Rediscovering the Rsync Algorithm - <AUTHOR> http://blog.incubaid.com/2012/02/14/rediscovering-the-rsync-algorithm/ <comment><USER2> As cool as the rsync algorithm is, i'd much rather we had the dsync utility outlined in this usenix 08 paper. [http://www.usenix.org/event/usenix08/tech/full_papers/pucha/...](http://www.usenix.org/event/usenix08/tech/full_papers/pucha/pucha.pdf)

An adaptive protocol that matches to the systems load dynamically whether its cpu/disk/network. Anyone know of what happened to this?

<comment><USER3> Apologies - downvoted by mistake!

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> There is a Better Way. Instead of using fixed sized blocks, use variable sized blocks. Decide the block boundaries using the data in the blocks themselves. This will reduce your search from O(n^2) to O(n).

Tarsnap does this. My project (ddar) does the same.

<comment><USER5> I've heard that called 'anchored hashing'. Its recently been used by FreeArc: [http://encode.ru/threads/43-FreeArc?p=28237&viewfull=1#p...](http://encode.ru/threads/43-FreeArc?p=28237&viewfull=1#post28237)

How does ddar do it?

<comment><USER4> ddar calculates a 32-bit Rabin fingerprint over a sliding 48-byte window (a Rabin fingerprint is a type of checksum which allows quick calculation of a "slide" with just the previous fingerprint, the new byte coming in, and the old byte going away). The fingerprint is compared against a mask which has n bits set, where 2^n is the desired target block size. If there's a match, then the location of the window is taken to be a block boundary. With random data this should lead to a binomial distribution of block sizes centred around the target block size. But minimum and maximum block sizes are also enforced for pathological cases which skews this slightly.

Blocks whose boundaries are determined by this algorithm are hashed (SHA256 currently). The hash is used to key each block in a reference-counted key/value store.

Then each archive member is just a list of block hashes.

<comment><USER6> If you were to elaborate on and brush up the description, it would make an excellent HN submission. Good stuff anyways.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The rsync algorithm and program are both great, and I use the program a lot to update directory trees across the network. It's also my default tool for synchronizing two directories on the same system. The rsync program correctly optimizes for this case by skipping the rsync algorithm and completely copying changed files. However, it still uses multiple processes and seemingly still calculates some hashes, making it slower than it needs to be.

Joey found [0] that running rsync once in dry-run mode to find what files have been changed, copying them each with cp, then running rsync a second time to handle things like deletions and file permissions resulted in a major speedup.

[0] <http://kitenet.net/~joey/blog/entry/local_rsync_accelerator/>

</comment><comment><USER8> _Don't walk the folder and 'rsync' each file you encounter_

If I just tell rsync to syncronise between two directories, what does it do internally? I might have assumed that it does the more naive option, but in practice it seems to do a lot of upfront calculation that suggests it's doing something more sophisticated.

<comment><USER9> Rsync will compare timestamps, to only transfer changed files.

<comment><USER10> The default behavior also checks file size in addition to modification time.

<comment><USER11> Is there a purpose to that?

<comment><USER12> Modification time can be altered, or incorrect. File size is just another fast check that can be done with the same data return by stat'ing the file.

Rsync can also compare hashes if you don't trust the size and time on the files.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Sidenote but in case it's helpful to someone; if you need to have rsync.exe on Windows, here's one path:

<https://github.com/thbar/rsync-windows>

</comment><comment><USER14> Do you know of any other implementations of the rsync algorithm other than the actual rsync program? And where are they used?

Do you know how and where dropbox uses rsync?

There have been some tries to port the rsync program to other languages/platforms [1], but they are usually not in sync with the current rsync program. I am talking about ports of the program, not new implementations of the algorithm.

[1] <https://github.com/MatthewSteeples/rsync.net>

<comment><USER7> There's librsync [0], although it's not compatible with the rsync program. Duplicity [1] uses it.

[0] <http://librsync.sourceforge.net> [1] <http://duplicity.nongnu.org>

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> rsync is great. I use the "-H" and "--link-dest" options to make incremental backups which look like snapshots. Been doing this for the better part of a decade; would be interested to know if there's A Better Solution(tm) out there...

<comment><USER16> rdiff-backup <http://rdiff-backup.nongnu.org/> may be what you are looking for?

</comment></comment><comment> jeet-singh cool

</comment><comment><USER17> If someone committed any of that code to a repository I was working on, then I'd hang them up. It's 2011 and people are still using one and two letter variable names.

An interesting article, but I don't have time nor the inclination to understand the code, which is the core of it.

<comment><USER18> Of course, this is a wonderful example of how a literate style works. Despite the small variables names, the code is easy to understand because of the accompanying text. My (admittedly biased) leaning is that it is easier to understand than a similar snippet with "good variable names" without the accompanying explanation.

That is, if you aren't willing to read this article, then I have my doubts that you would have worked through any free standing code.

<comment><USER19> Yeah, but you should still have meaningful variable names.

Let's be honest here, very few people practice a good literate style.

<comment><USER18> Hmm... I definitely do not want to just toss out meaningful variable names. I'm torn, though, as I feel that if we had better practices in place to promote literate styles in general, we'd be in a better place. (That is, I think the return from literate styling is higher than the return from meaningful variable names.)

It really just comes down to adding a narrative to what you're doing. I think the README convention that github has helped push out there is doing more to get people using each other's codes than any amount of variable naming.

<comment><USER19> >I think the README convention that github has helped push out there is doing more to get people using each other's codes than any amount of variable naming.

Well… the README file is an ancient convention that probably stretches all the way back to the 70s.

IMHO, no, not at all. Github is helping people cos it lowered the cost of publishing code by 1) making it easy and 2) putting code at the forefront of the project.

In my ideal world, we would all use something like Docco - <http://jashkenas.github.com/docco/> \- but in my day to day I count myself lucky if I find the barest amount of class documentation, let alone a literate style.

So: people will do what is easy. Everyone should start by having meaningful variable names.

<comment><USER18> Yes, apologies, I meant to word that in a better way. I knew github did not invent the readme, it just seems they are sparking a revival of it. In that I mean you don't just get a bloody jar file (or whatever) and have to go looking for ways to use it. Take a look at any good shared project out there and there is just a text file outlining how to get going with it.

I think this is possibly my being jaded with Java's documentation conventions. It can be great for index level documentation, but is absolutely terrible at showing use cases and why things were done the way they are.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


As British car sales collapse, Tesla Model 3 becomes top-selling U.K. vehicle - <AUTHOR> https://www.marketwatch.com/story/as-british-car-sales-collapse-tesla-model-3-becomes-top-selling-uk-vehicle-for-april-2020-05-05 <comment><USER2> "For company car drivers and fleet operators choosing an electric car from April 2020, there will be zero tax on Benefit in Kind (BIK) during 2020 / 2021\. "

[https://www.edfenergy.com/electric-cars/tax-road- company](https://www.edfenergy.com/electric-cars/tax-road-company)

This might play a big part of it too.

</comment><comment><USER3> Is this really true or did Tesla just batch all deliveries together and unload a ship of Model 3s to claim they had the best selling vehicle again?</comment>


CETP Finally Heads to the Trash Heap? - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2016/04/04/cetp-finally-heads-to-the-trash-heap <comment><USER2> This very interesting short article regards the evolving problems with the simple HDL/LDL conception of coronary disease:

"Lilly's evacetrapib did just you would want a CETP inhibitor, or any lipid- targeting cardiovascular drug, to do. It raised HDL by 130% compared to placebo, and lowered LDL by 35%. But the cardiovascular outcomes (MI, angina, stroke, and so on) were absolutely identical between the treatment group and the placebo group. At one point, if you'd asked cardiologists to predict the effects of a compound that affected cholesterol levels in this way, you'd have gotten some pretty enthusiastic guesses. But not now."

</comment><comment><USER3> I found this comment to be much better, and more interesting, than the original article:

>The other side of the third possibility is that LDL and HDL levels are indicators of some underlying process, and not causative at all. So CETP inhibitors might just be changing the indicator while doing nothing to the actual cause of the heart disease, while statins are doing something to the underlying cause, which in turn changes cholesterol levels. IE the old "correlation is not causation" coming to bite us yet again.</comment>


Ask HN: Deactivating Facebook and moving out of Google services enough? - <AUTHOR>

After NSA fiasco , and further reading about privacy issues I decided to deactivate my Facebook account and trying to migrate from Google services , such as changing my default search engine to "Duck duck Go" , migrating away from Gmail etc. What else can be done? <comment><USER2> I did the same about a month ago, just to see what it'd be like, an experiment of sorts, NY resolution style ... Deleted all my social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Google), Started using Firefox completely locked down with various plugins. If you're really paranoid you may want to look into getting a Raspberry Pi & setting it up as tor WiFi access point (Duckduckgo "Onion Pi"). After one month in here's my experience:

* No FB, Google+ & Twitter is easy, they were a waste of time anyway. Glad I did that.

* No Google: harder ... the search results from Google are still better than DDG.

* Always running your browser in "Private" mode: harder still ...I reverted to using one browser (Safari) for sites that require logins / cookies and Firefox for pure consumption.

* Onion Pi Tor WiFi: depends mostly on the network speed. On my home network I find the slowdown intolerable & often switch to the non-tor network. On a fast connection it is good enough that it doesn't bother me 80% of the time.

* VPN: I also have a HideMyAss VPN account which I use to bypass country firewalls. Here too the connection too often flakes out to use as an always-on solution.

* (Edit): I replaced Dropbox with Bittorrent Sync running on said Raspberry Pi. (I actually have two in different physical locations).

Verdict: While I'm glad I quit the social media nonsense & took some steps to protect my privacy, going into "Tinfoil Hat" mode all-day, every day just seems too hard.

</comment><comment><USER3> I also recently unplugged from the social media / Google ecosystem [http://mil3s.com/post/why_i_left_the_google_ecosystem.htm](http://mil3s.com/post/why_i_left_the_google_ecosystem.htm)

What I found was that aside from the unplugging and deactivating, I have to change my mindset or how I look at the internet and where it is going. If I continue looking at and wanting to use the internet as I have in the past, I will find myself painted into a corner.

With all the new security and privacy revelations recently, I believe that simplifying and taking stock of what we really want out of the internet, is imperative.

The Internet will surely be changing and if we don't keep that in mind we may find ourself at more of a disadvantage than we ever thought.

</comment><comment><USER4> If you're okay with trying to work around it, I'd remove your cell phone from service. Keep it around as a wifi device if you will, but if you seriously want to keep your privacy, it seems essential to pull a Stallman here. After a couple months, you really won't miss it.

No matter what you encrypt, transmitting your location off to be archived by the NSA is a reality of cellular service.

</comment><comment><USER5> A question to all of your responses:

Are you guys basically living in some type of fear of your own government (if you are, as I assume, American and living in the USA)?

That would kind of seriously contradict the freedom that your leaders preach to the world.

</comment><comment><USER6> Install Adblock Edge, NoScript, Disconnect, CipherFox (and disable RC4), BetterPrivacy, RequestPolicy etc.

Remove Chrome if you haven't already. If you really want a Chromium-based browser for something (e.g. testing), use Opera or SRWare Iron.

Learn GPG.

</comment><comment><USER7> The same documents implicate Microsoft and Apple and some others too. So depending on your relative trust of them compared to Facebook and Google, you might like to avoid Windows, OS X, iOS, Windows Phone, etc also.

</comment><comment><USER8> * Create a GPG key and learn how to store and use it properly (it looks easy, but it took me some time, and several lost passwords to do it)

* Start using OTR as default in your XMMP conversations

<comment><USER9> > Create a GPG key and learn how to store and use it properly

Could you be more verbose about the "store and use properly" part?

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Use a privacy plugin for your browser e.g. Disconnect ( [https://disconnect.me/](https://disconnect.me/) ).

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks , looks like a great product , but at the moment I will go with open source and free steps

<comment><USER10> Hmmm... Adblock Edge ( [https://addons.mozilla.org/en- US/firefox/addon/adblock-edge/](https://addons.mozilla.org/en- US/firefox/addon/adblock-edge/) ) with one of the privacy filter lists ( [https://easylist.adblockplus.org/en/](https://easylist.adblockplus.org/en/) ) would do in that case.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> nice</comment>


Start Saving Now, Because Social Security Is Screwed - <AUTHOR> https://reason.com/archives/2018/01/15/start-saving-now-because-socia <comment><USER2> The sad thing is that this was all known decades ago. The actuaries at social security predicted when the ponzi scheme would go belly up, and that prediction has not really changed at all. At this point, the only thing they can do is inflate the money supply, further penalizing savers.</comment>


Australia is going to ban unvaccinated children from attending childcare centers - <AUTHOR> http://gizmodo.com/should-unvaccinated-kids-be-banned-from-daycare-1793230611 <comment><USER2> Let's just get this out of the way because it comes up every time, herd immunity ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity)). If it was just a personal choice I'd be more than happy to see your kids drop dead because they aren't vaccinated, but it's not just your kids, if you don't vaccinate you're harming other kids, including future generations.

<comment><USER3> exactly. As an Australian living in an area with many recent measles outbreaks in schools that doctors blame anti-vacination campaigners for (admittedly there is not enough research at this point to conclusively blame this solely) I'm all for this.

Our area also has a very large elderly population that are being put at risk because of this.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Should mention as well that if you don't vaccinate your kids here in Australia you also lose all government child support entitlements.

<comment><AUTHOR> do u have any proofs?

<comment> tony-allan [https://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/families-and- chi...](https://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/families-and- children/benefits-payments/strengthening-immunisation-for-young-children)

<comment><USER4> Thanks, best bloody thing our government has done in ages.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Twitter sentiment analysis using Python and NLTK - <AUTHOR> http://www.laurentluce.com/posts/twitter-sentiment-analysis-using-python-and-nltk/

<comment><USER2> This is a well written introduction to Bayes classifiers & the NLTK API. It does leave out some important aspects, like tokenisation and testing. Perhaps add hyperlinks to further references, like the NLTK book (<http://www.nltk.org/book>)?

Also, does anyone know where the 600/600 tweets comes from? It seems fairly arbitrary.</comment>


Ask HN: Record Yourself Coding Link - <AUTHOR>

I remember seeing a link come through on a very nice site for recording yourself developing and sharing.  I remember it got a nice chunk of votes; however, I can't find it through searching. Does anyone have a link? <comment><USER2> <http://codestre.am/> ?

</comment><comment><USER3> <http://ascii.io/> ?

<comment><AUTHOR> Not the same one I was looking for, but this one looks even better.</comment></comment>


Who Owns England? - <AUTHOR> http://map.whoownsengland.org/ <comment><USER2> "Who owns land is one of England's most closely-guarded secrets."

This seems really strange to me. Why should this be the case?

Some interesting information at their blog [https://whoownsengland.org/2017/01/01/who-owns-england- what-...](https://whoownsengland.org/2017/01/01/who-owns-england-what-we-know- so-far-where-next/) [https://whoownsengland.org/2016/11/10/why-we-must-open- up-th...](https://whoownsengland.org/2016/11/10/why-we-must-open-up-the-land- registry/)

<comment><USER3> Technically, the Crown owns the land. Everyone else owns an estate in this land. This distinction only really becomes important if you do something silly like die intestate (without a will) and without any heirs, in which case title reverts back to the Crown. Or if you find oil, gas or coal under your house in which case you don't get any of it. ;)

<comment><USER4> The term for absolute ownership of land is called Allodial title. It exists practically nowhere.

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

<comment><USER5> Non mobile link: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allodial_title](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allodial_title)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> There are all sorts of interesting things in this dataset. I live north of Finsbury Park in London. There's a big, well-established Turkish community here, embedded in the middle of decaying Victorian middle-class suburbs. You can trace the boundaries of it by the countries in which overseas companies are registered: in the Turkish area, they're registered in Cyprus, and in the more white areas, they're registered in the British Virgin Islands!

</comment><comment><USER7> I have come to the conclusion that the only way there could ever be any improvement in the way us Brits distribute our wealth (and by that I mean more equitably) is to have land reform. Nobody ever talks about this.

I also think that unless some event happens that serves to dismantle (to a greater or lesser extent) the existing power structure, this will never happen.

<comment><USER8> > Nobody ever talks about this.

I've always assumed that this is because those who think land is just another free market commodity (it isn't) don't realise there's anything to talk about, so they keep quiet.

However, those that understand realise they can use land to bypass the free market and get a constant flow of free money through rent. They then routinely lie about it so they get to carry on.

My hope is that new technology such as the linked map of land ownership will lower the bar to learning how land works far enough that it becomes hard to lie about it effectively.

Land is a monopoly, but most people are not even aware that economists describe it as such, let alone knowing how the monopoly works. I think once that begins to change, we will see reform. More of an education issue than anything else.

<comment><USER9> "Land is a monopoly". What?

<comment><USER10> Seems quite straight-forward. The concept of owning land is the concept of giving someone a total monopoly on the use of that land.

<comment><USER11> Isn't this more or less true of most kinds of property?

<comment><USER8> No. Other forms of property can a) be manufactured and b) be moved. Land is unique in that both are impossible. As result, each piece of land is unique because of what it's close to (not what it is, as with other forms of property). That means that if you want an alternative equivalent product from another supplier, it's impossible. All the other bits of land are in different locations, and you can't get a new bit from a factory.

This means that if you want to a) live walking distance from your parents (free childcare, so your partner can work and you get double income) and b) be able to commute to your place of work, there are certain number of qualifying pieces of land and no more. If someone already owns them all, you have no other choice but to buy or rent one of those. No entrepreneur can undercut high land prices with a cheaper equivalent, therefore it's a monopoly.

<comment><USER12> Land is different in many important ways, but this does not make it a monopoly; you do your cause a disservice to co-opt that language. Something doesn't fail to be a market just because it's not a commodity (where the things being bought and sold are identical/interchangeable). The art market is a market even if there is only one _Guernica_.

Yes, of course, in the limit where there is particular item for which there is no substitutes, this approaches a monopoly. Hence, _certain_ pieces of land can roughly be described as monopolies, as can, say, the Mona Lisa. But this doesn't make it reasonable to characterize most land as a monopoly. Most land is substitutable, for most purposes and for most buyers, by different land. The unrealistic supposition that "someone already owns them all" in your hypothetical highlights this. How often can anyone say "I rented a house/apartment for which there were _zero_ feasible alternatives from another seller"? Almost never.

<comment><USER8> A monopoly doesn't mean there are no alternatives. It means that the process of competitive undercutting of prices does not operate. Consider a price fixing cartel. There are alternative products, but it is still a monopoly.

I didn't explain the example I used very well. In the case you mention: renting an apartment, there are indeed always alternative locations. However, that does not mean the market is competitive. The key difference is that from your perspective, these bits of land are equivalent, but from other people's perspective, they are not. One of those locations that you may consider to be nothing special may be another person's number one choice because it's close to something they value, which you don't care about. That could be friends, family, work, amenities, businesses that your business depends on, raw materials, transport links, etc, etc. Each buyer has unique needs and each location has a unique set of things it's close to. That means that the seller/landlord does not need to bother attempting to attract your business in a competitive way as this other person for whom that location is their best option (and likely others too) will already have approached them. In effect, each unique location is an auction, with a different group of buyers interested (at different prices) each time. This only happens because land doesn't move. If it did move, then the locations would not be unique and the market would work more as you imply it would.

The outcome is that each piece of land is sold based on the highest bid offered by any buyer. A characteristic of a monopoly. This is the opposite of a free market, where things are sold as a result of the lowest price offered by any seller.

<comment><USER12> I'm happy to agree that "all sellers in a market perfectly coordinate on price" is functionally equivalent to "there is only one seller in the market", and that this qualifies as a monopoly. My comment doesn't hinge on that obvious point. (Indeed I said "alternatives _from another seller_ ", not just "alternatives", and it's pretty clear that nothing changes if all the sellers perfectly coordinate as one.)

Your explanation doesn't save your example. It will always be the case that, for any given buyer in a non-commodity market, one choice is better than all the other. (If the products are not identical, one will essentially always be at least a bit better than the others for some reason.) However, this doesn't approach a monopoly _except as the alternatives become arbitrarily bad in comparison_ (i.e., do not function as substitutes). Yes, in this limit, it's a monopoly, but this is almost never the case.

Your remaining comments imply that anything sold at auction is a monopoly and not a free market. You also incorrectly ascribe this to lack of mobility:

> In effect, each unique location is an auction, with a different group of > buyers interested (at different prices) each time. This only happens because > land doesn't move.

Art, used cars, items on eBay, etc., are all products that move (unlike land) yet "each...is an auction, with a different group of buyers interested (at different prices) each time". Again: the key mistake is that you are conflating all _non-commodities_ as _monopolies_.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> This is tangential to their goal, but this looks like a promising start for mapping _Scotland 's_ land ownership, which is notoriously inequal (more than half the land is in the hands of less than 500 people).

<comment><USER14> Do you mean, get land ownership details from the Registers of Scotland? This OP project is for England and Wales only; Scottish land ownership is tracked by a separate organisation with better transparency rules. edit: they still charge £24 per property ownership lookup…

I would hardly describe the landed estates of Scotland as 'notoriously unequal'; Much of the land in England is sold as _leasehold_ , such that your house in Lambeth will revert to the Archbishop of Canterbury in 99 years unless some legal procedure (and fee, and solicitor's consideration) is paid (usually when selling). In Scotland, the leasehold is nigh-non-existent, and the standard ownership is a freehold (the property owner own the property in perpetuity).

I think this project is to highlight the rent-seeking behaviour of the leaseholders.

<comment><USER13> It's unequal insofar as so much of the country is owned by such a small number of people, Scotland's supposedly the worst in the West in that respect.

<comment><USER14> Surely Lichtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, etc. would be worse, and I know the Papal State has fewer landholders…

<comment><USER15> The relevant figure is the proportion of owners to population, not the absolute numbers.

<comment><USER14> What an exciting new development in the classification of this group! Could one say, those examples are no comparison to the true state of land ownership in Scotland?

That's a fallacy with an entirely-appropriate name.

<comment><USER13> Your comparison was a straw man in the first place.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Offshore companies own a lot of the valuable real estate in the UK, as explored by Private Eye in 2015 [http://www.private- eye.co.uk/registry](http://www.private-eye.co.uk/registry)

<comment><AUTHOR> This map uses the dataset obtained by Private Eye

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Says that I need a newer browser to see the map while I'm using the latest chrome, 58.

<comment><USER18> You probably don't have WebGL enabled, probably because of some annoying hardware incompatibility. This site seems to use MapboxGL, which doesn't fall back to Mapbox Classic.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> I can strongly recommend the excellent book "The Poor Had No Lawyers" for a look at the land ownership situation in Scotland:

[http://www.andywightman.com/poor-had-no- lawyers](http://www.andywightman.com/poor-had-no-lawyers)

Edit: Another book I recommend to give a taste of the kinds of stuff that went on here is "Donald McLeod's Gloomy memories in the Highlands of Scotland" \- a first hand account of the Clearances:

[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Donald-McLeods-memories- Highlands-S...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Donald-McLeods-memories-Highlands- Scotland/dp/1178001237)

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

</comment><comment><USER20> Land by value is a much more interesting question, than by acreage. Urban cores can be worth hundreds of thousands of times more, for the same amount of area.

<comment><USER21> 100,000 * farmland at ~5+k per acre is over 1/2 billion per acre which seems off for just land without buildings.

<comment><USER22> There is a 1 acre condemned two-story garage adjacent to the skyscraper in which I work in downtown Boston. The land it sits on is valued by the assessor at $32 million. I would not be surprised to see an acre in say NYC or Tokyo go for 10× that figure.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> It's really interesting to see how many oaverseas companies own land in London and end up being in British Virgin Islands, Isle of Man, Gibraltar and other tax havens.

</comment><comment><USER24> The last issue of National Geographic (for the UK Amazon Prime subscriber available for free in Prime Reading) had a map of public land ownership in Scotland, and some NatGeo style impact reporting on it. Deer stalking, people, families, etc. Worth a read!

</comment><comment><USER25> Interesting. The Hatfield Moors near Doncaster has a lot of land that is (or at least used to be) signposted as MOD. But this map shows it as "Other Government".

I grew up around there, and there's always been odd stuff about the place. Like this now abandoned tower, that used to always have a military presence.

[https://email@example.com,-0.9773292,3a,75y,...](https://firstname.lastname@example.com,-0.9773292,3a,75y,265.99h,89.98t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTKCEGfjbMo0GosBHoWpSRQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656)

</comment><comment><USER6> Judging by the size of the captions, Sealand is a more prominent place than Colchester!

Okay that may not be remarkable if you're not from East Anglia.

</comment><comment><USER26> An interesting implication from this is there may be unowned land. Some areas may be owned by multiple people where each believes themselves to be the sole owner.

Who becomes the final arbitor in such cases? The cynic in me would think that there's a the-crown-gets-it fallback.

<comment><USER27> Undoubtedly, the crown owns any "unowned" land. In cases where there is disputed title, the courts are the arbiter. There are probably not too many disputed titles anymore since the introduction of land registry was in the 18th century.

<comment> m-i-l Unowned land typically reverts to the occupier rather than The Crown. When I moved to London I used to live in Shoreditch, and there were many crumbling down buildings and second world war bomb sites, including one next to me that had been occupied by a rag-and-bone man for many years. When a developer wanted to buy the land for redevelopment, the original owner could not be found, and ownership was eventually reverted to the rag-and-bone man. There are many such stories of squatters inheriting valuable homes, e.g. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_George_Weiss](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_George_Weiss) .

<comment><USER27> Thank you. I am not British, and I had forgotten that particular fact. Technically, the concept of "adverse possession" exists in Canada, as well, but in practice it doesn't really come up (either eviction proceedings occur quite quickly or in the case of a small piece of land--a fence in the wrong place, perhaps--the owner may "give permission" which is enough to maintain ownership rights). I suspect that it does not come up often in the UK, either. Post-WW2 was a bit of a special case.

Anyway, the land in your example was not really "unowned." Rather the legal owner was different than the occupier, and turned out to be missing. I was referring more to the fact that the Crown is the ultimate legal owner of (essentially) all of the land in the UK (and Canada and other countries for that matter). Anything that does not have any other legal owner is definitely owned by the Crown. What would be called government land in the US is called Crown land in Canada (and presumably in the UK?).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> Churches are suspiciously absent. Aren't they the biggest landowners everywhere?

<comment><AUTHOR> The map isn't supposed to be comprehensive. They don't have the data from the Church of England, mainly because it's not subject to FoI. But no, churches are big landowners but far from the biggest.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> So mostly government, or public service companies.

I think this is not even discussion worthy as long as there is not one big rich guy or purely private corp owning a lot. The only thing presented in the map getting close is the crown.

<comment><USER30> When I visited some Oxbridge colleges the story was that the richest colleges owned land stretching from one coast to the other in a continuous band.

The are still families with estates that own the associated village, I gather.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> De Tocqueville wrote that land ownership was for the rich only in England, because of the difficulty of ascertaining and defending title. This would have been around 1840, I suppose.

<comment><USER32> Title registration existed (though it was not by any means common) in England in 1840. Today you can't sell land unless it's registered, which is how this site was created.

However many US states still don't have registration, because a thriving industry of "title insurance" companies depends upon them not having it so as to scare people into buying this otherwise useless insurance.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> If you added Oxford and Cambridge Universities to this, that would be really interesting. I've always been under the impression they own a huge amount of land around the country.

</comment><comment><USER34> My county's parcel map is public and names an owner for every bit of property in the county. I guess that's now how it works everywhere.

</comment><comment><USER35> Nice project, I was aware MoD had a good presence around Reading as I have friends that work there, I wasn't aware how big a presence it was.

</comment><comment><USER36> Am I the only one getting a warning about that I should use chrome to see the map while using chrome?

</comment><comment><USER37> Doesn't support Safari apparently

<comment><USER38> > Sorry, you need to use a newer browser to see the map

Or Chrome 58.0.3029.110, evidently.

<comment><USER39> Or Firefox 53.0.3. uBlock/uMatrix disabled.

Clearly we need browsers from the future to actually see the map.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER40> This shows me how little I knew. I thought the majority of land was owned by the royalty.

<comment><USER41> Do you mean the aristocracy? You might be right.

<comment><USER42> A lot of that is public knowledge, but not on any data sets (I'd assume because most land registry records are still on paper). For example, near where I grew up a whole village is owned by aristocracy:

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

It was sold in 1797 to the current family, who was a wealthy banker, so they've always been like this? :D

<comment><USER32> All of the Land Registry is computerised. If you can point at a precise piece of property you can go online, right now, to their site and pay them a few quid for a PDF of the data. If you need to show it to a court of law (e.g. to prove who owns something in court) you can pay a bit more and get a physical piece of paper issued which the court will accept as a substitute for a person from the Register showing up in person and telling them who legally owns it.

However, firstly (least importantly) not all land in England is registered. About 10-15% isn't registered. Registration is compulsory for new transfers today, but there are a large tracts of land whose owner hasn't changed for decades or even centuries, registration offers some benefits, but they're not obliged to register unless they want to transfer the property.

Secondly, the paperwork may just say a place is owned by a corporation in a tax haven. Knowing the land my building is on is owned by "Property Holding Corp Sierra Sixty Eighteen" in the British Virgin Islands is almost exactly the same as not knowing who owns it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER43> Don't know much about England. Does Crown Estate mean the royal family?

</comment><comment><USER44> Who owns the Reserve Bank of UK?

<comment><AUTHOR> The Bank of England is owned by the government, specifically the "Government Legal Department".

</comment></comment><comment> root-z "who owns england?" and then show Scotland too. how typical.

<comment><USER45> And Wales; it seems to show data across Great Britain

<comment><USER14> might have titled it, 'who owns Great Britain?', and avoided being labeled as 'typical'

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER46> Either the author doesn't know England is not Britain or the domain wasn't available. Scotland and Wales are a different country to England

<comment><USER47> They know:

"The map also displays some data for Wales and Scotland, where landowners' data includes this; our project is focused on England."

<comment><USER46> So the domain wasn't available

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER48> The royal family there that has military there owns England</comment>


Companies Slowly Join Cloud Computing - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/19/technology/19cloud.html

<comment><USER2> _NASA wanted, among other things, to be able to inspect the hardware it was using; Amazon declined._

Why would NASA want to inspect the computers?

<comment><USER3> They want to make sure the hardware isn't broken.

<comment><USER4> This seems to be a bit of a mismatch between NASA engineering and the emerging trends in web scale computing: statistically speaking, the hardware is broken. That doesn't mean you can't get work done with it.

This might be a wee bit of an adjustment to make if your engineering model is "four redundant systems which vote on outcomes plus a backup and SCRUB THE LAUNCH if _anything_ looks anomalous."

<comment><USER5> Or they could just be paranoid that whatever they create on Amazon's infrastructure could turn into SkyNet...</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Defendant Ordered to Decrypt Laptop May Have Forgotten Password - <AUTHOR> http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/02/forgotten-password/

<comment><USER2> Are there any guidelines on incorrectly guessing the password? With my laptop's encryption if I get the BIOS or disk password incorrect 3 times the encryption key is destroyed and some other stuff happens to the drive making it very hard (maybe impossible) to recover the data, even with the correct password. One could "attempt" the password 3 times and, deliberately or accidentally, get it wrong each time and permanently destroy the data. Of course if deliberate this could be seen as destroying evidence but how would they prove it was deliberate rather than just trying to comply with the courts orders?

</comment><comment><USER3> Will be interesting to see where this goes. Non-lawyers who discuss these things are usually just entertaining an overly-simplistic, idealized view of law that favors defendants. A federal judge will have no trouble finding a way to hold her in indefinite contempt.</comment>


Our approach to subjective programming questions - <AUTHOR> http://blog.slant.co/post/42487997802/tired-of-being-told-you-aren-t-constructive <comment><USER3> Cool! You have "discovered what Stackoverflow users were doing," and where Stackoverflow stomped it out like a plague, you have made an offering for it. Good job!

I'm still amazed at Stackoverflow's failure to follow their own stated philosophy ("discover what your users are doing and enable it") in this particular area.

<comment><USER4> Pretty much for any question you find via Google that you are really interested in, you will find an SO question that fits the bill and has some big long jibber jabber filled message about being closed for such and such reason.

The strange thing to me was that when Jeff left was like when it went full tilt. It's like Mao died and the rest of the party big wigs realized they weren't being the best communists they could be and just started going overboard to stomp any possible conflict with Maoist ideology.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I think many people, like me, have been waiting for someone to address this obvious niche that has been crying out for attention.

There's also an interesting path to monetization: it's pretty much models the buying process, esp for the enterprise. Also generalises to purchasing decisions, in general - it's relevant to _all_ transactions. i.e. the whole economy.

However... very hard to do well. It's good start, but nailing it will take a lot of time, effort and luck. Starting in this very focussed and narrow niche is a great way to build understanding of what's needed and how to do it.

 _EDIT_ I found the site slow to load (actually got the _wait or cancel_ dialog). Because such a site thrives on as many users as possible, it may be more important to make it accessible to more people at the expense of prettiness (I assume the pie-charts are partly to blame for the slowness). It also biases the answers and votes (maybe a good thing - target that niche?); might explain why emacs got few votes.

The presentation of information is too "detail-heavy" (i) the list of questions includes 3 alternatives and even some lines about each. The typical user wants to scan the topics to find one of interest. (though I guess having a some context is good, since that's what SO does; but only to clarify the question, not the answer).

(ii) in the actual answer, there's no summary of the results [ _EDIT_ whoops, there is a summary; somehow I went directly to one of alternatives at first]; no comparison of the alternatives; and no indication of what context each tool best suits ("job" for the tool); instead, each page is all about one alternative. I would guess that something like a grid might work better, with the tools listed vertically, and the attributes horizontally (with the "job"/context first). The user can then scroll down to examine each point in detail (or maybe drill-down, with expanding sections, for truly secondary/tertiary content, like comments/debates). Attributes could be voted on.

In short: organise it to suit the user-task, not the subject matter.

<comment><USER6> > I found the site slow to load (actually got the wait or cancel dialog).

Sorry about that, we are under some heavy load and didn't have time to do even the most basic speed optimisations (gzip etc). Its very high priority.

> The presentation of information is too "detail-heavy" (i) the list of > questions includes 3 alternatives and even some lines about each. The > typical user wants to scan the topics to find one of interest. (though I > guess having a some context is good, since that's what SO does; but only to > clarify the question, not the answer).

Totally agreed. I know how to fix this, will be done soon.

> (ii) in the actual answer, there's no summary of the results; no comparison > of the alternatives; and no indication of what context each tool best suits > ("job" for the tool); instead, each page is all about one alternative. I > would guess that something like a grid might work better, with the tools > listed vertically, and the attributes horizontally (with the "job"/context > first). The user can then scroll down to examine each point in detail (or > maybe drill-down, with expanding sections, for truly secondary/tertiary > content, like comments/debates). Attributes could be voted on.

We have this page: [http://slant.co/topics/what-s-the-best-jabber-gchat- client-f...](http://slant.co/topics/what-s-the-best-jabber-gchat-client-for- ios) that shows ALL the options and an overview of what they are suitable for. To further improve this we are working on a comparison matrix style feature that is approximately what you described here.

Would it be possible for you to email me? (firstname.lastname@example.com) I'd love to be able to show you some 'in the works' features as they are being built for some feedback.

<comment><USER7> Another thing I particularly like about threads comparing two or more different technologies/frameworks/languages is when someone says "X does Z badly, and here is why Y does Z better." Slant seems to not be able to facilitate this very well.

<comment> T-R Good point. We plan to add something along the lines of "counterpoints" ("X does Z badly"), and we have other viewpoints ("Y does Z well"), but directly pointing users toward solutions that solve those counterpoints ("[take a look at Y, because] Y does Z better") isn't something we'd considered. I'll definitely keep that in mind as we hash out the counterpoints idea a little more. Thanks kindly.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Gotta say, at first glance I really like this approach..

Here are a few things that are going on in the back of my mind.

> I'd love to see a __time __based filter. For example, consider the evolution > of JavaScript libraries. For simplicity's sake, let's take the shift from > prototype to jQuery. What you guys are creating could effectively answer > this question: 'When did jQuery surpass Prototype as being the premier > library, and why?' The filter would have to be periodic (since votes are > going to be spread out), but I would find it fascinating to glean the shifts > in developer technologies. Think Backbone, ember, angular, etc..

> I see a lot of ULs in place of what seem to be 'features'. While this may > only be relevant for things that are capable of being compared (apples-to- > apples so to speak), I imagine significant value will be come out of a > resulting table of comparison; that is, if each bullet point could somehow > be categorized, tagged or curated in some way. This may be hard to achieve > (and may not be relevant in some cases), but you could effectively build out > a report highlighting things that _are_ and _are not_ available (instead of > having contributors write long lists that then users have to parse and > reconcile). Does that make sense?

> In the blog post you state "we aren't actually trying to tell you what the > best programming language to learn first is" -- I appreciate that you don't > want to suggest the 'best', but I imagine that's how most developers > (particularly newcomers) are going to interpret the results. I'm curious if > such a forum would influence new developers for the better or worse.

> Sign in with Facebook? What about stack exchange/github? I don't know what > you guys think about leveraging reputation, but it would be nice to bring my > existing recognition - score and tags (albeit slim) - along with me. Even > integrating LinkedIn could be interesting with skills. Just a thought.

<comment><USER6> Awesome feedback.

1: That is a really cool idea and something I have been thinking about since day 1. I want to be able to show a graph that displays the relative change in opinion over time, annotated with the addition of new citations to the Viewpoints. So when someone updates the Ember Viewpoint with new information and the citation for it, you can do some basic "cause analysis" on what changed,when and why :)

2: Absolutely makes sense. We are still debating the best way to do this, but one simple solution is an editable comparison matrix that shows the simple features/specs that the Viewpoints have. The ULs would then be used to further flesh out the more significant points that can't be explained in matrix format (for eg how nice the UI is for a particular app)

3: Again, we debate this point all the time. What do you think about the phrasing "What are the different programming languages suitable to learn first?" or something along those lines?

4: Awesome idea, we are going to add additional login options soon, but the idea of bringing in external rep is very interesting!

<comment><USER9> Maybe you could present the different options in reverse order of votes? (filtered a bit so that spammy answers aren't always first.) Changing the order of presentation can be a good way to stem cascade effects from seniority/etc. For example, the US supreme court votes in reverse order of seniority to help prevent cascading effects. (That way less senior justices can vote Wo undue influence...)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> As the author of the recently closed/opened/locked question about brackets [0] on Programmers.SE thanks so much for creating something like this. I'm really enjoying all the additional detail on _why_ something is/isn't the best. Keep it up!

<http://programmers.stackexchange.com/q/188455/54164>

<comment><USER11> Wow, they closed _and_ locked that? That type of question is pretty much exactly what Programmers.SE was intended for.

But unless I'm not understanding Slant's mission correctly, this type of question wouldn't work there: it's for things like "What programming language should I learn next?" or, a little closer to your closed question, "Should I use curly or straight brackets to denote scope when designing a programming language?"

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> At first blush, this looks fantastic and I'm excited for it's potential. Particularly in my experimental side-projects, I'm constantly looking for some guidance from others.

Closed StackOverflow questions infuriate me to no end - not least because that's where the experts are that are eager to help!

<comment><USER6> Thanks for the comment and the content you added Toby!

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I like a lot of this approach. But, please replace the pie charts.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_chart#Use.2C_effectiveness_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_chart#Use.2C_effectiveness_and_visual_perception)

Humans aren't that good at telling more than very rough ratios in angle rather than length. Yes, when the differences are large you could tell at a glance the overall distribution of answers, but when it is close, you lose that. A horizontal stacked bar would achieve a similar visual flair but would be much more intuitively _accurate_.

</comment><comment><USER14> It would be great if you could let users indicate preferences between answers so that you could produce an ordered graph of which answers are better than others. I'm thinking of something similar to the less wrong textbook recommendations[1] with it's rules:

       1. Post the title of your favorite textbook on a given subject.
       2. You must have read at least two other textbooks on that same subject.
       3. You must briefly name the other books you've read on the subject and explain
          why you think your chosen textbook is superior to them.

       Rules #2 and #3 are to protect against recommending a bad book that only seems
       impressive because it's the only book you've read on the subject.

AFTER EDIT: I'm thinking this would be particularly useful if you've narrowed your choice down to a few options and wanted to see comparisons between those options.

[1] [http://lesswrong.com/lw/3gu/the_best_textbooks_on_every_subj...](http://lesswrong.com/lw/3gu/the_best_textbooks_on_every_subject/)

</comment><comment><USER15> I think it's great to have a centralized place where you can find answers to subjective questions; however, the current format makes it difficult to digest __why__ something is considered better than its competitors.

It would be useful to have a set list of pros and cons of each entry.

<comment><USER6> Hey mate!

So the idea is to have the list of Pros/Cons! For example checkout this one:

[http://slant.co/topics/what-is-the-best-search-engine-for- we...](http://slant.co/topics/what-is-the-best-search-engine-for-web- applications/opinions/elasticsearch)

It tells you what its good for, as well as the "cons"

Edit: Also topics like: [http://slant.co/topics/what-is-the-best-javascript- drawing-l...](http://slant.co/topics/what-is-the-best-javascript-drawing- library/opinions/raphael) make it clear what the best use-case is for the various options. Do you want something a little more like a "comparison matrix"? Thats also in the works to help compare specs/basic features.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> I do like the content so far, but this isn't really a Q&A...it's more of a WikiAnswers, isn't it?

The good thing about StackOverflow is that, when in doubt, you can always use a user's score/comment history to gauge their credibility (though yes, that is an argument by appeal to authority...)

With Slant, the tracing of comments/submissions is as hard as it is on Wikipedia.

And the "the answer must be in article-ish form" has its disadvantages, of course, not least of which is that some of the best answers come through repartee, as they have in StackOverflow.

Also, I'm not sold on the font. It's not great at small sizes and you may want to stick with a sans-serif.

<comment><USER6> Hi Mate,

> With Slant, the tracing of comments/submissions is as hard as it is on > Wikipedia.

We are building an "authority" SO style karma system, and unlike Wikipedia you can easily see who is a contributor to a post. This is something we agree is really important, but just didn't make the cut for the Alpha product. Please also note that your edits need to be initially approved by the existing contributors, which helps keep quality high and helps you trust the content.

> I do like the content so far, but this isn't really a Q&A...it's more of a > WikiAnswers, isn't it?

Well there are questions asked and answers listed.. but you're right in that it's not really Q&A. Someone the other day told me it was "Q&Os" (Question and opinions)

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Seeing the vote breakdown for alternatives could be one of the best features of this site. Can users vote easily without leaving comments ?

Being able to get a quick overview of community sentiment on what's the best library/tool to use for XXX on/in YYY could be very helpful when one is researching alternatives.

<comment><USER6> You can vote without leaving comments, but you have to create an account to do it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Maybe it's because I am not signed in, but it looks like you are missing a lot of the tools needed to spot sockpuppets / shills, like history of votes / edits for a user, and list or voters for each answer.

If your site gets popular you will be flooded with astroturfers and over- enthusiastic project promoters.

<comment> T-R Thanks for the feedback.

Regarding sockpuppet accounts and the like, we do have that information - <USER2> of it will get more visible as we build out profiles and moderator tools, it's just been on hold while we focus on more user-facing features, since it hasn't been an issue yet. Account validation e-mails are also on the way.

Spam is definitely a concern, but we hope the fact that most content requires acceptance from another user before getting visibility will put up some barrier to entry, and in the cases where it's not sufficient, it should help us get some information on associated accounts. In cases where that fails, there's always manual moderation.

Regarding astroturfing, we welcome it, to some degree - we don't expect each viewpoint to maintain NPOV, we just want to make sure that each viewpoint gets visibility. Cons/criticisms will eventually broken out into a separate feature to reflect this.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> I like idea but... the first question that interested me was

"What the best 2D Game Engine" <http://slant.co/topics/what-is-the- best-2d-game-engine>

And I'm confused by my options on slant. What is a 2D game engine? Can we even discuss that? Example: Phonegap, should I add it? People make games with it. They also make non-games with it. I didn't see a place to bring up this discussion (meta-discussion?)

Next: I've been looking at 2D engines recently so I thought about adding entries but I don't know the engines enough to do anything other than add them to the list. Except apparently I'm not supposed to do that? But even that is useful info (ie, to know what the choices are)

Anyway, not sure if that's useful feedback.

</comment><comment><USER20> It always seemed to me that StackExchange's own <http://programmers.stackexchange.com> was intended for this very concept. From the FAQ:

 _What about subjective questions?

Subjective questions are allowed, but subjective does not mean "anything goes". Please keep it professional at all times. If this is a question you'd be uncomfortable discussing with your colleagues in a work environment, it's probably not appropriate here, either._

For example, here is a question re: CSS pre-processors that seems pretty subjective: [http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/181536/are- th...](http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/181536/are-there-any- advantages-of-sass-over-less)

<comment><USER21> Until your highly subjective question gets closed:

[http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/188455/why- do...](http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/188455/why-do- programming-languages-especially-c-use-curly-braces-and-not-square-ones)

<comment><USER22> The problem with that question is that there isn't really any answer to it. It basically just ends up being that at some point someone made an arbitrary decision to do something that way and a bunch of other people copied them.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I think this is awesome, especially since I asked about this exact thing just hours ago before you posted.[0] I'm really excited and I can't wait to see you take off!

[0]<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5286601>

<comment><USER6> Thank you!

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> This is awesome. I browsed stackoverflow when it first started and just wondered when the first wave of overzealous "editors" would take over the site. It took a while, but those people killed spirit of the site for me.

This looks great.

IMO, a lot of the difficult things are subjective. Good luck.

</comment><comment><USER25> I was just thinking of this idea over dinner tonight, when a friend was giving his recommendations on PHP and Ruby frameworks and their pro/cons. "There should be a site for this type of knowledge!" I thought. And --boom!-- I get home, and here it is on HN.

</comment><comment><USER26> Looks like a great start. One thing that strikes me is that it's really hard to see how useful the data is on first glance. I kind of like that the pie chart is front and center, but for me it's useless without showing the total number of votes.

<comment><USER6> > useless without showing the total number of votes.

Hover and you can see the % and on the Viewpoints it shows the votes they received but obviously to be even remotely trusted we need total votes. Consider it on the to-do.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> This is super awesome. You're getting criticism of the font. But I have to say that I really like it. I just created my own issue and like the UI all around.

For karma, I'd recommend that each person gets points in proportion to the number of upvotes combined with the number of characters they added to an answer that appear in the final answer.

Also, I think you need some sort of comparison or overview for each issue. And next to the pie chart I think you should allow for a 140 character final recommendation, listed individually for each user. E.g., "Dan recommends SilkJS because it's easy to write, fast, and better than Node"

<comment> T-R Great ideas! Thanks kindly.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> I really like the idea, and what few bits of criticism I had you have already seemed to address.

I just wanted to compliment you on something specifically that I though was really great: the registration process. Very similar, no confirmation fields, and, most importantly, I was signed in immediately after clicking finish. It didn't take me away from or reload the page I was on, and it didn't ask me to confirm my email. The small things really matter.

</comment><comment><USER29> Guys, I really like what you are doing, I think there is a market opening for this type of site. Couple comments: (1) You probably ought to get tags implemented ASAP so it's easier to find stuff in broad categories (2) Some ppl might not be too thrilled with your lifting so much content from SO. I realize you're probably just trying to seed some content, but still. Might leave a bad taste for some ppl.

<comment><USER6> Thanks! Agreed on the SO point, I actually just tried it out on the "Haskel" topic and maybe a couple others with it all fully cited but stopped as it didn't feel right...We have over 300 topics right now with only those few from SO.

Working on point #1 right now.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> I like this, but I'm having serious issues reading the content in a manner I'd use it.

It's the font choice, size, and line-spacing to start with. It doesn't lend itself to quick skimming, and to succeed in this segment you really need to nail this aspect -- because this is what we all want... quick answers.

<comment><USER6> Really good points and I do agree that we need some work on the presentation. Thanks for the feedback.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> Please please please don't pull a quora and force people to have to register to see the vote counts.

</comment><comment><USER32> Thanks you guys, i feel like you are the guys invented democracy to save us from SO tyranny.

Small Suggestion: All caps in Title makes the title very harder to read. so instead of WHAT IS BEST EDITOR can you change like What is Best Editor.

</comment><comment><USER33> Looking pretty good. A few things that I noticed:

\- "Read More" and "Seem n more viewpoint(s)" go to the topic page when I expected them to just load some additional information.

\- "Read More" link is still present on individual topic page even though it goes nowhere.

<comment><USER6> Totally agree and we have plans to fix both points :) Thanks for the feedback! Was there anything else you noticed that was confusing?

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> Great site, I've signed up.

Suggestion: Disambiguate questions where voting on multiple choices is recommended. It makes sense to be able to choose more than one answer on a what-are-your-favorite-... question, but not on a yes/no question.

</comment><comment><USER35> I like the idea, but it crashes Opera.

<comment> T-R Thanks for the feedback. One of the projects that our front-end engineer is currently working on should fix this issue, though it may not be live for a few days. Very sorry for the inconvenience.

</comment></comment><comment><USER36> Beautiful and informative. Great job.

</comment><comment><USER37> Yes, yes and yes!

Why limit topics to stuff where there's no objective answer? There are a _lot_ of people (including people with 20K rep+ on SO) who quit SO in disgust and who would just _love_ to share their knowledge on both objective and non- objective question.

Pivot immediately. Do both objective and non-objective : )

Instant winner IMHO, going to help people there immediately!

<comment><USER38> I found SO (over time) to give less and less useful information: the best information was always in the quasi-subjective questions. It's nice to know _how_ to use something, but really, I want to understand _why_. The SO/SE theory is against those questions. I have 19K rep on SO, 5Kish on P.SE, and I barely contribute anymore.

So I am planning on creating a Slant account and experimenting when I get home.

<comment><USER3> I feel exactly the same way (not with the high rep you have, but a decent rep that I worked hard to cultivate in the past).

I think there are a good number of us who feel this way.

It is frustrating for a company to say it wants to "discover what its users are doing and enable it", and then to see that company squash so many individual pieces of excellent content those users have created.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: What is your first piece of code? - <AUTHOR>

My first piece of code is printing triangle on screen. <comment><USER2> A jumping man, in C+4 BASIC: clear screen, draw an ASCII stick figure, for loop to wait, clear screen, draw stick figure in different position, for loop to wait, goto 10.

I still know it by heart, though it was written more than two decades ago.

<comment><AUTHOR> So complex.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I can't remember, but it would be whatever is the first listing in this: [http://www.worldofspectrum.org/ZX81BasicProgramming/frontcvr...](http://www.worldofspectrum.org/ZX81BasicProgramming/frontcvr.jpg)

</comment><comment><USER4> Maybe not the first, but I remember typing the line

## REM TYPE "IS A FLASHY PERSON" IN INVERSE VIDEO

from a listing in the little manual that came with my Atari 800XL, before I new what REM meant.

</comment><comment><USER5> INT 20H

Got me started on programming way back in the mid 80s. Once I knew how to make a program exit, I was more confident of writing more code

</comment><comment><USER6> A "password" program in basic that sat in a loop checking input unless you typed in a hardcoded string. Not exactly production quality.

</comment><comment><USER7> Making a sprite of a balloon move across the screen of my Commodore 64 in BASIC (the code came in the manual with the machine).

</comment><comment><USER8> It was some form of:

      10 PRINT HELLO
      20 GOTO 10

on an Apple ][ GS when I was ~6 years old.

<comment><USER9> Something similar on a Commodore PET at school. Aged 11ish.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> On the ZX Spectrum:

10 PRINT <something>; 20 GOTO 10

I was hooked from that point on. Brings back memories.</comment>


Are there any 4 letter domains left? - <AUTHOR>

I was wondering if there is any left available if so how does one find it? I would imagine people are just parking these domains. <comment><USER2> Hit up eBay, DP, etc for the 4 letters domains if you want. But beware of scammers, plentiful around in these forums, likewise bargain are also plentiful. There are still plenty of 5/6/7 letters domains in the market if you are wondering.

</comment><comment><USER3> Apparently not, they were all bought by 2007: <http://dyyo.com/analysis_remaining.php>

</comment><comment><USER4> I have one. Bet you can't guess what it is. :)</comment>


Finding the best bot - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@ozradiano/finding-the-best-bot-c66f49f7c4ec <comment><USER2> Thanks OP,

As the writer of this piece, I would appreciate any feedback.

Thanks!</comment>


Dora, Diego, SpongeBob and Other Viacom Shows Leave Netflix - <AUTHOR> http://allthingsd.com/20130528/dora-diego-and-spongebob-say-goodbye-to-netflix/ <comment><USER2> The worst part about this from a parent's perspective was that there was absolutely no warning. My daughter was all excited for her once-daily episode of Dora, and suddenly it wasn't there even though mommy and daddy said it would be. (I take this whole thing as a broad lesson on the dangers of relying on the cloud.)

By the end of the day, we'd signed up for streaming via Amazon Prime (which includes Dora). And cancelled it via Netflix.

<comment><USER3> We experienced the same - our toddler gets an episode of Wonder Pets every day after she comes home from day care. When my wife drove her home that day she got her all excited to watch it, and she was singing the theme song the whole way, only for my wife to get home and select the show (still displayed in our recently viewed list) just to get hit with an error message. Had to research some to find out what had happened. We were actually lucky that we already had a Prime account and found the shows there the next day when we read online what was happening.

Really bad user experience and communication, combined with a very passionate target viewer for those shows who doesn't understand license negotiations.

<comment><USER4> The next generation of toddlers _will_ be the first to understand license negotiations.

<comment><USER5> They won't understand license negotiations; they'll understand the consequences of poor license negotiations.

<editorializing>Then, bad licensing will become the norm. </editorializing>

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Our 3 year-old watched Dora and Diego almost every day from about 1 1/2 to just turning 3. It became somewhat of an obsession and he always wanted to watch another show. On the other hand, my wife and I rarely watched shows or movies, and only had Netflix (no cable) in the house. We finally decided to ditch the TV all together, and 6 months later, it is going fantastic! Our son was upset for a few days after we got rid of it, but now it is a pleasure to watch him play with real things.

Anyways, not passing judgement on any parents and we'll probably get a TV again some day. But it's been pretty awesome!

<comment><USER7> now that I think about it, letting your young kids avoid the psychologically targeted commercials is probably a very good thing developmentally.

<comment><USER6> Part of it for us was the 'zoning out'. We had Netflix so no commercials, but he'd sit in his chair for an hour or more and just suck his thumb and zone out. Afterwards, he just wanted more. I guess that is a lot of the appeal of TV, just escaping from the every day of what's around us.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Yeah, my son won't care. In the 30 minutes per night we allow him on the iPad, he binge watches like 8 different shows, and it doesn't matter which ones. He watches Dora, but probably won't notice it's missing. I'm going to say this is much worse for Viacom than Netflix.

<comment><USER9> My kids have just started watching Diego (as in last night), so it seems the licensing deal is still active in the Canadian Netflix library?

Unblock-us.com is the way to go, costs $5/month and means you can access all of the Netflix libraries (US, Canada, UK and others).

<comment><USER10> If you're going to violate their policies, you might as well just fire up a BitTorrent client as be done with it.

<comment><USER9> I live in New Zealand... there's no other way to subscribe to Netflix.

<comment><USER11> Right, there's not a legal way to subscribe so you're illegally subscribing. For the children, or something.

<comment><USER9> I'm doing everything I can to legitimately pay for the service. If it is "illegal" then it's absurd and just shows you how dumb the laws are regarding digital movies/music.

<comment><USER11> In the "pros" column, you're just violating netflix TOS so in the worst case they figure out you are lying about your country and delete your account. Sounds like a pretty safe (but expensive) way to pirate movies to me.

<comment><USER12> Netflix is ok with you travelling to another country and use their service from there, but they warn you that content will be different.

So switching DNS is kinda like travelling fast...

If Netflix and the content provider decides that I'm a horrible person and don't want my money, they can cancel my account, maybe I'll start considering torrent'ing then.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Yep, I was quite shocked (Yo Gabba Gabba is my daughter's favorite, gone as well). But it seems my kids have short memory, thanks to the new Jake and the pirates and Handy Manny and they seem to worry about it less than I do. (And a part of me is kind of not-that-sorry that I won't have to hear "jumpy jump jump jump jump jump", and "there's a party in my tummy, so yummy" in the near future)

Yet still, I protest, and demand it back, no stability in this world, you can't put your trust in nothing anymore.

EDIT: Backyardigans also gone?? this is outrageous. I would have canceled my Netflix account if I had any control over it.

<comment><USER2> "Don't, don't, don't bite your friends!"

Yeah, Yo Gabba Gabba and Backyardigans were two of our "backup" shows for times when our daughter wanted something other than Dora. We were really scrambling once we realized they were _all_ gone overnight. (In the urgency of the moment we stumbled into "Curious George", which I have issues with. I hear good things about "WordGirl", though I get the impression that it's got a slightly older target audience.)

<comment><USER14> We still get these via amazon prime. We actually get much more than $80 in prime instant videos and shipping.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Still on Hulu+, right?

For $7.99 a month I'll subscribe to 3-4 streaming services. It's worth it and still less than the hundred bucks a month cable costs.

<comment><USER16> I don't have kids, but if/when I do, I will avoid giving them TV access that comes with ad breaks. I'd rather they become conscious consumers on their own terms, instead of being spoon-fed ads from such an early age.

Case in point: I took a college psychology class where the professor flipped through slides and asked the class to raise their hand if they could identify who was it was being displayed. Most hands shot up immediately for slides of Captain Crunch and Tony the Tiger, but figures like Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell hesitantly got maybe 1/2 of the class.

If Hulu gave me the option to pay another $7.99/mo to remove the ads, I would, but I guess that's not their intent.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Can someone please create an account-sharing service that just blends netflix/amazon/hulu/itunes/whatever-else together? I'll pay you $X/mo and you provide me with a massive library of content. I don't care which provider it comes through.

Thanks.

<comment><USER18> would you be OK with

at least (22.64 <= 7.99 + 6.66 + 7.99 + a-la-carte) * 1.20

per month? (so that the provider makes money)

<comment><USER17> No, you'd do account sharing across the services. Oversell like cheap webhosts do based on the fact that people vastly under-utilize services. You could probably negotiate a cheaper rate from the providers as well since you'd be presumably paying for hundreds of accounts.

Why should I pay for all the services when I'm only using one at a time? If I'm watching Arrested Development on Netflix, someone else can watch Dora on the Amazon account.

<comment><USER19> In the process, the provider would violate his/her TOS at each service, and get his/her account banned.

"Fail early" I guess.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Time to introduce your kids to Minecraft, if you haven't done so already.

</comment><comment><USER21> On behalf of my boy & girl, ages 3 & 5: "NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I want Dora!"

Neverland Pirates had better be on there with a whole buncha episodes.

</comment><comment><USER22> Good riddance. This is the second time Viacom shows have left Netflix. I would assume that this time, like the last, is that Viacom wants more money than Netflix considers their content worth, which is the same story as when Viacom pulled their shows from DirecTV recently.

I'm guessing the content will show up again, but I hope they don't pay more than they did on the previous agreement for the same old episodes.

As a parent, I'm glad Netflix made a large agreement with Disney.

Disclaimer: our kids aren't into Nick shows as is, they mainly watch the Disney channels; all of us enjoy the marvel cartoons.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> If Oscar's Oasis ever goes off Netflix, my nephew will be very, very mad. That show is a serious addiction, not bad for grownups, and doesn't seem to be available for purchase.

</comment><comment><USER23> I would mourn the loss of Wonder Pets and Avatar is actually a great shoe for adults even. At least there is Phineas and Ferb (funnier than most sit-coms).

Odd taste aside there are so many streaming services now with so many different licenses it is becoming hard to find one with my favourite shows. And I still have a hard time getting the best BBC shows in a timely manner (Sherlock, Doctor Who, etc...)

</comment><comment><USER24> Mr Krabs, we hardly knew ye.

My son's on to Shaun the Sheep, Phineas & Ferb, and sundry others...

</comment><comment><USER25> NOOOOOOOOOO

Spongebob and Avatar: The Last Airbender are like the 2 singular reasons for a Netflix account. i'm going to have to reconsider reconsidering reactivating my account

<comment><USER26> Nice use of triple negative. I had a little mental exercise trying to understand the meaning correctly.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> My two-year-old son is mourning the loss of The Backyardigans. Time to buy the episodes on iTunes and fire up Requiem+pyTivo.

</comment><comment><USER28> Children's programming is a dime a dozen, no big deal.

<comment><AUTHOR> I have observed this is simply not the case. There is a lot of crud out there and some genuine gems. Even 3 years olds have opinions on what they like.

<comment><USER28> _There is a lot of crud out there and some genuine gems._

Perhaps from your perspective.

 _Even 3 years olds have opinions on what they like._

That's true, but that doesn't mean they have discerning tastes; small children like what they like and it has the potential to be pretty much anything.

<comment><AUTHOR> Like any art, some of it is great and a lot sucks. Just because it is directed at children doesn't make it interchangeable or a lesser art. There is a rather large difference between Pixar and Good Times Video. A 3 year old will not watch stuff they don't like, as they will loudly tell you.

<comment><USER28> _A 3 year old will not watch stuff they don't like, as they will loudly tell you._

This is true, what I'm saying is that a three year old does not have the cognitive ability to appreciate artistic nuance; of course they have preferences, they're just completely arbitrary and entirely detached from anything that a developed adult could recognize as quality.

<comment><AUTHOR> I have to disagree with you. They might not express it in words, but they do know quality.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>