Ask YC: How bad is the economy? - <AUTHOR>

Any finance hackers here?
I'm very scared of what is going on. I have decent savings (about a year's worth) and a good job with Cisco (company got acquired recently) but I'm afraid of what is going to happen.
What can I do to protect myself? <comment><USER2> _"... I'm very scared of what is going on. I have decent savings (about a year's worth) and a good job with Cisco (company got acquired recently) but I'm afraid of what is going to happen. ..."_

Haven't lived through a recession before?

The most important things to remember: Reduce debt at all costs, make your objective to be debt free. Cash is king. With cash you can bargain. Live frugally while you have debt. If you have a job, train for the next one. If you have a job stick with it. If you are finding progression at work slow and thinking of another job, think before you leap. Probably the most important thing to remember is like booms, recessions end.

 _"... What can I do to protect myself? ..."_

Don't spend what you can't pay in cash. As for protection, you can try but sometimes individuals are swept about like leaves on a stormy winters day. Adapt.

<comment><USER3> During WW2 people in Germany would take wheel barrows of cash to the grocery store to buy bread and milk. The value of German currency dropped so low that people would steal your wheel barrow and dump out the cash.

While I agree with your sentiment that you should only buy what you can pay for today, I wouldn't put too much trust in your (US) cash being worth tomorrow what it is today.

Investing in foreign currencies can build a nice hedge in times like these.

<comment><USER4> Almost every foreign currency has at least an informal peg to the dollar. The European and Chinese Central Banks are working hard to make sure that the dollar does not fall too much. The only truly foreign currency is gold. But the potential for a dollar crash is already factored into the price, so buying gold too is very risky. The safest place to put money would seem to be a combination of FDIC insured CD's, dividend paying stocks ( as opposed to non- dividend, purely speculative stocks), and gold.

<comment><USER5> I don't follow how CDs, FDIC insured or not, wouldn't be affected by inflation in exactly the same way cash would be. Say you buy a $10 CD that pays 10% after 12 months. Within that year, the dollar is devalued by 50%, but your CD still only pays out $11, even though you'd need $22 to have the same purchasing power.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This is kind of on topic but I was listening to a podcast earlier this week and one piece of advice given was:

If you are part of a small company, or if you have a growing small startup/business, this is the time to grow. The big guys are going to be hurting by the downturn in the economy. Get your product out there, stabilize it, and use these years to get a level of safety for it.

As for your assets. Like others said, reduce your debts, keep saving as you are now and you will be fine. If most of your assets are in ACTUAL CASH (i.e: money stored in a savings account) then you will be fine.

<comment><USER7> Having hordes of actual cash won't protect you from inflation if it starts to become a problem. There's a reason gold is trading incredibly high right now.

<comment><USER6> Oh I understand this, but for most people doing any kind of trading is just out of their league. I'm sure most people will be happy to know the $50k they have in their ING Account will be safe from most things while the economy levels back up again over the years.

<comment><USER8> I truly hope so. I have $15k to wade through this thing, so I doubt I can last very many years. Luckily I don't have to travel much, so the rising cost of fuel doesn't affect my burn rate terribly. Health insurance is a different story though.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> In McCain's words, "the economy is sound".

In my words, the economy is heading for a long-drawn recession due to a much needed deleveraging, albeit a drastic one. The world was too flush with credit in the past decade. The financial system is currently fubar with the credit market virtually frozen at this moment. Banks don't trust each other. The Chinese government has instructed their banks to stop lending to US financial institutions. The Feds are currently keeping the financial system on life support. Expect the side effects of the credit contraction to trickle down to the real economy very soon. More company failures, more layoffs, higher unemployment rate etc. Buffett wasn't exaggerating when he said this is an economic pearl harbor. Which is why the Paulson bailout plan will prove to be very crucial.

<comment><USER10> Don't be an idiot. He said "while the fundamentals are sound..." as part of a warning on a possible downturn.

What do you want him to say? "The fundamentals are crap! Don't invest in USA!". There are several states in the country, right now, that are booming. If you don't think so, visit Austin and see how "depressed" it is.

<comment><USER11> I agree, but lay off the name-calling.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Times will get rough but anyone who isn't a moron will come out alright. Recessions are necessary periods of self repair for economies. This one is a backlash from too many people getting too much stupid debt and financial institutions not being responsible.

<comment><USER13> Are you one of those people who thinks the poor are stupid? Sometimes it's out of your hands.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> ... why reduce debt? Nothing is better for devaluing your debt as inflation. It makes it worthless. The question is whether there will be a significant inflation at all. I doubt it, since lot of assets were burned recently in the market drop so there is actually missing liquidity. US could easily face the problem of deflation rather then inflation in the near future. A well balanced portfolio of your investments is the best what you can do in long term. It is hard (if impossible) to time the markets. A well balanced portfolio generally means: 60% equity, 30% bonds, 10% alternatives (including gold).

<comment><USER15> This only works out if there is WAGE inflation. It is very possible for inflation to run rampant while nominal wage growth trails far behind. This is probably the most likely scenario. Have fun paying off your devalued debts with an income of $0, because you're unemployed.

In the intermediate term, asset deflation will probably be the dominant force, even if consumer staples continue to inflate somewhat. The very high general inflation is in store for later.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Don't panic.

Despite what the media say (their job is to tell doom stories, after all), it's not the end of the world as you know it. If you don't know anything particular about finance, just follow your guts, keep your savings account and listen to the experts telling you to invest in _whatever_ with a grain of salt. Don't try to act differently. We're not always rational economic actors in the first place, and panic only makes things much worse. Simply follow the prices, as you would usually (e.g. if you see a bargain at the supermarket, go for it if it's something you would usually do).

</comment><comment><USER17> you'll be fine. put money into your retirement account, save money in a good high-yield FDIC account and wait this thing out. don't do anything stupid, but don't do anything you think is smart, either, because its probably also stupid in an uncertain market.

this is just a part of the business cycle. we're just seeing an extra big down because some jerks love money more than ethics. it will go back up, and by investing in your retirement still, you'll be buying some good deals on stocks while they're down.

</comment><comment><USER18> A lot of people say that things could get as bad as the great depression.

That is true in the absolute sense, but wrong in the relative.

What I mean is that we are today much richer then people were just before the great depression.

If the economy dives deeper and stays down longer we would still be much better of then people were during the great depression.

That's not my opinion, that's fact, because it is what happened in Japan.

Japan had a cheap money, stock and real estate fueled boom and then a true depression which was deeper and longer then the great depression.

But because they were much, much, much better of to start with, their bottom was still far above the great depression's bottom.

The same principle would apply to America.

As other people have mentioned cash is king in a recession/depression.

Keep in mind cash can lose its value if the fed is trying to stimulate spending by inflating the currency.

Gold is a good hedge but gold is taxed at very high rates (22%, not sure) but government bonds are tax free.

It's probably a good idea to hold both.

And if the fed is attempting to save us by printing money, debt IS a good thing to have.

Inflation is the debtor's friend.

<comment><USER13> Is that a poem?

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Let me put it this way: I woke up at 6 this morning to the words "biggest bank failure in US history," and immediately thought to myself, "Well, I woke up to the depression." After listening for a little while, I realized it was the same WaMu news from last night, so not a big deal. But things are going downhill and it's due a a fundamentally flawed economy woefully dependent on credit.

I expect tough times ahead, but I'm not too concerned. I have real, technical skills that should keep me working through whatever may come. One thing that I'm doing is brushing up on my DBA abilities, because I figure that no matter how bad things get, maintaining databases will not be an option: They're part of the infrastructure now.

Call me RMS, but now is the time to make sure that your skills with open source software are top-notch. If things go down the toilet, you can bet that businesses will be hesitant to use expensive Microsoft products when free alternatives are around. Now, Microsoft would hopefully adjust to the decrease in demand, but I'll take the almost guaranteed increase in demand any day over that gamble.

</comment><comment><USER19> America is the greatest democracy since Greece. There is a lot of nay sayers rigth now, as there always is in hard times: These guys used to have placards on their backs and fronts saying it is the end of the world, now the internet has given them a wider voice. We should rejoce in this fact and to be honest I love it and read all of these blogs every day. This is freedom of the press and democracy at its finest. I work at a finance company that went burst (Bear Stearns) so what some people lost some jobs, some rich people lost alot of money. Come on I was also in the DOT com burst. Look be smart, the start looking for the next bubble and getting on board as you should be.

Just listen to what these gobshites are saying: it is the end of america, it is the end of the super power. I have heard this crap quite a few times over the last while, gimmie a break. Listen stop being part of the problem: 1\. Start looking for a profit in this. 2\. Start looking at how America can change to be better from this. 3\. The crinimals that currently run the country should be held accountable if they actually manage to rob the taxpayer of this 700B. 4\. The fed should be nationalized.

America is the greatest country in the world, I truly, truly believe this all we need is a bit of leadershio to guide us out of this crises. The unfortunate thing right now is that both parties have tried to politicise this crises.

FUCK them all no matter what happens tomorrow we will still be american and we will be stronger better and harder.

Stop listening to the fags and start working on solutions to the problem.

That is what america is about, somewhere we lost a bit of this, it is time for some new ideas some hard work and some real leadership.

Believe me the problems we are facing are big but if we work togehter as a nation we will dispatch this problem in a quater, turn this nation around regain our pride and show the world why America is the only super power.

Ernan

</comment><comment><USER20> Protect yourself from what, exactly?

Your savings is protected by the FDIC up to 100k per acct.

I honestly don't believe that the tech/info sector is going to lose that many jobs. If Cisco does consolidate, it (hopefully) will be non-core resources, such as HR, and internal operations.

If you have a 401k, you're screwed either way since you have very few options on where to invest.

If you have an IRA, you can hedge risk by selling calls against your assets... but that's as far as I will go in terms of specific advice.

<comment><USER21> Anyone know exactly how the FDIC thing works?

Supposing my bank goes under (which I sure as hell hope it won't, cuz it's Bank of America), I'm guessing it'll take some time for them to get their act together and I might not be able to access money in the short term. Is this correct? Or can they swing into action immediately to keep the money coming out of the ATMs?

In that case it might make sense to have stashes of cash in multiple banks, just in case (and hell, a thousand bucks under your pillow).

<comment><USER22> No, it does not make sense to stash a thousand bucks under your pillow.

<comment><USER15> I haven't done this, but I actually think it's a good idea to have $1K in fives hidden somewhere. If the power goes out for a week in a region that would be a great thing to have.

<comment><USER23> Yeah, my sister stocked up on $20s before Hurricane Ike, and it saved her butt. Houston is only _now_ getting power back, so everything was cash-only for a week or so.

Also - pasta salad is apparently a lifesaver. It serves like 10, can be eaten cold, and doesn't go bad all that easily.

<comment><USER24> It is even better to stock up on $1s.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> I have a related question. Do you guys think it is a good time to invest in real estate. I live in Southern CA, so property is pretty expensive as it is. Right now, I'm looking at places for approx. $300k that were approx. $500k two years ago. Given that fact that interest rates are not bad either (5.5-7%), it does not seem like a bad time (given that I will have no problems making the payments). This would be my first home purchase, so I'm pretty new at this stuff.

<comment><USER11> Are you looking to own your own home, or make money investing in real estate? If you're talking the former, and you can afford it (20% down-payment, non- ARM, comfortable monthly payment), then I'd probably do it personally.

If you're doing it as an investment, I'd hold off unless you have a lot of money invested already and are looking to diversify. "They" are saying that home prices may slide for another year or two at least. Of course, "they" are often wrong...

<comment><USER25> I'm looking to own my own home. I've got 10% down, non-ARM and semi- conformable monthly payment (relies on two incomes).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> A problem is an opportunity.

 _Mr. Market suffers from some rather incurable emotional problems; you see, he is very temperamental. When Mr. Market is overcome by boundless optimism or bottomless pessimism, he will quote you a price that seems to you a little short of silly._

Warning: you can only tell if the price of a particular stock is silly if you have some idea of what its price should be (with a margin of safety).

</comment><comment><USER11> My thoughts: [http://blog.9assets.com/post/51250904/the-sleep-test- lessons...](http://blog.9assets.com/post/51250904/the-sleep-test-lessons-from- a-bear-market#disqus_thread)

I recommend that you don't panic and ride it out. But if you can't, then permanently decrease your risk exposure (not just for this downturn).

</comment><comment><USER27> The advice here is good and well-intentioned, for the most part, but you need to get recommendations form colleagues and friends for an accountant and fee- based financial planner in your area that you trust, explain your tax, real estate, financial holdings, and family situation, and work through different scenarios.

</comment><comment><USER28> I'm currently looking for a new job. I've noticed that the demand for my skills is as high as in 1999, but the market rate for those skills has dropped nearly 20%.

<comment><USER29> That's because you are old (I've experienced the same thing.) Salaries for recent grads are higher than ever.

<comment><USER23> Do folks 3 years out of college count as "old" or "recent grads"?

<comment><USER29> It depends on what you're doing. Raw details:

I've been at it for 10 years, half in california, half in boston. Just interviewed at a bunch of startups and one big firm. Offers were all around $95K + post series A equity. I made the same salary 18 months out of college. College senior interns at the last "real job" I had got hired away for $86K starting at Amazon, and I didn't think they were necessarily the cream of the crop. I decided to keep contracting until the end of the year at $95/hr and continue working on my improbable startup, even with the heinous economy. In my experience engineering salaries plateau around $100K. Maybe more if you are doing something hard (VMWare) or heinous ("web scaling expert") or are looking to be an exec (VP Eng / CTO).

Age/Experience doesn't really translate into significantly more money unless you're looking to move up the management chain. Best to make hay while you are young. Although, I haven't had a model career - I usually make lateral moves to work on something new and interesting, and have some employment gaps where I decided to travel the world instead of slogging it out. 'Your mileage may vary'

<comment><USER28> > Age/Experience doesn't really translate into significantly more money unless > you're looking to move up the management chain.

I'm actually looking at salaried positions that will pay close to what I'm at now and have me one or two notches up the food chain. Wages have stagnated for now at least.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> He probably means protection against hyper inflation. Any advice for that?

<comment><USER23> Guns & gold. You want enough gold to bribe your way out of the country, and enough guns to ensure that the relevant people take the bribe.

Hyperinflation almost always leads to political unrest, rioting, the fall of the current political regime, and usually war. There's no defense against that: somebody will break into your house, kill you, and take everything you own anyway. So if you honestly believe hyperinflation is going to occur, get the hell out of dodge and quit worrying about your finances.

This, BTW, is why I don't think hyperinflation will occur. Since it always leads to the toppling of the entrenched power elite, and the entrenched power elite tends to do anything in their power to _stay_ in power, they'll make sure it doesn't happen. Looking at history, every instance of hyperinflation I could find resulted from one of two conditions:

1\. There was a large standing army who hadn't been paid in a while and was getting antsy. Or, alternatively, a large rebel group that forcibly appropriated resources from the citizenry and was getting antsy. (Rome 476, Spain 1588, U.S. 1789, Confederate U.S 1865, Hungary 1946, ROC 1949, USSR 1992, Ukraine 1993)

2\. There is a large foreign debt, _denominated in foreign currency_ , that the nation can't pay back. (Weimar Germany 1921, Argentina 1989, Argentina 2001.)

In both of these cases, the government is going to fall _anyway_. If you don't pay the army, they have guns, they come in, and they oust you. If you don't pay your foreign creditors, they have guns, they come in, and they oust you. Printing money is a way to buy time; it never works in the long run, but between dying now and dying later, most elites would rather die later.

The U.S. is not in either of these situations, though the rise of private security forces (Blackstone) is worrying, as is their addiction to debt. If the U.S. doesn't get its spending habits under control, it's just a matter of time before it starts borrowing in RMB or Yen, and then an ordinary garden- variety inflation isn't enough to erase its debt.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> Very bad. Stay away from Stock Markets.

<comment><USER32> Any time you hear that it is time to invest!

As painful as the current situation is for some, it certainly is a better buying opportunity than a few months ago.

<comment><USER26> And watch Warren Buffett. Is he buying? Is he tap dancing?

<comment><USER33> What is he doing now?

<comment><USER26> Buying Goldman Sachs

[http://www.businessweek.com/investing/insights/blog/archives...](http://www.businessweek.com/investing/insights/blog/archives/2008/09/warren_buffett.html)

<comment><USER33> Thank you!</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Apple Registers Several New Mac and iPad Models in Eurasia - sahin-boydas https://www.macrumors.com/2018/07/05/apple-registers-new-macbooks-ipads-eec/ <comment><AUTHOR> My relationship with Apple at this point is like a homeless kid who got adopted by a nerdy eccentric parent in 2002, who taught me UNIX and gave me a little place to code; but lately that parent has been off listening to music with people who don't care about any of this, and when I ask this metaphorical parent for something I need, they wave their hands at me without looking and say "yeah, yeah, there's some new laptops under the stairs in a box, I'm busy, ask me again in a year". And I say, "you can log in with a blank root password", and I hear them sigh and mutter something about even giving me an OS at all.

<comment><USER2> Mention something about CUDA being important for your job and they'll completely lose it... perhaps by throwing away all the furniture and replacing the couch with a soft blue orb that starts pulsing if you play the Black Eyed Peas.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I'm using the first Retina Macbook Pro from 2012. I'm ready to drop thousands of dollars for you Apple, if you would just make a couple of sensible design choices.

Please Apple, bring out another model like the Macbook Pro I already have:

* No Touch-bar. It's pointless & irritating & I'd prefer my money to be spent elsewhere, where it matters.

* A decent keyboard that will last 6 years like this one

* Magsafe

I use this machine to make my living as a software engineer. These things matter a great deal to me.

And Apple, please please please don't make it thinner - I really don't care about thinness like you think I do!

Is that so much to ask for?

<comment><USER4> It is surely not too much to ask for. The problem is that the number of software engineers that will buy a MBP every six years is a relatively small market compared to the general public buying MBP every three years that are more gadgety with crap like the touch bar. Apple wants growth and expanding TAM is the easiest path forward.

<comment><USER3> That's an excellent point snarf21, and I don't disagree with you. I know that you're right, really.

Another take on this, though, in terms of our value to Apple though is the concept of "developer mindshare" (as well as power users). A small percentage of customers can have a massive network effect in terms of sales. This whole cycle of history seems to be repeating itself all over again. Right now when I go to developer conferences, I still see MacBooks everywhere, but of course this was't always the case. It only takes a few years for things to flip.

This whole cycle of tech history seems to be repeating itself all over again. Which is a shame, because, on the whole I've benefited greatly from the combination of macos, the hardware and "it just works"; it's allowed me to simply get on with my work, unencumbered by faulty drivers, weird library interactions and whatnot, and to earn a living without unwelcome distractions.

I continue to monitor the Linux options and don't want to use Windows. I like Unix. I've been comfortable here with macos, but I feel Apple are "this close" to blowing it with the hardware.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Here is hoping they fix the keyboard, add more ports, get rid of the touchbar, and add magsafe back for the Macbook Pro.

I've been holding on as long as I can with my mid-2012 model and if it dies before the above is done I'll be switching.

Apple needs to get back to being a hardware company because being locked to mediocre hardware because of an OS isn't going to cut it.

Apple needs a consumer model and a developer / pro model that gives developers and creators what they need in a laptop.

Stop butchering the pro line!

<comment><USER6> Apple has fully adopted the philosophy of form over function. It looks pretty and thus gets people to buy it. The "Pro" line is now more MacBook Plus than Pro(fessional), where the screen is bigger and its got a few more toys, but the same reduced reliability and usability in favor of looks. You are no longer their target market. They are targeting people who still want a laptop but want an Apple Fashion Statement.

<comment><USER7> Their philosophy of prioritizing form more than most is not really the issue IMO. OP's complaints are really just flat out mistakes Apple has made. For example:

1\. The low-travel butterfly keys would be fine for most folks (even if the low-travel is less comfortable to some, thereby prioritizing form), _if they didn 't break_.

2\. The touch bar seems useless to basically everyone, not just the HN set. It's not driving sales the way other things to (such as the quest for thinness)

3\. Only one port on the 12" Macbook is probably the right approach, but becomes silly on the "Pro" machines.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> For the love of God give us a pro option with a real keyboard and without the stupid touch bar.

<comment><USER9> touch bar is fine- it just CANNOT be used to replace actual buttons that matter- like ESC!

So gosshake, they didn't even put the stinking ESC in the same place, they had to indent it, ruining the billion times I've trained my hand to it.

<comment><USER10> They moved/expanded it in the updated physical function row too :-/

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I feel back in time. I remember Apple before Steve Jobs came back. Same as today: dongles everywhere, massive product line nobody understood, pro segment frustrated, no more innovation, etc. As the messiah is dead, I did not wait for a miracle, I went to Windows (impressive) with a lenovo x1 carbon (hardware updated every years). Still using an iphone because overall better, but the software is a terrible closed mess... :( So sad... Steve prophetised Apple faith: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AxZofbMGpM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AxZofbMGpM)

<comment><USER12> It's because it's incredibly hard to reach the best result by group think and consensus.

You need benevolent dictators, basically, to have the trust and authority to innovate. Even Microsoft is catching up now with surface book 2 which has a lot of invocation in its hardware (but Windows still suck). Apple will not be number one innovator for long if they keep messing up.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> About time. Laptops with 8th-gen Intel processors have been out for over eight months already.

<comment><USER14> Intel and Apple have gotten out of sync lately. I think this time is worse than usual due to the butterfly keyboard issue.

Apple's size and the fact they are using the butterfly type keyboard throughout their laptop lines, means that inertia in deciding to make a change and then implementing it throughout their manufacturing chain is a fraught and time consuming process.

<comment><USER15> will i get burned at the stake if i say i actually like the butterfly keyboard?

<comment><USER16> I like it too - at least as well as the previous keyboard, and assuming it continues to function.

I also spend a lot of time working on my laptop outdoors though, and every time I get something under a key I hold my breath a little as I shake my laptop upside down, hoping that this isn't the time that it finally fails permanently and I have to send the whole machine back to Apple to replace a single key.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> All these wishlists are quite well known, and I agree with many of them. (I really like the butterfly keyboards on the latest 15" MBPs, and the fact that they now have a warrantee extension makes it less of a worry.)

But in the end, I'll never switch, because they're good enough as they are, and the quality/form factor is unbeatable. And macOS is fine and stable for me, with all its warts.

</comment><comment><USER18> Wouldn't be a bad idea to release a few Mac minis soon with user upgradeable RAM, drive, etc. We know the Mac Pro is anyway not coming this year. It looks like the new Macs will just be updates to the MacBook Pro and MacBook lines. Hopefully some without the Touch Bar and with a newer and better (or older and better?) keyboard.</comment>


GitHub - Shiny new commit styles - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/blog/926-shiny-new-commit-styles

<comment><USER2> I'm not sure how I feel about the present-tense dictum. When I commit frequently most of my commit messages end up in present tense anyway, but sometimes they don't, and it all still reads pretty well. I think the emphasis should be on frequent commits which keep the narrative of a codebase coherent and chugging along.

Here's an example changelog: <http://github.com/akkartik/wart/commits/unstable>. Criticisms?

<comment><USER3> I think the present tense recommendation comes from the expectation that each commit works as a stand-alone patch. Thus the commit message does not describe what changes you did to the repository, but what the _patch does_ to it.

Git provides a wealth of tools to craft perfect commits, and if you use them, it's not difficult to end up with a nice history of "add this, remove that, modify something else" changesets that (usually) would make sense even when separated from the surrounding history.

<comment><USER2> _"Git provides a wealth of tools to craft perfect commits"_

Pointers please?

<comment><USER3> Others already mentioned rebasing, but I think the most important tool is the index, or "the staging area". Lots of people not used to Git tend to see the index as an unnecessary extra step, but it's really what enables the good stuff.

In short, the index allows you to decide what goes in a single commit, regardless of the actual contents of a working directory. You can commit only a single line from a file if you want. If you learn how the index works and why it works like it does, understanding the rest becomes much easier.

You can also eg. resolve a conflict piece-by-piece by adding resolved parts to the index, diffing against the working directory, and then finally committing once the content of the index looks correct.

There are many tutorials and I'm not sure which one is the best but I think the book "Pro Git" does a good job at explaining the index among other things. It's freely available online at <http://progit.org>

<comment><USER2> Sorry I read your original as 'crafting perfect commit _messages_ '.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> is it just me, or does anyone else think that though the design is prettier, it kinda makes other parts of the app look bad - for instance compare the commit style to the tree listings. it's not that one or the other look bad, it's just the dissimilarity is jarring.

<comment><USER5> I agree, the new commits use a different motif than the old ones and it definitely looks odd (especially on the code tree pages). Maybe this is the sign of a coming design refresh?

<comment><USER6> I think it is, check out Kneath's (a designer at github) dribble:

<http://dribbble.com/kneath>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> GitHub is doing a fantastic job of building a consistent presence from top to bottom. The changes as a whole have been extremely impressive over the past few months. I, as a designer that uses GitHub on a daily basis at work, am very enthusiastic about the latest updates, the new commit styles included. The GitHub team has been extremely quick to iterate and launch updates recently. I'm sure there's plenty more to come.

</comment><comment><USER8> Update GitHub:FI, please. :(

</comment><comment><USER9> You shall say that it's on GitHub in the title.

<comment><AUTHOR> You're right; I didn't realize I could edit the title after I posted it.</comment></comment>


Popular cartoon 'Paw Patrol' character 'Chase' facing pressure from activists - <AUTHOR> http://nbc25news.com/news/entertainment/popular-cartoon-paw-patrol-character-chase-facing-pressure-from-activists <comment><USER2> Relevant: [https://entertainment.theonion.com/paw-patrol-writers- defend...](https://entertainment.theonion.com/paw-patrol-writers-defend- episode-where-german-shephe-1828419524)

<comment><AUTHOR> oh my

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> There's an interesting article on Paw Patrol by Walt D[1]. It's a bit extreme at points (calling Paw Patrol "everything Trump's Republican Party is pushing on the United States") but it does get the point across, that there are many problematic components of Paw Patrol's formula that may not be the best things to show children. Paw Patrol is an Internet "meme" among Leftists, actually - _ACAB including Paw Patrol_ made the rounds a while ago. Paw Patrol without Chase would not be Paw Patrol and I think removing the main character abruptly would be, frankly, a stupid decision. Canceling the show as they did Cops would be wiser. Paw Patrol is a remnant of the Obama years, where the President ordered more than 500 drone strikes[2] that ended up killing a lot of civilians too. It's best that we leave the show in the past and let future historians gawk at how we let our children watch stuff like this and soak up the propaganda.

[1]: [https://medium.com/s/story/paw-patrol-is-a-republican- dystop...](https://medium.com/s/story/paw-patrol-is-a-republican- dystopia-f178161fce54)

[2]: [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/obama-drone- strikes/](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/obama-drone-strikes/)

<comment><USER4> > It's a bit extreme at points

That's quite the understatement.</comment></comment>


Show HN: Rainy cities for pluviophiles: .js rain simulator - <AUTHOR> http://pluvior.com

<comment><USER2> [http://pluvior.com/layout-multi.html](http://pluvior.com/layout-multi.html)

First thing I clicked 404'd on me. Oops!</comment>


Startup Wisdom. 5 Quick Interview with Startup Founders - <AUTHOR> https://gumroad.com/l/dfk

<comment><USER2> You should at least put the $1 sign in the title!!</comment>


Orthographic Pedant: Bot that scans popular repositories for common typos - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/thoppe/orthographic-pedant <comment><AUTHOR> Just got a pull request from the bot, and thought this was worth sharing. Now we only need a bot that scans for common code smells and we're golden :)</comment>


Flickr Censors Egypt Police Photos - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/11/flickr/

<comment><AUTHOR> borrowed/lifted from Slashdot, because i think this is something that should get more coverage.</comment>


Possible Real Names firing at Google - <AUTHOR>

First, a note about political firings at Google. They're always made to look like performance-based terminations. This is actually a nice thing to do, because it gives the targets time to find other jobs. In Silicon Valley, a 60-day PIP is more than enough severance to bridge to the next gig.
Word coming out is that one person was, just this week, put on an unexpected 60-day PIP for sharing opinions of the Real Names policy on internal G+. It's likely that he's been set up to fail. If this is accurate, and I believe it is, there'll be more to tell in late December.
It's worth noting that individual Googlers have shown nothing but support for this person as the story has developed. <comment><USER2> I wrote a Slashdot submission about exactly this recently: [http://slashdot.org/submission/1778830/google-is-gagging- use...](http://slashdot.org/submission/1778830/google-is-gagging-user- advocates)

For me, I want to find out why it is happening, because as I mentioned in the Slashdot submission, it is "ironic that these anonymity requirements are needed to talk about nymwars". I am not for real name policies, but I do believe problems like this needs to be fixed.

<comment><USER3> Unfortunately for your Slashdot submission, it's hard to get people outside Google to take the gagging seriously, because of course people who are inside Google won't talk about it because they don't want to be fired. (And those people inside Google who _will_ talk to say "no, there's nothing like that" are the ones who are un- or mis-informed, and thus are willing to talk freely.)

<comment><USER2> BTW, I am posting this submission not just to get people to take the specific case seriously, but to get people to take the general problem seriously. Because while I am not for real name policies, I do want the problems with using real names to be fixed if possible.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER2> "First, a note about political firings at Google. They're always made to look like performance-based terminations. This is actually a nice thing to do, because it gives the targets time to find other jobs. In Silicon Valley, a 60-day PIP is more than enough severance to bridge to the next gig."

Not that it excuses that the current anti-discrimination laws are fundamentally flawed. In fact, I am not sure this kind of law are even a good idea. Hiring is an art, not a science. But that is a different topic.

</comment><comment><USER4> There've been a lot of middle- to high-performers put on PIP the past couple weeks. I wondered if this was what that's about.

<comment><USER3> How are you finding this out? I can't imagine PIPs would be advertised widely... (I'm immune to all this because I quit between RNCH and the Plus launch.)

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> <https://twitter.com/Skud/status/129413764356382720>

"also heard a rumour that someone within google was banned from internal g+ for using a nickname, and may treat it as a discrimination matter"

</comment><comment><USER6> Let me guess, blowback from RNCH? Bad news.</comment>


JQuery 1.4 (HTML5 Presentation) - <AUTHOR> http://ihumanable.com/jquery/presentation.html

<comment><USER2> I thought the most impressive part about the html5 presentation wasn't necessarily the fact that it was HTML5. Its the fact that you can show working examples directly on the slide, they aren't simulated, they are just working javascript.

<comment><USER3> That didn't sink in for me right away. I was like whoa, this is all live javascript how the heck is Matt Nowack pulling this off in something like slideshare/etc. Then it clicked.

Very cool stuff.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Tip: use left/right arrow keys to move

<comment><USER5> Tip: Mobile devices may not have arrow keys. Making your website require them is not a great idea.

<comment><USER6> On the iPhone/iPad I found you can navigate the slides by one quick slide left or right.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Browser Back/Forward buttons do nothing, scrollwheel does nothing, no overview/clickable index of links, annoying to scan...powerpoint is the future of webdev?

</comment><comment><USER8> Quick thoughts: \- Graceful degradation in HTML5 demos in general could definitely use some love - if you use a non-bleeding-edge Gecko-based browser (e.g. Flock), you get no functionality and no errors. Also, if your intended target audience is webdevs, why in the world would you require them to install chrome frame in IE? Just leave the first slide as is and we'll get it.

\- Content nitpit: the slide about live() says "Efficient and concise way to provide client-side interaction". AFAIK, live events are slower than regular events, so calling them efficient seems wrong.

</comment><comment><USER9> I guess what is supposed to be most striking is the horizontal slide show at [EDIT: that did not originally show for me in Safari 4.0.5]:

<http://apirocks.com/html5/html5.html>

Which didn't seem remarkable till around slide #31:

<http://apirocks.com/html5/html5.html#slide31>

\- whose css-controlled number of columns ( -webkit-column-count: 3; ) I had never seen before.

EDIT: For real usability a TOC of the numerous slides + info on cross-browser testing would have added huge value.

</comment><comment><USER10> Some good examples there, but in all it's rather brief. Surely there's more to jQuery 1.4?

I'm getting quite weary of hearing that this or that is HTML5, and then you view it and there's really nothing in particular that you couldn't do with HTML 4.1. Is there something special and brand new about showing a set of slides with Javascript with a poor interface? With all of this hype and mislabeling, average semi-technical people are becoming confused from here to Zaire about HTML5. The comments on say, TechCrunch prove this thoroughly every time the topic is mentioned.

<comment><USER11> Interestingly it does use "section" and "header" elements, which are basically invisible to users but are also among the few "HTML5" features that actually fit the name.

<comment><USER10> Yeah, I saw it uses a few new elements. Still, you could accomplish the same effect without them, right? So it doesn't really require HTML5?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Only the first slide was visible when viewed in Firefox 3.6.3 and Chrome 4.1... It's Hard to believe that something so unviewable made it to the front page of HN.

<comment><AUTHOR> You have to push the right arrow key, it's a slide show. Sorry for not having better instructions, it's based off of the <http://apirocks.com/html5/html5.html#slide1> presentation. The reason mouse clicks can't be used is because that would interfere with the JavaScript examples later on in the presentation.

<comment><USER9> Impressive work, Matthew! And I'm pleased it led me to your "Prosper" db front-end: looking forward to following its development. ...and to your use of "unlicense'd" (did i get right number/type of quotes?).

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you for your kind words, yes I believe that all of your quotes match up nicely. I can't take all the credit, this is based heavily on the apirocks HTML5 slideshow and on the amazing work Paul Irish did on the jQuery 1.4 Hawtness series, standing on the shoulders of giants.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I had no idea John Resig is so young! I was picturing a gandalf-like grey- beard who had been coding JS since before the internet. :P

</comment><comment><USER14> Using the scroll wheel would be a nice touch:

      window.addEventListener("DOMMouseScroll",onwheel,false);

      function onwheel(event){
        var delta = -event.detail/3;
        if(delta>0){prevSlide();}
        else if(delta<0){nextSlide();}
        event.preventDefault();
        event.returnValue = false;
      }

</comment><comment><USER15> It would be a nice accessibility feature to make it scale a bit better for browser zoom functions.

</comment><comment><USER16> I'm sure this is an interesting presentation for me, but I've tried the latest versions of IE, FireFox, and Chrome, and at best I get an overly kludgy interface.

Please repost in some better format. Thanks

</comment><comment><USER17> Would be nice to have a small menu in a corner or a custom right click context menu which has "Jump To/Previous/Next" type options.

Also a option for it to full the whole screen area would be awesome.

</comment><comment><USER18> I saw pretty crazy behavior regarding the back button, at least in FF 3.5.9. It put many elements in my history, none of which actually took me anywhere.

</comment><comment><USER19> Great stuff. I forked it on GitHub and added support for [tab] cause it messed up the whole thing. Now it advances to the next slide.

<comment><USER17> Linkage would be nice, So we can all marvel in the wonderful stuff being done with this.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> checkout the clean html source code.

<comment><USER21> HTML Tidy finds 21 errors and 3 warnings.

I like Eric Meyer's S5 template for clean markup and slick interface: <http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/s5/>

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Tried it in FF 3.6.3 and safari - no arrows, can't advance anywhere.

<comment><USER23> did too and was lost because I don't know where to click. not "human" friendly.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> In Safari I'm unable to advance to a new slide.

</comment><comment><USER25> doesn't solve fundamental powerpointitis problem

</comment><comment><USER25> slide 10+ have their content missing

<comment><USER26> are you viewing in FF? I am and noticed some of the logos aren't displaying - but they do in Chrome. Nice presentation, but "HTML5" shouldn't mean "webkit only".

<comment><USER25> Safari</comment></comment></comment>


Pascal's calculator - <AUTHOR> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_calculator <comment><USER2> I've been curious lately: is there any sense in which a nanomachine of mechanical design could be better or faster at certain calculations? Manufacturing and wear issues aside, are their potential theoretical advantages to going back to mechanical systems but on a molecular scale?

<comment><USER3> This is already a big thing that has potential! [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_computing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_computing)</comment></comment>


Lynda.com for free check Your local library offering - <AUTHOR> http://www.portjefflibrary.org/lynda.shtml

<comment><AUTHOR> Don't know when this started but check your own local library they may also be offering access to Lynda.com for free.</comment>


A sad update about a scissors maker that went viral - <AUTHOR> https://kottke.org/18/06/a-sad-update-about-a-scissors-maker-that-went-viral <comment><USER3> > The internet can seem so intimate but ultimately it's a thin view of an > individual's or company's reality.

Perfect description of every "social" platform out there.

<comment><USER4> Including "society". For every tragic company failure or suicide or whatever, there are always stories like this. "She seemed fine." "We never knew they were in trouble". "He's not the kind of person. This is no less true in the internet of 2018 than it was in the small towns of the 1930's.

We don't get to see half of what we think we should be able to see of people's lives. Even people we "know".

<comment><USER5> You'd think those people have seen enough of the "he seemed fine" trope on TV and elsewhere to avoid it. It's like, instead, they are tripping themselves to invoke it. "Hey, the camera is in my face, let me show off how versed I am in 'know your meme' material."

"I'm a total expert in predicting who might be about to do a thing like that! I've even followed a psychology blog or two. But this one, he had me stumped. He was a such nice guy! Always said hello, petted the dog and smiled at the kids."

<comment><USER6> There are many reasons to say that 'he seemed fine' which is why I think people say it so often. They rarely say that 'he seemed happy' though...

<comment><USER7> There'll always be more to that than meets the eye. Processing the death of a loved one is hard enough as it is; add in the fact that they killed themselves and suddenly the grief of that loss becomes incredibly complex.

That last moment you spent with them, with no idea of it being the last one, might have been wonderful. How would you reconcile your feeling in that moment with them suddenly cutting their life short? They seemed fine. If only they reached out? Is it my fault for not being there when they needed me? Why!? Anger, grief, sorrow, moments of joy when you look back on what was...

Add to that we in the western world are generally not very good at talking about our feelings, wanting to appear strong and holding everything together, not feeling like we will be listened to if we open up, or actually being afraid of being judged or stigmatised for it. Never mind being put on the spot about such a sensitive thing. "He seemed fine," is as good a way as any of hiding the incredible pain and vulnerability you will have, just as giving that appearance of being fine is a great way to hide a terrible internal torment that ultimately makes you take your life, because you don't feel like you can reach out for the support you need.

It's highly unlikely that someone, when asked, will go into great detail about how they're actually feeling about that. They have to be given the space to open up if they feel comfortable to do so, in order to get past that protective response.

This has been my experience from my own suicide attempts in the past decade. The first time I was exactly like that - hiding everything, 'seeming fine' \- because I trusted nobody enough to really open up to them. The second time, I did trust someone, a couple of friends and a therapist, and I kept my heart as open as I possibly could the whole way. This was painful for everybody involved, especially after the second attempt and a very close call with a third, but that pain is nothing in comparison to what it would be if I never reached out and succeeded in the attempt.

The point in all of that ramble being, maybe in time we as a society will reach a more compassionate place where it's easier to share these aspects of ourselves if we want to.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This seems like a truly terrible situation where when you get what you think you want it's not what you expected it to be, all tied in with a series of unfortunate events that seem somewhat predictable, i.e. delays on new things, people getting illnesses. In their rush to produce it may have been more prudent to get into a solid financial situation with their windfall. Then again this could just have easily panned out and we'd be talking about how this is the great new model for old companies. I think the real lesson is to remember that what separates good times from bad times can often be bad luck and illness. :(

</comment><comment><USER9> I backed that project, and I really like the scissors I received. Terribly sad to hear about the all-too-human real-life difficulties with the firm.

</comment><comment><USER10> It sounds like their sudden viral popularity created too many obligations to fulfill, but not enough to scale up sustainably. Truly victims of their own success.

I know that stretch goals are popular but there's something to be said for not overcommitting. I have in mind a few other crowdfunded campaigns that were much more successful than initially envisioned, with the bonus rewards/additional content that they promised apparently causing delays or cost overruns for the creators.

<comment><USER11> I was thinking about what they could have done. (I watched the video.) I first thought, perhaps they could have just made them at their usual rate of work, and simply taken two, three years to deliver. This is the case with world- class restaurants that have year-long waiting lists.

Or, they could have had a higher price.

It was then that I realized why an "artisanal" scissor with a viral independent video about it and real old-world charm might cost $100.

Not because it's "worth" $100. Not because hipsters are idiots who don't know what to do with their cash.

But simply to limit the seller's obligation to fulfill.

I am not saying it is the solution here, just that it gives another perspective on insane artisan pricing.

(I hope my comment is not insensitive to the family and people involved. I have no idea of what is behind the story and express my sympathy to all involved.)

<comment><USER12> It's 100 dollars because it costs 100 dollars to make, including enough margin to support the business

<comment><USER11> I don't know, from the write-up it does seem that their business was pretty sustainable at their usual prices. It seems to me that if they had received 90% fewer orders (not gone as viral) they would still be in business.

Anyway if I had said "$400" my point still applies but I doubt you would say that's what it costs to make, including enough margin to support the business. It's just an alternative way to view a $100 (or $400) price point.

<comment><USER13> Strictly speaking raising the price isn't necessary to limit order volume; you could just ... limit order volume. There are X widgets available in 2018, and once they're ordered, they're gone.

Granted, raising the price may also be good, because it restricts the market to "people who are willing to pay more" rather than "people who happen to order first", but sometimes that isn't desirable (this is a constant argument around eg PAX tickets).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Physical products see lots of delays, year plus not uncommon from what I've seen, in the kick starter space. What surprised me is how old this company is, and that this was their bread and butter product. Their LinkedIn shows they've been in business since 1902. That's over 100 years in business, yet they still had a massive delay, over scissors. To me, that's like saying a Samsung or Apple, had a two year delay on one of their mid cycle phones (e.g.,Iphone S versions).

<comment><USER15> They probably don't make new versions all that often.

<comment><USER16> or the scissor design has been around since the 50s and nobody remember how to make the mold and the whole process, maybe there was a reason why they didnt have customers anymore...

My company is family owned, and when my granpa died, a lot of knowledge was lost, my dad is kind of dumb and sunk the company in debt and lost all the customers for years, when I joined, I worked hard for 10 years and now we are back as leaders on our community, but I invested heavily on machinery and studied a lot for new products and reborn old ones.

It happened several times that I was at the tooling warehouse with my dad and asked, what's this tool/machine for? and he didnt knew it, just to discover it some years later.

Yet, I can say that my company was founded on 1920 and I'm the fourth generation running (or ruining) it.

<comment><USER17> Coincidentally, I can tell a story about computer keyboards, in this case Ultra Classic from Unicomp. Their keyboards use the same technology as the legendary IBM Model M keyboard (I have one that was produced in 1985 and it's still my favourite keyboard, use it almost every day). I even heard (though don't know if it's true) that Unicomp produced branded Model M's for a while.

But even though the Unicomp has mechanics equal or comparable to the Model M, they have serious issues with the molding process. In spite of warnings on various internet forums, I got a slightly used keyboard from Ebay and it quickly developped issues with the space bar (the mold is so bad that the key had too much friction).

They have been nice enough to send a new space bar, but sure enough the new one has a huge dent on it (only affecting looks this time). Also, I'm left with a deformed spring (I thought I'd been careful but...). Now being offered RMA and being requested to send it from Europe to USA. Again, friendly service, but I'd rather have quality.

I don't know anything about molding, but it seems to be that some process knowledge gets lost over time, as demand decreases. (Or maybe the machines need to get serviced?)

UPDATE, found an introduction an youtube and loved it. Submission, [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17381697](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17381697)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> This is so sad, to an extent that I wish it was a scam and nobody has died waiting for organ transplant or took their own life.

<comment><USER19> I'm worried that the fact they couldn't succeed in spite of such an upwelling of support may have been contributory to Nick's despair. :/

He kills himself and four months later the new person admits how in debt they are. That has to be rough for everyone. I've worked at places where we were losing money on every deal, but never one with my dad's name on it. I can only begin to imagine.

<comment><USER20> It sounds like in his suicide note in the story that's exactly why he did it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> That is sad. I really appreciated the way this sentence got at the essence of this tragic situation:

"The internet can seem so intimate but ultimately it's a thin view of an individual's or company's reality."

of course that's true, but then when I think about it, it sure doesn't seem that way day to day. We look out at the world in a way that is increasingly mediated by the internet, and so it comes to seem like the actual thing in itself.

<comment><USER22> > "We look out at the world in a way that is increasingly mediated by the > internet, and so it comes to seem like the actual thing in itself."

Reminds me a lot of Debord.

> "The spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation among > people, mediated by images."

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> If you're looking for a quality Scissors, there is a Finnish company called Fiskars[1] that makes amazing high quality scissors (and shovels) that amazon.com carries.

Disclosure: not affiliated. Just wanted to give them a shoutout since very few people I ran into have ever heard of them.

[1] [http://www.fiskars.com/](http://www.fiskars.com/)

<comment><USER24> I'm surprised you don't meet many people who have heard of fiskars - I grew up in the Northeast USA, and there's near-universal agreement in my social circle that Fiskars makes the best quality scissors on the market, to the extent that we all share memories of fighting over who got to use the fiskars during craft time in elementary school. Weird!

<comment><USER25> I wouldn't consider it universal. They farm out much of their production to China and the quality suffers.

Heritage (now owned by Klein tool) is a domestic US manufacturer of forged scissors in a variety of styles available at competitive prices. They eclipse the typical ground scissors that permeate the retail market.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> That is incredibly sad. I bought several pairs of their shears for my partner, and they are absolutely brilliant. The company was also great to buy from - they were able to give personalised advice about which ones I should get and when one wasn't quite right, they were really quick to offer a return and replacement.

<comment><USER27> > wasn't quite right, they were really quick to offer a return and > replacement.

In terms of quality, or were they the wrong model choice?

<comment><USER26> Wrong model choice - they were just a little too heavy for my partner to use effectively.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> Hopefully Wright didn't commit suicide because of his inability to fulfil these kickstarter orders.

If he did, it shows a failing of the bankruptcy system. Individuals obligations to a company should never be such that they have no way out.

<comment><USER12> It wasn't just a company, it's a 5th generation family business founded in 1902.

I can't imagine the pressure to keep things going. And when there's no money anywhere, one on your main craftsman has died and the other one is off sick, the Kickstarter bsckers are hassling you and you have quality issues across your business, it might look like there's no way out.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> Man, the internet is a cold, cold place.

I was deeply touched by the article, on how sudden fame and the drive for growth and success can take a huge toll. How execution and a healthy mind are as important as a good product or idea. Or how debt or crowdfunding can be the wrong way to raise money fast for a product yet to be delivered.

But here we have it, long threads discurring on what would be the best brand of scissors in the market today.

> The internet can seem so intimate but ultimately it's a thin view of an > individual's reality.

</comment><comment><USER30> > _The internet can seem so intimate but ultimately it's a thin view of an > individual's or company's reality._

Ironically, this very article provides a deeper view into these folks' realities.

I'm not sure what insight the author is expecting us to gain from this statement. Even IRL one can only know others "thinly". Your own children, and for a rare few, soulmates, are the closest you will come to knowing anyone "deeply".

</comment><comment><USER31> Very tragic for Wright and his loved ones.

I bought some nail scissors from their website a few years ago when hunting around for something better than they sell in Boots in the UK high street - <USER2> marvelled at their comparative quality - I even posted to my FB page to recommend them.

I feel sad and wistful also, to see the decline of the company, which seemed inherently artisanal.

More sheet-pressed tat from China, less handmade steel, alas.

</comment><comment><USER32> I've watched that video probably over a dozen times since I first saw it on Kottke. This makes me sad.

</comment><comment><USER33> For highly abusable kitchen shears, I love these ($20-40) from Kershaw/Kai/etc.: [https://www.amazon.com/Kershaw- Taskmaster-1120X-Multifunctio...](https://www.amazon.com/Kershaw- Taskmaster-1120X-Multifunctional-Screwdriver/dp/B0002IMMEW)

</comment><comment><USER34> How could we know whether those sad news are true and not?

</comment><comment><USER35> The scissors seem like any other pair of steel scissors. I wonder why this hasn't been outsourced to China. These guys could have worked on something more productive than scissors.

<comment><USER36> To be good, scissors have to be sharp, even, and fit together juuust right. A tiny deviance creates a huge about of suck. Someone mentioned Fiskars above. The first time I used these I ran around looking for things to cut. I just couldn't believe scissors could be _that_ good. They were.

This type of reductionism is seldom helpful. Painting is just smearing oil on a canvas? Programming is just "typing a bunch of stuff"? I don't think so. Craft matters.

<comment><USER35> > To be good, scissors have to be sharp, even, and fit together juuust right. > A tiny deviance creates a huge about of suck.

Do you think the tolerances in a Samsung phone manufactured in China are laxer than that? High quality scissors can be manufactured in China. For people in UK to waste their time on it is unnecessary. And that's probably the reason why such endevours usually fail.

<comment><USER37> They _can_ be manufactured well in China, but _will_ they? Companies like Apple have the clout, money, and time to supervise production and guarantee quality. But the typical story is that some small or mid-sized business abandons a reliable and high-quality domestic process to the promises of some sales rep from China. Consistency and quality drop precipitously but it's excused because the CEO has already relegated the company to the race to the bottom.

The domestic companies are usually the ones left behind after a century of intense competition during a time when quality and longevity were paramount and customers couldn't afford to constantly replace equipment. Chinese industry has arisen in a global market built around a different dynamic--cheap industrial labor selling products to rich consumers who are less discerning, or in any event don't mind buying throwaway tools.

That says little about the inherent skill of Chinese labor and industry and everything about how free markets operate and industrial processes evolve.

<comment><USER38> Moving production to China is often (but not always) a cost-cutting measure. It's often about volume - Chinese manufacturers can scale production in a way that Western manufacturers can't. They have shorter and more agile supply chains and a much deeper labour pool. Scaling up production always carries the _risk_ of quality degradation, mostly because you're diluting the skill base of your manufacturing workforce.

China can't match the quality of the very best German and Japanese manufacturers, but they're pretty damned close in a lot of areas. Quality usually starts to slip because the OEM customer demands it - cutting corners to keep the price down is usually the more profitable option.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER39> And where is the government in cases like this?

<comment><USER27> To do what?</comment></comment>


Modular Synthesis and Unix - <AUTHOR> https://nora.codes/post/modular-synthesis-and-unix/ <comment><USER2> For anyone wanting to tip tap into this world without spending hundreds of modules up front, VCVRack is highly recommended. it is a software Eurorack simulator that offers hundreds of popular Modules in software, most of them for free.

Granted, it lacks the fun of physically manipulating the cables and knobs, but it is the best way to figure out whether the modular world is for you.

With audio interfaces that also handle CV it is possible to connect the sim world with real physical modules. A great way to test gear ideas before buying.</comment>


VueJS+D3+Golang Cryptocurrency Prices for all exchange traded tokens – 42Markets - <AUTHOR> https://42markets.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> The backend is a Go app that collects pricing and volume data from many global crypto-currencies exchanges every 5 minutes. The price is calculated based on a volume weighted average. For every exchange token-pair a graph is created to map the price to a USD price for example NEO -> ZEN -> USDT -> USD this way we can discover a USD and BTC price for every token.

This is just a fun side project I wanted to understand crypto exchanges and prices a little better.

I also built 42Wallet an open source client side HD Ethereum wallet. [http://42wallet.com/](http://42wallet.com/)</comment>


I Spent Two Weeks Tracking a Secret Teen White Supremacist Messaging Group - <AUTHOR> https://www.buzzfeed.com/josephbernstein/white-supremacy-lmfao-lol?utm_term=.lqryY9Jb5 <comment> xkcd-sucks tl;dr

>I was free to observe "White Pride World Wide," where every day 50 mostly anonymous teenage users, 50 mostly anonymous users claiming to be teenagers, or most likely some combination thereof, gather in a rolling discussion of the imperiled future of the white race, the nefarious influence of immigrants and hot-blooded interlopers dating back to Romans in Celtic Ireland, and the dangers posed by Jewish control of contemporary culture. They also discuss selfie sticks, steel beams, and rare Pepes. It's 2015, and they're teenagers.</comment>


Unable to download ZIP files attached to email - <AUTHOR> https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=27245

<comment><AUTHOR> Recently got a Nexus 7, which is a great little tablet. But I was disappointed to find out you can't download zip files from the Gmail app. Wish I had known this before buying it.</comment>


Talk to People on the Telephone - <AUTHOR> https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/09/ring-ring-ring/598129/ <comment><USER2> Personal anecdote... after a 77-year old lady who was a family friend lost her husband of 45 years, I called once a year on her birthday to check up on her. At first she seemed to really appreciate it. But in the 3rd year, it took 20+ rings which concerned me. When she finally answered, she said, _" Oh it's you! Oh how are you!!! You know, you can just text me!"_

I took the hint. Think about that... a 77-year old was _lecturing me_ to use the newer fangled texting technology.

In addition to the convenience of multitasking, the issue is that _robocalls_ have made everyone wary of answering their phones.

ETA: forgot to add some color context. My personal rule is to never call anybody and only text. I only made an exception for the 77-year friend because I thought she was "old school" and would prefer a real phone call. _I was proven wrong._ I still chuckle about not seeing how pervasive the norms can change.

<comment><USER3> Was it a land line? I've noticed people who still have them tend to ignore them because they get so many spam calls.

<comment><USER4> Indeed. The do-not-call rules improved matters for a while, but the rate is back up, now commonly with spoofed numbers.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I think this is being framed incorrectly. It's not about voice vs text, it's about sync vs async.

By default, phone calls (and face-to-face conversations) are synchronous. You call someone, they have to stop what they're doing and have a conversation in real-time. They also can't judge the importance until they're already interrupted and have started the conversation anyway.

Text messages, email, chat and even voicemail are asynchronous. You send a message, the person can respond when able, and likewise. They can also see the initial query, and this can help them decide whether to respond immediately or later.

Async communication has the benefit of being able to work synchronously, if you want, but it doesn't have to. You might annoy people by not responding fast enough, but not in the same way that you would if you were to just put down the phone and walk away for a few minutes/hours.

I think the real problem is misuse of async vs synchronous styles of communication, and knowing when to switch between them.

I personally prefer async communication by default, but if we're going to do near-real-time async anyway, I'd rather have a 5 minute phone call than spend half an hour texting back and forth. I hate unexpected phone calls (and in fact, pretty much don't answer my phone), but I have absolutely no issue with a scheduled call -- that that is usually arranged asynchronously.

<comment><USER6> My life was better IMO when it was common to call people. We had conventions like voice mail if you were on another call, or saying "now is not a good time" but I talked to way more people.

I mean I fully agree with your assessment of async vs sync but conversely I'm less connected to people than I was before. I used to call and chat with friends several times a day. Now almost never.

Another way to look at it, maybe at some point some new tech will come out so thet we don't even talk to people in the same house/building/office. I mean why talk to my sister/mom/dad/wife/son/daughter, they might be in the middle of a thought. I should choose some async method and just never talk to another human directly.

Of course that's ridiculous but if you had told me in 1995 that I'd talk less than a few hours a year on a phone because everyone just messages each other I'd have thought you were describing a dystpoia. Who's to say some new tech won't take it even further.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I've taken to calling my friends on the phone over the past few months, after years of texting. I've let them know I'm going to try to do more of this and everyone I've mentioned it to has responded positively. We've decided that even if we just have a moment and want to share something funny or interesting, we're going to try to have a quick phone conversation.

This has helped me feel more connected to the people who I don't see in person frequently in a way that feels more "real" than texts or emails.

<comment><USER8> Also have done this with my friend circle as I extracted myself from social media (instagram and facebook). I have a lot better relationship with my family and friends now that we catch up on the phone other than just clicking "like" on the scroll of everyone's photos.

You basically just have to make time for it. I call people when I'm walking the dog and when I'm commuting.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> This really depends on a lot of things, like the person I'm talking to, when we're talking, time of day, etc. I have one or maybe two friends now that I call, and even then it's sporadic. We spend most of our time texting.

There are other situations when I'm frustrated with texting and would prefer a phone call. One example is when my girlfriend is out and she'll text me something like, "Hey, I decided to stop for coffee on the way home. Do you want something?" This can go a number of ways. First, I won't see the text at all, and she'll come home and say, "Well, I tried to text you!" Then I'll look at my phone and it'll say something like, "Anything? I'm the next one in line. Let me know ASAP." The second way this can go is a back and forth. They don't have that option. Anything else you want? Yeah, they're all out of that.

Any situation where you need to know something right away, like the right kinds of nuts and bolts to grab from a hardware store or if your friends are making a food run, etc. don't text.

JUST. CALL. ME.

</comment><comment><USER10> I prefer a phone call at some point - there becomes a point in any conversation that the bandwidth offered by text is insufficient for the task at hand, whenever that happens I move it to the telephone

</comment><comment><USER11> I get how text replaced voice, but something I don't quite understand is this:

Remember when friends and family visited each other unannounced? Why did that used to be welcomed[1], but today it's not?

1\. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Swzvm- gXHg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Swzvm-gXHg)

<comment><USER12> _Remember when friends and family visited each other unannounced?_

I remember when it was considered rude, yes. I don't know where that guy grew up, but Mom's in the middle of making supper, Dad's in the garage, I'm working on homework, and we're just supposed to drop everything because you can't pick up a phone first? No, unlike the video, when I'm in my underwear with unkempt hair, covered in Cheetos dust from a CoD marathon, I am _not_ jumping for joy if the doorbell rings.

Before mobile phones, exceptions were made. "Hey, I live two towns over, but was in the neighborhood unexpectedly...I hope now is not a bad time." But one made note of the fact that it is an unannounced visit.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> This seems like the worst of both worlds option.

I think there is value in a higher level interaction sometimes instead of texting, but videochat seems to be the far superior option?

"I abruptly asked one morning to stop messaging me about story ideas on our office's chat platform, Slack. Instead, I said, let's talk the ideas out over the phone."

Maybe people remember things a lot better than I do, but text based logs are super helpful. I also think writing often is a better medium to go over thoughts in a coherent way (I find people that disagree with this usually have trouble typing which makes it a lot harder).

<comment><USER14> for anything involving concrete deliverables and obligations, I really like having a written log. Like you say, it also forces communication to be more explicit. It's easy to handwave details away in voice.

OTOH something like story ideas sounds like the kind of thing that would benefit from voice. Situations where things aren't already spelled out nicely, where rapid feedback and iteration are valuable.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Don't talk to people on the telephone.

Skype/Facetime/videocall them.

* insert a long article about the importance of face-to-face communication *

Seriously, though, every technology has a time and a place.

It's a sliding scale that goes like this: video calls, voice calls, IM/texts, group/forum posts, emails.

One one end you get synchronous communication which has the full attention of both parties. On the other - go at your own pace asynchronous information transfer.

I love calling my grandparents on Skype. But I need to be alone in a room for that to work. (Screens and speakers still suck outdoor).

I rarely call my parents on Skype, because my mom doesn't like looking bad on camera, and she just wants to chill after work sans make up and what not. So I call her on the phone. But I know her schedule, and I know that I won't be taking here away from something - and that she'll be happy to give me full attention.

IM and texts are great when you need to get some information across, but you don't want to take the other party away from whatever setting they are in.

While IM/texts work great to talk to many people at once, there is still a sense of immediacy to the conversation. If you want to organize an event, the relevant information will get lost in flurry of messages after a day or two. FB groups / events, and similar, work better for that: communicating in groups, with a latency that spans days.

Finally, emails work best when you want to take time to compose a message or a response (sometimes, days), and be able to go back to it a long time afterwards. I have long email threads with some of my friends, months passing between responses sometimes.

And obviously, some methods work better than others depending on whether the other party is next door or 7000 miles away, whether they speak your language fluently, etc.

<comment><USER16> I hate video calls. I'd rather just talk on the phone than say "What?" over each other and look at their facial reactions 2 seconds delayed. Low latency video destroys all the benefits of face-to-face interaction and then some.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> > _Chatting on the phone provides the bliss of unreviewable, unforwardable, > unsearchable speech. There's no record of it._

A benefit that many people don't seem to recognize as if total continuous surveillance and a permanent record is always preferable.

ADDED (from the same article):

> " _There's no record of it (unless your conversation partner is secretly > recording it, in which case you have deeper problems)._ "

<comment><USER18> No record of it? That's a bit presumptuous

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> I have always hated phone calls, even before texting was a thing.

</comment><comment><USER20> It's harder to talk on the phone now. Voice quality is terrible with VoIP. Noise rejection is poor with flat phone microphones. One person I talk to regularly is too much into hands-free, and calls are mostly background noise. Something the compression algorithms handle badly.

Most inbound phone calls are telemarketing now, anyway. When I answer my phone, and it's an unknown number, I say nothing and wait. If it's a human, they'll eventually say something. Autodial systems will time out after 5 seconds without something that sounds vaguely like "Hello".

<comment><USER21> The voice quality issue is real. Before cell phones, audio quality was fine. However, cell phones brought a serious reduction in audio quality, and it has never improved.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> In a similar note, a group of friends of mine (10+ years) all use TeamSpeak to communicate regularly, namely when we are playing video games.

We have Slack, etc - but hearing a regular voice attached to someone really does program the brain different, at least it feels that way to me.

<comment><USER23> Same here, whether we are actually playing any game or just hanging out and chatting about whatever.

Text doesn't convey as much information and the synchronous aspect makes it much more interesting.

We're a Mumble crew though but that's down to personal preference more than anything else.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Yup. Digital communication is fine to set up real communication, but it's like fast food-- cheap, fast, convenient, but not very nourishing. Even us introverts need real conversations. Was talking to a bunch of people a year or two ago, and we were all complaining about this problem, so much that I started The Reconnection Challenge.

It's been great just talking to people. At first it seems slower, but there's actually so much more information transfer by voice (or in person). Who knew? ;)

([https://www.mimiran.com/the-reconnection- challenge](https://www.mimiran.com/the-reconnection-challenge))

<comment><USER25> As a fellow introvert I must disagree: I dread speaking to people. I have a strong preference for text communication. When I am forced into a video meeting I minimize the video, prefer to just listen.

<comment><USER24> YMMV, of course, but I thought I was the same way. Then I realized that I like having some conversations but not others. But I would get put into the conversations I didn't like, which made me retreat to recharge and not get as many of the conversations I do like. So I decided to be more proactive about having conversations with people I want to talk to, about stuff I want to talk about, and find I enjoy those conversations a lot.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> One problem with phone calls: you have no digital record.

Perhaps someone could start a business by archiving phone calls in text form and making them searchable.

<comment><USER27> Maybe a dumb question, but is this legal?

<comment><USER28> Depends on the locale. California requires two-party consent to record a telephone call; other jurisdictions do not.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> At least in my line of work, the utility of the telephone is one-sided and the utility is not on my side. It allows any random jackass to force me to drop whatever I was doing and remotely stand over my shoulder breathing into my ear while they wait for me to look into their problem.

</comment><comment><USER30> I wish there was a chat similar to slack but instead of text you just posted video snippets back and forth (translation provided for search ability).

That would keep things async but would allow me to read people's expressions and their tone of voice.

<comment><USER31> Is this sarcasm? That sounds a lot like snapchat.

Or just sending videos via SMS instead of text.

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> They won't pick up because of all the spam calls people get.

Some people don't even check their voicemail these days because their phone has a scary number next to the icon, and they don't want to listen to all of it.

</comment><comment><USER33> I think one of the oddest things is getting text about people who have passed away. In the past this seemed to be something so sacred you did it in personal, or at the worst, with a phone call. In the past few years I've gotten text about old roommates and liver failure or suicides and I'm guilty of forwarding on the information in the same medium.

I just kinda accept it, but maybe I shouldn't ...

</comment><comment><USER34> Got a simpler phone to force me to call others more often. Plus the phone does not have enticing apps so I waste less time.

</comment><comment><USER35> Phone calls are awful. I can't understand your speech. Don't make me risk answering a phishing call just so that I have to ask you four times to repeat what you're saying because you're foreign, you have a shitty microphone, or somewhere some telecom decided to downsample the audio quality.

</comment><comment><USER36> I find it hard to have meaningful text conversations, but I also think phone calls are super intrusive. So I'll schedule calls or video. It sounds like a lot of ceremony, but I like specifically dedicating time to build relationships with people, so I think it's perfect.

</comment><comment><USER37> Make appointments if you need to interact for reasons other than to stay in touch with family and close friends. Technology makes this easy. Otherwise, phone calls should be a backup if scheduled interactions fail.

</comment><comment><USER38> If I want to talk with somebody, I'll do it face to face. Most people aren't worth that kind of effort, and text/email is all they deserve.

</comment><comment><USER21> No thank you.

I have always (well, post-teenage years) hated talking on the phone. Before cellphones, though, there was no other option. When the ability to communicate with people while escaping the tyranny of phone calls came around, it was a serious and dramatic improvement.

> Smartphones feel terrible to hold to your ear for more than a few minutes, > but they make up for poor ergonomic design with one key feature: > speakerphone.

 _Especially_ not this. When I'm talking to someone on the phone, if they're using a speakerphone the whole experience is an order of magnitude worse.

</comment><comment><USER39> Wow, she sounds annoying.

</comment><comment><USER40> > "You can't just say, 'Oh, that generation sucks' and then just throw out a > generation."

We did it with boomers, so why not millennials?</comment>


Ketamine Stirs Up Hope–and Controversy–as a Depression Drug - <AUTHOR> https://www.wired.com/story/ketamine-stirs-up-hope-controversy-as-a-depression-drug <comment><USER2> There are doctors charging patients $500-$1000 for one IV infusion when there isn't any proof that IV infusions are more effective than oral ketamine. Patients are being bankrupted by doctors that are more interested in raking in the cash than helping their patients.

The truth is ketamine is a safe drug that has been around a long time. I'm currently being prescribed Ketamine lozenges by a doctor. My doctor is taking new patients. Please contact me if you would like his information. Depression destroys lives, but doctors also have the ability to destroy lives by withholding safe, effective, treatment as a means to profit. [0]

[0] [http://www.ketamineadvocacynetwork.org/forums/topic/desperat...](http://www.ketamineadvocacynetwork.org/forums/topic/desperately- need-intranasal-doc/)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for your thoughtful comment! What's your contact info (for people that want to contact you), and what area is your doctor in?

<comment><USER2> email@example.com 773.920.1928

DC area</comment></comment></comment>


Responsive images with 'srcset', 'sizes', and Cloudinary - <AUTHOR> http://cloudinary.com/blog/responsive_images_with_srcset_sizes_and_cloudinary <comment><AUTHOR> This article explains how to create responsive images using modern HTML5 image tag techniques, while dynamically generating resized versions of the images in the cloud using Cloudinary. Dynamic manipulation URLs are included as well as code samples for Javascript, PHP, Node.js, Ruby on Rails and more.

</comment><comment><USER2> Responsive-images is Cloudinary!</comment>


Why It's So Hard to Transfer Cash to Your Friends - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/25/your-money/why-its-so-hard-to-transfer-cash-to-your-friends-your-money.html

<comment><USER2> It's shocking that the USA is so far behind in this respect. Here in Australia we are probably 10 years from getting anything like square, but we've had simple bank to bank transfers between individuals for as long as I can remember. I'm always amused when I hear about people _still_ using cheques, I'm 29 and they were dead here before I left high school

</comment><comment><USER3> Single page link for those who prefer reading their articles whole instead of chopped up:

[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/25/your-money/why-its-so- hard...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/25/your-money/why-its-so-hard-to- transfer-cash-to-your-friends-your-money.html?pagewanted=all)</comment>