JQuery iPod-style Drilldown Menu - <AUTHOR> http://www.filamentgroup.com/lab/jquery_ipod_style_drilldown_menu/ <comment><USER2> I found it sort of confusing and hard to navigate.

</comment><comment><USER3> iPod navigation is great for displaying lists on devices with small, low- resolution screens and limited input. Using that system in a place without those limitations does nothing but make navigation harder because it's artificially hiding and limiting the amount of information visible.

</comment><comment><USER4> That's much less intuitive on the web than it is on the iPod.

</comment><comment><USER5> Very cool yes, but as tlrobison said, very hard to navigate.</comment>


How can I spend $10,000 in 1 day on Facebook? - <AUTHOR>

I work at startup which is growing very fast. Our team does not have digital marketing expert, hence I am looking after it - still learning.
We have a big feature/campaign launch tomorrow. In order to  reach a large audience, I have secured a budget of $10,000 for 1 day.
I have noticed, it is difficult to spend a lot of money on first days of the campaign. Need to help in this regard.
About the product:
It is an online grocery shopping mobile app. We also sell fruits & vegetables, bakery, flowers and cosmetics <comment><USER2> I am not a marketing expert, but I am a financial analyst who tracks the P+L of the marketing team's campaigns. From what I've seen it takes about 1-4 weeks to get the spend level you are looking to achieve, depending on your expertise of the channel. This process is called "ramping up". Since you are still learning I would say that your goal may not be achievable.

However, you do have options. If you have enough budget, I would recommend doing a direct buy. This is where contract with go to a high traffic relevant webpage and place ads on it for a whole day. The advertising team at content site can provide their assessments and professional expertise as a part of the relationship to help make your ad clickable. Remember, they want you to be successful so you buy from them again. If you have 10k in the bank and want to spend it all to generate buzz; this is the way to go.

Good luck and I hope this helps!

</comment><comment><USER3> I am not an expert, but I have always tried with a small budget campaigns to see the results. That gives me room to expand in several campaigns to learn about more targeting options on Facebook.

Trying with different text and image contents, cpc campaigns can drive huge traffic.

</comment><comment><USER4> Setup a CPI campaign for your Android or iOS app and put a reasonable bid for your target audience. 10k should generate you a good amount of installs.

<comment><AUTHOR> Faisal, Thanks for replying. Will it help if I start multiple campaigns each targeting multiple set of target audience?

<comment><USER4> Yea for sure, can't hurt. Plus you'll be able to tell which audience converts better.

Though 1 day time frame is short to make that judgement call, but it's a start</comment></comment></comment>


"Transgender Surgery Isn't the Solution" (2014) - <AUTHOR> http://www.wsj.com/articles/paul-mchugh-transgender-surgery-isnt-the-solution-1402615120 <comment><USER2> Dr. McHugh, reached these decisions in 1975 -- as in 40 years ago -- in collaboration with his protégé Dr. Jon Meyer. [0]

It may also be illuminating to read about Dr. McHugh's involvement with the Roman Catholic Church and it's panels concerning the abuse of children by priests. [1]

>In the early 1990's, Dr. McHugh was among those in psychiatry who argued that memories of sexual abuse recovered by adults were almost always false, a byproduct of poor practice by psychotherapists, who often elicited the memories through hypnosis or other techniques, failed to look for evidence corroborating the abuse and encouraged patients to press charges against the supposed abusers.

[0] [http://www.ncbcenter.org/document.doc?id=581](http://www.ncbcenter.org/document.doc?id=581)

[1] [http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/05/us/psychiatrist-says-he- wa...](http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/05/us/psychiatrist-says-he-was- surprised-by-furor-over-his-role-on-abuse-panel.html?pagewanted=all)

<comment><USER3> He was right though, therapists were unwittingly teasing false allegations of sexual abuse out of kids.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day-care_sex- abuse_hysteria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day-care_sex-abuse_hysteria)

<comment><USER4> But was he right in the context of catholic priests? Or was he constrained by his cognitive biases into protecting abusive priests because he couldn't see past (the very real problem of) false memory created by "therapy"?

<comment><USER3> I couldn't say for sure. If he wasn't actively hiding malicious intent, it sounds like he thought the priest cases were pretty straightforward and awful, rather than involving repressed memories and ambiguous. The article lays out the controversy of that better than I ever could, when I finished it I figured I wouldn't be able to tell without digging into what he actually contributed to the panel.

There does seem to be a common thread through his work, between fighting freudians and disputing repressed memories and multiple personality and I guess the transgender issue, he seems to emphasize that you can't take for granted that self-reporting is as trustworthy as people have tried to make it. But that's just my interpretation, I may be reading into that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I remember a fascinating book from 1994, "What You Can Change, and What You Can't"[0], about human plasticity, and how malleable we are in various areas. There is a default assumption in our self-help culture that a majority of our characteristics are open to change if we just apply ourselves, have good character, grit, etc. Alas, that does not appear to be the case. Some things are almost trivial to change, such as phobias. A trained practitioner can typically eliminate phobias in hours. On the other hand, at least from a 1994 perspective, some aspects of sexual orientation never change. Seligman presented a layered model of our sexual orientation, and at the very lowest, hardest to change layer is "what gender do I feel like". I can see there being a huge range of variation on internal feeling, depending on which genes are expressed, and how much, how certain hormones are enabled in the growing fetus, etc. We only have to consider hermaphrodites and the huge array of ways that physical sexual development can go awry and extend that to the invisible variations. I remember reading that book when it came out and thinking that must be about the scariest feeling one can have, to be in an X body but every part of me feels like a Y.

[0] [http://www.amazon.com/What-You-Change-Cant-Self- Improvement/...](http://www.amazon.com/What-You-Change-Cant-Self- Improvement/dp/1400078407)

</comment><comment><USER6> On the other hand, the lived experience of transgendered people.

<comment><USER7> Which was monitored and documented in the study he references, no?

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Here is the personal account of a person who underwent the operation that confirms Dr. McHugh's views: [http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2015/04/14905/](http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2015/04/14905/)

Apparently this was already known 10 years ago: [http://www.theguardian.com/society/2004/jul/30/health.mental...](http://www.theguardian.com/society/2004/jul/30/health.mentalhealth)

"The review of more than 100 international medical studies of post-operative transsexuals by the University of Birmingham's aggressive research intelligence facility (Arif) found no robust scientific evidence that gender reassignment surgery is clinically effective."

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Author is Dr. McHugh, former psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_R._McHugh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_R._McHugh)

TLDR summary from final paragraph:

> _At the heart of the problem is confusion over the nature of the > transgendered. "Sex change" is biologically impossible. People who undergo > sex-reassignment surgery do not change from men to women or vice versa. > Rather, they become feminized men or masculinized women. Claiming that this > is civil-rights matter and encouraging surgical intervention is in reality > to collaborate with and promote a mental disorder._

Article might be behind a subscriber wall for some people:

> The government and media alliance advancing the transgender cause has gone > into overdrive in recent weeks. On May 30, a U.S. Department of Health and > Human Services review board ruled that Medicare can pay for the > "reassignment" surgery sought by the transgendered—those who say that they > don't identify with their biological sex. Earlier last month Defense > Secretary Chuck Hagel said that he was "open" to lifting a ban on > transgender individuals serving in the military. Time magazine, seeing the > trend, ran a cover story for its June 9 issue called "The Transgender > Tipping Point: America's next civil rights frontier."

Yet policy makers and the media are doing no favors either to the public or the transgendered by treating their confusions as a right in need of defending rather than as a mental disorder that deserves understanding, treatment and prevention. This intensely felt sense of being transgendered constitutes a mental disorder in two respects. The first is that the idea of sex misalignment is simply mistaken—it does not correspond with physical reality. The second is that it can lead to grim psychological outcomes.

The transgendered suffer a disorder of "assumption" like those in other disorders familiar to psychiatrists. With the transgendered, the disordered assumption is that the individual differs from what seems given in nature—namely one's maleness or femaleness. Other kinds of disordered assumptions are held by those who suffer from anorexia and bulimia nervosa, where the assumption that departs from physical reality is the belief by the dangerously thin that they are overweight.

With body dysmorphic disorder, an often socially crippling condition, the individual is consumed by the assumption "I'm ugly." These disorders occur in subjects who have come to believe that some of their psycho-social conflicts or problems will be resolved if they can change the way that they appear to others. Such ideas work like ruling passions in their subjects' minds and tend to be accompanied by a solipsistic argument.

For the transgendered, this argument holds that one's feeling of "gender" is a conscious, subjective sense that, being in one's mind, cannot be questioned by others. The individual often seeks not just society's tolerance of this "personal truth" but affirmation of it. Here rests the support for "transgender equality," the demands for government payment for medical and surgical treatments, and for access to all sex-based public roles and privileges.

With this argument, advocates for the transgendered have persuaded several states—including California, New Jersey and Massachusetts—to pass laws barring psychiatrists, even with parental permission, from striving to restore natural gender feelings to a transgender minor. That government can intrude into parents' rights to seek help in guiding their children indicates how powerful these advocates have become.

How to respond? Psychiatrists obviously must challenge the solipsistic concept that what is in the mind cannot be questioned. Disorders of consciousness, after all, represent psychiatry's domain; declaring them off-limits would eliminate the field. Many will recall how, in the 1990s, an accusation of parental sex abuse of children was deemed unquestionable by the solipsists of the "recovered memory" craze.

You won't hear it from those championing transgender equality, but controlled and follow-up studies reveal fundamental problems with this movement. When children who reported transgender feelings were tracked without medical or surgical treatment at both Vanderbilt University and London's Portman Clinic, 70%-80% of them spontaneously lost those feelings. Some 25% did have persisting feelings; what differentiates those individuals remains to be discerned.

We at Johns Hopkins University—which in the 1960s was the first American medical center to venture into "sex-reassignment surgery"—launched a study in the 1970s comparing the outcomes of transgendered people who had the surgery with the outcomes of those who did not. Most of the surgically treated patients described themselves as "satisfied" by the results, but their subsequent psycho-social adjustments were no better than those who didn't have the surgery. And so at Hopkins we stopped doing sex-reassignment surgery, since producing a "satisfied" but still troubled patient seemed an inadequate reason for surgically amputating normal organs.

It now appears that our long-ago decision was a wise one. A 2011 study at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden produced the most illuminating results yet regarding the transgendered, evidence that should give advocates pause. The long-term study—up to 30 years—followed 324 people who had sex-reassignment surgery. The study revealed that beginning about 10 years after having the surgery, the transgendered began to experience increasing mental difficulties. Most shockingly, their suicide mortality rose almost 20-fold above the comparable nontransgender population. This disturbing result has as yet no explanation but probably reflects the growing sense of isolation reported by the aging transgendered after surgery. The high suicide rate certainly challenges the surgery prescription.

There are subgroups of the transgendered, and for none does "reassignment" seem apt. One group includes male prisoners like Pvt. Bradley Manning, the convicted national-security leaker who now wishes to be called Chelsea. Facing long sentences and the rigors of a men's prison, they have an obvious motive for wanting to change their sex and hence their prison. Given that they committed their crimes as males, they should be punished as such; after serving their time, they will be free to reconsider their gender.

Another subgroup consists of young men and women susceptible to suggestion from "everything is normal" sex education, amplified by Internet chat groups. These are the transgender subjects most like anorexia nervosa patients: They become persuaded that seeking a drastic physical change will banish their psycho-social problems. "Diversity" counselors in their schools, rather like cult leaders, may encourage these young people to distance themselves from their families and offer advice on rebutting arguments against having transgender surgery. Treatments here must begin with removing the young person from the suggestive environment and offering a counter-message in family therapy.

Then there is the subgroup of very young, often prepubescent children who notice distinct sex roles in the culture and, exploring how they fit in, begin imitating the opposite sex. Misguided doctors at medical centers including Boston's Children's Hospital have begun trying to treat this behavior by administering puberty-delaying hormones to render later sex-change surgeries less onerous—even though the drugs stunt the children's growth and risk causing sterility. Given that close to 80% of such children would abandon their confusion and grow naturally into adult life if untreated, these medical interventions come close to child abuse. A better way to help these children: with devoted parenting.

At the heart of the problem is confusion over the nature of the transgendered. "Sex change" is biologically impossible. People who undergo sex-reassignment surgery do not change from men to women or vice versa. Rather, they become feminized men or masculinized women. Claiming that this is civil-rights matter and encouraging surgical intervention is in reality to collaborate with and promote a mental disorder.

<comment><USER9> This is the sort of bigoted non-sense that people once said -- and sometimes still do say -- about gay folks. Luckily, society is continuing to progress socially. I imagine in another few decades (if you're still alive) your views will be seen as a novelty; a sad reminder of a bygone era -- like Archie Bunker's overt racism.

<comment><USER10> You are wrong.

He's talking science, measured outcomes, greatly increased risk of suicide with reassignment surgery, and evidence.

That this doesn't fit your politics doesn't make it bigoted.

<comment><USER9> The fact is, transgender people have extremely high rates of suicide before and after any surgeries. Life on the margins of society is not easy, and surgery does nothing to address that problem. Here is a study, using the data from above, which explicitly mentions this:

[http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal....](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016885#pone-0016885-g001) "It is therefore important to note that the current study is only informative with respect to transsexuals persons health after sex reassignment; no inferences can be drawn as to the effectiveness of sex reassignment as a treatment for transsexualism. In other words, the results should not be interpreted such as sex reassignment per se increases morbidity and mortality."

Further, numerous studies exist which disagree with the claims posted above:

[http://dare.ubvu.vu.nl/bitstream/handle/1871/23255/189321.pd...](http://dare.ubvu.vu.nl/bitstream/handle/1871/23255/189321.pdf) "The results substantiate previous conclusions that sex reassignment is effective."

[http://www.jaacap.com/article/S0890-8567%2809%2962807-0/abst...](http://www.jaacap.com/article/S0890-8567%2809%2962807-0/abstract?cc=y)

[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1743-6109.2008....](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1743-6109.2008.00799.x/abstract;jsessionid=34E20C8EDA68B9C68D9D58CE8C222804.f01t02?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false)

What is known, is that "conversion therapies" are not useful. It's not possible to modify a person's sense of self, just like it's not possible to modify a person's sexual orientation.

Lastly, let's remember that slapping the word "science" on something does not make it correct. Everyone has a political agenda of some sort, and plenty of science has been used to justify homophobia and racism.

<comment><USER11> There are a lot of transgender prostitutes outside my workplace. I am not sure if that the only work they can find or if it pays well. It doesn't look like a wonderful life, hanging around a car park after working hours. (Though at least one of them has a very flash car).

<comment><USER12> Maybe having someone pay for their sex is the way they have found for external validation for their sex change? Surely surgery and reassignment can still become much better technically, but the real problem is cultural, with society having so much prejudice that they marginilize transsexuals as like abominations, and it's thanks to religious bigots like this man (in society at large). Psychiatry will make good progress in certain areas, like in dealing with drugs, when people like him move out of the scene and newer generations take over.

<comment><USER13> >Maybe having someone pay for their sex is the way they have found for external validation for their sex change?

So, this is incredibly insulting. Try getting a decent job while trans. It doesn't happen. Trans people suffer from incredible rates of homelessness and poverty. The one niche that's allowed is sex work. You can bet your ass it's not some kind of weird sexual validation thing for most trans folk, it's just survival: [http://www.lgbtmap.org/news/understanding-transgender- issues...](http://www.lgbtmap.org/news/understanding-transgender-issues- unfair-price-release)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> The literature on sexual reassignment surgery taken as a whole, doesn't support McHugh's claims.

First, the Karolinska Institute study [0] doesn't show the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of sexual reassignment surgery. From the discussion section:

>It is therefore important to note that the current study is only informative with respect to transsexuals persons health after sex reassignment; no inferences can be drawn as to the effectiveness of sex reassignment as a treatment for transsexualism. In other words, the results should not be interpreted such as sex reassignment per se increases morbidity and mortality. Things might have been even worse without sex reassignment.

Additionally, the line about "The study revealed that beginning about 10 years after having the surgery, the transgendered began to experience increasing mental difficulties" is speculation. The study didn't break down participants' mental health year by year--just their mortality risk.

Next, the Johns Hopkins study. As far as I can tell, the Johns Hopkins study, while a randomized control trial, surveyed just 50 people [2]. It's not clear that you would get the same results after 30 years of social and medical progress, either. A metastudy further suggests that the Johns Hopkins study is an outlier [3].

Third, the studies of children. I wasn't able to find links to these studies, but going off of his own description gives us enough reason to reject them. The subjects of the study were children, which tells us little about sexual reassignment surgery or hormones, which are treatments only adults and teens get. (And the latter group, somewhat rarely.)

His discussion of subgroups of transgender people is too ridiculous to even answer. Suffice it to say, Chelsea Manning wrote to a gender therapist months before contacting WikiLeaks [1] so the idea that her transition is a way to avoid men's prison doesn't meet even basic scrutiny.

Finally, established medical organizations agree that sexual reassignment surgery is effective, including the American Psychiatric Association [4] and the American Medical Association [5].

McHugh's article does not represent his chosen studies well, let alone the larger body or literature or the scientific community.

[0]: [http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal....](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016885)

[1]: [http://nymag.com/news/features/bradley- manning-2011-7/index4...](http://nymag.com/news/features/bradley- manning-2011-7/index4.html)

[2]: [http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=49217...](http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=492177)

[3]: [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2265.2009....](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2265.2009.03625.x/full)

[4]: [http://www.psychiatry.org/file%20library/advocacy%20and%20ne...](http://www.psychiatry.org/file%20library/advocacy%20and%20newsroom/position%20statements/ps2012_transgendercare.pdf)

[5]: [http://www.imatyfa.org/wp- content/uploads/2013/06/ama_resolu...](http://www.imatyfa.org/wp- content/uploads/2013/06/ama_resolution_122.pdf)</comment>


Mental math pseudo-random number generators (2011) - <AUTHOR> http://blog.yunwilliamyu.net/2011/08/14/mindhack-mental-math-pseudo-random-number-generators/ <comment><USER2> Marsaglia's own explanation of his mental PRNG on sci.math is still the best explanation I've seen for someone who just wants to use it:

Marsaglia, George. "How to generate random number sequences (in your head)" (1999) [https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/sci.math/6BIYd0cafQo/U...](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/sci.math/6BIYd0cafQo/Ucipn_5T_TMJ)

</comment><comment><USER3> A simple PRNG I used on programmable calculators back in the 1970's. Four steps:

1\. Recall seed from register (a number between 0.0 and 1.0)

2\. Take reciprocal

3\. Chop off the part to left of decimal point (eg, "frac" key)

4\. Store back in register as next seed

At this point you have a number between 0.0 and 1.0 in the calculator. (eg, in the X register if RPN)

Every step counted, that was the simplest PRNG I could devise back in the day.

The initial seed in the register was created by hitting the decimal point key and a string of digits filling the calculator display.

</comment><comment><USER4> I love this. Then again I'm the kind of person who sits wondering, if you were running from an elevated sniper, trying to get to the treeline, would it be effective to change direction after 3 steps, 1 step, 4 steps, 1 step, 5 steps, 9 steps, 2 steps, ... :-)

<comment><USER5> Much safer to use the period 999. And for extra difficulty, to intentionally make a "mistake" and switch to the other 999 period. Fingers crossed that the sniper is not some HN lurker ...

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Note that a PRNG built according to the method in this article will never generate the same number twice, whereas a TRNG will do so with probability >0\. In some applications (e.g. on-line poker) this can matter a lot.

<comment><USER7> The method takes the result modulo 10, so numbers can repeat (but not more than than ~ p/10 times).

<comment><USER8> OC is referring to consecutive numbers I believe.</comment></comment></comment>


Cryptographic Currency for Securities Settlement (Patent) - <AUTHOR> https://www.google.com/patents/US20150332395 <comment><USER2> That's an application and not a patent. It probably will get rejected under § 101 as an ineligible abstract idea similar to _Alice_. _Enfish_ won't save it.

 _Alice_ was decided June 19, 2014 and this was filed Oct 30, 2014. I suppose Goldman Sachs can take a flier; they have the money. But I don't think this will issue and GS should have known this then.</comment>


ASCII diagram creator - <AUTHOR> http://www.asciiflow.com <comment><USER2> Perl has a module called 'Graph::Easy' which can create a diagram from a graph automatically, and can also do ASCII-output. See <http://bloodgate.com/graph- demo> for an interactive demo.

      [Sun] -- [Pear]
      [Apple] --> [Pear]
      [Pear] -- [fruit] --> [Pineapple]
      [Pear] --> [Cherry]
      [fruit] ==> [Done]

Renders to:

                    +</comment><comment>--+
                    | Cherry |
                    +</comment><comment>--+
                      ^
                      |
                      |
      +</comment><comment>-+     +</comment><comment>--+     +</comment><comment>-+     +</comment><comment>-----+
      | Apple | --> |  Pear  | --- | fruit | --> | Pineapple |
      +</comment><comment>-+     +</comment><comment>--+     +</comment><comment>-+     +</comment><comment>-----+
                      |              H
                      |              H
                      |              v
                    +</comment><comment>--+     +</comment><comment>-+
                    |  Sun   |     | Done  |
                    +</comment><comment>--+     +</comment><comment>-+

<comment><USER2> It's a pity that the GraphViz family of automatic graph drawing tools don't support ASCII:

      (user@air) /Users/user $ dot -Tascii

      Format: "ascii" not recognized. Use one of: bmp
      cgimage cmap cmapx cmapx_np dot eps exr fig
      gd gd2 gif gv imap imap_np ismap jp2 jpe jpeg
      jpg pct pdf pict plain plain-ext png ps ps2 psd
      sgi svg svgz tga tif tiff tk vml vmlz vrml wbmp
      x11 xdot xlib canon

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Some ideas for more features:

        ,</comment><comment></comment><comment>----.
        | Round-cornered |
        |      boxes     |
        `</comment><comment></comment><comment>----'

        -+
         |
         >- Stretchy braces
         |
        -+

Also, GUI control mockups:

        ( Buttons )

        [ Dropdown lists |v]

        [X] Checkboxes

        (o) Radio buttons

        Sliders: ---|</comment><comment>----

        +</comment><comment></comment><comment>-^
        | Scroll bars #
        |             #
        |             |
        |             v
        <----######-->

        Spin-boxes: [ 37.0 |:]

...you get the idea.

Being able to select drawn items and move them around after the fact would also be great.

<comment><USER4> Also it would be nice if they supported IE.

<comment><USER5> When I saw this, it was down a vote or two. I thank you, kind sir / madam, for making me bust a gut.

Not because I think you're wrong. Just that it's tantamount to bringing a bucket of KFC to a vegan event.

<comment><USER6> I'm not quite sure I understand your analogy unless you mean to say that asciiflows core principles include not using IE.

<comment><USER7> I think they mean that HN's core principles include not using IE.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> What about ASCIIO? It's great because it allows you to move and connect the blocks after you created them. It's great to document source code.

<http://search.cpan.org/dist/App-Asciio/lib/App/Asciio.pm>

</comment><comment><USER9> Needless to say, Emacs can do it (M-x artist-mode)

<comment><USER10> Just what I was about to say <http://www.cinsk.org/emacs/emacs-artist.html>

<comment><USER11> Dammit, Emacs. <http://xkcd.com/378/>

<comment><USER12> But but but... what about python? <http://xkcd.com/353/>

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Honestly? This is the first online wireframing tool that I've been able to use and _instantly_ display what I want.

Great work!

</comment><comment><USER14> Just needed this the other day and found this application: <http://www.jave.de/> More features, but also feels more complex.

Screenshot: <http://www.jave.de/screenshots/60rc2_screenshot.png>

</comment><comment><USER15> Reminds me of TheDraw from back in the day:

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

</comment><comment><USER16> I know this is a beta, but one suggestion: have an option to export the HTML wrapped in a div/span/pre/<something> which has a monospace font style, this would make it truly effortless to export the html and save it as-is.

Also I couldn't figure out how the arrow cursor worked or what one was supposed to do with it.

my remarks aside, very cool app!

<comment><USER3> Hints about the active tool appear at the bottom right; apparently the arrow tool is used for selecting a region so you can copy it to the clipboard.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I'm really enjoying this, the utter simplicity of it has a certain appeal. I would really like the ability to add columns / rows at the _cursor_ position, though. Moving things around / feature heaven / hell would be fun, but _that_ I think would be a net improvement without breaking the simplicity at all.

</comment><comment><USER17> Cool! This is something I wanted to have and had started making for myself. Mine is much less useful than asciiflow but the thing I like most about it is that it allows writing and drawing more in the way I use my notebook. It's easy to write little blocks of text that aren't aligned along the left margin.

Feature request: In text mode, assign <enter> to move the cursor down a line and to the column that text entry began.

Here's my prototype: <http://norstrulde.org/tty/tty.html>

</comment><comment><USER18> I like this. I like this a lot. This is perfect for someone who just needs to get a few thoughts together and can't be bothered with firing up Dia or something similarly bloated.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, it's really nice and simple - great that you can just cut and paste the result into an e-mail too!

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> This is very cool. And you can quickly create mockups for roguelike levels.

                                         +</comment><comment>-+     +</comment><comment></comment><comment>+
                +</comment><comment></comment><comment>---+        |       |     |     >      |     -4/124
                |               |        ||   <  | +---+%%%         |     15/15
                |   >   =       |        |       | |   |%     \     |
                |               +</comment><comment>--+   %   | |   |     !!     |
                |         %     |        |       | |   |            |      +----+
                |     %         |        |       | |   |            |      |%   |
                +</comment><comment></comment><comment>---+        |  %%   +-+   +-----+</comment><comment>+      |    |
                                         |       |           |             |   >|
                                         |       |           |             |"   |
                                         |   %   |           |             +-+--+
                                         +----+--+           +</comment><comment>---+     |
                          +</comment><comment>---+         |                        |     |
                          |((       |         |    +</comment><comment></comment><comment>+  +---+-----+--+
                          | ( O     |         |    |~~ P        |  |            |
                          |  @K  %  |         |    |<comment>~     <  +--+      %   / |
                          |   %  Y  |         |    |<comment>         |  +</comment></comment></comment><comment></comment><comment>+
                          |   %   Y |         |    |            |
                          |    c    Y</comment><comment>---+----+      ]     |   Slow Poisoned
                          |         |              |            +
                          +</comment><comment>---+              |            |
                                                   |   <        |
                                                   +</comment><comment></comment><comment>+          D:24
                    You teleport.
                    The centaur shoots an arrow of flame. The arrow hits you.
                    You die...
                    Xom says:"I guess I need a new plaything now."

</comment><comment><USER20> Must you young'uns always try and reinvent the wheel?

Thedraw FTW: <http://www.syaross.org/thedraw/>

Now get off my LAN

<comment><USER5> > _Must you young'uns always try and reinvent the wheel?_

Yes. [http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&q=spokeless+wheel](http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&q=spokeless+wheel)

Thedraw? or, excuse me, THEDRAW? I haven't heard of that one before, and the page says next to nothing.

<comment><USER21> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheDraw>

TheDraw was used mostly in the BBS scene to create ASCII/ANSI art for the BBS's log in screen and menus. There was an entire sub-community of artists back then.

To be fair, the website is a diagram tool that outputs ASCII, while TheDraw more more like a ASCII/ANSI illustration tool.

I didn't find any galleries of ANSI art out there but this page has a few screenshots: <http://icodeforfood.com/shockwave-bbs/>

<comment><USER22> textfiles.com would have quite a lot of ascii art from back then. Memories :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> This would make a good nethack level editor!

<comment><USER24> I was thinking the same thing

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> If this was a standalone application it would replace my notepad usage for notetaking 100%...

<comment><USER26> <http://www.jave.de/>

<comment><USER25> Wow thanks for that, ideally I'd like one without all that extra stuff and just the diagrams from asciiflow.. but that's just being pedantic :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> Too clever. Can VIM do it too?

<comment><USER28> A quick google shows someone wrote a plugin called drawit.vim. Personally, I think this is one case where I'd rather use the mouse.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> This is one of the best things I've seen all week. I hate traditional flowcharting tools, they're wonky and a pain when you have to convert them to anything else. ASCII is the portable data format basically.

</comment><comment><USER7> Very nice website!

I tried to do the same with a 28x4 canvas with unicode for twitter, but client and host unicode rendering differences turn it into an unintelligible mess most of the time (www.draw140.com)

</comment><comment><USER30> Oh wow, nice.

Just what I needed to make a directory tree example for a readme.txt

</comment><comment><USER31> Awesome! Bookmarked for future usage.</comment>


Ask HN: Why can I only upvote (and not downvote) old comments? - <AUTHOR>

In recent threads I can downvote comments but for old threads, I can only upvote comments. Why is this? <comment><USER2> If someone unfairly downvotes an old comment, no one will notice and correct it. This would allow you to drain someone's karma by systematically downvoting all their old comments. So HN doesn't let you do that.</comment>


Ask HN: Are .io domain names a fad? - <AUTHOR>

There are a large number of new companies that are using .io domain names. I understand that a large part of this is due to good availability of english words, but wonder if it is a fad similar to the days of .ly domains. Do we eventually end up back at convoluted .com domain names until the next "cool" TLD? <comment><USER2> The way I see it, if your product is technical then .io is fine. But if you eventually want to market to every tom dick and harry then you better get a .com. Another strategy is to get a .io until you can afford a .com. Also, if you can market your website to achieve a million users on .io domain, you can raise enough money to buy the .com. My 2 cents.

</comment><comment><USER3> I think that .io domains are popular for a few reasons, they are geeky "input/output" and they somewhat resemble a 10 (binary 2). Of course you mentioned the availability aspect which is huge. I personally own two.io (not sure what I'm going to do with that) so I may be biased :)

</comment><comment><USER4> I think companies should stick with .com domains. They are the gold standard. That's just my opinion.

</comment><comment><USER5> drop.io probably started the trend. They were technical finalists at south by south west in 2007.</comment>


Ask HN: Any hackers that are also runners? - <AUTHOR>

If you're a runner, I'm curious to see what you think about our new app that we've built for destination endurance events.  The site is http://xlrun.com.  I'm the developer and my co-founder is the runner.  She competes in races all over the country and was frustrated because she always had to print out all of the information, directions, etc. before she left home.
We've built an affordable and fast way for race directors to have a mobile app created specifically for their race.  It has a lot of cool and useful features, with more already in development.
If you run or have friends that run and do these kinds of events, would you find it useful to have this information in the palm of your hand?  Would you be willing to pay $1-3 for the convenience?  We'd love to hear your feedback. <comment><AUTHOR> Clickable link: <http://xlrun.com></comment>


Ask HN: How effective is the honeypot-captcha? - <AUTHOR> I have often used the honeypot captcha idea (http://haacked.com/archive/2007/09/11/honeypot-captcha.aspx/) over the years and it has been successful for me. But have bots evolved over the years to beat this approach? Has anyone had a bad experience with it? <comment><USER2> Clickable: [http://haacked.com/archive/2007/09/11/honeypot- captcha.aspx/](http://haacked.com/archive/2007/09/11/honeypot-captcha.aspx/)</comment>


Spying on US citizens - <AUTHOR> https://instagram.com/p/3296fGK3Z-/

<comment><USER2> From the placement of the LEDs and the board's relative size compared to your hand, I'm assuming that this is the main board of the device.

Coming off that board, I see two large wires (red and black) running to a battery connector and two smaller, black wires running to what looks like a temperature sensor.

Your hand is holding a heatsink for the board's power electronics. The smaller protruding black knobs aligned with the LEDs are most likely push buttons, according to the layout of the device [1].

A temperature sensor in an UPS (what I believe the box is) is very common, as it would require ambient temperature readings for optimal charge and safety concerns. You will also find them in hard drives, TV sets, switching power supplies, etc. You can buy them in bulk on ebay [2], for cheap.

Is that sensor what you believed to be a microphone? Or did I miss something else?

[1] [https://instagram.com/p/32-Yn5q3ab/?taken- by=navrajchohan](https://instagram.com/p/32-Yn5q3ab/?taken-by=navrajchohan) [2] [http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-pcs-Thermistor-Temperature- Sensor...](http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-pcs-Thermistor-Temperature-Sensor-NTC- MF52-103-3435-10K-ohm-5-DIY- New-/251383570782?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a87a0e15e)

EDIT: added ebay link.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I'm the guy who found the mic. I hope they don't try to hurt me or my family. I'm not trying to be Edward snowden. I love my country and love Santa Barbara. Anyone know what kind of spy mic this is?

My other account on here is nlake44. This was my fake account I used to post about my company AppScale. Marketing stuff :)

<comment><USER3> Looking at this other photo: [https://instagram.com/p/32-Yn5q3ab/?taken- by=navrajchohan](https://instagram.com/p/32-Yn5q3ab/?taken-by=navrajchohan)

It's from an old Verizon security system? So... of course it has a mic.</comment></comment>


C++ on the web: emscripten, nacl, flascc - <AUTHOR> http://de.slideshare.net/andreweissflog3/quovadis2013-cpp-ontheweb <comment><USER2> I can't wait for the time when we will use C++ in the browser and JS on the backend. Oh the irony.

<comment><USER3> Turns out we need performance on the front-end, and ease-of-development on the backend, not the other way 'round.

Really, though, the strong motivating consideration is that while backend code scales horizontally (i.e. you can throw money at an app and get more concurrency), the user only has one computer, so you _have_ to optimize frontend code for performance. If we could just pay money to make users' computers faster I guarantee we wouldn't be worrying about browser JITs. :)

<comment><USER2> I mean, I understand the reasons and more than anything I'm excited. But it's still one of the things that if you time traveled to the 90's and told some developers about the future, they'd lock you up in a mental asylum.

<comment><USER4> If you traveled back to the 90's, it would be a good fictional story about computing dystopia.

In fact, it is still a good story about computing dystopia. But it's no longer fiction.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I gave a similar presentation at GDC this year. Same conclusion, slightly different supporting details. If you're interested: [http://www.slideshare.net/chadaustin/multiplatform-c-on- the-...](http://www.slideshare.net/chadaustin/multiplatform-c-on-the-web-with- emscripten-18258801)

<comment><USER6> Thanks. Both sets of slides were very interesting. While upon seeing presentation slides I inevitably wish I could be privy to the talk, both were informative enough to convey substance via slides alone.

The OP had a slide dedicated to platform-dependent components of building a 3D game engine (memory management, threading, game loop, audio, etc.). While much of the action happened "off camera", is the conclusion essentially that [emscripten -> [ asm.js + webGL] etc.] makes this process _simpler_ (if still tricky to debug)?

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Floh's website is at <http://www.flohofwoe.com/> and he's got links to demos of using Emscripten there as well as some other interesting stuff.

<comment><USER7> impressive stuff <http://www.flohofwoe.com/demos/dsomapviewer_asmjs.html>

But the most amazing thing is that they basically just compile their existing engine that has years of development to the browser using emscripten and it works. Thats a bit of a death blow to the new (and still very limited) JS 3D Engines, but of course their ease of use is a big benefit and they still make sense for smaller/web integrated projects.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> C++ is awesome, but I kinda went the other way with my stuff for more flexibility. JavaScript as the main programming language and C++ only for the performance and driver access bottlenecks. (More info: <http://multiplay.io>)

<comment><USER9> "JavaScript as the main programming language"

Using node (or the v8 shell directly) javascript is competitive with python or perl for most common scripting tasks

<comment><USER10> The thing i've always found weird is how javascript didn't catch on for windows sysadmin scripts instead of batch files, given that it's been integrated into windows since w2k. People spend a lot of time learning powershell, while the cscript engine exposes the same level of ability in javascript.

<comment><USER11> I did all of my scripting in Windows in JS. You had full access to COM objects, which means you could do a lot of stuff out of the box. One thing I hated was that it wasn't even fully ES3 conformant (it's jscript), and it seemed not to be maintained. I think they threw out cscript considerations when they built powershell. For me, a simple bash shell or even a jscript REPL would've been preferable.

I think my favorite least-known thing about writing simple tools for Windows during my time as a sys admin was HTAs. You had full jscript COM access with a web page presentation that's packaged into something that you can run without opening a browser explicitly. It was awesome building full web applications that could do pretty much any administrative task on Windows.

<comment><USER12> HTAs were! I believe the user accounts management screen in Windows XP was actually one.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> emscripten is absolutely awesome. Some time ago, I used it to port libmp3lame to JavaScript to encode MP3 files in the browser: <https://github.com/akrennmair/speech-to-server>

</comment><comment><USER14> Wasn't there a rumor that Sony would use the full native OpenGL for the PS4? Was that true?

<comment><USER15> > Sony is building its CPU on what it's calling an extended DirectX 11.1+ > feature set, including extra debugging support that is not available on PC > platforms. This system will also give developers more direct access to the > shader pipeline than they had on the PS3 or through DirectX itself. "This is > access you're not used to getting on the PC, and as a result you can do a > lot more cool things and have a lot more access to the power of the system," > Norden said. A low-level API will also let coders talk directly with the > hardware in a way that's "much lower-level than DirectX and OpenGL," but > still not quite at the driver level.

source: [http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/03/sony-dives-deep- into-t...](http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/03/sony-dives-deep-into-the- ps4s-hardware-power-controller-features-at-gdc/)

edit: that said, I wouldn't be surprised if there was an OpenGL stack available for ps4, especially if they want to attract indie-devs.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Is this presentation available for download outside of slideshare?

</comment><comment><USER17> I'm just not getting it. I understand the whole "let's make JavaScript the assembly language of the web", but "real" games (not 1987ish 2d scrollers) seem to have an uphill battle in the browser. IE probably won't ever implement WebGL, and even if it did, what's the point? I can point and click on Steam and download 20+ gig for some MMO. How's that suppose to work in the browser?

Can we take baby steps, and get really rich, hardware-accelerated UIs (maybe canvas based), WebSockets, a nice debugging experience (source maps), etc... before we're trying to play Crysis 3 in the browser.

<comment><USER2> > IE probably won't ever implement WebGL

Au contraire, [http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/30/4165204/microsoft- bringing...](http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/30/4165204/microsoft-bringing- webgl-support-internet-explorer-11-windows-blue)

<comment><USER8> You beat me by 30 seconds. Congrats!</comment></comment></comment>


$250 AWS Credit & a Netbook? Build a Twilio App by Midnight on Sunday - <AUTHOR> http://blog.twilio.com/2009/08/twilio-teams-up-with-amazon-web-services-for-this-weeks-contest-category.html

<comment><USER2> Which values an hour of our development labor at, what, $10?

<comment><USER3> Doesn't anyone hack for _fun_ anymore?

<comment><USER4> It's more fun if we aren't restricted to some company's application platform.

<comment><USER5> I don't necessarily agree - sometimes restrictions and boundaries actually spur the imagination, and deadlines definitely keep one's ass in gear and productive. I took a photography class in college so I could get access to the darkroom - expecting to hate the assignments for 'boxing in' my artistic spirit. Instead, they just gave me ideas. All my favorite photos and prints were made in that class.

Regardless, no one's restricting you to anything... This is a hacking contest, not a real job, so the choice to just not participate costs you nothing. To me, however, the challenge of building a cool app on a new & innovative API on a very short timeline sounds kind of intriguing actually.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> just a tip to all startups that have a blog separate from their main website - please include an "about us" page link on the blog, or a 2 sentence summary of what your company does somewhere in the sidebar. Or at least a link to your company's product page.

(took a surprising amount of time for me to figure out what exactly Twilio offers, as I had never heard of them before...)

<comment><USER7> that's a great suggestion, I just re-styled the blog and will add that right away - thank!

-danielle at Twilio

<comment><USER8> It would also help if the link to "Twilio.com" up top didn't point to "blog.twilio.com".

<comment><USER7> fixed

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Anyone have any ideas for apps they want to share?

<comment><USER10> I was going to use twilio for our nagios alerts but ended up going with tringme.com since they allow for international calls.

<comment><USER7> oh bummer, I guess we'll just have to launch international - get it on hacker news before you can get it anywhere else.

Pricing <http://www.twilio.com/international-calling-rates>

Account Configuration <http://www.twilio.com/user/account/international>

International FAQ <http://www.twilio.com/international-faq>

There you go!</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: MVP uses PHP, needs a rewrite. Should we use Laravel, or Ruby on Rails? - <AUTHOR>

I'm working on a project and am considering a full rewrite in order to clean up bad code, improve security, and most importantly: make it easier to add new features going forward.
I'm knowledgable in PHP, and new to Ruby on Rails. I could reuse existing code with Laravel [0], but it needs much more than a simple refactoring, and it'd be nice to rewrite everything with PHP5+ conventions (classes and inheritance, etc).
Switching to Ruby on Rails will force a full rewrite, and I wouldn't mind using this project as a means to dive into ruby.
One concern is that it might take longer to learn ruby on rails than to rewrite the PHP version, but if ruby makes adding new features easier in the future, it would have been well worth it.
In the end, both approaches are basically a full rewrite. Any suggestions? Has anyone encountered a similar scenario?
[0] http://laravel.com/ <comment><USER2> I would say depends on what your goals are. Is this a personal project and do you want to make money with it or is this something that you are doing for learning as part of your career.

If you want to make money on the project and want to get it out as fast as possible Go with laravel. You already know the stack and will be productive in it. You might also be able to reuse parts of the code thats already written or put it in the right place.

On the other hand if you want to learn another programming language or want to go outside of your comfort zone then give Ruby on Rails a shot. Not sure about Laravel but for a small to medium website, ruby does make adding a lot of features much faster via its gems.

</comment><comment><USER3> In this case since you have more experience with PHP, go with Laravel.

Sure it is nice to learn a new language/framework while you work on an idea but it is also the easiest way to get discouraged from finishing as it will take longer to complete.

</comment><comment><USER4> In terms of short term economics it's probably easier to stick with what you know. Without knowing the scope of the project it's hard to comment on whether other technologies would be more beneficial in the longer term

</comment><comment><USER5> Use what you know. Laravel would be the best choice here in my opinion. RoR & Laravel have very similar feature sets, community etc so going with RoR wouldn't be any greater benefit than Laravel.</comment>


Oaths: How do they Work? (2019) - <AUTHOR> https://acoup.blog/2019/06/28/collections-oaths-how-do-they-work/ <comment><USER2> One of my favorite early american history facts is that there were a sufficient number of Quakers among the founders that the US legal system does not actually require oaths to be taken to testify in court or hold office.

You _always_ have the option of making "a solemn affirmation" instead, because Friends don't swear oaths.

<comment><USER3> Yes, and more traditional culture heavily discourages oaths and swearing in trivial matters, not to water them down (and no to bother the deity). I think also the Third Commandment is interpreted in this way.

On the other hand, Middle Ages knew original oaths such as swearing on the roasted pheasant on the table.

<comment><USER2> the quaker explanation is kind of wonderful, as i understand it. The main idea is that by making some speech Extra Special Truthful, I am corroding the trustworthiness of all of the rest of my speech. This is straight from the sermon on the mount, but you could appeal to the third commandment too. Willfully lying for your gain at the expense of others is one of the more corrosive things we can do to our community, so keeping it foremost in our minds as a thing to avoid seems like a real good idea to reinforce.

The other problem has an example from Tolkien: we are finite beings of imperfect knowledge, and if you swear an unbreakable oath, you stand a good chance of winding up like Fëanor and being forced to be a kinslayer against your own intention. Don't assume that much power, it's gonna bite you. This matters less in my neck of the woods than it used to, but there are certainly places still where blood feuds exist and nobody seems to know how to escape their trap.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I love this blog! The various posts on battle tactics in fantasy series are some of my absolute favorites. The six part series on the Siege of Gondor[1] was the first thing I read from there, and I've been subscribed ever since

1: [https://acoup.blog/2019/05/10/collections-the-siege-of- gondo...](https://acoup.blog/2019/05/10/collections-the-siege-of-gondor/)

</comment><comment><USER5> Bit long, but arguably an oath creates and represents value.

Simply, it separates you from the in-group vs. out-group, and confers identity, conditional upon its integrity. We don't really have them in modern society outside of fraternities, a few gated professions, security clearances, and whatever policing is. Oddly, oaths of public office barely count as nobody expects office holders to live up to them when the heat is on, and they do not confer membership.

Then again, given who still takes them, we could say that modern society runs on a foundation of oaths, but what's changed is prosecution and investigation techniques are such that there isn't much of an enforcement mechanism for breaking them. If unenforceable oaths underwrite our institutions, what does it mean for them?

<comment><USER6> What do you mean unenforceable?

Impeachment is how an oath is enforcement.

An oath isn't meant to reassure the listener of the oather's intent, it's to make sure the oather is aware of what this expected of them and the consequences of violating it.

<comment><USER7> Not to mention being the foundation of the definition of perjury

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Interesting, but very frustrating to read:

> Oaths! How do they Work?

A paragraph later:

> "wait, how do oaths work?" and "how are they getting it wrong?" Today, we're > going to lay that out.

Then, after 6 paragraphs:

> So what is an Oath?

Then, after 14 paragraphs and around 3 full pages of text:

> Which brings us to the question how does an oath work?

Then, 3 paragraphs later:

> So what is an oath?

And then finally a definition. TLDR:

1) Oath contains declaration, which may be either something about the present or past or a promise for the future.

2) Powers greater than oneself are witnesses and will enforce the penalty if the oath is false.

3) A curse, by the swearers, called down on themselves, should they be false.

Which is kind of an anti-climax, because this is exactly how I thought everyone understands oaths.

<comment><USER9> This is your complaint from a blog titled "A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry"?

Seems like you're describing exactly what they claim to deliver.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> There's a lot of good content on this blog, I'm happy to have found it via HN.

</comment><comment><USER11> LOTR had proper oaths. Remember how Gollum swore "by the precious"?

Edit: augh, commented before finishing the article, it gives this exact example.

<comment><USER12> It is simple culture. An oath is the calling of a witness whose authority is undisputed (thus God, the Precious for Gollum...).

Absent the witness there is no oath.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Speaking of oaths, I think that as technology progresses we will need an oath for engineers and scientists so they will not use technology for evil. It will be even more important than e.g. Hippocrates' oath, thus if the latter exists then so should the former.

<comment><USER14> Sure. So would that oath forbid you from running a website for an abortion clinic? How about accepting blood transfusions? Or building a capital punishment device?

<comment><USER15> No, no, yes. I don't know why people think this morality stuff is so complicated. /s

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I find the article kinda weird - that it needs explanation, I mean. Aren't oaths as described in the article common in the us?

Here in Spain you'll usually hear things like "I swear by my mom" (with the implication, sometimes said explicitely, that she'll die if you're lying). It's mostly a kids thing but many adults use it as a figure of speech to emphasize they're serious.

<comment><USER17> Did you actually read the article?

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> TLDR, converted for HN:

public Binding swearOath(declaration string, witness Deity<Religion>, curse string)

Parameters:

 _declaration: A declaration, which may be either something about the present or past or a promise for the future._

 _witness: The specific powers greater than oneself who are invoked as witnesses and who will enforce the penalty if the oath is false. In Christian oaths, this is typically God, although it can also include saints. For the Greeks, Zeus Horkios (Zeus the Oath-Keeper) is the most common witness for oaths. This is almost never omitted, even when it is obvious._

 _curse: A curse, by the swearers, called down on themselves, should they be false. This third part is often omitted or left implied, where the cultural context makes it clear what the curse ought to be. Particularly, in Christian contexts, the curse is theologically obvious (damnation, delivered at judgment) and so is often omitted._

(i.e. can pass null for curse if witness = God<Christianity>)

An InvalidOath exception is thrown if any parameters missing.

Return value: Binding (object): binding will be registered as an observer on current, past or future action, calling method with name 'curse' if original declaration not valid or not fulfilled.

See also Vows (which are different)

<comment><USER19> Edge cases in the API (can pass null etc) and throwing an exception on programming errors are smells for me. I would model it this way:

oathContract = power.witnessOath(declaration, curse);

or in the case of a Christian power (which ISA Jewish power too): oathContract = christianPower.witnessOath(declaration);

It's just not the same interface. You can't realistically ignore the type of power and use a polymorphic call. The Bible says so.

(Of course, when you oathContract.renege(), we know which power should handle your case, and can put a message in their respective queue)

<comment><USER18> Haha

Deity = undocumented API

Theology = reverse engineering

Schism = new version breaks backward compatibility</comment></comment></comment>


The Panopticon Singularity (2002) - <AUTHOR> http://www.antipope.org/charlie/old/rant/panopticon-essay.html <comment><USER2> How well do these predictions stack up?

DRM obviously existed to an extent at the time, and now millions of people use locked down mobile OSes as their everyday computer, but to an extent some of its more intrusive practices have been rendered obsolete by the software provider taking total control of how, when and to whom software/content is served via the SaaS model.

Gait analysis is one which obviously has thus far failed to be anything more than an unreliable supplementary information source with dreadful test performance even amongst small samples not trying to disguise their walk[1], it's not widely used outside the clinical context of helping patients to walk, and given how much other surveillance technologies have improved it's difficult to imagine it ever being that important.

Is anyone actually doing anything with "celldar"?

[1]see e.g. [https://royalsociety.org/~/media/about- us/programmes/science...](https://royalsociety.org/~/media/about- us/programmes/science-and-law/royal-society-forensic-gait-analysis-primer-for- courts.pdf) is a discussion recommending scepticism about its use as

<comment><USER3> I think looking at this from specific technology predictions is a bit myopic. Gait analysis is/was simply a technology for identifying and tracking individuals. The fact that facial recognition won out[0] for this task is irrelevant.

The more important issue is pervasive mass surveillance that can be leveraged against you, not just by the state but also by private parties that can be leveraged by the state.

[0] [https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/12/17110636/china-police- fac...](https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/12/17110636/china-police-facial- recognition-sunglasses-surveillance)

<comment><USER4> And as Cambridge Analytica has shown, mass surveillance can be leveraged against you by private parties for a pittance. There are now vast numbers of small private entities dabbling in what was the exclusive domain of the state.</comment></comment></comment>


Tcpdive – A TCP Performance Profiling Tool - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/fastos/tcpdive/blob/master/README.md <comment><USER2> Looks like a good project -- new metrics like how much time a TCP session has been in different retransmit states should be useful for properly comprehending issues, and estimating speed up.

And it's a bunch of SystemTap scripts that trace send/receive/etc! Glad it isn't a kernel module, at least. :) So tracing send/receive does cost, which is covered in the README:

"The figure above shows Per-core CPU consumption of tcpdive is less than 10% while QPS is no significant influenced, which we believe is acceptable in most cases."

Actually, I'd say this was acceptable _because_ it is so clear in the README, and we can judge its usage beforehand. The overhead is actually pretty high, 2-10% CPU per core, but then that's what I'd expect for tracing send/receive using SystemTap. Again, by making it clear we can accept or not accept it beforehand and use accordingly.

eBPF should be making this type of tracing lower overhead...

<comment><USER3> You don't mention it, but credit where it's due: DTrace, with the creation of which you had a lot to do, can be used in quite the same way in kernels that have added the TCP provider. I think we all owe you a big thanks.

<comment><USER2> These look like a lot of new scripts, and not quite what I was doing with DTrace, although in the same spirit that DTrace pioneered: tracing of TCP internals for custom metrics.

I didn't create DTrace, but I did create the DTrace TCP provider and many networking scripts. A nice list of them is here: [http://dtracebook.com/index.php/Network_Lower_Level_Protocol...](http://dtracebook.com/index.php/Network_Lower_Level_Protocols#Scripts) . My scripts focused on tracing events, workload characterization at different levels, and some timing: connection lifespans, and 1st byte latency. (At least in that location; I've got DTrace scripts scattered elsewhere too). The tcpdive scripts have focused so far on perturbation study: congestion, retransmissions, resets. Also useful!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> And to simulate a degraded connection, the colorfully-named _comcast_ tool works well:

[https://github.com/tylertreat/comcast](https://github.com/tylertreat/comcast)

<comment><USER5> That tool is a very thin wrapper over preexisting OS functionality, and it does little more than disguise how limited those capabilities are when it comes to making realistic simulations.

If you really want to assess how your application will perform on low-quality connections, it behooves you to understand what makes those connections suck, and what specific capabilities your OS of choice has for simulating or generating those conditions.

Statically setting latency to 500ms or packet loss to 10% is not realistic; it simultaneously exaggerates the kind of performance issues that exist in the real world and is much easier to compensate for than real network dynamics.

<comment><USER4> The wrapper makes the tool. It may not be perfect, and it would be nice to have more of a "random but stochastically representative degradation" option, but it's the tool I know and it works well. Can you suggest a better one for simulation? On OSX there is Apple's Network Link Consitioner[1], but on Linux? Characterizing a bad connection is great, but that isn't a tool. It's super hand wavy to say "what specific capabilities your OS of choice has for simulating or generating those conditions". My OS doesn't have capabilities I can access easily, and _importantly_ , disable easily. Building on Comcast to add simulation improvements seems like a viable option.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Some tools like tcpdump or ss are mentioned, but those tools are not really comparable to what's described here. What I'd like to see would be a rough comparison with the existing web100 set of kernel patches [https://web10g.org/](https://web10g.org/) which is used for many many years in conjunction with the Network Diagnostic Tool (NDT) from Internet2. It provides userland visibility into some of the TCP kernel parameters of each connection via a documented interface that can be used e.g. by a special web server that does performance measurements. Also see [http://www.measurementlab.net/](http://www.measurementlab.net/).

Similar results could theoretically be obtained with the TCP Dtrace provider, which was added in Solaris 11 if memory serves. I am not aware whether FreeBSD or MacOSX have any similar providers, but my info could be outdated.

The idea behind all these approaches is basically to target a specific TCP connection and generate an event each time a TCP packet arrives. For each of those events, a rolling estimation of the RTT is generated by the kernel and is used as a basis for calculations for the congestion window, which limits how many bytes can be subsequently sent. Various timeouts can probably trigger similar events and so on.

(edit: s/packets/bytes/)

</comment><comment><USER6> So, I just read the readme and haven't even fully digested that, but the tool I'd have used in the past four this kind of problem space was tcpdump + tcptrace ([http://tcptrace.org](http://tcptrace.org)). To help me understand tcpdive, how would you compare the two?

</comment><comment><USER7> I know there are 3G and 4G simulators but it occurs to me there might be a market for a proxy/VPN that really does use 3G or 4G on a connection and feed it back to you for testing in a desktop environment.

<comment><USER8> > _but it occurs to me there might be a market for a proxy /VPN that really > does use 3G or 4G on a connection_

Why not just use tethering?

<comment><USER7> Well I mean on demand, as a service.

[http://www.webpagetest.org/](http://www.webpagetest.org/) does this for waterfalls, you can select real-world 2G/3G and even LTE

<comment><USER8> Yes, and I mean what does doing it "as a service" bring over just pushing a button on your phone to act as a hotspot?

<comment><USER7> What if you have a first-world problem and your cell service is too good and reliable - even forcing the phone to 2G/3G service is not simulation enough.

<comment><USER9> the you spend some time defining what a typical 2G and 3G connection looks like to your end users, and then you replicate that with existing tools. There are very, very many open source solutions to adding latency, jitter, throttling bandwidth, and replicating packet loss. in fact, I'd argue that coming up with a few solid definitions of what a 2G and 3G connection look like is far more accurate than running tests over one dongle "IRL"</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Is using mercurial+bitbucket instead of git+GitHub limiting my contributors? - <AUTHOR> I have a project using mercurial and hosted on bitbucket. We are a growing project and benefit a lot from third party contributors.
I recently found out that our most prolific third party contributor actually uses git to do and test his work, and only converts to mercurial commits for the pull requests.
Am I shooting myself in the foot by using mercurial?
We originally chose mercurial because our users (and thus likely contributors) are scientists (as are we), and many are unfamiliar with software development tools and practices, and frankly, nothing is as newbie friendly as tortoisehg (even as a mercurial expert tortoisehg is my preferred way to do 99% of my work with mercurial, and I will miss it sorely enough to attempt to write a clone of it for git if we switch to git). But it seems maybe the people most likely to contribute are the subset familiar with programming, and they are more likely to use git and github.
tl;dr should I move my project to git and github? <comment><USER2> Glancing at screenshots of tortoisehg[0], I can't fathom considering that more newbie friendly than a GitHub Deskop-type interface. (Though FWIW, GitHub Desktop is surely far more limited, it's less sophisticated in general, and won't meet all needs.) There are plenty of other Git UIs out there as well, of course.

As wolco said, you're surely missing out on network effect, people won't find your project if they're just searching GitHub (as many people, unfortunately, do lean towards).

I would ask your users though, rather than HN. HN is going to trend towards what's popular in general, rather than what your users like to work with. Find out how your users would feel about Git or a Git-based software solution, maybe mirror your project somewhere, be it GitHub or GitLab and let people test out what it'd be like to work from the Git side of things.

Hoping to get new contributors is great, but make sure your existing contributors are on board, or even enthusiastic, before you look for a migration.

[0] [https://tortoisehg.bitbucket.io/screenshots.html](https://tortoisehg.bitbucket.io/screenshots.html)

<comment><AUTHOR> Tortoisehg being cross platform is important - users are on a mix of OSs and it's useful to be able to recommend one tool that their colleagues using the same software will also be using. Also, our software is controlled via scripts written by the user, and so we recommend they version control their own code. A uniform GUI for this makes it easier to get new students up to speed with how to operate these things. So version control isn't just for the developers necessarily (though there's no reason why we couldn't use git for development of the software itself even though the users use a different version control system)

Searching probably isn't how people find out about our project, though I'm not sure. We have a published paper that gets citations, so people find out that way, and I suspect it might be mostly word of mouth. But we really don't know.

You're right, we should ask them! But we have zero telemetry so we only know about the users who participate in the mailing list or issue tracker or otherwise contact us.

<comment><USER2> I would point out that GitHub Desktop at least, is available on both Windows and Mac, and I was told yesterday is in beta for Linux. ;) I think it's quite common for version control tools to be cross-platform since they are often used to develop cross-platform software.

I would say the people making active participation in your mailing list or issue tracker, and especially those making patches to your actual software, likely represent the most active/invested members of your community, and definitely the best people to solicit opinions from. :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Github and Bitbucket is just a platform to host your code; it is relatively easier to get people to contribute to your project with GitHub if you have an open source project. Else, I would prefer to host in Bitbucket or GitLab.

About the source code control. generally, I would prefer git. You can take a look at [https://www.atlassian.com/blog/git/git-vs-mercurial-why- git](https://www.atlassian.com/blog/git/git-vs-mercurial-why-git) for making decisions.

</comment><comment><USER4> Most likely, but being on Github is no guarantee of contributors. Exaggerating slightly, there is roughly one open-source project needing assistance for every living programmer.

</comment><comment><USER5> Yes you are missing the network effect.</comment>


Grand-maternal smoking in pregnancy and grandchild's autistic traits - <AUTHOR> https://www.nature.com/articles/srep46179 <comment><USER2> I really like the NHS's Choices for their summary of heath news and studies. Their coverage here: [http://www.nhs.uk/news/2017/04April/Pages/Weak-link- between-...](http://www.nhs.uk/news/2017/04April/Pages/Weak-link-between- grandmums-smoking-and-autistic-grandkids.aspx)</comment>


Strahler Number of a Binary Tree - <AUTHOR> http://selezovikj.blogspot.com/2011/11/strahler-number-of-binary-tree.html

<comment><USER2> Been looking for this one for a while. Thanks</comment>


Ask HN: How should I recruit my coworkers to my startup? - <AUTHOR> I am at the point in my project that I want/need help with people focusing on specific areas, i.e. design, testing etc.
The closest and easiest people I can think of recruiting work at my company. Design is my main need as of now.
Do you have any advice here? What is your experience in this process? <comment><USER2> Many employment agreements have 'non-solicitation' clauses that you might breach by recruiting from your employer. You should definitely ask a lawyer.</comment>


Request HN: Can Someone Make a Dumb Phone for USA? - <AUTHOR> Last year I shut down all our internet services for everyone in my home (me, my wife and our kids), so that all we have now are a landline and radio, no internet or television or texting or TV or anything. Our lives have become significantly happier since then. We have so much more time to do anything we want, we feel so much less overwhelmed and distracted, and we're starting to live full, active and fulfilling lives.
But we would like to text and make phone calls while on the go, without the constant temptation to be connected to emails, Facebook, and browsers all the time. So I have been searching the web for a month looking for a "dumb phone", a phone that doesn't have anything but text and phone, not even a "home screen". Something like you would see in the 90s. But it just doesn't exist.
Maybe there's no market for it, but maybe there will be one if you make it and market it well. And that's what you guys are good at. <comment><USER2> Are you sure this isn't a lifestyle you're forcing on your kids? I've known a few kids from low-tech families and in my experience, it's rarely something they'd choose for themselves, were they given the choice. Kids use the internet to chat with friends after school and to arrange events. They also tend to bond over videos and TV shows they've all watched, and in general, they don't like to be different from their peers or to miss out on opportunities to socialise or to bond socially over shared experiences.

In my experience, kids from low-tech families also tend to binge on their banned technology when they get the opportunity, like watching TV at a friend's house or spending lunchtime in the school's library/computer lab, maybe because of a lack of learned self-control.

<comment><AUTHOR> It is a lifestyle I'm forcing on my kids, and that's intentional. Kids don't always know what's good for them, and confuse wants and needs. It's a parent's job to create a safe and healthy environment where their kids can grow and thrive. We used to live the kind of life where video games and TV were "bonding experiences" and it just created all sorts of problems inside them. With this lifestyle, I see those problems vanishing one by one. And they all see it too and are happier now.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> [https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/light- phone-2#/](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/light-phone-2#/)

<comment><AUTHOR> That looks over engineered and still not as simple as it could be. Think of those cell phones in the 90s that had a single line (or two) of spaces for text, and they had no features but calling and texting. That's perfect, it has literally already been invented, it just needs to be resold, and perhaps put in a pretty package again, but not like this. Not like this.

<comment><USER4> > That's perfect

Is it? I'm a LP2 backer, and agree with you that I want a phone that does not have a browser, or an App Store, or anything like that; however, I do believe that the small set of tools LP2 is planning on coming with (simple directions, ride sharing, alarm, in particular) are pretty much no-downside.

What bothers you about features like these? Or is it the pricetag?

<comment><AUTHOR> It's self sufficiency I want for our family, and those features discourage that. My kids' schools don't teach them many things anymore, including reading an analog clock. I'd rather my children know how to buy a map at a gas station and read it to get where they want to go, or do most simple math in their head instead of using a calculator. Alarms are built into most clocks made today, even (perfectly good) ones you can buy for $3 at a thrift store, and most microwaves have timer features. Using an app for ride sharing discourages phone (or text) conversations that are naturally able to lead to many unexpected places.

At the end of the day, I look at it this way: I'm able to live a full and happy life without a smart phone, the only thing I'm missing is the ability to call someone. That's where a phone comes in handy.

<comment><USER5> People will hate when you try to go against the flow, but it's a good path. We've recently cut pretty much all video games and television, and our family is better for it.

Protip: Some people will feel judged by you simply because you don't do certain things. If you want to avoid awkward conversations, you might not want to bring up that you don't have a TV. It's stupid but some people get seriously weird over it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> There is no market for this, which is why you can't find it. The vast majority of people who want a phone/text device but don't want browsers, emails, MySpace, or app stores simply ignore those features.

<comment><AUTHOR> Or they try to not use those features but get sucked back into it, like I did the many times I tried exactly that. I wonder how many people there are who wanted to live a life like this but because such a phone doesn't exist, they keep getting pulled back in and have to abandon having a phone altogether.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> [https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/mp02-4g-mobile- phone/](https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/mp02-4g-mobile-phone/)

Sounds like it might work for you.

<comment><USER8> i feel like these have been "coming soon" for a couple years now. its a great idea, wish it had more traction.

<comment><USER9> I have one. They're real.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> The Alcatel flip phone at Consumer Cellular looks like it's strictly text and phone except for the bit about downloading wallpaper suggests it has some kind of web client inside. [https://www.consumercellular.com/Products/813/Details](https://www.consumercellular.com/Products/813/Details)

<comment><AUTHOR> I have that exact phone and it has a browser built in. It's lower quality than usual but it's good enough to waste a few hours with.

<comment><USER10> Ahhh bummer. One of the old Motorola Star-Tacs would have been perfect if it were available and compatible.

<comment><USER11> Until the damn antenna broke off...again.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> Liber-Abaci Buy any android phone and uninstall the browser/everything else. Put custom software on it without GAPPS. Moto e⁴ plus has a 2 day battery life, probably longer if you're not using a browser. LG still makes flip feature phones but they have a primitive browser which you don't have to use by not signing up to any data plan.

No internet is too extreme though, library genesis and sci-hub I'd be lost without them as I can't afford $100+ texts or journal subscriptions. Youtube videos by mathematicians I also wish I had when I was in highschool.

</comment><comment><USER12> There used to be dumbphones for elder people with big buttons at retail stores not too long ago (at least at my place). Maybe these aren't advertised on the web.

Edit: don't know about US, though

<comment><USER13> [https://www.amazon.com/cell-phone- keypad/s?k=cell+phone+keyp...](https://www.amazon.com/cell-phone- keypad/s?k=cell+phone+keypad)

On work we have also two rugged cellphones with a keypad. They have a color screen, but you can't really use the web, I guess .. I never tryed ..

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I used to own a Just5 Brick phone for a simpler phone experience. I don't know if they're going to continue selling them though, as they've been marked "sold out" for some time now.

[http://www.just5.com/worldwide/en/brick/brick- red](http://www.just5.com/worldwide/en/brick/brick-red)

</comment><comment><USER15> This gets asked all the time. Rather than rehashing some good prior conversations, check out past discussions at:

[https://www.google.com/search?q=dumb+phone+site%3Aycombinato...](https://www.google.com/search?q=dumb+phone+site%3Aycombinator.com)

</comment><comment> 3g-tom how did you write this message if you do not have internet?

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm at my local public library which has wifi. It's also how I download new NPM modules, email my client, deliver my work to him, etc. But I do 90% of my work offline at home.

<comment><USER16> Are you a dev? If yes, how do you refer to documentation without internet??!!

<comment><USER17> I too am curious about the workflow.

Also, kind of off topic, but I found it fitting that your (original poster) website is hosted on AWS.

<comment><AUTHOR> Aside from my other answer, the local library has internet access, so I'm able to use AWS as needed.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> My aunt and uncle got one recently for when they are traveling, i think they picked it up at 7-11. its a prepaid, but if you dont use it much, i figure thats the best way to go anyhow.

</comment><comment><USER18> Search ebay for mini cellphone, they have dumb phones thats basically credit card or lighter sized with a keypad.

<comment><AUTHOR> It looks like you mean the M5 phone, which from what I researched, used 2G towers and thus no longer works since those have all been decommissioned. It also seems to be cheaply made and commonly have a ton of problems.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Are Nokia phones still sold in the US? We have plenty in Asia that are nothing but a phone and texting.

</comment><comment><USER20> Walk into best buy. I bought one last summer. Texting is slow.

<comment><AUTHOR> Which model did you buy? Does it have an internet browser or apps?

<comment><USER20> I do not remember which it was. I do remember asking the salesperson, 'just need a simple phone for calls and messaging, no need for data'. Like 'MAGIC' I was handed what fit my need.

No internet, some apps but I never used them.</comment></comment></comment>


Google Offers - <AUTHOR> https://www.google.com/offers

<comment><USER2> It looks like a competition to Groupon. And since google might have a lot more data than Groupun it seems it will be an interesting competition.</comment>


Experts-exchange.com: Internet Leach - <AUTHOR> http://remy.tumblr.com/post/540245276/on-experts-exchange-com <comment><USER2> I wish Google would stop putting theme so high up in the ranking. I am with you on this one. They have the right to run their business how they want but I always feel baited when I follow the link and did not realize that it was them. Google should really penalize people for information baiting. They let Google see the answer, so that it will be indexed and then put up a DRM wall for regular users.

I got bit by this by scribd the other day, I went to download a pdf, and they said I had to log in with Facebook (I don't have an account but my wife does) I was reluctant but I did, then after they got my wife's Facebook acceptance they told me that the document was in the archive and that I would have to upload a document to get 24hr access to the archive. I think they could have told me there was another hoop before they got my (my wifes) info. I was pissed and uploaded a profanity riddled document explaining my thoughts on scribd practices.

Anyway, I am rambling my point is actions like scribd's make me very hesitant to sign up with these information baiters like experts-exchange because there is always one more hoop to jump through.

</comment><comment><USER3> I'm not sure if this is still the case, but at least at one point you could scroll down and look at the "solution". I believe before that (and maybe still...) you could just view the cached version of the google result, and see everything. If both of those don't work, get a FF plugin like this: <https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/967/> and then modify your request header / user agent to make it seem like you're the google spider. Haven't tried that in a bit, but worked the last time I did. Can't see why it wouldn't now...</comment>


New "Leaf" Is More Efficient Than Natural Photosynthesis - <AUTHOR> http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-bionic-leaf-is-roughly-10-times-more-efficient-than-natural-photosynthesis/?wt.mc=SA_Twitter-Share <comment><USER2> I am surprised no one has mentioned replacing the adsorption CO2 scrubbers on space craft[1] with something that is powered by electricity. The article claims 130 grams of CO2 removed from the air per kilowatt-hour. Astronauts might expel 40 - 50 grams of CO2 per hour into the air, so 500wHrs of power keeps the air breathable forever? That is a good deal. For reference the ISS has a crew of 6 and has 84 - 120kW of power capacity [2].

[1] Study problem on CO2 removal from NASA -- [https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/519338main_AP_ED_Chem_CO2Removal_St...](https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/519338main_AP_ED_Chem_CO2Removal_Stoich%2012-20-10.pdf)

[2] [https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/element...](https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/solar_arrays.html)

<comment><USER3> This leaf isn't generating oxygen though. It's generating alcohols. I wonder what it would take to generate oxygen out of the alcohol.

<comment><USER4> It does actually. The alcohols are mainly made from the carbon in CO2 and the hydrogen in H2O. Isobutanol is (CH3)2CHCH2OH, and isopropanol is C3H8O. So that's a lot of O left over.

Roughly speaking, energy + CO2 = carbon + oxygen. Left to right is photosynthesis. Right to left is fire.

[edit: do be careful when applying this equation in practice! Often, hitting CO2 with a big hammer just yields CO, or carbon monoxide. It's poisonous!]

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This needs the additional information that photosynthesis is incredibly inefficient. It's <5% IIRC, so we already have solar panels almost a magnitude better than what nature did.

(RuBisCO as the protein at the center of the process is also quite strange: it's huge and slow. As in 'this ain't funny any more, start working' slow with about a reaction per second.)

<comment><USER6> I don't understand. Photosynthesis has been hailed as one of the most efficient processes by nature.

[http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-it-comes- to-p...](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-it-comes-to- photosynthesis-plants-perform-quantum-computation/)

<comment><USER7> I believe the trick is that they harvest "95 percent of it from the light they __absorb __" , emphasis added. It's sort of like saying an efficient solar system only loses 5% of the energy absorbed by the solar panels.

Photosynthesis may be quite efficient internally, but it's not very good at capturing all of the available power. It really is 3-6%, where even cheap solar panels can achieve 15-20% or higher these days.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> The article seems to indicate this is electrically powered, not powered by light. Where's the photosynthesis? First they make electricity, then they crack water into oxygen and hydrogen, then they combine the hydrogen and C02 to make hydrocarbons. If you've got electricity, why make fuel? That's wasteful.

<comment><USER9> > If you've got electricity, why make fuel?

Because fuel is in lots of cases a better way to store (and transport) energy to be used later and a different time and potentially place.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> This got me thinking: how much CO2 is emitted by different energy sources in generating 1 kilowatt-hour?

I came across this link: [http://blueskymodel.org/kilowatt- hour](http://blueskymodel.org/kilowatt-hour)

Seems like solar is more or less a break even, where nuclear /wind/geothermal/hydro are pure wins, which makes sense I suppose. Could you manufacture enough of these to consume 1 kilowatt-hour without generating more CO2 in the process than they would consume in their lifecycle?

<comment><USER11> I don't see any accounting for the cost of storing nuclear waste, long-term. (Nobody wants to do it; how do you even estimate that?)

<comment><USER12> It's easy, you take the cost of Yucca mountain depository (which is already sunk, btw), and amortize that over 10,000 years or so.

<comment><USER13> So easy!

Watch how it's done: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeVPMzJOFrQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeVPMzJOFrQ)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Very cool. I thought it was going to be more 'biological' i.e. less about finding a catalyst, and more about microbes and chlorophyll somehow.

I think technology creates things, sometimes problems, and then newer technology sometimes addresses these problems. I like the concept of all of these CO2 extraction-for-energy technologies that seem to be popping up lately.

Now, let's hope they can scrub some CO2 from the atmosphere, but not too much! After all, the climate models have been proven to be underestimating the rise of temperature, so the models are deemed not reliable for prediction or forecasting.

Take too much CO2 out, and we're in for a Global Winter. Sort of like the old Twilight Zone episode on TV (Ok, I'm old) where a guy is feverish, and in the background the Earth is getting too hot because of the sun getting closer? He then wakes up and it is snowing outside, and just when you think it is fine and dandy, it is the beginning of an Apocalyptic Winter!

</comment><comment><USER15> Previous discussions on 'artificial leaves':

[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=artificial+leaf](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=artificial+leaf)

<comment><USER16> It should be noted that almost every previous article referencing "new leaf" ... "more efficient than natural photosynthesis", explains a process of slitting water to it's two atomic components.

The leaf in this article implies a completely different product. Alcohol... It's quite a different track, and promising if true.

<comment> mark-r A promising side effect would be the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. Although burning the fuel probably returns it back, so it's only helpful inasmuch as it replaces other sources of fuel.

<comment><USER17> Better to recycle the existing co2 than remove oil from the ground and put that into the air.

<comment><USER18> You still end-up with a by-product that you need to do something with. In this case burning it...

<comment><USER17> Alcohol on the ground causes less problems than excessive CO2 in the air, and still better to recycle the problematic CO2 in the air than increase its volume by burning oil from the ground.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Found the paper:

[http://science.sciencemag.org/content/352/6290/1210](http://science.sciencemag.org/content/352/6290/1210)

Found a nice quote in the LA Times coverage:

[http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn- bionic-l...](http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-bionic-leaf- photosynthesis-20160603-snap-story.html)

"Stay tuned because Pam and I are on a path to do nitrogen fixation in the same sort of way we've just done water splitting," [Nocera said]

<comment><USER20> Thank you for finding the article.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> It seems disingenuous to say this is "more efficient than natural photosynthesis" when it's a bioreactor using photosynthesizing microbes (and thus presumably use the same chlorophyll-based chemistry as natural photosynthesis).

On the other hand, I wonder about the potential for evolution to occur inside reactors like these, essentially self-optimising them over time.

</comment><comment><USER22> I read science fiction story where they're on a colony on venus where the big problem is "how do we do make artificial photosynthesis? Plants are rubbish." but it was a free self-published novel and I now _cannot_ find it. Anyone else read it?

<comment><USER23> Might it be this one ?

[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8065404-containment](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8065404-containment)

(Fifth google result searching "photosynthesis venus novel")

<comment><USER22> Yes! Thank you. I'm sure I've searched similar things in the past but maybe I was too focused on the fact that it was self-published.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> I cannot fathom why we have large scale, highly efficient meat production facilities (remember: animal rights are only relevant to hippie tree huggers), yet there's virtually no commercial efforts to harness plants. The technology exists [0]; I don't understand what the practical or political problems are. I think small scale plant reactors have the potential of being able to be manufactured very cheaply; maintenance is probably the issue, but I'd like to hear from an expert in the field.

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

</comment><comment><USER25> I was expecting some crazy analogy between the a Nissan Leaf and natural photosynthesis.

</comment><comment><USER26> The question is if this is more efficient than just using solar panels + batteries to power something up. My guess is it's not, probably not even close. But perhaps there can be some niche uses for it where this system complexity and lower efficiency still makes more sense than using batteries.

</comment><comment><USER27> Does anyone know how does the efficiency of an entire tree compare (i.e a single leaf reflects some light, which then is absorbed by another leaf)?

I would guess that number should be higher than simple "photosynthesis efficiency".

</comment><comment><USER28> So if you replace standard solar panels with this and you burn the alcohol in an engine each hour, does it produce more or less electricity each hour if we know it's 10x more efficient then natural photosynthesis?

</comment><comment><USER29> Very neat technology for a possibly carbon neutral fossil fuel economy.

</comment><comment><USER30> Does this present any potential improvements to solar panel efficiency?

</comment><comment><USER31> This is insanely cool.</comment>


Ask HN: Best way to create a product survey? - <AUTHOR>

I would like to create a survey which outlines a potential product and collects feedback and demand potential.<p>What is the best way to create a survey and drive traffic to it to collect potential product feedback?  I'm willing to pay per submission so long as the submission quality is reasonably high. <comment><USER2> One way I like to drive traffic to surveys is with advertising, specifically adwords. It not only allows me to get visitors to my surveys, but it allows me to see how many people are actually searching for my product/keywords.

Adwords/Search only works for some potential products. One of the drawbacks is the customer has to know what he is searching for.</comment>


ShowHN: obsqr QR scanner - bringing minimalism to Android - <AUTHOR>

My girlfriend's attempt to make a small and simple QR scanner for Android. No settings, the only action user can perform - is opening the QR. Of course, it's open source, costs nothing and is ad-free.
And what do you think of software with minimal functionality?
Here's the repo:
https://bitbucket.org/trikita/obsqr/wiki/Home
And here's the link to the market if you want to try it:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=trikita.obsqr <comment><AUTHOR> Clickable links: <https://bitbucket.org/trikita/obsqr/wiki/Home> <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=trikita.obsqr>

</comment><comment><USER2> Installed this yesterday. Best QR code scanner software that I've found. Too many of them have pointless features that clutter them and require too many permissions I'm not willing to give up. 5 stars.

</comment><comment><USER3> How did you integrate ZBar into Android? From the zbar homepage, I always thought it was only available for iPhone and C\C++

Edit: Now I see there's an official ZBarAndroidSDK since March.</comment>