Reddit, Boston and the missing student - <AUTHOR> http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2013/04/reddit-boston-and-missing-student

<comment><USER2> To some extent, those that are summarily decrying the "actions of reddit" are judging with the benefit of hindsight. Here's my take:

I believe the people who participated in those threads on reddit/4chan/etc. we're actually, truly, trying to help. (I'm not one of them, but I watched much of this unfold).

Some folks spent hours pouring over any publicly-available images they could find to see if anything stuck out. They looked for patterns, looked for backpacks, tried to match up people to different pictures, etc.

Had this gone the other way -- had one of those pictures been of the suspects and had one of the "Internet sleuths" circled one of the brothers instead of a random innocent person with a bulging backpack, we'd be having a very different discussion about what heros the crowd can be and of the virtues of crowd sourcing in the modern age, etc. and frankly, had that happened our praise would be just as misplaced. Shoot a machine gun randomly around you and kill a bad guy, you're a hero. Kill a good guy, and you're the enemy. Still doesn't meant it was a good idea to shoot like that :)

So now they got it wrong. And that's going to happen. And now we're vilifying everyone.

Here's where I think the line should have been drawn, and the lesson that we all should learn from this: I think, actually, had folks just stopped at the "this seems suspicious" stage and sent that info to the guys who really have details (the FBI), that actually could have been helpful. I know if I were an intelligence analyst, I'd certainly find it even slightly helpful for someone to do even a cursory pre-examination for me. Sure, the kids don't know all the real techniques or have all the real tools, but even 10 minutes saved in picking out some potential people to cross off the list can be helpful.

However -- the line should have been drawn there. Find the "interesting" items, alert the authorities, and let the take it from there. No names. No accusations. And certainly no front-page-of-the-New-York-Post publishing (and that blame lies squarely with the fine folks at the NYP, not reddit).

It boils down to knowing the limits of your abilities. The crowd is good at scanning a lot of data and raising its hand at things that stick out.

The crowd is not good at being an actual intelligence analyst.

<comment><USER3> While I don't doubt that there might be some people who could've gone either way on crowdsourced vigilantism but are now vocally against it now that it has failed, people were speaking out about how colossally bad of an idea it was from the start[1], for exactly the reasons it ultimately failed.

As you said, the crowd is no good at this, but it didn't take this tragedy for people to realize that. That what Reddit was trying to do was a bad idea has historical basis, as well: just look at the Umbrella Man from the JFK assassination investigations and conspiracy theories[2][3] and more recently, the case of Richard Jewell during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing[4].

[1]: [http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/04/hey- re...](http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/04/hey-reddit- enough-boston-bombing-vigilantism/275062/)

[2]: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuoZWb9gqv0>

[3]: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbrella_Man_(JFK_assassination...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbrella_Man_\(JFK_assassination\))

[4]: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Jewell>

<comment><USER4> To piggyback on [1], most of the commentary I saw here on HN was quite guarded & skeptical to the internet sleuthing. To paint this as a "20/20 hindsight only" situation is misleading.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I find it funny when people talk about reddit, 4chan, etc as a single group. "Reddit should really not do this". Really? It's like saying Brooklyn should really stop being so hipster. Not only is it a very small portion of the entire group, but they aren't about to stop doing what they're doing because of a few articles.

<comment><USER6> To be fair though, 90% of reddit is the "reddit hivemind".

<comment><USER7> Yes, this seems to be the nature of communities both online and offline. A community becomes known for something like hipsters in Brooklyn, cat memes in Reddit, or motherhood paraphernalia in Pinterest. More people of the demographic with the same mindset join and stay, whereas everyone else feel unwelcome and gradually leave.

<comment><USER8> I left Reddit a while back because I felt this way. I'm a conservative and on that site it's like being a social pariah. I'd rather just keep my thoughts to myself from now on.

<comment><USER9> Serious question: how has this differed from HN, if at all?

The few times I've been in a political discussion on HN (which is admittedly rare), it's been a crap shoot between a reasonable but clearly left-of-center discussion and "conservatives are the most evil thing imaginable and they clearly lack any intellect."

<comment><USER8> Well here at HN they quickly steer the car back on to the track and disuade anything that isn't technical or related to "hacking". The ones that slip through I just ignore. The signal to noise ratio is much better and I feel like I can focus on tech here. Reddit is too wide open for that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I feel so sorry for the Tripathis. Apart from their son/brother being missing they just got put through hell for 24 hours. Sadly, Reddit can't offer up a collective apology.

In light of what we know, this Reddit thread makes for such sad reading. [http://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/1cn9ga/is_missing_st...](http://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/1cn9ga/is_missing_student_sunil_tripathi_marathon_bomber/)

<comment><USER11> Reddit is a discussion board made up of individuals with widely varying viewpoints, motives, and ages...what would a collective apology look like? The closest thing to official Reddit action on this is when a moderator of r/findbostonbombers shut discussion down on Sunil 14 hours ago:

[http://www.reddit.com/r/findbostonbombers/comments/1cnafx/mo...](http://www.reddit.com/r/findbostonbombers/comments/1cnafx/mod_note_any_more_posts_on_the_missing_guy_will/)

The mod was ridiculed when Sunil's name was reportedly mentioned on scanners hours later but he/she stood their ground.

Demanding reddit to collectively hang their head in shame would be like asking all of Russia to apologize on behalf of the alleged actions of these ethnic Chechens...it's a bit impractical and overestimates the cohesiveness of the group

<comment><USER4> Obviously Reddit can't offer a collective apology, the parent even said as much.

However, since there are obviously individuals who were willing to take credit on behalf of Reddit ("Reddit was right!", "Historic thread!"), it stands to reason that the inverse is also possible.

In the "duh-factor" statement of the day : groups are made up of people, and we shouldn't hide behind the amorphousness of a group to avoid taking responsibility for our actions. I'm sure the family would appreciate a few retractions, even if they didn't represent reddit/4chan/the internet as a whole.

<comment><USER12> Symmetry fallacy. Saying "Reddit was right" doesn't make Reddit wrong, it makes one more wrongsayer wrong.

<comment><USER4> I thought I was pretty explicit in stating that this had to do with specific individuals?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I thought 'Racist Where's Waldo' is a very good 3 word summary

<comment><USER14> Except they didn't say that. What the hell is "Where's Wally"? Are they trying to avoid trademark infringement or something?

<comment><USER15> Where's Wally? is a famous British series of picture books that are used to play a game of spotting a certain character named Wally. They are published in many countries around the world and in two of them, the US and Canada, I think, Wally was renamed Waldo.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> If we are going to blame "reddit" and "the internet", are we also blaming "the media" for the cnn false report and the nypost cover photo?

I have a hard time finding the collective responsibility of "the internet" materially different from "the media".

<comment><USER3> Yes, people are. Off the top of my head, one prominent example was Jon Stewart: [http://www.mediaite.com/tv/stewart-tears-apart-cnn-for- compl...](http://www.mediaite.com/tv/stewart-tears-apart-cnn-for-completely- fcking-wrong-boston-reporting-human-centipede-of-news/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Sunil Tripathi (or his parents) would do well to take legal action against Reddit for facilitating this garbage, if the final legal reports support the assessment that Sunil was not involved.

<comment><USER18> I'm honestly surprised to see this opinion on HN, the defender of the free Internet.

Should the family also take legal action against the ISPs of the Reddit users involved, simply for "facilitating" this garbage?

<comment> k-mcgrady It's nothing to do with the free internet. Accusing someone of murder with absolutely no proof could be considered libel.

Edi: I wasn't accusing Reddit of libel. It's just a platform. The individuals who posted the comments would be the ones committing libel.

<comment><USER18> It might be libel in the U.K., but the standard for such is a bit higher in the U.S. Which is probably a good thing, on the whole, as otherwise we'd have had to destroy the Internet ten years ago based on its usage as a libel- launching platform.

<comment> k-mcgrady Is releasing photos of someone and accusing them of murder really not considered libel in the US? It seems like quite an extreme case of libel to me (although IANAL).

<comment><USER18> Freedom of speech is kind of a big thing around here, yes.

You have to remember the context: Some nearly anonymous asshole points a finger and says that so-and-so is the bomber, with no real concrete evidence. It's practically a farce at that stage, only idiots could fall for that.

Unfortunately for Sunil, there _are_ a lot of idiots online (and in the media, apparently).

On the other hand, entities like the NY Post _should_ have known better. They presumably pay "journalists" to fact-check (so there's a higher standard of quality expected), and they understand that it imparts a higher expectation on what they _do_ print, which means it's more likely that people would believe such an accusation.

So Sunil might even have a case against professional outfits like these, especially since he wasn't previously a public figure. But against random people from the Internet there's not really any hope of a libel charge sticking.

Maybe some states would have "cyber-bullying" legislation that would apply though (assuming it's not struck down as unconstitutional).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Really? Someone in the news media pointing fingers at others for reporting bad information?

<comment><USER20> Yup, and they are quite correct to point it out.

<comment><USER19> So I guess I can expect their analysis in the coming days at their own failings?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> This will be a new facet of our culture. This crisis has been a landmark crisis, one that has paralyzed Boston for 5 days and which highlights all these systems for information distribution. I can't imagine how many new users Reddit will have after today.

People needed a way to deal with this. I also went through all the reddit examples. I found them to be unconvincing but the act of looking for the guy made me feel much better.

Until you walk the mile to work looking at every single person with a backpack hoping they are not about to bomb a T station, you don't know what that it is like.

The police and media need to deal with reddit by making better information available faster. Reddit is their competition now and they should recognize it as a disruptive force. Just like Uber, I don't want it regulated away.

Blaming "reddit" is ridiculous. We should put the blame on inept reporting and far too slow of reporting from police. Had they done their jobs faster, Reddit would have been worthless.

[edit] phrasing

[Added] Clearly from the up and down voting I have been getting, my comment is highly polarizing for this community.

My point is simple: Reddit, digital cameras and the internet is here to stay. This new reality means that we need to embrace natural human behavior as best as possible and only attempt to adjust it whenever 100% necessary. I get that people here think it should be adjusted, but I feel that the police and media should change their strategy first, then see what happens on reddit etc. over the long term.

The release of random information to different media groups including leaks and not maintaining constant contact with the public through an official forum should be viewed as unacceptable.

<comment><USER22> Reddit _was_ worthless. It libelled countless people for the "crime" of attending the Boston marathon whilst carrying a backpack, or worse, being "brown".

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> The reddit thread started with good intents. From what I saw (and I didn't follow it very much) the goal was to name _possible suspects_. They did this by look for people with large backpacks who were later seen without them.

The problem is that redditors are your average everyday people. Some people don't understand that "possible suspect" doesn't mean "this guy is a terrorist, get him". This mentality is not just reddit. It exist in our country already. Each time a suspect is pictured on TV, they already guilty in the minds of many viewers. It seems that most people don't understand our "innocent until _proven_ guilty" justice system.

</comment><comment><USER24> I think an interesting question is, what techniques could have improved the crowdsourcing attempts by reddit, 4chan, etc.

Obviously there's a huge amount of training that had the FBI zero-in on the terrorists. Was it different data they had access to, or was it simply the techniques that they used, and if so, can they be taught en masse?

To me, a large, motivated source of volunteer work like reddit or 4chan when looking for a needle in a haystack might be valuable in the future if something like this arises again.

<comment> jack-r-abbit In the beginning, "crowd-sourcing" should have been limited to anyone and everyone that had video and photos from the scene to upload them to a central DB. Then everyone can sift through and look for stuff... but instead of spewing their speculations all over the Net, let the FBI know so someone at the FBI can continue.

Once the FBI had photos of two people they needed help finding... THAT is when the crowd-sourcing really helped. There was a focused mission so it was easier to stay on target. Before that, it was just a (partially racially charged) cluster fuck.

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> From TFA - "His name turned up on the Boston Police Department's scanner early this morning"

Citation required. This is gaining truth through repeated assertion, but people looking for actual verification seem to be coming up short (one person could recall hearing this general police chatter including the word "Sammy", which apparently was enough, proving out what a confirmation bias is). Remember when there were broad claims of "confirmation" that the FBI were looking for the same individuals that had been widely, and mistakenly, identified? Only that wasn't actually true.

The danger of large crowds working loosely together is that not every participant has good intentions, and not every participant is mentally balanced. In the absence of legitimate information, someone maliciously dropping false information bombs in the middle of a well meaning conversation can dramatically mislead the herd.

</comment><comment><USER26> I don't think I've seen anything as douchey as embedding your own tweets in an article.</comment>


IBM & Wimbeldon: You can't accept t&cs electronically - <AUTHOR> http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/tickets/201205091336562669724.html

<comment><AUTHOR> The whole ticketing system for Wimbeldon is bonkers anyway (a ballot so you have the chance to get a ticket to a random match on a random day? Sounds great!) but this seems absolutely ridiculous:

'Whilst we have introduced online payments, currently there are no plans for online applications: we require you to sign an original form, agreeing to the terms and conditions of the ballot to which we refer should a query arise as to the validity of the application/ applicant.'

So apparently in all their wheelings and dealings, IBM have never come across the HTML "checkbox" element, coupled with a line of text like "By checking this box you agree to the terms and conditions"

How does anyone at IBM think this is good marketing for them? What's their tagline then? "IBM: Keeping you in the 1980s"??</comment>


65,000 New Android Devices Ship Each Day. How Much Are They Worth To Google? - <AUTHOR> http://aseidman.com/2010/05/65000-new-android-devices-ship-each-day-how-much-are-they-worth-to-google/

<comment><USER2> Wow. Major guesswork in the numbers here. Any one of those numbers could be out and throw the final result off by an order of magnitude.

The other point is lock in. Google have 65k new users locked into a google environment each day. Their recent acquisition of ad mob (etc..) will increase revenue.</comment>


Ask HN: What are you hacking on this weekend? - <AUTHOR> Do you have any side projects you are working on or something you are hacking on this weekend? <comment><USER2> I've been working on my next side project. I am hoping to get a beta out for it. Basically, I have a number of clients who need hosted database solutions. So I have made an automated relational database as a service solution with backup, restore, and high availability on multiple relational database engines.

Now that I have a few clients and it's working well, I would love to be able to market and sell it more widely.

<comment><USER3> Which database engines do you plan to support?

<comment><USER2> We currently support MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle. I have the ability technically to support MS SQL Server as well but I am still working on making it a cost effective solution. Microsoft's license model makes it rather expensive.

What engine would you be looking to use?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Bouldering. I have a project just down the hill from this one:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBockTKBV4w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBockTKBV4w)

Gotta step away from the machine for a few days every week to make sure the rest of your life gets lived. I find it actually makes me more productive when Monday rolls around.

</comment><comment><USER5> Random probably fruitless game development endeavors.

Still working on a game project I started in January. It's terrible, and could have been finished in a month if I knew what I was doing, and stopped shaving all these yaks.

Also I've decided I want to go through the noobtuts[0] Unity tutorials and implement them in C++, since they're really basic and I want to learn Unity and actually have some finished games.

[0][https://noobtuts.com/unity](https://noobtuts.com/unity)

</comment><comment><USER6> Last weekend and week I spent 20+ hours on a coding assessment for an interview. They said they liked me as a candidate, liked my work, but whereas I was always going to be a remote candidate, that just wasn't going to work for them right now. Sigh.

This weekend I'll hopefully get a chance to work on my Deck lights LED strip project.

[https://youtu.be/ww1q248jc7Q](https://youtu.be/ww1q248jc7Q)

<comment><AUTHOR> I have been wanting to make a LED strip design for Christmas ever since I saw the Johnson Family Christmas 2015 video. What does the hardware look like on your setup?

<comment><USER6> The hardware setup is based on what I had on-hand:

\- Raspberry Pi with WiFi dongle

\- Arduino Uno connected to rpi via USB

\- NeoPixel (ws2812b) LED strip connected to arduino [https://www.aliexpress.com/item/individually- addressable-1m-...](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/individually- addressable-1m-2m-4m-5m-waterproof- ip65-ip67-5050-rgb-30-60-74-96-144/32243894576.html)

\- Adafruit Power Supply [https://www.adafruit.com/products/658](https://www.adafruit.com/products/658)

All that is in a Tupperware box below the deck with an extension cord for power running to it.

I'm running PlatformIO on the rpi to program the arduino from the command line (love it), and still moving between FastLED and the NeoPixel libraries to drive the LED strips. I've installed Homebridge on the rpi to eventually be able to control the setup with Siri from an iDevice.

I'll eventually properly document the project, but for now, here are my brain- dump notes:

[https://github.com/kejaed/deckLights/blob/master/projectNote...](https://github.com/kejaed/deckLights/blob/master/projectNotes.md)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> A custom emulator for Ultima Online. (actually a fork of runuo)

<comment><USER8> For production or just for the fun of it?

<comment><USER7> Both!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Hopefully will have time to work on the book version of [https://codewithoutrules.com/saneworkweek/](https://codewithoutrules.com/saneworkweek/). And maybe a talk proposal for PyCon.

<comment><AUTHOR> That course looks really interesting. How many hours a week are required for the 5 week course?

<comment><USER9> It's very high level (there's a reason I'm working on a book). So parts of it are conceptual, so thinking about what you want, another part is "go practice negotiating at work, and here's some ideas" and that can take as long as you want.

So you can just read the email and that's it, and that'll take very little time. Or you could go full bore and spend a _lot_ of time on, say, building savings to improve your negotiating position.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Need to fix my express server and webpack build for the first production version of a website im working on

OT: any expert in react, webpack, express !! please tweet me at @nicofetter or email email@example.com

</comment><comment><USER11> I was asked if I could chime in to automate repetitive, inhumane, tasks in a HR process (a large number of people). It's mainly monitoring records matching a set of sentinels and triggering stuff.

I don't want to impose Python because the tools they're using offer scripting capabilities, so I'll just learn their stuff and point them towards scripting.

Also working on a few projects and learning as I go (JavaScript, XMPP, Google App Engine..) and will buy a couple of things for a hydroponics experiment.

</comment><comment><USER12> I'm working on a browser extension (just chrome for now) so I don't miss any amazon goldbox deal, check it out, feedback is very welcome [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/new-tab- deals/oglf...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/new-tab- deals/oglfkgdljllkdohgdjkcpklknblllmfb)

</comment><comment><USER13> Hopefully a turkey and a TCP server written in C

</comment><comment><USER14> Improving performance of latent space visualisation tools for spaces generated with Deep Learning Autoencoders

</comment><comment><USER15> Packaging winds for sandstorm.io

[https://github.com/GetStream/Winds](https://github.com/GetStream/Winds)

[https://github.com/sandstorm-io/sandstorm](https://github.com/sandstorm- io/sandstorm)

</comment><comment><USER16> Have some problems using a Meitracker for tracking trucks ( and temperature of the fridges), their gprs protocol is really bad.

Looking to get through it, have no choice.

On top of that, my webshop ( more languages), some websites ( clients) and other webshops ( clients) + erp integration with ErpNext or OpenErp

</comment><comment><USER17> The programming game [http://halite.io/](http://halite.io/)

I'd recommend it - really fun.

At the moment I'm ranked #23 with a really stupid bot. I'm now doing hammock driven development on a better concept.

</comment><comment><USER18> Backup 20+ very old hard disks with very old stuff on a new hard disk, trying to de-duplicate files. They are from windows 95/98 era. When copied, smash them with an hammer and dispose of them.

</comment><comment><USER19> Writing widgets with Algolia and Github API for a HN meetup page: [https://hn.silexlabs.org/index.html](https://hn.silexlabs.org/index.html)

</comment><comment><USER20> Trying my hand on a small elixir-based livestreaming video broadcast server using WebRTC. Broadcasters and Audience would be in react-native. Dunno if it would work though.

</comment><comment><USER21> Trying to create another Hacker News client on iOS with RubyMotion. Since I'm new to iOS development, this might be a toy project.

</comment><comment><USER22> More gamedev with UE4 [http://paddlevspaddle.com/](http://paddlevspaddle.com/)

</comment><comment><USER23> Going to a local Startup Weekend the next one and preparing for an apps recommender prototype combining security and popularity rankings.

</comment><comment><USER24> Finish the Machine Learning for Trading course on Udacity. I'm already halfway through.

</comment><comment><USER25> Gonna read a book.

<comment><AUTHOR> any particular book?</comment></comment>


Cross Compare of SQL Server, MySQL, and PostgreSQL - <AUTHOR> http://www.postgresonline.com/journal/index.php?/archives/51-guid.html

<comment><USER2> I got as far as the third "comparison" on install:

For SQL Server: "Hardest most time-consuming and biggest hog of resources of the 3 even when its not doing anything"

I stopped reading - it was clear from that and the previous sentences that the author had an ulterior motive than to provide an unbiased account of the three.</comment>


Dwolla: transactions under $10 are free - <AUTHOR> http://blog.dwolla.com/all-transactions-under-10-are-now-free-1-for-small-business/ <comment><USER2> For historical reasons, ACH is approximately as fast as airmailing someone money. When all the stars line up correctly, it is as fast as Fedexing money. Credit cards are like emailing money (and Paypal was, very explicitly,about emailing money). Dwolla is based on ACH.

There's probably a lot that can be done with cheap, user-friendly ACH in an API, but I don't know if folks really understand the "Your transaction takes 100 hours to settle" bit.

<comment><USER3> Isn't that the problem Dwolla is really trying to solve? Making ACH much quicker than it is now?

<comment><USER4> But Dwolla is not in a position to either fix or replace the ACH system.

<comment> Tuna-Fish > But Dwolla is not in a position to either fix or replace the ACH system.

On the contrary, based on the little PR that they have made, I feel that replacing the ACH system is their primary desired endgame. They are actively selling their payment network as an alternative to ACH for their member institutions.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Based on our collective confusion it is clear that the number one obstacle to using Dwolla is their own web site. When the "how it works" page starts with _"First there was bartering, then there was coinage, and of course paper tender followed with checks right behind."_ I'm fading fast.

I want a description of how a transaction goes down. I got that you set up Dwolla by attaching to a bank account for ACH. I got that you use your phone-- _somehow_. Can anyone explain the somehow? How about sending cash to a friend, is there any online demo of the interface for that?

<comment><USER6> I want to know this too. Also, does the consumer have to deposit money into a Dwolla account before buying things? Can devs use there api with checking account and routing numbers so that Dwolla is invisible to the user? Is there a delay before payments post?

<comment><USER7> You give Dwolla your checking account and routing numbers. They make two random deposits of a few cents within a few days, then you go back to Dwolla and tell them how much the deposits were for. Once your bank account is linked to Dwolla in this way, payments to other Dwolla users are instant. It takes a few days for them to withdraw from Dwolla into their bank account.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I've been following Dwolla for a while now, and I think this is a good step for them. I still have two big concerns, though:

1\. Credit cards. Consumers like using them--they offer something that debit cards don't: an "undo" option. Dwolla seems to have gone all in on pleasing merchants, but I think there are still huge barriers to get consumers to use their service. What's the value proposition? Why should I deposit money into a Dwolla account when I can just swipe a card?

2\. This might seem petty, but their site needs a re-design. When it comes to payments, your site needs to inspire confidence and trust. Compared to Square [1] and Stripe [2], Dwolla's blog and main site all look like amateur hour. Until recently their developer docs consisted of stickies in phpBB-esque forum.

[1] <https://squareup.com/> [2] <https://stripe.com/>

<comment><USER9> Can't see the phpBB-esque forum, so I'll have to take your word for it, but I'm interested in hearing what elements of their current homepage seem amateurish and what you think they're missing that would inspire trust.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Tried registering - the 20 chars limit on their password field is not mentioned. For a company that should be aware about security implications, an upper limit should not be there.

Also, I connected my Facebook account from the start, so Dwolla should know my country of origin before my attempt to register. However, only when I got prompted for my address info (third screen) I saw the message " _U.S. only...for now_ ", but hey, my city name got filled in.

And before that I tried looking around, going to their Help section, searching - I found no mention of this US-only thing.

<comment><USER11> What I have never understood is how password length limits come into existence. Is there _really_ some developer out there who things long passwords are bad? Are they using some sort of shitty technology that doesn't permit it for some reason and are too lazy to get around it? I just don't get it.

<comment><USER12> Possibly a holdover from the old, bad days of storing passwords in plaintext in the database, somebody said "nobody's going to need more than X characters," and it became a hard limit.

And then, later, when we all switched over to storing hashes instead of storing passwords, the idea of character limits never got quite all the way to the front end. (I'm working on a system right now that has a 35-character password limit. Granted, it's for mobile phones, where typing that much is a huge pain.)

<comment><USER10> Seriously, get rid of that limit - not all people type their passwords manually.

For instance, I have an online password generator that does a HMAC_SHA256 from a key + the domain name. I don't have to type the result - I just copy/paste !!!

I also get pretty annoyed when the validation in place asks me to also put an upper char or a number in it - as if a 15 chars password like that is any less safer than a 70 chars password that's made of only dictionary words + padding, which would be easier to remember but a lot harder to brute force.

Seriously, password validation these days is totally screwed.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> The question here is really "for how long?"

Ben isn't running a charity. If he thinks this strategy will help increase the user base, he could be right. The only problem is that if that strategy works, he'll be losing money on almost every transaction. (ACH transfers are cheap, but they're not free.) Dwolla also has pretty limited fraud detection at this point, and no bonds in most states to serve as nominal protection (see <http://www.facecash.com/legal/brown.html>). So at some point the price will need to rise again.

If the strategy does not work, then this will just hasten the company's demise. There's a remote chance it could help catalyze an acquisition, but that's really remote.

I then thought for a minute that perhaps this was a step toward operating legally in states like Pennsylvania (see [http://www.thinkcomputer.com/corporate/whitepapers/heldhosta...](http://www.thinkcomputer.com/corporate/whitepapers/heldhostage.pdf)), which waives its money transmission regulations only if you do not charge a fee (a la Venmo), but since you'd have to pay a fee at $10.01, that doesn't make sense.

So honestly I'm not sure I get what's going on here.

<comment><USER14> How long can they offer free micro- and mini-payments? (or should that be midi-payments?)

Well the clue appears to be:

"Dwolla is not a feature, it's a network… And on Dec 15th… Nothing will be more obvious." (from [http://blog.dwolla.com/on-december-15th-dwolla-will- change-a...](http://blog.dwolla.com/on-december-15th-dwolla-will-change-as-we- know-it/)).

So "it's a network" is your clue to working out how they're being 'acquired' and by whom. I'm going to go with integration in to Facebook because I have absolutely no clue ...

Also, ACH transfer fees are presumably set by the bank at the terminal ends of the transactions and so are likely, IMO, to be varied if the bank thinks that they're being exploited to avoid other types of payment fees.

<comment><USER15> ACH fees are set by Dwolla's banks that connect them to the fed network. ACH transfers tend to be free for the individual who is getting or sending money, unless you have a bank that charges you per transaction. ( think bill pay, or direct deposit).

While I don't know what rates Dwolla is getting, I'm going to guess that they're under 10c per transaction, and they may be as low as 1-2 cents per. I certainly hope they are for their sake.

What may save them a bunch, in cost and fraud, is if they can do the clearing between their accounts internally, and not hit the ACH network for most transactions.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I don't understand how this thing works. How is it different from paypal?

Someone at Dwolla should make a nice infographic explaining it. And a chart comparing Dwolla to paypal, google checkout, etc...

The 25 cents flat fee is the big selling point, but its well hidden in the support page.

<comment><USER17> 1) How it works: Dwolla works by leveraging the Automated Clearing House (ACH) system. But to do that, you have to link your Dwolla account to a checking account. The ACH system is not the credit card system, so it can avoid the requirement to pay a toll, and thus can avoid passing on those fees to their users.

2) How is it different? Dwolla doesn't charge a percentage of the transaction. They only charge $0.25. And now $0.00 for transactions under $10.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> I imagine they have a mechanism to detect abuse? I.e. a $100 transaction broken into ten $10 transactions to avoid the fee.

<comment><USER19> Why would you do this to save $0.25? So you're saving .25% a rounding error. Most people have bigger fish to fry...

Oh, but what about scale? What if I'm processing 1MM a day? You negotiate a new fee because you're xx% of their business.

For the little guys it's not worth the hassle, for the big guys it's probably easier just to call them.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> My two questions are:

1) As a consumer, if I see a Dwolla payment option and a Paypal payment option, why would I pick Dwolla?

2) As a seller, if I only have a Dwolla payment option, how many sales would I lose?

<comment><USER21> 2) Probably a lot to begin with. There is a perceived "security" in using cards online (thanks to years of marketing and PR by issuers, authorisers and gateways).

However, running Dwolla side-by-side with a card solution - with the reduced price option - I think it will be surprising to see how many customers start to see Dwolla as the favourite.

The trick is to create that difference for customers to see. And remember... just because your cost per transaction may go down, doesn't mean your prices have to! Why not use it as an opportunity to stick card fees on top?

I'm sure that will give customers plenty of incentive to the point where it makes no sense to use a full-time payment gateway... just stick Paypal's 'free' web payments solution on there to catch the drifters

<comment><USER22> Is this not in violation of the seller's merchant agreement though?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> _Do my _users_ need to be in the USofA to enjoy Dwolla?_ [0]

 _> Currently yes. We are exploring which market to enter next :)_

Not a criticism, just a heads up for developers not targeting solely USA clients...

[0] [http://getsatisfaction.com/dwolla/topics/do_my_users_need_to...](http://getsatisfaction.com/dwolla/topics/do_my_users_need_to_be_in_the_usofa_to_enjoy_dwolla)

</comment><comment><USER24> What's the quickest way to load funds to a Dwolla account?

If you already have bitcoins, then you simply trade them for USDs on an exchange such as Intersango.com or MtGox. Then withdraw those USDs to your Dwolla account and the funds are available for spending right away. From bitcoins to Dwolla USD, in a matter of minutes -- even including the time it takes to sign up for Dwolla!

If you don't already have bitcoins, you can probably find someone willing to trade their Dwolla funds for your PayPal funds. The #bitcoin-otc marketplace has traders who have Dwolla USDs but for whatever reason need to move those funds to PayPal. Oftentimes they will accept a 1:1 trade (e.g., your $50 PayPal buys $50 Dwolla USD.) <http://bitcoin-otc.com> <http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#bitcoin-otc-foyer>

</comment><comment><USER25> Interesting article that was on HN earlier I think:

[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi- bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/11/10/...](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi- bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/11/10/businessinsiderthis-28-year-old- is-.DTL&ao=2)

<comment><USER26> Also [http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/11/25/in-2015-wil...](http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/11/25/in-2015-will- credit-cards-and-banks-cash-in-on-bl.aspx)

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> Based on earlier comments by their founder, I imagine it's only a matter of time before they compete directly with credit cards using NFC. He's suggested that their goal is to compete directly with credit card companies like Visa.

Dwolla is currently making most of their revenue and customers from large landlords on rent payments. If Dwolla can produce an NFC badge or keychain (until NFC catches on in more phones) and can somehow become synonymous with NFC payments before the credit cards become big there, then I can see a huge market opening up for them. Vendors hate transaction fees and customers love convenience.

</comment><comment><USER28> Sigh... US Only... as usual...

</comment><comment><USER25> Does anyone know how hard it is to spin up a service like this on their own? Given they use relatively cheap ACH transfers, wouldn't you just need to find a bank that manages the money for you, and the rest is just doing a bunch of those ACH transfers?

Also, I'm not very familiar with US banking system, but it seems as Dwolla can withdraw funds from your account after you "verified" the account. It's a pretty common thing in Germany, but I have never heard of that in the US. Can any business do it or is it a Dwolla-specific thing?

<comment><USER13> I run FaceCash, which is based on accounting software I already had started writing ten years prior to starting in with payments. It's pretty difficult. Between the technology, regulatory and accounting hurdles, it's not a business for the faint of heart.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> I like what Dwolla is doing, but unfortunately without a faster way to move money out of Dwolla (transfer to PayPal, debit card, etc.) it's pretty useless for me right now.

The devs have told me that's completely against all they stand for, blah blah, but I think if they're trying to take down PayPal and the credit card companies they really need to budge a little bit to make the transition more palatable. I don't mind eating transaction fees until I can get some clients to use it.

<comment><USER24> Since Dwolla funds are kind of like cash, it is much easier to move them to something like PayPal.

This conversion happens frequently on the #bitcoin-otc marketplace as those selling bitcoins end up with excess Dwolla USDs. At the same time, there are others needing Dwolla USDs to buy Bitcoins, and will pay using PayPal USDs.

      http://www.bitcoin-otc.com
      http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#bitcoin-otc-foyer

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> Is Dwolla a competitor to <https://www.simple.com/> ? I'm not sure exactly what their service does - I know it's different than paypal and google checkout from previous articles. Can you use it to pay at brick and mortar stores like a debit card? It seems like it would only be useful if all merchants already accept it. Am I missing something or can someone explain it to me better?

<comment><USER13> No.

Simple provides an alternative on-line banking front-end through agency agreements with banks.

Dwolla provides a mobile payment service and Bitcoin routing services.

<comment><USER30> Thanks - so essentially they're just a better digital currency exchange platform? Better pricing and more features, but still have to build up their network of people who accept their transactions?

<comment><USER13> Yes, they're one of our competitors in that space, and everyone faces the same challenge getting started, plus regulatory issues.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> And this is unrelated to their upcoming big announcement on the 15th, there has been speculation that they will start accepting bitcoin.

<comment><USER32> That would take them out of my "take a look at these guys" column, and put them squarely in the trash-bin.

Why a payment company would spend time on a currency with built in deflation is beyond me. You might as well go do a payment-in-gold startup.

<comment><USER29> Bitcoin is squarely at the bottom of the dip in the Gartner Hype Curve right now. It's a little bit of a gamble, but it could pay off. The risk to Dwolla of facilitating Bitcoin transfers is pretty minimal.

<comment><USER32> > Bitcoin is squarely at the bottom of the dip in the Gartner Hype Curve right > now.

Similarly, the Gartner hype curve is at the peak of the Gartner hype curve.

Gartner doesn't change the fact that bitcoin is deflationary and will die as a currency for the same reason that precious metals died: They are deflationary.

<comment><USER33> > bitcoin is deflationary and will die as a currency for the same reason that > precious metals died: They are deflationary.

Precious metals are no longer used as money because of deflation? Care to justify that?

Are you sure it wasn't due to the numerous benefits of fiat money? (Not to say that fiat is perfect.)

<comment><USER34> I assume he means paper money backed by precious metals.

And yes, being deflationary is why that is no longer done.

The amount of paper money in the world should equal the amount of resources. If it doesn't you have deflation and all sort of trouble.

<comment><USER35> This is highly inaccurate.

You guys are referring to Gresham's Law which is only applicable due to legal tender laws. Without legal tender laws, the "good money" wouldn't be driven out by the "bad money" (i.e. US currency).

Also, the reason the US government went completely off the gold standard in 71 was to increase deficit spending without having to pay our debts in gold or something of real value. The Fed has a policy of steady inflation, only through debt liquidation can we ever expect to pay off the huge amounts we owe. That is, we borrow 10 trillion and inflate 50% over a certain time, now we only owe 5 trillion.

End the legal tender laws, allow alternative commodity-based currencies and end the central planning of interest rates. This is the solution. It has nothing to do with gold (or Bitcoins) being a deflationary currency. It has everything to do with big corrupt government.

edit- I don't want that last sentence to color my whole statement. I'm an Austrian, not a Republican. I worked for Obama last time and will vote for him again. For a better perspective on this, check out (future Fed Chairman!) James Grant's Interest Rate Observer <http://www.grantspub.com>.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> This could be a boon for taxi drivers. They _hate_ credit card fees, especially for quick trips that are <= $10.

<comment><USER34> Yah right that I'm going to give a taxi driver any access to my debit card, even indirect access.

</comment></comment><comment><USER36> Still only available for US bank accounts :(

I'm in Australia, any way to easily/cheaply open a US bank account?</comment>


The problem with Microsoft according to Steve Jobs (1 minute video) - <AUTHOR> http://codesketch.com/2010/05/the-only-problem-with-microsoft%E2%80%A6-%E2%80%94-steve-jobs/

<comment><AUTHOR> The calligraphy/typography connection I found to be interesting, but I don't think I'd say "computers would NEVER have beautiful typography if it wasn't for Apple", but they certainly put pressure on their competitors to include it quicker.

</comment><comment><USER2> Enjoyed it. Nice video.</comment>


Unikernels: Rise of the Virtual Library Operating System - <AUTHOR> http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=2566628 <comment><USER2> Some good comments prior of MirageOS [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7726748](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7726748)

</comment><comment><USER3> I have always thought that development should be something like this. The only thing you need to resolve is how to handle proprietary source code.

Oh and also what if everyone doesn't want to code in ocaml?

I think we need something similar but built on a type of ontology or description logics or something that represents the program in a common way that is not tied to a particular language representation or model. So I would start with research that does automated program generation in Ocaml and create a semantic model of those concepts.

You want to convert the functions from mirageos into this common knowledge representation in a way that integrates with the program generation ontology.

You then want to create a projectional editing system which allows for different representations including but not limited to ocaml.

<comment><USER4> _Oh and also what if everyone doesn 't want to code in ocaml?_

Then you'd probably be looking for Cloudius OSv, which is written in C++ and runs mainly JVM apps (but is essentially the same idea). [http://osv.io/](http://osv.io/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> The guy who headed the project was interviewed recently in a podcast: [http://www.se-radio.net/2014/05/episode-204-anil- madhavapedd...](http://www.se-radio.net/2014/05/episode-204-anil-madhavapeddy- on-the-mirage-cloud-operating-system-and-the-ocaml-language/) , he provided some very interesting insights into the MirageOS, Unikernels and Ocaml</comment>


The Most Valuable Companies of All Time - <AUTHOR> http://www.visualcapitalist.com/most-valuable-companies-all-time/ <comment><USER2> [https://www.forbes.com/sites/uhenergy/2017/06/21/how-much- is...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/uhenergy/2017/06/21/how-much-is-saudi- aramco-worth-it-depends-on-the-countrys-institutions/#324f05de7b83)

This article from June 2017 seems to indicate that Saudi Aramco's IPO next year may be as low as 500 billion, while the Saudis are aiming as high as 2 trillion. So I'm a little skeptical of that 4.4 trillion dollar valuation in 2010 even accounting for inflation. Can anyone shed some light on this discrepancy?

Also, why isn't it in the infographic with the other modern companies? That's strange!

<comment><AUTHOR> Companies don't have to make 100% of their shares public.</comment></comment>


Looking for a Technical Co-Founder - <AUTHOR>

I am looking for a technical co-founder to join me.  I have been working very hard on planning and research for the last three months on this idea.  I have over 130 pages worth of research which includes market research, competitor's analysis, design ideas, features and functionality document, site map, financial projections, pitch deck, and etc.
Here is a little about me: -I have graduated from one of the top undergraduate business school in the US.
-I am willing to work my ass including weeknights, weekends, or whatever it takes.  I am willing to work 24/7 on this and give up everything else in my life to work on this.
-I am really good at people's skills, presenting, networking, and business development.  I am also an extrovert and pretty easy to get along with.
-I am well read.  I love reading and have read books in many different fields including: management, psychology, philosophy, start-ups, and etc.  I have also read the Lean Startup.
-I am currently learning Ruby on Rails and know bit of PHP and Python.  I have taken several computer science classes in college and know the foundational of programming.  I am learning programming non-stop for now until I can find someone technical to join me.  Learning more programming can never hurt.
If you feel like working with someone who is willing to work his ass off and put his 110% on something then please contact me.  I am very driven, have a sickening work ethic, and have hunger to build something that one day millions of people will use.
Please feel free to reach out to me at: matt.gerboth at gmail dot com
(there is a dot betweem matt and gerboth)
Thanks and look forward to hearing from you. <comment><USER2> Hey,

Just curious if this idea has been validated yet. Three months is quite a lot of time to spend on research - I'm curious if you have validated that people would use it.

I'd be interested in hearing about the research. The question I have is, why did you compile so much information? You mentioned 130 pages... that just seems like a lot for someone familiar with "Lean Startup" methodology.

Also, what is the idea? I don't need all the details, but I hope you can disclose the basic premise.

<comment><AUTHOR> I guess the only way to validate the idea is to build it and see if people use it. I have asked potential users and all have said that they would use a service like this.

The research includes pages, site maps, design thoughts, basically everything I could do before building the product. This helps me also talk to potential technical co-founder to let him or her know that I am just not some crazy guy with some crazy idea pitching to them to come on board with me.

Sure, The idea is "amazon for services" where people can buy services just like products. Email me and we can definitely talk in more details.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Few things...

1\. The dot isn't required, your email will still work without it

2\. I'd imagine people would be more appreciative if you actually pitched your idea. I know you responded below but more details in the original post is better. As well as more info about you i.e. what is the mystery school, what your background is before this, did anything else, where are you even located, etc...

3\. I saw your response to another commentator and I don't agree that you need to build something to see if people will use it. Part of doing business is to go out, and get committed users who are interested in the idea. 130 pages is obsessive and it sounds like none of which included actual customers committed to the idea and feedback. 130 solid leads would be better than 130 pages at this point.

<comment><AUTHOR> All great feedback. Thanks for the honesty.

Yeah I definitely should've said where I was located.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> What area is your idea in? You don't have to give exact specifics, but you can and should say what space it is in. When looking for a co-founder you want someone who shares your passion and vision about the product.

Also, in your research have you spoken directly to potential customers/users?

I'm a technical founder seeking co-founders as well.

You show a lot of drive and dedication. Best of luck!

<comment><AUTHOR> The idea can be summed up in three words "Amazon for services" . I have talked to seller and buyers and have received validation (but then again its easy for people to say yeah I would use something like this).

If you are interested then please email me and I will share with you the documents that lay everything out.

Are you looking for technical co-founders. I am also open to joining someone else whose idea I believe in. Email me and we can talk more.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> All smart people have there own idea, its really difficult to persuade others to leave there own idea and work upon yours without concreteness. With the kind of fuzziness in your post, I think people will think twice even before mailing.

Also I would suggest look in your inner circle ( friends / friends of friends ) which work because you guys need to get together.

Good Luck for your startup !

</comment><comment><USER6> Hello Naushad,

I am not a technical person, but I am exactly at the same place you are right now;- looking for a tech co-founder.

I just wanted to say that this is a very well written post (just my opinion, I am a newbie too). I would use this as a template when I am looking for a technical co-founder.

Good luck!

<comment><USER7> If you use it as a template (as in: writing the same kind of things) it no longer comes from the heart, rendering it useless. It has to be genuine.

I liked the post as well, I might even consider being his technical co- founder, but I'm too busy building my own startup ;-)

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Does your idea solve a problem? Are people willing to pay you to solve that problem for them?

Three months of paperwork is great, but if the answer to the above two questions is no, said paperwork is sorta useless.

<comment><AUTHOR> I completely agree with you on the fact that months of paper don't really mean anything but it helps me pitch to a developer to let him or her know that I have thought through this idea and it really helped me lay down my thoughts.

I believe my idea does solve a problem but the only true way to test my assumption is to build out something simple to see if people need something like this. I would be truly willing to pay for something that I want to build.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> This might help you - [http://thestartuptoolkit.com/blog/2012/11/stop-looking- for-c...](http://thestartuptoolkit.com/blog/2012/11/stop-looking-for- cofounders-and-help-them-find-you-instead/)

<comment><AUTHOR> To be honest, this is all good in theory but really hard to do. Its easier said then done.</comment></comment>


Robert Cringely - the end?  Prediction 8: No more predictions - <AUTHOR> http://www.cringely.com/2012/01/prediction-8-no-more-predictions/

<comment><AUTHOR> Say it isn't so.</comment>


Let's make code for IoT and Linux easy and modular - <AUTHOR> https://opk.hackpad.com/Lets-make-code-for-IoT-and-Linux-easy-and-modular-Mh0YNcm3w0X <comment><USER2> I originally flagged this, but than unflagged. The title had me curious, but it hits a login screen. Can you explain what it is you're trying to get me to login to?</comment>


iPhone 5 Website leaked - <AUTHOR> http://showyou.com/v/14769888

<comment><USER2> The quality on the iphone images looks fake. Why would they be using poorly rendered hardware, rather than sticking photoshopped screen images on real hardware (like they do on the rest of their product pages).

</comment><comment><USER3> They wouldn't have shown a "No Service" signal strength on the top left of one of the screenshots. Always show 5 bars and remove the carrier name if needed but never ever suggest that you get No Service with an iPhone.

</comment><comment> tomh- He quickly changes the URL to the Apple domain in the first few microseconds of 00:00, pause the video and rewind a bit :). Looks good though!

</comment><comment><USER4> I call shenanigans.

</comment><comment><USER5> I can't really tell if this is real. I don't imagine it is but then again, you never know

</comment><comment><USER6> I don't know whether this is real or not but I do like the shape of the phone they show.

</comment><comment><USER7> fake, but good try.. must've taken hours.

</comment><comment><USER8> Oh so fake.</comment>


Steve Blank - VCs Should Be Startup CEOs - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.wsj.com/accelerators/2013/01/22/vcs-should-be-startup-ceos/

<comment><USER2> Yes, startup CEOs will have a better understanding of the problems that a startup faces. Breakthrough.

<comment><USER3> Entrepreneurship is learned by doing it.

Investment is diversification-driven.

Put these 2 things together and you minimize a lot of risk.</comment></comment>


'Human computer' Shakuntala Devi has died - <AUTHOR> http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/mathematical-genius-shakuntala-devi-no-more/article4640134.ece <comment><USER2> I feel that she was a child-genius like Ramanujan, but was unfortunate to be not "discovered" by a mentor like G.H.Hardy. She had great memorization skills and logical thinking, so obviously excelled at writing puzzles' books. It's a pity that her contributions to modern mathematics is zilch. I still wonder why didn't she take up number theory. She went into astrology (yea, not astronomy), which is still debated as a pseudo-science. She could've done so much, but alas it's too late now. But well, each person to his own, each -ology to itself. RIP.

<comment><USER3> I don't think astrology is _debated_ as a pseudo-science.

<comment><USER4> +1, astrology is the poster child for pseudo-science.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> >Rated as one in 58 million for her stupendous mathematical feats by one of the fastest super-computers ever invented —the Univac — 1108 —, Ms. Devi believed in using grey cells to silicon chips.

This is somewhat unclear. Wikipedia clears up what's probably meant here:

>In 1977 in Dallas she competed with a computer to see who give the cube root of 188138517 faster. She won. At an American university she was asked to give the 23rd root of 91674867692003915809866092758538016248310668014430862240712651642793465704086709659 3279205767480806790022783016354924852380335745316935111903596577547340075681688305 620821016129132845564805780158806771. She answered in 50 seconds. Her answer of 546372891 took a UNIVAC 1108 computer a full minute (10 seconds more) to confirm that she was right after it was fed with 13000 instructions.

<comment><USER6> Did she ever document her mental process for these sorts of feats? I mean, I doubt I could come up with the correct answer given an unlimited time, a ream of paper, and a pocket calculator, so I'm fascinated how she did. Was she very good at complex math, or did she leverage a huge working memory to split the problem up into a larger number of simpler calculations, or some other combination of factors?

<comment><USER7> This is somewhat related. I remember watching an episode of "Stan Lee's Super humans" on the Discovery channel. They were with a man who was also able to do lightning fast calculations, not of the complexity as described in the article, but he could easily recall dates, multiply 5 digit numbers faster than someone with a calculator etc.

They put this man under an MRI scanner while giving him problems to solve. What they noticed was an unusually high activity in a part of the brain that is responsible for eye movement. So – perhaps not very scientifically responsible – the neurologist offered the explanation that he was using a part of his brain that is normally used to solve complex mathematics subconsciously in order to position our eyes properly throughout the day. Apparently this motor movement is very complex and he was leveraging the ability of this area to solve these arithmetic problems and engage in pattern matching in order to recollect past dates.

<comment><USER8> So like GPGPU, but with specialised parts of the brain instead? That's pretty cool.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Shakuntala Devi had also inspired an entire generation to read and understand her books about recreational mathematics. Her books like 'Puzzles to Puzzle You' were used to prepare for interviews in IT companies which used to have several rounds of puzzle solving.

She would probably be the last human (that I am aware of) who could beat a computer in arithmetic.

</comment><comment><USER10> I was enthralled as a child reading her books - <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakuntala_Devi#Books>

<comment><USER11> "The World of Homosexuals"

What's that one about?

<comment><USER10> Ha Ha I didn't read that one as a child, but I gather it is a very small book which is more of an interview.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> It's ironic that the article got her year of birth wrong: 1929 instead of 1939.

<comment><USER13> That's still a better uptime than any computer I've ever seen! (Come to think of it, with my health and with my luck, that's a better uptime than my mortal solenoid is probably ever going to have... :/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Calculating 23rd roots is a different story, but finding the day of the week for any date isn't actually that hard. John Conway came up with a manageable method, which was improved a few years back. I think I've simplified it a bit further: [http://gcanyon.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/a-better-way-to- calc...](http://gcanyon.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/a-better-way-to-calculate- the-day-of-the-week/)

</comment><comment><USER15> It is by will alone I set my mind in motion....

<comment><USER16> It is by the juice of sapho that thoughts acquire speed...

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Would she have been eligible for James Randi's million dollars?

<comment><USER18> James Randi is looking for the supernatural, not the superhuman. Usain Bolt is also not eligible.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> and non-human computers are still alive. so

</comment><comment><USER20> I hope they weren't running any mission-critical software on her...</comment>


Show HN: A place to get feedback on your projects - <AUTHOR> http://projectilo.com

<comment><USER2> When I click the 'terms of use' button with 'open in new tab' I get the sign up page again.

When I click it with 'open in current window' I get a page which says 'What?'

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks so much. fixed</comment></comment>


Universal Basic Income - <AUTHOR> http://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/universal-basic-income <comment><USER3> This Hacker News headline is bogus. The linked article doesn't prove that at all. This is click-bait.

A simplistic one-paragraph $13,000 UBI proposal was made, and the question was whether it was better than the status quo. Many of the economists chose "disagree" because they felt the details of the UBI proposal were unworkable; not because they disagree with the idea of UBI.

Here are some of the comments from those who disagree:

"And the children get nothing? The basic idea is sound but too simplistic as stated."

"A minimum income makes sense, but not at the cost of eliminating Social Security and Meidcare."

"John Cochrane proposes variants that would be better."

"13K is inadequate for anyone with no other income."

"The simplicity is attractive, but deceptive. Coupled with universal health care & tax reform it could work. but we are far from that."

</comment><comment><USER4> The title is misleading in two ways.

First, 60% does not sound like too much (makes you think that 40% agree) until you see that only 2% actually agree with it.

Second, the question is not about UBI in general, but about a very specific proposal: "[U]niversal basic income of $13,000 a year — financed by eliminating all transfer programs (including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, housing subsidies, household welfare payments, and farm and corporate subsidies)".

<comment><USER5> Yep, terrible title.

"People disagree with implementing an idea in this specific way? They must not like the idea at all, in any circumstance!"

Of course, the only way you _could_ finance a $13 000 UBI is by getting rid of all those other transfer programs, pretty much.

<comment><USER6> Raising taxes is the best way of financing UBI. Eliminating some transfer programs will help, but eliminating all of them (like Medicare) will cause significant pain and suffering.

Most sane UBI proposals have taxes going up just enough so that taxes on the middle class go up enough to offset the UBI; resulting in no net benefit or cost to the middle class.

<comment><USER5> To pay all adults in the US (240 million) a UBI of $13,000 would require $3.1 trillion. The entire US federal budget (which is still in deficit by $500 billion) is $3.8 trillion. That can't be made up just with a little bit of increased taxation.

<comment><USER6> If my taxes increase by $13,000 at the same time as the government gives me a cheque for $13,000, I'm not going to care, I'm just happy knowing that $13,000 is coming in regularly no matter what happens to my job. So the only people with an _effective_ tax increase are the rich, and for a lot less than $3.1 trillion.

<comment><USER5> Okay, but if you are, on net, not paying in more to the system than you're getting, then someone is going to have to pay that difference. You cannot maintain all those social programs, _and_ a UBI, without those very large tax increases to pay for those who are net UBI consumers.

<comment><USER6> Certainly. If you work the numbers, you'll find that you can get a workable UBI with hundreds of billions in benefit reductions and hundreds of billions in non-offset tax increases.

Really big numbers, but not crazy unworkable big.

<comment><USER5> A hundred billion here, a hundred billion there; pretty soon you're talking real money.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The headline here is an unfair summary of the actual question asked. The question asked lays out a very specific proposal and quite some comments indicate that the person disagrees because the sum proposed does not adequately cover the services cut - which is quite contrary to a disagreement with UBI in principle.

(e.g.: Eric Maskin: "A minimum income makes sense, but not at the cost of eliminating Social Security and Meidcare.")

</comment><comment><USER8> It seems like an impossible challenge to tackle the downsides of automation and loss of low skilled jobs without basic income. I can't imagine how society is supposed to continue to function for the people displaced by large scale automation without something like basic income.

<comment><USER9> Basic income isn't some magical panacea. It does exactly the same thing as social security/welfare, but slightly more efficiently. It has the same problem: the rich aren't going to give up money to make it work. Would you accept a 10% tax hike on your income? Because that's roughly what it would take to make basic income provide anything resembling a quality of life to the incoming jobless class.

<comment><USER10> Would I give up 10% of my income to prevent riots and a rural/urban civil war? Yes, yes I would and frankly if you wouldn't you're being penny wise and pound foolish. You can't just write off the entire blue collar class as they slide into starvation and go "well that's unfortunate," those are people, and more specifically people a lot more used to surviving off the grid than you are. We need them a lot more than they need us.

<comment><USER11> ^ , yes that's the main reason why rich/richer will tolerate.

People without money will tolerate it for a few years, but since it's 99% of Population it will eventually all explode and either slide into chaos, or some war. Don't need to look further than czarist Russia/Soviet Union to see what happens. 10/20% tax hike is peanuts in comparison to getting you and your family shot.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> mike-cardwell If you're an economist or work in finance and you are asked this question, your answer is almost certainly going to be based on what you think will happen to the economy. If you think that the economy will get worse, or improve at a slower rate, you will automatically assume that means it should not be introduced.

Maybe. Just maybe. Something which makes the economy worse, might also be a good thing to do.

</comment><comment><USER12> From June 2016.

"Universal Basic Income – Poll Results from IGM Economic Experts Panel"

Previously posted on HN with 120 comments: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12009562](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12009562)

</comment><comment><USER13> You don't need economists to disprove basic income works, you need evidence. All the evidence I've seen points to it working well.

A lot of economists work in finance, the industry that benefits the most from our financial system staying the way it is.

<comment><USER14> No, it doesn't. Look up communism. Look up productivity in conservative communist countries. They had universal income and a huge group of society was milking the system. If you want to help people, deregulate street trade and small trade and you will be able to help unemployed people get simple jobs selling homemade products etc. Add $0,10 tax on all plastic bottles - <USER2> large supermarkets to buy them back from people. This will eliminate extreme poverty immediately. Remove brackets that force a person to forfeit welfare if they find part time job - instead dynamically reduce welfare when other income is introduced. Allow people to work and to earn money easily, and the will. Do not hand out money for free.

<comment><USER13> Hint, if you start off by assuming the person you're disagreeing with is so uneducated that they need to "look up communism", you may not be responding to what they are actually saying.

Case inpint: communism is nothing like basic income. With basic income, you always are rewarded for working: people who work are paid in addition to their basic income. If you wish to disagree with me, please tailor your disagreements to what is actually happening, not straw men.

<comment><USER14> Well, you are wrong. Not sure what communism you are talking about, but communism in countries like Poland and East Germany had exactly that. Everyone was receiving income no matter what. People working on higher positions were receiving higher income and were allowed to buy more. As simple as that.

<comment><USER13> But higher positions weren't based on the value of work, they were based on nepotism, corruption, etc. Incidentally, I think that's essentially how capitalism works too, but if you're going to claim that work determines pay in a capitalist economy, then you have to admit that it also does in a UBI system.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> If you pick a bunch of people who all think the same way it's not very surprising when a majority takes one particular side in a debate. For example, in another survey of the same group of experts, 98% agreed that the USA is better off after NAFTA[1]. That isn't to suggest they're wrong, but is does indicate that this might be a group of people who aren't very diverse in their opinions.

[1] [http://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/free- trade](http://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/free-trade)

</comment><comment><USER16> Some of their comments show a deplorable lack of vision:

> "Bill Gates would get 13K, which is crazy. Raising taxes is costly and so > redistribution should be targeted to those who need help most."

People like Bill Gates without a doubt would have to be taxed more (amounting to much more than 13k) for this to work. The current system works by redistributing and targeting those who supposedly need help most. As of now, it works somewhat ok for the most part but it's tremendously wasteful and promotes wrong incentives. A basic income can reduce that waste and puts everyone on an equal footing.

> "Total health expenses and risk will remain high for individuals. It might > also shift the norm whether to work. Work = being part of society" > "Lots > of conflicting incentives that can discourage work in the existing rules."

Because work is an end to itself? Opinions like these seem to be founded in Puritan ethics (work as penance in this life) rather than economic reasoning. If human work doesn't necessarily create value anymore what's the point in continuing to work by the current rules from an economic perspective?

> "What about e.g. national defense?"

Sure. Everything's up for discussion. Save for sacred national defence.

> "A minimum income makes sense, but not at the cost of eliminating Social > Security and Meidcare." > "This is a dumb question. We are not going to > eliminate Social Security and Medicare etc."

Why is that exactly? Are we that stuck in ideology that as a society we can't seem to think beyond concepts that date back to the first Industrial Revolution anymore?

<comment><USER17> Regarding _" People like Bill Gates without a doubt would have to be taxed more"_, the problem is that the question doesn't include those taxes - i.e., it's the proposal that is shortsighted, not the voters. They can't invent other stuff out of the blue to justify their vote, otherwise each person would be effectively voting on a different question.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> The necessity for something like a universal basic income is pretty obvious to me. However I wonder, as it expands if politics will change in a very negative way.

Let's say distribution is an even division between the entire population. If the distribution is low, the obvious solution soon becomes "reduce population". The specifics of that can be pretty gnarly, even if it's a simple "attrition" policy. My imagination for what's possible goes to dark places.

I wonder "who" will make the policies, and I fear the power structures will change in very negative ways. I can see reactions to power structures changing to change to a blockchain type system ran by algorithms... but that has equally dystopian ramifications.

Though its defiantly a rosy picture, the old west I think appeals to a lot of people like me because old world capitalism allows for independence. As we scale society we're giving a way that independence for equality and comfort. The problem is there are always inherit problems in every system, and someone finds a way to exploit them.

</comment><comment><USER19> The economists are responding to one very specific version of UBI: _Granting every American citizen over 21-years old a universal basic income of $13,000 a year — financed by eliminating all transfer programs (including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, housing subsidies, household welfare payments, and farm and corporate subsidies) — would be a better policy than the status quo._

E.g. William Nordhaus disagrees as follows: _And the children get nothing? The basic idea is sound but too simplistic as stated._

Some of the comments seem quite shallow too. E.g. Oliver Hart (Nobel prize laureate) says: "Bill Gates would get 13K, which is crazy". You might object to giving the 1% $13K on moral grounds (but they profit from e.g. free infrastructure too, that is no problem?), but if the wastage is only 1%, it would compare very favorably with many other programs.

<comment><USER20> The Bill Gates comment sounds shallow because Bill Gates getting $13K is certainly not the problem. The problem is that this version of UBI essentially takes money from poor folks and gives it to middle class, well-off people. Someone who was getting, say, $2K/month disability benefits, would get $1000 under this UBI version. While a SV programmer would get additional $1000/month out of nowhere. How is that making the society function better?

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> I would love to see on what basis. Basic income might or might not work but current economic models have no way of calculating that as they arent able to take externalities into account such as exponential growth of technological progress.

</comment><comment><USER22> It seems to me that the only thing that a universal basic income will do is make corporations richer.

If you "double" the income of people living at or below the poverty line, you do not double their buying power. Mile that cost $2/L will now cost $4/L, rent will skyrocket, because more "welfare" will be available.

I wholly support the concept of UBI. But it can ONLY work if we restrict how much corporations can charge. Some things that would help in that regard: restrict the $ divide between the highest paid and lowest paid positions in a corporation.

<comment><USER23> Do people really not see that all of this central planning stuff is just economic whack-a-mole?

So what happens to the middle class families that are looking to buy their first home when their taxes increase by 10%. If the household income is $150k, that 1000/month basic income check is going to be less than what is taken in the tax increase. Looks like that family can't buy that house now.

One tiny example, but central planning has a million trickle effects that have to be compensated for. It's too much to try and balance and get right.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> I've been thinking there should be a 'second' (?) currency. Basic income would be paid in this currency and you can buy certain stuff with it. Food, rent, gas etc.

Then we keep our current currencies right next to it. You can buy the same stuff but also other 'luxury goods' (or find a better nicer name for it)

I know that the Dutch government already makes this distingsion where we have 6% tax on food, art, medicine (and other stuff) and 21% tax on the rest. Since the distingsions is there and recognized, we can utilize it for other purpuses.

<comment><USER5> Well, they have that, as "food stamps". But of course it gets arbitraged often by people buying storable commodity goods (like soda or detergent) with it, and selling those things at a discount.

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> It seems a number of the responses were based on the specific wording of the question ($13000 per year, no other complementary reforms such as abolishing medical insurance industry mentioned).

</comment><comment><USER26> It sure seams like 60% of economists missed the Great Recession, too

</comment><comment><USER27> Well, economists only get things right 50% of the time (i.e. their predictions are purely aleatory), so this doesn't really mean much.

Here is a very interesting article about all those major failed recent predictions by economists: [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06Economic-t.html...](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06Economic-t.html?pagewanted=all)

</comment><comment><USER28> Because In India, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_mobility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_mobility) != [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_mobility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_mobility)

</comment><comment><USER29> 60% of economists disagreed that market conditions were correct in 2008 for a global recession.

Why people continue to put so much stock in economists?

The only other profession I know of that is proven wrong so consistently but remain doggedly dedicated are religious institutions.

</comment><comment><USER30> My beef with UBI is that it is seen as a fiscal policy to replace welfare (and therefore funded by tax), rather than an alternative distribution of money created by monetary policy.

</comment><comment><USER31> some math on how much UBI would cost in america: [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zat6b6_8vYYBo4rVSwqN...](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zat6b6_8vYYBo4rVSwqNvhAZBmqQFEisqoRUX9EXSIg/edit?usp=sharing)

try editing the "UBI Benefit" and "UBI Tax Rate" to see the total budget effects.

* assumes no money from medicare, medicaid or SS, just existing welfare benefits.

</comment><comment><USER32> If there is no ladder to power to climb, what to do with all the unemployed climbers, who paid those economists so well?

</comment><comment><USER33> The more truthful statement would be economists disagree with abolishing social security and Medicare

</comment><comment><USER34> A shame that more didn't provide even a one-sentence note.

<comment><USER35> I think some of the votes left comments.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> Because they're living in a world devoid from reality;

</comment><comment><USER36> Yeah but since when did economists know anything about the real economy? The fact that it is 60% and not 10% or 90% illustrates that.</comment>


A BNF Parser in Forth - <AUTHOR> http://www.bradrodriguez.com/papers/bnfparse.htm <comment><USER2> Neat, but hard to access, considering the screen shots. Has anyone copied/pasted that in repl.it and tried it out ?</comment>


Our conceptual dark age of man-machine interaction - <AUTHOR> http://pwpwp.blogspot.com/2010/01/our-conceptual-dark-age-of-man-machine.html

<comment><USER2> It doesn't seem like any of his proposals would have even remotely the impact of Apple's work in 1984. Actually, even compared to the concept of a touch screen phone that works as they developed in the iPhone. Maybe I'm missing a joke here, but I'd say that he's not in a place to criticize if he thinks that "object-oriented drawings" or "wiki namespaces" are going to be more useful innovations than even the tiniest detail of what Apple, or, hell, Microsoft is doing.

</comment><comment><USER3> I found myself lost in the Carver Mead interview linked in the blog post instead: [http://freespace.virgin.net/ch.thompson1/People/CarverMead.h...](http://freespace.virgin.net/ch.thompson1/People/CarverMead.htm)

Pretty convincing for someone, such as myself, with almost no knowledge of quantum physics, and hence extremely confused as to the logic behind it all.

</comment><comment><USER4> I don't know if his details are correct but I think the _sweep_ , the direction of his thinking is correct.

The overall model of human-machine interaction is stuck.

But improving _that_ is incredibly hard.

It's nice to have even a small base to discuss the improvements by.</comment>


Ask HN: Implications of faster than light speed travel? - <AUTHOR>

What are the major things that need to be rethought if this is in fact possible? <comment><AUTHOR> There's a prize for the best answer here: [http://zombal.com/zomb/scientific- question/implications-for-...](http://zombal.com/zomb/scientific- question/implications-for-faster-than-speed-of-light-travel)

</comment><comment><USER2> Things that need to be rethought? Well, pretty much the entirety of physics for starters.

[http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/fasterlight.php#id-- Causali...](http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/fasterlight.php#id--Causality)</comment>


Heuristic Function for Nine Men's Morris - <AUTHOR> https://kartikkukreja.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/heuristicevaluation-function-for-nine-mens-morris/

<comment><USER2> We played this game a lot as kids. It's also called Mill or Müell. After a few years my sister "solved" it. She showed that the first player could win every time if they made no blatant mistakes. It wasn't as much fun after that.</comment>


Twits on Twitter are no help in a crisis... - <AUTHOR> http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/twits-on-twitter-are-no-help-in-a-crisis-20110315-1bvgb.html

<comment><USER2> How not to change mass behaviour: insult your audience in the headline, try to influence the lowest common denominator and ignore trend-setters, tell people to stop doing something they want to do without providing an alternative.

People who want to talk vacantly about an unfolding event will do so, and will not read articles like this. If social media adepts see a signal:noise problem, they know how to create new channels. That's the whole point of the internet.

<comment><AUTHOR> The article did give some very clear suggestions: \- Give directly to the Red Cross instead of lady gaga \- Don't abuse hashtags in an emergency

Even back in the days of the CB Radio craze there were very specific rules for emergencies — if Twitter is going to evolve into something like that it will need a similar set of rules

<comment><USER2> Donations are not an alternative to chatter though and charity hijacking is nothing new. 'Don't' is not an alternative to anything and 'abuse' is subjective, as is 'emergency' incidentally. #jan25 was many things to many people.

CB is bandwidth-limited and provides few options for resource discovery in comparison to the internet.

In case it's not clear, what I'm saying is that it's the responsibility of broadcasters, guerrilla or otherwise, to find effective uses for the communication tools at hand.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> People use twitter (and other SM sites) mostly as emotional toilets, throwing out there whatever gets to their mind. This wil not change likely, it's sickness of the masses who are mostly not taking things responsible, some do but they get buried by this random nonsense.

Thats why I follow on Twitter maximum 50 people and only those who are focused on providing useful information and not whether they got drunk yesterday and today they woke up with huge headache.

Saying that you are sending prayers and light on twitter to people in need is just one big excuse for doing nothing and continuing with your breakfast while you feel good about yourself.

</comment><comment><USER4> Thats like saying going to church is no help in a crisis. It helps people deal with the emotional toll of loss and a removal of a large part of meaning in their life. The exchange of thoughts and hopes for another are one of the most powerful ties that bind humanity.

Wouldn't the japanese largely be using kanji hashtags? This seems like faux outrage. I have a feeling given the vapidity of Lady Gaga's fan base that it would lead to more money going to the charity to sell bracelets than would be donated.

I see a lot of ads on that page isn't the author using a crisis to sell ads on his paper?

<comment><USER5> My read from the article is that it's more akin to calling 911 during an emergency to tell the operators what a great job they're doing and that your thoughts are with them. Obviously a tweet has a much smaller impact, but multiply that behavior by tens of thousands of people it's not hard to imagine legitimate crisis messages scrolling out of view when someone finally gets signal and catches up on the last four hours of tweets.</comment></comment>


FBI and Facebook Potentially at Odds over Social-Media Monitoring - <AUTHOR> https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-and-facebook-potentially-at-odds-over-social-media-monitoring-11565277021?mod=rsswn <comment><USER2> This is a level of crazy I did not think the FBI would go too. They wants to rely on a service/Company that has already lied to congress. Bots and more bots from all countries. Users may not exist, fake users exists etc. I think it might be a good resource to check, but they have been doing this already and they have not prevented, or stopped anything. Are they letting things happen?

>Federal contracting documents show the FBI began building its capacity to monitor social media at least as far back as 2012.

See, they collect like the NSA, but they dont do anything with the data. It becomes useless in a short window if there is no action. Wasting time, and money.</comment>


The Meaning of Life over a Script of Coffee - <AUTHOR> http://www.farhadg.com/post/81020930039/the-meaning-of-life-over-a-script-of-coffee

<comment><AUTHOR> A lil' something to add to my Friday</comment>


C64 Keyboard Prototype - <AUTHOR> http://www.breadbox64.com/blog/c64-keyboard-prototype/ <comment><USER2> Keyboard is pretty amazing for C64 preservation efforts. Perhaps lessons learned could be applied to other same era systems.

There's one part in C64 that's becoming more and more rare — the amazing SID sound chip.

I wonder whether it'd be possible to have production runs of truly new 6581 and/or 8580 SID chips. Does someone still have the old masks?

Other chips you could emulate with an FPGA. But SID is partially analog, so it's special. Some say no two SIDs sound the same.

Btw, recent C64 music demo playing off 1 MB Ocean style (= ROM) cartridge (not REU):

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qxxnJVU4jQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qxxnJVU4jQ)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYAf_awh5XA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYAf_awh5XA)

Yes, it's real. Not particularly good example of SID though, but still impressive for 1982/83 technology.

But this one does show off SID; C64 "Cubase", realtime DSP (timestretch, low/high pass filter, distortion, etc.) pretty amazing:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4GWheE4Gkw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4GWheE4Gkw)

<comment><USER3> > Does someone still have the old masks?

You can probably reverse the masks with a microscope with a little elbow grease. Not trivial by any means, but doable by someone in a garage as a hobby.

The real question, does a fab that can work with that process still exist?

<comment><USER4> There's an ongoing effort to understand the SID here

[http://forum.6502.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4150](http://forum.6502.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4150)

Lots of interesting analog chip level stuff, it's all new to me as I've only dealt with things at the digital level, but very interesting to see how the fabrication technology works in an analog way..

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Those acrylic backing plates are going to crack at some point. The author should look into aluminum composite panel (Dibond is one brand name). It's a sheet of HDPE plastic sandwiched between two thin layers of aluminum, and is much stiffer and stronger than acrylic of the same thickness.

</comment><comment><USER6> As a kid all I ever wanted from any computer was this:

Set pixel (x,y) to color (r,g,b)

I wish today's kids had this with as little overhead as possible

<comment><USER7>
        var canvas = document.getElementById('canvas');
        var ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');

        ctx.fillStyle = `rgb(${r}, ${g}, ${b})`;
        ctx.fillRect(x, y, 1, 1);

I say it's pretty close.

<comment><USER8> It's pretty amazing to me that in 2018, the way we pass colors to a modern graphics API is to build a string with comma separated list of the individual components _encoded in decimal_.

And then people wonder why computers feel slower than they did 15 years ago.

<comment><USER7> Legacy APIs for DOM are hard to get rid of, which the Canvas API is based on. There is some progress though: [https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2018/03/cssom](https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2018/03/cssom)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Those keycaps are gorgeous. If someone could manage to get those manufactured I guarantee they would fetch upwards of $150/set on a site like massdrop.

<comment><USER10> I wonder how much it would cost to get custom keycaps made today with double- shot top and front legends.

<comment><USER9> Ask signature plastics! [http://www.solutionsinplastic.com/](http://www.solutionsinplastic.com/)

<comment><USER10> It just occurred to me that using the Commodore logo probably adds to the cost, as you'd have to license it from the company that owns the trademark. (The C64 Mini avoids using the logo, presumably for this reason.)

<comment><USER9> There's a set called SA Retro[1] that used the C64 logo; no idea if it was cleared or not.

[1]: [https://www.geekzone.fr/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Minila- Ai...](https://www.geekzone.fr/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Minila-Air-SA- Retro-1.jpg)</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Mail for Good, a self-hosted Mailchimp alternative (like Sendy but FREE) - <AUTHOR> https://medium.freecodecamp.org/our-nonprofit-needed-a-cheaper-way-to-send-email-blasts-so-we-engineered-one-167322e3f28e <comment><USER2> so cool -- kinda like sendy but better!

<comment><AUTHOR> I updated the title to mention Sendy, since a lot of people know that and it's quite an apple-to-apple comparison. Thanks!</comment></comment>


Demonstrating the inferiority of multi-tasking by simulation - <AUTHOR> https://email@example.com/simulating-the-negative-consequences-of-multitasking-on-flow-throughput-and-value-generation-973319e16704 <comment><AUTHOR> TL,DR: multi-tasking generates increased lead time, reduced flow and more missed opportunities leading to inferior value generation.</comment>


Ash HN: Which is best to host web app? - <AUTHOR>

My site currently works in host-gator. It is very slow. I am looking for a new place for my site (web app).<p>Please advise For fast, reliable and affordable price. Thanks <comment><USER2> Really depends on what you mean with webapp... if you say hostgator I suppose you are talking about a PHP website. It's been a long time since I last used one of those services, I now host everything on my Rackspace VPS. For ~15$ each month I have a VPS all for me wich I can manage as I want. Otherway I heard a lot of people saying that Heroku (Ruby, Node.js, Clojure, Java, Python, and Scala)is very good. Or Google App Engine (Java, Python, Go)

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes it is custom php. does it mean google app and heroku is out of question?

<comment><USER2> Yes, but there is <https://phpfog.com/> which should be really good. It's developed by appfog, which is like Heroku and AppEngine

<comment><USER3> We're hosting matchist (<http://matchist.com>) right now with PHP Fog and it's great if you want to just get going. I didn't want to (at least for now) deal with any sysadmin stuff.

We threw up our custom CodeIgniter install, configured our custom domains, SSL certs, etc. and there was (and still is) very little friction in getting going. Their support is also fantastic - immediate instant chat every time.

That said, if you're looking for granular custom control, PHP Fog isn't for you. (No cron jobs, no access to logs, etc.)

<comment><USER4> How does the pricing compare?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I like linode - $20 a month you get your own machine, service is great, docs are too. All I can say is maybe its too much for what you want. You also probably need to know what you're doing but as said the docs are really good so I think even total newbies would have no problems with copy/paste.

</comment><comment><USER6> I've had a good experience with Godaddy, there was a lot of bad press a few months ago, but I've had no serious problems in 4 years. I have 5 or 6 different sites hosted with them.

</comment><comment><USER7> Take a look at dotCloud too. It's simple: <http://docs.dotcloud.com/0.4/services/php/>

</comment><comment><USER8> Check out:

GearHost (10$/month cloud hosting) Softsys Hosting (great Windows VPS for 15$/month) AppFog ASmallOrange</comment>


California Snowpack 202% of Average for This Time of Year - <AUTHOR> https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/california/articles/2019-06-02/california-snowpack-202-of-average-for-this-time-of-year <comment><USER2> Wonder how that's going to play out for the dams' spillways. Also, it seems essential that California should have much greater freshwater storage capacity given that weather is more variable and climate is changing... otherwise doing the same thing and expecting a different result is either insanity or stupidity.

</comment><comment><USER3> It is of course good they have enough water right now, but I worry that this will only allow politicians to further delay any water management programs until another devastating drought comes along. The ground aquifers are still being drained at an accelerated pace which means surface water utilization will only rise, even if the overall water usage drops, which I don't see happening right now.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> "California water officials say the amount of snow blanketing the Sierra Nevada is even bigger than the 2017 snowpack that pulled the state out of a five-year drought."

Huh. Nice to hear.

</comment><comment><USER4> Meanwhile, Washington is at 29%[1] of the thirty year average. That's nearly an order of magnitude different from California's, which is just a quick drive away. Things are getting weird.

[1]: [https://www.kuow.org/stories/washington-snowpack-down- to-29-...](https://www.kuow.org/stories/washington-snowpack-down-to-29-of- normal)

<comment><USER5> A quick drive? Cental Washington is 750 miles from Sierra Nevada. And you're comparing apples to oranges. Why would you expect uniform weather up the entire West coast? That would be, in fact, weird.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> It's similar out west in Utah. People are still skiing, snowboard and snowmobiling as of this past weekend with storms commonly dropping inches of snow in the mountains.</comment>


The Truth Behind Electrek's Shady Alliance with Tesla - <AUTHOR> https://www.thedrive.com/tech/21838/the-truth-behind-electreks-dark-alliance-with-tesla <comment><USER2> Maybe it's just me, but the author of the article sounds butthurt, and the article itself seems click-baity.</comment>


Show HN: Check if the yield curve is inverted, without the fluff - <AUTHOR> http://yield-curve.foresight.app <comment><USER2> Love the explanation!</comment>


Ask HN: How do I give push access to everyone on GitHub? - <AUTHOR> I want everyone on Github to get write access to my repository. How do I do that? <comment><USER2> That's a crazy bad idea.

I think you're asking how to implement a solution you thought of for another problem?[0]. Probably be better able to help you if you state what it is exactly you want to do and why.

[0][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys)

<comment><AUTHOR> I have created github repositories([https://github.com/systems-programming- jobs](https://github.com/systems-programming-jobs)) where systems programmers can inform other systems programmers about any vacancies that they might have in their team. The developers just have to add their vacancy to the README file. The reason to use github is that it will attract the right crowd. I want to give every programmer on github access to change the README file.</comment></comment>