How to compile with continuations - <AUTHOR> http://matt.might.net/articles/cps-conversion/

<comment><USER2> If you aren't interested in supporting call/cc or other control-transfer constructs like exceptions it might be easier to just use ANF.

See Kennedy's "Compiling with Continuations, Continued" for another perspective on the ANF/CPS choice: [http://research.microsoft.com/en- us/um/people/akenn/sml/Comp...](http://research.microsoft.com/en- us/um/people/akenn/sml/CompilingWithContinuationsContinued.pdf)

</comment><comment><USER3> Awesome, I'm deep into Lisp in Small Pieces and at times have found it assumes a bit too much of the reader.

</comment><comment><USER4> This is the kind of thing that I would put in the "hacker" subhn.</comment>


A Farewell to America - <AUTHOR> http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/01/gary-younge-farewell-to-america

<comment><USER2> Powerful, powerful piece - thanks for sharing.

As an American living in England, it's especially interesting reading of a Brit's experience in my home country. I'm not black, and have been given the benefits of good schools, middle-class parents, and the like since birth.

Sure, I've always 'known' racism exists - but until technology put smartphones in every pocket, and made it easier to capture these incidents for everyone to see, it was much more comfortable for my worldview to think that the police were almost universally right.

No longer. I have the utmost respect for the many, many brave police officers out there who just want to serve and protect, but it's impossible to ignore, deny, or downplay that this country has a huge, huge problem that we ALL need to address.

<comment><USER3> This sentence shows that discrimination doesn't just happen in America: "if my aim was to escape aggressive policing and racial disadvantage, I would not be heading to Hackney." However, there are less shootings in the UK.</comment></comment>


Ex-vegan for health reasons - <AUTHOR> How many of you are ex-vegans for health reasons only? Which means you tried hard being a vegan but stopped due to (perceived or otherwise) deteriorating health. Mention how long you were vegan. <comment><USER2> 6 months, felt great initially but after 6 months felt sickly. I ate really well, no bread or other filler. Very low amounts processed foods (if any). Took a supplement for B12 but after a while felt weak.

From time to time I will still go vegan for a few weeks but not extended periods.

</comment><comment><USER3> How can I follow this thread?</comment>


Host me in California - <AUTHOR> http://www.hostmeinca.com <comment><USER3> What I think he did well:

        - Strong, direct message within first view (he out right tells you, the visitor, what he wants)

        - He takes you through his expanded 'executive summary'.

        - This sequence: What, why, who, how. Many startups get this wrong and do Who, What Why, How.

        - Nice CTA at the bottom

        - A modern design

Things I think he didn't do so well:

        - No close. Everytime I see these sorts of design, if I don't see a CTA or a close on each panel, I make a note of it.

        - No close. Seriously. Even at the end, the CTA wasn't trying to close at all.

        - <USER2>

        - The site was designed for smaller screens. I don't think he expected screens with higher resolutions.

EDIT: Formatting.

<comment><USER4> Can you give an example of a good close for him?

<comment><USER5> He was indeed closing. I count 6 different places where he did. They are not direct closes, but nudges towards getting you to contact him. Can't really do a big close on such type of situation, because nobody (well, Brad Pitt might) will bring a kid from miles away without knowing him a little first.

By the way, he is using the compassion close.

 _Don't decide now. Please write me and we'll see how we get on with each other..._

He is aiming right to your heart and hitting.

Much better copy than most startups out there. I agree. Which brings out an important point. If you want to sell something, you better be convinced and believe 100% in it. Otherwise, your copy is going to be bad.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> That page causes Chrome to lag.

I would also say that if that page was any longer or any more information dense then it wouldn't work as a thing. It only works because there is so little content.

In general it depends what you're trying to sell. I've never actually purchased from one of these "flow" pages, but I have purchased a lot from more boring product pages like this:

<http://www.linode.com/tour/>

The OP's sales page is definitely in fashion right now, in fact it looks like every current startup's page. But just because it is in fashion doesn't mean it is actually effective, and I've seen no evidence (and the OP supplies none) that it causes higher conversions than a "boring" sales page.

<comment><USER7> Website loads fine (no lag) on Chrome Win8 for me.

<comment><USER8> Chrome on Xubuntu is perfect too.

<comment><USER9> Page loads just fine on Chrome on Ubuntu as well.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> This seems very vague:

      I need you. A loving family that will take care of me during my school year in CA.

Does he only need an address and a room, or full service including meals, financial aid, school tuition, etc.

<comment><USER11> He wants to be an exchange student in high school, but instead of doing it through a program like AFS or Rotary, he's arranging things himself and put up a website to find a family. With programs you don't get so much say as to where you go, often not even the country, much less the state. Since he's a techie, i'd imagine he wants to end up in Silicon Valley or near by. Seems like a smart tactic to me. That said, he probably needs a follow up page or something for folks who are serious about hosting, which includes what it's like and need to host him as a high school exchange student.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I think 90% of commenters here would benefit from making an effort to remove your heads from your own asses. "Chrome bug?" "sales pages"? "incentives"? Give the young guy the benefit of expressing exactly what he wants without any reservations. And share a few of his talents along the way. I am sure he'll get to CA soon!

</comment><comment><USER13> He's done a great job and presented his information quite well. As an adult and a father I'd say that I represent his target market perfectly and he succeeded in: a) impressing me with his ability and determination, b) delivering to me the kind of information I need to know and c) delivering to me a sense of his maturity.

Not only do I think he would be a great guest but I can see him being very successful with whatever career path he chooses.

So is it a better sales page than you? Yes indeed, information delivered.

</comment><comment><USER14> Design aside, does something like this work? I notice he's starting with just an idea (he has no place, no visa) if he can find a family willing to take him in for a year is that the hardest part, or will it be difficult for him to also get a visa and a place in a school?

</comment><comment><USER15> Why is everyone criticizing his website? He isn't here looking for a website review. He is here looking for a family to host him. Reading from Ireland here, if I lived in CA, it wouldn't be an issue.

<comment><USER16> I wondered this, and I suspect the title of this post used to be something different, before being changed by a mod to what it is now.

<comment><USER17> Correct. It used to say "This 16 year old from Slovakia has a better sales page than you". I think somebody posted it because they thought it was well executed and wanted HN to see it, but the title change makes it look like the creator of the site itself is pestering HN for accommodation.

I like the way HN's policy on titles prevents Reddit-esque editorialising, but it has backfired pretty badly in this case.

<comment><USER18> My read is entirely the opposite. I think people have been responding defensively to "[...] better [...] than you" and sympathetically to "Host me in California".

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> He appears to have made zero sales. By most metrics, this is not a "better sales page".

<comment><USER20> The cost of hosting someone for a year is pretty high.

If you become a yacht salesman, are you expected to sell one on the first day? Are you a failure because someone else sold a hundred hot dogs?

<comment><USER21> I always thought that one of the hardest thing to sell must be fighter airplanes. A (normal) country only buys new ones maybe once every 25-30 years. It is a long selling process!

<comment><USER22> You do not yet understand the role of bribery and corruption in the sale of fighter planes.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Damn it. I came in all skeptical ready to fire away and found out the site is actually very nice. My trolling has been thwarted. Good job!

</comment><comment><USER24> Slovakia is in central Europe.

<comment><USER25> But us Western European people think of everything at the right of Germany and Austria as "Eastern Europe" because of the Iron Curtain and all. I suppose it's culural.

<comment><USER26> It's been more than 20 years now since the Iron Curtain lifted, so I guess people might as well start getting used to the idea that old divisions no longer make sense.

<comment><USER27> It's not really clear where Europe ends. Some people argue geographical Europe ends at the Ural Mountains. I guess currently Europe ends politically at the western border of Russia, rendering Austria a Central European country by your vague definition.

The old divisions make a lot of sense because they are still reality. Both in an economical and a cultural sense. Looking at Google Maps makes me consider Cuba to be kind of North America. :P

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> So are high schools in the US actually of higher quality than in Slovakia?

<comment><USER29> Yes.

I was graduated from high school in Slovakia 2 years ago. In my town (about 45,000 inhabitants, 12th largest in Slovakia) there are 11 high schools (with 50-1000 students).

I was actually attending 8-year grammar school - a special school that merges elementary and high school, allowing me to finish my studies 1 year sooner than standard education. This was intended to be for "smarter" kids. (It isn't.) However in terms of quality I think it is similar to most of the high schools.

Out of about 11 classes I've taken every year, only 7 actually required some effort to get an A. Some teachers did not even care about "cheating" on the exams - it was pretty common for me to solve all variants in 20 minutes and then distribute it in the class. At the beginning of the school year, we got about 20 textbooks chosen by Ministry of Education. Half of them were never used, some were 15 years old. We paid only for few textbooks.

Students were bored, teachers were bored. Only few took their job seriously, only one was doing more than required.

During the classes like Biology, Geography, Chemistry, History and Slovak literature, the teacher dictated what we should write. During the next class, one was chosen and graded based on how good he/she memorized the notes.

The more students the school have, the more money it gets. Every school keeps as many students as possible. Even if they do not pass the entry test.

The last year was by far the most wasted year of my life. Student chooses 4 subjects from about 9 possible for the state exams. We were however still obliged to take 12 subjects. All teachers stopped teaching the other subjects, because it "was not required for our state exams" and "gave us time to learn the important subjects". They were simply lazy. Sometimes they didn't even attend the class.

Today I remember almost nothing except Maths and English.

On the other hand, free WiFi. And a lot of time for personal projects.

<comment><USER18> I'm not sure you understand how bad some USA highschools are.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> I'm getting a Service Unavailable page.

</comment><comment><USER31> What sort of legal implications or liabilities would someone take on by hosting this person? For example, if the child got hurt or in a bad accident, would they have the legal obligation to pay for him? And would this child fall under the hosts' medical insurance, or would he have to pay for his own medical insurance?

<comment><USER32> "Exchange student" programs have existed for long time. Usually the exchange students are required to buy at least "catastrophic" health insurance, and they might have to pay the tuition for the high-school they attend (even if it is a public school, since their parents are not us citizens and haven't been paying taxes).

The family is required to provide food, shelter, and some basic transportation, but that's it. Students are required to have some money aside for monthly expenses.

I never have heard bad stories from the family side (i.e. they end up with a bad students) as the students themselves are well filtered. Most horror stories I have heard is from the students, where they go to a family and then they find themselves they have to babysit or do other stuff they are not expecting to.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> Hi Marek, a fellow Slovak from Presov here :). Great job on the website. I would suggest being more specific on what you actually expect from the family in the US. Do you want just a place to sleep or do you expect them to provide food, transportation, pay your study fee (if any) etc. Good luck!

</comment><comment><USER34> Wow, neat idea and nice looking web page. One comment comes to mind: Think about applying to school and getting in first (that what I recommend, in fact). You will then find a place to stay even if you have to do it after you arrive in Cali for school. Sure, you might have to work out a temporary solution, such as crashing on a couch or short-term rental, but being on the ground and meeting people and seeing places will be best, IMHO. That's how I've done it and that's how thousands of students do it. I did it myself like that when I was a student and I've hosted multiple students in my home now that I am in a position to do that. Have fun and best wishes! Cheers :)

</comment><comment><USER35> What is the incentive for a family to host this boy?

I understand the value that someone in his position gets from being able to live and study in California. But you have to give value to take value right?

<comment><USER36> The host family gets to help someone to have a better life, and has the opportunity to get to know a creative and optimistic young man from a foreign country.

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> Say what you want but I know people in their 30's that can't put something together this creative. I love the idea. Very creative. I hope he finds a family.

</comment><comment><USER38> Can anyone with JS debugger experience (I am learning to fight the Chrome debugger now) tell me how to identify what is causing that terrible lag

Partly it would be nice to let the poor kid know, partly I want to know how to fix such issues as they inevitably crop up for me. (CPU measures seem not to point to anything useful)

(If the answer is take stuff away till it works, well, why have a debugger?)

<comment><USER39> I'm on my phone so all I can see is a jquery mobile-based site but, given some of the comments, I assume he's probably overloaded the scroll event. That event fires _a lot_ so if you load it up with too much logic or attach too many listeners, you get some nasty lag (think "New Twitter"). You're better off attaching a single listener that does some light action like setting a variable (`didScroll = true`) and an interval timer (every 50ms is fine) that checks that variable and performs some logic as a result.

John Resig wrote up an article about this very probably several years back. If curious, I can dig it up.

<comment><USER40> John Resig article circa jQuery 1.4.4 but still relevant: <http://ejohn.org/blog/learning-from-twitter/>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> He has a video too: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQsaCXJeoDY>

</comment><comment><USER41> But not a better host :p

<comment><USER42> He's in Slovakia, man.

Just think about that for a few minutes. You're complaining about the hosting quality of a page that is being HN'd from a _kid in Slovakia who put up the page to try and appeal to Americans to host him as he studies in their country._

Can't the novelty of this new era persist for even a few years?

<comment><USER41> I was just making a joke relative to the title that was something like "This guy has a better sale page than you" while the site was rendered 403 by the HN effect.

I see the title has been changed and the page is available.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER43> This 16yo boy from eastern europe has a better sales page than you (hostmeinca.com)

503 Service Temporarily Unavailable

It looks like a cruel joke.

</comment><comment><USER44> Any page with that little information on it and forces users to scroll is a testament to over-design.

<comment><USER45> I didn't even realize you _had_ to scroll down. I saw some bouncy text and images with no navigation hints whatsoever. I clicked around, went ' _eww_ ' and closed the tab. Once I figured out that you had to scroll down, I admit I found effect pretty cool. I think adding an arrow pointing down on the main page would help.

</comment></comment><comment><USER46> AdBlock Plus and Ghostery do not only kill the Trackers, but also kill the design/css.

Not quite sure, why that is, but site doesn't really look good.

Non the less - hope this guy has success...

<comment><USER47> I think it is because the site is under heavy load. Reload and it looks fine again, or give a service unavailable error...

</comment></comment><comment><USER48> link to the cached version, as it looks like HN traffic killed the site. :) [http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:hGI4ggM...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:hGI4ggMhIDMJ:www.hostmeinca.com/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a)

</comment><comment><USER42> Yes.

When I was 16 I had lots of free time for projects like this, too.

Are we implying that everyone who reads hackernews should have a page like this? Because if so, then this page is a _terrible_ sell for a hacker.

</comment><comment><USER49> It is very nicely done, but I think that "Eastern Europe" as a synonym for "Borat" is a trope that, while never accurate, has run its course.

<comment><USER4> Huh? Who mentioned Borat?

<comment><USER49> Why else mention "from Eastern Europe"? Would "from France" or "from Sweden" be seen as remarkable? It's a great page from anyone, 16 or no, but the fact that he's from Slovakia isn't germane.

<comment><USER50> Well, GDP/capita in Slovakia is quite a bit lower than in France or Sweden, and that is a common trait across Eastern Europe. As he is asking for hosting, money enters the equation.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Officehours - <AUTHOR> http://www.officehours.io <comment><USER2> I've held a few sessions as an advisor on Officehours.io and my experience has been very positive. The ten-minute format fosters a succinct Q&A and to date my sessions have been quite productive. It's yet to feel like a waste of time, especially because I've set aside the time to participate. Since there's inherent value in providing advice (as well as receiving it), charging for the conversation hasn't even crossed my mind. I think the broad spectrum of advisors (from well-known names to newcomers) helps to encourage interaction; users who are intimidated by titles can get their feet wet with an advisor by checking their knowledge stats alone. Mostly, I applaud the sentiment behind the work, which draws on the design community's tradition of sharing what you know.

<comment><AUTHOR> We love having folks like you on Officehours. Thanks for being a part of it!

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> A lot of the people shown on the site seem pretty young and possibly inexperienced. Are you letting just anyone be an "expert"?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes—but the language needs to change.

Initially our plan was to vet each advisor before allowing them to offer sessions. That said, we didn't want to be the arbiters of who has good feedback to share.

So, we opened up the option to be an advisor, to everyone. And what we're seeing, in doing so, is sort of interesting. Seems like some of the folks I thought wouldn't get any requests for sessions are. (So, probably good that we don't get in the way of these folks.)

That said, this approach means that we need to update the descriptions used on the site—because the term expert is not always accurate, and can be difficult to quantify. In the weeks to come, this word will be removed from the site.

<comment><USER3> Yeah, I think you'll need to be more clear about that. Or maybe have an "experts" section for those that are truly experts.

<comment><AUTHOR> Definitely. The copy change has already been set in the Sketch docs. We just need to find some time to make all of these little changes. (So many things to fix!)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Do you do a criminal background check of these so called "experts"? How credible are these people giving advice? Just curious if you know what I mean.

<comment><AUTHOR> No—we don't run criminal checks. (I can't imagine how such a task would be viable.) Instead, we expect that users will do their own due diligence in researching the individual before asking for their feedback.

<comment><USER4> I agree on the viable part. But I had to ask :). So how different are you from clarify.fm?

<comment><AUTHOR> Clarity is microconsulting and allows users to tap advice by paying for it, by the minute.

Officehours is more of a community. If you need a hand with something, you can ask someone—no charge. And when someone needs your help, you can return the favor.

So, similar in function, but philosophically quite different.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Nice, but why would people give their time away for free? Time is valuable and people want to get paid.

<comment><AUTHOR> There are services that work like that. Clarity.fm is perhaps the best example. They take a sort of micro-consulting approach. This allows experts to sell their time in 1 minute increments.

My problem with this approach is that the people who most need the help don't have the money; and those who can help the most don't need the money. (I can't imagine many senior people actually wanting to squeeze money out of a college student.)

I've met with a lot of young designers over the years—and I'm happy to lend a hand. That said, it's difficult for me to spend an hour or two with everyone who asks.

So, for me Officehours is a way to still help, but much more efficiently. I can offer 4 sessions in an hour, scheduling and time zones are all automated, and so are notifications.

Admittedly, I'm biased (no wonder). But, this is really the reason we built Officehours. We believe that a lot of people want to help others—but they want a more convenient way to do so.

<comment><AUTHOR> The other aspect to this is reputation. We're building karma/ratings into the service. As such, those who help out the most, and get the best ratings will rank higher on the site (and have more access to other advisors).

We think this will be a particularly handy way for early/mid-career folks to showcase their expertise. (Sort of like a high Twitter following can.) Once we have categories in place, visitors will be able to view by groupings like Marketing, Design, NodeJS, what-have-you. Those who show up higher in these listings will likely seem more credible, as a result.

The other interesting part is that this isn't limited to a mentor/protégé relationship. I helped a friend out with a question about switching from Photoshop to Sketch, using Officehours, last week. These relationships are important, and do a lot to build one's reputation with other potential partners/clients. :-)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> It's still early, but I wanted to quickly show what we're working on. It allows anyone to get/give 10 minutes of free advice. :-)

<comment><USER6> Looks pretty cool. One piece of advice that will IMHO make or break the usability of the site: You are going to need to add tags and / or filtering options for the skillsets of the advisors. Reading a one-to-two-sentence bio of each advisor to find out what they do is not very workable.

<comment><USER6> Nice and good luck :)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you—we're putting everything we have into making this good! We certainly have lots of work to do, but I feel like this thing could benefit a lot of people. :-)</comment></comment></comment></comment>


An Analysis of Shell Shock Malware - <AUTHOR> http://erenyagdiran.github.io/An-Analysis-of-Shell-shock-malware/

<comment><USER2> The 188.8.131.52:5 connection was a CnC server where it could get a new payload or get commands to carry out DDoS attacks. It was dead in hours.</comment>


Scammers abused Facebook phone number search - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-43656746 <comment><USER2> TL;DR - scammers would search for every possible phone number, find out the owners' names & info, and make scam calls to them. FB tried to limit searches per IP, but scammers would switch IPs.

Seems like a safer version of this would have been to make the searcher supply more info than the phone number - eg, at least N characters of the person's name. And to tie such searches to an account. And to verify that the found people knew the searcher before allowing them to do more searches.</comment>


What Africa will look like in 100 years - <AUTHOR> http://s.telegraph.co.uk/graphics/projects/Africa-in-100-years/index.html <comment><USER2> Someone at telegraph.co.uk has just discovered Parallax effects and is abusing them.</comment>


Amazon Allowance - <AUTHOR> http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=11453461011 <comment><USER2> I applaud the effort Amazon is making to expand its influence, and giving kids an Amazon allowance would lock them in because it doesn't look too easy to convert that money back to real cash.

But I don't think this one will stick around for very long. Prepaid cash/debit cards and automated deposits are an older and more proven way of doing this (not to mention just handing your kids $20 in cash every week). By giving them something that is accepted everywhere, you teach them how to handle limited amounts of money and how to resist temptations -- if I drop $5 on gas station snacks, I've just burned up a sizeable chunk of my allowance on something that will be gone in 10 minutes. Giving an allowance is great to teach young teenagers how to handle money before they get their own job, but I don't see Amazon breaking into this and locking kids into buying only from Amazon.

<comment><USER3> If you give teenagers cash, they can't spend it online. Thanks to KYC rules and bank policies, you have to be 18 to get anything that looks like a credit card.

Best plan for teenagers is a joint checking account (dedicated to the child's use) at your bank, with a debit card they can use for day-to-day spending. You can do allowance, etc with transfers, and most bankd will play ball as long as one person on the account (the parent) is 18.

<comment><USER4> > If you give teenagers cash, they can't spend it online. Thanks to KYC rules > and bank policies, you have to be 18 to get anything that looks like a > credit card.

What about those prepaid cards you can buy for cash at B&M stores? I'm pretty sure you can use those online.

<comment><USER3> Activation requires you to (pretend to) be 18, AFAIK. Also they have quite hefty fees; a checking accout is free as long as you don't overdraft.

<comment><USER5> Checking account are free? Well, chequing accounts are not :(

Among the downsides of being in Canada is paying higher prices for anything that is not health care.

<comment><USER6> In the US most bank checking accounts have a monthly fee which is waived if you meet certain conditions, like maintain a minimum balance (I think mine was $1000) or get an automatic direct deposit at least 2 times per month of $250 or more - these would be hard to meet for a childs account. Credit unions are usually free though.

<comment><USER3> There is usually a "relationship waiver" that eliminates the fees on all the accounts you're party to as long as you have enough total wealth parked with that bank.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This seems like a great way to give employees a bit of a perk. An allowance could be used for technical books, and or other learning materials.

<comment><USER8> This is Amazon we're talking about. The company that doesn't give employees prime, free hardware to take home, or a real employee discount.

<comment><USER9> Amazons margins are so narrow an employee discount without some sort of cap would be ridiculous.

<comment><USER10> Indeed that may be true. But it's still pretty pitiful that they only let you apply your discount to $1000 worth of products a year. That means you save.. $100 each year!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> dc-tech-fan I want this for something like Fiverr.

Instead of my kids accumulating more junk, they learn the skills of hiring and delegating.

Don't want to mow the lawn in this heat? Use your allowance to somebody else to do it. As long as the job is done they will earn their allowance.

I just need a way to make sure they're not outsourcing their homework or paying somebody buy them alcohol.

<comment><USER11> I find this disturbing in a way I can't quite quantify. Kids should do things, not just appear to do things because they're clever about outsourcing to someone worse off.

<comment><USER12> Hiring and managing someone else, while being the point-of-contact with your clients, _is_ doing a thing; it's a very useful life-skill, in fact. There are other useful life-skills they might be better off not delegating away the learning opportunities for, of course, but usually "chores" are less learning experiences and more "I used to do this thing, but now you're old enough to take the load off me."

Of course, if there's no life-lesson, why not just cut out the middle-man and have a local chore marketplace where kids from all around the neighbourhood can directly bid on the contract to mow your lawn. (Mostly kidding, but that'd be somewhat interesting for people who don't _have_ kids, and don't need a full-on gardener.)

<comment><USER13> Here's a little life lesson that was kicked down to me:

"Don't ever ask/command/order someone to do something that you would not do yourself."

Interpret how you like, but to me it means, "Get your hands dirty and appreciate what it takes to do a job before you delegate."

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> This would be fantastic for use with AWS, give developers a monthly balance to spin up their choice of environments. Could be pretty awesome.

<comment><USER15> Especially since rollover is built in.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> I like the idea, but I would really like to see a bank or another finical institution offer some services that I can use as a modern introduction to banking for my kids. When I was a kid I had a savings account, and a savings book that I took to the bank to do all my banking. All my deposits and withdrawls were printed into the book by the teller and it was easy enough for me to fill out deposit slips for the checks and cash my family gave me or I earned doing jobs around the neighborhood.

Let my kids have a debit card and let them use ATM's and smart phone apps just like I do, even better if its designed to be useable by children to encourage good banking behaviors.

</comment><comment><USER17> AKA the Amazon Reverse Microloan program.

</comment><comment><USER18> Simple paypal alternative that is free .... Could not find any fee info, so should be free...

Then this could easily be used for accepting payments for services or sales. Since I anyways spend on amazon, better accept payments this way without any fee...

</comment><comment><USER19> Will be interesting if this can be expanded to workers for office supplies and whatnot.

<comment><USER20> Check out Amazon Business, which appears to allow you to set up multiple users in a hierarchy (including at least some sort of a custom "approvals" system), set thresholds, etc...

[http://www.amazon.com/b?node=11261610011](http://www.amazon.com/b?node=11261610011)

Not sure if it's new or not, recently got a call about getting into it though we declined as we're a small shop & already happy with the level of service we get via Prime.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> How about teaching them about saving? It'd be nice if this was interest- bearing.

</comment><comment><USER22> Cool idea, I think they might have trouble reaching their target audience though.

</comment><comment><USER23> I don't understand how Amazon can afford to maintain so many projects given their revenue is so low ([https://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=AMZN&annual](https://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=AMZN&annual)). Someone care to explain?

<comment><USER24> 90 billion is low? Or are you talking about income? They can afford so many projects because they're making an enormous amount of money and shoveling it all back into these projects.

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> great product landing page. Loads quick and lots of information. Works great on mobile. 10/10</comment>


Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics - <AUTHOR> http://www.psed.isr.umich.edu/psed/home

<comment><USER2> interesting. haven't had a chance to really dive in yet, though.

wish it wasn't a bunch of pdf's...</comment>


Mystery Tug on Spacecraft Is Einstein's 'I Told You So'  - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/science/mystery-tug-on-pioneer-10-and-11-probes-is-einsteins-i-told-you-so.html?_r=1&ref=science

<comment><USER2> In case you're interested in following the history of HN submission on this topic, here are a few of them:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=165916> Scientists reconstruct the Pioneer spacecraft anomaly

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1727041> On the vacuum fluctuations, Pioneer Anomaly and Modified Newtonian Dynamics

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1753491> Pioneer anomaly: Known forces taken into account, an unexplained force remains

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2009449> The Pioneer Anomaly, a 30-Year- Old Cosmic Mystery, May Be Resolved At Last

* <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2287486> The Pioneer Anomaly

* * <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2391244> Pioneer Anomaly Solved By 1970s Computer Graphics Technique

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2493060> New theory proposed to explain Pioneer probe gravitational anomaly

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2787120> NASA Releases New Pioneer Anomaly Analysis

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2807000> Heat Emission 'Most Likely Cause' of Pioneer Anomaly

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3861365> Research team appears to solve the Pioneer anomaly

* <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3865881> Pioneer Anomaly Solved

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4261983> Pioneer anomaly solved

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4271202> New physics takes a back seat to heat in understanding the Pioneer anomaly

I've put stars in front of the ones with substantial comments.

</comment><comment><USER3> As the article suggests, the fact that light carries energy and momentum (and even that those are related by E = p c) were explained by classical electromagnetic theory before Einstein -- and further the chief effect of general relativity on the Pioneers in the is just Newtonian gravitation. The fact that the spacecraft radiates thermally is due to Max Planck. The use of "Einstein" in this article is highly misleading because the Pioneer anomaly exists at scales where Einstein's work was not of major importance.

That's not to say that I don't like Einstein; I and every physicist I know like him. Einstein is great because, though he did bring a bunch of genius to the field (especially in general relativity), his major discoveries from 1905 are _mostly unoriginal_. That may seem like an odd point to praise, but let me emphasize that it required a certain bravery to do what he did with them. So his three 1905 discoveries are "You have to take Ludwig Boltzmann seriously when he talks about atoms! They would have a length scale, here's how you would find out about it through diffusion experiments." and "You have to take Max Planck seriously when he says light comes in lumps! They would only kick electrons with a certain amount of energy, here's how you would use this to explain the photoelectric effect." and "You have to take Lorentz transforms seriously when they say that the speed of light is something we all agree on! Here's why the equations don't lead to contradictions if we're clear on what we mean by 'synchronizing clocks' etc."

So he's doing some work with real, cutting insight, but he's doing it on someone else's intriguing observations, to show that those paradoxical results must be taken seriously. It's really due to Einstein that we can have a physics culture where crazy ideas like quantum field theory or string theory are worked out in detail, to see whether the paradoxical appearance is surface or deeper.

So we all love Einstein, but this article isn't why. It's not that Einstein was miraculously right, it's that Einstein was brave enough to take others seriously.</comment>


Tesla's Australian big battery recoups cost of construction in two years - <AUTHOR> https://reneweconomy.com.au/tesla-big-battery-recoups-cost-of-construction-in-little-over-two-years-25265/ <comment><USER2> Australia is already taking steps to eliminate negative pricing and some of the volatility, which will make it harder to profit on this type of installation as quickly. Most of the profit was made in ways that won't be as available in the future. Batteries are still important for other reasons, but don't think another 10 of these batteries will get the same returns.</comment>


The Killing of Tony Blair by George Galloway MP - <AUTHOR> http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/22595538/the-killing-of-tony-blair?ref=live

<comment><USER2> It's not a documentary (unfortunately) but _The Trial of Tony Blair_ is really rather good:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trial_of_Tony_Blair](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trial_of_Tony_Blair)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Uhmmm, well was on the front page for about ten minutes. Was this taken off the front page because its political? If so I do apologise, I don't mean to be the activist load mouth. Just though you guys would be interested for a few reasons. Ta.

</comment><comment><USER3> George Galloway is a complex character. I vehemently disagree with his position on Syria but when it comes to Tony Blair and the Iraq fiasco the man is usually on point.

Only good things can come out further media exposure on Blair and the Iraq war years.

<comment><USER4> Galloway's a pretty odious guy in my view, he's just like Blair - a manic self-publicist, who tramples over those who get in his way - but wasn't quite as successful as Blair</comment></comment>


"It's hard to find women engineers." - <AUTHOR> https://www.hirewomeneng.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> Ugh. Being part of a tech company, I have been interviewing and working with engineers. The candidate pool doesn't have a lot of women. The interview panels don't have a lot of women. The eng floor in the building doesn't have a lot of women. Being the only woman in a meeting room, we all know what has happened next.

I always wonder where these women engineers are that people keep saying that they can't find. There are schools, boot camps, companies, even Facebook groups that you can source women engineers from. But for some reason, women engineers are "hard to find." I want to make us "easy to find." I want to see more women on the eng floor.

So I started a newsletter to help women find software engineering jobs from companies that actually care to hire them.

If you are looking for your next role, we hope this can be a resource. [https://www.hirewomeneng.com/](https://www.hirewomeneng.com/)

If your company is hiring, we can feature your job listing in the newsletter. [https://www.hirewomeneng.com/hiring](https://www.hirewomeneng.com/hiring)

<comment><USER2> >Being the only woman in a meeting room, we all know what has happened next.

What happened next?

<comment><AUTHOR> Being manterrupt, men repeat your ideas that you just mentioned, men don't look at you during the meeting because they want to listen to your male coworkers more.

If you are interested, you can learn more here: [https://leanin.org/podcast- episodes/what-its-like-to-be-the-...](https://leanin.org/podcast- episodes/what-its-like-to-be-the-only-one-in-the-room)

<comment><USER3> Have you considered that the same is happening to everyone? It's just what people that want to be perceived as in power do. It is very normal in any other company outside of IT/engineering (I worked in a building materials company), regardless of gender. I've seen women do it to men, men do it to men, men and women do it to children, etc.

> men don't look at you

More often than not they don't want to be "seen checking you out" (either because of fear of your reaction, or because of their SO's reaction). And many male engineers are simply shy with women.

<comment><AUTHOR> You are basically saying "All lives matter." I agree that it happen to everyone. But we are talking about common sexist experience that women encounter. Please bring your attention back to "Me too", "Black lives matter" and the problem that I am mentioning above that mostly specially happen to women in tech. That's how you can become a good ally.

<comment><USER3> I am not saying that "all lives matter" exactly, I fully believe it's not neccessary to say to you, and if I agreed with you on the causality, I wouldn't be saying anything. I wanted to point out that the perceived reason (gender) might not be the actual cause, as I have a lot of experience with women doing it to other women and men (as I worked outside of IT, in a field where women leaders and women contributors are common). IMHO the actual cause is toxic culture - this stuff is even mentioned in stuff like "unethical life tips" as what to do if you want to be seen as expert, and many people do it unconsciously - not based on gender. I don't see any evidence that sexism causes it in IT - I think it's just toxic perception of what to do as managers/toxic habits that people have. I suspect that our way of educating children in a very restrictive environment is the root cause.

<comment><AUTHOR> [https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2017/03/24/kim...](https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2017/03/24/kim- scott-candor-women-technology-silicon-valley-sexism/99026094/)

[https://money.cnn.com/2017/08/22/technology/sexism-tech- pipe...](https://money.cnn.com/2017/08/22/technology/sexism-tech- pipeline/index.html)

You can google more about sexism in tech, and how many women get sexual harassed at work. I agree with you about toxic culture. And usually people in power (usually male) in organization influence culture.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> It's an interesting idea. But no contact info, no privacy policy, almost nothing comes up under a google search.

<comment><AUTHOR> good thought. Started this two weeks ago. Have to look into privacy policy and add that. will add some contact info. Thanks for the feedback.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I think one of the reason is - women don't switch organizations frequently after stability in personal life

<comment><AUTHOR> Would like to see some research about that to back up your point.</comment></comment>


A focus on elite schools ignores the issues most college students face - <AUTHOR> http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/shut-up-about-harvard/ <comment><USER2> I've found this type of attitude to be a huge problem at my company that no one wants to admit. We only recruit from top tier schools because we only want top tier talent, while at the same time and with a completely straight face complaining that we can't fill positions fast enough.

<comment><USER3> This is bewildering to me as well. There are many talented students in second- tier (if we have to use ranking to define them) public universities. For example, many kids in small midwest towns didn't know much about the prestigious private colleges, and if they heard of them, they were scared off by the expensive tuitions. They didn't know a large part of the expenses would be taken care of by need-based financial aid. In many cases, that kid is the first in the whole family who got into college. Naturally, they enroll the state's public universities.

I met several students like this. In one project for an advanced AI class, I was awed by a student's code written in SML. It was his first experience using a functional programming language. He not only grasped the concepts but also applied it in coding exceedingly well. I talked to him a few times. Very smart and a nice guy. If he didn't even get an interview opportunity just because he went into a second-tier public university, shame on the hiring managers.

<comment><USER4> It's much worse if you don't have ANY sort of degree, despite having skills.

I once applied for an internal job at a major options exchange to go from NOC to app support and managed to get an interview with HR. When I got up there, the HR person looks at my resume, notices a lack of degree and says "Sorry, we require that you have a degree." I quit about a month later to do a near identical job for higher pay and aced it. Their loss.

Lesson learned? If a company requires a degree, permanently refuse to work with them in the future, since, for some reason, they love calling back a year later with a great opportunity I can "learn" at.

<comment><USER5> Got to a job offer once as a software engineer in a US-based high frequency trading company, without any degree. Say what you want about "greedy financists", but they really don't care about anything except getting the job done.

<comment><USER4> Hah, yep! I'm now doing freelance remote Linux work for HFTs because of that fact. :)

Another guy I know wrote a hugely profitable HFT equity system without a degree at 20 years old.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> The population of the educated 1st world offers higher education as an invitation to, "Join us! It's great in here!" So it behooves us to make sure this pathway is genuine, not filled with traps and fraud, and doesn't exploit or drain the participants.

From what I have seen, though, we are failing. When a regime fails, it's not visible from the centers of power and the shiny hallways. It's first visible in the periphery, amongst the least powerful.

<comment><USER7> Quote from OP

 _" Barely half of first-time, full-time bachelor's degree students graduate within six years; for part-time or community college students, that share is even lower."_

Observation from UK: that just _would not fly_ here. Including mature/part time students.

<comment><USER8> I have a vague memory of being told by someone that the US system is slightly different, because it includes a year or two of what we'd consider A Level content in the UK.

So you get more people panicking in the first year or two when they find they can't hack the basics.

Or they just don't care, because daddy's trust fund awaits.

Tangentially, the subject with the worst drop out rate in the UK is CS, at around 11%. It's also the subject with the worst employment prospects.

That could be because it's hard, but it could also be because the pay here can be terrible compared to the US.

<comment><USER7> Or possibly because the jobs are going to eastern Europe/India. Some very clever and effective people out there and, you know, the Internet.

But seriously, 50% drop out? We should export OFSTED. That'll sort them (I work as a teacher).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Love it. fivethirtyeight++. We should totally be talking about how to improve college for the vast majority of students, not the ones who basically made it already.

<comment><USER10> I'm just elated to see that 538 was able to see the own bubble that they live in and comment on it.

I've had it with the Ivy talk, given I have no chance at that sort of prestige now.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Are selective schools overrepresented, or are nonselective schools underrepresented? I don't think these two ideas are the same, because I think there is room for discussion about both.

Also, the article seems to imply that discussing selective institutions on a national stage is like discussing which Ferrari to purchase at a soup kitchen, but in reality, so few students attend selective institutions _because theyre selective._ A significantly larger number apply and are waiting for those decision letters, even if they recognize that it will almost certainly be a rejection. In the grand scheme of things this point doesn't really matter, but it was something I noticed.

*Disclosure: I attend a large, public research university

<comment><USER12> >"Are selective schools overrepresented, or are nonselective schools underrepresented?" Those aren't the same ideas, but they're both true.

>"A significantly larger number apply" True, but that number is still vanishingly small relative to the number of college applicants as a whole.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I interviewed at airbnb in 2012 and the very first interviewer started with "your degree is not from a good school" like the very first sentence right to my face. He just seemed insulted that he has to spend time with someone lesser like me.

I've never applied to any other sfo startup after that but won't be surprised if that attitude is common at other places.

Complete sob story here: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11291155](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11291155)

<comment><USER14> I had someone ask that once in an interview. My response was I got into a better school, but sitting in classes I was less than impressed.

This seemed to upset them, but I may have accidentally dissed their school.

Honestly, I think it's mostly insecurity on their part. If you spend 3+ years going somewhere you like to think it was a good 'deal' even if you overpay for a sub par education.

<comment><USER15> I'm at a Canadian school and work for a pretty well known prof (well known in my field, at least). The more I've encountered people who've always been in "elite" institutions, the less I've been impressed.

<comment><USER16> Computer Science or Mathematics?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> >"Ninety-five percent of the newsroom probably went to private institutions, they went to four-year institutions, and they went to elite institutions," said Jeff Selingo...

This right here is why. The narrative goes that if you don't go to an elite school, you won't get an elite job. (Let's not argue about how true that is, but I think we can agree it's a common narrative.) People want elite jobs, so they want to go to the elite schools. The article points out that most students don't go to selective schools, but this sounds to me like, when discussing wealth inequality, pointing out that most people aren't billionaires. When talking about selectivity and competition in trying to get good schools/jobs, the fact that most students don't make the cut is the whole point of the conversation.

</comment><comment><USER18> Wow, today I learned that there are colleges that accept >50% of their applicants. I guess I just kind of assumed that most colleges and universities were bloodbaths of competition, requiring the whole array of essays, interviews and letters of recommendation. Interesting article.

<comment><USER19> I can't imagine that most state universities accept less than 50% of their applicatants.

For example, my undergrad has an acceptance rate of ~95%, but it's still a regionally very well-respected school.

State schools, particularly the "non-flagship" state schools have a _very_ clear mission of educating the local populace. A low acceptance rate is in direct opposition to that.

All that having been said, with a high acceptance rate comes "weed out classes". People who went to high schools that didn't prepare them for college will struggle _much_ more than people from suburban/wealthy areas. A high acceptance rate usually implies less individual attention until you get past the intro classes.

<comment><USER20> Indeed, low acceptance rates are a failure metric. It indicates that the institution cannot meet demand and is leaving many in the community behind.

<comment><USER21> That's a strange way to define failure. If you think that a student cannot make it through your curriculum why drain your available resources and waste their time? Should schools have sub curricula with different rigor?

<comment><USER20> I assume the acceptance rate is calculated only from those who meet the requirements. Why would you apply to a school you do not qualify for? I don't doubt it ever happens, but it would not account for the very low acceptance rates at many schools.

<comment><USER22> Also, your talking about students from the state that graduated from state high schools. It would be a failure of the state educational system if they weren't qualified for college.

Dealing with reality, most state colleges have a program to bootstrap students or it is heavily hinted they should attend community college for the first year or two to get their skills up.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I've been told that Harvard Law is pass/fail, so you can be a crappy student (as long as you can get in) and still get a degree. Thus, firms that focus on top-tire schools get lots of bad lawyers who went to the right schools.

I sort of see top-tire schools like I see fake doctors wearing lab coats, if you want a lazy signal go for it, but it shouldn't be more than an ok and move on.

<comment><USER24> It's not pass/fail - there are grades (high pass, pass, low pass, etc.), and top law firms certainly take grades into account during the interview process.

<comment><USER25> high pass, pass, low pass really make me wonder what's buried in the etc?

What's left for someone that still graduates?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> _> FiveThirtyEight is just as bad: The vast majority of our editorial staff, including me, went to elite, selective colleges. (I went to Columbia.)_

What an ironic article, given that most of the article doesn't stop talking about elite colleges. I thought the rule was if you wanted to tackle something like this, you just don't write about them.

<comment><USER27> I think this is an important issue that's worthy of coverage. I also thought it was important to disclose that I'm not innocent/unbiased in this. FWIW, in my own higher ed writing I try to emphasize more representative schools. (I'm the author of this piece.)

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> The 538 OP is saying that the mainstream media (MSM) has been over simplifying the college admission process. Yes.

Ah, since when has the MSM let the truth complicate a good, simple, formula- fiction style _story_?

Or the MSM needs to pay the bills, which with the Internet has gotten more difficult. Then, sure, to pay the bills, grab eyeballs for ad revenue.

How to grab the eyeballs? Grab the readers with the sure-fire technique for getting and keeping the attention of an audience, discovered already by the ancient Greeks, that is, by _formula fiction_. So, the content is a take-off on formula fiction, not passing out solid, important information about reality.

In particular grab the readers by the heart, the gut, or below the belt, always below the shoulders, never between the ears. Grab them one of these three ways, and their eyeballs will be sure to follow!

So, in formula fiction, there is a _protagonist_ , that is, central character, the reader is supposed to _identify_ with. Next, the protagonist has a _problem_ , enough to get us concerned enough to keep reading. So maybe there is a threat, maybe from some scandal. So, we're into _scandal_. Uh, we're into the E. Fromm human anxiety from the human realization that we are vulnerable to the hostile forces of society -- callous college admissions committees seeking $10 million donations.

Then, with high irony, we have 538 writing about the scandal of the MSM writing about the scandal of the college admission process. Hmm ....

If readers have not yet figured out much of how the MSM works, then before they assume that they can trust the MSM to be factual and objective sources of information and, thus, get manipulated, they need to hear a more skeptical, realistic, and appropriate description.

And the MSM manipulations can also descend into propaganda: Some of the propaganda can be paid. And a media source can pass out propaganda because they can, thus, attract an audience that likes to see their view of the world, the one given in the propaganda, the same as their own -- such readers feel better seeing the agreement. So, when the media sets aside facts and objectivity, we get manipulation, readers with unnecessary anxiety, and maybe also propaganda, some of which can be dangerous.

"More formula fiction, Ma!"</comment>