How to get into the Hottest Restaurants in Town - <AUTHOR> http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2000/10/pocketful

<comment><USER2> Thanks for posting this, I found it really interesting.

As a 20-something geek I was surprised to read how virtually every place accepted the bribe in one way or another. It really contradicts my low confidence + true/false mentality.

His attitude appears to have been the magic for making those deals... had he been holding the money timidly he implies they certainly would have turned him away. I will take away from the article the reminder that more self confidence (to a point) reaps benefits in ways I wouldn't always expect.

<comment><USER3> _"... As a 20-something geek I was surprised to read how virtually every place accepted the bribe in one way or another. It really contradicts my low confidence + true/false mentality ..."_

The downside of this approach is the associated psychology. If you give out bribes there is possibility bribery can also be used against you. So be careful how you deal with this kind of activity. Don't be surprised if the people you bribe try it back on yourself.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Wow, I'm jealous. I think the real question is how you can get a job writing about your experience bribing maître d's and eating free meals at some of the best restaurants in New York.

<comment><USER5> For one... the meals weren't free. I'm sure he was tipping generously those nights though.

The one thing that really strikes me is I wonder if this bribing is relatively rare, and the novelty is what made it work.

<comment><USER6> From my experience in new york, you can get into almost any "hot" or sought after club with the same tactics -- ones that have 200 people lines at midnight. Bypassing a 200 person line is pretty exhilarating.

He seems to wrap it up well in his tips -- the most important is that it seems natural, that you dress well and seem meant to be there, and not be awkward about the tip.

Walking straight up to the bouncer at the front of a line, asking to get in, and (after you are denied and told to get to the back of the line) saying "Isn't there some way we can work this out?" while slipping him a twenty works every time.

<comment><USER7> too bad that the 200 person line clubs are rarely worth going to anyways, unless you derive your utility from the actual act of getting in where they cannot (it seems as though you do)

<comment><USER8> That's irrelevant to what he's saying. His point is that if you WANT to, you CAN do it.

And frankly, there IS something exhilarating in getting to go where other people can't be. Perhaps it's not the cleanest thrill, but it's stupid to say that you derive no pleasure whatsoever from it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I've always done the whole "If you could squeeze me in, I'd be VERY grateful" bit, followed by a tip later. The meaning is implied so clearly that it might as well have been stated explicitly, plus the host doesn't risk losing his job. Works like a charm.

</comment><comment><USER10> I'm still stuck on the get hot girl to accompany me step. I hear that's where the expense lies.

<comment><USER11> If it doesn't help, at least you'll be entertained:

[http://www.amazon.com/Game-Penetrating-Secret-Society- Artist...](http://www.amazon.com/Game-Penetrating-Secret-Society- Artists/dp/0060554738)

<comment><USER12> Please, no. That is a well-written book for the most part, but don't take the antics as actual advice.

<comment><USER11> Yeah, it was said tongue in cheek. It truly is a hilarious read though.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I'd rather get into the _best_ restaurants.

<comment><USER14> eh? Daniel and Le Bernardin are pretty damn good -- both have more than one michelin star

<comment><USER15> He should have gone to Babbo as well. That place is fantastic!

<comment><USER16> I don't think it would work for Ferran Adria's El Bulli.

<http://www.elbulli.com/reservas/index.php?lang=en>

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Money talks.... nothing new :)

<comment><USER18> Exactly, cash is king.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> _one part Decline of the Roman Empire_

That line pretty much sums up the idea of "trendy restaurants".

If you want a good night out, avoid this shit and find an old money haunt: better food, better service, and better diners. No, you won't see any celebrities (another plus).

</comment><comment><USER20> I liked the article and found it extremely interesting how easy it was for him to circumvent the lines and policies of these places and get service that could in many ways be considered "above the rest."

However, in the mind of an entrepreneur I have to say that it seems as generally a waste of money to do such things, at least on a regular basis. Even if you had the money to do it, it would be extremely unwise. This would be the kind of thing you do and the kind of restaraunts you should eat at when it IS a special occassion... not because you're hungry.

<comment><USER21> There may be a need to create impressions in some lines of business.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> I am sure we will be seeing less of this, as the world of high finance falls on hard times.

<comment><USER23> Or more of it, as the titans (and affiliated hecatoncheires etc) of finance quit being able to out-tip those of us with still-marketable skills.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> just make a fake press pass and tell them you want to review them for your newspaper.

</comment><comment><USER25> this is a forum for engineering, not marketing.

<comment><USER26> It's called Hacker News. Didn't he hack his way into the restaurants?

<comment><USER27> It was an entertaining article, granted, but I disagree that greasing palms to get a table at a restaurant is a hack.

Maybe I'm just bitter at the overuse of the word nowadays.

"Dude! I totally hacked that cereal into my mouth with a spoon!"

<comment><USER26> I agree, the word "hack" is overused. But if you go by the jargon file definition, you can apply it to almost anything.

"hack [very common]

1\. n. Originally, a quick job that produces what is needed, but not well.

2\. n. An incredibly good, and perhaps very time-consuming, piece of work that produces exactly what is needed."

He got into the restaurant. Whether greasing palms is "not well" or "incredibly well" is up you ;)</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ads Implant False Memories  - <AUTHOR> http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/05/ads-implant-false-memories/

<comment><USER3> I'm amazed at the HN readers who are doubting this. Loftus and her colleagues demonstrated a long time ago that memory is a constructive process and it is incredibly easy to implant false memories in others.

Some of the factors that help implant a false memory:

1\. If the person was distracted at the time of the memory.

2\. If the false memory is plausible.

3\. If there is social pressure indicating that the false memory is true.

4\. If the person is reinforced in some way for recalling the false memory.

It's stupidly easy to make people remember stuff that never happened. Psychologists have known this for a long time and it's one of the most bulletproof findings in psychology.

<comment><USER4> There's a difference between doubting the phenomena, and doubting this particular attempt at demonstrating the phenomena.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> As problematic as the method in this study may turn out to be, I'm afraid their general claims about the confabulated/reconstructed nature of episodic memory are pretty valid, and have been extensively studied over the years due to their relevancy to the legal system in the area of eyewitness testimony.

[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Lost_in_the_m...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Lost_in_the_mall_technique)

[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Reconstructio...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Reconstruction_of_automobile_destruction)

And more generally:

[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Eyewitness_me...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Eyewitness_memory)

[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Episodic_memo...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Episodic_memories)

</comment><comment><USER6> "It's the difference between a 'Save' and the "Save As" function. Our memories are a 'Save As': They are files that get rewritten every time we remember them, which is why the more we remember something, the less accurate the memory becomes."

Wouldn't that be save? If you save a file it permanently alters the original, whereas 'save as' leaves the original file untouched.

<comment><USER7> A better analogy would be opening a document that had partial bits missing, filling in the partial bits the best you can, and saving it.

<comment><USER8> Or better, the good ol' "copy of a copy" analogy.

Or you might compare it to re-compressing a jpeg over and over.

<comment><USER9> The re-compressing isn't quite accurate as it implies loss of information whereas the process we are discussing can add or remove information.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Sort of related:

Here[1] is an account of a psychologist who got held up at gunpoint for almost 20 minutes discovering how he misremembered many of the details he swore he knew.

1: [http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2011/04/observations_afterwar...](http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2011/04/observations_afterwards.html)

</comment><comment><USER11> On a related note-Read about Edward Bernays (wiki:<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays>) , nephew of Sigmund Freud, and his contributions/actions/in advertising..or check out this documentary- "Century of the Self" ([http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_...](http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self.shtml) ), that BBC produced.

<comment><USER12> This is a terrific documentary, one of the most best I've ever seen. In my opinion Edward Bernays was one of the most (negatively) influential people of the 20th century.

<comment><USER13> The man helped the NACP when it was somewhat Taboo to do so. When cigarettes were later proved to be harmful, he devoted an enormous portion of his energy and a lot of money to campaigns against it. And after all, persuasion is an incredibly important part of democracy; look back to ancient Greek, even the arguments against rhetoric were heavily rhetorical. He was not evil.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> "Although I can't remember much else about the night, I can vividly remember those sodas: the feel of the drink, the tang of the cola, the constant need to supress burps."

I was just telling my dad the other day that there was only one event I could remember from years of playing baseball at a particular field. It was when I went to go buy a drink from the concession stand - they only had RC cola.

</comment><comment><USER15> Humans use lossy compression.

<comment><USER16> Lossy storage might be more accurate. Like a biological Amazon EBS.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Marketing surely takes advantage of it, but I think this has more to do with the addictive, yet passive nature of TV, where we let it push images into our brains.

My favorite example (for which I've already given away the punchline) is the following:

Ask a random group of people to imagine that they are watching a baseball game. Give them a minute to think about it. Then ask them -- Are you in the stadium? Or watching it on TV? The amount of people who visualize TV as their first reaction can be frightening.

<comment><USER18> Your question is leading though. "Watching" heavily implies television. Being at the stadium involves much more than merely watching the game. I don't know of anyone who uses the verb watch in reference to actually going to an event.

<comment><USER17> That is where you and I disagree. I don't think the verb "watch" has any such inherent implication. Our society has given that meaning to the word in very recent times. Rather than dismiss my point, I think the modification of the meaning has proven it.

<comment><USER4> It may not be a modification. Did people even say "watch a baseball game" before television? Surely no one said "listen to a baseball game" before radio. What you've demonstrated is that "watch" in some contexts implies watching on a television. That's not the same as demonstrating the "addictive, yet passive" nature of television. It does demonstrate its pervasiveness, though.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> I'm suspicious of experimental method. Did the "false memory" students really not eat the popcorn? Really? Students? They didn't get their friend to sneak them some, or go in after the test and taste it? Surely they would not have revealed this 'cheat' to the interviewer a week later in any case.

<comment><USER20> Or maybe they were confused. There's no such thing as _"Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Fresh Microwave Popcorn"_ , but you can go down to the store and buy some _"Orville Redenbacher Gourmet Popping Corn"_ , so do the researchers really expect me to remember the difference?

<comment><USER21> That is the thread of this that I would pull if I had a spare platoon of researchers to send into this territory. How distinctive a memory is "implantable"? As it is, I guess we will just have to wait until someone else does that work.

Speaking of... is there some good way to get notified when a paper is published which builds on some known body of work? Like can I get an email digest updating me if any of a set of papers are referenced in new papers?

Addendum: Yes... "Track Citation" on JSTOR does this (if one makes an account)... I doubt it does a pretty digest that helps me remember why I wanted to know about the new papers (what question about the original paper I was interested in having future research nail down), but it will have to do for now.

<comment><USER22> Much more distinctive memories have been "implanted" by mistake, such as child abuse.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I am extremely doubtful of this result. I can't find the full paper available online, but I would like to see it.

<comment><USER23> The full paper is available here: <http://www.pi.edu.pk/660165.pdf>

<comment><USER13> Thank you. The paper makes a point clear that the article doesn't - <USER2> didn't ask kids if they ate the popcorn during the study, they asked if they had ever eaten that particular popcorn, which is a huge difference.

<comment><USER24> That is a critical point. The ad branded the name "Orville Redenbacher" as "Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Fresh Microwave Popcorn." This is easily confused with "Orville Redenbacher's Gormet Popping Corn" which is a popular brand (see <http://www.orville.com/>) with a less intuitive name, and which a good number of kids have, in fact, eaten.

Thus this is more evidence of ads causing brand confusion than memory implantation. And underscores the importance of an insight that is already in trademark law - that people will easily mix up a brand that is similar to an existing brand with the existing brand.

<comment><USER25> >"Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Fresh Microwave Popcorn." This is easily confused with "Orville Redenbacher's Gormet Popping Corn"

These are not really great examples of brand confusion IMO. In the name "Orville Redenbacher" is considered the origin whilst the remainder of the name is the particular product. Both of these are claiming the same origin (company/person). This isn't brand confusion based on similarity it's a direct rip-off. To make that point clear the consumer isn't confused about the origin they have been conned. Maybe it's a bit of an esoteric point.

Gourmet Fresh Microwave Popcorn and Gormet Popping Corn are two different products in two different geographic regions.

<comment><USER26> It looks like a pretty clear case of semantic confusion. When the article named it, I just assumed that was the actual name of Orville's standard Gourmet popcorn. Both the real and fictional names are a mess of generic advertising words, neither particularly memorable or distinct unless you're keenly interested. Most people won't even look beyond the "Orville Redenbacher"on the title barring searching for a specific descriptor, like "Gourmet" or "Kettle Corn," because those are the only meaningful terms that will pop up on the box of a popcorn.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Who is running a Covid-19 contact tracing app near me? - <AUTHOR> https://fd6f.lxgr.net/ <comment><AUTHOR> Hi, author here, feel free to ask any questions about the page or the contact tracing protocol it is working with!

This proof of concept will show you, using Web Bluetooth, if there are any devices near you broadcasting a contact tracing identifier conforming to the Apple/Google specification. It works on Chrome only so far, and you need to enable a flag since the Bluetooth scanning API is considered experimental.

This will detect beacons emitted by, among others, the German and Swiss contact tracing apps, with several other parties having signalled their intention to switch to it in the future.</comment>


Valve Is Bringing Bitcoin to Over 125M Steam Users Worldwide - <AUTHOR> http://bitcoinist.net/valve-is-bringing-bitcoin-to-over-125-million-gamers-worldwide/ <comment><USER2> let's hope it does happens</comment>


College Admissions Shocker - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/opinion/college-admissions-shocker.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0 <comment><USER2> It was satire.</comment>


Ask HN: Car repair ripping you off? - <AUTHOR> Do you ever feel like the car repair man is ripping you off? How do you deal with it?
If they say you need <x> service how do you respond?
Thanks <comment><USER2> I just recently took my car into the shop. It is a high mileage (140k miles) Toyota Corolla. I took it in because it was getting really loud, both in the engine when stopped and a lot of road noise. I live in the NYC area, and expected to pay a LOT of money for that, but surprisingly, it was only a $1200 visit.

Here is everything he did:

A/C Tune Up

Front Brakes (Rotors and Pads)

Back Brakes (Drums)

Rear Hub Assemblies on both sides

High Mileage Synthetic Oil

Intake and Cabin Filters

And full fluid flush

That took care of 90% of my issues, but he didn't have time to replace my water pump before I had to leave for a road trip. So when the water pump's bearings finally exploded going down I-81 in West Virginia, I stopped at a local repair shop and $350 later I had a water pump installed and I moseyed on down the road.

I have felt I paid too much before, but it was by big chains, never local shops. And I recognized that the big shop wouldn't need to order parts for me, they would have them in stock, so it is more convenient.

</comment><comment><USER3> Check out what the main dealers offer e.g. [https://www.bmw- service.co.uk/](https://www.bmw-service.co.uk/) with an M3's plate and wonder at the mentality.

However, having the mythical full service history is enough reason for everyone to play the game

</comment><comment><USER4> Surprisingly my mechanic doesn't seem to rip me off, or at least I haven't caught it. My car is old enough that he knows that problems will pop up here and there so he just fixes them as they come up. He's playing the long game I guess.</comment>


Intel finds no pay gap between men and women at the chipmaker - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2016/02/03/intel-says-there-is-no-pay-gap-between-men-and-women-at-the-chipmaker/ <comment><USER2> I believe it. I used to work there. Intel is a good company.</comment>


End of Cryptocurrency is near as Bitcoin drops to new lows - <AUTHOR> https://www.newsweek.com/bitcoin-price-crash-news-extreme-fear-and-sell-grips-cryptocurrency-market-1224221 <comment><USER2> "Neil Wilson, the chief market analyst at Markets.com, called it a "bloodbath."

"Things looks like they only get worse from here. Where is the incentive to buy? It does rather look like the bottom is coming out of this market," Wilson told The Guardian."

Disclaimer: I have never owned cryptocurrency.

It's always humorous to me that analysts end up recommending you buy when the prices are at absolute highs, and never recommend buying at relative lows. The fundamentals of BTC haven't changed from a year ago. If you believe in BTC at all, it's a steal right now compared to its potential future value or its previous high from last year.

<comment><USER3> > The fundamentals of BTC haven't changed from a year ago

Arguably, they have, due to hard forks.

<comment><USER2> I don't have a lot of knowledge of the hard forks, but I can see that it could definitely change the potential demand of BTC. Is there a BTC fork in your opinion that is most likely to succeed?

<comment><USER4> Also, there seems to be a 'war' going on between the two forks. [1]

1\. [https://blog.cotten.io/bitcoin-coin-fork-satoshi-vision- losi...](https://blog.cotten.io/bitcoin-coin-fork-satoshi-vision- losing-1-500-an-hour-7b49a5e5bae1)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I have zero financial interest in cryptocurrency. However, I don't expect this to be any different than the pop of the dot com bubble. Many people will swear off cryptoassets, but eventually will emerge certain coins that will end up analogous to the current "dot com" stalwarts.

</comment><comment><USER6> I'd like to propose a currency which value is linked to an intrinsic, unchangeable property of the human race: the amount of water needed daily by an average inhabitant of this planet. Mark that I state 'needed', not 'used' as that number varies enormously depending on where you look and who you look at. To makes things a bit easier we'll set this amount to 5 liters, this being slightly more than needed but still a small enough number to work with. 1 unit of this currency will buy you this amount of water both now as well as in the future. This should make the currency worthless as an investment option but stable as an exchange medium, just what is needed to allow this currency to remain viable in the now and in the future no matter how many very hungry caterpillars [1] try to hoard it. Call the smallest fractional denomination a Drop, 100 Drops are a Thimble, 100 Thimbles a Swig, 100 Swigs a Pail, this being the smallest non-fractional denomination.

Yes, there are problems here, e.g. how to organise emission of this currency into the market without creating the same problems as current fiat currencies. The basic idea of having a currency which by nature can not be used for investment purposes as its relative value is guaranteed to remain stable over time does serve a purpose but it needs some more thought.

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

</comment><comment><USER7> This isn't the end anymore than any of the last times were the end.

</comment><comment><USER8> Seems like a clickbait title that is not even the title on the original article on the site.

Either way, this is nothing compared to the 2015 crash and probably the 100th time someone has said it's over when it really isn't.

</comment><comment><USER9> I don't hoard BTC so I can "get rich".

I use BTC to actually purchase goods/services, but this recent roller coaster is starting to spook my vendors away from transactions.

Thanks alot, bitcoin "investors"

</comment><comment><USER10> It's the end for a lot of cryptocurrencies (which is good, they've been so hyped and yet most of them didn't provide any value), but not the end of the concept of cryptocurrency.

</comment><comment><USER11> I remember when Newsweek was a credible news organization. But they lost all of my respect when they published a piece claiming that they had found Satoshi Nakamoto.

</comment><comment><USER12> No it isn't. It's just one more dip as the bubble sheds some volume. There will probably be more dips, but the ideas behind cryptocurrency are being implemented in some businesses as this bubble pops.

</comment><comment><USER13> end for some.</comment>


U.S. tells India it is mulling caps on H-1B visas to deter data rules - <AUTHOR> https://www.nasdaq.com/article/us-tells-india-it-is-mulling-caps-on-h1b-visas-to-deter-data-rules-20190619-00733 <comment><USER2> Limiting any one country to 15% of the visa intake would be great for actual diversity. Requiring that a minimum of 51% of all H1B visas be given to women, from all countries, would truly help with gender diversity.

Indian hiring managers have a history of illegally discriminating against non- Indian job applicants. This change would help bring an end to that.

[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-05/india- s-t...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-05/india-s-tcs-faces- u-s-jury-over-why-it-fires-so-many-americans)</comment>


Show HN: Wall of Stickers, hexagonal sticker for your laptop - <AUTHOR> https://wallofstickers.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> Author here, if you have any question feel free to comment here.

<comment><USER2> Why hexagons?

<comment><AUTHOR> Have a look at this page: [http://hexb.in/sticker.html](http://hexb.in/sticker.html)</comment></comment></comment>


Canadian elite special forces sniper makes record-breaking kill shot in Iraq - <AUTHOR> https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canadian-elite-special-forces-sniper-sets-record-breaking-kill-shot-in-iraq/article35415651/ <comment><USER2> Why would we celebrate something like this?

<comment><USER3> It appears a small subset of HN is bloodthirsty.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Wow, I would've never thought a 3.4km shot was even possible. How fast is a .50cal even going at that distance?

<comment><USER5> Diving into wikipedia [1] gives muzzle velocity for this rifle is 805 m/s. The flight took 10s. Using calculators from calculator soup, I came to a bullet speed of 115 m/s at the end of the flight using linear degradation of speed (-95 m/s^2).

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMillan_Tac-50](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMillan_Tac-50)</comment></comment>


YouTube Stars Turning Viewers Into Readers - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/31/books/booktubers-youtube.html <comment><USER2> No mention of Pewdiepie?

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b037fgPG9Ow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b037fgPG9Ow)

<comment><USER3> If you look into past NY Times articles of PewDiePie, you'll probably see that they try to paint a certain picture of him. Writing positively of him wouldn't fit their narrative.

<comment><USER4> Oh, nice catch. I didn't even notice it was NY Times. They've done a number of hatchet jobs on Pewdiepie; probably jealous that he has a much bigger reach than they do.

<comment><USER5> Pewdiepie does not have a bigger reach than the NYT. That's ludicrous.

<comment><USER6> The NYT seems to have a bigger reach, but Pewdiepie comes pretty close. Nytimes.com gets approximately 350 / 30 = 11.6 million visits per day[1]. Most of Pewdiepie's videos seem to have between 3 and 10 million views[2], with the average being somewhere around 5 million. Assuming that every nytimes.com user visits once per day and everyone within Pewdiepie's reach views each of his videos once, The NYT has approximately twice the reach of Pewdiepie.

[1] [https://www.similarweb.com/website/nytimes.com](https://www.similarweb.com/website/nytimes.com) [2] [https://www.youtube.com/user/PewDiePie/videos](https://www.youtube.com/user/PewDiePie/videos)

<comment><USER7> If about half of these visits to NYT are daily users and the rest were once a month then they would have a reach of about 180 million/month. I would say that is a low estimate since I end up on their site once or so a month and most people I talk to (outside the US) make references to their site that imply similar usage internationally.

I'm not sure how frequent this "pewdiepie" releases videos from that youtube link, but if it were once a week then he(?) has a reach of 20 million/month if he has no permanent fans. That seems like a high estimate given that some percentage of the 60 million channel subscribers must look at most videos.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This is amazing. I've always thought Youtube as one of the lesser evils of social media websites.</comment>


Noble gas molecules have been detected in space - <AUTHOR> http://www.astronomy.com/news/videos/2013/12/herschel-spies-active-argon-in-crab-nebula

<comment><USER2> under terrestrial conditions, these compounds would immediately fall apart. Why doesn't this happen in space? Because in order for the two atoms in this molecular ion complex to come apart, you would need to violate some conservation principle (energy, momentum, angular momentum). In order to violate it, you would need to transfer this quantity to another particle. In terrestrial conditions there are plenty plenty plenty of 'other particles' around to do this process; not so much in space.

<comment><AUTHOR> It totally surprised me when I read the article, but your comment makes sense. If there aren't opportunities to disrupt the equilibrium from collisions, molecules with Noble gases can be stable.

After posting, I learned that argon fluorohydride has been synthesized in the lab and is stable up to 40 degrees Kelvin.</comment></comment>


Quake on an oscilloscope - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMli33ornEU

<comment><USER2> Article: [http://www.lofibucket.com/articles/oscilloscope_quake.html](http://www.lofibucket.com/articles/oscilloscope_quake.html)

</comment><comment><USER3> Very cool.

I would like to see how it looks if he does edge detection on the finished color and/or depth buffer and draw those instead.</comment>


Ask HN: On present socio-eco-political trends in USA  - <AUTHOR>

Greetings, HNers! This is about present socio-eco-political trends in USA (and it's possible impact on immigrants and businesses in Asia, in the near future).
Disclaimer: I am not an American and I have not been there. Am not sure if this is the right forum to ask this question, but since the sensibility quotient of answers on HN is far better than any other forum, am attempting it. At the risk of being downvoted for irrelevant content, here I go.
Off-late there is a lot of talk about US being obsolete, the near-possible dollar devaluation and a subsequent socio-political breakdown and economic crash that is supposedly lurking around the corner. Should I be bothered if I am a
i) guy working for an Indian IT services company which depends largely on projects outsourced from America and Europe. ii) guy about to be sent to US, on an outsourced project.
Suppose  the USD is devalued, what impact would such a move have on businesses in Asia esp., IT services firms working on outsourced projects that rely a lot on the exchange rate (their local currency vs USD) for their profitability?
Thanks!
endnote: Let me be honest. I am an engineer working for an IT services firm in India for quite some time now (but have not been to the USA or any place abroad, which is like _a_big_shameful_thing_ out here ;)) But looks like it is about to change as I have been offered such a chance. But reading stuff like the impending doom and crash makes me to worry a bit. Hence, the question; so that I can have more views and thoughts on the matter, which would help me a lot to take the right decision. <comment><USER2> I am American.. I am not an expert, but my my impression is that the United States will inevitably be less wealthy then it is now relative to other countries in the world. I think the primary reason for this will be growth in developing countries and not any kind of immediate economic collapse here.

We have a lot of problems with education, deteriorating infrastructure, infective political decision making, etc, but the US is still ahead of most of the world in these areas. I really wouldn't worried about coming here to work if it is a good opportunity in terms of salary/career etc.

</comment><comment><USER3> Being able to work in your field in another country is a fantastic opportunity. If you're coming here with a job and you have the ability to return home if things don't work out, I wouldn't worry about it.

</comment><comment><USER4> America definitely has its share of problems, but is it fair to say that they're worse than, say, China's or India's? I'm bullish long-term on China and India, but even more bullish on America.

This seems to be a "buy when they're blood in the streets" kind of time as far as America's reputation goes... buy low, sell high.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Thanks PonyGumbo, kongqiu && schwabacher! Your views helped. :)</comment>


Systems of Philosophy: On Robert Brandom's "A Spirit of Trust" - <AUTHOR> https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/systems-of-philosophy-on-robert-brandoms-a-spirit-of-trust/ <comment><USER2> Early in the article, we find this passage, with respect to Brandom's views:

 _" If you claim that the sky is blue but not colored, you're not just saying something false — you are showing that you don't have the relevant concepts ("blue" and "colored") at all. At a minimum, you are violating your rational obligations. Anyone's ability to mean anything is made possible by social practices that hold people to such rational rules of entailment and incompatibility. This approach, in Brandom's formulations, owes much to Kant and, especially, Wittgenstein._

 _" The question of whether a certain sentence is true, for Brandom, is inseparable from rational standards about what it is permissible or obligatory to say or believe."_

To me, this seems to be putting the cart before the horse, as if the truth of a statement is dependent on its linguistic properties. In practice, it seems to me that usage and semantics are bent to a language-independent (but imperfectly perceived) reality rather than the other way around.

Towards the end of the article, its author writes this, which strikes me as being to the point, at least with respect to the relationship between language and reality:

 _" Brandom's position, in addition, is overweeningly rationalistic; I am not convinced that my obligation to believe of a blue thing that it is not also chartreuse is, all things considered, much like my obligation not to hurt people for no good reason. That is, the 'deontic' status of rational norms is fundamentally an assumption rather than a result, something that is supposed to be self-evident or entailed by our existing practices. But if I (like the arch anti-Hegelian Søren Kierkegaard, for example) resolve to embrace a paradox, or if I am simply indifferent to certain rational implications of what I already believe, how could we show this to be 'impermissible'? I'll believe what I like, thank you very much."_

<comment><USER3> > _" The question of whether a certain sentence is true, for Brandom, is > inseparable from rational standards about what it is permissible or > obligatory to say or believe."_

I'm trying to unpack that statement. It seems like the article writer is claiming, in tortured fashion, that Brandom simply believes in axioms. Or am I missing the point?

I'd have to agree with the last statement. Ethical requirements for baseline beliefs do come from peer-pressure. There's a point where, if you disbelieve 2 + 2 = 4 you will be derided. What's interesting is how we extend those requirements, because that requires a delicacy we so often lack.

<comment><USER4> There is a distinction to be drawn between expression and evaluation.

If I express "2+2" it could be evaluated to 4 (in decimal); or 11 (in trinary).

If two evaluators disagree on the truth-value of 2+2=11 then one possible explanation is that they disagree on the number-system in which the expression was made.

That leads to the usual consensus problems in computer science: leader election etc.

It can't be solved without one side "changing its mind" - or, at least translating its expressions for the target evaluator.

Consensus requires linguistic norms.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Here's a question to someone who has read Brandom: where does he think human language comes from in the first place?

My position is that language consists of the symbolic representation of distinctions and connections, and we humans are able to have these because as animals we have sense and brain systems that can make distinctions and connections about the real world.

Does Brandom talk about how, according to the scientists, first animals developed these abilities, and then humans added in the symbolization?

Or does he leave this out, and make it look as if language exists independently of the animal realm? Which would seem to imply it dropped down from the heavens, which would fit with Hegel's metaphysical idealism. Or perhaps he has some third position.</comment>


What is your favourite marketing/growth talk? - <AUTHOR> Can be related to sales, marketing, sales, growth etc <comment><USER2> Alex Schultz's "Growth" @ Startup School: [http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec06/](http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec06/)</comment>


Denmark 'happiest' country in the world - <AUTHOR> http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/07/02/nations.happiness/index.html?eref=rss_topstories <comment><USER2> I wish the scientists would make up their minds. I was all ready to move to Iceland:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=193619></comment>


Plans for '.xxx' porn net domain revived - <AUTHOR> http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/feb/23/porn-internet-domain-xxx-icann

<comment><USER2> > _".xxx is an inherently dangerous idea with no real purpose," said Larry > Flynt, the founder and publisher of Hustler magazine, at the time. "Only if > it becomes a tool of censorship will it achieve its goal of preventing > access to adult content by minors"._

It's a tool of censorship. That's the point. Just like not selling pornography to minors is a tool of censorship.</comment>


Y Combinator: Bookmarklet - <AUTHOR> http://ycombinator.com/bookmarklet.html <comment><USER2> What they are and how they work LED lamps - lamps, the highest durability and performance for growing plants</comment>


Fark NotNewsletter: Google farked us over - <AUTHOR> http://www.fark.com/comments/blog673/Fark-NotNewsletter-Google-farked-us-over <comment><USER3> It's free market, isn't it? Take it or leave it - nobody forces you to use Google ad network. ;). /s

At this point I'm convinced that nothing but regulation can make those big companies - on which our digital lives are more and more dependent - <USER2> provide even a modicum of customer support. Right now they don't care, because they simply _don 't have to_ \- a HN headline every other week doesn't create measurable losses, because users don't have comparable alternatives (and the Internet, paradoxically, has _very_ short memory). On the other hand, having customer support costs real money...

EDIT: Added a sarcasm tag next to the winkie, just in case someone mistakes my comment for a defense of Google.

<comment><USER4> I never really understand why comments like this get downvoted.

There seems to be love for the free market. That is until the free market goes against what I want. Then the free market sucks!

What if FARK was another type of business. Say it is the corner 7-11[1]. They have been there for 18 years, and their major source of customers was the big factory next door.

Factory decides to either move / redesign / whatever, where the customers are no longer available.

The store makes a big noise - would anyone care?

[1] in this example, I mean any sort of "corner store". 20 years ago we'd call them milk bars, but now I'm showing my age...

<comment><USER5> >That is until the free market goes against what I want. Then the free market sucks!

I'm not sure anyone is saying that the free market sucks. People are saying that there is no free market in some sectors and that, in the absence of a reasonably efficient free market, the least worst alternative is regulation.

<comment><USER6> I think it sucks, but that's because I'm a Communist.

<comment><USER5> heh, fair point. Command economy advocates aside nobody is saying the free market sucks :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Google lost a lawsuit in Germany a few years ago. Evidently German law says that if a customer reaches out to a corporation, that corporation must have a human respond.

It's not good enough (as google argued) to use an email auto-responder.

Not the best summaries but here is more information:

[http://www.vzbv.de/sites/default/files/downloads/google- vzbv...](http://www.vzbv.de/sites/default/files/downloads/google-vzbv-press- release-2013-11-19.pdf) [http://www.computerworld.com/article/2497169/search/consumer...](http://www.computerworld.com/article/2497169/search/consumer- service-lawsuit-looms-for-google-in-germany.html)

<comment><USER8> >This doesn't mean that every incoming email should now be checked and processed individually by a Google employee, the court said. But the company has to provide the possibility for users to contact it via email, it said. It was left up to Google how to deal with future incoming email.

In other words, they must not send an auto-reply to users saying the email is not monitored, but it is basically okay that they don't monitor it.

[1] [http://www.itworld.com/article/2694219/it- management/german-...](http://www.itworld.com/article/2694219/it- management/german-court-requires-google-to-stop-ignoring-customer-emails.html) [2] [http://www.cgerli.org/fileadmin/user_upload/interne_Dokument...](http://www.cgerli.org/fileadmin/user_upload/interne_Dokumente/Legislation/Telemedia_Act__TMA_.pdf)

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Google has long since passed the point of critical mass and a self-sustaining reaction. These days an individual publisher needs Google much more than Google needs an individual publisher. So why should Google spend resources on customer care when, as years of HN and other sites' threads demonstrate, it doesn't matter? The individual publisher can be relied on to claw at the rock at his own expense to attempt resolution.

Google is doing very well, and lack of support hasn't harmed them. It's not just that customer care is done algorithmically; my guess is that the meta- decision on whether or how much customer care is needed is also algorithmic.

<comment><USER10> The funny thing is, for ad networks like Google, the publisher is _not_ the customer. There is no incentive to treat them well. The customer is where the revenue comes from: the advertisers. For Google, publishers are just "supply". And there is a glut of supply.

<comment><USER9> Ah. Not being a publisher, it hadn't occurred to me that they're a product just like us.

Always follow the money.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I have complex feelings about this. As a libertarian type I say one forces you to use Google (yes, I know they're by far the most effective ad network). I don't feel like their natural monopoly in search has hurt me much. Normally I would not see any reason for the US to get involved in GOOG's business.

On the other hand, I have seen Google do its very best to pervert the free market. Their name appears well over 300 times in the Obama White House guestbook and they support tons of liberal causes while slipping into bed with the three-lettered branches of federal government whenever it suits them. Diversity is every bit as important as Google preaches it. So where are their Filipinos, Samoans, Latinos, African Americans, and other persons of color?

Their contempt for paying customers like Fark is legendary. I have heard many, many stories like Fark's over the years. I personally know people put out of business this way. And I suspect Google puts their political thumb on many search results.

Because of this detestable level of hypocrisy, I say regulate the hell out them. Unlike Lavabit, they welcomed the government with open arms in lobbying efforts, committed gross violations of their customers' privacy, and have chosen to sequester tens of billions of dollars in taxes over three continents in a way that small businesses like mine never could.

Google loves the Feds so much? Throw them to the antitrust wolves.

<comment><USER12> > Filipinos, Samoans, Latinos, African Americans, and other persons of color?

Plenty of non-white people working at Google. What does this ethnic diversity have to do with your little free market rant?

<comment><USER11> > your little free market rant

Great way to contribute to the conversation!

<comment><USER13> Great way to not answer his question.

<comment><USER11> Name-calling indicated no civil discourse would occur

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> We always try to tell people to not put all their eggs in one basket. The problem here is that there is almost no other basket besides Google anymore. Or the ones that are there, are not even close because of Google's power over the online advertising industry.

I think that it's becoming the same way with email. and i'm worried that it's that way with what small businesses. The default for so many is "oh, just use Google Apps." What's the alternative? It's usually just Microsoft.

</comment><comment><USER15> Woah, Fark still exists and looks almost exactly how I remember it 15 years ago

<comment><USER16> oh, hey, new strongbad email!

<comment><USER17> Oh hey, new Maddox!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I think this is from the culture at Google. To be clear, I think its perfectly fine to use AI or whatever other innovation - if it works. But to me, so many of their projects seem to be perpetually stuck in alpha/beta release mode and never seem to have all the features and polish to handle all the edge cases (which would require a TON more work).

</comment><comment><USER19> > Due to the way Fark was built, we are invisible to both SEO and Social Media > traffic.

What does this mean? Clearly, they can't block anyone from sharing fark links on facebook and also, this: [https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Afark.com](https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Afark.com)

<comment><USER20> While fark.com may rank well, as a news aggregator the individual pages inside the site don't rank well. My site suffers the same problem: despite having thousands of pages of content, they all sit at the bottom of Google's results. So now I don't even bother to try to rank on Google and just use traffic from social media instead.

<comment><USER21> Why would Google want to have an aggregator rank high on their search results? They are the middlemen of online news. It seems much better to have the actual article come first so you don't have to click through the link in the header to get to the content you care about.

<comment><USER20> Yes, that's the reason, and that's why it's a challenge for anyone trying to promote a news aggregator using Google search.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Hubris combined with the amount of power Google has is a recipe for disaster.

</comment><comment><USER23> Isn't there enough competition within the ad industry to just switch to a different provider?

<comment><USER24> Nope. There really isn't, or if there is, it's niche dependent. To diversify away from Google, I've tried other ad providers and struggled to make 20% as much...

<comment><USER25> Header bidding will begin to cut into Google when it becomes more widespread.

[https://adexchanger.com/the-sell-sider/the-strategic- implica...](https://adexchanger.com/the-sell-sider/the-strategic-implications- of-header-bidding/)

<comment><USER26> And then Google will start to treat publishers better.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> It's disturbing that many companies don't have humans to respond soon enough or don't have humans to reach out to at all. Machines can learn and get better at analyzing and classifying information, but it'll be a long time before a machine can pick up the phone to answer a customer's call with a proper conversation (with understanding and decisions based on arguments) or truly read and understand an email conversation back and forth and understand the entire context and allow for exceptions and more "appropriate" decisions like humans could (depending on the situation and the background).

<comment><USER28> Why is it disturbing? Many products bring in very little revenue per user. It's unfair to require a support system when the expense can easily far outweigh the revenue, especially when answers are often easy to find online.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> Not related to the topic at hand, but I wish this site had an About page. I read this whole article and felt the author was very passionate about the online community he hosts, so I thought maybe I could hang around there a bit, but couldn't find out what Fark is about. I don't mean to be negative by the way, in fact I liked the way the author is passionate about the site.

<comment><USER30> It does: [http://www.fark.com/farq/](http://www.fark.com/farq/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> Who decides what is bannable images and what are not?

Do they use machine learning or people? Does someone just flag it or something? Was Fark given the chance to remove the link or file an appeal?

<comment><USER32> Read the article.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> I don't know if I can applaud any harder given the way Fark treated its userbase around the whole SJW/GamerGate beginnings. Karma is one trifling bastard.

</comment><comment><USER34> >Our ads were turned off for almost five weeks - completely and totally their mistake

Who is running your campaigns that they can be disabled for more than a month without anyone noticing?!

<comment><USER35> They mean Google disabled the ad serving on their site, not ad campaigns. Despite rapid followups by fark, Google's process to resume took that long.</comment></comment>


Show HN: My personal project, a innovative Pokémon search engine - <AUTHOR> http://encyclopedex.com

<comment><USER2> Look really great, I like how the search is pretty fast and how you can put multiple filters. Way better than most of the searches where you have old school forms with dozen of field to fill!

Great job!

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey thank you! I'm glad you like my work and I appreciate your support!

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Where were you when I was 13?

But seriously, good work, gave me a nice little dose of nostalgia! Might have to break out the GameBoy soon. Or try the newer ones...I stopped after Silver.

<comment><AUTHOR> Well, I was probably 13 too ^^ Thanks for the support :) Try the new version X&Y, it's gonna be in 3D. It's like a child dream come true!

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Now that's what I call a good idea for a personal project. Must have been a blast to make!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you :) Indeed that was fun to make as I'm very motivated.</comment></comment>


Why an exokernel   - <AUTHOR> https://code.google.com/p/xomb/wiki/WhyAnExokernel

<comment><USER2> No updates for over 2 years:

<https://code.google.com/p/xomb/source/list>

Nothing to see here, move along.

</comment><comment><USER3> Show me the code.</comment>


Svbtle Funding - <AUTHOR> http://blog.svbtle.com/svbtle-funding <comment><USER2> Svbtle is probably one of the most misunderstood companies we've funded. Partly because what they're doing is hard to understand, and partly because Dustin has alienated a few people along the way, who now in the usual way with haters _want_ to misunderstand what Svbtle is.

One of the reasons Svbtle is hard to understand is that it's a work in progress. At its current fairly fuzzy resolution, it's what I'd guess a traditional magazine evolves into when it hits the Internet: a loose confederation of lightly edited writers with their own individual reputations. Beyond that few of the details are figured out. But costs are low and traffic is growing steeply, so although in most cases I'd be nagging founders to figure out more details, in this case I've advised Dustin to let this grow and see what it turns into.

I encourage neutral observers to do the same: let's see what this turns into. And as for the haters, it's fine with me if you want to keep hating. Though this was not a deliberate strategy by Dustin (he is actually confused and hurt by all the hate), being controversial is actually a good thing for a publication.

<comment><USER3> Can we all agree to stop calling critics "haters"?

<comment><USER2> I think not. Haters are distinctive enough that it would make the language less expressive to discard the word and merge it into "critic."

I'm slow to adopt new words, but I think "hater" is a useful addition to the language, and not simply a pejorative version of "critic." The difference is that a critic is what you're called as a byproduct of being critical in a particular instance, whereas being a hater is an ongoing state of mind. So for example it is reasonable to say "he was sometimes a critic of the administration's policy" but not to say "he was sometimes a hater of the administration's policy."

"Hater" is not a pejorative version of "critic" so much as a negative version of "fan." In fact the distinctive thing about a hater is how _uncritical_ his responses are.

<comment><USER4> Then isn't the word "haters" misapplied here?

What I've seen in this thread is that people have reasons for disliking Dustin, some of which directly relate to Svbtle. To the extent that they don't directly relate, though, people are quite explicitly saying they evaluate Svbtle separate from Dustin.

And by far the most common reaction expressed is a lack of understanding any valid business model for the network, which in your op you say is quite understandable.

What I don't see in this thread is any willful misconstruing of the project. Which seems to be the requirement for a "hater".

<comment><USER2> HN users are sophisticated enough not to simply post comments saying "I hate Dustin Curtis." Here they resort to something more akin to concern trolling.

The way you can tell something is amiss is the volume of commenters who seem worried about e.g. how Dustin is going to make money. If most startups issued such a bland funding announcement, it would sink beneath the surface of HN with barely a ripple of comment.

<comment><USER5> I hate Dustin Curtis.

<comment><USER6> Man I have never wanted to see a company succeed more than I want to see Curtis' thing succeed now. What a bunch of wangs you all are.

If this is some kind of genius nerd underdog sympathy marketing ploy, I've never seen it done better.

<comment><USER5> Underdog? Have you read anything the guy writes? He's like Kanye West but without the humility.

<comment><USER7> So you made me curious. I went and had a look at Dustin's writing. Here's a piece entitled "Do".

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment>=

 _Wake up early. Show up. Learn how to think. Be genuine, but appear nice. Use envy for motivation instead of destruction. Do what you say you're going to do. Ensure balance in every area of your life. Confront repressed thoughts immediately. Surround yourself with people who are better than you (but remember the thing about envy). Work out every day. Be good at what you do. Make money doing what you love. Have good friends. Never settle._

\--

Now, as far as I can tell, every aspect of that post is good advice. It's evident that Dustin's advice was derived from experience, because some his points are counter-intuitive-but-true (which tend to only be learned as a byproduct of screwing up). The advice seems to match my own experience as well, so it seems possible it may be broadly true and (and therefore broadly useful).

I don't know what demon you see in him, but you're wrong.

Now, at this point, it seems only fair that we contrast Dustin's writing against someone else's writing. Let's use your writing, in fact.

So here's a piece you wrote, entitled "New Year - No Fun Allowed".

</comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment>=

 _My resolution is to blog every day. Whoops, already missed that one. Make it every week, I guess.

Also, to finally launch the enormous white whale of a ship that I've been working on in Kerbal Space Program (which is what has kept me from here for so long). It will set all sorts of records, visit all the planets… I just need to have the damn thing not explode. I'm getting closer now; got as far as 20km, and the most recent launch was spoiled by pure bad luck (a piece I'd blown off the top of my rocket fell down back onto it).

You might think stuff like buying a flat or finding a job should be higher on the list than achieving something in a computer game. And you'd be right. But damned if it doesn't feel like the other way around._

\--

Eh... I was going to say some more stuff, but it appears you may be going through a rough period in your life.

This is something of a tangent, but: if you happen to want to talk with someone about what's on your mind nowadays, or if you just need someone to talk to, then please feel free to toss me an email. I'm happy to listen (if you want that) or to do whatever else I can.

Life can be rough, but don't let it break you, even if it seems hard not to.

<comment><USER5> >It's evident that Dustin's advice was derived from experience, because some his points are counter-intuitive-but-true (which tend to only be learned as a byproduct of screwing up).

That seems implausible given his age and job history. I don't see how he can possibly have tried e.g. settling enough to be able to assert one should never do it.

The whole tone is one of condescension, of the enlightened master speaking down to his acolytes. I'd accept it coming from e.g. that guy who built a windmill out of scrap metal, or Helen Keller, or even Mark Zuckerberg. Someone who's overcome adversity and/or achieved something useful - or perhaps even just someone old enough to have a bit of life experience. From a bay-area upper-class white male who has never had to struggle, who so far as I can tell has never done a day's real work in his life? No; I'd accept domain-specific advice on design or writing (which he seems to have a genuine talent for), but I refuse to believe he knows better than me how to live - and that's how he's phrased it, not as suggestions or things that worked for him, but as instructions and universal truths.

>Eh... I was going to say some more stuff, but it appears you may be going through a rough period in your life.

Hah, a reader. No, don't worry, I guess it sounded bad out of context. No Fun Allowed is the blog title, not because I don't have fun but because I spend most of the posts taking silly things way too seriously. My present employers have chosen a somewhat inconvenient time to make 2/3 of their developers redundant, which in the worst case might set my life plans back a few years, but life is good; thanks for the sympathy, but I'm doing ok, at least for the moment.

<comment><USER2> _who so far as I can tell has never done a day's real work in his life?_

How could you possibly know a thing like that?

The things you've said in this thread are so much worse than anything you accuse Dustin of saying. I wonder the contrast doesn't strike you.

<comment><USER5> It's always hardest to see flaws in oneself. Do I come across as telling people what to do? I try to avoid that (outside my specific expertise), but I'm constantly worried I've failed.

Is it that I think I'm better than Dustin? That's a tougher one; I'm hardly any less privileged; I think I'm less condescending. Being proud of one's humility is a trap, but that doesn't mean one should never call others out on their arrogance.

Is it the hate? I'd like to be more constructive, but I think there's still value in being honest. There is a risk of a negative impact here, but the worst obvious case is that I upset one person and have no other effect.

<comment><USER8> "Is it that I think I'm better than Dustin? That's a tougher one;"

A world class designer with a funded, successful blog network or an unemployed LARPer. Not sure it's as tough as you think.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> After the discussion I had with jrockway in this thread[0], I've come to really dislike the Svbtle network and what it stands for. I can't speak for the rest of the community, but I would consider Svbtle branding to be a strike against a blog, and not something that is a sign of its quality.

0: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4993094>

<comment><USER10> ITT: You neglect to read the two blog posts about the topic you're debating and cast a blanket statement about a guy who was just trying to help the brand and didn't understand the internal conflicts going on at the company. The designer was fired for sharing internal information relevant to the initial blog post he made (letting him know there were competent designers in-house, but not much they could do about typical politics), not because Dustin said their design team sucked.

<comment><USER11> Had Dustin simply made suggestions, he'd be trying to help the brand. Instead, he made it personal and demeaned the livelihood of professionals he'd never met. After he received a response, he then went on to make more backhanded jabs, for example saying he was "surprised" that the other designer's work actually looked good.

Telling an unfamiliar company to "fire designers" he hadn't interacted with wasn't helping a brand. It was being a douchebag and demonstrates an astounding lack of maturity and experience at best.

Edit: Dustin responded to a sibling post: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5027792> .

<comment><USER10> The idea that anyone on HN is innocent of making statements similar to those he did are laughable, and posts just like them make the front page and are the most-upvoted every day. Are people not allowed to have opinions anymore? It isn't like they hired him to clean up house and that was his approach; he saw a terrible user experience and he gave his advice on how to fix it. Often times, starting fresh is the best way to do that.

A UX architect came forward to apologize and let him know why things were the way they were (again, corporate politics and the design process). AA found the email by scrubbing their Exchange server and fired the guy over discussing that process.

Original complaints: <http://www.dustincurtis.com/dear_american_airlines.html>

The UX Architect's response: <http://www.dustincurtis.com/dear_dustin_curtis.html>

Dustin's response to the firing: <http://www.dustincurtis.com/incompetence.html>

<comment><USER12> I have no opinion of Sᴧbtle, but I can't fault Curtis's conduct in this episode. He offered a completely valid critique of the antiquated web presence of a large and poorly-managed company. When he received a response from someone involved in the production process, he republished it w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶r̶e̶s̶p̶e̶c̶t̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶c̶o̶r̶d̶i̶a̶l̶i̶t̶y̶ [edit: OK that was a bit strong] cordially. It is unfortunate that someone lost a job in a knee-jerk corporate response to that candid exchange. Everyone likes to be employed, but I doubt even that UX person will admit to having lost a _good_ job. I hope the next employer snapped up the person promptly, and I hope that the new organization is much less dysfunctional. Whatever the case, Curtis is responsible neither for the poor culture at AA nor for the erstwhile employee's poor anticipation of the probable response of that culture.

In the meantime, I'll be unchecking "AA" on the sidebar of the Kayak site for the foreseeable future.

<comment><USER11> Suggesting people he'd never interacted with in any way (who, mind you, ended up not being the responsible parties anyway) be fired wasn't a valid critique of much of anything.

And I don't think that registering that Dustin was "astounded" that the designer he received the email from had a good portfolio or only admitting to having been "partially wrong" with respect to the firing comment was particularly cordial or respectful, either.

I agree that the whole debacle reflects -much- more poorly on AA than on Curtis, but his conduct wasn't beyond fault by any means either.

<comment><USER10> I'm an in-house designer at a company whose print and web design I detest, and I would hardly blame anyone for going off on a rant about it, including telling the company to get rid of their current crop of designers (which can be a part of the problem, because even after shareholder input there are still little things you can do, and often times they can only go off of what they're presented to begin with).

Truth be told, I would be grateful because my voice has gone unheard. That's the name of the game with a lot of in-house design; you make due with implementing non-designer's ideas for a steady paycheck and good benefits.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> > The future of journalism

I can't help but laugh at this. All Svbtle does is slap a pretty, unified design on the articles of people that have interesting stuff to say. It's very good at doing that and I appreciate it for doing that.

Like Curtis intended, when you see the Svbtle design you can expect something interesting. Most of the articles I've read on it were indeed interesting. However, these articles would also exist without Svbtle, they just wouldn't look the same.

Svbtle's got a good thing going, but future of journalism? Please.

<comment> brown9-2 I think in the full context of the quote this makes more sense. He is saying that now they have the resources to build something that could maybe be "the future of journalism", not that the current state is "the future".

In other words, what they build next could be "the future of journalism".

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I don't know much about Svbtle but there's something so un-exciting and unapproachable about the way they describe their objectives:

>Svbtle is a curated, invite-only collection of great people who have things to say. ... >Our goal is to make it easier and more natural for interesting people to write down their thoughts. ... >Think you should be a part of the network? Apply for membership below.

The most exciting thing about idea exchanges (whether in oral or written form) is the openness of it. You can go out into the world wide web and read as much or as little as you want. You can have favorite sources of information, least favorite sources and have some of your beliefs confirmed, while turning other ones on their head.

In Svbtle, it seems like everyone is a self-proclaimed "great" person with interesting things to say. Then the Svbtle network invites you, gives you a stark blog theme to share your brilliant thoughts with other people of equal greatness. I guess the quality of content will ultimately be deciding factor of whether this has merit, but for right now I can't get excited about it.

<comment><USER15> I just realized that Svbtle is like TED or TEDx for blogging, and those have been very successful.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> I don't understand - what possible business model could you have with such niche blogging? Can anybody explain how this is expected to work? Some kind of sponsored advertising on what the blog topic is about?

<comment><USER17> I was gonna type this but then I saw your post. I don't see where Svbtle is going. What benefit can membership get from joing Svbtle network? well there's only 1 thing i can think of right now is link exposure. and how Svbtle is going to make profit is still a huge question. Ads is obviously not an option because I felt like it's against the philosophy how Svbtle was created.

<comment><USER18> > What benefit can membership get from joing Svbtle network?

I applied (and got in) to Svbtle because of two things: exclusivity and the interface. Svbtle at least attempts to have only high quality writers there, and it was made clear that sometimes, if posts were of low quality, they'd be asked to be revised. There was also talk of helping Svbtle members with their writing through things like copyediting. I haven't heard of any of those things happening yet, but I can tell you that (generally) I try to keep Svbtle much higher quality as a result. I still maintain a personal blog where I put shorter/news kinds of things, but bigger, more in-depth essays go to Svbtle.

The interface is also really nice. It's good enough that I actually write in- browser, rather than writing in Vim and copying it over.

Oh, and also: I suck real hard at design, and I'm sick of maintaining Yet Another Blog Platform/design. I really like the look and feel of Svbtle. My personal blog is basically just Skeleton default with a few small modifications: <http://blog.steveklabnik.com/archive>

<comment><USER19> As a shameless self promotion, for those who can't make it into svbtle and want a nicely designed (IMO) and simple blog, try <http://throwww.com>

<comment><USER20> I like this. It would be nice with an option to sign in with something else but twitter.

<comment><USER19> working on it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> There is nothing wrong in running an invite-only network. But claiming to be a genuinely 'quality-oriented' network[1] when your are not is tricking your readers and is plain wrong.

For example, there are a lot of shitty blogs[2] on this network. Even shitty posts[3]. It's just like any other blog network with some extra-hype and a minimalistic design mixed and matched from theme sites (Trust me, I've seen a dozen themes like this _before_ Dustin came up with this and dismissed anyone trying to create a similar design[4])

A really good quality-oriented network would be something like Quora, but for blogs. The readers, people, us should rate what is good and what is bad,what is ethical, what is unethical, what is right and what is wrong. Not at the mercy of some clown advocating minimalism to emphasize elitism and branding for himself.

[1] This was SVBTLE's pitch initially.

[2] massivegreatness.com [An arrogant, unethical Apple fanboy, writer at Techcrunch who supports anything Apple without proper logic]

[3][http://influencehacks.com/the-stunning-hypocrisy-of- ventureb...](http://influencehacks.com/the-stunning-hypocrisy-of-venturebeats- assault-on-y-combinator)

[4][http://howells.ws/posts/view/93/svbtle-vs-obtvse-and-on- copy...](http://howells.ws/posts/view/93/svbtle-vs-obtvse-and-on-copying)

<comment><USER17> [2] He's MG Siegler which is short for 'Mini Gruber' for a reason.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> When people suggest this is a stupid idea, I think there's a profound misunderstanding of how enticing exclusivity is.

Not everyone gets to send a piece in to the NYTimes, the WSJ, the National Review and get it published as an op-ed. But for someone in political science or macroeconomics it's _definitely_ a status symbol. Note that anyone could just as easily put something on their own blog. In fact, many people who regularly send in pieces _do_ publish on their own blogs. People who have much larger fan-bases, power, and immediate influence than almost anyone in tech still seem to find value in spending a few hours writing a piece for no profit, no ad revenues, no pictures next to their name. Larry Summers, who was the head of arguably the most gate-keeper-ish institution in the nation still wanted to get his views published in the WSJ.

Tech people may not view these venues as worthwhile for their field. What then, is the prestigious place to have your content featured? I think Svbtle could be that. If you own something every influential person wants to be featured in, that would be _huge_. You'd be a gatekeeper of ideas.

<comment><USER23> That's the problem with Svbtle. You can't just "be" that. You have to earn it.

<comment><USER6> Says exactly who, and with what evidence?

<comment><USER23> Well I account for respect on a personal level so the answer is me. Other readers may behave the same way, and they could also feel that respect is something which must be earned.

As for evidence, plenty of research has gone into respect and credibility, particularly as they relate to leadership.

<http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=leadership+credibility>

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Reading this reminded me of 9rules[1], which used to be pretty popular some 8-10 years back but eventually withered away. As with most communities, scaling svbtle without comprising on the quality is going to be the greatest challenge.

[1]: <http://9rules.com>

<comment><USER25> This is why I'm really interested to see where things are headed (co-founder of 9rules here). It is easy to get great people together when the reason for joining is set behind an idea that everyone can share. In this case it was to bring great content back to the web. However, once money starts to enter the equation it changes the mindset of things a bit. Instead of writing because you are passionate to share your thoughts, you begin to start thinking about what you can write about that will get you the most views/money.

I hope this doesn't happen to svbtle because some good content is coming from it, but as you said it is a difficult balance that will need to be achieved moving forward.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> How is this in any way a new approach to journalism? It is a network of editorial / expert writers. Online and offline publications have been doing this for over a century.

</comment><comment><USER27> I think there is quite a bit of animosity and maybe even jealousy in the HN circle regarding Svbtle because of the apparently pretentious manner that Dustin Curtis launched and promoted it. However, it seems what he did is working out for him in the long run. Svbtle has also adjusted its message significantly since the launch to be more friendly.

Personally I would like to learn more about how Dustin used the situation to his advantage, even leading to funding.

</comment><comment><USER28> It's interesting what Dustin is trying, but I find the utter lack of design personality across the sites to be quite off-putting.

It's trying to fix 200+ differently-shaped circles into the exact same square.

<comment><USER29> > It's interesting what Dalton is trying, but I find the utter lack of design > personality across the sites to be quite off-putting.

Dalton is the guy behind App.net. Svbtle is a Dustin Curtis thing, I believe.

<comment><USER28> Whoops, you are correct. s/Dalton/Dustin

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> I liked the minimlistic approach of Svbtle, so I created a super simple Git+Markdown-based blog that draws inspiration from Svbtle.

Check it out: <http://hveem.no/simple-blogging-with-lua-and-git>

<comment><USER31> Silicon Valley appears to think there is a fine line between "drawing inspiration" and "copying." There isn't and to be honest, your output is a good example of the latter, not the former.

<comment><USER32> What makes you say that? I'm looking at the two side by side right now and they are vastly different. What has svbtle created that is being copied?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> _"Svbtle now has more than 200 writers with expertise spanning at least eight disciplines, including entrepreneurship, business, finance, political science, and literature."_

Is there a directory of all blogs in the Svbtle network? The only ones I've seen have been about technology/entrepreneurs, but I'd be interested in finance topics.

<comment><USER18> There is explicitly no directory. There is a feed: <https://svbtle.com/home> But it's only for 'featured' posts.

<comment> brown9-2 I'm curious what the rationale of this is if one of the ideas behind this network is it's "exclusivity" and curation of authors.

Why be cautious of who you pick to be in your network yet not promote who you've picked to be in your network?

<comment><USER18> I'm speculating, but: the best of the best. Everyone has off days.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER34> Will they be compensating the bloggers whose content they are profiting from?

<comment><USER35> Are they really profiting at this point? I haven't seen any ads on the sites, and funding shouldn't be considered profit.

<comment><USER36> I doubt the funding was set up as a charitable donation, so at some point, they're certainly going to have to figure out some way to make revenue.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER37> In order to be a respected author and build a personality online, I think we'd all be much better off taking the time and care to build our own personal theme and identity.

Our blogs are our online identities. Using something like Svbtle take all the personality and brand recognition out of it.

For me, I designed my own blog around my personal tastes in minimalism, and the way I want to brand myself: <http://kswizz.com>.

</comment><comment><USER38> Prediction: Kudos will become a Flattr esque financing model.

</comment><comment><USER39> Either TechMeme got it wrong or the story was edited to remove it but the TechMeme quote includes "YCombinator" in that list. <http://www.techmeme.com/130108/p31#a130108p31>

Edit: Now says "(including, previously, Y Combinator)"

<comment><USER40> Y Combinator was not part of the most recent round, so I edited to clarify.

</comment></comment><comment><USER41> Explains the angst against WordPress themes copying the interface. It's not an artistic issue, but a money one.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4993094>

<comment><USER42> Even if it was a financially/revenue-independent blog network, it's an issue.

It was never an artistic -- it was always a branding issue.

</comment></comment><comment><USER43> Svbtle sounds eerily familiar to the old 9rules blog network. The only difference (from what I can tell) is that Svbtle provides the bloggging platform and site design as part of membership in the "network."

If Svbtle is to ever monetize as a "publication" aren't they going to pay the writers? Or maybe they'll take the HuffingtonPost route and not pay them?

Not a hater, just voicing some legitimate concerns.

</comment><comment><USER44> I was a bit uncertain at first, but Svbtle has really grown into a great resource. The writing on there is phenomenal and it's great that the list of authors keeps growing. Excited to see how they use their new resources.

</comment><comment><USER45> I didn't realize there was so much contention over the Svbtle theme. I was using a Tumblr version, but I just changed to something standard as I spend time to work on my own custom theme. As far as the funding, I think it's great that the blog platform will continue. As a relative new comer to the valley, I have gained some pretty insightful information from some of the Svbtle authors.

</comment><comment><USER46> I wonder if they're going to try a revenue model that doesn't use ads, I can't see ads fitting the flow of the site overly well if they do go for them.

<comment><USER47> Selling data?

<comment><USER46> Selling what data though? There's probably some analytics, but enough for a VC to be interested? There's two outcomes, they're either bought by a bigger network and make the VC's happy, or they take find a revenue model and try make the VC's happy.

Curious to see what happens, if nothing it's been an interesting experiment for the web.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER48> Nice empty "Also read..." beneath the article.</comment>


Show HN: Chrome ext., Musicality – Playback controls for your favorite players - <AUTHOR> https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/musicality-music-player/fjiolbglibkahkipcdgeepdfdgfkdbee

<comment><AUTHOR> Feedback appreciated. This is one of my first big javascript projects. It's open source if you'd like to take a peek under the hood: [https://github.com/kkamperschroer/Musicality](https://github.com/kkamperschroer/Musicality)</comment>


China forcing Uyghurs to promise to abstain from activities related to religion - <AUTHOR> https://twitter.com/humarisaac/status/1105425692236435457 <comment><USER2> Are Uyghurs typically very religious? If so wouldn't this backfire and cause radicalization? I'm guessing China is prepared to engage in genocide if their current stategy fails. They appear to believe that Europe and the U.S. can't afford to make too much of a ruckus over this.

<comment><USER3> The West has started paying attention.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang_re- education_camps#In...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang_re- education_camps#International_reaction)

[https://www.youtube.com/user/NTDChinaUncensored/search?query...](https://www.youtube.com/user/NTDChinaUncensored/search?query=xinjiang)</comment></comment>


Man moves to SF, pays $400/m to sleep in wooden box in friends' living room - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/03/29/man-moves-to-san-francisco-pays-400-a-month-to-sleep-in-wooden-box-inside-friends-living-room/ <comment><USER2> > "I really don't feel like I've taken a hit in terms of my quality of life," > said Berkowitz, 25. "I don't really notice I live in the pod anymore."

For a moment there, I thought I was reading The Onion.</comment>


Ask HN: What are instances of "reinventing the wheel" you've had or seen? - <AUTHOR> <comment> Engineering-MD My favourite example is the "rediscovery" of the trapezium rule by a medical researcher. Shows the disadvantage of overspecialising!</comment>


David Deutsch on why it is so hard to create general AI (2012) - <AUTHOR> https://aeon.co/essays/how-close-are-we-to-creating-artificial-intelligence#1 <comment><AUTHOR> This was previously submitted ([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10919666](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10919666)) but with a very non-descriptive headline: "Creative Blocks", which is just the name of the column the essay was published in. So I've deliberately subverted the dup detecter in order to re-submit this piece with a more descriptive headline.

It's really worth reading.

</comment><comment><USER2> This is really an excellent essay if you have any interest in AI and the view that it is a philosophic problem (more specifically, epistemology) and not a technology or engineering problem. My only comment is that Deutsch assumes that Popper's theories are correct but they are derivatives of Kant's false theory of consciousness and false theory of concepts and thus a deadend.

<comment><AUTHOR> I dunno, I find Deutsch's rendition of Popper to be pretty compelling. What don't you like about it? I haven't read Kant. What do you think he got wrong that Popper followed?

<comment><USER2> Popper just codified the current state of logic in his "paradigm" of how science works and his principle of falsifiability. We can prove something unequivocally false because of Aristotle's principle of non-contradiction but we can't prove anything unequivocally true (i.e. certain). To do the latter we need the principles of valid induction. Popper's model of how science works by proving that old theories are "false" equivocates on the meaning of proof. In his view Einstein "proved" Newton was wrong but this is not the case. Newton's theory is true and still true in the context in which it was defined. Einstein proved a different theory that applied to a wider context of knowledge so he built on the work of Newton. Einstein himself admitted that his theory was implicit in Newton's theory. Scientific progress is the accumulation of that "wider context of knowledge" known (or assumed) to be true, not by proving things false (though this is part of the process).

Deutsch is throwing the baby out with the bath water by dismissing the problem of induction as non-sense and a waste of time. The principles of induction would tell us when a there is enough evidence and in what form to validly say a statement or theory X is true. Deutsch is right that Hume's question about how do we know the sun will rise tomorrow is rank skepticism if asked in today's context (we'd have to ignore everything we know about planets, orbits, gravity, etc). But somewhere between primitive man's observation that the sun will rise tomorrow (which is unproved and uncertain knowledge) and modern man's understanding of astronomy/physics we had enough evidence and crossed an identifiable line to certainty. Induction defines that line and after crossing the line the onus would be on the skeptics to explain WHY they think the sun won't rise tomorrow and their explanation would have to be consistent with everything we now know, not just some arbitrary dropping of the context.

Everyone is a Kantian today and so I don't think I was going out on a limb to assume that Popper's theory is an application of Kant's theory. The essence of Kant's view is that true knowledge is unattainable because we are dependent on our senses and the world we perceive is "mere" appearances and not reality itself. This is a denial of consciousness as such and also denies that the base of knowledge is sensory data. One trap that modern physics has fallen into is the same Platonic view that the essence of reality is mathematical. This leads to a whole raft of errors and the solution is a clear understanding of epistemology and how concepts work.

In any case, Deutsch is groping in the right direction that AI is an epistemology problem not a technology problem which why I liked his article.

<comment><AUTHOR> > Induction defines that line

Really? How?

> the onus would be on the skeptics to explain WHY they think the sun won't > rise tomorrow

You've just contradicted yourself, and sided with Deutsch (and hence with Popper) here by admitting that if a skeptic can explain _why_ the sun won't rise tomorrow that the skeptic might be right. That's Deutch's (and Poppers) whole point: it's not about induction, it's about _explanations_.

BTW, it's a question of when, not if, there will come a day when the sun will no longer rise. The best estimate at the moment is about 5 billion years from now.

A better example of the failure of induction is this: Barack Obama has been the president of the United States for about 2500 days now. And he will almost certainly be the president tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. But I can nonetheless predict with 100% certainty that, one way or another, he will not be the president one year from today.

<comment><USER2> > Induction defines that line Really? How?

You are asking me to solve the problem of induction. I appreciate your vote of confidence. ;-)

<comment><AUTHOR> Perhaps I misunderstood you. When you said "Induction defines that line" I thought that meant you believed that the problem of induction had been solved. Not necessarily by you, but if you were claiming it had been solved I was just asking what you thought the solution was.

But I'm still confused then, if you concede that the problem of induction hasn't been solved, then why do you find the Popper/Deutsch solution to it (or, if you prefer, end-run around it) so unappealing? Do you _prefer_ a world where this problem remains unsolved?

<comment><USER2> P1: That was my fault, I didn't state that clearly. I should have said "The valid principles of induction define that line..." We have the principles of deduction that tell us when something is false but we are missing the principles of induction that tell use when something is true (in a given context). This is a general need so it spans all theories in all fields; how do we know and are certain the sun will rise, evolution is true, there ARE atoms, etc. There must be a criteria by which to say, in the current context of knowledge we know enough to say something is _true_ and certain.

P2: You anticipated my answer, Kant/Popper is an end-run evading the issue, i.e., we can only prove thing false never true and certain. The truth is unattainable. I think it is a valid question and needs to be solved. But to solve it we need a full, valid epistemology explaining how reason works _in toto_ to achieve _certain_ knowledge.

I think this is the same problem as in physics and all the contradictions and paradoxes in QM and GR. Physics is hung up on all sorts of confusing issues that seem to revolve around the nature of the observer and time. This makes sense to me because deduction is based on a metaphysical fact that contradictions do not exist which we (try) to abide. But this is half the story, what is missing is an epistemological principle that tells us what our brains do to create true knowledge. Whoever solves this problem will revolutionize physics and allow us to create AI (in my judgement).

<comment><AUTHOR> > what is missing is an epistemological principle that tells us what our > brains do to create true knowledge

Yes, I think even Deutsch would mostly agree with that, though I think his position would be: we know what the _principle_ is (universal computation) but we don't yet know the particular _mechanism_ by which our brains produce new theories, and that when we do figure that out it will be a major breakthrough.

Anyway, thanks for clarifying.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Squirrels wield a hot, secret weapon - <AUTHOR> http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12477-squirrels-wield-a-hot-secret-weapon.html

<comment><USER2> Voted up for the words "Tests with robotic squirrels".

Too bad I never had that much fun in my hardware labs at university.

</comment><comment><USER2> <http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/08/tests-with-robo.html>

Apparently I'm not the only one who got a kick out of "Tests with robotic squirrels". :)

</comment><comment><USER3> This is the kind of thing nobody would believe if you made it up. Nature is always more interesting than we imagined.

"Queerer than we _can_ suppose."</comment>


Rails 3.0.5 broke my routes and kicked my dog - <AUTHOR> http://matthew.mceachen.us/blog/rails-3-0-5-broke-my-routes-and-kicked-my-dog-1076.html

<comment><USER2> Rails 3.0.5 did nothing wrong.

The correct code for this:

        namespace :products do
          resources :comments do
            member do
              get :like
            end
          end
        end

Using a `get` without a `member` block leads to the misbehaviour as seen here, and it's also non-standard.

When defining additional actions for a resource one should always use a `member` block for actions that work on a single object or `collection` for those actions that work on many.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for sharing about member blocks. I'll update our routes to use them.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Hi Matt

I agree that they screwed up re: backwards compatibility (in fact, michael koz said as much in the comments), so that's inexcusable.

However, the new change makes the URL name functions more consistent, because the new behavior for custom actions was always true for default actions

Before:

        comment_like GET ...
        products_comments GET ...

After:

        products_comment_like GET ...
        products_comments GET ...

</comment><comment><USER4> Does Rails not have a release candidate process? If not, that's odd. If so, you should test the release candidates, that's what they're for!

<comment><USER5> it does, and someone pointed out exactly this in the comments, but I guess some things slip through

<comment><USER6> It slipped through because the author was using an unsupported nesting. See: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2281328>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I've been using namespaces with path methods like namespace_resource_path in 3.0.1 without issues... I think they just made the rules for calling a route more strict since without the namespace prepended on the path method could lead to confusion.

</comment><comment><USER8> Um... fix it and keep moving. Is this really worth a blog post?

<comment><USER9> Maybe there's a chance that someone on the internet will have the same problem?</comment></comment>