German Lawmakers Vote to Ban the Internal Combustion Engine - <AUTHOR> http://gizmodo.com/german-lawmakers-vote-to-ban-the-internal-combustion-en-1787574000?rev=1475955598501&utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_facebook&utm_source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow <comment><USER2> It is much less imortant than it sounds.

This was passed in the Bundesrat, and Gizmodo claiming it to be "the country's top legislative body" is highly confusing.

Our parliament is called Bundestag. That's where virtually all legislation starts and is passed.

The Bundesrat is the council where the federal states are represented. It may start certain legislative measures, and it must approve some legislation (this ban of ICEs would probably be such a Bundesrat approval required law), but it is a minor player in Germany's legislation.

All the political action happens in the Bundestag which hasn't even debated it, yet.

And IMO it is doubtful that it will.

<comment><USER3> Germany isn't the only country discussing this, Norway and the Netherlands are talking about it.

The upshot is really, if you want to meet 2050 climate goals, this is entirely rational and reasonable policy. Of course, reading the online comments, many many people are still in the camp: "Let's save the climate, but only at zero inconvenience!"

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Even if this doesn't happen this time, it -will- happen in the foreseeable future. While there may not be the technology and infrastructure in place that would be needed for mass adoption of EVs by just about everyone, if there's a legislative timeline in place, then it will get done. Look at the history of F1 - every time new rules have been put in place (limitation on engines, hybrids, etc) there's been a lot of moaning about how "impossible" the new rules are to live by, and every time the engineers come up with the goods; the recent fuel capacity and flow limits in F1 were initially difficult, and now they've led to engines with around 50% thermal efficiency - far ahead of road car engines.

I really hope that they do this, as we can't go on using fossil fuels forever. If there was a realistic affordable alternative for me to my current vehicle (a Renault Trafic van), then I'd take it. But there isn't at any price at the moment, let alone what I can afford. But there will be if this sort of legislation passes.

</comment><comment><USER5> With headlines like these I sometimes wonder if it's just a PR piece to make nation X seem progressive (if you think of a nation as a brand).

Reality is that Germany is very conservative and the car industry is too strong in influencing politics to follow their interests. This works particularily well because the policy-makers are very worried about unemployment - so much that they'd rather risk sacrificing our children's future.

There was a panel with Elon Musk and the German minister of economics, where the minister said something along the line of: We can't allow jobs to be lost, even if it means we're going to have to continue ruining our environment. (!)

So no, unfortunately nothing will happen in Germany, a country where subsidies for (partially) electric vehicles are available only since this year and are limited to sales prices below €60k, conveniently excluding the Model S.

<comment><USER6> Model S is a luxury product. What if Bugatti makes a $1 mil electric car, should the government subsidize that, only because it's electric?

<comment><USER7> True. How was the 60,000 number reached?

<comment><USER8> I don't think the calculation has been made public but obviously that number was derived through a political process in the government. It is rumored that it was meant to be 40k in the first place, excluding almost all models.

Note that the 60k also excludes some German models such as the BMW i8 which would otherwise be eligible.

<comment><USER7> It is interesting how 60,000 excludes ONLY Tesla but excludes only some models from other companies. It's very difficult to not make the obvious conclusion on how that number was reached.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> 44% of Germany's electricity is currently from coal[1]. Hopefully they plan to reduce that, or this is a wee bit misguided.

[1][http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=26372](http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=26372)

<comment><USER10> As with any startup, you need to look at the trend. And Germany's use of renewable energy is increasing year by year, as shown here:

[https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/germanys- energy-c...](https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/germanys-energy- consumption-and-power-mix-charts)

On sunny summer days coal is down to 25% already, the day-by-day data is available here: [https://www.energy-charts.de/power.htm](https://www.energy- charts.de/power.htm)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> More stupid regulations and micromanagement. If you want people to cut down on co2, tax that. Don't dictate what the solutions should look like, that's what the Soviets did and they turned out well.

<comment><USER12> Banning ICEs is not the same as mandating a particular alternative.

<comment><USER13> No, GP is saying that instead of taxing carbon where people are free to choose how to minimize carbon emission (and how much to minimize), the proposal bans ICE engines.

<comment><USER14> Annual car taxes in germany have been based on emissions for around two decades already. This is the step after that.

<comment><USER15> But wouldn't it be much simpler to increase those taxes instead? Rather than dealing with each COx source on a case-by-case basis, just increase the cost of COx emissions and let the market and technology negotiate around the tax. If you can accurately price the external costs of X, and charge that, then the rest takes care of itself. Whether through decreased output of X, or through enough money coming from it to nullify its effects.

<comment><USER16> Taxes can create loopholes or outright frauds (VW diesel scandal?), what's the problem with the ban? No ICEs anymore, that's it, go for electrical or whatever isn't fossil-fuel based anymore.

Why do all of this juggling with taxes, pricing, etc. when you are a sovereign state and can just decide "no more"?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Just as a thought experiment, I'm trying to imagine what a non-diesel version of a Caterpillar D8 would look like, and where you'd be able to hide the batteries. I think you'd need much better batteries than what we've got now. It's hard to beat the energy density of diesel.

<comment><USER18> Keep in mind that a lot of construction and earth-moving equipment has substantial counterweights and center-of-gravity mass engineering. Replacing steel with battery doesn't imply a cost constraint.

I have my own doubts over the viability for long-lived battery-powered construction equipment. At the same time, running high-voltage power leads all over a construction site would be dangerous (it already is a hazard for carpentry and powering handheld equipment). A combination of modest battery packs and quick-charging stations might offer a fair mix.

Construction equipment spends a fair bit of time at or near idle power, mixed with high-load (mostly high-torque) power demands. This actually fits the capabilities of electric power fairly well. It's the storage capacity, cost, and damage risks which seem to argue against it.

<comment><USER19> A short search pops up this Catepillar D7E Electric Drive Dozer. Still diesel powered, but the drive train is fully electric. 'The engine is a turbocharged diesel—a 9.3-liter inline-six that makes 235 horsepower'

At 235 HP that's similar to the Tesla Model S. Though being fair the Model S's motor operates at a fraction of that most of the time.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7JNPolgxDk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7JNPolgxDk)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> My bet as a german is that this is not going to happen. Ze lobbying is strong with this one.

<comment><USER21> I think it'll happen to a substantial degree. The automotive giants have put a lot of r&d into alternate energy sources and drivetrains - this has been looming on the horizon for decades.

I don't think they'll achieve an outright ban, but we probably will see a limit on capacity for ICE engines, and see them disallowed in trucks and other heavy vehicles - they account for a majority of emissions.

Market demand will take care of the rest, as I don't think there'll be much interest in new fossil cars once electric is cheaper and more powerful, which is happening as we speak.

Also, VW probably achieved a stonking own goal with the emissions scandal - many who bought "eco" cars thinking they were doing their bit have been let down, and the Germans are an environmentally conscious lot.

Me, I've been putting my money where my mouth is and buying nice houses on busy noisy roads. They'll still be busy in ten years, but quiet and no longer polluted - and once driverless tech is firmly in, congestion and density go away too.

<comment><USER22> The roads will not be much quieter. At 35km/h the rolling noise of the tires is louder than a modern combustion engine. In Germany a lot of new roads are paved with so called "whisper pavement" that reduces this noise but it will take decades until all roads are paved that way and on very buys roads it will not have much of an impact.

<comment><USER5> I challenge this opinion. If you have any ressources to back your claim, please share!

My estimates for the velocity where tire noise will be substantially louder than the rest of the car are much higher, more like 60km/h.

<comment><USER22> It is surprisingly difficult to find an English source for this.

[1] shows on page 3 a significantly higher tire noise for 50 kph (+8 dbA) but doesn't show lower speeds than 50 kph.

[2] is in German and from the Austrian Federal Environment Agency and states that for cars build after 1996 25 kph is the point where the tire noise takes over at a steady speed and at 50 kph when the car is accelerating.

1: [http://www.asphaltroads.org/assets/_control/content/files/an...](http://www.asphaltroads.org/assets/_control/content/files/anintroductiontotire- pavementnoiseofasphaltpavement.pdf)

2: [http://www.umweltbundesamt.at/umweltsituation/laerm/laermsch...](http://www.umweltbundesamt.at/umweltsituation/laerm/laermschutz/massn_strasse/reifenlaerm/)

<comment><USER5> Thanks! The various components of tire noise are interesting.

One other thing that came to my mind is that tire noise is usually concetrated in the high frequencies, whereas some cars, especially trucks, emit very low- frequency noises. The latter penetrate walls and windows much more easily.

Of course tire noise won't go away with electric cars, but in my opion there's a vast underestimation of how much quieter roads and cities could be without combustion engines.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Germany has the 2nd highest electric prices for household consumers [0]. This will play an important role to how far this can go.

[0] [http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics- explained/index.php/...](http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics- explained/index.php/File:Electricity_prices_for_household_consumers,_second_half_2015_\(¹\)_\(EUR_per_kWh\)_YB16.png)</comment>


SpiritJS – easily animate objects on the web - <AUTHOR> https://spiritjs.io/ <comment><USER2> Interesting! Maybe this will replace GSAP in my projects if it has better performance.</comment>


Did the CEO of Reddit Pierce Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act? - <AUTHOR> http://associatesmind.com/2016/11/24/did-the-ceo-of-reddit-pierce-section-230/ <comment><AUTHOR> Summary:

> Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has confessed to modifying the posts of some users > on the most visible Donald Trump-supporting "subreddit" community after they > repeatedly slung verbal abuse in his direction…

> By editing users' comments to reflect something other than their original > intent, Huffman changed himself and Reddit from being an "interactive > computer service" to an "information content provider." i.e. If Huffman or > Reddit are sued, they cannot claim Section 230 immunity from a lawsuit.

> In legal terms, Huffman has exposed Reddit to liability.

> That the CEO of a media company so flagrantly violated the integrity of the > copyright of its users is insane. It represents a complete lack of > understanding of the ethical, moral, and legal duties he has to his > customers and his shareholders. Huffman has potentially exposed Reddit to > legal liability through his actions. By any account, it's a breach of his > fiduciary duty to shareholders.

EFF:

[https://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers/legal/liability/230](https://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers/legal/liability/230)

> Section 230 says that "No provider or user of an interactive computer > service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information > provided by another information content provider."

> However, you may still be held responsible for information you provide in > commentary or through editing. For example, if you edit the statement, "Fred > is not a criminal" to remove the word "not," a court might find that you > have sufficiently contributed to the content to take it as your own. > Likewise, if you link to an article, but provide a defamatory comment with > the link, you may not qualify for the immunity.</comment>


Startup Copycats: You're Doing it Wrong. - <AUTHOR> http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2012/06/05/startup-copycats-youre-doing-it-wrong/ <comment><USER2> TL;DR: Copy startups that have a significant barrier to entry in a country where you are familiar with ways to overcome said barrier. Use your knowledge of local regulations and how to maneuver them in your advantage. In general: aim to be a country-scoped Stripe versus a country-scoped Pinterest or Twitter.

My take (only slightly off-topic): While I emphatically agree with the author on the types of startup one should aim to clone locally, I see little discussion regarding the inherent difficulties of even starting _any kind_ of business in many countries. Mandatory _expensive_ social insurance, high company formation costs, bureaucracy, all make bootstrapping prohibitive. In other words, maybe the problem isn't getting inspiration for the proper kind of startup to clone; it's finding a way to get the ball rolling.

<comment><USER3> Yeah for a startup that is kind of true; it depends a bit on what it is, but generally 'doing a startup' is costly. I wouldn't say those mandatory social insurance and other things are very different in different countries (depending on your bootstrapping wallet size). However if you don't go for those typical growths of startups and you just want a few million $ in the end (I guess, according to Wikipedia, that's not a startup), it is not so hard to bootstrap and build + make a good living. I don't particularly need rocket ship money.

As an example; my wife and I started a dating site in one EU country (which was crowded with dating sites) for (in the beginning) around $150/month hosting and 'free' programming (I spent a few weeks on it in my spare time). We spent $250 on marketing and after around 6 months it made more than I made from my other company with almost no work (30-60 min/day). Sold it for very nice money (no mortgage); did a few of those kind of things and invested (part) of the money in 'bigger' things with actually employees. I often like that of model a lot better than stories on HN; simply reasoned; there are only a few Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest like companies; the chance that your millions $ VC company makes it is not that large. It's make or break otherwise the VC multiplier is not large enough.

I think to bootstrap, depending on your company, you need the right group of people and the idea depends on those people. If your wife happens to know _all_ the press in your country, it's far easier to bootstrap a number of companies than when you have to hire PR companies. It's your job as entrepreneur to gather people around you who will help you.

So while I agree with your ; for a typical startup you need a lot of resources to get off the ground, but for any kind of business; nah. It depends on your dreams, but if you just want to supplement or replace your income (or work more or less), it's not that hard.

<comment><USER4> how did you make money from your dating site if the market is very crowded with competing service and most of them available for free?

<comment><USER3> The rest was worse at marketing and monetization. So you have the huge players (with millions marketing money) and far after that the old ones which were dying anyway and then us and then the 1000s of sites who couldn't manage over a 1000 members (in total, not per month even). And ours was free as well, we had good free marketing and managed to monetize more than the other free ones.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> There's still a lot of cases where it's very hard for even a consumer-facing US-based web startup to get traction in another country, for language and cultural reasons. Japan is a particularly notable case; it's often said that companies without an office in Japan never succeed there. Some examples:

 _Pixiv_ vs. DeviantArt

 _Mixi_ vs. Facebook

 _Nico Nico Douga_ vs. Youtube

China is an even more extreme case, though that also has problems of corruption, legal wrangling, censorship, and so on.

<comment><USER6> Facebook began gaining more traction in Japan once they setup a special office in Tokyo and let them make tweaks to the product only for the Japanese market - AFAIK, this was a unique case for them at the time, and they didn't do anything besides basic localization (which they crowdsourced...) for other nations. One of the things they did to show that they understood Japanese culture was to add a blood-type field to user profiles, a superstitious statistic that's nevertheless prevalent there. Before that, it felt too foreign.

Anecdotal but I've had many more of my Japanese and Korean friends abroad join Facebook in the last year or two.

<comment><USER7> I agree that those helped, but when the people around me started using facebook was right around the time "Social Network" came out in Japan.

I used to be on Mixi, and I and most people I know have pretty much stopped using it. When they started tying in their services to other APIs like Twitter, etc, I think is when they really jumped the shark.

(Also, Mixi is not really a Facebook clone, per say, as they both launched in the same month. I would say they were just another SNS that was more geared towards the Japanese market)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I disagree. Sure, they're the bigger name HERE in the US, but when you clone a startup that hasn't moved overseas yet, the clone becomes the bigger name, e.g. Renren, the facebook clone. Facebook is available in china, but I don't see them gaining "100% of the user market". A clone that gets traction early on can dominate the market.

<comment><USER9> > Facebook is available in china, but I don't see them gaining "100% of the > user market".

Facebook is Public Enemy #1a (Twitter is 1b) to the Chinese government. It's only available via a VPN, and VPN is an _expensive_ proposition to most Chinese - having one means effectively doubling your internet bill. Most Chinese know Facebook, just like they know Twitter and YouTube. They just aren't willing to jump through the hoops required to use them over renren, weibo, or youku.

A much better example of your point (sticking with China) would be tencent (QQ) - they cloned ICQ and are now a massive company WITHOUT protection from the government.

<comment><USER10> I can see FB [eventually] negotiating its way into China and succeeding as the dominant social network, Twitter on the other hand, I think Sina Weibo has won that space, imo.

<comment><USER9> For that, Facebook will have to give in to a surveillance backdoor and respond to realtime censorship demands. I just can't see them going there.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> The advice about cloning a regulated startup is wise in that meeting a certain set of regulatory requirements can be a great differentiator. That said, the specific experience, network, and skill set required by a team to crack a particularly regulatory regime is if anything tougher to assemble than to crack a particular technical problem.

<comment><USER11> *particular</comment></comment>


Private Cloud File Sync with Raspberry Pi under 30 Minutes - <AUTHOR> http://www.codingepiphany.com/2013/09/15/private-cloud-file-sync-with-raspberry-pi-under-30-minutes/ <comment><USER2> Just an owncloud installation on a spammy "guide" blog. Move along.

<comment><AUTHOR> Why is it spammy? The things that I wrote is real and I do not impose any spam or whatever. Perhaps you would like to suggest some improvements?</comment></comment>


Show HN: React hooks that help you do what you already did with more indirection - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/pveyes/use-less <comment><USER2> A joke right?

> Because it's written in typescript, you can be sure these hooks are free of > bugs.

And useProps?!</comment>


Aboriginal Hunters' Fires Help Restore an Australian Desert - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/08/science/australia-aboriginal-fires-martu.html <comment><USER2> Indigenous folks using fire beneficially isn't unique to Australia; it's also used by folks native to California. I've helped with burns used to knock back plants like hazelnut so they'll produce long thin branches ideal for basketry. Here's an article that discusses the same idea in a north american context: [https://www.hcn.org/articles/tribal-affairs-california- wildf...](https://www.hcn.org/articles/tribal-affairs-california-wildfires- werent-always-this-destructive)

<comment><USER3> Restore is a relative word. It seems that all the ecosystem not tolerant to fire or acumulating water was wiped long time ago, thousands of plants, animals and fungi went extinct and is not possible to restore it anymore, so we stick with the second best forever

When all was turned into a frypan, adding oil and burning it regularly helps, but this does not mean that other ways weren't possible.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> If you want to know more, there are two related books you can read:

The Greatest Estate On Earth, Bill Gammage, on how Australian indigenous land management was much more extensive than commonly thought

Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe - this one cites the above substantially and is much more polemic, but it looks at more aspects of Australian indigenous life, hunting, trade etc.

<comment><USER5> Great books, I recommend them too.</comment></comment>


Pgsodium: Modern cryptography for PostgreSQL using libsodium - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/michelp/pgsodium <comment><USER2> Author here. I'd like to put it out there that pgsodium is relatively new work that hasn't seen any serious battle testing. At this point you should consider it more risky to use than pgcrypto, for now.

That being said pgsodium is far less code than pgcrypto, it contains no algorithms or magic numbers, it's a straight no frills interface to libsodium which is a very well tested library based on solid cryptography.

Also pgsodium has some features that pgcrypto doesn't have:

      - Public Key Signatures
      - Anonymous Sealed Boxes
      - Key Derivation Functions
      - Key Exchange
      - Server Managed Secret Keys

Feel free to drop me any questions here!

<comment><USER3> This is HN, where commenters liberally espouse variants and competitors.

Props to you, the author of pgSodium, for being the first to mention pgCrypto.

The extra features of PgSodium look handy. Is featureset the main reason you created PG sodium? Or are there other reasons, like performance, or interfaces, for example?

New entrant risk aside, are there other reasons to maybe prefer pgCrypto at the moment?

<comment><USER2> I wrote pgjwt, a JWT implementation for Postgres, my primary motivation is that pgcrypto does not have public key signing, which is needed for JWT. Once I started experimenting with the one feature it sort of snowballed from there, I still haven't implemented public signing in pgjwt!

To keep using pgcrypto? Well its got a lot of history, so its easy to find examples of its use. The documentation is decent. And it comes with most cloud providers where you are generally restricted from installing extensions like pgsodium.

To not use pgcrypto? I'll use the words of a core PostgreSQL developer said recently on the pgsql-hackers mailing list:

"I'd strongly advise against having any new infrastructure depend on pgcrypto. Its code quality imo is well below our standards and contains serious red flags like very outdated copies of cryptography algorithm implementations. I think we should consider deprecating and removing it, not expanding its use. It certainly shouldn't be involved in any potential disk encryption system at a later stage."

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> > In general it is a bad idea to store secrets in the database itself

Perhaps my ignorance is showing but do hashed passwords count as secrets? Because those are usually stored in databases.

<comment><USER5> Properly hashed/salted passwords are considered safe to store in a database. You still wouldn't want them to be stolen, but they are not in plaintext. There are other times when you do need to store secrets that you need to be able to decrypt so you can use them.

<comment><USER6> It all depends on two factors:

a) minimal required entropy of the passwords themselves.

b) how computation expensive is the hash function itself.

The threat model in password bashing scenario is that the attacker wants to discover the password and then use it to impersonate the user.

Thus the attacker needs to guess the password, by searching though the space of all possible passwords (using heuristics such as dictionary, common letter/number replacements, common position of symbols mandatory in many password policies) and the the candidate password needs to be hashed and compared to the known good hash.

By using an expensive hash function such as bcrypt you can limit the ability of exhaustively search the space of all possible passwords. But if a user uses a weak password, the attack will succeed and leaking the hashes will make the search go several orders of magnitude faster than online brute forcing (I.e real login attempts, which can be throttled)

<comment><USER7> c) the fact that in the real world, some users will re-use "secure" passwords.

<comment><USER6> In the real world this reduces password entropy, thus it falls under (a) :-)

EDIT: perhaps it would be easier to just think of it in terms of predictability. Often tech jargon gets in the way.

<comment><USER7> Yes and no. You could argue the infamous Debian openssl bug reduced entropy [1], but it really is about compromised keys. Or in this case compromised passwords.

[1] in a sense, this is of course obviously and literally true (that it is about entropy). But I think the more interesting distinction is between leaked secrets, and "bad" secrets - in that light the "Debian keys" all form a group of "leaked" secret keys. There's nothing inherently wrong with the generated keys - but you'd have to improbably unlucky to "accidentally" generate any given compromised key using a good rng. In the same way, the password "T _GSCfkL$seG2@tn5D_ owiFJ$nPj%KW#vMT" that bitwarden just generated for me isn't inherently bad - until now, that it's been published/leaked.

So I'm not sure I agree that it's all/only about entropy.

I think it illustrates well that secrets and especially those managed by people (such as passwords and passphrases) have systemic component: the system seen as a whole incorporates users, other systems as well as any one given system (Gmail is affected by leaked Hotmail accounts, and vice-versa).

<comment><USER6> I'm not disagreeing.

I just wanted to highlight to to break a password you need a) to guess it b) to verify it.

Leaking the hashes affects (b)</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: I loved Snow Crash and Daemon.  What should I read next? - <AUTHOR> I also just finished Ready Player One and enjoyed it.  What are you folks reading these days? <comment><USER3> If you enjoyed "Snow Crash" and "Diamond Age", I'd recommend "Islands in the Net" (if you can get hold of a copy) and "Holy Fire" by Bruce Sterling. Or for something newer, "the Zenith Angle" by same.

I've also enjoyed all of Willam Gibsons books, including the latest trilogy "Pattern Recognition", "Spook Country" and "Zero History".

If you bothered to read through "Cryptonomicon" you'll either love "the Code Book" by Simon Singh more than I did, or hate it :-)

Assuming you've picket through the classics shelf, you might have missed out on Samuel Delany - "The Einstein Intersection" might be a good one to try on for size -- although I actually found "Neveryóna" to be maybe his most interesting book (of the ones I've been able to get hold of) [edit: After "Dhalgren", that is. But I think "Dhalgren" is a bit like Joyce's "Ulysses" -- a classic I haven't gotten around to yet. I spent the better part of ten (10!) years reading through "Dhalgren", picking it up on odd holidays - <USER2> loosing touch with the intricate unreality within, readily satisfied after reading a few pages or a chapter -- like nibbling on a choice ham that didn't spoil. It's rather more complex than any of the other books I've listed here].

Also worth mentioning in the "might be overlooked" section is Jerry Pournelle's "Falkenberg's Legion" (republished as "the Prince").

I'm afraid I've been mostly digging through second hand books lately, so the only other semi-recent book I could recommend would be "Broken Angels" by Richard Morgan (technically it's number two in a trilogy -- but I find it stands better on its own).

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the detailed reply!

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> A book that often escapes even cyberpunk fans is John Brunner's "The Shockwave Rider". It was written in 1975 but is eerily prescient - at least I thought so when I read it in the 90's.

Of course, I also recommend Gibson's books. And "Ender's Game"/"Ender's Shadow", even though they're not cyberpunk/cyber thrillers.

</comment><comment><USER5> This is one of my favorites. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerando_(novel)>

</comment><comment><USER6> Massive recommendation for 'Blindsight' by Peter Watts, if you want your mind blown. And the author has made it available for free! <http://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm>

<comment><USER7> I bought that book to support him after his shitty customs experience. Turned out to be one of the greatest novels I've ever read. Totally fascinating.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive. The Cukoo's Egg is good as well.

</comment><comment><USER9> Enders Game and Enders Shadow by Orson Scott Card. Before the movie comes out: <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1731141/>

</comment><comment><USER3> I guess op's not really paying attention any more, but there's a relevant discussion on slashdot today:

[http://ask.slashdot.org/story/12/08/08/2135246/ask- slashdot-...](http://ask.slashdot.org/story/12/08/08/2135246/ask-slashdot- most-underappreciated-sci-fi-writer)

I can heartily recommend most of the stuff in the 4+ comments: Ursula Le Guin, Lem, Strugatsky, Kurt Vonnegut... and of course Alfred Bester, especially "The Stars my Destination", proto cyberpunk.

</comment><comment><USER10> I quite enjoyed Simon Morden's Metrozone trilogy - which has a lot of similarities to Snow Crash and Daemon (main character is essentially a hacker, run-amok AI, cyberpunkish dystopian future...)

<http://www.simonmorden.com/books/equations-of-life/> includes an excerpt from the first book.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the reference!

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> The sequel to Daemon(by Daniel Suarez I'm assuming), Freedom, was good. I also enjoyed Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge.

<comment><USER12> & Suarez's third book, Kill Decision.. I read that in two days flat. :o.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Diamond Age is recommended. You might also like Little Brother by Doctorow. I would recommend anything by China Mieville. Take a look <http://blog.kaipakartik.com> you might find something you want to read.

</comment><comment><USER14> Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan - highly. highly. Recommend. Ready Player One... meh. Much preferred MetaGame (only $2!). Otherwise - The Quantum Thief was a great mind blower. Haven't heard of Daemon, loved Snow Crash. Will look into.

<comment><USER3> I wonder how those two stack up to "Dream Park" by Larry Niven?

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> I'd suggest The Diamond Age as a logical continuation from Snow Crash because it's also awesome and because it's very (very) loosely a sequel. It has a different tone and pace and theme, however.

<comment><AUTHOR> Ah, yes, I loved the Diamond Age also. Actually, I think I've read almost everything by Neal Stephenson.

<comment><USER14> Cryptonomicon? The only book I ever read to say "I beat you massive book!" and not for enjoyment. In the end it was a decent romp.

<comment><USER16> I had the endurance to read through Cryptonomicon, it was long but still enjoyable.

Then I bought all three volumes of the Baroque Cycle, but gave up halfway through volume 1 and sold them. It was just too much.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> You might also enjoy Philip K Dick. His style is very different than Snow Crash, but I feel like their visions of the future have a lot in common.

<comment><USER18> Reputedly, Stanislaw Lem thought Philip K. Dick was the only good American sci-fi author, while Philip K. Dick thought Stanislaw Lem was a KGB conspiracy.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> I'd suggest the Otherland series: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otherland></comment>


Show HN: MakersTHEMES v1.0. – Free Website Blueprints for Startups and Makers - <AUTHOR> https://demo.bootstraptor.com/freebies <comment><AUTHOR> If you are not 100% fluent with HTML/CSS, these boilerplates will give you a set of layouts and components to get you started. Make by @Bootstraptor with <3 & Blueprints App.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> If your startup is in the planning of building a website, or if you're looking for a refresh, this helps to start at some of the best examples of startup websites for cues.</comment>


Self-Driving Mercedes Will Be Programmed to Sacrifice Pedestrian Save the Driver - <AUTHOR> https://www.fastcompany.com/3064539/self-driving-mercedes-will-be-programmed-to-sacrifice-pedestrians-to-save-the-driver <comment><USER2> Can you imagine what a great sales-pitch it would be with "Buy this Mercedes, and we'll make sure it's you that dies in an accident rather than some random pedestrian."</comment>


Ask HN: Would you pay for a poster of your code? - <AUTHOR>

I'm building a side project that takes your Github/Bitbucket repo, lets you pick some source files and create a 24x36 poster that is mailed to you(perhaps to mark the first release of your code). Font would be monospaced to fit evenly on the poster and perhaps some columns of code?  The cost with rough estimates should be $50. I think it would be damn cool to have the first release of a project I worked on or an open source project I work on. What do you think?<p>edit: Something like http://imgur.com/wgDRIyL <comment><USER2> Love the concept, don't like the current design of the posters. It is like reading the phone book(!). I wouldn't hang that on my wall, sorry.

Would I be interested in something like this? Maybe. But $50 is a legitimate thought-through purchase (read: I need to justify it to my +1). Anything over $30 is not something I can buy on a whim, and this is a "on a whim" kind of purchase.

<comment><AUTHOR> The generic columns being ugly seems to be a repeated theme. The $30 price does seem like a good price point. Would you care if the size was smaller to meet the price? Smaller size being 24x18.

<comment><USER2> To be honest I struggle to visualise just how big 24x18 is. Something the size of a 19" monitor would be nice just to hang up in a cube farm.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I like this idea a lot and I actually like the design. It's nice and minimal - a interesting conversation piece perhaps when having guests over.

<comment><AUTHOR> At least in certain types of programming, you create something that can never be touch.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> What would it look like, do you have an example?

<comment><AUTHOR> Something like: [http://imgur.com/wgDRIyL](http://imgur.com/wgDRIyL)

Also a physical example: [http://imgur.com/mI0ETBu](http://imgur.com/mI0ETBu) But still fiddling with fonts and line spacing and spacing between columns.

I did this manually and tested physical print, which came out really nice. and you can read the code!

<comment><USER5> While the ability to read snippets of code is fun, you want to aim for a more striking visual style. Consider adding syntax highlighting specifically to add splashes of color, and doing something to make the columns look less uniform and newspapery.

<comment><AUTHOR> I was thinking of the ability to upload a logo, but the logo would only overlay the text and not the background.

<comment><USER5> That suggests an idea that would require significantly more image processing to do, but would provide a huge amount of value: can you analyze the logo and the source code, and construct a large image of the logo out of snippets of source code, using code/whitespace density for shading? A print-resolution poster of a project logo constructed out of that project's source code is _definitely_ something I'd pay money for, and lower-resolution versions will work well on social media.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Whats the finish and weight of the poster?

<comment><AUTHOR> finish: semi gloss weight: ~170g

I'm sure other types can be created for different prices.</comment></comment>


Cal State L.A. turns the most low-income students into top earners - <AUTHOR> https://www.csmonitor.com/EqualEd/2017/0124/Why-Cal-State-L.A.-turns-the-most-low-income-students-into-top-earners <comment><USER2> I got my BSCS from this school, and landed a great gig within a month of graduation. As a "re-entry" student on a tight budget (30 year-old working food service), I met many others who were similarly driven to build the skillsets and relationships to launch their careers as efficiently as possible.

Anecdotally, I will say these factors likely boost the effectiveness of this particular campus:

1\. Smart, capable students have the "inferiority complex" of being surrounded by CalTech, USC, UCLA. They know they need to push harder to have equal footing when stepping into the industry.

2\. Several of the industries represented in Los Angeles are more interested in loyal, hard-working candidates than prestigious/elite geniuses. I have talked with many representatives from companies partnering with CSULA on student projects who have expressed this.

3\. Students I met were generally more interested in launching their careers than in pursuing the quintessential "college life", e.g. parties, campus societies

4\. Specifically for STEM students: the Los Angeles tech scene has deep roots with the aerospace industry, as well as a lot of companies doing real tech work without the flair of typical SV/NYC companies. I had instructors who work (or have worked) at NASA JPL, AT&T, Boeing, Western Digital, and in medical research at USC/UCLA.

<comment><USER3> >I got my BSCS from this school, and landed a great gig within a month of graduation. As a "re-entry" student on a tight budget (30 year-old working food service), I met many others who were similarly driven to build the skillsets and relationships to launch their careers as efficiently as possible.

As someone working their way through the California public school system in a similar situation, I've hit a roadblock with the math classes. Having no background in even basic high school math has killed me, failing pre-calculus twice now. Any tips?

<comment><USER4> I was in a similar situation in college. What helped me was to do /every/ problem in the homework and check them -- many math books will provide answers to even or odd numbered questions. It sounds like a drag (and it was), but I also finally passed with a very good grade!

Also after you've done the homework, make sure you consult with your teacher about things that troubled you. Having battled your way through so many examples, you will be able to appreciate their explanation better than if you never tried them.

Good luck!

<comment><USER5> Slader.com also has solutions for pretty much every problem in a mass published textbook

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This was a good article and despite the location of CSLA a good look outside of the coastal elite education bubble.

Far too often the focus is only on the elite students at the elite schools when its clear upward mobility, just in sheer quantity, is better created at less elite public institutions like the CUNY schools or the CSUs. Hell even the culture war aspects are overstated - the "campus free speech" pearl- clutching is based on the experiences of maybe 5-7 elite institutions, and the entirety of the "Asian discrimination in admissions" controversy is based _entirely_ on the superiority of 3-5 elite schools.

Far more needs to be done to extend upward mobility to everyone in this country and that isn't going to happen by focusing energies entirely on the HYPSM.

Relevant - [https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/shut-up-about- harvard/](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/shut-up-about-harvard/)

<comment><USER7> There's a reason why California has the CC/CSU/UC system split up. Each system and tackle different missions within public education.

The CC system works for adults with many weekend/night offerings and a huge emphasis on usable skills and trades. The CSU system is the budget/value offering to young adults with a good blend of trades/liberal arts with a focus on practical applications. Both of these systems are excellent for high volume upward mobility when they're functioning.

Then there's the UC system which serves as the halo product that's supposed to draw in or retain the best and brightest. This mostly serves to keep the middle class from leaving California, or when that fails, draw in upper-middle class from elsewhere.

Are California's "elite public institutions" doing less for upward mobility than the CC/CSU system? Probably, but that's not it's main mission. It's trying to preserve the existing middle class, which is arguably just as important as raising the lower class.

<comment><USER8> "The CSU system is the budget/value offering to young adults with a good blend of trades/liberal arts with a focus on practical applications."

They also provide a cheaper way to get the bulk of your first two years' credits in place before proceeding to a "four-year" university.

<comment><USER9> CSUs and UCs are both four-year (plus, as both offer graduate as well as undergraduate education) schools.

You may be thinking of California's not public community college system.

<comment><USER7> There's a not-public system? The one I'm aware of is very much public: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Community_Colleges_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Community_Colleges_System)

<comment><USER9> The "not" was spurious; I'm not (and I mean that one) sure of how it got there.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> The top five schools are all in areas with a lot of recent immigrants, of course. That's the best supply of smart kids from low-income households.

<comment><USER11> I have to agree. The first generation of immigrants are generally poor, but eager for their children to move up the ladder, and do everything they can to make that happen. It's often the main reason they came.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> One thing I don't understand - if these universities are: 1\. Running at a profit (growing endowments) 2\. A path to the middle class

Why doesn't the government just roll the profits from the current pool of public uni's to new public uni's until prices start falling and demand is satisfied? Seems like it could only be good for society?

<comment><USER13> Public universities are not profitable. Quite the opposite: tuition and fees cover only part of their operating costs; the rest comes from the government. In California, AFAIK, public universities don't have endowments. Government funding of universities is seen as an investment in the state's economy and in greater opportunity for all Californians. That's the story at least.

Theoretically they should be self-sustaining on the large scale: education -> greater economic output -> higher tax revenue -> funding for education. Unfortunately that hasn't really proven to be sustainable in California for a variety of reasons.

<comment><USER14> UC's have an endowment (~$10B), and for UCLA (where I work), the state funds contribute to about 6% of revenues. Tuition is only about 10%.

<comment><USER15> That is misleading because they are counting their hospital's revenue in the pie. That only matters if the hospitals are generating profits the rest of the university can use. Otherwise, the hospital is revenue coming in and costs being spent with no relation to the education arm of the system.

<comment><USER16> The hospital does account for ~33% of revenues[0], but the Med School and the Hospital also account for ~55% of total expenses[1] so it doesn't seem entirely unfair to include them in the revenue stream.

0: [https://ucla.app.box.com/v/acct-pdf- AFR-15-16](https://ucla.app.box.com/v/acct-pdf-AFR-15-16) page 37

1: [https://ucla.app.box.com/v/acct-pdf- AFR-15-16](https://ucla.app.box.com/v/acct-pdf-AFR-15-16) page 28

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Highlight for me:

> One of the really striking findings of the study was, that you would in some > sense really rather know where somebody went to college rather than how much > money their parents make, if you wanted to guess how much money they were > going to make in the future

<comment><USER18> [https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/cde/cdewp/98-07.pdf](https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/cde/cdewp/98-07.pdf)

At the bottom of the study you see education is the most important factor in career success for your first job. About 7x more accurate than parent's income.

<comment><USER19> hm, how much does parents income determine education though..

<comment><USER20> Why is this being downvoted?

To elaborate: if, hypothetically, one's parent's income was a huge determining factor in one's education, and in turn one's education was the only relevant factor to one's income, then there would be a 100% correlation between one's education and one's income, and a statistically much smaller one between one's parent's income and one's education.

Although we see that strong correlation between education and income, we should evaluate the previous step through analyzing the correlation of parent's income to your education, not the correlation of parent's income to your income as that would be more indirect.

Please correct me if I'm missing something.

<comment><USER20> Edit: in the last sentence of the first paragraph, the statistically smaller one would be parent's income and your income; sorry for the mixup

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I had a privedged international education and taught at Berkeley and Chicago, but the hardest working student I ever knew was an undocumented refugee who started at CSLA and transferred to Northridge for his junior and senior years. To save bus fare, he slept in the bushes at Northridge. Last year he got his BS and found a good job. He supported himself through school as a sexworker. I'm in awe of his grit and endurance. We need schools that can accommodate hard-working students who succeed despite unconventional lives. And We need such people of remarkable courage and character to become leaders in corporate life. I'm proud to support the Cal State system with my taxes.</comment>


A 22-year-old anti-Nazi song tops German charts again – to welcome refugees - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/04/a-22-year-old-anti-nazi-song-tops-german-charts-again-to-welcome-refugees/ <comment><USER2> There is a coordinated media attempt across the EU to spin positive 'messaging' onto the refugee crisis. But make no mistake this is a total disaster for the refugees, member state Citizens and the EU bureaucracy. The EU has been exposed once again as an incompetent overreaching poorly though dangerously romantic mistake.

Continuous failures of ECB policy, the collapse of Greece under the EURO, the PIGS in serious trouble, add a totally uncontrolled mass refugee crisis, the entire EU project looks like an incompetent bureaucratic mess.

The damage is so great that Even China and Russia have managed to claim the moral high ground and quit rightly blame the crisis on the EU itself and NATO adventurism in Syria.

I do not think rehashing WW2 German collective guilt as a media spectacle is going to change the perceptions of anyone paying attention to this horrible situation.

<comment><USER3> What I don't understand is why us Europeans have to pay for the adventurism of the NATO; I wish all the refugees moved to Israel and the US, to be honest.

Once again Putin is right, and this uncovers how a permanent conflict at the arab world is in the interest of the NATO and the US/Israel-aligned world overall.

<comment><USER4> You do realize that Europe is part of the US aligned world and the only thing preventing Europe from becoming Putin's playground is NATO?

<comment><USER5> Aligned? That's why they won't allow us Europeans to vote NO to TTIP and they have to discuss and approve it in secrecy. The citizens of Europe are not aligned with anyone. We've had enough with two WW.

<comment><USER4> Holy fuck people get confused. Exactly how are Americans stopping you from voting? You don't think Europe and the US are aligned? Hate can be blinding. Has a there ever been even a single EU candidate that ran on an anti-US platform? If not why not?

<comment><USER5> > Exactly how are Americans stopping you from voting?

Who said "Americans"? I'm just saying "they", and "they" are the bribed politicians [0] (both in the US and Europe). "They" don't want us to vote [1] because they know _We (the citizens) are not aligned_ with everything that USA or ANYONE says and does.

> Hate can be blinding. Has a there ever been even a single EU candidate that > ran on an anti-US platform?

LOL, who is telling you that being neutral is being anti-american? chillax dude. I'm just anti-war and anti-media-bullshit, like any libertarian able to read between the lines (even american ones [2]).

Get your facts straight.

[0] [http://venturebeat.com/2015/09/04/creative-commons- founder-l...](http://venturebeat.com/2015/09/04/creative-commons-founder- larry-lessig-is-running-for-president-the-system-is-rigged/)

[1] [http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/09/ttip-biggest- th...](http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/09/ttip-biggest-threat- democracy-youve-never-heard)

[2] [http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/](http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/)

<comment><USER6> There is no vote on TPIP because there is no TPIP. When negotiators agree on what TPIP is, so that there is actually something to vote on, it will be voted on by whatever body normally votes on laws in most countries.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Meanwhile, Hungary has finished building the wall and is now adding more soldiers to EU-Serbia border and blocking the central train station in Budapest to stop people from going further.

[http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/22/migrants- hungar...](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/22/migrants-hungary- border-fence-wall-serbia)

[http://news.sky.com/story/1544753/migrants-spend-night- outsi...](http://news.sky.com/story/1544753/migrants-spend-night-outside- budapest-station)

<comment><USER8> What I'm wondering about is if Germany and other EU countries don't mind taking the migrants with Merkel pledging to absorb as much as 800,000 of them why did Hungary closed it's rail system? Hungary doesn't want them, they use trains to get to Austria and Germany why close their only effective route to transport them to where they would be apparently accepted?

As some one who loathes conspiracy theories even I'm starting to wonder if Germany is pretty much threatening Hungary to prevent them from releasing the flood into central Europe while declaring that they'll take anyone who gets to Germany to appease voters. Because honestly I don't really see any other explanation to why countries like Hungary and even Italy (which prevents them from getting on trains to Switzerland) actually seem to keep the migrants forcibly within their territory while clearly not wanting them anywhere near it.

<comment><USER9> Because it is against European law to forward them. The so called "Dublin regulation" states, that refugees have to seek asylum in the first European state in which they arrive.

Obviously this law largely benefits the midlands and wouldn't work with the current crisis. But nevertheless it is still the official law. So Hungary can only lose in this situation, either by stopping the trains or by breaking the law.

<comment><USER8> Hungary has suspended the application of the Dublin Regulation a month ago, it wasn't a signatory either. But non the less the Dublin regulation stated the the country in which the refugees register is responsible for them, it didn't state that they should be denied freedom of movement and the suspension of the train system by the Hungarian authorities was seen as a breach of the Dublin agreement as well.

<comment><USER9> I hope you don't just want to argue...

"Article 10 1\. Where it is established, on the basis of proof or circumstantial evidence as described in the two lists mentioned in Article 18(3), including the data referred to in Chapter III of Regulation (EC) No 2725/2000, that an asylum seeker has irregularly crossed the border into a Member State by land, sea or air having come from a third country, the Member State thus entered shall be responsible for examining the application for asylum. This responsibility shall cease 12 months after the date on which the irregular border crossing took place."

Therefore the first state entered is responsible for the registration and then for the application for asylum.

And no, the Dublin regulation doesn't state denial of freedom of movement. But they never had such. The Schengen law is only valid for members of the European Union. Everyone else has to get a visum. They were legally not allowed to enter Hungary in the first place, why would they be allowed then to enter another state without getting asylum first?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> To make it clear: that song is not really focused on welcoming refugees (though the band playing it really supports that cause, too). That song is very specifically targeted at pointing towards the haters and criticizing their hate.

<comment><USER11> The whole situation is extremely close to being a civil war.

The "haters" are _ridicuously_ outgunned with the full power of both the media and the state arrayed against them, so they will lose. The imbalance serves to mask the nature of the conflict, makes it look unlike a classic civil war. Not enough carnage.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Has there ever been a case where a country received too many refugees and its economy deteriorated as a consequence? People provide labor which is what causes economic growth. They're the most valuable thing a country can have if it's not flooded with oil or similar natural resources. Of course there may be a lag as skills don't match demand, but that'll close up over time.

<comment><USER13> "Has there ever been a case where a country received too many refugees and its economy deteriorated as a consequence? People provide labor which is what causes economic growth."

I'll get hammered for this, but it depends on the country? I probally shouldn't comment because I'll be labeled a racist?

Right now Canada is offering certain refuges $8000 to leave. I don't think they are being mean? They are just concerned about the long term consequences? Or, they are racists? See--there's just no way to discuss it?

I see the way the good liberal people of San Francisco step over the Homeless, constantly complain, harass, and arrest these poor people; what would that liberal city do with thousands of broke refugees arriving daily, all using the Starbuck's restrooms, and sleeping in Golden Gate Park?

Those rich Arab countries should be doing what Jordan is doing? Then again, their economies are horrid, and have huge unemployment rates. (horrid for the average citizen)

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> There is so much media coordinated bull floating around in the EU and Germany right now it makes me sick. As a tax paying immigrant to Germany myself, I decided to look up the stats a little while ago and here's what the down and dirty actually looks like:

From 01.01.2015 until 31.07.2015 - we've gotten a total 195,723 Refugees, an estimated 500,000 will arrive for 2015.[1] Estimated costs will be around 5 Billion. For a comparison the Hartz 4 (Social Welfare System) had a total of about 32 Billion in 2013. [3]. Of all the refugees the majority come from Syria (~22%), and Irak / Afghanistan (~10%), which are countries with ongoing conflicts. [2] 39% of the refugees are coming from (Serbia / Kosovo / Macedonia / Albania), which have no listed ongoing conflicts according to wikipedia. The rest come from various countries the world over with around 1.7% from Nigeria and another 1.7% from Pakistan, which also both have ongoing conflicts.

So those are the facts, according to wikipedia and the BAMF (Office for Refugees and Immigration).

Now for the IMHO part :) The biggest problem currently with the whole thing is that we've known about this issue for a very long time [4], and no one prepared at all.

Even now nobody seems to have a plan about what to do with the refugees once they get here except give them food, housing, and living money, which personally I have no problem with as long as there is a plan to assimilate them into society, teach them german, get them jobs, etc. Why do I think some germans are upset? I think a lot of people have problems with the fact that this seems like another Hartz 4 type system where german tax dollars are going to pay for people who sit in the house all day and sponge off the system. Also, I think the media is just making this perception worse by showing thousands of refugees sitting around in camps or walking into Germany where they immediately get handouts. Also its easier to rationalize a Harz 4 system when its for "yourself" i.e. family or other native germans who have also paid money and hard work into the system. It becomes less and less easier to rationalize this goodwill when you're giving handouts to people from other european countries (yes, as a EU citizen you can get on german Harz 4 if you want), and even less still when the people don't aren't even part of the EU. At least thats what I think is actually going on here with the negative attitudes...

There are open commercials against "foreigner hate" but seriously who would have a problem with this if instead of those commercials they would just show the refugees getting jobs and starting to work?

References:

1\. [https://www.bamf.de/SharedDocs/Anlagen/DE/Downloads/Infothek...](https://www.bamf.de/SharedDocs/Anlagen/DE/Downloads/Infothek/Statistik/Asyl/statistik- anlage-teil-4-aktuelle-zahlen-zu-asyl.pdf?__blob=publicationFile)

2\. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ongoing_armed_conflict...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ongoing_armed_conflicts)

3\. [http://biaj.de/archiv-kurzmitteilungen/36-texte-biaj- kurzmit...](http://biaj.de/archiv-kurzmitteilungen/36-texte-biaj- kurzmitteilungen/330-hartz-iv-ausgaben-des-bundes-2012-1274-mrd-euro-weniger- als-2011-974-mio-euro-unter-soll.html)

4\. [http://www.welt.de/debatte/kommentare/article132511959/Die-s...](http://www.welt.de/debatte/kommentare/article132511959/Die- schmerzhafte-Wahrheit-zum-Fluechtlingsproblem.html)

<comment><USER15> It's indeed a problem. I've lived with flatmates who basically lounged around for 3+ years on Harz 4, and despite the fact that I am rather left-leaning (to put it mildly), there were moments where I thought 'if I paid taxes in Germany, I'd be _really_ pissed off about the fact that my flatmate is using my tax money to get high all the time and not improve his life in any way'.

Of course, when my rational mind took over I realized that 1) he had some serious psychological issues that he _was_ trying to address, 2) he lives on practically nothing, to the point of collecting and returning empty bottles to get himself a beer, and 3) he's a really warm, caring, awesome guy who shares what little he has whenever he can, even with a well-paid person like me.

But imagine the situation when 1) someone is not as left-leaning as I am, 2) someone is faced with 'strangers' benefitting from their tax money, rather than people they can easily identify with, 3) this 'stranger' is easily associated with crime and cultural practices and religious beliefs that baffle me, and, perhaps most importantly 4) I am not working in one of the few areas of business that still does well (IT) and I'm feeling the economic problems myself.

I suppose I could add 5) I have a partner and kids and a mortgage and a car that I cannot just 'ditch' when times get lean.

None of what I'm saying should be taken as any kind of ethical judgment or opinion. I'm simply expressing my fear of what might happen because of these issues, and a desire to work toward solutions that benefit all parties involved, or at least prevent serious consequences.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Lovely, Germany invites people, but demands other countries to take care of their guests. Social support for immigrants in Germany is higher then median salary in many EU regions.

<comment><USER17> That is not true.

First, Germany has a problem with social support even for Germans, Hartz 4 is horribly low and injust. Financial social support is one of the problems currently with the immigrants: It is basically non-existant. No EU region has a lower median salary than this.

Second, Immigrants are not guests, they are immigrants or fugitives, and possibly supposed to stay.

Third, Germany demands nothing new from other countries. It is EU law that they shall be registered in the countries where they arrive, and it is new and a helping offer to allow those fugitives to continue onwards to Germany. Otherwise they would have to stay in the country they arrived in. Given the tone of your comment, I doubt you would prefer that option.

<comment><USER18> > First, Germany has a problem with social support even for Germans, Hartz 4 > is horribly low and injust.

Hartz 4 (long-term unemplyment aid) is basically what the country can sustainably pay without getting into the same debt spiral of Greece, etc. It's enough to survive, but not much more.

> Financial social support is one of the problems currently with the > immigrants: It is basically non-existant. No EU region has a lower median > salary than this.

During the processing of their asyl request, immigrants get money for housing, food, basic medical services and 140 Euro/month for leisure. Once their asyl request is accepted, they are entitled to the same social aid as any German. But you need to see money in context. Other European countries have a much lower cost of living.

> Second, Immigrants are not guests, they are immigrants or fugitives, and > possibly supposed to stay.

Immigrants who are not fleeing from a humanitarian crisis get denied asyl and are expelled.

<comment><USER19> Greetings from a German. While everybody discusses if Germany can afford fugitives and Hartz 4, some more realistic newspapers post that German rich have become richer and richer over the last 5 years. Until now Germany is probably one of the countries that gained the most from this century's crises. It's just that it's not shared properly between all people. Old, sick and unemployed probably have lost since 2010 because of politics not because of economic crisis.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


ReelSurfer (YC S12) Gets A Makeover, Clip ESPN Or New York Times Videos - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/12/y-combinator-grad-reelsurfer-gets-a-makeover-now-lets-you-clip-share-any-espn-or-new-york-times-video/

<comment><USER3> The new design is much easier and faster to use - I especially like the big colorful buttons to guide the video cutting and sharing process. It took me under 15 seconds to snip and share a clip. Great work!!

</comment><comment><USER4> The redesign looks really great! I'm curious how this will affect conversion / clip creation.

<comment><AUTHOR> Good question, we have a variety of metrics we use to track this - <USER2> this would be good for a blog post?

<comment><USER4> great idea! i'll be on the lookout that! thnx

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The design makes it impossible to play click-to-play flash, without my editing the DOM.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Very proud of the team, love to hear your feedback on the new design

</comment><comment><USER6> the redesign is much, much better. Just update the "Copyright 2012" at the bottom to "Copyright 2013".</comment>


A collection of UNIX sysadmin tests - <AUTHOR> http://www.w140.com/kurt/unixtests/

<comment><USER2> We have a similar collection of tests used by one of the societies I was involved with in college, at <http://www.redbrick.dcu.ie/help/exams/>

<comment><USER3> "Ubuntu likes to reset the MOTD on boot, how would you set it so this doesn't happen on boot [hack expected] (2 marks)"

Heh. So does that mean you wouldn't accept "edit /etc/default/rcS and change EDITMOTD to no"? :-P

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I found this one amusing:

        Rick knows that Jane never lies.
        Jane knows that Mike never lies.
        Mike knows that Sara never lies.
        Jane tells Rick that Mike told her that Sara told him that her dog died.
        Should Rick believe the news?

One could view this in a number of different ways. Jane's statement looks like this: Sara -> Mike -> Jane -> Rick. Interpreting the "truth-telling" as a kind of chain of trust, it too looks like Sara -> Mike -> Jane -> Rick - so Rick should believe the news, right?

But Rick doesn't know that Mike tells the truth, so even if Jane tells Rick something Mike said, that in itself may be true, but that doesn't mean that Rick knows that Mike tells the truth.

But maybe Jane also told Rick that she knows Mike never lies, so it's OK; the same conversation could have happened all along the chain... but that's assuming something not stated...

</comment><comment><USER5> Thanks - there is some good stuff in there ... even if there is a lot of repetition.

</comment><comment><USER6> Somewhat surreal in places, e.g. the last part of #14:

        How is a hacked computer different from one that hasn't been hacked?

        What is a name?

<comment><USER7> > What is a name?

Haddocks' Eyes.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> a little dated but fun</comment>


Race and the Science of Starvation - <AUTHOR> https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/race-and-the-science-of-starvation/ <comment><USER2> This article is exceedingly short on conclusions. Not sure what its point actually is. Furthermore, there is little in the history it recounts that is actually about race. It seems, rather, to be about societies, regardless of race.

In fact, I would argue it was rather progressive for the time, arguing, essentially, that if another people, regardless of their race, does what Europeans do, they will get the same physical results as Europeans. Not exactly a controversial opinion, however tenuous the specifics might be.</comment>


Cheaper Battery Is Unveiled as a Step to a Carbon-Free Grid - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/business/energy-environment/zinc-battery-solar-power.html <comment><USER2> Wikipedia says round trip efficiency on rechargeable zinc-air cells is very low (~50%). Doesn't sound too promising for grid scale storage.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc%E2%80%93air_battery#Secon...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc%E2%80%93air_battery#Secondary_\(rechargeable\))

<comment><USER3> Does that matter if there is surplus power during charging times?

<comment><USER4> It does affect the economics. A lot of pumped water storage facilities only have a 50% efficiency, and they make sense from an economic standpoint.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I hate doing this kind of comment, but given the unending stream of "this battery solves everything" articles, so does this article provide actual numbers, compared to batteries in production, or development batteries at similar levels of development?

Or more specifically, what are the answers to these questions:

1\. What is the charge/discharge efficiency? This seems to be something lots of the "next generation batteries" in articles are bad at (compared to current commercial batteries)

2\. What is the cycle lifetime?

3\. What is the power density?

For 2 and 3 there was an article on HN last week I think that was using a gravity potential "battery" that was carbon neutral (and based on super simple physics) simply by using an electric motor to lift weight, and then discharge by doing the reverse.

[edit: Using the power of wikipedia it seems like power density is high, but it also says they're not rechargeable. But also that they are. So can someone who actually knows the chemistry of batteries give a summary?]

<comment><USER6> Thanks for more eloquently saying what I think every time I see a "battery breakthrough"-post. Virtually none of them are actually viable.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> So what is the technology here? The wikipedia article on zinc-air batteries says a rechargable one would have some great advantages, but also they have some major problems, like degrading over time and the number of recharge cycles.

That the company has been selling such batteries for a number of years and now is announcing it is going to go big time would seem to indicate it has figured out how to solve these problems, but how does it do it? I looked at the company's web site and it doesn't give any specifics. Though I did read somewhere that it has been granted over a hundred patents, so maybe they give some idea of what they are doing.

</comment><comment><USER8> Bring it to Australia. Solar is growing at a massive rate, gas is expensive, electricity is expensive, and anyone with solar will have the ability and be prepared to spend to get a decent battery.

Assuming this does hit the magical $3000 for 7 kWh of storage installed price point I can see it being installed all over. At that point its not a 10+ year proposition to get your money back but more like 5. Heck I would like to have one as my solar system currently exports 2/3's of the power it produces and I would love to have a battery system.

<comment><USER9> Right now they're basically a hack to achieve net metering, which means that the grid maintenance and capital costs of the grid's power production will fall disproportionately on users not able to afford the systems.

There'll eventually be a correction as storage ramps up (and this makes the payback calculations unreliable). Either connection fees will make up a significantly higher percentage of a bill, or owners of the systems will need to pay for power like commercial properties do with dynamic pricing.

<comment><USER10> I think he's talking about OFF grid.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcGWbt1mcrc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcGWbt1mcrc)

</comment><comment><USER12> I know HN doesn't react well to soley critical comments but does anyone else get a Pons and Fleischmann vibe outta this article?

<comment><USER4> Well, the article quotes an expert who says LiIon costs "$300 to $400 a KWh", while mentioning that Tesla expects to cross the $100 threshold this year. And it doesn't say anything about how many charge cycles zinc-air can do, or how efficient it is at round-tripping electricity.

So I'd mostly get a "terrible reporting" vibe from the article. Of course the company will say great things about its very promising technology. It's up to the reporter to not publish the press release.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> They claim about 100 installations, but aren't selling any batteries as product. So it works, but is it cost effective?

</comment><comment><USER14> No talk about battery lifetime? How many discharge cycles are we talking here?

</comment><comment><USER15> At this level, you may be damaging your battery if you regularly run it dry. Lithium batteries can actually die permanently if drained below a certain point. [https://www.hptechnicalsupportphonenumbersusa.com/](https://www.hptechnicalsupportphonenumbersusa.com/)</comment>


Show HN: Hostsctl – Control /etc/hosts easily, block ads, social networks, etc - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/0xl3vi/hostsctl <comment><USER2> I think (on linux, at least), its better to implement this as a nss- module (/etc/nsswitch.conf). You can do things like lookup a hashtable, automatically update databases, etc without having to rewrite system config files.

Also this does not protect you from programs that perform their own dns lookups, and ignore /etc/hosts and /etc/resolv.conf entirely!

<comment><USER3> What's the advantage of that? How does it protect you against programs that perform their own lookups?

<comment><USER2> oh nss modules wouldn't either. Perhaps intercepting and rewriting every dns request would be needed.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I would reccomend PiHole [1] for something like this.

Not only is it more robust, it acts as a DNS/HTTP server that blocks this kind of stuff on a whole network.

1: [https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole](https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole)

<comment><USER5> This is pretty cool, I was not aware of this project, thanks for sharing.

</comment></comment><comment> git-pull I like this and could use something like it, but you should use POSIX sh (/bin/sh) and not rely on Bash in the shebang as well as non-portable functionality it introduces.

This wouldn't work out of the box on FreeBSD.

I recommend this tool: [https://www.shellcheck.net/](https://www.shellcheck.net/)

</comment><comment><USER6> Related discussion from several years ago: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5264405](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5264405)

</comment><comment><USER7> Interesting in the demo that pings to 127.0.0.1 fail. Is that a common setup for some distribution to block icmp on the localhost if?

<comment><USER8> Why resolve blocked domains to 127.0.0.1 anyway? Wouldn't 0.0.0.1 work better?

<comment><USER9> My thought exactly. I send to 0.0.0.0 instead of 127.0.0.1.

Also, my go to site for hosts is: [http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/](http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/)

and I am more than happy to share that on Windows/Firefox I use a combo of AdBlock+ and NoScript so I only allow FB, and the other "socials" to run their crap ONLY on their own websites and not on others (e.g. the -tracking- "like" buttons on CNN)

<comment><USER10> 0.0.0.0 is not a valid host ip

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> How about the performance? Big host files AFAIK perform rather bad

<comment><AUTHOR> With AWK? did you tesed this? we are not using sed(1).

<comment><USER11> no with the host file in general. I did this once (a while ago) and i did notice a difference in website loading speed when i put 1000 lines into that thing

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> One caveat: all your custom enabled/disabled hosts disappear after "update" command.

<comment><AUTHOR> WIP

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Use dnsmasq and then you can wildcard the subdomains

</comment><comment><USER14> Hostctl => as sinkholectl</comment>


GraalSqueak: A Fast Smalltalk Bytecode Interpreter [pdf] - <AUTHOR> https://fniephaus.com/2018/icooolps18-graalsqueak.pdf <comment><USER2> Interesting warm-up times from Twitter:

First draw after 12s. First time faster than OpenSmalltalkVM after 40s (but quite unstable). Always faster than OpenSmalltalkVM after 60s (fps still increasing). Above 200fps after more than 5mins.

</comment><comment><USER3> I hope they continue doing this work. Very interesting

<comment><USER4> Thanks! And yes, we are still working on GraalSqueak. Adding support for Smalltalk Context objects is one of the biggest challenges as they allow sender modifications. This needs to be as fast as possible because it is heavily used for implementing exception handling in Smalltalk. More papers to follow soon.

In the meantime, check out some recent screenshots of it in action: [https://twitter.com/fniephaus/status/1015194081297920000](https://twitter.com/fniephaus/status/1015194081297920000)</comment></comment>


Flippaper – draw your own pinball game on paper - <AUTHOR> http://sewergadget.tumblr.com/flippaper_eng <comment><USER2> I watched the second video first (no weird stuff in that video that I noticed, just a demo of the invention). My impression was that it was one of the most innovative and unique things I'd seen in a while, especially from a UX perspective.

Then I read the comments and watched the second video. I get the backlash over the misogyny. But I wonder if focusing too much on that is throwing the baby out with the bath water. Without knowing anything else, the scenario that popped into my head was a team of creators who are really good at a few things, but at the expense of being completely incompetent at marketing, social issues, website design, being classy in general...

But should this invention be squashed for their mistakes or lauded for its brilliance?

Sometimes I think really innovative and brilliant things come from people who have ultra-focused to the point of being very good at a few things and sucking at many other things... And the sucking at many other things is the cost that must be paid.

</comment><comment><USER3> Initially really excited by the concept because I love pinball, what a letdown. Pinball is fun to play because people spend hundreds of hours carefully laying out a playfield of good shots and effective flow. These one- off doodle tables simply don't look like they would be fun to play.

<comment><USER4> It would be great for prototyping though. And of course you can spend hours fine-tuning the doodles to get a carefully crafted pin. It's never going to be the same because it's all virtual and there are no mechanical components but I love the general idea.

<comment><USER3> I'd agree with you if it was say, an app for a tablet or something like that, but turning it into a dedicated machine seems like strech to me.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> A cartoon pair of breasts squirt cartoon milk at the end. Are we talking about the technology or the art? At least one of the the creators seems to have a very R. Crumb aesthetic. Is cartoon lactation just part of the art or is it more tech industry misogyny in a project launch? It is interesting for sure on a few levels

Analysis: [http://imgur.com/a/gCj8R](http://imgur.com/a/gCj8R)

EDIT: stranger, you are going to need to defend your down-vote. Watch the video, see the cartoon milk squirting breasts. Click on the creator links. Look at their tumblrs. Look at their aesthetic. Discuss the issue. Sorry if the content that _they_ put in _their_ video makes you uncomfortable, but it is on-topic for this post and I'm pointing out that it is there

<comment><USER6> > stranger, you are going to need to defend your down-vote.

I down-voted. I also watched one of the videos and read the article without noticing any lactating breasts. Nevertheless I think this is the art style, and neither you or I have to view it or like it. I'm really clueless as to which hat you pulled tech industry misogyny out off.

<comment><USER5> Here you go [http://imgur.com/a/gCj8R](http://imgur.com/a/gCj8R)

<comment><USER6> Would you like me to link you a Madonna video? Is that misogynistic too?

At worst this is a spoof of second-rate 80's production. Though without your comments most people probably wouldn't have even noticed.

I think you have yet to make an argument as to why this is an _issue_ and needs to be the focus of the discussion rather than the tech.

<comment><USER5> You linking to a Madonna video could be misogynistic. I don't know until you show me what you are talking about. For example, if you linked to a clip and wrote, "stop talking about female sexuality in tech promotion because Madonna had cones on her boobs first" then yes, it would be misogynistic and a very unsophisticated misdirection. But, sure go ahead and show me what discussion- ending hammer you want to drop</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Silicon Valley Leaders' Plea to Democrats: Anyone but Sanders - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/02/technology/silicon-valley-bernie-sanders.html <comment><USER2> Humorously enough, while tech workers are pouring money into Sanders' and Warren's campaigns.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22465063](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22465063)

[https://www.theguardian.com/us- news/2020/mar/02/election-202...](https://www.theguardian.com/us- news/2020/mar/02/election-2020-tech-workers-donations-bernie-sanders)

</comment><comment><USER3> "Meanwhile, tech company workers are gathering en masse for Mr. Sanders"

But Warren has gotten more money. For some reason the NYT is putting its thumb on the scale: [https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000067823](https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000067823)

</comment><comment><USER4> > "I would certainly vote for Trump over Sanders," said Mr. Rabois, who has > been a top exec at LinkedIn, Square, Yelp, and PayPal.

Gross.</comment>