Lego Thinks Beyond the Brick - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/business/global/06lego.html?hp <comment><USER2> For anyone interested in obtaining non-current lego, I can recommend BrickLink <http://www.bricklink.com/browseTree.asp?itemType=S>

It's not an action site like ebay, but a simple for-sale paradigm that offers almost every set ever made, or even individual parts. At the moment there's over 93 million items for sale

<comment><USER3> Checkout the "Lego Batman" category.

I'm not sure exactly what happened with this, but as far as I can tell, Lego released the awesome "Lego Batman" video game, and then were unable to extend their license deal on the actual lego batman sets, so had to stop selling them (Like a month after releasing the game!)

Whoever is responsible for allowing that to happen should hang their head in shame.

They now go for seriously crazy prices, since everyone has the video game, but cannot buy the lego sets.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I have to agree with the analyst quoted on page 2. There's too many specific parts and themed items on many of these new kits.

I remember when the space kits came out (like Galaxy Ranger) and we all cried foul when they introduced the little engine and wing thingies. Those aren't LEGO!

Now everything is a custom molded piece and barely has any mounting studs on it. And let's not even mention Bionicle. Now get off my lawn.

<comment><USER5> I don't know if the story is that easy. Sure, as time progressed there were more custom parts. I played with Lego from 1992 (4) to 1999 (10) and remember that trend quite vividly. But it didn't really get all that bad until I stopped playing Lego (no causal link there, by the way). Starting 2000 things really got out of hand. But when looking at current Lego sets I think we are back to 1999 or so levels of custom things. It has gotten better. Bionicle is a somewhat strange last remnant of that time. All the rest is pretty much normal again.

I would argue that there is nothing bad about current levels of custom things in Lego sets. In the 90s they simply became part of the brand. Lego sets are mostly standard blocks, but for good measure they will throw in a few custom things. I always liked that. I don't think I would have enjoyed playing Lego so much with only standard blocks. The only thing I truly hate are stickers which glue together big parts of a set. I want custom printed blocks for that.

<comment><USER4> Okay, I'm dating myself then, because I think things started going to hell in 1978, not 1992. Although we got minifigs, which were a lot better than those strange half-people that came with the duplo kits (e.g. [http://www.tons-of- toys.com/item_images/Classic%20toys%20and...](http://www.tons-of- toys.com/item_images/Classic%20toys%20and%20games/Lego/Other%20Lego/2404.jpg))</comment></comment></comment>


Launch HN: Tandem (YC S19) – A Virtual Office for Remote Teams - <AUTHOR> Hey HN community!
We're Bernat, Tim, and Rajiv, founders of Tandem (https://tandem.chat).
Tandem is a desktop app designed to give distributed teams the immediacy and flow of in-person communication. You can see who's online this second and talk/video/screenshare in one click.
What's unique about us is you can see what app your colleagues are working in (e.g. VS Code, Google Docs, Figma), which gives you a surprisingly clear sense of whether you can interrupt them or not. In fact, we've found it makes you feel like you're sitting around a table, without being overly invasive.
We started building Tandem when two of us had kids and started working from home more. We tried a bunch of different tools - Zoom, Discord, Slack, Hangouts, etc. -  but hated the friction in all of them.
We felt slower, less collaborative, and more alone when we worked remotely. We built a one-click calling prototype, added video and screenshare, and this eventually became Tandem.
Some details on how instant calls work: - You can click on someone and talk immediately, but they will be on mute until they accept. - All calls start as voice, but can be upgraded to video and screenshare. - Customizable rooms are a nice way to invite teammates to talk when they're free.
Some details on app presence: - Your teammates will be able to see which work app you're currently in (only for a select set of integrated apps) - this gives everyone a sense of being together, and helps you know when a teammate is interruptible.
- You can go into Focus Mode if you don't want to be bothered, in which case your app will not be shown.
Pricing: 14 day free trial, then $10 / active user / month
We are doing a beta program where, if you can hop on a short feedback call every-other week, we extend the free trial indefinitely! This has helped us stay in touch with the people using it, and constantly improve.
We are constantly improving the app, so tell us what you think. With your help, we can make remote work more collaborative and social!
-Bernat, Rajiv, and Tim <comment><USER3> I recently read Carl Newport's "deep work". One of the points he made that struck home the most was that a leading indicator of success for most knowledge workers was the number of hours spent doing deep work. Ie - <USER2> number of hours spent doing uninterrupted work that makes use of your differentiated skills.

As a remote worker the thing I treasure most is the opportunity to organise my schedule to spend the majority of my time doing deep work. Frequently communicating and getting feedback on my work asychronously rather than constantly being interrupted and dragged into synchronous interactions as in an open plan office.

The thought of allowing anyone to contact me at any time, at the push of a button feels like a huge step back.

There are lots of challenges around communication in a remote company, however I don't think the solution is recreating an open office online.

<comment><USER4> That's literally the entire thought process behind [https://yac.chat](https://yac.chat). This message is so validating for what we are trying to accomplish. Would love further feedback if you're up for it.

<comment><USER5> This is...interesting. Once i'm leaving a voicemail, why would I prefer that over a slack message?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> We use Tandem extensively: the killer feature is that during screenshares you get to control a pointer that the other person can see on their screen, which makes pair programming over Tandem feel basically the same as in person.

It was especially useful when onboarding a dev onto a new section of code that they had never touched before, and also when unblocking someone who was having trouble learning to use the IDE.

<comment><USER7> Is this different from what Slack and Zoom can do already? Not trying to knock it, just curious. My office is about to get a little more remote, and I was considering getting everyone into Discord, so I'm very interested in trying this.

<comment><USER8> Compared with Slack and Zoom, it's way faster - just click and start talking!

Think of it as push-to-talk, 2.0, with a richer sense of presence (seeing what work app, so you know if you're interrupting anything).

<comment><USER9> Push-to-talk was the killer feature for us. We've been using it extensively.

There are no silver bullets in managing (and being) remote teams, but Tandem helps a lot along the way!

<comment> o-__-o So they created the tap-you-on-the-shoulder problem for remote workers?

I prefer being scheduled not someone blaring audio at me because it's convenient for them... but it's what the business owners want

<comment><USER8> The maker-manager dilemma is real - which is something we try to address with the prominent Focus mode. At the same time, a big reason we show the app status is so that the "business owners" can hopefully take cues and minimize their interruptiveness. For example, as a product manager, I will often decide not to bother my co-founder Tim because I see he's in a coding editor (and thus in deep-focus).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Congratulations with the launch! It's what I was looking for a few years. I mean I've been working in remote teams for years, and have thought about the exact service with screen/voice-message sharing features, as you created.

I believe easy screen sharing is important part of remote work, thought I think it should be in other way, i.e. I want to share a part of my screen (static pic or video) with a comment/question. There is a need for that almost every day.

Short walkie-talkie like conversation as you have are really great for remote teams, it can improve work and communications. Basically I want to say "good morning" to others, without really interrupting them, but letting them know I'm available now.

I guess I'll be your customer with my next project :)

<comment><AUTHOR> I love the idea of sharing a part of screen, pic or video to create a conversation around it. We were chatting about a similar thing the other day. You've thought about this quite a bunch.How would you envision that experience?

The good morning use case is awesome. We have some teams that have a room called "Good Morning". You can join there if you're the first one to start the day, and other can join you as they get connected.

<comment><USER10> As a screen sharing as an MVP I see a button (menu/keyboard shortcut/etc) to take a screenshot (or record screen for a few seconds), crop it and then record any voice comment. It should be super simple to execute, easy to do as instagram stories.

I see few use cases here: one part is about a code you're working now. Like "what the heck is this?". or getting feedback on show some progress on the work you're doing, to show colleagues when you've finished a screen, mockup, or even slide for a deck, etc. I believe it's important for a remote team to have such moments, it gives extra motivation for both sharer and viewer, an improves feeling of a team work.

Also please consider making a mobile app for recording messages. Laptop is often used for a some heavy work, may be connected to an external display w/o any camera, so it becomes inconvenient to record messages from it. But an cell phone can do the job.

PS I will be glad to give more feedback. As you noticed, after having almost 20 years of work in remote teams I've put a lot of thoughts in a product like this, so will happy to give some help, you can reach me by firstname.lastname@example.com

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Neat! Some questions on the "WhatApp" feature:

      1) What do you mean by "a select set of integrated apps"?
      2) Can the user tailor which app names are shared vs. those they prefer to keep private?
      3) Did earlier prototypes try a generic approach for ID, e.g. capturing hWND of the focused window and querying
         it's class, title, executable name, etc?  Do Mac/Linux have analogous facilities for window identification?
      4) Was it a challenge to distinguish browser-based apps? (e.g. Chrome, vs. Docs)
      5) Is there any attempt to consolidate contexts that involve switching between multiple apps? (e.g. while I'm
         coding VS Code, I jump to a browser to search docs for an API).
      6) Is there some lag/hysteresis, so if you switch briefly to a different app and back, it doesn't generate noise?

I like the feedback-for-use model, it sure beats advertising. What is long- term pricing, and can I join without having to link to a Slack or Google account?

<comment><USER12> Great questions!

1) You can see the list here: [https://tandem.chat/integrations](https://tandem.chat/integrations) We add new products by request, but we don't plan to add email and social networking sites :)

2) Long term, we'd like to let users customize what apps and sites are shown for their team, but we haven't built that yet. Right now, you can just turn on app, app + url, or nothing.

3) We use system APIs for capturing window titles & executable names across Windows, Linux, and Mac. There's actually a node package for that called "active-win"

4) Yes! We have plans to open-source our browser reading logic. And I still haven't figured out how to read URLs in a generic way from Linux yet.

5) Not yet, but we're thinking about how to indicate to your team that you're in "deep work" based on how active you are (e.g. typing or mousing a lot). I switch between terminal, VS Code, and localhost all the time, so I understand!

6) Yes, we only check your active app on an interval to reduce our performance hit.

Long-term pricing is $10/active user/month, where active user is someone who does at least an hour of calls. Of course, we want to make sure it's valuable for you and your team first.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Will give this a try. As a remote team, this is the sort of stuff we're always interested in iterating and improving upon.

I will say, the pricing feels like it will be a deal breaker. The product will need to add a ton of value to justify that price point. I'd honestly expect something like this to be closer to 4 or 5 dollars per month per person.

What's the best way to share feedback with the team?

<comment><USER8> Thanks for the feedback! We have Intercom integrated, so you can ping us founders directly from the app.

Would love to get your thoughts after you've tried it with your team.

<comment><USER13> Will do! Best of luck to you and the team.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I was always intrigued with Sqwiggle, though I didn't have a chance to use it. I was sad to see they weren't able to make it.

One interesting feature they had was low-fi video (grainy black and white, very low framerate), with the same basic idea as knowing what app you are in: a chance to see whether you were at the computer, and maybe a little hint at your mental state, but maybe not too intrusive. But I don't know how it acted in practice. They had complete drop-in, but I like your one-sided-talk-first.

Another interesting feature might be something like a I'd-like-to-know-when- you-see-this-page. E.g., as a developer I might submit a PR, and I want to know when you start reviewing it. I'd "mark" the page somehow and it would be a little like having a watchword on Slack or IRC. It wouldn't have to be intrusive, as it could be as simple as a popup when the other person visits the page, telling them their coworker was interested when they started looking at it, and OK/cancel to inform them.

<comment><USER8> Tom Moor (Sqwiggle founder) is awesome! We talked with him early on and got a lot of inspiration. We've found that showing the app status gives a lot of the same feeling of presence as Sqwiggle without the sense of being watched. The always-on-video (even lo-res) was always a bit controversial.

The "google alerts" for pages idea is interesting. We'll think on it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> I'm happy to see more virtual offices being built!

My company internally built and then open-sourced Qube[1], which has a lot of similarities, but just integrates with Slack and Zoom. A lot less ambitious, I'd say, but we're very happy with it.

[1] [https://github.com/seeq12/qube](https://github.com/seeq12/qube)

<comment><AUTHOR> This is really cool. It reminds me of Sococo but way more integrated with the tools out there. Any chance I could give it a try? What happens when you click the slack button in the team list? You can send a direct message to that teammate?

<comment><USER15> We used to use Sococo and got frustrated and abandoned it a couple years back, actually.

If you hit the Slack button it opens a link to that Slack chat. If you are in a room with a group it'll open a group DM to the other people present. (I personally rarely use the Slack button because any given DM or channel in Slack is only ever alt+tab and ctrl+k away, but that's just me.)

<comment><AUTHOR> That makes sense. What was frustrating with Sococo?

<comment><USER15> They rewrote it from a native app to a web app, and it got a lot slower. Limits on the size / number of videos active. Status was not as flexible as we wanted (i.e. reminders when you forget to update, time zone conversion, etc).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I'm excited to see this problem being tackled. As I said previously, the biggest obstacle to reducing greenhouse gases isn't a political party. It's commuting. [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20325660](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20325660)

<comment><USER8> Yes! Commuting is also really dangerous too.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> We have been using Tandem for some weeks and it delivers everything promised. It's really simple and quickly replaced all the other tools for internal calls in our company.

First time I heard about the pricing and seems a little bit high... but the extended trial in exchange for feedback calls is genius.

</comment><comment><USER18> What stack are the user-facing applications written in? I'm assuming since you're already multi-platform with such a small team that it's an Electron/ReactNative/something else binary packaged for each different OS, rather than 3 codebases?

Edit: considering there's a chrome devtools menubar option exposed in the app I'm guessing my assumption is correct haha. After fiddling with it for ~5 minutes, it seems annoying that I'm unmuted every time I join a new room. Is this intentional? If not, I think an option to join muted by default would be pretty helpful.

<comment><USER12> Yes, we're using Electron + React to be cross-platform. It's not ideal (I know there's been plenty of discussion here), and we have some ideas for going beyond Electron, but it's helpful to have something cross-platform so the entire team can talk in one place.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> So I am very curious to try this. But I'm still having trouble grokking what the features are.

If there were a video, that would be really helpful.

I don't want just to add it to my Slack without knowing what's going to happen.

<comment><AUTHOR> That's a great idea. We'll create a video of us using it.

Also, you could try signing up with Google and create a personal team. Then, if you like it you can use Slack for your team.

<comment><USER20> I was also going to leave a comment about the lack of a simple demo I get the idea but want to see it in action. Requiring login to see the tool work for real is a big turn off.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback. We'll add the video. That being said, the video (which are actual React component + animation) in the home page are pretty much the same as the app.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Firefox/Linux doesn't seem to like tandem.chat:

Secure Connection Failed

An error occurred during a connection to tandem.chat. PR_CONNECT_RESET_ERROR

        The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because the authenticity of the received data could not be verified.
        Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem.

<comment><AUTHOR> Oh! Yikes. We'll investigate it right now. Thanks

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> I used to be a big fan of a similar tool [https://www.sococo.com/](https://www.sococo.com/) . However it seems to have stopped getting much love in recent years. Seems like Tandem is cheaper and has some nice extra features - so looking forward to trying it out!

<comment><USER8> Awesome! Yes we've taken a more functional, less literal approach than Sococo. Bernat likes to draw an analogy that the first washing machine was a wheel of hand-shaped paddles. We think we've found something much better and less skeptical.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> This is a great idea, and I say it because I have the same exact same idea in my list of ideas I would like to work on but it's no where near the top of the list. I'm grateful that someone has solved for this!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! We're excited to help remote teams get to the next level of communication.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Just throwing in my two cents. I work with a small remote team and our first problem was that most apps would at times lag, hang, deliver messages out of order, etc. We found a relatively obscure app which has been solid and we have stuck with it. All other value (features) takes a hit once these issues pop up for us.

There's a ton of choices out there, but if other teams are like ours, then there apparently aren't many options for this one wish-list item. If we had one more to choose from, then we might look at other features.

</comment><comment><USER25> So stoked to see Linux support.... I've been looking for something like this for my Linux-based team. If it works well, we'll be a customer!

</comment><comment><USER26> > What's unique about us is you can see what app your colleagues are working > in (e.g. VS Code, Google Docs, Figma), which gives you a surprisingly clear > sense of whether you can interrupt them or not. In fact, we've found it > makes you feel like you're sitting around a table, without being overly > invasive.

This seems like it could be invasive. Is it opt out?

<comment><USER12> Absolutely, you can customize what other users see quite easily.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> I installed the Mac app, it asked for Audio permissions but never video. So I can't share video yet.

Also you only see the video/audio selection dialog inside of an existing call or room. I think it would be easier if there was a top level way to configure those from the main preferences menu.

Thanks

<comment><USER8> We ask for video permissions only when you click the video button when on a call - ping us on Intercom if you get stuck.

Regarding the video/audio selection, all calls start as audio-only, and you can upgrade to video / screenshare. If you want to go straight into video you can do this via the tooltip on hover.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> Pretty neat but 2 problems for me: 1) wish it was free like Slack and pay to upgrade for advanced feature 2) wish it had chat feature. not everyone will be available to talk in which we will have to switch back and forth with Slack or some other messaging tools.

</comment><comment><USER29> Congrats on the launch guys! We tried Tandem early on and its always magic to see cursors of team-mates floating on GitHub PRs when its under review.

We are a heavy user of Zoom for meetings, but we found it to be too heavy for lightweight interactions.

<comment><USER8> Awesome to hear! Yes, quick collaborative reviews of PRs are a big use-case for us internally too.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> This is exactly what I've been hoping someone would build, thank you and congrats!

<comment><USER8> Thanks! It's not the secret to life, the universe, and everything...or is it?

<comment><USER30> I would love to hear some more about your vision; "virtual office for remote teams" leaves a lot of room for potential product growth. A teammate saw IntelliJ on your integrations list, for example. I think he was hoping it allowed for remote code pairing, but I think right now that just means the application name support

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> Great idea! Since you're using Electron/React, did you guys build something in-house for the screen sharing + cursor collaboration? in my experience, nodeJS is really bad at this kind of real-time stuff

<comment><USER12> We're using Elixir on the backend, which is great for real time communication. It's also a very stable backend platform in general. I agree, doing shared message passing on Node is quite challenging.

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> Repl.it is also adding pair programming to their online IDE. I'm curious how you will differentiate. Video chat seems like a dime a dozen these days.

<comment><USER8> We've built it with the internal/with-your-team use-case in mind, which lets us eliminate a huge amount of friction! There are also some really useful things we can do around presence.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> Do the chat/call/video call functions rely on Slack or Hangouts? Can it be done standalone?

<comment><USER12> Nope, we ship with our own voice/video/screenshare, no external dependencies.

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> Congrats on the launch, bernat!

<comment><AUTHOR> thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> This is fantastic. Well done on launching. Can't wait to try it.

<comment><USER8> Thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER36> What companies are offering pair programming these days?

</comment><comment><USER37> Clickable link [https://tandem.chat](https://tandem.chat)

<comment><USER38> Clickable above now. Thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER39> After reading these projects, I'm curious why people can't leave a paper note or memo on the desk.

<comment><USER8> Interesting - can you say more?

<comment><USER39> Yes, I can. Paper is the best form of asynchronous communication, requiring neither electricity or complex authentication schemes. By placing a piece of paper on the side of another person's desk as quietly as possible, one would ensure that the person will be alerted to a necessary matter when they have the time to inspect their physical inbox.

It also indicates the matter is important enough for the original person to walk up and deliver a note.

<comment><USER8> Funny - one of our teammates used to do this at a previous company. We built in a similar function for remote workers with a Slack integration. It sends a little message with pre-formatted responses that indicates you'd like to talk on Tandem.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Jim Simons: The Numbers King - <AUTHOR> https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/18/jim-simons-the-numbers-king <comment><USER2> The Numberphile interview with Jim Simons is a good watch/listen

Numberphile video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjVDqfUhXOY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjVDqfUhXOY)

Full length: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNznD9hMEh0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNznD9hMEh0)

</comment><comment><USER3> As a computational biologist, I'm not so confident that Simons can make a huge impact in my field. At best, I would expect his institute to find a niche and impact on the scale of a typical lab, but this pales in comparison to, say, the Broad institute which is a better peer with the Flatiron, what with lavish funding and a distinctive research philosophy than following NSF/NIH grants.

He prefers problems that aren't hopelessly complicated, but I suspect this is exactly where computational biology falls into if you don't have the ability to perform causal experiments. And wet lab experiments aren't being funded by the Flatiron.

<comment><USER4> Maybe he can help fix the process rather than provide some spectacular singular breakthrough. A common complaint I heard (from the outside, I do not work in biology) is that a large portion of scientists' productive time at many university labs is spent on finding funding.

For example, if he establishes some initial funding streams and keeps it open long enough to see commercial benefits (10+ years) _and_ uses those to transition this setup to self sufficiency (as opposed to a few unicorns spinning off), he could have a major long term impact.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> When a previous article on RenTec/Jim Simons was posted, I saw a comment thread about how Renaissance couldn't possibly be making such consistent money from Machine learning and quantitative analysis, but instead the reason they are so secretive and consistent is that they have insider info they have to hide. Do others agree with that theory? It makes more sense to me, due to a conviction on efficient market hypothesis.

<comment><USER6> No, and the reality is more interesting.

Their success is based on an unusual type of information asymmetry -- they have better mathematics than everyone else. They invest heavily in development of novel mathematics that can be applied to find new types of patterns analytically that are not discoverable with existing mathematical methods and algorithms. This allows them to mine patterns that no one else has discovered yet because the barrier to discovery is anomalously high since it requires esoteric invention. Most firms just rearrange the existing methods in new ways or with new data.

It is an efficient market but they are unusually profitable because they have little competition for the patterns they exploit.

<comment><USER7> As I've pointed out before, there are a lot of quant firms out there. I doubt Rentech have the massive edge that people seem to think they do. I think it's much more likely that many firms had a small edge, and we notice the luckiest among them.

That said, I don't doubt that they've had an edge. Maybe they were doing trend following in the 90's, or HFT in the 2000s. Most firms' strategies eventually leak via lateral hires, but rentech is a small shop and no-one has managed to nab one of their employees. So there's no way to know for sure.

<comment><USER8> You don't notice the other firms because they've likely not been in existence as long and do not run as much money as Rentech does. Rentech has public pension money in it which by itself will attract more scrutiny. Chances are if you aren't running more than a few hundred million it could be all internal capital or a HNW individual or two.

<comment><USER9> > Rentech has public pension money in it which by itself will attract more > scrutiny.

I thought Rentech was closed to all outsiders, and only internal money was allowed?

<comment><USER8> Only the Medallion fund.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> He's putting some of his wealth into basic research:

[https://www.simonsfoundation.org/flatiron/](https://www.simonsfoundation.org/flatiron/)

</comment><comment><USER11> not mentioned in the article, the institute he founded 10 years ago: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simons_Center_for_Geometry_and...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simons_Center_for_Geometry_and_Physics)

</comment><comment><USER12> He spoke at my math commencement at cal - good guy, sharp as a tack.

Growing up he was one of my idols - leveraged what he learned in school to make money doing something difficult, achieving success and more importantly respect.

</comment><comment><USER13> It's funny how much good press Simons gets and yet he is a notorious tax cheat. The Senate issued a report in 2014 about how his firm Rentech is a blatant tax fraud. Rentech also got IRA rules changed so employees could avoid more taxes.

Basically, the Senate report alleges that Rentech evaded leverage limits (6x capital) and used the balance sheet of their broker to operate basically as an unregulated market maker. So the two keys to Rentech's strategy were a) illegal levels of leverage and b) evading taxes on short term gains to the tune of $6 billion. Once you dial down the leverage and pay taxes, the alpha disappears. One firm rejected the scheme as illegal and the emails from that firm are in the report. The scheme uses the broker as an illegal front, which is what the firm lawyer immediately recognized.

[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiUkOKl0oTYAhWkmeAKHTvgD2IQFggxMAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hsgac.senate.gov%2Fdownload%2Freport- abuse-of-structured-financial-products-misusing-basket-options-to-avoid-taxes- and-leverage-limits&usg=AOvVaw0aByhG3Uly2-0yQc7kaiAm)

<comment><USER14> _> Once you dial down the leverage and pay taxes, the alpha disappears._

No, it doesn't. The first and most obvious observation: the basket options described in the report were not utilized until 2002. Renaissance already had 14 years of ~70% average annual returns (~40% net of fees) by that point.

Second, Renaissance stopped using these derivatives in 2014 (though they're still fighting the IRS on back taxes, last I heard). Surprise: they've still been up ~39% in 2014, ~35% in 2015 and ~22% for the first half of 2016 (again, _net_ ).

To be clear, I'm not saying I agree with their utilization of the Deutsche and Barclays basket options. There is a lot of creative financial engineering that happens in the industry. But like most of the other topics that come up on Hacker News, the reality is far too nuanced to be dismissed in the offhand way you've done here.

At best, their tax maneuvering amplified the alpha already present. The basket options provided leverage, which obviously boosted returns. However, leverage will only improve a strategy's returns, it cannot (on its own) improve risk characteristics or increase win rate consistency. Leveraged beta is still beta, and leveraged alpha remains alpha when you decrease the leverage (though the returns will be lower).

<comment><USER13> If Rentech has a strategy which generates decent returns only with massive and illegal levels of leverage, it does not have a viable strategy, period. There are reasons why hedge funds have leverage limits, to prevent future LTCM catastrophes. If Rentech wants to operate as a market maker it can get a broker dealer license like any other firm operating as a market maker.

<comment><USER14> _> If Rentech has a strategy which generates decent returns only with massive and illegal levels of leverage, it does not have a viable strategy, period._

And in my previous comment to you, literally the one you replied to, I explained that this is not the case. Re-read my comment. Their strategies have alpha distinct from the leverage (because, again, leverage is not alpha), both historically before the tax maneuvering began, and since the conclusion of its use.

<comment><USER13> We don't know what the strategies are so we are not in a position to evaluate the alpha. See the protasis of my statement, beginning with "if".

<comment><USER15> Okay, as someone else already pointed out to you: How can you be so sure about _your_ argument?

This said, please elaborate, how exactly could they turn a strategy losing them money around by pumping more money into that?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Jim Simons is a super interesting person, which makes this a very interesting read. What doesn't is the writing.

"Simons has an air of being both pleased with himself and ready to be pleased by others. He dresses in expensive cabana wear: delicate cotton shirts paired with chinos that are hiked high and held up by an Indian-bead belt. He grew up in the suburbs of Boston, and speaks with the same light Massachusetts accent as Michael Bloomberg, with frequent pauses and imprecisions. He sometimes uses the words "et cetera" instead of finishing a thought, perhaps because he is abstracted, or because he has learned that the intricacies of his mind are not always interesting to others, or because, when you are as rich as Simons, people always wait for you to finish what you are saying"

Gawd, that was awful.

</comment><comment><USER17> I wish he invested in studying the microbiome. It is a relatively new field and requires computational powers. From the article, if I understand correctly, they study autism only in the context of the DNA. But it is now known that the disorders in the gut microbiome is related to autism.

<comment><USER18> The gut microbiome is a main focus of the Systems Biology group in the Center for Computational Biology.

[https://www.simonsfoundation.org/flatiron/center-for- computa...](https://www.simonsfoundation.org/flatiron/center-for- computational-biology/systems-biology/)

<comment><USER17> Great. I found this research [https://www.simonsfoundation.org/2017/09/26/microbiome- proje...](https://www.simonsfoundation.org/2017/09/26/microbiome-project/)

But do they study microbiome in relation to autism? I could not find any such research.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> I found it interesting that the employees of Renaissance finally convinced him to boot Robert Mercer. Simons has accomplished great things in mathematics, investing, autism research and math education. But he has also enabled a Bond villain to undermine our social fabric with disinformation, and I don't think he gets enough credit for that.

<comment><USER20> From the numberphile interviews and the article above I get the impression that Simons is a professional, wise man who doesn't let political differences devolve into hysteria.

<comment><USER21> The do what all hedge funds do - hedge. Simons put money on Hillary and Mercer put money on Trump. :D</comment></comment></comment>


Apple Touts Suicide Nets In Supplier Responsibility Report, But Changes Little - <AUTHOR> http://www.cultofmac.com/apple-touts-suicide-nets-in-supplier-responsibility-report-but-changes-little/81964

<comment><USER2> It is naive to think that suicide experts would recommend better working conditions, creating unions, or investing in machines to perform mind-numbing tasks.

Suicide experts have been trained to treat the problem of suicidal thinking, not the potential causes. If someone is suicidal because of depression, they tell them to talk about it and take an antidepressant. They don't advocate to their boss that they would be better off if they got paid more so they could work less and had better food in the cafeteria.

What do you expect?

</comment><comment><USER3> How many companies need nets?</comment>


Full Disk Images of Earth from GOES-17 - <AUTHOR> http://esorensen.com/goes-part-1/ <comment><USER2> This kind of thing could replace some uses of blockchain. The pattern of clouds on earth every day is unique, so anything that needs a timestamp with 1-day resolution could just tie it to a hash of today's cloud image pixels gathered from many receivers around the world, each taken at noon from the POV of a given geostationary satellite. That way one could prove that an event took place no earlier than today, especially if you hash each cloud photo with the hash of the one from the day before, which creates a cloudchain. The chain's ordering is verifiable from multiple sources and created wholly external from any human agency or pseudo-random number generator.

Speaking of which, you could also use the pixels (or some permutation of them) as a random number seed that changed every day.

<comment><USER3> Is it any better than any other source of random or extremely difficult to predict data? Seems like you could just use data from the stock market or some radio antennas or telescopes.

<comment><USER2> The stock market is human-generated so somebody with enough money could nudge it in one direction or another. Radio antennas or telescopes could work too; I'm just not aware of anything they see that meets some definition of "random" except for maybe the surface of the sun, and the pattern of clouds on the earth.

<comment><USER4> How about clouds on another planet? Makes manipulation even harder and easier to observe from earth itself

<comment><USER2> Venusian clouds are easy to see with earth-based telescopes. Problems: There's not a lot of variation -- it's solid cloud cover. And Venus has phases and we never see it as a 100% disc (the Sun is in the way).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Looks like the site is down due to an HN hug of death.

<comment><USER6> If you do get through, this is _much_ more interesting than the title makes it sound. It's not just the images, but how you can get them directly from the satellite with your own radio and antenna.

Is there a word for the converse of "clickbait"?

<comment> m-i-l > Is there a word for the converse of "clickbait"?

The opposite of bait is repellent, so in that sense it would be "clickrepellent". However, I don't think that gets across the point that it is the inverse of "low value content with a misleadingly appealing headline", i.e. it is high value content with a headline that doesn't adequately reflect the value of the content. For this I was going to suggest "clickfish", as in the valuable objective of bait (assuming a fishing metaphor). However, a quick internet search reveals this is a widely used term already, e.g. for an internet surfer who falls for (and reposts) clickbait, or the name of anti- clickbait software. Then I thought of abstracting this a level with "clicksupper", as in fish supper, a wholesome meal made from fish and served with chips. Or how about "clicktreasure", thinking of buried treasure. But then again, how about simply "anti-clickbait"?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> It's also possible to receive infrared images using the same technique, which can be used in part to visualize the water vapor content of the atmosphere:

[https://www.goes-r.gov/education/ABI-bands-quick- info.html](https://www.goes-r.gov/education/ABI-bands-quick-info.html)

Some parts of the imaging instrument (ABI) on GOES-17 responsible for keeping it cool failed shortly after launch, causing the temperature to vary over the course of the day:

[https://www.goes-r.gov/users/GOES-17-ABI- Performance.html](https://www.goes-r.gov/users/GOES-17-ABI-Performance.html)

This doesn't affect the "visible" light images too much, but can cause all sorts of problems for the infrared, which is used scientifically for various cloud measurements, sea surface temperature, land surface temperature, etc. It's still up in the air how useful we can make this data.

</comment><comment><USER8> I don't quite understand it from skimming the article. How are you able to talk to the satellite on the protocol level? Is it continuously sending down the bits in a known format? Do you have to authenticate with it?

<comment><USER9> In this particular case, the author is using an SDR device to caputure data emitted by the satellite, and then decode it using software (goestools). There is no interaction with the satellite, it's just a device listening to a broadacst emission.

As mentioned in the article, there are many interesting related projects:

* [https://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-tutorial-receiving-noaa-weat...](https://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-tutorial-receiving-noaa-weather-satellite-images/)

* [https://hackaday.com/2013/01/12/listening-in-on-weather-ball...](https://hackaday.com/2013/01/12/listening-in-on-weather-balloons-with-rtl-sdr/)

* [http://www.sdr-satellites.com/Weather](http://www.sdr-satellites.com/Weather)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> This is really cool! I keep meaning to try something like this just for the thrill of receiving the data myself.

Though if receiving the data with your own antenna and SDR isn't exciting, and you just want to use the data, AWS hosts these (GOES-16 and 17) data on S3 for everyone to use: [https://registry.opendata.aws/noaa- goes/](https://registry.opendata.aws/noaa-goes/)

(Disclaimer: I work on the team that helps host these datasets)

</comment><comment><USER11> I did wonder what full disk images of Earth might contain, considering various block formats to contain various data collected from the globe. Then I read the article.

</comment><comment><USER12> I assume it's a similar process to take the data from the European EUMETSAT satellites?

Other geostationary satellites are available:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_satellite#Geostationar...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_satellite#Geostationary)

You quite often see a bank of clocks for each time zone, it would be good to have a geostationary image like this, from several different weather satellites.

<comment><USER13> The Meteosats don't directly disseminate, there is a service, EUMETCast, which broadcasts from commercial communications satellites, although you need a decryption key: [https://www.eumetsat.int/website/home/Data/DataDelivery/EUME...](https://www.eumetsat.int/website/home/Data/DataDelivery/EUMETCast/index.html)

The rationale behind this was that, in this way, you can receive the stream with off-the-shelf satellite TV hardware and a PC, and without special radio operator knowledge. This was of course well before the advent of cheap SDR devices.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Nice!

A bit unrelated but If you haven't seen it be sure to check out NASA's EPIC[0] aboard their DSCOVR[1] satellite

[0] [https://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov/](https://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov/) [1] [https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/content/dscovr-deep-space- climat...](https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/content/dscovr-deep-space-climate- observatory)

</comment><comment><USER15> Another way to pull them: [http://rammb- slider.cira.colostate.edu/?sat=goes-17](http://rammb- slider.cira.colostate.edu/?sat=goes-17)

</comment><comment><USER16> Nice. Makes me wonder what the hell else that's useful could be slurped from up there.. Must be hundreds of feeds to listen to.

</comment><comment><USER17> Site's down. Hackaday has a writeup: [https://hackaday.com/2019/05/03/__trashed-28/](https://hackaday.com/2019/05/03/__trashed-28/)

And Sorensen has been active on Reddit with this: [https://www.reddit.com/r/RTLSDR/comments/bj61f9/24_hour_time...](https://www.reddit.com/r/RTLSDR/comments/bj61f9/24_hour_timelapse_loop_from_goes17_using_airspy/)

</comment><comment><USER18> Pretty cool. Anyone has any idea how the copyright situation looks like for these images?

<comment><USER19> Most US Government produced works are public domain.

[https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Organization/About/use.html](https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Organization/About/use.html)

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Very nice information ! geo stationary satellite 17 (GOES-17) would really help in forcasting weather and taking full span images of earth

</comment><comment><USER21> Reading the headline I thought HN overnight settled on flat-earthers being right and this link provides uncensored images for the first time.</comment>


Knuckle Cracking Sound Triggered by Bubble Formation - <AUTHOR> http://www.statnews.com/2015/12/01/knuckle-cracking/ <comment><USER2> My initial reaction to this was, "Wait, didn't we know this already?" The key to the story is somewhat buried:

> The bubbles then stick around for about 20 to 30 minutes, and you won't be > able to crack your knuckles again until they are gone — a sure sign that > _the sound is not caused by bursting bubbles, as was the leading hypothesis > for many years_.

<comment><USER3> This is literally in the first paragraph of the story:

> The staccato pop of a cracked knuckle might sound like a balloon bursting — > but it's actually triggered by the formation of gas bubbles, rather than > their disappearance.

<comment><USER2> Huh, that got cut off in the reader view I was using. Thanks.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> > The bubbles then stick around for about 20 to 30 minutes, and you won't be > able to crack your knuckles again until they are gone

I take it this crack isn't the same as my ankle's sometimes clicking with every step I take then. I can continuously produce that noise whilst simply walking on some occasions, although I have no idea what causes it.

<comment><USER5> I can do it in my right foot by rotating it in a circular motion. If I do it for more than a few rotations it becomes sore, and I'm pretty sure it's tendons snapping.

<comment><USER6> Not sure if a chiropractor counts as a legit source or not, but that's what mine said when I asked. If you can do it continually like that it's tendons.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Can cracking be a sign of cartilage demage? Many of my joints have been increasingly more cracking and creaking in the last about 10 years.

</comment><comment><USER8> I love to crack my knuckles so what I want to know is if my parents/grandparents are correct in that it will give me trouble later in life? So far everything I have look into has shown me there is no real evidence of knuckle cracking and things like arthritis but is there any more up to date studies on this?

<comment><USER9> Nope

>"For 50 years, the author cracked the knuckles of his left hand at least twice a day, leaving those on the right as a control..."there is no apparent relationship between knuckle cracking and the subsequent development of arthritis of the fingers."

[http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/crack- research/](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/crack-research/)

<comment><USER8> Yeah I know that story. One guy isn't enough to convince my parents though. Has there been any study into it?</comment></comment></comment>


Neovim is shipping bundled libraries? BAD idea - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/neovim/neovim/issues/194

<comment><AUTHOR> Why is Neovim shipping bundled libraries?

Why is it forking libraries?

This is a huge step backwards.

What is this? Windows? Why they ship all libraries as part of the project?

System libraries are there for a good reason, use them!

This has the potential to introduce huge security issues and it should be considered bad practice.

Why not use git submodules at least to keep in sync with upstream?

I don't know about you but this is lame and I'd rather stick to Vim if this project is going to start forking all the libraies that it will use.</comment>


How Microsoft stole my code and then spit on it - <AUTHOR> https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1002696910266773505.html <comment><USER3> Hey – I'm Martin Woodward from Microsoft. I have talked to Jamie and are investigating his concerns and will come back to this thread with any findings. An initial review hasn't indicated we'd previously heard about this issue. We've also reached out to the original copyright owner to ensure we're taking all the needed steps. If anyone has concerns or spots an issue where a project is missing correct and full attribution then please log it as an issue with the project or contact email@example.com and we'll be sure to take action right away. We have over 1,800 repos in the Microsoft org and thousands of Microsoft engineers contributing to open source. We try really hard to get it right, and we take this very seriously.

<comment><USER3> FYI - I created this issue to track any fixes needed: [https://github.com/Microsoft/web-build- tools/issues/673](https://github.com/Microsoft/web-build-tools/issues/673)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> What happened was truly awful, but I don't think it's fair to blame MSFT when probably what happened was a few employees trying to take all credit for code they didn't write. From the thread it seems that he did not reach out to MSFT via any official channels and only informed "people he knew at MSFT".

<comment><USER5> Unfortunately, the thing about corporate personhood is that corporations are responsible for the actions of their employees. Unless of course, they can show that the employee was acting against explicit instructions or policies.

<comment><USER6> Without a doubt, stealing code like this is against policies at Microsoft.

<comment><USER7> So, someone should be fired for violation of these (serious) policies?

<comment><USER8> If what the author says is true then yes. Unfortunately they really bungled their case by trying to reach out through unofficial channels first.

<comment><USER9> Why does reaching out informally bungle the case?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> There isn't a single link to a commit, file or repo that shows the similarities between the two code bases, let alone alleged plagiarism. It is conceivable that they truly are two different projects that happen to be developed around the same time. It's not the first time that has happened.

I wish the author actually substantiated his claims a bit better.

<comment><USER11> I also seems like the projects have different architectures. The author claimed they were copying his code and modifying it for their "weird event system they added". It is not clear to what degree they changed any of his code or if they only used his project is an inspiration.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Based on this description, it sounds like an employee committing plagiarism in order to defraud their boss. Retroactive editing of the commit history is particularly suggestive; it implies someone tried to cover their tracks.

<comment><USER13> Are you sure that it wasn't Microsoft, the corporate person? They are a company of 35,000 people and I'm quite sure that they always act in unison.

Also, when some random blogger contacts Microsoft and asks Microsoft to do something about something, then Microsoft better stop what they're doing and listen!

Enjoy your Microsoft-hate-train all. _yawn_

<comment><USER14> Please don't do sports-team-style BigCorp flamewars on HN. It's not substantive and leads to worse.

<comment><USER13> You're kidding right? I'm responding to the one that already going.

<comment><USER14> Sure, but please don't. That's going the wrong way down a one-way street.

<comment><USER13> Oh, OK so you're not going to say anything to people who are fucking putting all the anti-Microsoft bullshit out there and just say something to me because I disagreed?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I just dug around in the rush GitHub, and was surprised to find no pull requests by the author of Lerna trying to rectify the missing copyright ("Hey guys, you forgot to keep my copyright in there since this is a fork of Lerna, so here's a pull request"), or any issues raised ("The copyright of my MIT- licensed project is missing. What's up with that?").

The only instances of lerna being mentioned are people who use or work on rush mentioning differences between the two projects.

Assuming the lerna author is accurate, why just the angry blog post? If I had contacted MS and raised the issue via email, and nothing happened, I would have started raising issues on the project GitHub and making pull requests to rectify the situation. Not only could that actually work to resolve the issue, but the discussion would be public.

<comment><USER16> You are assuming someone who is scrambling to change function names and hide git logs will be going back to the code they stole to re-check for an update license?

a pull request would be the same as an email or blog post at this point. it is just a way to communicate. why is a PR better then what they are doing now?

<comment><USER15> It would be publicly visible on github, such that the community can see the dispute and the response (or lack thereof) from the other project. While it won't necessarily fix the problem, it is more visible.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> If true then it's bad faith use of open source at MSFT and not typical of them. Have you tried contacting Scott Hanselman - @shanselman on Twitter - <USER2> anyone else via twitter instead of "normal" channels? One of the great things about the Devs at MSFT is that they are very responsive on twitter. If someone was being a douche with your code then the right people haven't gotten the message yet.

<comment><USER18> > If true then it's bad faith use of open source at MSFT and not typical of > them.

Only if you ignore pretty much all of Microsoft's history.

<comment><USER19> Clearly you ruffled some feathers, but I have to agree. Microsoft playing nice with open source is a very new phenomenon.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> > _Files and directories were named the same things, it had many of the same > core functions with code that I distinctly remembered writing._

Here are the respective codebases as of Christmas Day 2015, 21 days into the lifetime of one and 11 days into the lifetime of the other. They do not appear to match that description.

* [https://github.com/lerna/lerna/tree/9aabe1664399d5f233a89d37...](https://github.com/lerna/lerna/tree/9aabe1664399d5f233a89d373fc2101625bf174c)

* [https://github.com/Microsoft/web-build-tools/tree/c4bb2127e6...](https://github.com/Microsoft/web-build-tools/tree/c4bb2127e67522c69a19f7cd8cd90bb6fc663a35)

</comment><comment><USER21> I will start by saying I'm not giving Microsoft or the "Rush author" a pass on this.

Obviously the license was broken by removing the copyright notice of the original author, but it also doesn't sound like the author really did anything to try and handle the issue properly so now they are posting a rant.

Here is the extent of what the author did, "So I reached out to people I knew at Microsoft. This was probably a year ago now. They were shocked and apologized. But since then nothing has happened."

We don't know who those people are, what they're roles are, but I suspect they are not involved with the Rush project nor is it their job to handle potential copyright violations for all of Microsoft.

The author could have posted an issue to the repo expressing their concern. If this was ignored then they could issue a DMCA takedown notice through GitHub. If this was not successful then the author could contact Microsoft legal or file a lawsuit.

</comment><comment><USER13> Lerna was released with an MIT license as was Rush.

So, nothing was stolen and if the story is true, the only infraction here would be that the Lerna copyright line was not included in the Rush license.

<comment><USER22> So you have just one single thing to do, and you don't do it - how can you be trusted then?

<comment><USER13> Do you disagree about what the actual infraction was here if the story is true?

My comment isn't about trust, it's about what the actual infraction was. Microsoft is made up of 35,000 people. There's no way I trust all of them. Of what company do you actually have trust in every employee?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> "The consolidation of our infrastructure is dangerous."

Have we not learned our lessons yet, by boiling, basically, the entirety of the internet down to Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit? (And maybe Amazon.) The trend in the US capitalistic system towards monopoly is inescapable, and harmful in so many ways.

</comment><comment><USER24> The developer's twitter pic is distracting. He has a point but I have a hard time taking him seriously. That's just me being an old man i guess.</comment>


Kickstarter: Shorter project durations lead to higher funding rates - <AUTHOR> http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/shortening-the-maximum-project-length

<comment><USER2> Also interesting in the graph, 30, 45, 60, and 90 day durations are quite popular and significantly poorer at getting funded than other durations.

Is the kind of person that picks a number like that less able to write a convincing story? Is there something about seeing those unthoughtful numbers that turns off donors?

<comment><USER3> Turning that around: perhaps people pick non-round, non-default periods when they already have other hard external deadlines to work around, and such deadlines also drive other positive activity.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I've had a lot of friends try Kickstarter for various projects, most have chosen to start longer campaigns under the assumption that more time will increase the chance of funding the project.

Personally, I agree with Kickstarter's assessment that longer campaigns create less urgency. This seems to make sense. Often times, If I see a friend has a longer running campaign, I'll procrastinate and put off donating until later in the game. I'm sure other people do this too, and not all of them remember.

In the campaigns my friends have run, it's usually that first push out to their social network that gets the biggest response, after that the donations start slowing down. A few more people will kick in some extra dough at the end (like me), but by that time most people have moved on.

</comment><comment><USER5> I disagree with limiting to 60 days instead. Educate your users, but some may very well have a good reason to choose 90... Like they expect a TV appearance in 75 days.

That person would have to wait 30 days to list the project in order to bank on the buzz from the tv appearance.

That example is just off the top of my head, but the point is that some of the world doesn't work at the pace of the web.

<comment><USER6> I disagree with your logic. You can find a good reason for anything. For example, Kickstarter chose to make funding a project an all-or-nothing deal (either you raise all your funding or none of it). This creates a sense of urgency that has contributed to the popularity of Kickstarter -- more projects get funded because of this. Obviously someone who put $10K as their amount might still be able to do their project with less, but that defeats the effectiveness of the site as a whole. The same can be said for the time limit, though it's a smaller issue.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> > With those things in mind, today we're lowering the maximum amount of time a > creator can choose for their project from 90 days to 60 days.

Wet sidewalks cause rain. Film at 11.

In other news, banning anonymous article creation on Wikipedia has increased the acceptance rate of anonymous articles to 100%, a stunning increase in average quality.

</comment><comment><USER3> What if they picked longer durations because they already knew their goal would be hard to reach?</comment>


Why So Many Police Are Handling the Protests Wrong - <AUTHOR> https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/06/01/why-so-many-police-are-handling-the-protests-wrong <comment><USER3> I feel like some upfront setting of expectations would really, really be helpful here. If you're planning to arrest people after curfew, explain that in clear terms: "Our curfew is at 8pm, so we will start asking groups to disperse at 7:30. At 8pm, no large assemblies will be permitted, and police will begin arresting people in large groups at that time. We understand some people will engage in civil disobedience, and if they are cooperative with the police, they will be arrested peacefully. If any protesters start taking action that endangers police (e.g. throwing bricks or running at police unexpectedly), they will be met with force and arrested. Because it can be difficult for police to determine the perpetrator of violence, additional crowd control tactics such as tear gas may be used, so we strongly encourage you to self-police and prevent any violence towards police. After 8pm there will be a 30 minute grace period for those who are not gathered in groups but are in the process of heading home. At 8:30pm, anyone who remains on the street will be detained."

I think it would really help both in terms of outcomes as well as the perception of police if they gave this kind of clear description of what's going to happen. As it stands now, the curfews aren't enforced with any kind of regularity, so they just cause confusion.

<comment><USER4> A much simpler policy would be to have no curfew at all.

As someone who has participated in protests for 5 out of the last 6 days and was tear gassed, I can tell you that protestors are much more peaceful when the cops keep a distance. Once the armor shows up and the tear gassing starts protestors get angry.

<comment><USER3> I also agree with this. It seems like in the majority of cases at this point, the curfew does nothing but create unnecessary conflict. It almost creates an objective for protesters - to be serious about what they're protesting, they need to stay out after the curfew.

I think curfews do have a place when there's massive looting happening and the police need the streets clear so they can prevent it, but there hasn't been enough looting in several days to justify curfews.

<comment><USER5> The case that will be made is that the curfew has _caused_ the reduction in looting, by sending the most nonviolent protestors home and making it easier to distinguish those looting.

<comment><USER3> Except there are still extremely large protests in DC/NY/LA after curfew but the looting appears to have stopped.

<comment><USER5> While I decline to specifically endorse that logic at this time, I don't think it is necessarily is in conflict with your observation. The crowd dynamics of protestors protesting after curfew and of that of looters may be quite different: one crowd, versus many smaller groups dispersed in the city, spreading out, with a mix of protesting and opportunistic looting (sometimes in the same group and sometimes not).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Problem is backing down. When you're in a heightened state of alertness and your body has primed you for fight/flight, it's hard for either side to calm down. Even in domestic disputes where people know each other and at least think they've "loved" each other and care. It's hard to back down.

So seeking confrontation is the problem from both sides. Some people want to protest, some want to confront. And the police prepare for worst case ... which means confrontation which escalates...

Then you have opportunists who just want a fight .

<comment><USER7> If only there were some kind of training that could help peace officers maintain the peace... Oh well, guess this is as good as we can do.

<comment><USER6> Training helps. But it's hard to overcome instincts.

Domestic abusers (not always people prone to violence) are sent to classes and often get in the same situation again, even after training and knowing the legal consequences.

<comment><USER8> Military seems to do relatively decent job at training that compared to cops, and it's not like the cops are down the barrel of guns. Just water bottles and some bricks

<comment><USER9> US military also has "up or out".

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Odd that tacticool US police, despite copying the look, don't attempt to learn how the US military behaves: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23347453](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23347453)

"2-54. Scalable effects concepts are a measured approach in response to a crowd gathering. By recognizing a use-of-force policy, soldiers must be taught and understand that they use the minimum force necessary. Without the appearance of a graduated response, the gathering crowd may consider actions as excessive, causing a possible escalation of hostilities or violence."

Then again, even within the LE world, the information is available, eg [https://www.chirontraining.com](https://www.chirontraining.com)

<comment><USER10> Meanwhile, at your local PD, they are learning how to protect the "sheep" (that's you, civilian) under the method called, and I swear I am not making this up, Killology.

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

<comment><USER9> Shouldn't that be Phonosology?

Miller has some thoughts on the sheepdog metaphor: [http://chirontraining.blogspot.com/2017/11/sheepdogs.html](http://chirontraining.blogspot.com/2017/11/sheepdogs.html)

(he has thoughts on lots of things, up to and including how to deescalate when one is amped on adrenaline. I sometimes think that in a more just world, he'd have been an academic intellectual, but am glad that in ours, he choose his parents poorly, and wound up working in law enforcement —due to a financial glass ceiling— otherwise we'd probably have no one who is both familiar with the problems LE practitioners face and has the inclination to theorise upon how the approaches might be improved)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> From the article:

'Couper, the creator of the Madison Method, said, "It's this whole attitude of, 'We keep order because we kick ass, and it's us against them.' (...) We've got to root those people out and say, 'Look, this is the job that we expect. This is how a democracy is policed. If you can't buy into it. I'm sorry. You just have to find another job.'"'

</comment><comment><USER12> > Disproportionate use of force can turn a peaceful protest violent, research > shows.

I would like to RTFA soon, but just glancing at this, I'll agree with it. I thought to myself that if I were a peaceful protester that got a real taste of police brutality like I've seen online, I would make _sure_ I was out every day, and I would be a lot more angry than I am as someone who "just" cares about civil rights.

</comment><comment><USER13> Humans are social beings. Quarantines, unemployment, essential workers under additional stress and social isolation are all creating a far more tenuous situation than say last summer. Flipside, Police who have had to deal with people fake sneezing on them and avoiding the virus; still working everyday because they are essential. They are on edge.

Now add in the fact that governments have used the virus as a way to shutdown protests. Hong Kong? Gaza? Albania? Sudan? Yellow vests? BLM? Venezuela?

Unprecedented amounts of unemployment means people can get out and protest and they've been couped up for how long? They'll be getting out to protest.

We are in the spring, wait until the summer and fall. It's going to be huge; and then the US election happens between turd sandwich and giant douche.

</comment><comment><USER14> There are an array of reasons.

1\. The "broken windows" fallacy taken to its extreme:

> The broken windows theory is a criminological theory that states that > visible signs of crime, anti-social behavior, and civil disorder create an > urban environment that encourages further crime and disorder, including > serious crimes.

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

Police see themselves as the "thin blue line" between chaos and social order, and believe that they must put down and resistence, immediately, decisively, and violently.

But, this _is_ a fallacy. In NYC, for example, major crimes _fell_ when the NYPD stopped is "proactive policing" policy.

[https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn- proacti...](https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-proactive- policing-crime-20170925-story.html)

2\. Militarization. The police are no longer trained to "protect and serve;" they're trained to occupy and battle. They see citizens as the enemy, and treat them as such. They are being told to "dominate the battlespace," which is what you say about an enemy you want to destroy, not a community you want to protect.

This extends to their equipment, as well. There are too many SWAT teams, too many tanks, too many tools of violence, and when you have those tools, they _will_ be used. Part of this is because of government budgeting - if you don't use it, why should they give you more money - and part of this is because we have fetishised violent police action.

A lot of this started with _COPS_ , but "police being action heroes" is an entire genre of reality TV now. You can find videos of the police officers gleefully destroying buildings because a suspect _might_ be inside.

3\. Personal immunity. Police face no repercussions for their actions. If a police office targets the wrong house, tosses a flashbang into a baby's crib, and shoots the mother ... nothing happens. There is no justice, there is no recourse. Police are violent because they _can_ be violent, with impunity.

This is driven in large part by police unions, who make it essentially impossible to fire a police officer, even for the worst behavior.

4\. Personality. The job of police officer attracts the kind of person who should not be a police officer. People who want power over others, people who want a license to use violence, simply cannot be trusted with that power.

This issue is greatly compounded by the above points; if you take someone with violent fantasies, give them military grade weaponry, teach them that their neighbors are an enemy who will murder them with the slightest provocation,and tell them that they will never face any consequences for their actions, what do you expect to happen?

<comment><USER15> The only thing I would add is police abuse of steroids.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Police handle many things wrongly. I just got back from the store where I held the door open for a police man as he entered... and he wasn't wearing a mask.

I waited until he got out and I asked him "No mask?" to which he replied "Why?" and I said "The sign says No Mask, No Service" (and everybody else was wearing one) and this asshole replies "I wasn't buying anything." I laughed at him and drove off.

<comment><USER17> So you began your interaction by holding the door open for another human being, and you ended it a few minutes later by confronting them about a personal choice of health and safety, thought them to be an asshole, and laughed at them due to their response?

And you're so proud of that interaction that you are posting it in a comment on HN right now?

For all you know the officer was called into the store for an urgent matter.

Be kind to others, and you'll lead a much happier and fulfilling life.

<comment><USER16> > So you began your interaction by holding the door open for another human > being, and you ended it a few minutes later by confronting them about a > personal choice of health and safety, thought them to be an asshole, and > laughed at them due to their response?

Yep. It's not a personal choice though... it's well-known that wearing masks prevents the spread of disease.

How is it that you are ignorant of this fact?

> And you're so proud of that interaction that you are posting it in a comment > on HN right now?

That's what you got out of that?? Okay...

You seem to be having trouble differentiating a plain description of a brief interaction with a cop who was clearly in the wrong with "pride".

> For all you know the officer was called into the store for an urgent matter.

Too urgent to take 2 seconds to put a mask on for everybody's safety???? When he wasn't running into the store? That's not urgent...

Sorry buddy, but you're clearly wrong. Perhaps you should re-think your position.

> Mind your own business, be kind to others, and you'll lead a much happier > and fulfilling life.

I'm white, I live in a great neighborhood, I got a huge house, a pool, a boat, 3 cars, my job is very fulfilling, I make 6 figures working full-time from home doing something I love... my family is wonderful, I have hobbies, friends, I travel... thanks for your concern, but I'm not sure how much happier I can get, lol ;)

I'm honestly doing so well and my life is so easy that I feel guilty at times.

Sorry that you got triggered by this. Perhaps you should consider taking your own advice? Please do... thanks.

<comment><USER17> Not triggered, just flabbergasted at your insistence that thinking another person was the asshole after you called them out for not adhering to your own worldview.

Obviously you know you were in the wrong, which is why you just wrote so much defending your position. So I'll leave it at that.

Enjoy your huge house and 3 cars. I am glad that they make you happy.

<comment><USER16> Scientific facts are not a worldview. Saying so is _awfully ignorant_.

My state has also mandated that everybody wears masks in public places, so it's actually against the law right now...

Care to keep going? I'll be right here...

<comment><USER17> No not at all. You are obviously right.

Enjoy your cars! :)

<comment><USER16> Well, I listed a lot of other things besides cars that make me happy - <USER2> sure why you're focusing on that, as if someone enjoying cars is a bad thing...

Mostly I enjoy having a nice conversation. Thanks so much for making this a pleasant one.

<comment><USER17> Enjoy your pool and boat then.

You listed primarily material things that make you happy which made me feel poorly for you.

Laughing at and judging total strangers then bragging about it on the internet though... my bad... you sound like a real nice wholesome human being!

Maybe you'll feel even better if you call 2 random strangers an asshole on the internet tomorrow, or 4?!

Good luck! You're gonna need it!

<comment><USER16> Actually, about half my list was non-material things - friends, family, fulfillment, etc..

You're just focusing on the material things because you want to think bad things about me, since _you 're quite obviously a miserable person_ and you want everybody to feel that way.

Not gonna happen friend :) It's too nice of a day today!

> Laughing at and judging total strangers then bragging about it on the > internet though...

Cops are public figures. Bragging did not happen, an interaction was plainly described. You can keep trying to twist it... enjoying your downvotes I guess?

You almost ended on a pretty good note, but I see that not having the last word is going to be a challenge for you...

Honestly, I have no problem continuing to respond to your delusional comments in an effort to help you adjust your ego and your incorrect views. I'll check back in a few hours.

(EDIT: I'm just wondering - as such a good wholesome, moral person as you are - is this what you call "minding your own business"?? Trying to ram your opinion down some random persons throat? For 2 days?? As I ponder this... yes, I laugh - that's a given when confronted with such a high level of neuroticism, but I'm also actually thankful for all the entertainment that you've provided to me.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> The analysis assumes the police actually wants to de-escalate things and they are just mis-handling protests. That's not necessarily true.

</comment><comment><USER19> Beating/gassing/terrorizing peaceful protesters en-masse, is THE POINT. Especially when so many cop unions are totally unaccountable, and run by cowardly authoritarian sadists. Brown shirts for Trump.

Who are the rioters? The cops.

</comment><comment><USER20> The police don't exist to protect the general public, they exist to protect rich people and their property. Politicians know this, and they allow the police to project an aura of fear because it helps them maintain control of the population with a relatively small force.

The US is a plutocracy: it's a country governed largely by the rich, through lobbying, gerrymandering, and a constant information war to convert the least intelligent voters to their side. There's a reason why people who are bad at evaluating facts objectively and often believe in conspiracy theories, and also those who are rich, tend to vote for one particular side.

<comment><USER21> Maybe this is how it _is_.

Most of us believe it's not how it _should_ be.

And it's definitely not what the _law_ says it is.

<comment><USER9> Be careful with asking people to do what the _law_ says.

King (Martin, not Rodney) said[1] "[a]ll we say to America is to be true to what you said on paper".

Kennedy suggested[2] a world "where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved".

If he were alive today, I'm sure JFK would have half a mind to ask "how could you elect such a schoolyahd president?"

[1] [https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king- papers/documents/ive...](https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king- papers/documents/ive-been-mountaintop-address-delivered-bishop-charles-mason- temple)

[2] [https://nationalcenter.org/KennedyInaugural.html](https://nationalcenter.org/KennedyInaugural.html) (incidentally, Earl Warren has an interesting history; he once became Governor of California by winning _both_ the D and R primaries)

<comment><USER21> I mean, yeah, obviously the law is not a perfect guide to what is moral or just.

My point was that in many cases, the police _are not even making it up to that standard_. They are breaking the law and their own rules in order to punish the protesters for daring to challenge their (the police's) perceived right to be above the law.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Just like you should drive defensively, you should protest defensively too. A pair of ballistic-grade safety glasses for starters would go a long way (the kind industrial workers use to protect their eyes from flying ball bearings). I keep reading stories about reporters losing eyes to rubber bullets, when it is completely preventable.

<comment><USER23> Drive defensively, but if a drunk driver hits your car and kills you, it's still their fault.

Wear safety glasses, but if a police officer hits you and takes out your eye, it's still their fault.

I agree with you that wearing safety gear might be a great idea. That still says something terrible about the American police system, and it shouldn't be necessary.</comment></comment>


Nike tells Amazon, 'I'm just not that into you' - <AUTHOR> https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-11-18/newsletter-nike-quits-amazon <comment><USER2> I think fedex, UPS might have a chance for disrupting Amazon like Amazon is disrupting them by providing warehouse space to Brands that want to move off Amazon but are unable too.

<comment><USER3> The fact that they haven't is baffling. before amzn had their own logistics, the hardest part of Amazon's business (free 2 day shipping) was handled completely by them. Join up with Walmart or other mega retailers (just for brand value), and make the biggest online curated marketplace. First party sales only, no third party.

I would drop my prime membership the same day and pay up to 50% more for free shipping from such a market place.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Worth noting that eBay's old CEO now runs Nike. I wonder what his thoughts are.

Also, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall in the legal discussions where Nike must have extracted a promise from Amazon to remove counterfeit products despite Nike not selling on the Amazon platform.

Now THATs a privilege.

<comment><USER5> It's not a privilege, it's the law.

If you're caught selling something counterfeit and have a good excuse, you might escape censure. If you're caught selling counterfeit and the trademark owner has told you in writing that neither the owner nor any bulk resellers sell to you, then you don't have much of an excuse.</comment></comment>


Making the dot operator act bind-like in C# - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/stuffihavemade/DotOverload

<comment><AUTHOR> I wanted a way to have stuff like this

[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1196031/evil-use-of- maybe...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1196031/evil-use-of-maybe-monad- and-extension-methods-in-c)

be more abstract than defining extension methods all over the place. Unfortunately, my implementation is currently too slow for practical use (the time it takes to compile the lambda is too long, ~0.1 seconds on a relatively modern machine). I think that an evaling tree walker would be fast enough to make this project practical, but I haven't had time to implement it.</comment>


Why didn't Apple use Lightening vs. USB 3.0-C on iPhone 7? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> The iPhone 7s can have it. Apple can do a massive launch, with the only difference being the charge port: now charge your MacBook and iPhone with the same charger! _rapturous applause_.

(I'd actually love it, I use a MacBook and a iPhone. One charger would be great).

<comment><USER3> I use an Air and an iPhone. MagSafe on the phone would be amazing (ideally MagSafe version one though).

<comment><USER4> phones seem too light to make sense with magsafe.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Apple controls Lightning completely so when you buy an accessory that uses Lightning, as long as it isn't counterfeit, it has been tested by Apple and is guaranteed to work. They can't guarantee that with USB.

<comment><USER6> They also get royalties for every accessory sold with Lightning, I imagine.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Not saying that these are valid reasons however two that spring to mind are thickness (USB-C is fairly significantly thicker) and elegance (one could argue that Lightning is a more beautiful and slightly more pleasant to use connector).

In addition, Apple controls Lightning completely so when you buy an accessory that uses Lightning, as long as it isn't counterfeit, it has been tested by Apple and is guaranteed to work. They can't guarantee that with USB-C.

That said, it's an awkward situation. Overall I'd like USB-C on my phone however if they were going to do it, surely it would have been with the iPhone 7. It wouldn't be great if they announced it with the 7S after people had gone out and bought Lightning headphones.

</comment><comment><USER8> Given that they dropped space grey for black, one could argue that apple actually used darkening on the iPhone 7.

Thankyou thankyou.

</comment><comment><USER9> A better question is why even use lightening?

IMHO it's an anti-feature not to use USB-C on iPhone.</comment>


Meet the seven people who hold the keys to worldwide Internet security - <AUTHOR> http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/28/seven-people-keys-worldwide-internet-security-web

<comment><USER2> [https://hn.algolia.com/?q=seven+people+keys#!/story/forever/...](https://hn.algolia.com/?q=seven+people+keys#!/story/forever/0/seven%20people%20keys)</comment>


Tuna – a simple streaming ETL for machine learning features - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/MaxHalford/tuna <comment><AUTHOR> Hello everyone,

I'm currently participating in the "PLAsTiCC Astronomical Classification" Kaggle competition. The dataset is rather large (~5M rows) so I decided to write a simple tool to compute aggregate features online. I got really inspired and tidied things up over the weekend. Maybe this can be of interest to some of you.

PS: I'm aware that there are other similar projects out there such as Spark Streaming, but they all feel too bloated and difficult to grok.</comment>


Ask HN: How many of you live far from your parents? And how do you deal with it? - <AUTHOR> * By far I mean at least a few hours in a plane. <comment><USER2> Hey, I live in north america and my parents are in middle east. I have visited them once in pas 3 years and not planning to pay a trip in the next year or 2. I try to have a connection once a day (via some IM platforms) and Skype once or twice a week. Since they are in a good position both medically and financially, I just try to make sure they are not worried about me and have enough information about what is going on in my life and vice versa.</comment>


The First Dead Unicorn Is Already Here, You Just Don't Know It Yet - <AUTHOR> https://syrah.co/joshdickson40/55e1beac15970d6c01395d9d <comment><USER2> "Unable to connect to any application instances."</comment>


The cost of Ubuntu's Success - <AUTHOR> http://www.goplexian.com/2010/02/cost-of-ubuntus-success.html

<comment><USER2> In the left corner we have an advertising company whose flagship product is closed source software, and in the right corner we have a software company whose flagship product is closed source software. Linux users, declare your tribal affinities!

<comment><AUTHOR> True enough, I guess it is clear which tribal affinity I possess by that article, but at the same time I do not make that choice without reason.

While both flagship products may be closed source I dont think it is very fair to compare the two company's on that basis alone.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Nothing to see here. Linux guy bitching that yahoo paid more than google to be the default search engine of Ubuntu.

Also, he mentioned Ubuntu-one, but doesn't point out that it's just a dropbox clone...

Flagged for inanity and inapplicability to HN

<comment><AUTHOR> "I never thought I'd see the day when a Linux distribution would be serving Microsoft search results by default, even though it is through the thinly veiled disguise of Yahoo."

Clearly you didn't read the article.

<comment><USER3> Yes I did. That's why I pointed out all that means is Yahoo is paying more than Google to be the search provider.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> It seems wrong to write an article about Canonical (Ubuntu) and Microsoft without mentioning "Bug #1": <https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1></comment>