Mario 3 recreated with CSS3 animations and media queries - <AUTHOR> https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/demos/detail/media-query-mario

<comment><USER3> Hey dude. Awesome demo. Wanted to be a counter-voice to all the commenters here complaining about having to resize the window to make this work. You've got lots of upvotes so clearly people like your work. The only people commenting are the pessimists.

The resize thing is a cool hack. I wonder if anyone has ever made a game with window resizing as the control mechanism.

Finally, if you do you want to get rid of the resizing, maybe an easy way would be to simulate it by covering the un-animated part of the window with a curtain (Mario style: <http://www.flickr.com/photos/shieldsokc/5388817583/>).

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks :) Think it's easy for some to forget it's a tech demo, so it isn't meant to be absolutely 'perfect', but really happy with the feedback so far.

Good idea re the curtain - it would be quite an easy port to make the animation work like that, so think I might do that at some point.

Think there are lots of possibilities around window resizing that haven't been explored yet - could make some really interesting effects...

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Pretty cool idea, though having to constantly resize the window got annoying, and I think it lost track of the window size after while because Mario started collecting coins without touching them, then ran off the screen as he did a flying jump, after which the demo froze (on Chrome).

<comment><USER5> I found the exact same issues as this.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> This is reasonably interesting, however the window thing is a bit a problem for me. I found it distracting form the actual content of the demo.

Perhaps I'm missing the point, but it would have been better in my opinion if you'd found another way to make it auto play in whatever window size.

<comment><AUTHOR> I explored a few options - the reason I decided to make it controlled by the user was so it didn't have to open in a new window (as you can only control the width of the window with JS in a separate window).

Thanks for the feedback though - might create a separate self-running version at some point.

<comment><USER6> This only works when resizing the window? Would an ever-increasing div work? If you floated it right the size would always increase on the left, mimicking the drag and resize action that the user is doing.

That said, I get that you're pushing the limits as it is here and you've likely already considered this as an option.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeh, can use resizeTo but only when you have a separate window.

Not sure if an increasing div would work. Could potentially do it as an iframe, but not sure how nicely that'd work, would have to try it out.

Think I'll release it as a separate full animation at some point - will write up how it's all put together when I do.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> How in the world do people have time to make things like this? I've been trying to find time to clean my garage for a year.

<comment><USER8> Greaaat. Can't wait for the _"Show HN: Cleaned my garage in pure CSS"_ post :)

<comment><USER9> " _I built an army of Arduino robots attached to the base of all of the major objects in my garage that can read any website and assign themselves DOM elements that most match their physical attributes, rearranging the whole space to parallel that site's hierarchy and stylesheets. (Did I mention they coordinate with each other over a custom NFC protocol I developed?)_ "

[I guess I went so ridiculous it actually sounds cool.]

<comment><USER10> Bluetooth would work better than NFC in this instance.

<comment><USER11> Agreed, though 802.15.4 (mesh) would probably be even better for an "army" of nanobots.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Maybe this is a dumb question, but why not use SVG? It's scriptable and supported on modern browsers.

<comment><USER13> I might be able to answer this. Animating SVG is tricky, groups is a particularly issues because each element inside a group has to be animated as opposed to just animating the parent group tag (which causes a lot of issues with rotations in particular, you have to break out the trigonometry in javascript).

<comment> jarek-foksa I disagree, <g> element can be animated with JavaScript as easily as e.g. <div>. You just change the value of transform attribute. Rotations can be handled easily once you understand how matrixes work.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Wait, it broke for me once he got the feather and flew away. Was it supposed to end there?

</comment><comment><USER15> I'm sure this took a lot of work to do, but it's too buggy, I don't understand why I have to increase the window size, that seems to cause the animations stop of become sluggish. Overall it's not a good demo even though the possibilities of this are nice.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback - reason it's a bit buggy is mainly down to the implementation of the animation step-timing.

In Firefox, it works as you would expect, stepping through the spriting. In webkit, it's very inconsistent in how it renders, and doesn't look as polished because of this.

I've noticed the speed of the animation being effected by the resizing - <USER2> mentioned to others, will probably release a version which just shows the animations off separate to the window resizing as well to avoid this. The main reason for including reliance on media queries was to fit it into the mozilla dev derby criteria for this month.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Really nice, but I'm not entirely sure I see the point of controlling the animation through media queries. For me it takes away from the real performance, which is animating the whole thing through CSS in the first place.

<comment><AUTHOR> Only reason it's controlled with media queries is because it was an entry for this months Mozilla dev derby (which is based around media queries).

I could pretty easily modify and release as a straight up animation though with no media query control.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> I have a tiling window manager. That means any resizing is automatic.

</comment><comment><USER18> Strangely enough, the demo works using Webkit (Chrome) but not with Firefox : I cannot start the animation, as the Start button does not appear even if I resize the window properly.

<comment><AUTHOR> What version of Firefox were you using?

<comment><USER19> I'm seeing the issue using Firefox 16.0.2 on OSX Lion.

<comment><AUTHOR> Very strange - I'm on same version here.

I'm going to add a width counter to give more feedback on the resizing, as seems to be a bit of a bottleneck.

<comment><USER20> It seems the minimum reported by window.innerWidth on 16.0.2 (OS X, 10.8.2) is 453. Once it hits that, I can drag it all the smaller I like, and it is stuck at 453.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Not sure why everyone is complaining about the resizing thing. I thought that was the whole point of the demo, to show that you can control an animation with the window size.

</comment><comment><USER22> I have no idea how someone would make something like this. Good job!

I should investigate CSS3 animations further.

</comment><comment><USER23> Absolutely insane. I love it! Looks great, runs well, and one of the weirdest uses of media queries I've seen.

<comment><AUTHOR> Cheers dude :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Wasted over 2 mins re-sizing and nothing happened. There has to be a better way.</comment>


It's only a matter of time before a drone takes down a passenger plane - <AUTHOR> https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612656/its-only-a-matter-of-time-before-a-drone-takes-down-a-passenger-plane <comment><USER2> Could a water cannon take down a drone?

<comment><USER3> The article is pretty convincing that that won't solve the problem. Eg, "Things can change, though, if drones fly in swarms" and "from a technical perspective a drone can fly 2,000 feet up just as easily as it can fly near the ground".

The tallest fountain is 260 meters/853 feet - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain#The_tallest_fountains...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain#The_tallest_fountains_in_the_World) .

As [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Fahd%27s_Fountain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Fahd%27s_Fountain) points out, "The water it ejects can reach a speed of 375 km/h (233 mph) and its airborne mass can exceed 16 tonnes (18 short tons)."

So it's going to be very hard to take down a drone at 2,000 with a water cannon, even if the drone is directly over the cannon.</comment></comment>


October - <AUTHOR> https://october.app/ <comment> tony-allan I like a bit of a hint about what an app does before i signup!</comment>


The Hierarchy of Innovation - <AUTHOR> http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2012/05/the_hierarchy_o.php

<comment><USER2> I file this one under Wrong But Interesting. There's still a ton we need to do in terms of innovation for prosperity, notably in medicine and energy. And I think we're in the early stages of seeing total disruption of social organization (open source software model of p2p production applied elsewhere). But still an interesting piece and useful thinking exercise.</comment>


Internal Versus External BLOBs in SQLite - <AUTHOR> https://www.sqlite.org/intern-v-extern-blob.html <comment><USER2> How old is this benchmark? HDD or SSD (I think the former given the 2011 reference.

A filesystem is the canonical means for storing files - just use it - it's incredibly handy to have regular tools at your disposal for managing those files outside of the database. The only case I can think where maybe files in the db makes sense is if you have millions of really tiny files (100-200 bytes).

Having files in the db maybe avoids an extra seek - but in any real system high throughput system, you're probably leaning towards SSDs where you get many more seeks/s than you do on a spinny disk.

If your application needs something more like a distributed filesystem, there are better things (gluster, moosefs, even nfs, etc).

<comment><USER3> > A filesystem is the canonical means for storing files - just use it

Sure but what about the many use cases where you're not really storing files but metadata or other generated data?

A simple example might be photo libraries. The photos themselves are files but are the 5kB small and 50kB medium thumbnails generated from the photos worth storing as files? Or should they be stored as blobs in the database along with their other metadata?

It's good to know where the cutoff should be.

<comment><USER2> Metadata makes sense in the db - it's structured non-binary data.

But I think the binary thumbnails and so forth should almost always be files on the filesystem.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Caution that on Windows (and even OS X to some extent), this graph will be __very __different - NTFS perf for accessing a lot of small files is very slow compared to Linux.

</comment><comment><USER5> I've always pushed back at storing blob data in databases in most cases -- probably 80-90% of the time depending on the job.

Why? Databases are all about storing data in a structure defined by the relationships between the records. In most cases with files, the relevant data is the metadata or other structured data, not the file.

If you do the math, it's rarely cost effective to store unstructured data in a structured database. Databases are always harder to scale.

On the file side, there are dozens of ways to effectively deliver files that are cheaper, more scalable and simpler for many use cases.

<comment><USER6> Databases also have advantages: transactions, durable logging, replication, integrated backups, etc.

Tom Kyte has some insightful points in this thread: [https://asktom.oracle.com/pls/asktom/f?p=100:11:0::::P11_QUE...](https://asktom.oracle.com/pls/asktom/f?p=100:11:0::::P11_QUESTION_ID:1011065100346196442)

"Do I want you to keep MY medical stuff in a directory, unsecured, unmanaged, not backed up like the database is - we have no idea if recovery is possible, who accessed it last? Who has access to it."

"if this data is valuable to your business, if this data is necessary for your business, if the loss of this data would damage your ability to do business - it has no business NOT being in the database."

<comment><USER7> Relatational databases has their advantages compared with hierarchical filesystems of blobs, but that comment is really completely beside the point.

File systems are simpler and backups and replication are really much more straightforward. As anyone who did disaster recovery of Oracle databases can attest to, there are a lot of details to get wrong.

It boils down to what data you want to store and what your access patterns look like.

<comment><USER5> Great point -- Oracle has a solid capability that is easy to operationally screw up. Database recovery is usually a real shitshow.

When you go to other platforms, you need solid process AND deep exterior in whether the database can do what you want. Can MySQL handle the same recovery scenarios that Oracle can? With which storage engines?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I've ran into situations where this is pertinent information to know w/ a music pet-project. I ended up jamming all my .mp3s into the DB though, because not only is it storage and access in this case, but the collection (in a DB) is in a defacto archive; all I do is copy the (admittedly large) DB where I need it, and I've got my data and metadata. If I were doing it again, I'd rethink this design, which isn't to say I'd abandon it, but I'd reconsider it; it's unclear whether the all-in-one solution is worth the bulk, though it might still be.

<comment><USER9> I'd always be concerned of some minor level of corruption to the big file, something that would only ruin a song or two, could render your entire dB useless.

<comment><USER10> So the natural question is why don't "file systems" (aka big database) become useless with some minor level or corruption?

<comment><USER11> I was about to comment that a database will only be corrupt if it is corrupted in the same way a file system would be corrupted, or its not a great database file format.

I work with SQL Server and while database corruption can/does happen, I often can get away with a row level restore from a backup, no problem.

I still dont like storing big ass files in a database though, I dont love the additional level of abstraction when you generally dont need to have a high transactional/relational system.

<comment><USER12> I think you've got that backwards: if you have a database for _something_ , is it worth the additional levels of abstraction to _also_ store some data in files?

If your data is fairly small, and perf not the biggest issue (which is pretty common), you might as well go for the simplest solution, which is going to be purely DB or purely FS, not some mixture of the two.

<comment><USER11> Agreed, the overhead of maintaining two solutions can be a huge burden (especially when troubleshooting something going wrong via the synthesis of two solutions), but I definitely called out "big ass files" because the difference between some text data and some smaller blob is almost nothing in terms of performance.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> You could compare with an append-only-file (with offline compaction), in which case saving tons of "file open" operations would actually be a big win, especially if you ever use a network file system. In some cases, a "simple" log+index can beat both schemes.

Also, I've stored lots & lots of photos in a filesystem, and backup is very hard. Backing up big files is just a lot easier.

<comment><USER14> How is backing up lots of small files harder than a small number of big files? With which software?

<comment><USER13> Using rsync and 20M files is a good enough example: \- to check the date of each file on UNIX you must run "stat" once per file (unless you have an external log that says what to skip) so that's very slow. \- to backup a big file is "\--append-verify" or something like this and one streaming read per file.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I think, that is a rather complicated question. You should also take into account how accessing other data is affected by large blobs that reside in the same database. For example: you have a table with large data blobs and other tables with conventional relational data. The blobs will take a lot of the cache size away from the other data. Also by increasing the database size, you will have potential longer access times, at least when you use spinning hard drives.

So, several things to think about (make cache bigger, how much grows the overall db size) that can change the database behavior.

Of course those numbers can give some directions, but since only the blob data was taken into account, it can not give full information.

I personally would most of the time prefer smaller db sizes, at least, on edge cases. Relational databases are great for structured data -- unstructured data is not their specialty.

<comment><USER16> About 9 years ago I had a small site where both page content and some large PDF files were stored in the same SQLite database. Nothing extravagant: about 20 pages and 10 PDF files, each PDF file averaging 2-3 MBs. The website was extremely and consistently slow: it would take several seconds to load any page. I eventually figured out that the problem was the binary blobs. After moving the PDF files from the database to the filesystem the load times went below 0.1s.

Since then I have not put large binary blobs in a database but I wonder if I would get reasonable performance by putting them in a _separate_ database instead of mixing them with other small-size rows.

<comment><USER12> That's weird, and should not have happened. I've done similar things with sqlite databases many times that size, and though the FS might have been even faster, sqlite was still more than fast enough (as in, sub-10ms responses the norm).

I suspect there's some way in which your access pattern or usage was suboptimal. Perhaps you had big reads with small writes in a transaction, or your network streamed directly from db leaving connections open a long time, or... something, because there's no way this should have taken so long.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Wondering how MySQL and Postgres perform. Does anybody have links to such benchmarks?

</comment><comment><USER18> SQLite supports a single writer at a time, so writing large amounts of data limits your write throughput. A file system can cache data for several files concurrently and fsync them independently when you're done.

I believe SQLite also has to write the data twice, using the WAL. Maybe there is an optimization to avoid that though.

<comment><USER19> > I believe SQLite also has to write the data twice, using the WAL. Maybe > there is an optimization to avoid that though.

If I understand correctly, it writes the data twice if you're _not_ using WAL. With WAL, it only writes the data once [1].

[1]: The "Performance Considerations" section of [https://www.sqlite.org/wal.html](https://www.sqlite.org/wal.html)

<comment><USER20> The data is written twice when using WAL. From the same link you pasted:

> The original content is preserved in the database file and the changes are > appended into a separate WAL file.

The difference is whether the journal keeps the new data (WAL) or the old data (not WAL). If you are writing big chunks of data, WAL will probably be more I/O intensive.

Taking a wild guess I'll say that if you are adding data to the database, and not using WAL, the data will only be written once since the journal won't keep a reference to old data if no pages is being overwritten.

<comment><USER19> Ah, I see the difference now, thanks.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> HTTP headers are telling me that this was last modified on 2014-12-18, I really hope they didn't JUST get around to testing ubuntu 11.04.

</comment><comment><USER22> Another great question is, if there's any reason to use smaller than 4096 byte pages with current operating and file systems?

</comment><comment><USER22> Isn't file system just a hierarchical key value storage? Think about it.

</comment><comment><USER23> Note that the performance difference rarely exceeds 2:1 either way. So this isn't a performance issue, unless you're using SQLite for something bigger than SQLite is for.

<comment><USER24> I don't think I'd define "rarely" as "nearly 25% of cases." Seems it happens with enough frequency to at least be aware.</comment></comment>


Show HN: SteadyMouse – Solving the Parkinson's Disease cursor control problem - <AUTHOR> https://www.steadymouse.com/purchase/ <comment><USER2> Great effort and nice job.</comment>


Video call with your users while watching them use your web app live - <AUTHOR> http://livedive.co/

<comment><USER2> welcome to ngnix, looks like you need to set-up your server properly.

<comment><USER3> Hi, I didn't post this but I built LiveDive.

It seems to be up for me from the various machines I'm testing it from, and we've been getting sign ups for the private beta list all day... did you get an nginx error message? Was it on the landing page or somewhere else?

Thanks for the feedback!

<comment><USER2> sorry, I didn't see this until now. I was getting an nginx error ,but I just checked again and all is fine now.

<comment><USER3> No prob. Thanks for the reply.

I still haven't been able to reproduce the error, but I added CloudFlare so it should serve a cached version of the page if the server has any hiccups.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


How to become invisible as a photographer on the street - <AUTHOR> https://jacobitzphotography.com/2016/12/09/shooting-from-the-hip/ <comment><USER2> JS overlay warning</comment>


Show HN: 114,444 Google+ profiles indexed and organized. What do you think? - <AUTHOR>

http://www.findpeopleonplus.com - So far we've indexed 114,444 Google+ profiles. We've added faceted navigation and search functionality so far.
Any feedback, thoughts would be awesome.
Thanks, <comment> mike-cardwell Not overly impressed with the way you've mangled my about info in comparison to the original page:

[http://www.findpeopleonplus.com/profiles/1059936479729639341...](http://www.findpeopleonplus.com/profiles/105993647972963934118)

Vs:

<https://plus.google.com/105993647972963934118/about>

EDIT: Also, you've specified that I have 0 followers and am following nobody. That is untrue. I just elected to not share that information.

<comment><AUTHOR> Good catch. We'll add this note to the list of improvments.

</comment></comment><comment><USER2> I love the idea and the implementation, I've been looking for something like this. If you could filter by language it would be a lot more useful. Is that possible?

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey there - great suggestion. We'll be adding a batch of features Mondayish...

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> It's cool. I'd recommend adding something to the page clearly disclosing that this is a not affiliated with Google.

<comment><AUTHOR> Great point. It's there at the bottom, but we'll make it more visable..

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> How are you classifying employment? Do you just use a predefined list of occupations and search the users "Occupation" field for items in that list?

</comment><comment><USER5> Clickable:

<http://www.findpeopleonplus.com>

<comment><AUTHOR> Nice Hack!

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Are you crawling them? if so, what package are you using to do it?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, crawling. Home brew. Stuff out there is either too complex, or too simple.

To be fair, we like to build on our own - probably not a good thing sometimes..

<comment><USER6> What language at least? Just curious, I do crawling myself and I'm always fascinated at the design decisions others choose.

<comment><AUTHOR> CURL with PHP mostly on this project.. How about yourself?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> that's cool! what do you use for your database?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thx! We're using a little bit of everything! From MySQL, to hashes to our own home brew inverted index code.

We're upping the index numbers and adding a ton of cool things on Monday.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> is there a link in which it takes u to the page where u create an account on google+ NOT google profile

</comment><comment><USER9> What does the rank indicate?

<comment><AUTHOR> Ah... good question.. Rank is based on followers. We were naive at thinking we'd index all G+ profiles so we added rank in. But, it's only a relative rank in relation to our data set. We do have Mark Zuckerberg and his rank is still tops in on index. We'll probably remove it or make it more clear.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> can anyone invite me?</comment>


Botkit for Facebook Messenger - <AUTHOR> https://blog.howdy.ai/botkit-for-facebook-messenger-17627853786b#.igv6vaskc <comment><USER2> Developer of Botkit here if you have any questions!</comment>


Ask HN: Starting an individual consultancy - <AUTHOR>

I have been working in the same (highly specialized) area of software engineering for nearly 20 years, and am now considering the prospect of moving into consulting in this area. I will probably not make the move for the next year or two, as I would like to research the prospects, brush up on some related skills, and know what I am getting into.
I am wondering if there are others who have made a similar move, and what advice they have.
Is there any chance of being successful these days in a consulting company where you are the only employee?
Keep in mind that in all likelihood I will be working on one of a couple open source projects, or updating already constructed proprietary software - it's very unlikely that I would be asked to design and construct a new piece of software as it's tens of person-years of effort in this area. As a result, companies that hire me would not be completely screwed if I were to die a horribly tragic death, so being the only person in this consulting company wouldn't have the same drawbacks it might have in other instances.
Also - there tends to be a regular trickle of contract positions in this particular area - I just don't want to work for someone else if I can manage it (although I might be open to that if it's the only way to swing getting out of a full-time gig - take a couple six month contracts a year with a month or so break in between each).
My goals are to be able to work remotely, and take some time off occasionally (more than the 3-5 weeks/year I have gotten in my last couple positions - perhaps more like 6-10 weeks/year), and if possible do a little travel while working remotely (I know, probably pushing my luck on this one). I currently pull down approx $200k + a small amount of stock, and I don't necessarily need to clear that much, but if I am taking care of my own healthcare, etc., I do want to make sure that after all of that I am not too far below that (let's say $140k).
Your thoughts and feedback are appreciated. <comment><USER2> _I have been working in the same (highly specialized) area of software engineering for nearly 20 years_

First question: how many potential customers have you come in contact with? Presumably, after 20 years you know the niche: how many companies are there out there that would be interested in hiring your services?

Next question: Any way you can build any "name recognition" in the niche? This is where "personal branding" becomes a good idea-- I'd start blogging, if I were you, and participating in conferences, etc.

The hardest part about being a one-man consultancy is customer acquisition. If you can create a situation where the customers are coming to you, asking you to work for them, you're golden. So: start from there, and work backwards-- how can you make that happen, in two years?

</comment><comment><USER3> The most important thing you need, besides your skill-set, is an existing market you can tap into. And by that, I mean lots of people you personally know at lots of firms who need the kind of work done that you can provide. Starting out "cold", with no leads, will be tough.

Ideally, your customer set will be behind your move into self-employment. Even more ideally, you'll have a job or two lined up when you quit your day job.

Edit: of course another route to market is via (contract) recruitment agencies. If there is (regular) activity in recruitment channels for your particular specialisation, then obviously that is something you can leverage too.</comment>


Using Python to Encode Cassette Recordings for my Superboard II - <AUTHOR> http://dabeaz.blogspot.com/2010/08/using-python-to-encode-cassette.html <comment><USER2> [http://technology.niagarac.on.ca/people/mcsele/OhioScientifi...](http://technology.niagarac.on.ca/people/mcsele/OhioScientific.html) seems like a nice and detailed summary of what these machines were like and where they fit in the market. I don't think I'd heard more than the name before.

</comment><comment><USER3> Hard to believe that this item hasn't been rated more interesting. That is as neat a hack as anything!

<comment><USER2> It's neat but not that unusual, people have been writing and decoding these tapes for fun or because they wanted to recover things from them for years and years. This one is also quite recent and in the other direction - but it recovers an interesting nerdhistorical artifact -

<http://www.pagetable.com/?p=32>

<comment><USER4> My housemate and I did this for Tandy Color Computer cassettes a while back. If I recall correctly, a binary 0 was a certain duration of 1200Hz sine waves, and a binary 1 was the same duration of 2400Hz sine waves. The circuitry counted zero crossings over time, which made it fairly resilient to noise.

And yes, plugging the cassette aux in cable to the headphone jack of a Macbook and transferring code through it was really fun. :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is amazing.</comment>


Medieval Scholars Believed in the Possibility of Parallel Universes - <AUTHOR> http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/medieval-multiverse-theory <comment><USER2> Not just medieval - Hindu philosophy has definitely had that concept for the few thousand years it's been in existence. The concept of "koti koti brahmanda" literally millions of universes is a pretty central concept.

<comment><USER3> Another central concept that says "Everything is Maya", hints at the idea that there is no absolute reality, and is very close to the simulation hypothesis..

Another one is the concept of 'Omkaaram' which is supposed to be a primordal "sound" or sensation from which all the universe was created, which can be thought of as saying that all reality emerges from consciousness..[1]

The stuff in Vedas and how it got written are really really intriguing.

[1] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ztlIAYTCU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ztlIAYTCU)

<comment><USER4> I often wonder if reality is defined as shared partial interpretation of our limited brains.

<comment><USER5> What exactly does "shared partial interpretation" mean?

<comment><USER4> shared because we have very similar neural structures and communicate with each others, partial because our knowledge isn't innate, so each has a restricted view of the universe; is it clearer now ?

<comment><USER5> So you mean "does reality depend on the viewers?"?

That our social constructs somehow have a bearing on what is actually real?

<comment><USER4> not only social constructs, everything is only "true" to our poor brain notion of truth.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Of course they did. It was heretical to imply that something conceivable by man would be impossible for God to create. If we can imagine it, he can do it. A rather roundabout way of arriving at a theory of parallel universes, but fascinating nonetheless.

<comment><USER7> But the fact that we can conceive of it, and that God _can_ create it, does not mean that he did, does it?

I could conceive of another God that is able to destroy God. And since I _can_ conceive of this, then God can create it - but it does not mean that he did.

I could conceive of God just doing nothing, and never creating anything in history eternal. But surely he has created something.

I guess I wonder about _can_ vs _did_

<comment><USER8> >But the fact that we can conceive of it, and that God can create it, does not mean that he did, does it?

There was an implicit belief in pre-modern thought that this is the case. That reality is a permutation of all possible forms. It's arguable that evolutionary models are a temporalized version of these beliefs.[1]

1\. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_plenitude](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_plenitude)

<comment><USER9> Thanks for the link, it looks like interesting reading.

But, how are evolutionary models a version of enumerating all possible forms. The forms accessible to evolution, are not all possible forms but only evolutionary peaks that can be climbed in the fitness landscape.

<comment><USER8> The worldview gave explanation for why there is gradation between nature's forms. The search for "missing links" predates evolutionary theory. There was an understanding that there are intermediate forms between any two species. Evolution adds a temporal dimension to this worldview where intermediate forms unfold from one another.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> The counterintuitive moral of the story seems to be that ideological censorship has the potential to spur philosophical and scientific progress, even if this is an unintended and not very frequent outcome.

It is strange, but for a good chunk of time religious thinkers were "more right" about subjects like the eternity of the universe than the prevailing aristotelian philosophers, sometimes deploying surprisingly modern-sounding ideas in the process. I'm thinking of authors like Philoponus [https://historyofphilosophy.net/philoponus](https://historyofphilosophy.net/philoponus) and Crescas [https://historyofphilosophy.net/crescas](https://historyofphilosophy.net/crescas)

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has an entry on the condemnation of 1277: [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/condemnation/](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/condemnation/)

</comment><comment><USER11> There are some broader lessons from this than who believed what and when (or what other philosophical or religious traditions had similar or "better" beliefs).

Belief based _solely_ on faith has a pronounced tendency to go off in the weeds. That's the distinction which the scientific method makes, particularly in the tradition of the bacons -- Roger Bacon (13th c.) and Francis Bacon (16th c.), no relation. Each emphasised the value of observation or experimentation.

Second: if you find your premises, or traditional authorities, at odds with observed reality, you might care to strongly favour dismissing your premises or authorities, rather than your observations -- so long as the latter seem to be independently verifiable. An interesting case of this developed most especially in the 19th century, within the field of geology, where the record of the stones was found in marked difference to the record of the scripts, particularly the biblical record. Noted geologists spent not inconsiderable time attempting reconciliation of these records. There was no reconciliation possible, of course, one of those records was simply wrong.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dwight_Dana#Publicatio...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dwight_Dana#Publications)

Third: if you've found a persistent discord between observation and theory, then it's quite likely you've illuminated a lacuna in your knowledge or understanding. Again to geology: it was clear from the geologic record that the Earth was _at least_ some hundreds of millions of years old, but no known force or energy could explain the observed temperature of the Earth's interior. The answer to this turned out to be previously unknown form of energy potential and release: radioactivity. That also happened to provide the clock by which the Earth's age could be determined, as well as the mechanism by which geology is ultimatley founded: plate tectonics. Not fully accepted, it turns out, until 1965, though it's now considered the fundamental organising principle of geology. Which gives us a fourth lesson:

Fourth: You can study a thing for a long, long, long time before you come to a proper understanding of it.

Fifth: Study of ancient authorities isn't wholly useless. I advise people to look to philosophy, especially, if not for truth _then as a record in how the truth, and error, are arrived at, over time_.

And finally: it's not enough to come to the correct answer, but to come to the correct answer through the right chain of reasoning. Science is _structured knowledge_. It's not a dry recitation of facts, but rather, the structure, through which, those facts become evident. If not self-evident, then building on observation and mechanism. Precursors of current understanding, absent the underlying structural foundation, are interesting, but are not science as it's properly considered.

<comment><USER12> Good stuff, but that last point is what a lot of critics of science don't get. We don't believe scientific discoveries, such as that the speed of light in a vacuum is a universal limit, because a famous scientist proved it years ago and now we take it on faith. We believe is because every physics student that goes through university and studies this stuff proves it themselves from first principles. We believe it because we have followed through the chain of reasoning, studied the experimental equipment and done the experiment ourselves. Many of us anyway. These experiments and the principles they are based on haven't been proven a few times, in many cases they've been proven hundreds of thousands of times.

<comment><USER11> Right.

I don't know if you caught wind of any of the "decolonising science" movement, one adherent of whom claims that science is based on _who says a thing is so_. The truth is the exact inverse. The motto of the Royal Academy is particularly instructive: In nullis verba. By the word of no one.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Some of our best science fiction come from Mormon or Mormon-raised authors (e.g. Dan Simmons).

</comment><comment><USER14> That's not news really.

</comment><comment><USER15> Nothing to see here. It is a naive or rather primitive concept based on assumption that there are more than one "future" (while actually there is none).

The traditional example is that if I cross the street everything will be different. Parallel universes is related to this nonsensical multiple- parallel-futures assumption.

For those who are interesting in seeing things as they are instead of piling up nonsense upon nonsense, consider a process of evolution. There is no multiple versions of the same species because they might turn the other way. Everything happen as it happen (everything is the way it is because it got that way). It is an _unfolding of a single process_.

There is no future(s). It is an "organic" growth (like growing of a tree). Future is a concept of the mind. A meme. So are parallel universes. There is nothing parallel to what is. At least outside of one's head.

<comment><USER16> You seem very certain about things that are kiterally unknowable.

<comment><USER15> I am standing on the shoulders of giants (Eastern philosophy since Upanishads).

The notion that the nature of reality (of what is) is hidden from one by the veil of ignorance (one's own and socially constructed bullshit in the first place) is an ancient one and goes back to the early Upanishadic seers and the historical Buddha.

Removing an observer (and all products of his mind which constitute the veil that obscures what is) is an ancient hack of early Buddhists, I am only re- emphasizing it.

Man is just a by-product of the Universe - a mere sub-process of nothing permanent or substantial (leave alone divine). Mental concepts are not required for the Universe (or what they call Brahman) to be and most of these concepts does not exit outside one's conditioned and conceptually infested mind.

Wrong concepts is the veil which obscures the view of what is. This is at least two millennia old philosophy of the nature of mind. _Before knowing what lies outside know what lies within_. There is the same facility and related social dynamics which produced gods, daemons, chakras, tantras, mantras, kundalini, mandalas, accelerating time, higher dimensions, multiple futures, parallel universes and other popular bullshit in which we are drowning.

Read some old tantras, then read some modern probabilistic modeling bullshit which they call modern science - it is all the same kind of piles of untestable socially constructed nonsense. Untestability and socially accepted dogmatism is precisely what makes it (and tantras and other religious crap) stand.

<comment><USER17> "Upanishads"?

Interesting! Thank you for mentioning. I am currently reading Gilgamesh and there is "Uta-napišti" meaning "the far away".

The Sanskrit term Upaniṣad (upa = by, ni = nether, shat =sitting) translates to "sitting down near".

In Gilgamesh epos, he (Gilgamesh) travels to seek wisdom from Uta-napišti.

Now I am curious if there may be a relation of the two.. I wouldn't be surprised.

<comment><USER15> > "Upanishads"?

Beware, it is a "rabbit hole".

<comment><USER17> Yea.. Too late. From there I also discovered Rig Veda and its siblings. I guess I have to quit my full time job to get through all of this^^

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> There's a reason religious philosophy took precedence over "scientific" thought in those times. And it wasn't because people were dumb.

<comment><USER19> Was it because they had a philosophy of hierarchical power that ensured the ruling class maintained rule by the utmost power, divine right, over the populace? One in which all suitable ideas would be approved and any unsuitable ones taught would cause their professor to be excommunicated or worse?

<comment><USER11> That's a fairly standard tactic.

 _[T]he universities were given the task of providing an unceasing supply of ideologically correct candidates for vital positions in government, church and business. The state was able to make the faculties of the "'venerable institutions'" of higher education, or rather indoctrination, assume this duty because it controlled appointments and held the purse from which "emoluments" flowed into the coffers of academics. Hence the members of the university "hierarchy" made it their "business, the business for which they . .. [were] paid," to "uphold certain political as well as religious opinions," namely those of the "ruling powers of the state" (Mill 1981: 429: and 1988b: 350). Thus the universities pursued with vigor their assignment to inculcate in their students those political and ideological views that were cherished by the power elite. The graduates of the ancient universities were, therefore, well prepared for employment in, and by, those institutions that were instrumental in perpetuating the existing maldistribution of income. All of this might come to naught, however, if the masses of the underclass should achieve anything approaching success in potential attempts at throwing off their fetters._

Hans E. Jensen, "John Stuart Mill's Theories of Wealth and Income Distribution". Review of Social Economy, Pages 491-507 | Published online: 05 Nov 2010

DOI: 10.1080/00346760110081599

[http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00346760110081599](http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00346760110081599)

Refs:

Mill, J. S. (1981) Autobiography and Literary Essays.

Mill, J. S. (1988b) Journals and Debating Speeches.</comment></comment></comment>


New Zealand considers freight as possible source of new coronavirus cluster - <AUTHOR> https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-newzealand-idUSKCN25801P <comment><USER2> So does it means that coronavirus can survive for longer time in refrigerated area, than the initial expectation?</comment>


Libraries versus Frameworks - <AUTHOR> http://sitecanary.com/blog/2

<comment><USER2> I'm not sure there's a lot of weight in the author's argument. The crux of his argument is that you'll eventually need to learn how the framework does what it does. Of course you'll eventually need to do that, but if you didn't have the framework, you'd have to learn all that just to get your app off the ground. It's a premature optimization to not use a framework. The key is to use a well designed framework that makes sense and doesn't get in your way once you have to start digging through its internals.

I do agree on one point though, for small apps that you want to get going quickly, webpy is awesome.

<comment><USER3> No, I don't have to learn how highly abstracted ORM code works to get my app off the ground without an ORM. ORMs are much more complex than straight to the metal SQL or writing to a text file.

Don't underestimate the amount of code needed to generalise over all cases a framework needs to support. Not using a framework does not mean to write that same kind of code myself because I only need to generalise over my own cases not everyone elses.

<comment><USER2> That's the difference between using a simple, straightforward framework and "magic" framework. A well designed framework should expect that its users are going to need to dig through the internals and should design accordingly. It also should not force you to use any particular abstraction if you don't want to. Don't need an ORM? Don't use it.

<comment><USER3> Sorry, but you are just repeating framework marketing fluff. Have you read what I said about generalisation at all?

Frameworks _must_ generalise further than I do in any particular project because they cover a much wider range of cases. It's not just "magic" frameworks or badly designed frameworks, it's simply the logic of what frameworks are.

Therefore this claim you make is just not true: "but if you didn't have the framework, you'd have to learn all that just to get your app off the ground"

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I think, that´s the difference between professional programmers and hackers. Hackers cant stand to write code without understanding what is happening behind the scenes. Therefore they need to go deep into their codes and understand each aspects. In the other hand, when your code for a big company and follow a lot of rules and demands, you are more inclined to use solutions like frameworks, because you are not having real fun, your are just ... working. Make sense for you ?

<comment><USER5> This is what I would guess at first sight too, but reality disagrees: it seems lot of people around HN are very religious of their frameworks...

I think the term "hacker" has two definitions around here and in the web- development world.

* Those who are interested in the internals of the system at the lowest level (non framework hackers) * Those interested in developing and hacking the framework it self as a platform and knowing all the details and hacks on it (framework hackers).

Regarding the non-hacker just-programming-for-work people, I totally agree with you.

<comment><USER6> Even in the web-development world, that might be too general of a description.

I think either type of hacker would be happy with using a framework if it wasn't closely related to what they need to do. For example, my latest app has a ton of Javascript code, but still needed some functionality on the server. I used Django to get that part done with quickly. For the actual Javascript, I used jQuery as a library, not an application framework.

As a side note, I feel Django does a pretty good job in being transparent. Once I've got it set up, it's transparent where in the view what loads and calls what, even if it is the loading/calling of templates and models. On the other hand, I never did get very far into Rails.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> My personal views:

Libraries are like strangers. The application and the library have a very strict interface. They stand arms length away. If something is malfunctioning in a library, you don't touch it, you either make the fix in application-space or use another library. There is a very distant separation between the two.

Frameworks are like spouses.. you marry in to them. They hold you hand, set rules, tell you how things will be done. This can be a good thing. You can accomplish things very fast. But if something is wrong between either one of you, you will have to get involved neck deep trying to figure out what's wrong, and fixes need to be applies to both. Just like a marriage, it's easy to get in to, and things progress very fast and happily, but if stuff starts going sour getting out of one is no fun.

</comment><comment><USER7> Obligatory link to the best ever libraries-vs-frameworks post in the history of internets: <http://term.ie/devdev/why_frameworks_suck> .

Choice quote: _I'd really like to give you this fork Jimmy, but you're gonna need a knife and plate to use it._

<comment><USER8> Bah. Why _monolithic_ frameworks suck. If the framework is implemented as a bunch of nicely integrated yet modular libraries that you can use standalone, you can use the fork without the knife and plate.

<comment><USER9> Part of the benefit of monolithic frameworks is the third party tools built on top of it. If you choose libraries independently, you've avoided reinventing a few wheels, but there is more functionality you could avoid reimplementing than just the basic database interaction, template system and request handling.

<comment><USER8> There's a bit of a paradox here: a monolithic framework gives you less choice because you can't use only a part of it without great pain, however you have ostensibly more choice of functionality from third-parties since there's a standard way to use it that's hard to diverge from.

But if you're any NIH on the side, the framework-as-bunch-of-easily- integrated-libraries approach really makes more sense. It also lets you try a framework incrementally, therefore decreasing risk instead of committing to a behemoth framework prematurely.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Always liked using this phrase to clarify things....

      a framework calls your program whereas your program calls a library

</comment><comment><USER11> This one's easy: frameworks adhere to the Greyhound principle (leave the driving to us) and the Hollywood principle (don't call us, we'll call you).

</comment><comment><USER12> Libraries are below you. Frameworks are above you.

Unusual examples: A java applet is a framework. A SAX parser is a framework. Event-driven GUIs are frameworks.

Any exceptions?

</comment><comment><USER13> Frameworks are just libraries with with complex interfaces. Simple interfaces are better sure - but not always possible.

</comment><comment><USER14> Which has got me thinking...if Django is a full stack framework. Then what is Pylons?

</comment><comment><USER15> My favorite thing about frameworks? Whenever I go to a shop that uses them, I could always write something without the framework that _looks_ like I used the framework but does things they never thought possible.</comment>


Ask HN: Learn Python the hardway not free anymore? - <AUTHOR> I used to recommend https://learnpythonthehardway.org to my friends who are interested in Learning Python.  Today, I came across the site and it doesn't have free HTML read-online option anymore.<p>If I'm not wrong, Paid version provides videos, pdf while free version allows you to read content online. Is that changed recently? <comment><USER2> Its hidden as a "free sample": [https://learnpythonthehardway.org/python3/](https://learnpythonthehardway.org/python3/)

<comment><AUTHOR> I didn't notice that, thanks</comment></comment>


Amsterdam's 'Night Mayor' Job Has Spread to Paris, Zurich, and Other Euro Cities - <AUTHOR> http://www.citylab.com/cityfixer/2016/01/night-mayor-amsterdam-mirik-milan/433893/ <comment><USER2> I would love to see something like this happening in Ireland. Closing times are so early that always causes caos at closing times. Sometimes you have the feeling to rush to get drunk before the night is over specially if you have gone out drinking to late, and don't get me started on the queues on trying to get a taxi ride back home, most of the time waiting on the rain. The government don't seem to understand that longer opening times would be much better for the economy but to ease some of this underline issues with noise, fights,...

Few years back they even brought a new law to close off licenses to serve alcohol by 10pm

<comment><USER3> In most places, restrictions on bars and nightclubs are a moral/religious issues driven by the elected representatives (and hence the electing public's) perception of what is "right". Therefore logical arguments don't really work until majority of the populace is doesn't hold as strong emotional points of view. Amsterdam has of course for long been down that road and so these things are easier there.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Meanwhile, poor Sydney Australia is going in the other direction:

[https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/would-last-person-sydney- plea...](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/would-last-person-sydney-please-turn- lights-out-matt-barrie?trk=prof-post)</comment>


Online Pitching for Startup Bootcamp (an Asian Accelerator) - <AUTHOR> https://www.techinasia.com/talk/online-pitch-startupbootcamp-fintech <comment><AUTHOR> I found this quite cool. 1 line pitches in the comments that you can get instant feedback on. _Full disclosure_ , I'm an alumnus of this accelerator.</comment>


Microsoft is using Minecraft to vie for kids' brain space and schools' dollars - <AUTHOR> https://backchannel.com/microsoft-weaponizes-minecraft-in-the-war-over-classrooms-69e2bf3174f3#.wnp29ic4u <comment><USER2> My son has done many Minecraft programming courses. He even did a Minecraft programming summer camp. If it wasn't with Minecraft, he wouldn't have done it. I think bringing Minecraft in to the schools to teach development is the right move. I wish all schools would embrace that. It would get the kids excited to learn... unlike... well... everything else besides gym, lunch, and recess.

From programming aspect, Minecraft makes perfect sense. From a math/geometry perspective, I'd have to see it to believe it. But one thing is for sure... the kids will line up to take that class.

<comment><USER3> Care to share any of the minecraft courses you had your son do? Particularly the more successful ones. I'm homeschooling and would like to get my kids on that train since they're already enamored with Minecraft. I'm just not interested in paying for something they'll end up ignoring.

<comment><USER2> He did it through a local company: [http://www.gamestartschool.org](http://www.gamestartschool.org)

They also just started getting Tynker at school. I think it's optional at school though. [https://www.tynker.com/minecraft/](https://www.tynker.com/minecraft/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Considering Chromebooks barely entered the market only about 4 years back.

"In 2015, Chromebooks topped 50 percent of personal computer sales in the U.S. K-12 education market for the first time, with Windows PCs trailing at 22 percent, according to a Futuresource Consulting report."

And looking at the chart in the report [1] is even stranger - Chromebooks have basically gone from 16% of yearly device sales to 50% of yearly device sales [2] in exactly two years. Does anyone else finds the numbers a little hard to believe? Don't the schools have any costs in migrating their systems to support Chromebooks?

[1] [http://www.futuresource- consulting.com/2016-03-K-12-Educatio...](http://www.futuresource- consulting.com/2016-03-K-12-Education-Computer-Sales-8133.html)

Edit:

Based on csharp's comment, changed wording from market to yearly device sales. [2] (For K-12)

<comment><USER5> These are all sales numbers, not market share.

<comment><USER6> Sales numbers are market share. Installed base is probably the term you're looking for.

<comment><USER7> numbers of devices, not numbers of dollars, is the distinction being made here I think.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Disclaimer: My day job is in edtech.

Minecraft has shown to be a good tool to teach students about different topics. During this years ISTE convention, I talked with a lot of teachers who used Minecraft as a teaching aide. To the point of using Minecraft graphics on their worksheets. I saw a math worksheet where instead of counting apples the student would count creeper heads. The teacher said the student engagement raised after using the Minecraft graphics. Ultimately it is a great tool. MS will find ways to make money off of that. But there is much worse software out there's being sold everyday to naive school boards. Software that does not help teachers engage students in the way Minecraft does. You will not believe how awful most edtech software is.

</comment><comment><USER9> Has anyone here programmed minecraft? Can you report to the rest of us how the following compare as learning experiences:

1\. Minecraft

2\. Swift Playground

3\. Commodore 64 or other old basic

4\. Game Salad, or Game Maker,

5\. Just learning Javascript in the browser

I know #2 is my favorite experience, but I think #5 is the most useful now. Just wondering if anyone has played around with minecraft to compare.

If I had to teach a kid: #2 > #5 > #3 > can't speak for the others

<comment><USER10> What I really enjoyed with Minecraft was using a plugin which enabled you to connect a Clojure repl to the server [1]. It was great fun being able to write some code to spawn cows and then blow them up all in real time.

With a bit of work, and some better documentation I think a real time environment coupled with something that kids are really into could make for a great educational experience.

[1][https://github.com/SevereOverfl0w/bukkure](https://github.com/SevereOverfl0w/bukkure)

<comment><USER11> I have a hard time putting into words how little interest I have in Minecraft personally, but I may have to buy a copy myself to see if I can get this working and get my daughter interested in it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> If you're a developer looking to fight this, I'd suggest taking a look at Minetest, which started out as a fully libre open-source clone of Minecraft but has really grown into its own project in its own right.

The core engine is C++ and mods are programmed using Lua.

[http://www.minetest.net/#about](http://www.minetest.net/#about)

<comment><USER13> and why do you want to fight it?

<comment><USER14> Using closed stuff for education is a bad idea to begin with. Especially when there are open alternatives. I'm very surprised many in the education sphere don't get it. Windows, Windows everywhere and so on.

<comment><USER15> Can you explain why that is? Most people I know who have anything like a computer background from school learned the standard MS Office suite; they then went on to jobs where those skills were useful because their companies also used the MS Office suite. What's the advantage of teaching fundamentals using software the student is less likely to see again?

<comment><USER14> It's a catch 22 lock-in perpetuated by MS. It should be broken and education system is as good place as any to do it. MS hooked everyone on it, and arguments like "what's the advantage of not being hooked on it, since everyone is" aren't helping.

Luckily some actually get it and use Linux in schools. But in my experience it's not common (in higher education chances are better).

<comment><USER15> I think you're seeing familiarity with open source tools as an end. If the goal of education is to teach people fundamentals of computer use that are independent of software, the use of open source in that equation is orthogonal to the goal. It's easier to just use what everyone else is using.

I think the "it" some "get" is not seen as a necessary "it" for the purposes of education, and "Using closed stuff for education is a bad idea" is begging the question.

Linux is 25 years old now. The GPL is older than that. The ecosystem around them has had plenty of time to prove its worth as a superior solution for educational tools; it mostly wallows around in a sea of mutually-incompatible "maybe-we-could" and "what-if-we-tried" initiatives without the kind of clout behind them that make institutions believe the solution's providers will be around in five years and the institution won't be stuck owning 100% of the tool they don't really want to support. It turns out most educators and students would rather have a working solution guaranteed by someone with money in the game than a tool they can fully modify, evidence seems to suggest. The advantage to the MS ecosystem is that when it doesn't work, you can take it to multiple independent companies who will fix it for you.

<comment><USER14> _> "Using closed stuff for education is a bad idea" is begging the question._

It's quite clear that depending on some vendor who can dictate what to do for the education system is a bad idea. And entities like MS clearly have that power now to some degree (or strive to gain that power). So using open source in education field is a natural way to avoid that. As I said, some actually get it enough to act on it. I don't think anyone thinks that it's good to have that dependency in general, most just don't go anywhere further than realizing that it's not good.

<comment><USER16> How does using open source actually avoid that?

Isn't all software opinion, regardless of origin?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Weaponize? That's just wrong. Minecraft, retroactively dubbed Minecraft Java Edition, is totally cross platform. So, how does this new product help MS dominate education?

Answer: it doesn't. It's like arguing that Bröderbund (I hope I spelled that right) weaponized Zoombinis to take over the education market.

<comment><USER18> Minecraft Education Edition is a fork of Minecraft Pocket Edition, written in C++ without modding capabilities and only compatible with Windows 10. Minecraft Java Edition is likely going to die eventually.

<comment><USER19> MC:Ed runs on Macs as well. More details of Minecraft's codebases:

Minecraft at this point has 3 separate codebases: the original one written in Java, the "Pocket Edition" codebase, and the console codebase.

The Java edition was the "original" Minecraft codebase. It runs on most versions of macOS, Windows and Linux. Because it is written in Java, it is very easily moddable and has a large modding scene. Most features arrive here first.

The console port was developed by 4J Studios in C++ and released in 2012 for the Xbox 360. It now runs on most game consoles.

Mojang separately released an iOS/Android port in 2012, known as Minecraft Pocket Edition. This port is also written in C++. The PE codebase was ported to Windows 10 as well (W10 can run the Java version as well).

Back to MC:Ed. MC:Ed is a spiritual successor to a third-party product, MinecraftEdu (Java Edition licensed from Mojang, modded to be suitable for education). Microsoft bought the company behind MinecraftEdu and is replacing it with MC:Ed, which is based on the PE codebase and runs on Windows 10 and macOS (El Cap+).

<comment><USER17> I don't know why they did that. "Hey guys, let's replace an already well-known product with a more limited version with less features. That will sell us a ton of copies!"

<comment><USER19> The C++ codebase was originally written because Java didn't run on iOS. In fact, MC:PE has sold more copies than the desktop version. Not sure about MC:W10, probably a desire to unite under one codebase.

<comment><USER17> I know why the C++ codebase was written, but MC:W10 doesn't make sense, and neither does MCED moving off MCJE.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Games like this are the best way to teach programming. I first started by programming Counter Strike Source mods using EventScripts that let you write mods in Python. That changed my life.

Small 2D games are cool to look at and kind of fun, but nothing is better than taking a game you already love and scripting it. Far better than making a tortoise walk across the screen, it's more engrossing and rewarding and it becomes sort of a game in itself. You want to make your UZI shoot bananas? Figure out what that weird error is and you can.

Kudos to Microsoft.

</comment><comment><USER21> Where is the research and what are the arguments that support Minecraft's educational utility? I haven't devoted a great deal of time to seeking them out, but so far I haven't found very convincing literature. Don't get me wrong, it seems like a great creative outlet, but why should a school prefer this over alternatives like music, art, or writing? I've seen a number of references to Minecraft's ability to simulate circuits and create logic gates, but how is this better than another logic board simulator or cheap electronics? For as many interesting lessons as Minecraft offers, the video game aspect of it necessitates a lot of "grinding" and virtual physical labor that doesn't seem particularly enriching. There is real intellectual meat buried within, but to this outsider it looks like "mostly entertainment" rather than "educational and entertaining".

<comment><USER22> > the video game aspect of it necessitates a lot of "grinding"

No, there's a creative mode where there's no grinding needed. The player has everything available right away.

> but how is this better than another logic board simulator or cheap > electronics?

Children use it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> What a dumb and misleading headline. "Weaponizes?"

<comment><USER24> Weaponize is the new leverage. A while back I noticed people started using "leverage" instead of "use". Now we're moving on to "weaponize".

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> As someone making an educational game to teach programming ( [http://codemancergame.com](http://codemancergame.com) ) I say the more the merrier! A rising tide lifts all boats.

</comment><comment><USER26> Slowest weaponization ever. If they'd just let modders make money, they would have already stolen legions of devs from iOS.

</comment><comment><USER27> When Apple makes an iPad app to teach kids a programming language useful only in the Apple ecosystem, they're promoting STEM education.

When Microsoft leverages a massively popular game to promote STEM education, they're weaponizing.

<comment><USER28> Exactly.

Microsoft has always offered educational versions of Visual Studio at discounted/zero cost. I clearly remember getting a student copy of Visual Basic(VS6.0!) for ~$50.

I built all sorts of stupid things with that and while it definitely biased me in favor of Microsoft tools you know what else it did? Helped me into a rich and diverse career in a wide array of technologies and stacks. Anything that helps bridge that gap is a good thing in my mind.

Problem solving, debugging and abstractions are skills that transcend stacks and can be learned in a wide variety of environments. Engagement is they key to this and I think Minecraft is a great avenue.

<comment><USER29> $50 is expensive for personal software. Many IDEs are free for non commercial use

<comment><USER28> Sure, but we're also talking about back in '98 where the software landscape was pretty different. It was about the same as a AAA PC game title which was a fair price to my younger self.

Heck back then I got a physical 8" x 6" _box_ , none of this puny CD/DVD sleeve stuff. We had to drive to a store in downtown San Diego that explicitly sold compilers/productivity software/etc. Hard to believe that happening this day and age.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> It's interesting to see the term "weaponized" used with education -- I feel like we've (somewhat) done that for math with supermathworld.com. It's great to see education moving in this direction!

</comment><comment><USER31> Apple has been pulling tricks for many years to lock down education, but I doubt this was ever described as "weaponizing." Sheesh.

</comment><comment><USER11> I don't think I'd have the job or career I have today if not for a fascination with tinkering with Doom mods back in high school. My daughter is obsessed with Minecraft and if Microsoft can "weaponize" that into something other than her watching incredibly annoying YouTube videos I'd be freaking thrilled.</comment>


Ruby on Rails vulnerable to mass assignment and SQL injection - <AUTHOR> http://www.zweitag.de/en/blog/ruby-on-rails-vulnerable-to-mass-assignment-and-sql-injection <comment><USER2> Before anybody gets the wrong idea here: Yes, there are a lot of highly publicized Rails vulnerabilities lately. If you avoid Rails, it will protect you from these vulnerabilities. But give somebody familiar with pentesting a little while with your app and I _rather strongly suspect_ they will find new and different vulnerabilities that would horrify you as much as anything you find in Rails.

Rails gets a lot of scrutiny. Just because your ad hoc Flask app doesn't does not mean it would hold up a lot better. If you believe it will, think very hard about the reasons.

(This is not to say you shouldn't use something else either — just that the gut instinct of "Well, my app on this little microframework won't be getting security advisories every couple of weeks" is not necessarily something you want to follow. Like I said, think very hard about whether you really believe you can do justice to your app better than the Rails security team. And read up on some anecdotes from people who do application security while you're thinking about it, because I find people tend to underestimate just how broken most software is.)

<comment><USER3> I agree with you; however, there is something to be said for "not subject to drive-by mass tagetings on short notice" that is ignored by this argument. There may be 7 obvious bug in your program, but of you have a couple hundred users, will any of them bother? However, even if you have no users at all, you are going to get hacked by these 0-days due to people just scanning the Internet looking for vulnerable systems. In my case, every single time I've been hacked has been due to a 0-day dropping that I didn't pay enough attention to (like exim4), as opposed to the assuredly infinate number of bugs I have in my own software.

<comment><USER4> Out of those couple of hundred users you only need one of them to be a bored teenager who has read a bit about web security to bust your application.

It's not like this stuff is that hard in a lot of cases, it's often just "if I put a semicolon in the URL, how does it respond?" or "does this form have a CSRF token?".

<comment><USER5> I'm a senior developer and I can assure you that stuff like " _if I put a semicolon in the URL, how does it respond?_ " never works on my software. It doesn't because as a general rule I sanitize all input or rely on the stack to do it for me, but in general I know which parts of the stack are doing sanitization to lift that burden from me.

That doesn't mean my software is secure. Unfortunately some bugs are far more subtle, including the recent Rails exploit. So on one hand I trust Rails even more, precisely because such problems are found and fixed. But on the other hand this does open you up to mass exploits, which does give me the shivers.

So it really depends on how much effort you're spending on your app. If you actively maintain your app then you can take notice of zero day exploits and upgrade ASAP. But if you want a worry-less app that you don't want to maintain, a more custom stack is more suitable.

Case in point, Wordpress is the most popular blogging platform in the world. It's also the most targetted and shitty weekend blog implementations are far less likely to get hacked.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> How do you guys who are freelancers or perhaps you work for a company and are the only guy working on a particular app handle security stuff like this?

A lot of what I hear is "drop what you are doing and patch this right now!". But of course there are many reasons why this might not be possible. For example you might be on a 15 hour flight with no internet, you might be dealing with some family crisis, you might be in the middle of a coke and sex binge with identical twins who look like Scarlett Johansen or whatever.

Do you live glued to your smartphone in constant fear of 0 days? Do you make sure there is some third party available to deal with this stuff? do you design with the possibility of having your app/site owned as a likely event?

And how do you make your client/employer aware of the implications of stuff like this?

<comment><USER6> We actually moved off Ruby/Rails because of all this, but previously it was a test in QA, then patch Prod, both on same day of the word hitting the street that there was yet another hole to close

<comment><USER7> What are you going to do when whatever you're currently using has a security problem?

Moving off Rails is not a panacea

<comment><USER8> It doesn't have to be a panacea, it just has to significantly reduce the risk of being exploited (whether due to superior design philosophy, superior execution of that design philosophy, or simply 'security by low market share').

If the security of your platform depends on that platform not become a popular target of hacker attention then sometimes it really is as simple as "I don't need to outrun the bear; I just need to outrun you"

<comment><USER4> This is an odd way to think. What happens if you start on a niche platform and it gets popular, do you switch?

Just because a platform is small doesn't mean somebody isn't going to try and bust it and when they do the small project may not have the resources to push out a robust fix quickly.

<comment><USER9> I'm not parent, but the claim wasn't that popular implies vulnerable. Just that some projects ignore security while the stakes are low, which comes back to bite them in the backside once adopters pick up (e.g. what we're witnessing with Rails now).

<comment><USER10> ...which is often the right choice, because projects that pay attention to security from the get-go often lose out in the marketplace to ones who pay attention to other, more important factors. There's an opportunity cost to everything, and for many apps, security is not as important as convenience, ease-of-use, performance, or features.

Witness Dropbox vs. TarSnap. Dropbox has had multiple serious security vulnerabilities published. TarSnap is by the FreeBSD security officer. Yet Dropbox is the one with the million+ users and $B+ market cap, because grandma cares a lot more about being able to figure out how to use the product than about what happens when the product gets hacked.

<comment><USER11> There's a lot more to DB v. TS than "Dropbox focused less on security". They're different programs for different audiences. While in some cases they may have market overlap, TS definitely has a niche that would never even consider DB as a possibility. TS's major competitor is custom solutions like rsync.net + duplicity.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I love building stuff with Rails, but these last few weeks are making me glad I'm not maintaining it in production.

<comment><USER13> I get a little chuckle when I tell people I am building some app and they ask "Why aren't you using RoR and MongoDB?" Maybe I am not comfortable with them in production?

<comment><USER14> I am of the same opinion. Having trialled both extensively, we stuck with asp.net MVC and SQL server. Expensive but well engineered.

<comment><USER15> Wouldn't be so sure of safety - RoR just gets a lot more publicity when a vulnerability surfaces, although the huge amount of magic involved in RoR makes vulnerabilities more common than more static code.

<http://forums.asp.net/1233.aspx> [http://www.troyhunt.com/2012/04/67-of- aspnet-websites-have-s...](http://www.troyhunt.com/2012/04/67-of-aspnet- websites-have-serious.html) etc

Besides, most web app vulnerabilities are coding flaws in the user code itself, and very rarely in the framework.

<comment><USER14> However framework vulnerabilities offer a consistent attack surface which needs little analysis or tailoring.

The only vulnerability we've seen (ms11-100) was swiftly dealt with and would have been eaten by our up front load balancers anyway.

Regarding our application, our test load is 134,000 test cases and 220,000 lines of assertions. I can sleep well at night.

<comment><USER15> I've got to ask: could you share what app or at least industry that app is in? I've never seen 134,000 test cases before for a web app, and 220,000 assertions to boot. What's the ratio of test cases to code? It sounds like a record to me!

<comment><USER14> Financial services. Test ratio is 1 test per 6 loc.

Not a record. There are some seriously big apps behind closed doors. Its a different world to the public facing web.

<comment><USER16> Facebook is composed of around 10 million lines of code [1] - the public facing web is big.

I've no doubt Google looks at that and thinks it's almost trivially small (Chromium alone is 6.5 million lines [2]).

There's big apps in private, but very few companies are at that scale.

1 - <http://www.quora.com/How-large-is-Facebooks-codebase>

2 - <http://www.ohloh.net/p/chrome>

<comment><USER17> I've worked in a number of medium to large financial institutions, and 10M LOC is nothing, really. They had subsystems that were bigger than that by a factor of 2.

<comment><USER14> yes one of our 3rd party quoting engines' source tops 20mloc of java.

Facebook is a really simple project compared to most of these sort of things.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I wonder what DHH has to say about all of this? I seem to remember a few of his posts being pretty harsh on security and security of other platforms. I can't imagine DHH completely washes his hands of these vulnerabilities?

<comment><USER19> <https://twitter.com/dhh/status/289669574427820032>

This was his reaction last time there were posts on HN about security vulnerabilities in Rails.

<comment><USER18> Funny he calls HN a cesspool, "It appears that HN is following the law of large communities: they go to shit." [1] – using Twitter, a community of millions. Plus, he has posted here as recently as 10 days ago. :D

[1] <https://twitter.com/dhh/status/289728046230028288>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Again? We need a single website alerting RoR devs about vulnerabilities.

I shouldn't have to found out about these things on HackerNews.

Someone build this website for us RoR devs, pretty please? (ps. use PHP - heh)

<comment><USER6> You could always wait till the server gets compromised, then the customers could alert you?

<comment><USER21> Actually, that's how security vulnerabilities are normally handled in the Ruby on Rails world.

What, you think I'm joking? Think again: [http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/03/hacker- commandeers-g...](http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/03/hacker-commandeers- github-to-prove-vuln-in-ruby/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Good explanation, but it sounds like there is a second component to the issue that this doesn't address: the fact that user input can be converted to symbols, which will ultimately eat memory as new symbols are created.

</comment><comment><USER23> Great job, Thomas!

</comment><comment><USER24> Very good explanation - thanks.</comment>


Show HN: Our attempt at solving the wishlist problem.. - <AUTHOR> http://www.ultimategiftlists.com <comment><USER3> You might want to make the GiftMark more prominent, like a popup as part of the initial welcome. I just focused on the main area and thought it was only possible to add what was displayed on the page. The only reason I went clicking was to help evaluate the app, and I tink under normal circumstances I never would have clicked a menu item for "Add gifts from around the web"

Cool idea all around. Good luck!

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeh we completely agree - looking at stats and how many people are installing 'giftmark' we knew we had a problem. We'll look to address it - thanks for the feedback, it's much appreciated. Would you make the giftmark part of the site as part of the sign up?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Well done! Some feedback: Resize your product images ("/images/I/8137AFcYkrL._AA1500_.jpg") or request smaller ones. Remove whitespace before DOCTYPE. Try to avoid session/state URL's: dzYzMzJfNTAzNg==. Specify Canonical or apply www to non-www redirect. The homepage contains content, but this is only accessible with javascript and styling, or without javascript and styling. Consider a <noscript> warning or giving a user and searchbot access to the content with styles on, but javascript off. Adding to this a matter of taste: The background is like the background for iOS touch browsers when the end of a website is reached. That texture has some meaning attached to it for some, that make it in my opinion rather unsafe, to use for other design elements on the web. There is (possibly due to heavy load) a good 6-7 seconds between the dissapearance of the loading graphic, and the loading of new content "tiles", maybe you can add an onload callback for removal of loading graphic.

And a question: What is your organic SEO strategy? Will all visitors come from social? The website behaves like a web-app, so there is very little content to rank with. Are these personal shopping lists publicly available? What happens if people share these shopping lists? I don't see them indexed (yet), so they might not be flowing any link juice. Could you add a blog or something?

<comment><USER5> This is great feedback. I would add:

\- Load your ToS and Contact pages in new windows. I didn't notice that they had appeared in the gift list zone - this definitely doesn't feel the right place to put them.

\- I would consider exposing the list ID as part of the URL so that users can copy and paste them around in chat windows / email / twitter, in case they don't want to use your sharing services.

\- I would second the idea of a blog as a way of promoting interesting and/or useful gift ideas.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I use the add-on Ghostery, which filters out page elements that are known as trackers, including the ShareThis buttons. So I couldn't see any buttons below the statement "Share this list using the buttons below."

One solution to this problem is to offer at least one share button that is provided solely by your site.

</comment><comment><USER7> The idea's great, but I think the look of the site could do with a rework. It feels a little dark and cramped.

</comment><comment><USER8> From a personal standpoint, I think the web design is quite attractive, but I would be looking for something simpler and more functional. The only reason that I would approach the site is for gift ideas, (I would use Amazon for buying, actually storing a wishlist of hopeful transactions). My train of though it to start with the person who I'm buying a present for, and brainstorm what I should buy them based on what I know about them. It seems that the site is organized in a way that assumes you already know what you're looking for.

</comment><comment><USER9> If your loved one isn't considerate enough to use Ultimate Gift Lists: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4865223>

<comment><USER10> Haha, us hustler's work is never through. Like the different approach.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Cool idea, good job on executing so quickly (2 weeks!).

Small note: this is totally fine for the MVP you have, but I found sorting items alphabetically to be annoying. Why would I want to see things that happen to start with letters nearer the beginning of the alphabet first? As you iterate, might be something to think about. Maybe price point or popularity would be more helpful ways to organize the stuff.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, glad you seem to like it.

Yeh we'll definitely sort differently in the future. We'll also allow users to drag tiles around and arrange their list in anyway they want..

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Looks interesting, congrats on shipping! A few friends of mine actually built something similar recently, more about sharing Christmas lists with your family and making sure no one gets you the same thing, etc. If you're interested, it's called Scrooge Buster (<http://www.scroogebuster.com/>)

</comment><comment><USER13> Not loading, but what is the wishlist problem?

<comment><AUTHOR> That every Christmas and birthday my family ask me what I want for Xmas/birthday and that I have to email them a bunch of links as to what it is that I want. Maybe it isn't a problem, but it bugs me and my mate so we built something that we found useful that we thought could be beneficial to others. thanks!

<comment><USER14> Same here... Over 10 years ago my mom gave me a paper list of gift ideas for the whole family. I was supposed to cross off what I was buying to avoid duplicates. Didn't take long for me to write a web app to manage it. I rewrote it last year after 10+ long years of solid usage: <http://www.gifttracker.net/>

It's a slightly different take on the wish list "problem" in that mine isn't about getting gift ideas, it's about sharing lists and reserving to avoid duplicates.

<comment><USER15> Pretty clinical approach to gift-giving? Were socks and new underwear on the list? How about a 12-pack of WD-40 for dad?

<comment><USER14> Wait until you get married, then you'll understand ;) Wedding registries, baby registries... And in many cases that type of gift-giving extends to Christmas and birthdays.

<comment><USER15> Married for 30 years. 3 brothers, 2 sisters, 13 nieces and nephews. Still haven't resorted to asking people what they want. What's the point? They can get that for themselves.

<comment><USER14> I deleted my previous comment as perhaps I am taking your comment too personally.

I agree with you that it is nice to be surprised. I am just pointing out that there are legitimate uses for the "clinical" approach to gift giving: wedding and baby registries are quite common. If you don't know the newlyweds/parents nor the contents of their house very well, the registry can go a long way to giving them a gift that they actually need and will use.

Cheers

<comment><USER15> Yeah; I guess there's the class of obligatory gifts that social circumstances extort out of us. We no longer question why we're going to a wedding of somebody we don't know.

Still, the idea that somebody has set up a list of 'acceptable gifts' sticks in my craw.

I have a friend that always gives a wooden trencher board as a wedding gift for anybody. Different enough not to be duplicated.

<comment><USER14> Ah I see where you're coming from. The list I was speaking of originally was a wishlist. It wasn't a "buy only these things or you're no longer family" ;) Incidentally my app supports "secret gifts". You can enter a surprise gift that everyone but the recipient can see. That avoids duplicate gift buying even when someone else had the same great idea for a "secret gift" that you did :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Cool implementation, but wouldn't use it personally. Mostly because my immediate family already knows about Amazon wishlists, which also let you add anything (even not on amazon). I'll admit the interface is a lot cooler here. Have you looked at Amazon's implementation?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks - glad you liked it. Yep we've had a look and we think one reason that ours has an advantage over theirs is because of the big feature of our site, which may not of been obvious, the 'giftmark' bookmarklet - this means that you can add any items you want when you browse the web rather than just being limited to our default items. If you drag that bookmarklet up to the toolbar and then when you see an item on the web you like, you click the 'giftmark' button and it adds that item to your list (with a picture). With this feature added to the picture based layout we hoped we could get the edge over them - <USER2> tough ask i know.

Glad you liked it though. Say if we let you import your Amazon wishlist? Would that make you more tempted to use our service?

<comment><USER16> Well, Amazon also has the exact same ability to add anything on the web - add- on/extension available for most browsers. Importing my existing amazon list would be an incentive for me to at least try it in more depth. However, I might view it more an an extension of my current amazon list rather than a replacement.

<comment><USER17> For reference: <http://www.amazon.com/wishlist/get-button>

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I guess the business model here is affiliate marketing. I noticed that the URLs you use to redirect to Amazon.co.uk product pages don't include the "tag=your-associate-id" query string parameter. Are you still eligible for commission?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yep it is affiliate marketing - we just launched to friends and family here in the UK to begin with but have just applied to SkimLinks so will turn any of our links into affiliate links.

<comment><USER18> VigLink does the same as SkimLinks (has been around longer too, and is backed by Google Ventures) and they don't make you wait if you're referred by another VigLink member. You can use my referral link (if you'd like) to at least get your monetiziation up and going ASAP. <http://www.viglink.com/?vgref=6106>

<comment><AUTHOR> That's really kind - thank you..

<comment><USER19> In addition to that, don't Skimlinks take a cut of your comms? It really seems easier (and more profitable) to use the Amazon Affiliate Program. Someone correct me if I'm wrong though!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> angry-hacker Nice idea and execution but I didn't find anything interesting... I don't need to make a list if I want to buy someone iPad or Kindle fire... but that's my taste, maybe other people find new ideas from there.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hi thanks for the feedback. The big feature of this site, which may not of been obvious, is the 'giftmark' bookmarklet - this means that you can add any items you want when you browse the web rather than just being limited to our default items. If you drag that bookmarklet up to the toolbar and then when you see an item on the web you like, you click the 'giftmark' button and it adds that item to your list (with a picture).

<comment> angry-hacker I completely missed it so I guess you should do a better job introducing it to your users as a main feature, also create browsers plugins - bookmarklet might work for HN user, but not for 99% others, it also gives you a little more publicity.

Also I did find something interesting from Gadgets section but the width of the "pinterest style" boxes are so narrow, the pictures small and no price tags - it's hard to get my attention at least.

<comment><AUTHOR> Ok cool - we'll make it much more prominent. With regard to the second bit of feedback - we'll be adding price soon and will continue to iterate so the pictures are sharper and better quality, and bigger, but we wanted to get it out there before xmas and get people's feedback. We'll add it to the list. Thanks

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> This was submitted just 2 days ago for anyone wishing to see the existing comments: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4857287>

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeh hope people don't think we are spamming - we wanted to launch on a quiet day (Saturday morning) and just get some stats to see if people knew that the bookmarklet existed (if they installed it) and if they knew to save it. Based on this we've made improvments over the weekend ready for launch today.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> FYI, our WebSense filter at work filters this for "potentially harmful content." Likely a mistake on the filter's part, but thought you'd like to know.

<comment><AUTHOR> Cool thanks - we'll double check to make sure we haven't got anything controversial as part of our default content!

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> We've spent around 2 weeks or so developing this and we'd love any feedback you may have...thanks in advance.

</comment><comment><USER22> Seems like a pinterest clone, even the bookmarklet seems copy/pasted.

</comment><comment><USER23> Is there a special reason why you chose ASP.NET for this project?

<comment><AUTHOR> I am not the coder, my friend is - I will let him answer you. From my limited knowledge I know that my friends skills lie with this technology and therefore he built something using a technology he is comfortable with. As I say he'll answer you properly in a bit..cheers

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Not loading right now ...

<comment><AUTHOR> The curse of the HN homepage - we are taking a look at it, sorry for the outage..</comment></comment>


Einstein is wrong. Here's why.  - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/what-i-learned-building/241e6efbd0

<comment><USER2> Revising and writing 25 headlines to find the perfect one

                             !=

Doing the SAME thing over again and expecting different results

I feel Einstein would be in the camp of reiterating often, much like Edison's "I failed 10,000 times" quote.

[edit: formatting]

</comment><comment><USER3> It's not clear the origin of the starting quote. It's attributed to Einstein but apparently there is no evidence. It's also attributed to many famous people. See: [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Rita_Mae_Brown](http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Rita_Mae_Brown)</comment>


Comfortable with Uncomfortable - <AUTHOR> https://podcast.coreygarvey.com/2020/05/11/comfortable-with-uncomfortable/ <comment><AUTHOR> I'm an American currently living in the UK. I've created a blog and podcast about moving to a new place or career. Here's an essay I wrote about my thoughts on being comfortable with the uncomfortable.

<comment><USER2> Any shot you recently listened to an episode on a podcast called The Portal? [https://art19.com/shows/the- portal/episodes/7d086129-e19d-4e...](https://art19.com/shows/the- portal/episodes/7d086129-e19d-4e17-8a6b-2dcd741c5f50)

They touch on how being comfortable with being uncomfortable for long periods of time is in some ways the essence of being a successful contrarian (rather than doing things differently for the sake of it).

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey I haven't, although I'm definitely a fan of Eric's and his perspective on being contrarian. Will check it out, thanks.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> In the mindfulness community being comfortable with the uncomfortable is called equanimity.

<comment><USER4> Being as comfortable with the strange as with the familiar, if we want to get pedantic with the semantics.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Personally, the common uncomfortable experience I encounter is related to unfamiliar domains I have to deal with. As a client-facing software engineer, numerous times I was quite nervous when I have to talk to clients. The fear of not being able to speak clearly, or explain a technical concept well to a stakeholder can seem rather embarrassing. One of the ways to deal with that was to delve in deep into those new domains and train me to be equipped with those communication skills. One such domain for me will be sales. Here's my blog post that I've learnt about sales in my attempt to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. Hope you readers find it useful! (:

[https://blog.phuaxueyong.com/post/2020-03-24-how-to- improve-...](https://blog.phuaxueyong.com/post/2020-03-24-how-to-improve-as-a- sales-rep)

<comment><AUTHOR> This is great, thanks for sharing. Acknowledging that you're uncomfortable in those domains feels like the best first step to me. I struggle with this all the time. I've worked on a number of software projects myself and have fallen into the common trap of avoiding user feedback because it brings up domains and ideas that I'm not very confident in. I need to be more at home being wrong and admitting that what I've built could be better. Sometimes that demands learning an entirely new space or technology, which should be welcomed information but too often is ignored because it's uncomfortable.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> The site seems to be down.

<comment><USER7> It was down for me a couple of minutes ago. Up now though.</comment></comment>


MarCO: Interplanetary Mission Development on a CubeSat Scale - <AUTHOR> https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/pdf/10.2514/6.2016-2491 <comment><AUTHOR> This article provides some insight into the hardware and software of the MarCO cubesats. It doesn't go into a great deal of depth, but it gives a fun overview of the kinds of engineering work that go into building something that works in space.</comment>