MIT to make all faculty publications be open access - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/03/mit-to-make-all-faculty-publications-open-access.ars

<comment><USER2> This is great news for people like us. The down side is that publishers may not publish the books, since open access will definitely going to reduce their revenues. It will be interesting to see if MIT can do something like announcing about the literature and hosting it. Which was being done previously by publishers.

<comment><USER3> I don't think that publishing research as open access will affect book publishing. The reason for the existence of commercial journals was the printing costs and distribution. With the internet this has basically disappeared.

Books, esp. undergraduate college texts will remain extremely profitable for the foreseeable future.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> What Abelson doesn't mention is making the underlying data and runnable source code available with each paper -- a game-changer for independent verification.

Open papers has to be won, as a first political battle, but I don't see open data on anyone's platform.

<comment><USER5> I'm the person responsible for administering the server that powers this open archive. The type of data you mention is being included in the archive when ever possible. Further, the research group I work for has existing specific open data efforts in multiple fields including, and beyond, computer science. For example, today I'm working on setting up an architectural open access archive with the staff here that will include CAD files for humans and semantic web triple store data for search engines.

BTW, the archive system software is open source: <http://dspace.org/>

<comment><USER4> I couldn't find any data/code associated with non-CS papers, across a quick sampling of US DSpace systems -- although most of the submissions seem to be from the back catalog.

No offense to DSpace, but adequate systems for publishing open data have been available for twenty years, i.e. an ftp site. It will require a top-of-line mandate from institutions or journals to make it happen.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> MIT can do this, but will others follow suit? I imagine publishers can put a lot more pressure on the "long tail" of small univerisities and researchers to keep their content closed than MIT.

<comment><USER7> _I imagine publishers can put a lot more pressure on the "long tail" of small univerisities and researchers..._

The publishers have little pressure to apply. The only reason for-profit journals still exist is that (a) they have a big existing audience (everyone reads _Nature_ ) and (b) they supply a seal of quality. (If you get published in _Nature_ , people know you're a Big League Scientist and you get tenure faster and/or get more grants.)

Point (a) is extremely fragile in the age of the Web. A journal which charges exorbitant subscription fees is one tiny tipping point away from losing its entire audience to a website run from a $9.95 Dreamhost account.

Point (b) will be the last stand. And this move from MIT threatens to undermine it, because MIT manuscripts carry prestige, and any venue where they appear gets prestige by association, and those manuscripts will no longer appear in any exclusively-closed journals.

Meanwhile, technical book publishers have no pressure to apply at all. None of those books make any significant money for their authors. [1] Far from applying pressure, the publishers of scientific books must _beg and plead_ for contributors to commit to writing chapters, and then those chapters routinely run _years_ late, because book writing is the lowest priority on a professor's calendar. From what I've seen, many of them end up being ghostwritten [2] by postdocs in their spare time, and as a rule postdocs don't have a lot of spare time. It's a miracle that we have any decent graduate textbooks at all. A lot of fields don't, in fact.

\---

[1] Except for freshman-level college texts, which are a weird little monopolistic world of their own. God, I hope MIT's rule applies to those as well. That would be awesome.

[2] Okay, that's an exaggeration. Grad students and postdocs get credit for co-writing books and book chapters. That's the least they deserve for doing the majority of the work. ;)</comment></comment>


Chrome UI for Deprecating Legacy TLS Versions - <AUTHOR> https://blog.chromium.org/2019/10/chrome-ui-for-deprecating-legacy-tls.html <comment><USER2> There's a more in-depth discussion of why these are being deprecated here: [https://security.googleblog.com/2018/10/modernizing- transpor...](https://security.googleblog.com/2018/10/modernizing-transport- security.html)

TLS 1.0 relies on MD5 and SHA1 and is no longer PCI-DSS compliant.

In case anyone is curious: TLS1.1 was released in 2006 and TLS1.0 was released in 1999. Fun fact: TLS 1.0 re-uses the SSLV3 version sequence for interoperability. 0x0300 is the 2 byte sequence for SSLV3 and TLS1.0 got 0x0301. Lack of knowledge of the above once led a less experienced me to use SSLv3 for an app in 2011 because "the number was higher".</comment>


Europe's set to mandate common phone chargers — so where does this leave Apple? - <AUTHOR> http://gigaom.com/2013/12/19/europes-set-to-mandate-common-phone-chargers-so-where-does-this-leave-apple/

<comment><USER2> One would suppose they would keep their proprietary charger and just bundle a cheap adaptor with European phones. This lets them continue screwing the rest of the world, and neatly contradicts the spirit of the European ruling by generating more electronic waste, meaning it's a win-win from Apple's point of view.</comment>


Drones flying in formation acting as a 3D display (2018) - <AUTHOR> https://twitter.com/MachinePix/status/1184830194323984389 <comment><USER2> The most positive aspect of the drone aerial demo concept I've seen is that it's an alternative to firework displays that's silent, smokeless, generally safer, and re-usable.

<comment><USER3> I'd argue that the noise plays a big part in firework displays.

Like with racing, the noise is a big part of the experience. And this comes from someone who gets really annoyed by loud motor vehicles.

<comment><USER4> And explosions. The drones are pretty but unless they explode they're no substitute for fireworks.

<comment><USER5> Anything can be made to explode.

<comment><USER6> Except a black hole. And fundamental particles. And bits. And verbs.

<comment><USER5> > _Except a black hole._

The Black Hole Bomb and Black Hole Civilizations - Kurzgesagt: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulCdoCfw- bY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulCdoCfw-bY)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> I should have added to the title that this is from 2018. Apparently it's a swarm of 2018 drones.

Does anybody know of a blog post where this is explained? In particular, choreographing the movements of the swarm looks terrifyingly hard.

<comment><USER7> I think you can simulate this all in advance and have each drone executing a pre-arranged gcode-like program. I'm guessing the complexity of choreography is similar to something like autorouting a circuit board.

Other comments mention that using GPS for relative positioning is fine. The largest source of error in GPS is ionospheric delays, which will affect all these drones equally, so I can believe that. Meanwhile, the flight computer handles figuring out how much power each motor needs to move or maintain its position. What if there is high wind on the day that you want to do this? Either a single drone can remain stationary in that amount of wind, or it can't; if it can't, then you cancel the performance because there is no computer program you can write to suddenly give the drone more control authority.

I doubt there is any additional complexity here; I doubt the drones are looking out for other drones and coordinating with each other. They just go to a set position at a set time at a set speed. Any complexity lies in the positioning; whether GPS + barometric altimeter + IMS (gyro/accelerometer) is enough to get the desired accuracy. It probably is.

<comment><USER8> Differential GPS is needed to achieve this accuracy. At some point in the future, vision systems + coded lighting may suffice, but for now, more elaborate tech is needed to keep these machines in tight formation.

<comment><USER7> I don't think differential GPS does anything here. It corrects for large-scale ionospheric delay error, which is going to be exactly the same for every drone at this scale. And they have WAAS receivers anyway, which provides better accuracy than differential GPS. (Maybe you mean RTK, which could help achieve centimeter accuracy.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> How does this work? How are all the drones capable of locating themselves in space with such precision? Anybody have any information on this?

<comment><USER10> Don't know about these drones specifically, but off the top of my head there are a variety of different navigation systems you could use to supplement GPS for extra precision.

1\. Inertial Navigation: basically taking measurements of your speed and direction of travel and using that information to update your position. This is not very accurate, and the longer you go without some other guidance system the less accurate it will get, so I'm not sure how useful it would be here. But it's fairly easy to implement, you just need to give each drone the ability to measure its speed and direction, and you would probably want that to correct for wind anyway.

2\. Terrestrial guidance, where you used some fixed landmark or set of landmarks and look at your position relative to it, which can be done with cameras or radar or lidar. Probably too expensive to use radar or lidar, and I'd worry about interference between drones.

3\. Command-based guidance. Rather than having each drone try to figure out where it is, you have a separate system on the ground that looks at the drones and tells them where they are. Since you only need one of these command units, it wouldn't be too expensive to use radar or lidar, and no worries about interference.

4\. Real-time kinematic GPS: kind of a mix of 3 and 4. You basically have some radio stations broadcasting, and the drones triangulate their position based on that.

Not sure what kind of drones these are, but if they are the Intel Falcon 8+, they have GPS + intertial built in, and they are meant for survey work, so they might have the Real-time kinematic thing also.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Somewhat terrifying to imagine what the military is going to do with coordinated drone swarms. Like a smart cluster bomb with no wasted explosions. I suppose, though, less unexploded munitions laying around afterwards.

<comment><USER12> Ahh, I don't see how that last thing follows. I expect many expired, disabled and crippled drones lying around.

Edit: I watched to video after reading your comment. That's fucking _terrifying_. It's hard to make scary "action" sci-fi nowadays, and China is working hard to make dystopian sci-fi look tame, too.

<comment><USER13> Make them smaller and give them a sharp pointy end. Ask the public to name it. Reject "Stabby McDroneface" as "it sounds like a joke". Be surprised by the first amateur reproduction. Use the moral outrage to ban all drones — even those tiny little drones that can't life a single jelly baby. Realise drones are still useful and make and expensive license scheme that doesn't really scale up because it's organised with industrial era thinking instead of information era thinking. And what is old is new again.

<comment><USER2> There's already been reports of the use of toy drones for scouting and bombing in the Syrian civil war. Then there was that strange maybe-fake bombing attempt on Maduro: [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin- america-45073385](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-45073385)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Well, that's one way to make a 3D display. Forget all the eye trickery stuff, just place the pixels in actual 3D space.

</comment><comment><USER15> ODESZA used what appears to be a simpler version this technology during their live performance at Coachella in 2018 [1]. It was definitely sponsored by HP/Intel.

[1] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZi2cN7LEfM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZi2cN7LEfM)

</comment><comment><USER16> I'd imagine the software flying the drones would have to compensate for the downdraft of the nearby drones and the turbulence. It would be interesting to see the software side of things. Can't wait for the open source project.

<comment><USER2> I suspect it doesn't explicitly - provided it's got good enough positional information, it can just use all the traditional techniques of closed-loop control to get there and stay there.

How it gets the positional information isn't clear. Some sources say GPS, I'm guessing that relies on the relative error being very small and not caring about the absolute error.

<comment><USER17> GPS could be augmented by a ground-based system.

Similar to how WAAS works for aircraft, it's GPS plus a ground "enhancer".

<comment><USER18> see RTK GPS. uses a fixed ground station with a known position. the phase shift of the moving object's gps signal is used to achieve centemeter-level precision.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Did the world really need a way to put giant glowing fucking ads in the sky.

<comment><USER20> Nope, but we'll be seeing more of it: [https://futurism.com/startrocket-giant- ads-night-sky-cubesat...](https://futurism.com/startrocket-giant-ads-night- sky-cubesats)

<comment><USER21> I always wonder about people who see some awful technology in a dystopian sci- fi flick and think to themselves "I want to be the guy that invents that." The ability of people to sprint headfirst toward a shittier world if it means they can make a few bucks is just depressing.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> I would love to know if this is cheaper than fireworks for municipal displays.

<comment><USER23> Assume each drone is $500. That's $1M or so in total. If I were renting out these things for fireworks displays, I would probably want to recover a healthy return over my financing cost.

Imagine I could obtain money for 10% - $100K per year against the $1M inventory. Then assume the drones depreciate to zero in three years - that's another $333K. Operating cost is per-event.

Assuming no cost for my time to operate the drones, the rental charge would have to be enough to generate $433K a year. Assume you can run 10 events per year. You thus have to charge $43K per event just to break even on the financing of the drones. Add in a few thousand for operating costs of each event and maybe its $50K?

I don't know what fireworks cost, but it seems likely to be within the same range to me.

<comment><USER24> >Then assume the drones depreciate to zero in three years

I'm not entirely sure you can make this assumption. Other than the battery, which would have to be replaced in 3 years, the rest of the electronics should hold up as it's just consumer grade smartphone parts.

I guess the electric motors would be a strong replacement contender, but even then if you are buying in bulk it shouldn't hurt the budget too much.

Maybe I'm applying my hobby perspective to the industrial world, but I don't really see a drone as "broken" until it suffers a gnarly crash that breaks the frame. Everything until then can be swapped out in a few minutes, and even if the frame breaks you can transplant the rest of it to another frame. It's not like the smartphone world where everything is soldered shut to save space.

<comment><USER7> > I'm not entirely sure you can make this assumption. Other than the battery, > which would have to be replaced in 3 years, the rest of the electronics > should hold up as it's just consumer grade smartphone parts.

The drones not blowing up in 3 years just means you make extra money. If the cost is competitive when assuming the worst case, then that means you stand to make money if things go well.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Here's a thought. What if drones also projected sound, not just light?

<comment><USER25> Sound audible from that distance to the audience area for this thing would require a lot of power.

<comment><USER22> What if they weren't at that distance, though? Say... within two meters?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Intel shooting 2018 star drones.

Shooting with what?

<comment><USER22> They're "shooting star" drones. They're not "star drones" being shot.

<comment><USER26> I'm aware. The title is ambiguous, and sounds like Intel likes them some old fashioned skeet shootin'.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> The scary thing is that this is using a not-very-amazing flight control system and if the better flight controller systems did this they wouldn't have to worry about stray drones or speeding up the video in post-production.</comment>


Chain of Fools - <AUTHOR> http://www.allenpike.com/2018/blockchain/ <comment><USER2> Summary: Blockchains are for fools, but smart contracts have untapped potential. Invest in Ethereum.</comment>


Gloo API Gateway Version 1.3 – Dev Portal, WebAssembly, Knative - <AUTHOR> https://www.solo.io/blog/announcing-gloo-1-3-developer-portal-extensibility-performance-and-usability/ <comment><USER2> Anyone used Gloo and have any experience with it they can share? I've used Ambassador a bunch and they are pretty comparable, but curious what others think.

<comment><USER3> Disclaimer: I am an employee of Solo.io

I'd say a lot of our users are from big enterprises, especially financial services where security is paramount. Gloo has a decoupled control plane so it can be scaled and secured independently from the proxy/data plane. For example, Gloo requires zero privilege capabilities/service accounts, has a read-only file system, and the data plane has no access to the Kubernetes API when run in Kubernetes (not a requirement -- gloo can be run outside k8s as well). Additional security related functionality like WAF, OPA authz, and data loss prevention filters are crucial for our users.

see more here: [https://docs.solo.io/gloo/latest/introduction/others/](https://docs.solo.io/gloo/latest/introduction/others/)

HTH

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I deployed Gloo to production at Tidepool.org in November 2019.

Rock solid tech, responsive team, excellent feature set.

</comment><comment><USER5> I would be interested in seeing more of these API Gateways offer monetization / billing capabilities in their dev portal. So far I've only seen Apigee[1] and WSO2[2] offer this. Azure appears to have this "planned" in their product roadmap[3] while AWS uses their marketplace[4].

[1] [https://cloud.google.com/apigee/api-management/monetize- apis...](https://cloud.google.com/apigee/api-management/monetize-apis/)

[2] [https://wso2.com/blogs/thesource/2019/10/wso2-api-cloud- mone...](https://wso2.com/blogs/thesource/2019/10/wso2-api-cloud-monetization- driving-revenue-via-apis/)

[3] [https://feedback.azure.com/forums/248703-api- management/sugg...](https://feedback.azure.com/forums/248703-api- management/suggestions/5922492-add-monetization-ability-of-api)

[4] [https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/compute/monetize-your-apis- in-a...](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/compute/monetize-your-apis-in-aws- marketplace-using-api-gateway/)

</comment><comment><USER6> Looks interesting, would this be a similar to what AWS API Gateway offers but then in a self-hosted manner? I am looking for a simple version of AWS API Gateway so I can hide a bunch of OpenFAAS functions behind a common domain and also have some trigger where when I request URL like /images/[id]_small.png it will automatically resize the [id].png to a small size and return it. Just this reawriting of url to the OpenFAAS function is where I am lost.

Would I be able to use Gloo for that?

<comment><USER3> Yes definitely. Similar to what we already do for KNative

[https://docs.solo.io/gloo/latest/guides/integrations/knative...](https://docs.solo.io/gloo/latest/guides/integrations/knative/)

RE AWS API Gateway... Gloo is more full featured and self hosted. Even wrt performance, in fact, we've seen anecdotal evidence of Gloo performing better than AWS API Gateway for things like calling Lambdas.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> If you want to learn more and get a live demo -- [https://solo.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_neq5G0eAToSGoDXUNZM...](https://solo.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_neq5G0eAToSGoDXUNZMMzQ)

</comment><comment> foreign-inc Why not just use Istio and Knative? Also Project contour can do the same as an api Gateway. What's the difference?

<comment><USER3> Contour is not an API Gateway.

Disclaimer: I work for Solo.io

An API Gateway can do sophisticated edge security challenges (OIDC, Authz based on OPA, web app firewalling/WAF, etc) as well as things like message transformation, swagger/grpc detection, exposing APIs for self-service signup through a portal, etc. Gloo does all these things.

I've written in depth about this as well, specifically in terms of things like contour, Istio ingress gateway, consul's service mesh gateway, etc, etc

[https://blog.christianposta.com/microservices/do-i-need- an-a...](https://blog.christianposta.com/microservices/do-i-need-an-api- gateway-if-i-have-a-service-mesh/)

Gloo resources: [https://docs.solo.io/gloo/latest/guides/dev_portal/](https://docs.solo.io/gloo/latest/guides/dev_portal/) [https://docs.solo.io/gloo/latest/guides/security/waf/](https://docs.solo.io/gloo/latest/guides/security/waf/) [https://docs.solo.io/gloo/latest/guides/security/auth/oauth/...](https://docs.solo.io/gloo/latest/guides/security/auth/oauth/google/) [https://docs.solo.io/gloo/latest/guides/security/opa/](https://docs.solo.io/gloo/latest/guides/security/opa/) [https://docs.solo.io/gloo/latest/installation/advanced_confi...](https://docs.solo.io/gloo/latest/installation/advanced_configuration/fds_mode/) [https://docs.solo.io/gloo/latest/guides/traffic_management/r...](https://docs.solo.io/gloo/latest/guides/traffic_management/request_processing/transformations/)

<comment> foreign-inc Thanks for the detailed response. In that regard, it is like Kong. What is the difference between Kong vs Gloo? Kong is based on nginx which is rock solid.

<comment><USER3> Kong is mostly built on OpenResty/Lua

I'd say the main reason to use Gloo is it's much simpler, it's based on Envoy which is where most of the innovation around L7 proxies is happening these days (ie, see WebAssembly), and was built from the ground up with a cloud- native and kube-native architecture.

More can be found here:

[https://docs.solo.io/gloo/latest/introduction/others/](https://docs.solo.io/gloo/latest/introduction/others/)

And I can go into much more detail on slack. I'm `ceposta` on the solo/istio/cncf/envoy/kubernetes slack</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask YC: domain name suffixes? (e.g. fooapp, foohq, getfoo) - <AUTHOR> I'm doing a domain name search for my web app, and I'm wondering what people's reactions are to domain names with suffixes or prefixes:

  fooapp.com
  foohq.com
  getfoo.com
 Seeing as most of the useful names are taken by squatters, and I'd prefer not to go with misspellings or nonsense words (which are hard to spread via word-of-mouth), has anyone run into advantages or disadvantages of using one of these suffixes?
I know 37signals uses them (basecamphq.com, backpackit.com, campfirehq.com), and Dropbox also comes to mind  (getdropbox.com), but I've personally had trouble remembering them when I want to tell someone about these apps.

  + Uses english words
  + Speakability

  - <USER2>
  - Confusion on visiting site without suffix-- competitors/domain parkers/unrelated sites
  - SEO implications?
 <comment><USER3> Whatever you pick, it won't stop you migrating to a more concise name when you can afford it. For example, motleyfool.com -> fool.com or askjeeves.com -> ask.com or altavista.com -> av.com

<comment><USER4> Don't forget thefacebook.com.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Seeing as how no one remembers domain names and just googles for it all the time, I don't see any problem with them.

I don't like fooapp.com cause non-web app people don't call it an "app".

Campfirenow.com is a really good one. backpackit.com isn't so much cause "it" doesn't relate to backpack very well, I don't think.

</comment><comment><USER6> Generate enough word-of-mouth on blogs, and you won't need a memorable URL; your search ranking will take care of (most) users trying to get to your site.

See "Silverback" as an example. I vaguely remembered that it was at silverbackapp.com but wasn't sure. I typed "silverback" into Google and it was the second result.

While we're on the subject though, what are some common domain suffixes/prefixes? It would be helpful to have a handy list for whenever I'm trying domains. :)

<comment><USER7> But you remembered "Silverback" - that's why "memorable" is important. It's just as important in a URL otherwise people wouldn't pay so much for them or value them so highly.

<comment><USER6> I agree that a memorable name is important. I'm just saying that a memorable domain (may not be|isnt) as important.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Don't forget about all the available TLDs. Perhaps one of them can make your URL even better. Just be careful about leaving vowels out to look cool.

<comment><USER9> Avoid any TLD besides .com. I can't think of a single site that I visit regularly that doesn't end in .com.

<comment><USER6> del.icio.us?

<comment><USER10> They bought delicious.com a while ago, and their new version will eschew their trademark dots entirely (another good example of a company moving to a 'better' domain once they've established themselves).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I've had domains ending in ZAP and TIP, both grand.

</comment><comment><USER12> There's also fooproject.com (e.g. jingproject.com)</comment>


Half-life - <AUTHOR> https://features.propublica.org/los-alamos/chad-walde-nuclear-facility-radiation-cancer/ <comment><USER2> I worked at Los Alamos for several years, and wore a TLD (dosimeter, radiation detection device). The only two times mine was ever "triggered" _was_ when I left it on at the dentist (x-ray) and at the airport (x-ray).

It's interesting to see that these explanations are suggested even when employees say it isn't the case -- when I was "brought in" for my "why did you get this many mrems" talk, I explained about the dentist and the airport, and still got sent home (for a week!) with three doctor's visits and additional screenings. Many anecdotes != data, but when I asked a lot of my friends who worked there, or still work there, they were equally surprised.

None of us knew Chad Walde. It's well-known that different groups at the lab take safety more or less seriously. Which is obviously a huge problem when your dealing with source material.

I do wish the article had a little less of a "nuclear taboo" doom & gloom to it... there's less background radiation in Los Alamos than there is in Los Angeles. And substantially less than areas surrounding coal plants. In my experience, the "fear of the glow" causes people to view nuclear power with extreme suspicion... even when coal & oil plants actively pump far more deadly stuff into the air, far closer to major population centers.

The lab needs to get their shit together, and I believe they've done a lot over the past 10 years... hopefully it keeps moving in the right direction...

</comment><comment><USER3> Not surprising. I grew up in New Mexico and recently lived for a year in Los Alamos, with a girlfriend working as a researcher. I was looking for a space for a workshop and almost rented out a garage across from a suspicious empty field… It turned out to be the site of an original Manhattan Project landfill. This piqued my interest, and I looked into the environmental history of Los Alamos. As recounted in the article, the history and current situation are terrifying and incredibly irresponsible. I'm not sure how anyone could ever think that dumping water containing plutonium straight into the ground was not going to be a problem. The thing is, this sort of wanton pollution is hardly unique to Los Alamos. The federal government, military and contractors like the University of California did this all over the country, especially in the west, even very near populated areas. Polluting the surrounding areas is a slightly different topic then poisoning workers, but the attitudes and shoddy practices responsible are the same.

</comment><comment><USER4> "Chad went through increasing levels of radiation training, including an eight-hour course that teaches lab employees what ionizing radiation is, how it penetrates bodies and how they can protect themselves. It is required for workers whose jobs routinely place them in areas with high radiation, contamination or airborne radioactivity."

I used to work at a nuclear research facility in Germany. One of the side jobs available as a PhD student was to teach this type of training, designed to teach the layman about ionizing radiation and some basic safety rules. (For example the difference between external radiation doses and the potentially much more dangerous role that ingested radionuclides may play.)

These trainings were, if I recall correctly, two days long. I remember being told that they were required for anyone who might enter any commercial nuclear power plant in a professional capacity, including any local contractors, firemen, you name it.

My point is: the article positions this as some advanced course, when it really is the absolute basis, taught to everyone, geared to all out pragmatism. Knowing that, it makes me doubt some of the other suggestions and conclusions in the article, even though it's not hard to imagine that these sites at least had a history of playing fast and loose in the early days.

By the way, the most important lesson from that training was: you can't see radiation, so instead of second guessing, calmly get as far away as possible (radiation on surface of a sphere goes with 1/r^2) and alert someone with more detailed understanding. "Shielding" likely doesn't quite do what you think, so prefer distance.

</comment><comment><USER5> Interesting to see this on HN. I applied for a job at propublica where the application asked to replicate the research for a story from their local reporting network. I picked this article, and went as far as I could on the FOIA side of research.

For anyone curious, here are my research notes: [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iu_evesAD8hiSjAsZ5l7h6zr...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iu_evesAD8hiSjAsZ5l7h6zrshOgAtmW2ivDgG4pYkw)

<comment><USER6> > Access denied

You'll have to adjust the permissions on that document.

<comment><USER5> Thanks - fixed.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> If you do not actually include an enforcement process in your bureaucratic monitoring system, then most of your data detailing what goes on in some of the most heavily regulated and dangerous professional environments in existence, will be utter fictions written up at the end of the month when the paperwork is due and is in a state far worse than useless. This often kills people and it sometimes kills industries - [https://www.neimagazine.com/news/newsbnfl-staff-falsify- mox-...](https://www.neimagazine.com/news/newsbnfl-staff-falsify-mox-data)

</comment><comment><USER8> Can we get a better title? I thought this was about the game

<comment><USER9> its fitting i think. its all about perspective and context albiet the title does not give context but depending on your perspective and/or background it fits.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Incredibly sad. I am hopeful that the trend towards technological interconnectedness (survellience & IoT, as examples) means that critical gaps in records will become a thing of the past.

</comment><comment><USER11> My friend's dad died of brain cancer in 2012. He worked here for years.

</comment><comment><USER12> Moving and sad story.</comment>


U.S. threatens to freeze Iraq's account at NY Fed if troops told to leave - <AUTHOR> https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-warns-iraq-it-risks-losing-access-to-key-bank-account-if-troops-told-to-leave-11578759629 <comment><USER2> This is ridiculous. U.S troops (along with other coalition nations) are in Iraq at the request of the Iraqi government. If the Iraqi government formally requests us to leave, we should do so. Threatening to freeze their account otherwise is mob mentality.

<comment><USER3> The former Iraq government led by Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was explicitly harboring terrorists. Largely due to this, a USA led coalition invaded Iraq in 2003, defeated the Sadam Hussein regime in a war, implemented a new regime, and have since been chasing terrorists out of caves in Iraq for the past 17 years. I expect the US officials will operate by whatever means are neccissary to ensure our security interests are served. Personally, if freezing bank accounts motivates the desired result, I'd prefer they freeze bank accounts versus blowing things (including people) up.

<comment><USER4> Ah no he was tyrant and killed many of his own people but he was not harboring so called terrorists. That was the excuse Bush jr used to get into Iraq for it's oil ironically instead tech improvements got America over it dependence of foreign oil because of fracking. The so called terrorists were harbored in Afghanistan where USA wants to exit as soon as possible but it wants to stay in Iraq

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is just the modern day version of what happened more than a century ago:

In 1914, US Marines broke into the central bank of Haiti, stole half a million dollars in gold, and brought it to New York.

[https://twitter.com/KatzOnEarth/status/1216527567362187266](https://twitter.com/KatzOnEarth/status/1216527567362187266)

</comment><comment><USER6> How common is it for one country to hold significant portions of their money in a foreign bank account?

<comment><USER7> When you're talking Gold or USD, extremely common.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Maybe I don't understand how the Fed works, but I would imagine Iraq can't simply withdraw it at this point. If so, I think that money has already gone.

<comment><USER9> If they hold gold in custody for Iraq, that can't just withdraw it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Is this a valid legal action? It doesn't seem like the government can freeze accounts without due process.

<comment><USER11> "in times of war, the law falls silent."

<comment><USER8> *military action

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> "I will occupy your country and I will take your money if you ask me to leave" - Trump

<comment><USER13> "Bill Clinton's "quiet war" on Iraq set the stage for George W. Bush's bloody invasion." [1]

1\. [https://jacobinmag.com/2016/05/war-iraq-bill-clinton- sanctio...](https://jacobinmag.com/2016/05/war-iraq-bill-clinton-sanctions- desert-fox)</comment></comment>


Why I Can't Use PayPal To Buy Your Product - <AUTHOR> http://pud.com/post/21336152407/why-i-cant-use-paypal-to-buy-your-product <comment> jack-r-abbit While some people may have various business reasons for wanting multiple PayPal accounts linked to one bank account, I've run into this problem for another reason that I imagine is even more common: I'm married. My wife and I both have PayPal accounts. But guess what, PayPal? We have but one bank account. You know... a joint account... like I'm sure a vast majority of married people have. What a stupid rule.

<comment><USER2> You probably had separate bank accounts once too. You merged those, what is holding you back from merging paypal accounts? Seems like it would be the easier of the two operations.

<comment><USER3> I think it's against the terms to have a joint PayPal account. I'm sure I read that somewhere and it is the standard for most web services (accounts can only be used by one person).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> There's a great book called 'Founders At Work' that tells Max Levchin's account of PayPal's early days. Apparently they stopped considering PayPal a payments company very early on. They moved on to being a fraud prevention company. In reality, they no longer have to do anything to promote growth or even sustainability in money moving through the system, so they can just ignore that part. Almost their entire focus is on preventing fraud. I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying.

</comment><comment><USER5> To bad I can't offer stripe as an Australian company. We have one local bank that will let you accept multiple currency through a merchant account and they have some pretty major costs.

Until my startup gets a decent userbase I don't see an alternative to PayPal.

</comment><comment><USER6> I've hit this 'can only link bank account to one PayPal account' problem a few times and it is very frustrating.

The way I operate my business and personal bank and PayPal accounts means I have to shuffle money around to work with this rule. Why, PayPal?

<comment><USER7> > Why, PayPal?

To prevent fraud.

<comment> jack-r-abbit Care to elaborate on that? How does it _prevent_ fraud?

<comment><USER8> Presumably it keeps people from just spam-creating new accounts every time they get banned.

In this case, however, it's hurting their business by being too strict. They could, for example, let you have at most two accounts linked to solve the problem some married people have.

<comment><USER9> I do not see why they need to stop spam creation of accounts. They can just ban the bank account in addition to the Paypal account. Without any bank account or credit card connected to the Paypal account it is not very harmful to Paypal.

<comment><USER8> Someone might be able to use the dozens of accounts for fraud before they could catch them and put a stop to it. If the money is already gone, Paypal would suffer the losses.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I've worked around this in the past by changing my e-mail address in my current paypal account, and then just creating a new account. (and then deleting my previous, now useless account). The limit is large enough that I so far have only needed to do this once. (I don't trust paypal enough to link it to an actual bank account).

<comment><USER3> This would make sense if your account doesn't have any more money. But it may happen to you some day that you have more money in your account than your limit and then you will be stuck as you cannot transfer it to another account.

<comment><USER10> I never have any money in the account. I only use it to make credit card purchases.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Want to experience real pain? PayPal + eBay. Talk about some horror stories.

Here's what's interesting: It's YOUR MONEY. This isn't a credit card. It's a payment system that allows you to take your money --real cash-- and pay for things. Why are they placing limits on people's own money? If the account has enough balance for the purchase in question (and the money has been there for a while) you should be able to spend it as you wish.

As for linking a bank account. Not a big deal these days. You can open an account with $100. I don't see this as a problem, particularly if you are talking about paying thousands for conferences. Yes, it's a pain to keep track of. That's what Quicken/Quickbooks is for.

<comment><USER12> Quicken?

I have no direct experience with it, but according to wikipedia article it's very very horrible. For example:

"Quicken contains a sunset provision that stops online features and any QFX formatted files from working after a certain amount of time,[8][9] requiring users to first buy a new Quicken license, and then to learn a new, often confusing interface to the more recent Quicken version." or "To migrate to Lion, users are required to pay for an updated version of Quicken 2007. It has no new features." While GnuCash isn't perfect, and probably wouldn't work too well for business, Quicken would have to have really great features for someone to put up with this. And QuickBooks seems to be pretty much the same.

<comment><USER11> I've been using it since the early days (by that I mean IBM PC/DOS). The paragraph you quote does not represent anything I have ever experienced with any version of the product.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I'm pretty sure you can go to pay while not logged in to PayPal. Then enter your credit card directly. They will tell you it's linked to an account and do you want to login. But there is still an option to go ahead and just use the card.

<comment><USER14> I've tried that, and when it complained that the card was linked to an account, it wouldn't let me proceed until I logged in.

At the time, my account was locked down because I had the audacity to go to a conference in a town 80 miles away and try to use my Paypal account for something. They wouldn't let me unlock my account until I gave them a new landline phone number (which I didn't have) or fax them my ID (which I wasn't willing to do). It was as if they didn't want me to reactivate my account.

And I still couldn't buy anything until I got a new card.

<comment><USER15> I have an account with a linked credit card, and have used the same card without logging in on a few occasions without any trouble. Maybe the policy is different for each country?

<comment><USER16> I can use my credit card without logging in as long as my PayPal account status is normal. But when my account was restricted, I couldn't pay using my linked credit card. I also tried to close my PayPal account - they don't let you do that either while the account is restricted.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I've had quite the bad experience with PayPal myself. I used to sell goods on the internet. Nothing shady, unless you consider Wordpress shady. Anyways, one day I try to charge against my PayPal account and I find out my account has been frozen and is pending investigation. I had not a lot of money, but more than a few dollars.

It's been frozen ever since (about 2 years). I've tried working with PayPal, but they've yet to help me in any constructive way. If I were to add to this post, this is the reason I won't allow PayPal payments on my site.

</comment><comment><USER18> Another PITA issue I've hit with PayPal is trying to link Bank Accounts or Credit Cards from multiple countries to the same account... can't do it.

So even though I'm an Australian living in Canada, I'm stuck charging my Australian Credit Card and Bank account whenever I use Paypal. _Sigh_

<comment><USER19> To be fair that may have to do with regulations. Paypal has to walk through a complex maze of regulations to work internationally. In the US it's a company, in the EU it's a bank etc. Their existence may have actually been a motive in establishing money transfer regulation.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> In Australia, I believe that every PayPal account can also use a credit card - no matter what the card type. Just today I bought a CD with my Visa card, over PayPal.

I believe that it's because the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission stepped in some time ago and told eBay that they couldn't force people to only use PayPal to pay for their products as this is third-line forcing.

I love strong competition law :-)

</comment><comment><USER21> In a related vein: Try to change your name for your PayPal account. In Australia (and I assume globally), last I checked you had to fax 100 points of ID to them. Setting up an account requires nothing. I could wait until my CC expires and open a new account in my new name, but I've tied my account to my bank account too.

</comment><comment><USER22> The screenshot that we are to assume is from paypal says that he's reached his "sending limit". What is that supposed to mean? In the text, he says he's reached his "spending limit". Is this just a weird typo from paypal? Or something stranger?

</comment><comment><USER23> Open business accounts and use one personal account. Problem solved. You can open a business account with just a ficiticious business statement (a "dba") which you can get online instantly in some counties, or by mail in about a week.

</comment><comment><USER24> This is an outlier issue.

For the average person selling things through PayPal, this is rare. If it's that important for your business, it shouldn't be a big deal to create a new bank account for each PayPal and link them to that.

</comment><comment><USER25> PayPal is good in some ways (lowers the bar to becoming a merchant) it is broken and horrible in many other ways. Let's hope the competitors can improve upon things (Google, Amazon, Square, Facebook, Apple).

</comment><comment><USER26> its less of a paypal problem and more the websites problem for not offering several payment options. Just paypal is easier for a majority of the population. If your particular paypal didn't work then you'd have to manually enter your credit information, which most people myself included don't like to do.

</comment><comment><USER27> Could anyone summarize this article? Site is blocked as "tasteless" on the filter (?)

</comment><comment><USER28> looks like they're really trying to push people to link their bank accounts to paypal.

</comment><comment><USER29> This wouldn't be a problem if you accepted Bitcoin. ;)

<comment><USER30> It would cause numerous numerous other problems.

It's non-trivial to convert bitcoin into a regular currency, you have to use 3rd party sites that have a terrible record with security

It's not understood and accepted by most people.

You can't do chargebacks.

<comment><USER31> > It's non-trivial to convert bitcoin into a regular currency, you have to use > 3rd party sites that have a terrible record with security

Wrong. There has only ever been _one_ successful attack against MtGox. By contrast, attacks on banking financial websites are widespread: <http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/6652> A small security-focused startup like MtGox can more easily secure their infrastructure & code, compared to the corporate developers working on humongous code bases behind most banking websites.

> It's not understood and accepted by most people.

Circular reasoning ("technology X won't get adopted because nobody knows X").

> You can't do chargebacks.

This is actually an advantage for merchants. Credit card chargebacks eat into their already thin margins. But once they receive bitcoins no one can take them away from them.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> Paypal forced me to open an account with them so I could buy shit by credit card through their interface. And so they could try to shove their other shitty products down my throat.

I want to set every single person who works for PayPal on fire.

<comment><USER33> @DannoHung

 _I want to set every single person who works for PayPal on fire._

While I can understand your frustration, I think you should cool off and think before posting such extremist views here.

<comment><USER27> I completely sympathize with customer "service" induced pyromania. Between Paypal and my cable company...</comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Undressing app with bubbling effect - <AUTHOR> https://www.windowsphone.com/ru-ru/store/app/bubbling-undresser/53afdb61-8381-4ae4-8659-a9a4e788e4a4

<comment><AUTHOR> Hi! Some time ago i released app applying bubbling effect to achive virtual nudity. Sources: [https://github.com/x4m/NetWire/tree/master/SourceForgeExport...](https://github.com/x4m/NetWire/tree/master/SourceForgeExport/branches/bubbling)

Initially I made app paid, but now it's free. That was obviously stupid move to make this paid app (: Totally about 50 paid downloads or something. But what I realy want is feedback, not $50 (: Someone already suggested better antialiasing in bubbles.

I have couple of questions: 1\. Is name of app correct in English? 2\. Is use of images correct (CC SA licence)?

Now app is only available for Windows Phone, but I plan to port it to iOS once I master swift.

[edit]

Whooaa, I posted wrong URL. Correct is [https://www.windowsphone.com/en- us/store/app/bubbling-undres...](https://www.windowsphone.com/en- us/store/app/bubbling-undresser/53afdb61-8381-4ae4-8659-a9a4e788e4a4)

URL in heading links to Russian WP Store</comment>


Ask YC: Notable People On YC - <AUTHOR> Just a simple thread to post notable people in the industry and their usernames/ comment streams.  My contribution: Fred Wilson<p>http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=fredwilson <comment><USER2> It seems like that there is a reason that names are tiny/gray: we should judge what is said on its merit, not based on who said it.

I've had the good fortune to know and work with some extremely smart people, and none of them is _always_ right. How is it useful to be able to follow all of X's comments?

I've found that the moderation system here is fairly good at separating the wheat from the chaff. Far more so than identity is, at least.

<comment><USER3> The point here being that these people are notable for a reason. I expect to find disproportionately more useful/insightful comments from them on their subjects than from the average user, including myself.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Obsession with 'celebrity' is not healthy.

<comment><USER5> Healthy or not, it's human.

<comment><USER6> So are pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. Saying "it's human" means "it's easy to do this," and is too often an excuse for not-so- excusable behavior.

<comment><USER7> I think inquiring about notable figures in the fields and industries in which many of us here find sustenance could hardly be considered 'not-so-excusable'. Branding said inquirers as fanboys seems pretty inexcusable to me.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Owen Byrne - Digg co-founder: <http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=ojbyrne>

Marc Andreessen - Netcape/Opsware/Ning (appears dormant) <http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=pmarca>

Aaron Swartz <http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=aaronsw>

And you never know who is lurking.

</comment><comment><USER9> <http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=dhh> (although apparently now dormant)

<http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=jzawodny> (relatively new addition)

<http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=pg> (hehe)

</comment><comment><USER10> I really like the idea that "notable" people may be lurking here. If only for the reason that we should all think twice before degrading someone else (or generally acting like an idiot). You never know who you're really talking to or who else may be witnessing it.

(Imagine losing a 7 figure deal a year from now because the investor found out you insulted him here.)

<comment><USER11> You shouldn't degrade other people on the Internet, even if they don't have 7 figure deals to revoke.

<comment><USER10> Right. But sometimes I'd settle for people doing the right thing even if it's for the wrong reason.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Everyone's definition of "notable" might vary a little, but:

Paul Buchheit: <http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=paul>

</comment><comment><USER12> I heard Paul Graham comes around sometimes.

<comment><USER13> He is here quite often actaully

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Eliezer Yudkowsky.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=eyudkowsky>

</comment><comment><USER15> I would be willing to bet that just about every notable person in the startup/programming industry uses this site and may occasionally post comments.

I would also be willing to bet that only an extremely small subset of those notable users would publicly reveal themselves.

</comment><comment><USER16> I'd like to point out that I disagree with the purpose of this article -- I want to take submitter's comments on their own merits. I don't care if you are Bill Gates or the janitor.

However -- and this is a "feature" of HackerNews -- I have to upvote it to keep it in my list, and I am curious to see the answers.

So count this as a forced upvote.Simply because I am curious about something should not make me upvote it. Geesh.

<comment><USER17> I'd like to do that, too. But there are many people with opinions. And many of those opinions are worthless. And many of the most interesting opinions sound worthless at first -- so I'd rather listen to what smart people say, knowing that if they sound crazy, it's probably because I'm dumb.

Fortunately, twitter's front page and the 'next blog' button on the Blogger bar can supply a pretty much infinite amount of random opinions from strangers. I would be interested in how informative that is.

<comment><USER16> I'm not sure how you ever get around making a personal decision whether some idea is worthwhile or not. Simply because a person had one startup, does that make them a startup expert? Probably not. If I publish a book on model trains, does that mean my opinion on world trade is somehow worthy of five minutes of your attention?

In fact, most of what people say -- even famous people -- is probably off-the- cuff and not exactly geared to your particular situation. Most all communication, in fact, is basically just chit-chat: obscure facts, disagreements based on partisanship instead of philosophy, pot shots at those out of power, praise for those in power, etc.

You can decide to listen to what "smart people" have to say, and that's probably a good idea. I'd just be really careful how I defined "smart people" -- it certainly isn't fame. In fact, I'd turn the equation around backward: I would judge the people to listen to based on their ability to have given me insight in the past, not their fame, fortune, or other crowd-based attribute.

<comment><USER17> But we're not talking about whether or not Paris Hilton reads HN. The people in question are startup founders, Putnam fellows, essayists, etc.

There are many streams of data. Most are (in my experience) not worth the effort. I mostly listen to people who have said interesting things in the past, and I mostly hear about them through other such people. I inject a little randomness into that process by reading old and obscure stuff, but that's more to view my ideological bubble from the outside than to get a high- quality data source.

<comment><USER16> So let me make sure I understand you correctly. It's more important to listen to famous people in this area (startups, Putnam, essayists) than it is to listen to more mundane people who have been proven to given you advice that was worthwhile to you personally?

I read all the time. I take college lectures on CD and DVD. I love reading HN. But I don't think any of that consumption was based on the celebrity status of a person inside the community. Rather it was based on the perceived future value to me. Projected future value, as best as I can figure, doesn't relate to "notable people" Bill Gates made billions, but if he posted here on his opinion of functional languages I would give him no more or less consideration than if you did. In fact, if you and I had talked about functional languages in the past and I found your comments useful, I'd be more inclined to hear what you had to say over Bill. "Bill Gates" or "PG" or whatever is just a concept we have of people we've never met. I think you'll find once you meet them that they have to prove themselves like the rest of us. Life is like that: what have you done lately?

I read commentary to kick my belief system around. Lots of great commentators out there. But I don't have heroes, and if one of my favorite commentators were to post here, who cares?

I'm probably missing something. Apologies if I'm off-base.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Joel Spolsky: <http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=spolsky>

</comment><comment><USER19> RTM, of course: <http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=rtm>

And though it'd be a stretch to call them notable, people I at least heard of before they came here:

Colin Perciva (FreeBSD security officer; Putnam winner): <http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=cperciva>

John Graham-Cummings (active in the anti-spam community; caused a firestorm when he submitted Reddit to Digg and got censored): <http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=jgrahamc>

Doug Renert (partner at Tandem E.): <http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=DougR>

and I think ESR might lurk here occasionally.

<comment><USER20> I'm notable? <blushes>

<comment><USER16> congrats. You made it.

It's all downhill from here. : )

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Great. When somebody puts me in this thread, I'll know I made it!

</comment><comment><USER22> Jeremy Zawodny <http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=jzawodny>

</comment><comment><USER23> edw519 I do not know who he is outside of HN, but he sure is somebody here and I follow his comments/ <http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=edw519>. May I also add the one and only <http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=mattmaroon>

<comment><USER24> Ed's an all around nice guy. We've met both online and in meat space at the last Startup School.

<comment><USER23> So can you confirm if he is PG or not? Just kidding ;)

<comment><USER24> I was in the room at the same time that PG and Ed were. I think that dcurtis and xichekolas were there chewing the fat with us at the same time.

<comment><USER19> And me as well.

<comment><USER24> I knew I was forgeting someone. Sorry.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> <http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=jasonfried>

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> mike arrington/techcrunch:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=techcrunch>

<comment><USER25> Is that really mike and/or techcrunch staff?

<comment><USER19> It's Mike.

<comment><USER26> It was actually an article by Mike a while back which pointed me here! Hes a big fan of the site by all accounts and am glad he pointed it out, its quickly become one of my first bookmarked visits every morning

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> Michael Whalen - <http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=whalesalad>

jokes.</comment>


Ask YN: What beta sites (homepages) captivate you? - <AUTHOR>

I'm looking for some interesting examples of homepages or landing pages of beta sites that really capture the visitor's interest and also has the functionality to capture email addresses for those interested.<p>Any ideas? <comment><USER2> Raptr is quite clear about their value proposition with their frontpage comic.

I personally like <http://www.coghead.com/>.</comment>


Ask HN: I've got a full time job I love & extra cash, I want to invest. - <AUTHOR>

I consulted for years, I tried a few psudo "startups" (mainly consulting as tech or management, sometimes for free or equity). I'm currently at my first "large" company in good position with lots of movement potential. I'm making money, I'm busy learning every day, and I'm quite happy.
I've always saved relentlessly but now I feel like I should do something with my money. I figure I have about $150 a week I can invest in a business. It's hardly enough for a large venture but its more then enough to fund a side project. Alternatively I can invest in funds, stocks, bonds, or whatever.
Honestly though my gut tells me to go for small ventures. How do I work on such a small scale? <comment><USER2> I am working on starting my own bootstrapped business also, and am in a similar position as yourself. Start by googling resources about how to bootstrap a startup. $150/week is plenty, although you'll have to save for some bigger purchases.

Firstly, you'll should plan on doing most/all the work yourself. This isn't strictly required, but I find it to be the most fun part of the job. Save the money for advertising, PR, link building, domain registration, company formation, accountants, etc.

Alternately, you can select a product you you want to build, save for a few months, and then just pay someone to do it for you. There was a good interview on Mixergy about exactly this method, where a $2k investment turned into $80k/month. <http://mixergy.com/free-apps-interview/> I wouldn't expect to have the same kind of success, but it is something you could pursue.

If you are more interested in sitting back and investing in established companies, a lot of people will try to sell you hot stocks or whatever. Don't listen. In the long run (3-5 years) no one, save a very few people like Warren Buffet, beat the market. Roll some percentage of your money into an S&P index, and international index, and a bond index, then re-balance every year. The closer to retirement you are, the more money should become cash or CD's. The younger, typically the more in stock + international. It's boring, but it's the surest way to have your portfolio grow.

Personally, I prefer the startup route (but I do plenty of investing as well).

Good luck!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for your advice!

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Here are a few options:

\- specialized WordPress Plugin development and sales

\- making Android or iPhone apps

\- making HTML5 apps with a mobile phone framework, and which work on Android and iPhone phones

On getting programmers, you'll want to keep trying, and putting comments out in forums and anywhere you can. I advise you to find some programmer in or near your timezone so that you don't end up playing the timezone game. And you'll likely want to check in another hemisphere. For instance, if you're in NYC, you could consider contacting some developer in Brazil.

<comment><AUTHOR> I am in NYC. I've never worked with any over seas developers though.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I would start going to a lot of Barcamps and democamps and talking to entrepreneurs and geeks and throw out that you are looking to microinvest.

Be excited to lose the money tho and chalk it up to schooling/learning.

</comment><comment><USER5> kickstarter.com is full of people and projects that need many small investments like that. You usually get lots of goodies from them in the process, too. Good luck, and thanks for your generosity!

</comment><comment><USER6> some of this may conflict with employer/employee agreements at many of the large companies - conflict of interest and such.</comment>


Ask HN: Why is time gap between product announcement and delivery ever widening? - <AUTHOR> I don't know if it's just me, but it looks like time gap between product announcement and delivery just keeps widening. For instance, Google Pixel Slate was announced 9th of October with earliest deliveries now projected at the very end of November - that's almost 2 moths apart. I've ordered a performance electric scooter that was listed by multiple retailers for months now, I will still have to wait another 6-8 weeks for delivery, because it's "still in production". Has Kickstarter approach affected even largest companies in the world so much that there's no going back? <comment><USER2> Hype generation</comment>


Nvidia Research Takes NeurIPS Attendees on AI Road Trip - <AUTHOR> https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2018/12/04/nvidia-research-neurips-demos/ <comment><USER2> What happened to NIPS? Last I heard they had decided against a name change, since that was the sentiment of the survey, and even women seemed indifferent.

[https://nips.cc/Conferences/2018/News](https://nips.cc/Conferences/2018/News)</comment>


You cannot copyright a Tweet - <AUTHOR> http://www.zeldman.com/2010/02/25/you-cannot-copyright-a-tweet/ <comment><USER2> Here's a much more thorough discussion from an actual IP lawyer:

<http://canyoucopyrightatweet.com/>

The skinny:

"The question is not: Are Tweets Copyrightable. The question is: Is This Tweet Copyrightable. The copyrightability of Tweets is not dependent on the fact that they are Tweets. Rather, it's dependent on the analysis of the Tweet in question. The all-encompassing response that all Tweets are either protected or not protected is misguided. The real response is that it depends. However, when you analyze most Tweets, they would never individually pass copyright muster.

I read an interesting post in the thread I've discussed throughout this article, and the post mentioned a Haiku. To me, that's smart thinking. Finding a possible protectable Tweet among the hordes of non-possibility. Maybe a Haiku is your ticket to Tweet monopolization. Otherwise, you probably won't be able to protect anything."

</comment><comment><USER3> Of course you can. Are you suggesting that you can't copyright a haiku? Zeldman reads too much into the word "phrase". Even if Zeldman were correct-- and he's not--the focus should be on originality and not copying someone's thoughts.

</comment><comment><USER4> What about the artist/poet Jenny Holzer who tweets her latest compositions before subsequently publishing them elsewhere:

<http://twitter.com/Jennyholzer>

These short phrases have been the basis of her entire body of work for decades. I find it hard to believe she cannot copyright them.

</comment><comment><USER5> I wonder about UK law on this?

From the UK Copyright website:

Copyright is an automatic right and arises whenever an individual or company creates a work. To qualify, a work should be regarded as original, and exhibit a degree of labour, skill or judgement.

...

Names, titles, short phrases and colours are not generally considered unique or substantial enough to be covered, but a creation, such as a logo, that combines these elements may be.

Here we have 'short phrases' excluded again - but in the same context as a title. I'd say that many tweets would meet the criteria in the first paragraph just about.

Thoughts from any other UK people?

</comment><comment><USER6> Patently (heh) false.

Given that the Tweet is already attached to an identity (individual or corporate account) and assuming one may claim even a reasonable semblance of creativity and originality on the content of said Tweet, it's technically Copywritable, but a mere "status" update, link, or factual listing is not.

\- Think of all the copywritten corporate and government slogans (Just Do It, Army of One, What can brown do for you, Aim Higher, etc.) which could quite easily fit into a Tweet with room to spare.

\- Think of all the haikus (see @MJ), other short poems, and unicode/ascii-art #twitterart (see @l_I__I_l) posts.

That being said, I can't think of any rational (e.g. economic) reason which would support registration of the Tweet as the "fixed medium".

Mostly, I can envision defensive sorts of legal actions such as blatant plagiarism or abuse/mis-use of a pre-existing logo, unattributed passage, or slogan.

As the multitudes of "sampling" lawsuit precedents in the music industry has shown, authorship rights of even nano-sized digital content can be successfully asserted.

<comment><USER7> And you have made the very mistake he references in the article: Confusing copyright with trademark. Slogans are trademarks. Trademarks cost money to register. Copyright can simply be claimed.

<comment><USER6> Guilty as charged and absolutely correct.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I'm not a lawyer by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd have to disagree. There is potentially more information that is contained in a tweet than Twitter republishes.

For example, if I was posting a tweet using SMS the original publishing platform is my phone (it's saved onto it first) and then passed onto Twitter.

Twitter then chooses to disregard the additional information contained within the entirity of a text message (the first 20 characters if memory serves me right, its been awhile since I looked up the specs). However, I'd argue those additional characters that Twitter disregards are copywritable as per the definition in the linked document.

 _Listings of ingredients, as in recipes, labels, or formulas. When a recipe or formula is accompanied by an explanation or directions, the text directions may be copyrightable, but the recipe or formula itself remains uncopyrightable._

The additional information contained in an SMS wold be akin to directions.

</comment><comment><USER9> AFAIK, ZINAL, so take this with a grain of salt.

</comment><comment><USER10> see: <http://twitter.com/devinjames/status/1420799605>

</comment><comment><USER11> 1\. yEnc a DVD movie 2\. Chop into many, many tweets 3\. Fail whale!

<comment><USER12> You're doing it backwards. The DVD is already copyrighted, so the copyright- ability of a tweet is irrelevant.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Or maybe 140 characters of code in the language of your choice...</comment>


Ask HN: What shall humanity do if less people die this year? - <AUTHOR> It's a hypothetical question, but it's widely reported that air pollution (which is a major cause of death) decreased a lot in affected areas. Somewhat related to the Trolley Problem. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem <comment><USER2> It's an interesting thought expirement. I am no expert, but i believe the economic downturn could be a chance to drastically shift our economy to a more sustainable direction, if, and thats a big if, investments by goverments are directed thoughtfully.

But yes I think the crisis could have lasting positive effects, that will be very hard to measure.</comment>


Django 1.2 roadmap and schedule  - <AUTHOR> http://groups.google.com/group/django-developers/browse_thread/thread/c110a2ead7311115?hl=en

<comment><USER3> (if anyone has questions, feel free to throw them at me here; I'll put on my release-manager hat and do my best to give useful answers)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> > Multi-database support

Its about time that it will officially, out of the box, support this important feature. :)

[edit] direct link to feature list

<http://code.djangoproject.com/wiki/Version1.2Features>

<comment><USER4> I completely agree! If you want to help us make sure this happens, please check out the multidb branch, give it a spin, and report any bugs: [http://code.djangoproject.com/svn/django/branches/soc2009/mu...](http://code.djangoproject.com/svn/django/branches/soc2009/multidb/).

<comment><AUTHOR> I'll gladly do so. Thx for the link.

<comment><USER5> Indeed, any bug reports, ways to make it better, and best of all: patches welcome! (I'm the guy who wrote it)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I like the idea of a smarter template if tag but after having looked at the snippets page it doesn't look quite like what I was hoping for. I was looking for something more the tornado framework's implementation.

I prefer tornado's template system in general. It's much closer to actual python in terms of syntax and the ability to pass functions from a request handler to the template is sweet!

<comment><USER7> One of the stated goals of Django's template system is to be "safe" - <USER2> ensure that template developers can't cause too much damage. The Tornado model essentially allows arbitrary Python code to be evaluated, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but would break the contract Django has already established. I think the smarter {% if %} statement proposal is much closer to Django's philosophy.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> > Support for non-relational databases: Tokyo Cabinet/Tyrant, MongoDB, > Cassandra, Google Bigtable (AppEngine, #10192), Amazon SimpleDB, CouchDB, > etc

Is the intent to create some-kind of common framework that will work with more than one DB? Or to somehow select/prioritize one particular DB and support that?

<comment><USER4> Keep in mind: these are _proposed_ features -- as in, proposed by anyone with enough smarts to edit a wiki page -- not necessarily ones that'll make it into 1.2.

That proposal, in particular, is a Big Honking Deal with basically no concrete proposal, specification, or working code. In other words, the chance that Django will grow non-relational database support by March is... not so good.</comment></comment>


Change.org Petition - LinkedIn: Protect your users from stalkers - <AUTHOR> https://www.change.org/petitions/linkedin-protect-your-users-from-stalkers-and-help-keep-victims-safe

<comment><USER2> How is a blocking feature going to help when it's trivial to create a new account?</comment>


Today I learned that not everyone has an internal monologue - <AUTHOR> https://insidemymind.me/2020/01/28/today-i-learned-that-not-everyone-has-an-internal-monologue-and-it-has-ruined-my-day/ <comment><USER2> Came up a few days ago (at a different url, oddly) and the comments are worth looking through.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22193451](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22193451)

<comment><USER3> Not that odd, this has turned into a veritable meme in the last week or two... you'd have to live under a rock to have not seen this hit Reddit, HN, Twitter, or some random blog recently.

<comment><USER4> I browse all three, and didn't see this pop up myself. I'm glad it popped up again.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> So I think I deliberately trained myself out of having an internal monologue.

I don't have an internal monologue most of the time, but I can definitely turn one on and off when I choose to. I also have a distinct memory related to this. I think I was a teenager at the time, and I don't remember what I was thinking about, but my train of thought got stuck because I couldn't remember the right word for a specific concept. Then I realized--wait a minute, I know what I'm trying to think about even if I don't have the word for it, which means I don't need to use words to think about things! So I stopped using words to think about things.

</comment><comment><USER6> Could this simply be a misunderstanding of what an internal monologue is?

Is there any science behind this?

</comment><comment><USER7> Since that other thread seems dead now...

I'm one of those people. And from my point of view it would be a terrible burden to have to have that. Because at my speed (or broadness) of thought i imagine i'd have to wind up/fast forward that voice to an incredibly shrill voice, and even then it would be insufficient by several orders of magnitude. It would be like trying to press a river trough a straw. I'm just wondering about how common/uncommon this is. After reading the other thread(s) it 'seems' like the (sub)vocalizers are the majority?

</comment><comment><USER8> Fun fact: i do think while i'm asleep! my friends were shocked when i first told them about that. I don't know how to describe it, but i can think, alter my dream, reason about things, etc--and i used to do math and solve coding problems too.

the worst part is that my dreams are too tough. when i'm sad or something things get very rough on my dreams because everything seem so real.

<comment><USER9> Lucid dreaming. I have done it too.

Sadly, I haven't remembered my dreams in a long time.

[https://www.google.com/search?q=lucid+dreaming](https://www.google.com/search?q=lucid+dreaming)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I'm surprised that some people can't do it at all. I learnt to read aloud first, then read silently which I always remember doing by sub-vocalisation. I would have thought if you could read by sub-vocalisation then you could talk to yourself. Possibly, other people read without sub-vocalisation which I suspect would allow you to read faster.

</comment><comment><USER11> Guess I don't, though I do often hear a "speaker" when reading text.

Also usually can't recognize faces using System 1. Which means I often don't see someone I know until they've long-since decided that I'm ignoring them. :-/

</comment><comment><USER12> I had no idea. This has blown my mind almost as much as when I simultaneously discovered that aphantaisa was a thing and that I have it. The biggest thing to come to grips with was the realisation that others don't have it!

<comment><USER11> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia)

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I wonder if those people w/o the internal Don Pardo can actually sleep. I wish I could turn mine off...

</comment><comment><USER14> And here I always thought I was the only one who basically has a permanent narrator.

<comment><USER15> Interesting... assuming that everyone else is the same as you is common, but assuming that they aren't is odd. What made you think that nobody else did?

<comment><USER14> Idk, I always tended to do that, like talking to myself about topics in order to get a better grasp - it's like self-rubber-ducking. When I asked several people about that, they said they don't do that so I extrapolated. :P</comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Stackie – A tiny stack machine for texture generation - <AUTHOR> http://fingswotidun.com/stackie/ <comment><USER2> This code run from console will generate and execute random codes, whenever it finds something new it stops (just reexecute it and it will continue searching)

      var seen = seen || [];
      while (true) {
        c='';
        m=30*Math.random();
        var a='x0123456789dcp+*~!yPsqa-/^';
        for (var i=0; i<m; i++) {
          c+=a.charAt(Math.floor(Math.random()*a.length));
        }
        code.value = c;
        buttonClick();
        d=f.getImageData();
        sum=0;
        for (var i=0; i<5000; i++) {
          sum+=d.data[i];
        }
        console.log('seen ', sum);
        if (seen.indexOf(sum) < 0) {
          seen.push(sum);
          break;
        }
      }

Few examples generated by this:

        s*23-yxxx+-7x7s/y-^3sp*
        9sx2+ysx-7ysp+*+
        -P+p*syq6^xp15x/syxyyc-p**

<comment><USER3> I quite like this generated one: cq1cxxq~!4+p~/~37d^8y/3-c

<comment><USER4> a similar, less complicated one 55 * y! * y! * y! * P *s

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I made something that compiles it to Javascript: [https://gist.github.com/Matheus28/ce76f1f7f5e2b046b1fd](https://gist.github.com/Matheus28/ce76f1f7f5e2b046b1fd)

The original idea was compiling it to GLSL, but I got lazy. But it should be pretty easy to make it generate GLSL.

It doesn't do constant folding or any smart optimizations, but it should be pretty easy to code that in.

Example:

This:

        x12/-y12/-a6+8*x12/-d*y12/-d*+qq82**p112/x-d*-112/y-d*-*d*d*d**dd*+dd*+dd*+

Generates:

      var tmp0 = (x - (1 / 2))
      var tmp1 = (y - (1 / 2))
      var tmp2 = ((1 / 2) - x)
      var tmp3 = ((1 / 2) - y)
      var tmp4 = ((1 - (tmp2 * tmp2)) * (1 - (tmp3 * tmp3)))
      var tmp5 = (tmp4 * tmp4)
      var tmp6 = (tmp5 * tmp5)
      var tmp7 = (perlin(((Math.atan2((x - (1 / 2)), (y - (1 / 2))) + 6) * 8), (Math.sqrt(Math.sqrt(((tmp0 * tmp0) + (tmp1 * tmp1)))) * (8 * 2))) * (tmp6 * tmp6))
      var tmp9 = (tmp7 + (tmp7 * tmp7))
      var tmp11 = (tmp9 + (tmp9 * tmp9))

      return (tmp11 + (tmp11 * tmp11))
      function perlin(b,c){function g(b,c,a){a=a*a*a*(a*(6*a-15)+10);return(1-a)*b+a*c}function d(d,e){var a=2*(256*e+d);return(b-d)*gradient[a]+(c-e)*gradient[a+1]}b%=256;c%=256;var e=b&255,f=c&255,h=e+1&255,k=f+1&255,l=b-e,m=c-f;return g(g(d(e,f),d(h,f),l),g(d(e,k),d(h,k),l),m)};

<comment><AUTHOR> If you make a GLSL version you absolutely must add

"t" : push(time);

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> This reminds me of Forth Haikus:

[http://forthsalon.appspot.com/](http://forthsalon.appspot.com/)

It can get pretty crazy:

[http://forthsalon.appspot.com/haiku- view/ahBzfmZvcnRoc2Fsb24...](http://forthsalon.appspot.com/haiku- view/ahBzfmZvcnRoc2Fsb24taHJkcg0LEgVIYWlrdRjG_xQM)

</comment><comment><USER7> For those who don't immediately understand (I hope I got that right):

\- the 'Try It' button disappears behind a text box if the browser window is too narrow, making you unable to use the tool. (edited after hobs' reply)

\- 0 is black, 1 is white (and so is larger than 1).

\- if a,b is on top of the stack, then - pops b and a and puts (a-b) on the stack

\- the value on top of the stack (after the entire string was processed by the stack machine) will determine the final colour of the pixel

\- the algorithm runs for every pixel, that's why it's kinda slow

<comment><USER8> I am one of those people, because I see the examples and the text box but nothing appears to occur when I use it or try any of the examples.

Tried Chrome and FF (and disabling extensions), so I thought I was just doing it wrong.

However, I did a little more digging because of the discussions, and I think the button that I am supposed to click is hidden [http://i.imgur.com/kI8TrfE.png](http://i.imgur.com/kI8TrfE.png)

I dont know how this is happening across both browsers though, but I thought I would leave this here if anyone else is confused as I was.

Update: After trying a few things, stretching the screen width made the button pop up.

<comment><AUTHOR> The page was constructed by progressively adding bits as I coded. The page layout is somewhat crazy because of that.

<comment><USER8> Haha, no worries, I just wanted to try out this cool tool, and had never used something like it before, so I thought it was me!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> The use of single digit constants is a bit strange. Why kot take the approach of dc and let constant tokens be any string of digits, separated either by a different token or whitespace? Or the rather simpler approach of forth where all tokens are separated by whitespace.

I also have to echo shat someone else mentioned: give Forth Haiku a try!

</comment><comment><USER10> Lovely! It reminds me of some methods of generating images with genetic programming, e.g. Karl Sims, [http://dahart.com](http://dahart.com), and [http://picbreeder.org](http://picbreeder.org). The main difference being a stack-based representation versus a tree-based one. Some people do use stack- based genetic programming, so it would be fun to hook this up to one of those systems and evolve textures.

One nice feature in the above strand of research is that the output value, instead of being mapped to a greyscale, is mapped via a colour map to produce colour images.

<comment><AUTHOR> if you provide a mapping function Stackie will generate colours too. It just uses a grey mapper if none is provided.

You can provide your own function that takes a number and returns an ARGB Int32, so for pretty flame you would just do.

      f.generate(Stackie.program("x1x-*5*dx4**y3*p+y!-"));
      var flame = f.getImageData(blackbody);

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> FYI I'm getting "Uncaught TypeError: Failed to construct 'ImageData': Illegal constructor" on Chrome 41.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, it used to be the case that you had to create ImageData from a previously existing Canvas

The ImageData Constructor got support in Chrome 43 and FireFox 29.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Is it me or are there tools for Ludum Dare popping up everywhere? :D

[http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/)

</comment><comment><USER13> Awesome! Would be awesomer if it supported color. E.g. a similar stack based way to generate a smooth 256 color palette.

<comment><AUTHOR> Since Stacky.program() just makes a function(x,y) I added a palette generator. red is at y==0 green y=0.5 blue at y=1.0

so the palette program "x" generates a greyscale. "xy*" makes it orangy.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> That is so cool.

L-systems could work as a stack system too perhaps ?</comment>


The Science of Paper versus Screens (2013) - <AUTHOR> https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reading-paper-screens/ <comment><USER2> > _Sellen has learned that many people do not feel much ownership of e-books > because of their impermanence and intangibility: "They think of using an > e-book, not owning an e-book," she says._

I'm sure most people haven't thought it through that deeply, but when you acquire an ebook, you don't actually own it. All you have is a license to use it for the duration of your life. You can't bequeath it to your heirs when you die, and you can't give it to a friend when you're done reading it. In most cases, you can't even lend it to a friend for a limited period.

<comment><USER3> depending on your definition of "own", you might not own a physical book either. you just have a transferable license. you can read it, you can give it to a friend or heir, but you can't make a copy and both read it at the same time.

<comment><USER2> Under US law, this isn't a "transferable license". You have bought the book and enjoy the rights under the first sale doctrine. The fact that there exist copyright laws that prevent you from doing certain things with the book does not make this into a license. That would be like saying that "you don't buy a baseball bat, you acquire a limited license under which you may hit balls, but not people, with it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER2> > _those who had to scroll through the continuous text did not do as well on > the attention and working-memory tests. Wästlund thinks that scrolling—which > requires a reader to consciously focus on both the text and how they are > moving it—drains more mental resources than turning or clicking a page, > which are simpler and more automatic gestures._

This would indicate that using page-down or space bar to scroll through websites would be better than manually scrolling. But I find the opposite is true, since so many websites have opaque toolbars at the top/bottom. So when I hit [space] and it shifts the content up by one-screenful, it's actually scrolling too far. So then I have to back up using the arrow keys or by scrolling manually.

It's too bad browsers don't have a setting to make it so that page-down only goes 85% of the way or something like that, to avoid this issue. Of course, you'd still have to hunt to find where the next line ended up.

<comment><USER4> I think I read faster and retain more when I read actual paper rather than reading something onscreen, too - nice to see this corroborated. I do feel like I get judged when I read a physical book at work (staring at a book for more than an hour or so brings the boss around to ask 'what are you up to there, commandlinefan? Keepin' busy?'), whereas nobody bats an eye when I spend all day staring at my computer monitor, so I lean toward digital "books" like O'Reilly Safari for learning even though they feel less efficient.

<comment><USER5> The feel and the smell of books engages me a bit more than a screen does. When I'm really into a book, it's much more likely that the texture of the stack of pages will pull me out than my partner saying it's time for dinner.

Books are weird.</comment></comment></comment>


New Firefox3 Theme for MacOS X (wow) - <AUTHOR> http://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox3/Theme/MacOSX <comment><USER2> isn't that a picture of safari?</comment>


To DLT, or not to DLT? That is not the question - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/daml-driven/to-dlt-or-not-to-dlt-that-is-not-the-question-887e5f17e3fe <comment><AUTHOR> This blog post walks through a substantial coding example in DAML, and draws some parallels to how the use case might need to be coded if using more traditional technologies (such as SQL). A really good read for anyone wanting to understand some of the rationale behind DAML. Get the code, download the SDK, and give it a whirl yourself. Would love your feedback!</comment>


How cooking vegetables changed humanity 10,000 years ago - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/12/10000-years-ago-cooking-technology-revolutionized-human-life/ <comment><USER2> Richard Wrangham wrote a great book on this [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Catching-Fire-Cooking-Made- Human/dp...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Catching-Fire-Cooking-Made- Human/dp/184668286X)</comment>