Ask HN: Please review my "single-use bookmarking" app - <AUTHOR> http://app.reminderbear.com

<comment><USER2> This seems perfect for HackerNews comment threads where you never get notifications of responses (at least, I don't) and you'll inevitably forget to check back later.

<comment><USER3> I use Notifo to get notified of responses on HN: <http://notifo.com/hackernews>

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> interesting, but a week seems too long for me. is there a service that sends me daily summary email with links?

<comment><AUTHOR> Would you use it if you could configure your own delay period?

I've tried to come up with a way to change it for each page you submit, but I haven't come up with anything that doesn't require pop-ups or page refreshes. I really would like to keep the UI as simple as possible. Is it too much work for the user to add the delay to the end of the url, ie example.com#DaysToSend=1, hit refresh, then hit the bookmarklet?

 _is there a service that sends me daily summary email with links?_

That sounds alot like Read it Later: <http://readitlaterlist.com/>.

<comment><USER2> Yeah don't do any of these changes here. You've got your thing and it works good, extremely minimal which is awesome and perfect. My big hobby project is a bookmarking app (almost exactly like pinboard, except less reliable :P link's in my profile page), and I struggle with making the bookmarks more immediately accessible without having to make a bunch of clicks.

I like your idea here. I'm not sure I have a use case for it, but I really like the interface. Feels like this might be more at home as a very lightweight plugin.

<comment><AUTHOR> I think that I could implement most of the ideas in this thread without mucking up my current UX. I'm working on creating a user page that you activate by clicking your bookmarklet on app.reminderbear.com/users (it doesn't exist yet). The users that want extra features can add them on their user page. Users that like things the way they are can just refrain from creating a user page.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I would be more likely to use this if it did RSS feeds instead of email. I already get more junk than I want to deal with in my mailbox. Having a news item pop up in my newsreader a few days after I "bookmark" the page would be far preferable.

<comment><AUTHOR> That's a good idea. I'll make that an option as soon as I finish writing user pages.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> The app lets you submit a page via a bookmarklet, then emails you a link to the page one week later. It's really useful for saving HN comment threads. HN commenting dies down within a week, so you won't miss any good comments.

<comment><USER6> So it's Everlater for HN? Seems like it wouldn't be all that useful outside of that context, since you've made timing the differentiating feature.

<comment><AUTHOR> Are you talking about this: <http://www.everlater.com/>? Can you explain the similarity please?

The purpose of Reminder Bear is to go back to sites that will see some update in a week's time. It's not just for HN, you can use it on any web page that you want to be updated on. Most discussion on the web ends after a week, and if it's still going strong you can resubmit it to check next week.

Here are the things I've used it for so far:

        Forums that I'm not subscribed to

        Sites with comments that don't notify me of replies

        News stories

        Reddit threads

<comment><USER6> My bad, I meant Evernote.

I also see what you're trying to do and albeit a thoughtful exercise, it seems that outside of a niche audience it wouldn't scale these days. There are just too many meaningless threads that will never die out there.

Good luck though.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> cool concept, i've been using <http://www.bmrk.it> for a bit, it's simple and unobtrusive with a similar goal as your service.

<comment><AUTHOR> Have you tried <http://historio.us>? I just checked out bmrk.it, and Historious is much better in my opinion. Historious' bookmarklet (which mine is derived from) requires no page refresh and doesn't require you to be logged in to the service. They also cache the pages you bookmark so that the bookmarks will be around even if the original sites get moved or deleted.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Why is everything ending with "bear" now? ReminderBear, SmartBear, HustleBear? Are we out of Get__________ and _______app domain names?

<comment><AUTHOR> The original name was WhileDile, as in you tell the link "See ya later alligator" and it says "after while crocodile". Nobody I talked to liked that one, but everybody liked Reminder Bear.

<comment><USER9> I like WhileDile later more, or at least the way the "see ya later alligator" idea was heading more. People are bear biased.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Why is your logo so similar to the world wildlife fund? [http://www.worldwildlife.org/resources/media/images/global/p...](http://www.worldwildlife.org/resources/media/images/global/print_wwf_logo.gif)

<comment><AUTHOR> I got mine here: <http://www.clker.com/clipart-14542.html>. The website claims that my logo is in the public domain, so I used it accordingly.

Edit: Theirs is much more cutesy. Mine is all business -- you can tell just from looking at him that he has an impeccable memory.</comment></comment>


A Melting Arctic Could Spark a New Cold War - <AUTHOR> http://time.com/4773238/russia-cold-war-united-states-artic-donald-trump-barack-obama-vladimir-putin/ <comment><USER2> The title is definitely click baitey (and overblown). It will increase tensions yes, but probably not more than the two nations meddling in the Middle East or Russian hacking already has.</comment>


Similarities Between New Ventures and Hot Women - <AUTHOR> http://www.25geeks.com/2010/chicken-soup-for-the-entrepreneurs-soul/

<comment><USER2> I've lost a lot of money chasing women, but few women chasing money. Stick to the cash, the rest will follow.</comment>


Does Rails Scale? - <AUTHOR> https://bearmetal.eu/theden/does-rails-scale/

<comment><USER2> Whenever there are discussions about scaling and performance, I think it is useful to at least reference the TechEmpower benchmarks as a data point. [https://www.techempower.com/benchmarks/#section=data-r9&hw=p...](https://www.techempower.com/benchmarks/#section=data-r9&hw=peak&test=query)

In terms of scaling, I've observed that many engineering organizations drop the idea of full-stack or monolithic anything for a couple of reasons. The first is understanding all of the major constituent parts of their system, and secondly to make it easier to replace any part that is identified as a bottleneck.

<comment><USER3> I'll add that many engineering organizations also began to drop the idea of full stack development as they grow and split up into independent, semi- autonomous teams. When you have 300 engineers writing code into one monolithic code base, a lot of the advantages of a monolith become major liabilities. You can throw a lot of process and tooling at it, but eventually it slows you down enough to the point where splitting things apart makes far more sense.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> The ruby interpreter is really, really slow. I don't think anyone will argue that you could do something Google or Facebook scale with rails.

That said, ruby is an incredibly easy language to program in. If you start with ruby and an SOA, it doesn't matter where you start to hit scaling issues - you can replace the code (that you wrote far faster than you would have in Java) with something more performant.

<comment><USER5> One of the main points of the article is that the only way to do Facebook- scale sites is to have an architecture that scales out horizontally without incurring any extra overhead, and that rails does so out of the box. So yes, you could quite easily run something at Facebook scale with rails, it would just require more physical servers than a more performant framework.

<comment><USER6> you can always solve any problem throwing money at it. I guess the main point is running the same thing with 30% less servers, not more.

<comment><USER5> You can't actually solve a lot of problems by throwing money at them. Ensuring that scaling your core application to arbitrary traffic sizes is in the class of money-solvable problems isn't trivial and should guide your architectural decisions from day 1.

Yes, you'll probably end up doing significant rewrites if you do actually win the lottery and get big, but it's nice to know that you're not going to top out at some arbitrary size and have to start turning customers away while you do those rewrites.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> There are other frameworks that are as productive and have better performance so why cripple yourself right from the beginning.

<comment><USER8> What would those frameworks be?

<comment><USER7> Here's one [https://www.playframework.com/](https://www.playframework.com/)

Here's another [https://grails.org/](https://grails.org/)

<comment><USER9> Groovy (the dynamically typed version which is the only one anyone uses) runs as slowly as Ruby, if not slower, so wouldn't Grails too? Scala's statically compiled so perhaps Play runs quicker than both. I don't know about the various frameworks productivity though.

<comment><USER7> Grails is mostly java wrapped by a light layer of groovy. Based on [http://www.techempower.com/benchmarks/#section=data-r9](http://www.techempower.com/benchmarks/#section=data-r9) its a lot faster than rails.

<comment><USER9> When Gradle 2.0 came out earlier this year, I looked at its source and there was virtually no Groovy code left in there, only the minimal needed to interface with the DSL. Not much of an advert for using Groovy for anything other than scripting when its two big showcase projects don't use it for building their own code bases.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Aside from a few specific edge cases, any limits on scaling you hit when using _any_ technology—Rails included—will be down to application architecture rather than the performance of the framework or language.

In particular, I don't think comparisons to Facebook or Twitter are particularly helpful. Twitter is basically global telecom-scale; Rails is never going to be the right tool for that, but the flipped of that is it was possible to get to that point using it.

Basically, use whatever framework or language that suits your other requirements. Build a sensible, modular system using standard software engineering principles. Don't sweat over the scalability of your framework until you hit scale, and you'll have a great problem to deal with.

</comment><comment><USER11> Proper system architecture can make any not-completely-insane web layer scale. Concatenating strings is typically a round-off error compared with touching the network, as the author mentions.

That said, I'll disagree just a bit with the author: trying to get the rough system architecture correct early on by squinting at your app domain and estimating where the load is most likely to hit hardest, then putting in effort to make sure those areas are particularly scaleable and resilient, is a reasonable approach, even if it smacks of premature optimization.

<comment><USER12> Original author here.

I don't think we really disagree there. I might not have made it clear enough, but I mentioned that there are obvious things that need more consideration, like Kissmetric's or Skylight's data aggregation and massaging.

That said, for many (most?) that culprit is not easy to identify in the early stages and many apps are still basically glorified CRUD apps where that is a non-issue to begin with.

For example, a few years back we ran a much publicized vote for an unidentified social network with more than a billion users. It ran on a run- off-the-mill Monorails[1] app and MySQL, without any hitches. If anything, we vastly overestimated the number of app servers needed (a couple dozen IIRC).

Of course it was a fairly simple use case, just an example that high load by itself doesn't mean much.

[1] A term commonly used for a web app that is a single Rails application, as opposed to a more SOA-style app split in smaller pieces.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I think the concise counter is that, as PG says, startups should do things that don't scale. Scaling is a nice problem to have, too many people prematurely optimize.

<comment><USER12> Counter to what? One of the main points of the article was exactly what you wrote in your second sentence.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Rails performance scales linearly with money. You save money on the dev side, but you'll need more servers sooner than more performant languages/frameworks.

</comment><comment><USER15> Can a slow car move lots of stuff?

Sure, you just use more of them.

</comment><comment><USER6> try compiling a super simple sass file multiple times. The time it takes varies so much. Ruby's performance is not predictable.

The point here is why the same algorithm would take 0.3 sec to run and the next time it would take 1 sec. After seen that I never coded Ruby again.

</comment><comment><USER16> Amazed that we are still having this discussion several years later.

<comment><USER12> You can't imagine how many times that crossed my mind before and while writing the article. FWIW, much of it is not Rails-specific by any means, and we'll always have a new crop of developers asking these questions.</comment></comment>


Apple is rating all Internet capable apps 17+ - <AUTHOR> http://jdg.net/post/143558694/houston-we-have-a-problem-some-of-you-may-have

<comment><AUTHOR> Internet capable means _access to the internet, period_. There is no built in web browser, nor any content provided to users of this application other than the content that they themselves have placed. They will never see anyone else's content, nor will anyone see theirs.

Thats why this is such a big deal. It's ridiculous and to the point of being extreme, rather than making smart decisions about what should and should not be allowed.

<comment><USER2> If you are embedding a web page in your app and if it has links to other pages, you can essentially use it as a browser.

My problem with apple strategy is that they have safari browser and they should rate iPod/iPhone 17+ because of that and if they dont then rating all the apps who are accessing the internet should be rated 17+

<comment><AUTHOR> Correct.

The problem here is, I didn't have a web page embedded in my app. Nor a browser. Nada.

Greg Yardley of PinchMedia asked earlier - Does this mean that any app that displays advertising w/ a built in browser should be rated 17+? In my opinion: absolutely.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask: My girlfriend is much smarter than I, how do I manage? - <AUTHOR> While I am aware this is not a real hackish or technological question to ask, I gather it's still the right place.
As I guess that most of hacker news readers are used to be the smartest guys around.
I started dating a truly exceptional girl. She's the smartest person I've ever met.
I am looking for some advice:
Have you ever dated a girl that was much smarter than you?
How did it effect you \ your self esteem?
Did your connection last?
Did you feel it was an issue? If it was an issue did you discus it?
Actually any general advice here would be truly appreciated.
Thanks <comment><USER2> Go see a psychologist. Truly, for just asking this question. Not just for male superiority but because of some narcissistic tendency that you think you are supposed to be smarter then her.

I can assure you that no matter how smart you think you are, women will always be smarter then you; especially if it's an argument.

You're not even giving us a baseline of what 'smarts' is in your definition. I've dated women who were seemingly less intelligent and yet had more street- smarts and social-intelligence then I could ever hope to have. Intelligence isn't just being able to do fancy math with long equations. If you needed to fix your car and she knew how to do it and you were clueless, then she'd be smarter then you. Everyone has strengths, everyone has weaknesses. This isn't exactly ground-breaking information either (or really shouldn't be).

<comment><AUTHOR> well I answered runjake question with my definition of smarts. <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4502503>

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I am jealous as hell. :)

To answer your question, the most useful two pieces of advice I've received are:

(1) _Your attention is enough_. Just be interested in her, pay attention to her, enjoy the experience.

(2) _Don't be afraid of rejection_. Will she dump you? Sure, it's possible. I've been dumped before. But if so it likely won't be because you made a mistake. Don't try to predict what will happen, just go for it. If things grow, great, if they don't, you'll still be glad you had the experience.

</comment><comment><USER4> I'd say my partner is smarter than I am (in many ways anyway). She's managed to put up with me for... gosh... nearly eighteen years now. So I'd count that as a win :-)

Personally I love being around people who are smarter than I am in one area or another. You never make progress in life if you don't challenge yourself. K challenges me all the time. It's a good thing.

Why would it be a problem?

(In fact have some general advice - not relationship advice. If you are "used to be the smartest guys around" - then change your location. You are statistically unlikely to be the smartest person on the planet. If you're not hanging around with people you find as smart or smarter on one dimension or another then that may have more to do with where you feel comfortable. You don't get better by staying somewhere where you're already on top.)

</comment><comment><USER5> Being "smart" is relative. In what area is she smart? There are many types of intelligence. MMA fighters or Bikers are physically smart, musicians are smart in terms of auditory senses and so and so forth.

In a relationship, as applies to any other aspect in life, we have our roles to play. One major pitfall is to compare each other and make up for your weakness instead of focusing and honing your strengths.

Assuming you have a healthy relationship, her being "smart" doesn't mean anything and should not affect you in any way. She will ultimately depend on you leading her in the relationship. She will depend on you to stand up for her when she feels bad. She delights in you when you share your stories. She feels comfortable when you listen to her even if you don't understand what she is saying.

Be a man for her.

</comment><comment><USER6> The frankness of the question caught me by surprise. I don't think I can help you though as I'm not one of those poeple you mention. There's tons of better programmers around the office and most of them are my friends so I'm quite at home with not being the smartest person on the planet. There's more to life than solving problems, as long as you enjoy your time together who cares.

It bothers me though when people try to invent different types of intellect as some sort of consolation prize. Accept that people are different, life's too short to be comparing penis sizes all your life.

<comment><USER7> > It bothers me though when people try to invent different types of intellect > as some sort of consolation prize. Accept that people are different, life's > too short to be comparing penis sizes all your life.

Doesn't your first sentence contradict your second one? Or at least the spirit of the two seems contradictory.

The multiple intelligence theory is fairly popular and to be fair it is fairly decent too. As you yourself said people are different and they have different skills.

Intelligence or "smarts" are just vague terms without concrete meanings. It is only in recent times that we decided to measure them using either general knowledge ("gameshow trivia") or mathematical skill.

But for most of human history I bet the most celebrated person in the village would be measured using other yard sticks (e.g. hunting, fighting, running speed, maybe even engineering/inventing) none of which we value at all today.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> She isn't that smart if she is dating a jerk with self-esteem issues!

You still reading? Great! Some of the greatest scientists in their mature years acknowledged that there was far more which they didn't know than what they did. Being smart is more about learning and growing as a human being. Not just winning some variant of Trivial Pursuit.

Maybe this could become a stretch goal for both of you. Best wishes for a terrific shared adventure.

<comment><AUTHOR> I appreciate this wake up call. I don't think I have problems accepting criticism and I think I deserve it here.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> My ex was much smarter than me. Top of her computer science class as a woman was no mean feat with one of the highest overall grades in the department's history. Jumped straight from B.Sc to Ph.D, skipping the usual masters expectation/requirement (UK). She has a couple of papers published concerning language processing.

We got on well and she helped me through a dreary computer science bachelors course, for which I am very grateful. We went our separate ways afterwards for a variety of reasons (all non-related to the fact that she was smarter than I was).

Though incredibly smart, she had her own failings. We all have.

If you have a self-esteem problem with your girlfriend being smarter than you, then that is your problem. Self-esteem: the key is in the word 'self'. Put another way, if you were smarter than her, do you think that would be a problem for her?

Look to find areas where you can complement your girlfriend. You'll soon realize you have talents where she doesn't and vice versa. Embrace them and her!

</comment><comment><USER10> My advice in life is not to worry about intelligence when it comes to love. Everyone is capable of learning beyond there current capacity and no knowledge is unobtainable or incomprehensible if you have the motivation to learn. Intelligence only affects the time it takes to comprehend an idea and perhaps even extend that idea into innovation. People all have their things they are intelligent at.

What you need to do is examine the qualities about you that makes her attracted to you. If shes a smart girl and she knows what she personally wants out of a relationship dont let your self esteem ruin that because you assume she is looking for a rocket scientist boyfriend. Chances are she has dated smart guys and believe it or not. Smart guys tend to be just as egotistical and insecure as anybody else even if they have everything going for them. (attractive, good job, big house, ect). The thing about smart guys like this, is that they like to feel like they are the smartest thing that walked into the room and that their opinions and theories are the one and only true way of processing information. They would feel threatened by the woman and try to make himself better than her, usually by manipulating her self esteem.

This does happen more often then we would like to admit and women in today's age, especially a smart one just wants to be recognized for the characteristics that define her. You are already showing a quality she probably values in you by identifying the fact that she is intelligent and that is a value worth appreciating in a woman.

Which I must say, speaks alot for your own intelligence and sense of maturity. Just listen to what she says because intelligent people love to share the things they know and be asked questions. Discussions and perhaps even a little debating. (have to be careful that you debate and not argue, know what you are talking about :P).

Dont stress the details when it comes to romance. Just love every minute of it and focus on providing for your partners emotional needs and always encourage them to improve themselves in life. Thats what makes a successful long lasting relationship, not this notion of being the "alpha" male that society likes to sell us on. Sure there are woman like that in the world. But they tend to be the kind who ends up valuing the opinions on the Jersey Shore as apposed to the opinions held by leading research scientists in the world. :P

</comment><comment><USER11> I had a really exceptional girlfriend (extremely smart, successful and beautiful) - and married her. In general you should see it as a success. Most people only date the next-best-fit, you found someone you admire. Ask her what she admires/ loves in you and you'll surely find out some truly exceptional facts about yourself to soothe your self-esteem.

<comment><USER8> Congrats! Your comment suggests, and I concur, that you could find out what she finds attractive about you and then making sure that you don't drop the ball on that and related areas. You need to remember that beauty (handsomeness) is in the eyes of the beholder. Sustaining some shared interests is also very important.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> How are you even measuring "smarts?" This seems like more of a personal problem in terms of your perception than a real problem that needs "solving."

As long as the two of you are roughly on the same "level" in that you can have a decent two-way discussion about things you are both interested in; I cannot see how this would ever be an issue.

Also, your self-esteem takes a knock every time you meet someone you deem "smarter?" If that's true then you will struggle to ever reach your potential as you will likely either run-away or get depressed whenever you near your limits.

So I guess what I am saying is: This is an entirely a personal problem. You have created this problem in your head and that is the only place it can be solved. If meeting smarter people, including dating them, really impacts you this badly then you seriously need to work on that (maybe grab a self-help book or go talk to a professional).

I think this problem is far bigger than this one instance or dating...

<comment><AUTHOR> I don't have a problem working with people who are smarter than me. I work with them quite often actually. The problem is when it comes to an intimate relationship. I actually do not think we are on the same level. I think that my level is quite alright, but she very much tops it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I believe I read an article in a newspaper once where they tracked married couples with differing IQs over time.

Where the male was the smarter partner, the woman's IQ increased.

Where the female was the smarter partner, the woman's IQ decreased.

I guess the consolation from this is it may become a less acute problem over time :-)

<comment><AUTHOR> this is genius. Do you a link to the article perhaps?

<comment><USER12> I've tried, but my google-fu is weak today. It was from a good few years back (i.e. 5 or so).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> You would certainly prefer to be the smartest. Do you feel threatened ?

<comment><AUTHOR> It feels threatening knowing that your partner is always right, and thereby when you argue makes you always (mostly) wrong.

It also feels threatening knowing that she's capable of doing whatever it is you're doing just better.

<comment><USER14> Are you intimidated by her?

Are you sure she's smarter? Maybe she's just more assertive and/or forceful?

<comment><AUTHOR> at times I do get intimidated

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> If she doesn't care, why should you? Learn from her and be exceptional as well. Be confident. She wouldn't date you if she had not found something special in you.

</comment><comment><USER16> Do _you_ feel that it is a problem?

Would it be a problem if you had a platonic friend (of either gender) who was much smarter than you?

<comment><AUTHOR> no, it wouldn't. I don't feel it's a problem now, as I feel enough self value in what I am doing. I fear it might evolve into a problem if at some point along the road I won't feel that satisfaction in whatever it is I am doing

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Continue to grow, learn and progress. Don't get stuck, keep moving forward. Be worthy of respect.

</comment><comment><USER18> oh, really ? you was think you're smarter every people if him not be engineer? or women? Many people are smarter you or me and it not surprise and it normally, dont worry, enjoy...

</comment><comment><USER19> doesn't matter who's smarter. who's dominant? I think studies have shown that relationships where the woman is the dominant pare unfulfilling for both partners, in general.

<comment><AUTHOR> Well I don't think that any of us is very dominant. We don't have dominant personalities either.

I do know that when we debate she's very dominant as she always seems to better know or understand the issue than me.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Define "smarter".

<comment><AUTHOR> She's capable of studying any new topic much faster than I. Even topic that she has no experience in and I have been working on for several years. She's doing an MD in Medicine and a bsc in computer science simultaneously. She's also a Marathon runner and a quite successful artist.

<comment><USER20> So, more focused and motivated, then?

<comment><AUTHOR> I am not sure she's more motivated than I. Perhaps she got better abilities to focus on tasks. She's truly an exceptional person with an exceptional range of abilities.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> How do you define "smart"? Is your girlfriend simply just a better person than you are or she's just more intelligent?

Intelligence is usually something you inherit or you get as a gift, when you're born. Being smart or stupid works the same with being short or tall. Not exactly something that you can change.

It's stupid to judge ourselves or other people by these premises. It's smart to judge people by the way work with these premises. You can be very intelligent and endup doing a lot of bad things or you can be stupid as hell but do good and add real value to the world.

So don't bother yourself anymore. Love her, don't lie to hear, fuck her well and make her laugh. You'll be just fine.

</comment><comment><USER22> She is your girlfriend? Or you just started dating her? Which is it? ;)

For all your dating questions, go search for "Doc Love" at Ask Men. He writes articles there and they are gold for dating advice. This man is a wizard. Don't take advice from anyone else. Thank me later.

Appearances are everything. Don't worry about being smart, rather, shoot for appearing smart.

One of the most powerful ways to appear smart is to be able to communicate well with good grammar and writing. I see that you could use a lot of improvement in those areas, so that's where I would start.

Learn the difference between the usage of "affect" and "effect" (don't let your bad grammar _affect_ your self esteem. ) Learn the difference between the usage of "who" and "that" (the girl _who_ you are dating is better than the girl _that_ your friend is dating.)

[http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11204/how-to- use-...](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11204/how-to-use-who-that)

Go look at just about any list of "top ten skills" and communication and good writing skills are probably on that list.

Do a search for grammar resources and spend time each day reading through these resources. Also spend time writing every day.

Good luck!

<comment><USER7> You cannot be serious about the "Doc Love" dude on Ask Men? That guy just repeats generic platitudes and repeats nonsense from various dating books. I'm fairly sure he is who the "Barney" character on How I Met Your Mother is based.

Reading that site was fun when I was a young guy but as you grow older it becomes very apparent that it is just the blind leading the blind. The entire site is just a giant advertising board pretending to be a magazine.

Purely in terms of dating advice I actually find female commentators better simply because their readership expects more.

<comment><USER22> I disagree, but you didn't give me enough to argue against. However, I stopped reading his articles years ago. Maybe his articles have gone downhill since I last visited the site.</comment></comment></comment>


The Secret to Having a Successful Event Launch - <AUTHOR> http://blog.nextsociety.com/5-most-effective-ways-to-promote-your-events/

<comment><USER2> One of the best tools for a successful event is to have a great host. He or she should listen to the guests and make personal introductions based on common themes.</comment>


Amazon's Cloud Drive faces music industry backlash - <AUTHOR> http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/03/29/amazons_cloud_drive_faces_music_industry_backlash.html <comment><USER2> There is something wrong when the music industry thinks it is illegal for Amazon to hold music I buy from Amazon and send it to me when I want to listen to it. Really, what is the difference between "downloading" when I buy it and "streaming" it some time later?

<comment><AUTHOR> I think this just shows that they are fearful, ill informed fools that were lucky to have made their fortunes off the backs of talent to begin with.

'They' won't be happy until we have to pay for every song virtually every time we play it. That's what they really want.

It's not enough I've already bought Beatles Revolver 5-6 times during my life on different formats or 'newly remasted' editions. No they have to get even more out of me, and if I try to make my life easier by simply putting it online so I - and only I - can always get to it, look out, you are a dastardly pirate who aims to destroy them!

Man can you imagine working in an industry run by these kinds of paranoid fools?</comment></comment>


The existential crisis of peak car ownership - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/lightspeed-venture-partners/the-existential-crisis-of-peak-car-ownership-666b85cc716e#.3dja7uwr7 <comment><USER2> So many logistical and maintenance issues are glossed over here I have trouble taking this seriously. If we are at peak ownership, it is a function of lowering wages for the average auto owner, not technology. At least not yet. This just feels too similar to all the other transportation revolution vaporware. I for one, am not a fan of the analysis, finding it marred by well meaning, but ideologically flawed reasoning.</comment>


What Google AMP means for the JavaScript community – molily - <AUTHOR> https://molily.de/amp/ <comment><USER2> This is the best analysis of the AMP situation I've read. At least someone wrote it. It's reassuring to frame the debate in terms like 'bad Google vs the open web', but we should ask ourselves why are we pushing so much shit to the end user.</comment>


How long should we cling to a word's original meaning? (2011) - <AUTHOR> http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_good_word/2011/04/the_nonplussed_problem.html <comment><USER2> Two usages that Ernest Gowers bemoaned in _The Complete Plain Words_ , written c. 1950, but which seem unexceptional today: "phenomenal" to mean "prodigious" (rather than simply "perceptible to the senses"), and "meticulous" to mean "scrupulous" (rather than "overly and timidly careful"). I think it's too late to save or revive their previous meanings, but it's a shame to lose those nuances.

<comment><USER3> According to M-W, "overly and timidly careful" wasn't its original meaning either; it simply meant "fearful". Both "scrupulous" (which is not precisely the same as "painstakingly careful") and "overly careful" are adopted meanings, not the originals, so why lament one and not the other?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> _Disinterested third party_ still works. I have no problem using _disinterested_ to both mean _lacks material interest, thus is likely neutral_ and also _not interested in the subject matter_ depending on context. The framing of the example sentence sounded to me like it meant the latter. I think _disinterested_ still works to suggest potential neutrality if you frame it properly.

This is true of quite a lot of words. Many words have multiple meanings and which meaning applies is signalled by context. "I run for exercise" and "I run this company" and "I will run for (political) office" are all distinct meanings of the word _run_. It is only confusing if context is not clearly signalled.

When I was considering taking up GMing a role playing game, my gaming buddies understood my interest in _running (a gaming campaign)._ My father thought I meant pursuing vigorous exercise.

This kind of flexibility of language is normal and healthy. It allows for communicating many things with relatively few words, it allows for nuance, it allows for double entendre and for subtle communication that conveys one thing to one group but not necessarily another. This can be important for subterfuge, or simply for signalling information to a minority of people in public without completely derailing a discussion.

</comment><comment><USER5> Interesting -- according to dictionary.com [0], _fulsome_ is another one where the meaning that seems to be recently emerging, and therefore nonstandard, is actually the original (in this case dating back to the 13th century). I tend to agree with this author, though, that "offensively excessive" is a useful meaning; we have words for the other meaning, like "abundant" and "copious".

A lot of these I don't personally care too much about, but to see _hoi polloi_ and _nonplussed_ used in approximately the opposite of their original senses ... leaves me nonplussed.

[0] [http://www.dictionary.com/browse/fulsome](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/fulsome)

</comment><comment><USER6> You should use the word's original meaning for as long as the _intended audience_ will understand it. An article in the New Yorker should have different standards than a buzzfeed post.

</comment><comment><USER7> How far do you have to go to find a word's "original meaning"? The concept itself is ridiculous.

<comment><USER8> The concept is less ridiculous that you might think, because other people could still attribute the "original meaning", or any other intermediate meaning, to the words you use. If that's the case, they won't understand you - and vice versa.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> A pet peeve of mine is when a significant percentage of the population use a words' old meaning, but still some people argue like:

"A lot of people use this word differently now, so just accept that and go along with it!"

Well, a lot of people also still use that word as it used to be, so why can't they just accept that and go along with it?

<comment><USER10> Nobody does that. I've never seen someone correct "fewer" to "less" or seen someone get scorned for using "literally" to mean "as actually happened". Only the other way around happens.

When people say "go along with it", they're just saying the new usage should be accepted as well, not completely supercede the older one.

<comment><USER9> "they're just saying the new usage should be accepted as well, not completely supercede the older one"

You can argue that accepting both meanings may lead to dangerous miscommunication, so it's vital that one interpretation supersedes [sic] the other. Some people who are on board with that argument are also champions of new word interpretations.

Example regarding the word "factoid" right there: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9358604](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9358604)

"Nobody does that. [...] Only the other way around happens."

If a new meaning pops up for an old word, at what point does correcting someone's mistake become being a language nazi? When one person decides that a word now has a new meaning? One per cent of the population? Ten? I honestly don't know, but as long as it's not clear that the accepted meaning has really changed, I call "the other way around" plainly "correcting a mistake".

I'd rather not enable people who will stick to the first thing they have "learned" about a topic, no matter if it turns out to be mistaken.

<comment><USER11> Given the nature of your post, the incorrect usage of [sic] really stands out...

There aren't really any set-in-stone rules about language, the "accepted meaning" of something depends entirely on who you ask. Personally I am more of a descriptivist than a prescriptivist, as long as I can understand what the person means I'm fine, I might even encourage "incorrect" usages if they are funny or somehow apt.

On another note, I like that you recalled and found a seemingly unimportant comment of yours from over two years ago that related to changing word usage.

<comment><USER9> As I hoped I had made clear, I'm also more of a descriptivist than a prescriptivist. And I'm not against being creative with words now and then. I just wouldn't insist on every one of them becoming the new norm. My criticism is that even when mainstream usage is divided (so descriptivism will not take you very far), people who argue for changing the meaning tend to argue unfairly that seemingly only the people on their side of the divide count. All the others are just boring old prescriptivists. I, on the opposite, would rather go with established use as long as it's not clear that the accepted meaning has really changed.

About sic btw, it indicates that the spelling of a word is exactly the intended one. Even if that spelling is /not/ wrong (afaik). It was meant to gently draw attention to that spelling without giving offence.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> My annoyance is "literally", where it is now used merely for emphasis rather than the sentence being a metaphor.

<comment><USER13> Etymologically, doesn't "literal" just mean related to written word? I thought the implication was that "literally" is like asserting something is true to the extent that you would document it that way in official records.

<comment><USER12> If I said "he is literally as high as a kite" that would pedantically mean he's a hundred feet off the ground, but these days "literally" just adds emphasis.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Let's officially dump the original meaning of "beg the question" because it's a poor translation from Latin.

<comment><USER15> Agreed. While we're at it, can we also drop the meaning of "raise the question"? That one is a mistranslation of English ...

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> this loss of meaning in words, of everything moving towards the middle, towards meaninglessness, is not purely a linguistic problem - without those subtle meanings, english speakers (or at least those whose primary mental processing is in the audio loop) aren't capable of thinking subtly

and that's a huge loss - those meanings, those concepts, are high level abstractions that capture critical aspects of human nature, and without them a people are less self aware and more easily manipulated

orwell foretold the loss of these words, though he envisioned it requiring force - the reality is far darker

<comment><USER17> > english speakers [...] aren't capable of thinking subtly

That's a little hyperbolic. Is there any example where a word changing meaning has left us unable to express something?

The meaning of old words change. New words are born. I think it's wonderful.

<comment><USER2> > Is there any example where a word changing meaning has left us unable to > express something?

I imagine it rarely or never leaves us unable to express something _at all,_ but it may leave us unable to express it so succinctly. There are, as far as I know, no exact synonyms for "disinterested", "meticulous" and "phenomenal" in the senses in which they were formerly used. We can still express each of those meanings in other ways, but we need a phrase rather than a single word.

<comment><USER3> What's the sense of "meticulous" that the word has lost?

 _Later_

This was answered upthread. Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> The use of "may" to mean "might" frustrates me. Usually the meaning is clear but sometimes it can negate the meaning of a sentence.

<comment><USER19> When can it negate the meaning of a sentence?

<comment><USER13> I may not be there. I might not be there.

The former, using old meaning, indicates that you aren't permitted, which is the negating the latter sentence that indicates a possibility of being there.

But "may not" in the old sense seems slightly weird, in the way that "permitted not" is weird.

<comment><USER19> [someone downvoted this but I am just asking this for information, not as a judgment]

I'd like to understand the prescriptivist grammar rule. (So I can apply it sometimes for people who might know about these rules.)

Under this rule, does any occurrence of "may" mean "permitted", and, therefore, a sentence like "it may rain tomorrow" is just entirely incorrect - has no meaning (other than that it is permitted to rain tomorrow)?

So that people following the rule never want editors to allow "it may rain"? (They always want "it might rain")?

Is a sentence like "I may have been a bit __(adjective)__" likewise nonsensical? (Meaning, possibly I was a bit (adjective).) Is this past usage also not allowed/nonsensical? What does "may have" mean under this rule, or is it forbidden?

Thanks.

<comment><USER13> I'm not a prescriptivist myself. I simply like having useful words, which is something I appreciate about the article in question.

So, I _like_ the idea that "may" could carry that permissive meaning such that the strictest interpretation is as you suggest. But I don't like it pedantically in practice.

To be clear: "It may rain" isn't a problem because there's no confusion possible. I don't care about stretching words in that way. I just like the idea that the distinction is available for cases where it _is_ meaningful.

If we lose the distinction between "Can I bike there?" and "May I bike there?" our communication suffers.

But "may" is beyond screwy today. Relatedly, although it's fundamentally wrong (not just prescriptively, but like my brain has a bad-syntax error feeling when hearing it), there are places in the U.S. where people say "might could"! See [https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3211/is-might- co...](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3211/is-might-could-a- correct-construct) as on example discussion.

Personally, I'm a non-prescriptivist, non-pedantic, amateur linguist who like people actually thinking about words and using them thoughtfully and intentionally.

<comment><USER19> This was a useful response, thank you. I think I will only correct "may" to "might" if there's a genuine chance for confusion. I like the use of "may" as "possibly".

For example it's an easy way to say, "maaaaybe I was." (I may have been.) Whereas "I might have been" is about a conditional - it means something different than "maybe I was".

Come to think of it, our very word "maybe" isn't about permission - and it doesn't have the form "mightbe".

Still, it is useful to know what prescriptivists think, so thanks for the summary.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Language is a means of thinking and of communication. If the old meaning is still well understood by the audience and helps communicate ideas it would be wise to use it. However if it hurts, not helps, it isn't worth sticking to the original meaning just for the sake of it. Context matters.</comment>


Ask HN: How to build a web app for a non-tech savvy client who wants to modify? - <AUTHOR>

My client needs a site that can integrate eCommerce (Shopify), membership accounts/privileges, and a YouTube-embed carousel/slider. The client desires the ability to add/delete/modify sections after my development work on the project is completed (without any programming). Client needs, example: "I want to be able to add one, two, or three columns containing pictures, videos, text, on pages/regions in the future."
I already tried using WordPress Business Plan and it didn't work out as there is not enough flexibility with plug-ins to achieve main goals. Self-hosted WordPress seems to be the next alternative; yet, this would almost definitely require programming for client to make changes in the future.
Are there any free/open source recommendations? Or, paid recommendations? …this could be an existing platform or app, or a concept for development altogether (holistic; combination of technologies). Thanks HN <comment><USER2> Check out Concrete5 - I haven't used it for a few years, but it worked pretty well for exactly that kind of use case for me a few years back.

<comment><AUTHOR> This might be the ticket - thank you bigiain!

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I haven't used Squarespace ([http://www.squarespace.com/](http://www.squarespace.com/)) myself, and don't know the platform well enough to know if it meets your client's needs, but it sounds like what your client wants is pretty close to what Squarespace does. Might be worth looking into.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the recommendation charliepark, squarespace looks good... but doesn't appear to support YouTube-embedded carousels nor membership accounts/privileges.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Have you heard of Spree ? [https://github.com/spree/spree](https://github.com/spree/spree)

<comment><AUTHOR> Spree is a complete open source e-commerce solution for Ruby on Rails.</comment></comment>


Vim Plugins You Should Know About, Part I: surround.vim - <AUTHOR> http://www.catonmat.net/blog/vim-plugins-surround-vim/

<comment><USER2>

      Hello!

          Hello!

Hello!

<comment><AUTHOR> This plugin does not define 'stp'. You must be using some other plugin that has this mapping.

The plugin I wrote about wraps HTML around perfectly. Try:

        ysiWt

Or if you knew the tag you were going to wrap your "Hello!" in, then in _insert mode_ you could have pressed:

        <CTRL+s>t
.

<comment><USER2> No, the plugin _does_ define stp.

      :help Surround

The pattern you have there ("ysiWtp", < is unnecessary, as is >) is actually not thoroughly tested (as mentioned in the docs) and is used when not in a visual selection. In a visual selection, you use "s" followed by what you want to surround with, e.g. s"

<comment><AUTHOR> You must have a different surround.vim script. Perhaps someone else wrote a script and called "surround.vim" as well.

The one I am talking about does not define stp and requires < > between tags.

What does your 'stp' do?

Edit: I see what you did there. You were in visual mode!

<comment><USER2> Of course. surround.vim couldn't get away with clobbering "s" in normal mode.

<comment><AUTHOR> this works for me:

      viwstp>

turns

      foo

into

foo

Edit: (30 mins later) Now I understood fully what was happening. ;)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> My favorite vim plugin is to not use any plugin: use the filter command "!", the unix way.

<comment><USER4> Sure, but some things (eg, surround.vim) can't be emulated with that.

<comment><USER3> give me an example of something that i can't filter in a sed/grep/ed/awk/perl script.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I just made a plugin recently for on the fly Python checking with squiggly underlines, like a "real" IDE: pyflakes.vim <http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2441>

(Make sure you grab a Python 2.5/gvim--required ATM--build from the link on that page as well.)

</comment><comment><USER6> I tried this plugin a few days ago, but it seemed to break the s (substitute) command, so I removed it. Does someone know how to make it work?

The problem is the following: Write a line of text, select part of it using v, then press s to remove the selection and enter insert mode to start replacing it. This doesn't work anymore when surround.vim is loaded. Too bad, it sure looks great…

<comment><AUTHOR> Try 'R' instead of 's' that you were used to.

      OR

Edit surround.vim and comment out the 's' mappings in visual mode. Like this:

        "    if !hasmapto("<Plug>Vsurround","v")
        "        if exists(":xmap")
        "            xmap  s    <Plug>Vsurround
        "        else
        "            vmap  s    <Plug>Vsurround
        "        endif
        "    endif
        "    if !hasmapto("<Plug>VSurround","v")
        "        if exists(":xmap")
        "            xmap  S    <Plug>VSurround
        "        else
        "            vmap  S    <Plug>VSurround
        "        endif
        "    endif

<comment><USER6> 'R' replaces the whole line, so that won't do. I commented the script as you suggested and it works. Thank you!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> oh my god, thank you. i love you.

</comment><comment><USER8> I've been looking for a plugin that does precisely this. Thank you Peteris, you've got another subscriber ;)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you! :)</comment></comment>


Where's the love? Very critical slashdot comments on PG and YC newsweek article: "... what an arrogant twat." - <AUTHOR> http://slashdot.org/articles/07/05/13/1724247.shtml <comment><USER2> That comment is by Ian Clarke, a founder of a bunch of failed startups. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Clarke_%28computer_scientist%29>

He's just jealous/jadded/overly-arrogant.

Safely ignore him :)

<comment><USER3> I think this comment shows everything that is asinine and vapid about the YC "community".

Ian Clarke invented freenet... the most successful peer-to-peer privacy network.

And whether his businesses have been successful or not (I don't know, but I know you don't) he's been more successful than the members of this community. He has far more users than reddit, for instance.

Its amazing that every disagreement or criticism of YC is met with the "you're a failure" or "you're jealous" or "you're bitter" response. __

Never a response on the point.

This is what has me increasingly believing that YC is a cult of personality-- its adherents don't make arguments, they repreat mantra. Their motivation is not intellectual honesty-- but defense of their idol.

Please, prove me wrong!

 __These are the classic comebacks of kids. Is this community made up of college students? Is that the problem?

<comment><USER4> Is FreeNet really all that successful? I remember seriously looking into it back in 2000, when Napster and Gnutella and FreeNet were all the rage, and thinking it was incredibly innovative and potentially world-changing. However, back then it had no GUI and required that you search for files by _hash code_ , both of which were showstoppers for me. I've kinda forgotten about it since, because none of my friends use it. The Wikipedia article suggests that it still has speed and usability problems. Have they fixed the showstoppers that made me ignore it in 2000?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I do think the remark about 5 minute IQ test is a bit arrogant. I am not sure if Paul really said this (haven't read the article) or it was just journalism as usual...

<comment><USER6> I'd recommend taking quotes from a news article with a grain of salt. It's out of context, and you don't get to hear tone of voice or see the expression on his face.

My impression is that there are lots of insecure people who are way overreacting to that comment. He took the sentence "we think the deal we offer is great for the startup companies" and made a geeky joke out of it.

<comment><USER4> He did explain further on news.YC:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=21791>

It's still hard to tell tone of voice over the Internet, but it sounds like he was serious about the IQ test part.

<comment><USER7> Yep, but then he explained it even further and made clear that the quote didn't quite make clear what he said :-)

<http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=21967>

I've had the same reaction as boris when reading the original quote. But what he was talking about was the case where someone turns them down _because of the valuation_. And I can see Paul's point there, actually.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Thanks to SwellJoe for setting it out straight, really why I bothered posting this - so slashdotters could have an inside opinion on the process. Yes they are angry sheep, but they are our geek brethren.

[http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=234583&cid;=19110535](http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=234583&cid=19110535)

<comment><USER3> Do you realize how patronizing you're being?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes. Well done for picking it up.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Slashdot commenters mindlessly bash subject of article. News at 11.

<comment><USER3> YC fans mindlessly bash anyone who disagrees. Nothing different here.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> It's odd that they criticize the amounts raised so often: $15K for 5% means YC's average bet is that the output of one project from two coders is worth $300K. How many of the slashdot commenters think they could take a summer off with a buddy and make $300K worth of software?

<comment><USER10> And that's not including the risk premium and required risk-free return, both of which have been implicitly priced into the contract. To stay competitive, VCs often require an expected annual return on new investments of 30-40%. Because YC invests at such an early stage, I would suspect that their required return should be much higher.

A 50% discount rate would lead to significantly larger average valuations @ 5% equity ($15k invested): $450,000 after first year; $675,000 at second year; $1 million at third year.

Since any later financing would dilute their stake, the expected post-money valuations should be even larger.

<comment><USER3> OH MY GOD! Its like you're brainwashed!

Let me ask you this- - you're buying a car. You're going to use this car to deliver papers and make some money delivering pizza on the side. You're going to build a little business here that's worth 10 times the value of the car after a year or two.

Do you go to the bank who gives you %100 of the purchase price of the car in exchange for %9 interest each year? Or do you go to the local loan shark who charges you ("to stay competitive, of course") %30-%40 of the value of the loan, plus-- if you decide to sell the car-- 4 times the value of the loan at liquidation?

YC says you go to the loan shark and pay %400 for your money.

Slashdot "Trolls" say "that's way too much"... and you think they are engaging in bad math?!?!

<comment><USER9> YC doesn't say that. YC isn't competing with the larger VCs, and as far as I know large VCs wouldn't deal with a company the size of a YC candidate. Also, the bank isn't giving you a list of customers whose credit card statements show pizza and newspaper purchases in the last year.

Your analogy doesn't work; YC is buying equity just like anyone else. They're getting it cheap because they're paying for a couple undergrads to work for the summer -- your analogy would work if the bank would only give the loan if you had an established business and promised to work full-time for years.

Since we have the math, there's no reason to make up emotionally charged analogies. YC values these companies at somewhere between $100K ($10K for 10%) and $1.5 million ($15K for 1%). They do some legal work, and offer lots of advice and connections. Obviously, this isn't a good deal for everyone (given the industry I'm in, for example, I'd probably pass on YC), but if you're having trouble understanding why anyone would accept it, you may just have trouble thinking like a smart, ambitious, well-informed twenty-something.

And judging by the quality of your writing, age is _not_ what sets you apart.

<comment><USER3> My analogy does work, but I wasn't talking aobut YC, I was talking about VC. I wasn't saying the YC model was broken, I was saying the VC model is broken.

This is not an "emotionally charged" analogy, it is exatly correct. This is probably not apparent because people tend to ignore the cost of VC money.

"And judging by the quality of your writing, age is not what sets you apart."

Seems all you got is insults... great argument technique.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> You guys still bother reading the comments on slashdot?

<comment><USER12> Who the hell even reads slashdot anymore? It's been years, for me. Digg and Reddit pick up the stuff I actually want to know about, and I don't have to put up with Cmdr Taco's government-conspiracy pontifications.

<comment><USER13> Uh, so, just to clarify, you a) like reading Reddit, and b) _don't_ like government conspiracy pontifications?

Right.

<comment><USER12> The difference between Slashdot and Reddit is:

\- Reddit is a big group of paranoids ;-) rather than just one gun-toting Michigan hick, and

\- the government "conspiracy" stories on Reddit are, by and large, true or close to true, whereas on ./ they're complete mis-readings of stories or out- and-out BS. It's a matter of degree, in other words.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> why should it matter to any of you?

pg does not need (nor appreciates) any of us to be his defenders.

If we can help each other out some on this newsgroup (and I am willing to), that is all that is necessary. [gets back to work].</comment>


Uber's diversity page - <AUTHOR> https://www.uber.com/info/diversity/ <comment><USER2> Proportion of whites in the US: 63.7% (down from 87.7% in 1970)

Proportion of whites at Uber: 49.8%

Ars Technica: "Uber's labor force—in particular its tech staff—is overwhelmingly male and largely white." ( [https://arstechnica.com/business/2017/03/new-diversity- repor...](https://arstechnica.com/business/2017/03/new-diversity-report- shows-85-of-ubers-tech-workforce-is-male/) )

So whites are under-represented at Uber, even a minority, yet we're told that's still too many. Will they be happy when there's only 40% of them? Or 10%?

<comment><USER3> [http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/counties/SanFranciscoCounty....](http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/counties/SanFranciscoCounty.htm)

<comment><USER2> In a country where people move an average of 11.7 [1] times in their lives, do your really believe who gets hired has nothing to do with the demographics?

[1] [https://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/how-many-times-the- avera...](https://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/how-many-times-the-average- person-moves/)

<comment><USER3> Number of times someone moves is irrelevant.

 _How far did they move?_

[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/12/24/upshot/24up-f...](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/12/24/upshot/24up- family.html)

[http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2008/12/17/who-moves-who- stay...](http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2008/12/17/who-moves-who-stays-put- wheres-home/)

[https://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/acsbr10-07.pdf](https://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/acsbr10-07.pdf)

        Native-born Californians form a relatively small percentage of
        the city's population: only 37.7% of its residents were born in
        California, while 25.2% were born in a different U.S. state.
        More than a third of city residents (35.6%) were born outside
        the United States.[11]

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

Plenty of international diversity at 35.6% of residents born abroad, but a meager 25.2% of San Francisco residents are from a different US state. Simply put, San Francisco is not representative of the US.

There are also commuters, but I would be surprised if the demographics of the 265,000 people that commute to San Francisco daily are that much different from the demographics of who lives here. Insofar as people working in tech in San Francisco are concerned is concerned, my experience shows that only San Francisco county, San Mateo county and Alameda county are relevant. I've met many people from those other Bay Area counties, but very few tech workers from those counties. Those two other counties have similar demographics.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


IE6 usage falls below 5% in The US and Europe - <AUTHOR> http://gs.statcounter.com/press/ie6-falls-below-5-perc-for-first-time-in-us-and-europe

<comment><USER2> I wonder whether we will see upgrades from the 7-8-9 series proceed at a much more rapid pace, given that the big hurdle, the interface, has already been overcome from 6-7. I know people who would not upgrade, just because they didn't like the UI change.

I only just forced myself to use Office 2007, since 2003 licenses are becoming hard to come by. I hate it still, but I will have far less trouble moving to 2010 than I had moving to 2007.

</comment><comment><USER3> What does the dotted line on the statcounter graphs represent? All the colored lines with large circles are browsers, but there is also a dotted gray line that drops slightly then rises again and has no data points that you can hover over.

<comment><USER4> At the very bottom of the color-coded legend on the right, it says "other (dotted)".

<comment><USER3> Thanks. I don't see a legend at all, might be a Gnash/Flash incompatibility.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> If you subtract the 4.61% using IE6 from the IE total score then IE and Mozilla have almost exactly equal share in Europe 38.71 vs 38.61%.</comment>


Ask HN: What startup has the largest sign-up button? - <AUTHOR>

The increasing proliferation of A/B-testing have the effect of inflating sign up buttons all over the web. The effect comes from the fact that A/B-testing will show that almost no matter how large you make the sign-up button, you can squeeze out a few extra per mille in conversion rate by making it even bigger.<p>An example of a website with a quite large sign-up button is http://www.teambox.com. Let's start a round of one-uppance: who can find the largest sign-up button around? Not counting spoofs and goofs. <comment><USER2> I'm not sure if they're a startup or not but these guy's have a _very_ big one:

<http://www.gaiaonline.com/>

<comment><USER3> Great approach to the Sign Up button! The humorous approach itself probably increases the conversion rate.

<comment><USER4> Depends on what you mean by conversion.

Interesting stats: over 50% of the people who sign up never click the "verify email" link in the welcome message they get. About 90% of the people who sign up are "born dead" meaning they are never seen again after the first few days.

It's difficult to inject your site into a person's habits, routine, and life. But once someone is hooked, they stay forever (or until a major life event like moving to college).

That site can deal with crappy signup numbers because the site still brings in over one million dollars every month from teenage girls buying "virtual items" for $2.50 to $9.99 each: [http://vator.tv/news/2010-07-23-gaia-makes-1m-a- month-in-vir...](http://vator.tv/news/2010-07-23-gaia-makes-1m-a-month-in- virtual-good-sales)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Biggest one I've seen so far: <http://baramail.com.au/> (the giant "sign up now for a free account" button at the bottom of the page)

Bonus: <http://www.betterblogger.net/>

<comment><AUTHOR> Very cool. Perhaps a relevant question for the ones of you that have done actual A/B-runs: Is it your experience that a larger or more prominent button "always" increases conversion rate? Is there any counter examples?

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I put that button on Teambox, and I can say it was not because of A/B testing at all. I just like clicking on big buttons!

<comment><AUTHOR> So what kind of conversion rate are you seeing from visitors on that page?

<comment><USER7> Signups? I cannot disclose actual numbers but after the website redesign we saw an increase in signups by 40%.

<comment><USER2> If you classify redesign as "one thing" you become eligible for a "How I increased signups 40% by doing one thing" submissions!</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Why finding great people to work with is SO hard - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@andraganescu/why-finding-great-people-to-work-with-is-so-hard-54c925fce290

<comment><AUTHOR> Hi HN, this is an analysis i made on how the careers of talented people tend to evolve - and also why finding great talent gets harder and harder, as your requirements become more and more abstract.</comment>


Survey of startup competitive advantages - <AUTHOR> http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/07//why-software-startups-decide-t.html

<comment><USER2> Well that's a convincing sample-size:

 _Two-thirds of the approximately 700 software entrepreneurs who participated in the 2008 Berkeley Patent Survey report that they neither have nor are seeking patents for innovations embodied in their products and services. These entrepreneurs rate patents as the least important mechanism among seven options for attaining competitive advantage in the marketplace. Even software startups that hold patents regard them as providing only a slight incentive to invest in innovation._</comment>


How 20 popular websites looked when they launched - <AUTHOR> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/6125914/How-20-popular-websites-looked-when-they-launched.html <comment><USER2> It would be equally fascinating to look at all the incredibly well designed launches that failed miserably. This is a great reminder that if you solve a big problem or have unique content, people will crawl through sewage to get to it, but if you build an amazing empty container, it will die a slow death.

<comment><AUTHOR> So true dawernik. Most of it depend on the quality of the content, product. Let's care about the beautiful package when you are big enough ;-)</comment></comment>


Western Digital's RISC-V "SweRV" Core Design Released for Free - <AUTHOR> https://www.anandtech.com/show/13964/western-digitals-riscv-swerv-core-released-for-free <comment><USER2> Earlier discussion: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19009431](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19009431)

Also, no MMU, so while interesting, it's not going to be part of an RPi type thing many are looking for when they see these threads. It will be one of many really fast non-royalty-encumbered MCUs the RISCV movement spawned.

<comment><USER3> Yeah, this is a Cortex-R replacement, meant for deeply embedded, but not as gate conscious as Cortex-M.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> It feels like we're in a wave of RISC-V news, I hope it continues.</comment>


The case of Chinese LinkedIn spy recruitment [pdf] - <AUTHOR> https://www.fiia.fi/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/bp267_geostrategically_motivated_co-option_of_social-media.pdf <comment><USER2> If another country can use LinkedIn to identify targets... so can the local target's country. They can identify weak points, address them.

Also it occurs to me China's social credit system would do the same, both ways.

It might even make it easier to setup a double agent who is so tempting based on their profile the other country is sure to contact them and work with them.

<comment><USER3> Might be fun to troll LinkedIn with such a profile.

<comment><USER2> Jim DisgruntledClassifiedSecretsGuy is open to new opportunities!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Got an invite from a fake account claiming to be a professor at my alma mater. The name only exists on LinkedIn and has currently a handful of connections. I reported the account, but it remains up as of today. I do not have a public account.

Made me paranoid enough to stop accepting invites (~1000+ pending) and drop all usage of LinkedIn. Very discomforting to know you are a target. LinkedIn will have to visibly move on this for me to change my outlook and regain trust.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> TL;DR: LinkedIn makes it really easy for Chinese spy agencies to identify suitable targets at companies or government orgs of interest and contact them innocuously in the form of recruiters. While this much is by design, a LinkedIn profile also often has enough information to let them deduce that a person's career is not going well or they're in financial trouble, making them particularly susceptible to bribery or blackmail:

> _For example, Kevin Mallory, a former CIA officer, was sentenced to 20 years > in prison for handing over secret documents and confidential information to > Chinese intelligence. His career was floundering and he was in dire > financial straits when he received a message from a fake account on LinkedIn > in 2017. This fake contact claimed to be working for a think tank that was > looking for foreign policy expertise. The targeted ex-CIA officer travelled > to China twice and was given money and equipment to maintain his > communications with the Chinese._

One point _not_ raised by the article is that two can play at this game: LinkedIn is allowed to operate in China and has some 41 million users, and there's a local unicorn called Maimai (脉脉) that's increasingly popular as well.

<comment><USER5> Why would you have a real linkedin account if worked at such a sensitive job.

As Bob Howard says in the laundry files HE and MO have a fake FB profile.

<comment><USER6>
      Why would you have a real
      linkedin account if worked
      at such a sensitive job.

Perhaps he made it to apply for one of the 194 jobs the CIA currently advertises on LinkedIn [1] for jobs like "Cyber Threat Analyst", "Polygraph Examiner", and "Targeting Officer" or to connect with the 1,110 other CIA employees LinkedIn lists.

[1] [https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search?locationId=OTHERS%2Ewor...](https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search?locationId=OTHERS%2Eworldwide&f_C=14068&trk=companyTopCard_top- card-button)</comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: AcceleratorX Book – 62 alumni share how to get into YCombinator - <AUTHOR> http://www.acceleratorx.com/ <comment><USER2> There's nothing for HN to see. It's a $50 PDF paywall.

Paul Graham's advice is worth far more, he's a YC founder, and it's entirely free: [http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html)

</comment><comment><USER3> First thought:

Sleazy. Charge people $50 to get "advice" on how to get into YCombinator.

No. Just. No.

<comment><USER4> People get paid for writing books. I don't think that is too outrageous. People write books in how to get into school, get a job, start a business etc.

<comment><USER3> 1) if you really could optimize for acceptance you would to some extent be defeating their process. It is in the ballpark of white hat/black hat seo... sure that could ultimately be untrue if during the course of following advice you actually just made a better company but ... at that point the title is misleading, which leads us to ...

2) Very predatory on people's dreams of success. There are many products out there that are priced very high, and basically are targeted towards people who can't really take advantage of the advice. I think the ethics surrounding that are questionable at best.

<comment><USER4> There are a lot of smart people. There probably isn't that much separates team x from y. If this book helps them good for them.

<comment><USER5> His point is that if you are smart and have a good product, you don't need this book. If you aren't either of those things, Y Combinator doesn't want you and this book is helping you cheat.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> So, Laksman, did you successfully get into YCombinator?

</comment><comment><USER7> click bait. Plus when you get to the site, it is totally devoid of information vs. prettiness.

</comment><comment><USER8> Looks interesting</comment>


How to Automate a Web Consulting Project from Start to Finish - <AUTHOR> https://zapier.com/blog/how-automate-web-consulting-project-start-finish/

<comment><USER2> My first thought on reading this was "wow, two clients a week!"

I've never got to grips with the client acquisition process, it's always been hit and miss and somewhat random for me.

Could someone point me in the direction of a good resource for getting consulting clients on a consistent and repeatable basis?

</comment><comment><USER3> When I first read the title, I thought there was a magic way to farm out work automatically and live on a 4-hour work-week schedule by using the method. Oh well, I guess I should go back to writing code :)

On a more serious note, I really like this setup. There are a couple of pieces missing such as timesheet integration but it's a good initial setup.

<comment><USER4> That's a great idea. This should work with Amazon's Mechanical Turk. You'd have to come up with a good idea first and manage the quality well some how.</comment></comment>


h2: HTTP 2.0 client and server implementation for Rust - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/carllerche/h2 <comment><USER2> I've been wanting to jump into Rust for many years now, because I love working on systems level code and Rust seems like it will eventually be a no-brainer choice.

I waited until it hit 1.0, and then I waited a bit more, played around a bit here and there with the intent of getting a feel for it. Then last week I started taking it seriously and working on learning it for real.

Seeing more and more libraries popping up for the basics makes me feel like I made the right choice. Sure I'm not going to use the crate today because of the multiple warnings in the README, but things are sprouting up at a good rate.

I feel like once I've got a nice fun sideproject built in Rust, and then move to looking for employment in that space, things will be coming together nicely.

I don't know how to word it better than "I think I chose the right moment to hop aboard."

<comment><USER3> You jumped on while it's on the up and up.

<comment><USER4> if you're still looking around, you want to have a look at Nim, an alternative systems programming language with optional GC. [https://nim- lang.org/](https://nim-lang.org/)

<comment><USER2> Thanks for the heads up, but meaningful whitespace means I'm not likely to look too closely at it. The use of invisible characters to determine control flow is not something I'm a fan of.

Here's a post I made on the topic a few months ago: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15251078](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15251078)

Take note of how the reply that tried to play with whitespace was already broken by HN's code formatting.

EDIT:

Beyond whitespace sensitivity:

* It compiles to an intermediary language rather than leveraging something like LLVM.

* Despite having sum types it appears that idomatic Nim uses null pointers.

* I'm seeing that it disallows pointer arithmetic in the same search results page that links to a runnable example of pointer arithmetic.

* It uses exceptions, which obscure control flow and make grokking code much more difficult IMO.

* Bindings are mutable by default.

I'm not seeing a good reason to use Nim over Rust in the places where I would use Rust. (For personal use: game development)

I could see it being competitive with where I use Go, but with whitespace sensitivity, exceptions instead of error values, and compiling to C, I'm not even sold on using it there.

<comment><USER5> How about D[1] or possibly ante[2]? Ante has significant whitespace (sorry), BUT it has fancy macros. Goto is implemented as a macro, for instance.

1: [https://dlang.org/](https://dlang.org/) 2: [https://github.com/jfecher/ante](https://github.com/jfecher/ante)

<comment><USER2> Note that I did edit the above post as you were replying.

Also I should note that I'm writing this from the perspective of developing game engine style code.

D:

* D's garbage collector can be switched off, but last I checked (to be fair a few years ago) this even locked you out of parts of the stdlib. For smaller game engine projects, this is an issue. For larger ones, they often rewrite the stdlib anyway, though I'd expect growing pains while bootstrapping up to that point.

* Memory safety guarantees appear to be much stronger in Rust than in D. The difference in approach demonstrates this well I think, Rust has an `unsafe` keyword while D has a `@safe` attribute.

* It's great at its goal, which is to be (C++)++. It sidesteps a lot of the problems found in C++ and appears much more intentionally designed.

* Despite a 7-8 year headstart for D, from the outside of both communities the Rust community appears much more vibrant.

I've not heard of Ante, I'll go take a look.

<comment><USER5> > D's garbage collector can be switched off, but last I checked (to be fair a > few years ago) this even locked you out of parts of the stdlib. For smaller > game engine projects, this is an issue. For larger ones, they often rewrite > the stdlib anyway, though I'd expect growing pains while bootstrapping up to > that point.

Yeah, that is a problem -- albeit one that people are currently working on fixing. Look at BetterC[1]. And I've heard rumours someone is rewriting the GC to be much more performant? And if nothing else, you can just stop the GC and manually collect your own memory, and a smart pointer implementation is probably relatively simple.

However, is the GC even a problem? You know what they say about premature optimization.

1: [https://dlang.org/spec/betterc.html](https://dlang.org/spec/betterc.html)

<comment><USER2> I've spent enough time writing games in various GCed languages, and GC has been an issue in all of them. It's less about the optimization of the actual pause time and more about trying to make sure that things are as deterministic as possible for debugging's sake. Though the pause is of course an issue as well.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I once ported nghttp2 to the ESP32, that was _not fun_. Anyone got a clue about memory consumption of this?

<comment><USER7> Rust binaries are not terribly small and this likely isn't `no_std`.

What order of magnitude would you need?

<comment><USER6> I see. 2 MB flash and 200k ram are max. But no_std would probably be a requisite.

Nghttp2 does no I/O itself so is very portable and efficient, was hoping for something similar.</comment></comment></comment>


Why did Amazon spend $1.5m in Seattle's local elections? - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/09/us-democracy-politics-wealth-plutocracy-money <comment><USER2> "Campaign donations are a great investment. Stocks might only earn you 10%, but controlling the government can multiply your investment unimaginably"

This should be on the front page here.

<comment><USER3> > but controlling the government can multiply your investment unimaginably

This statement is ironic since Sawant ceded her vote to an unregistered, non- reporting political party called "Socialist Alternative." Amazon may have influence on Sawant's opponent (or may not - most of the money was spent through unrelated PACs, not as contributions), but Sawant has an organization actually controlling her vote outright.

Worse, the fact that a national party had binding control of her vote was secret until a journalist discovered it

[https://sccinsight.com/2019/01/07/sa- sawant/](https://sccinsight.com/2019/01/07/sa-sawant/) summarizes it well:

> You may be asking, "Is this really different from the way the Democratic or > Republican Party works?" It is substantially different in two important > ways:

> 1\. While members of a political party in a given legislative body self- > organize to form a caucus to maximize the impact of their votes, neither the > Democratic Party nor the Republican Party are themselves a caucus and they > don't dictate how elected officials will vote. Further, Democratic and > Republican elected officials don't pledge their accountability to the caucus > or the party (if they did, there would be no need for a Democratic or > Republican Whip), and some frequently split from their party's caucus on > particular issues important to their constituents. The parties also don't > run the offices of elected officials and hire and fire their staff. Voters > expect their elected officials to be accountable to constituents, not to a > private organization (political party or otherwise), and to make their own > decisions.

> 2\. The Democratic and Republican Parties are registered at both the federal > and state level as political parties. As such, they disclose their > leadership and make regular financial disclosures. Also, anyone can join the > Republican or Democratic Party; there is no required financial contribution, > and no interview required in which one's ideology is tested before being > accepted as a party member. None of that is true for Socialist Alternative.

<comment><USER2> The fact is that candidates like Bernie Sanders and other progressives are not "Socialists", and the policies they are campaigning on and for are "Democratic Socialist" policies.

For you to purposely ignore that indicates you're either a fool or a bullshitter. My money would be on your being a bullshitter.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> uhh. is this a trick question.

It's no coincidence they spent little money until Seattle politicians started coming after them.</comment>


Could we use this to search HN? - <AUTHOR> http://www.google.com/cse/

<comment><USER2> You can use directly Google [http://www.google.it/search?hl=it&q=site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2F...](http://www.google.it/search?hl=it&q=site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fnews.ycombinator.com+hello+world)

</comment><comment><USER3> I've always wondered why this isn't used... perhaps because if you can't figure out _site:whatever_ on google you're not a hacker?

Still, it's easy to implement and certainly better than nothing.

</comment><comment><USER4> May PG add this link to the top/bottom bar [http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=014927534610857777870:r3kw...](http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=014927534610857777870:r3kw3vs7gmo)

</comment><comment><USER5> What I really want is a search engine for articles I've seen on HN. All current solutions ("site:", Google CSE, searchyc.com) are just indexing the titles of the stories and the comments, but not the actual text of the article.

</comment><comment><USER6> Anything insufficient with site:news.ycombinator.com ?

<comment><USER7> That can fail to locate a newer post, leading to a repost.

I also suspect it doesn't index everything, at least sometimes I can't find an older post and its either them or my brain, so I blame google.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Probably, but until then, there's <http://searchyc.com/>

<comment><USER9> Or use _!hn query_ in duckduckgo.com (uses searchyc.com)

<comment><USER10> That's pretty cool. Except that I read it as "Not hackernews" :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment> the-kenny Just subscribe to HN in Google Reader and use its search function.

<comment><USER11> Are comments included in HN's feed?

<comment><USER12> No. It's the same as on the HN frontpage: article title, link to the article, and link to the comments. This is what a feed item looks like in Google Reader (GR): <http://i.imgur.com/Imyw9.png>

GR's search functionality is pretty useful. I sometimes mark articles I upvote here on HN in GR, too, so I can search through them in the future, if I need to. I don't know for how long GR saves fetched articles of a specific feed, but if you mark them, they'll stay there forever. At least I hope so.</comment></comment></comment>


Is this Italy's Mark Zuckerberg? - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28211811

<comment><USER2> [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines)

</comment><comment><USER3> At least Zuckerberg knew how to code.</comment>


A Simple Physical Investment – SpecieCo – Launch - <AUTHOR> Hey all,
I have been a lurker on here for sometime, and enjoy the community of intelligent discussion. I want see what discussion can be fostered about my startup SpecieCo.
Here is the product/company in a nutshell.
- We offer a verified physical investment using a white papered patented technique to verify the investment as genuine ( The investment is a physical gold coin - shipped to your address).
- The customer will have their account debited monthly through a 3d party authorization form in small amounts that will accrue toward the eventual purchase and shipment of this investment.
- This services is targeted to members of our society ( focusing on US) who have no other forms of investment aka the cash society, ( Barbers, small companies with no 401k offering, Bartenders, Waiters, Construction Workers, Uber drivers/gig employees, the prepper community, or coin collectors).
- This group is under-invested in the traditional financial markets, they often do not have a 401k, Roth IRA or Pension.
- This product is not an investment per the SEC gold coins are a " collection". This collection however often reflects trends in the markets that can be leveraged for a specific strategy.
- This strategy does not pay dividends, this product does not offer any of the traditional benefits of wall street, however it does provide the "toe in the water" for investing. Specieco will not use the money it holds in any way, it sits in an account and the whole amount is used for the purchase of your coin.
- How does we make money? Bulk wholesale purchases of gold can have large swings % value.  vs single gold coins. - You can opt as a potential new investor to have your contact information shared with 3d parties ( sold ) to other investment groups.
www.specieco.com
JS - MK - <USER2> <comment><AUTHOR> [https://b2a35d79-f56d-4b5e-b088-483c16786cf0.filesusr.com/ug...](https://b2a35d79-f56d-4b5e-b088-483c16786cf0.filesusr.com/ugd/b191f9_248cd733150a4d06a603683318e1ecff.pdf)

white paper included</comment>


Apple is aggressively hiring Siri engineers after widespread criticisms - <AUTHOR> https://venturebeat.com/2018/03/30/apple-is-aggressively-hiring-siri-engineers-after-widespread-criticisms/ <comment><USER2> Seems a bit late?</comment>


Weird, Dangerous World of Japan's Girl 'Idols' - <AUTHOR> https://www.thedailybeast.com/look-but-dont-touch-inside-the-weird-dangerous-world-of-japans-girl-idols <comment><USER2> In history only the kings could turn themselves into idols. The process is the same. Now it is democratized. Any management company can turn an ordinary person into an idol. People believe that these are idols. From the video where she cries as she explained what happened to her we see that she is normal human being. All rulers, all pharaoh, all kings, all prophets and all gods are manufactured the same way.</comment>


Google Web History - Minority Report In the Making - <AUTHOR> http://startupmeme.com/2007/04/20/google-web-history-minority-report-in-the-making/ <comment><USER2> I don't think it will improve Google's searches. Surely they are already tracking all that data already, so they won't gain any extra information from the service.

I assume that the number of people who don't have a Google cookie is neglectable. Besides, they can probably track you even without the cookie (Javascript tricks, flash cookies, good guessing etc).</comment>


ASCII Pronunciation Rules for Programmers - <AUTHOR> https://blog.codinghorror.com/ascii-pronunciation-rules-for-programmers/ <comment><USER2> As a brit, I had always used the word 'hash', ie. #define being pronouced 'hash define'. When the word hashtag came into common usage it surprised me how many people didn't know where the word originated from</comment>