about it - this means that he has no -right- to privacy

-because-

his privacy can be violated any time by the entity who own his privacy

the right to privacy is not something that you have it here now and not there and then -- as a human being he has no -right- to privacy

if anyone can explain what i am trying to say in a better language i would be most grateful

<comment><USER9> I laughed reading this because I read all the dashes and pauses as William Shatner explaining privacy. Reread it in that frame, and you'll love it!

I do think you're wrong though. Rights have limits, even rights we can all pretty much agree aren't be violated regularly. When it's necessary to violate someone's rights, we normally have strict procedures in place for doing so, and legal remedies in case someone oversteps.

I think the issue with privacy is that the exceptions are too many, and the remedies too weak.

<comment><USER8> \--with privacy exceptions are too many - and remedies too weak--

well - thank you for putting so well what i was trying to say in my lengthy comment

i interpret your insightful statement as saying that a human -body- has no privacy and no right to privacy -because- the entity who violates the privacy of a human body is the same entity who -defines- the exceptions --and-- the remedies

human body has no right to -define- what human privacy is

and there is only 1 entity who violates the privacy of human body - <USER2> entity may have different -names- but it is the same being

the being who has the absolute right to violate the privacy of a human body is the --same-- entity who also -enforces- the -remedies-

\--and-- who owns your privacy -is- your master

a slave has no privacy

in other words the owner of your right to privacy tells you --i grant you privacy but -i- reserve the right to violate your privacy as i wish-- what kind of right to privacy is that

which means that - that entity who violates the privacy of a human body has the freedom and right to violate the privacy of the human body - if that entity -owns- the right to privacy of the human body -then- human body -does not- own its own privacy

might is right - and whoever has the right to -define- is the mightiest

in the case of privacy - your right to privacy as a human being can only be violated by an entity who is not a human being - so a mother entering her daughters room without knocking - this is -not- the kind of violation of privacy we are talking about - in the airport your right to privacy is violated by an entity who is not human but a -bodyless- human

or maybe - we -are- talking about the same -kind- of privacy as mother- daughter privacy - the mother enters her daughters room without knocking to show that she -the mother- can violate her -daughters- privacy and -therefore- she -the mother- is in charge

for some unfortunate reason the authority -loves- to prove again and again that -she- is the authority -and- for some reason authority appears to be -she-

the same goes with human body - the entity who owns the right to privacy of a human body must show -again and again- that -it- or that bodyless and -therefore- genderless entity who owns the human right of privacy - <USER3> humiliate the human body again and again by scanning the naked human -body- and violate the most sacred privacy of human body and prove that human body has no privacy - to prove that -it- is the owner of the human right of privacy</comment></comment></comment>


Waking up early serves capitalism - <AUTHOR> https://qz.com/work/1435324/how-to-wake-up-early-dont/ <comment><USER2> I find this article bizarre. I wake up at 5AM so that I can juggle personal goals - fitness, hobbies, etc with my workday which goes from ~10-5. I typically can work out in the morning, beat my coworkers to work (start work at 7:30, they get in at 10), wrap whatever I had to for the day before my 10AM meeting, spend time during working hours exercising more, playing piano, or flying drones, then do a bit more work, cook AND STILL be in bed by 9:30PM to support my sleep.

Yes, many early risers who are "cultish" are total dorks that are sleep- depriving themselves and evangelize their wakeup time to appear "elite", but if I miss sleep I know it immediately - I feel mentally drunk all day and get mood swings, make simple mistakes, forget things, and oversimplify tasks. As such, I try to be in bed by 9/9:30 to get ~7 hours of sleep which still irritates my tension headaches, increases my workday stress and comes with a whole slew of compromises.

Regardless, I wouldn't trade my rising early lifestyle for the alternative - oversleeping (11->8), getting into work at 10, feeling tired all day, getting 30% as much done, no hobbies, no exercise... no thank you.

<comment><USER3> As someone who finds it impossible to change their sleep cycle and has tried almost everything in that regard & read a very large chunk of the scientific literature on sleep, both your view and the view of the article seem naive.

<comment><USER4> Maybe the GP is a natural early riser. I'm not but have managed to orient earlier. If left to my own devices 4am or 5am bed times are the norm but as I work I am up before 8am feeling fully rested and on an 8:15am call every morning. I must get 7-8 hours every night. That is the main differentiator.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> > having free time after you put your children to bed, or watching one of the > 17 Netflix shows everyone is talking about

These are two things that are not a big sacrifice for me. But honestly, I am continually baffled by posts that insinuate that waking up at 5:30 or 6:00 is some bizarre ritual. Since the quote mentions children, I will just throw out that a school start time of 8:00 generally means having to leave for school before 7:30, which makes a 6:00 alarm pretty necessary if you want to start off with a good breakfast.

We have lights out by 10PM (with the occasional homework mandated exemption) and everyone is up by 6AM after eight hours of sleep. This has never once seemed like an unusual schedule to keep.

<comment><USER6> In retrospect I'm really glad to have lived where I lived. Once I was old enough to get to school safely in my own pace sleeping until 7:30 to get there on time just before 8 was so much better than having to wake up at 7 :D

<comment><USER5> The elementary school was only a five minute walk away, but even still, the kids always wanted to be at school early to play soccer, ice skate, etc. It has always been more of an issue telling the kids that they cannot get to school too early, rather than the opposite.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> How about this? All the larks move to California, and all the owls move to New York. Then everyone can have a synchronized workday starting at 10 AM EST & 7 AM PST.~

If that sounds ridiculous, it was supposed to. I am very irritated with lark propaganda, trying to make me feel bad about my natural bio-clock. My opinion is that your work will be best when your body is healthiest, and that will happen when you go to sleep when you get tired, and sleep until you wake up without assistance or unnatural interruptions.

<comment><USER4> You've just invented the time communist utopia.

<comment><USER7> From each according to schedule; to each according to fatigue.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> So the summary is that waking up early is bad if you skimp on sleep to do it? Duh. And you're serving your corporate overlords by doing so? Oooookay.

Waking up early serves me, my employer doesn't care what time I come in. But traffic is a hell of a lot easier at 7:00 than it is at even 10:00. And I get to go home at 3:30. And then I go to bed at a decent hour so I can get my sleep.

</comment><comment><USER9> Agree. Being sleep deprived is not a good long-term strategy. I can wake up early if I wanted to but I need to go to bed way earlier too, which historically hasn't fit well with my lifestyle.

The only real advantage I see to shifting your day earlier is that there's generally less distractions or unexpected demands on your time in the early morning because, well, no one else is awake.

I prefer to work on side-pursuits in the evenings but I do find that the time gets easily hijacked by other stuff like social/family obligations, etc. IMO it's probably easier protect your productive time by saying "sorry I have to go to bed" than "sorry I gotta go work on my Scheme interpreter".

See also: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18111034](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18111034)

</comment><comment><USER10> This is really simple. If your life allows it, sleep as much as makes you feel rested. Go to bed when you need to sleep. I have been fortunate enough to do this for the last two years and I can't stress the impact it has had on my mood and my mental health. Obviously the "allows it" part is a large qualifier, but still. I think it probably applies to a large amount of HN readers.

</comment><comment><USER11> Most people I know that wake up early do so to serve themselves, not capitalism. If you go to the gym you're doing that for the health benefits and you know you're less likely to make an excuse and not go after work if you just get it out of the way in the morning. If you wake up earlier to enjoy a nice breakfast it's so that you are fully energized throughout the day. If you go to work earlier it's so that you can better your life by increasing income or getting that promotion you want. Not everything is some conspiracy about our capitalist overlords. Capitalism has alleviated more poverty than any economical system, so I don't understand the need for constant demonization.

</comment><comment><USER12> It is very strange that the thrust of the piece is defined as:

Waking up early is good for capitalism, but not good for your own interests

As opposed to:

Waking up early is good for your career interests given that you work in a capitalist system, but not good for your other interests

Anthropomorphizing capitalism and portraying its grand stance as a monolith that demands more time and sweat be thrown into it (for the good of Capitalism!) sure is a nice literary touch. But its a very subversive way of appealing to people's self pity. I can feel the implicit assumptions of language embodied within this article chewing on my mind and damaging the definitions I need to be able to rely on.

<comment><USER13> > Waking up early is good for your career interests given that you work in a > capitalist system, but not good for your other interests

Isn't that the gist of the article? Whether you serve capitalism or whether capitalism serves you?

It's like industrial farming. Do the cows exist to serve the farm or does the farm exist to serve the cows?

Maybe both? Who knows.

<comment><USER14> Depends on how you define it - while they may not have the best lifestyle it did result in them outnumbering humanity and being fed. While the intent is for humans clearly symbiosis can work on selfishness. Bees are just after the nectar of flowers but the plants get to mate with distant others while being completely sessile. The spice of peppers was "meant" to deter those who would eat it and destroy its seeds but humans are freaks who destroy it with digestion and like it but deliberately farm it enmasse so it works out for the plant. It has no agency clearly but it is served nonetheless.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Generic comment about how I personally go home early anyway, and thus since I do so, the article is moot.

(even if tons of employees don't go home early anyway, and the kind that follows the "wake up early" doctrine peddled by social media influencers is overworked).

</comment><comment><USER16> I get up at 6:20am, leave the house at 7:15, get to work for 8:15

Go home at 4:15pm

The sole reason why I do this is purely a matter of comfort on my commute, the London Underground is much more pleasant if you take the tube outside of the peak periods.

</comment><comment><USER17> ... This, according to a "travel and lifestyle" "journalist" with a degree in environmental studies. Thank you, very cool!

</comment><comment><USER18> I think a what a lot of the commenters here are missing is that not every employee has the choice of when they get to come in for work.

</comment><comment><USER19> I wake up early so I can get to work early and read hacker news for an extra hour before my co workers get here

</comment><comment><USER20> Waking up early also serves families with children between birth and adolescence. For that matter, it serves subsistence farmers--there are roosters crowing--in pretty much any economic system.

Also, what calendar are the folks working from who write about "late capitalism"? I'm not saying they are wrong; I just wonder whether there is a date at which they will notice that capitalism is still around, and reconsider their forecast.

</comment><comment><USER21> Clickbait about capitalism serves capitalism.

</comment><comment><USER22> I'm pretty tired of the false dichotomy that capitalism has an early stage and a late stage.

</comment><comment><USER23> I belive it's a clickbait article or the author doesn't really tried to understand benefits of getting up early. How can it serve capitalism if someone uses first hours of the day for himself not employer.</comment>


Valve confirms work on 'Source 2' engine - <AUTHOR> http://www.computerandvideogames.com/377934/valve-confirms-work-on-source-2-engine/

<comment><USER2> A company which actively develops software has the ability to snapshot a stable development tree and call it a "New Engine"? Shock horror.

Fans of these games blatantly don't know what an engine is; the difference between a graphics library and a suite of tools and code to create a game.

Perhaps they are excited because the Valve developer wiki and Source Filmmaker have been teasing newer versions of the tools like Hammer, built with Qt.

Valve have never been one for pushing the limits of GPU's, like Blizzard, so they don't limit their audience. id tech, unreal, and crydev are the ones showing off what they can do with OpenGL/DirectX, not Valve.

<comment><USER3> I'd argue that Valve was pushing the limits when Source first came out in 2004 - Half Life 2 still looks good today.

<comment><USER4> At the time, Valve was pushing the limits of older hardware, that's for sure. The engine used to run perfectly on DirectX 7 cards, which were old even then. It was neat to be able to play a great-looking set of games even on older hardware and get good FPS doing so.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I nearly cried of joy when I heard they would do an open world Skyrim like Half Life 3. I would have paid $500 on Kickstarter for that.

Better engine? Nice, but the HL2 engine would be good enough for me. HL is about atmosphere and story, not GFX - for me.

<comment><USER6> I don't know if they will be able to replicate the sense of danger that was present in Skyrim with another game engine. In Skyrim, when you would open a door to a new place, there was a real fear: is this going to crash my game? My whole computer?

<comment><USER7> FYI, Fallout 3, New Vegas and Skyrim have mods that will save every 5 minutes, and this helps with the crash on autosave problem. At the very least you'll never lose hours of playing.

The mods use a rotating save system so you end up with 5 minute intervals of the last 3 hours of gameplay.

Checking the size of your save games get let you know if you're going to hit the problem. At some point your saves jump to 5MB then to 10MB and soon you'll start hitting the crashing on autosave bug.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> "We've been working on new engine stuff for a while, we've just been waiting for a game to roll it out with."

Something something Half Life 3 something something something.

</comment><comment><USER9> Valve was working on the Half-Life 2 engine as soon as the original was released.

"The Counter-Strike developer has previously bragged its engine is "considered the most flexible, comprehensive". I hope it was a reference to the new engine and not the existing one which is fairly painful to work with. Hello map compilation which takes hours.

<comment><USER10> The current source engine is what they were talking about. It was designed to be module to allow for upgrades to the system, for example, since HL2 was release it's gained some major upgrades such as HDR, Soft particles, hardware accelerated facial animations, multi-core support, xbox360, ps3 and osx support (and currently in the process of adding linux support.) All that with very few and minor backward compatibility breaking instances.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Say what you want about 4chan, this is adorable.

</comment><comment><USER12> So Source 2 Vs Unreal 4 Vs CryEngine 4 And hopefully some MEGA Super Texture All artwork ID Engine 6.

<comment><USER13> Or more realistically, Unreal 4 vs. CryEngine 4. Source was not widely licensed, and interest in idTech seems to be low - there are currently no high-profile licensees that we know about.

Though now that Bethesda owns id, maybe there will be more "licensing" of the engine. It certainly is a very impressive piece of tech.

<comment><USER14> Bethesda killed their licensing, it's in-house only now.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Episode 3?</comment>


Cryptocurrency influencers hype up ICOs, sometimes making $105,000 a tweet - <AUTHOR> http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cryptocurrency-ico-influencers-20180626-story.html <comment><USER2> Click-bait. It's not "influencers". It's 1 guy. And most of you would've already guessed who that is...

The-Pump-and-Dump-King... high on PHP (the drug not the language)[1]

> crypto celebrity John McAfee has long been a promoter-for-hire, saying in > March that he charged $105,000 per tweet.

[1] Source: The Obscure, Legal Drug That Fuels John McAfee => [http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/09/the-obscure- leg...](http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/09/the-obscure-legal-drug- that-fuels-john-mcafee.html)

<comment><USER3> Man, I thought you'd just misidentified PCP, and had to go look it up. Best link I found on the subject: [http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=1914](http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=1914) on PCP vs PHP

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Can we stop giving this idiot (John McAfee) free exposure?

</comment><comment><USER5> Thank you EU for not allowing us to use the web unlike the rest of the world.

"Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism."</comment>


Show HN: Pugmarks.me - News for your micro-interests. A Chrome Extension - <AUTHOR> http://pugmarks.me

<comment><AUTHOR> At [http://pugmarks.me/](http://pugmarks.me/), we have constantly pondered how news has to be delivered to you, to be most useful and effective. We recently launched our New Tab extension for Chrome - that learns patterns in your browsing and suggests just the right news for you. Here's how a day in your life may look like:

a) You start by reading Edward Snowden's Q&A. b) You start hacking around and start reading on MongoDB optimization. c) You recall you have a meeting with a VC. You visit his LinkedIn profile to look for some talking points.

After all this, how should the New Tab on a browser look like? How would you like a browser that can understand what you are doing, anticipate your news needs and serve exactly that?

Thats what Pugmarks.me does. Give us a try. Would love your feedback.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfR1xIRNIoo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfR1xIRNIoo)</comment>


Robots fight weeds in challenge to agrochemical giants - <AUTHOR> https://www.reuters.com/article/us-farming-tech-chemicals-insight/robots-fight-weeds-in-challenge-to-agrochemical-giants-idUSKCN1IN0IK <comment><USER2> While it's nice that the robo-gardener is going to reduce pesticide use by being more precise in its spraying, it might be even better if the thing could be given a gripper to just yank out the offending sprout before it gets out of control.

Chuck it on the dirt and let it whither in the sun (since the bot is solar powered). The nutrients will return to the soil on the next rain.

It would be cool to see a herd of maybe 50 of these weed-picking robots ambling through a field.

<comment><USER3> A weed on the dirt would likely grow in the new spot, and gripping is tricky. But to your point, what about just a spike or hammer or blade to just mash the weed? More simple than a grip.

<comment><USER4> Chuck the weed in a barrel and take it away somewhere to be killed. Apparently a compost pile will kill weeds (and their seeds) if at a hot enough temperature long enough.

<comment><USER5> You could also heat it in place. Propane is not really a pesticide, but it works nicely. An electric arc should also work nicely, even burning out the root.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Is maddening use of the english language like "reduce pesticide use by 20 times" a part of some big-name style guide now?

I can't remember the last time I've seen a major publication phrase a reduction in a way that makes sense. Things like "Reduce by 95%" or "require 1/20th of the pesticide" seem to be stricken by copy editors in favor of nonsensical multiplication.

<comment><USER7> I find it just as maddening as you do. But I have to concede to the descriptivists that it's clear and unambiguous in context, as well as being in common use.

<comment><USER8> I don't find it clear at all. 20 times what? All I get out of that is that whatever reduction is happening is probably big because I'm not context blind, but then again it could be a 20 x .000001% reduction. When saying X is 20 times larger that is unambiguous, it just means 20 _X. When something is being reduced 20 times what does that mean? X - something_ 20?? X-20? X/20?

<comment><USER7> I read it as a shorthand for "reduce by a factor of 20" \-- crucially, I believe `x` is meant to represent `⨉` (the multiplication symbol), as opposed to `𝓍` (a scalar variable).

The reason it drives me crazy is that I can't help but read it as being equivalent to multiplying by -19 (particularly when it's phrased like "such and such is now 20x less foobarish"). But even I have to concede that it clearly doesn't mean that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Neat tech. And, perhaps validated by John Deere's acquisition of Blue River last September for $284million-- $193 million being goodwill!</comment>


Treating violence as a public health problem has produced great results - <AUTHOR> https://mosaicscience.com/story/violence-crime-knife-chicago-glasgow-gang-epidemic-gun-health-prevention/ <comment><USER2> > The [Scottish programme] is run by the police force, with support from the > Scottish government ... [The American founder], a purist on the public > health model of violence, says it is "horrible" for police to administer it, > since police are often part of the problem.

As far from perfect as police in the UK are, I get the impression that the Brits have a very different relationship from the police than most Americans do.

<comment><USER3> What do you think "most Americans" relationship with the police is? Speaking for myself, I don't really have one, but all my encounters with the police have been professional and respectful.

<comment><USER4> Lucky you.

Even with family as law enforcement, I've never trusted police. As a vet I'm disgusted by their lack of training and quickness to shoot first and ask questions later. Last I checked the average is 32 dogs shot by US cops a day. I don't even need to delve into the refusal to wear body cams, race issues, etc. etc. American police have not given Americans any reason to assume they are ever on the same side.

Eighteen year old infantrymen, who have an infinitely greater chance of danger, have more resolve and professionalism than American cops. I'd trust that 18 year old ground pounder over a cop any day over any thing.

<comment><USER2> I get the idea that people who join the police in the US do it for the authority, where police in the UK are well aware that 95% of the authority they have is "by consent" of those they have authority over.

<comment><USER4> As an American that's always been my feeling. Bullies and petty people seem to be drawn to police work in the US for that "authority."

An idiot with authority is a bad time for everyone.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I'm not quite sure I fully buy into it. Crime has been steadily declining all over the Western world since the '90s, with a few notable exceptions like Baltimore post-BLM, and so the entire VRU concept may be specious. New York has seen its murder rate plunge 75% since its height in 1990 despite not employing this technique, which is a larger drop than Glasgow experienced. Perhaps doing nothing would have been just as effective? Or perhaps this:

>This meant ramping up traditional penal measures – increased stop-and-search and stricter sentencing for knife possession – alongside preventive measures in line with the public health approach.

Resulted in all of the most recalcitrant offenders being put behind bars right at the onset of the program, leaving behind only those people more amenable to non-violence.

Or put another way, when the doctor mentions seeing constant repeated faces in her ER:

>Often, the same people would come back through the accident and emergency departments again and again, repeated victims and perpetrators of violent attacks.

Would simply locking up every one of those people have produced a similar or greater drop in violent crime compared to the VRU approach? Is the "violent interceptor" and community outreach and counselors and all that simply gilding a lily?

Also:

>The incident has stayed with her, an indication of how bad the situation in her city had become.

Well that or it's 1890s Germany. The Junkers loved to scar each other on the face with their dueling swords, as a way to prove their manhood and as a mark of inclusion in the aristocratic orders.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dueling_scar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dueling_scar)

Some cultures get barbed wire tattoos around their arm, others a superficial slashing wound to the face. Tomato tomato ....that expression really doesn't work in text.

<comment><USER6> You should be quoting violent crime rates rather than murder rates. The articles premise is that violent crime is infectious but the infection does not spread if the patients all die.

<comment><USER7> David Simon (The Wire, Tremane) notes that murder stats are hard to game: there's a corpse, and the determination is made by the coroner, not chief of police or sherrif.

Othe crime stats can be easily and massively gamed.

[https://youtube.com/watch?v=nRt46W3k-qw](https://youtube.com/watch?v=nRt46W3k-qw)

<comment><USER8> The game just shifts to one of attribution rather than what the rates are. A lot of physical violence would have resulted in death not too long ago, but thanks to medical technology like washing wounds, getting looked at by a doctor, ambulances, surgery, drugs, etc. it's much harder to die. The lack of as many deaths is then attributed to whatever cause is expedient (democracy, authoritarian crackdown, etc.) when technology and access to it is probably the best explanatory factor.

<comment><USER7> I was going to mention that: trauma care has become _very_ good. Though you still have gross bodily harm. And non-dead men generally _do_ tell tales.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I really hope that their work is effective and spreads. In Kazakhstan, we recently had a tragedy when our Olympic bronze medalist was killed when trying to stop thieves from stealing his car mirrors.

<comment><USER10> Rest in peace Denis Ten :(

I'm curious, was this crime very unusual even for Almaty, that someone gets killed by strangers over something like a car mirror, or is it the fact that it was Ten that caused such attention?

<comment><USER9> It's actually very unusual especially because it happened right in Almaty's downtown. Downtowns in Kazakhstan are usually considered safe.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I would love to see something similar applied to Mexico. The scale would have to be a lot bigger, and I guess it would be a lot more dangerous since we are literally facing wars for territory over here, taking soldiers out of the battlefield wouldn't look appealing for the drug cartels.

<comment><USER12> No need for anything complicated. Just end drug prohibition in USA, and Mexico will change drastically within a year. Human beings respond to incentives.

<comment><USER13> Makes me wonder what the existing organizations will do instead. Removing drug money will make them much less powerful, but they sure won't go down without a pivot.

<comment><USER14> I guess you could look at what happened when prohibition ended in America.

<comment><USER15> Soooooooo politics?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> _> "The idea that's wrong is that these people are 'bad' and we know what to do with them, which is punish them," says Slutkin. "That's fundamentally a misunderstanding of the human. Behaviour is formed by modelling and copying. When you're in a health lens, you don't blame. You try to understand, and you aim for solutions."_

Analyzing our current justice system from this perspective shows just how absurd it is. Sending people to jail for committing minor crimes is like sending people to a smallpox quarantine camp for coughing.

<comment><USER17> This sounds great until we realize that the vast majority of crimes, even minor ones, have someone on the other side of them.

Simple assault, theft, fraud, reckless driving. Hey, someone came up and beat the crap out of you for the $20 in your wallet? Well sorry, we can't do anything but talk about how they might of come to this point. Someone who gets the flu, unless they're acting to intentionally infect others, has no "victim".

That doesn't mean justice should be based on retribution, but removal of the offender from society is something which society typically requires.

<comment><USER18> Violence is an output, a symptom of something else. Punishing a violent offender with violence (imprisonment etc) is just a form of reifying that behavior.

Alternative treatment of violence is not the same as saying there are "no consequences" \- it's acknowledging that to actually "cure" violent behavior requires other methods.

Removing people from society has historically not stopped violence (see Gulags, mass prison, etc). What it does do is instill a sense of fear in the populace that the governing power can use as a form of control. A sense of fear brought on by, you guessed it, a threat of violence!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> The NRA has been extremely effective at keeping gun violence from being studied in exactly this manner in the United States. [https://www.npr.org/2018/04/05/599773911/how-the-nra- worked-...](https://www.npr.org/2018/04/05/599773911/how-the-nra-worked-to- stifle-gun-violence-research)

<comment><USER20> If "the most violent country in the developed world" has the some of the worlds strictest gun control laws, something tells me there's not much of a connection between gun ownership and violent crime.

<comment><USER21> Even though your point is totally valid, you are being downvoted for having an unpopular opinion. Sad.

<comment><USER22> That "point" is that a special interest group is justified in preventing scientific study into a area because he feels that his entirely non encompassing and non-scientific observation would invalidate any results he does not agree with. It is wrong on so many levels. That is why it is being downvoted.

<comment><USER17> > in preventing scientific study into a area

The policy came about because a particular CDC head in the 1980s specifically said he intended to show firearms as the root cause of violence, nevermind what any actual stats said. The CDC to this day _still_ has problems with doing a study, not liking the result, and then deciding it would rather not publish the study - [https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulhsieh/2018/04/30/that- time-...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulhsieh/2018/04/30/that-time-the-cdc- asked-about-defensive-gun-uses/#1ce83800299a)

This has no effect on private research. It only prevents federal money from being used for a traditionally partisan cause.

<comment><USER23> Is your argument that one possibly questionable study invalidates the entire field from being eligible for federal funding? That would mean that the government shouldn't fund any research whatsoever!

<comment><USER17> No my argument is that the major organization pushing for this has repeatedly been caught on record, under oath, explicitly admitting to bias and consistently pushing biased research.

If even 5% of a research coming out of a publication was biased, nobody would let anything in the publication be cited. When that publication is funded exclusively by tax payer money paid to a government with a fiduciary duty...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Someone please tell the Mayor of London where in 2018 the "capital's murder rate overtakes New York for the first time ever".

<comment><USER25> From the article:

"Where could a public health approach to violence be introduced next? One possibility is London, where in 2017 knife crime among under-25s reached a five-year high. In recent months, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, Cressida Dick, and the mayor, Sadiq Khan, have been among those calling for a public health approach."

<comment><USER26> Just to add a few details, Cressida Dick is the person who ordered the execution of a brasilian electrician, down in the London Underground. It does not surprise me that aristocrats are in favour of a medical approach to crime: to help enforce the state monopoly on violence itself.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> meh, that's kinda painful to read... needs some editing. also, an article with that many statistical claims should have footnotes IMO.

<comment><AUTHOR> > also, an article with that many statistical claims should have footnotes IMO

If you click on 'References' at the bottom of the article you get a short drop down list.

But there is also a companion article [1] that gives more references and links.

[1] [https://mosaicscience.com/story/briefing-reading-violence- cr...](https://mosaicscience.com/story/briefing-reading-violence-crime-knife- gang-epidemic-gun-health-prevention/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> I love the idea of doing things to prevent more suffering.

 _"Despite the fact that violence has always been present, the world does not have to accept it as an inevitable part of the human condition," says the WHO guidance on violence prevention._

But this is bullshit. Humans are a violent species. Always have been, always will be. The only question that's relevant is: when is it acceptable that violence be used? Ideally it would be a bare minimum, and by people who have nothing to benefit from it. If there's a crack house with a kid that needs rescuing, or a bank robbery gone bad with a hostage, I want somebody somewhere to be using violence.

Public health approaches to social problems are interesting, both because they have some statistically significant benefit -- and because they tend to over- generalize what the problems are and leave out many important edge cases. You can't say they're bad because there is progress to be shown. But you always wonder how many edge cases were overlooked and if overall we aren't institutionalizing a hardcore subset that will never be solved at the expense of making the problem simple enough to mentally engage with.

<comment><USER29> _Humans are a violent species._

If this were true, then how come daycare centers and nurseries don't have to deal with violent toddlers all day long? By your premise, our violence is genetic, so infants must be taught to control their violence in order to become succesful adults. At what stage of development does that happen?

<comment><USER30> Umm, most toddlers must be taught that hitting is wrong. As someone with more than 40 younger cousins, it's kind of the only thing they all had in common.</comment></comment></comment>


The Fastest-Growing Category in the iTunes App Store: Books  - <AUTHOR> http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/03/books-is-the-fastest-growing-category-in-the-itunes-app-store.html <comment><USER2> Man, I kinda think this is crazy - but I guess make what sells, heh.

I would NEVER want to read a book on my phone; I spend enough time staring at a computer screen, and squinting to read or having to move the page would just really throw me out of the flow of the story.

Now, a research or informative paper/pamphlet I could see being great, especially if I could highlight text, insert bookmarks, etc. THAT I would use.</comment>


'The Matrix' Reboot in the Works at Warner Bros - <AUTHOR> http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/matrix-reboot-works-at-warner-bros-986292 <comment><USER2> This is the only movie I will nerd out about, largely because, despite it's flaws, the first one made a big impact on me.

It's pretty well understood that the trilogy was ad-hoc and poorly executed [1], so I'm extremely skeptical about a "reboot" being any kind of good. They also went nuts with all the sub-stories, plots and characters with the animatrix etc... trying to create backstories and a larger universe a la Star Wars - it all felt very contrived.

Not really sure where they would go with a new version either. The finale of the three movies basically was Neo and Agent Smith "rebooting" the system - for the 6th time with no end in sight [2]. So unless they decide to make it that there is a "God like" system, or that they make the universe conscious and cause the big crunch, there isn't much more territory to explore.

[1] [http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/36898/how-far-in- ad...](http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/36898/how-far-in-advance-were- the-matrix-sequels-planned)

[2][https://www.quora.com/Why-did-the-machines-restart-the- Matri...](https://www.quora.com/Why-did-the-machines-restart-the-Matrix-five- times)

<comment><USER3> It doesn't need to be a reboot. Just continue on with the current storyline.

The machines keep their deal with Neo. Humanity grows outside of the Matrix and starts thriving again. Freeborn humans become disillusioned with society start to break into the Matrix, while machines start sneaking out in human bodies.

The machines and humans in power want to stop both things from happening and attempt to curb it in their own ways, which may or may not cause a new war between humans and machines.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> It was stupid to make humans be energy sources (because they're not) rather than being a distributed computer as originally envisioned.

<comment><USER5> However inefficient put enough people in a room and it clearly heats up. It worked for me in the movie. I'm of the opinion that this shouldn't be a reboot but rather the matrix 4 with Keanu and the Wachowskis. Oh well. Even though the second and third movies weren't as good as the first one I love the trilogy and still rewatch it to this day.

<comment><USER6> But the "hive mind" aspect of the original concept works on so many layers. Not only does it bind together many aspects of the film (especially the out- of-body experiences Neo and Agent Smith), but connects it to the conceptual genesis in the Simulacra and Simulation treatise, as well as to concepts like Richard Dawkins' Memetics.

The Matrix is infinitely more interesting conceptually and thematically from the network-of-minds angle.

<comment><USER7> My favorite bit of trivia was about 'residual self image'. Originally the character "Switch" was to be a man in one reality and a woman in the other - it is the digital projection of your mental self, after all.

This idea was discarded (I don't remember why), and it's interesting that the Wachowski brothers became the Wachowski sisters.

It would have been so much more philosophically interesting if that part had been left in.

<comment><USER8> I expect it is because it would take too much time to make it clear for the audience that it is the same character and as far as the cinematic impact it isn't real different than giving them different hair and clothes in the Matrix.

(I'm not arguing about it being an interesting thing to put in the story, just speculating that they didn't think it added enough to the movie)</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Best team password manager? - <AUTHOR> Hi, at our startup we are looking for a great team password manager. Let's say that security for us is more important than average. Any good suggestions? The only recommendation I've got so far is CommonKey, but I have no experience with team password managers.
Thanks!
Edit: I've just received suggestions to also look at PassBolt, and LastPass for teams. <comment><USER2> Consider using Zoho Vault. Its an online password management solution tailor made for teams. The product is loaded with a wide-range of features including fine-grained password sharing options, access control, IP restriction, audit and reports, mobile access, browser extensions, two-factor, AD, SAML, G Suite integration, break-glass account, etc.

[https://www.zoho.com/vault](https://www.zoho.com/vault)

You can sign up for free without providing your credit card details and evalauate the solution for free - 15 days.

Disclaimer: I work for Zoho Vault

</comment><comment><USER3> How about [https://psono.com](https://psono.com)

You can host it yourself and it has client side encryption. You can share folders across multiple users.

(Full disclosure, im the creator)

</comment><comment><USER4> Definitely take a look a 1Password. Great integration across multiple platforms (OS, browsers, smartphones) and for teams it's nice to have different vaults and assign users different permissions for vaults.

</comment><comment><USER5> The thing I like about 1Password is that it integrates with all the major browsers, but it doesn't require a browser to work. And the app on iOS is full-featured.

I don't know if they support Linux, however.

</comment><comment><USER6> I use 1Pass, you can have multiple vaults with different permissions and sharing for each one. I also like the native clients for each platform.</comment>