Popularity Algorithms - <AUTHOR>

I'm working on a site with a "digg-reddit-dzone-like" feature. How should I select the front page stories? Are there any standard references for this type of algorithms? Best practices? Caveats? Any Hacker suggestions? <comment><USER2> There's always the source to news.yc: <http://ycombinator.com/arc/arc2.tar>

</comment><comment><USER3> Can I recommend the book "Programming Collective Inteligence" ([http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Collective-Intelligence- Bu...](http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Collective-Intelligence-Building- Applications/dp/0596529325/))? It doesn't actually describe a Reddit-like algorithm but it does describe looks of recommendation algorithms along with practical Python code. Should get you thinking in the right direction.

<comment><USER4> the algorithms in this book might get you thinking in generally the right direction, but you might miss out on a couple of critical ingredients -- namely, time-based decay functions that make things float and sink (and float again -- dont forget that!), weighting things based on a user's "input worth" (how much you value someone's vote), and so on.

i see these three components as being the basic broth for a good "organic ranking" site:

      1. time since the article was submitted, probably represented logarithmically.

      2. how many votes came in, measured by how quickly they came in from the articles submission and how far apart each vote is.

      3. the "weight" of the users voting on the article.

<comment><USER5> 4\. The amount of comment activity.

5\. Votes vs views.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Umm...not sure on a specific "algorithm", but....

I would say just do something which takes into account how quickly items are getting voted on and how many comments vs. votes it has. Also take into account sometimes there will be more people on site than others; If you get a swarm of people around the same time (i.e. launch), some items submitted around that time will get tons more votes than things submitted an hour ago - those stories may not have been exactly "less popular", just had less users to make the votes count.

<comment><USER7> Right. Instead of counting time you might count the number of votes.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Remember, whatever you start with will change. So make sure it's easy to change.

</comment><comment><USER9> You can weight user importance with a ranking algorithm ( <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank> ).

<comment><USER4> do you mean that you could rank user importance by the "quality" (highest "worth") of the content they view or vote on w/ a pagerank implementation?

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Why not try something novel: Initially place articles with a random number generator. It will ensure that the site's front page has a varied content.

</comment><comment><USER11> Votes / total number of votes * views / total number of views * time decay function</comment>


Wondering whether it is a good idea to make this into a chef recipe - <AUTHOR> https://mailinabox.email/static/architecture.svg <comment><AUTHOR> Basically, I like the Mailinabox, but I would like to have a little more fine grain control over the web server aspect. My intention is to make it more customized to where someone could stand up their own separate web app, and use nginx as a reverse proxy, as well as to server up the mail server</comment>


Are we headed for a solar waste crisis? - <AUTHOR> http://www.environmentalprogress.org/big-news/2017/6/21/are-we-headed-for-a-solar-waste-crisis <comment><USER3> When one is comparing solar waste vs nuclear and just citing tons, it's an apples to oranges comparison unless one adds in a time factor. One migh task, how does nuclear vs solar compare in terms of ton-years of waste? Is there a bulk-silicon recycling capability? How difficult might that be to develop vs the difficulty of somewhat explored nuclear waste management options?

Edit: Actually I see a number of companies that already have capability in reclaiming waste silicon wafers/ics at the IC manufacturing point - <USER2> it's not too far a jump for used solar modules...</comment>


Warfighting (1997) [pdf] - <AUTHOR> http://www.clausewitz.com/readings/mcdp1.pdf

<comment><USER2> This is in the "Commandant's Choice" section of the 2013 USCM reading list:

[http://militaryprofessionalreadinglists.com/revisions/36#com...](http://militaryprofessionalreadinglists.com/revisions/36#commandant- s-choice)

Plenty of classics on that list - one of my favorites is "Quartered Safe out Here" by George MacDonald Fraser. Good stuff.

<comment><USER3> Another great one is "Gates of Fire" by Pressfield

<comment><USER2> A slew of other military reading lists agree with you; it was on the Army Chief of Staff 2011 list, both the 2008 and 2009 USMC lists, and the Army "Maneuver Center of Excellent" 2011 list.</comment></comment></comment>


The software engineer's guide to asserting dominance in the workplace - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/feature-creep/the-software-engineer-s-guide-to-asserting-office-dominance-ddea7b598df7 <comment><USER2> This is good satire about overly-aggressive folks / jerks heh.

I guess the one nit I have is about the predilection to rag on weightlifters. It's just a hobby for many people. I don't do it myself, but I have met loads of the friendliest people that do. Working out, having protein shakes, and eating hard-boiled eggs do not make someone a jerk. /shrug

<comment><USER3> Substitute weightlifting for crossfit. I know a guy who used to do his burpees in the office.

<comment><USER4> Crossfitters do seem to be a bit more... intense... about it than people who just lift. It can be this whole lifestyle and almost religion with some of them, particularly if it is dual-classed with other health & fitness fads, which is a little tiresome to be around.

<comment><USER5> Are you really against people wanting to live a healthier lifestyle, though?

<comment><USER6> It's one thing to live a healthy lifestyle, it's another to keep pushing it on other people. The former is commendable, the latter is annoying.

<comment><USER7> Works pretty well for the gym though, I wonder if this is intended or not. ..

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This is just the same joke told over and over again.

Also, just from a personality perspective, the crazy weightlifter types in the offices I've worked have always been the nicest people. I can't say that about the nerd's nerds (I'm in that category!).

<comment><USER9> I've done some mentoring calls with a guy who is a competitive weightlifter in his spare time. He's a junior dev, extremely polite, and very eager to learn.

Our company just hired a remote developer who really focuses on his physical health, and it shows. Quiet, respectful, and an A+ dev.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Have you ever noticed that people who find light-hearted satire "unfunny" typically tend to be deeply insecure about the subject being satirized? Like they never admit to being offended but instead pretend the joke was boring, uninteresting or some other sleight.

I'm a weightlifter, my friends are fitness freaks. We can laugh at ourselves, and we can certainly laugh at wannabe-alpha's.

<comment> trevor-e I definitely agree, however, half of the satire that was supposed to be about software engineering was just rehashed weightlifting jokes.

<comment><USER10> Sure but I'd say the juxtaposition of those jokes freshens them up. A gymrat treating an office like his fiefdom is a fine enough premise; not the funniest but also not repetitious.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Making fun of people's diet, clothing, and hobbies is a pretty low form of humor.

It's funny, in years as a software developer I've never heard someone made fun of for wearing a ratty Nintendo t-shirt or a greasy ponytail or whatever, but I've heard mean-spirited remarks about fraternity shirts and people coming to interviews in a suit.

<comment><USER12> In life u just need to "fit", or get picked on.

Incidentally this is precisely the "natural law" that james damore broke when he bragged about how natural laws are supposed make genders different in the workplace.

He was fired for breaking the most important law "you must fit/adapt or get excluded" while pretending to know better how life and biology works lol. What a retard

<comment><USER13> Realest HN comment of the day. Damore ignored all natural laws (re: conform or get ostracized) to try and make a point about how natural laws will always assert themselves. Ironically he proved his own point that natural laws will always assert themselves by failing to conform and then getting ostracized.

The rest of his argument was pretty incoherent tho.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> How acceptable are mechanical keyboards in open offices? In China, I used a model M since our office was loud anyways, but in the states I went with something with cherry brown switches even though I really wanted the louder cherry blue ones. Is there some kind of standard etiquette to follow?

<comment><USER15> open offices are a clusterfuck you have no option but to wear headphones anyways, I don't know anyone who doesn't have headphones handy in an open office.

1\. People having meetings at their desk cos conf rooms are never available.

2\. People talking random non work related stuff in groups.

3\. Keyboard noises.

4\. Food smells.

<comment><USER14> In China, there was some guy in the next cluster over who would often snack on sun flower and watermelon seeds. Oh, and he had a chronic cough. Also, succulent pear day (we got fruit every afternoon) would lead to an hour of slurping unproductively.

I would guess those wouldn't be a problem in the states but...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Ugh those keyboards make me feel like such a plebeian with my mediocre apple keyboards. I do not understand the appeal and just put my headphones on.

<comment><USER17> Long-time Mac user and as a result long-time Mac keyboard user. Loved the low- profile desktop and laptop keyboards.

Didn't realize until I gave a mechanical board a chance (felt super weird hitting full-height keys!) but I was making a ton of typos and going slower on the Mac boards.

Now that I've gotten used to my mechanical keyboard I feel more confident in my touch typing and my speed has gone up considerably.

I did install dampener rings, though, because I didn't like how loud things were and how the keys felt.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Most of the weightlifters I know are chill.

<comment><USER12> Edit: ok this was too much

<comment><USER19> While I am familiar with the type of person you are referring to, I humbly suggest that you change gyms. Most psychologically mature people who lift weights do so because it's damn good for your body and mind. I agree with GP that most of the people I know who lift weights are very chill.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Satire articles are valuable when they highlight a real problem. If they fail to do so, they just sound like complaining. This article falls into that latter category IMO.

There are plenty of actual jerks out there, with habits you can write about satirically, but weight lifting? Come on. It just sounds like jealousy of other people who take better care of their own health than the author does his.

Also, if I were a co-worker of this author who lifted weights, I would probably feel personally offended, as it implies he had me in mind when writing the article.

I did find the standup section funny though.

<comment><USER21> I suppose you have be involved in weightlifting for some of the humor to resonate. I have been, for years, and that part had me in stitches. Completely skewers some of the stereotypes, which of course have a grain of truth.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> _" Be the first one at your daily stand-up, and run it like the Scrum master you know you are."_

Surely a true alpha would declare that scrum and agile are "dead".

</comment><comment><USER23> This is hilarious. Although I do use a mechanical keyboard at work (MX Brown though, and got the boss's permission first). And my team doesn't use git (yet).

</comment><comment><USER24> "Plug in your own mechanical keyboard"

Note to anyone who does this: I know, I know you think it's cool but it's so not and you're an asshole. The only way you can redeem yourself is by taking the keyboard home immediately and resigning because no one wants to work with assholes.

<comment><USER7> What if the keyboard is silent, e.g. brown switches or lighter? What is the issue in choosing the work tool you'll be using for 8+ hours daily?

And how does that make you an asshole?

<comment><USER24> The fact that I didn't even know they made quiet mechanical keyboards shows you how many assholes I've worked with throughout the years.

<comment><USER25> That would be one and you just classified all mechanical keyboards in the same class.

OR

It shows how little you have invested in understanding but just went to the stereotyping.

Still interested in your number though.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Hilarious because it's true.

</comment><comment><USER26> This account seems to be dedicated to only submitting this article to HN.

[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=The%20software%20engineer%E2%8...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=The%20software%20engineer%E2%80%99s%20guide%20to%20asserting%20dominance%20in%20the%20workplace&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix&page=0)

<comment><USER27> All submissions where done by different accounts. Are you looking at the wrong page?

lobo_tuerto's other submissions are [https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=lobo_tuerto](https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=lobo_tuerto)</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Am I sane? Is it a phase of a programmer's life? - <AUTHOR> I have been isolated after moving to another city, where I have a room to live and a hackerspace, with a couple of furniture, internet and a coffee machine. I spend my entire day at the hackerspace and night at my room. No friends, no family and no people to talk to on regular basis.
I am working on a couple android application projects for "www.terminal.com" as a freelancer, and one personal side project in PHP. I spend several hours in front of my laptop all day, and few hours when I get back to my room at night. Recently I have found myself something has changed inside me. I feel like I am a completely different person. It is hard to stay focused on anything and to maintain meaningful conversation with people. I sometimes talk to myself, and sometimes go out to talk to random people (to feel normal, as I think it of).
I don't take much caffiene. One cup of coffee in the morning is all. I drink enough water but there's no fixed time for lunch. Once or twice a week I see one of my friends, hangout for an hour or so, and return back to my reality. It feels like I am just playing a role of mine in front of people.
Is it normal to feel abnormal after spending several weeks in solitary? What can I do to make sure I stay productive?
I would love to hear from you after you have read this far. Do you have any experience of programming in almost complete solitary state? <comment><USER2> _Is it normal to feel abnormal after spending several weeks in solitary?_

Yes.

There's a very good documentary, A Map for Saturday, abut a guy who decides to travel around the world (more or less) with only what he can carry on his back. (And some camera stuff). I think he wanders for a year.

He knows no one in the places he goes, and often does not know the local language. He talks abut the odd sensation of going days without having a simple conversation with anyone and how thankful he feels when he gets the chance to just sit down and chat with other people (other similar travelers, I believe). It's a terrific film overall.

I do not think of myself as a particularly social person, but I get antsy if I spend a lot of time without talking to another friendly human. Luckily I work from home and my wife is almost always around so I can go pester her. Other times I just start making a lot of phone calls to family and friends.

I think it's important to get out of your own head on a regular basis.

ref: [http://www.amapforsaturday.com](http://www.amapforsaturday.com)

</comment><comment><USER3> _please_ learn from my mistake. I spent a solid 4+ years working by myself (some remote help once in awhile) on a startup for a manipulative sociopath who kept telling me "cash flow issues" (so couldn't really hire another person quite yet). I can see my mistakes now, so it's not entirely all their responsibility, but I should have stopped working period - these fools thought one could run a enterprise B2B company like a corner store. But anyone in the IT world knows that can't be done a lot of the time - commitment to the profession, etc.

anyway, before I start whining. don't let your behavior become a habit - it is so very easy to do. I managed to meet up with people once in a great while, so I sort of stayed sane, but spending 10 hrs a day by yourself for very long periods of time ... there was always something to fix and so very easy to get focused and lost in the world. Programming probably involves the dopamine system in your brain - solving puzzles all the time, you get a rush for it, and so it's reinforcing.

You sound better than me in that you are realizing this earlier than I did. You have to be far more proactive though - make it a conscious habit to only work a set amount of time and force yourself to interact with strangers. I think I had a nervous breakdown of sorts and finally quit - it's been a year and I'm still shattered and my life is not fully repairable to some extent now because of where I am at in my life now. I really fucked up. Please don't do the same!

</comment><comment><USER4> Different people have different needs in terms of how much human interaction they need. Ask yourself, before your move, were you around a lot of people most of the time and did you enjoy it?

I would say maybe join some meetup social groups, there are a lot of happy- hour type groups. It doesn't require much time investment but it can keep you in regular contact with people.

Also aren't there people in this so called hackerspace to interact with?

Bottom line, total isolation from people for long periods of time generally isn't good.

</comment><comment><USER5> > What can I do to make sure I stay productive?

This is a horrible question, especially based upon your description. I'm sorry that society has convinced you that productivity is the most important metric to evaluate.

It sounds like productivity is the root of your problem. You need to instead evaluate your humanism.

I would recommend going on a long hike (AT, PCT?), find an inclusive group of peers (punks, burners?) and experience life instead of this comfy treadmill you've constructed.

</comment><comment><USER6> If you've got a good car, give rides to people on uber or lyft.

</comment><comment><USER7> I was in a similar situation as you, isolated from everyone. You need to get out and socialize. Try Rejection Therapy. It's a serendipity generator. It will get you out of your comfort zone.

Also consider the possibility you are entering a midlife crisis. Don't laugh. It can really mess with your head.

<comment><USER8> I just googled Rejection Therapy. I don't think I need it but sounds kind of fun. How long did you do it for? Did you buy the cards?

<comment><USER7> I created the game out of necessity. As mentioned earlier, I had isolated myself for almost a year, working obsessively on my new business. It became fertile ground for social anxiety. Rejection Therapy was a personal challenge to overcome my hyper-sensitivity and meet new people.

If you need/want the cards, email me. I'll send them to you free.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9>
        A man who finds himself among others is irritated because
        he does not know why he is not one of the others.

Read books. But most of all, read.</comment>


Gonvert: Golang character-code converter with an automatic code-estimation - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/timakin/gonvert <comment><USER2> If it meets the guidelines, this might make a good 'Show HN'. Show HN guidelines: [https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html)</comment>


Ask HN: Is Dmoz still relevant in 2015? - <AUTHOR> May it be for traffic or ranking. <comment><USER2> In terms of SEO is it relevant? I don't know. But in terms of supervised learning (machine learning) it's very useful.</comment>


Ask HN: Did you take any fresh MOOCs as of 2020? - <AUTHOR> There are what I would call "good oldie" MOOCs that people frequently recommend, like algorithms on coursera. Most of them are from 2012-2013.
Now will be some rant and justification for the question, the question itself is in the last paragraph.
At the time (2012-2013) I was very hyped and enthusiastic, imagining new courses of the same quality and kind will be appearing at the same rate in future. By kind I mean university level subjects, fundamental topics that have high return of investment.
But it seems to me it went quite differently. I don't really see any new courses being published and recommended on the lists among good oldies. My own experience with stuff that came later also wasn't as pleasant, I started dropping courses much more often.
The platforms themselves changed significantly: 1. Switch from fundamental to hands-on subjects like technologies and frameworks. 2. Switching to paid model (not that I have anything against it, although being poor in a poor country I avoid paying as much as I can and haven't paid for a single certificate). This leads to less people checking out the course and giving it a "media coverage". 3. Switching from strict start-end date to "take anytime you want". Because of that the social element for me has been essentially lost, the forums are half-dead. 4. Increased amount of courses. Together with (1) this makes it hard to find something by random exploration. When I open edx computer science section I have to go through pages and pages of microsoft courses about their technologies.
This made me gradually lose interest in MOOCs and switch to books and self-learning. I occasionally go back to MOOC platforms or MOOC aggregators, thinking maybe I just missed something or something interesting came out recently.
Did you take any good (valuable, mind-expanding, long-term rewarding, intellectually stimulating) courses that aren't famous and have a high chance of being overlooked? <comment><USER2> MIT's 6.824: Distributed Systems (taught by Robert Morris) is completely open and available online, and it includes video lectures, notes, readings, and programming assignments from as recent as Spring 2020 (including half of the lectures recorded from home as the pandemic strikes). The assignments even include auto-graded testing scripts, so you can verify your solution to the assignments.

It's not necessarily a MOOC in the exact same vein, but given that the knowledge you gain from a MOOC is the valuable part (as opposed to any completion certificate or check mark), it's still extremely valuable and a great opportunity to learn.

[https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.824/](https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.824/)

<comment><USER3> I agree.

One of the best courses i had taken on Coursera was the Algorithms series by Robert Sedgewick. Apart from going through the lectures, i had obtained a great satisfaction from solving the assignments. But this year, i have taken up the lab assignments for the following: [https://cs144.github.io/](https://cs144.github.io/) [https://tc.gts3.org/cs3210/2020/spring/info.html](https://tc.gts3.org/cs3210/2020/spring/info.html)

Both have been recommended earlier on HN.

Next on my list is 6.824

<comment><USER4> I started that course, by my God his presentation is so...sleep-inducing for me. Contrast this with Peter Norvig, who is engaging and scintillates with passion about the subject. By contrast, Sedgewick has this smirk on the whole time, and talks in a monotone. His content is first rate, of course, but sheesh, he's got to work on that pedagogy!

<comment><USER5> speed it up 1.5x and its fine

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I'm a sysadmin/developer/devops-guy, but despite "knowing" Docker I had a lot of fun going through this course, once I'd completed it I found I'd learned a few useful things, and my understanding was much more comprehensive:

[https://devopswithdocker.com/](https://devopswithdocker.com/)

My first time doing online-learning, and registering for the university, but now I've done it I'm gonna work my way through a few more of the courses.

(You don't need to register, you can just start reading/completing the exercises, and use the telegraph chat-group for help. Mixture of English and Finnish, if you ask questions in English people will use that happily. You only need register if you want official credits, which might be useful in the future for me, but probably not people outside the country)

<comment><USER7> Thanks, was actually looking for good devops courses the other day.

<comment><USER8> And did you find any? I'd be interested as well.

<comment><USER7> It's sparse, I've actually been looking for AWS courses and things are thin on that front too. To add to it, it's hard for me to even assess anything since I don't know _how_ to assess if it's good.

Now I know how people shopping around for a coding bootcamp feel.

<comment><USER9> Hah, same feeling. Let us know if you find any good AWS courses! :D Will do likewise.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I've taken the Udacity Flying Car nanodegree recently (during their free month promotion). It's from 2018.

Plusses:

* neat environment to work with: there's a drone and plane simulator based on Unity3D's Unity Player and NVIDIA PhysX that you connect to from Python, as well as another full simulator implemented with OpenGL (in C++).

* Considerable ground covered: representation, path planning, drone control, estimation, even basics of sensor fusing. Optionally, you can implement a full autopilot for a fixed wing plane.

Neutral:

* All the boilerplate code is provided (Python, C++), and you're asked to fill in the blanks here and there. So, one avoids a lot of hassle. On the other hand, you know, the instructions say "Compute the new variance matrix after the transition using the formula \Sigma_t = G \Sigma_{t-1} GˆT + Q", and then you plug in the line

      ekfCov = G * ekfCov * G.transpose() + Q;

and now you've implemented an Extended Kalman filter in C++. Right.

Minuses:

* quite some mistakes. The course seems to get little love and few updates or bug fixes. If I had paid for it, I'd be miffed.

* not too much going on in the chat and discussion forum.

As to your points:

1\. more "vocational" courses: Yes. Some of it seems more or less designed to quickly train the next generation of code monkeys.

2\. paid model: Absolutely. Without the COVID-19 free month, this would have cost EUR 400 per month. Steep.

3\. anytime you want: Agreed, the social element was pretty thin. I had the one month deadline before the billing would kick in, so that was useful for self-motivation.

4\. more variety: yes, hard to identify good ones, particularly in combination with #2 (pay to study).

</comment><comment><USER11> Ideally we'll get to a point where there is a really well produced course on everything such that new courses will only be required for entirely new fields.

I was commenting to a friend the other day that it's insane that we hire 1000s of teachers to teach roughly the same math class 2x per year for 40 years. Instead I'd rather a fraction of those make a truly fantastic video course and then the remaining fraction could be hands on helpers/instructors for those who need help. This is kind of khan academy, but I'd like to see that happen in the public school system.

<comment><USER12> Not a good idea. One course to rule them all in a field creates a risk of massive amounts of people learning bad information and reinforcing it through sheer majority. Better for people to learn the same information in different ways and from different sources.

<comment><USER11> I guess I agree in the most extreme (singular case) which i assume would never happen. But I do think that there is an efficient set that is much smaller than 1000s of teachers 2x per year x 40 yrs. Maybe modify my comment ^^ to "dozens" or something like that, and that would naturally be multiplied by languages/countries as I see it unlikely there'd be massive reuse across those boundaries.

<comment><USER13> it would be more like different courses are best at teaching the same thing in a particular way that works best with a subset of people, so the top would be made of the set of courses that works with the majority of the population. The problem is that the way humans learn is not exactly understood, is it even a finite set? And what is its diatribution? Can it change through time/culture? Can it be identified in genetic traits? So if the learning methodology changes through time the best courses would also follow with it

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Just finished "Model Thinking" [1] taught by Scott E. Page.

I really enjoyed this class. It provided me with several very useful mathematical tools to think more clearly about important and frequent problems. Scott is a great teacher.

[1] [https://www.coursera.org/learn/model- thinking](https://www.coursera.org/learn/model-thinking)

<comment><AUTHOR> I've seen this one in 'the old days', but never actually took it, just skimmed through the introduction. It was hard for me to grasp what I would take from it, even though it seemed interesting.

Can you please summarize what you took from the course? How would you use outside of the course the information you've learned? I would imagine something like "I've learned a model A that can be applied at real life situations such as a, b to get better insight", or maybe even "I can write a simulation to predict how some system will evolve in the future"?

<comment><USER15> I'm currently taking it and loving it. What I took from it so far is a toolbox for better thinking.

Examples:

      - why you only have to convince small % of people for your idea to be adopted by most people (schelling models)
      - how self-organization in cities and other domains works (lyapunov functions)
      - multiple models for decision making (decision trees, spatial choice models)
      - how economic growth works and how innovation is the only way to avoid economic stagnation (whether it's a good thing is another story)
      - how linear models are super useful to understand complex situations
      - how diseases spread and why R0 is so important (quite timely with covid!)
      - how to try different perspectives and heuristics to solve problems
      - how culture evolves and how innovation works to change the culture
      - how networks work
      - and more things!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I agree with your assessment. Most of the MOOC websites have shifted to being much less academic, more applied and are pushing paid credentials. It doesn't seem like most of the top universities are creating much new content for Coursera or Edx compared to 2013.

I mostly use MIT open courseware for self learning. A lot of course websites are also online and if I hear about an interesting course at some University I'll just google the course number. Stanford online and MIT ocw have a lot of lectures on their YouTube channels and I've found some interesting lectures just searching YouTube for a topic. When I wanted assignments and lectures for Russell and Norvig's AI textbook, I googled "Russell AI course" and stumbled on Berkeley's AI course. I've been enjoying it.

How has the social aspect + taking the course with others helped you in the past? I never found it that important. But I have always preferred self learning even in college.

<comment><AUTHOR> MIT OCW is great, I'm very grateful to them for doing this. Still, it's closer to books for me than to MOOCs by overall experience.

I have never used much websites for the on-campus courses, they are rarely self-contained and require more organization and research to use. There is one good feature of those: they often have excellent assignments that you often won't find in textbooks, so I think can be a good complement to a textbook. One thing that bothers me though is that these can go down at arbitrary time and you can't be sure it works properly. E.g. a website for 2013 course may have some of the links broken and you will only find out when you get there. Still, better than nothing and I appreciate greatly such initiatives.

>How has the social aspect + taking the course with others helped you in the past First of all there was just a general excitement "A course just opened and there are like 40 thousand of us". If you spend time around people that would do things like that than I guess the effect won't be as striking. But 40k was like a half of the population of the town I lived in. It felt like a part of something huge.

In general, thinking that many people go through the exercises right now and struggle just as I am was somehow motivating and uplifting. Reading that something had the same issues as you 5 years ago vs right now somehow make quite a bit of difference for me.

Then there is interaction. Getting your questions discussed and helping others on the forum is totally different for me than just browsing through a dead forum section for a possible answer to my problem. I had a technique: when I completed something I would go to forums and read questions, and then try to answer them at least in my head. Doing so with a "real" questions that are waiting for an answer is more engaging because in addition to practice you also help someone.

And the most insane thing that only happened once: competition. I was doing Sedgewick's algorithms and the automated grader itself was brutal. I loved the course so much that I took it twice, the second time doing all assignments to 100/100\. But in addition to the grader there was forum section where people would show their stats (how fast their solution worked). I remember cutting my time only to discover next day that someone did better, and then half excited half suspecting that the person simply trolling with fake numbers would go and try to optimize my solution even further. I would wake up at 5am to work on it before work, the whole place is messy with drawings on paper, etc. I cannot imagine doing the same thing when reading a book.

<comment><USER16> That's a great story! Thanks for taking the time to answer my question. You make good points.

I've experienced links not working. In fact, Berkeley's AI course ([https://berkeleyai.github.io/cs188-website/](https://berkeleyai.github.io/cs188-website/)) includes 3 contests but the server no longer accepts submissions for testing let alone actually competing against other students.

There have to be a lot of other people like you and I out there reading textbooks and looking at OCW but never talking to each other. A simple discord server for MIT OCW would be something. I'm currently frustrated because I'm working through the text, lecture notes and problem sets for MIT 6.045J: Automata, Computability and Complexity[0]. But there are no solutions to the problem sets! It's a proof based course and I just want to sanity check if my logic is actually valid.

[0][https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and- compu...](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer- science/6-045j-automata-computability-and-complexity-spring-2011/assignments/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I don't think you can call it mind-expanding or intellectually stimulating, but I'm currently following the MOOC about modern Web Development from the University of Helsinki [https://fullstackopen.com/](https://fullstackopen.com/).

I think it's quite solid and valuable, has a good amount of exercises and I really like the frameworks/technologies they teach (React/Express/TypeScript/GraphQL).

Also trying to expand on my own the topics and concepts they introduce, so I think at the end it's gonna be a very good long-time investment.

For more specific stuff like Algorithms and Data Structures or Programming Languages knowledge, I usually prefer books over MOOCs.

</comment><comment><USER18> I agree with you. I once followed OCW to learn stuff. Then it evolved into edx. I remember taking Anant Agarwal's EE course sequence and found it wonderful. Notable courses were always from MIT on edx. But now in the last year I have found edx to have SO MANY courses, like you said the microsoft technologies (which I found a bit shallow and unnecessarily split into a lot of courses) it becomes confusing and exhausting trying to find something. In addition, edx has become a paid model where you lose access after a couple of weeks, and you usually don't have access to assignments even when you audit now.

I have let go of edx and moocs and now fish for online university courses which are put up on their websites. Notable ones are MIT, UCB, UC (davis/san diego i don't remember, but one of them puts up all videos as podcasts), CMU (some videos), Brown, etc. Then you have top profs putting up stuff online, like Sedgewick, Pavlo, etc. Personally I feel this is the way forward, pick and choose courses online directly from universities, instead of mooc platforms, for each subject. There is this github repo - [https://github.com/prakhar1989/awesome- courses/blob/master/R...](https://github.com/prakhar1989/awesome- courses/blob/master/README.md) which lists out a lot of courses. Occasionally, if you browse enough, you might find some rare links like these courses on database systems - [https://bigdata.uni- saarland.de/datenbankenlernen/](https://bigdata.uni- saarland.de/datenbankenlernen/) and [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIJAkbAr53I4fggNsbzdrA/pla...](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIJAkbAr53I4fggNsbzdrA/playlists)

</comment><comment><USER19> Discrete Optimization by Pascal van Hentenryck on Coursera. Fun class with great professor. Highly recommended if you're interested in the subject.

<comment><USER20> I love this course. It has better production than other courses that I've taken and Pascal is super passionate and fun (dresses like Indiana Jones to make a point about knapsacks); much more engaging than Norvig. The course is hard though, he's not kidding about needing 20 or so hours per week.

<comment><USER21> _The course is hard though_

NP-hard, at a rate of one problem per week.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> I'm taking the Micromasters in Statistics and Data Science from MIT. It's awesome and now I want to continue studying and probably get my masters after this. It's very rigorous though. I'm not doing this for job prospects. I already work as a data analyst. I'm looking forward to learning the theoretical aspects of the mathematics and of course its applications.

</comment><comment><USER23> MIT has consistently high quality MOOCs. Here's a new philosophy course on edX (offered for the first time this year) [https://www.edx.org/course/moral- problems-and-the-good-life](https://www.edx.org/course/moral-problems-and-the- good-life)

</comment><comment><USER24> Didn't take it myself and still quite hands-on, but Execute Program seems a cool way to learn new things:

[https://www.executeprogram.com/](https://www.executeprogram.com/)

Also, Dan Boneh had a YouTube thing up a few months ago where he said that Cryptography II would be coming to Coursera this year, so that will be interesting too.

[https://youtu.be/eQdkZRLD09M](https://youtu.be/eQdkZRLD09M)

</comment><comment><USER25> Meta: I have had the same question as well and I'm sure that I will have it again in six months. IMO this submission has potential to be a regularly re- submitted post like 'Who is hiring?'.

<comment><AUTHOR> Well, essentially what I was asking is "is there any good new stuff or is this movement dead", meaning the 2012ish hype of open university knowledge, so I don't think it's a question of a recurring nature.

Most of the replies here are more suitable to "what are good moocs", which is fine and what I more or less expected anyway.

As to regularly resubmitted post, this kind of touches the issues I asked. If there aren't many (or none) good new materials then there is no much point reposting same things again and again, similar threads from 2016 or 2018 will do. Some communities post a compilation of what new courses are gonna start soon. I don't find these useful, because they end up being just a huge dump of everything. I guess what I would find interesting is a recurring post about learning that goes like like "what are you learning/learnt recently/this year/this season" and why a mentioned source of learning was good. This naturally will focus on quality rather than quantity.

<comment><USER26> > is there any good new stuff or is this movement dead

There might be some good content, but the movement is definitely dead.

Sebastian Thrun / udacity never actually delivered. You still need to get a bachelor's degree by a regular university to get into oms-cs.

Sad.

<comment><USER27> > You still need to get a bachelor's degree by a regular university to get > into oms-cs

I feel like this is absolutely not the case. For software development and adjacent fields (UX/UI design, 2/3D graphics, editing, ...) you definitely need the skills and the degree is a benefit (a door opener) but not a necessity.

That said, if you expected a coursera course to replace a university, you'd first have to deliver on reducing the amount of people who cheat (i.e increasing the prestige of the degree). Nowadays, many IT professionals don't even know what CCNA, AWS CSAP, or RHCSA mean (and all of those are somewhat prestigious in the IT field)

The idea of getting online certificates instead of degrees is dead. The idea evolved into learning skills instead of gathering certificates, and demonstrating your skills. Think Pluralsight, LinkedIn Learning, or LinuxAcademy, which are very much alive and kicking.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> I took the deeplearning specialisation on Coursera by Andrew Ng. The first two courses were good, but after that the quality of the content quickly deteriorated. Video lectures were not properly edited, you could see Andrew repeating his lines over and over again, which should have been taken out in post. Programming exercises felt like fill-in-the-blanks and the libraries used were severely outdated. Thank God it was paid for by my institution.

</comment><comment><USER29> I took [https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/the-mind-is- flat](https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/the-mind-is-flat) and it was great. Loved the book and the course was a great complement. The platform is nothing to write home about but the course itself was so good it didn't matter at all.

</comment><comment><USER30> Stanford CS193p: SwiftUI iOS App Development. Been meaning to get into iOS dev for a while, but it's frustrating because learning resources outdate so fast. This course is new though (as in ~2 months) and only teaches current stuff. (Just need to finish it before everything moves on to Xcode 12...)

</comment><comment><USER31> I am hoping to train more for my ski instructor certification this year.

But i am doing 'mountains 101' during the pandemic [https://www.coursera.org/learn/mountains-101](https://www.coursera.org/learn/mountains-101)

<comment><USER32> PSIA/CSIA? Or you mean AMGA/IFMGA?

<comment><USER31> PSIA yeah

<comment><USER32> Cool! I didn't realize they require you to know that stuff. But it's great to know that. Mountain and Avalanche training should be a requirement for PSIA.

<comment><USER31> Oh they don't. I am just doing it for my own benefit.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> Not sure if it's a new one, but I'm liking [https://www.coursera.org/learn/financial-markets- global](https://www.coursera.org/learn/financial-markets-global) thus far.

</comment><comment><USER34> I am currently doing CS193p [0] (Developing Apps for iOS) from Stanford.

[0] [https://cs193p.sites.stanford.edu/](https://cs193p.sites.stanford.edu/)

</comment><comment><USER35> I got to help teach one!

This answer doesn't answer the question that was prompted, but I volunteered for Stanford's Code in Place (introductory CS) and it was kind of amazing getting to be on the other side of the MOOC experience as a TA. I lead 5 assigned class sessions with a small group of people (never more than 10) and held 5 other office hour style sessions as well.

It was a really rewarding experience and I think a lot of people who can volunteer for it should consider doing so if Code in Place continues.

<comment><USER36> The google results for that are pretty sparse - what are the criteria to be eligible to volunteer?

<comment><USER35> They just asked for people to volunteer. The filtering was done based upon a small recorded video of you answering 2 small coding challenges and teaching the solution.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER37> If you want University level courses, then here are few links:

CS Video courses: [https://github.com/Developer-Y/cs-video- courses](https://github.com/Developer-Y/cs-video-courses)

Math/Science video courses: [https://github.com/Developer-Y/math-science- video-lectures](https://github.com/Developer-Y/math-science-video-lectures)

Some of Electrical/Mechanical engineering courses: [https://github.com/Developer-Y/engineering-video- courses](https://github.com/Developer-Y/engineering-video-courses)

If you don't have problem understanding Indian accent, India's NPTEL publishes University level courses on this site: [https://nptel.ac.in/course.html](https://nptel.ac.in/course.html)

You can take Indian IIT courses online with assignments (and proctored exams if you are in India) at following site: [https://swayam.gov.in/](https://swayam.gov.in/)

</comment><comment><USER38> Side note: With Corona and the rise of biotechnology, I hope we'll see some excellent courses in natural / hard science in the near future. I'd love to switch into the SynBio industry, but lack the willingness for another university degree. I also strongly prefer remote learning over onsite lectures. Of course, you'd need some onside presence for lab work. That's the tricky and costly part. Still, if the future is bio, then demand will skyrocket.

</comment><comment><USER39> I'm currently taking one called Moral Foundations of Politics ([https://www.coursera.org/learn/moral- politics](https://www.coursera.org/learn/moral-politics)) with my girlfriend. Netflix became a staple of many lockdown evenings and we thought we'd sprinkle in something a bit more engaging (and unrelated to our work).

</comment><comment><USER40> Does anyone know any good introductory/intermediate neuroscience MOOCs? My favorite one by Henry Lester got deleted off Coursera unfortunately.

<comment><USER41> You might look through MIT Course 9 materials on OCW. [https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/brain-and-cognitive- sciences/](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/brain-and-cognitive-sciences/)

MIT's Intro courses in this department have long been excellent and very neuroscience oriented.(The caveat is most of what's on OCW here is fairly old.)

There's also at least one course on edX [https://www.edx.org/course/minds-and- machines](https://www.edx.org/course/minds-and-machines) although I don't know anything about it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER42> Yes! Signed up to 6 courses. Never started any of them. I'm going back to learning by doing and a few paper books.

</comment><comment><USER43> Any good courses on python and building rest APIs with Django? Out anything really, looking to up my Python skills

<comment><USER44> Not a MOOC, but I'd recommend: [https://www.django-rest- framework.org/tutorial/quickstart/](https://www.django-rest- framework.org/tutorial/quickstart/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER45> Took the fast.ai course

<comment><USER46> +1 from me. I really liked Fast.ai part 1 and can't speak highly enough of it! I plan to do part 2 in the near future once I have a bit more time on my hands.

The course is project oriented and quite concrete (focusing on practical/directly usable knowledge, before diving into impl details and math) so I liked it a lot more than anything I had tried before (courses on Coursera, studying on Kahn Academy).

Not only did I actually learn, the course gave me the skills and motivation needed to build my own toy project[0]!

@OP: Give Fast.ai's course (part 1)[1] a try. You'll train your own image classifier by the end of lesson 2. At that point you'll know if you like or dislike the course's style.

[0]: [https://ml-hot-or-cold.projects.chrisjeakle.com/](https://ml-hot-or- cold.projects.chrisjeakle.com/) [1]: [https://course.fast.ai/](https://course.fast.ai/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER47> Deeplearning.ai regularly posts new courses that are of pretty good quality. I did the AI for medicine courses recently.</comment>


Kentucky man shoots down drone spying on 16-year-old daughter - <AUTHOR> http://www.dailydot.com/technology/kentucky-drone-shooting/?fb=dd <comment><USER2> Should we be more strict about the use of the word 'drone'? Not just here, but everywhere. The vehicle in this article is likely just a quadcopter.

The only reason I'm being pedantic is connotation. The word 'drone' is often associated with its military context, which may cause trouble for those pushing for better laws on commercial/recreational unmanned aerial vehicles, autonomous or not. In the minds of those uneducated on the differences of these types of vehicles, having more permissive laws regarding drone operation can sound like a bad thing.

Once media and lawmakers start using this jargon regularly, it will be too late to go back and re-educate people on the proper way to classify these types of vehicles.

<comment><USER3> The words "drone" and "robot" imply some degree of independent action, in my opinion. What we have here is an RC quadcopter, no more, no less.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Better coverage here: [http://www.wdrb.com/story/29650818/hillview-man- arrested-for...](http://www.wdrb.com/story/29650818/hillview-man-arrested-for- shooting-down-drone-cites-right-to-privacy)

More recently disputed by the drone's owner, who has the flight data recorded by the drone: [http://www.wdrb.com/story/29670583/update-drone-owner- disput...](http://www.wdrb.com/story/29670583/update-drone-owner-disputes- suspects-claims-produces-video-claiming-to-show-flight-path)

</comment><comment><USER5> This was the premise of a South Park episode last year.

It's amazing that Trey & Matt are so dead on when it comes to current events and culture critique that they sometimes even parody the future.

<comment><USER6> Let's just be glad they aren't _always_ correct ....

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Next time use a slingshot or a bow, or just throw a rock at it. FAA says the air up to 500' above your property is under your control.

<comment><USER8> If it really was just 10' up, you could pretty much whack it with a broomstick.

The presence of the firearm definitely complicates this story.

<comment><USER9> presumable the drone pilot would see the guy with the broomstick and then go higher.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Reading the comments is rather irritating... so many people asking to see the Sim card (not the SD Card), which was apparently taken away by the shooter.

Two hobbyists in the comment section are constantly explaining drones and wide-lens cameras and the lack of detail at close distances (even as close as 20 yards).

It's astounding to me that the same people who are saying it's within their rights as an American citizen to shoot down the drone and blah blah blah are also acting completely contrary to the idea of _innocent until proven guilty_ by automatically assuming the drone pilot was spying/snooping. Many of them show ignorance over drones and how drones work.

Many in the comments are also touting gun knowledge ("Shotguns don't have an effective range of 200 feet to shoot down the drone, as the drone owner claims.") - Well guess what? The _effective range_ is for penetration/killing/before the bullet hits the ground when shot horizontally. If shot vertically and it so much as hits a propeller, the Phantom drone goes down. It doesn't need to be at it's _effective range_ nor does it need to penetrate the drone.

My opinion?

Drone owner is innocent (until proven guilty, which is how our law system is supposed to work), was shooting video for friend as claimed, and the "all drones are ban and used for spying" gun owner figured it was spying on his daughter and shot it down.

20 seconds in the video on this page a photo from the gun owner is shared. The drone is hovering well over 10 feet. [0]

The question is if a drone is an aircraft under the law: 18 USC 32 ; although I'm sure the court might just dismiss the case and require reparation payments at most, in news-fear-mongering-speak "he could be looking at up to 20 years in jail and a felony on his record".

[0] [http://www.wdrb.com/story/29650818/hillview-man-arrested- for...](http://www.wdrb.com/story/29650818/hillview-man-arrested-for-shooting- down-drone-cites-right-to-privacy)</comment>


Ask HN: Where's that wiki/notes/knowledge management project? - <AUTHOR> Some years ago (I'm guessing about 5), I found a really cool project through HN. It was desktop software written by one person and they had put up a website with a really well edited and narrated demo video. The software was a sort of wiki/notes platform on steroids. It had semantic associations and I'm finding it difficult to describe. I believe the example document in the video was a maths or physics topic. Hoping someone else remembers this and has a link or more info, as I've tried several times to find it again without avail.<p>Edit: Closest thing I've found is Contextualise, but it's definitely not that. https://github.com/brettkromkamp/contextualise <comment><USER2> [http://marko-editor.com/vis-a-wiki/](http://marko-editor.com/vis-a-wiki/) ?

</comment><comment><USER3> Not Tiddlywiki, by any chance?

<comment><AUTHOR> No, though I do use it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Notion?</comment>


Speed Cameras and the City - <AUTHOR> http://project.wnyc.org/speed-cameras/ <comment><USER3> It would be a useful project to instrument a few Manhattan intersections with camera coverage from above, track all the vehicles and pedestrians, see what happens and what happened before each accident and near-miss.

</comment><comment><USER4> If anything, this data shows how egregious speeding in NYC is. The cameras can only issue tickets if you're driving 10mph above the speed limit. Until recently this was 40mph. Now it's 35.

35 is way too fast for city driving, so even if there are concerns that this is just a money grab (only for the city; no private companies get a percentage of the tickets), it's still worth doing.

If all cars were going 25mph at all times, there would be a lot less people dying in traffic. Cycling would also be a lot more pleasant.

<comment><USER5> "city driving"

Then we get into the argument of what constitutes city driving and that gets fun. What's a city. Is a road connecting two roads a city road? What if it has side-walks or a bike lane? What about the small town that has a bike lane, too?

We'd have to see a case-by-case basis of the speed limit in a given location to give an appropriate speed limit for an area.

.. I wrote that, but now I'm thinking that if we had a reasonable, almost static speed limit for driving inside a city, then that would be one less thing the driver has to think about while driving in the city, so that would be good. Some sort of testing would be needed to decide on an appropriate speed, but I imagine somewhere between 25 and 35 would prove to be a good speed.

<comment><USER6> > _We 'd have to see a case-by-case basis of the speed limit in a given > location to give an appropriate speed limit for an area._

Doesn't matter. Just have _a_ speed limit and make people obey it, and then let the traffic engineers run simulations and adjust those limits to maximize flow and minimize accident rates. But when people have a habitual disregard of speed limits[0], determining the optimal value of those limits is nigh impossible.

[0] - I don't know what's the driving culture in the US, but in Poland - <USER2> I live - most drivers show total disregard for speed limits and driving rules. They think they're _the_ smartest, and that no accident can happen to them.

<comment><USER5> "let the traffic engineers run simulations and adjust those limits to maximize flow and minimize accident rates"

Wasn't there a discussion about how it's hard to raise a speed limit in an area? If the safe / max flow speed turns out to be higher than it currently is, I suspect it would be hard to get it raised. I am in great support of this idea, though..

I'd also like more aggressive variable speed limits instead of "60 all the time, between bone-dry land and torrential rain"

<comment><USER6> I don't recall that discussion, but it would be great if you or someone else could post a link to it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The fact that they don't want to tell you where the speed cameras are tells me that this is a kickback scheme.

If it's about public safety, you _WANT_ people to know that the cameras are there.

<comment><USER6> As other commenters wrote, you want drivers to _always_ follow the speed limits. Moreover, I can tell you how things look when drivers know where cameras are placed. In Poland, we have an actual Android app that will tell you not only where stationary cameras are but also where the police currently is monitoring the traffic. It's a hit among drivers, and people use it to look like law-abiding citizens next to a camera, while not giving a fuck about road safety and speeding like crazy the moment they're sure they're not being monitored.

Seriously, the more drivers I know, the more I want linear speed tracking and ALPRs to be deployed _everywhere_ , on _every single damn road_.

<comment><USER7> > As other commenters wrote, you want drivers to always follow the speed > limits.

Then you need to set _sane_ limits. A speed limit that 80+% of the people violate isn't a sane limit.

Or, you need to reengineer the road so that you basically _can 't_ speed. However, you have to accept that you are going to lose a lot of traffic and, with that, a lot of business.

Creating a 6 lane wide street and then slapping a 20 mph limit on it _doesn 't make sense_.

<comment><USER6> You can't have sane limits because people don't give a damn about them out of habit, hence you can't really observe the impact of them and adjust accordingly. At this point I believe drivers need to be forced to obey the law by any means necessary in order to create room for traffic engineers to do their job of optimizing limits.

 _And then_ you still need to force drivers to obey, because as far as I know, most of them are not able to comprehend that they're not the smartest people around. Just because a limit doesn't make sense to you, desn't mean it's not right and optimal in the overall context of traffic flow in the city.

EDIT: Another thing. Have you ever seen a driver maintaining safe distance? Me neither. It's impossible, because even if you try, you quickly get overtaken by an asshole who knows better. And then we have accidents like the one near me two days ago, when a girl started braking because there was a cat on the road, and she got a whole bunch of people behind her to rear-end one another...

<comment><USER7> Forcing will not work. If there in anything that the old 55mph limits in the US showed, it's that.

> You can't have sane limits because people don't give a damn about them out > of habit

Look, there is science behind this--people drive the speed they _feel_ is safe --they basically don't listen to speed signs. If you want them to drive slower, you have to engineer the road so that they don't _feel_ safe at 45 but do at 35.

> Another thing. Have you ever seen a driver maintaining safe distance? Me > neither.

In San Diego? Never. In Pittsburgh? All the time. Guess which one gets frequent enough bad weather to clean the idiots that don't leave following distance off the road?

<comment><USER6> > _Look, there is science behind this--people drive the speed they feel is > safe--they basically don 't listen to speed signs. If you want them to drive > slower, you have to engineer the road so that they don't feel safe at 45 but > do at 35._

I've heard that idea before somewhere, and I quite like it. Making the environment _seem_ unsafe on purpose so that people adjust their behaviour. I'm interested if anyone tried that on larger scale somewhere, and what were the results.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I won't get into the efficacy/need for ticket cameras, but I will share something I have thought about for a long time.

A poor-middle class guy gets a ticket, and it can affect their ability to pay rent.

A rich guy get's a ticket and he tells his wife over dinner.

How about tying your first ticket(reasonable mistake--like a California stop, etc.) to income, but only every 5 years. If poor person get's another ticket in five years all fees go back to normal levels?

There would be upper limits on ticket price, so millionaires wouldn't be gouged too much. I think they tried this in Switzerland, but the law didn't have upper limits for the wealthy? Some guy got a $100,000 ticket--which is crazy!

A $500 ticket can really cause pain for students and the poor? I have thought about this since I was sixteen?

<comment><USER9> Some countries (eg. Australia, can't comment on others but I'm sure there's many), in addition to the monetary fines, have a demerit point scheme. Each offence gives you a set number of points (eg. 20km/h over might be 3 points, drink driving I think is 8-10 points, etc), and if you accumulate a certain number of points over a three year rolling period (24 I think in my state), then your license is suspended/cancelled. So you might be able to afford the tickets, but if you do it more than a few times then you're still stuffed.

<comment><USER10> New York has the same thing. 11 points in 18 motnhs and you lose your license. Violations go from 2 points to 11. Speeding 1-10 MPH is 3 points, 11-20 4 points, 21-30 6 points, 31-40 8 points, and >40 or 11 points. The full list is at:

[http://dmv.ny.gov/tickets/about-nys-driver-point- system](http://dmv.ny.gov/tickets/about-nys-driver-point-system)

Though I expect the speed cameras are not actually giving out points. They don't for the red light cameras. You need a "real" ticket from a cop to get points for that.

Also, depending on the part of the state if you hire an attorney, then there is a good chance you'll get any points reduced. You might even get a parking violation instead and just pay a fine. In NYC, being able to plead and get a reduced point sentence is less likely than in other jurisdictions.

<comment><USER11> > Though I expect the speed cameras are not actually giving out points. They > don't for the red light cameras. You need a "real" ticket from a cop to get > points for that.

Correct! At least where I live, since points are tied to your license and the cameras can't accurately identify who is actually _driving_, this is the result.

The ticket is delivered to the owner of the vehicle, but they can't prove it was you driving the car at that time so there is no point penalty.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> So I find this interesting; and, I'm glad they provided at least this statistic:

       Vehicle crashes near cameras declined 3.9%
       Crashes with injuries near cameras declined 13.4%

If that's the case, I'm pleased. That's a noticeable decline. I wonder what else could be done to safely reduce the number of crashes, while still allowing drivers the freedom to drive.

Another interesting piece:

Referring to 'The Busy Crossing', "This is the kind of location one might expect for a speed camera. They target busy crossings near some of the city's most dangerous boulevards. These cameras are more common than the "speed traps" but they issue far fewer tickets."

I imagine knowing that there is a speed camera near a given light reduces the amount of people willing to test that. When it comes to traffic lights and busy crossings, I think this is a good thing; and not having very many tickets there should by no means be indicative of the systems failing. In fact, I would argue they might be working. You'd have to do a blind test of some sort with unmarked cameras (that don't give out tickets either) at other locations; but ... that's most likely illegal. (IANAL)

And then regarding this:

"Almost half of the city's speed cameras are mobile — mounted on NYPD vehicles, they watch different spots for a day or two. Officials won't say how those spots are picked, though school principals and community groups can make requests. The mobile cameras each issue just a few tickets a day; as a group they issue only 11.5% of all tickets."

That's to be expected. It's a camera mounted to a police vehicle. People tend to act more civil on the road and more accurate to the rules when there's a police officer around.

Personally, I'd love to find out the statistics around red-light cameras, as well. I imagine they might be even more useful in quelling negative activity (though they probably won't bring in as much money as speeding cameras)

<comment><USER12> Or perhaps it's just the old phrase "Lies, damned lies, and statistics" that is appropriate once again?

Veritasium explains it better than me. Please watch [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tSqSMOyNFE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tSqSMOyNFE)

<comment><USER5> That was absolutely brilliant! Thank you for sharing!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Related analysis of this analysis.

[http://www.streetsblog.org/2015/02/25/nyc-speed-cameras- are-...](http://www.streetsblog.org/2015/02/25/nyc-speed-cameras-are-making- streets-safer-time-to-stop-holding-back/)

</comment><comment><USER14> If you are going for full enforcement of traffic laws, distraction/intoxication would seem many times more important than speed.

Why do bars have parking lots? Why doesn't first-offense drunk driving destroy your life like drug possession? Why does it remain socially acceptable to text and drive? Why do photos clearly taken while driving on the freeway gather tens of thousands of upvotes on Reddit and not criminal prosecution?

<comment><USER6> Forgive me for answering your rethorical questions ;).

> _If you are going for full enforcement of traffic laws, distraction > /intoxication would seem many times more important than speed._

Can't provide a citation right now, but I recall that apparently most accidents are caused by distraction and/or speeding, often during the day, and not by drunk-driving.

> _Why do bars have parking lots?_

Because it's apparently not banned, and even if it was, someone would stand to make money by providing said lot next to a bar.

> _Why doesn 't first-offense drunk driving destroy your life like drug > possession?_

I don't know, but I very much feel this should be reversed.

> _Why does it remain socially acceptable to text and drive?_

People don't expect to get in an accident + well, no offense, but most of the drivers I know behave like entitled assholes when it comes to driving-related things. "Speed limits are stupid, and no accident could ever happen to me.".

> _Why do photos clearly taken while driving on the freeway gather tens of > thousands of upvotes on Reddit and not criminal prosecution?_

I guess it has to do with the fact that it's hard to take a picture posted on the Internet and turn it into a lawsuit.

And to clarify - you're right asking those questions. IMO traffic laws should be enforced much, much more decisively.

<comment><USER15> I don't believe we are made safer by crushing anyone who makes a mistake or has a temporary lapse in judgment. We all make those.

There are better ways to improve safety - we've already come a long way.

<comment><USER6> Temporary lapses in judgement are fine - what I hate is the attitude of disregard towards safety and law.

Fortunately, it seems that the whole discussion will soon become moot thanks to self-driving cars.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Sounds like an exercise in ignoring confounding variables.

<comment><USER17> Could you elaborate? Which confounding variables?

<comment><USER16> Everything else that changed over the course of the study period. Speed limits might have been lowered, enforcement patterns might have been revised, the congestion charges might have changed, the weather might have been different. It would be more helpful to see a graph showing historical trends stretching back at least ten or twelve years, just to give us an idea of the standard deviation.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> A kinder, gentler, more bureaucratic form of highway banditry.</comment>


How the Windows Subsystem for Linux bridges file systems - <AUTHOR> https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/wsl/2016/06/15/wsl-file-system-support/ <comment><USER2> When I worked with Cygwin I discovered that Windows still locks files such that they can't be deleted. An example: I write a paper with LaTeX. When Adobe Reader has the PDF open, pdflatex fails. It's annoying because it's interrupting the workflow.

On Linux however, the file can be deleted. Processes which still have the inode can continue to use the file. This is used by log-rotate: rename the log file, and the server process continues to write to the renamed log file. Then restart the server process and a new log file is created.

This discrepance which Cygwin can't overcome led me to give up on Windows with Cygwin completely.

And now: Does the Windows Subsystem for Linux allow deleting locked files such that software like Adobe Reader believe they still hold on the file?

<comment><USER2> It seems so: «Linux has some different semantics surrounding unlinking and renaming. Specifically, a file can be unlinked even if there are open file descriptors to the file. Similarly, a file can be overwritten as the target of a rename operation even if it's still open. In Windows, if a file is requested to be deleted, it will only be deleted once the last handle to that file is closed, leaving the name visible in the file system until then. To support Linux unlink semantics, VolFs renames unlinked files to a hidden temporary directory before requesting deletion.»

This is really good news. It seems that I have to evaluate WSL.</comment></comment>


Turkey has begun attacking Syria - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/09/world/middleeast/syria-turkey-kurds.html <comment><USER2> Not Syria, the Kurds in Syria. US allies, that were fighting ISIS alongside US armed forces (and before that, assisted them in the Iraq war). Turkey is doing this in coordination with Iran and Russia. The US president agreed to this for nothing in return to the US.

edit: It is shameful to HN that this is flagged. This is an act of genocide.

<comment><USER3> I hope the Kurds and other such groups remember this in the future. You can't count on the US as an ally.

<comment><USER4> People hardly remember the Bay of Pig...CIA armed/trained/funded Cuban dissidents to overthrow the Castro regime and promised air support, the US let the go in and reneged in the support and the CIA backed Cuban's got slaughtered. The only difference is imagine if JFK had taken to twitter to mock the deaths.

<comment><USER5> You don't have to go back that far. Check the 2008 Russo-Georgian War: [https://www.history.com/news/russia-georgia-war-military- nat...](https://www.history.com/news/russia-georgia-war-military-nato)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Welcome to the future: Erdoğan publicly announced this attack via Twitter.

[https://twitter.com/RTErdogan/status/1181921311846735872](https://twitter.com/RTErdogan/status/1181921311846735872)

</comment><comment><USER7> This title is misleading. They are _not_ attacking Syria, they are attacking separatist groups backed by the US in coordination with Syria's military.

<comment><USER8> First I've heard that Turkey is attacking with (or in coordination with) the Syrian Army.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Why is this relevant on HN?

I'm not saying this is uninteresting, but I think it's a good idea to have clarity on what should be relevant on HN and what shouldn't.

<comment><USER10> It will be flagged.

<comment><USER11> It's the end of the first successful socialist experiment since the 30's. Systems of people are interesting to nerds too. I don't see why this would be off topic.

<comment><USER12> Turkey ? Socialist experiment ? Did I miss something ?

<comment><USER11> Not turkey, rojava

[https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vice.com/amp/en_uk/article/...](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vice.com/amp/en_uk/article/43dmgm/the- most-feminist-revolution-the-world-has-ever-witnessed)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Weird how everyone focuses on Trumps -admittedly- idiotic retreat and his tweets, while one thing is very rarely mentioned: How the bloody hell can it be that one NATO-Member needs troops on the ground to prevent another NATO- Member from comitting a genocide?

<comment><USER14> That rabbit hole leads to asking why NATO members are considered more moral and enlightened than other nations.

Turkey was invited to be a NATO member (and accepted) due to Cold War fear of the USSR, and historic conflicts with Russia. So NATO overlooked Turkey's shortcomings in the interest of realpolitik, and Turkey played nicer in the interest of NATO's reputation.

<comment><USER13> As far as I recall, NATO was always seen as a organization of western democracies. IIRC there are and were only at least nominally democratic countries members - Spain was only admitted after Franco. And genocide was always the line every country drew - e.g. Bosnia, Rwanda...

<comment><USER15> Neither Bosnia nor Rwanda were ever members (or close to becoming one). Turkey is a very special case, so much so that it's still militarily occupying parts of an EU member state while being a NATO member.

The Red Scare and later having millions of loyal voters inside Western Europe are very good playing cards though, and Turkey knows that Europe hates conflict and won't ever go beyond uttering concern.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Really looking forward to _this_ set of phone conversations getting declassified.

</comment><comment><USER16> What are some good sites to stay abreast of this issue (and foreign affairs in general)?

<comment><USER17> The Intercept is incredible: [https://theintercept.com](https://theintercept.com)

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Erdogan is facing serious internal problems: how to solve it?

Start a war, search for enemies: force newspapers talks about something else.

</comment><comment><USER19> Iran, who is a Kurds ally, has started military drills along Turkish border. Hope this does not escalate.

</comment><comment><USER20> I think the American Republic is failing. We expect a certain steady-stateness about things given how short our lifespans are. But there's no guarantees that the American system is or continues to be a viable one.

My understanding is that the tremendous power given to the Executive is balanced by the Legislative. But I cannot believe that the Republicans in the House and Senate are supporting the White House in good faith I'm pretty convinced they're playing a metagame, largely about keeping their jobs, keeping their power, worrying about re-election and the 2020 election. So, to me, that system is broken and there is nobody stopping the President from acting like a King.

I used to say to my wife that if he ever did anything completely off limits, that would be it. But clearly I'm wrong. So my joke years ago about the U.S. annexing part of Canada the way Russia did with Ukraine is not insane anymore. Clearly nothing needs to make sense for Trump. And the Americans in congress are spineless cowards.

I also don't think any of this is appropriate for Hacker News. But I don't social media and I'm angry and scared.

<comment><USER21> We can't just blame Trump for this though. It goes all the way back to the House's vetoing Obama from reprisals against Assad for using chemical weapons in 2013, on the basis that Syria wasn't America's problem.

Trump simply supported that position in his campaign, and lo and behold, what happens a matter of weeks after the US has both a president and a House leadership that have said bombing Assad for using chemical weapons is not in the US's interests?

Assad uses chemical weapons, because why wouldn't he, and Trump ends up bombing him for it anyway. Meanwhile about a hundred civilians, including a hospital full of children, die.

Now I'm a UK citizen, so I sympathise. The US is in an unenviable position. Nobody in the US deserves to carry the can for any of this. Nevertheless, this is the world we live in and it's the job leading politicians sign up for. Moral, responsible leadership matters.

I'm a Reagan-Thatcher era lifelong conservative voter. I supported the second Gulf War, I still think it's up in the air whether that was the right thing to do. The status quo back then was also horrible and arguably breaking the deadlock with Saddam was worth attempting. But I've had it with modern US Republicanism. It's demonstrated very clearly it will knowingly sacrifice lives for electoral gain, and allow a situation to deteriorate in which the US and Western allies have already lost lives and are likely to lose them again.

This isn't the conservatism I grew up with.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Article without a paywall. [https://cnn.com/2019/10/09/politics/syria-turkey- invasion-in...](https://cnn.com/2019/10/09/politics/syria-turkey-invasion- intl-hnk/index.html)

</comment><comment><USER11> Every time there is a libertarian socialist experiment, they are almost immediately surrounded by millions of armed fascists. Happened in Catalonia, happens every time.

I just hope that there are not mass rapes, ethnic cleansing, and so forth as has happened in the past.

War is always terrible but this one we are directly responsible for which is very painful.

<comment><USER23> Why did this comment get downvoted? It's not falsifying the situation, or what's going to happen.

<comment><USER24> Probably because most of us think that Turkey is going after the Kurds in Syria not because the Kurds tried to implement socialism, but because the existence of their separate space in Syria encourages the Kurds in Turkey to also want a separate, independent space (or state).

<comment><USER11> Right but everything I said and everything you said about Erdogan's motivations can be true at the same time.

Look: in rojava you have Kurds, yazidis, Arabs, all living together without conflict. In turkey you have the suppression of the Kurdish language and ongoing ethnic strife. The two motivations go together.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> Another great success for Trump...

But everybody since the independence war should know that being a US ally is not something you can really count on.</comment>


Rackpace Cloud Files puts an end to request charges - <AUTHOR> http://www.rackspacecloud.com/blog/2011/02/04/cloud-files-puts-an-end-to-request-charges/

<comment><USER2> Hmm, am I missing something. Aren't folks that have crazy amount of traffic going to underpay? And if rackspace is making money at the end, doesn't it mean that by definition that those users without a crazy amount of traffic is overpaying.

Uhh, reminds me of another topic on HN recently with Mozy no longer offering unlimited backup? Again, no free lunch.</comment>


_.m: A port of Underscore.js to Objective C - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/kmalakoff/_.m <comment><USER2> As someone who knows both Javascript and Objective-C, this is less readable than either.

Underscore.js may have some useful abstractions, but they'd be better exposed as Objective-C categories rather than trying to shoehorn everything into Javascript syntax.

</comment><comment><USER3> 'Underscore.m' seems a lot nicer to me: <http://underscorem.org/>

I mean, what?

      N* value = (N*) hash.getOrAdd(l, ^{ return N.I(0); });

I'll take a minor increase in verbosity for a massive increase in readability in the future.

(edited; unwrapping is needed in both libraries)

<comment><AUTHOR> Agreed, I hadn't seen this library before.

<comment><USER3> fwiw, I do like seeing a variety of libraries - they occasionally come to the same kind behavior through different techniques. It's a fun way to get a deeper knowledge of the language.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> For a more Objective-C-ish take on these sorts of functional idioms, have a look at Higher Order Messaging:

      myStrings = @[ @"hello"   @"world" ];
      upperCase = [[myStrings collect] upperCaseString];

      myInts = @[ @1 @2 @3 ];
      sum = [myInts  reduce] add:@0];

      [[self onMainThread] doSomething];
      [[delegate ifResponds] delegateMessage];

Blocks also work, but the built-in methods tend to be a tad verbose.

<comment><USER5> Wow, I just found out about Higher-Order Messaging. This is pretty awesome.

Here are some links for more info:

        - http://cocoadev.com/wiki/HigherOrderMessaging
        - http://macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2004/07/16/hom.html

\---

As an aside, I like to use my own [ATFunctionalCollectionExtensions][] for this purpose, which is a blocks-based implementation of map, reduce, inject, each, and filter.

[ATFunctionalCollectionExtensions]: [https://github.com/kballenegger/ATFunctionalCollectionExtens...](https://github.com/kballenegger/ATFunctionalCollectionExtensions)

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> First of all, language design is tough business. And for not appreciating that, with all my heart, I thank Netscape's project managers for rushing JS designers.

That said, I don't get all the hate towards ObjC. Taking into consideration its requirements, I think it has been doing great for us.

As for _.m, I appreciate the effort taken by its author, really. However, I won't be using it because it hurts one of the most pristine features of ObjC, which is readability. Fix that, and you'll get a lot more love from the community.

</comment><comment><USER7> I feel as though most of these functions can be achieved with existing methods or with other libs like blocksKit.

Apart from the downright foreign (to objective-c) syntax what makes this different?

<comment><USER3> It's probably just another attempt to build the same thing. Maybe for learning, maybe because they didn't know others existed (blockKit is new to me, fwiw). Maybe as a curiosity.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I don't get it. So this is a poor mans LINQ? Without the necessary performance considerations and a distressing lack of language support for its primitives?

</comment><comment><USER9> What an abortion. Seriously just stop.

Every time I see someone misuse properties like this on Objective-C, I want to hire them to work at my company just so I can fire them. And then I would call them a few days later and apologize for being so rash and convince them to come back and work for me just so I could fire them again once they've settled into their desk.

Nobody wants your shitty javascript syntax mixed in with Objective-C. Nobody but you anyways. This isn't smart, regardless of whatever functionality it provides. You've done all this work to create this awkward, unclear, confusing, cryptic layer of shit that makes no sense when read. If I have to read documentation to understand what is going on, you've failed. This is full of fail.

WTF is A _? N_? N.I what the fuck is that?

underscorem is better for sure, but it still abuses property syntax in a way that I would reject on any project I saw its use in.

I'm always amazed at how much work people want to put into not having to write proper Objective-C. It doesn't make any sense.

So slow clap for writing some useless crap. Sorry for the vitriol, but this shit is just dumb.

<comment><USER10> "How dare people port X to run on Y! This has no place in production code and you are WASTING OUR TIME doing theoretical experiments!"

Saying "Sorry for the vitriol" doesn't excuse being an ass, it just confirms that you were being an ass intentionally. How is your verbal assault an appropriate response to this project?

<comment><USER9> It is because this is that offensive to anyone who writes objective-c for a living.

First of all, you are using properties to fake dot syntax for method calls. This is all kinds of wrong.

Second of all, you are shortening the names of types because you are too lazy to type the first letter and hit space. This is beyond wrong.

It's not the functionality, it's the implementation. And when writing libraries for others to use, you must consider how it fits into that surrounding code. There are a bazillion smart people working at Apple writing objective-c libraries. Have you seen anything like this? You think maybe there is a reason for that?

Its just plain lazy, its just plain offensive. Learn objective-c. It's not that hard. Stop putting in all this work to produce something to fit this idea you can get around your weird perceptions of it and to shoehorn it into what you already know.

Like I said in another post, it's sad because there seems to be a lot of work put into this.

<comment><USER11>
      It is because this is that offensive to anyone who writes objective-c for a living.

Really? I write objective-c for a living and I'm not finding it offensive at all. I may not agree with all of it, but rather than getting upset about it I'm trying to understand where this developer is coming from. They clearly put effort into making it, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that there must be some gains to be had here.

        This is all kinds of wrong.

Is it correct from the language specification's point of view? Does the compiler allow it? Does it generate correct bytecode? It seems it might not align with your code style or even widely accepted "best practices" but it's probably not all kinds of wrong. That level of rigor might be appropriate for certain environments (health care, flight control, etc) but not all software needs to be held to that standard. The reaction in this thread seems awfully similar to The Great Javascript Semicolon Wars that took place earlier this year.

      [Y]ou must consider how it fits into that surrounding code.

Perhaps this library is meant to shift the way that new code is written. Maybe it'll get some of those bazillion smart people working on other libraries to see a different way to do things.

Relax. Don't get upset. It's not meant as an affront to your style or sensibilities. Consider this by @fat [1]:

        Projects with the most radically unique styles often have the highest internal
        standards for code quality and consistency. People put so much thought into the
        written code itself that it actually engenders a new sort of pride.

[1]: Eating a whopper: <http://byfat.xxx/eating-a-whopper></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: I am in recovery for depression. What sort of work can I do from home? - <AUTHOR> I am currently in recovery for depression and must work to sustain myself. I can do math and some programming but I'm nervous about my ability to do so at the moment given my condition. Does anyone have any suggestions for what sort of work would be appropriate during this interim? <comment><USER2> Im going to make a silly suggestion but it has worked for me.

There are a lot of open source projects out there, that need someone to do basic work, things like unit tests and documentation.

Pick a few of them and spend an hour a day on each making them better! Whom ever is the most appreciative of your work continues to get your time! It won't put food on your table, but it will get your name out there, and hopefully help you rebuild your confidence in your skills, and maybe even grow them!

</comment><comment><USER3> >What sort of work can I do from home?

I'm not a doctor, but I know that actually getting out of the house on a regular basis is helpful when tackling depression. Any excuse that lets you stay inside all day is likely going to hurt your recovery.

<comment><USER4> I'll second this. I've plenty of work to do, but trying to do it from home has meant I'm not even on the road to recovery. If you're not too proud, you might be best off getting some part-time menial job on a temporary basis, maybe one outside.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Here's 0.02c from a lifelong depressed person. I'm still figuring out the path as you are!

Absolutely find some sort of physical activity and do it every day. Even if it's a run for 30 minutes. Even if it's a walk for 30 minutes. You need to get that blood flowing. As a marathon runner who started running to quit smoking, one of the greatest side effects I've discovered from consistient physical activity (aside from increased female attention, of course!) is the seemingly unwarranted boost of endorphins and happy juice throughout the day. Definitely look into something you can do physically.

Get out of the house. Go work at a cafe. Talk to people. Even if the conversation leads to you talking about some of the problems you feel you're facing. Confronting the rut you're in now with others is an immediately identifiable issue, and we all go through it. Absolutely get the notion that you're the only one with sadness inside out of your head because it's a selfish and incredibly misguided view. We all get there, and most reasonable people are immediately compassionate about it.

Wake up early. Get out of bed by 8 a.m. at the latest, every day. Have a routine before you sit down to work and stick by it. It can be as simple as cooking breakfast for yourself.

Don't forget to breathe. You're learning how to be your own best friend. It's time to learn how to care for yourself and be the best version of yourself, for others (and also for you!).

</comment><comment><USER6> try doing some less mentally demanding work. depression largely reduces your ability to do work most of us HNers are doing. so, getting that work done is much more difficult than getting work to do. perhaps you can do some teaching, writing, etc. you can also get some menial work. getting out of your home is very important though making yourself get out is very very difficult!

you're nervous for a reason. not being able to do as much as i used to frustrates the hell out of me

if you'd like to talk to a fellow geek suffering from major depression (F33.2), drop me a line to info [at] wprapido [dot] com

</comment><comment><USER7> Caveat, I am not a doctor or psychologist, definitely not qualified to answer but here goes: how about math tutoring? You can set your schedule and it pays well.

<comment><AUTHOR> A good suggestion! I've tried but can't seem to find enough clients for a consistent income. Maybe I should attempt tutoring over the Internet?

<comment><USER7> I wish you the best. I have gone through a "container ship load" of depression/anxiety but mine has been situational.

<comment><AUTHOR> The sentiment is appreciated! It certainly has been an eye-opening experience and a rigorous exercise in empathizing with those that struggle with illness.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Something you enjoy, which is probably an obvious statement. I would do something you feel confident in, that you feel energized to do.

I'm also going to offer a light-hearted suggestion.. Express yourself. Paint, draw, sing, play an instrument, dance, spin, move, write. Keep it private and to yourself if/until you feel like sharing it..

</comment><comment><USER9> Hi, i was deppressed too! Check sites like authenticjobs, weworkremotely, LinkedIn! There's sometimes the gold nuggets :) Exercise! And _work on stuff you like_, that helped me a lot. But first of all: have a routine: even if you do only 1 thing the whole day, stick to that, oh and watch comedy!

<comment><USER9> I'm currently learning R, fun! :D

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> There's no contact information in your profile, so can't pm you. What kind of programming work are you looking for ?

</comment><comment><USER11> Just wanted to say good luck OP. Hit the gym.</comment>


Why HTML5 Media is not Enough - <AUTHOR> http://ofmlabs.org/articles/dublin.html

<comment><USER2> It occurs to me we're starting to go around in circles. The author suggests...

"To make it work in both Chrome and Firefox, we had to use sink.js, to abstract the differences between the audio APIs."

But isn't that exactly what Flash is? Yes sink.js would be an open solution but it would be an open solution based on proprietary APIs built into the browser (which themselves are open source but which can't be changed without approval of their governing bodies making them not that much different than Flash and its product teams)

So really we've traded Flash's native audio processing for a JavaScript solution using a Web API which in turn uses native APIs.

It seems like it would be more productive to force the browsers to develop one common API

<comment><USER3> Of course, at ofmlabs we all want sink.js to be made unnecessary as soon as possible! It's just a pragmatic solution when you want to make an audio demo and cannot wait 3 years for the browser implementors to reconcile :)

In the long term, we have been participating in the W3C Audio WG, and discussing with various folks at Google and Mozilla, to try and understand where the debate is going. Robert O'Callahan's MediaStream API seems the most promising so far.

We are not advocating the use of sink.js as a long term solution!

<comment><USER2> I have no criticisms for sink.js my comment was more on the philosophical side. The danger in a solution like sink.js is it becomes "good enough" until people need more than it can provide. Then they turn to the APIs and end up dealing with fragmentation.

If you think about it that's exactly what happened with IE circa Version 5. The one good thing IE did was make it possible to develop for one browser. What the industry should have done then was what they're doing with HTML5 now. Define a standard so other competitors could enter the market without creating fragmentation. But that's not what happened and now everyone has to write for 3 browsers (if not more thanks to IE7,8,and 9)

Same with sink.js. For all the bad in Flash almost everyone has it and it's a consistent thing you can write to. If people use sink.js now and don't pay attention to the fragmented APIs underneath we'll end up having to write to 3 different APIs down the line.

So again I'm not against sink.js. I'm just saying people using it need to realize exactly what you said and pressure browsers for a common API in the long run.

<comment><USER4> You're right about IE5 (then 6) stagnating, but the predicate there was Microsoft's OS monopoly and browser tying. No such condition today -- we have a much more competitive browser market, and no browser can afford to self- stagnate.

Roc says he is nearly done with MediaStreams and if that looks good to enough people on the standards bodies, or really among the browser implementors, then it'll go forward.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: What does "Less is More" actually mean? - <AUTHOR> I don't get this saying at all. What is desirable? More or less? Is "More""Less" or "More" is "More"? Do we want more or do we want less? <comment><USER2> I think it's an absurd saying. Obviously, "less" is not "more". However, there may be situations where "less" is "better" (even if measured in a biased way, according to personal taste).

For example, I've heard the phrase used in musical settings. Maybe telling the bassist, "play more simply! less is more!"

Well, no, less is not more. More is more. But less is what you prefer to hear, and think works better in the context of the song.

That said, by usually playing "less", if you were to occasionally play "more" for emphasis, then that brief flourish of "more" might sound even more "more" than it would if you played "more" for the entire song. So in that case, "mostly less plus occasionally more results in the more sounding even more then playing mostly more"...

</comment><comment><USER3> Imagine two recipes. The first has 9 steps. But the second has just 5. Both taste about the same. Less is more value because time is valuable.</comment>


Various species of ants engage in some kind of agriculture (2016) - <AUTHOR> https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/11/25/503069741/who-invented-agriculture-first-it-sure-wasnt-humans <comment><AUTHOR> Summary: Ants are farmers just like humans. They plant crops and rear other insects.

Ants have been farming for millions of years. Farming in Humans only began 12,000 years ago.

Crop farming ants not only plant seeds, they fertilize them with their own poop. So they are intentional seed planters unlike squirrels.

Insect farming ants rear mealybugs for their honeydew - like Humans keep bees for honey.

<comment><USER2> This stuff really makes you wonder about how evolution works. Is it really just random mutations that survive better or do even ants pass some level of knowledge to their children?</comment></comment>


Spotify is hiring Joe Rogan, one of the world's most popular podcasters - <AUTHOR> https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/5/19/21263967/joe-rogan-spotify-exclusive-deal-podcast <comment><USER2> He said they are not hiring him. [1] He is just moving to their platform and utilizing his existing production team.

[1] - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8bVqI2j8o4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8bVqI2j8o4)

</comment><comment><USER3> Wow, that's a nice hire. He has a huge following

</comment><comment><USER4> What is Spotify? I googled that and it wanted to install some Cryptic Crap into my linux box. Fuck you Joe Rogan and _Good Bye_.

<comment><USER5> Joe Rohan fans are a hoot is what I've learned reading the reaction to this</comment></comment>