The Political History of Pad Thai - <AUTHOR> https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3007657/history-pad-thai-how-stir-fried-noodle-dish-was-invented-thai <comment><USER2> Thailand has successfully put a lot of effort in exporting cuisine.

It's no wonder that Pad Thai and other Thai cuisine is ubiquitous in many countries, with the Thai government putting so much effort into 'gastrodiplomacy' [0][1]. I'm certainly not complaining!

[0] [https://web.archive.org/web/20130926085448/http://thailand.p...](https://web.archive.org/web/20130926085448/http://thailand.prd.go.th/view_news.php?id=5585&a=2)

[1] [https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/paxadz/the-surprising- rea...](https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/paxadz/the-surprising-reason-that- there-are-so-many-thai-restaurants-in-america)

<comment><USER3> What's interesting is that Thai food in some east Asian countries is considered fancy and the price reflects that while in North America most of them (but not all) are the affordable kind —that is on par with other non- fancy food joints.

<comment><USER4> Interesting observation!

In Australia it is similar. Roughly speaking, the following cuisines have these types of price ranges:

Indian: $-$$ Chinese: $-$$$ Thai: $$ Japanese: $$-$$$ Italian: $-$$$$ French: $$$-$$$$ Local: $$-$$$$

It seems that Asian is fairly set on low-mid, while European can go higher and still do well. Same with Japense and Chinese. Italian has been so integrated into the local cuisine that you have very cheap to very fancy. French is rare so more expensive. Japense also rare, though sushi train type places are becoming more popular (though still on the pricer side).

<comment><USER5> I'd say that cheap Italian and expensive Italian food are completely different cuisines in Australia.

Cheap places are "Australian Italian", usually with incredibly generic menus and large servings of bland food. That's your Lygon Street Italian, if you're familiar with Melbourne.

Expensive places usually serve "Italian Italian".

<comment><USER6> What are some typical "Australian Italian" dishes?

<comment><USER7> Lasagna, Carbonara (often with cream), and Bolognese. Chicken Parmigiana or schnitzel. Probably some very average pizzas.

For contrast, here's Universal's menu, which is a "Lygon Street" Italian restaurant: [https://www.universalrestaurant.com.au/menu](https://www.universalrestaurant.com.au/menu)

Compared to nearby Tipo 00, what I would probably consider to be more authentic Italian (although still not 'expensive'): [https://www.tipo00.com.au/food/](https://www.tipo00.com.au/food/)

There are also significantly better inauthentic-Italian experiences around, like Capitano which takes its cues from Italian-American food culture.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> "Gastro-diplomacy": the Korean government did something similar.

[https://qz.com/747757/your-newfound-love-of-korean-food- is-a...](https://qz.com/747757/your-newfound-love-of-korean-food-is-a- government-conspiracy/)

Interestingly, it turns out that competent governments _are_ able to export culture and brand in a directed, purposeful way (as opposed to organic) if they put enough money and effort behind the effort and have the right kind of staffing.

It's fascinating because most government tourism boards rarely achieve success. I'd never have imagined that bureaucrats would know anything about promoting the arts.

<comment><USER9> > _most government tourism boards rarely achieve success_

How do you figure that? Most government tourism advertising is branding, and not specific to a business (it's usually "Visit X" with some motivational photos, where X is a country or region). Countries certainly have brands, are perceived in a certain way. Are you suggesting that brand advertising has no effect on this? Is it that brand advertising works for brands other than countries?

<comment><USER8> I speculate, but have no data, that most exercises carried out by tourism boards like advertising, cultural events, etc. barely move the needle on tourism because they're based on the usual drab formula of advertising and cultural events.

To really create interest in a country, one has to export a desirable mainstream cultural product like food or media. One has to tell a story, and good branding requires a compelling story.

I mean, if all there was were nice advertising of sandy beaches and temples in Thailand, etc. I'd probably not be motivated to visit. Nothing wrong with it, but there's no emotional connection because there's no narrative (sandy beaches are everywhere, and there are temples in most Asian countries -- there's nothing distinct about these things in themselves). But the tourism board of many countries stick to this formula because there's not much imagination on what else there is to be done.

On the other hand I've eaten Thai food regularly due to the ubiquity of Thai restaurants in North America, watched viral tearjerker Thai commercials on Youtube, watched Muay Thai (popularized by American movies like Kickboxer, and more recently by Tony Jaa's movies like Ong Bak), read stories about Bangkok's traffic jams where people have to pee in a cup (probably hyperbole), seen Thailand featured on travel shows like Bourdain's -- the result of which I now have a human connection to Thailand and made me want to visit. (I did a few years ago and really enjoyed it)

I can't say I have the same feelings about Indonesia for instance, even though it's the 4th largest country in the world and probably quite fascinating to visit. Australians frequent Bali because it's a nearby tropical destination, but I'd bet many people around the world couldn't tell you much about Indonesia if you asked them. Now imagine if Indonesia started exporting its food, which I can attest is quite good based on what I had in Amsterdam. That would start a whole new conversation about Indonesia.

<comment><USER9> Sure - you can't tell much of a story in a single image, so you piggy-back on an existing narrative, and increase its salience and availability, while associating it with the brand target.

I'm no advertising expert, but I don't believe that brand advertising doesn't work. It's clear that Thailand is already more salient and relevant to you, but that doesn't mean that advertising for Indonesia is pointless; it's just that it's starting with fewer hooks, and it's got to reach for stories more indirectly.

<comment><USER8> I wouldn't make the extrapolation that brand advertising doesn't work -- that's too general. I was merely observing that for countries (as opposed to consumer products), advertising alone isn't sufficiently salient to create an emotional connection -- efforts to produce culture and export soft power are much more along the right track.

Take Canada for instance -- I'm from there. Anthony Bourdain had this to say on Canadian tourism ads: "Whoever is in charge of promoting Canada abroad completely have their heads up their asses. It's all like bears and swatting salmon and Mounties."

Canada is so much richer than the stereotypes Americans have of us -- we're not just about the pristine wilderness, cold winters and funny accents. Canada's cities are culturally deep and have a dynamism fueled by immigration that is palpable--and more compelling than many U.S. cities--due to sheer Brownian motion collisions of different cultures. The dynamism of Toronto rivals and in some ways exceed that of Chicago where I now live.

So much culture and innovation is being created every day in food (especially in Montreal), TV shows, movies, universities, arts, etc. in Canada but no one has figured out how to sell that.

To be fair, there are some small successes: Anne of Green Gables for instance is a distinct cultural product that guarantees hordes of visitors to Prince Edward Island every summer without fail and with a near zero advertising budget. We need more of this.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> The article was about food but glossed over one point: the kingdom of Siam was multi-ethnic, including various people with shared connections across borders (e.g. muslim Malays, Hmong, Karen, Chinese, etc). Switching to "Thai" land was intended to marginalize these other factions. I mention this because the name change was blandly listed along with mentioning the desire to dechinesify the noodles' origin.

This was very much the tenor of the times: Hungary had achieved dual status in the "Austro-Hungarian" empire half a century before; by the 30s "national" self determination was all the rage thanks to WW1, Woodrow Wilson, and picking apart the bones of the Ottoman Empire.

I am not a member of any of the groups involved with no axe to grind (at least in this regard!). But since the article was both a fun trivia piece but brushed against this topic I thought it worth clarifying.

<comment><USER11> This article and your comment actually clarified a lot for me. I always thought it was strange how many quintessentially "Thai" things have the word "Thai" in their names (muay thai, pad Thai, Thai tea, etc.) It didn't seem natural that people would make stuff and then self-consciously name it after their own ethnicity. It would be like Indians calling their tea preparation "Indian Tea" rather than just using "chai," the native Indian word for "tea."

The Indianness of the tea wouldn't have been a relevant thing if it's being made in India for other Indians after all. So why would Thai people invent a style of boxing and then call it "Thai style boxing" even in their native language?

It hadn't occurred to me that it was all a top-down effort to create a "national identity" and didn't organically develop from the folk culture at all.

<comment><USER12> Well, in Greece we call a particular kind of coffee "Turkish coffee" [1] and that's definitely not for nationalistic reasons, we're supposed to be enemies with the Turks. In fact, some people do call Turkish coffee "Greek coffee" and that seems to have started for nationalistic reasons, but to my experience most people mix the two names freely.

The reason is really to tell that kind of coffee apart from e.g. Italian or French coffee styles (we call filter coffee "French" whereas we don't call anything in particular "Italian coffee" but of course there's lots of preparation styles that originate in Italy).

So sometimes maybe it's a bit of a mix? If you have a variety of something that's distinctly different from what your neighbours are using you might want to call it "my-style X" just to know what you're talking about. Of course then there's a bit of nationalistic pride that comes with it "this is how _we_ do it" etc.

________________

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

<comment><USER11> Do Turks call it the word for coffee or is it referred to as "Turkish coffee?" though? In Thai the Thais themselves call these things "X Thai" in their own language.

Like it makes sense to me that we might have domestic boxing and then decide that boxing from the country across the border is [Neighboring Country] Boxing. What was confusing for me is people calling THEIR OWN style of boxing "[Our Country] Boxing."

FWIW, in the case of Muay Thai it was basically invented as a sport in the modern age. It's derived from an older martial art known as "Muay Boran," which translates to "Ancient Boxing" and is more analogous to traditional martial arts like Kung Fu. Muay Thai was developed to create a Thai national sport to compete with Western boxers.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Ramen was also heavily popularized by US influence [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramen#Postwar_popularization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramen#Postwar_popularization) due to American wheat flooding Japans market and other similar factors.

<comment> GuB-42 Ramen is also a modern food, but at the opposite end of the spectrum compared to Pad Thai.

Pad Thai is top down designed. Made by the government to be appreciated by most people, but with enough character to make it distinctive of the country.

Ramen is bottom up. That's essentially people trying to make survival food taste good.

And it shows. The base recipe for Pad Thai is always the same, just like with traditional food. Individual chefs then add their own personal touch.

Ramen however vary wildly. It is a soup, and there are noodles in it but beside that there is no real recipe. There are some common themes (ex: pork, onion, seaweed, ...), but you will probably find more exception than there are rules.

While a restaurant can claim it serves "true" Pad Thai, "true" Ramen makes no sense.

<comment><USER14> Is Pad thai designed? The article seems to have implied that the guy who decided it was a national standard was just a thing his housekeeper happened to make.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Somehow haggis never took off. Next year, Scotland.

<comment><USER16> One local place here served haggis nachos. The lungs, heart, and liver of a sheep boiled, ground, seasoned, mixed with oatmeal and stuffed in its own rectum to be boiled again then chopped and sprinkled over corn chips with salsa and cheese and served with sour cream and guacamole. What's not to love?

<comment><USER17> > The lungs, heart, and liver of a sheep boiled, ground, seasoned, mixed with > oatmeal and stuffed in its own rectum

Hey we're no monsters. It's the heart, lungs & liver of a sheep stuffed into it's _stomach_ not it's rectum. (Though often these days it's in an artificial casing, the whole stomach thing seems to put people off).

<comment><USER16> Ah, yes, it's clearly the stomach that puts them off. I thought it was the oatmeal.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> > A bowl of rice noodles uses less grain than does a serving of plain rice, > and after the second world war Thailand experienced a rice shortage. > Popularizing the noodles was also a way to make precious grain supplies last > longer.

I like the hypothesis, though I wish this was tested. In my experience, rice can be pretty airy once it's been scooped.

Nevertheless, pad thai is amazing.

</comment><comment><USER19> Bit of an aside but I've been cooking out of this Thai cookbook lately and it's been super fun and delicious: [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/547465/night-- marke...](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/547465/night--market-by- kris-yenbamroong/)

<comment><USER20> Thanks for the recommendation! I just put it on my wishlist.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Probably the biggest thing I've missed since moving from Australia to London is remotely passable Thai food. Thankfully I've found one place, on Deliveroo, that is pretty decent, but everywhere else is mostly rubbish unfortunately.

<comment><USER22> What's the one place?

<comment><USER21> Love Bike Thai Kitchen, around Cannonbury.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> No wonder when I visited Georgia (country), they had more Thai restaurants than Chinese restaurants. That's unheard of coming from the North American background.

<comment><USER24> You haven't lived in Seattle apparently. We get new Thai places like Manhattan gets new bank branches.

<comment><USER25> Or Portland. You can throw a rock and hit a decent Thai restaurant.

<comment><USER26> I love the why for Portland. I've always felt like we have so many Thai places because they are so flexible on options.

Going to dinner with lactose intolerant folks, vegans, veggies, and carnivores? Thai will easily serve everyone, and there will be multiple choices for each person.

<comment><USER27> s/o to Pad Thai Kitchen on Belmont. I hope they're still kicking.

<comment><USER28> They definitely are alive and delicious :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> There's been popping up Thai restaurants left and right here in Norway for the past 15-20 years.

I suspect it has something to do with the large amount of Thai women immigrating here...hell, even in my small rural hometown of 3000, there's one Thai restaurant, and one Thai food truck. Every neighboring town and village has the same.

And you always see them selling spring rolls etc. on facebook buy / sell groups.

</comment><comment><USER30> Most Thai places cannot make good pad Thai. I don't know why, but I'd have to go to one that is known to have a good one, otherwise it's usually way too sweet

<comment><USER31> I've had three, one allegedly from somewhere pretty good, and all were _way_ too sweet for my taste. Only had a couple bites of each, just found them really unpleasant. And I'm American, so I'm fairly desensitized to sugar!

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> A sort of related question that I've struggled to get a good answer on: how does one actually pronounce "Pad" in "Pad Thai"?

Pad as in iPad?

Or closer to pod?

<comment><USER33> Either, really. And you'll hear Thai people pronounce it either way (depending on their English reference - usually British), since locals will not call it "Pad Thai".

<comment><USER34> Not sure what you mean by this. This is the name in Thai and "ผัดไทย" ([pʰàt tʰāj] in IPA) is what is written on shops and carts where it's sold.

The vowel in "pad" is in between the two options given in the question above. Unlike English, where accents primarily change the vowels, vowels stay quite constant across accents in Thai.

<comment><USER35> The /a/ in Thai is a _central_ vowel. This is different than English /a/, which is a _front_ vowel. And /o/ is the open _back_ vowel. That is why it falls between English ⟨pad⟩ and ⟨pod⟩. And if you don't speak a language with such a vowel, any particular utterance will probably be mentally mapped to one or the other.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> My fiancé is Thai, so I eat a lot of Thai food. Pad Thai is still my favorite though she says it's considered street food in Thailand lol.

<comment><USER37> Fiancée.

<comment><USER31> Could be either, really. 21st century and all that. (Making some assumptions about a screen name beginning with "jimmy")

[edit] oh missed the "she" so you're right. Probably?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> Beware: a lot of the off-the-shelf sauces don't have any trace of tamarind.

</comment><comment><USER39> While this short article gets the point across, it is a short rehash of the article [1] (which is quoted and linked Quartz)

[https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food- drink/article/3007657/hi...](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food- drink/article/3007657/history-pad-thai-how-stir-fried-noodle-dish-was- invented-thai)

<comment><USER40> Ugh, that's bad. Thanks for catching it. We've changed the URL from [https://qz.com/quartzy/1617172/thailands-beloved-pad-thai- di...](https://qz.com/quartzy/1617172/thailands-beloved-pad-thai-dish-has-a- strange-political-history/), which is a ripoff of this.

</comment></comment><comment><USER41> The dish is foreign in Thailand too. It's always available where westerners might be expected to ask for it but I've never, ever, ever seen anyone Thai order it. (Where westerners are not expected it's not on the menu) I can completely understand why as it's never even half as good as a cheap place outside Thailand would serve. It's always kinda dry and bland. You can even massively overpay for it at the best hotels in Bangkok and still it sucks. It's like trying to get proper American Chinese in China... good luck with that.

<comment><USER42> > The dish is foreign in Thailand too. It's always available where westerners > might be expected to ask for it but I've never, ever, ever seen anyone Thai > order it.

I'm sorry but what on Earth are you talking about? I can only assume you have simply never visited Thailand? This is just so inaccurate I don't know what to say.

<comment><USER43> I live in Southeast Asia and have been to Thailand many times. Pad Thai is well known to every Thai person but it is not seen all that often on their plates (or in their plastic bags, where takeaway food is conveyed). And indeed a lot of Thai restaurant menus do not list Pad Thai, or if they do it's far down the list, like "chicken fingers" in an American restaurant.

In tourist hotspots (which abound in Thailand) you'll tend to see picture menus and Pad Thai will be on them. But there are much, much better dishes to be had outside these areas. One issue is they don't all have consistent names, e.g. when I asked for a recommendation and was given an absolutely amazing dry curry crab noodle dish with egg, I asked for its name in Thai and translated it was "curry crab" which would never get you a similar dish in another restaurant. Even the venerable Pad Kee Mao, which I think is always a noodle dish in America, is sometimes a totally different rice dish in Thailand.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: What are some good resources for learning about algorithmic trading? - <AUTHOR> I'm a developer interested in cryptocurrencies like everyone and recently stumbled upon what I think is the neatest exchange for purchasing and trading all sorts of digital monies (https://www.virwox.com/index.php).
They also have a trading API enabling bots, and it got me wondering if algorithmic trading strategies could be used on this smaller stage to learn something about the market, economics, and automated trading's possibilities (and pitfalls).
Does anyone have any resources for undertaking a project like this - using an API to pursue an automated trading strategy? <comment><USER2> +1, I've been looking for a dedicated blog or set of tutorials that discuss strategies and best practices. I have half a mind to join a hedge fund just to learn the ropes.

The best resource I've found is Quantopian, which lets you backtest your algos against historical data for free. The sandbox they put you in makes it more of a toy than anything though. [https://www.quantopian.com/](https://www.quantopian.com/)

</comment><comment><USER3> QuantConnect ([https://www.quantconnect.com](https://www.quantconnect.com)) is incredibly diverse and supports live trading crypto-currency securities (along with equities and FOREX). We have a vibrant community discussing and sharing strategies including bitcoin algorithms.

The platform is C# and runs roughly 20x faster than our nearest competitor Quantopian. We also support high resolution intraday data unlike our competitor. Its all free to backtest and free live trading if you open a brokerage account with our special offer: [https://www.quantconnect.com/tradier2](https://www.quantconnect.com/tradier2)</comment>


Own an Android Phone? You Might Not Get That Loan - <AUTHOR> https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-05-04/algorithms-and-data-could-determine-creditworthiness <comment><USER2> Interesting article. However, I find it disturbing to be be judged without being informed of the criteria (e.g., the apocryphal food-salting story [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/movers-and-salt- shakers/](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/movers-and-salt-shakers/)).</comment>


Features of Samsung Galaxy Note 2 - <AUTHOR> http://www.technogist.com/2013/01/5-exciting-features-of-samsung-galaxy-note2.html

<comment><USER2> A "Best of XXX" on a single page. I was just commenting recently how these are always over several pages. I stand corrected Technologist.</comment>


Questions for iPad skeptics - <AUTHOR> http://the.sockdolager.net/post/358452430/questions

<comment><USER2> Point one is misinformed. Netbooks had a great year in 2009, with 2010 expected to be even better.

<http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10421063-1.html>

Just how many ipads does Apples expect to sell?

<comment><USER3> I think it's a defensible characterization. There were more iPhone-OS devices sold last year than Netbooks -- possibly a lot more, though it's hard to say for sure as Apple doesn't break out iPod Touch sales from iPods as a whole.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I question point 3 as well. Android was underway long before iPhone was announced. While you can say future Android development might have been influenced by iPhone, the project was started with zero knowledge of Apple's plan.

</comment><comment><USER5> At its core, the iPad is a web browsing box. Viability of that form factor has never been a question to me. It was so much not a question to TechCrunch's Mr. Arrington, that he devoted significant resources to making "a Macbook Air-thin touch screen machine that runs Firefox" [1].

Ignore the walled garden closed ecosystem problem, though it sucks a great deal. The question on the viability of the product, to all, but to skeptics especially, is "can /you/ surf the web without flash?" And I'm not talking about Hulu, which I bet there'll be an app for, soon enough; I'm not talking about youtube, as I assume the iPad will have the same level of compatibility as the iPhone. I'm talking about everything else. The sprinkling of flash on many sites, with no 'alt' text, that say see the pretty animation here, and sans-flash just has an empty box with no explanation. The non-youtube video sites, the 'designer' flash-only sites with no alternative for navigation.

[1] [http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/21/we-want-a-dead- simple-w...](http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/21/we-want-a-dead-simple-web- tablet-help-us-build-it/)

</comment><comment><USER6> "Can Apple's success with its walled-garden environment be characterized and justified in free-market capitalist terms? I.e., do you believe that Apple's policy of encouraging consumers to forego certain freedoms in exchange for greater utility, and consumers' decision to accept that tradeoff is an ethical one, in that ethical framework?"

Exactly! iPad will not kill openess it will inspire open platforms to be better.</comment>


'Boss Tweed': The Fellowship of the Ring (2005) - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/27/books/review/027HAMILL.html#

<comment><USER2> As I feel obligated to do whenever there's a related posting, an HN-level-of- detail book about power and the development of NYC, I have to throw a shout- out to the Power Broker:

[http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Broker-Robert- Moses/dp/03947...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Broker-Robert- Moses/dp/0394720245)

about Robert Moses, another legendary NYC figure who fundamentally changed the shape of the city.</comment>


How Police Officers Seize Cash from Innocent Americans - <AUTHOR> http://priceonomics.com/how-police-officers-seize-cash-from-innocent/ <comment><USER2> It happened to me. I was flying out of San Francisco once on an international flight. And at SFO some of the international terminals go through these long corridors to connect to that moveable tunnel that connects to a plane. I was fixing some bug on my laptop and decided to wait till the last minute to board (though I was sitting right infront of the check-in desk). When I went past the check-in desk and into the corridor, two police officers approached me and asked me if they could ask a few questions. It felt suspicious right away why they were stopping me as there were hardly any people around - there was no one behind me, and everyone had already gone through the corridor. They took me aside into a small room and asked me where I was travelling to and for what purpose. But then they repeated a number of times that it's illegal to carry more than $10,000 in cash and if I was carrying over that amount and that if I was it would have to be confiscated. I told them I wasn't and I think I only had less than $500 in my wallet. They went through my wallet, went through my bag pack, even flipped through my Clojure book and then they let me go. But I kept having that feeling that something didn't feel right. Later I wished I had asked for the officers names or if that would have gotten me into trouble with them.

<comment><USER3> It's not illegal to carry cash, no matter how much.

<comment><USER4> I believe there are import/export restrictions on international flights.

<comment><USER5> Not according to snopes:

[http://www.snopes.com/business/money/10000.asp](http://www.snopes.com/business/money/10000.asp)

<comment><USER6> Did you read that link? It says you must report entering/leaving the country with more than $10k. Sounds like that's what's being described.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> John Oliver had a great piece on this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kEpZWGgJks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kEpZWGgJks)

In the US, where the constitution expressly prohibits it: that your property is seized w/o due process is complete and utter garbage.

By no means am I a right-wing/vigilante militia supporter, but this type of behavior from the police makes me support having a heavily armed citizenry.

<comment><USER8> How would heavily armed citizenry help solve the problem? Are you going to put a hole in the head of the officer who takes your cash out of your car? Won't that lead to anarchy or civil war, eventually? Maybe...consider changing the law, eh?

<comment><USER9> The police are breaking the law.

<comment><USER10> > The police are breaking the law.

No, they're not breaking the law. They're just taking advantage of laws your elected officials wrote.

So if you want to stop the cops from stealing from you, get your elected official to change the law, or threaten to _vote_ him/her out of office.

That's how it's supposed to be, but citizens keep voting the same politicians into office that vote against their interests.

<comment><USER11> Absolutely. I live in an authoritarian country and people would love to be able to vote politicians out. Americans really can but they just complain then vote for the same two parties every time.

Clinton caused some of these tough on crime and drugs laws. So if you voted for his party (Obama), then you voted for this.

<comment><USER12> Most Americans approve of the war on drugs, three strikes laws and zero- tolerance policies. Even the militarization of police after 9/11 was welcomed by a populace that was outraged such a thing could happen on US soil. If the end result has become authoritarianism, we must recognize that it exists in the US, in no small degree, because we the wanted it, not because it was forced upon us against our will.

<comment><USER13> If there's one useful outcome of the research of Pavlov and Freud and their peers, it's the scientific discovery that humans are distressingly easy to manipulate into wanting things they did not want before. Ten years ago, the modern smartphone did not exist, and now I bet you don't want to live without one.

In this case, we have the big media, big industry, and big government in a huge orgy of bribery and self-interest, that all benefit from people accepting authoritarianism. There's a relief valve, a small minority of people getting their political analysis from Comedy Central or their security analysis from Bruce Schneier, but the vast majority get their talking points from people who are funded to act like there is still a debate about climate change.

It's not technically against our will, but our will has been manipulated.

<comment><USER10> > Ten years ago, the modern smartphone did not exist, and now I bet you don't > want to live without one.

The smartphone example does not fit.

Very few needed to be manipulated into buying one. You've got to have a phone, whether it's a smartphone, a feature phone, or even a land line phone. Unless extraneous circumstances dictate otherwise, a phone is a necessity.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Between the police shooting innocent people, tasering and bearing up our kids, does anyone even feel safe around them anymore?

Whenever I see police, I have the same fight or flight response as if I'd see someone in a dark alley. The police have become dangerous, and none of my friends trust them. They would be the last people I'd call if there was something happening. Too much of a risk they would beat you, kill you, or rob you.

Who does that sound like?

<comment><USER15> > Too much of a risk they would beat you, kill you, or rob you.

Yap pretty much.

I came from a country where cops would torture people to get confessions out of them. Basically chances were, if they caught you, and they were bored / were bribed by someone, or just had a bad day, they could make you "confess" to crimes easily.

One time my friend and I caught a pickpocketer. Pickpocketer's associate swiped my friend's wallet. There was a group of them, all scattered except one. We caught him and eventaully ended up with him at a police station. It was a quiet evening there. One cop even had his 1st or 2nd grader son there playing around in the hallway. So being bored, the cops decided to get this pickpocketer to tell them where his buddies are hanging out. They needed the wallet to officially to charge him so they could arrest him. So to get him to talk, they asked us to leave the room. Then proceeded to torture him. Holy crap! I can still hear his pleas for help. What started with us being happy we caught him and him getting some justice, turned into us feeling pretty sorry for him... at some point we signed some papers and just left.

Long story short, there is a good reason there to be afraid of cops. They are just like an organized criminal gang are are sanctioned to operate by the law. You never know what they'll do, they have guns, friends with guns, and could beat or torture you to death on a whim.

Now it is night and day to what is in this country, and I felt pretty safe in general around cops here. But in later years, the stories I hear, camera recordings of cops shooting people, the whole forfeture thing, I see things slowly start to nudge into a bad direction. I start feeling a little bit more like I felt there, in the old country.

Also, I can't decide if cops have started to do this more, or that they've always done but there weren't as many cameras around to record it, and only the poor people got to experience that side of the "law".

<comment><USER16> > Also, I can't decide if cops have started to do this more, or that they've > always done but there weren't as many cameras around to record it, and only > the poor people got to experience that side of the "law".

I don't know either, but Chicago had a police torture scandal that occurred in the 70s and 80s: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Burge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Burge)

I very much doubt that police treatment of black people is WORSE than before. Maybe we were briefly better in the 80s and 90s, but I don't see any reason to believe so.

<comment><USER12> I think it's more that police treatment of black people is more visible to mainstream American consciousness due to the ever increasing coverage of it on the news - which is itself mostly chasing after the ratings brought in by the Michael Brown shooting case.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> As a non-American, it's pretty scary for the rest of us to see how your society can tolerate these Eritrean standover tactics, while still retaining this "freedom loving" doublespeak in the national cinema you project into the world.

<comment><USER18> That can be maintained because it's still extraordinarily isolated and small in occasion. America remains among the freest nations on earth in nearly every measure - even if it's not the best at every measure. Your premise though is very flawed in my opinion, I don't know very many people that are unaware of the erosion of liberty that has occurred - both sides of the voting aisle are extremely aware of it, it's constantly discussed at a national level (eg the Washington Post has run countless articles on it), and every side of the US politically have their opinions on its nature and what should be done about it.

You're acting like this is affecting every American and is very common. It's not. Eritrea? That's laughable, you're intentionally dramatizing to try to insult the US. It is in fact a very, very small problem, that is very serious and needs to be put down before it gets any larger. Steps have already begun to put an end to it. Why pretend it's not an understood problem that almost everyone agrees needs to be dealt with? The only reason to pretend that, is to levy a cheap shot at the US.

<comment><USER19> Sorry, but even when I can to a degree see your point it sounds like you feel overly insulted by someone stating basic facts.

The US has been pretty bad off when it comes to civil liberties compared to many other other countries for quite a while now.

Next to civil forfeiture the US unlike most other countries still has death penalty, still has a rather big amount of the population rotting in one of the worst prison systems of the western world, still doesn't legalize things like most drugs or prostitution, still doesn't do anything against the decline of education, making it only possible for wealthy to get one, has even when compared with development countries a pretty bad health care system, many archaic laws, has things like the DMCA killing off freedom of speech, has that NSA scandal going on that made KGB and Stasi look like nothing, presidents that are dynasties of families, barely any protection against discrimination of minorities, etc.

I really don't want to talk bad about the US, but your statement of "America remains among the freest nations on earth in nearly every measure" really doesn't seem anywhere close to true. What are you basing that statement on? Or are you purely talking about so called "economical freedoms"?

Oh and not saying country X is better. I just think that statement you made is wrong.

<comment><USER20> > I really don't want to talk bad about the US,

> has that NSA scandal going on that made KGB and Stasi look like nothing

Yeah, I'm going to say you only want to talk bad about the US.

<comment><USER21> Patriotism: you're doing it wrong. Real patriots don't strain to find reasons for taking offense. Rather, we're pissed off that "offensive" statements happen to be objectively true. Only USA people can change USA. If you don't want to change it, then get comfortable with seeing many more rational assessments of our problems.

<comment><USER20> I have no problem calling out America for its faults. I just misinterpreted the comment and thought they were saying America was worse than Nazi Germany. I didn't realize they were talking just about data collection.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> This happened to a coworker of mine, when he was flying from the midwest back to San Francisco. He had $15,000 cash on him and it was noticed at security. As he was boarding the plane, government officials grabbed him and took the money.

However, it did happen to be money he had made selling drugs several years prior. They had identified him as a convicted felon with a drug related offense and connected the money to it.

<comment><USER23> Still problematic. If you removed all due process, a hypothetical police officer could grab someone they're reasonably certain is a criminal and throw them in prison. They could also grab someone they are reasonably certain cut them off on the freeway and throw them in prison. Just because suspending due process makes it easier to apprehend criminals isn't the point. Due process wasn't included in the Constitution because of naiveté.

<comment><USER24> A person is presumed innocent. The money is guilty until proven innocent.

<comment><USER23> If I stole your TV, would I be burglarizing you? Or kidnapping your TV? Last I recall, kidnapping an appliance is not a crime. Where do you live?

<comment><USER25> I don't think the comment parent was arguing that such a distinction is reasonable, but it is the basis of civil forfeiture in the United States. Money has no constitutional rights, so it can be presumed innocent and seized until its owner can argue on behalf of its innocence.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> I'm curious if any of the police officers behind the seizures could be sued as personally liable when no charges are brought.

<comment><USER27> Personally liable doesn't help. All that does is encourage a lazy police force, where individuals aren't apt to do anything for fear of losing everything.

Institutional responsibility does work. If the police department faces real consequences, they'll figure out a way to clamp down on it. Maybe it's firing officers that are out of line. Maybe it's simply better training and guidelines. No matter what, if the organization as a whole suffers from unreasonable seizures, they'll figure out a way to avoid those consequences in a robust way.

<comment><USER26> If those officers are relatively certain the money is connected to drug activity, give them 30-90 days to build a case, or return the seized assets.. The wholesale forfeiture used is absolutely unconstitutional.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> How is this not a major sensation/scandal? "Free country" my foot!

<comment><USER20> Because it only happens to a very small percentage of the population.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> It is an embarrassment that our police cannot act like good citizens.

</comment><comment><USER30> I often wonder if there is a tech solution to these types of issues. For example, are records of every instance of a civil forfeiture publicly available? Would it be helpful (and ethical) to publish this list to shine a bright spotlight on the practice? Would that make a difference?

It also raises the age-old question of "who polices the police?" The (federal) DOJ can only do so much, it seems. But maybe ordinary citizens can demand reform if injustice stares them in the face?

From what I've read in the press (especially NyTimes), the USA justice system seems to fundamentally disadvantage poor people [1]. The saddest part about the civil forfeiture business is that it probably affects the poorest people, who then have the least resources to challenge it.

On a separate note, I know the press is more likely to publish instances of injustice vs run-of-the-mill "just" justice. I honestly have no concept of if we live in a society with a tiny bit of corruption, or a lot more than I ever realized.

[1][http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/magazine/the-bail- trap.htm...](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/magazine/the-bail-trap.html)

<comment><USER21> _The (federal) DOJ can only do so much, it seems._

DoJ wishes they didn't do the little they already do. They are not opposed to cops. They are cops. We need something like NTSB, which is specifically set up not to be friends with FAA.

Your comment about the poor is spot-on. If you're curious and you have some free time, hang around a courthouse or other judicial building for a day on which traffic and other minor violations are being adjudicated. You will be disgusted by the number of people sent to jail because they're not able to pay the fine for not being able to pay the fine for not being able to pay to fix their cars. Then note how many people are begging the clerk for more lenient payment plans on the bill they have for their room and board when they were sent to jail, because if they can't keep up, guess what? More jail! Ferguson wasn't really about Michael Brown.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> Police seizures is the foundation of a corrupt society.

</comment><comment><USER32> The way civil forfeiture is being used in these examples is a violation of a citizen's constitutional right and the perpetrators, no matter their appearance, are criminals and must be dealt with as such.

I'm sure there are some lawyers out there who might say otherwise. They will tell you that "this" is how the constitution is interpreted. But the constitution, particularly the bill of rights, was written so that you could understand it, irregardless of what politicians and lawyers say.

</comment><comment><USER33> There are legitimate concerns about police overreach, etc., but I can't get past the part where we start off talking about someone checking $11,000 in cash.

Was this guy just not familiar with air travel? Or is it less likely that money will be seized from a checked bag than from a carry-on? It's just absurd to me to put that much value into a checked bag, especially in the form of cash.

</comment><comment><USER34> "You know, stuff we needed but didn't necessarily have a budget for. So, when this money comes in, it's considered extra"

Except municipalities explicitly write expected seizures into their annual budgets. They literally must seize property to make their planned budget.

</comment><comment><USER35> Corrupt police always try to bully/rob you; Don't confront him; Call a senior police official or call a lawyer;

</comment><comment><USER36> Yes, for government to confiscate private property without due process is a bummer, an outrageous violation of our Constitutional rights. No doubt about that. In particular, that the police believe that someone is acting _suspiciously_ is nothing like justification for such confiscation.

Yes, there have long been news articles on this civil forfeiture scam. No doubt it happens. But have to suspect that it doesn't happen very often to innocent people. Why so suspect? Because there would be more screaming, political debates, SCOTUS cases, etc.

In a sense, that there can be such a scam is not too surprising: That is, as we know well, generally, "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance". So, we can expect attacks on our Constitutional rights, and, to get our rights back or just maintain them, we have to fight, continually. That is, there are plenty of people who will take our rights unless we do fight back. So, right along, there needs to be fighting back.

Where is the ACLU in all of this? What about other groups interested in keeping government under control?

We can fight back by bringing law suits and by voting.

But, in particular, and in practical terms, in a local community, likely it can be enough to be known and respected in the community, active in politics, well known to the local politicians, and to have a little chat with them. A respected local citizen will likely not get pushed around by the police. It's a little like high school -- it helps to fit in at least a little.

Broadly an immediate, expedient, practical solution is: In public, don't carry a lot of cash. If have a lot of cash in your house, then, in case your house gets searched, have that cash well hidden. If you have a business that gets paid in cash, say, some tens of thousands a month, maybe make a daily deposit to your business account. Then, get well known at your bank as a successful, local business person who does get revenue in cash -- hopefully then your bank won't file papers saying that you are _suspicious_. E.g., generally in business, a banker wants good business customers, and business person wants good respect from their banker.

Commonly in a small community, the police know a lot of the people. That can help, say, if at 3 AM drive to the post office to deposit a letter -- the local police will just remember who you are and relax.

It might help to make a donation to some local police charity drive and, there, shake hands with the local chief of police. Maybe can get a window sticker for your car indicating that you are such a supporter.

Likely if there are enough legal cases where citizens bring suit against civil forfeiture, the practice will reach the SCOTUS and get struck down. Of course, legal cases are very expensive, but there are a lot of law school graduates without much to do; with enough forfeiture cases, some of those lawyers would take such cases and change the situation.

For long distance travel, there is an old saying, "A stranger in a strange land". So, it has long been recognized that being such a stranger is not the usual but has some dangers. E.g., don't carry much cash or anything very valuable. E.g., if want to carry $15,000 to buy a used car, just go to a bank and get a certified check for that amount and hide it somewhere, maybe in a book, fold it up and put it between two credit cards in your wallet, or just mail it to yourself at your destination. Some of the police might say that anyone who didn't use such a technique is suspicious.

</comment><comment><USER37> From a statistical perspective, you are far more likely to shot or beaten up by a black man than you are through a crooked cop. Would you go around telling people you have the same fears towards black people and say this is a fair statement?

I think what's going on is availability bias. This is where dramatic or sensationalized dangers get overplayed in one's mind instead of paying attention to the actual probabilities. It's basically like shark bites, airplane crashes, or terrorist attacks. The media tends to sensationalize these risks because there is money in it and people tend to over-fear them despite their actual statistical probability. Don't get me wrong, there should be something done about crooked cops. But it's also important to distinguish real risk with the types of risks that sell newspapers.

<comment><USER16> When a black man robs me or beats me up, I have recourse. When a cop does so, I don't. I don't fear black men because, even if they are more likely to harm me _, the power dynamic is very, very different. If any random black man had special power over me, I would be afraid of any that hadn 't earned my trust. (Men typically do have special power over women, and as a result, we insist that women need to avoid walking alone at night, not dress provocatively, carefully watch their drinks in bars, not wear their hair in a ponytail when running, have their keys ready when they approach their car in a dark parking lot...always be ready for an attack.)

_ So, yes, black men may rob and beat up people at a higher rate than cops, but killing is another thing: ~1000 killed by police in 2015[0][1] 765,000 police with arresting powers[2] (I assume we can ignore the bureaucrats.) = ~765 police per police killing.

42 089 131 black/AA people in the US (2014)[3] Assume 50% males: 21 044 566 2,695 murders committed by blacks in 2014.[4] 90% of homicides committed by males.[4] => 2426\. => 8675 black men per murder by black men.

So police kill at ten times the rate of black men. (Major caveats: killed != murders; I didn't exclude black children, and it might be easier to avoid being killed by a police officer.)

[0] [http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-new-estimate-of- killin...](http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-new-estimate-of-killings-by- police-is-way-higher-and-still-too-low/) [1] [http://killedbypolice.net/](http://killedbypolice.net/) [2] [http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/csllea08.pdf](http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/csllea08.pdf) [3] [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html](http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html) [4] [https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in- the-u.s/2014/...](https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in- the-u.s/2014/crime-in-the-u.s.-2014/tables/expanded-homicide- data/expanded_homicide_data_table_6_murder_race_and_sex_of_vicitm_by_race_and_sex_of_offender_2014.xls)

<comment><USER37> Yes, and what percent of these killing are justified and/or in self defense? I'd wager the bulk. They have an inherently dangerous profession. Notice, I'm not saying it's ZERO either, but the risk is much lower than, say, black shootings.

<comment><USER38> According to some, they're all justified. But that's of course ridiculous.

* I'd wager that a good fraction of the justified ones ought not be. It's too difficult to prosecute bad actors here. * I'd also say that a good fraction of the justified ones weren't strictly necessary. Better tactics and technology could make an impact on this.

>They have an inherently dangerous profession.

True, but the danger is often overstated, and there are a couple of ways to cut their risk of harm. ex: Requiring the wearing of seat belts would dramatically cut their risk.

>but the risk is much lower than, say, black shootings.

I also doubt whether that's the case. Got a source?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER39> This is one of the reasons I cannot respect the police or the judicial system in this country and I seriously question those who do.

</comment><comment><USER40> I fucking love the fact that HNers while perhaps not knowing, overmen outrightly deny it, are a part of /r/conspiracy and dont even realize it.

the whole system needs disruption, that's what we do.

</comment><comment><USER41> Someone checked a bag with $11,000 cash in it that he saved up by waiting tables over 5 years? So many questions...

<comment><USER42> An argument from ignorance is not good.

"I don't understand how he saved that money, so it's probably via some nefarious means".

No, a thousand times no. The government has billions of dollars to spend on prosecuting me. I have much less to spend defending myself.

The standards should be set such that it is very hard for the government to convict me, by requiring things like "evidence", and "probably cause". The standards should be that it is very easy to defend myself "prove your conjecture beyond a reasonable doubt, or I walk".

The alternative is totalitarian dictatorships. The guy in charge thinks you're bad? Yup. You're bad. No trial, no defence, no conviction. Just secret police knocking down your door at 2am, and your neighbors waking up the next day with you gone.

Everyone is too afraid to defend themselves, so the dictatorship continues.

History shows that's the result of opinions like yours. It's why you're getting downvoted.

<comment><USER41> First off, upon googling this case beyond the two paragraphs, the money didn't just come from waiting tables and working retail. I've done both, and saving that much would have been nearly impossible for me. So while you question that assumption, it turns out I was right. At no point did I suggest the source of the money was nefarious.

Second, I'm much more concerned with the foolishness of putting one's life savings ($11,000) in a bag, and handing that bag off to someone, who will hand it off to someone else, who will hopefully put it in the right plane, and then someone else will hopefully pick it up, and that person will put it on the right conveyor belt, and nobody else will just take the bag anyway off the conveyor belt and walk off with it.

<comment><USER43> Why is it unreasonable to make 11k in tip money? tips are usually cash.... I have bartender friends who make a ton of cash.

Yea, does seem pretty foolish that he checked it. But how is that related to anything about the police seizing it?</comment></comment></comment></comment>


The 10 best advice from Harvard, Stanford and IIT Graduation Speeches - <AUTHOR> http://blog.alextoul.fr/life-inspiration/the-10-best-advice-from-graduation-speeches

<comment><USER2> When I first saw the title of your post, I thought IIT referred to the "Indian Institutes of Technology". Now I see you're referring to the "Illinois Institute of Technology" :-)</comment>


Cocos2d game engine for HTML5 - <AUTHOR> http://www.cocos2d-x.org/projects/cocos2d-x/wiki/Html5

<comment><USER2> The link does not work</comment>


Grail Quest: A New Proposal for HW-Assisted Garbage Collection [pdf] - <AUTHOR> https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~maas/papers/maas-asbd16-hwgc.pdf <comment><USER2> Very interesting work. I think it's a pity, though, that they focused on server workloads, which are mostly ran on commodity hardware. They recognize that in the paper, and claim that the trend is changing (blaming the end of Moore's Law). But the obvious current niche for a change like this is in phones.</comment>


A Change to Google Code Download Service - <AUTHOR> http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-change-to-google-code-download-service.html <comment><USER2> That's crazy. Google can't tell the difference between legit downloads and "abusive" material? Google Code projects are already tied to a Google user account, what difference does it make if that user puts their abusive material on Google Drive instead of the downloads section of Google Code?

There are tonnes of code hosting sites going back as far as SourceForge and none of them ever came up with something like this.

There's something extremely weird about Google making this kind of developer hostile move. Why would I use Google Code now when there are any number of alternatives that have no problem with hosting downloads? It's like they are _trying_ to drive us away. I hope it doesn't hint at Google Code being on the "sunsetting" list in the future.

<comment><USER3> The difference is: you pay for Google Drive (including bandwidth).

To give you some perspective: I have a popular open source project hosted on Google Code. I host my binary downloads via S3 and since it's popular, it costs me $200+ a month in bandwidth.

If I used Google Code for hosting those binaries, Google would have to pay for that and why should they?

And that's a grey area example i.e. I would be using the service as it was intended to be used.

I'm pretty sure plenty of smart alecks simply abuse the service by putting and random stuff there to avoid paying for bandwidth.

This is a tragedy of commons: Google offered a free service, people started abusing it via excessive usage and Google chose to no longer offer that free service (as opposed to e.g. spend their resource on never-ending battle of policing abusers).

That is very much their right.

<comment><USER4> People download 2TB of binaries from you a month? What do you work on?

<comment><USER5> I'm guessing it's Sumatra PDF; author: Krzysztof Kowalczyk, hosted on google code, and fairly popular.

<comment><USER6> A little off-topic, but thanks Krzystof for Sumatra PDF. Easily the best PDF- viewer on Windows.

<comment><USER7> A little too much yellow. But yeah, I too find it to be the best.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> As a developer of open-source, downloadable software (a video game), the removal of download sections from source hosting websites (GitHub, Google Code) is really frustrating. Instead, I either have to commit my binaries to a repository, or host them myself of S3.

Edit: Yes, I know that many free options exist and I plan on switching to one of them soon. I just wish that I didn't have to use another service for a common task associated with software development.

<comment><USER9> Or dream host's Files Forever. You pay once to put them up, and then they can be downloaded for free by anyone.

<comment><USER10> Also gone for unrelated reasons, sorry: <https://files.dreamhost.com/>

<comment><USER9> Oh, bummer. Looks like their replacement [1] is a cheaper version of S3, but they still charge for download bandwidth.

[1]: <http://dreamhost.com/cloud/dreamobjects/>

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11>
        abuse with a significant increase in incidents recently

You mean to say people using Google Code to share porn, copyright material etc. when they can actually do so via other more effective means?

<comment><USER12> > You mean to say people using Google Code to share porn,

The abuse reports I find from doing a search seem mostly to be that and malware, yeah.

> when they can actually do so via other more effective means?

I don't think Google really cares if people currently abusing Google Code's download hosting _could_ do the same thing easier elsewhere or not, they care that they _are_ doing on Google Code, and consequently _are_ consuming Google staff resources (and, hence, $$) addressing the resulting abuse reports.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> This makes little sense, and seems like Google moving to distance itself from the open source community. Without downloads it's extremely unlikely that the average user will be able to try running an open source application. Especially for the larger and more popular projects with multiple dependencies the prospect of compiling from source can be quite daunting especially for anyone who is not a software developer.

</comment><comment><USER14> I especially chose code.google.com over github. After the SourceForge troubles I thought, this is a big company, which will not go away soon. I can trust them hosting my repos there. In comparison to github. But unfortunately github turned out to improve their stack constantly in contrast to googlecode, and now it seems they are also turning down downloads, though that would be a feature that is much cheaper for them to support than for github. It's minimum support cost, their bandwidth is free and almost unlimited. bad bad bad. I start to regret my decision. Though really, binary downloads for open source projects make not much sense nowadays. Compile from source or leave it to a distro.

<comment><USER15> Binary downloads are often important for Windows projects, though.

<comment><USER14> So, if windows users cannot deal with open source they should get it from closed source. The binary distros do exist. mingw or cygwin even have graphical UIs. Not a googlecode problem. I hate to provide binary dll's for lazy windows users. windows compilers are free nowadays.

<comment><USER15> A lot of these aren't Linux/POSIX projects so mingw/cygwin don't solve the problem. It could be as simple as a python project that needs to be bundled in exe form or a .NET project.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> "Due to this increasing misuse of the service and a desire to keep our community safe and secure, we are deprecating downloads." What misuse? Did I miss something? Lots of pedo-porn or something? Or was it simply people using Google code to transfer pirated files?

<comment><USER17> Any time you serve raw user-supplied files from * .[your site].com you take on some risk.

Older browsers in particular just love to treat everything under the same second level domain as coming from the "same origin". Browsers even have a hardcoded list of country codes and exceptions to prevent "example.co.uk" from setting cookies for all of "*.co.uk".

It's a total security mess and ICANN is not helping the situation by selling new gTLDs.

<comment><USER18> Err... Google can just use a custom domain (e.g. "googleusercontent.com" that they already use) to serve user-supplied files rather than stopping the service altogether, so I guess this is not the issue here.

<comment><USER17> Do you have any idea what it takes to (securely) bring up a new domain at that scale?

Hint: Take a look at the Subject Alt Names on some of the Google SSL certs sometime.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> I don't care where you have to host the files. It should be easy for a user to download your code, plain and simple.

<comment><USER20> This is not about the code, just binaries or other kinds of download

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Bitbucket doesn't have this problem.

<comment><USER22> Bitbucket will have this problem.

Anyone giving away free file hosting eventually runs into this problem.

Google just happens to also have drive to fall back on.

<comment><USER21> We'll see if Bitbucket takes these kind of drastic measures. Anyway, I don't understand one thing: why is it safer to let developers host the download files on their drive? What's the difference, really? Nobody could upload the files anonymously, could they? Perhaps it's just a way to 'encourage' people to use the drive?

<comment><USER12> > Anyway, I don't understand one thing: why is it safer to let developers host > the download files on their drive? What's the difference, really?

Drive's intended use case and sharing model may support dealing with abuse reports more efficient (for instance, it might make it practical to shift a reported file to non-publicly-shared after receiving an abuse report but before confirming that it contains malware.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> What were the size limits for hosted downloads (they say some limits exist, but no numbers in the FAQ) ? I could understand if they provided too much space for free that they would want to deprecated that in favor of Google drive.

</comment><comment><USER24> Maybe confirmation bias but it seems every article I see about Google these days is either:

A) How Google is shutting down / degrading _yet_ _another_ service.

B) Crazy things Schmidt says.

C) Google Glass

Could be doing better on the PR front Google.

</comment><comment><USER25> Is it just me who smells BS? Why hasn't this happened to SourceForge?

<comment><USER26> SourceForge doesn't host any of the downloads. They depend on donated mirrors.

<http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/sourceforge/wiki/Mirrors>

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> I don't really have much of an opinion on the news itself, but I'm curious how they decided on January 14th / 15th as the cut-off date. It seems sort of arbitrary.

</comment><comment><USER28> I wonder where they're going to take the Go downloads page to:

<https://code.google.com/p/go/downloads/list>

</comment><comment><USER29> Before someone veers into a misguded USSR analogy (too late: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5753890>) note that Github also disabled downloads months ago: <https://github.com/blog/1302-goodbye-uploads>

Seems like it's a pain point for code hosting services.

</comment><comment> guard-of-terra I love how they always talk about "abuse with a significant increase in incidents recently" and the "desire to keep our community safe and secure". Whether it is about downloads or about disabling XMPP federation.

This may or may not be true, but it is exactly how late USSR and contemporary Russian bureaucrats reason every of their restrictive and reactionary measures.

I mean, what won't you do for the children? For keeping our community safe? What, you don't want this measure? It seems you aren't a team player then.

<comment><USER30> Wow. Your sense of entitlement is astounding.

Google's taking away a minor feature of a completely free "product", and your response is to compare them to bureaucrats in the USSR?

Feel free to use something else.

<comment><USER13> Downloads are hardly a minor feature. Having a downloadable package makes it significantly easier for users to try open source software. The average user is very unlikely to want to compile from source.

<comment><USER30> Google Code (and GitHub) aren't for average users. They're developer tools.

Download links belong on the project web page.

<comment><USER12> > Google Code (and GitHub) aren't for average users. They're developer tools.

Google Code has a number of features -- not just downloads, but also wiki, etc. -- that, while not _intended_ to replace a user-centric site separate from the developer site Google Code is intended to provide, in practice facilitate projects using it that way.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Amazon reportedly placing 1k warehouses in U.S. neighborhoods - <AUTHOR> https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/09/16/amazon-reportedly-placing-1-000-warehouses-neighborhoods/5814313002/ <comment><USER2> Presumably they won't be geographically distributing the full Amazon inventory. It'll be fun to see how fast things get to me. Order items that are more common with your neighbors to get them faster.</comment>


Tiny Transmitters Could Kill QR Codes - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19208112 <comment><USER2> Did they change the title? Doesn't say kill now. Anything that can't be printed on plain paper does not dominate QR codes.</comment>


You can now have "YouTube parties" in Google+ Hangouts - <AUTHOR> http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2012/06/have-your-own-youtube-party-in-google.html

<comment><USER2> I've been saying since the start: It's somewhat obvious that Google+ Hangouts has the potential to become the internet equivalent of Microsoft's Xbox Live Party system. As they begin to flesh out their platform, Hangouts could be a very cool and very popular real-time group coordination system used by many web products.

</comment><comment><USER3> Ah, yes. Now we can all experience the wonderfulness that comes with these parties: <http://thedoghousediaries.com/1242>

I'm (partially) kidding, of course. Interesting feature, and interested to see how this is going to work out for them.

<comment><USER4> See also the xkcd comic "YouTube Parties": <http://xkcd.com/920/>. It's similar to the comic you linked, but was written independently.

In my one experience of a YouTube party (in real life, not on Google+), it went exactly as depicted in those comics. I disliked the party more than I enjoyed it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Huh -- so it's like Synchtube (<http://www.synchtube.com/>), except it only supports Youtube and you can't be anonymous.

</comment><comment><USER6> We have done this on <http://tinychat.com> for a long time. Its a very liked feature.

</comment><comment><USER7> Good to see more ways to share internet experiences with real-life people. Wasn't meebo working on some sort of web check-in thing? Wonder if there's something in the works around that, beyond just their hello advertising bar.

</comment><comment><USER8> I've really been working hard on this idea too: <http://chatwithvideos.com> ... I don't know if anyone has done it right yet. I even used the same terminology.

</comment><comment><USER9> There was a project at the last Philadelphia Startup Weekend that did something similar - <http://tubelr.com>

</comment><comment><USER10> hangout is pretty much the only good thing about google+

<comment><USER11> Can we please skip the "I don't use Google+ so it sucks" meme? Great, thanks.

<comment><USER12> Stupid and honest question, but why would this be a meme? On a personal level I very much dislike Google Plus because they did spam me at least a couple of times with emails like "hey, X and Y and Z did that on Google+ last week (things totally unrelated to me) you should check it out!". If that's not desperation than I don't know how else could it be called.

<comment><USER13> I get the same emails from Twitter.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> This would be great - if anyone used Google+

</comment><comment><USER15> heh. yahoo had that on live.yahoo.com a long time ago. of course they killed the team that did it.</comment>


Clients you should avoid - <AUTHOR> http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/7059-the-five-clients-you-should-avoid-like-the-plague

<comment><USER2> I think all of them can be fixed with a proper contract and negotiations. Most clients are stereotyped like this, simply because they don't know anything about the web and it's your job, as a web developer, to educate them. If you sit down and figure out what the client wants, put it on paper and place a price tag on it, you will effectively get rid of the first 4 client stereotypes listed in the article.

This should always be done before any photoshop work or code occurs. If a client wants a demo design first, you're certainly welcome to charge for it, and if a client doesn't like the fact that you're charging for a demo design, there are plenty more fish in the sea. It's not wrong to be selective of the clients you work with. You can also charge for tech support and for those extra calls/emails once you ship the product, all this goes into contract as well.

I know many studios who take 50% of agreed sum for the final product before they start any work. Cheapskate have no basis for making you do extra work if there is a clearly outlined set of deliverables in the contract. You can always dispute them in court if you feel that the terms of the contract have been violated.

</comment><comment><USER3> Add to the list any client that tells you how easy a project should be: "I need a widget that does A, B, and C; it shouldn't be too hard, just a couple lines of JavaScript." No matter how low the estimate you give them, it will be too high because it's "such an easy project."

</comment><comment><USER4> meta comment:

Although I get annoyed by these frequent semi-spam articles on HN, this one is interesting because there are at least 6 copies of it found by Google, but I'm completely unclear who has copied from whom.

[https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=%22web+developer%2C+Th...](https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=%22web+developer%2C+The+Fisherman+may+come+to+you%22)

<comment><USER5> really HN? i've seen this article a lot of times already and its previous title was really spam "5 clients that"...

18 upvotes in 3 hours?

I don't want to be judgemental but I hope someone is trying to cheat

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I really like this list, but it's also rather painful to read because I can imagine concrete examples of these archetypes from my own history.</comment>


What's Next for Mobile at Airbnb - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/airbnb-engineering/whats-next-for-mobile-at-airbnb-5e71618576ab <comment><USER2> It is a logical thing to do. Cross-platform is good for a small app, but once you scale you need native.</comment>


$400 Unlocked Developer G1 Banned From Accessing Paid Apps [Android] - <AUTHOR> http://styrofoamsmiles.com/blog/2009/02/unlocked-developer-g1-banned-from-accessing-paid-apps-android-2/ <comment><USER2> Wow. I've been trying to justify buying a dev G1 for a while now and this -seriously- isn't helping.

</comment><comment><USER3> Another case study for security by obscurity. A crypto-DRM system would not necessarily make a developer's life easier, and would probably be of limited value (and more CPU expense).

As a potential dev, I applauded the unlocked dev phone offer. But being unable to download paid apps dramatically reduces the utility especially for a small- shop, not yet Android committed dev. If hidden folders was the "launch-ready" store solution, it may be a while before this is corrected.</comment>


Ask HN: What provider do you use for Cloud hosting and why? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> Linode x1000.

I actually have a VPS at both linode and slicehost (originally this was so that I could have a "dev" and "prod" server for my projects. A stupid decision [because it's expensive and my projects don't get much traffic], but an educational one) and the linode one (at least according to ab) outperforms the slicehost.

If you're thinking about getting a VPS, do it immediately. The $20/mo I started spending (now $40) a couple of years ago was probably one of the most important things I've ever done towards furthering my education.

<comment><USER3> Would a Linode VPS be much different than an Amazon instance to host a couple of projects without traffic?

I've been thinking about getting something more "proper" than the GoDaddy plan I've been barely using for a couple of years, and was looking at getting a micro instance with Amazon. A reserved micro instance is only $54/year. I've seen Linode mentioned often but I'm wondering if the $240/year are worth it compared to what I would learn using an Amazon instance.

<comment><USER4> Reserving a micro instance only means that you get discounted usage hourly usage of that instance. You have to pay usage fees on top of that. By my math, 24 hours * 365 days * $.007 per usage hour (VA datacenter) = $61.32 in usage fees. Don't forget the cost of elastic block storage, too, especially if you're going to save snapshots. A full-time micro instance will cost ~$150/yr.

AWS pricing can be complicated, so make sure you read:

<http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/purchasing-options/>

<http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/>

<comment><USER3> Oh I see. I figured my number might be a bit misinformed. Yeah, AWS pricing is not simple and I'm not surprised I forgot storage and other things...

Thanks for the reply!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> These days I think that's like asking what hosting provider you use and why. There are so many out there which have some sort of cloud elements these days. If going the dedicated server route, Softlayer is among the best. If going VPS, then Rackspace / Slicehost can give you great flexibility with pricing options (and some of the cheapest VPS options if you have low traffic.) EC2 is among the best if you need a well developed swiss army knife / kitchen sink API and wide assortment of services to work with. Heroku is among the best if you work with Ruby and don't want to be bothered with system administration (Lot's of others rising up in this space, and GAE for Python / Java.) Joyent is great if you would rather work in Solaris rather than Linux.

Edit: Forgot to mention Azure for the MS world, though EC2 also offers Windows servers. I should have known to mention Linode since that service is so popular with the HN community. Though the Rackspace options provide more cloud services last I checked.

<comment><USER6> I would imagine for most use cases, Linode would be a better and more cost- effective option in place of Slicehost, and their level of support is just as good.

<comment><USER5> Sure, I didn't claim that Slicehost has the best performing machines. The EC2 micros are terrible, but I plugged EC2 for it's API's and other AWS services. Slicehost / Rackspace also has more cloud services the last I checked. But this may not be true anymore or for much longer (cloud storage, CDN, etc)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Amazon. We have very large data transfer requirements __* plus CloudFront is the cheapest CDN out there as far as I know.

 __*Spent weeks trying to explain to a large school district's "caching expert" (100,000+ students all going through a $30,000 dedicated caching server) that they do not need to flush the cache every day. He was not convinced. Oy.

</comment><comment><USER8> Slicehost has definitely plunged into irrelevance, as many predicted after the Rackspace buyout (and Slicehost vehemently denied would happen). I use VPSFarm as well; for $21 per month I get 1 GB RAM and a lot more transfer included. It's been pretty reliable so far; a little downtime but nothing out of the ordinary.

<comment><USER9> There are some things I'd want to see in Rackspace Cloud (being able to add subordinate accounts for billing and systems management), but yeah, all my new stuff has been on Rackspace.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I have accounts with both Rackspace and Heroku, and Heroku's free account sustained almost 60k hits over the last three days for me like a champ. When I got on LifeHacker, I turned on a dyno because I thought I'd need it, but then I shut it off because it didn't even matter.

</comment><comment><USER11> Heroku has been great for bootstrapping. I fear though that it's only a matter of time before Salesforce pulls a Chargify like stunt.

</comment><comment><USER12> Amazon.

\- Amazon EC2 instances for web servers

\- Amazon Elastic Load Balancers in front of the web servers, also handling SSL termination

\- Amazon RDS for MySQL databases on the back end, with automatic failover to a hot spare and zero-downtime full database backups

I reserve EC2 and RDS instances on an annual basis, otherwise the expense would outweigh the benefits for me.

For offsite backups, I run a TonidoPlug in my house. Under a buck a month in electricity usage, runs Ubuntu linux, cron runs the backup scripts each night.

</comment><comment><USER13> For home:

\- Linode. Got the 1024 for $40/month. I'm pretty happy it fits my usage. Host my home websites, email, vpn, etc.

For work:

Our customers are mostly in New Zealand so it's a real pain. US based providers are cheap but slow to access while NZ providers are expensive (especially for international traffic) and there is a lot less choice. We are finishing rolling out a new GSLB provider ( 3crowd, recommend ) so we can effectively deal with them separately.

Having said that we use the following mainly to serve international customers and NZ overflow:

\- Singlehop - Nice, cheap dedicated servers, new servers are deployed in ~3 hours and fairly reliable. Nice user interface and good spec for the price.

\- Serverloft - Not quite as good but still pretty cheap. Deployment was slower last time but no real problems.

\- Amazon Cloudfront - Playing around with it. Bandwidth is too expensive for day-to-day usage but great for overflows. NZ customers hit California or Singapore so a bit slow although there are rumours of an Australian site coming at some point.

I'm tempted to move the prod/dev environment to a US-based cloud but the latency/bandwidth constants from NZ->US means that files uploads/downloads for devs and internal customer's are probably too slow.

</comment><comment><USER14> Aside from Amazon there aren't any true cloud providers.

Rackspace, VPS.NET, Linode et al are all just VPS++marketing (_not_ cloud).

<comment><USER15> What's the difference? (Not a sarcastic or leading question, if VPS isn't "cloud" hosting, then what is?)

<comment><USER16> EC2 is the only provider where you can make API calls to launch 50 servers, have them all booted in a few minutes, then shut them down an hour later. Slicehost's management console will barely load if you have 100 instances, and your servers are all in a single data center. Ditto for Rackspace Cloud. (Both have multiple data centers, but each account is bound to one DC.) I haven't tested Linode beyond booting a single instance on it, but since they bill by the month I assume they're another cloud-ish VPS provider.

Of course, most individuals and small companies would do best to pick a cloud- ish VPS provider. They have much better support than EC2 and small companies usually don't need hundreds of servers.

<comment><USER17> While Linode's billing is monthly by default, it's also prorated. This means that when you remove a Linode from your account, the account is issued a prorated service credit for the unused time in the billing period. Service credit is always used for further services before charging the card on file.

In other words, you can spin up multiple Linodes, remove them the next day, and all you're really paying for is the day you had them deployed. There's a document on Linode billing located here: <http://library.linode.com/linode- platform/billing/>

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> There are some distinguishing factors between IaaS clouds and VPS: paygo pricing (VM & bandwidth), API, self-service automated provisioning, no term commitments, scale-up/down (CPU, memory), VM imaging/cloning/templating, off instance storage. Some VPS providers like Linode, Slicehost, RimuHosting, etc. do offer a few cloud like features, but I wouldn't put them on the same playing field as EC2. If you don't need the additional flexibility and features of cloud, Linode is an excellent VPS provider.

There is also a big difference between PaaS cloud services like AppEngine, Azure and Heroku which require your application to fit within a particular mold (programming language, packaging, deployment), and IaaS cloud providers which offer you the full flexibility of root access to a dedicated server.

</comment><comment><USER19> newservers.com - "dedicated cloud" - the servers are physical servers but they have a provisioning api. they have the cheapest 48GB boxes we can find, and we're running an app where we need a few very high memory boxes

pros - boxes are cheap relative to EC2, boxes are fast as they're all yours cons - they're slow to provision; up to an hour when you make a request, but the smaller boxes are faster - 10 mins or so. also, only one datacenter, and it's in miami...

<comment><USER5> Stormondemand is a similar service, and which I'm actually using right now. I believe it's basically a VPS where you get the whole server to yourself.

<comment><USER20> newservers.com delivers servers with bare metal os installations with no vps.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Linode 512

1\. Awesome support.

2\. I got a free voucher, so I essentially have a free server for 5 months. I'm actually considering just paying them anyway.

3\. Linode Library is amazing for a Linux noob such as myself - <http://library.linode.com/> \- Had an OpenVPN server setup and going within an hour. It's a great way to learn Linux, etc

4\. Freedom of use - no restrictions on what you use the server for as long as it isn't illegal.

</comment><comment><USER22> Moved from Amazon to Softlayer because we could get a mix of virtual and dedicated infrastructure at a good price. Amazon wasn't cutting it for the low-latency part of our system. SL hasn't been perfect, but pretty good -- maybe slightly better than Amazon for reliability.

<comment><USER7> Any benchmarking numbers off top of your head?

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> Windows Azure

Since we run on .Net and SQL Server it felt like the right choice. Microsoft has some really nice C# libraries that make accessing things like Blobs, Table Storage and Queues dead simple.

<comment><USER24> The auto scale up and down based on request thresholds is worth the price of admission alone. I am sure that other provides have something like this but I was able to get it going in about 15 mintues after watching the Azure demo video.

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> \- 14 webapps on AppEngine, all small and all profitable

\- 1 Linode for internal webapps

\- 1 Linode for some fancy data mining

\- S3 for backups

I highly recommend all those services if you undestand their strengths.

</comment><comment><USER26> Have hosted with RimuHosting (years), Slicehost (1 year) and VPS.NET (2 weeks).

Slicehost VPS's by far had the worst real-world performance for me. After a year and multiple Slashdot or Digg front page stories taking down the site. I found that I had to scale to approximately 2x of what I thought I would need in order for the site to stay up.

 __More specifically, I had to scale to twice what other services were able to keep my site up on. So if I could get by on a 4GB instance on Rimu, AWS or Linode, that meant on Slicehost I needed somewhere between a 6GB and 8GB instance. Multiple times I found for my site to be responsive (Apache + PHP FCGID) I was always buying bigger instances on Slicehost than anywhere else. The disk I/O was one of the biggest problems.

To keep the site stable on Slicehost and support the traffic I ended up spending twice what I budgeted for, for a few months before giving up.

VPS.NET is really cool conceptually (I think it's like Heroku with the 'cells' of power you apply to your server) but I kept getting VPS failures. 3 times in 1 week and support would take increasingly longer and longer to bring the server back up. When you make your living from writing and publishing, have your site just be _dead_ for an entire day is painful.

RimuHosting has been my favorite by far. I eventually went to a dedicated with them, but they are a quiet group of smart new zealanders with an ugly-ass website but excellent hardware and service. I don't have down-time with them and their overages for bandwidth is cheaper than AWS from Colo4Dallas -- $0.10/GB or less. They really should advertise that, BW is a killer for some folks (like me).

All that being said, if you like a nicer website and the real-time scaling functionality that Slicehost or Linode provide, I've heard lots of good things about Linode (and many comments here seem to verify that) so they seem like a safe bet.

Some quick-reference numbers looking at AWS versus RimuHosting are below... I had these handy when I update my comparisons every few months just to see what is out there. Thought someone might find them interesting.

AWS Bandwidth per Year - $0.15/GB

\</comment><comment></comment><comment>----

1,000 * 0.15 * 12 = $1800

AWS RESERVED INSTANCES per Year

\</comment><comment></comment><comment>----

Small

227.50 + (0.03 * 24 * 365) = 490.30 + 1800 = $2290.30

Large (Most Comparable to Dedicated Below)

910 + (0.12 * 24 * 365) = 1961.20 + 1800 = $3761.20

XLarge

1820 + (0.24 * 24 * 365) = 3922.40 + 1800 = $5722.40

RimuHosting Dedicated per Year

\</comment><comment></comment><comment>----

4-core HT-enabled/12GB Dedicated/1TB Bandwidth

306 * 12 = $3672

REFERENCES

1\. <http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/>

2\. <http://rimuhosting.com/order/startorder1.jsp?hom=t-ded>

<comment><USER27> For a startup that might be short on resources, Rimuhosting will perform sysadmin work for you at $40/hr. That may not seem like a big deal, but their sysadmins are knowledgeable, and always provide a detailed account of the work they've performed. I've yet to find another company with as dedicated a support staff as Rimu.

<comment><USER26> I absolutely agree there. They have this policy of doing admin work for free as long as it takes less than 30 mins -- and I've never asked for a fix that took longer than 30 mins, these guys are quick.

Everything from debugging connection issues (possibly hardware problem) to fixing a breaking build of apache for me from source in a few mins.

Great group of folks.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> I use VPS.net. My project isn't in production yet, but I have a few clients on it. Love the flexibly and features.

</comment><comment><USER29> Just so you all know, sites like Linode and Slicehost are NOT cloud hosting but actually VPS hosting

</comment><comment><USER30> I'm using AppEgine and love what it does for me, it's also free to start.

</comment><comment><USER31> Anyone know of any non-US based cloud services with reasonable capacity?

<comment><AUTHOR> iweb.com is in canada. I was considering them as well. anyone know anything about them? how do they compare. I like the name. :)</comment></comment>


One cup of milk per day may increase rate of breast cancer up to 50% - <AUTHOR> https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200225101323.htm <comment><USER2> So it goes from 0.0199 to 0.02? Also: why is the article in favour of soy- milk? Doesn't have soy more phyto-hormones than any other food?

</comment><comment><USER3> I'm not entirely surprised by this conclusion as there is a lot of research out there claiming that milk/dairy isn't healthy for us. I think almond milk is the best alternative.

<comment><USER4> For most situations, I actually prefer non-sugared oat milk over almond. Both are more "neutral" compared to soy milk.

<comment><USER3> Do you like the taste of non-sugared oat milk over almond, or is it mainly because of the health benefits?</comment></comment></comment>


The Writer Who Couldn't Read - <AUTHOR> http://www.npr.org/tablet/#story/?storyId=127745750&ft=1&f=1001

<comment><USER2> Cool story. Partial and complete word-blindness have stymied researchers -- perhaps this solution can be extended and taught to others with that particular (albeit fairly rare) malady.</comment>


Why there are no more new "web startups"? - <AUTHOR> in the past we had every years or so new startups that growth so quickly that become part of our life (example: facebook, twitter, airbnb, uber, instagram..).<p>It seems to me that this innovation waved stopped. Why? it's me that i'm getting old :( or it's because we are in the low innovation phase for the web sector and innovation are other sectors? <comment><USER2> Every company today is somehow digital native. The web component is implied, not a feature.

</comment><comment><USER3> In recent years TikTok comes to mind as a new company that seems to have gotten very popular very quickly.</comment>


The Perl Jam: Exploiting a 20 Year-old Vulnerability [31c3] - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gweDBQ-9LuQ

<comment><USER2> Previous discussion: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8813479](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8813479)

<comment><USER3> And short version for those who don't care to dig through that:

He discovered a bug in a software written in Perl, yes, but almost everything else in his talk is wrong and while he talks with a lot of confidence he knows almost nothing about Perl.

I'd written more about that earlier: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8909150](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8909150)</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Need Questions to Ask the Copy Hacker on TechZing - <AUTHOR>

We've scheduled an interview with Joanna Wiebe of Copy Hackers for this coming Tuesday and we'd like to get a dozen or so really good questions for her to answer on the air. If you're a startup and you'd like help with any of the following issues, then please email your question to email@example.com.

    - Communicating your value propositions
    - Describing your features
    - Communicating reasons to buy
    - Messaging "what we do"
    - Improving first impressions
    - Working on tone and feel
    - Communicating value
    - Cutting technical writing without losing info
    - Using testimonials effectively and writing FAQs
 Please include your name, the URL of your website, what your specific question is and as much information as you think she'll need to answer your specific question. <comment><USER2> Who?

<comment><USER3> If you're asking about Joanna Wiebe:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=bloggergirl>

<http://www.copyhackers.com/>

Edit: And [http://www.copyhackers.com/2011/10/18/how-1-hn-post- compelle...](http://www.copyhackers.com/2011/10/18/how-1-hn-post-compelled-me- to-leave-intuit-create-new-startup-for-startups/)</comment></comment>


Unused brain regions can be repurposed via neuroplasticity - <AUTHOR> https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/the-athletes-way/201909/unused-brain-regions-can-be-repurposed-neuroplasticity <comment><USER2> Very interesting study. It can rather pave the way for research in structural adaptation in the current deep learning research rather than only on architecture search and few shot learning.

If one thinks of this as engineering problem in deep learning, it may also be considered that this repurposed brain region is reinforcement learning in action along with self-organization in brain. Really cool.

</comment><comment><USER3> While reading the article, guess who was trying to move his toes individually without no luck! Except for the big one of course...</comment>