Ask HN: What are you thankful for? - <AUTHOR> Thanks dang and team for taking care of the HN community!
Many years ago, I stumbled upon HN. I just lurked. Then one day I posted a comment.
I am thankful for HN because many years ago it provided a community for someone who was desperately seeking social interaction during my very boring corporate job workday. It was my water cooler. It still is even though as it has grown in popularity, it is almost like a meme for some people to say 'Don't read HN' because they maybe read one divisive thread once or only read divisive threads and thus see it as a monoculture... <comment><USER3> 1\. I can go into a grocery store and buy whatever I want without once thinking about the price of something or the total bill. It's an incredible privilege - one that I hadn't really thought about much until recently - <USER2> now I can't stop thinking how thankful I am for it.

2\. I can go home to my parent's house whenever I want and I'm lucky to have supportive, loving parents and an extended family that openly supports me when I need it. We have our problems, but at the end of the day - I have a place to stay and food to eat even in my darkest moments.

3\. A promising career in Silicon Valley and a great manager with whom I share a deep sense of mutual respect and friendship with. I know how rare this is, and because of that - I'm thankful.

A lot of work went into making this happen from a lot of different people over the years...so I'm actually really deeply thankful because this could have played out very differently.

Growing up, my family was lower-middle class, immigrant, and moved around _a lot_ because of instability in finances and my father's job was so uncertain that it could be axed on short notice among other reasons. I was a child for the early parts of the journey so only my parents can speak to the brutal pain of trying to start over in a brand new country that barely accepted them for who they are along with the burden of raising their first child. Not only that, but they started over with few resources - maybe the clothes on their back, a couple hundred bucks in their pocket and a few phone numbers to call if they were really in trouble. They/We did not have it easy by any stretch of the imagination and my parents themselves come from relative poverty where things like access to food, electricity, clean water and education was a real issue. We've come a long way and I'm both proud and thankful for that.

This only scratches the surface of the immigrant experience in America but I think it's highly relevant, especially during Thanksgiving and all the history imbued in the holiday.

<comment><USER4> I would suggest adding something to your first one: you can successfully eat whatever you purchase.

I have celiac and serious food allergies, as well as an esophageal disorder. I also can't digest milk or eggs properly. When I go to the grocery store, I walk around pretty much laughing to myself about how I literally cannot eat almost anything there. For Thanksgiving, I am having plain beef roast in a blender (well, sea salt) and specific potato chips. And cider - I mean, it's not all bad.

It's easy to take health for granted, but it's amazing how much it can screw up your life when one part of your body isn't working.

<comment><USER5> I am so sorry to hear about your troubles. I am recovering from a similar situation in which my heath was so compromised that I struggled to digest and assimilate practically whatever I ate. I can relate to how alienating and debilitating it can be to have chronic illness consume most of your thinking and how severely it can impact all areas of your life. It is so easy to take our health and bodies for granted. I try imbue every moment with this awareness and cultivate gratitude for everything I have. I hope you're able to find support and strength as you manage your condition.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Growing up, I used to disagree with how my parents used to think about things, and I also used to call them out (maybe I kept that in my heart mostly out of respect) whenever they did something wrong. That was because I never perhaps knew how some parents were?

Because as I grew, went to high-school and then at job, I saw people who had an abusive father, a drug-addict sibling, or a controlling mother. And now, I realise how difficult it must have been for my parents to show us the best version of themselves e.g. my mother cooks food, takes care of us and my father worked in Libya for 30 years as a software engineer away from us only to supply us financially. It must never have been easy.

I'm not saying they're perfect, God no one is. But the fact that I can see at my parents as a moral compass for myself whenever I get stuck helps me a lot. Some of you who read might not be religious but I'm thankful that my parents gave us the right knowledge of religion and not just giving knowledge but telling us about the 'why'.

My father has told me two things his entire life: 1\. do your best effort at opportunities (I don't mind if you fail as long as you work hard) 2\. don't cheat your way to success

So, yeah, I'm sorry if this seems irrelevant but just wanted to share my side of the story about why I'm thankful.

<comment><USER7> yeah man. I am a parent right now and I can't even think of leaving my kids to work in another country full time w/o my family.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I'm thankful for getting cured of my chronic back pain of 10+ years just because of one HN comment (1). I was at a point in my life where my whole life used to revolve around my pain but thanks to this one comment I was cured of this terrible misery in just less than a month. So thank you HN and thank you @ceras for making my life so much better.

P.S I'm happy to say that propogating that knowledge had that exact same effect for another HNer who was also suffering from the same fate (actually he was contemplating suicide by his own comment and he too was healed like me(2).

(1) [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17899799](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17899799)

(2) [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18151061](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18151061)

<comment><USER9> Very interesting. For about the past 2 years, I've been suffering from mysterious symptoms that seem to have no physical origin. My doctors have suggested that it's "in my head" or "stress related illness" and I'm completely open to that idea (in fact I welcome it). However, the biggest problem I've had is, "Where the heck do I go from there?" If it's all in my head, how do I get it out of my head?

I'm definitely going to give this book a read. I am thankful for your suggestion :-)

P.S. I hesitate to mention this, but my wife belongs to some weird religious group here in Japan. They believe in spiritual healing. For this kind of problem it seems really ideal. Unfortunately for me, it's completely ineffective because I just can't take it seriously. She's always frustrated because she can't heal my problems, even though I should be an ideal candidate. Going through the problems I've had has completely changed my attitude toward the potential benefits so called spiritual things. On the one hand I have doctors saying, "It's all in your head, so you can't be cured" and on the other I get "It's all in your head, so praise the divine being and all will be cured". It would be tempting if I could ever stomach that kind of thing.

<comment><USER10> I recommend reading what Mark Twain's experiences with Christian Science was. (Which was that everything is imaginary?)

[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3187](http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3187)

<comment><USER9> Well, I think his book very clearly spells out the other problems with those kinds of organisations. :-) Definitely not my thing, but I have a more nuanced view of things these days.

<comment><USER10> Long-term outcomes with many modern medicines are negative compared to that of a placebo.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I'm thankful for my parents. Growing up, I thought that my parents were needlessly strict and uncool and that all my friends had it better than me. Only once I was old enough to look at other parents from an adult perspective did I realize how...well, _competent_ my own parents had been, compared to most. Turns out there are a lot of ways to screw up parenting. Many of my friends' parents divorced, others just quietly resented each other; some were too permissive, others were "helicopters;" some were too distant, others tried to be their kid's best friend; and of course, some were outright abusive. The older I get, the clearer it is to me that these parents were just "older teenagers," not true adults. In that regard, my parents really had their shit together (and still do), and I benefited from that enormously. Thanks mom and dad.

<comment><USER12> Did you get to tell them that?

<comment><USER11> I have expressed it to them a few times now, yes. :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I am thankful for Hacker News. Never before have I come across a community that is as insightful, friendly, and helpful. Thank you, everyone, for making Hacker News the place it is today.

<comment><USER14> Agreed, and they have very strict modding to thank for it. Sometimes I think it's too strict, but you can't argue with the results.

<comment><USER15> HN modding is certainly the driving force in maintaining civil discourse on the site.

In my more out there moments I imagine the internet moving more towards this model. Lots of interesting places, owned by deeply involved individuals who enforce courtesy and truth telling. Personally I love to read opinions that are different from mine, as long as the two points above are met.

<comment><USER16> I'd like to personally call out u/dang, HN's omnipresent moderator. Keep up the amazing work!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> 1\. Just being alive, for starters. Just a hair over four years ago I had a heart attack[1] and very easily could have died.

2\. My parents, and friends and family. Guess that one is so obvious as to not really need to be said, but just to be complete.

3\. All the amazing knowledge that's available, mostly for free, on the Internet. Youtube, videolectures.net, arxiv.org, khan academy, HN, Wikipedia, sci-hub, ligben, and so many other great resources for learning.

4\. Open source and all the various OSS contributors out there.

5\. Coffee, key-lime pie, and cheesecake.

6\. Thai food.

7\. Heavy metal. Especially the first "wave" of bands that sucked me in all those years ago: Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe, Twisted Sister, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, AC/DC, Quiet Riot, etc.

8\. All of my brothers and sisters in the fire-service, all over the world, who are out there putting their lives on the line to protect others. I'm not active with a fire department these days, but it's a brotherhood you never really quit.

[1]: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8550315](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8550315)

</comment><comment><USER18> Coming on two years ago, I celebrated New Years Eve in the amazingly beautiful beach town of Robertsport, Liberia. I never used to do those vows, but at this time I decided I wanted to be more grateful. So I vowed to be more grateful. This English bloke was there with me, and he reminded me that if I just vowed it like that, I would soon forget it. I had to somehow make it my habit.

So I decided every morning when I put on my necklace I would remind myself to be grateful for something this day. And I have, every single day! Usually, I will be grateful that I am healthy, that I have a wife who cares about, and for, me, family members, some good friends, a job and good food every day.

Today, I am grateful to George, the Englishman, who helped me start this habit. It is very good to be grateful.

</comment><comment><USER19> I am so thankful that I know the meaning of my human life. I have a human spirit, which I can exercise to contact God. I don't know how I would live without this. All of the money and all of the experiences on earth are temporary, and in the end meaningless. Anything temporary compared to eternity is meaningless. Eternity is not only before us in time, but God has put eternity in our heart, and only God can fill that gap. I'm so thankful that my God-shaped gap is filled. Not preaching, just genuinely thankful!

<comment><USER20> Eternity is now.

<comment><USER19> Yep, and it won't end.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Wikipedia. So often I get curious about something and it's documented in detail, with hyperlinks to related concepts. What would have taken an afternoon at the library in the 90s I can get in a 20 minute Wikpedia binge.

</comment><comment><USER22> I am thankful that something distracted me in the few seconds it took me to start making a left turn, and slowed me down enough that the semi that ran the red light missed my car by a couple of feet instead of ripping the car apart and killing me Monday afternoon. I'm trying not to be cliche about it, but my priorities are a bit clearer now.

<comment><USER23> I'm thankful for automotive safety that saved my daughter's life when she ran into a traffic light pole at 60MPH yesterday. I'm replying to your comment because her accident was caused by somebody turning left a second or two too early.

My girl was driving a Kia Soul. It's not an expensive car, but it's still safe enough that she and her passenger will only experience a week or two of soreness. If I had the same accident in my first car, a 77 Corolla,I would probably have died.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> With regards to HN: I'm thankful for HN being an example where the comments are often really insightful, useful and interesting. There are so many places on the internet where the comment sections are cesspools. HN makes an effort to be different and it's working.

On a more personal level: I'm thankful for having had the opportunities in life to achieve all my goals. For being born in a safe and stable country with great healthcare (could have been dead a couple of times now) and other social securities. For being married to a great wife who makes me happy and who makes marriage seem almost effortless. And most of all I'm thankful for my kids. They truly made my life complete.

</comment><comment><USER25> Cateract surgery.

I watched myself slowly going blind over several months. But at the end of it, whenever I chose, I could say, "That's enough - time for surgery" instead of just being blind for the rest of my life.

Seeing is _really cool_ , people. It's a really major deal. Once you think about what it means to not have it, you really value having it.

Walking is a big deal, too. I'm thankful that my boss left that dolly where it could _just barely_ catch the edge of that falling box with 600 pounds of steel in it, so that it didn't absolutely crush my foot. (It tore through the cardboard, slowly, so it landed on my foot as a slowly increasing load instead of as a sudden jolt. That was plenty painful enough, but it didn't crush all the bones in the arch of my foot.)

Walking, again - that falling 30 feet off a cliff didn't cripple me or kill me.00

</comment><comment><USER26> I typed out a long comment but it is not yet the time to say so much.

I am starting to see paths unfold that I would not have thought possible ten years ago when I was first introduced to HN by some fellow members of a student union I was in.

These past ten years of my life have been a mixture of a lot of things. Failures, despair, depression, but also successes, personal growth and learning.

For now I just want to say that spending a lot of time on HN is a double-edged sword, and I've seen both sides - it can be a time sink, as it has been for me at times, unhealthy even, but it is also an amazing place, and one that I am so, so happy that I was told of and that I decided to stick around on.

And in case it wasn't abundantly clear - these paths that seem to be unfolding are in very very large part thanks to knowledge and awareness that I have gained from the posts and discussions that I read on HN and spent my time on.

</comment><comment><USER27> I grew up in poverty. As a kid, I had potato chips for breakfast if I ate at all and remember being hungry most mornings at school.

I just got my second promotion at a FAANG in three years. I have great work life balance. I can afford to buy food and more. I invest and max out my 401k and my older sibling is now in her final year of her residency and my younger sibling is almost done with bachelors. My spouse loves me. I was very sick this thanksgiving and it was nice to be taken care of. I still have anxiety and confidence issues, and I'm terribly afraid of risk... but it's gotten substantially better than a few years ago.

</comment><comment><USER28> I'm thankful for my city. I finally moved to Chicago from from rural Indiana and I feel like I've finally found where I belong.

I'm thankful for my mental health therapist who has helped me greatly in dealing with relationship issues and mental health problems in general.

I'm thankful for my business coach, who got me out of a rut in my freelance career and introduced me to a whole new world of effectiveness.

I'm thankful for a comment a friend made the other day. He knew me about 5 years ago when I was playing around with livestreaming on Twitch.tv. Yesterday he and I were video calling and he commented that "you've really become a lot more poised and confident in front of the camera and your speech is a lot smoother." I've wondered if I really am making progress on social anxiety and that was really encouraging.

</comment><comment><USER29> Last Sunday, I dropped my wallet on the ground. By Monday, I was starting to look into cancelling credit and debit cards, and what I'd do without a driver's license... and then it turned out a "Mr. Diaz" who drives a garbage truck found it, called the numbers he saw in it, and established contact with me. I got it back in time for work; nothing was missing, and he refused to even take money when I offered it to him.

It's a very nice data point.

</comment><comment><USER30> I'm thankful I don't have to walk hours every day to collect dirty water just to survive.

I'm thankful I have the opportunity to help solve the problem.

[https://youtu.be/XLdDMDkwK1s](https://youtu.be/XLdDMDkwK1s)

</comment><comment><USER31> I am thankful for my new job. After graduating, I worked at a defense contractor for over a year and got tasked with basically nothing and had no one care about results, staying current, or learning, and I felt it. They kept saying things would change when I got my security clearance, but as I talked to more and people, I realized that it wouldn't be enough of a change, so I switched industries. In my new role, I am learning a ton (because they decided to hire me even though I didn't have the knowledge they originally wanted) and I am loving it. My team is super helpful and I'm reminded why I first enjoyed programming and problem solving.

<comment><USER32> That's great! It feels so good to be doing something you want to do.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> Python. It changed my life significantly. I have a job I love, I earn good money. Not sure I could have reached what I did under a couple of years with other languages, because Python let me focus on learning all kind of things beside it, because it was fairly easy to pick up.

</comment><comment><USER34> Today, a random person (actually two people) from some random country saved my career and financial security. I'm thankful for that.

<comment><USER35> would be curious to hear more details of this story haha

<comment><USER34> Edit: I hope you had the chance to see the reason. I'm deleting the explanation to keep cyberstalkers away.

<comment><USER36> While im curious about your story im even more curious about why and how it could somehow be abused by cyberstalkers?

<comment><USER34> HR people can be creepy sometimes. I mentioned some private details about my contacts.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER37> I'm thankful for Walter Bright and Andrei Alexanderscu, the authors of the D programming language. Although I found the language late in 2015, it showed me a new way to think about programming. I just hope D language foundation gets some corporate backing to break the inertia and exceed the critical mass.

</comment><comment><USER38> Linux and f/oss, every single day. I think certain personalities are drawn to certain tools, languages, philosophies and I don't think technology today would be nearly as interesting if it were dominated by Windows. Or Apple, or IBM. We've carved a niche out for ourselves and we've done it so well, it's important we realise that and cultivate it.

</comment><comment><USER39> I'm thankful that I love programming even after 2 decades, and that I'm very well paid for it. And I still come into work every day and love the challenges. There was a time where I was burnt out and needed to take a year off, but thankfully since then I've been able to center myself and my expectations and I've been thankful every day since.

<comment><USER40> What did you do in that year off?

I'm feeling like I'm pretty close to a burn out and I'm not sure how to deal with it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER41> I'm thankful for all the extremely improbable things that had to happen for me to have the experience I'm having.

I am thankful

\- To have been born to loving, educated parents

-To live in a time and place with economic and social liberty

\- To have a loving and growing group of friends and family around the world who live interesting and inspiring lives

-To live in a time where so many of us can travel at the speed of sound and communicate at the speed of light

-To be able to ask any question, purchase any common object, or want to see any loved one face-to-face, and have my wish fulfilled by a vast global network of machines that do our bidding

-For the millions of seekers, of wise men and women, who created wonders from the energy of the sun and the materials of the Earth, and showed us the way through the darkness

-That after 1000 trillion creatures and eons of failed attempts, one particular hairless ape on one particular wet rock evolved a 3 pound mass of flesh into the most sophisticated computational apparatus in the universe

\- That it feels like anything at all to be thinking meat.

</comment><comment><USER42> I'm grateful for the fact that I have an incredibly supportive group of friends and family.

In the off chance that I lost my job or something bad happened to me, I know that there's always a couch out there I can crash on. And if it all goes wrong, I can fly back to my hometown and know that there's a bed waiting for me at my parents' house.

And on the other hand, I'm sure that a lot of my friends are grateful for me offering the same. I've had a lot of mates crashing on my couch, I've made it clear that my door is always open and there's always something to eat and drink in my house if they need it. It's the least I can do to help, $5 of food isn't much to me, but can be a lot to others.

I have the privilege of being one of the few people in my group of friends who has a stable job that pays well. So I guess I'm fortunate for that, I'm fortunate that I don't have a substance abuse problem or debilitating mental health issues.

</comment><comment><USER43> Growing up, my family relied on government aid to buy food. My father had a stroke when I was in 6th grade, and despite being able to recover, my mother realized that she would be unable to support my siblings and I without him. I am the second oldest of 6 kids, so I was old enough to kinda understand the stakes facing my family.

My mother then went back to college to earn a degree in nursing. She pushed herself harder than I think a human should need to go to ensure my sisters and I had a stable platform upon which to launch our lives.

I then received an incredible need-based scholarship to university and this was hands down the best thing that has ever happened to me. My mind was expanded farther than I thought possible by the people I met, the culture of embracing and admiring the results of dedication and hard work, and the realization that I have agency to change my circumstances. I realized my life could be more impactful than I ever dared to dream as kid in my small, rural town.

I studied Chinese and CS, and stumbled into opportunity after opportunity that pushed me to grow as a citizen of the world and acquire skills that allow me to take part in it.

I am now working on (what is to me) one of the most interesting problems that humankind is attempting to tackle. I am learning incredible lessons about how intelligent people can make progress in an arena of extremely high uncertainty. I am learning what processes lead to innovation and technological advancement. I am surrounded by people from every corner of the Earth from a diverse array of milieus.

I am incredibly grateful for these opportunities to learn, adapt, and (hopefully) become an agent of change for those that had challenging starts in life. I know there are many others that were just as "deserving" of the chances I received, but for a myriad of reasons were never graced by the blind luck I was.

For these reasons and more, I am thankful.

<comment><USER44> Wow great story! Do you mind expanding on the problem you are trying to tackle?

</comment></comment><comment><USER45> Finally getting a job as a Developer! I've been at it for the last 4 years, and couldn't have done it without support from my wife and family.

</comment><comment><USER46> All the people who develop OSS in their free time. Text editors, plugins, kernels, package managers, compilers, the list goes on in any ecosystem. The number of these projects I interact with knowingly and unknowingly on a daily basis is ridiculous and represents the cumulative effort of many. My day job is all the better for it, so I take my hat off to those awesome folk.

Thanks for all the hard fought PRs, features, and optimizations that make our lives as developers what they are today.

</comment><comment><USER47> I'm thankful for the furry community. I was alone, extremely confused about gender and sexuality, and really not sure I was going to make it another month way back in 2013 before stumbling on some furry art. Going down that rabbit hole helped me find acceptance, affirmation, confidence, and new hobbies I never considered before. A furry podcast (Furcast/Friday Night Tech) set me on the path to making music, and that's been a huge boost to my life.

</comment><comment><USER48> I'm thankful I got lucky.

I was born in a prosperous country at a good time. I had parents who were well intentioned and reasonably smart. I have an older sister and got to see and avoid some of her mistakes.

Some of the work that I did early on is not too impressive now, but was sufficiently impressive at the time that I never had to look for work.

Capitalism appears to be rewarding people like me. I think there are many people who come from cultures that are resistant to learning better ways to do things. As such, they stagnate, while people who are able to separate the wheat from the chaff on the internet learn ways to be efficient that create ever widening gulfs between themselves and the dig-in-their-heels-and-never- admit-room-for-improvement crowd.

</comment><comment><USER49> My wife. I was going to leave work recently and have a go at growing my sideline. I decided to stay at work. My wife was 100% behind me whatever I chose which meant a lot.

</comment><comment><USER50> The EU. I can study in the Netherlands with world-class education in English and get free healthcare.

</comment><comment><USER51> I'm thankful that the hard times I went through in my personal life from mid-2017 until mid-2018. Now, in a new relationship, new job, in a new city, with the same family, same friends, same interests, same HN. I'm nowhere where I thought I'd be, yet i'm happy, and it's a reminder that life can turn on a dime.

</comment><comment><USER52> The maturity and quality of discussions on HN. It's not perfect, but far better than many other places online.

</comment><comment><USER53> I'm thankful for this website.

As a middle-aged developer in a fly-over state,this site has helped me to stay current for years. I can't think of a single other site that has impacted my career even half as much.

</comment><comment><USER54> I'm thankful for an AQI below 50.

<comment><USER55> Little things we come to appreciate when we lose even temporarily.

Happy thanksgiving.

</comment></comment><comment><USER56> Being alive in this time.

The rich have more things than ever before. The middle class live better than the very richest used to. Even the poor have things that were beyond the reach of the very rich just a short while ago.

Diseases have been conquered. Knowledge is freely available and easily accessed. Poor nations are advancing, rich nations are prosperous.

People have ways of connecting with other people, travelling and communicating that were never before possible.

It's a GREAT time to be alive.

</comment><comment><USER57> My country, really.

I was born in one of the richest and progressive countries in the world and honestly it has given me so much. I never really thought about it until I loved abroad for a bit and met people from other countries.

I'm not a kid who was always good at school. Actually, I didn't do jack shit until I was 23. I tried 3 different uni's, did high school at the middle level etc.. And at the end of it the government still offered to pay for my year long programming course.

Of course I've always been good with computers but I never studied it properly. I got a good job and life now because even after 3 failed attempts I was still supported and I'm more than happy to pay it forward.

And also my loving parents who have never been mad with me and always supported me even through my games-way-too-much high school period and other weird quirks I had to overcome.

</comment><comment><USER58> Having all my extremities working perfectly, no diseases or major health issues.

Being born in a country with decent standards of living (Chile). Yeah, it's not as good as the US or Switzerland, but it's much better than every other latinamerican country, and better than most of the world.

Having access to the Internet, you guys understand better than anyone else why it's such a privilege.

Speaking English. I learned as a teenager playing videogames (Morrowind <3) and browsing sites like reddit. Now I don't have to worry about it like everyone else around me, I already know it.

Curiosity. I always want to understand how things work, in fact, it's what gives meaning to my life: Understading and applying the knowledge to create cool things.

</comment><comment><USER59> That I, unlike most of my biological ancestors, can expect a death that doesn't involve being eaten alive. Better yet, I was born at a time when my species had invented modern dentistry, and I'm able to afford it. Everything else is just gravy.

</comment><comment><USER60> I'm thankful for everything I've learned in the past 5 years while living in Seattle. I learned a lot about who I am, what I really value, and how I want to go forward and build my life with the people I care about. There was a lot of disillusionment involved, but it was necessary for growth.

I'm likewise thankful I will soon return to a place where I feel totally at home, and that I will be returning there without most of the baggage that made me want to leave. I'm thankful that my friends and family are patient with me, and though I may try their patience or be frustrating sometimes, ultimately, it doesn't change our core love and affection for one another.

</comment><comment><USER61> Just asked for a large raise, and while I don't yet know the outcome, I'm thankful that they seem to be taking it seriously.

(Outcome is unknown because email is down. I guess the IT guy seized the opportunity presented by the holiday for some maintenance!)

<comment><USER34> Kudos to that guy!

</comment></comment><comment><USER62> I am thankful that after about 6+ years, I found a solution to my leg issue where I could not stand for more than few mins. It actually turned out to be lack of proper sleep which was resolved using sleeping medication. Thank you!

</comment><comment><USER63> My family, my kids, my skills and the countless opportunities to apply them.

70+ years without major wars in Europe. The people that sacrificed their lives to make that happen.

My first stock option plan, which allowed me to live debt-free (excluding mortgage).

My health.

</comment><comment><USER64> Open source.

<comment><USER65> You know, I thought of this one too, even though it seemed to "HN-y." But it really is something that almost _demands_ gratitude---thousands (probably more like millions) of people have slaved away at making software work (and I know what that can be like), and I get to use the fruits of their labors. It's humbling.

</comment></comment><comment><USER66> I didn't realize until recently how much I took clean air for granted, but today I am thankful for it.

</comment><comment><USER67> Grateful that I can look back on my time on this planet and see a series of connected 'coincidences' that are leading to a future better than I can even imagine. The constituents of every little thing I enjoy in my everyday life were carefully produced by Nature over billions of years and were fashioned into useful or joyful things by other human beings. People no different from you or me in many respects.

Grateful to be an Indian-American and to be alive in 2018 AD instead of any other time in history. My cultural identity is rooted in my family tree that found a way to make it to the Land of Opportunity before I was born, the Natives who roamed these lands for millennia, and the pioneering ethos of America that established the National Park Service. Throughout my twenties, I've been fortunate to experience some of what was described in the Vedas, some sacred ceremonies of the Natives, and to be pursuing my version of the American Dream.

Grateful to have experienced the heaviness of the seafloor and the euphoria of the summit. These experiences have made it possible for me to empathically relate to nearly everyone I meet, even people who may not like me or agree with me. It puts the biggest smile on my face to be able to See the unity in the diversity, to Hear the order in the chaos, to Feel the perfection in the paradox. That I, too, can contribute to this collective creation we call 'civilization' if I can continue to cultivate the courage and compassion to overcome these mountains before me and within me.

Thanks for reading, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! :)

</comment><comment><USER68> \- My parents, for always being so articulative in every important sphere (education, health, finance, relationships)

\- My wife, for placing the faith in my gut instinct and guiding it with her solid planning skills

\- Common Lisp

\- HN

The above 4 have all combined forces in ways that I cannot appreciate enough but I know have been crucial in giving me a happy and peaceful work and personal life.

I with my wife are doing our bit to give back whatever good we have received. Thank you.

</comment><comment><USER69> Shipping containers - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcom_McLean](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcom_McLean)

</comment><comment><USER70> I am thankful for the same thing I am thankful for everyday, air in my lungs and a belly full of food. I found out a long time ago that is all it takes to make me happy.

</comment><comment><USER71> Thankful for my physical and mental health, which is all too easy to take for granted.

</comment><comment><USER72> Most mornings that I wake up, I am thankful. I make an effort to be mindful of my continued existence. I take a breath, realise I'm still alive, and acknowledge that today I have another opportunity to do better, be better, make amends, change what I can. Very often the mindfulness only lasts for 15 minutes and I do none of those things. But I'm thankful that every day, I get another chance.

</comment><comment><USER73> Separation of church and state.

<comment><USER74> Out of curiosity, which country are you from where this is followed?

</comment></comment><comment><USER75> That I get off work in 10 minutes and can go home and have whatever leftovers exist after working my 13th Thanksgiving in a row for shit pay.

<comment><USER76> Thank the fridge for holding the leftovers for you in an edible state.

</comment></comment><comment><USER77> Good health. Seriously. The one thing that the invincible young tech-crowd has to lose once to truly appreciate. Its close to everything.

</comment><comment><USER78> Grateful for the money I made within the last 10 years. I was aggressively trying to get to that point years ago and now here I am. Guess what, I haven't even spent a penny of that money, turns out I'm a minimalist. All I need is the drive to do things. I am simply grateful for that drive. Money made me realized that I don't need money.

</comment><comment><USER79> I'm thankful I got out of technology. The money is worse (so far), but everything else is much better for me.

</comment><comment><USER80> Haha, this is an easy one.

I am thankful that I can walk. I walk slowly and with a limp, but I walk a moderate amount of distance without pain to walk errands.

It is a leg injury that left me in constant pain and even in more pain on weight bearing. It took two surgeries to get me back on feet and I lost two years to the suffering.

</comment><comment><USER81> A good job as a software engineer that pays me generously enough to meet all my basic needs and enough leftover to feel a level of security and help out my family when they need it. Far too many people in the world have to live without financial security and I'm thankful that I have it.

</comment><comment><USER82> My team at work. We are racing to an important deadline. Everyone is working well together. Its just fun.

</comment><comment><USER49> Thank you for the software. Thank you for the hardware. Thank you for the Internet. Thank you for the Telecomms. Thank you for the Electricity Supply. Thank you for the Power Stations. Thank you for the Oil, Gas and Renewables. And thank you for the coffee mug my kids gave me.

</comment><comment><USER83> I'm thankful to my two primary teachers for their support. One of them is not with us on this earth and second, I don't know where she is.

but, when I think about my life back in the past how it was, I always think about them as how they are supportive to me. Otherwise, there was no way for me to study engineering as my parents already planned to give 12th standard education and then to involve in our small family business. But because of them, I came up with a bright student and my parent allow me to study further. I'm also thankful to my family. But as of now, I'm thinking about my fav. teachers.

</comment><comment><USER84> I'm thankful that the price of gasoline has dropped down to about $2 in much of the USA, in some cases even below. Tulsa is getting it for $1.90 now. It all feels like I'm seeing prices from the prior century.

<comment> Flip-per Why is this so important to you? I, living in Europe and not owning a car, would be happy about higher gas prices (they are way higher in Europe than in the US already). Because I hope this would help to reduce CO2 emissions.

<comment><USER84> Well, my van gets 11 MPG. I need this for a large family. (still fuel efficient due to number of people)

BTW, some conversions for you: My van needs about 21.38 liters per 100 km. The fuel price is about 0.46 Euro/L, in some cases as low as 0.44 Euro/L.

Low fuel cost is hugely important for the economy. High prices create a recession or depression. Fuel affects everything, and recently the price of oil dropped by 25%. Farm goods are affected by tractor fuel prices. Most plastic comes from oil. Our trains mostly run on diesel, so this can affect ticket prices. Normal planes require jet fuel, which is more of the same. Both exports and imports need bunker fuel for ships. Oil is even used to make roads and steel.

So the prices show up everywhere. You might not personally buy any fuel, but the cost of it is in the price of everything you buy.

I guess I can add: I'm thankful that I don't have to depend on non-redundant rail and unionized government workers for my transportation needs.

<comment><USER85> 11 MPG ??? How old is your van ?

<comment><USER84> It's the 2011 model year. It's a real van, with 15 seats, so 11 MPG is pretty good.

The engine: 5.4 L (330 cu in) SOHC 2V V8

It looks like this: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ford_E- Series_wagon.jpg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ford_E-Series_wagon.jpg)

Oh, also: I'm thankful I got a chance to buy a 15-passenger van before they were all legislated out of production. I'm thankful mine hasn't failed yet.

<comment><USER86> I personally prefer the diesel models, they are more reliable. I've heard horror stories about the gasoline-powered E-series and Chevy Express models.

I wasn't aware they're no longer in production? I just passed on a 2019 Chevy Express 15 passenger (see above). Also, loads of companies buy the base models from Ford and Chevy then outfit them with up to 15 seats and other amenities for use as passenger transport vans.

<comment><USER84> Oh maybe. Dodge ended production in June 2002. From the 2015 model year on, Ford won't do a passenger configuration. I thought the Chevy one was the Astro, which is discontinued.

So yes, the 2019 Chevy Express 15 passenger van is at least theoretically available. The dealer locator can't find such a vehicle within 250 miles of me, which includes almost the entire state of Florida.

It's unsurprising, because that would be a $250,000 liability for the seller if any subsequent buyer were to use the van for transporting school or daycare children. Nobody is crazy enough to sell these vans new in Florida.

The liability can be avoided by leasing the van and then selling it used. Sure enough, used vans are available. They are white (or rarely black) with gasoline engines and cloth seats. They are all the 2017 model (coming off 2-year leases) with about 40,000 miles of usage.

I dislike Chevy/GMC/Dodge/Chrysler vehicle controls, particularly the parking brake and the windshield wiper controls. Ford engines seem to work fine, gasoline included. I consider the Ford transmissions to be consumable parts like brake rotors, although so far mine is doing fine. The Chevy Express diesel engine is weak compared to the better gasoline engine, even for torque.

Well, thank you for the info. So now: I'm thankful that these vehicles haven't gone entirely extinct.

<comment><USER86> Oh, your comment makes me think that this might be a regional thing. Here in Illinois we have a special vehicle licensing program where non-commercial drivers (i.e. coaches, parents, teachers) may bus students (up to the 15-passenger limit) in these vans if the van is inspected at special safety inspection facilities every 6 months and displays that sticker on the windshield, so they're extremely popular with churches and small schools.

<comment><USER84> I wonder how that squares with federal law.

Federal law requires that states take measures to prevent such usage. Florida did what I explained. An alternative might be to make the usage a criminal offense, or to impose a fine on the driver, or to destroy any vehicle used for that purpose.

I don't see how Illinois can do as you say and still have federal highway funding.

This all came into being after lots of roll-over accidents made the news. I'd much rather the legislation mandate a better suspension and a better center of gravity, or simply some performance criterion to be tested.

<comment><USER86> They're recognized under NHTSA's MFSAB classification, which IDOT allowed (Illinois Public Act 96-410, Illinois Public Act 97-378) for non-mandatory school-related activities that do not include transportation between home/bus stops/school, provided the aforementioned six-monthly safety checks are up to date.

Illinois Public Act 97-896 and Public Act 99-888 extended this to include mandatory school activities but only when driven by a driver with a school bus driving permit.

Here's the most important bill: [http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name...](http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=096-0410)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER87> Being brought to existence as a human, an in a prosperous country on top of that.

</comment><comment><USER88> I'm thankful for every piece of code that has run in my computer. I'm grateful for all of you guys for helpful advice and fruitful discussions. Thanks for keep this flame burning with hope!

</comment><comment><USER4> I honestly don't know. I feel grateful for the basic stimuli of physical existence. I don't really feel very good about anything else in my life due to years of serious health problems and my lack of a positive future - the best thing I have going now is that nobody can take anything away from me, I'd happily just die.

In the meantime, and thankful to be living in this time and amazing technology and opportunity. I'm grateful to be in a booming city with the glitzy culture during a time of relative peace.

HN is great too, you're right.

</comment><comment><USER89> I'm thankful that

\- I found my wife and she agreed to spend the rest of her life with me. \- I was lucky to born into a loving family in a relatively stable part of the world \- that I earn money (decent money) doing something I enjoy

</comment><comment><USER90> 6 years ago I was in high school, rural USA, living in the unfinished attic of a house with a Master Lock on the pantry door (parents' idea of extending food runway). I had also never written a single line of code!

Now I have a beautiful apartment in Manhattan all to myself and I can do whatever the hell I want.

So thankful for everyone on the internet who acknowledged programming as a viable career. If I didn't have the software community telling me all this stuff was possible I never would have even tried.

</comment><comment><USER91> A lot of things. But most immediately coming to mind are.

A) My wife, and family B) Having the opportunity to go to work each day and work in a sector I can feel good about. (Medical software)

</comment><comment><USER92> 1\. Health

I have seen people and family members suffer from very bad chronic deseases. It can make your life a nightmare. I'm thankful that I'm relatively healthy and can lead a normal life without having to deal with problems of my body falling apart.

2\. Family

It's very important to have people you know love you despite your flaws and to know there'll always be some people to have your back even when anybody else doesn't care.

3\. Friends

Very important to have good friends that you can talk to and help each other.

</comment><comment><USER93> A sufficient amount of mental fortitude to continue with the struggles of living.

Dark Souls.

Friends I can count on one hand.

Everyone working at improving the human condition.

</comment><comment><USER94> I'm thankful that Guido van Rossum made the Python programming language. It's the first language I really delved deep into in high school and it made me seriously consider a future in computer science. It's also a delightful language that I've had a fun time with and made some money with.

</comment><comment><USER95> I was dead-broke four years ago, when I was just completing my Education at the age of Thirty. Four years later, I am doing OK (by my Country's standards) and I can count on many people as good friends.

I am thankful towards life for giving me a second chance to undo the mistakes that I committed the first time over.

</comment><comment><USER96> I am thankfulk i tumbled on the video "Weezer - Pork And Beans" which then lead me to the following post before joining HN.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17334552](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17334552)

</comment><comment><USER97> There is so much to be thankful for. Thank you to the many people on HN who have taken the time to type in an insightful comment and have resisted the urge to just down vote something they disagreed with and had the respect to share some insight.

</comment><comment><USER98> I N T E R N E T

The wealth of informtaion and access to people it brings. It truly is web of human minds.

</comment><comment><USER99> My dog and best friend Merlin.

</comment><comment><USER100> Emacs.

<comment><USER101> And Org mode.

</comment></comment><comment><USER102> > _only read divisive threads and thus see it as a monoculture._

Wouldn't a divisive thread be seen as the opposite of a monoculture? Where you have disagreements, you have a range of perspectives.

</comment><comment><USER103> Family and friends.

Tonight was wonderful. Every year is better than the last.

</comment><comment><USER104> My wife and all the shit she put up with living with me.

</comment><comment><USER105> Algebraic data types

</comment><comment><USER106> The Hubble Ultra-Deep Field image, global connectivity, living at a time, and having the resources, to use one for viewing the other.

</comment><comment><USER107> Great parents, lovely family (wife, kids), being healthy and able to work hard to provide them everything they need in life.

</comment><comment><USER108> I am thankful for being happy and healthy.

</comment><comment><USER109> I am thankful for my parents because they raise me up and fully support me in the journal of startup.

</comment><comment><USER110> Typescript

</comment><comment><USER111> Family. All my family deeply loves each other, a true blessing.

</comment><comment><USER112> Elixir. It made me a better programmer in every language.

</comment><comment><USER113> Thankful for encryption, as it is synonymous with liberty.

</comment><comment><USER114> dear me, thank you for being me.

</comment><comment><USER115> Jesus

<comment><USER116> This is the most under-voted answer.

</comment></comment><comment><USER117> Insatiable curiosity.

</comment><comment><USER118> Film and music.

</comment><comment><USER119> HN, of course.

</comment><comment><USER120> Everything

</comment><comment><USER121> Math textbooks

</comment><comment><USER122> RS3057 gene for giving me absolute pitch.

Fast twitch muscle fibers for getting be bigger muscle faster with less training

23andme for telling me about my abilities which i never knew about</comment>


African Y Combinator "Clone": Appfrica - <AUTHOR> http://appfrica.net/blog/main <comment><AUTHOR> Actually, they say "loosely modeled after", but I'm not sure how to put that in the title.

It actually looks pretty cool. One of the great things about the internet is how fast good ideas can spread.

</comment><comment><USER2> Given how much connectivity in Africa is likely to grow in the coming years, this looks like a good thing for Africa based entrepreneurs.</comment>


Building and Motivating Engineering Teams - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@skamille/building-and-motivating-engineering-teams-24fd56910039#.suk0zdr0l <comment><AUTHOR> > Respect that engineers are smart individuals who often have more to add to > your business than just their coding talents, and teach them to respect that > the other parts of the business have equally valuable skills and > perspectives. Engineers don't need to feel like the company royalty to be > inspired to do good work, but they do need the opportunity to be treated > like a partner.</comment>


Steam in Docker - <AUTHOR> https://hub.docker.com/r/andrey01/steam <comment><USER2> Interesting approach! I work on the itch.io app (functionality overlaps the Steam client somewhat, but with a different content offering / different way of running things) and we do address both concerns:

      * app isn't tied to / doesn't assume a Debian-ish distribution (we ship .deb, .rpm, a PKGBUILD, and a simple binary .tar.xz)
      * app uses firejail on Linux (sandbox-exec on macOS, different user on Windows) to "set up more fences around" games you download from the internet.

There's a bunch more features we want to add to the app (live video capture, see itchio/capsule on github, synced collections, etc.) — but isolating "downloaded apps" from the rest of the system seemed like a sensible prerequisite on the road to doing that.

I don't want to spam links, but if you're interested in our approach, you can probably search "itch.io sandbox" with your favorite search engine and stumble upon it :)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks @fasterthanlime !

Is there something that the firejail does better than the Docker?

I can see the firejail also uses the namespaces and seccomp-bpf.

<comment><USER2> I suspect that this question was covered in the HN entry for firejail earlier today: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12239840](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12239840) \- but in our case, it's just that it's lighter.

If I'm not mistaken, containers come with their own userland, if you want a useful graphical container you're in for a few hundred megabytes of dependencies, whereas sandboxing approaches (firejail, projectatomic/bubblewrap - used by flatpak for example) just try and limit what a process in the same user space has access to.

I wanted a solution that was low-overhead enough that it was a no-brainer for users to turn it on. However, it's not perfect: our sandbox policy could use tightening (as long as it doesn't break too much stuff), and having an additional SUID binary around is definitely something to look out for.

I'm hoping that more interest gathers around sandboxes and that they become more mainstream in Linux ecosystems. "Trusting package maintainers" only goes so far, and doesn't really account for third-parties shipping binary packages!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Is this meant to make uninstalling Steam easier than it is now?

Or is this an exercise in getting GUI applications with slightly exotic features (GPU access) to run?

I'd like to understand why this was made but it isn't described in the usage instructions.

<comment><AUTHOR> I think it should be pretty obvious why people put things into containers :-)

Few main points though, which pushed me making this Docker container:

1\. I want to set-up more fences when running the code I don't/can't trust;

2\. I don't want to spend time on figuring out how to install Steam (what deps) in a non-Debian (or non-SteamOS) based distro;

3\. I like cleanliness: I can erase Steam and all its dependencies in a matter of seconds;

4\. Like you said, it was an interesting exercise and it still needs some polishing :-)

And few Pros from my PoV:

\- I can have Steam on my Ubuntu/openSUSE/[put any other distro I will want to use] in a short time that Docker takes when downloads this Steam container;

\- Since Steam is meant to run in Debian (SteamOS) based distro, it is not a problem anymore, since it is in a container now.

<comment><USER4> So you don't trust application code, but you trust image makers code?.

<comment><AUTHOR> This thread is not about to what extent I trust things.

But security-wise, running it in a container is better, than running it without isolation. IMHO.

And of course, no one asks getting this image built by the 3rd party, since the Dockerfile is open, just build it yourself ;-)

<comment><USER5> There is very little reason to believe that escalated privileges are not possible within a given virtualized environment, at least with current technologies.

Containers are great for development and production on your own infrastructure, or shared infrastructure like GCE or AWS. Security can be had from doing inspected builds, self signing, etc.

For consumers, however, it's a completely different ballgame.

<comment><USER6> All those Docker commands usually run as root or something equivalent to root. So a container breakout could lead to root on the host system.

I think kordless is claiming that using Docker here could increase the severity of an attack; otherwise it doesn't seem like putting up another barrier could hurt security, even if it is later broken.

<comment><USER5> My claim would be applied to all virtualized environments, including containers and VMs - not just Docker. Microkernels have a decent shot at keeping the security issue at bay, but even then it can't keep them out forever.

Everything falls to hacking eventually. That's the nature of it, at least till now.

I would note that Docker is primarily a tool for developers and operations folk who are also the author of the software being run. Docker itself is not the risk here, but using it for some use cases may very well be.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I made a separate user for using Steam (and other games), and it involved a little bit of routing when it comes to X11 and PulseAudio. My reason for doing so was primarily because of how games create many dotfiles, and I wanted my home folder clean.

<comment><USER8> I did something similar by installing Steam to a chroot environment.

"Those who do not understand UNIX are condemned to reinvent it, poorly." \-- Henry Spencer, programmer

This goes doubly for "containers" not understanding chroot/jails.

<comment><AUTHOR> Well, there is a distinct difference between traditional chroot and the Linux control groups and namespaces.

If only chroot was enough, noone would be investing their time to the cgroups, namespaces, LXC, Docker, etc... :-)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> This is hardcoding driver versions: [https://github.com/arno01/steam/blob/master/docker- compose.y...](https://github.com/arno01/steam/blob/master/docker-compose.yml)

Is there a better way?

<comment><AUTHOR> I haven't come up with a better idea obviously. :-) Suggestions/PR's are greatly welcomed!

<comment><USER10> At NVIDIA we maintain this utility: [https://github.com/NVIDIA/nvidia- docker](https://github.com/NVIDIA/nvidia-docker)

It automatically discovers the devices and the right driver files on the host.

The main goal is compute (CUDA), but we also demonstrated how to run TF2 on Steam OS during our DockerCon 16 OpenForum presentation.

Nice job! :)

<comment><USER9> I'm really not up on how this all works, but isn't [https://github.com/NVIDIA/nvidia- docker/blob/master/ubuntu-1...](https://github.com/NVIDIA/nvidia- docker/blob/master/ubuntu-16.04/cuda/8.0/runtime/Dockerfile#L17) hardcoding driver versions in a different way?

<comment><USER10> No, this is the CUDA toolkit, it doesn't depend on the driver version. You can compile CUDA code without having a GPU (which is the case during a "docker build").

Edit: in other words, your Docker image doesn't depend on a specific driver version and can be ran on any machine with sufficient drivers. Driver files are mounted as a volume when starting the container.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I'm running steam in a systemd container, the main issues were sound and notifications: I don't understand how pulseaudio works, so I had to give share some system directories with the guest system to get the sound working. Notifications were solved by sharing dbus. GPU was shared by sharing a single directory in /dev with correct persmissions

<comment><AUTHOR> @ingenter please refer to the docker-compose.yml file of the source repository.

To make pulseaudio work in a container, you basically want to pass these volumes from the host to a container:

\- /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro

\- /etc/machine-id:/etc/machine-id:ro

\- $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/pulse:/run/user/1000/pulse

And then, this environment variable:

PULSE_SERVER=unix:$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/pulse/native

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Why would I want to do this?

<comment><USER13> I don't know much about Docker, but I know Steam for Linux is built for Ubuntu. Maybe Docker helps for distros like Fedora? The benefit is probably highest in the case of NixOS, because Steam changes stuff behind the scenes and so isn't really compatible with declarative package managers.

<comment> vertex-four NixOS supports Steam wonderfully - it creates a half-container (alternate filesystem root, shared networking) which looks like what Steam expects, has full access to graphics drivers and your home directory, and can be executed like any other app (run "steam"). The full Docker infrastructure isn't really necessary.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Steam is exactly the kind of software that should be distributed using Flatpak[0].

[0] [http://flatpak.org/](http://flatpak.org/)

<comment><USER15> Sounds like an excellent plan to end up with outdated libraries and full of security holes.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Why use docker instead of something like flatpak or snap?

<comment><USER17> Personally I'd love a Steam flatpak, but since the current images are based on Fedora AFAICT (no surprise there, GNOME/FreeDesktop project) it would take a lot more work since you'd have ta create a Debian/Ubuntu SDK to base it from.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> I use this on an otherwise free-software-only system (Parabola/Trisquel), since the only proprietary software I ever use is games, so I try as hard to isolate proprietary code as much as possible (without performance loss, which happens with VMs). This sort of goes with point "1\. I want to set-up more fences when running the code I don't/can't trust;"

</comment><comment><USER19> How is the GUI accessed? X11 socket sharing? Because I guess that for gaming both X11 over SSH and VNC would not perform very well...

<comment><AUTHOR> The same way as every local application is accessing it, via a Unix domain socket /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix / DISPLAY=unix$DISPLAY :-)

This will give you a frame rate identical to your host, so there is no overhead running your 3D apps in the container.

<comment><USER20> Is there any overhead at all in using Steam (or anything) through Docker?

I'm not very familiar with using Docker.

<comment><AUTHOR> The overhead is negligible (close to 0). ;-)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I proposed the same idea for GOG and their Linux games a few years ago. At that time they didn't get the point.

<comment><USER22> They still don't, since they ask their Linux users to install tons of libraries on their own. Not that they really care about Linux anyway... (still not GOG Galaxy client...)

<comment><USER21> Libraries are OK to install. You can do the same in the Docker container. What Docker does is better isolation from the rest of the system. You can do it yourself with cgroups / lxc, but Docker gives higher level management.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Been there, done that. Here's a video where I run Counter Strike through steam in a docker container.

[https://youtu.be/ZHWsR8TnKsw?t=801](https://youtu.be/ZHWsR8TnKsw?t=801)

PS: Audio is in spanish.

<comment><AUTHOR> I bet there are dozens or maybe even hundreds of people who run CS in a container. What, I believe, makes the difference is that when one shares with the reproducible results. :-)

<comment><USER23> The video I posted is a complete tech talk about how achieved it :)

<comment><AUTHOR> Cool :) Pity it isn't in English.. :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> How does persistent state work with this? For example, what happens to my saved games? What if I update the image (for example to pick up a Steam update)? What will happen to those saved games?

<comment><USER25> Mount volumes that correspond to save locations. The volume should be persistent so even if the image changes the data will remain.

<comment><USER24> Aren't save locations different on a per-game basis? So does this need configuration? If not, then how does it work without user intervention?

<comment><USER25> If you don't want to do something smarter, by nature of the file system that Steam rests on, there must necessarily exist some folder s.t. all save locations exist in a subfolder (recursive) of this folder. You'll use extra space, but you can definitely do that easily.

Alternatively, you can keep an environment variable GAME_SAVE_MOUNTS to which you append a -v flag with the desired mount saves. You can that start your container with $GAME_SAVE_MOUNTS and have everything work out of the box.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> How is the performance on this compared to a bare metal install?

IE how many FPS do you get with a native Steam install vs Dockerized Steam on the same hardware?

<comment><AUTHOR> It's been already discussed in this thread. The performance impact should be negligible. I am having ~110-150 FPS with my nVidia 560 Ti in CS:GO , 1920x1080.

The precise testing haven't been done explicitly to measure increase/decrease. But feel free to test it. ;)

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> How big is the % FPS decrease if you run the game inside container, compared to just running it regularly?

<comment><AUTHOR> I haven't spotted the decrease. On the opposite, even some increase :-) (Or was that just a placebo effect? :) )

There actually shouldn't be any significant decrease since the Docker's overhead is negligible.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> Could this improve or worsen the VAC mechanism?

<comment><AUTHOR> It's absolutely irrelevant since Docker (cgroups) are just the Linux kernel abstraction which helps to isolate resources of the processes. And with this image the general idea is that it comes like a package, with "just take & run" approach, eliminating the need to depend on the specific Debian-based Linux distro (which is required by Steam and provided with this Docker image).

Then as discussed in this thread, it gives few security advantages, control benefits since those isolated resources are controllable.

<comment><USER28> thanks a lot for this clarification!</comment></comment></comment>


Apologies from Flipkart for #BigBillionDay sale mess - <AUTHOR> http://blog.flipkart.com/apologies-from-flipkart/

<comment><USER2> From the blog:

We realise that the shopping experience for many of you was frustrating due to errors and unavailability of the website at times. We had deployed nearly 5000 servers and had prepared for 20 times the traffic growth – but the volume of traffic at different times of the day was much higher than this. We are continuing to significantly scale up all our back end systems so that we do a much, much better job next time.

</comment><comment><USER2> Why does someone need 5000 servers for 1 billion hits? Even at 20X the suggested traffic it seems to be extremely over provisioned and under optimized.</comment>


Redesigned iOS App Switcher: Auxo (for jailbreak) - <AUTHOR> http://www.macrumors.com/2012/12/22/auxo-shows-off-a-redesigned-ios-app-switcher/

<comment><AUTHOR> Seems very nice and useful.

I don't know if this is the right way, but Apple should definitely find a way for \- Easy turn on/off Wi-fi, 3G, etc, \- Closing all running apps at once.</comment>


Any founders with English as a second language? - <AUTHOR> Hi everyone<p>How many of your founders out there have English as a second language? What do you do when you need help with improving your English or just help on improving a document? <comment><USER2> Really depends where you live and your resources. The best solution is to attend an adult english course. The side-benefit is you meet others in a similar situation to yourself.

Other alternatives are to find a fluent English speaking/writing co-founder or to pay for professional editing / copywriting /PR services. Of course, these alternatives presume that you have above average technical skills in your domain of expertise.

Over the long-term you probably would benefit the most from the first suggestion. Your success in an English speaking country takes a big hit if you are not able to fluently communicate with others in a variety of situations. Of course, if you are targeting a specific multi-cultural demographic, then such concerns are greatly diminished.</comment>


Inside the world of Australian opal miners who live underground - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2016/11/16/inside-the-world-of-australian-opal-miners-who-live-underground/ <comment><USER2> In 1990 a friend and I spent a few months driving across Australia and stopped in Coober Pedy on our way from Alice Springs to Adelaide. We had intended to just stop for the night but ended up staying a few days because it was such an unusual place. Highly recommend stopping if you're in the area. The opal fever is a real thing. Most of the residents that we talked to had made one big score and were hoping for that next one. My favorite anecdote from there: we went to the town's drive in theater one night and there was a sign at the entrance stating "no explosives allowed".

<comment><USER3> Heh, I too spent some time there, and it's definitely a dangerous place to go walking around at night with all the uncovered disused mineshafts - there's signs which warn against walking backwards for this reason! The golf course there is also twinned with St Andrews! There's no grass but they are very dedicated. Linky: [http://www.cooberpedygolfclub.com.au](http://www.cooberpedygolfclub.com.au)

<comment><USER4> "Keep off grass" :D

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Where is there what looks like a spaceship straight out of Star Wars in this GMaps photo of Coober Pedy?

[https://www.google.com/maps/place/Coober+Pedy+SA+5723,+Austr...](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Coober+Pedy+SA+5723,+Australia/@-29.009874,134.754536,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1s115005181!2e1!3e10!6s%2F%2Flh4.googleusercontent.com%2Fproxy%2FjEmv4Fjo- FWMnTF1Op_52ZeHMgpTHu5EnfETUOL59iuY5GkkU39vmuD7elalNluJTU7x4y059wjPimQahKJGeNRQv8zvVGo%3Dw172-h86!7i2592!8i1296!4m5!3m4!1s0x2acd47b70d421037:0x4033654628ed3b0!8m2!3d-29.0138504!4d134.753253)

Edit: I thought it may be photoshopped, but it's in the satellite view:

[https://www.google.com/maps/place/111+Hutchison+St,+Coober+P...](https://www.google.com/maps/place/111+Hutchison+St,+Coober+Pedy+SA+5723,+Australia/@-29.0097761,134.7547685,222a,49.3y,2.86t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x2accdf66fd717823:0x4a1f89c454f25245!8m2!3d-29.0097048!4d134.7540527)

<comment><USER6> It's a prop from Pitch Black, the Vin Diesel movie. This YouTube clip shows it: [https://youtu.be/11uE0vKMPKQ?t=7m20s](https://youtu.be/11uE0vKMPKQ?t=7m20s)

<comment><USER5> Wow, I remember now :D

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I stayed in Coober Pedy when I drove from Darwin to Melbourne. I remember it very well for two reasons. One, I thought to myself that it was the most depressing town I'd ever been. It was hot, dry, dusty and there's literally nothing around. Also, the vegetation never grows higher than 30 centimeters or so; you'll notice on the pictures in the article that the only tree you see is on the painting. Secondly, it's been the only time in my life that I pitched my tent in an underground camping. The biggest advantage was that I didn't need to put in the pegs as there was no wind.

On a side note, our neighbor in the camping was a cyclist who cycled from London to Singapore, took a boat to Perth, and was now cycling through Australia. I couldn't imagine crossing the desert on a bike, yet he was doing it. I just checked his Facebook and it turns out that 4 years later he's still touring the world on his bike!

</comment><comment><USER8> Impressive images. For a minute i started googling the composition of opals, thinking there must be a smarter way to find them... until I stopped and realised what rabbithole I was beginning to climb down.

<comment><USER2> Finding opals is not the problem, they are everywhere there, finding opals with valuable color traits is the problem. It's highly random is my understanding.

<comment><USER9> I traded opals for a while, but my supply was boulder opals from around Quilpie in Queensland. Not underground like Coober Pedy and White Cliffs, but still not a whole lot there![1]

One of the best introductory books about opals is Opal Identification & Value by Paul B. Downing. It's a few years old now (latest version 2002, first published 1992), but really does cover all the basics of different types and their value very well.

[1] [http://www.opalsdownunder.com.au/learn-about- opals/intermedi...](http://www.opalsdownunder.com.au/learn-about- opals/intermediate/queensland-opal-mining-fields)

<comment><USER10> This comment is why I read hacker news.

Talk about finding a "gem" of a comment.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> The photos make it look rather bleak, but it's incredibly bright and sunny, and when we visited it seemed like a cheerful enough place.

<comment><USER12> Part of the situation where artists should leave in the meta data the filters, lenses, and other things they applied in an effort to get a photo ready for an article. These photos are gritty, amazingly normal for these type of articles.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I was literally the only guest in an underground hostel when I stayed there. A very odd feeling sleeping on your own in a rock cave.

Even though I found it a bit bleak, everybody in Australia should see this place - it's like visiting another country.

</comment><comment><USER14> I didn't see it mentioned but how do they survive? I am assuming that the mining is like freelance work and they sell whatever they find...but to who? The way it read this is a remote place, where do they get food (I assume not much grows in that terrain)[0]?

Even if people worked with other residents for favors/barters instead of money the food thing much be ridiculously expensive to import all of it.

I can imagine hitting that one jackpot find but at the same time not getting one seems like it would be impossible to survive for long.

[0]This kind of applies to most of Australia I imagine though.

I wish they hadn't filtered all the photos but that's nothing to do with the place.

<comment><USER15> _(I assume not much grows in that terrain)[0]_

Not quite.

 _Australian farmers and graziers own 135,997 farms, covering 61% of Australia 's landmass._[1]

 _We are able to export more than half of our agricultural produce, while more than 90 per cent of fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, milk and eggs sold in supermarkets are domestically produced._ [2]

1\. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_Australia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_Australia)

2\. [http://www.agriculture.gov.au/ag-farm- food/food](http://www.agriculture.gov.au/ag-farm-food/food)

<comment><USER14> I had never seen an image of Australia with grass. I've always seen desert or city (like Sydney). It just never entered my mind that green stuff grew there. My geography knowledge is horrid so I just figured whatever I saw on tv/images was what it was like all over. Really cool that it's not actually the case.

<comment><USER16> That's interesting - I thought our tourism board advertised our beaches, huge rainforests in the north and big wine regions down south pretty widely.

There is a lot of desert but that's pretty much all in the middle of the country where almost nobody lives.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Some guys stopped here on a roadtrip and interviewed one of the residents and showed his underground home. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfXGuH_I9do](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfXGuH_I9do)

<comment><USER18> Coober Pedy has one of the most beautiful underground churches I have ever seen [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1sINQ77Q28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1sINQ77Q28)

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Ancient plant and animals fossilized in opal look amazing.

Opal is made of tiny spheres of silicon I have no idea why I didn't know that all these years I guess to me opal never looked like dull grey silicon.

<comment><USER20> Opal is made of small spheres of _silica_ , SiO2, the same material as quartz.

<comment><USER19> Aww :(

Well I was 33% right.

<comment><USER20> More than that, by mass anyway. :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I wish I'd known it was that interesting, I'd have dropped by on my grand tour a few years ago. Maybe one for the next time I visit.</comment>


Visualising the Ruby Global VM Lock - <AUTHOR> http://johnleach.co.uk/words/1245/visualising-the-ruby-global-vm-lock

<comment><USER2> There's an endless philosophical debate between evented (Node, EventMachine) and blocking/threaded architectures. And evented programming seems to get a bad reputation in some circles as an "over-hyped" paradigm. But it's cases like this where the difference becomes truly clear. A developer making a native extension for an evented architecture is _forced_ to make every operation nonblocking, while consistent lock release is much more of an optional optimization for a blocking architecture. Sure, you can get equally good performance with a blocking architecture, and slightly easier syntax, but for many of the native extensions you might use, it's very possible that the authors didn't think to do this type of analysis, or even know about rb_thread_blocking_region and its ilk. So naive implementations may be wasting threads exactly like this example. I'd much rather have nested closures where I'm relatively guaranteed that the only inefficiencies are in CPU time rather than blocking.</comment>


Operation Dark Winter - <AUTHOR> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Dark_Winter <comment><USER2> It is disappointing that the US got all of the authoritarian surveillance that China did but few/none of the safety/planning upsides it could be used to bring. It's the worst of all possible configurations.

I wish that extremely large government would use its vast resources to plan for large risks other than "people with guns/bombs/tanks/missiles/planes want to kill us", and focus at least some of that on emergency preparedness. Why isn't there a strategic nationwide domestic reserve of supplies for emergencies? I know this is what FEMA is supposed to be doing, but they are _utterly_ terrible at it.

If we're paying most of a trillion dollars each year for defense, why not defend us at least a little bit against stuff that might well happen sooner or later: giant fires, flooding, pandemics, big/long power outages, fuel shortages, water or food shortages, ice storms, et c? It's really disappointing to see almost 100% of that money going to a system that is focused more on war (which is, to varying degrees, mostly preventable) and almost none to natural catastrophes (which are absolutely inevitable).

<comment><USER3> That wouldn't line the pockets of the oligarchs and the good ol boy network, because it would require the money to actually go to resources and not just overblown accounting entries to cover the pocketbook lining in the first place. The DC elite say fluffy words in public but in private are almost to a person "fuck you I got mine" people. They take oaths but don't mean them.

It's the sad truth that greed is the largest part of it, which enables the oligarchs to buy the politicians in the first place. Then if some rare person does resist, there are a whole slew of tools to use against them to force compliance, usually in the realm of blackmail (this is what Epstein was). These tools grow even more powerful as the surveillance engine is expanded (and the truism to remember is that surveillance is about control, not security). lookup Thomas Drake and William Binney to find out what happens to people on the inside who actually care about security and not control.

Top down compromise of a centralized system makes the system increasingly trivial to control as the compromise progresses.

<comment><USER4> > That wouldn't line the pockets of the oligarchs and the good ol boy network

Step back for a minute and think about what you are writing and how you came to such a childish view of the world

<comment><USER5> I'd say his viewpoint is quite realistic and based on common knowledge. It's comments like yours that are childish.

If you really believe the structure of US expenses isn't heavily impacted by interests of a few rich, powerful men then I'd call your view of the world very naive.

<comment><USER6> People don't vote for flood protection.

They do like military spending.

I think sometimes folks wrap up the political will of the people in "oligarchy" simply because they don't like what those folks want or value.

<comment><USER7> People don't vote on things, they vote on other people. That's the first problem of modern democracy.

Second problem: to the extent people vote on politicians over things they promise, they vote based on what politicians _say they will do_ (and not in absolute, but relative to competing politicians), not over what they actually do or have done in the past. Since politicians are not accountable for their promises, and the general population has a _really_ short memory, the main impact of voting is as an indirect signal - politicians hoping for being (re)elected have to say and do the things they hope will win them the next elections.

(In other words: the control input to political decision making system isn't what the populace wants, but the _prediction_ of what would make most people vote favorably.)

Three: people vote based on what the media they read tells them is important, which usually has zero relation to reality and relative relevance of things. I'm far from believing media sources (including social media) are bought and controlled by politicians - no, _it 's worse_. All sides _try_ to nudge and control the narrative, and not just the government, but also the private sector. No one wins that tug-of-war, but the end result is that modern media is a form of complete DDoS attack on population's cognitive capabilities. It's literally making the society stupid.

<comment><USER8> Voting for people means you can hold them accountable. They lay out their policies, if you trust the person and like their policies you vote them in. If they under-perform you vote them out. Along with a separation of powers to limit abuses, it works very well.

Voting for specific policies directly is often disastrous. Look at the way voter initiatives ring fence high levels of spending while also restricting taxation. Look at how Brexit became such a dumpster fire because a government and an elected parliament was compelled to try to implement a policy the government and a majority of MPs disagreed with. Voting for things not people inevitably creates a breakdown in responsibility, especially for complex policies that could be implemented in many ways and involve difficult trade offs.

I'm not against referendums in principle, they can work, but only if they are seeking permission to implement a policy supported by the government that is calling the referendum. In that situation the lines of responsibility are clear, and for an important decision it can make sense to hold a referendum.

<comment><USER9> _> Voting for people means you can hold them accountable._

Then how come the US Congress has extremely low approval ratings, but also extremely high incumbent re-election rates?

<comment><USER10> I'm willing to bet there is a study about the effects of letting people who are elected be involved in the process of re-drawing the districts they are elected from.

<comment><USER8> I'm in the UK and frankly the level of gerrymandering in the US is appalling. I mean it's your system, I hesitate to judge generally speaking, but OMG is your system of redistricting screwed up.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> pure-awesome I was confused what they meant by "simulation". But they basically mean like a role-playing game. Like, they acted out how they would respond in that particular situation.

This site has more info:

[http://www.upmc- biosecurity.org/website/events/2001_darkwint...](http://www.upmc- biosecurity.org/website/events/2001_darkwinter/index.html)

[http://www.upmc- biosecurity.org/website/events/2001_darkwint...](http://www.upmc- biosecurity.org/website/events/2001_darkwinter/summary.html#players)

<comment><USER11> Yes. Like a war game. A standard way to prepare for contingency scenarios. Not all simulations are _computer_ simulations ;)

<comment> pure-awesome I wasn't only thinking of computer simulations. The word "simulation" is very vague.

It could potentially mean one of:

\- Computer Simulation

\- Pen & Paper Mathematical models

\- Pen & Paper narrative modelling (i.e., writing a paper about different situations and the possible contingency plans - though granted this is not usually referred to as "simulation")

\- Role-playing a situation via speech

\- Acting out a situation with props and physical movement / simulated limited communication

\- Sending out simulated broadcasts ("this is only a test")

\- Sending out false but believable broadcasts

\- Infecting the public with a (hopefully less harmful) disease in order to gauge response.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Those hoping to draw lessons from this should be aware that folks who contract smallpox had a relatively large chance of dying, ranging from 30% to as high of 75% for certain strains. It is assumed weaponized form of smallpox would be highly lethal. Meanwhile COVID-19 seems to have a lethality ranging from 1-3%.

<comment><USER13> I made comments about being logical about corona virus and I got down voted into oblivion.

This disease has never been about lethality, but about panic.

I am not sure if it's just good for the mass media to have a panic to discuss, or if it was a concerted effort by some to make it a panic.

<comment><USER14> A fatality rate of 1-3% is actually quite high. This is significantly higher than the seasonal flu[1]. Sure, it's not as deadly as other pandemics, but still - if the numbers are correct, if you contract COVID-19 you are more likely to die to it than you are to get in a car accident sometime in your life and die from that[2].

[1] [https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-compared-to- flu-...](https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-compared-to-flu- mortality-rates-2020-3)

[2] [https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/all-injuries/preventable- death-o...](https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/all-injuries/preventable-death- overview/odds-of-dying/)

<comment><USER13> Sure, but Ebola is way, way worse, and it was all over Africa for awhile a few years back (IRC) and it even got to the US, and hardly a peep of panic about it.

I think we are going to find out in the next year that half the people that were infected were false positives just like many other scares produce. (like HIV)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> >In Dark Winter, some members advised the imposition of geographic quarantines around affected areas, but the implications of these measures (e.g., interruption of the normal flow of medicines, food and energy supplies, and other critical needs) were not clearly understood at first.[5] In the end, it is not clear whether such draconian measures would have led to a more effective interruption of disease spread.

That's one of the more interesting questions. Is it possible to have an effective quarantine in this day and age?

<comment><USER15> The answer to your question is: Wuhan.

<comment><USER6> These days it is difficult to know what people are saying on the internet.

Do you mean it is or isn't possible, or something else?

<comment><USER16> I presume they mean it isn't possible, as there was an attempted quarantine around Wuhan, and yet coronavirus still spread.

<comment><USER15> It's like with 42. You see what you want to see. Who knows if Wuhan is a success or not. There is no benchmark. If Seattle, Mediolan etc have 1M cases but Wuhan stays around 100K then their containment will be hailed a monumental success. But if everyone else contains this below 10K and Wuhan stays like today, it will be a failure. But it's still the answer to OPs question, as Wuhan is the baseline.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> This was the fundamental inspiration behind a game I helped to make: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgvo-9pJ1EU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgvo-9pJ1EU)

</comment><comment><USER18> See the Millennium Challenge 2002 for another interesting "war game", this one a simulated war between the US and Iran: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Challenge_2002](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Challenge_2002)

<comment><USER19> Which essentially showed the US would not only be unsuccessful attacking Iran but also lose in a humiliating fashion, making Gulf War 1/2 and Afghanistan look like child's play.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> This wikipedia page makes a noise. I hear a buzz for only this tab and only this wikipedia page. Strange.

</comment><comment><USER21> Well, to quote Tyson, "everybody has a plan, until they got punched in the face".

<comment><USER22> I feel as if the US government really _didn 't_ have much of a plan, and we're still getting punched in the face.</comment></comment>


Remember To Make It Easy To Buy - kyle-burton http://www.innovationontherun.com/remember-to-make-it-easy-to-buy/ Building a successful product is hard.  You think so much about what features a user needs and how you can have a better product than your competition, how you can win.  However, sometimes we forget an important part of the process, how do I make it easy for a customer to buy. <comment><AUTHOR> funny i was just thinking about payment methods.

why dont more services just offer an activation code via sms?

i do not want to giveout my visa left and right and it is too complicated anyway.

but just sending an sms and getting a verification code is simple and safe and fast.</comment>


IE: The Bizarre and Unhappy Story of 'file:' URLs - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.msdn.com/freeassociations/archive/2005/05/19/420059.aspx

<comment><USER2> Just FYI, I think this post may have been written by Zeke of "Asking to use the bathroom" fame (<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=711709>).

</comment><comment><USER3> The blog's layout truncates the useful information in his post:

Call shlwapi like this: PathCreateFromUrl(pszUrl, pszPath, cchPath, dwFlags);

</comment><comment><USER4> Blog narrative is retarded, this is no Homer's Iliad.</comment>


Ask HN: What are your opinions on NDAs when discussing/doing work for startups? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> An NDA or MNDA is strictly a non-disclosure agreement. They should not be confused with a non-compete which is a separate agreement and a separate animal all together. And NO MNDA should contain a non-compete clause in it, only phrases which state you cannot directly disclose proprietary documentation, techniques or information until/unless it becomes commonly known or is released by the company. That doesn't prevent you from using knowledge gained to do other work.

You are essentially prevented from using direct proprietary (and non- public/unique) information generally from say creating a direct competitor or giving that information to one of their competitors. But in general the amount of truly "protected" information is minor for most businesses, even ones that claim the world is theirs, 80% or greater is just how they applied techniques to solve a problem, not what techniques they used. Some exceptions are provisional patents etc, but again, that's fair, you'd have to license a patent later anyway to use it legally.

So no, there are no issues signing a fair and true NDA/MNDA, if you aren't sure, ask an attorney for a review, it is inexpensive. A non-compete disguised as an NDA/MNDA is a bad deal and should be avoided at all costs since it locks you up with no compensation. Personally, non-compete's in my opinion should be illegal against individual workers, between companies I am more ok with them but even then they should be severely limited in time and scope.

In my consulting times we signed literally hundreds of MNDA's and routinely did work for competing businesses over the years. We would disclose we had done related work and even before signing any MNDA we would discuss our work in a field and put it in writing that we have knowledge etc around things that they may feel is protected but it is not for us.

I had one, single dispute in over 10 years where a client was saying I learned about GPS from their project and was barred from working on any other projects saying they owned the method for world coordinate projection etc. Everything they used was in the public domain long before they started and nothing they used was proprietary except the methods we built for them. The case was tossed from arbitration so fast it was actually kinda sad they were that stupid, the only change I made from that was being more cautious/selective on clients.

</comment><comment><USER3> It's best not to sign them. You are signing away your rights to work on and talk about some things. The problem is that which things those are exactly is unknown to you at the time of signing.

From the other side, as to whether to ask someone to sign an NDA, I would just refrain from disclosing key information instead. Way more effective. Or if you need to disclose in order to move forward, keep in mind execution is what really matters, and so you need to be really focused on being ahead, to the point that even someone getting hold of some of your ideas still can't keep up.

These are just opinions... ymmv.

</comment><comment><USER4> I'm just gonna quote RMS here[0]:

> And then I heard that somebody at Carnegie Mellon University had a copy of > that software. So I was visiting there later, so I went to his office and I > said, "Hi, I'm from MIT. Could I have a copy of the printer source code?" > And he said "No, I promised not to give you a copy." [Laughter] I was > stunned. I was so — I was angry, and I had no idea how I could do justice to > it. All I could think of was to turn around on my heel and walk out of his > room. Maybe I slammed the door. [Laughter] And I thought about it later on, > because I realized that I was seeing not just an isolated jerk, but a social > phenomenon that was important and affected a lot of people.

> This was — for me — I was lucky, I only got a taste of it, but other people > had to live in this all the time. So I thought about it at length. See, he > had promised to refuse to cooperate with us — his colleagues at MIT. He had > betrayed us. But he didn't just do it to us. Chances are he did it to you > too. [Pointing at member of audience.] And I think, mostly likely, he did it > to you too. [Pointing at another member of audience.] [Laughter] And he > probably did it to you as well. [Pointing to third member of audience.] He > probably did it to most of the people here in this room — except a few, > maybe, who weren't born yet in 1980. Because he had promised to refuse to > cooperate with just about the entire population of the Planet Earth. He had > signed a non-disclosure agreement.

> Now, this was my first, direct encounter with a non-disclosure agreement, > and it taught me an important lesson — a lesson that's important because > most programmers never learn it. You see, this was my first encounter with a > non-disclosure agreement, and I was the victim. I, and my whole lab, were > the victims. And the lesson it taught me was that non-disclosure agreements > have victims. They're not innocent. They're not harmless. Most programmers > first encounter a non-disclosure agreement when they're invited to sign one. > And there's always some temptation — some goody they're going to get if they > sign. So, they make up excuses. They say, "Well, he's never going to get a > copy no matter what, so why shouldn't I join the conspiracy to deprive him?" > They say, "This is the way it's always done. Who am I to go against it?" > They say, "If I don't sign this, someone else will." Various excuses to gag > their consciences.

[0]: [https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/rms- nyu-2001-transcript.html](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/rms- nyu-2001-transcript.html)

</comment><comment><USER5> I see nothing wrong with it.

<comment><USER5> "What are your opinions on NDA's..." I gave my opinion and got down voted. ??</comment></comment>