SailsJS 1.0 – Rails-like JS Framework - <AUTHOR> https://sailsjs.com <comment><USER2> I've never tried Sails, but I'll note that it has a very bad reputation in the node community for many years, with particular scorn heaped on its poor documentation, many bugs, slow development pace, and (especially) its truly bad ORM.

Representative criticism: [https://kev.inburke.com/kevin/dont-use-sails-or- waterline/](https://kev.inburke.com/kevin/dont-use-sails-or-waterline/)

Or see the comments here: [https://github.com/balderdashy/sails/issues/3429](https://github.com/balderdashy/sails/issues/3429)

Now admittedly that was three years ago, much may have changed, and this release may be amazing, but I'd suggest doing some due diligence. I've run across 6+ different projects regretting their use of Sails; I've yet to run across someone celebrating their decision. The project is troubled and probably on no one's list of "top 3 node js frameworks".

<comment><USER3> I'm seeing a lot of "I haven't used it but..." in this thread. As someone who's actually been using Sails consistently since v0.10, I can easily say that it's without a doubt my favorite node framework.

I use it because I can go from idea to functional prototype in just a few hours. I don't need to spend a bunch of time deciding how to best structure my projects because it's obvious where things go.

When I have to work on a product that wasn't built on Sails, it's either a complete mess or it's clean but only because they've burned a ton of development time creating many of the same abstractions that Sails comes with out of the box.

I'll admit, the ORM hasn't always been great when you need to integrate with an existing data store. It's absolutely perfect for simple CRUD apps though and you always have the option to run native queries.

The only other semi-valid complaint I'm seeing is that the docs are bad. Well, they've been bad in the past. The new docs for v1 are loads better. I've referenced them quite a bit over the last few months.

I just launched my second product this year built on Sails and I'll soon start my third. The new features in v1 are absolutely worth giving it a shot if you haven't already.

<comment><USER4> I've used Sails, and man, it was painful. When they say "Rails-like" they mean they somehow managed to adopt the worst patterns from early versions of Rails and none of the cleverness of later versions.

If bloat was a contest, Sails would be a winner.

<comment><USER3> You've obviously never used Meteor then

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Sails was a disaster for a startup I joined 4 years ago. We spent countless hours working around it and eventually ripped it out with great pain because of an impossible upgrade path. There are so many JavaScript antipatterns and unnecessary abstractions. Everything offered by this framework would be better accomplished by cleaner, loosely coupled individual modules like Express, socket.io, node-config, and Bookshelf.

Sails made the inexcusable choice of exposing everything globally.

Waterline tries to be a single ORM for all DBs. This is not a good idea. When I used it, it made a mess of redis by leaking these weird indexes it invents to support it's paradigms. The SQL pieces do not support joins or transactions with any amount of sanity. Use sequelize.js or Bookshelf/knex instead. Waterline can't hold a candle to the stability and expressiveness of Mongoose for mongodb. And so on.

The creator of these projects is a super smart and nice guy. But the community isn't strong enough to make this framework top notch like, say express or hapi. Sails glues things together in a way that is useful for iterating quickly as a newbie, but you can't build a realtime SaaS on it.

<comment><USER6> I ripped it out of a startup too, but can't really add much to your excellent summary. I also remember bloat, stability issues, and being locked into old dependencies.

I was relieved when I had the goahead to mothball that project and build a new MVP using plain Express and Knex.

<comment><USER5> Yeah - being locked into old dependencies, and old versions of Node, ultimately made us rip it out (with much pain).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I am usually not into framework battles, and I am not a contributor/affiliated, so take this as a sincere opinion of a fullstack js/ts dev. If you are about to jump into js serverside, take the time to evaluate Nest: [https://nestjs.com/](https://nestjs.com/). Especially if you are coming from a modern SPA (react/angular/vue) background. I find its approach far superior to any js (and non js) backend alternatives I have been so far working with.

<comment><USER8> Wow, I confused that with Next.js for a moment, which I turn confused with Nuxt.js. Great...

Anyway, it's great that it's written in TypeScript. I couldn't find this with a cursory glance through the docs, but how does this handle the front-end? Can it do server-side rendering, for example, or is that completely separate?

<comment><USER7> Yes naming is weirdly close to next. Nest is basically an architecture core, think of it as a way to "angularize" (2+) your express app. You can use what library better suits you for any purpose you'd need, e.g., nuxt or pug, for SSR.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I've been using Sails since version 0.10 (about 4 years from now). At the time, it was the best framework you could find in Node with an MVC pattern. We are still using it, and it works perfectly fine for us. Even Waterline, its ORM has been great (we use MongoDB), and for doing some optimization/shortcomings, it has a .native method that allows you to implement whatever you need. I know that a lot of work have been put into this new version, including a totally new refactored Waterline, great improvements in speed and async/await support, much better code organization/style, etc. About the "lack of support", well, I know it's been slow sometimes, but, hey, it's open source, and all the work comes out the maintainers pocket (it's not backed regularly by any company). I really want to congratulate the team for reaching 1.0. I know all the effort you put into it, and always looking after the users, trying to make it better.

</comment><comment><USER10> I've been using Sails 1.0 in production for the past year and haven't had any problems. Excited to see this fully released!

My experience has been that Sails dramatically improves productivity and efficiency for me and my team. As for the ORM (Waterline), we primarily make CRUD apps and haven't had a single problem with it. But, in cases where you might want more fine-grained control of your query, you can always drop out of Waterline and write native queries.

Sails isn't perfect, but it provides native access to any of the components it uses, so if you ever want to drop out and work with Express and your datastore directly you can do that.

Sails is a convention-over-configuration framework, meaning if we all agree on certain conventions then we don't all have to reconfigure every time we make any app. I think that's very difficult for people that are new to the framework, because they haven't learned the conventions yet, and they are used to doing things a certain way. But if you're willing to embrace Sails' conventions there is a huge upside in productivity.

<comment><USER11> I don't usually do this, but I find both idealboy's and luislobo's comments to be somewhat suspicious. I can't for the life of me imagine that they were paid to post positively about a crappy node framework, but one of them has few previous comments, and the other's history is... odd to say the least (including a previous similar accusation).

My sincere apologies if I'm wrong about this, but my experience with Sails (and its 'culture') has been sufficiently negative that I wouldn't put it beyond its leader(s) to pay some semi-real accounts to post in favor of it. The alternative is lack of dev experience though, so maybe that's it.

<comment><USER10> Hah or maybe I'm just a fan of the framework? There are quite a few of us out there, and growing ([https://npm- stat.com/charts.html?package=sails&from=2015-04-...](https://npm- stat.com/charts.html?package=sails&from=2015-04-03&to=2018-04-03))

I find your comments suspicious. Perhaps you're part of a Russian campaign to sow discord in the open-source community? My sincere apologies if I'm wrong about this, but from your comment history it sure seems like it.

Either way, I prefer to encourage the fine people that contribute to our ecosystem instead of degrading their contributions. But to each their own I guess.

<comment><USER11> Yeah, I kind of expected that response. I'd say my comment history doesn't indicate anything like that. So your point is is not a very good one.

I'm happy to hear you actually like the framework. I just was truly suspicious and felt it was worth saying.

Also, I also prefer to encourage fine people who contribute, which is exactly why I raised this suspicion. If you're a contributor, I wish you'd contribute to something better, but I commend you for doing so anyways.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> There's also Adonis, which is somewhat the same. Never used it though.

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

<comment><USER13> It is very easy to learn and is similar to Laravel.

<comment><USER14> I started learning Adonis once, but then I noticed it attempts to copy Laravel and that it's not yet a finished copy. So I decided to investigate Laravel, liked it and stayed with it. Laracasts and its docs are great.

Maybe Adonis can keep improving and eventually get to Laravel's level, but I highly doubt it, as it is a single developer project. Also it's a risky bet to use a single dev project.

<comment><USER15> > Maybe Adonis can keep improving and eventually get to Laravel's level, but I > highly doubt it, as it is a single developer project. Also it's a risky bet > to use a single dev project.

You know Laravel is a single dev project right?

<comment><USER14> You are right. Still with 41.000 github stars and thousands of users I wouldn't worry about it being discontinued if the main developer stops working on it.

<comment><USER15> That's the beauty of open source, just like with Laravel, Adonis can have a fork if the main dev just up and disappears too.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I haven't looked at the latest release, but when I've previously looked into SailsJS I found it quite disappointing. It falls short of the awesome Rails ecosystem.

Two criticisms:

1\. No database migrations. With Rails you get built-in tools to managing database migrations. If I recall correctly, their ORM used to have some absurd default behavior, something like dropping the table and creating a new one when you wanted to change something.

2\. No tests. With Rails you get a fully setup testing environment.

</comment><comment><USER17> I tried Sails about 3-4 years ago. Basically, you're taking the good from Rails (MVP code generation, relations, convention over configuration) and puts it on JS, which unfortunately it's still a nightmare to develop CRUD apps with.

Async is great for lots of things, but not for your entire app.

If you want an async-first app, JS is probably a good choice. If you want CRUD, use Rails.

<comment><USER18> > Async is great for lots of things, but not for your entire app.

That criticism is pretty dated now that JS has async/await. Given that you understand promises, async code has become trivial.

<comment><USER17> It's still an extra step to undo the async by default of JS. In other languages, the async is added only as needed, which I prefer.

<comment><USER19> What do you mean by undo?

Languages that aren't async by default (most of them) make async tedious when you do want it. A web application is precisely the sort of thing I want async. So it's in fact an extra step to write async code in most languages when building a web app.

For example, just firing off a few requests (database, other APIs) in a route and awaiting them. JS makes this trivial.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Interesting. It looks like it took a very long time for them to get to v1.0. I used SailsJS a few years ago when it was a relatively new-kid-on-the-block framework.

But if I remember correctly, the creators of SailsJS went through YCombinator program with a product called Treeline

[https://treeline.io/](https://treeline.io/)

Not sure what happened to that product, but I do remember when it was released, there was a concern about what would happen to SailsJS.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe in terms of framework on NodeJS, Express is... the most widely used and sufficient enough for Rails-like MVC?

<comment><USER21> Express doesn't really enforce MVC at all (it's pretty minimal), you have to structure that yourself in your project.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Did anyone use both Rails and Sails and could elaborate a bit about the development process compared to Ruby On Rails? I had a brief look at the boilerplate project sails generates supporting login and payments but I found it not as clear as Rails. But I use Rails for about 9 years now and therefore I am used to it.

<comment><USER22> I used Rails 3.2 and Sails 0.12 in the past.

The lifecycle callback methods are almost identical to Rails. Waterline is an absolutely awful ORM for database management: You have almost no granular control over joins on MySQL tables. Additionally, the third-party libraries available for Node.js are much more sparse than the Rails' ecosystem.

Having said all of this, I am still very excited to upgrade my Sails API to 1.0 and take advantage of all of the new ES6 features.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> I owe a great deal of gratitude to the Sails team. I've built numerous projects over the last few years using Sails. Congratulations on the big 1.0! I do somewhat agree that documentation is sparse and Waterline is a hit or miss but for most things, Sails has served me very well.

</comment><comment><USER24> The only thing that stopped me from trying this out more in the past was it not being at 1.0 yet. So definitely looking forward to giving it a go at some point

</comment><comment><USER25> Near release of Lad beta 1.0.0 which uses Koa and is way faster

[https://lad.js.org](https://lad.js.org)

</comment><comment><USER26> I've used sails 3 years ago on a startup that we wrote from scratch.

Don't want to be negative but it is by far the worst framework and ORM I've ever used. Strongly recommend reading this[0] before you even start fiddling with the framework.

Even tho there are 100 wrong things about it the absolute worst: ORM "migrations" work in a way that they drop the tables and and then re-create them. If you have a lot of data the table is dropped and you get Out Of Memory exception - what a great ORM!

[0] [https://kev.inburke.com/kevin/dont-use-sails-or- waterline/](https://kev.inburke.com/kevin/dont-use-sails-or-waterline/)

<comment><USER27> Creator of Sails here. I'd like to set the record straight: The automigrations system is not, and was never, designed for production use. Sails/Waterline documentation explicitly and repeatedly warns against using this feature in production.

On top of that, developers are forced to accept a prompt on the terminal the first time they lift an empty new app indicating that they understand this. The only way to make the prompt go away permanently is to hard-code configuration, indicating that you understand what automigrations are designed to do.

In fact, just to be safe and prevent accidents, automigrations are forcefully disabled in production mode.

In other words, to get your production/staging app into a state where this criticism is relevant, you have to ignore console warnings, skip reading the documentation, and go out of your way to trick the framework into thinking you're running your app in development mode.

I won't beat a dead horse re other points in that 3-year-old blog post, except to say that, 3 years ago, some of them had merit. Those have been addressed in the Sails 1.0 release.

<comment><USER28> So, is there any production-ready migrations system ?

<comment><USER27> Of course— luckily there are many great, framework-agnostic options for use in post-production. I usually use knex.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> I have lots of negative things to say about older versions of sails, but most of the bugs I've had to workaround are fixed in later versions.

If you're starting out just ditch the ORM altogether.

Sails is just plain express so if you need to piece it apart at some point in the future it's not too hard.

That said Sails is great for bootstrapping a reasonably secure and functioning app in short amount of time.

</comment><comment><USER30> Alright I think the timing is right with the implementation of SQL transactions and ES6 features. Time to jump in and give it a go.

</comment><comment><USER31> Check out Adonis for a Laravel inspired Node.js framework that uses ES6 generators: [https://adonisjs.com/](https://adonisjs.com/)

</comment><comment><USER32> We have tried it a year ago and were very disappointed: it was nothing like rails and no batteries included worked as expected. Did the framework categorically improved since then?

</comment><comment><USER13> How is this compared to FeathersJS?

<comment><USER9> It's similar and different at the same time. Both handle HTTP and Websockets at the same time, have different kind of adapters-hooks-pluggins to serve different needs. Both are opinionated, but Sails is more express-like (you can create "hooks" that are basically express middleware on steroids.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> FYI: Sails plugins are called hooks, and there are about 7 community hooks at this time

[https://sailsjs.com/documentation/concepts/extending- sails/h...](https://sailsjs.com/documentation/concepts/extending- sails/hooks/available-hooks)

<comment><USER34> I could be wrong but since it's based on express, there's probably more plugins that are compatible; just not sailsjs specific.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> My experience is similar. Overengineered, unnecessary abstractions. Adds little over basic Meteor. A RedHat style "consultanthiringware" in making.</comment>


Where can i find new marketplaces such as fiverr? - <AUTHOR>

I'm looking for new marketplaces to sell digital goods. I'm willing to take the chance and focus on new marketplaces rather than starting new gigs on the saturated fiverr marketplace <comment><USER2> [http://thinkpaid.com/2011/12/news/top-fiverr-alternatives- of...](http://thinkpaid.com/2011/12/news/top-fiverr-alternatives-of-2011)</comment>


Html5 canvas plasma particles - <AUTHOR> http://codepen.io/msval/pen/fpuFq

<comment><AUTHOR> Also featured on [http://cssdeck.com/labs/te0fhq9j](http://cssdeck.com/labs/te0fhq9j)</comment>


Poll: Should trading be free of charge if MtGox lags for more than 5 min? - <AUTHOR>

<comment><USER2> No, because Mt:Gox would never be able to afford improvements if they did this. Bitcoin is exploding, cut them some slack.</comment>


We're building this in Taiwan: DAMO: Android-based touchscreen for any projector - <AUTHOR> http://igg.me/at/damo

<comment><AUTHOR> OP here. We're just a small startup from Taipei, founded by 3 geek dads who were tired of working for big companies. Since we're working in Taiwan, we'd love any comments from folks in the US and abroad. Please feel free to ask directly here.

</comment><comment><USER2> DAMO is the only product that can work with all Android phones (v4.2+), and turn any surface into the phones' touch screen. Please visit our site and let us know how you like our product.

</comment><comment><USER3> I like the idea that this product makes the smartphone accessible in a group setting. Really cool idea!

I was wondering if you could comment on latency between the screen and smartphone (and back)?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback! We're really excited about the potential it creates for new Android apps, since current apps are still made with the small screen in mind.

As for the latency, it's about 0.1 seconds, barely perceptible for the most part. Our CTO spent a ton of time getting it as responsive as possible.</comment></comment>


Startup Weekend failed, but lessons learned - <AUTHOR> http://startupweekend.com/?p=117

<comment><USER2> 70 days and 2 people would work much better than 2 days and 70 people.

</comment><comment><USER3> They learned a lesson indeed: "Development is hard. This is all that will matter."

</comment><comment><USER4> Is anyone else confused by the premise of startup weekend? It sounds like a fun idea, but the whole concept seems a little silly to me.

<comment><USER5> I think they were trying to combine two ideas, "startups are cool" and "bring a bunch of people together." But not all combinations of good ideas are themselves good ideas. This was a particularly bad combination, because one of the defining qualities of startups is that they're small.

<comment><USER6> If they had split the 70 into 30 teams of 2 to 3 people, and each team tried to build their own prototype over the weekend, some interesting results would have been produced. Put the prototypes online, and have the participants select the best one through a vote.

That would bring a bunch of people together without violating the "small startup" principle. Also, completion between the teams would help with motivation.

<comment><USER7> The way they did it I think 2-3 is too low. They have too many support types: lawyers, designers, business, public relations, etc. I think they'd have needed to have teams be 7-10 to fit that many types into a startup. Which is too many for a startup... so I think that retrying without the deadweight of support roles might help (not that lawyers/designers/business/public relations people arn't great, but its hard to perform their roles before there is a product in existance).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> > The Java platform was selected

/Nuff

<comment><USER7> If only they'd have a mob of framework elitists to save them from such perils. ;)

<comment><USER9> They did! Some rails guys tried to splinter out a prototype at the 11th hour but were convinced not to.

Now we'll never know whether rails would have helped

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> This is the first I'd heard of startupweekend. They seem to be off on some basic ideas, as other comments here concur. Throwing more developers at a problem doesn't usually solve it. A weekend is barely enough time to think about an idea thoroughly.

But it does sound like fun though. A barcamp should take the idea to the illogical extreme and hold a startup-hour session. :)</comment>


The Millionaire Machine (with Cliff Stoll) - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwh0KH-ICCw <comment><AUTHOR> I added the parenthetical to the title, as "The Millionaire Machine" by itself really buries the lede that it's Cliff Stoll demonstrating the mechanical computer.</comment>


2018 Python Developer Survey - <AUTHOR> https://surveys.jetbrains.com/s3/c19-python-developers-survey-2018 <comment><USER2> "By taking part in the Survey, the participant hereby declares that he is of legal age required by his jurisdiction"

And here I thought the Python Software Foundation was against such gender biased language.</comment>


The Man Who Tastes Sounds - <AUTHOR> http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-man-who-tastes-sounds?trk_source=homepage-lede <comment><USER2> I have grapheme-colour synesthesia (a strong, consistent association of letters with colors). Back in college, I wrote an article for my campus newspaper describing synethesia, and I included the full mapping of letter- color associations in a sidebar.

I rediscovered that clip about ten years later and, without looking at the sidebar, jotted down all of my letter-color associations. They were remarkably consistent!

I tend to also associate letters and numbers with a particular gender, even though the concept of a grammatical gender doesn't exist in English. There isn't anything about the shape of the letters or any similar pattern that explains why I associate "H" with female but "I" with male. I'm not sure that counts as synesthesia, though.

<comment><USER3> Pardon the squigglevision but I think there could be something about the H and I relation you're not seeing [http://imgur.com/K4aeVVd](http://imgur.com/K4aeVVd)</comment></comment>


Judge rules California coffee shops must display cancer warnings - <AUTHOR> http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/380925-judge-rules-coffee-sellers-must-include-cancer-warnings-in-california <comment><USER2> What an absolute waste of everyone's time.

Prop 65 has such a high false positive rate that it's worthless; it does nothing to inform nor protect citizens. When there's a sign on everything, the "warning" doesn't matter anymore. Moreover, just because something has a carcinogen doesn't automatically mean it's unhealthy nor that it will harm you.

[1] [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3575799](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3575799) [2] [http://www.businessinsider.com/almost-everything-causes- canc...](http://www.businessinsider.com/almost-everything-causes- cancer-2016-5) [3] [https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/general- info/kno...](https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/general-info/known- and-probable-human-carcinogens.html) [4] [https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/08/15/17-carcinogenic...](https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/08/15/17-carcinogenic- foods-you-probably-eat-every-day_a_21452232/)

<comment><USER3> > doesn't automatically mean it's unhealthy nor that it will harm you.

Examples: sunshine, candles, birth control

<comment> another-one-off Realistically, sunshine has caused more cancers than every nuclear disaster added together.

If we could, we would absolutely ban it. It is grossly unsafe.

<comment><USER4> Probably causes more cancers each day than every nuclear disaster added together. On the other hand, without sunshine, the Earth would be frozen world covered with ice, void of life.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> When people say "overregulation hurts small business in California," here's an example. Imagine just wanting to sell people coffee and not knowing you need to warn people about cancer risks of all things! Imagine getting fined by this regulation, or the myriad of others of which you could possibly run afowl. Just yikes.

<comment><USER6> Don't forget about the $800 Alternative Minimum Tax faced by _every_ company registered in the state (or doing business in the state, or having workers in the state, or...). That's $800 even if you make zero dollars, or if you're a nonprofit, or if you lose money. California literally says "for the _privilege_ of doing business" in the state. The ole small business assassination program.

<comment><USER7> > California literally says "for the _privilege_ of doing business" in the > state.

I'll start out by saying that I think that an $800 minimum is waaaay too high.

But I continue by pointing out that it's not for "doing business," it's a tax for having the legal fiction of limited liability[0] enforced by the state. You only pay the minimum tax if you are a corporate entity (Inc or LLC). That's a subtle, but in my opinion important, difference.

If you're willing to transact business in your own name as your own personal liability, the state--at least for this tax; I'm not conversant with the full roster of non-corporate business taxes in California--doesn't charge you for the privilege. If you want the shield of your personal assets separate from your corporate persona then, yes, the state charges you for that privilege. Every state has some sort of fee or tax. Some are very small (Wyoming is only $30 or $40, I believe) while some, like California's, are quite large on the minimum end.

0 - [https://www.ftb.ca.gov/businesses/faq/712.shtml](https://www.ftb.ca.gov/businesses/faq/712.shtml)

<comment><USER6> So the state tax code literally says, "For the privilege of doing business in the state". [0] Their words, not mine. Whatever way you describe or justify it, the state defines it in this way specifically. Also, sole proprietorships can only be for-profit ventures in California. So if you wanted to start a non-profit, you're paying the AMT.

[0]: [http://codes.findlaw.com/ca/revenue-and-taxation-code/rtc- se...](http://codes.findlaw.com/ca/revenue-and-taxation-code/rtc- sect-23455.html)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Other foods with acrymalide: black olives, prunes, dried pears, coffee, roasted tea, rice crackers, anything fried, anything baked, breads, cookies, nuts, chocolate, baby food, and of course, cigarettes. [https://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodborneIllnessContaminants/Chemic...](https://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodborneIllnessContaminants/ChemicalContaminants/ucm053549.htm)

<comment><USER9> Interesting table! Some have much more than coffee, in the 1000s ppb

Coffees show a huge difference between not-brewed and brewed. Here some examples from that link:

        not-brewed   --> brewed (ppb)
          458              6
          377              6
          411              6
          539              7
          3747             93

Compared to the French fries values, those 6s and 7s looks very negligible.

However, the article says: "At issue is a chemical, acrylamide, which is produced while roasting coffee beans."

So is the danger when coffee is being roasted? brewed too? Is that a concern for people (employees especially) spending a lot of time in coffee shops because of airborne acrylamide? or acrylamide left on surfaces or something?

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> When I worked at Apple, it was fun to walk in some buildings and notice the California 'cancer warning' sign posted in the lobby. From that, you knew there was probably a hardware engineering lab somewhere in that building, because I believe they had to post those due to carcinogens released from soldering. (And, inside of Apple, that kind of knowledge would only be shared on a need-to-know basis, otherwise.)

<comment><USER11> No, they put the signs on every building everywhere because it's cheaper than not putting them up and possibly getting fined $2,500 for everyone who ever walked inside.

It's impossible to construct a building which would not contain some element which would trigger the legal requirement of posting the sign.

The sign conveys you absolutely no information. Look closer and you will see they are posted on every commercial building run by someone smart enough to know to post them. The more entertaining places I've seen them is grocery stores and preschools.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Of all the things people make fun of California for, this is one we deserve.

The cure: Have a fast limit on the list and in order to introduce new items on the list of items needing the warning, you have to remove one from the list.

Barring that, require some threshold of known effect, before something can be added to the list.

<comment><USER13> I've seen a magnetic tack hammer with a varnished wooden handle that had one of those stickers on it here in the UK. Was wondering if it was in case you chewed the varnish.

Perhaps someone should just put a label on the roadsigns as you enter the State of California saying, "May contain nuts".

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Side question: why don't we actually _encourage and fund research into developing solid, reliable, and standardized tests for carcinogenicity?_ Everybody with at least some above basic knowledge of molec bio realizes that things like the Ames test are like complete jokes... so we don't even f know which of the substances around us actually cause cancer in humans :|

Yeah, this is the kind of research that would _never_ advance anyone career, bring anyone glory, or bring science closer to a "cure" for cancer. And yeah, once you'd want to start actually employing a reliable test in the wild, you'd probably severely reduce your changes of a successful career (and maybe even of continued personal survival), because you'll soon step on some pretty huge toes.

But really, _improving tests and sensors_ should be a top priority of bio- medical research... It might slow down some industries, but hopefully not that much. "Moonshot" projects like "curing" cancer or diabetes are "fun", but we're building a world where we're surrounded by stuff of which we have no idea what's safe or what not.

My _personal_ current worry is actually with the cornucopia of chemicals with neurodegenerative effect that could be all around us, but this reminded me of the fact that we're also basically in the "dark ages" when it comes to determining carcinogenicity in a practical way (hint: it's not about what you can do as part of a funded research project in a few years, it's about having a portable test kit that any average Joe could use to test the hundreds of thousands of chemical compounds and mixtures of them that are all around us, and then in the tones of likely mostly wrong data resulting from it "fish" for maybe actually relevantly dangerous stuff, and then do real research to confirm those ...but then again modern medical research is allergic to "fishing data for patterns" too, so maybe this would need some reframing).

</comment><comment><USER15> It would make more sense to warn customers about the health dangers of the sugars and calories.

<comment><USER16> Or about drinking very hot beverages. Let your coffee or whatever cool down a bit and you're at much lower risk.

[0] [http://time.com/4369809/very-hot-drinks-are-probable- cancer-...](http://time.com/4369809/very-hot-drinks-are-probable-cancer- trigger-says-who/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> I rarely visit California, but when I do, sometimes the cancer warnings make it look like I'm on the set of a movie trying to warn me about some absurd future. OK, the parking lot could give me cancer. OK, the elevator could give me cancer.

</comment><comment><USER18> The Chamber of Commerce could easily sue on the grounds that these regulations are overbroad and even the incumbent governor is on the record as saying so, but the cost of compliance (displaying a sign) is low and it's handy to have something to kvetch about.

Also, note that it was a nonprofit, the American Cancer Society, that sued to enforce this, not the state of California.

<comment><USER19> > The Chamber of Commerce could easily sue on the grounds that these > regulations are overbroad

There are no regulations at issue, there is an initiative statute; and, while, yes it is easy to sue and claim a statute is overbroad, it is much harder to win such a suit: "overbroad" isn't just "covers more conduct than good policy judgement would permit", but "exceeds any constitutionally permitted purpose to impose a chilling effect or outright prohibition on constitutionally protected conduct."

In fact, as that claim would be a defense in any lawsuit under the act, if it was such an easy win, it would have been made in one of the cases—like the present one—under the act.

<comment><USER18> Hmm, you make a good point. I assumed they wouldn't have standing to bring it up if they weren't litigating against the state itself, and that they were limited to arguing on the facts about the acrylamide.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Other baked and fried foods also contain acrylamide. So what about muffins and donuts? Or french fries? And then there are all the carcinogens in heated unsaturated oils.

<comment><USER21> Also things you probably shouldn't eat all the time either.

<comment><USER20> True enough.

But I suspect that heating _any_ food much over 100 °C will create carcinogens. Even cooking rice, if it browns at all by accident. And indeed, some folks cook at 50-70 °C to avoid that. Sprouted grain "bread" baked at ~50 °C is especially strange.

<comment><USER22> I was actually told this by a physics professor in college (in a class about science and public policy). He claimed that basically anything that is browned via heat becomes a carcinogen, so policy makers and scientific researchers have a moral obligation to ensure that "is known to cause cancer" remains a meaningful statement, because taken literally, it applies to almost anything.

<comment><USER20> Right. You have acrylamide. Plus polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). But PAH, at least, get degraded quickly, and don't accumulate in fat, unlike similar halogenated compounds, which do. Arctic peoples are loaded with them, because they're transported north and condense out. Distillation, basically.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> From wikipedia:

Acrylamide was discovered in foods in April 2002 by Eritrean scientist Eden Tareke in Sweden when she found the chemical in starchy foods, such as potato chips (potato crisps), French fries (chips), and bread that had been heated higher than 120 °C (248 °F) (production of acrylamide in the heating process was shown to be temperature-dependent).[17] It was not found in food that had been boiled[17][18] or in foods that were not heated.[17]

</comment><comment><USER24> I had to look again at the date of the article, since I remember Starbucks already had these warnings a long time ago:

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/shakataganai/6039225908](https://www.flickr.com/photos/shakataganai/6039225908)

That doesn't make the situation any less absurd, however.

</comment><comment><USER25> Warning: Lack of coffee (or similar stimulant to get you through the long day) may put your tech job at risk!

</comment><comment><USER26> Judge rules hospitals must display cancer warnings; longer life linked to increase cancer risk

<comment><USER25> Every business that doesn't suffocate it's customers should display cancer warnings. Oxygen is carcinogenic.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> My buddy has a sticker on his laptop that says, "not legal in California."

Note: He placed the sticker there himself as a joke. His laptop isn't _really_ illegal in California.

<comment><USER28> Yet.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> sheer stupidity. Eating causes cancer via weight gain. Breathing air causes cancer. Eventually they'll have to list only those few things that will _not_ cause cancer.

<comment><USER30> That's the law in California. Everywhere you go there are warnings that the area has chemicals that cause cancer. I'm surprised Starbucks didn't have these warnings already.

<comment><USER31> I actually remember seeing a sign like that in a Starbucks like 8 years ago in like Vacaville CA of all places.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> California continues to drive the cost of doing business up.

<comment><USER33> Coffeeshops only need to print a piece of paper and tape it to the wall.

The cost of compliance is less than $0.20

I think there are better arguments for your PoV than this one.

<comment><USER34> Do not fall into the trap of assuming that because cost of complying with the letter of an incremental regulation seems like it would low to you, that means that it does not impose a burden on business owners.

Regulations are cumulative. This is yet another thing to add to the list of notices that have to be up and yet another thing that an unaccountable city inspector in a bad mood might decide it not quite displayed prominently for their liking and fine you.

That is what businesses complain about, not the cost of each regulation, the cost of complying with all the regulations, all the time, with no way to defend yourself and no one to tell you if its enough (and defend you if someone disagrees later).

<comment><USER32> What's the cost of non compliance for not putting up a $0.20 sign

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> Interesting: [http://schachtmanlaw.com/the-council-for-education-and- resea...](http://schachtmanlaw.com/the-council-for-education-and-research-on- toxics/)

</comment><comment><USER36> I always thought it was funny seeing this in California. Coffee? Getting a bit surreal.

I was visiting once and saw a plaque on a (condo?) building with the warning.

<comment><USER37> My apartment build has such a plaque because it was built on the site of an old factory or something. I am a recent import to California. I was not prepared for the amount of state sponsored signage.

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> I'll take the risk that a cup of Philharmonic will be my end.

</comment><comment><USER39> California seems like a state of contradictions. Antivaccine yet some of the best universities. Too much regulation yet opiod overdose is prevalent.

<comment><USER19> > California seems like a state of contradictions. Antivaccine yet some of the > best universities

The antivaccine movement is a very small proportion of the population, and one which (unlike the universities) is opposed by the people setting policy (California has a reasonably strong vaccine mandate, and is in the process of further narrowing the allowable exemptions.)

> Too much regulation yet opiod overdose is prevalent.

California has the third lowest opioid overdose death rate in the nation [0]; insofar as California actually has "too much regulation" and that is a thing that could reasonably be expected to be contradictory to a relatively high opioid impact (both of which premises are less than clearly established), no such contradiction is evident.

But, aside from the relevance of that claimed contradiction, sure, California is a large and diverse state, not a uniform hive mind. It has plenty of contradictions. It would be weird if it didn't.

[0] [https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/opioid-overdose- de...](https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/opioid-overdose-death- rates/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B"colId":"Opioid%20Overdose%20Death%20Rate%20\(Age- Adjusted\)","sort":"asc"%7D)

<comment><USER40> > The antivaccine movement is a very small proportion of the population

Not really. Less than 50% of Pixar employees' children at their day care are vaccinated. And these are people with much more money, and thus more political clout, than average.

[https://www.wired.com/2015/02/tech-companies-and- vaccines/](https://www.wired.com/2015/02/tech-companies-and-vaccines/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER41> > _A nonprofit research group_

After salaries, bonuses and all sorts of frivolous expenses, no doubt.

No such things as "non-profit group" in this world; just a group with an accounting ledger in which a column labeled "profit" works out to zero.

Natural, traditional foods and drinks don't need any warnings. The ingredient is roasted coffee and water; go bleepin' google if you want to know how either might be bad for you.</comment>


What Kate saw in Silicon Valley - <AUTHOR> http://paulgraham.com/kate.html <comment><USER2> _9\. What a solitary task startups are._

This is the hardest thing for me to explain to others. And still one of the hardest for me to get used to myself. It takes a lot of time working alone to get anything done.

It may also be one of the many reasons Hacker News is so popular. I don't know about you guys, but if I didn't have this place to break up the loneliness, I'd probably go nuts.

<comment><USER3> I am in no way trying to be disrespectful here, but if you rely on an online forum to keep you from going crazy, you might want to consider restructuring your priorities and workflow to give you a little more time to breathe and enjoy life. An online community is great and all, but there are millions of other, more tangible and real world, things that can be as, if not and most likely more, rewarding than participating on HN.

<comment><USER4> _there are millions of other, more tangible and real world, things that can be as, if not and most likely more, rewarding than participating on HN._

Well, that depends strongly on the person, doesn't it? :)

<comment><USER3> The point of that comment was to what? Refute that there aren't other things more rewarding than HN and dependent on the type of person, having HN be the only thing keeping you from insanity is perfectly fine and healthy?

Apologies for sounding trollish, but I'm somewhat shocked at the reactions here. We have someone telling us that they work themselves into such a lonely place that the only thing keeping them sane is HN, and yet no one is suggesting he reorder his life and find a better balance so that he can find more enjoyment.

<comment><USER4> Well, I don't actually think that edw519 is, in actual fact, in danger of going insane due to loneliness, since I assumed, as I would guess most did, that he was using "go nuts" casually, in the way that people say things like, "Wow, if the Cubs don't win the Series after _that_ streak, I'll just die" without meaning that they will actually cease living should their team fail.

I don't think you're sounding trollish, but I do think you may not be treating this forum as a casual social setting in which people sometimes make statements to convey a feeling, rather than because they are literally true.

Edit: I forgot to say:

I also think that for a lot of people who hang out here, and to a lesser extent on proggit, etc, this online community really is one of the most fun, engaging things they have available to do. Conversation online with those who are interested in similar topics could easily trump conversation in person with those whose interests bore you. Even if we grant that being in the real world is an important attribute of "fun things to do", it's unlikely to be the most important.

<comment><USER3> I get the casual context, but that's not to say there could still be an imbalance. I do agree with the rest of your comment and will try and not take things a little too literally.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> _By inverting this list, we can get a portrait of the "normal" world._

I suspect that this observation has something to do with the last PG essay to hit HN about putting yourself in the centre.

If you take any list of characteristics that you apply to a group, it will tend to contrast them with the 'norm.' Invert it and you get their perspective on the rest of the world, especially if the list is self authored.

Imagine a group of Uzbeki expats in Rotterdam commenting on themselves. They'll come up with a list of traits that make them stand out from the crowd. Invert it and you have their perspective on the Dutch. The problem/advantage of this trick is that you might end up with a list of fairly marginal (in the eyes of a non-Uzbeki) or unremarkable traits.

</comment><comment><USER6> I don't always understand why everyone is _so extremely_ hung up on PG. I respect the guy, but he's human after all.

Anyway, this might have something to do with it:

 _"By inverting this list, we can get a portrait of the "normal" world. It's populated by people who talk a lot with one another as they work slowly but harmoniously on conservative, expensive projects whose destinations are decided in advance, and who carefully adjust their manner to reflect their position in the hierarchy."_

That made me smile for about 30 mins. Awesome.

<comment><USER7> It's not _everyone_ , its just that PG fanatics are... more concentrated here.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> pg/jl/tlb/rtm: as you're primarily advisors and investors now, do you feel like you've started adopting any habits of VCs (either positive or negative)?

<comment><USER9> Interesting question.

Not all investors are VCs. There are also angel investors, and we are much more like angels, both in our backgrounds and the part of the startup world we occupy. Angels don't have a lot of habits, either good or bad. They're mostly just individuals who got rich from their own startups; their personalities are not much affected by being investors.

The one thing that makes us different from angels is that we invest on such a large scale. We have a brand name and an office and a web site and all that. Would that engender any habits, though? I can't think of any.

I definitely don't think we have any of the habits of VCs that are mentioned in this list. The fact that VCs dress up and try to project an aura of power comes from being finance guys, not VCs per se; investment bankers are the same (and in fact are indistinguishable to me). And we don't have the luxury of being sheep, because we have to decide whether or not to invest in a company the same day we meet them.

<comment><USER10> Has managing your own fund affected how you think about the upside of startups?

<comment><USER9> You mean the money we raised this spring? No, that hasn't changed anything. We still operate as if we were investing our own money-- which is what I'd want if I were an LP, actually.

<comment><USER5> Is it different money or is it just mixed in with YC's personal investments?

<comment><USER9> It's different money. We raised a fund, just a very small one; structurally that's the only way to do it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I've always thought of "scrappy," as more like an indomitable underdog, not someone belligerent (which has negative connotations) or necessarily undignified.

<comment><USER12> It comes from old-school boxing. "Inclined to fight" was the original meaning. Bellicose is closer than belligerent. Certainly undignified, traditionally at least. In the last few decades it has been used for underdogs, as in "he's small but scrappy-" giving it that positive implication you mention- small but always ready to fight. Think scrappy-doo

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Great insight. Launch fast and iterate. Learn from mistakes, edit, and continue to build something that people want.

The "Founder" next door is like "The Millionaire Nextdoor".Keeping it simple, frugal, and staying cash-flow positive wins the game. This is why your millionaire next door and your founder next door are probably one in the same. Similar philosophies.

</comment><comment><USER10> I'm not sure most people could tolerate the risk of failure. I think the change for the future is that large organizations will be collections of small groups run like startups, but without the large update and downside.

<comment><USER14> I doubt that could successfully be done more than rare occasions, for some of the problems see Christensen's "The Innovator's Dilemma" [http://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Revolutionary- Busin...](http://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Revolutionary-Business- Essentials/dp/0060521996/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251752578&sr=8-1)

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> >Kate Courteau is the architect who designed Y Combinator's office. Recently we managed to recruit her to help us run YC when she's not busy with architectural projects. I was scratching my head on this one - thinking why a person with architectural skills would be chosen to help run YC - and then it struck me that originality and creativity is perhaps the hallmarks of YC or am I missing something?

<comment><USER16> YC is a business of friends. The companies are made of friends, they try to get startups who come as friends, they try to make startups become friends.

<comment><USER15> Great reply maxklein, thank you.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> _2\. How much startups' ideas change. As usual, by Demo Day about half the startups were doing something significantly different than they started with._

If this is really true (and I fully believe that it is), why not just interview individuals like a job interview rather than have them pitch ideas?

If you know the resulting product is almost certainly not going to look anything like what they're proposing, I would just try to swing some on-campus interviews at Stanford and UC Berkeley, hire the kids based on smarts & personality and then put them in a room and only then start talking about ideas.

Why bother reviewing their initial ideas at all (other than as an indicator of the aforementioned smarts & personality)?

<comment><USER6> Ah you see, your premise is wrong. To go looking for someone is the polar opposite of how to find capable founders, very simply because it implies they need to be found. Don't take this the wrong way, but I think your ideas are too academic. You don't just "go to a college and find entrepreneurs".

There certainly is value in the _effort_ one engages in when self-developing, self-formulating, self-revising, self-actualizing, self-motivating, self- preserving and finally self-sticking-your-neck-out, which is what the YC process is sort of about.

In Summary:

Being a doer aint easy.

<comment><USER17> I was thinking of something along the lines of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton but for computer scientists & entrepreneurs.

In short: Interesting things happen when you put smart people in a room without any constraint and a little bit of funding.

Although I freely admit the IAS is fairly controversial and some people hate the model.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> And the perfect start-up founder is ....

[http://croutonboy.typepad.com/photos/people_i_hate/scrappy.j...](http://croutonboy.typepad.com/photos/people_i_hate/scrappy.jpg)

</comment><comment><USER19> Good observations, but the last two paragraphs fail to convince me. "Normal people" span the gamut of solitary, advice-seeking, etc. I also wouldn't describe the past as "slow and harmonious".

</comment><comment><USER20> "I always worry the speakers will put us in an embarrassing position by contradicting what we tell the startups, but it happens surprisingly rarely."

Why would someone with a different opinion be embarrassing?

<comment><USER9> Because it would imply that we'd given people the wrong advice. The speakers are generally pretty eminent. We'd look bad if we told people to do x and some famous startup founder then told them not to.

<comment><USER21> I think that any public exposition / debate following such a disagreement would be _far_ more valuable to all present than anything either party could convey as intentional advice.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Made me smile, but I don't agree that "dignity is merely a sort of plaque". That may be right if you're just talking about presentation/grooming, but "dignity" (to me) includes self assurance, courage and perhaps a bit of defiance. All good things to see in a founder I'd say.

</comment><comment><USER23> On a side note, can someone from YC post pictures of YC office? Just curious. :)

<comment><USER24> Our frontpage has some good photos.

<comment><USER23> I am not a big fan of flash slide shows. They literally suck.

edit: One cannot control it. Move the slide show faster, slower, go back, stop, etc., which makes it time consuming and inefficient.

<comment><USER25> A vacuum cleaner literally sucks. I'm not sure how a flash slide show literally sucks.

<comment><USER26> This is how: <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/literally> [see "Usage note"]

<comment><USER27> Seems to me that "Usage note" can be summed up as: Often people use it wrong. This doesn't irritate most, but some people prefer the English language be used correctly.

<comment><USER28> Language is usage is language.

Although I believe there to be no "correctly," I do believe that this is a deplorable case of a word losing meaning, without a suitable replacement.

<comment><USER29> (I am so tempted to respond to this with a randomly generated list of words)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> _4\. How scrappy founders are. That was her actual word. I agree with her, but till she mentioned this it never occurred to me how little this quality is appreciated in most of the rest of the world. It wouldn't be a compliment in most organizations to call someone scrappy._

Scrappy is getting by on the most minimal of necessities, does not ever involve a company doing one's laundry, and from everything I've been able to gather, requires actual bean counting.

<comment><USER31> Huh, I always thought of "scrappy" as a willingness to get into a fight, despite the odds being against you.

<comment><USER32> I think that's the traditional definition -- but its meaning is drifting, because the word also makes people think of 'scrounging' or 'getting by on scraps'. So it's not just a fighter, but one who fights on in a resourceful/thrifty way.

Though PG cites the 'belligerent' meaning, I suspect Kate and others are likely to mean/hear the 'thrifty/tenacious' connotations.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> Very interesting to get a "third-party" perspective on things, having never gotten to work out in that environment myself.

</comment><comment><USER34> About point #1, does anyone have data on how many startups really fail? I have found answers from 70-90% on google, but those numbers come from blog posts and not from 100 times the number of failed businesses divided by the number of successful businesses formed in some reasonable grouping of time and space.

<comment><USER35> Along those lines I'm curious how many of the YC companies make it to a next round of funding? Or make it to profitability and don't seek funding vs. those that formally wind down. I went to a TechStars meetup and something like 10 of 16 from the inaugural class got funded, 4 didn't because they were profitable, acquired, or otherwise all set, and 2 formally closed. Is that kind of data available for YC?

<comment><USER9> From the winter cycle of 16 startups, there are 3 that have neither raised money nor are ramen profitable. Of those 3, 1 is already dead, because of disputes between the founders. Another hasn't started trying to raise money yet, because there's stuff they want to get built first. So only 1 of the 16 is currently trying to raise money.

<comment><USER36> Apart from the usual seed money do you ever invest more in a startup, either as YC or as an angel?

<comment><USER9> YC doesn't, but I occasionally participate individually in angel rounds.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER37> Surprised Kate didn't mention that founders were not only scrappy, but a little crazy. The combination of willpower, imagination, confidence, and the ability to listen to users/customers is like dancing with a Tasmanian devil. It always sets my neurons spinning when I try and grok an entrepreneurs rationale.

</comment><comment><USER38> Paul Graham: I'd like to encourage you to write up any insight you may have had not about startups. Your essay about high school (the one that compares the assiduousness of high school students to Navy Seals) was one the most helpful and insight-dense things I have ever read.

</comment><comment><USER39> Number 4 was a surprise to me. And I'm not sure I really get the meaning of "If you're not threatening, you're probably not doing anything new, and dignity is merely a sort of plaque".

</comment><comment><USER40> 'Scrappy' is a great description. I also like the imagery 'Scrappy smart' brings to mind.

</comment><comment><USER41> _By inverting this list, we can get a portrait of the "normal" world. It's populated by people who talk a lot with one another as they work slowly but harmoniously on conservative, expensive projects whose destinations are decided in advance, and who carefully adjust their manner to reflect their position in the hierarchy._

Don't stop there, Paul. This "inversion" idea still has a lot more mileage in it. Just off the top of my head I'd add that the "normal" world is also full of large teams, scheduled meetings, integrated hierarchical social environments, and teams that never die.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I was thunderstruck by the following:

"By inverting this list, we can get a portrait of the 'normal' world. It's populated by people who talk a lot with one another as they work slowly but harmoniously on conservative, expensive projects whose destinations are decided in advance, and who carefully adjust their manner to reflect their position in the hierarchy."

And:

"Interestingly, while Kate said that she could never pick out successful founders, she could recognize VCs, both by the way they dressed and the way they carried themselves."

<comment><USER35> I wonder if the issue of carriage has more to do with the Avg. age of founders being ~25yrs. vs. VC's ~45yrs. Beyond the obvious appearance issues you tend to develop more confidence, present better, etc. as you age. That said a fundamental difference in the Funder vs. Founder personality makes sense as well.

<comment><USER42> The average age of founders is not 25.. I suggest you revisit your assumptions.

<comment><USER35> Yes it is.. I suggest you check your facts.

From PG: <http://ycombinator.com/faq.html>

What's the average age of people you fund?

About 25. A lot of people think it's younger because the press especially like to write about young founders.

<comment><USER43> YCs founders are hardly representative of founders as a whole...not many people over the age of 30 are willing or able to put themselves in a position where they can start a company with $20k.

<http://www.kauffman.org/Details.aspx?id=1784>

<comment><USER35> Of course, but this thread is in relation to the founders at YC and the VC's who speak to them. There are a great many founders of all ages, but they aren't the focus on this article.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER44> WTF, is it normal practice for tech startups to hire their /architects/ to help run the company? I mean, is this really such a great thing?</comment>


CIA releases 321 gigabytes of Bin Laden's digital library - <AUTHOR> https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/11/cia-releases-321-gigabytes-of-bin-ladens-digital-library-web-cache-crap/ <comment><USER2> For example, some of the copyrighted material being withheld from public release are the following:

• Where in the World is Osama bin Laden</comment>


Raspberry Pi Gets its Own App Store - g-garron http://ostatic.com/blog/raspberry-pi-gets-its-own-app-store <comment><AUTHOR> I want the pi to be nice, it just isn't responsive enough to be usable. I tried the pi app store on a new 512mb pi and the recommended raspbian image. The pi store is broken, clicking on anything takes you to the library tab, a white square, and after a second takes you back to the original tab. Of the 8 or so apps you can click, none of them work. Yeah I tried more than 1 pi so its not that I got a broken pi. Not sure what to think about the pi, just that its only useful as a commandline embedded computer.

</comment><comment><USER2> Somehow, I totally managed to forget about these! Sad, as they would have made awesome Christmas presents for some of my geek friends.

<comment> X-Istence The biggest problem I have found with the RaspberryPi is that they tend to lock up under load. I have two Model B's, one the latest revision and one the first revision and neither will stay up longer than about 1 to 2 days, especially when doing heavy reads from the SD card...

<comment><USER3> Sounds like a power issue. I am not sure how you supply power to your RPi, but I had this problem where I was drawing power from a the USB hub. My goal was to only have one power cable. So I had the hub and the RPi connected twice. First, a USB host port on the RPi <=> upstream port on the hub. Second, a random port on the hub <=> power on the RPi. Then, the power cable goes into the hub to supply juice to the whole setup. The wall wart for the hub is rated at 2.5 amps, so plenty of power there.

There are two things to be concerned about here. First, the RPi can draw up to 700 mA, but a normal hub will only supply 500 mA. Second, a USB hub might not be as good of a power source as a dedicated power block. The first concern is addressed for me by the fact that I'm not running anything CPU intensive and not using the HDMI port (the setup is headless). The second concern did bite me when I plugged in a what I suspect was a faulty or at least a power hungry USB WiFi dongle. The RPi would lock up after about 1-2 days and I'd have to power cycle it to get it back. After I switched to a different WiFi adapter things got a lot better.

<comment><USER4> Yes, it does sound like a power issue. This is pretty common on the Pi given the massive variability of USB power sources.

This page is a pretty good resource for researching community reported "known working" Pi peripherals including power sources:

<http://elinux.org/RPi_VerifiedPeripherals>

<comment> X-Istence I'm using an Apple iPad charger... that thing has plenty of power.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


What are some difficult conversations you had to have with your manager/peer? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> I don't think I've ever needed a difficult conversation with my peers or vice versa, so far. I'm open to feedback. I give feedback as nicely as I can. I've never been uncomfortable with this, but maybe others are.

I've never needed to have a difficult conversation with my managers, but some of them have needed to have difficult conversations with me. Most of the difficult conversations have been related to performance but rooted in politics (management at my company does not follow the HR set policies and has a very opaque rating process).

If I did need a difficult conversation with my manager, then I would start the transfer of job search process. One thing I have found in the 9+ managers I've had is that they either don't the power to make the change, or they don't care. As a non-manager, I am completely powerless and would need to move to a team with a better manager to find a better atmosphere.</comment>


Facebook is becoming a link farm. Thoughts? - <AUTHOR> Facebook is becoming a link farm. Almost everything on my news feed leads to a webpage. Furthermore, lots of content creators rip off videos from Youtube and mint likes on the social network, without attributing the originals. Facebook has a lot less original content and more regurgitation. <comment><USER2> Hotelling's Law.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotelling%27s_law](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotelling%27s_law)

Reddit turns into a social media site, Facebook turns into a link farm.

Reddit turns into imgur, imgur adds a community.

Twitter hosts video. Insta adds timelines.

Virtual proximity can be thought of as the distance between distinct activities rather than physical distance. Convergence happens for same reasons that shops cluster.

<comment><AUTHOR> Interesting ideas!

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Sunday Times Magazine is on it!

Inside Facebook's (Totally Insane, Unintentionally Gigantic, Hyperpartisan) Political-Media Machine

[http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/28/magazine/inside- facebooks-...](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/28/magazine/inside-facebooks- totally-insane-unintentionally-gigantic-hyperpartisan-political-media- machine.html)

The trend that bothers me most is seeing otherwise scientifically minded peers, paragons of rationality, who hew to the strictest standards of empirical rigour when it comes to their own research methodologies, sharing the most easily-debunked, inane conspiracy theories as if it were holy writ!

</comment><comment><USER4> Facebook is becoming what Yahoo was in the early days. A central webpage where you can find a lot of content and where you go to see what's new in the world. The real homepage of the internet.

</comment><comment><USER5> Worse yet, it's a leading vector for counterfeit goods. Every day, the majority of "Suggested Posts" in my feed are people peddling gear/clothing/promos of major sports teams that are clearly not authorized uses, and the right-side ads are rife with bogus clickbait claiming <personality X> is dead or being prosecuted with a text inlay implying that it is from a major source like ESPN or People.</comment>


Ask HN: Why is no one talking about the rampant abuse of the Web Push API? - <AUTHOR> Every news website, and every other random website out there is asking users for permission to send those notifications as soon as the user opens the page. Sometimes, they first have a fake browser-looking dialog, and if the user clicks "Allow", they open the actual browser dialog (possibly to prevent getting disallowed and never getting the chance to ask again, since the choice is remembered).<p>What can browser developers even do about this, block all requests by default (therefore making it a feature almost no one uses)? Chrome doesn't even have a setting to block all requests. <comment><USER2> > Every news website, and every other random website out there is asking users > for permission

Maybe we can dial back the hyperbole here. I agree that this (which is the Notification API, not the Web Push API) is being abused, but I can't recall having seen it on any major news web site. I actually see it far more on stuff like tech blogs that are also obsessed with converting me to being a newsletter reader.

But yes, it's infuriating. Safari is probably the worst as it presents a modal popup - at least in Chrome it doesn't take focus. The solution seems very simple: make it only work in response to a click event. Which is something browsers already do for a lot of stuff (like opening a window) and I'm mystified as to why the browser manufacturers didn't factor this in when implementing in the first place.

<comment><USER3> In Safari you can easily disable it. In fact it's my preferred browser because of this and the speed.

<comment><USER3> Oh, And the new blocking features.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> A couple of relevant discussions from Chrome devs:

[https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=740961](https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=740961)

[https://github.com/WICG/interventions/issues/49](https://github.com/WICG/interventions/issues/49)

</comment><comment><USER5> [https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/push- notifica...](https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/push- notifications/)

"A PushSubscription contains all the information we need to send a push emssage[sic] to that user. You can "kind of" think of this as _an ID for that user 's device_."

"A push service receives a network request, validates it and delivers a push message to the appropriate browser. _If the browser is offline, the message is queued until the the browser comes online._ "

"Each browser _can use any push service they want_ , it's something developers have no control over. This isn't a problem because every push service expects the same API call. Meaning you don't have to care who the push service is. You just need to make sure that your API call is valid."

"The data you send with a push message must be encrypted. The reason for this is that it prevents push services, _who could be anyone_ , from being able to view the data sent with the push message. This is important given that it's the _browser_ [not the user] who decides which push service to use, which could open the door to browsers using a push service that isn't safe or secure."

"When you trigger a push message, the push service will receive the API call and queue the message. This message _will remain queued until the user 's device comes online_ and the push service can deliver the messages. The instructions you can give to the push service define how the push message is queued."

"When the push service does deliver a message, the browser will receive the message, decrypt any data and dispatch a push event in your service worker. A service worker is a "special" JavaScript file. _The browser can execute this JavaScript without your page being open. It can even execute this JavaScript when the browser is closed._ A service worker also has API's, like push, that aren't available in the web page (i.e. API's that aren't available out of a service worker script)."

Hard to imagine how anyone could forsee that such a "feature" could be abused.

</comment><comment><USER6> Yes, this is the most annoying thing after the modal popups. Unfortunately, there are now sites[1] peddling this plague on the internet in the name of better ROI.

Once the abuse become big enough (like the exit popups, flash ads, etc), I hope this too will get blocked by default.

[1] [https://pushcrew.com/features/](https://pushcrew.com/features/)

</comment><comment><USER7> > What can browser developers even do about this, block all requests by > default (therefore making it a feature almost no one uses)? Chrome doesn't > even have a setting to block all requests.

Missing the point. This is actually a useful feature, and is part of the big service workers push. The fact that some sites are using it poorly (to say the least), is on the sites themselves. As it has already been pointed out, you _can_ disable them on a per-site basis, and at least on Safari, the same site won't ask again if you said no once (Preferences > Websites > Notifications).

<comment><USER8> > This is actually a useful feature

I don't get how this feature is at all useful. I find that any feature that can be abused, will be. And this is certainly no different.

<comment><USER9> You can't conceive of any possible scenario where it might be useful to get a notification? Not even for Gmail, Slack, a timer etc?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> You have global opt out with browser settings, you can use never ask again on a per site basis and you can avoid returning to the annoying sites.

You can also disable JS entirely.

<comment><USER11> Disabling JS makes the web fantastic.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> OMG. So Annoying! Please don't send me any damn notifications. If you just had a button at the top of the site that allowed selection to add to websites that are allowed to push notifications that would be a bit better.

I hate trying to use a site and it isnt working for some reason just to find out it is prompting me for some damn notifications!

</comment><comment><USER13> Chrome just needs to change the UI for this feature. It should mimic the way a blocked pop-up is displayed - just a small icon in the right side of the address bar. That makes it easy to ignore but you can still find it for instances where you actually want to allow it (e.g. Google Calendar nofitications)

</comment><comment><USER14> This feature is a blight upon the web. To disable in Firefox:

[https://superuser.com/a/1156927](https://superuser.com/a/1156927)

</comment><comment><USER15> I see these prompts all the time, I've accepted a few but can't ever think of a time when I actually received a notification.

</comment><comment><USER16> If you want to vent and receive comments about the abuse of the API, you should write a blog post about it and submit that instead of a pretend-ask HN.

<comment><USER17> A three sentence blog post? Seems like a waste of effort and page traversals.

<comment><USER16> I didn't say 'paste your made-up indignation question into a blog post verbatim'. Just 'don't abuse Ask HN for thinly disguised commentary'.

<comment><USER17> Self-posts are gray for a reason, I don't see it as an abuse.

<comment><USER16> It's not a self-post, it's commentary masquerading as a question. It's a 'DAE' post which are frowned upon even in most of reddit.

<comment><USER18> Except in this case it sparked an interesting discussion, and definitely doesn't necessarily warrant a blog post to 'qualify' for HN.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I think it's not being talked about on HN because a great many HN users are probably the ones developing these systems.

<comment><USER19> I doubt that, I haven't seen hn avoid topics that the users may be coding before.

I think it's more that, at the moment, most people only relate it to low quality sites.

Once it begins to catch on, on more mainstream sites, then it will become more of a topic.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Agreed, they all want your attention, sacrifice eyeballs to the god of SEO.

</comment><comment><USER20> Is it a Chrome-only feature? I still haven't seen any such dialog.

<comment><USER21> Nope, it's in Firefox too at least.

<comment><USER7> Seen it on Safari as well.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> all major browsers have a setting to block all requests, I wish the same thing existed to block requests to sign up for newsletters</comment>


Ask HN: What is the state of the art in text to speech? - <AUTHOR> With a particular interest in systems that might be run offline on mobiles! <comment><USER2> I don't know what the current state of the art is, but you should take a look at WaveNet if you haven't already - [https://arxiv.org/pdf/1609.03499.pdf](https://arxiv.org/pdf/1609.03499.pdf)

While trying to search for an answer, I came across this list of papers, which has a section on speech synthesis - [https://github.com/zzw922cn/awesome- speech-recognition-speec...](https://github.com/zzw922cn/awesome-speech- recognition-speech-synthesis-papers)</comment>


Show HN: See hours worked before you make a purchase online - <AUTHOR> https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/anthrolocaust/khdjgifdbcmpgadopnlhiffkbjljonhk <comment><AUTHOR> Hey HN,

I've been building a browser extension that shows you how long you worked before you make a purchase online. My hope is that it'll help you make more mindful purchases and reduce your environmental impact.

I'll be around for the next hour or so answering questions but open to feedback!

Firefox is in the works. Limited to US and Australian Chrome store at the moment - sorry!

<comment><USER2> What does hours "worked" have to do with making "mindful" purchases and "reducing environmental impact"?

Reading this headline I thought it was something like a "reward" system where you can accumulate "points" as you complete your tasks.

<comment><AUTHOR> That's a fair question. The premise I'm working from is that often people (myself included) do not associate the dollar value of their purchases with the actual time and effort required to earn that amount of money. You get a lump sum in your bank account every 2 weeks and there's no relationship between effort and reward. The number is abstract. The purchase funnel online (in apps, or in store, or anywhere really) are all designed and optimized to push you through the purchase as fast as possible (see: large shopping destination patenting the one click purchase button). Even the fact you only see the full price on the final checkout screen with all the tax, tips, shipping included works to the advantage of businesses. So, if my tool works the way I hope it does, it will stop and make you think about all the time you spent working before you complete a purchase. I suspect that once you realise how much actual time it costs you, you're less likely to make frivolous, unnecessary purchases. It's the same principle as people putting their credit card in the freezer and then thawing it to give them sufficient time to think about a purchase. Would you buy that new sweater if you knew it cost you 4 hours to earn? Lowering the rate at which we consume and ship things across the globe for our amusement is difficult to quantify in terms of environmental impact but I also hope there are secondary effects. For instance, I still recycle even though I've been told by multiple sources that it's not useful. The act itself has made me consume less because I'm aware that even recycling won't save us.

I see how the title is confusing. I will consider another title next time I post this idea somewhere. Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment><comment> oliver-was-here Big fan of the concept, a bit more mindfulness in this click-and-buy culture couldn't hurt! Hope this gets traction</comment>


Dirigible 5.0 – celebrating 5 years in open source with 5 killer features - <AUTHOR> https://www.dirigible.io/blogs/2020/06/29/celebrating_5_years_in_open_source.html <comment><AUTHOR> Eclipse Dirigible 5.0 - celebrating 5 years in open source with 5 killer features:

\- GraalVM's GraalJS

\- Chrome DevTools

\- Xterm.js

\- Monaco

\- Git Support

\- Graduation</comment>


Elusive magnetic 'monopole' seen in quantum system - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25946734 <comment><USER2> nice concept. i like it so much..</comment>


Stanford submits formal 'expression of interest' for NYC campus - <AUTHOR> http://www.stanforddaily.com/2011/03/28/stanford-submits-formal-%e2%80%98expression-of-interest%e2%80%99-for-nyc-campus/

<comment><USER2> In fact, 18 universities _applied_ to an invitation by NYC. The HN headline is rather misleading, making it sound like Stanford has independently decided to branch out into New York.

<comment><USER3> It is from the Stanford daily... the headline is justified

<comment><USER2> It is justified in the context of the Stanford Daily. HN is in a totally different context, so this headline, copied verbatim, is misleading.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> They are proposing 440 or so students to start, eventually 2,200. They ideate bringing West Coast entrepreneurialism out to the East Coast; a nice idea!

I think what's likely to happen is that they will graduate 380 people who suddenly discover a love of quant-finance.

Look for Stanford school of Applied Math to launch soon. : )

</comment><comment><USER5> Very exciting news.

I moved to Roosevelt Island a year ago. It's really a unique spot in the city. Surrounded by water, a cable car to Manhattan, loads of indoor and outdoor sports facilities, and some interesting (and spooky) history.

The Main Street area is pretty disappointing. It's pretty run down and not much going on. Most residents head over to Manhattan for shopping and restaurants.

Hopefully if this goes through it will be a catalyst for Roosevelt Island to up it's game.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roosevelt_Island>

<comment><USER6> What compelled you to move there?

(honest q, I've taken the cable car a couple of times, but never actually went into Roosevelt Island..)

<comment><USER7> Access to the F train, for one, and amazing manhattan views, for two. We were either going to live on Roosevelt Island or in Queens, and we ended up saving some money in Jackson Heights.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> If Stanford wants to really lead when they get to NYC they should open the campus in Brooklyn instead of doing the me too thing and going to Manhattan.

<comment><USER9> The proposed site is on Roosevelt Island</comment></comment>


Ask HN: In the wake of Amazon suing, what can an employee do and not do? - <AUTHOR>

I am looking for Anecdotes. I think the non-compete is easy to understand - but what about side projects ? Has anyone built something "significant" while working for a company and got into an issue ? My understanding is that the typical IP rights apply for similar work that an employee does - but then it may be difficult to differentiate. Looking for known experiences.. <comment><USER2> I don't think you have to worry about side projects, generally, from a programmer's perspective. The guy in question, if I read the right link, was a "strategic partnerships manager", which is another way to say "sales guy". I'm oversimplifying, but the point is that his job was to develop relationships for his employer, on his employers dime and time. The relationships were his work product. In the sales world, those non-competes matter because relationships follow people, generally speaking. When a relationship manager goes to a competitor, he puts his first employer's business at risk. Directly.

This is not at _all_ like programmers working on side projects. The equivalent thing for a programmer would be to run off with the source code you wrote for your employer and take it to another employer, which is an obvious no-no. The grey area for side projects is defined by how much your employer thinks it might be competing (or directly related to) your paid work. Some employers explicitly don't care, while others do. You need to consult your employment agreement first and the state law where you live second. If it's not clear after that, consult a lawyer. FYI: this is a good thing to do _before_ taking a job.

</comment><comment><USER3> Side projects can be a problem from a patent perspective. Some companies will want rights to anything that you think up during the time of your employ with them, whether it is directly work related or not.

The blue LED was invented by a Japanese engineer (Shuji Nakamura) on his own time, but his company claimed the rights, cue a long court battle. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuji_Nakamura](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuji_Nakamura)

<comment><AUTHOR> Shuji case was a strange one, though justice was served at the end.

>>>>Some companies will want rights to anything that you think up during the time of your employ with them, whether it is directly work related or not.

It looks like it would be useful for someone to build company vs rights website ! Basically, record blacklisted companies for hackers!</comment></comment>


Ask HN: No major Australian bank even offers an option of 2FA for web, why? - <AUTHOR> Weirdly, none of the major Australian banks give any sort of 2FA to sign in to their websites. I'm talking Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and NAB.
Hard to imagine how this gets past any security audit.
Does anyone know why this is? <comment><USER2> Maybe because they have 2FA on other stuff? E.g. ANZ have it on adding BPay and Pay Anyone recipients, changing contact details, and some (apparently randomly selected) fund transfers. Not saying it's secure, just that it may explain their thinking.

<comment><USER3> I've always thought this was a smart choice. Australian banks authenticate their transactions: "The code to transfer $100 to Joe Bloggs is 4321. If you're surprised to hear about that transfer, call the cops now." This makes a lot more sense than authenticating a login, which doesn't give you access to especially valuable information on its own.

Historically, there was a period of 10-15 years when these banks had websites, but you couldn't make arbitrary transfers through them. You could read your statements, and you could pay utility bills where the bank trusted the biller. Logins and passwords were appropriate then. The SMS authentication was only introduced later, when the websites could do things that required it. No doubt it made sense to save the SMSes for when they were needed, which was rare before people got used to paying by internet transfer.

<comment><USER4> ... What is the 10-15 year period you're referring to where online banking in Australia meant "you can see transactions but you can't transfer money"?

By most people's standard the web has only existed since the early 90s' \- Mosaic came out in 1993.

I was using online banking for transfers with CommBank and Westpac around the year 2000, IIRC, and I've never been in a situation where I could view but not make transfers using an Australian bank.

<comment><USER3> Maybe it was only 5 years. I think some of the banks were early adopters, and got online by the mid 90s.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Here in Denmark, banks typically use NemID; a government issued 2FA system. The basic version uses an OTP sheet of ~140 passwords. People can opt in to use phone-based validation (push notifications to an app and confirmation with a slider). As far as I know (I don't speak much Danish so I can't look it up), this is a requirement to offer banking services in Denmark.

I used to work in infosec for governments and banks. Typically, the only way to have these kind of things implemented is by having regulation that enforces it. Banks don't want to have to foot the bill for 2FA, and they can (as another poster pointed out) claim the user was careless with their password to not have to cover phishing attacks. Most of the time, banks will claim that their user base is in remote locations and SMS-based 2FA is unreliable (believable in Oz), or that they don't want to "inconvenience their customers".

The other issue is with choosing a tech. What if the bank picks wrong? What if it has an enormous cost?

A bank in the UK decided to use smartcard/credit card based OTP, and it resulted in the torture and death of one or two foreign students. It's quite simply safer to wait until you're regulated to use a specific tech, just so that you can't be blamed if it backfires.

</comment><comment><USER6> Unclear about this, I have commbank and Citibank accounts and both require 2FA to login to web banking.

What exactly are you referring to when you say "website"?

CommBanks 2FA can be disabled tho.

</comment><comment><USER7> I think it's just the banks 'she'll be right' attitude.

ING still uses a client code, which is written on your card plus a 4+ digit pin code on both Web and app to login.

It will take one decent breech for them to wake up..

<comment><USER8> not to mention the code for the online app is the same as your card pin ...

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I remember when I was working in Australia in 2008-2009. When I wanted to deposit cash to my bank account I had to put that cash into an envelope and write my name on the envelope and then push the envelope inside a hole in the wall at the bank. Then they would count the money and it would appear on my account in couple of days. I remember it was really funny because we had had ATM deposit machines for long time back home.

<comment><USER4> _write_ your name on an envelope?

Are you sure that was a bank, and not some shady business?

Or do you mean a night deposit box for businesses?

<comment><USER9> If I remember correctly it was Commonwealth bank in Perth.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> BOQ forces me to use a specific non-standard (Symantec) app on my phone as 2FA, which I also find stupid, especially since I can just call them on the phone and they'll reset it for me. What's even the point?

</comment><comment><USER11> It's because of "Not Invented Here" policies. I have seen some banks use 2FA for internal logins - Westpac uses RSA SecurID tokens.

</comment><comment><USER8> As an aside, I once had the misfortune of being with CommBank, and their password policy for the app was case insensitive

</comment><comment><USER12> If they implemented 2FA, there would be a huge drop in frauds. Since the banks rely on denying blame by blaming customer carelessness and making the client bear this loss, often with high credit interest rates or loan fees, they would lose a lot of $$ by closing off this profitable aspect of their business. Doubt me? They are banks - never forget that.

<comment><USER13> >> rely on denying blame by blaming customer carelessness and making the client bear this loss

This very much depends on the type of customer.

Consumers pretty much can have their banking password tattooed to their forehead and suffer no repercussions.

If you're an online merchant, it will nearly always be your fault.

<comment><USER12> In the USA the scammers are mature and the banks wary and use obsolete gear = lots of skimmers. Canada is wary, better tech, harder for skimmers</comment></comment></comment>


Balanced article on China – not all about authoritarianism and Uyghurs;) - <AUTHOR> https://palladiummag.com/2019/10/11/the-american-dream-is-alive-in-china/ <comment><USER2> Dupe, and the other user submitted it with an accurate title: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21229712](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21229712)</comment>


Developer Conferences - <AUTHOR> https://sizovs.net/2019/03/21/the-best-developer-conferences/ <comment><USER2> It's good that you put the full conference list together with recommendations.

</comment><comment><USER3> Great list, but some big conferences are missing ಠ_ಠ</comment>


What Can Be Done to Fix America's Coin Shortage? - <AUTHOR> https://www.aier.org/article/what-can-be-done-to-remedy-the-coin-shortage/ <comment><USER2> > My suspicion is that this divergence could have to do with the ongoing > existence of the US penny

The penny should be gone. Same for the dollar bill; coins last 30 years vs seven for cloth bills.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, the penny should be gone.

But I disagree about the $1 note. According to the GAO, replacing the $1 note with a $1 coin would actually result in a net loss to the government:

[https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/697778.pdf](https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/697778.pdf)

<comment><USER2> Thanks for the info; I hadn't heard about the increased life of paper bills.</comment></comment></comment>


How to use Tor+VPN - <AUTHOR> http://www.techgyd.com/use-torvpn-by-privatoria-for-highest-level-of-anonymity-on-internet/16122/

<comment><USER2> you should not need a VPN to anonymously connect to tor..

your ISP sees you connecting to tor, but they'd also see you connecting to a VPN, which is just as suspect.

<comment><AUTHOR> You are true, my ISP sees, that I connect to VPN. But they do not see anything else.</comment></comment>


InCall Advertising - A Startup Idea - <AUTHOR> http://www.aleveo.com/ideas/incall-mood-advertising

<comment><USER2> The background melody ad thing is actually a nice idea (I wouldn't accept it, but some would) but I think the time for major cost disruption in the telcom space is ripe so this biz model will have a limited life span.

I have heard that AT&T in the '80s (before the breakup) determined they could put every home in America on a fixed $20/month payment and allow unlimited calling. Keep in mind this before digital switching, which should make it even cheeper now.

Enabling every cell user or land line user in the U.S. to have unlimited calling for a low fixed price is achievable. What makes it not happen is lack of regional competition (sure, there may be several cell providers in your area, but only one has great coverage) and this happens due to lack of teeth in bills from Congress. We're still waiting for cell providers to let us use unlocked phones like most of the rest of the world.

I think the telco's days are numbered. Consumers have known for a long time they are getting ripped off. This lengthy recession (call it what you want) may cause pressure on Congress to provide some relief. We may very well finally be able to buy an unlocked phone for less than $200 and use it on the most competitive carrier with no long term contract. When that happens, you will get your unlimited calls for $20/month and only the poorest of the poor will use such an advertising supported service.

</comment><comment><USER3> I'm pulling the "this is the worst idea I've heard" card here

<comment><AUTHOR> Could you elaborate why?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> The first time that would happen to me I'd hang up. And I'd never ever call back.

<comment><AUTHOR> I don't understand what you're saying. This is supposed to be a plan that you get. Basically you choose it, and then get a free call or lower cost. You have noises in the background anyways. Blurring them with something better isn't really disrupting the call?

<comment><USER4> This smacks of subliminal advertising, it's not 'done', possibly even illegal, it certainly is in film and television advertising.

There are two sides to a phone call, a caller and a called person, afaik they both hear the same sound.

<comment><AUTHOR> Advertising is by default subliminal.

Not necessarily true. Example: when your credit is about to expire, you get a notification that the other side won't hear. Two sides in a call can hear two different sounds.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Reverse engineering how publishers are defeating adblock - <AUTHOR> http://blog.bugreplay.com/post/153861574674/defeating-adblock <comment><USER2> This is like TV and music piracy all over again, and yet again content publishers have a _completely wrong impression_ and are doubling-down on it. Accusing your audience is the stupidest imaginable idea.

Content publishers: it is the POOR QUALITY OF YOUR EXPERIENCE that is driving people to take these steps (primarily). 9999 out of every 10000 visitors aren't trying to "steal" your stupid article. Rather, your visitors are just sick and tired of the auto-playing pop-up videos that consume unreasonable data, delayed and difficult-to-close windows, or any number of other utterly _obnoxious_ advertising schemes that were somehow green-lighted for your sites. A reasonable ad-blocker is not really for ads but to act as an "obnoxious content blocker" and it is a _REQUIREMENT_ for sane web browsing in 2016.

Same thing with TV: maybe some people insist on free stuff but most of us are just sick and tired of having to deal with your streaming services (0. every network has a different app; 1. log in, password; 2. find that sometimes the show you want is unavailable because of Error -306 or something ridiculous; 3. inexplicably inconsistent streaming quality; 4. _STUPID_ introductory sequences that cannot be skipped; 5. buggy; 6. clumsy menus, 7. perhaps _still_ ads, despite paying for it, etc.), compared to the torrent experience (1. play ultra-high-quality content; 2. no step 2).

If I can't visit your site, your site ceases to matter to me and you slowly lose mind share. The Internet is a big place; don't be stupid enough to alienate your audience.

</comment><comment><USER3> There's a much simpler workaround: if a site won't let me view their content unless I turn off my ad-blocker, I go and visit another site instead.

<comment><USER4> Agreed. I have since all but stopped visiting wired.com and theatlantic.com which were two sites I visited very frequently.</comment></comment>


Let's make closures easy - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/raganwald/homoiconic/blob/master/2010/10/let.md#readme

<comment><USER2> Stop snickering at the back! Unless you're a Schemer, your pet dynamic language probably suffers from the same affliction:

[http://moonbase.rydia.net/mental/blog/programming/the- bigges...](http://moonbase.rydia.net/mental/blog/programming/the-biggest- mistake-everyone-makes-with-closures.html)

<comment><AUTHOR> Very true, and interesting, although this has to do with the specific way the DO macro is written in Scheme and not with some inherent property of the language.

If you use something like Underscore's ranges with its .each method, you get the same behaviour in Javascript.</comment></comment>