Things universities should do to rein in costs - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/four-tough-things-universities-should-do-to-rein-in-costs/2015/11/25/64fed3de-92c0-11e5-a2d6-f57908580b1f_story.html <comment><USER2> Well, in keeping with Mr. Pearlstein's desire to identify things "universities should do" in a vaccuum of authority where neither of us can enact change through a dictate by fiat avenue, I'll take a crack at four even more aggressive and not-likely-to-happen scenarios, and I'm not even getting paid to write them!

1\. Downsize course offerings in areas where graduates can not be reasonably expected to recoup the cost of a University education in the forseeable, full- time job market - such as journalism.

2\. Perform genuine, rigorous auditing of participating in NCAA sports for cost-benefit analysis and completely shut down programs which do not recoup or actually cost money.

3\. Become fiscal mentors to prospective and current students by engaging in hands-on financial counseling with respect to private loans and income earning potential.

4\. Drastically reduce the number of Freshman and Sophomore students and aggressively recruit potential graduates through the Community College systems nationwide.

I mean, there are a lot of ways to save money, and while I can enjoy comfy- armchair musing as much as the next guy, sometimes articles like this one just seem so out of touch.

<comment><USER3> > Drastically reduce the number of Freshman and Sophomore students and > aggressively recruit potential graduates through the Community College > systems nationwide.

Doing a 2-year stint at a community college is just about one of the most sane things a person can do. At the end, you still end up with a bachelor's degree from whatever university you finish at, indistinguishable from any other graduate. And you do it typically at a fraction of the cost. Oh, and often community colleges focus on teachers with industry experience, meaning that you're not learning about software engineering from a computer science academic that's never actually been a software engineer.

<comment><USER4> _Doing a 2-year stint at a community college is just about one of the most sane things a person can do._

Really? I know how introductory courses are taught at the local community college, and there's the MIT/Berkeley/whatnot lectures online. It's a difference between day and night! Of course you can watch the Youtube lecture instead of the tripe they feed you at the c.c. but you do miss out on interaction with fellow students and professors. This means missing out on a lot.

<comment><USER5> I went to community college for two years. I'm at Stanford now, previously Berkeley. I don't feel like I missed out on much by going to a CC, except debt.

[shrugs]

<comment><USER4> The experience at my department at Tumbleweed State University is that those who transfer from Tumbleweed Community College struggle. YMMW.

<comment><USER6> Anecdotally (albeit from multiple sources), the scholastic bar for a CC transfer is lower than that of a HS to 4 year college route.

GP was likely someone who could have passed the HS to University bar without having to go the CC route to increase his or her odds.

Personally, I advise younger friends or international transfer type students to consider the CC->University track especially if they are naturally bright but didn't get the marks needed to pass the direct enrollment route.

<comment><USER7> I've known several Chinese students with very low SAT scores (because of the English sections). Your advice for international students is reasonable but possibly not necessary. Of the best three that I knew well:

\- One had her heart set on attending a UC school. I particularly recommended applying to a california community college because of their low standards and strong UC admissions preference. Her SAT scores were somewhere in the 1400s (out of 2400), but she was admitted to UC Davis directly.

\- One had an SAT score in the 1700s, far and away the best of her cohort. She applied (and was accepted) to University of Minnesota Twin Cities, and is quite happy there.

\- One had an SAT score in the 1300s (in my opinion the smartest of the three), and, in what was to me a shocking move, applied to and enrolled at a University of Alabama (I don't know which one -- USNews lists several). But she transferred from there to Georgia Tech.

Universities seem to be aware that SAT verbal scores are poorly reflective of foreign students' actual abilities, and they really like the inflated international tuition.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Cutting research and enrolling _more_ students isn't necessarily the way to go.

How about save money for both students and the university. Drop the absurdly nice housing that's going into them. This will reduce room & board fees and cut staffing, construction, & maintenance costs for the university.

Athletics: Drop athletes that aren't _student_ athletes. I'm sorry, but illiterate players don't belong in college. It's a disservice to them, the rest of the students, and the university's reputation. Stop spending astronomical amounts on football (primarily) and other sports, even if it pays for itself it's not needed for an _academic_ environment. Rein these in, keep athletics but cut the programs so they aren't (budget-wise) on the level of some _professional_ teams.

<comment><USER9> This.

Plus I remember reading an article a while ago saying that universities had no incentive to cut costs due to student loans. Effectively, student loans are at least partially responsible for driving ever higher costs for tuition.

I'm very frustrated about this as I would like my (eventual) kids to go to college at my alma mater but at $40k+/per (for a public school !!!), I can't fathom that happening.

[1] Related read: [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/upshot/student-debt-in- ame...](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/upshot/student-debt-in-america-lend- with-a-smile-collect-with-a-fist.html)

<comment><USER4> _I remember reading an article a while ago saying that universities had no incentive to cut costs due to student loans._

If universities didn't have an incentive to cut costs, _why the shift to adjuncts?_ Just to make life shitty for junior faculty? Do you really think that's plausible? Really?

<comment><USER10> (tongue only partially in cheek) They're only cutting costs in areas that potential students can't observe / don't care about, like teaching. They won't cut costs in important areas like admissions staff, gym facilities, football stadiums, and fancy architecture because students see those things on tours.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Who writes this kind of reality-free trash? The author talks about reducing administrative costs, but with today's universities you have no choice. You can throw an upper-middle-class kid into university and he will do just fine. But first-generation students, non-traditional students, foreign students, students on athletic scholarships &c need support services, and access has been expanded so much that these things consume a substantial part of the budget. You have no choice but to offer them. Without them a substantial part of the student body would fail out quickly.

And then the author talks about leaving campus open all year. When you ply faculty and teaching support staff at my university with sufficient alcohol they will eventually admit that Summer term is done for the extra tuition income. When you ply them with more they will also admit that soon they will add Winter classes for even more cash - not that anyone can learn anything substantial in these three weeks.

And finally the author recommends to drop research and go back to teaching. In theory that sounds good. In practice, universities have been forced to fish for grant money because state support has been scaled back. Also, in my observation, the worst teaching is done by full professors in their Fifties, who have long checked out and are not keeping up with current practice.

Maybe it's time to get rid of tenure and increase state support.

<comment><USER11> Nontraditional students add minimal administrative overhead. There are plenty of schools that are dysfunctional or pad their budget for various reasons, but done well this is really cheap.

Universities spend ungodly amounts on things like recertification, advertising, internal busywork, fundraising, government requirements etc. Abstractly this stuff adds zero value for students, but good luck telling an auditor you have better things to do with your time. And internal politics is all about how someone changes things not how this pet project actually helps students.

<comment><USER12> > Nontraditional students add minimal administrative overhead.

Do you have any evidence either way? Both sides are just claiming this as a fact. The actual numbers can decide this.

(Even if the non-trad students do cost more, there may be good reasons to spend the money. I'm not arguing either way. I just want to see these opposing claims supported).

<comment><USER11> Community collages have historically surved this population and they have maintained lower administrative costs than Universities.

It's hard to get exact numbers in large part because collages don't want them broken down and administators are the ones releasing statistics.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I always wonder when somebody proclaim they have best universities, what does it actually mean? Eg. methodology in this article [http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings- articles/...](http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings- articles/world-university-rankings/qs-world-university-rankings-methodology) Basically it is all about reputation that is very subjective and if you are not good, the name will not help you or research that is nice if you want to do PhD otherwise it is not very useful for you.

I would recommend people in US to study abroad. You might learn a new language and you will receive equally good education and it will be much cheaper for you.

</comment><comment><USER14> > A better approach would be to offer comparable pay and status to professors > who spend most of their time teaching, reserving reduced teaching loads for > professors whose research continues to have significance and impact.

I think the problem with this is that you have no idea up front which research is going to be significant and impactful and which isn't. If you knew what the outcome was going to be, it wouldn't be research, now would it?

<comment><USER11> People optimize for what you measure. If you want numbers they will pump out numbers, if you want citations they will set up citation rings etc.

The real solution is to realize research is best ignored. Don't count it for anything in any way. And they people who stick with it will likely focus on actual important things.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Give accreditation for MOOCs. Many are well designed (more so than community college and often regular college) and provide a far more social experience than showing up to class and not asking questions (which is the case 99% of the time).

</comment><comment><USER16> The only way to do it without swimming against the economic flow is to create some new universities not encumbered by all the academic cruft that accumulates over multiple decades.

Any new business that can focus solely on the elements of what makes university education valuable in the first place, and can maintain that focus for enough time, will end up eating the old guard's lunches, turning out grad with 90% of the useful skills and 50% the advantageous social connections, at only 10% the cost. Those grads will go on to jobs that pay 75% as much, but their student loan payments will be 10% as burdensome.

College-age kids are not _quite_ so dumb as to never realize that they could get along just as well academically, at less cost, while living in a decrepit old dorms, capsule hotels, discreetly parked converted vans, or parents' basements.

In short, existing universities can do nearly _nothing_ to meaningfully cut their own costs. Their hands are tied by foundation requirements, tradition, alumni expectations, and countless boards and committees. Their budgets are so strictly controlled by vested interests who have built both careers and pensions on them that they can sooner fire an adjunct than to refrain from installing a bronze plaque dedicated to Someguy Alumni in the Inverted Aquatic Basketology building.

Start 100 new universities from scratch, and let 90 of them fail. Repeat until tuition falls permanently.

</comment><comment><USER17> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good)

<comment><USER18> Not only is the high price considered a positive as per your link, but Veblen specifically used university culture to explain his concept of conspicuous consumption. So much of university professor culture has nothing to do with learning and everything to do with appearing high class, but without the money. Robes, fancy eating spots, stone everywhere ... it's all about appearing upper class.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> The biggest thing that would help rein in costs would be the elimination of all the "free money," i.e. loans, that students can get to pay those costs. If students _can 't_ pay those costs, they _won 't._ Universities will either then reduce their costs, or go bankrupt and be replaced by institutions that _will._

This could be accomplished with a couple of changes to current policy. First, remove the restriction that makes student loans nondischargeable in bankruptcy. Second, get the Federal government _out_ of the business of providing student loans. With these changes, private institutions will only lend money for education if they have a reasonable expectation that the money will be _paid back._ That'll dry up the "free money" spigots.

Back in the 1960's, it was possible for a student to pay for his education by flipping pizzas at night and over the summer, without having to take out loans. That's the standard we should be shooting for.

<comment><USER20> It'll likely be part of a cross generational compromise. So due to educational debt the kids can't buy their ancestors overpriced real estate or pay SS taxes sufficient to keep SS afloat. The solution is government education loan jubilee day paired with an increase in SS taxes such that the kids end up paying as much as before, but now their balance sheet is more mortgage positive. Meanwhile the old people keep running the SS ponzi for a couple more years.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> This is the same guy who was criticized by Greenwald for arguing bank bailouts were a good idea. ([http://www.salon.com/2008/10/31/pearlstein_3/](http://www.salon.com/2008/10/31/pearlstein_3/))

I am a professor. This man's ideas are totally naive. Universities and colleges are engaged in a cold war to avoid gaps in endowments, buildings and other metrics of prestige. Their students are willing to pay more for this prestige and so the cost goes up. It's simple as that. If universities that decided not to heavily invest in themselves were effective at generating that prestige, the cost wouldn't be going up.

Only a fraction of the people at the university are there because it is a place of learning, and almost all the people are engaged in research. Many of this guy's ideas are worse than bad, they are poisonous.

</comment><comment><USER22> The issue of administrative costs (e.g. IT) growing rapidly boils down to the fact that there are no economic forces that would otherwise enable the administrators to be held accountable for their spending.

In the private sector, if you are responsible for a P&L, and "P" isn't a positive number, you'll eventually lose your job. In higher ed, there is no metric that similarly lays bare whether an administrator is effective or not. This allows spending to run rampant and weak managers to thrive, which just continues the cycle.

If anybody figures out how align spending with outcomes in this sort of environment, they deserve a nobel prize in economics.

</comment><comment><USER23> I thought that Daniel Drezner's rebuttal to this (also in the Washington Post) was pretty good:

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/11/30/...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/11/30/four- tough-things-columnists-should-do-before-writing-about-universities/)

</comment><comment><USER24> Wait, most universities don't offer summer classes? Where I went to school there were fewer students enrolled over the summer, but that just meant campus was a bit less crowded, not that it was a ghost town.

<comment><USER25> My uni offers summer classes, but mostly for intro classes. This means if you transfer in or are a second year student, you have slim pickings in the summer offering.

I would have gladly attended 90% of my classes in the summer had they been offered to students. Especially, those mid-tier classes that are only offered in Spring or Fall. IE: intro1 (Fa, Sp, Sum1, Sum2) -> intro2 (Fa, Sp, Sum1, Sum2) -> mid-tier class (Spring only) -> opens up 10 classes.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> an alternative..

Some of the Purdue campuses in Indiana have reduced their administrative cost by re-aligning and pairing two commuter campuses together with one administrative body..expected savings $500 to $1000 off of tuition costs per student.</comment>


Optimizing My Digital Content Consumption - <AUTHOR> https://www.leejamesrobinson.com/blog/optimizing-my-digital-content-consumption/ <comment><USER2> Personally, I prefer Pocket over Instapaper, but the value I gain from using it is largely the same as the points you make.

I've also explored using native Mac RSS reader apps such as Leaf or News Explorer because you can view the original article directly in the app if the parsed formatting is off.

<comment><AUTHOR> So far most of the articles I've read have been formatted correctly, but I'm guessing it would miss out on things like syntax highlighting, which can be really helpful in a code dense article.</comment></comment>


One of the most important things ever written - <AUTHOR> http://stritar.net/Post/One-of-the-most-important-things-ever-written.aspx

<comment><USER2> my comment was too long, so I posted it on my blog instead <http://rikacomet.blogspot.in/2012/12/comment.html></comment>


What's warming the world - <AUTHOR> http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-whats-warming-the-world/ <comment><USER2> The planet is being warmed by rage of people seeing an unlabeled or improperly labelled Y axis on a graph. This article alone cost us this winter's snow.

Edit: Oh! It's apparently labelled correctly...

>The colored temperature lines are the modeled estimates that each climate factor contributes to the overall temperature.

Yeah, nah. I'd prefer hard data, not some unverifiable models.</comment>


Ask HN: Is it legal to sell FB and Twitter username along with my domain iMUST.do? - <AUTHOR> I own the domain (http://imust.do), previously bought with the idea of building a gamified to-do app (in lines of GymPact meets Any.Do).
Being an app of social nature, I had also reserved the usernames on Facebook (fb.com/imust.do) & Twitter (twitter.com/@imustdo). But now I want to sell the usernames to the buyer of the domain.
Is this legally allowed? <comment><USER2> IANAL. But in general yes. I have sold 2 different companies and with them the Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin pages, names etc. My attorney said as an asset of the business it is legally transferrable to the new owner, and in fact it usually must be transferred.

I am sure if you read the T&C's of each of those sites there will be a statement along the lines of, you are not allowed to setup names/pages for sale. If there, that statement is to prevent "name squatting" not stop a legal transfer of control over an entity. I think it would be nearly impossible for them to prevent the legal sale of an entity and therefore the assets that entity has, nor IMO would they really want to get involved.

</comment><comment><USER3> you don't sell the usernames. the usernames are owned by "the business" and you're selling the business and in the process of doing so, pass along the credentials to the social accounts.

thats perfectly fine. imagine big company X gets sold. Clearly the new owner wants to retain the social accounts and theres nothing wrong with that.</comment>


On the Imminence and Danger of AI - <AUTHOR> http://adamierymenko.com/on-the-imminence-and-danger-of-ai/

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm the author. IMHO that post is not _fully_ baked, but I figured I'd share it anyway. I think the best part is actually the argument against "exploding" AI and runaway self-improvement. If I had the time I'd give that a more thorough treatment with better references to relevant work and theorems.</comment>


Facebook Is Trying To Change Its Huge Privacy Problem - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessinsider.com/facebooks-privacy-2014-4?utm_content=bufferac4a2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

<comment><USER2> "They trust me — dumb fucks"

Just a reminder on why one should not have a facebook account.</comment>


How to Clean Your Laptop - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/smarter-living/how-to-clean-your-filthy-disgusting-laptop.html <comment><USER2> Don't eat while using your laptop and you will keep it clean with a dust cloth and a mist of water. Eat while using your laptop and no vacuum in the world will be able to suck that disgusting filth from it.

<comment><USER3> I often eat while computing for work and personal reasons. Since eating while using a keyboard is a fact of how I live and work, I use a keyboard condom when eating or drinking beverages (especially coffee).

Except for my smart phone, I don't really compute in the outdoors.

My go-to provider for keyboard covers is [http://kbcovers.com](http://kbcovers.com) (no relation except as a satisfied customer).

As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

<comment><USER4> this made me wonder if they did something like this for vim...which they do! [https://www.editorskeys.com/products/vi-vim-keyboard- covers-...](https://www.editorskeys.com/products/vi-vim-keyboard-covers-for- macbook-imac)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I used to work in a laptop repair place.

I found that isopropyl rubbing alcohol can sometimes damage or wear some exterior rubbers or plastics on laptops.(works great on interior and metal though!)

The best method I have found to clean exterior of a laptop is the following:

\- Turn off the computer.

Standard:

\- Wipe down exterior, screen and keyboard area with Windex sprayed on a cloth or use Lysol wipes.

If Heavily soiled:

\- Take a vacuum with small brush attachment and gently suck up stuff under and around keyboard, in vents and other nooks and crannies.

\- Then use canned air to blow out keyboard and other places. (If it's really bad, you may need to (if possible) remove the keyboard to really get everything.)

\- Repeat standard procedure until cloth or cleaning implement does not pick up any more dirt or grime.

Finally, let the laptop sit for an adequate amount of time to dry off.

<comment><USER6> Huh, the article specifically says not to use Windex. You've not found it to damage the screen?

<comment><USER7> Given the huge variety of materials and construction for different types of screens, I don't think any single answer here would be reliable.

<comment><USER6> Good point. I was hoping to get answers from various folks. I'm on a relatively common MBP, and have only ever used water. That gets it mostly clean, but not all the way.

The Apple Store folks always give it a good clean when I go in for my weekly (har har) keyboard cleaning, so I've never had to go past water myself.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> It wouldn't be Hacker News without a few people commenting "let all your stuff get filthy so your immune system stays on its toes".

<comment><USER9> Not that a dirty laptop applies, but it's pretty well supported that a too clean environment is bad for the developing immune systems of children.

<comment><USER8> Sure. This article talks about "cleaning", not "cleaning excessively".

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Don't do what I did and use a lysol wipe from the bottom of the jar. It had too much fluid, and damaged the keyboard. Modifier keys were frozen in "on" position, and I was unable to login. Now that laptop won't even boot.

<comment><USER11> That sounds like basic common sense. I'll also add don't use cleaning fluids on your monitor / screen. Microfiber and a light mist of water on the rag is more than sufficient.

<comment> 52-6F-62 I use lens cleaner on occasion. If it's good enough for a telescope lens or my glasses, I'm confident in it working for my monitor.

That and/or Kimwipes. Those things are magic.

[https://www.staples.com/kimwipes/directory_kimwipes](https://www.staples.com/kimwipes/directory_kimwipes)

edit: Dammit. In Canada I can never find them not in bulk, though.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Keeping your tools clean is good hygiene. Additionally, whenever I start working at a new place I always clean the keyboard. It's amazing how disgusting they can get. For old keyboards, if you pop off the keys, you'll find they're typically full of hair, food, and other random debris. People usually think I'm a weirdo when they see me doing it, but my boss at my previous project saw how gross my keyboard was when the keys were off, and went out and got me a new keyboard (in this case it was a desktop keyboard instead of a laptop).

<comment><USER13> What I wonder about is, if you're not getting sick from it (and the keyboard is working), then what is the goal of getting a new keyboard due to what's under the keys of the previous one? Just the unpleasantness of knowing what's there?

<comment><USER14> Eventually it could attract insects or mice. I remember coming into the office early, lights were off. I felt this _very gentle hair_ on my left hand finger tips, moved my hand, saw nothing, went back to work. Happened again and I realized it was a decent sized cockroach! Went right back under the desk and I never caught it.

<comment><USER13> Haha wow, thanks... now I'm going to freak out every time I feel gentle hair on my body!! :-)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I appreciate the article's message of simplicity. But still its recommendations go beyond what I find necessary. I just use a microfiber cloth with or without a tiny amount of water and my laptop (an original Surface Book) cleans up just fine. I suppose more would be necessary if I were to spill stuff on the laptop, but so far I've avoided that mishap.

</comment><comment><USER16> Many moons ago Apple included a nice little microfiber cloth[1] with an embossed Apple logo on it. Ever since then I have taken extra care to clean my devices every so often with the same cloth.

[1] [https://nicolasbottari.com/uploads/_big/apple_cleaning_cloth...](https://nicolasbottari.com/uploads/_big/apple_cleaning_cloth.jpg)

<comment><USER17> Wow, I have a show box of these clothes! I just tossed them in when I was buying devices.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> I've had just a drop of water change the appearance of the anti-glare coating on my T430's matte 1500x900 screen. Once applied _very_ gently with a soaked soft paper napkin, to remove a new speck on the go because it was irritating me and also before it dried and "set" on the screen. Once when a drop fell from my washed and rinsed hands, while reaching for a towel in cramped quarters on vacation, and rolled partway down the screen before I got to it.

The marks don't show much while I'm using the machine and looking directly at the screen, unless something particular is displayed at those spots, although I can see them if I look for them. Quite evident when the screen is off, particularly if there is any reflectivity (hazy reflectivity, due to the matte screen).

Because of this, I've become very hesitant to clean it. I'm pretty clean and careful, so otherwise the screen doesn't really need it. I very gently wipe away dust with a disposable "Swiffer" type cloth -- although I've started worrying about the long term effects of minor abrasiveness.

Anyway, I would very much like to clean it and all the more so, my W520's very nice full HD screen. The latter got some spatter while I had an acute medical condition of some weeks.

But, with simple water apparently altering the matte coating, I'm very hesitant.

As for blowing compressed air in the vent holes. I would be worried about blowing dust and debris to a different location where it does more damage. And, with desktop machines, I remember the advice making sense to carefully freeze the motion of fans with a pencil or similar, to keep the compressed air from torquing or over-revving the fan and excessively stressing its bearings. I would assume that could apply to laptop fans, as well.

</comment><comment><USER19> Also clean your smartphone. It builds up more bacteria than a petri dish laborant could hope for.

<comment><USER20> Do you have a citation for this? Because it surprises me. Most smartphones are hard, dry surfaces, which inhibits bacteria growth.

<comment><USER21> I'm not a scientist, but this paper found "high level bacterial contamination" of cell phones: [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5466825/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5466825/)

Anecdotally, we were recently in the NICU of a children's hospital and they required washing our hands and cleaning our cell phones before entering. It doesn't seem too far-fetched that they would have a reason for doing so.

<comment><USER22> David Mitchell, a British comedian, has a great comment on this. Given that all smartphone users are not dead, it just goes to show how meaningless studies like that are.

Being around people with compromised immune systems requires different standards, but day to day, it doesn't seem to matter.

<comment><USER23> I understand the attraction of stories like this, but it's not science.

For all I know, I only got the flu this year because my cell phone is dirty. Same for my roommate and his sinus infection.

The immune system does its job extraordinarily well, but putting it to work does take a toll on your body. I suspect we'll have studies linking random episodes of mini-depression or a bad day at the gym to an immune system in the middle of a pitched fight against an illness that it eventually wins, meaning the person doesn't get sick, meaning they attribute the bad day to just a bad day.

<comment><USER22> You're right that there's no science in David Mitchell's argument, but I'm not seeing any science here proving that "more bacteria on your phone is bad for you".

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> If that level of description solves any of your problems you don't really have problems. It gets interesting when you need to take out keys to get the food out underneath, or when the air delivery is full of dust. I don't know, having a split in the screen or something might also yield interesting situations. But that you should airblow your keyboard before you wipe your screen... if you can't come up with that yourself you'll experience it once or twice, then you know.

</comment><comment><USER25> I also found the little plastic raises at F and J to be not durable enough on laptop keyboards. I had some laptops where they would wear off and you had too look for the keys every time you started typing.

</comment><comment><USER26> Um... "nasty smells"? How big of a problem is that really? I'd have a hard time placing my laptop in a bag of kitty litter. Don't doubt that it works though.

</comment><comment><USER27> The main problem is eating or drinking something when you work on the laptop. Avoiding this and cleaning the laptop with a soft cloth is enough

</comment><comment><USER28> Tomorrow for sure I'm gonna clean my MacBook Pro</comment>


Mathematics applied to dressmaking (1993) [pdf] - <AUTHOR> https://www.lms.ac.uk/sites/lms.ac.uk/files/1994%20Mathematics%20applied%20to%20dressmaking%20%28preprint%29.pdf <comment><USER2> I greatly appreciate articles like this because i vaguely know topology and vaguely know how to make a dress but when explained like this i understand both in much greater detail than before. I think it's because the stuff that doesn't make sense from one domain makes sense when explained in the other and it makes for a better understanding.</comment>


Spacemacs – Emacs advanced kit focused on Evil - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs#introduction <comment><USER2> I switched a few months ago and I must say I'm really impressed: there is (nearly) no Vim feature I miss!

Out-of-the-box features/packages I like:

\- Default powerline is cool

\- "guide-key" package: as you may know, Emacs is based on successions of key bindings to call a function, guide-key tells you what key binding you can do next. Example: "SPC p" is the prefix for most "projectile" (project explorer package) commands, so guide-key shows you what keys you can press and its associated function/subgroup. I think it's the best way to learn your key bindings!

\- (from vanilla Emacs, enhanced with Helm) M-x: call a function. While it doesn't seem impressive, EVERY ACTION is a function in Emacs! You can call "evil-next-line" (even if it's now really useful) or "set-default-font", and with Helm you can search in real time what you want. If I want to create a table in org-mode: "M-x org cre" brings "org-create-table". No need to remember the function full name!

\- org-mode: Think of it as an editor for all non-code tasks. I personally do my graded homeworks in it and then exporting these in latex/pdf. "C-c C-e l o" <\- export file in latex, generate pdf and open. Really quick to do!

Final words: happy to have switched to Emacs, I don't really miss my Vim environment because there are a lot of alternatives out of the box in Spacemacs (thanks to the good integration of Evil).

BTW, I still use Vim to do quick edits in the terminal, solely because Emacs takes more time to boot :)

<comment><USER3> Run `emacs -nw --daemon` to start a background emacs server.

Now, you can do `emacsclient -nw <file>` to boot up with almost no startup time. I have vi aliased to this, and `emacs -nw --daemon` opened by launchctl.

A gotcha: If you change your emacs config and need to restart, be sure to `pkill emacs` to get rid of the daemon.

<comment><USER4> The one thing I hate about emacs client (and I was bitching about it on #emacs the other day as well) is that in OS X, a windowed client will just "hang" when exited. It will still be visible in the cmd-tab list, and thus isn't truly exited. Hence, if I want to remove that annoying non-running client, I basically have to kill the daemon and restart. This is particularly annoying when I'm editing configuration.

And in many cases, using just the terminal isn't enough because there are quite a few quirks when using emacs in the terminal, the most recent one I found was that <shift><tab> is interpreted as M-[.

I wish there was some way to fix this. :(

<comment><USER5> I think the hanging thing can be solved by invoking emacsclient in the following way: `emacsclient -n`.

<comment><USER6> -n serves a different purpose (the command returns immediately). Even when using that flag, there will be an Emacs icon in the cmd-tab list and the dock after the client is closed.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I like this development. I feel that we have three editors (really types thereof) for a reason.

The Sublime/TM/Notepad++ crowd cares about OS-native integration. I use Sublime frequently because after a solid decade+ living in OSX land, my fingers know how what to do, and neither vim nor emacs respect that without considerable massaging.

Vim fans want to use an elegant command syntax. I watch vim users code and always make a point to learn how to vim, eventually. The only reason I don't, is because I haven't.

Emacs users want/need the programmable, extensible runtime. Emacs is a programming language; particularly in Lisp development, Emacs often contains programs that are basic/standard parts of the toolchain and not found in other editors. I use Emacs because I like it, but more importantly, because I have to.

Combining the elegant syntax of Vim with the extensibility of Emacs, as well as some out-of-the-box support for the basic OS-native commands, is a very good start.

<comment><USER8> FWIW, I use Sublime/Jetbrain products for most of my programming and I always turn on vim keybindings. It isn't 100% the same as actual vim, but it is still faster than a mouse for me.

<comment><USER9> ideavim is easily the best vim emulation I had ever used until I tried spacemacs/evil. Ideavim blew the eclipse vim modes out of the water

<comment><USER10> And they fixed some annoying inconsistencies with recent releases. It's pretty good now. Makes developing Java in an IDE tolerable.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I used Vim my whole career. But I always hated all the little bugs.

Then I found Spacemacs a couple weeks ago and switched. I had an equivalent environment set up in a few days.

Now I'm moving forward with the ability to do almost anything I want, and all of Vim's warts gone.

Vim really is a shitty editor with an awesome UI on top.

Emacs is a completely configurable, actually good editor. Now with Vim's awesome UI.

<comment><USER11> Vim is shit so you installed a vim emulator?

<comment><USER12> He said that the Vim UI is good (aka the modal editing) but everything else is crap. So, Evil gives that interface and better platform.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> When I saw this thread, the initial thought I had was "pff, another emacs thread about vim users".

But this is absolutely perfect (either for transition, or for someone like me that just wants to try a transition but does not know where to start).

Thanks for sharing. Beautiful work. :)

</comment><comment><USER14> I tried to use it to switch to Emacs, and was disappointed like each time I try to switch to Emacs.

Among the problems and warts:

\- The Spacemacs doc is on their repo, not in Emacs! (except if you manually fire a buffer with SPC f f ~/.emacs.d/doc/DOCUMENTATION.md)

\- Emacs has an interactive interface for editing configuration variables. You will arrive to this interface from the Emacs doc, but it does not have Spacemacs-like keybindings and I'm not even sure it's supposed to work with Spacemacs

\- I could not find the doc for ex/vim commands. I suspect there is no equivalent to ":h :foo"

\- In vim, it is possible from any mode to get back to the normal mode by typing 'ESC'. In Emacs, C-g aborts a keybinding. However those two are not unified by Spacemacs.

\- I use vim with several buffers. However launching "emacsclient -t foo.txt bar.txt" will open them sequentially, and I can not use :n / :N to go back and forth.

\- The fact that there are several interactive interfaces for switching buffers and/or opening files is confusing. Typing a file-name in helm-mini creates a "fundamental" buffer that is not a file. I lost some work because of this.

If there were just one or two of these warts and inconveniences, I would get use to them or fix them, but right now there are a little too much. That said, the premise is really attractive, so I can only hope these problems will get fixed over the years so that I can go back to it someday.

<comment><USER12> > \- The Spacemacs doc is on their repo, not in Emacs! (except if you manually > fire a buffer with SPC f f ~/.emacs.d/doc/DOCUMENTATION.md)

You can explore the doc for each layer by "SPC f e h". You can even jump to source from there.

> \- Emacs has an interactive interface for editing configuration variables. > You will arrive to this interface from the Emacs doc, but it does not have > Spacemacs-like keybindings and I'm not even sure it's supposed to work with > Spacemacs

Everything that works in stock Emacs should work in Spacemacs. Stock Emacs key bindings are always there. Spacemacs stuff, as its name implies, is in the SPC key.

> \- I could not find the doc for ex/vim commands. I suspect there is no > equivalent to ":h :foo"

I think it should exist. Maybe you need to ask the gitter chatroom. Stuffs like s/foo/bar works for me. However, even NeoVim wants to remove it: [https://github.com/neovim/neovim/issues/1089](https://github.com/neovim/neovim/issues/1089)

> \- In vim, it is possible from any mode to get back to the normal mode by > typing 'ESC'. In Emacs, C-g aborts a keybinding. However those two are not > unified by Spacemacs.

You do it with evil-escape: [https://github.com/syl20bnr/evil- escape](https://github.com/syl20bnr/evil-escape), which is built-in Spacemacs by default and press "fd to escape everything. You can change it to anything you want.

> \- I use vim with several buffers. However launching "emacsclient -t foo.txt > bar.txt" will open them sequentially, and I can not use :n / :N to go back > and forth.

The next version you can use "SPC b n" and "SPC b p" to go back and forth. However, you can use "SPC b s" to switch between buffers and press "C-c o" to open another window side by side. To split window, use "SPC b -" to create a window below and "SCP b /" to create a window right. Jump to each window based on the number on its modeline, i.e. "SPC 1" jumps to window 1, "SPC 2" to jump to window 2.

> \- The fact that there are several interactive interfaces for switching > buffers and/or opening files is confusing. Typing a file-name in helm-mini > creates a "fundamental" buffer that is not a file. I lost some work because > of this.

It's a feature. It means that when you switch to a non-existent buffer, you can press RET to create it. It's quite handy to create a scartch buffer of a specific major mode. If you want to open a file, don't use a command that open buffer but a command that open files. I believe in Vim I can create empty buffers.

<comment><USER14> > You can explore the doc for each layer by "SPC f e h". You can even jump to > source from there.

But does it offer an access to the main docs? When I type "spacemacs" in there I get an empty README.md.

> Everything that works in stock Emacs should work in Spacemacs. Stock Emacs > key bindings are always there

Yep, but I'm not an Emacs user so I do not know them!

> I think it should exist.

Well, you can try :h for yourself...

> However, even NeoVim wants to remove it: > [https://github.com/neovim/neovim/issues/1089](https://github.com/neovim/neovim/issues/1089)

They are talking about removing Ex mode, not ex commands!

> I believe in Vim I can create empty buffers.

I don't believe in Vim you get an easy way to create a buffer that has a name that is not a filename...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I've been using spacemacs off and on for a few months, (although never as my primary editor). I really like their out-of-the-box config, and it's much easier and better than my previous copypasted amalgamation of an init.el file. I have a few qualms with it though.

\- It completely takes over emacs. Your modifications now go in ~/.spacemacs. Don't touch ~/.emacs.d/ Want to install something from melpa? Make a spacemacs configuration layer. That aspect feels like a strong step away from the emacs ethos where you're on the same footing as the editor authors. I don't like the inversion of control.

\- It's unstable. Fairly often I'll update and something will fail, leaving me helplessly with emacs keybindings. Thankfully, a revert is easy.

\- The last one is a problem with evil in general, you'll still occasionally find yourself in emacs mode, where hjlk and more importantly ":q" don't work

<comment><USER12> Well it's still in Beta though but I must say it's still excellent. This is from an Emacs user, currently using holy-mode (basically another way of saying Emacs mode in Spacemacs terminology and it's actually a mode configured for Emacs users).

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> So.... who wants this? Vim users like vim as it is, warts and all. Emacs users already use emacs and typically don't want to learn vim.

<comment><USER17> I'm attracted to it as a clojure developer. This seems to offer a superior nrepl integration and a debugger.

That said, vim with neobundle, unite, fireplace, rainbow parens, vim-sexp, vim-repeat, vim-surround, and one of the many tmux integrations makes for a good enough clojure dev experience.

<comment><USER12> Unite, fireplace, rainbow parens, vim-sexp and vim-surround are all available in Emacs with its own and better implementation.

If you want Unite equivalent, check Helm which is created before Unite and is still actively maintained. See one of Helm package demo: [http://tuhdo.github.io/helm-projectile.html](http://tuhdo.github.io/helm- projectile.html). The same for rainbow-parentheses. Actually, Emacs got something better than rainbow-parentheses for visual aiding parentheses: [https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs/issues/1173](https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs/issues/1173)

For proper sexp manipulation, check this guide with great animations: [http://danmidwood.com/content/2014/11/21/animated- paredit.ht...](http://danmidwood.com/content/2014/11/21/animated-paredit.html)

For Clojure, in Emacs you got a debugger than can step expression by expression: [http://endlessparentheses.com/cider-debug-a-visual- interacti...](http://endlessparentheses.com/cider-debug-a-visual-interactive- debugger-for-clojure.html)

If you want to know features for Clojure that already configured in Spacemacs, check its Clojure documentation: [https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs/tree/master/contrib/la...](https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs/tree/master/contrib/lang/clojure#features)

You got all IDE features like refactoring and jump to symbols

More demos:

Here are some nice features that Emacs and its 3rd packages provide:

\- Powerful automatic indentation with aggressive-indent: [https://github.com/Malabarba/aggressive-indent- mode(scroll](https://github.com/Malabarba/aggressive-indent-mode\(scroll) down for demos). It does not only indent the current line, but the whole semantic context around your cursor.

\- Live grep:[http://tuhdo.github.io/static/live_grep.gif](http://tuhdo.github.io/static/live_grep.gif)

\- C/C++ refactoring with built-in parser: [https://github.com/tuhdo/semantic- refactor/blob/master/srefa...](https://github.com/tuhdo/semantic- refactor/blob/master/srefactor-demos/demos.org)

\- Lisp Code reformatting: [https://github.com/tuhdo/semantic- refactor/blob/master/srefa...](https://github.com/tuhdo/semantic- refactor/blob/master/srefactor-demos/demos-elisp.org)). As far as I know, there's none Lisp code reformatting outside of Emacs.

\- Access to a list of project with a few key strokes: [http://tuhdo.github.io/static/helm-projectile/helm- projectil...](http://tuhdo.github.io/static/helm-projectile/helm-projectile- switch-project.gif)

\- Quickly access any file in your project, as large as Linux kernel, instantly, regardless of where you are in the project, and within a few keystrokes: [http://tuhdo.github.io/static/helm-projectile/helm- projectil...](http://tuhdo.github.io/static/helm-projectile/helm-projectile- find-files-1.gif))

\- Jump to any file depends on context, even if the file path is in a plain ASCII text file: [http://tuhdo.github.io/static/helm-projectile/helm- projectil...](http://tuhdo.github.io/static/helm-projectile/helm-projectile- find-files-dwim-1.gif)

\- Copy files from anywhere to anywhere: [http://tuhdo.github.io/static/helm- projectile/helm-projectil...](http://tuhdo.github.io/static/helm- projectile/helm-projectile-find-file-copy.gif))

\- Delete files anywhere; files are always at your finger tip to do whatever with them: [http://tuhdo.github.io/static/helm-projectile/helm- projectil...](http://tuhdo.github.io/static/helm-projectile/helm-projectile- find-file-delete.gif)

\- Switch between other files with same names but different extensions: [http://tuhdo.github.io/static/helm-projectile/helm- projectil...](http://tuhdo.github.io/static/helm-projectile/helm-projectile- find-other-file.gif)). Work not only for C/C++ but other languages, and is customizable. You don't have to configure anything, like adding include paths for the command to search. Everything is automatic. Just use it as it is.

\- Jump to tag definition, from its own parser or external parser like GNu Global: [http://tuhdo.github.io/static/c-ide/helm-gtags-jump- dwim.gif](http://tuhdo.github.io/static/c-ide/helm-gtags-jump-dwim.gif)

\- Jump up to parent: [http://tuhdo.github.io/static/c-ide/senator-go-to-up- referen...](http://tuhdo.github.io/static/c-ide/senator-go-to-up- reference.gif)

\- Do you like outline tree?: [http://tuhdo.github.io/static/c-ide/sr- speedbar.gif](http://tuhdo.github.io/static/c-ide/sr-speedbar.gif)

\- Interactive outline tree: [http://tuhdo.github.io/static/c-ide/helm- semantic-or-imenu-w...](http://tuhdo.github.io/static/c-ide/helm-semantic-or- imenu-with-struct.gif)

\- Easily move back and forth using the interactive outline tree: [http://tuhdo.github.io/static/part3/helm-semantic-or- imenu-2...](http://tuhdo.github.io/static/part3/helm-semantic-or-imenu-2.gif)

\- References retrieved from its Emacs internal parser: [http://tuhdo.github.io/static/c-ide/semantic- symref.gif](http://tuhdo.github.io/static/c-ide/semantic-symref.gif)

\- Beautiful compile output: [http://tuhdo.github.io/static/c-ide/compilation- compile.gif](http://tuhdo.github.io/static/c-ide/compilation-compile.gif)

\- Frontend support for GDB: [http://tuhdo.github.io/static/c-ide/gdb-many- windows.gif](http://tuhdo.github.io/static/c-ide/gdb-many-windows.gif)

\- Code completion: [http://tuhdo.github.io/static/c-ide/semantic-boost- demo.gif](http://tuhdo.github.io/static/c-ide/semantic-boost-demo.gif)

\- Open man page for symbol at cursor: [http://tuhdo.github.io/static/part3/helm-man- woman.gif](http://tuhdo.github.io/static/part3/helm-man-woman.gif)

\- Emacs open 39MB C file: [http://tuhdo.github.io/static/performance.gif](http://tuhdo.github.io/static/performance.gif)

\- Emac opens multi-gigabtye file: [http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/VLF](http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/VLF)

Note that in the demos you may see me type in the commands. You can think of it like the start menu in Windows, but actually those commands can be executed quickly with a shortcut. I type in the commands for demonstration purpose to Emacs users.

Those demos are just tip of the iceberg.

<comment><USER17> First off, thanks for your awesome tutorials!

I actually switched to Spacemacs, for largely the reasons you mentioned (everything is there, but easier to extend and largely better).

I was merely pointing out that vim with some plugins is good enough to get serious work done in Clojure, even though getting access to real refactoring libraries, a debugger, etc in my editor would be welcome.

The one problem I have with Emacs is that vim-sexp is and was much much much much better than paredit. Treating forms as text objects and letting you use regular vim motions to select text objects before slurping/barfing/etc is a move forward. It wasn't exactly obvious to me how to duplicate this with Spacemacs/VIM, but I also had work to do so I just went with the Spacemacs paredit bindings.

<comment><USER12> Great that you are a Spacemacs user now and glad that you like my tutorials.

So, could you be more specific about how vim-sexp works? If you want to visual select sexp from symbol and expanding outward, uses expand-region: [https://github.com/magnars/expand- region.el](https://github.com/magnars/expand-region.el). Same for string. Then you can use smartparens: [https://github.com/Fuco1/smartparens](https://github.com/Fuco1/smartparens) to wrap around by simply pressing "(". It is all in Spacemacs now, and you can explore further with evil-lisp-state commands, bound to ", k".

<comment><USER18> evil-surround is the more idiomatic way to do smartparens stuff.

[https://github.com/guns/vim-sexp](https://github.com/guns/vim-sexp)

This is actually an open problem in evil/emacs at the moment.

Would be nice to sort out.

<comment><USER12> I'm pretty sure you can do the same thing with expand-region and smartparens combined and is more general than manipulating sexp.

<comment><USER19> There's also evil-lisp-state (which is essentially a modal interface to smartparens), [https://github.com/syl20bnr/evil-lisp- state](https://github.com/syl20bnr/evil-lisp-state), and evil-smartparens ([https://github.com/expez/evil-smartparens](https://github.com/expez/evil- smartparens)) which makes the default motion operators work better with sexps.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Just tried it and despite some people here claiming vim-style support is really full I found it pretty unusable for me, the vim user. Which is a pity, as I find vim lacking many features emacs has (or allows to implement easily), but am struggling to switch.

My workflow starts from command-mode and is heavily dependent on it. It's far more crucial than any hjkl stuff and whatever. The first thing I tried was :tabnew. "Uknown command: `tabnew`." Then I tried to use :cd and while it has such a command it works in some weird way which I couldn't figure out how to use on the first attempt. I guess it actually has everything I need, but I probably entered something wrong and suddenly ended up using scp, lol.

While editing some text file without any real purpose I surprisingly didn't find anything that would be working in an unexpected way yet. Maybe it's worth trying it out.

<comment><USER21> ":" runs Emacs functions. Some commands from Vim have been added, but not all of them. If a function with the same name as a Vim command already exists in Emacs, it's not replaced. I'd imagine replacing the default Emacs functions could break things in weird ways.

:cd runs the Emacs cd function which behaves differently than Vim's :cd.

To get the equivalent of :tabnew, you'd have to use :buffer [name] and give the new buffer (Emacs's equivalent of tabs) a name.

<comment><USER20> Oh, I see, thank you. As I understand buffer name isn't the same thing as file path/name. So I can't really open file by pasting (Ctrl-r +) it path anyway, can I? Also, I only understood how to switch between buffers using that separate screen, not like "next/previous tab", and there isn't any panel that would show which tabs are opened now. But I think that's solvable, at least.

<comment><USER21> You'd have to either use :find-file or :e (Ctrl-r +).

You can switch between buffers with :switch-to-buffer, :ido-switch-buffer, :b, :bn, and :bp. It's not the same as tabs though.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> I've tried to switch my workflow from vim + tmux + tmuxinator to spacemacs a few months ago, and I must say that it easily could replace my Vim environment, there was evil-surround, evil-nerd-commenter, etc. even neotree, and plus I got org-mode, other really great packages and the power of emacs, however I didn't find a replacement for the tmuxinator part, I need it since I usually have projects with several shells in different windows and panes aside from vim, so in the end that detained me from doing the switch and continued with vim.

<comment><USER23> Try emacs shell-mode. It's a bit weird but you might like having your shells in your editor.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> I'm using this for a week now. Switched to it from Emacs Prelude (another config kit), and before that Vim itself.

I use Vim a lot less now: still have a simple .vimrc laying around for just- in-case.

</comment><comment><USER25> I get my hopes up when I see another vim emulation project, but after using it for just a few minutes, I already found a few missing vim features I use every day:

* Toggling if search results should be highlighted ( _:set hls_ , _:set nohls_ )

* Opening the filename under the cursor in a new window ( _^W f_ )

Completely emulating an entirely different editor is very, very difficult :-(

I applaud everyone contributing to these projects, and hope they continue to improve! They've already come a _very_ long way from evil, and viper-mode.

<comment><USER12> > * Toggling if search results should be highlighted (:set hls, :set nohls)

After you search, you get persistent highlighting. To turn it off, "SPC s c". All the toggling features are in "SPC t" group.

> * Opening the filename under the cursor in a new window (^W f)

`SPC f h` then press `C-c o`. The key bindings are consistent in other Helm commands as well. It opens a window side by side. Nothing is misisng, sorry. Spacemacs can even do things like [these]([http://tuhdo.github.io/helm- projectile.html](http://tuhdo.github.io/helm-projectile.html)).

If you have any question, ask it on Spacemacs chatroom: [https://gitter.im/syl20bnr/spacemacs](https://gitter.im/syl20bnr/spacemacs)

<comment><USER25> You're right, _" missing"_ was a poor choice of words. I meant, _" vim keybindings for these commands isn't supported"_.

They are keybindings my fingers reach for everyday without thinking about it, similar to how I use _j_ , _k_ , _h_ , _l_ without thinking about it.

<comment><USER12> There's a reason it's called Spacemacs, not NeoVim and major features are centered around the SPC leader key. There are certain things you must learn from Emacs if you want to get the benefit of it, such as Emacs packages. To make it easier to learn, there's a popup with keys and commands there. If you press ?, it brings a cheatsheet like interactive window and you can narrow it down by start typing and press `C-z` to open each command description. For example, if you want to know what each command in `SPC f` does, pres `SPC f ?` then press `C-z` on a command and you get a description on upper window.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> A friend showed spacemacs to me a while ago but, as a vim user who knows nothing about emacs, I got lost very quickly. I never knew if a problem I was having was due to not knowing how to use emacs or to not knowing how to use spacemacs.

Does anyone know any tips or references for total emacs newbies trying to jump into spacemacs head first?

<comment><USER12> Here is your tutorial, from a Vimmer: [http://ian.mccowan.space/2015/04/07/Spacemacs/](http://ian.mccowan.space/2015/04/07/Spacemacs/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> So I installed it. I know nothing about emacs, have followed setup etc. It appears I definitely dont have Vi keybindings upon re-opening it after initial install. Anyone care to help me out a bit? Really am intrigued but not sure how to get started with that as a blocker.

<comment><USER28> You should do. I've been using it for a while and am a big fan of it so far. If you've got any questions about how exactly to do something there's a quite active gitter room[0].

There could be a problem with a new feature (from maybe yesterday?, the day before?) that allows users to pick between emacs and vim keybindings.

[0] [https://gitter.im/syl20bnr/spacemacs](https://gitter.im/syl20bnr/spacemacs)

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> Any reason why the documentation is in md and not in info for easy navigation from inside emacs?

<comment><USER12> So you can put it on the web for complete Emacs newbies to read rather than forcing them to learn Info reading. However, Spacemacs does integrate info+ that makes Info reading much more pleasant, along with helm-info command that I can say Emacs becomes the best info reader every.

<comment><USER30> Info can be easily exported to HTML just like Markdown can.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> I tried this a few days ago, it seems like a cool concept, but I found the whole thing a bit bewildering. Is there a tutorial for it like emacs's C-h t?

</comment><comment><USER32> As a Vim user I really want to give Emacs a try and this seems to be a great starting point, but:

Does this support configs in my .vimrc?

Can I use Vim plugins in it?

<comment><USER33> > Does this support configs in my .vimrc?

Nope.

> Can I use Vim plugins in it?

Nope.

Evil Mode exposes Emacs using a Vim interface. It's doubtful that it will ever run Vim plugins or read your .vimrc (particularly because it will not support things like autocmd or VimL). There are many ports of Vim plugins to Emacs for use with Evil. For example, evil-leader[1] brings support for leaders (Spacemacs makes heavy use of this with <Space> as the leader, hence the name). There are also many things in the Emacs world that Vim doesn't really have, like flycheck[2] or a decent hex editor (I've used vim + xxd, but Emacs' hex editor is nicer).

[1] [https://github.com/cofi/evil-leader](https://github.com/cofi/evil-leader)

[2] [https://github.com/flycheck/flycheck](https://github.com/flycheck/flycheck)

EDIT: It's not a drop-in Vim replacement in the way that NeoVim is. It just brings modal editing and your Vim muscle memory to working in Emacs.

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> I've tried a number of Vim replacements in the past that always omit really key features like macros, searching, correct escape configuration (Ctrl-[ god damnit!), g/s/v commands and any other number of things.

Is this one really, ACTUALLY a good vim substitute? Or do I have to relearn a ton of stuff just to get to the same level of knowledge and comfort I have with Vim?

<comment><USER35> It's so good that some people call it a Vim re-implementation, not an emulator.</comment></comment>


Facebook and the Social Dynamics of Privacy: Analysis of privacy on social network sites - <AUTHOR> http://works.bepress.com/james_grimmelmann/20/ <comment><USER2> I haven't read this lengthy article completely (I might never have time to finish it), but thus far I've found it to be thought-provoking, and unusually in touch with its subject matter. Most articles about Facebook seem to be written by people who are mystified by its appeal, its users, and the broader changes in technology and society that are enabling its success.

Perhaps this is explained somewhere later in the article, but this bullet point confused me:

"Giving users 'ownership' over the information they enter on Facebook is the worst idea of all; it empowers them to run roughshod over others' privacy."

How would giving ownership over the information a user enters on Facebook empower that user to run roughshod over others' privacy? Am I misinterpreting something, or missing something?

<comment><USER3> I haven't dented it yet. I'm fascinated. I have a hunch it is because there is a conflict between what you and I deem is private. While you might want to be private, if we're tagged in the same photo and I'm less discretionary, the photo will be available and possibly tagged with you.</comment></comment>


Emma Chamberlain dropped out of school and changed the world of online video - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/style/emma-chamberlain-youtube.html <comment><USER3> This is a good piece, but I can't see it playing well around here. Modern youth culture is treated in an as facile and impenetrable manner by today's adults as our cultures were by our own parents. Yet.. as with any generation, there's a lot of good and bad to be seen, and this generation will surely give way to one that's even more intriguing.

</comment><comment><USER4> Some time ago I always looked down upon such creators, but, with time - <USER2> is the difference between those influencer kids and Hollywood (especially in times of netflix cut-cost model)? Its still only about content provided, and content market is biggest ever today. Of course, I doubt that this (being employed as YT persona) is sustainable on a long run (there is myriad of reasons, including platform dependence), but girl already has a foothold in entertainment industry, far easier to start for her now than if sending screenplays to random producers. My point being, people watching it (or authors creating it) are not stupid, they are market driven, its almost a systemic problem that we can create value out of nothing and sustain this value doing nothing. World continues to spin.

</comment><comment><USER5> I can't believe my eyes. Am I just too old? Some random persons shows herself in 5 different shirts or shows herself sitting all day on the balcony? Why is that interesting and so many people want to watch this?

<comment><USER6> My conjecture, for which I offer no proof: people get a lot of utility from friendship, especially if that friendship is with someone popular/fun/cool/beautiful. People are also not very good at distinguishing "I see this person on a screen every day and it's like we're hanging out" from "I hang out with this person every day".

Way back when this effect played out in the way people connected with the people on their favorite TV shows. If anything, it's compounded now, since you can watch these people do normal hangout stuff like "sitting all day on the balcony". That stuff used to be reserved for friends and family, or at least acquaintances. So we still attach a special feeling to taking part in it. Again, this is most true when we see the person as cool.

Might even be further compounded by the rise of actual friendships (i.e., two- way streets) that mostly play out online -- if many of your interactions with actual friends occur over Instagram, it's easier to see "I see person x's Instagram posts" as a kind of friendship.

These are just guesses. I follow some people on YouTube, but they're all very skilled practitioners of at least one of my hobbies, and I'm not into their sporadic "my life outside my hobby/vlog" videos.

Also, on reflection, I probably stole most of these ideas from an old essay David Foster Wallace wrote about television, "E Unibus Pluram" [1].

[1] [https://jsomers.net/DFW_TV.pdf](https://jsomers.net/DFW_TV.pdf)

<comment><USER7> I have noticed this effect in myself while watching streamers on Twitch. You start to feel like you're sitting on a couch with your buddy playing a game.

<comment><USER8> perhaps this is why I've never been able to get into streamers. About the only online content of that type I've been able to consume is HCBailey's lets play series, and that's because he does old school FF, et al, and I enjoy the nostalgia. It's more about the game than the person, although I think he does a great job.

But otherwise, the entire culture of watching other people online is weird to me.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> >Chamberlain edits each video she makes for between 20 and 30 hours, often at stretches of 10 or 15 hours at a time. Like other professional social media users, the work has taken a physical toll on her. (She releases roughly one video a week.) She used to edit at a desktop, but she developed back pain. Now she works from her bed. She keeps blue mood lighting on, but her vision has deteriorated.

She works harder than many "adults" I know. Considering the USA's collective obsession with "hard work" and long hours she should be lauded, but I mostly see comments denigrating her, probably because there's no stock price at stake. We only value hard work when somebody else benefits from it.

<comment><USER10> I don't quite understand how her "physical toll" is any greater than other computer workers, other than she now does her work in bed. It's certainly a lighter load than any labor or trade job, so that part of the article falls flat to me.

She should be lauded for producing something people want to see, with no external harm, that makes her a living. That's difficult, unstable, and stressful. It could disappear overnight from a gaffe or any number of other causes both within and outside her control.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Did everyone forget about JenniCam? The subtitle gore of this NYT post is myopic. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Ringley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Ringley)

</comment><comment><USER12> This isn't real news. The whole "what if YouTube is a real job?!?!?!?" Bullshit was hyped up 10 years ago, at the earliest, if I recall correctly, when pewdiepie was starting to go mainstream and vloggers were getting traction. It's always difficult work. That's not the purpose of the article though - it's just trying to shine another light on an old topic to revive it for the public and make some easy clicks.

</comment><comment><USER13> As someone currently doing backbreaking work, please fork off with this bullshirt.

Yeah, I get it, it's mentally tiring and a lot more effort than we see in the video. Cry me a river. Be glad your everything from the waist down doesn't feel like it's falling apart without taking an iburprofen because you didn't just have to clock in a half forking marathon in some cheap sneakers from walmart.

<comment><USER14> You can say fuck on HN.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> OMG! The internet is so changed I can't even comprehend! My JS won't run, even backend Python/PHP won't run, And my mouse turned into a moose. Much change.

</comment><comment><USER16> I made it about 30 seconds hoping for something funny, but hey, if it works for her, more power to her.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/07/emma-...](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/07/emma- chamberlain-and-rise-relatable-influencer/593230/)

</comment><comment><USER17> The title was misleading for me. I expected a tech project in the domain of online video. Can we change it to include "YouTube" or add "influencer"?

</comment><comment><USER18> Mirror: [https://outline.com/ZgEY5K](https://outline.com/ZgEY5K)

</comment><comment><USER19> [Warning cynical and bitter post below]

Ah, Youtubers. I am not sure what's more tragic about them; making hyperbolic or fake events to attract viewers.

Or allowing viewers a "no-bars" tour around their personal lives and sometimes their own heads.

Or is the real tragedy the viewers, who binge vicariously into these empty vessels. Relishing in the rise, peak and eventual fall from fame of these online stars, with all the emotions and vulnerability put on for display.

Then for this audience to move onto the next piece of entertainment?

The worst part is the propagation that Youtubing is a legitimite vocation / lifestyle. It's almost as bad as these other fake lifestyles:

* Travel Bloggers, desecrating and ignoring local customs for the entertainment of readers.

* Forex / Bitcoin millionaires (Buy my eBook).

* The mum that makes £50,000 a week from doing online surveys.

* ASMR escorts

* Instagram influencers, prostituting themselves literally or metaphorically to businesses / media / rich saudi princes

To read more like this, please check out my blog, so I can live out my dream of being a digital nomad and pose with my expensive Macbook in a third world country...

tomaytotomato.com

<comment><USER20> How much of this is just disintermediated "reality" television, though? It used to be the case that only very few people could become celebrities, and this was mediated by the existing power brokers. Now people can become a TV star directly without having to go through the TV. Long hours are still required, but this is fundamentally a competition: you'll be beaten by someone putting in more hours. The real curse of full commoditisation of time and life.

The difficult bit is trying to untangle whether the audience's participation in it is just entertainment, or takes on unhealthy aspects of boundary crossing, addiction, or delusions of closeness.

> Forex / Bitcoin millionaires (Buy my eBook).

Popular financial frauds have a centuries-long history.

<comment><USER21> Although I believe that the amount of effort put in will also provide an amount returned, this isnt always the case, and moreso in this type of "showbiz" career. It also doesnt help that by lowering the bar in this field, you yield better results (see early pewdiepie, belle delphine) it provides better results with a fraction of the effort.

<comment><USER20> There's definitely a vicious cycle of outrage and controversy inflation that pushes people to become fascists simply because that's what gets clicks. They then try to say they didn't mean it, but that has the problem that they sold their entire channel on the basis of "authenticity".

Similarly the demand for sex work appears insatiable, especially if it can successfully pretend not to be. Someone mentioned Jennicam, which may have been broadcasting before Belle Delphine was even born.

Only external braking factors can reduce this. The thing that stops youtubers from going all the way up to snuff films for the clickbait is the moderation and risk of getting banned. Something to think about for those that think it should just be an entirely neutral platform.

Youtube, by paying these people, has been the invisible hand that's called them into this role.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> The wording of the title feels like an ad for youtube or the gig economy, but besides these winners there are far more losers.

</comment><comment><USER23> Honestly I don't think there is much to be seen. Young people are playing the hand they have been dealt, it just isn't a very good one.

<comment><USER24> "Joel got the idea for the song when he had just turned 40. He was in a recording studio and met a friend of Sean Lennon who had just turned 21 who said 'It's a terrible time to be 21!' Joel replied to him, 'Yeah, I remember when I was 21 – I thought it was an awful time and we had Vietnam, and y'know, drug problems, and civil rights problems and everything seemed to be awful.' The friend replied, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it's different for you. You were a kid in the fifties and everybody knows that nothing happened in the fifties.' Joel retorted, 'Wait a minute, didn't you hear of the Korean War or the Suez Canal Crisis?' Joel later said those headlines formed the basic framework for the song."

<comment><USER25> Which song?

<comment><USER26> Sounds like Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire."</comment></comment></comment></comment>


RRREmail: autogenerated replies that sound like you - <AUTHOR> http://rrremail.com/

<comment><USER2> As a chronic rrredmail user, I wish to state that this message for this site is 100% real, and its statements concerning the news that it conveys are of top quality. Visit this site regularly for the latest information about your field of study.

</comment><comment><USER3> Minor site complaint: clicking on the logo opens a new tab.

<comment><USER4> _Shakes fist at SVG and his inability to implement it properly._

It should be fixed now.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Absolute Brilliant time saver.!</comment>


Will Twitter Replace RSS? - <AUTHOR> http://www.twitip.com/will-twitter-replace-rss/ <comment><USER2> Lame linkbait title. Twitter is great and all, but so is RSS, they can and will both survive (well maybe not Twitter).</comment>


Escape From The Web - web-based terminal emulator (TornadoApp) - <AUTHOR> https://launchpad.net/eftw

<comment><USER2> cool! but... I'd like someone with more knowledge than I have to comment about the security aspects of this. It seems to me like this would open me to the general dangers and insecurities of the web browser, and to be completely honest, my knowledge of security in that area consists of "don't have other tabs/windows open when you do something important" and when writing CGIs, only accept data in the format you accept.

So, for example, how could this be hardened against something like this? <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=812482></comment>


32-bit overflow gets slot machine player's hopes up - <AUTHOR> http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/01/us/slot-machine-winner-steak-dinner-trnd/index.html <comment><AUTHOR> As I looked at the picture in the article, I realized that the number on the slot machine's screen looked strangely familiar.</comment>


Stripe Hires AWS' Mike Clayville as Chief Revenue Officer - <AUTHOR> https://stripe.com/en-au/newsroom/news/mike-clayville <comment><USER2> We're excited to hire Mike in part because AWS has been one of the very best examples ever of _simultaneously_ selling to the largest companies in the world while not giving up on a strong self-serve product. So many B2B companies end up with homepages for which the only CTAs are annoying variants of "read case study", "download whitepaper", and "request a call". All stock photography; no product imagery.

Stripe's growth thus far has been fueled by individual developers and founders signing up and growing with us to billions of revenue. As we scale, the "impatient developer" will remain the focus of our product development.

Over time, however, we've been increasingly finding that large organizations (like Zoom/Atlassian/Maersk) want to adopt Stripe -- Stripe now has a lot of functionality that they can't get elsewhere. So, we're very eager to continue to grow this side of our business with Mike.

<comment><AUTHOR> Congrats, Patrick. The VMware + AWS experience is certainly a big plus for a company like Stripe.

I would dare to disagree on, or at least to challenge, the "simultaneously" that you mention, though - in my experience (ex AWS, ex VMware) these two are completely different sales motions, made possible simply by the product itself and how it's discovered and consumed... Despite (yes, despite) what enterprise sales wanted to do. In a way, it's as if AWS self-serve were one entity, and AWS enterprise sales were another one.

In many cases, sales teams were completely not aware of certain things happening, or certain accounts becoming huge overnight, or certain developer behaviors. Some salespeople were handsomely rewarded for having been randomly selected as the sales rep for accounts like, say, Dropbox or AirBnB.

It's hard to describe properly, I know, but it's not as harmonious as one might say at first glance. And I think that the sales team still hasn't a good idea of the other side of the coin.

In a way, AWS' merit is to not have let Enterprise Sales screw up the self- serve part, and I think that's mainly because AWS was, and still is, so much more metric-driven than any other business I'm aware of. Enterprise Sales happened gradually, without interrupting a very addictive self-serve machine.

Anyway, this could be a long conversation with lots of platitudes, so I'll stop here and try to think of better ways to explain what I have in mind.

<comment><USER2> Yes, the world certainly hasn't yet nailed this playbook. AWS _has_ , I would contend, objectively done an incredible job in this synthesis. (How many other businesses have grown to $40B+ of revenue with self-serve product adoption front-and-center?) But I'm sure Mike (and anyone else at AWS) would be among the first to agree that they also have things to learn and improve.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes. I once calculated that AWS is the fastest ever b2b in history. Only marginally slower than FB, which is a consumer business (and the fastest ever).

One more thing I'd like to mention in this context: ask 100 people why AWS has been so successful.

Think of your answer.

My answer (6 years at AWS; met with ~5,000 AWS customers, so big data set): lowest barrier of entry (swipe credit card, EC2 is up in 2-3 minutes), and lowest barrier of pausing the service (and the billing).

Most people would say any other thing, but not this one. In fact, EC2, S2, EBS were initially quite bad, in terms of performance or price/quality, compared to pretty much anything out there. But you needed 2 minutes to spin up an EC2 instance, vs 2-3 weeks anywhere else.

<comment><USER3> The other thing is trust. They have (yet) to screw customers on pricing that I've seen. Has amazon ever raised prices on an existing service? I'm not saying the prices are any good, but they don't seem to go up.

So you can spin up in a few seconds, scale, stop and even invest in the platform without worrying too much. Also - they don't seem to discontinue services that quickly, again, doesn't feel like you will be screwed.

I just had a call TODAY with a vendor, the price could be as low as $30/unit or $120/unit - that's a near 4x delta from sure to hell no for our use case. Sales guy needs to go talk to their manager to see if they can get us the lower pricing. And who knows if next year (it's annual) we'll again get their "manager" to sign off on the lower pricing.

Something about enterprise sales folks thinking is very short term. No price transparency - maybe we can qualify and squeeze them for more per unit. Or maybe get them in low and squeeze them on renewal once they've invested. The overhead of dealing with them is so high too. Show me actual product screens (not talking heads and bullet points). By the time you get to the demo you have wasted a week of your life.

So big thumbs up to AWS here. You can see baseline pricing up to huge traffic. You can see savings plans discounts up to large amounts etc.

<comment><USER4> AWS has clear upfront pricing, but they're a large enterprise company so if you're a large customer, and you're not getting a discount, you're _definitely_ getting screwed. No one talks about that because it's all covered by NDAs covering backroom deals, but you can be sure Netflix isn't paying list pricing for EC2 instances.

Having to convert between Reserved Instance families to save money, while tricking people into thinking that this is good for them, is a masterstroke of AWS' sales department. Wouldn't you rather be working on the product rather than optimizing RI counts?

<comment><USER5> I've never felt tricked by RI. Is there some value to a cloud provider if I commit to three years of an instance type that might night have much new adoption after 1 or 2 years? I suspect so. They seemed to price based on that. What's the "trick"? Standard a1.medium instance for 3 years runs $7/month. Not unreasonable

If you don't want to do that use savings plans.

If you like talking to sales people and negotiating discounts do that. But they haven't let those sales people shut down / mess up self serve, including options for discounts.

You can get pretty far with amazon's tiered pricing and savings plans / spot etc discounts.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Just me or does anyone else think there's going to be a reckoning in interchange regulation in the US like Europe soon?

Merchants are hurting, and now the pandemic has forced cashless transaction adoption at an accelerating pace.

The egregiousness of both exempt debit interchange and credit interchange fees is almost laughingly insane compared to Europe, where it is heavily regulated. Would be surprised not to see bi-partisan action sooner rather than later addressing this very question eg Durbin Amendment Part 2.

<comment><USER3> My requests - pass interchange onto the customer - and allow merchant to do so explicitly at whatever rate they want (not cash discount or anything). Ie, merchant might cover first 1% of interchange, pass rest on (so "premium" card holders with high interchange and high rewards pay the big price). We do have to get to chip+pin so the fraud issues diminish.

<comment><USER6> there's probably very little fraud with touchless payments like Apple Pay - most issuers require some verification to add the card to a phone in the first place. if that becomes a growing % of in person payments i don't see the justification for high card present rates.

also some data suggests people have moved to more debit transactions during Covid over credit which are cheaper to process anyway and usually means less fraud - so maintaining a fixed processing rate means margins for processors are probably even better right now

<comment><USER3> I wonder if Apple and Google and Facebook and Microsoft and Stripe had just done something "anti competitive" and entered the payment space squarely themselves if rates would come down. They seem more consumer experience directed than other players.

The security they can deploy (apple pay seems pretty good now as long as card onboarding isn't broken) seems like they could drive down to basically low interchange?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Hey pc I love your engagement in the comment threads. Few leaders at billion dollar companies hop on the comment threads with such care.

Thank you!

<comment><USER6> taking 2.9%+ of every sale is a lot though, no?

<comment><USER8> It is a fair bit, but for any credit or debit card transaction they're actually taking on the risk of essentially fronting the cost of the transaction. Well really their partnering bank does, but if something happens they're left covering that cost. They also have to split the profit with their collaborating bank and possibly the credit card companies. Nowadays I suspect the risk isn't all all that high, or at least not 2.9 less slim profit margin high. So in the end 2.9% isn't highway robbery but they're also not working on slim margins.

<comment><USER6> costco offers payment processing for 1.99% + 25c (vs 2.9 + 30c), so quite a bit cheaper.

my point is that it's entirely possible to offer the same thing for cheaper if your main concern is cost, especially for higher volume merchants, and not optimizing for developer experience [https://www.costco.com/merchant- account.html](https://www.costco.com/merchant-account.html)

<comment><USER9> Your point is a complete non-sequitar though? How'd it go from "Patrick is very active on HN/with developer communication!" to "yeah but Stripe is expensive"?

AFAIK they see themselves as a "premium" processor, not as a cheap one.

<comment><USER6> just a reference to the company's valuation - and how lack of regulation around interchange fees and payment processing fees has meant very high costs that would be a lot lower if the US were more like EU

<comment><USER9> I don't see how that's a problem? There's no lack of payment processors, as you have noted, many with lower fees.

If you choose Stripe, you're doing so for the dev experience, their ML whatever, better testing suite, integrations, etc.

And you're doing that consciously.

<comment><USER6> there's a high floor due to interchange fees that are set by the networks that processors have no control over.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I wonder if Amazon will sue based on a non-compete?

Since they did that earlier this year: [https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/11/aws- case-against-worker-who-...](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/11/aws-case-against- worker-who-joined-google-reignites-non-compete-debate.html)

<comment><AUTHOR> Very unlikely. They could if you go to MS or GCP or VMware. Note that some people might know stories about it, but most of these people wouldn't be able to talk about it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> So can we expect stripe to move to the most complex pricing system ever invented?

</comment><comment><USER12> We migrated from stripe to paddle in the last month due to stripe not having any built in tax functionality. They do have a separate provider to calculate taxes but then you need to work with multiple services and worry about all those working well. We went with paddle since it's all built in because technically they are the ones who get paid, take off a bit off the top, charge taxes and file them.

Has anyone done this with stripe successfully?

</comment><comment><USER13> in case this was news to anyone (seems to have not been picked up on HN which is strange) TIL that Stripe raised another 600m as recently as April. [https://stripe.com/en-sg/newsroom/news/stripe-extends- series...](https://stripe.com/en-sg/newsroom/news/stripe-extends-series-g- funding-round)

</comment><comment><USER14> Thought it would be patio11, guess charging more isn't in their roadmap</comment>


For Certain Types of Students, an Ever-Receding Finish Line - <AUTHOR> http://chronicle.com/article/For-Some-Students-an/48331/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

<comment><USER2> 1\. Counter-examples, taken from an offspring's acquaintance:

a. Student 1 slacks off in high school, finds that his one choice is a middling state school in New England. Once there, he gets to work, makes good 1st semester grades, transfers to a better school in that region, will presumably graduate after four years of college. b. Student 2 starts at a good school in the mid-South, transfers after three years to a better thought of school in the mid-Atlantic, will graduate after five years of college.

Both, however, show as having failed to graduate at the school where they started. I suspect this could have something to do with Stony Brook's anomaly --the better off kids transfer to a school they prefer.

2\. No doubt there is a problem for the poorer kids with money.

3\. Increasing the percentage of students with a college education is well and good, but a blunt instrument. Better to improve secondary and collegiate education.</comment>


MaxA/B - Free A/B testing plugin for WordPress - <AUTHOR> http://maxfoundry.com/plugins/maxab/

<comment><USER2> Good example of effective marketing. They give you a free, useful plugin, but related plugins are available for a substantial fee. Given that you have to sign up to download the free plugin, they also have a way to propose an upsell in the future (I pretty much expect emails from them).

<comment><USER3> I'm diluted they are/have A/B tested that. So it depends if your in the control or test group :P

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This looks great. I'm helping a friend with a site where this would be perfect for improving his conversions without as much work on my part.

One question though. Do the visitors get a cookie to maintain the split on return visits?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, visitors get a cookie that has the value of the page they should see on return visits. For instance, if a visitor ends up on variation page #2, they will see variation page #2 from now on. Or at least until they reach the conversion page or the cookie expires in 30 days.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I think it is irresponsible to put tools like this into the hands of non- technical users. The lack of statistical Significance or recommended sample size will cause a lot of people to make uninformed decisions.

<comment><USER6> That's a more irresponsible stance to take - witholding tools and knowledge because you fear people are ignorant is a sure fire way to keep those people ignorant.

Part of our goal with this plugin is to educate users about these things - look for much more of that coming in the future.

<comment><USER7> Are you trying to say it is better to have A/B testing without statistical significant as compared no A/B testing at all?

I'd disagree with you completely and since you are taking this stance, I am actually worried now about recommending the plugin. Not caring about statistical significance is equivalent to taking decisions at random. You may better flip a coin, why bother A/B testing? You are letting your users take decisions not knowing if those are real or just random.

<comment><AUTHOR> Keep in mind that this is just step one of many we'd like to take with this plugin. It's not that we don't care about statistical significance - it just didn't make it into this version, so we'll work to get that in there soon.

We will also be adding more in the FAQ tab that talks about these sorts of issues where users could possibly make decisions too soon instead of letting the tests gather more data.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Couldn't log in under two browsers. Was able to register but no luck after that.

<comment><AUTHOR> Which two browsers?

<comment><USER9> any browser - tried Firefox, Safari, and Chrome

[edit] - confirmed - took 2+ tries to get it to work in Chrome

<comment><AUTHOR> Should be fixed now guys, sorry about that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> @arcware we can't stay logged in to actually download - we only see the "sign- up" landing page.

<comment><AUTHOR> I see the problem, working on the fix now. I swear everything worked a half hour ago...</comment></comment>


Ask HK: What is the most number of tables you've used in a RDMS? - <AUTHOR> I am doing research on E. F. Codd's work. I wonder since then, 1970, what is the most tables you have used in a real database? Thank you in advance. <comment><USER2> I don't use them all but the Oracle database I currently work in has ~8000 tables across 80 schemas.

Don't ask about impact analysis or change control.

</comment><comment><USER3> SAP R/3 ships with 20.000 tables. [http://www.ibmsystemsmag.com/aix/tipstechniques/systemsmanag...](http://www.ibmsystemsmag.com/aix/tipstechniques/systemsmanagement/Optimizing- SAP-R-3-Database-Performance/)

</comment><comment><USER4> With how partitioning works in Postgres you could easily have millions of tables (even though they are just copies of a parent). I remember a company in Austin writing a blog about how they delta which such a large catalog size Postgres.

We have about 200 tables that we partition by day. So in three years it's 200*300.

</comment><comment><USER5> Around 700. It was 10 years ago so I don't recall the exact number. We were regularly writing queries with more than 15 joins...

</comment><comment><USER6> I used to work at an Investment Bank and one of our back office systems had an Oracle database with 3000+ tables. Fun times.

</comment><comment><USER7> In a single database, I don't think I've ever exceeded 50 tables. If a project of mine grew beyond that amount of complexity, it would likely make sense to refactor it into several/many databases.

</comment><comment><USER8> Currently have ~215 and the number is likely to grow several times over.</comment>


Ask HN: Anyone want to donate a server? - <AUTHOR>

If anyone has an older server that they want to donate I would be happy to take it, i'm willing to pay up to $100 shipping, thanks HN!<p>EDIT: It's for my hosting startup, I need a server to start working with. Anything from 2007 on would be perfect, and it would go to good use. I would also be happy to send you a free couple months of VPS once my startup launches. <comment><USER2> Maybe your startup should be a server farm that uses people's servers they're just not using, like Airbnb for hosting. Only half kidding....

<comment><AUTHOR> That's actually not a horrible idea!

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I've got a couple, shoot me an email. Info in my profile.

<comment><AUTHOR> I will in just a sec.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Anyone else?

<comment><USER4> Email me, I have a few

<comment><AUTHOR> What's your email?</comment></comment></comment>