Tying related HN posts together? - <AUTHOR>

HN is awesome, but one place where it fails is doing a fuzzy lookup of your topic (by title and url) as you type them in. Sure it would make the interface a more complex, but it would help gather the discourse on umpteen threads into fewer threads. Perhaps it would still create a new thread with a new subject, but it would link to the older thread, maybe by setting the URL to be the older thread's URL. How about using the right side of the title/url/text area to have a scrollable dropdown of potentially related threads? Again, a minimal interface is great, but I see the same thread topics over and over again.
I'm sure there are quite a few threads on this very topic, but I'm not sure how to find them. <comment><USER2> It's often thought that having the same topic submitted from several different sites isn't such a bad thing, and I half agree with that. What I'd like to see is the ability to link multiple submisions and get a single discussion thread.

Your ideas are interesting and slick, but I really like the minimalism of the site as it is. It's hard to see how to get a good balance, but as they say, ideas are easy.

Execution is what counts.

</comment><comment><USER3> You could always use <http://searchyc.com/> to find threads on the topics you are interested in.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! Maybe the following could be added to HN orange nav following 'submit' link:

      | search</comment></comment>


ACM-ICPC World Finals 2015 Problems [pdf] - <AUTHOR> http://icpc.baylor.edu/worldfinals/problems/icpc2015.pdf

<comment><AUTHOR> Live scoreboard: [http://icpc.baylor.edu/scoreboard/](http://icpc.baylor.edu/scoreboard/)

<comment><USER2> Wow.. Stanford is #74?

<comment><AUTHOR> Maybe this will answer why.

[https://www.quora.com/Why-do-the-top-universities-like- MIT-H...](https://www.quora.com/Why-do-the-top-universities-like-MIT-Harvard- UCB-Stanford-IITs-and-Caltech-fail-to-make-an-impact-in-ICPC-world-finals)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> From Wikipedia: 'The 2015 World Finals are being held in Marrakesh (Morocco) during May 16-21, hosted by Mohammed the Fifth University, Al Akhawayn University and Mundiapolis University. Final competition will be on May 20th. 128 teams are competing to be World Champion.'

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACM_International_Collegiate_Pr...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACM_International_Collegiate_Programming_Contest#2015_World_Finals)

</comment><comment><USER4> I participated in ACM-ICPC regionals back in November and it was a lot of fun. I definitely recommend it to anyone that has the chance to go to preliminaries next year.

The time limits are quite brutal for some of the problems @ finals, most of them I'd never have a proper optimal solution for.

Also, the fact that Peking understood and solved A in just 5 minutes is crazy. Sure, I could at least do A, but they practice enormously just for these.

<comment><USER5> Not denying the rest of what you say -- these teams are scary good, but A was really simple -- lot simpler than the first problems I remember from when I coached our school's team.

I just tried the brute force solution in Java, took me maybe 3-4 mins to code up and it finished with the max value of n in less than 1s.

<comment><USER4> I agree that A is really simple. I was pretty surprised to see that as a problem.

Was that 3-4 mins from first starting to read it to finishing a solution? If so then great, but personally I would've taken 10-15 minutes because I'd be carefully reading it first and wondering why it sounds so simple.

<comment><USER5> Yes, I did know that someone did it in 5 mins, so that helped :)

I think it took me 9-10 mins in total, including testing on the provided inputs. I think I could have done it in a few mins faster 15 years ago when I competed (never made it to the Finals though). Also typically: one of the team members would immediately start coding up the first problem while others are working on the next problems, with the assumption that the first one is quite simple.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Is there any way to attempt these problems and verify our solutions? Do they release the test input/outputs?

<comment><USER7> The problems can be tried online at [https://icpc.kattis.com/problems](https://icpc.kattis.com/problems)</comment></comment>


Sonant: A tool for creating generative music based on random walks - <AUTHOR> https://sonant.generated.space <comment> ani-ani Source is here: [https://github.com/kgolid/sonant](https://github.com/kgolid/sonant)

Some of the generative art on the author's website is really neat (neater than this music generator, IMO!) Eg. "Byrne proofs," which generates imaginary visual proofs. Whenever I come across these things, I dream about some kind of generative art museum. Definitely something I would subscribe to!

</comment><comment><USER2> What a cool idea! Minor suggestion -- start/stop feature is pretty buggy. Pressing stop seems to do nothing, pressing start seems to start a new instance, but not stop the old instance, causing both instances to play on top of each other.

<comment><USER3> Stop appears to cause the old instance to play through to the end, but not start a new instance right away. So it works, but it's really delayed; I think most users would expect an instant mute from a button labeled "Stop." Perhaps a relabel would set better expectations.

<comment><USER2> Interesting, I didn't test it that far. My pathetically low tolerance as a user kicked in beforehand. If it behaves more like "queue next", then that's what it should be named. Although, a queue next function without the concept of a playlist makes little sense compared to a stop/start.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Seems like my 2 year old loves the generated music. I think toys with autogenerated music for kids is something I haven't seen but would be quite a success and not too hard to do either.

</comment><comment><USER5> I swear I already heard a ton of music generated this way on my spotify Discovery playlist...

You might want to add licensing info. The output is good enough to use in video production as background

</comment><comment><USER6> Just so that you know.. your page gets a 'very risky' alert from mcafee webadviser.. (work computer.. don't look at me like that) [https://imagebin.ca/v/59K7tGipVJiD](https://imagebin.ca/v/59K7tGipVJiD) (screenshot)

<comment><USER7> Thanks for the tip, will check into that!

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Love it! A MIDI export would make this really fun to experiment with.

<comment><USER9> Yes, please! This would be a really neat tool. There are already some Ableton devices that are similar. Makes me want to investigate how to build a device.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> This is great for an atmospheric game. It's so easy to adapt things on the fly that it could provide a dynamic atmosphere to whatever is happening in-game.

</comment><comment><USER11> I wish that changing the key would cause a stop and restart, otherwise it seems like a really nice machine version of continuous wind chimes.

<comment><USER7> It finishes the progression before it applies the key change. I figured that sounded most natural. I might want to write that down somewhere, though.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> For a moment, I thought this post would be about generating brown noise and calling it music.

</comment><comment><USER13> it would be more interesting to hear it without the violin in the background which appears to make it sound better than it is?

<comment><USER7> Hehe, the underlying chords plays a big role, yes ;)</comment></comment>


Dietary supplements: Scary substances manufactured under scary conditions - <AUTHOR> http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2012/07/02/dietary-supplements-scary-substances-manufactured-under-scary-conditions/

<comment><USER2> Interesting article...mostly because it is written, throughout, with the assumption that it would be wonderful if the FDA could prevent people from selling harmless food items. This is masked, but consider these quotes:

"the FDA can't do anything about a harmful supplement until after it has been on the market and caused harm" and "...legislators [...] pounce, doing their best to kill or water down any legislation that strengthens the FDA's hand in removing potentially dangerous supplements."

In other words, the FDA needs to do something about dangerous supplements before it has caused any harm. But not just _actually_ dangerous supplements, but _potentially_ dangerous supplements too. Well, anything new is _potentially_ dangerous. How would you prove something isn't actually dangerous? A clinic trial, one supposes, at a cost of hundreds millions of dollars? This would effectively outlaw the sale dietary supplements, none of which are profitable enough to make such a trial worthwhile.

So, the author wants to shift dietary supplements from "food" to "drugs", thereby destroying the industry. But why? What's so bad about the status quo, anyhow? The author gives a few examples, but almost without exception they are issues which are already solved. That scary story about the NJ factory? Yeah, that's actually ALREADY ILLEGAL. The owners WENT TO JAIL. After being discovered by FDA inspectors, who ALREADY have the power to inspect factories.

So, uh...we have an example of something admittedly bad, which is already a crime, and which is already being monitored by the relevant government department, and the owners already went to jail over it, and this is a reason why we need a law change...why?

Next example, same deal. An incorrectly made product poisoned hundreds of people. If that's a reason to effectively destroy the industry, then god only knows what we should do poultry farmers after the various salmonella outbreaks over the years. Shoot them, I guess?

And finally, to cap the entire piece...the author complains about the FDA not doing a good job of enforcing existing regulations. Which is...an argument for giving them more regulations to enforce. Uh....what?

It's like a politician running for election with the slogan "hey, our team may have completely screwed up the economy, but that just means we know more about to fix it!" Where I come from, serious failure on someone's part is not a good argument for increasing their role and responsibilities.

<comment><AUTHOR> > if the FDA could prevent people from selling harmless food items

No. Supplements are not food, legalistic tricks notwithstanding.

> But not just actually dangerous supplements, but potentially dangerous > supplements too.

Well, yes. Or else you're fraudulently using your customers as test subjects. People get angry enough when video game companies do that.

> This would effectively outlaw the sale dietary supplements

Why would this be a bad thing?

> What's so bad about the status quo, anyhow?

Massive amounts of fraud.

> The author gives a few examples, but almost without exception they are > issues which are already solved. That scary story about the NJ factory? > Yeah, that's actually ALREADY ILLEGAL. The owners WENT TO JAIL. After being > discovered by FDA inspectors, who ALREADY have the power to inspect > factories.

Interesting how nobody's found half a rat in a factory that makes actual drugs, as opposed to "officially-not-a-drug" supplements.

We need to raise the standards to make the bad things less common. Getting supplement makers up to the standards drug makers are would be good.

> If that's a reason to effectively destroy the industry, then god only knows > what we should do poultry farmers after the various salmonella outbreaks > over the years. Shoot them, I guess?

No, just raise the bar. Same as here.

> And finally, to cap the entire piece...the author complains about the FDA > not doing a good job of enforcing existing regulations. Which is...an > argument for giving them more regulations to enforce. Uh....what?

More and better regulations and more funding, yes.

> Where I come from, serious failure on someone's part is not a good argument > for increasing their role and responsibilities.

So, given the failures of the free market to put fraudulent supplement makers out of business, why would we trust it to do so in the future?

<comment><USER3> > > This would effectively outlaw the sale dietary supplements

> Why would this be a bad thing?

Because people who wish to consume dietary supplements would only be able to obtain them via black markets which would likely expose them to more, not less, potential danger.

<comment><AUTHOR> But fewer people total would consume them, leading to less damage being done overall.

<comment><USER3> The 'damage' described in the article is the result of mis-labeled products being sold to unwary consumers, not of properly-informed consumers experiencing negative consequences of risk judgments that they've intentionally chosen to make. This kind of damage is more likely to occur in a black market setting, in which the protections of law are unavailable, than it is to occur in an open and above-board market, in which participants have recourse against such fraud.

Consider also that suppressing supplements entirely also equally suppresses the _benefit_ that consumers may enjoy from their use, and it's entirely plausible that the 'overall' reduction in benefit may exceed the 'overall' reduction in harm, so even if we were to use your purely utilitarian criterion as our only decision-making guide, such a policy might still be unjustified.

<comment><AUTHOR> > This kind of damage is more likely to occur in a black market setting

But less of it, since making it illegal would greatly reduce demand. Unless you can come up with a reason why supplements are similar enough to illegal drugs it wouldn't.

> Consider also that suppressing supplements entirely also equally suppresses > the benefit that consumers may enjoy from their use

Empirically, that is a very minor concern, if it is one at all.

<comment><USER3> > But less of it, since making it illegal would greatly reduce demand

It would reduce the _expression_ of demand, certainly, but not the actual desires of individuals that produced that expression; or to put it another way, will reduce the fulfillment of demand while the underlying unfulfilled demand still exists. This yields a net reduction in total happiness, which is counter to your apparent utilitarian ethos.

> Empirically, that is a very minor concern, if it is one at all.

Empirically? What does assessment of subjective value have to do with empirical data, apart from recognizing that individuals' subjective value empirically exists and is the source of demand?

Apart from that, apart from your apparent utilitarianism - the criteria of which remain yet unsatisfied in this discussion - what's the moral basis your assertion that forcibly denying the extant happiness of many is justifiable in order to reduce the potential unhappiness of few, especially considering that the former is not strictly necessary in order to achieve the latter, and that forcing a single uniform policy indiscriminately upon all is merely a contrivance of convenience?

<comment><AUTHOR> My moral basis is preventing fraud and punishing people who commit fraud.

> forcing a single uniform policy indiscriminately upon all is merely a > contrivance of convenience

No. If you want to claim to promote health, your products need to be shown to promote health. Supplement makers have been able to get around that very basic moral law using loopholes and bought-off politicians. I want an end to that.

<comment><USER3> > My moral basis is preventing fraud and punishing people who commit fraud.

You appear to be going far beyond dealing with fraud, and instead wish to suppress activity that's being undertaken _without_ any deceit.

> If you want to claim to promote health, your products need to be shown to > promote health.

That's fine. Note, of course, that the vast majority of supplement products contain explicit disclaimers on their labels (e.g. "These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA" and "This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease") that make allegations of actual _fraud_ quite spurious. And, of course, actual fraud of the kind described in the article - e.g. selling a bottle labeled "Vitamin C" that contains no actual vitamin C - is entirely illegal with or without FDA intervention.

However, if I want to purchase a bottle of _foo_ , honestly labeled as "foo" without making any unsustainable promises, and use the contents of that bottle based upon my own understanding of the properties of "foo", that's entirely my prerogative, and it's entirely my right to assume whatever risks the use of _foo_ entails.

(Of course, there _is_ the issue of defining exactly what it actually means to "promote health".)

<comment><AUTHOR> > You appear to be going far beyond dealing with fraud, and instead wish to > suppress activity that's being undertaken without any deceit.

'Deceit' does not start and end with the technical definition of fraud.

> Note, of course, that the vast majority of supplement products contain > explicit disclaimers on their labels

They shout their ads and whisper their disclaimers. Why should we ignore their shouting?

> However, if I want to purchase a bottle of foo, honestly labeled as "foo" > without making any unsustainable promises, and use the contents of that > bottle based upon my own understanding of the properties of "foo", that's > entirely my prerogative, and it's entirely my right to assume whatever risks > the use of foo entails.

Why should you be able to sell something that you lead others to believe is good for them when it isn't?

Selling dandelions by marketing them as pretty flowers is fine. Selling them by marketing them as wine making material is also fine, as you can, in fact, make wine out of dandelions. Selling them by claiming dandelion wine is good for what ails you is lying. Can you honestly not see that last step?

<comment><USER3> > 'Deceit' does not start and end with the technical definition of fraud.

No, but fraud does start and end within the definition of 'deceit'.

> They shout their ads and whisper their disclaimers. Why should we ignore > their shouting?

I've not personally seen ads for supplements of the kind you're describing, but if they* were* advertising features that weren't actually available in the products, that is, at minimum, a bait-and-switch ad, which is already a fraudulent practice.

> Why should you be able to sell something that you lead others to believe is > good for them when it isn't?

Whether it is or isn't "good for them" is, of course, determined by _them_ \- we're in the realm of value judgments here - and while it's entirely unethical and already illegal to sell someone a product on the basis of fraudulent information, selling a product with an explicit disclaimer that states that the product has _not_ been empirically proven to fulfill any health claims made about it is perfectly legitimate.

Selling dandelions in a box marked "dandelions" without making any unprovable claims is _always_ perfectly OK; selling dandelions as a cure for cancer is _already_ a fraudulent activity punishable by law.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> There's a misleading conflation of at least 2 issues here:

If manufacturers are releasing product with substantially different contents than the label, then they are guilty of defrauding their customers. This is a crime which should be expensive for the guilty company.

But giving the FDA control over what supplements are allowed in the market is a travesty waiting to happen. The FDA works dramatically slower than decentralized market action, and works under incentives favoring control over free choice. Sites like <http://examine.com/> are working to bring science and facts to the supplement market, and I expect a lot more progress in this area over the next few years.

<comment><AUTHOR> > If manufacturers are releasing product with substantially different contents > than the label, then they are guilty of defrauding their customers. This is > a crime which should be expensive for the guilty company.

I think it should result in prison terms for the principles, but massive fines and punitive damages are a start, at least.

> But giving the FDA control over what supplements are allowed in the market > is a travesty waiting to happen.

How? What can be worse than pills being sold with the wrong things in them, with unknown trash in them, and pills being made in conditions that would get a McDonald's shut down? It's like going back to the pre-FDA era of snake oil.

> The FDA works dramatically slower than decentralized market action, and > works under incentives favoring control over free choice.

Free choice only works if everyone knows what's on offer. That means people would somehow have to know what manufacturers are trustworthy. We've seen from the evidence at hand, both in this century, the previous one, and the ones prior to that, that _this does not work in reality. It is utopian. It is a fantasy._

You cannot expect people to out-FDA the FDA. _Theory must give way to evidence, and we have evidence in this matter._

<comment><USER5> > How? What can be worse than pills being sold with the wrong things in them, > with unknown trash in them, and pills being made in conditions that would > get a McDonald's shut down?

What does that have to do with pills? If people are making any kind of food at all that is filled with trash then the FDA should stop them, but it has nothing at all to do with them being supplements.

<comment><AUTHOR> > What does that have to do with pills?

We're discussing supplements, which are usually sold in pill form.

> If people are making any kind of food at all that is filled with trash then > the FDA should stop them, but it has nothing at all to do with them being > supplements.

 _Should_ , yes. However, if you read the article, you'll see a very bad law that prevents the FDA from doing so in the case of supplements.

> Snake oil at least was (usually) what it said on the bottle.

Really? I don't know one way or the other for sure about _historical_ snake oil: My usage there was 'snake oil' as a synonym for 'an untested product guaranteed to cure anything and everything, sold by a con artist'.

<comment><USER5> > However, if you read the article, you'll see a very bad law that prevents > the FDA from doing so in the case of supplements.

I did read the article, and that isn't true. If the pill does not have what it says on the bottle then they can easily shut them down.

> Really? I don't know one way or the other for sure about historical snake > oil: My usage there was 'snake oil' as a synonym for 'an untested product > guaranteed to cure anything and everything, sold by a con artist'.

I realized that right after I said it, so I edited out that sentence. But to reply to you: If the product has what it says it has, then the FDA has no business regulating it. They should regulate fraud - a product that does not have the listed ingredients for example. Or a false claim. But they have no business telling people that they can not buy/eat this or that plant.

<comment><AUTHOR> > But they have no business telling people that they can not buy/eat this or > that plant.

Yes, they do, because part of the FDA's job is looking after idiots. That's because looking after idiots is part of society's job. It's why highways have guard rails: You can't expect everyone to be perfect all the time.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I happen to like the fact that I can get hormones like melatonin and drugs like piracetam as dietary supplements without having to go through a doctor or have them approved by the government to treat a specific disease. I don't have insomnia, but sometimes I want to go to sleep at a specific time and melatonin enables me to do it. I don't suffer from any diseases causing cognitive impairment, but sometimes piracetam helps me think more clearly. I strongly oppose any legislative efforts to make it more difficult for me to obtain these substances.

That said, some companies in the supplement industry have, without a doubt behaved badly. It seems to me that there are three issues to consider.

* Advertising - making false claims in product marketing is already illegal.

* Purity - making false claims about what's in a product or selling a contaminated product is already illegal.

* Safety - if a substance can cause dangerous effects, the packaging should say so.

The first two are already the law. If there are loopholes or unreasonable barriers to enforcement, they should be patched. This doesn't require any major changes in policy - just fine-tuning to make sure existing policy can be enforced.

The last one is a bit more problematic under current policy. It's my impression that dangerous supplements can be sold with no labeling even when the dangers are fairly well known. The FDA's only recourse is to remove them from the market if they're found dangerous. I think mandatory warnings on packaging when there's significant evidence a supplement _may_ be dangerous, similar to the black-box warnings on prescription drugs would be a good middle ground.

<comment><USER7> > I strongly oppose any legislative efforts to make it more difficult for me > to obtain these substances.

The way I took the article was that, if some sane rules were applied and enforced, it would actually be _easier_ for you to obtain them - because right now you could be knocking back selenium and rat urine for all you know.

<comment><USER6> What I took from the article is that its author would like supplements with drug-like effects regulated as drugs. That generally means they'd need clinical trials demonstrating that they're safe and effective for treating a specific disease, with extra-strong requirements to be sold without a prescription. I don't want that.

In his conclusion, he advocates milder measures for enforcement of purity and policing dubious advertising claims, but his use of "at least" implies he wants more rules.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Unproven health claims are not only confined to dietary supplements. Dannon (Danone) has a track record of trying to sneak cure-all yogurt claims into their marketeering: [http://www.weightymatters.ca/2009/10/european-union- doesnt-b...](http://www.weightymatters.ca/2009/10/european-union-doesnt- believe-in-magic.html)

</comment><comment><USER9> Every year there is a regulate supplements as drugs bill in congress. Every year it fails. Mainly because their is a lot of grass roots support for keeping supplements legal and the industry has developed to a point where it can effectively lobby.

The constatnt onslaught of anti-supplement bills almost reminds me of the RIAAs continuous lobbying onslaught of draconian copyright bills (sopa, pipa, protectip, etc). Just like too many people are using the internet for the most disturbing copyright bills to pass, there are too many people taking nutritional supplements for the pharma industry "we're all going to die" anti- supplement fud to be effective. Interestingly enough, given all the anti- supplement fud going around in articles like these, prescription drug overdoses now kill more people now than car crashes (<http://www.voanews.com/content/article/171721.html>).

<comment><USER10> I have tried to track down information about the statement "prescription drug overdoses now kill more people now than car crashes." What I found was "In 2007, approximately 27,000 unintentional drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States" from <http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6101a3.htm> .

I then found "According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) early projections, the number of traffic fatalities fell three percent between 2009 and 2010, from 33,808 to 32,788." <http://www.nhtsa.gov/PR/NHTSA-05-11> .

Which means about 20% more people die from car crashes than from overdoses. The most common overdose was painkillers. "Overdoses of prescription painkillers have more than tripled in the past 20 years, leading to 14,800 deaths in the United States in 2008" says <http://www.cdc.gov/injury/about/focus-rx.html>. Which means 1/2 of the prescription drug overdoses is from pain killers.

Moreover, "Almost one-third of prescription painkiller overdose deaths involve methadone. Six times as many people died of methadone overdoses in 2009 than a decade before." from [http://www.cdc.gov/Features/VitalSigns/MethadoneOverdoses/in...](http://www.cdc.gov/Features/VitalSigns/MethadoneOverdoses/index.html) . The problem, of course, is that there are benefits to methadone, so it's not as simple as banning methadone.

BTW, acetaminophen is a relatively dangerous drug. It causes "450 deaths and 56,000 emergency-room visits a year" says [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020357730457427...](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203577304574272292331942618.html) . While reading [http://www.nature.com/ajg/journal/v102/n11/full/ajg2007481a....](http://www.nature.com/ajg/journal/v102/n11/full/ajg2007481a.html) the estimate is about 650.

Anyway, you say "The constant onslaught of anti-supplement bills almost reminds me of the RIAAs continuous lobbying onslaught of draconian copyright bills" and I say the defense of supplements almost reminds me of the tobacco industry's defense of selling and promoting tobacco.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> In the movie "Bigger Stronger Faster" they have a section on supplements, and this comes as no surprise

"Supplements" are a very broad term, and a lot of things are sold under this banner:

\- "True" Nutritional supplements, offering a dietary value, like carbohydrates, proteins

\- Supplements of a specific nature like mineral supplements, creatine, other amminoacids or peptides.

\- Stimulants, some mild, some very heavy and with controversial substances

\- "Pre-hormones" which are usually actually more damaging than most of the common steroids

\- Other things, usually useless

I guess 80%/90% of all the products are BS, real products usually go straight to the point in their advertisement, and don't try to pass for a miracle or for something they are not.

</comment><comment><USER12> Selling supplements online. The secret of the Tim Ferris "4 hour work week". ;)

</comment><comment><USER13> There was a fantastic Reddit comment last year where someone did some basic controlled chemical analysis of a very popular cheap protein supplement, and found it had no protein in it.

<comment><USER14> Here's the post: [http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/uva9t/big_reddit_pr...](http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/uva9t/big_reddit_protein_powder_measurement_results/)

Someone offered to test samples of various protein supplements for various metrics (protein %, solubility, etc.), and discovered that American Pure Whey contained .5% protein.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Quotes from the article, this batch from FDA inspections of supplement factories:

> Some firms don't even have recipes, known as master manufacturing records, > for their products.

> Others make their supplements in unsanitary factories. New Jersey-based > Quality Formulation Laboratories produced protein powder mixes and other > supplements in a facility infested with rodents, rodent feces and urine, > according to government records. FDA inspectors found a rodent apparently > cut in half next to a scoop, according to a 2008 inspection report.

And this shoddiness has a grave impact on real people:

> In 2008 more than 200 people — including a 4-year-old — were poisoned by > selenium after taking liquid multivitamin dietary supplements that were sold > in health stores and by chiropractors, according to a medical paper > published on the mass poisoning. The products, called Total Body Formula and > Total Body Mega Formula, contained an average of 40,800 micrograms of > selenium per serving instead of 200, according to the paper.

<comment><USER15> Clearly we need less regulation and government interference, and these problems will magically take care of themselves.

<comment><USER13> Yes, evolution will clear the gene pool of chiropractor and GNC customers.</comment></comment></comment>


Douglas Crockford now at PayPal - <AUTHOR> http://looksgoodworkswell.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/welcome-crock.html <comment><USER2> LOL paypal. I wouldn't even want to put that on my resume.

They froze my account and kept my info (SSN and all). I had to subpeona them to get them to tell me why my account is locked. Their reason was I was associated to another person that owe them money. They won't tell me who this person is.

I've asked them to just delete my info and I won't ever create another paypal account and I have not done anything wrong. They stated no. I asked them if my information will be encrypted they said it's SSL encrypted (wtf). A month later their server got hacked.

They screwed so many people over that the person looking over your resume will be like ugh this guy works for that horrible company. Next!

<comment><USER3> Funny enough, I had a similar thought when I applied to eBay. The idea of working for the parent company of PayPal turned me off (I hadn't used my PayPal account in years after getting burned!)

However, since joining, I've met some amazing people (including Bill - He's a wicked smart, cool guy!) and seen some of the projects in the pipeline. The stuff they're working on is top-notch!

It may not be a "sexy" start up and PayPal's business practices may turn people off (I know first hand!) but at the end of the day, you'll be doing some cool stuff working with some amazing people (who know other amazing people and so on and so on...)

Personally, I'm ecstatic Crockford has joined the company!

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> PayPal? Wow. And, eh, I dunno, I'd prefer someplace more widely regarded as ethical. You know, like AIG or Goldman Sachs. :)

<comment><USER5> PayPal has some customer-unfriendly policies but are they really _unethical_? I would assume the people working there are just as good and honest as at any similar company.

<comment><USER6> By customer unfriendly you mean "arbitrarily freeze people's money for indefinite amounts of time without giving them any recourse in the matter". I think that might strike some people as unethical.

<comment><USER7> I've read a lot of these accounts and some are truly egregious. PayPal should definitely provide some better means of dealing with disputes, but I would hazard a guess that 99% or more of such disputes are simple cases of fraud and are dealt with appropriately. The lack of alternatives is the biggest issue I see with PayPal, so they can sail along without having to address the issue. Given that they are neither regulated as a bank, nor faced with any serious competition, it seems, to my admittedly limited knowledge, that they do well for the most part. While some of their actions may be deemed as unethical, I don't think there is cause to paint the entire organization with such a wide brush.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> So I guess the "Use for good, not evil" clause will finally be removed from jsmin and jslint now.

<comment><USER9> He gave IBM a special license to do evil with it. IBM complained that, whilst they thought they were doing good things, they were not so sure there customers would.

<comment><USER9> Crockford speaking about this: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C-JoyNuQJs&t=39m45s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C-JoyNuQJs&t=39m45s)

<comment><USER10> What is fascinating about the description there is that IBM hasn't just asked once - they've asked many times.

I'd be willing to bet that the cause is that IBM's lawyers are aware that the most famous act of evil in the 20th century was committed by an IBM client, using IBM equipment. No joke, that was how the Nazis kept track of the Jews. And I'd be willing to bet that there are a lot of random dictators today who are using IBM software to keep tabs on their populations as well.

So while the IBM license exemption sounds silly and amusing, there is a very serious point behind it.

Incidentally this clause makes jsmin both not open source (discriminates against fields of endeavor) and also puts it in Debian non-free (same reason).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> The idea of Douglas Crockford going through some generic new hire orientation process amuses me.

<comment><USER12> That was my thought exactly. "Doug, your LAPTOP and laptop accessory bag can be picked up from the IT Lab." Yeah.

<comment><USER13> "Doug, it's important that, when writing JavaScript, your use JSLint to verify it. Do you know it? If you need any help, refer to our internal wiki."

<comment><USER11> "Doug, opinions vary on the necessity or value of tools like JSLint. Consult your team's technical lead for guidance on whether your team chooses to enforce JSLint's strict guidelines."

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> > The IT Department welcome's you to eBay, Inc.

First order of business, get them to use punctuation correctly.

<comment><USER15> The IT Department welcome's you to eBay, Inc.;

<comment><USER9> No No No!

        (function () {
            'use strict';
            The IT Department welcome's you to eBay, Inc.;
        }());

<comment><USER16> "The IT Department welcomes you to eBay, Inc."

<comment><USER17> Is that Python?

<comment><USER16> It's a string. I merely removed the errant apostrophe.

What's the point of good code if your data is bad?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I believe it. He seems to have done quite well at Yahoo! so I'm not surprised to hear about him going to another large company. I don't know too much about eBay's development community but there's <http://ql.io/> so there's something. I can imagine Crockford helping to grow it.

</comment><comment><USER19> I'm really sorry to hear that. I'm afraid its going to be a cultural and technical disappointment for him.

<comment><USER20> I can't imagine a bigger cultural disappointment than Yahoo! quite frankly. Crock was probably the best thing about that entire organization. I've been quietly thinking he should leave for awhile now, but haven't said anything on the internet because seriously who am I to say what he should or shouldn't do. We know he didn't lie about his college degree so I think the move away from Yahoo! is smart.

<comment><USER21> Yahoo may be losing users on some of their have-been web services, but to say that the developer culture is one of the worst is the funniest thing I ever heard. Yahoo is doing more for developers than almost any company out there. Ever heard of YUI or Mojito? How about YQL, Hadoop, or YSlow? With so much open source effort on their part, and the enormous success of some of those mentioned, I don't really see how Yahoo is a "cultural" step down from PayPal, especially when talking Javascript.

<comment><USER20> You make some decent points, but a guy like Doug can work wherever he wants so while Yahoo! might release more open source packages than 99% of the shops out there, you can't just throw out the other, better companies in the top 1% like Google and Twitter who, in my opinion, release much better open source software, software that I actually use. I agree that Yahoo! has over the years done a respectable job in becoming a leader in open source JavaScript development, but since Doug has had a huge hand in this, couldn't one argue that he could bring that along with him wherever he goes? Furthermore, in some of these other companies, at least his CEO won't be just pretending to know what JSON is :)

<comment><USER22> > _much better open source software, software that I actually use_

Whether or not you use something doesn't determine whether it's high quality. Yahoo definitely releases some quality OSS.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Slightly worrying to see the conversation in the twitter widget between Bill Scott and a Techcrunch editor about this story where he has to explain that Java is not the same as JavaScript...

<comment><USER24> Common problem in the tech world. I have this conversation with every tech recruiter I talk to.

<comment><USER25> I have seen programmers who worked in both languages but couldn't tell the difference.

<comment><USER11> Such programmers have actually worked in neither.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Could you imagine having to work under Douglas and being required to have all your js lint on strict settings?

<comment><USER9> JSLint isn't that bad. Some people disagree with his opinions, but I quite like them. I write all my code with JSLint on strict mode and, while I hate how picky it is about whitespace, my code is nicer as a result.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> Wow, I thought he would have stuck around a lot longer. He seemed to really like it there. Friday was my last day at Yahoo, it's unbelievable how many people are leaving.

<comment><USER28> I'm not very surprised people are leaving. The company looks like it has lost its direction, investors no longer take the company seriously, and the CEO lied about his academic credentials. I would not want to be there when Yahoo is sold for scrap.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Title updated as I received confirmation from this post's author: <https://twitter.com/#!/billwscott/status/201547332934828032>

</comment><comment><USER29> Crockford working for an IT department! It would be interesting to see what his views would be in a few months.

<comment><USER30> I doubt he's working for the IT department; I'd assume he's working R&D. I'm sure he also received a letter welcoming him from HR but that doesn't mean he will be working in HR.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Neat. Their web UI could use some serious help.</comment>


Apple's Cloud Music May Include User's Whole Library. - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_23/b4231035679728.htm

<comment><AUTHOR> "Users will be able to store their entire music collections in the cloud—even if they obtained some songs illegally."

This could be a major coup for Apple if true.</comment>


Show HN: Marta – A fast and minimalistic file manager for macOS - <AUTHOR> https://marta.yanex.org/ <comment><USER2> Not a fan of the Midnight Commander-style of UI, but I'll give it a try since anything has got to be better than the mess that is the Finder these days .. I still don't understand why Apple can't push Finder to be a more modern interface for the system without completely screwing it up .. so much to improve, but yet they are ignoring it in favour of sandboxes and "nobody knows what a filesystem is" policies that make us all dumber.

One of my pet peeves with the Finder is that it still can't auto-layout the content to fit in the window - take a list view, open a folder .. and marvel at the fact that its the 21st century, but yet this list view still isn't capable of rendering itself for minimal-fit constraints. (I have to do it manually.) This is very frustrating, and I'd love to know of a solution ..

<comment><USER3> Can't agree with you more! The other issue I have with macOS is the maximize button which defaults to "fullscreen". I have become used to pressing the Option/Alt button before clicking the green maximize button. It's so obvious that it is a very bad design decision. Even more surprising is that this "feature" has been kept around for 3 versions of macOS. Am I the only one who finds this UX so counter-intuitive? Else why would it stick around for 3 versions of macOS?

<comment><USER4> Full ack! To fix those issues and many more I started to use Spectacle [1] some months ago which steady improved my workflows. I could not even think about working with macOS without it.

[1] [https://www.spectacleapp.com](https://www.spectacleapp.com)

<comment><USER5> Spectacle is an essential app for me. I feel completely lost whenever I use a mac that doesn't have it installed.

<comment><USER6> Give Divvy a try ([http://mizage.com/divvy/](http://mizage.com/divvy/)).

I find it to be quite configurable, easy to use and quite better than the available alternatives.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This is eerily similar to fman, which was posted here a few weeks ago

[https://fman.io/](https://fman.io/) [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13764060](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13764060)

<comment><AUTHOR> fman is a cross-platform application made with PyQt. I doubt if it will achieve the native macOS experience someday. And I think the difference is really important.

<comment><USER8> fman author here. Congrats on the launch. Sublime Text is cross-platform and is great on macOS. I don't see why fman shouldn't be.

I would say people who truly care about 100% macOS may choose Marta, people who care about cross-platform and a Python-based plugin API will choose fman.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you! :)

Well, the problem is that Sublime Text is the only GUI cross-platform application with the native behavior I know, so it's more like an exception. And it shows that making portable tools right is not that simple.

I don't think we are the direct competitors. fman is a completely another project with its own strong and weak points. I tried fman and didn't like it because of numerous reasons, but it's my own opinion.

<comment><USER8> Of course :) - to each their own. Good luck!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Wanted to try it, but no, I am not going to sign up for a super exclusive alpha that requires my email address.

<comment><USER10> So... You're trusting it with all your filesystem but not your email?

<comment><USER9> No, that's actually an indicator. If the DMG is email-walled, how much data the app will track once installed on my machine?

<comment><AUTHOR> To be honest, the initial launch of Marta was an important lesson for me. I started with a closed alpha so I could fix the critical bugs until it will become open for everyone – not because I want everyone's emails to send some shitty spam. But lots of people disagreed with me, and I understand them.

I changed some of my plans. Marta will become open much earlier, maybe even the next week. Sorry for the inconvenience.

<comment><USER9> Thank you for a reply and best wishes to your project!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Just want to point people to [http://www.binarynights.com/forklift/](http://www.binarynights.com/forklift/)

It's not free, but they've just releaseed a new major version, and it's the first time I've found a file manager I'm happy with on Mac.

<comment><AUTHOR> Actually, I used ForkLift for some time. But ForkLift lacks configurability, and the new version is somehow _slow_. I didn't like that.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Consider doing an animation like the Sublime Text website: [https://www.sublimetext.com/](https://www.sublimetext.com/)

Would make the homepage more engaging and demonstrate value quicker.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, of course, I'm planning to add the animation a bit later. Thank you for the suggestion!

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Should "minimalistic" be a goal for a file manager though? Total Commander is great _because_ it's not minimalistic and allows the user to customise it in any way you want. I think that's what users who want more than just Finder or Explorer are looking for. It's the same for text editors, nobody would use a minimalistic one, or they'd just use Notepad.

<comment><AUTHOR> I call it minimalistic just because the UI is not cluttered by numerous panels and menus. _It 's not about the functionality_. I believe that the functionality/simplicity balance is possible, as I see it done well in Sublime Text. By the way, Marta supports plugins so the functionality is not limited by what you have out of the box.

<comment><USER14> > I call it minimalistic just because the UI is not cluttered by numerous > panels and menus.

And yet it does just that with all the buttons and UI items that visually blend in each other.

Constrast to the Finder:

\- View > As Columns (this is a legacy from NeXT Step that I still love 17 years after first seeing it, and use it daily).

\- View > Hide Sidebar

\- View > Hide Status bar

There: you have a minimalist and fast view of the FS, with zero UI clutter, and 100% browseable with the keyboard.

</comment></comment></comment><comment> dorian-graph I'd recommend putting some more details on the homepage, or at least linking to the introductory blog post which has pertinent information like your plans about pricing (for everyone else, it will be paid). Maybe even list some of the other features like plugins would help sell it too.

<comment><AUTHOR> Added the blog post link to the index page. Thank you for the suggestion!

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Looks like a good start. I would love to get a full replacement of TotalCommander for macOS. I've tried a few and I'm currently using Forklift 3. There's still some features that I'm missing in Forklift so I'll keep an eye on this project.

<comment><USER16> _Disk Order_ ([http://likemac.ru](http://likemac.ru)) was great, now abandonware (last updated 2013)

Next best thing I could find was _Path Finder_ ([http://cocoatech.com](http://cocoatech.com))

<comment><USER15> I've also used [http://www.mucommander.com/](http://www.mucommander.com/) for a while, I haven't kept track so I'm not sure about the current status.

<comment><USER17> yes mucommander, it could open websites too. it literally parsed html and showed you list of included resources in the panel. how cool is that? :-) which commander has that?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> > If your work isn't ready for people to try out yet, please don't do a Show > HN. Once it's ready, come back and do it then.

From [https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html) which I feel is applicable here, since it's invite only alpha.

<comment><AUTHOR> Well, I was thinking about this. And I actually don't know how to interpret this sentence because there are lots of projects that are announced but don't have anything to show at all.

Marta has – but the difference is that it doesn't provide the direct link.

<comment><USER18> Well, I think it's fair for projects to submit links when announcing something but if it's under "Show HN" it actually has to be something that people can try. Putting the "trying" being a closed wall I don't think is very fair.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> This product doesn't look to me to be compelling enough to switch away from Finder and ranger. I use Finder when I want to browse pictures or other rich media and ranger when I just want to browse source code and other text files from the command line using vim-like hotkeys.

</comment><comment><USER20> I'm very interested in getting started with this! One question, is there a way to change the key binding for switching active panes? Right now it seems like the only option is to use Tab and is the only key binding that doesn't appear to be configurable.

<comment><AUTHOR> Sorry, it's not possible right now. But I've added a task to the TODO list ([https://quip.com/TOH6Abh8ruxi](https://quip.com/TOH6Abh8ruxi)), and it will be fixed in Marta 0.1.1.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> It looks interesting from the docs but on an average day I would have closed the page without going to the docs section. Some sort of video or animation to boast why it will help me reclaim productivity is all I need to press download and start using it.

</comment><comment><USER22> Not really alpha ready in my opinion. Needs quite a bit of work to be able to do anything.

<comment><AUTHOR> You're right: it's the first preview version, not the complete product yet. Please stay tuned :)

But if you have some specific problems with Marta, you can always contact me at mail@yanex[dot]org, or leave the TODO request here: [https://quip.com/TOH6Abh8ruxi](https://quip.com/TOH6Abh8ruxi).

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> I really like XtraFinder[1] and pretty much can't do without it. I wish it worked w/o that very serious (potentially dangerous) workaround but sadly it doesn't and after OSX upgrade broke it it is not as stable it used to be.

Where does Marta fit in among file managers (esp very serious ones) and Finder plugins for OSX? Are other features (for e.g. FTP or so? Though it says minimal) are planned or already exist?

[1] [https://www.trankynam.com/xtrafinder/](https://www.trankynam.com/xtrafinder/)

<comment><USER24> God I wish it was open source and the dev didn't suddenly disappear :(

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> Just an FYI I wouldn't have realized the Mad Mimi subscription confirmation email was related until I tried another email address and saw the same message.

</comment><comment><USER26> > give money to a company with crappy software

> spend your time fixing their problems so they can continue making money with > crapy software

someone needs some Stallman love

</comment><comment><USER27> I think GUI tools like this should use every opportunity to gently introduce users to the conventions used in lower-level tools that they may eventually decide to use. For example, in the top of each pane in the screenshot there is a directory open with a path listed. Perhaps show it with typical path separators (/) so the user gets used to it.

<comment><AUTHOR> By default, Marta shows file icons that identify directories pretty well. You are free to disable the icons and specify `directoryPrefix` and `directorySuffix` in conf.json.

But it would be an interesting idea to make a "set up wizard" that will suggest users disable the icons.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> There's similar program: Nimble Commander, I use it for a long time and I like it.

<comment><USER16> Thank you, I gave it a try and so far I like it better than Path Finder (which I've been using for last couple of years). Nimble wins for minimalistic UI.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> Pretty interesting that the default file manager sucks soo much on both Windows and OSX (and Linux depending on the distro i guess).

<comment><USER30> On Linux you can use virtually any file manager without anyone/anything "preventing" you from it.

<comment><USER29> Yeah, "default" is a hard word to understand.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> A tiny niggle: consider using the Apple-defined system font instead of Helvetica? Many Mac users are sticklers about this.

<comment><AUTHOR> This is a completely valid point, thank you. I added it to the public TODO list: [https://quip.com/TOH6Abh8ruxi](https://quip.com/TOH6Abh8ruxi).

By the way, you can already change the font ([https://marta.yanex.org/docs#fonts](https://marta.yanex.org/docs#fonts)).

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> Nice. mc keybindings

</comment><comment><USER33> Any relation to the mass transit system in Atlanta?

<comment><USER34> They both are pretty minimalistic I suppose...

<comment><USER35> ... and snap!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> What was the motivation for this?

<comment><USER37> I don't know if this is truly faster, but Finder can really crawl for me sometimes. I'd gladly switch to a faster solution.

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> Might be more useful for iOS

</comment><comment><USER39> Stack? Native ?

<comment><AUTHOR> Just Cocoa (Swift). Marta is a completely native macOS application.

<comment><USER40> Such a relief, I'm so sick of all these dreadful javascript 'apps', not a single one of them performs like a native app on any platform I've used.</comment></comment></comment>


Kvm and bridge networking problems - <AUTHOR>

In the default configuration the vms cannot talk to other kvm created vms. I did a traceroute from one vm to another, while running tcpdump on my host's br0. The arp packets for both directions of communcations returned the same mac address. Needless to say, they couldn't talk to one another.<p>KVM was so close to making a simple to use bridged networking, they shouldn't have stopped where they did. Now I have to manually assign a mac address. <comment><USER2> KVM is a low-level tool. Are you using any management layer like libvirt?</comment>


America: A Failing State - <AUTHOR> https://www.ianwelsh.net/america-a-failing-state/ <comment><USER2> A lot of BS in this post: "People who are happy and have hope for the future rarely become drug addicts."

Completely ignorant of the context and causes of opioid addiction and overdose.

<comment><USER3> > Completely ignorant of the context and causes of opioid addiction and > overdose.

I think you're focusing on only a small part of the theme of the article, and even that small part is arguable.

The author has some decent points. The USA has spent an astronomical amount of money on wars that are certainly "unwinnable" in the sense that anything could get Iraq and Afghanistan into good shape. Further the ostensible purpose of the wars (Fight Terrorism) almost certainly didn't justify the wars, and the wars predictably didn't decrease terrorism. The "Fight Terrorism" aspect has been used by factions in the government to do things (dragnet surveillance) that won't contribute to anything good in the medium-to-long term.

The US DoD has a purchasing problem. This has been obvious over the last 35-40 years, really. The author cites the F-35, but he could have cited the complex F-22 debacle, the Littoral Combat Ship debacle, inability to replace the A-10, the A-12 debacle of the late 80s, and many, many others. This is not arguable. Further, the DoD's financial structure is so complex that it can't be audited. Realistically, nobody knows what happens to 54% of the US government's discretionary spending.

Inarguably, the author is correct about Trump.

These are worrying symptoms. Picking on the most arguable part of the article does allow us to ignore the article's points, but the problems exist whether we ignore them or not.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Should I kill my competitor legally? - <AUTHOR>

Hi HN,
I am in a moral dilemma and need some suggestions.
I am in a regulated industry, the entirety of it is rather complex. However my position is a great place to be in because I have been the first player in this domain within this industry (since mid 2010), and now another competitor in interested in entering the same domain (rather, has been interested since mid 2011).
This competitor just got granted a licence to operate in the domain that I have a monopoly in. I have tried reaching out to these guys in the past, regarding what they are planning or whether they'd like to collaborate, but have never gotten a response.
According to my contract I have a "Right of First Refusal" which essentially lets me get their contract cancelled (I wasn't aware, my lawyers just pointed that out to me). When I pointed that out to the guys that are incharge of granting licenses, this is the gist of the response I got:
" I have asked XXXXX to cancel their license if you are not okay with them holding it, or cannot work out a compromise. Please advise."
Now I do not know whether to just go ahead and get their contract terminated, or work with them. I have always hated the idea of monopolies, however everytime in the past I have reached out to these guys, they have not responded despite having read or gotten the message. As such their behavior seems rude, however I do not want to appear (I have always had this perception issue) bad to the licensing directors, having them given me the option, makes it that much difficult. If they had just terminated the contract, I would have been happier, but now the decision is in my hands, I feel paralyzed sort-of.
If you were in my situation, what would you do? Rather what should I do? <comment><USER2> Depends very much on the market situation. Is there any possibility that your competitor can jump to a substitute product?

Unless you are the OPEC or under some obscure government protection law, classic monopoles are quite rare these days and with enough bad-will it should be possible to get them undermined by substitutes.

<comment><AUTHOR> No. Its like having official rights to screen the football game. I signed a 5 year contract that had a right of first refusal so there isn't any thing to do with goodwill. And I have a fixed income contract that gets adjusted as per market interest rates/inflation every year. If the contracting entity cancels my contract, I get a payout of 5x[Yearly Income], so I am not sure they would do that.

<comment><USER3> (I'm honestly not sure if this question is that useful without knowing the case in question.)

If the fact that they now have a license devalues the value of the original contract you signed for (I am assuming) exclusive rights, then that is why you have the right of first refusal in your contract.

If it is a market in which it is necessary for you to accept some risk or cost as a "first-mover", then that is why you have that clause in your contract.

<comment><AUTHOR> _If the fact that they now have a license devalues the value of the original contract you signed for (I am assuming) exclusive rights, then that is why you have the right of first refusal in your contract._

Thanks for putting it that way, it makes more sense when I look at it from this perspective.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Why should they reach out to you to sustain your monopoly? Because that's what you really want to do, right?

I once worked in retail (apparel) where it is very common for manufacturers to grant individual companies exclusive wholesale rights to entire markets, i.e. a country, multiple countries, or sometimes even continents. Any other company would have to go through these wholesalers to purchase products. Anyways, whenever we came across a wholesaler that didn't have their act together - refusal to sell products, having cheaper prices for their own retail arm, unfair terms, etc - we would make a formal complain to the manufacturer and let them know why their products were doing so poorly on the market. More often than not, we ended up with getting wholesaler rights, making us completely independent. Similarly, if your competitors can show that you are damaging their sales with anti-competitive actions, they will be very quick to react, even going so far to remove your exclusive rights.

<comment><AUTHOR> If we are satisfying our contractual obligation, and shipping what the clients want, how could a competitor make a case using "damaged sales"? Isn't that like saying that I start a cola company and say Pizza Hut is damaging my sales by selling only coca-cola?

In your retail example it makes sense when the wholesaler did not have their act together, but we do, and we are doing a good job.

<comment><USER4> Whether you are satisfying the terms and conditions of your contract is secondary. A contract is there to codify the most basic rights and obligations and generally says nothing about excellence, growth and value. If a competitor really wants a piece of your cake - which I assume several actually want since it seems lucrative - they could establish the perception that you are not creating enough value/growth for the licensor.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> There is no dilemma, it is your fiduciary duty to your shareholders to protect and maximize your future revenue by any (legal) means necessary.

<comment><USER6> To me this just sounds plain wrong. Is this approach contributing to the world we want to live in? I think not. Fuck the "obligation" to maximize revenue - that alone is no justification to crush people and startups by any means necessary. Of course this is a dilemma!

Lots of companies choose not to use all means available to crush competition. Google could kill hundreds of startups with their patents alone.

<comment><USER5> You are basically choosing your competitors over your investors if you stick to your position. I would rather protect the interests of the people who have taken a risk to help me realize my vision than nurture a future competitor.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> It's not a moral dilemma to enforce your rights around a fairly negotiated business advantage, you should protect those just as you would protect technically-created advantages.

</comment><comment><USER8> Well you have to look out for number one here so I think you should get a dialogue going with them. Tell them you would like to collaborate and at least speak with them about their license, but mention you can also have their contract terminated. I would say that it isn't something you want to do, but for the shareholder's interests you will be forced to do so without a dialogue between you both.

Best of luck...

<comment><USER9> I'm not trying to criticize you, just asking an honest question - is that legal? Could that be considered a threat? (Cooperate or I'll kill you)

<comment><USER8> Yeah, I really don't know. That's a good question, but I think it can be worded along the lines of "I can legally kill your company, but I would prefer to discuss this with you first. Please do not make me do this and just contact me so we can work together or something." - Last ditch before you keep yours alive.

P.S: Be careful of stalling. They can just stall you and keep working on their project...reminds me of the Facebook?

</comment></comment></comment><comment> mark-r Your relationship with your customer(s) should be your number one priority. With a 1 year head start you should be the premier option, it would be interesting to find out what caused this defection. If you strongarm them back to you, what will be the long-term consequences?

<comment><AUTHOR> I have a five year contract with my customer, that guarantees a level of income, so I am not worried about that. Plus, the payout is really nice if they cancel my contract, so that is not something that I am that worried about.

Also, I am not sure whether I want to be doing this in the long term. I am 38 now, so that is not what worries me.

<comment><USER10> If you have a guaranteed 5-year contract, and aren't sure if you want to be in it long-term past that, do you _gain_ anything by killing them? It sounds like your income level for the next 5 years is basically assured regardless of whether they enter this space or not, if I'm reading correctly.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, however there is something like a commission/bonus that is associated with the work too, so depending on how much my company is working, we get more revenues above the guaranteed level of income.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Cripple them instead of killing them, if possible.</comment>


Rich Hickey: The Language of the System - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROor6_NGIWU <comment><AUTHOR> The best talk on systems architecture I've seen so far.</comment>


More and More of What We Do Depends on Government Permission - <AUTHOR> https://reason.com/archives/2018/07/24/permitted-lives <comment><USER2> More from The Economist:

[https://www.economist.com/united-states/2017/03/02/too- much-...](https://www.economist.com/united-states/2017/03/02/too-much-federal- regulation-has-piled-up-in-america)

And many previous HN discussions of Civil Asset Forfeiture (aka _highway robbery_ ):

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17395675](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17395675)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17210880](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17210880)

It seems the CBP border force does not have to respect constitutional rights and can detain you indefinitely without charge (e.g. for not providing a password for your phone).

Of course, the IRS extorts from all Americans, wherever they are on the planet (and beyond - warning to Elon: _renounce before blast-off_ ).

Add capture of the financial system by banks, corporations and elites; plus militarization of law enforcement with surplus hardware returning from many overseas interventions, and you have creeping boiling-the-frog fascism.

<comment><USER3> While you make some valid points, I think you're taking it a bit far with your statement that your tax authority performs extortion. Taxes are a part of citizenship. If you do not like that, that is your right. You cannot just stop paying them just because you are selfish, that is not how social contracts work. While on some levels you can call that extortion (it is after all backed by violence to some degree), you'd have to be pretty willfully blind to not recognize that most people wouldn't use the term like that. Unless you have a point you are making that I'm missing?

<comment><USER2> > _Taxes are a part of citizenship._

Only for the US (and Eritrea). Your country should not own you and make extra- territorial claims on your income or wealth due to an accident of birth. Recently, the US has also made it harder and more expensive to renounce citizenship. Even if you have paid all back-taxes owing (and paid a large fee), it will not agree to release you from bondage, if it thinks your motivation (thought crime) is to avoid excessive _future_ extra-territorial taxes!

<comment><USER3> There are other countries where this is the case. There are of course varying amounts of tax modulation, but you are generally expected to pay some amount of money even if you work overseas. You are a part of keeping your country running smoothly, and you pay taxes for that. If you want to be part of another country running smoothly, you can do so (some have very low taxes but are generally not super great to live in for varying reasons). I have no idea about the process for relinquishing US citizenship.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Need permission to fish. Need permission to play music. Don't need permission to have a baby.

Seems like the biggest loophole ever in a democratic world.

</comment><comment><USER5> Does anyone know if there has been a case between the IRS and a person in tax debt trying to travel? Be great to see where that goes and how it's challenged.

</comment><comment><USER6> The problem is the law not the government. We should remove laws instead of creating new ones.</comment>


Kung Fury (Official Movie) - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS5P_LAqiVg

<comment><USER2> For the reference, if you buy it from their site for $5 (just to support creators) you get it on vhx.tv, but weirdly you can't download it from there. Couldn't they release it DRM-free properly already? Of course one can use youtube-dl to get it from Youtube, but it only highlights the point.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> "Kung Fury is an over-the-top 80's action comedy that was crowd funded through Kickstarter. It features Kung Fury, a Kung Fu renegade cop who travels back in time to kill his Nemesis, Hitler. The film features nazis, dinosaurs, vikings and cheesy one-liners. "</comment>


Running into a wall with Fusion 360 while building a marble machine [video] - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zL8pRDxPck <comment><USER2> Inventor is mentioned towards the end, as a potential alternative CAD package that might not have the performance problem.

Does anyone know if Inventor would actually be better in that situation?</comment>


Tell HN: Stop surfing and start making things people want - <AUTHOR> I've hit a slump and can't get to work. I have a to do list and I'm going to cross out five items before the end of today.<p>What progress are you making? <comment><USER2> Oh please, today is Sunday :) Seriously, take a day or two off in a week.

<comment><USER3> I have a full week worth of work planned this coming week. I just had a busy week last week. Right now I'm sitting at the breakfast table with my wife and we're surfing and sharing interesting things we find.

These are the moments I work hard for.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> A simple hack that has worked wonders for me: On any given day my to do list has exactly one item. This enables me to focus better on the most important thing. I try to make it about one day's work, but who knows...

Today's item: Get buffering working on complex lookups.

</comment><comment><USER5> Personal revelation: things really start to move when you measure your progress on a project in terms of business value. It's incredibly easy to get caught up in near-field stuff and just do whatever is at the top of the to do list. I found that when I started asking "what do I do today to add maximum value to my business?" I spent a lot less time in my IDE and a lot more time in Gmail.

<comment><USER6> There is a law of nature at play: the greater your desire to make money, the more time you spend selling. Holds true in every field.

<comment><USER5> It's not just selling - when you stop measuring your personal productivity in lines of code, it's amazing how much you discover can be outsourced or bought in. Efficiency vs effectiveness and all that.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Trying out new AdWords campaigns for the first time in ~8 months. Got one A/B test live and another coded. (That is the Mother of All A/B Tests for me, since it completely removes one product from my site.)

I also nailed a freelance proposal, got it accepted, and did half a day of well-compensated work that should make the client happy.

Progress on Appointment Reminder, on the other hand, was not so great this week, aside from paper prototyping and a few more pages added to the development notebook.

[Edit: Pace Paras, none of this was actually done on Sunday. I quit working weekends when I went full time, aside from de minimis customer support.]

<comment><USER8> Do you still get time to work on client projects with 2 products in hand? How do you manage it?

<comment><USER9> He spent something like 5 hours a week on his "flagship" product; if he put 3x effort into the new product, he'd still be working the equivalent of US half- time.

<comment><USER7> Thomas must have cracked my RescueTime account because those numbers are scary accurate.

Seriously though: BCC is largely in maintenance mode, and the types of things I need to do are not very intensive in wall-clock time. Appointment Reminder is not and won't be for a while, but that jives very well with BCC, since while I'm waiting for AdWords results to get back I can go code.

Client work I slot in when I have slack time or when I'm unable to make creative progress on my own projects. Thomas had a great line about this: on those days when you just keep banging your head against the wall, "it is great to know that you can just got 'be billable'."

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I create drupal and wordpress sites currently but not apps, customers are so chincy and difficult to work with because they don't understand the tech at all. I want to get deeper because I need to create something that will stabilize my life and finances. This IT world is so vast and there a billion people flocking to whatever the latest IT trend is.

It takes so much money, time, and knowledge to focus on a venture and on any given day the distractions and discouragement are intense, preventing the focus and the space I need to gain that focus. Also great ideas only come out when I am focused. I have taken on a government job, that is interesting, but I fear it will take me further away from being my own boss. It seems that the only way to separate yourself from the herd is to make an original and "hard to emulate" product that won't be easily re-created or copied by the "big boys". I'm working to save up money, then I'll drop off the radar and go for my dreams. Wish me luck!

I have been surfing the past few years instead of getting to work myself. Thanks for making me feel even worse! :P

</comment><comment><USER11> I left full time work 2 years ago to bootstrap my own company. I've hit many periods of "reduced productivity" along the way, but I'm now about a week away from a public beta that I feel great about.

Allow yourself to be less productive sometimes. That downtime gives you a chance to reflect.

<comment><USER12> I'll second this. If I attempt to be productive for more than an hour and fail, do something else. Exercise I find to be one of the better options.

If I can't snap into it after forcing myself to work for an hour, it's just not meant to be. And if I pretend to be productive for a day and don't get anything done, I usually feel like crap.

<comment><USER11> Absolutely. Cleaning your home is also very effective.

<comment><USER13> If I cleaned my home every time I hit a slump the neighbourhood would think I'm an obsessive compulsive.

<comment><USER14> This reminded me of a woman I went to university with. During the study break before final exams when you're meant to be studying she was known to resort to activities like scrubbing her car's wheels with a toothbrush and using scissors to remove all the weeds between the paving outside her house to avoid studying. She always did well enough in her exams and her house was VERY clean.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I'm experimenting with price and freemium variations for my web app, which have turned out very well so far (more on that in another post). I'm currently adding support to my timeline app so the color palette includes previously used colors, which has been a highly requested feature. Two year wedding anniversary is also this weekend--trying to balance it all is always fun.

<comment><USER16> Awesome product!

I have to add a comment/suggestion. Have you thought of allowing _tweets_ to register as events on the timeline? This is a problem that plagues TV NEWS anchors. Every time they blowup twitter.com to show viewer responses or reactions to a certain event, there's no way for them to manage the tweet other than to have multiple browser tabs open and switch between them.

Terrible experience for the audience and the the anchor as user.

Letting them to save tweets in a fashion that annotates on your timeline seems to be the ideal solution. Keep it up!

<comment><USER15> Hey thanks for the kudos. Twitter integration (and in general third party integration) has been on the todo list for a while now, but it's a pretty big undertaking and I've put it aside in favor of working on the easier kills first. It's definitely something I'd like to integrate one day though. Appreciate the feedback!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I usually work in phases.

-explore possibilities that challenge my sense of the problem space (closely allied with reading stuff on the internet, that leads to HN, etc.) -try out various different ideas -come up with a pretty cool idea (using a two-dimensional array for double dispatch -- b/c you can create a nice text table of which functions are being invoked...) -that cool idea encourages me to really solve this problem well -i realize that at this point i really don't need to do something that extensive -i solve it simply using closer to the bare minimum of what was needed -i solve other simple things that i've had queued up

and repeat. in other words, there are two types of productivities that i think we as developers go through. exploratory, expansive stages. and synthetic, work stages. this probably isn't news to anyone. but they really are two different things, and you really have to balance both to be efficient. too much 'getting it done' and you'll lose interest and miss large steps figured out by others or by yourself. not to mention you'll lose the expansive 'energy' that comes from solving things abstractly and in a new way. on the other hand, too much of an 'exploratory' attitude and you not only won't get stuff done, but you'll lose the confidence you had about how well you can solve things in small steps, that build up, etc.

anyway, that's just my sense. there may be more than just two 'phases'. and the phase change is more a calibration of emphasis than an all-or-nothing switch. when i'm going through the exploratory phase i'm much more sociable, taking breaks, etc. and then i pwn in the work phase. or something. i also download and watch a fair amount of tv.

but i think part of what makes one developer more experienced than another is that they have larger phases. they've had the confidence from experience to not need to get to that work phase quite so quickly. of course, you can make mistakes, and not be ready for quite so large an explore/work phase balance -- and have to reel it back a bit, but generally speaking, one's threshold sort of increases (the more features are delivered on time, the more projects are delivered, etc.). anyway.... more important than anything is probably being honest with yourself (if you are the type who naturally tries to self- improve). anyway, this is all a bit off topic...

</comment><comment><USER18> Right now I'm trying to get a wall posters/art print site off the ground. Just a normal shopping cart. My dad happened into a deal where he gets really good wholesale prices from a few vendors, so we're trying to get that going. It's not going too well so far but hopefully we can figure it out how to get traffic and turn that traffic into purchases soon. The key is really SEO I guess, which just gets built over time so hopefully that will all work out OK soon.

</comment><comment><USER19> My to-do list for today is to spend more time with my girlfriend and family. All the startup success in the world would not make-up for the love and support of family and friends, if I were to let those relationships slip.

Alright, back to work. Good luck with your 5 items ;-)

</comment><comment><USER20> My code's compiling :-)

(Actually, I'm waiting for a data extraction script to finish, but I suppose I could be doing more productive things than HN while I wait)

</comment><comment><USER21> I am done with trying to be super productive. I have changed my working style quite significantly lately. I used to work out plans and to-do lists and have everything organized and feel in control. I reckoned that if I really love programming I can do it for long hours everyday. Unfortunately, this kind of trip fails time and again and starts to feel like a chore. I realized I cant play video games, golf, read for long hours on a regular basis even though I love doing these things. So why should programming be any different. I will only code when I feel like it. I think its less productive then the traditional style but the code feels better.

</comment><comment><USER22> Two methods that I have read, that writers use to great effect.

Create a big calendar, above your workspace, or somewhere you see all the time. Every day you do work, put a cross on it. Try to get as many crosses in a row as you can. Hemmingway used this method apparently.

The other that actually works great, the first task you do in the morning should be the one you least likely want to do. The one that is easiest to put off. Surprising how good this makes you feel.

<comment><USER14> I haven't heard of Hemmingway using the calendar method but I believe Jerry Seinfeld used/uses it to help motivate him to sit down and do some writing every day.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> I got a lot of traffic to <http://bikechatter.com> by providing some live tweeting of the Giro d'Italia stage. Ok, maybe not anything great, but I love watching bike racing, and I would have watched it anyway:-)

Awesome stage up Monte Zoncolan, one of, if not the hardest climbs in Europe. Went to see the stage finish in Asolo in person yesterday.

</comment><comment><USER24> Taking a break from coding and contacting a few people to alpha test my api, which provides an awfully simple front-end to Mechanical Turk.

<comment><USER13> If you would just open up MT through the backdoor for us Europeans that would be great.

<comment><USER24> This might be possible since I'm the one making the requests to mechanical turk. I'll look into their terms to see if there's anything preventing this.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> I usually love Sundays for working, because they are so uninterrupted that I can really knock things out. today I was traveling so... not so much.

Woke up at 7:30 to go into office, respond to some emails, printed out boarding pass, grabbed nicest laptop, went home and packed, went to airport, flew to Madrid (watched Dr. Who enroute for break), drank sangria with friends over tapas, took bus outside of Madrid, mingled with conference attendees, came back to hotel room and obsessed about my app stats with AppViz, read my tech blogs, responded to this, now perhaps sleep.

I use the pomodoro method (<http://www.pomodorotechnique.com>) when I'm in the fugue where I want to be productive but am somehow not managing to.

</comment><comment><USER26> This one worked for me .. <http://nowdothis.com/>

<comment><USER27> I wish this archived done items.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> Sunday: I have 5000 new registered users and no way to efficiently send newsletters. I'm finishing the code to handle this today. Note to sendgrid or critsend: you guys really need list management tools/APIs!! I know, I know, your working on it...

<comment><USER29> Wouldn't that just be something like MailChimp or Campaign Monitor? :-)

<comment><USER28> Here's how my startup is growing (I think this applies to many):

1 - user finds my site and signs up. >> Transactional email <<

2 - repeat step 1 enough times.

3 - send out newsletter. This will now start happening every 2 weeks. >> Newsletter email <<

Why should I be paying/configing/templating/testing/managing 2 mail services (mailchimp && sendgrid/critsend)? I don't have sophisticated newsletter tracking needs. I just need to be able to manage a list and use the same/similar API I use for transaction emails, but instead of plugging in an email address in the "to" field, I reference the name of a list stored on the sendgrid server. Doing this, I only have to sync my lists. I don't have to write code to handle sending 5000 emails, taking into account limits on how many addresses will fit into the "to" field on each API call.

Both sendgrid and critsend are working on these features. Its just not there yet.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> Well, I just started MS, four years after my undergraduate. Last semester, I just took one course and didn't do good because it was really hard for me to find nice work-study balance. Anyway, lessons learned and am right now thinking what courses should I take? On a side note, I just finished reading "High Performance JavaScript" that I bought during Oreilly's $9 sale and it was money well spent. And I'm also thinking what Oreilly title should I buy next?

</comment><comment><USER31> Today I am also procrastinating -- working on marketing material and brochureware. Ughh. Sometimes I give myself a break by working on an interesting programming problem or just walking around outside. My rule-of- thumb though is to make sure a couple hours of each day involve something (anything) you are really looking forward to.

</comment><comment><USER32> Planted some tomatoes

</comment><comment><USER33> I've added the courses from a couple of new universities to OCW Search (not yet live), and now building a social media "dashboard" to help me keep track of what people are saying about it. The latter got me upset at reddit as it doesn't support JSONP, just plain JSON.

</comment><comment><USER34> Trying to get node.js working on webfaction, and then attempting to create something with it. sigh.

</comment><comment><USER35> re-implementing moving forward in the game history for a local html+JS+CSS implementation of a go game board:

[http://github.com/raganwald/go/commit/40800b91b896f17d8371c1...](http://github.com/raganwald/go/commit/40800b91b896f17d8371c185ef5cb8fae9143549)

<comment><USER11> Interesting. Where do people play Go in Toronto btw?

<comment><USER35> No idea, as I don't play Go very much myself. I learned the basic rules and have the odd fun game with a good friend. I'm currently working on making a pass-and-play game that supports a wide variety of rule variations as well as the standard game.

As of this moment, you can actually play standard Go with a friend or play a variation called "One Eye Go" where you cannot play into an intersection without liberties unless it extends one of your own groups that has other liberties.

I'll be adding other variations soon, next up are the games that have standard rules for capturing stones but where the objectives differ from taking territory. For example, to connect two sides, to create a line of seven stones, to make the first capture, and so forth.

I just want to be able to take out an iPad and use it as a Go board that remembers plays for analysis.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> I'm surfing.

</comment><comment><USER37> I have just two really simple bug fixes to be completed, and there is no more work assigned to me yet. But I just can't bring myself to complete it. I have been very lazy for the past 2-3 days :(

</comment><comment><USER12> Working on dumping 2 days of design work into some ruby code and tests. Then working on Braintree integration. Yea it's sunday, but I can't sit still with all this code in my head.

</comment><comment><USER9> Resolving my 2006 taxes.

<comment><AUTHOR> Better late than never. :) What caused you to do this? if i may ask

<comment><USER9> Notice of levy. =)

<comment><AUTHOR> good luck

<comment><USER9> I'm actually recovering a cubic #@%!-ton of money, which always seems to be the way it goes with me: 2 years of slowly building panic, a painful but manageable remittance to the IRS, and then a ludicrous windfall of refund money. (This is a bad thing, in the long run).

My advice:

* Don't fuck around with taxes.

* Get to W2 as quickly as you can.

* Get a real accountant.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> Today I lacquered a shed. It's around 30ft x 25ft x 20ft in size. Took all day.

Best part was being outside. I need to get myself a laptop to enjoy hacking in the sun.

</comment><comment><USER39> In your todo list, always mark out your top item for today and finish it +first+. Do your browsing/surfing etc after finishing your top item.

</comment><comment><USER40> for me, if there is a commitment to a partner or a real customer, whether or not money is necessarily attached to meeting every commitment, I work very hard and get things done.

but without other people and their feedback, I eventually lose steam.

We need other people. We evolved that way. As with sex and many other things, you can do them on your own, but they aren't nearly as compelling and rewarding.

<comment><USER41> Have you tried making commitments with yourself, and putting them where they are always visible?

If not, then maybe you don't need outside forces to make you work, you just aren't good at doing it by yourself (yet).

</comment></comment><comment><USER42> I was going to get through a chapter a day of Kochan's Objective-C book this weekend. That means two chapters today...

</comment><comment><USER43> Wife is out of town this weekend so I'm just trying to keep the kitchen clean and kids alive :)

Tomorrow I will make progress.

</comment><comment><USER44> why not do something interesting that's not on the list? something that'll make it better in the long run maybe; get those tests running faster, script up something you do manually, try a different IDE or something?

</comment><comment><USER45> finish a website layout, work on a logo for a new client and some work on the front-end on fancydocs.com

</comment><comment><USER46> Making the first mockups of my site.

</comment><comment><USER47> doing some seo stuff today, following Patio11 advices and strategy, was not on the list.</comment>


Steve Wiebe has reclaimed the Donkey Kong world record from Billy Mitchell - <AUTHOR> http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=19&id=2264

<comment><USER2> There is a documentary titled _The King of Kong_ that explains the history of the personal rivalry between Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell.

<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923752/></comment>


7 Things Marketers Can Learn From 2,616 Viral Headlines. - <AUTHOR> http://www.ripenn.com/blog/7-things-marketers-can-learn-from-2616-viral-headlines/

<comment><USER2> Cool spreadsheet, will compare with my own data.</comment>


Massive breach at health care company Anthem Inc - <AUTHOR> http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/02/04/health-care-anthem-hacked/22900925/

<comment><AUTHOR> Interesting that the domain -- [http://www.anthemfacts.com](http://www.anthemfacts.com) \-- was registered in 2013</comment>