What's It Like To Be Fired? - <AUTHOR> http://www.codebelay.com/blog/2011/07/15/whats-it-like-to-be-fired/

<comment><USER2> Interesting, but:

 _In the startup, tech community, if you get fired, you become a persona non grata. That means all the social circles I had booted me out._

The article says this happened "many years ago." I can't imagine the part above applying any longer with the different ways in which people socialize in the tech industry even in just the last few years.

Even folks who've done pretty shady things, are potty mouthed psychopaths, or who have caused significant scandal aren't getting totally ejected from "the community" (partly because there isn't just one tech community, but still).

<comment><USER3> Yeah, I was dubious about that statement too. I think that the author took it really hard, and got a little paranoid. They were also probably embarrassed about it, and found it hard to talk about; especially as they had signed a disclaimer.

<comment><AUTHOR> I became a persona non grata socially. Folks would invite my previous company but not me. Simple as that.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> A lot of this really doesn't add up to me:

> "My boss the previous week had told me what a great coder I was" > "You > cannot use the employer who fired you as a reference."

Why couldn't he use his boss as a reference?

> "if you get fired, you become a persona non grata."

I find this hard to believe. How would people even find out about it? And is there no one in " _the_ tech community?" (as if there's only one) who knows that people are human and make mistakes? Surely he would have friends in the community who would see the whole picture.

> "I know there's no techie blacklist but the only 2 jobs I could find were as > a spam engineer or in a totally different industry."

Again, I find this difficult to believe. If he was really a great coder, and came clean with his mistakes, possibly presenting a plan for why he wouldn't make them again, I don't see any reason an employer wouldn't take a risk on him, provided he's got chops.

It seems like most of what this article says would only be true if you were fired very prominently from a high-profile role, or if you had an egregious lapse in judgment that lead to serious problems at your company.

</comment><comment><USER5> I once got fired for giving my boss the advice to "shred" their drive (it was their last day). Someone overheard this incorrectly and thought that I said "on my last day, that I'd shred all the companies drives".

It was my word against his and company's revenues were down significantly. They put me on non-paid leave and a week later when they "investigated" the matter, they fired me, but by then I had new a job with a much better company.

It was a blessing. I learned more at this new place and earned more too. It was later acquired by Adobe (mental stagnation).

Getting fired NEVER lead to me being outcasted from the local tech community. It instead improved my life.

<comment><USER6> I agree. Never have been outcast from the tech community. Actually the opposite. People reached to me about possible leads.

If you network properly when you have a job (and otherwise don't need something from people), usually they are willing to help you out. Build your network before you need it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> FWIW there are some similarities with getting a bad review in a large bureaucratic company (I know for HN readers this either doesn't apply, or they wish it didn't!), one common thread that I would emphasize is that even if the headline reason for the firing or crappy review (FOCR) is complete BS or political or whatever, there is very likely something that you did have control over that either precipitated the FOCR or created an excuse for it, but the immediate shame/rage/pain of the whole FOCR may make that hard to see. Expect to need to sit on the experience for several years before the full value to you can be gleaned. Having been through this in a couple of guises I have definitely learned some real lessons about both myself and the behaviour of teams, managers, and companies.

I suspect the same can be true for some startup failures... maybe in my next adventure I will find out.

</comment><comment><USER8> It only hurts the first time. After you get fired/quit many times, it's like taking out trash for you. Developing some confidence goes a great way.

I mean, look, the first time I had to throw out my sketches in the dumpster because I thought they sucked it was a painful experience. But after a while I grew detached to the sketch, which allowed me to concentrate on my vision more than the actual piece of paper.

</comment><comment><USER9> There is a major difference between being fired in the US and for instance most countries in Europe, where workers rights are very strongly protected.

In the latter case, it is often very hard, time consuming, painful and costly to fire someone. However comfortable this may seem to from an employee perspective, if an employer decides to fire you they must really, really badly want to get rid of you. And that can seriously damage your reputation.

The result is that instead of firing people, both parties usually make a deal: the employee leaves "voluntarily" and gets a big fat final paycheck. Technically no firing has taken place and the whole process is way less confrontational. Employers will gladly give you a reference and keep quiet about why you were let go in exchange for a smooth exit.

You'll be hard pressed to find someone in the tech industry in Europe who has ever been fired.

</comment><comment><USER10> <i>"Also getting fired is something that shouldn't come as a surprise"</i>

Sounds like an unhealthy work environment. Management was pointing fingers at other management? Lame. Getting fired should never be a surprise.

<comment><USER3> There's a few conflicting things here. One is that you fire an employee then moment it becomes obvious they will have to be fired, so a firing should be quick. Another is that performance problems should be addressed - an employee should know if their current performance is not acceptable. Finally, you don't want an employee (especially programmers) to know that they _will_ be fired, or they attack you from within.

Of course, it does seem like management was very passive-aggressive here. Not good.

A quick edit - I _HATE_ the term "passive-aggressive". All usually means (in the workplace) is "not actually doing their job until a crisis hits".

<comment><USER10> I should have qualified my statement to performance problems rather than HR violations. Agree, if you are doing your work poorly, it is either because you are never going to be good at it or because the company hasn't set you up to succeed. In most cases, the manager and the employee should know in advance that there are opportunities for improvement.

Fortunately, the author doesn't say why she was fired. This allows us to wonder if she was fired for having sex in the supply closet or doing oxy off her company-issued tablet, which is a terminable offense at most places of employment. If this is the case, immediate sacking is appropriate. Not that I, as a manager, would terminate her, though. I'm a fun manager.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> _One was the grounds under which I would receive severance..._

She was fired from a startup and received a _severance_? Does that ever happen these days?

<comment><USER12> Yes, this happens. I'm speaking anonymously here, so take my word for it if you care to, but I know of 2 specific instances in 2 YC companies where employees received 2-3 months severance. There is another recent case (non-yc company) where severance took the form of high single digit vested equity for a not-gelling founder.

Particularly with founder or near-founder departures, fair severance can be used to keep a company legally covered down the road. Consider if Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss had just been paid back in the day.

<comment><USER13> The Winklevi were never involved with facebook, though. You could say that of Saverin, but not them.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> He should have negotiated a positive-to-neutral fact-based reference (good reviews, verification of salary, departure by his volition-- a revision-of- fact but one that companies will usually support) in the severance process. Chances are, he would have gotten it. This would have mitigated the career damage and gotten him a good job much sooner.

Remember that a severance offer is a starting point. If the only thing you want to add in negotiation is something that doesn't cost the company money-- good reference and a revision of the record to say you left voluntarily-- they'll usually give it, unless you did something illegal and they're afraid to give you a good referral for liability reasons.

Getting fired is something that happens to a lot of good people... for all kinds of bizarre and stupid reasons. I wouldn't mention it, as a general policy, but I really doubt that he couldn't find a job because he was fired. He probably became insecure and that did him in. He probably was also too loose-lipped about his feelings toward the previous employer, which is even more damaging because even if a past employer is terrible, one shouldn't let it on in an interview.

"Persona non grata" in the tech community after a job goes bad... that's just bizarre. In my experience, people familiar with startups are the most forgiving of jobs that went bad or ended suddenly, for the obvious reason that a lot of startups fail.

<comment><USER15> Could you go into more detail about how to ask for these sorts of things and what extras you might throw in so you have something you can cut when negotiating?

This strikes me as the sort of thing I should have prepared in advance, just in case. Should I ever be fired for cause I expect I'll be too upset to think about what to ask for and how to say it so I better work out the basics now.

<comment><USER16> It's as simple as this: never sign the document they hand you on the spot. Give it a day or two, say you might need to talk to a lawyer. _They're_ firing _you_. They really want you to sign this document. They won't actually really take away your severance if you fail to sign in the first ten seconds, because if they wanted to do that, they wouldn't have offered it in the first place.

Believe it or not, you have the power in that situation. That's why they want you to sign it right away - right now you're emotionally distressed and thus gullible.

So that's how you prepare yourself: remember that if this ever happens, DON'T SIGN ANYTHING until you calm down. It's okay if that takes several _days._

(This is from experience at past employers, I don't speak for my current employer, I haven't actually been fired but I've been on the other side, I am not a lawyer, This does not constitute legal advice, blah blah.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I can't believe how much more serious everything seems to be in the States.

Is this story just exaggerated or is it really this bad? I've never personally been fired but having job opportunities being so severely limited due to being fired once seems like an impossibility in Australia.

I'd say that if you got fired over here you'd even quite likely be able to use the employer as a reference (unless you did something totally horrible)

<comment><USER18> I don't know about firing, but certainly getting laid-off is really looked down on, regardless of circumstances. I've heard that employers do significant background checks now. Low credit scores are a red flag. Arrests are also a red flag. Not convictions, but _arrests_.

The social thing sounded a bit weird to me. But then, _most_ of the people I've worked with either base their social scene around their work, or around something else (e.g. church). If you're not in one of those groups, you'll simply find yourself growing ever more distant.

<comment><USER19> I've never heard of being laid off as being looked down upon. Firing, sure, but not laid off. That's beyond your control and is a business decision. If your company wipes out an entire product because of some acquisition or poor executive "vision" and decides they need to wipe out two thirds of your division, that's hardly your fault. And if they have a habit of favoring seniority, then it's even less a comment on you.

<comment><USER18> _I've never heard of being laid off as being looked down upon._

You must exist on a different Internet and reality from me. :-)

Not that long ago, there was an article on HN about an internal hiring consultant (I think) telling someone that if you don't currently have a job, don't bother applying. I've heard project managers yammer on about how companies use layoffs to get rid of their least productive employees.

In a down economy, when HR is faced with a flood of resumes, they start looking for simple things which give the appearance of objectivity and wisdom, which arbitrarily reduce their pile of resumes. 'Currently employed' becomes one of these criteria.

<comment><USER20> Add me to your other reality too. I have never heard of anyone being judged negatively for being laid off. Just about everyone understands that there may be great people laid off when an entire division/product/org gets cut or a company shrinks substantially.

If you're referencing the same article(s) I've read recently, it wasn't "if you don't currently have a job, don't bother applying" it was "if someone has been unemployed for over a year, there is probably a reason". It wasn't a negative judgment on being laid off, it was making the assumption that a long period of unemployment was a signal that the person may not be very hard working or talented or whatever, and with many candidates to choose from that signal could be a deciding factor.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I've seen many people let go where it was a complete shock to them. One day they are cranking, next day they are out one the street. The problem is management often does not want to give warnings, or talk about how the employee can improve. From management's perspective, any warning time is time they are going to be out looking for a job, using the phones, printers, faxes etc.

To say it is a messed up situation is an understatement.

</comment><comment><USER22> to clarify on the reference - i'm assuming she only mean employment history, and I thought employers were only allowed to say the dates of your employment and validate you did work at a company. Also I think you would have to explain to the new company your interviewing the gaps in your employment history, if you didin't list it at all.

As for the reference I assume you would ask a person first if you are able to use them as a reference prior to listing them as a reference. So if your manager fires you for reason xyz, I doubt you'd want to use them as a reference

<comment><USER23> barce doesn't look like a girl on twitter

[http://www.codebelay.com/blog/wp- content/themes/thesis_18/cu...](http://www.codebelay.com/blog/wp- content/themes/thesis_18/custom/rotator/sample-7.jpg)

looks like a rotation image

<comment><USER24> I was disappointed, for a moment, I though this was the author: [http://www.codebelay.com/blog/wp- content/themes/thesis_18/cu...](http://www.codebelay.com/blog/wp- content/themes/thesis_18/custom/rotator/sample-3.jpg)

<comment><AUTHOR> Ya, the pics on the side are just random pictures I took. I will definitely re-design the blog to show the author's pic.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> Can anyone explain to me this part: "do not mention that we fired you for 7 years"? Why would anyone have you sign something like this? What's the importance of this?

<comment><USER26> It means that you didn't do anything wrong but you're fired because someone doesn't like you, or some manager is mad about something and needs to fire someone to make a point. So don't say anything about it because we don't want to deal with bad publicity or potential legal problems.</comment></comment>


Own It For Life – Quality Products Made To Last - <AUTHOR> http://www.ownitforlife.com/

<comment><USER2> Interesting approach to the Amazon Affiliates program.</comment>


Teslaemails.com: Leaked Emails Sent by Elon Musk - <AUTHOR> https://teslaemails.com/ <comment><USER2> Knowing that your internal email are going to be leaked and using them to say things that wouldn't be allowed by the USFSR is yet another clever, but desperate strategy by Elon.

<comment><USER3> I'm honestly not convinced that this theory makes any sense. Not all company employees are considered insiders. Therefore any information sent out in company wide disclosures like this has to be controlled pretty closely, probably even more so than public communications.

This is normal communication, it just gets more attention b/c Tesla.</comment></comment>


Piketty findings undercut by errors - <AUTHOR> http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/e1f343ca-e281-11e3-89fd-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fglobal-economy%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct#axzz32Z0AEcmp

<comment><USER2> The author makes claims about errors, cherry-picking, and even fabrications, but he doesn't provide any proof. Am I just missing the link where he provides evidence to support his claim? If the supporting evidence is in the video that I can't see, then that would explain why support for his claims seems to be missing.</comment>


AR Navigation – Changing how we navigate - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CaCad4OmeQ <comment><USER2> Augmented reality and machine learning is one approach, but when there's a glitch, don't forget the roots of navigation found in non-instrument techniques. See [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41112497-pathway-of- the-...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41112497-pathway-of-the-birds)</comment>


Genius forklift design: Sidewinder - <AUTHOR> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPmC4KPvOfg

<comment><AUTHOR> Wikipedia page on the wheel design: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecanum_wheel>

<comment><USER2> Damn it - you beat me to it by a few seconds!

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Pretty slick. WiFi and Cup Holder and I'd never leave the operator's chair...</comment>


Bing Sponsorsed Search Results – Tlcketmaster-Us.com - <AUTHOR> https://www.bing.com/search?q=peach+bowl&src=IE-SearchBox&FORM=IESR3N&pc=EUPP_ <comment><USER2> It gets a lot worse, e.g.

Try "raiders TicketExchange"

Despite "TicketExchange" being a trademark and being the official resale marketplace, it comes up _third_.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> You may not see it with an ad blocker, but in the sponsored results one of the top placements is Tlicketmaster-us.com, clearly infringing on Ticketmaster by replacing the i with an L.</comment>


The for/Else Statement in Python - <AUTHOR> http://theautomatic.net/2020/07/09/the-for-else-statement-in-python/ <comment><USER2> Surprising. I didn't know this construct and I would naturally assume that the else part would execute if the loop never spun (because the list/etc was empty)

<comment><USER3> Yes, the else keyword is not intuitive. The best way to remember for/else is for/nobreak

<comment><USER4> Right! nobreak would make it much clearer.

<comment><USER5> It would involve adding a new keyword to the language though. I imagine there was some desire to avoid that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Relatedly there's also a try/else, where the else block only runs if there wasn't an exception.

All these else variants come in handy from time to time.

</comment><comment><USER7> The most common use case of for/else for me is:

for/len==0</comment>


Baobab: A JavaScript data tree supporting Om-style cursors, with React mixins - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/Yomguithereal/baobab

<comment><USER2> There's already a fairly major software project (it's installed on a significant portion of Linux desktops) called Baobab, part of the GNOME desktop environment[1]. Not saying that software needs to have a unique name, but "Baobab", a type of tree, is a pretty distinctive sounding name that people would expect to be unique just because of how unorthodox it sounds. I can imagine people getting confused.

[1]: [https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Baobab](https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Baobab)

<comment><USER3> I don't think that anyone may confuse a react javascript library with the Gnome Disk Usage Analyzer. Yet, being the author of Baobab the PHP library ([http://www.sideralis.org/baobab/](http://www.sideralis.org/baobab/)), I would have preferred a different name :-P

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> After implementing Facebook's stock Flux (actions + constants + stores + dispatchers + views), which quickly gets verbose, I saw this on r/reactjs the other day and started playing with it and so far I've been impressed.

It takes some getting used to, but the mixins help reduce your code to actions + store + views and make it easier to reason about. There's a good post about it, including simple server integration, here:

[https://www.codementor.io/reactjs/tutorial/flux-reactjs- stat...](https://www.codementor.io/reactjs/tutorial/flux-reactjs-state-baobab- library)

I was surprised at the lack of attention it got, but I hope that changes because there are some good ideas here.

<comment><USER5> I have only briefly checked out this library so take what I say with a grain of salt, but from what it looks like we had a very similar implementation to this on the project i'm currently involved with, also very inspired by Om.

At first it worked out great for us but as our application grew both in scope and number of developers involved, we quickly ended up with a 'cursor soup' where too many components were watching for changes individually.

It had a very negative impact on performance since components would potentially re-render multiple times for a single change. In our last implementation we ended up overcoming this by some fancy event consolidation, but even so we had too many components 'touching' our tree.

We ended up reverting to a much simpler architecture and it has both made our application dumber (which is great in terms of maintenance) but also more performant. We currently have actions/stores/views where actions themselves are dispatchers. By creating a few helper functions we overcome a large part of the boilerplate but even without, it has proved worth it for us.

<comment><USER6> I've been thinking about cursors and the potential for this problem, too. In your experience would you say that a strict flux pattern utilizing the PureRenderMixin and immutable data is a better way to go, and that one should avoid cursors completely for larger projects? It might be my lack of understanding, but cursors bring me back to some of the more annoying aspects of MVC, namely the potential for not knowing what is going on where.

<comment><USER5> Obviously everything I say is anecdotal since I have no data to share but by making components as dumb (i.e. PureRenderMixin) we reduced the amount of logic within a component and were able to make it both faster and easier to maintain. Maybe our approach was naive and Baobab fares better here.

Another important gain for us was re-usability of components. We have several projects that use the same components that represent the same data but the hierarchy of the internal state of the application can look quite different from one another. Passing everything in as props and avoiding as much state as possible has made this much easier as well.

I guess at the end of the day everything is a tradeoff one way or another and you just have to pick yours, as cliche as that sounds. For us simplicity was more important in this particular case.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I found Baobab to be really helpful by letting me focus on the application logic, rather than implementing 1000 things to conform to a pattern. I'm not saying that Flux is unnecessary, but I think it can be improved and this is a nice direction, which conforms to the basic idea, if I get it right.

A blog post[1] from Christian Alfoni with some examples helped me get started with it. The tree becomes a nice summary of your application which makes it easier for someone new to your project to make sense of it. Also there's another post about going isomorphic with it[2], which is intriguing.

[1]: [http://christianalfoni.github.io/javascript/2015/02/06/plant...](http://christianalfoni.github.io/javascript/2015/02/06/plant- a-baobab-tree-in-your-flux-application.html)

[2]: [http://christianalfoni.github.io/javascript/2015/03/01/true-...](http://christianalfoni.github.io/javascript/2015/03/01/true- isomorphic-apps-with-react-and-baobab.html)

</comment><comment><USER8> Watching ideas flow from the Clojure/Script community back into Javascript I'm reminded of the positive impacts the Rails community had on Java web development. I guess we're at that point in time with respect to Javascript.

</comment><comment><USER9> Does anyone know of a library like this which plays nicely with TypeScript's type checker? I've not come across a way to avoid the use of essentially un- typed string keys in cursors like this.

<comment><USER10> See [https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/issues/394](https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/issues/394) and [https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/issues/1003](https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/issues/1003) for what the future may hold

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Aha, I was looking for something along these lines yesterday. One of the nice things so far about Flux so far though has been an absence of much unsettling 'magic' in the stack, which you get in Angular and Ember.

Will definitely check this out though, it seems sensible.

</comment><comment><USER12> Can someone compare and contract Baobab to immstruct?

<comment><USER13> I'd be interested in reading about this too.

A superficial and perhaps temporary difference is "for performance and size reasons baobab does not (yet?) use an immutable data structure", whereas immstruct wraps immutable-js.

I'm curious if there are other differences though because at first glance they seem to be separate implementations of similar ideas.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Can someone explain what problem this solves that just using flux can't? I'm having trouble understanding how a tree structure is useful, because I can imagine different actions affecting different stores in different orders. So I wouldn't want changes to only bubble up, sometimes I would need them in the other direction.

<comment><USER15> I found David Nolen's talk at React conf useful in understanding the motivation for cursors. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hGHdETNteE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hGHdETNteE). See in particular starting around 15:40. Cursors are used when you are strict about global immutable state; whereas Flux (like React itself) is agnostic about this. IMO this agnosticism means you end up with a more complex architecture. David's point in the video is, even with cursors and immutable state atoms, you end up with a parallel set of complications to deal with -- around questions of inter-component communication across nodes of the tree and information hiding. He sketches Om's current solution to this using observable cursors which kind of let you trace data-change dependencies between components - but I have to say without understanding Om better it's a bit hard to follow.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> So this is kind of a special-purpose Bacon.js stream processing library that has one central Property that all events flow into and out of? I might not be making any sense, this stuff is all new to me. Thanks for any clarification!

</comment><comment><USER17> IMHO, JSON can be seen as the simplified, fat-free child, non Enterprise- Edition of XML; where features are created out of popular demand -as opposed to being created by committee decision-.

So far, we have:

XML -> JSON

BaseX, eXistdb -> MongoDB, RethinkDB

XSD, DTD -> JSON Schema

WSDL -> HATEOAS

XML-RPC -> JSON-RPC

XPath -> JSONPath

xmlns -> JSON-LD

SAX -> clarinet

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

Would we have:

XSLT -> Baobab ?

</comment><comment><USER15> Can someone explain the advantages of using this over mori (which doesn't include cursors per se at the moment, but are easy to implement on top of mori data structures)?

<comment><USER18> Amongst other things, it's about 1/4 the size, and sticks to plain JS for those not familiar with ClojureScript.

<comment><USER15> Yah. I don't know ClojureScript but that doesn't stop me from using it. And David Nolen pretty convincingly addressed the size question in "Javascript Modularity Shaming"[1] - i.e.: use Google Closure Compiler.

[1]: [http://swannodette.github.io/2015/01/06/the-false-promise- of...](http://swannodette.github.io/2015/01/06/the-false-promise-of- javascript-microlibs)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Impressive. I imagine it being useful in almost all my projects. But how fast is it? Is using `shiftReferences` to enable pre-rendering comparisons a good idea?

</comment><comment><USER20> I definitely want to try this when I get to building my client side web app, this makes much more sense than the default flux idea with many stores.

</comment><comment><USER21> I am currently ' React.addons.update ' which i find very easy to use.

I am unclear what this lib brings to the table.

<comment><USER12> Cursors allows child components without state to update the state of a parent component.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Demo?</comment>


Show HN: New subscription service to make you an exec - <AUTHOR> https://www.youexec.com/welcome <comment><AUTHOR> feedback or ideas appreciated -- I can also show you our beta backend.</comment>


FOMC: Transcripts and Other Historical Materials, 2008 - <AUTHOR> http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomchistorical2008.htm

<comment><USER2> Hard to read between the lines in these releeases.</comment>


Laptop Driven Development (with Emacs) - <AUTHOR> http://blog.chrislowis.co.uk/2010/10/26/laptop-driven-development-with-emacs.html

<comment><USER2> A full screen Terminator provides a similar effect that you can use between multiple programs. <http://software.jessies.org/terminator/>

Great terminal emulator that can be mouse or keyboard driven.

</comment><comment><USER3> Why not use iTerm in fullscreen?

<comment><AUTHOR> Because OS X emacs supports embedded graphics, for example. Full screen mode also hides the top tool bar, which iterm wouldn't give you.

<comment><USER3> iTerm in full screen _does_ hide the top toolbar. I have no idea about its embedded graphics support.</comment></comment></comment>


FreeBSD on EC2 status - <AUTHOR> http://www.daemonology.net/freebsd-on-ec2/

<comment><AUTHOR> Poeple on <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4823739> were asking about FreeBSD on non-HPC instance types, so I figured that submitting the main page with information on FreeBSD/EC2 might be useful...</comment>


Map of Global Cooling - <AUTHOR> https://urbancoldspots.blogspot.com/2019/09/mappa-del-raffreddamento-internazionale.html <comment><USER2> Anti climate change website

From the last paragraph:

"Do not forget that the Global Warming Petition of 2007 project, 31,487 scientists (more than 9,000 of whom have PhDs) have signed the following statement: ""There is no scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane or other gases is causing, or in the near future, ...""

[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/30000-scientists-reject- cl...](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/30000-scientists-reject-climate- change/) reports

"The petition was created by individuals and groups with political motivations, was distributed using misleading tactics, is presented with almost no accountability regarding the authenticity of its signatures, and asks only that you have received an undergraduate degree in any science to sign."

<comment><AUTHOR> That is an opinion on which as many could disagree. There is a similar conclusion that I also read about the 97% opinion of the consensus.

<comment><USER2> Yes, it's probably 99.9% consensus [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate- consensus-97...](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate- consensus-97-per-cent/2017/may/03/is-the-climate-consensus-97-999-or-is-plate- tectonics-a-hoax)

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, the propaganda of the survey is very mature in recent years. Believe us, I am not looking for squabbles about thinking otherwise.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Yes, the propaganda of the survey is very mature in recent years. Believe us, I am not looking for squabbles about thinking otherwise.</comment>


Ask HN: What resources did you use to get better at listening as a skill? - <AUTHOR> I struggle to actively listen. Need to change that for future career development. Anyone else struggled with the same issue, and if so, what helped you? <comment><USER2> I did a few things:

One was spending some time with the performing arts. That one was just a good, lucky younger self decision. Performing arts can reduce inhibition as it can also increase self-confidence. I had that one baked in, but it's never too late! You could always join a club or group that performs together. It's a lot of fun, and listening / understanding your peers is built right in.

Later on, I ended up doing some sales. Good sales people listen. They want to know where the pain really is and how much it hurts. Or, they want to know where they can really improve things for people, even when those people are fat and happy otherwise. On this topic, good sales people also want to know they can't help others. Qualification is worth way more than people give it credit for, and it's value comes from being able to put more of your time and resources into more viable deals.

Watch them work. Then, when the work is done, talk back through that conversation. Ask them why and how type questions.

Obviously, listen to what they have to say.

The other thing I did was very seriously question why I didn't listen. Mostly, that boiled down to my belief I understood more than I actually did, and or marginalizing something the other person really does consider important.

Listening is a work with kind of skill, not so much a work for kind of skill.

Why bother? (these may help you)

We do it to understand one another better and that understanding usually plays out as bigger deals, better features, improved quality of scope on projects. All of this means better revenue, lower risk. Or, more relaxed work environment, less tension / conflict.

Technical people, who can listen, who have some people / "soft" skills typically earn more than those who do not. There is a nice, pretty incentive here for you. Worth it.

We all get older, and we all attend the school of hard knocks. When the bell rings, we usually feel the pain. Listening can avoid much of that. Your older peers / mentors have graduated and are highly likely to share what they know.

You want that experience. Maybe not right now, but you will eventually want it. Listening to others is probably the single most important thing you can do in order to get at those insights before you too have to attend the school, hear the bell ring and experience the pain.

That's all I got.

</comment><comment><USER3> I recently read this HBR article on listening and I found it very insightful. The article talks about how conventional business management listening advice may not be the best and suggests what great listeners actually do.

[https://hbr.org/2016/07/what-great-listeners-actually- do](https://hbr.org/2016/07/what-great-listeners-actually-do)

</comment><comment><USER4> I learned sales. Probably one of the most useful skillsets I've ever learned and something that has opened a lot of doors for me.

<comment><USER5> How did you start to learn sales?

<comment><USER4> I started out in B2B sales by learning the SPIN model from scratch. A few thousands of calls later it kind of clicked.

Sales is something you really have to practice by making those sales calls and expect to fail a lot until you eventually get it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> What have you done so far to improve your active listening? What do you feel is limiting your ability to actively listen? (And we should also make sure we have a shared definition of active listening :))

</comment><comment><USER7> Reading a book with someone. One chapter each, you read out loud, then you listen.</comment>


RedCloth 4.0 Released: 40x Faster Textile Rendering - <AUTHOR> http://www.rubyinside.com/redcloth-4-released-962.html

<comment><USER2> Now if only BlueCloth would follow suit. I was forced to ditch it entirely for RDiscount due to speed and incomplete implementation of Markdown.</comment>


When GitHub is down, BitTorrent Sync saves the day - <AUTHOR> http://iffycan.blogspot.com/2013/09/when-github-is-down-bittorrent-sync.html

<comment><USER2> Closed source.

[http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/13/07/17/1832213/bittorre...](http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/13/07/17/1832213/bittorrent- sync-beta-released)</comment>


An Open Letter to JavaScript Leaders Regarding Semicolons - <AUTHOR> http://blog.izs.me/post/2353458699/an-open-letter-to-javascript-leaders-regarding <comment><USER2> I think that issacs is missing the part where _other people_ try to read his code. We put semicolons at the end of each statement, even though it's shorter to leave them out, because it's how JavaScript is written, and how others are comfortable reading it. We spell English correctly, even though it's full of meddlesome "ou"s and "gh"s, because that's the way English is spelled. In fact, issacs' proposed semicolon-less, comma-first style reminds me of Mark Twain's "Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling":

        For example, in Year 1 that useless letter c would be dropped to
        be replased either by k or s, and likewise x would no longer be
        part of the alphabet. The only kase in which c would be retained
        would be the ch formation, which will be dealt with later.

        Year 2 might reform w spelling, so that which and one would take
        the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish y replasing it
        with i and Iear 4 might fiks the g/j anomali wonse and for all.

        Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear
        with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears
        6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist
        konsonants.

        Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi
        ridandant letez c, y and x — bai now jast a memori in the maindz
        ov ould doderez — tu riplais ch, sh, and th rispektivli.

        Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev
        a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.

<comment><USER3> Sorry, had to try:

        For example, in Year 1 that useless letter c would be dropped to
        be replased either by k or s, and likewise x would no longer be
        part of the alphabet. The only case in which c would be retained
        would be the ch formation, which will be dealt with later.

        Year 2 might reform w spelling, so that which and one would take
        the same consonant, while Year 3 might well abolish y replacing it
        with i and Year 4 might fix the g/j anomaly wronse and for all.

        Generally, then, the improvement would continue year by year
        with Year 5 doing away with useless double consonants, and Years
        6-12 or so modifying vowels and the remaining voiced and unvoiced
        consonants.

        By Year 15 or so, it would finally be possible to make ius of thi
        redundant letters c, y and x — by now just a memory in the minds
        of ould doderez — to replace ch, sh, and th respectively.

        Finally, then, after some 20 years of orxogrefcl reform, we would have
        a logical, cohernt spelling in ius xrewawt the English-speaking world.

<comment><USER4> Oddly, I found that mostly readable, though there were a few implicit changes that he failed to spell out, so you need to infer those.

<comment><USER5> Of all the satire I have ever read, that may very well be the best, because to this day I am _still_ not sure of the exact proportion of joke vs. seriousness. And I've read my Twain, so it's not unfamiliarity with the author. That's the mark of a truly masterful satire.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> For me the reason to always use semicolons is the same reason I always use ===. There are just too many rules to remember and I've got more important things to keep in my mind.

It's also good to have your JavaScript look like the JavaScript most other people write. I have practiced many different coding conventions in my life, and I don't really hate none of them, but the thing I do dislike is context- switching between different conventions in different projects. We already have tabs v/s spaces and several other possible differences. It would be nice to exclude the choice for semicolon placement from that list.

I do agree with the author in one point: you should understand how automatic semicolon insertion works. And then make up your mind about it. Don't just blindly follow anybodys advice.

<comment><USER7> Maybe an inappropriate question, but could you explain the significance of === to the unenlightened amongst us?

<comment><USER8> _The standard equality operators (== and !=) compare two operands without regard to their type. The strict equality operators (=== and !==) perform equality comparisons on operands of the same type. Use strict equality operators if the operands must be of a specific type as well as value or if the exact type of the operands is important. Otherwise, use the standard equality operators, which allow you to compare the identity of two operands even if they are not of the same type._

So: (1 == '1') is true;(1 === '1') is false.

[https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript/Reference/Operat...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Comparison_Operators)

<comment><USER9> And, strangely, (NaN === NaN) is false. Gotta use isNaN(NaN).

<comment><USER10> That's the only part of Javascript's ==/=== dichotomy that I like. It maps directly to the way NULL works in SQL. NULL means "I don't know what this is," so two unknown things can't be tested for equality because you don't know what they are. NaN is a similar concept. You tried to make a number, it borked, how can you test one bork against another for equality?

<comment><USER9> I hadn't thought of it that way (comparing borks, not sql null); it does make some sense in that light (though then you _should_ be able to compare the same NaN in two variables...).

Though that undefined === undefined works, and so does Infinity === Infinity doesn't make as much sense when thought of that way; infinities aren't all equal, and undefined isn't a single kind of _value_ that it makes sense to compare as if it were. And to counteract the sql null viewpoint, (null === null) works.

Also:

      var x = parseInt("a");
      x === NaN // false
      alert(x); // "NaN"

doesn't make a whole lot of sense. isNaN() performs the _exact_ same thing that === NaN implies. Especially as:

      {}.x // undefined
      {x:undefined}.x // undefined
      for(prop in {x:undefined}) alert(prop); // displays "x"
      {}.x === {x:undefined}.x // true

Meh. It's a weird language. Not intending to shoot you down; just spilling my brain into a textbox.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Here's what Crockford has to say on the subject:

"One of the mistakes in the language is semicolon insertion. This is a technique for making semicolons optional as statement terminators. It is reasonable for IDEs and shell programs to do semicolon insertion. It is not reasonable for the language definition to require compilers to do it. Use semicolons."

<http://javascript.crockford.com/survey.html>

I'm inclined to agree. You already have to deal with enough complexity while you're programming, why add more? It's easier to follow the rule 'always use semicolons' than to try to selectively use them.

<comment><USER12> The counter to that argument is "You already have to deal with enough visual noise while you're programming, why add more?". Semi-colon insertion rules aren't that complicated. To me, it's a matter of what style project participants are comfortable with.

<comment><USER13> Rules may not be complicated. Seeing where and how they should be applied in the sea of code, some you did not write—entirely different story.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Since my <http://eloquentjavascript.net> recommends always terminating statements with semicolons, I guess I'm being directly addressed by this.

The suggestion that 'I don't understand semicolon insertion' doesn't really hit the mark. I wrote a JavaScript implementation.

Yet still I recommend everyone to use explicit semicolons. Going over the proposed style on this page, it all sounds pretty good, and semicolon insertion is starting to look okay. Until you realize that he wants you to start every line that starts with [(+/-,.* with a semicolon. This _is_ needed to prevent semicolon insertion from failing you.

I'm sure one can get used to such a style, but it is completely 'out there', radically disconnected from JavaScript's C parentage, and, though that's a question of taste, ugly and irregular. This solution is worse than the problem, I think.

<comment><USER15> I don't mind you telling people to end lines with semicolons.

I'd mind it if you told people that omitting semicolons causes cancer. (Or bugs.)

\-- EDIT:

I just looked up your book to the point where you make this recommendation. You don't threaten any catastrophes, which is good. I disagree with the "complex and weird" conclusion, but it's certainly a valid decision to leave them out of the book if you'd rather not go into it.

My opinion of you: Not Evil. <3

<comment><USER16> Finally, somebody else who hates the largely gratuitous semicolons.

Example: <http://roboprogs.com/devel/2010.06.html>

It's a shame they didn't just make it fully line oriented (like BASIC, xBASE, shell-script, Python, Ruby, ...), with the customary backslash or ampersand to indicate an incomplete line. (but they didn't) I guess then Netscape would have had to call it FooScript (or something silly like echhh-muh-script).

The worst thing I hate about the "add semicolons!" religion is that it teaches people not to spot statements that are going to be terminated by a newline. So then, I have to see all the extra noise on each line :-(

Don't people test the crap they write?!?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> We programmers have a tendency to focus our arguments about code almost entirely from the perspective of code creation rather than maintenance, and I think that's in part what this article does.

An experienced coder who knows how Javascript works is unlikely to create problematic code even without semicolons, but it's fairly easy to imagine how errors could be introduced as a large, complex program is maintained by multiple developers, some of them potentially less experienced than the author. Like conditional braces in C, Javascript's semicolons are an optional syntax that can be used to make code more foolproof, and therefore more maintainable - though perhaps at the expense of some programmers' aesthetic preferences.

Really, though, I find most arguments about syntax aesthetics annoying, especially when people get their passions so inflamed over presentation rather than meaning that they have to risk "insulting" people. The stakes are so small. And if what you believe is so important, wouldn't it be better to convince people rather than intentionally alienate them?

People usually think there's a 1 to 1 correlation between "I like this" and "this is objectively good" and then spend a lot of time trying to logically justify their tastes. But taste doesn't really work that way - otherwise how else can you explain the popularity of Britney Spears?

I have my own tastes about how to write code in the languages I use, but I recognize that those preferences are generally just that - matters of taste - and tend not to try forcing them on others.

<comment><USER18> I agree, but I would like to quote the author : "This isn't an article where I try to convince you to write your code like I write mine." He does not really try to force his style. I respect his approach, because even if the article seems to be about aesthetic preferences, I think that he is concerned by the lack of curiosity and education that may be shown by some programmers. I think what the author really says is : RTFM. None of the comments here focus on the conclusion of the article, which is the most important part:

" _Cozy up with some hot chocolate and the ECMAScript spec some Saturday afternoon. Practice a little. Play around with some test programs. It's a good time. Or don't do that, if you don't feel like it. It's your life. You almost certainly have better things to do with it. Just please stop making authoritative claims like "terminate all lines with semicolons to be safe." It's not any safer, or more reliable._ "

<comment><USER19> Some programmers like to know everything about a language they are using, knowing all the edge cases, keywords no-one else uses, the exact execution order of tokens and weird quirks. They are masters of complete understanding, and very occasionally this mastery allows them to come up with a revolution in the way things are done. Let's call these the Scholars.

A lot of others don't though, the joy of programming for them is not mastery of the grammar but writing the story. They would rather use a combination of run it and see and diving into the documentation only when totally necessary. Do not mistake this for an amateur who is cargo culting their code, these programmers know exactly what their code does, they just learn the bits they need as they need them. Let's call these the Mavericks.

I struggled to find neutral words for both schools of thought, don't read too much into the names I picked.

Both types can be excellent hackers. And of course we have a spectrum in between Scholars and Mavericks.

I am a Maverick. I find the Scholars, with their memorization of all the rules, to be both awe inspiring and entirely tiresome at the same time. I don't enjoy sitting down with a cocoa and a spec because I'd prefer to be programming. There is a vast swathe of every spec and every library that is entirely useless for the task I have at hand, quite often for any task I would ever do. I see anything which forces me to learn that useless knowledge as a waste of time.

Use semi-colons for every statement is a simple and easily remembered rule, one which takes no effort compared to reading a spec that delivers me little or even no benefit. I will also tend to forget these rules because my mind just doesn't see it as particularly useful information, I don't use it enough. I don't have any motivation to force that knowledge in my brain through learning practices because to a Maverick, it's boring.

There is no lack of curiosity or education in the latter type of programmer. I read this type of article which Scholars so often write with exasperation. Mavericks just don't care about learning the intricacies of language grammar compared to doing something else in programming. That something else is just as intellectually demanding.

Please remember that the next time you come across a Maverick, we're just of different schools, not of different ability.

<comment><USER15> If you are a Maverick, then that's fine. Write code however you like. Seriously, I care less than anyone.

Just stop talking trash about how _I_ do things. If the story is more interesting than the grammar, then shut up about grammar and go back to writing stories.

My problem is with _telling people that there is a problem when there is no problem_ , and at the same time calling yourself a scholar.

<comment><USER19> _If you don't understand how statements in JavaScript are terminated, then you just don't know JavaScript very well, and shouldn't write JavaScript programs professionally without supervision_

You obviously do care to such an extent that you're saying that we shouldn't even be programming without you looking over our shoulder.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> The author doesn't seem to work in a team where the code is going to be touched by multiple people, all with varying levels of competence. It's easy to explain to your colleagues that JS should have semi-colons added or weirdness can happen. It's less easy to say "Here's the ECMAScript spec, go read it" when they've got ruby and HTML and CSS and SQL to write and simply don't have the time to thoroughly master each and every part of the stack.

<comment><USER21> The point is that always adding semicolons does not solve the weirdness problem. Consider:

        return
             17

This returns _undefined_ , which is counter-intuitive if you come from other c-style syntax languages. But if you say "always terminate statements with a semicolons, otherwise weirdness happens", the intuitive fix is:

        return
            17;

Which still doesn't solve the problem. You have to remember an additional rule: "Don't insert line breaks in the middle of a statement, if the line break _could_ be interpreted as a statement terminator." Or to put it another way: If you are in doubt, don't use a line break.

The problem isn't really if statements should be terminated with a semicolon or not. The problem is to decide when it is safe to insert a line break when it is _not_ intended to terminate the statement.

<comment><USER22> Whoever linebreaks return statements like that deserves what's coming to them.

But I get what you're saying. Simple, consistent rules are better for teamwork.

<comment><USER23> I do that sometimes (obviously not in JavaScript), to split up long lines in situations such as this:

      bool is_foo_possible() {
        return
          test_first_condition() &&
          test_second_contition() &&
          test_third_condition()
      }

I don't think that's very horrible.

<comment><USER24> I would tend to write that:

      bool is_foo_possible() {
        return test_first_condition()
          && test_second_contition()
          && test_third_condition()
      }

I prefer to put my infix operators at the beginning of continuation lines, because that makes it immediately clear from a glance that it's a continuation line.

<comment><USER15> I do this as well.

For a while, I tried to stick to the rule that "return\n" was not allowed. When I meant to return undefined, I'd write "return undefined".

In the end, I abandoned that rule, because too many of my functions return undefined. But it's kind of a nice thing. When I do get around to building that linter, I might make `return\s*\n` verboten.

<comment><USER21> You could just write "return;", that would make it obvious that no value is returned.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> While there may be nothing technically wrong with Isaac's style, and it may in fact be slightly "better" in some way, it's clearly not how the language was intended to be written or how the _vast_ majority of people write it.

I would be ok with leaving the semicolons off, if you didn't have to do ridiculous things like prepend _some_ lines with semicolons instead. It's easier for everyone just to put the damn semicolons in.

I couldn't care less what your pants policy is in your own home, as long as I never come over. But when you invite me over (i.e. open source a project) and you have a ridiculous pants policy don't expect me to come back.

<comment><USER15> _I would be ok with leaving the semicolons off, if you didn't have to do ridiculous things like prepend some lines with semicolons instead. It's easier for everyone just to put the damn semicolons in._

It'd be nice if I had a linter to catch things like this. But really, it's not so hard to spot. I was bitten by missing semis often enough to start prepending [ and ( already, before I started just leaving them out entirely.

No one's going to cry if you don't contribute to npm. When I contribute to your project, I'll follow whatever style you like, and if I find it to onerous, I'll move on. Life is tradeoffs.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> I do not like inconsistency. I never leave out curly braces. I never omit semi-colons. There is no reason to do so.

I dislike working on code written by people who feel the need to omit these symbols. I would prefer if JavaScript would, like PHP or C, _require_ semicolons at the end of every statement.

<comment><USER27> Be very, very careful when you're using PHP as an example of the proper way to do something, because you're probably at least partially wrong. Semicolons are optional when followed by a closing tag (and likewise, closing tags are optional when the last statement ends with a semicolon -- in this case, whitespace at the end of the file is valid, as well)

<comment><USER26> Yes. There is one situation in which you may omit a semicolon in PHP.

This does not create a situation like the semicolon insertion in JavaScript, however, and I don't perceive as an ambiguity or inconsistency issue.

Are you saying this detail about PHP causes problems of some sort? I can't think of any. If JavaScript were to work like that, and only let you omit a semicolon before a closing script tag, that would be absolutely fine with me.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> And so once again, Alan Perlis' famous quip is proved right: syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon.

Seriously -- look at the complexity of these rules, and then tell me that Lisp's parentheses are worse.

<comment><USER29> Javascript isn't exactly the typical case of semi-colon usage here.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> JSLINT will catch basically all of these problems for you automatically, with it you don't have to worry about improperly parsed code, semi-colon insertion, ==, for in, the stupid constructors like new Function and new Object, implied globals, or most of the crap in the language.

There are still some deep problems with JavaScript that no tool, not even JSLINT can fix, like the fact that the language uses + for both concatenation and addition, there is no namespaces, there is no way to create immutable objects, etc.

I recommend you use a good IDE (like Eclipse) and hook it up with JSLINT so that you can ensure that you don't ever accidentally create global variables or create statements that the parser doesn't understand.

[http://www.rockstarapps.com/joomla-1.5.8/products/jslint- ecl...](http://www.rockstarapps.com/joomla-1.5.8/products/jslint-eclipse- plugin.html)

</comment><comment><USER31> This blog post reminds me of individuals who will only drink high quality naturally purified twice-filtered water from the mountains of Switzerland.

<comment><USER32> Which comes from Lake Michigan?

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> I honestly never thought that much about the use of semicolons vs not.

I'm not a hardcore JS programmer, I know enough to get paid for it, and I'm the best JS programmer of my current employer. But I'm far from a jedi master.

Isn't this just a matter of personal preference? A semi-colon is interchangable with \n as long as you use it following the same rules. Which I do because I treat it as a visual marker for the end of a statement.

The counter argument is why use it if the system already recognizes the \n in place there, for which I say to make it easier for other JS programmers to recognize and parse since the \n is used in other places where it isn't the end of a line.

I guess I don't really see this as a compelling argument being made here, or I've misunderstood what is being argued.

<comment><USER34> Most of the controversy stems from the fact that Doug Crockford, widely regarded as _the_ javascript expert, has been aggressively saying "Use semicolons at the end of every statement or you will be miserable" for years, particularly in his influential book "Javascript - the Good Parts." You can see a presentation where he reiterates this point, among others, here: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQVTIJBZook>

This blogger has a pretty compelling argument against this view.

<comment><USER35> Actually, that's not what Crockford is saying. From the same link: "Figure out where the semicolons go. Put 'em in the right place. You'll be very much better off." That is a quote from 13:02 into the video. There is a trancript on the video, so you can read it too.

I won't claim Doug has never said something like that, but I doubt it. I watched many of his videos that can be found and he is always evangelizing learning the language, instead of blindly cargo culting.

<comment><USER36> Yes, I agree... what Crockford says makes sense to me. Know where they go, and use them consistently.

This blog post doesn't make so much sense. It seems to say that you should be aware of the rules at all times and strive to use as few semicolons as possible (even going so far as to put them in front of statements). Yes, it would work, but I don't really see this as more readable.

<comment><USER15> My recommendation to use minimal semicolons is a very weak suggestion. I took great care to make that clear, and to point out a few cases where it makes perfect sense to use more semicolons than strictly necessary.

My recommendation against lying is much more forceful.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER37> Use semicolons, always. Then you don't need to learn all the rules and caveats and ambiguity.

<comment><USER38> Actually, if you consider the return example in the blog, you do need to learn some caveats and rules. That's the point.

<comment><USER37> Anyone who would write return\n deserves all they get.

It's a fun example, but it would never happen in real life.

<comment><USER39>
        function getCount()
        {
            return
            {
                'count': 1
            };
        }

Not what I'd do, but a common style nonetheless.

<comment><USER15> It's also completely valid JavaScript that does something very different than what it appears to.

        function getCount () {
          return undefined
          { // open code block
            'count': /*labelled line*/  1  //numeric expression
          } // close code block
        } // close function

LINE BREAKS CONSIDERED HARMFUL.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER40> I think the reasons a lot of people use semicolons is that it's just easier. Also if you come from a language that enforces them, it's natural just to use them. That's why I use them anyway.

</comment><comment><USER41> Hopelessly pedantic … use them (or don't), but either way don't waste too much time on this subject. Focus on things that matter more.

<comment><USER15> I completely agree. I really don't care how anyone writes their code. I care about self-described experts giving false information about the language to newcomers.

If there is pedantry, it is about the importance of either telling the truth or shutting up.</comment></comment>


Prometheus: Monitoring for the next generation of cluster infrastructure - <AUTHOR> https://coreos.com/blog/coreos-and-prometheus-improve-cluster-monitoring.html <comment><USER2> This is more a job ad than an article. I've wanted to try out Prometheus a while, but can't figure out how to:

1\. make it highly available

2\. play nice with firewalls

If I deploy Prometheus outside a NAT, and want to monitor 100 physical machines on the inside with node_exporter, as well as a dozen different services, how to make these metrics available?

What if I have four identical NATed sites and want them all monitored by the same outside Prometheus instance(s)?

<comment><USER3> Prometheus can monitor via proxies. Or monitor via federated scraping.

Though it is an odd requirement to need to only have Prometheus outside a firewall.

Edit: guessing from your post - the way I'd do it is run a Prometheus instance at all 4 sites, and have them all federate each other. That way each site is the HA redundancy for the others.

<comment><USER2> That's sensible, thanks.

What if the inside of the network is further segregated, and the Prometheus instance does not have access to all endpoints. Can I use the push gateway as a "proxy", or is a direct route required.

Sorry for the stupid questions. Now it's getting entirely academic of course :)

Edit: just re-read your post and saw the proxy note. Time to read the documentation again. This setup should make for a good blog post.

<comment><USER4> It's advised not to use the pushgateway in that fashion, it's for service- level batch jobs - not trying to subvert your organization's network security policies. See [https://prometheus.io/docs/practices/pushing/](https://prometheus.io/docs/practices/pushing/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I'm still not convinced of "Google Infrastructure for Everyone Else". Google built Google's infrastructure because that is what Google needed. Your CRUD app probably doesn't need that.

<comment><USER6> True, but if you're hosting 52 crud apps, it becomes very appealing.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Do the comparisons from the Prometheus web site still apply? Examples on the following page pertain to projects with a lot of ongoing activity, such as InfluxDB: [https://prometheus.io/docs/introduction/comparison/](https://prometheus.io/docs/introduction/comparison/)

The storage comparison really should be updated..

<comment><USER8> You're right. We've neglected that whole section for too long and it's a bit out of date. I don't have enough knowledge about the current state of InfluxDB though (besides clustering becoming a closed-source feature and well-indexed tags now being a thing, as well as them branching out into more things like dashboarding and metrics collection). Input welcome!</comment></comment>


Google Drive launching third-party add-ons program for Docs, Sheets - <AUTHOR> http://www.zdnet.com/google-drive-launching-third-party-add-ons-program-for-docs-sheets-7000027215/ <comment><USER2> This doesn't smell like a core component in Google's long term strategy. It's a great idea for Google's users but not really for their important customers [advertisers]. While there is certainly money to be made, a startup would be at the mercy of Google's whims and changes to product direction.

I'd gauge Google's ambivalence of commitment by the fact that seven years ago this sort of model could have been implemented. But it wasn't and there isn't some new technology that is driving it now nor is there a red blooded eeffort behind it. Avery has been providing label printing support for word processor software at least since DOS versions of WordPerfect.

<comment><USER3> If you believe ChromeOS is part of their long term strategy, you have to believe this is. Add-ons for sheets can potentially make sheets truly feature complete compared to excel, which is THE biggest argument against ChromeOS/Windows parity by the average user.

<comment><USER2> We're nearly five years on with ChromeOS and it's barely a blip in the market. The reason is that latency is deadly and if all that's going on is web browsing and media consumption a slate with touchscreen is more attractive than a clamshell with keyboard.

Google's spreadsheet implementation is pretty much like every other alternative to Excel. It implements some fraction of the things which are easy. This makes it good enough and development stalls and people for whom spreadsheets really matter stick with Excel. Microsoft is often accused of missing trends, but spreadsheets are not one of them. Excel is the killer app that drives Windows sales for corporate desktop systems.

There's a reason it remains uncontested even by Google. Doing what Microsoft does with Excel is really hard...or at least the hard parts are.

<comment><USER4> I'm not completely disagreeing with you - but I'm also not agreeing with you. When I look at the way my company has adopted Google Sheets, I think Microsoft might have more trouble on their hands. While certainly there are hardcore spreadsheet tasks that only Excel can do, I find that most common business tasks that people use spreadsheets for (e.g. present a budget) are more than well supported by Google. Now, this is not to say that this translates to user adoption - I have no idea if they are actually displacing Excel users, but I do think they are aiming for the fat part of the bat.

<comment><USER2> I agree that Google's spreadsheet is good enough for most people. My point is that good enough for most people appears to be good enough for Google, and that's why it won't replace Excel in many organizations.

The reason Excel is the killer app for corporate sales is that it is attractive to influencers (to borrow the term from social media). There are people on the executive floor who use Excel and often quite well. That's where the decision comes from. They don't want to fool with finagling their subordinates' TCP reports out of Scheme in a Grid, or Libre or Docs to crunch the numbers.

The power of Excel to drive top down decisions is why WordPerfect disappeared. Secretaries didn't choose Word. Their boss bought office because she wanted Excel and Word was part of the deal.

The fat part of the bat for Google is free as in hog pens and slop troughs. And that's the basis upon which they allocate resources. The development of Docs is so glacial that just about any expansion of the ecosystem is news. Even a whopping 50 developers.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The best add-on I've seen internally is one that can format/color code snippets in your doc, great for engineers.

<comment><USER6> when do you typically have code in a google doc?

<comment><USER5> Design docs, specifically if you're discussing an API or a code generator.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Interesting strategy to compete with the not so well known add-ons for MS office. I actually forgot Office had them until I saw this post about GDocs. Here is an example, Avery Templates for Word [http://office.microsoft.com/en-001/store/avery-templates- app...](http://office.microsoft.com/en-001/store/avery-templates-app-for- microsoft-word-WA102925881.aspx?redir=0)

</comment><comment><USER8> Did they provide a sufficiently rich API to make add in for equivalent functionality on Android devices? Is there even a business productivity strategy for Drive apps on Android? Bleck.

</comment><comment><USER9> For the same thing I am searching from long time</comment>


Bushido: Way of Total Bullshit - <AUTHOR> https://www.tofugu.com/japan/bushido/ <comment><USER2> If the concept of Bushido didn't become popular until Japan's modernization (at the end of the 19th century)...how much of Japan's conduct in WW2 (notably, the fighting until death) can be attributed/blamed to this misinterpretation of samurai history?

Looking at the Wikipedia entry for Kamikaze [1], I was surprised to read that the concept of suicide attacks only became formalized late in the war (June 1944), rather than something ingrained in the Imperial Japanese fleet from even before the start of conflict.

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamikaze#Beginnings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamikaze#Beginnings)

OT: I really love the posted article's massively deep footer, which also looks good on mobile. I frequently have trouble designing nice footers around a long list of links and I'm bookmarking this site as a place to copy from.

<comment><USER3> > how much of Japan's conduct in WW2 (notably, the fighting until death) can > be attributed/blamed to this misinterpretation of samurai history?

Japanese soldiers' "fighting to the death" nonsense was myth invented many years after WW2 by allied "historians" to justify the mass murder of japanese soldiers by the allies.

It's not that the japanese weren't willing to surrender. It was that the allies ( unfortunately out of extreme racism ) wouldn't allow japanese soldiers to surrender.

If you dig a little past the history/propaganda and look at the raw data/facts/etc of the pacific war, you will learn how brutal the pacific war was. And how racist the allies were towards the japanese soldiers. Nearly every japanese soldier who was wounded was butchers and killed as were nearly all japanese POWs.

It was called the "no prisoner policy" of the allied soldiers. And if you want to read about some more base aspects of the pacific war, go read about the mutilation of the japanese soldiers by the allied soldiers. Some real sick shit.

The more you learn about the real nature of ww2, you realize that there was no good side in that war. Just two evils fighting each other.

<comment><USER4> Respectfully, that's a bullshit point of view.

For the japanese military in WWII, rape was normal. Butchering civilian populations wholesale was normal. The Americans and British did not play by those rules, even though we did a lot of killing. This was not two equivalent evils.

[http://foxtalk.tistory.com/98](http://foxtalk.tistory.com/98)

<comment><USER5> _" Butchering civilian populations wholesale was normal. The Americans and British did not play by those rules"_

Perhaps you are not aware of the firebombing of German and Japanese cities, where as many or more civilians died as in the nuclear bomb detonations over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which perhaps you also forget.

<comment><USER6> Ah, those famous Rape bombs.

<comment><USER3> I guess you haven't heard of the mass rape of german and japanese women by the victorious allies. The allies raped far more women than the axis.

<comment><USER6> The allies had far less incidents of rape. And defently not systematic like Japan. If you really beliefe that its clear that you have never actually studied the issue.

<comment><USER3> >The allies had far less incidents of rape. And defently not systematic like Japan.

Systematic? Is that a joke? Millions more german and japanese women were raped by the allies than vice versa.

Lets not belittle the german and japanese women who were raped.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I am not surprised. It seems that a certain subset of the European elite embraced the samurai as a symbol of what Europe lost with the shift from Feudalism to Democracies.

Note how you can see something of the same with how knights and related honor codes gets embraced by extremists across Europe (in particular in times of hardship).

Similarly, the post-ww1 British administrators of what became Irak elevated the bedouin on a pedestal[1]. And the region is paying the price to this day.

[1] [http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/entries/2989a78a-ee94-...](http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/entries/2989a78a-ee94-385e-808f-c9c7c38d1cb7)

</comment><comment><USER8> I was immediately very interested by one of the references, which extensively compares five different versions of Nitobe's book: the original (English) and 4 translations (in Spanish, French and Japanese). They study the overall texts as well as side-by-side passages in detail, and show how the seemingly innocuous translations are each tainted by the motives and environment of each translator and author. I'm always fond of translation studies and this one is captivating.

English version here (the original is in Spanish... we'll have to trust the (apparently uncredited) translator on this one)

[http://www.erudit.org/revue/ttr/2010/v23/n2/1009160ar.html](http://www.erudit.org/revue/ttr/2010/v23/n2/1009160ar.html)

</comment><comment><USER9> Fun (though unverifiable) fact: No one reads Inazo Nitobe, or that "Hagakure" thing in today's Japan. It looks like these are mostly for Westerner's consumption. "Bushido" today is often taken as some weird/quaint moral code that is often depicted comically. It could be interesting for a historical viewpoint, but I don't think these historic texts are very useful to explain the modern-day Japan. It's a bit like reading Jefferson while trying to understand Trump.

<comment><USER10> But the point is that they _were_ widely read at some point, so they shaped the culture in ways that are now ingrained.

It's like Homer's epics: nowadays they are mostly restricted to students of literature or historians, but their influence on Western culture throughout history is massive.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Every nation rewrites its history according to contemporary needs and cherry picks (or creates) sources to support it. A good example of today is Russia, where Stalin cult is resurgent and not so honorable history facts (pact with Hitler, Holodomor etc.) are being suppressed or played down[1].

1\. [http://www.economist.com/node/10102921](http://www.economist.com/node/10102921)

<comment><USER12> Next you're going to tell me that George Washington never actually chopped down a cherry tree!

[http://www.mountvernon.org/digital- encyclopedia/article/cher...](http://www.mountvernon.org/digital- encyclopedia/article/cherry-tree-myth/)

<comment><USER13> This is explicitly lampshaded in TFA.

[EDIT:] Honestly though, since this allowance comes so late and is not connected back to the main narrative, it does undermine the whole mess. Next up, a hard-hitting takedown of Thomas Malory and Alfred Lord Tennyson...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I recently (3 months) started iaidô[1] in my Japanese university club, and one thing that struck me was how few "bullshit" talks we had about the discipline. In contrast, when browsing for clubs in my country, each website was filled with a last a few paragraphs saying how spiritual the art is, how it is all about discovering yourself and the truth of the universe.

People of my club are more interested in it because katana are cool than the bushidô spirit or something -- basically nobody ever talked about it. Anyway, when everybody train I cannot help to feel the underlying military spirit of the it, and how in a society like Japan it can quickly turn the way it turned in WWII.

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

<comment><USER15> I just starting Kendo training here at a local dojo. Our instructor is very adamant and clear at almost all training sessions that the skills we are learning with the bamboo and wooden swords are NOT usable in a self defence or martial capacity at all.

Rather that our studies are for mental focus, fitness and spiritual calmness. These are the exact reasons I took up the study of this art.

In my younger days, I studied Tae Kwon Do for years, but as most other have said here - it has no real practical value in a street fight either, aside from extra fitness, flexibility and general peripheral awareness which may serve as an advantage in a conflict situation.

<comment><USER16> form kendoka here: I don't want to distrust your instructor, but Kendo IS the way to study all you need to fight. Then there is each school where you can practice special katas and become proficient with one or another technique, but overall.

<comment><USER17> I study kenjutsu (and aikido) - and have friends/colleagues who are also serious kendo practitioners.

Kendo has pluses and minuses - the shinai used can teach habits of "flicking wrists" which just don't work with heavier weapons. And yet advanced practitioners have serious focus and skills.

I much admire a female Japanese friend (and sempai) who was told by our sensei to go and study kendo (while not slacking off in her other studies). In her fifties, and a 5th dan, off she went and started from scratch but made rapid progress, and brought back what she had learned. Our sensei told other people to do different things - horses for courses.

But what does it mean "to fight"? No rules? For your life? For someone else's life? These are the fundamental questions to be examined and resolved. How would you know if you are ready?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Masaki Kobayashi made a couple of subversive films in the 1960's that present a very dark view of Samurai culture. These films [1][2] are excellent. [1] in particular is exquisite (and tied for the Jury Special Prize at Cannes in 1963).

[1] [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056058](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056058) [2] [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061847](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061847)

</comment><comment><USER19> Related, and an excellent write up on Shalin Monks: Demythologizing Shaolin Monks( [https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4516](https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4516) )

</comment><comment><USER20> Other modern inventions that people think are ancient:

1) Scots wearing different patterned kilts to denote clans. This was mostly invented by Sir Walter Scott

2) Druid rituals. Druids were wiped out by the Romans, and the only accounts left of their rituals are Roman. What we now think of Druid rituals are a mixture of Roman writings and stuff made up in the 19th century.

</comment><comment><USER21> So, the only academic paper in the sources in the post is a PhD thesis which appears to be the entire argument undergirding this post.

If you're interested in the subject, that might be a good place to start: [https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/...](https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0071589)

<comment><USER8> While it might be a more authoritative place to start, it's not the only academic paper in the sources, and it's definitely not the entire argument undergirding this post. I for one appreciate when he pulls out a citation that make you raise an eyebrow.

<comment><USER21> Hey! You're right, i'd missed [https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2921](https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2921)

I guess i'm super conservative about sourcing when reading arguments made about historical topics (and academic papers at least tend to make it clear whether or not their sourcing is primary, secondary, or what).

Especially when it comes to claims of what the common perception was at any particular point in human history i am always curious to see not what someone's narrative is, but what they're building their case upon.

(also as an aside the use of The Last Samurai as a lens or touchstone for discussing bushido was a bit weird to me given how prevalent the notion of bushido is. But maybe i'm just sad that that's the go-to reference.)

<comment><USER8> You're still missing one... [https://www.erudit.org/revue/ttr/2010/v23/n2/1009160ar.html](https://www.erudit.org/revue/ttr/2010/v23/n2/1009160ar.html) (While not 100% about the original version of Nitobe's book, they still analyze it and provide a bunch more references concerning it).

Yeah, there's a good chance The Last Samurai might currently be the most popular lens through which people view bushido right now (Americans at least). I share your sadness but I'm sure most people actually have multiple points of reference on the concept. Would be funny if it continued to evolve into something completely different (something featuring Tom Cruise?)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> This is not such a unique story, same is for instance with yoga, no one in India really did yoga as we think of it today until the end of 19th century. Same story with the free masons, they were re-invented in 17th century with no evidence whatsoever of having any resemblance to the original order. One could also argue that pretty much all religions in the world also fall into this category.

</comment><comment><USER23> Related but at a tangent - after a lifetime of interest in karate I came to realise that most of the stuff taught at karate is not practical.

Katas and karate punches and kicks - most of this better thought of more as dancing or ceremonial. A bit like Tai Chi - except that Tai Chi claims no real world martial value.

The myth remains however of karate being great self defence training.

Our local karate club is packed with ever more kids going every week to learn pointless moves, with parents thinking the kids are learning to defend themselves.

<comment><USER24> I think Judo and Aikido are more practical. They focus more on grappling and emphasize the redirection of the opponent's force.

Most people are better off learning combat systems aimed towards personal defense:

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

<comment><USER25> Judo maybe, aikido no. As an aikidoka myself, I train it because it's a good workout with good people, and it's incredibly subtle and difficult to make work even in a controlled training environment. Pretty much the opposite of what someone genuinely concerned with self defense would want.

For self defense (which I am not interested in), something brutal and simple will be better. In fact, the brutal-er and simpler the better. Learn how to get hurt badly and still keep going for defense. Practice groin and throat strikes for offense.

Judo is much simpler than aikido, but not hugely brutal. Still, if I were suddenly required to try and defend myself with some aspect of my martial arts training (unlikely), I'd be much more likely to call on my judo than my aikido.

Focus on practicality in martial arts is kind of boring, and is largely irrelevant for most people unless we're talking about boosting confidence. And then, best not let your confidence convince you that violence isn't likely to hurt or kill you.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> (I got through about half the article) I think making the analogy to Christianity and chivalry is simply a way for Nitobe to communicate the way samurai were percieved and it seems a bit dramatic to lay it all at his feet as some kind of grand manipulative agenda.

The Meiji era (and the Taisho era after it) were times of a very bizarre "formalization" of japanese culture. Like other comments mention, things like karate, kendo, ekinaba, art of sword making, etc. etc. were all formalized and unified under one umbrella at this time. Before say "karate" you'd have different schools teaching different martial arts under different names around the country.

I actually don't have a very good grasp on why this happened

</comment><comment><USER27> Medieval War Principals meet modern weapons. People charged in with horses and protective amuletts at verdun. But where butchering a village was hard work in medieval times, modern weapons make it the flick of a switch. Add to that a culture where non-fullfillment of expectations is a huge shame and extererior pressure upholds all the norms, and you get japans behaviour during the ww2.

</comment><comment><USER28> Chivalry, Bushido... the reality of knights wherever they cropped up and under whatever name, is that they abused people beneath them, and each other. A lot.

</comment><comment><USER29> Bushido is a lie, Cowboys never had shoot outs, ninjas are overrated... At least pirates were sort of legit. Jury is still out on zombies.

<comment><USER30> Zombies are also bullshit. Until the uprising in a few weeks, that is.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> I haven't read the book referred to in the article but I've for example read Mishima's Runway Horses - which also draws on historical circumstance from the Shinpūren Rebellion (1876). [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinp%C5%ABren_Rebellion](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinp%C5%ABren_Rebellion)

Does that not exemplify similar values as us (Westerners) expect from the term 'Bushido'? Was the former a very rare isolated incident and not actually representative of samurai ethos?

<comment><USER32> Mishima was as influenced by ultranationalism and the bushido mythos as anyone - to the point that he committed suicide during an attempt to restore the emperor. I don't think his writing counts as counterexample.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Interesting that the author mentions that the term "Bushido" wasn't really a thing until last century. I was sure I saw the term mentioned in the writing of Miyamoto Musashi, but I assume that might have been a modern translators interpretation. (I read the English version, not the native Japanese one).

Also, some of my favourite graphic novels by Stan Sakai, Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima seem to mention the term too, but seeing as they are modern writers, I assume they 'westernised' their dialogue to suit.

<comment><USER33> The term "bushido" itself can be seen from late 16c literature (甲陽軍鑑, written between 1575 and 1586, is said as the first written appearance of the word), but initially it meant more practical skills of combat or survival. I don't have Miyamoto Musashi's book at hand but I suspect if he used the term it had the similar meaning.

<comment><USER34> I have a couple different translations and I am pretty sure it just references budo or if it says bushido anywhere it would be a mistranslation.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> Very much similar to the African concept of Ubuntu, which is nothing more than a modern popularized dreamed up concept.

</comment><comment><USER36> The real bushido of modern Japanese, at least of generation born in 70-ies, is their work ethics. I worked with JICA team for 3 seasons, I never seen people that commited and self-sacrificing to work as these people were. And I hope, I will never see again. Life is so much more than work.

</comment><comment><USER37> As in any time period, people are nostalgic for the past, especially when Japan's borders were opened (against their will) you're going to have that kind of reaching towards better days of 'ole. Sakura-colored glasses. There's also the art of Japan (and everywhere else). Art idealizing the "history" depicted, curators of that art (many of those part of religious institutes) and history communicating the history narrative, furthering the legend. It's a group effort this ruse of history. When the narrative sounds good and doesn't really contradict any other popular opinion, who is going to argue against it? 160 years later, here we are.

</comment><comment><USER38> Does this apply to the 'Bushido Shoshinsu' written by Shigesuke? That's the one I'm familiar with with and it didn't seem to have any Christian undertones.

</comment><comment><USER39> Citing Mamoru Oshii as a kind of expert on bushido is completely laughable. How does anything he says about the subject gives him any kind of authority ?

</comment><comment><USER40> Stunning and eye-opening. I had no idea. Seems all cultures are pretty much the same on this front, then.

</comment><comment><USER23> HN mods need to rewrite title to "Bushido seems not to be what people think it is."

<comment><USER41> Why? Does the language bother you for some odd reason?

<comment><USER23> Have you not noticed that HN often rewrites titles to be more factual about the content of the target?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER42> I haven't read Nitobe, but Yamamoto Tsunetomo's _Hagakure_ mentioned in the article, which was weirdly popular a few years back, is a horrible piece of propaganda written by someone who has about as much contact with war fighters as Nietzsche.

<comment><USER43> Hagakure was written during the Edo period (1600-1868), during which time there were very few battles fought, and samurai were mainly bureaucrats and government functionaries living on fixed pensions. The book is an attempt to maintain warrior culture in the face of the reality that samurai no longer had any occasion to fight.

<comment><USER42> ...collected from a mid-level bureaucrat in the early 18th century who apparently never had the opportunity to be willing to die for his lord, and which didn't become popular until the early 20th century.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER44> I've never read any of their blog posts before now, but Tofugu makes another product called WaniKani, that I've been using daily for 6 months now. It's basically flashcards for Kanji memorization, but it creates a regimen and has great third-party mobile applications that give you reminders to continue making progress. Without it, I definitely wouldn't have the will power to keep studying.</comment>


You're more than the Fucking Janitor: thoughts on startup leadership - <AUTHOR> http://jonathanhstrauss.com/blog/2012/07/suck-it-bitches-thoughts-on-startup-leadership/

<comment><USER2> Here is my thought: calling people like that is a sure sign that your "Fucking Janitor" is a lot more useful to your startup than you.

<comment><USER3> This is in response to another blog post that was floating up hn recently. The title of that other post is the origin of the "fucking janitor" thing.

In my opinion it is not worth finding the original by the way. It was pretty shallow analysis and a little cliche. The language was obviously there solely to attract attention.

I think this (replying) author could have dropped it from the title but maybe there was a search strategy in keeping it.</comment></comment>


From 0 to $7000 worth of clients even before launch - <AUTHOR> http://raas.co/blog/how-we-acquired-clients-worth-7000-even-before-launch-using-betalist/

<comment><USER2> Looks interesting, just a couple of notes.

1) 'Why responsive' section is below the fold (1366x768). I checked, just email field, closed. Re-opened again as I started writing this and noticed a little icon saying there is something below. I guess not many user will notice that :)

2) Tell more about how it's done! Is it that I just upload the source and it runs some magic, or you will review manually and return back in a week? As it's something new (at least for me), I am a bit confused. But maybe explanation would be confusing for users? But maybe then people who would sign up convert better since they were not mistaken? Sounds like an interesting A/B opportunity for me.

3) Sorry if it's disillusional but they are not clients yet, if they haven't paid you yet ;) typing in my email in an input saying that it starts from $299 is much much easier then actually paying $299.

<comment><AUTHOR> Also as a developer do you find such service useful? Would love to hear your thoughts.

<comment><USER2> Personally, I stick to bootstrap + customizations which does the job most of the time. Because I work on internal tools most of the time, so it's all kept simple. So I am not really your target audience :) but if I was considering such a service, I would be keen to known how you do it before starting.</comment></comment></comment>


My Project: Credential Management in DBIx::Class - <AUTHOR> http://www.symkat.com/credential-management-in-dbix-class

<comment><AUTHOR> GitHub for the project: <https://github.com/symkat/DBIx-Class-Schema-Config/></comment>