End of Inception decoded [video] - <AUTHOR> http://sourcefed.com/end-inception-de-coded/ <comment><USER3> Already covered in [http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2010/07/the_ultimate_explanat...](http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2010/07/the_ultimate_explanation_of_in.html)

<comment><USER4> That article seems far-stretched and circuitous, making things out of its own rather than really explaining what Nolan is trying to say(It's actually not that complicated. Just a hugely commercial movie which is attached too many connotations. For example they had to fight their way through, probably just mainly because the need of cinematic effects). Also it has the very danger of fashioning out massive escapism. "What matters isn't whether the top stopped spinning; what matters is that Cobb didn't bother to find out." What total nonsense. If we live our real life with such an attitude then it's one of the utmost dangers I can imagine. (For example you may play a game all day long and claim that is the "reality" you are fond of being in. While in fact doing so only totally destroys your life as well as lives of people you should be together with, as I have already experienced). We have to have the will and courage to face the real life, to face all the things it throws at us no matter good or bad. True joys only derive from the reality. Any attempts of escapism will in the end only enlarge the problems you're facing and bring more disasters.

<comment><USER5> >>True joys only derive from the reality.

Well a dream is as real as things get.

The whole problem is really in describing reality. Ask any lucid dreamer and they will explain you than the key to lucid dreaming is to constantly question your current state(are your dreaming or not?).

And after some time it just doesn't matter. Because every thing is just a electrical impulse to your brain. If your brain is sent a signal to treat hot as cold. You will hold a hot iron in your hands and be perfectly OK with it. The reality of things 'hot being hot' doesn't change, nothing changes but your perception of things.

If you ponder deep enough when you dream this is what happens in a dream too. You are perceiving things. Whether they are real are not, is as useless argument because your knowledge of it is the way your brain is telling you about it and not what it actually is.

I've had inception like dream within dream, losing lucidity while dreaming inside the dream and there after. In stages like that its difficult to say what is reality and what isn't. The safest way is to not do any thing harmful or dangerous. In fact I didn't know of it until I woke, it was then during a usual dream recall that I got a surreal feeling that I had woke up from three levels of 'reality'.

<comment><USER6> You know those days that are totally normal, the routine, what you do for a period of time in your life to just reach to the next level? OK, I had a 4 level deep dream, in which I dreamed that I woke up. I did in glaring detail what I would do, when I actually wake up, including the stupid things like opening the fridge just remember what I was about to do. I didn't notice that I dreamt until a single detail made me curious and I instantly woke up, before I could notice what it was. However this was the 3rd level of the dream and much more realistic than the 4th level. I'll skip the 2nd level, but in the 1st level of the dream I could not find a single thing that made me curious, heck I even did what I would do, if I were suspecting that I was "dreaming", like washing my face with icecold water, phoning to someone I know, asking someone to pinch me. Unfortunately the pain and everything else was realistic so I kept dreaming that I actually woke up now and was somehow fooled to become relieved by that matter. After my routine day (which of course includes brushing teeth, washing face, shower, going out, taking a bus ride, going through the city and such random stuff) I turned back home and was just about to think about the day, when I noticed something was wrong. I couldn't remember what a professor said (you'd think that's normal, huh, haha?). And In the glimpse of an eyeblink I woke up again. This time I was really awake, but couldn't believe it for several weeks until I gave up finding out what's real or not, hoping to be really awake. Everybody who had a very very long dream taking years (in detail), knows that when dreaming there is no time limit. A second can be an infinity in a dream.

After "waking up" into what I think is reality, I experienced a single difference between dreams and reality. In every dream that I woke up, I could see myself from the top and then immediately when my dreaming self opened it's eyes I started seeing things through that perspective .

>> Is sleeping inside a dream possible? If not, that could be a trustable way to find out if one is a dream or not. Much more reliable than a ring ;)

<comment><USER5> All I can say is I'm a little jealous. :)

I hope some day I dream at such deep levels.

<comment><USER6> I hope you do not. How will you find out that things are real or not?

It makes you really skeptic and a little more cautions, but also open to risk than you would usually be. Maybe a good attitude for an entrepreneur, but all your logic and fear induced by that logic mostly fades away at some times. That's when you think it could be a dream subconsciously, at that time you start doing things you never would. It's twisted, it could also make you overly cautious, because you start valuing real life as something more wonderful than you thought, a unique thing, something you are deadly afraid of losing control of. The worst is: "What if you understand your multi-level dream as bad as you understood Inception?" Just like some friend of yours who had trouble getting Matrix in example. Could that mean you see draw a pattern and believe reality is the 5th dream? Could that when you really wake up, make everything make appear surreal? Would you try to jump from a window or do something to find out if you're dreaming?

The question that reality is a dream is supported by the Simulated Reality Hypothesis and that is also factor that makes this film a great one. Because there is no answer to that question. You could wake up when you die, or you could die. Using stochastic maths and game theory would suggest to die, but that speaks against everything that makes a game, a dream or life out. Playing is winning. Not playing is losing.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironic_process_theory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironic_process_theory)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulated_reality](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulated_reality)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Personally was not a big fan (hard to say that without sounding snooty) - <USER2> movie was mostly entertaining but was kind of pop-corn sci fi masquerading as deep sci fi. Too many plot holes filled with arbitrary mechanics. Edit: it may have been over my head, but I think it is perhaps in a movie's favor to be very clear in its purpose (without necessarily bludgeoning you with it)?

<comment><USER8> This explanation of Inception changed my opinion completely [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ginQNMiRu2w](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ginQNMiRu2w)

<comment><USER9> This REALLY needs to be upvoted. This is drastically better than the analysis in the OP.

<comment><AUTHOR> Absolutely agree! I wish I had seen this video earlier.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> The idea of Cobb's wedding ring as his totem has been discussed publicly as early as July 2010 [1], the month of the film's release.

[1] [http://www.reddit.com/r/Inception/comments/cvk2i/is_cobbs_ri...](http://www.reddit.com/r/Inception/comments/cvk2i/is_cobbs_ring_his_actual_totem/)

<comment><USER11> Exactly, why posting this 3 years after? It has been brought up again and again for many years...

<comment><USER12> Obligatory XKCD. This was all new to me. [http://xkcd.com/1053/](http://xkcd.com/1053/)

<comment><USER13> Or possibly: [http://xkcd.com/606/](http://xkcd.com/606/)

<comment><USER14> How about a relevant SMBC: [http://www.smbc- comics.com/?id=3106](http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3106)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> The whole point of the ending is that Cobb does not care about whether he is in reality or not, as long as he is with his children.

To search for clues as to whether it's one or the other is to miss the point.

<comment><USER16> Not at all. Nolan let DiCaprio wear the ring with an intent. It is at least part of his message.

<comment><USER17> No, it could also mean he simply let go of his wife, whether dreaming or not.

<comment><USER18> Post-catharsis, pre-wake, in Limbo to get Saito, he has the ring. If letting go of Mal got rid of the ring, it wouldn't be there on him in Limbo.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> This explanation is not totally convincing. The main issue is the OP actually just referred to very few scenes, while there is no proof that throughout _all_ scenes this difference remained consistent. A more plausible explanation would be Nolan _initially_ intended to use such a mechanism, but later decided to leave it out. However, since some of the scenes of the movie were already filmed, the ring could not be changed. It's obvious that Nolan put the spinning scene because he _deliberately_ wanted to leave an equivocate ending. It's possible that in the beginning that wasn't his idea, and he changed it halfway through the movie. But what's clear is the ending was _intended_ to be equivocate. He would not let such a vague "ring" mechanism co-exist with the spinning scene. That's far too strenuous.

<comment><USER19> You state your view as though it's obvious, yet it is far more contrived of an explanation and is predicated on the idea that Nolan would change his mind about the ring and NOT fix it throughout, which seems so unlike him

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> The ring is still ambiguous. It is never characterized properly as a totem (Cobb never uses it awake, that we see). If you interpret it as a symbolic representation of his mental affiliation with Mal, then:

a) At the end of the movie he is awake, and he really meets his children. The lack of the ring is consistent with all available evidence prior to this point because he only has the ring on when he is asleep.

b) At the end of the movie he has successfully escaped Limbo twice. Cobb has mastered his own psyche; he has achieved closure on Mal's death; he has finally embraced in his own mind that the Mal in the dream is just a ghost, and can be in the dream without the ring. He can dream again without Mal invading from his subconscious.

</comment><comment><USER21> Here's a google talk by Kyle Johnson that discusses different interpretations of the film:

'Inception and Philosophy' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ginQNMiRu2w](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ginQNMiRu2w)

<comment><AUTHOR> All those who think Inception should be considered as just another cool action flick must watch this video.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> A kind of Stone-Age version of Inception is "La Vida Es Sueño" by Pedro Calderón de la Barca written in 1635. [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_vida_es_sue%C3%B1o](http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_vida_es_sue%C3%B1o)

It is a 3-act play where the Prince of Poland, Segismundo was imprisoned since birth due to a bad prediction by astrologers that he would be evil. However, Rosaura and Clarín arrange for his release.

      Nace el ave, y con las galas
      que le dan belleza suma,
      apenas es flor de pluma
      o ramillete con alas,
      cuando las etéreas salas
      corta con velocidad,
      negándose a la piedad
      del nido que deja en calma;
      ¿y teniendo yo más alma,
      tengo menos libertad?

Essentially that birds are free to fly around in the sky and naturally look beautiful. So why do I with more "soul" have less freedom ?

In Act 2, Segismundo contemplates his freedom and his relief turns into outrage. Indeed he rapes a women, throws a man over a cliff and murders another one.

In the 3rd act he is captured and thrown back in chains - the astrologers' prediction has been fulfilled.

\</comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment>--

Inception certainly takes this several iterations further putting dream inside dream inside dream. Yet, metaphysical questions of whather you are awake or dreaming have been around...

<comment><USER23> This sounds more like [SPOILER HERE] Minority Report

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> I was beginning to wonder if it was just Hans Zimmer's score that masterfully carried my emotions at the end. But too jarring was the theme of exploring the depths of a shared psyche with your wife in an absolute, limitless world, then losing everything in yourself from a single mistake. The dream mechanism was a wonderful way of taking you from the sublime to the very feeling of hell.

Very glad to have read this subtle message from the director! A masterpiece in my mind.

</comment><comment><USER25> That was a real common theory around the time of the movies release, something I noticed on my second (or third) run through it. The bigger tell is that it's not his totem to start with, it belongs to Mal and as is pointed out you have to have something unique to _you_ , something only _you_ could know. I don't think it ever actually reveals what Cobb uses for his.

</comment><comment><USER26> Inception was a pretty good movie but people treating it like it's some deep, super-complicated work of genius makes me worry about them.

</comment><comment><USER27> They aren't the first ones to have noted this.

<comment><USER28> Also, this came out a while ago...

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> Wasn't the whole film a dream? How else could Sato buy an airline on a whim?

<comment><USER30> More importantly: The near-richest guy in the world, who hates flying commercially, just gives up. Instead of, chartering a private flight, he flies commercial and is visibly upset. He pouts and acts all annoyed. Obviously from that point on they were all dreaming.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> Did anyone else find Inception to be basically straightforward (though interesting and enjoyable) with an insignificant binary question at the end?

There certainly may be more depth than I'm seeing, but there wasn't anything that made me need to wonder why anything happened the way it happened. As mentioned in the thread already, Momento's the one that isn't straightforward.

I'm not intentionally trolling---I suppose I probably am missing something. There just wasn't anything obviously confusing on the movie's surface for me.

</comment><comment><USER32> "since the movie came out 3 years ago"

wow 3 years already?

<comment><USER33> And babies born in Y2k are teens now

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> Cinefile article at THE TOP of HN. Love it.

<comment><USER35> Yeah, soon we'll just be able to merge this website into its own subreddit and call it a day.

</comment></comment><comment><USER36> the ring could disappear because he finally realized that she died, hence it does not mean he is in the reality.

</comment><comment><USER37> I watched this movie about 13 times in the theaters---and finally someone figured it out! Way to go!

<comment><USER34> I must ask... What compelled you to watch a movie THAT many times in such a short period?

<comment><USER37> I would say the first three times were because I enjoyed the movie so much the other ten: I was obsessed with trying to figure out the ending.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> If the ring indeed indicates dream/reality, why does Cobb bother to spin the top .. since he already knows whether he's wearing the ring or not? .. or did he take off his ring even in his dream by that point?

<comment><USER18> Does Cobb know the ring indicates dream/reality?

</comment></comment><comment><USER39> It only took him 26 playthroughs (66 hours), but by Jove did he figure it out!

</comment><comment><USER40> I read somewhere that his totem itself was flawed. For example, others totems had something different; a loaded dice. In dream, the dice would act normally, in reality it won't, that's the way to differentiate reality. Cobb's totem would topple in dream as well as in reality.

That's something I read and wondered.</comment>


Freedom.txt - <AUTHOR> http://fr.anc.is/freedom.txt <comment><USER2> Thanks for submitting this llamba. I really feel strongly about this: it's time us techies stop hiding behind internet anonymity & start making a public stand. Anyone got ideas how to give this wider circulation?

<comment><USER3> A Github project would work well, I think. It would give everyone a chance to contribute to and shape the message, as well as quickly pull updates into their projects.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> There's <https://github.com/mvanveen/freedom.txt> \- but putting IPs in there is still a horrible idea.</comment>


EU spends 600k euro to look for evidence to rein in U.S. tech giants - <AUTHOR> https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-tech-antitrust/eu-looks-for-evidence-to-rein-in-u-s-tech-giants-idUSKBN22K2IT <comment><AUTHOR> It's truly a shame these public tenders are invite only, I could have done a lot of googling for that money.</comment>


Butt Kicking Companies You (Probably) Never Heard Of - <AUTHOR> http://blog.eladgil.com/2010/01/5-butt-kicking-companies-you-never.html

<comment><USER3> It's hard to take these companies seriously when every claim of their success is couched in language like "rumour has it" and "I hear".

The reason you never hear about these companies is because they have apparently not officially said how well they're doing. They could well be excellent, but it's not like it's a mystery or unfair that we've not heard of them.

<comment><AUTHOR> Agreed. But I wrote about them because I thought people would like to learn about them. They are pretty under the radar and maybe like it that way - <USER2> way to have fewer competitors all rushing into an area you pioneered (see e.g. GroupOn)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> The coupons.com website confuses and angers me, they put up a "This browser is not supported" page for Chrome.

<comment><USER5> Works for me. (v126.96.36.199 windows)

<comment><USER4> It's probably because I'm on a linux machine, I get this page:

[http://print.coupons.com/CouponWeb/NoSupport.aspx?pid=13306&...](http://print.coupons.com/CouponWeb/NoSupport.aspx?pid=13306&zid=iq37&nid=10)

<comment><USER6> IIRC, coupons.com uses an ActiveX component to control printing of their coupons (print once functionality). It's been a while since I've checked it out though, they very well may have moved on to other technology. But that might explain the "no-linux" position.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Other companies I (personally) like: <https://www.recyclebank.com/>, <http://opower.com/>, <http://www.weatherbill.com/>

</comment><comment><USER8> Palantir are also funded by In-Q-Tel, aren't they?

<comment><USER9> Yes. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-Q-Tel>

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Workday -- I can tell you, knowing some people on the inside -- is indeed poised to do well. Duffield is a beloved figure in the Bay Area and in the industry.

</comment><comment><USER9> heard of all 5 of them.

<comment><USER11> Congratulations?</comment></comment>


Switch Is Nintendo's 'Fastest Selling' System in History - <AUTHOR> http://time.com/4739562/nintendo-switch-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-launch-sales/ <comment><USER2> I'm going to get one because ever since my kids have discovered the old Super Mario Brothers Super Show on Netflix they've been completely hooked on all things Mario. Super Mario 3D World for the Wii U was such a great family game that we've been playing it for close to 3 years now.

It had such a good cooperative experience that we could even play with my 4 year old pretty quickly. We even had a big night out for dinner after we finally beat the crown world. :-)

<comment> atom-morgan I'm 26 now but I can say that some of my greatest memories as a kid are the times I spent gaming with my brother and dad. I simply cannot think of SNES without thinking about the three of us working our way through all of the old Donkey Kong games. I'm sure your kids will be the same :)

<comment><USER3> I fondly remember being unable to beat Vargas in FF6 (FF3 in the States I think?) with the Left-Right-Left Sabin command, and my dad trying to do it for me (and failing as well). :)

<comment><USER2> Still my all time favorite console game to this day.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> It seems like a combo: Zelda BotW is part of it, but the hardware is also fun. The build quality and kit is fantastic, it reminds me of an iPad designed by a gamer for gaming.

In my case it's also nostalgia. I've been working on my own apps and games, not to mention a day job, so this is the first console I have owned since the N64. Never got into console titles that seemed to be just as good on the PC.

That's 3 reasons right there... I ended up buying the Special Edition ($100 gets you the game, a music CD, a hard traveling case and a collector's coin) in March before I found a Switch in April.

I prefer the Pro Controller and using it as a standard console, but the mobility is great if needed. Sticker shock hasn't been a factor, since I remember buying 3 extra controllers for the N64.

The hunt for the Switch is as much as the hunt for the Classic was. Of course, now the Classic is going for 4-5 times as much... more than the Switch!

(Note: skip the Classic and skip RetroPie. You need a mac or PC anyway to load up the SD card... better to spend $60 on a nice XBone controller and play games in a better emulator on your computer. Just my 2 cents.)

<comment><USER5> The sticker shock on the non-pro controllers is much worse because without the charging grip, charging for 4 controllers is a massive pita.

That's really my biggest complaint with the unit, the difficulty of charging the joycons. Taking off the wrist straps each time is really bad UX.

<comment><USER6> Not to mention accidentally inserting the wrist straps the wrong way!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> As the article alludes to this is in large part due to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Which has a higher than 100% attach rate on the Switch, which is simply amazing.

<comment><USER8> If you are not interested in Zelda though, there is almost zero reason to spend the money on a Switch right now.

<comment><USER9> That's my concern for the Christmas period.

A lot of Nintendo fans are early adopters, that's why they're buying a console with one significant game in March. For the general public they need to have more on offer than that.

Here are new AAA games which we are assured will be out by Christmas: Zelda Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Skylanders, NBA 2K18, Arms, Splatoon 2.

There's tons of indie names (e.g. Shovel Knight) or older games (e.g. Skyrim) but those aren't "system movers" as they're already out on every other major platform. Meaning people won't be buying a Switch to play those.

No doubt you're moaning about me leaving out Super Mario Odyssey, but at the time of writing SMO has no set release date only a vague "TBD, Holiday 2017." As does Project Sonic 2017. Nintendo games overrun their release date as much as other publishers, therefore one cannot be assured SMO will ship before the big holiday period.

If you look beyond 2017, it remains pretty slim pickings for the Switch. Likely until at least summer 2018 we won't see more than perhaps half a dozen exclusive AAA games on the console. We still have no assurance that the mainstream Pokemon franchise will be developed for the console.

The Wii U also sold fairly well early in its life, but sales dried up and never recovered with publishers avoiding it due its poor sales performance. The key thing for the Switch to do is to consistently sell, to give publishers enough confidence that when they target the platform that the effort will pay for itself.

It all remains to be seen. I'll be paying close attention to Christmas 2017 sales figures because it might be the life or death of the Switch.

<comment><USER10> >The key thing for the Switch to do is to consistently sell, to give publishers enough confidence that when they target the platform that the effort will pay for itself.

I think the prospect of putting AAA games on a portable system, will draw a lot of AAA studios to take the risk, if their game can be run on the hardware. I think the portability factor is a large factor of why they are selling so fast despite the lack of games right now. I think people want to see what its like to play non-junk/freemium/IAP driven games on the go. At least it was a major factor for me. I can't wait to play Mario Kart with my co-workers at lunch!

<comment><USER11> The form factor thing is _amazing_. I didn't think I'd get much use out of it, but I do. I get a lot. It's so incredibly convenient.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> It's absolutely amazing to me how Nintendo continuously holds such a high bar for themselves in terms of first party content. They've been pushing out the same formula for console releases for 30 years now, and it works every time because the games are just so undeniably great. I don't understand why the other console manufacturers can't replicate this.

<comment><USER13> >They've been pushing out the same formula for console releases for 30 years now, and it works every time because the games are just so undeniably great. I don't understand why the other console manufacturers can't replicate this.

The Wii U was a massive failure, precisely because of a lack of third party titles. Nintendo has great ip, but they don't push out enough games. No real Metroid in quite some time and Mario won't even hit the switch until end of year. Other console manufacturers have been far more successful than Nintendo recently.

Edit: to clarify, I love Nintendo, have since the 80's. It's not true that they've been killing it for decades though, Sony has been eating their lunch off and on since the PSX.

<comment><USER14> Meanwhile, the Nintendo [3]DS continues to be the #1 "game console" when you disregard form-factor, and has had nonstop YOY growth since its introduction.

The Wii U was essentially a failure because Nintendo thought there was still a market for a chained-to-a-TV console—and there is, but only in the "hardcore gamer" segment that don't care for Nintendo's games lineup. The segment who _are_ interested in Nintendo games, have shifted to being far more interested in mobile games than TV-console games (even if they would _enjoy_ playing those games on a TV once in a while.) The Switch is an acknowledgement of this, and that's why it's succeeding.

<comment><USER15> I think a part of it has also been Nintendo's terrible naming scheme the past few years.

I don't follow gaming news closely, so when I heard of the Wii U I thought it was a hardware revision not unlike the Xbox One S to the Xbox One. It took me over a year after launch to learn that the Wii U is an entirely new console.

The same thing happened with the 3DS. When I finally looked into getting one this past holiday season, I was confused by the 3DS vs 3DS XL vs New 3DS vs New 3DS XL. I was hesitant to buy since I wasn't sure if the New 3DS was a hardware revision or an entirely new console like the Wii U.

On top of that, the marketing wasn't there for me. I learn of my gaming news when it hits the front page of Reddit. When the Switch was announced, there was massive hype behind it. I didn't see the same for the Wii U.

<comment><USER14> > I was confused by the 3DS vs 3DS XL vs New 3DS vs New 3DS XL.

You know, people level the same complaint at the iPhone, but it doesn't seem to have caused Apple any difficulty selling them. Maybe it's just that Best Buy/Toys-R-Us/EB Games employees aren't as good at helping people find the right model as Apple Store employees are?

<comment><USER16> The generation gaps are hard stops for your game library though. You can get great support for old iOS apps, or still use the last version supported for your phone. With a new console that doesn't offer backwards compatibility, you may have spent 1-2 grand on a big library of games you simply can't play anymore.

<comment><USER14> The comparison is valid with the 3DS, though, because the "New 3DS" models _do_ play original-3DS games. It's much more like a iPhone revision than it is like a new console.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Nintendo has a real chance of dominating Christmas this year, if they get Mario Odyssey and Zelda DLC right. For that reason, the latter will be pure fan service, I think.

Do we know already what AAA games will be released on PS and Xbox during that period?

<comment><USER18> "Zelda DLC"? Really? Even Zelda now? Ugh.

<comment><USER19> I don't think calling it DLC is fair. Back before the DLC craze, this would have simply been an "Expansion".

The core game is so good, so expansive, that it doesn't bother me in the slightest that there's upcoming "DLC". Don't get me wrong - I hate the trend in general, but in this case it's not a bad thing.

Edit: Ok, I realize that they even call it DLC on zelda.com, but my point still stands: these are expansions. The kind gamers used to get excited about.

<comment><USER20> We barely know anything about it at this point. Unless you've got an uncle at Nintendo, your assertion that it's an "expansion" is unfounded.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm very optimistic, and have already bought/pre- ordered it (it's a gray area which to call it, because it unlocks some things immediately, but the bulk of it isn't available for a few months), but my optimism is mainly based on the Mario Kart 8 DLC, not what they've announced about the BotW DLC itself.

<comment><USER21> This is just semantics. The only reason the terminology ever changed is because you can now download what you used to have to buy on disks.

<comment><USER20> I don't think many modern DLCs are equivalent in scale to old-school expansions. They would generally nearly double the content of the original in a single expanded story. Some modern games collections of DLC (so collect all of the DLC of Skyrim or Witcher 3) would be roughly on-par with an expansion, but even then they tend to be multiple mostly independent pieces of content rather than a large cohesive addition.

In that sense, I think (from what we've heard), BotW's DLC is not really an expansion pack in the old sense.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Good to see Nintendo back in the game. They have been a different breed of gaming company for quite some time now. I really missed the known gaming faces. I mean Zelda, Mario, Kirby, Metroid etc. are like the EPIC franchises and what I was getting on XBOX or PS4 was nothing but alternatives. With switch I can totally see Sony or Microsoft taking up a page in their next console.

<comment><USER6> I've only gone as far as the Xbox 360, and while I agree that Nintendo remains special (re-playing Metroid Prime and Zero Mission for the umpteenth time on my recently-bought WiiU while the new Zelda is _right there_ and jealous of my lack of attention), there are a number of amazing non-nintendo games that I played on my 360 and laptop:

Shadow Complex (metroidvania style game, and actually pretty good), Metal Gear Solid V, Red Dead Redemption, Far Cry 3, Rayman Legends, Fallout 3, Prison Complex, Device 6... and that's not including PlayStation exclusives that I am almost certain to love, like Ico/Shadow Of The Colossus.

There's plenty of amazing 'different breed' type games outside of Nintendo, is what I'm saying. At the same time I agree that Nintendo remains special: out of all the games I've played in recent years, Metroid Prime, Wind Waker, Breath of the Wild, Zero Mission, Mario Galaxy, Animal Crossing (GameCube), etc. are equal and often better in my book than all the other great stuff.

I guess my point is that as a gamer dipping in and out of the 'scene' alongside figuring out what React Router decided to break on _this_ update and dealing with adult life stuff, there's been plenty of great stuff outside of Nintendo, but nonetheless Nintendo has remained a consistent source of gaming joy that, in other places, is harder to find.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> The Switch is a huge hit among Nintendo fans, but it's no surprise they turned out for the best Zelda game in years. The real test of the Switch is if Nintendo can keep it stocked with more first- and third-party games than the Wii U had. If the Switch has a robust library in a year, then it'll be a real contender.

</comment><comment><USER24> I bought it, and love it. I also bought an xbox 360 and xbox one and never really fell in love with the console. It's hard to pinpoint "Nintendo magic".

And reading all the reactions here, many people feel the same, a strong passion with the brand.

</comment><comment><USER25> My 11 year old son and I have been playing through Zelda Breath of the Wild, and we both absolutely love it. He thinks it's a great game, and it reminds me a lot of the original Zelda I played as a kid (which dates me).

<comment><USER26> My 7 year old son and I just got a Switch for BotW and we're both loving it, too.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> I'm one of those that bought Zelda without owning a Switch (yet) since Amazon sold it %20 off those who preordered it.

The console itself has been frustratingly difficult to find since I missed the preorders. I'm hoping Nintendo can pull it together before all my friends finish BoTW.

<comment><USER28> Have you been keeping up with the stock trackers? I had some luck this weekend with istocknow.com: at 10pm on Saturday night, it was reporting that a Walmart about an hour away from me had gotten a shipment about three hours earlier. My girlfriend and I thus went on a late-night trip and managed to snag one. I was thoroughly surprised, but the guy working electronics confirmed that yup, that information was accurate.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> Definitely getting it once it gets more JRPGs. I'm also interested in its Virtual Console library.

Sadly Konami is dead so no more Castlevania games in the style of the DS ones :-(

</comment><comment><USER30> Ha the big N still has some cards up its sleeves. Fun.

<comment><USER31> Don't worry, I'm sure that the gaming press will still come out with an article that tells us how Nintendo is dying and should just release games for the iPhone.

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> Great news! Can I have my Nintendo Classic now?

<comment><USER33> Sadly I gave up and went back to RetroPie.. I'm not paying those crazy scalper prices either.

<comment><USER34> Try Lakka. Better performance (especially on menus) and generally better UX than RetroPie or any other emulation frontend I've seen. Several common controllers, including (what I use) bluetooth PS3 controllers supported out of the box, with sane auto-mapping for all supported emulators (no more manually mapping controls unless you just like that kind of thing).

Only tricky bit is that you have to have blessedly-pure ROMsets for automatic per-system playlist generation to work (it's hash-based), but that's a minor hurdle (and going through it will encourage you to clean up any "messy" sets you have, which isn't really a bad thing). There's a stickied post on their forum that'll give you the names of what you need. And you can always manually create playlists or launch individual ROMs, regardless.

Not affiliated with it, just a big fan of what Retroarch/Lakka and related projects are doing for emulation.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> How long before they decide to discontinue it right as everyone's buying units?

</comment><comment><USER36> I'd argue this statistic is easy to manufacture when Nintendo console sales are generally artificially limited by their production rate.

Is it that the Switch is the most immediately desirable system in Nintendo's history, or just that it's the most quickly produced one in history?

<comment><USER37> Possibly it's that the last Wii was such a dumpster fire, and people are desperate for a Nintendo console that is close to modern capabilities.

<comment><USER38> While playing the wii-u titles I don't recall ever saying 'this game would be more fun if only the graphics were better'.

The hit Nintendo took by selling an underpowered console was loosing 3rd party support, as it was reportedly too much effort for folks like EA to support a platform that was so far behind their other supported consoles.

I wonder if history will repeat with the next generation of xbox/ps around the corner. If switch sales continue at this pace, I suspect not.

<comment><USER20> The Wii U was reportedly also somewhat difficult to develop for (especially compared to the reboxed PCs that are the PS4 and XBox One), and the second screen also didn't help matters in that regard. The Switch will benefit from a fairly standard set of inputs and outputs: the buttons on the Joycons map pretty easily to the XBone and PS4 controllers, and it's just a single display (though the difference in power levels between docked and undocked is a slight hitch there).

<comment><USER39> The 2nd screen makes a lot of games better, BotW would be much better with the 2nd screen showing inventory, maps etc.. Presumably that was how it was originally designed (Sheikha Slate) and they crippled it to favour the Switch?

<comment><USER20> Oh, I totally agree that the 2nd screen was awesome when properly used. I had the same theory around the Shiekah Slate/Gamepad parallel. They've done similar things with an item's in-game aesthetic matching the system it's on (most notably the Pokedex in several games matching the hardware it was released for).</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Best Exchange to Trade Cryptocurrency - <AUTHOR> Hello HN,
What are the recommended Cryptocurrency Exchanges for USA Citizens and Non-US citizens to trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Monero etc?
Please include brief pros and cons as to why the exchange is being recommended.
Thank you <comment><USER2> For variety of coins, Bittrex. You can also open accounts on various smaller exchanges that list specific niche coins.

For comical leverage on the big coins (up to 100x) there's Bitmex. You'll need to sneak in through a VPN if in the US.

For fiat onramps, Coinbase, Gemini, or Bitstamp. Avoid Kraken at all costs, unless you really hate yourself. You have to roll a Natural 20 to have an order succeed there.

</comment><comment><USER3> I'm not affiliated with them but I like Bittrex. The main thing I like over some other exchanges I've used is the volume. Having good volume for any coin you are trading is important otherwise you end up competing with bots making it very hard to get a fill. Other things I like is very little down time, lots of coins, a decent if not stellar interface, and a good API.

In the cons I wish they would add new coins faster though they seem to be picking up the pace lately. That's about it. All in all, I'm happy with them and would recommend.

</comment><comment><USER4> I've been stunningly disappointed by GDAX.

to put it briefly, their support left me hanging with a nonfunctional account for 2 months now due to bugs in their site, and have simply stopped responding to tickets.

I would not recommend anyone use a financial service with that level of disregard for their customers.

</comment><comment><USER5> Bittrex, currently the largest cryto exchange with a lot of altcoin selection. Coinbase, if you're looking to just trade bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin

</comment><comment><USER6> I've enjoyed Gemini

low fees, easy set up, has good member service (in my experience)

only real cons is that it only allows you to trade btc and eth, no ltc or other alt coins.

</comment><comment><USER7> Coinbase for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.

</comment><comment><USER8> Coinbase seems to piss me off. They have obscure ID / KYC verification requirements that change with the level (monetary value) of your transaction. After I opened my coinbase account I sent them an email asking what specifically I needed to submit have my account __fully __authorized for an arbitrary value transaction. I resent being requested a different document everyday. They never replied to the email so consequently I never used the account.</comment>


Oracle is in talks to acquire TikTok's U.S. operations, sources say - <AUTHOR> https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/17/oracle-is-in-talks-to-acquire-tiktoks-us-operations-source-says.html <comment><USER2> This smells like a rumor spread to pump the stock like it did for Microsoft and Twitter. Oracle is a death's kiss for any company that gets acquired by it.

The stock has ben trading flat for months now while most large cap tech stocks are reaching their all time highs. Oracle just doesn't want to be left out from the party.

</comment><comment><USER3> If there's a way for US national security authorities to get teenagers to think something is instantly uncool and stop using it, it's by allowing it to be acquired by Oracle.

</comment><comment><USER4> You may think this is absurd, but it isn't a huge stretch from Amazon buying Twitch or Google buying YouTube. Oracle's management might be looking to buy a very potent "independent" anchor customer of Oracle Cloud.

</comment><comment><USER5> Perhaps this is just to drive up the price lest a competitor get a profitable, cash generating business for cheap.

</comment><comment><USER6> WTF is in it for Oracle of all companies?

<comment><USER7> Perhaps an integration with their marketing / tracking / targeting / attribution businesses, which they've been spending billions on?

This article could have been co-written by Oracle PR, but still, it has some relevant details: [https://www.businessinsider.com.au/oracle-most- influential-a...](https://www.businessinsider.com.au/oracle-most-influential- advertising-company-2017-8?r=US&IR=T)

Also, I gotta love their product name: Oracle Data Cloud. How deliberately vague is that? Sounds totally harmless. At least Adobe (yes, Adobe has an ad network too!) calls theirs Adobe Advertising Cloud.

<comment><USER6> Adobe owns Marketo, among others, so yeah it would make sense. :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Oracle is close to Trump so it makes sense but ByteDance will hopefully take an all cash deal and then Oracle will obviously slowly kill it until it ends up like MySpace.

ByteDance will be okay and must forget global ambitions in the Western world and just be content with having 1.3 billion potential customers.

</comment><comment><USER9> Pretty brutal outlook so far. TikTok either gets banned by Trump or is acquired by one of two companies who both have an outstanding reputation for killing the companies that they buy.

<comment><USER10> LinkedIn, GitHub and Minecraft are all still alive and in reasonably good health.

<comment><USER11> My danger sidekick says otherwise.

<comment><USER12> Hand on heart, do you believe Danger would still be around producing smartphones if they weren't acquired?

<comment><USER11> Yes, they could have had a chance too expand the platform and evolve. The sidekick also ran NetBSD, they weren't crippled with crappy embedded OS like other devices of the time.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


For $25 This Blood Test Can Tell You Every Virus You've Ever Had - <AUTHOR> http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/for-25-this-blood-test-can-tell-you-every-virus-youve-ever-had/ <comment><USER2> It exists but you can't purchase/take it yet. So...thanks?</comment>


Female developers as a perk - <AUTHOR> http://lists.lrug.org/pipermail/chat-lrug.org/2013-July/009095.html

<comment><USER2> The line between really great and really creepy is very thin here.

Yes, I too would vastly prefer working in a diverse work environment that includes women, over working in a place that doesn't hire women on principle, or does hire them, but they quickly flee. But I would not want to work in a place that treats women as a commodity, or tries to attract male programmers with them.

It's a matter of attitude, and that attitude does show in the way you present this as a perk.

<comment><USER3> It would really be important to express it tastefully. Describing female coworkers as a "perk" is tasteless and possibly sexist. Saying that "we strive to have a mixed gender workplace" is positive for both men and women.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> What seems to make this even more 'creepy' is the listing of ethnicities for the women developers, no? That comes across as saying that the women are somewhat exotic (from other countries). It almost seems like he's saying "if you look French, Italian, and/or Spanish women, this is the place for you". I would have thought it more likely for someone to give the home country for the keg of beer than for the female employees.

The fact that he mentions junior just implies that the aforementioned women are not only exotic, but also young. Definitely clumsy in delivery.

</comment><comment><USER5> As a female developer, I wasn't terribly offended by line item #8 (regardless of whether it was intended to imply diversity or it was a joke in questionable taste), but I did find it strange that female seemed to equate to "junior" developer in this context. Did I read that wrong?

<comment><USER6> Because of the use of the slash in the original post, I suspect he meant this as:

        ((junior||front end)&&(back end)) developers.

I took it to mean some of the developers in question would be senior (non- junior) backend developers.

<comment><USER5> I like your interpretation. If for no other reason, it would seem to back up the idea that the OP is merely bad with words and was in fact describing the current composition of his team (a team diverse in gender, ethnicities, levels of experience, etc)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Have to say I would actually appreciate working with female developers, and would definitely see it as an incentive when choosing a new role. I have spent most of my career working only with guys and it's not very... fun. That said, I think the OP was quite foolish to post it as a perk.

<comment><USER7> I think the post doesn't translate very well on a mailing list. Although there are (IMO) advantages to having an equal (ish) mix of the sexes on your team, it's not something I would claim as a perk in a job opening.

<comment><USER8> I would prefer a 4 day week and the 30 days holiday...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> It's a bit offensive as it seems like it was intended, but the balance of men and women is definitely something I take into account when looking at a company I might join. An office full of just guys is going to make for a limited company.

<comment><USER10> A classroom full of guys is why some people (guys and girls) don't major in engineering.

<comment><USER11> Bit of a strange thing to base the entire future of your career on. It's only a few years of your life, deal with it.

<comment><USER12> The composition of your graduating class is a good indicator of the composition of your peers in industry (at least in your age bracket).

There are some notable exceptions, like astrophysics. The crop of astrophysics students where I went to school was >50%, while the established portion of the industry I saw while in school was >90% male.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I seriously wish some of my last workplaces had even a small percentage of female developers. It tells me the company cares about the equally valuable and yet different perspectives both genders bring to the table. Additionally, it helps balance workplace interactions: offices of just 20-something guys too often feel like sweaty cave man clubs and frat houses. Same with age diverse groups; older developers can have some good wisdom that is well balanced with younger developer's energy. A mixed team can be far more hardy than a single mono-culture.

</comment><comment><USER14> As a guy or a girl, being part of a global diverse workforce is a plus. If the work environment is too narrow, it does say something about diversity of opinion.

Of course it looks like the OP was talking more about eye candy.

</comment><comment><USER15> Guy who posted this is having his arse handed to him on the thread, it's worth noting.

(Which doesn't excuse the original poster's casual sexism, but does speak well of everyone else on the list.)

</comment><comment><USER16> Meh. Mars/Venus. We're still intergalactic bacteria with impossibly irrelevant, tiny lives, clinging to space rocks floating in a void whose size we cannot comprehend. Possibly under the toenail of a tiny creature up there in the 'real' world. So what if we're chromosomed differently? We're all still irrelevant. No meaningful kerfuffle here, move along...</comment>


Why Congress Wants to Save the Navy's Iconic Wool Peacoat from Retirement - <AUTHOR> http://taskandpurpose.com/congress-wants-save-navy-peacoat-retirement/ <comment><USER2> This is why pretty much everything the government does costs more than it should.</comment>


Users Decide First; Move Second - <AUTHOR> http://www.uie.com/articles/users_decide_first/ <comment><USER2> All web designers should be forced to read this article, at gunpoint if necessary.</comment>


Show HN: Leptus – Erlang REST framework that runs on top of Cowboy web server - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/sinasamavati/leptus <comment><USER2> I don't want to be a killjoy, but why do so many "REST frameworks" focus so much on the transport (HTTP) and not so much / or at all on tools to create and manage hypermedia representations (links, actions, domain objects)?

<comment><AUTHOR> I actually had a plan (around 2015) to make a DSL for REST API generation/automation on top of Leptus. But I couldn't afford to work on it.

<comment><USER2> The least you can do is to emphasise the issue, maybe point to libraries that can be used in conjunction with your framework: a library for creating/using links and link templates, libraries for some existing vocabularies, like Siren or HAL.

Keep it up ;)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I'm curious what usage this saw 2014-2015, and what the current drive is to bring it back to life.

<comment><AUTHOR> It saw some usage in Rdio (the music streaming service) and a couple of other places. chef.io wanted to switch to Leptus back then, but I don't know if they did. I brought it back to life for personal use, and also because I was still receiving requests to do so.</comment></comment>


WireGuard Didn't Make it To The Mainline Linux Kernel This Cycle - <AUTHOR> https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=WireGuard-Not-In-4.20 <comment><USER2> This is too bad, but, really, WireGuard is incredibly easy to get set up regardless. I've had harder times with SSH configurations than with rolling out WireGuard. It's a pretty amazing piece of software.

<comment><USER3> Do you have any experiencing using BGP and/or DHCP with wireguard? It looks like it might be as easy as running dhcpd/dnsmasq on the wireguard interface, but I haven't seen that much documentation on it yet..

<comment><USER2> Nope! WireGuard just presents to the rest of the system as a standard IP interface, and integrates into the rest of the Linux network system, so presumably BGP works fine. DHCP might be trickier?

What's the use case for running BGP over WireGuard? I'm just curious.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Too bad. I recently tried Wiregoard and the installer told me that I need to disable Secure Boot for some kernel/driver reason. This immediately disqualified it from serious use in my scenarios. I expect I will try again once it is built-in.

</comment><comment><USER5> I'll be discussing the Zinc library at the conference in Vancouver soon with other developers, and hopefully we'll get to a good place for the next cycle. This sort of thing is, evidently, a process of sorts.</comment>


MOOving product - <AUTHOR> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=19&entry_id=17617 <comment><USER2> Another business card idea is to put a demo on a USB key and make the USB key your business card, or glue it to one. If you are willing to spend a bit more, you can get wafer-thin usb drives, and/or higher capacity ones, and make a bootable Linux distro on it, so it can be plugged into a PC and your fantabulous demo pops up. Also see

<http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/peripherals/usb-flash-card-is-waferthin-holds-a- gig-203617.php></comment>


Sockets in action (part 2) - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@Bo0mer/sockets-in-action-part-2-b95d4e06fbc0#.22i8nd403 <comment><USER2> Congratulations! You have discovered network programming that was described more thoroughly twenty years ago! [http://www.tldp.org/LDP/lpg/](http://www.tldp.org/LDP/lpg/)</comment>


Mac OS X Lion Gold Master seeded to developers - <AUTHOR> http://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/07/01/mac-os-x-lion-gold-master-seeded-to-developers/

<comment><USER2> One should note that Apple sometimes has multiple "Gold Master" seeds, so this does not necessarily mean release is imminent. (Though I think chances are pretty good, since Lion's been rumored to be released sometime in the next two weeks.)

<comment><USER3> > Though I think chances are pretty good, since Lion's been rumored to be > released sometime in the next two weeks.

On the other hand, DP4 was reported not to be very stable.

<comment><USER4> As someone running DP4 as their primary OS (running it full-time makes it easier for me to run into edge-case issues with apps I care about), Lion lacking stability is news to me.

<comment><USER5> Interesting.

I'm using DP4 to make sure my app (getcloak.com) is compatible -- I've found DP4 to be quite buggy: Kernel panics not evidently tied to third party drivers, crashes in Safari, plenty of UI glitches etc. Oh, and Ableton Live doesn't work, not that this is necessarily Apple's fault.

This is on a late-2010 MacBook Pro. My impression talking to friends is that this is not an uncommon experience, though clearly not everyone has these issues.

That said, I used to work at Microsoft. Next to the (years of) beta builds of Vista I had to suffer through, Lion is practically paradise. ;-)

<comment><USER6> I guess I'm somewhere in between. I've a couple of kernel panics but it's been pretty smooth overall. Safari has been usable again since DP3.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Interesting. My experience with a couple of releases (10.4 and 10.5, I believe) was that the seeds would be wildly unstable, and built a long time ago, and then, out of the blue, the GM would be stable. I.e., Apple seems to clean up a lot of things at the last minute and roll them into the GM.

</comment><comment><USER8> The online activation was broke as late as DP4 meaning you couldn't do a legit clean install.

Clean is the only way I roll, so hoping its fixed...

<comment><USER9> They have online activation now?

Stay classy, Apple.

<comment><USER4> No, Apple doesn't. What Apple has is a "download server components from the web during install to lower initial download costs" step.

<comment><USER8> See: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2720006>

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> The release date will perhaps be 10th of July (written as 10/7/11 in some parts of the world), or perhaps 7th of July just to signify that it's 10.7.

I wonder if Apple will do something like that.

<comment><USER11> For April Fools this year, Blizzard announced the Starcraft II Patch 1.4.11 patch notes and the World of Warcraft Patch 4.1.11 patch notes. I thought that was clever, and a great way to take advantage of a coincidence in the release schedule. In fact, given Blizzard's love of April Fools it wouldn't surprise me if they shifted some patches around in order to set up that joke.

<http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/2325614706> <http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2325684862>

However, I don't expect _Apple_ cares at all about this potential coincidence. They certainly wouldn't target a release date around it.</comment></comment>


Show HN: DNSWhore.com Domain Suggestions - <AUTHOR> http://www.dnswhore.com

<comment><USER2> I find the name and the portrayal of women pretty offensive. At least replace one set of lips with some male six pack abs, so that you can then insinuate that both men and women are whores.

Regardless, it certainly screams to me "web page set up by some dude in his early 20s who thinks he's really smart, and hasn't really dealt with many women in his life" rather than "I want to give this guy $80 to come up with a domain for me"

</comment><comment> misuse-permit Why is this on the front page? There are so many problems...

      What's going on here?
      What are you trying to get me to pay for?
      $50? $75? What's the difference? 5, and 8 of what?
      Why can't I close this box once it's opened? (chrome)
      "Send me your site link/description, first!" This link doesn't even work! (chrome)

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm offering domain name suggestions for your idea/site. $50 for 5 suggestions. $75 for 8. Everything works on chrome on my end. I'm using goodsie.com to run the store.

<comment> misuse-permit Okay, but why should I use your service? What are you doing for $50 that I can't do myself?

I don't mean to be an ass, but these are questions I think everyone is asking. An 'About' link on your site would be really helpful.

Also, I'm running Chrome 13.0.782.112 m for Windows, and stuff's still not working.

<comment><USER3> _What are you doing for $50 that I can't do myself?_

He's finding 5 domain suggestions for your business in less than a half hour of billable time.

Perhaps that's not a good deal to you. As someone who's spent tens of (billable) hours finding domains for clients, it strikes me as an excellent value proposition.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I'm not even sure what it does. You're giving suggestions for domain names but ask for a link to the site? Or do people just describe their business and you find a domain name for them? What if they don't have anything at all yet (no product name), is that ok?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, that's perfectly fine! Asking for a link is for those who may have their sites up and running but would ultimately like to change their current name. But if you don't have a link or a site, and you've got just an idea, just send me a description and I'll find some names!

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> After clicking on either of the images, there's no way to get out of the lightbox, as the X in the top right does nothing. So you might want to fix that. Similarly, the "send me your site link/description" link doesn't do anything.

You also might want to use a different list of clients - one is a parked domain, one is a page of lorem ipsum, and the other doesn't load.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey, as for the lightboxes, I'm using a service to run the store, and everything's been working fine on my end as with a few friends.

As far as the clients – those are services that have either once lived or are still in the works. I'm not offering a successful company; I'm offering domain name suggestions.

<comment><USER5> > Hey, as for the lightboxes, I'm using a service to run the store, and > everything's been working fine on my end as with a few friends.

The lightboxes close buttons and #lightbox-contact link don't work on Firefox 5.0, Safari 5.1, Chrome 13, Opera 11.5, or Internet Explorer 9 on Windows 7. They don't work on Chromium 13 on Linux. It is _not_ "working fine" for any reasonable definition of the phrase, it is actually making it impossible for anyone who wants to give you money to do so (as you explicitly require using the #lightbox-contact link prior to purchasing, and that link doesn't work).

> As far as the clients – those are services that have either once lived or > are still in the works. I'm not offering a successful company; I'm offering > domain name suggestions.

That makes sense; I suppose that using the word "client" confused me. You might want to consider either providing an example list or a money-back guarantee if your domain name suggestions are crap.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Are there any kinds of guarantees? Will the suggested domain names be free? What if I don't exactly "go nuts"?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, under the product description, I make sure to explicitly mention that they are available domains. I'll certainly try my best to provide the best suggestions. I understand the "going nuts" bit is highly subjective, but I think I've got pretty good taste.

<comment><USER6> Interesting. I just realized that I filtered out the word available because it is bold. Marketing-filter?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Seems like something I'd buy on fiverr for $5</comment>


Ask HN: At a terrible school, making me depressed. Does name really matter? - <AUTHOR> I'm currently studying in a less than average school and feel really shitty about it. The name of the institution alone will reduce the chances of being accepted into a great graduate school to virtually zero.
When I visit the About pages of all these startups, I see lists and lists of founders and employees from Stanford, Harvad, MIT, etc, and when I read up on new advances in science and tech, I notice that those same institutions seem to produce the best work. I so desperately want to be a part of those circles for they seem to offer a wealth of connections, a valuable community to leverage, and the resources to really do big things, not to mention the credibility and respect.
I know people often say that down the road none of this will matter, but from what I see, it certainly does. If you look at the schools that Google and Facebook (among many others) hire from, where some of the most advanced scientific research occurs, and where many of the most influential professors teach, you'll notice that name really does matter. And not having that name basically prevents you from stepping foot into any of those environments.
This subject has been a source of quite a bit of depression recently, and I can't seem to shake it. Every day that goes by I read up on the latest news in startups/academia,  and am reminded of where I am and where I'll likely never be.
Can you convince me otherwise? Is it really not that bad? Have any of you come from less-than-reputable schools to work in an environment filled with big thinkers and achievers? <comment><USER2> Correlation != causation. I suspect that the reason you see tons of folks from Stanford/Harvard/MIT at Google or successful startups is because those people tend to be smart, and smart people tend to rise to the level that's appropriate for them. I also know a fair number of people at Google that are pretty awesome but _don't_ come from elite universities. Actually, some of the best programmers I know at Google come from places like Colgate, Virginia Tech, Ann Arbor, UT Austin, San Jose State, and no degree at all.

Going to an elite school basically makes things easier. It tilts every initial interaction in your favor, so that you only have to maintain an impression instead of creating one. But it won't let you do things that you otherwise wouldn't be able to do, nor does it give you a free pass for the rest of your life.

If you get stuck with a bad degree, the way to work around it is to kick ass in your field. Be the best employee you can be, and then look at how you can improve things _outside_ your company and be the best _innovator_ that you can be. Eventually, everybody knows who the real folks are that get shit done. If you can chalk up a couple big successes, nobody cares where you went to school.

</comment><comment><USER3> I went to one of the (if not the) top school for my program. Honestly, I came away feeling very jaded - I felt like the school only cared about itself and wouldn't think twice about you while you were there but would be sure to quickly claim you as an alum if you made something of yourself afterward.

That being said, I did meet some amazing people there and it helped me get through all of the politics. There's definitely something to be said about surrounding yourself with talented people. But there are other opportunities to do so outside of the school setting. Look for a local hacker group. Go to some meetups.

While these schools might provide a springboard to getting to where you want to go, they are just that - a springboard; they are probably not the end goal. There was a link posted a few months ago about the idea of everyone wanting a million dollars. The author's main point was that you don't really want the million dollars - you want what the million dollars can buy (freedom, adventure, etc). The second point was that you don't need the million dollars to achieve these things.

Hang in there!

</comment><comment><USER4> Transfer to a better school. It is often easier to transfer than to get in as a freshmen.

As far as where you went to school not mattering it is all but a lie. Your first job out of college pretty much depends on where you went to school and how you did. That second job may not depend on where you went to school but it certainly depends on that first job which depends on where you went to school. On the other hand is it really that big a deal if you never work at Facebook?

In the end is more about what you do and what you are capable of than where you went to school or where you worked for that matter, a fulfilling life doesn't come from external sources but internal ones.

<comment><USER2> There are various "career resets" that you can use to get out of the preprogrammed track of college -> first job -> second job etc. One of the big ones is open-source software; it's done entirely on your own, so you don't need to ask permission for anything and are limited only by your own creativity. Another is founding a company, for the same reason, but with more risk. A third is going to grad school, if one will accept you.

</comment></comment><comment> T-R I spent a semester at a less-than-stellar school for CS - the easy 4.0 was nice, but I know what you mean. Some things I did to help myself feel better about it:

\- I got ahead - I found some small projects related to the next semester's material, and had an easy time in a class that others struggled in.

\- I talked to the professors - the students there weren't motivated, but the professors were nonetheless interested in their own field, and they were especially happy to find a student who was interested. This is especially key if you need recommendation letters for transferring, study abroad, or grad school.

\- I found a better curriculum online. At some point it's going to come down to what you know, not where you learned it, so just do your best to reduce the gap between you and people who went someplace with a better curriculum.

\- I transferred out. You don't necessarily have to go that far, though. Whether you're in a bad job, school, or situation, one of the best things you can do is to come up with a solid plan to get out of it, or to at least compensate for it. The light at the end of the tunnel gives you the motivation to do everything else.

\- I took my general education classes there. When I transferred, I fought to get credit for them, and so I was able to spend more time on classes in my major and minor. Also, don't overlook your side interests - things like study abroad also look good on resumes and the like, and are useful for networking outside of your field.

Things I didn't do that I wish I had:

\- Went to user groups and conferences and networked. Networking is one big thing you'll miss out on at a school that's weak in your field.

\- Worked on open source projects, or smaller personal projects. My biggest mistake in college was lack of balance - I spent a lot of time reading the best material I could find (and still do), but I've got very little that's concrete to show for it. In interviews, a nice github account and some practice coding at a whiteboard goes a lot further than your college's name.

If you're worried about grad school, one thing you could try is picking a subfield that you like, and getting in contact with professors from schools that you'd like to go to who are in that field.

</comment><comment><USER5> Same situation as you. We have Stroustrup himself here at Texas A&M, so all anybody ever uses is C++[0]. My intro teacher to 121 actually told us to us the Waterfall method by name. All anybody wants to do is go into the video game industry/play flash dames. Pretty awful, but you can teach yourself a surprising amount of CS. I learned enough JavaScript that some of my side projects got me an internship at a "big-name" company.

Also, it seems to me that the people who are ridiculously successful at MIT would probably have been ridiculously successful most anywhere else. Find some smart friends, stop thinking so highly of yourself, and get back to learning.[1]"The best programmer is a humble programmer."[2]

[0]-High point of the class: Stroustrup was guest lecturing in class a month ago. I had seen on HN a few days before he had responded directly to one of Linus' attacks on C++. I raised my hand and asked him how he dealt with guys like Linus. He got all flustered and just went "Linus is a immature fool!" and then went on preach for C++0x. [1] Read Godel Escher Bach. It will put you in your intellectual place. [2] Wish I knew who said that first.

</comment><comment><USER6> My advice is this:

1.Find the most accomplished professors in your department and take courses offered by them. Even though your school may not have a big reputation, some professors may have enough clout to recommend you when applying to Google/FB etc.

2.Keep doing Deliberate Practice. Take the hardest courses. Work on your own projects. Contribute to open source projects.

</comment><comment><USER7> Do something big and different...something that will get you noticed. Make an impact on your campus, like starting a club. Whatever your interests/passions are, put your drive and work ethic behind it and really have fun with it. If you are a CS guy, work on cool open source projects.

Don't forget about grades. I think going to a less-than-stellar school means grades are far more important.

Lastly, every single school is unique in its own right. Figure out how your school is positively different than, say, Harvard, MIT, etc. For example, I went to a huge public school, but I really wish I had gotten the smaller 1 on 1 interactions you sometimes see at community colleges. Differences like that. Exploit these difference so that if the issue of where you went to school ever comes up with an employer, you can soundly give them a solid reason.

</comment><comment><USER8> You seem particularly worried that you won't get hired since you're from a lesser known school. Don't be. Especially in fields such as software, they care a lot more about talent than name dropping. Do some cool projects and put it up on github. Have an idea for an app? Flush it out and launch it. Don't have an idea? Look at a successful app and try to port it to another platform -- you'll probably learn a lot along the way.

As students of a relatively small school that doesn't do a lot of advanced scientific research, my friends and I were able to get jobs/internships at some of the companies you've listed, so all is not lost :)

</comment><comment><USER9> Then kill the GPA. Most grad schools (far as I know) and virtually every corporation give GPA about 50% of the weight.

Then undergrad doesn't matter.</comment>


Coronavirus Covid-19 (2019-NCoV) Operations Dashboard - <AUTHOR> https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6 <comment><AUTHOR> Excellent use of GIS technology melded with data science to display large amounts of information in near-real time.</comment>


Elon Musk's Wealth Is Closer to Your Wealth Than Jeff Bezos' Wealth - <AUTHOR> https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/hju9nw/oc_believe_it_or_not_the_wealth_of_elon_musk_is/ <comment><USER2> Not in the geometric sense -- which is more like how people tend to think of these things, whether explicitly or not.

Suppose my wealth is $1 million, including my house.

Then Elon Musk's wealth is 50/0.001 = 50,000 times greater than mine.

But Jeff Bezos's wealth is just 165/50 = 3.3 times greater than Musk's.

<comment><USER3> Yes. This is also because money brings diminishing returns: Average person to Musk is a huge leap, probably the biggest leap there is, but Musk to Bezos probably makes no practical difference.

<comment><USER2> I agree.

It is also interesting to note that at 10% per annum Musk could turn his $50B into $165B in 13 years, whereas it would take 113 years for my $1M to grow to $50B.</comment></comment></comment>


Propastop Is a Blog Aimed at Cleaning Estonia from Propaganda - <AUTHOR> https://www.propastop.org/eng/ <comment><USER2> Estonia what happen at the moment</comment>


Stop Writing Project Proposals - <AUTHOR> http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/02/17/stop-writing-project-proposals/ <comment><USER2> I can't speak for development work, but for consulting work this is fantastic.

We completely turned my old business around using this. We went from fighting to sign 3k/month retainer clients to signing multiple 8k, 10k, 12k and even a 17k month retainer using this strategy.

In my experience, the clients that don't like this arrangement are the ones that end up being bad clients down the road anyways. The ones that do like this, see the value in seeing an expert evaluation of the problem before spending lots of money to fix something they haven't yet identified.

</comment><comment><USER3> While a bit simplistic in the description of how much you can lock down scope with an initial requirements document, the main point, which is to get paid for an initial analysis and design phase, is incredibly important for small consulting shops.

If you do not do this, you are merely rolling the dice every time you take on a project, and the odds are not stacked in your favor!

</comment><comment><USER4> While I agree this is a great idea (as opposed to shooting-from-the-hip on proposals), be careful of putting too much faith in the process. From the article:

 _While how one calculates the price may vary, all the information is now available to see the project through from start to finish, identifying the challenges, and determining the amount of resources required to meet the project's objectives._

That sounds like an old fashioned waterfall fantasy to me. I know it's not true, but I'm afraid clients would believe it.

<comment><USER5> I always say something like, "here is your project evaluation, based the current desires/spec for your project. Certainly things can be add, removed, re-prioritized. When work begins this should be seen as a living document that grows and evolves with the project."

The initial evaluation will help you fill out your client's backlog, and also understand how many people (with what skillets) you need on the project.

So, think of it as getting paid to do Agile Project Manager work. At least how I see it. :-)

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Interesting take. Isn't that, in practice, the same as just refusing to enter non-paid competition and taking an advancement for every project? The work put into the "evaluation" sounds like information architecture + tech specs + development planning, which would normally answer for 30-50% of a project's cost. I wonder if marketing this phase as an independent package makes a difference in sales, as he appears to suggest?

<comment><USER2> It makes things a lot easier in a way for both ends. You're not tied long-term to a client that could potentially be a nightmare. You get to evaluate the project and give them a realistic view of what work comes next. You can also (and should occasionally) turn down the job, if the evaluation reveals they're not a good fit for your services.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Forgive me if I've misread the article, but isn't the Project Evaluation essentially just a spec, with the option to actually implement the spec or not?

<comment><USER8> I think the difference is that a proposal is "here's how I would implement your requirements as documented" while an evaluation is a bit more than that. It's "Here's what problems you are having. Here's what you say you need. Here's what we think you need." and maybe "Here are a few ways we could go about helping you."

The goal is not to just deliver a proposal based on an incomplete spec, but rather to help the customer understand their problems better.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> This is a great idea when dealing with small clients. The big challenge, however, is that the majority of the organizations that rely on RFP (e.g. public sector or enterprise buyers) do so because they HAVE TO for policy / political reasons. It's not only about selecting the best vendor.

The RFP process optimizes for "not making a bad choice" vs "making the best choice", and is usually also done for transparency / accountability reasons as well.

We're building a new type of eSourcing tool to help make the RFx process faster and more streamlined for vendors / buyers / evaluators, so we've been digging deep into 'structured buying'. It's a lot more complicated than "this process sucks, let's change it".

In our opinion, the problem isn't the process itself (which is necessary for public sector and enterprise) but in how the process is conducted - i.e. the lack of communication, slow decisions, ill-defined evaluation criteria, etc.

<comment><USER10> I can speak to this. Many large clients have the ability to hand out small evaluation projects without competitive bidding. So, they can hire you to do a 10K or whatever evaluation but are required to put the resulting 100K implementation through an RFQ process.

The eye-opener for me quite some years back was discovering that most of the RFPs we saw were the result of an evaluation like the one described, we were being asked to quote, blind, against the firm that had been paid to write the RFQ in the first place.

One tl;dr of this article could be, "Stop responding to RFPs written by your competition and look for opportunities to write the RFPs yourself."

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I had the same thought ten years ago. I think this is the best way to work. It was never accepted by the clients though.

</comment><comment><USER12> Sounds great, but proceed with caution. Where I work, you would be deemed "non-responsive".</comment>


Google is building Chrome apps support for Android and iOS - <AUTHOR> http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/12/03/google-building-chrome-apps-support-android-ios-beta-release-coming-soon-january-2014/ <comment><USER2> Difficult to be certain, but I suspect TNW may have based this off a HN submission I made yesterday:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6838530](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6838530)

This isn't a complaint. I just find it interesting to consider that news outlets might be watching HN's /newest page closely.

</comment><comment><USER3> Down the road, do you think will chrome packaged apps support 3rd party dlls?

</comment><comment><USER4> Just use Flash.

</comment><comment><USER5> Thank god. I'll take anything over the current Android application framework.

</comment><comment><USER6> "hybrid native apps" \- oh, I thought it was something worthy like PNaCl.

</comment><comment><USER7> I don't think Apple would allow this in the App Store. It disallows apps that have their own apps/widgets.

<comment><USER8> They're using Apache Cordova (PhoneGap), so they will run under iOS webkit (Safari w/o JIT) on iOS.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> R.I.P. Android developers. Google finally decided where to go.

<comment><USER10> What was to be expected since they placed Android under ChromeOS steering?

<comment><USER9> Though I am not sure that I understood your intention…

I think Google will eventually kill Android from Android+Chrome stack. Just like MS did on DOS for Windows. Chrome on Android is just a temporal form, and there's no reason not to run Chrome directly on the hardware. (why do they stick to PNaCL which never be adopted by competitors?) Actually Chrome was born to do that from first. And since they decided to go Chrome, Android is just an obstacle to interact to hardware from Chrome as an OS.

In my imagination, even on the best scenario, the future of Android is the MS- DOS on Windows. An emulation layer on top of Chrome OS.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Google knows that future of mobile apps are web. Web technologies can get better and better to some point that it doesn't make sense to build native apps because it costs too much for most data driven apps.

With Google, Microsoft and Mozilla betting on web, who has a doubt that web will win?

...oh... do you remember Steve Jobs was suggesting all apps for iPhone should be web apps? He was way ahead of his time.

<comment><USER12> No, Google needs the future of mobile apps to be the web, which is very different.

Unfortunately, while they're doing this they're simultaneously changing the web into something which removes the very things which allow them to monetise it successfully today.

A web of WebGL based client apps which just ping servers for JSON objects of a custom nature will be even more impenetrable to massive data mining than the current JS infested mess out there, which was one of the many justifiable criticisms rightly thrown at Java applets back in the late 90s. The opportunity to rewrite the browser in itself and thus remove the HTML/CSS entirely will prove far too tempting.

<comment><USER13> You're exaggerating.

I think WebGL is awesome. In combination with HTML5 audio and video, we can finally get rid of Flash and Silverlight and Java Applets or whatever crappy plugin that people have been using to distribute games and audio/video on the web. This is a good thing. The only reason for why we are seeing less and less usage of these plugins is because WebGL and the other parts of HTML5 are finally taking off, in combination with native mobile apps built on non- standard, often proprietary platforms. These proprietary platforms (e.g. iOS, Google's Play Services, etc...) are far more dangerous for the open web, than whatever ends up being standardized in W3C.

Those Chrome apps can and will be built mostly with HTML, CSS and Javascript. They will for the same reason that many people keep building HTML, CSS and Javascript today - for all the bitching and moaning about it, it's actually quite convenient and easy to build something functional and cross-platform and worry free, plus there's a huge knowledge base built around these technologies.

On rewriting the browser to have a small core and a UI built on top of web technologies, I think that will be awesome and from what I've been reading, Mozilla is already working on a next-gen Firefox that does it.

I'm far more worried about Dart VM or PNaCL, because in order to improve the web, Google is trying to replace Javascript with their own non-standard technologies, relying on their big market share to do that (sound familiar?). Which is why I'm happy that Mozilla exists to bring some balance with Asm.js and Firefox OS and the like. As proof, Mozilla forced Google's hand to include Asm.js in their optimization targets and that popular Unreal Engine demo works quite well right now in Chrome. So we still have healthy competition in the browser space and good things will come out of it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I have not for the life of me been able to imagine the purpose of building a Chrome app. Now I can.... but wait... isn't it just a "lipstick on the pig" html5 web app?

<comment><USER15> Since 2002 half of everyone who's reached the age of 12 has learned enough HTML, CSS, Javascript, and can recognize PHP well enough to throw a basic, buggy website together. Suddenly, a trip to "chrome://extensions/" means these semi-non-developers can write an app for their Chromebook(or even PC) without having to install or compile anything, let alone commit themselves to mastering a programming language.

It shouldn't mean much for large projects, but it does mean companies can hire less-skilled "programmers" to churn out minimally viable products whether that be for bootstrapped start-ups or to satisfy the demand from businesses that want to say "look I have a presence on mobile."

<comment><USER16> How delightfully elitist and condescending of you.

<comment><USER15> Yeah, I need to work on my tone, because that came across exactly the opposite of how I intended.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


U.S. Embassy in Cuba Reopens After More Than 50 Years - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/world/americas/cuba-us-embassy-diplomatic-relations.html <comment><USER2> Very glad to see this, and hoping the trade embargo is ended soon. It's pretty clear, after _five decades_ , that it has had the opposite of the intended effect -- that it has, in fact, kept the Castros in power. What's that quote about insanity being when you do the same thing over and over and expect different results?

<comment><USER3> Same as war on drugs, affordable housing, affirmative action, minimum wage etc. One would assume after a program makes the situation worse, you would stop said program. But the rationale becomes to increase the power and funds of the program instead.

<comment> daniel-cussen Yeah American policy needs, so bad, a simple maxim:

If it doesn't work, stop doing it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I wondered if there was any cool 50 year old tech collecting dust there. But apparently the place wasn't abandoned: "the reopening of the embassy on the Malecón waterfront in Havana, previously used as an interests section, a limited diplomatic outpost, ". So this is quite boring.

<comment><USER5> I don't know about tech, but if the embargo is lifted, car enthusiasts will swim to that island. I hope the Cubans realize those old cars might be their only retirement, and don't sell to, "It's only worth this much to me?" Guys?

<comment><USER6> Most of them look nice from a distance, but have been patched together with whatever resources were available over the last 50 years.

You might go there to look at them, but you wouldn't want to bring them home.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> > _Some fear that Cuban culture will be lost with the opening of the island, > but others think they will be able at last to earn more money._

Yes and yes.

</comment><comment><USER8> IMHO, sanctions against an _autocratic_ regime do not work; they just make the autocrat stronger. See, for example: Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi, North Korea, Cuba, etc.

Sanctions against a _democratic_ regime (for various definitions of "democracy") can work: for example, Iran, USSR, South Africa, etc.

<comment><USER9> By what metric do the sanctions against Iran 'work'?

<comment><USER10> Many credit the sanctions for Iran's willingness to negotiate.

<comment><USER11> What possible other reason could they have had to negotiate?

<comment><USER10> I'm firmly in the camp that the sanctions were the catalyst.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Ok, this is going to get downvoted like hell but here is a thought experiment from a European...

Not a bad record on Foreign Policy for Obama. (Ok, I am being very very generous in some areas and will let someone else lay out the opposite case but still...)

-Improve the US image abroad after Bush

-Get out of major boots on the ground in Iraq

-Get out of major boots on the ground in Afghanistan

-Kill Bin Laden

-Reduce the operational capability of Al-Qaeda core members

-Avoid getting dragged into boots on the ground in Syria / get chemical weapons out

-Overthrow Gaddafi

-Re-open Cuban Embassy

-Contain ISIS

-Re-focus on China

-Environment deal with China

-Get cooperation from the Pakistan ISI vs Taliban

-Improve long-term relations with India

-Gain trust of Asian states (like Vietnam) who are threatened by China

-Re-balance relationship with Israel

-Weaken Russia slowly (after getting out manoeuvred in Ukraine by Putin)

-Reduce dependance on Saudi Arabia

-Reduce dependence on foreign oil/gas

-Reduce the slow march of Chinese power in Africa (esp: Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa)

-Shore up NATO vs Russia

-Reduce the influence on Venezuela in South America

-Get a deal on Iranian nuclear program

-Lay the ground work for rebuilding the US military after 15 years of insurgent warfare

-Patch things up (behind the scenes) with Brazil and Germany after Snowden

-Rebuild economy (slowly) after the Bush mess and recession

(EDIT: Just to point out, I don't see these as exactly black and white issues and am well aware of the nuance. Just trying to give one side of an argument so others can do the rest. Even a portion of the stuff in there is a pretty decent record for a President.)

<comment><USER13> >-Kill Bin Laden

He didn't do this. He was just president in an ongoing operation that started a long time ago. He didn't pass any particular policies or make any changes that led to this.

>-Contain ISIS

ISIS started under him and it's not contained.

>-Get a deal on Iranian nuclear program

Also 10 years in the making and he made some significant concessions to Iran that made the deal almost useless. The US has to give nearly a months warning before it's allowed to check to see if they are breaking the rules.

<comment><USER8> > >-Kill Bin Laden

> He didn't do this.

As if the president dons his cowboy hat, gets into an Apache Rambo-style and hunts terrorists, right?

I don't understand how any rational person would have so much difficulty giving him credit for the operation; it was his call! He made the call to get Bin Laden, just like Bush made the call to let him and other top Taliban escape (see "Kunduz Airlift": [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunduz_airlift](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunduz_airlift) )

<comment><USER14> To be fair, a modern Teddy Roosevelt would probably do that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Sit back and watch while Goldman Sachs moves in and takes over the country

<comment><USER16> Are you saying that the Cuban people will be better off if the sanctions stay forever?

<comment><USER15> No, that's not what I said. I'm saying that they are now going to be taken advantage of.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I read this as US corps needs more markets.

<comment><USER18> and cuba is a gold mine?

<comment><USER19> A nickel mine actually: [http://www.mining.com/over-240-mining-and-energy- projects-wa...](http://www.mining.com/over-240-mining-and-energy-projects- waiting-for-investors-in-cuba/)

It's been great for Canadian mining companies.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> This is an event that occurred, yes. I don't see the point of it being on HN though -- the guidelines suggest staying away from mainstream news, and as already shown in the first comment here, there's basically no chance of a worthwhile discussion coming out of it.

<comment><USER21> Can we spin this to discuss what influence it would have on Cuba's IT growth? Now that there is an embassy there U.S tech companies might be more inclined to invest there.

<comment><USER12> Hopefully bring down the price of internet in the country. From what I have heard from activists on the ground it can often be hundreds of dollars a month. Plus significant restrictions on access etc. There was quite a good Guardian article about it.

[http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/23/cuba-offline- in...](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/23/cuba-offline-internet- weekly-packet-external-hard-drives)

<comment><USER22> Couldn't the embassy provide a large public WiFi hotspot to the nearby Cuban residents?

<comment><USER23> I'm sure that they do. They will not forget to record and track all the people using it. (Not that the US government is short of ways to get this data anyway.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> That's half a centur-y [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fngEnIkz44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fngEnIkz44)

<comment><USER16> I really like auto-tune the news, but HN isn't really the venue for it.</comment></comment>