More data can make you more wrong - <AUTHOR> https://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/08/how-more-data-can-make-you-more-wrong/ <comment><USER2> The University of Chicago study is interesting and covers nuances not really dealt with in the article (naturally): [http://www.pnas.org/content/113/33/9250.full](http://www.pnas.org/content/113/33/9250.full)

with a summary here: [https://newschicagobooth.uchicago.edu/newsroom/problem- slow-...](https://newschicagobooth.uchicago.edu/newsroom/problem-slow-motion)

The key point neglected in the original article is that the jurors were being asked about _intent_ and premeditation in the slow-mo study. My knee-jerk reaction when first reading this article was to assume that the jurors might have just been able to conquer reasonable doubt more with slo-mo, but the questions seemed well designed to isolate the fact that slo-mo is creating a false narrative (even when the viewers can see the real-time clock clicking over at a very slow rate).

It would be interesting to see whether viewers who got to see both clips would still have the same perception, and whether ordering matters.

<comment><USER3> The article states that jurors who saw both were slightly more likely to convict. That is, the effect of the slow-mo was reduced if they also saw the real time.

It doesn't address the ordering question.

Thanks for the links. A lot of data there. Hope I don't reach the wrong conclusion. ;)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> The essential argument here also applies to any automated decision-making process, and that is one of the big risks we face in adopting ever more technology to help run our businesses and governments.

If we're not careful, we'll take all the old problems caused by unjustified discrimination based on factors like gender or skin colour, which today we (at least most of us) would consider irrelevant to making most decisions, and multiply them up many times over to apply to each input into an automated decision-making process. How do machine learning and statistical analysis tools distinguish between a causal relationship and mere correlation? And how often will they actually demonstrate the latter, yet be treated as if they had found the former?

<comment><USER5> >"How do machine learning and statistical analysis tools distinguish between a causal relationship and mere correlation?"

They have no reason to make such a distinction.

If you're trying to look for subjects of with a particular property X, but X is hidden, but you know property Y correlates with X, the correct action is to choose subjects with property Y. The causative relationship (or lack thereof) between X and Y is irrelevant.

As a simple example, if you're hiring people to carry 80-pound bags of grain between trucks, you want the property of physical strength. But, if you only have resumes to go on, you can't observe physical strength directly. But, gender correlates with physical strength, and names correlate with gender, so you'd be rational to choose the resumes with recognizably male names.

The reason we avoid discriminating between various protected groups isn't because groups don't have characteristics. If that was the case, such discrimination would be pointless and people would not bother doing it because it would have a cost but no benefit. Discrimination based on hair color is like this. Nobody does it and we don't need campaigns to stop it.

In reality, groups of people do have characteristics - physical, psychological, emotional, intellectual, cultural. However, we avoid discriminating between protected groups because we believe it's wrong to subject an individual to that kind of discrimination, even if such discrimination would be rational for the discriminator. Such discrimination violates our western ideals of individual rights and equal individual opportunity.

<comment><USER4> _However, we avoid discriminating between protected groups because we believe it 's wrong to subject an individual to that kind of discrimination, even if such discrimination would be rational for the discriminator._

I don't think most of us would have a problem with discriminating on an _inherent_ property of a group that is _relevant_ to the decision being made. Indeed, often neither do anti-discrimination laws. Such discrimination can be objectively justified.

For example, consider a job where a certain level of fitness is a functional requirement, say a firefighter whose role includes being able to carry someone out of a burning building. Setting a relatively high bar for physical strength is going to discriminate against female job applicants and those with various physical disabilities as their respective groups, but it's not discriminating against someone because they're female or in a wheelchair, it's discriminating against them because they can't carry someone out of a burning building and so that person is going to die. I don't think most of us would have a problem with this kind of rule. The only thing unfair here is life not making us all equal, and there isn't much we can do about that.

The problems usually start when either you discriminate against a whole group based on some property that is somewhat correlated with membership of the group but not inherent, or you discriminate against a whole group based on a property that is inherent but isn't actually relevant to the decision being made.

For example, if a job involves sitting at a desk and using a computer all day, a woman or someone in a wheelchair can presumably do that just as well as our hypothetical strong male. In this case, discrimination on the basis of gender or physical strength simply isn't relevant to the decision being made but sadly does sometimes happen because of individual prejudice, and thus we have laws to protect those in more vulnerable situations.

Unfortunately, the kinds of tools and mathematical analyses we're talking about here don't necessarily see those situations any differently. They may learn the wrong lesson if there are coincidental, misleading correlations in whatever data is used to train them, which brings us back to where we came in.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> The two issues brought up (obstruction in cricket and the murder trial) say more about rules than they do about evidence.

In the cricket case, the problem seems to be that small differences in a player's reaction time can make the difference between acceptable and unacceptable actions. Why should it matter if the player intentionally blocked the ball? Justice is much more difficult when rules depend on precise subjective judgement.

The same is true of the murder case. Clearly the robbers committed a second degree murder. In the hypothetical cases, was the prosecution pushing for first degree murder instead? Why rely on precise subjective judgement?

This like trying to decide from a grainy photo whether a character is an 'A' or a '4'. It's an unavoidably difficult problem, but in the two cases above, we can change the rules to avoid it.

<comment><USER3> Intentionality plays a role in most criminal definitions. The exceptions are the strict liability cases like statutory rape or DUI (just to name a couple). I think the law looks to intentions because it's very human to base our judgments on our sense of the person's intent. Beyond me why it developed evolutionally (or if it's just a very recent phenomenon), but we have a soft spot for good intentions.

As to the case at hand, I have similar questions. I would think in the U.S. this would have just been a felony murder case where intentions are irrelevant. Agree that a first-degree murder charge in a robbery case would be odd (unless the robbery was a cover story for the planned murder??).

As for sports, the pendulum seems to shifted in the other direction with most rules of the 'strict' variety. And I would agree with you that any rule that can be formulated as a strict rule, should be.

<comment><USER7> In a world filled with randomness intent is the only thing we can control. I think the trend towards statutory crime comes from the fact we feel we've tamed much of the world. And therefore what occurs is most likely someone's fault - instead of an act of god.

<comment><USER3> Very astute observation. Allowing for bad acts or bad outcomes without a scapegoat (because _accident_ ) makes us feel less in control of our world.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Most of this story is about slow-motion in videos, not about the amount of data.

To add to it, data-gathering by NSA can indeed lead to the wrong conclusions. Or statistics in scientific experiments that are wrong, due to selecting only a part of the data-set.

<comment><USER3> There's a fair bit of discussion of crime scene data gathering beyond video: CSI-type stuff. Makes the point that when you have a big budget to gather a bunch of data, you have a lot more leeway to paint a narrative supporting your theory.

Would have liked to have been given a more concrete example of this, because I don't have a strong enough imagination to really understand that scenario. Finding the suspects fingerprints in more places around the crime scene? I don't know, I guess that could help convict but could see it just as easily distracting the jury and muddling the case.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Really interesting, it's like overfitting applied to human decision making!

</comment><comment><USER10> This doesn't strike me as having anything to do with data volume. This is much more about exploiting cognitive biases. This is not a new thing. If anything, the subject is a classic one.

</comment><comment><USER11> Slow motion video isn't _more_ data, it's the same data just presented in a different way.

<comment><USER12> There's a limit to what we can absorb in real time so slow-motion will tend to also generate more data ingestion. But most of the effect should indeed be from our "intent sensing neural nets" being trained for real time speed and going awry when fed slow motion replays. A big part of figuring out if something is intentional in something as fast paced as sports will always be "was there enough time for a human to react?".

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> The title is clickbait. The subtitle makes sense though.

<comment><USER14> Clickbait doesn't mean any remotely catchy title. It means sensational and misleading titles. More data _can_ make you more wrong and that's exactly what the article is about.

<comment><USER15> Agreed. A clickbait title for this article would be something like "The Shocking Reason that Big Data is Failing" or "Think data leads to good decisions? Think again.".

<comment><USER3> or "Slow-Mo Killed the Video Star"

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle)

</comment><comment><USER17> Be careful with this source; as articulate and urbane as much of the writing is, it's the UK's Breitbart.

<comment><USER18> Bullshit. I'm often in disagreement with The Spectator but that is a ridiculous slur.

<comment><USER17> I was a print subscriber for two years, read every article in every issue, and that was my conclusion.</comment></comment></comment>


Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records - <AUTHOR> http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/196017994/diaspora-the-personally-controlled-do-it-all-distr?pos=2&ref=spotlight <comment><USER4> Rats -- someone here said, "I'd be worried if I was kickstarter at this point...", and as I went to reply to that, they deleted their comment.

But it's spot-on.

Short term, this is going to bring a lot of publicity and attention towards kickstarter, and that will also benefit the projects on there. If you'd like to launch something via kickstarter, _now is the time to do it_.

Because, odds are, what these guys roll out just isn't going to live up to the $100,000+ raised for it, and when that happens, that's going to reflect badly on kickstarter. I would guess that potential donors will be far more critical of future kickstarter projects; the foremost question on those projects is going to be, "Is this another Diaspora?"

The funding for this thing stopped being about getting this project off the ground, and has started being about a protest against Facebook. There's more than enough money in there to launch Diaspora now. People are donating now just to moon Facebook, and that's gonna end up hurting kickstarter later.

<comment><USER5> It isn't over until the fat lady sings.

But if I were them I'd shut down the pledge site now, thank everyone and say that if after the launch they feel they need more funding they'll do a second round.

<comment><USER6> There really isn't any motivation to shut it down now though as far as I can tell. It seems like they're getting money with essentially no strings attached - might as well get it now while it's easy to get.

<comment><USER5> That's true. But they would come over a lot more credible (at least to me, that may be different for others). I you've misjudged your initial funding requirement by more than 10:1 you are already showing that you've done something wrong, so since they've received what they said they needed the logical next step would be to put up some proof they can deliver.

Like that expectations stay within the realm of the feasible.

On another note, this funding round is feeding off the facebook name recognition, _not_ on the track record of these people.

Everybody loves an underdog.

<comment><USER7> But Jacques, they _haven't_ misjudged their original funding requirement - <USER2> worst, they've underestimated potential early investor/market interest in the product they are proposing to create.

I do see two problems here.

1\. Diaspora is now awash in money - which might go to their heads or not, but which in any case creates new, non-code responsibilities for them. $100k is not chump change, and you can't just stick it into a petty cash box. As soon as Kickstarter transfers it to a bank account, being greater than $10k it will trigger an automatic report from the bank to the IRS. So before they write any more code, the Diaspora team need to hire a lawyer and create a trust or some other appropriate legal vehicle...might I suggest our own grellas?

2\. For Kickstarter, this raises questions of how funding is managed. Now, most things on there offer a straight trade - send me $1 and I'll send you an mp3 of my new song after I've bought the guitar I need, or whatever. It's a sales contract, basically. However, it's not obvious what the terms of this contract are - for example, their FAQ doesn't address the question of what happens if the project owner doesn't buy the guitar but flees to Lichtenstein instead. I'm guessing recourse and other issues are governed by the terms of the Amazon payments agreement (<https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/about?nodeId=6019>), but Kickstarter need to address this upfront to avoid potential heartache, especially given that they allow projects to solicit commitments of up to $10k. Sooner or later some project will fail in such a way that a donor feels victimized and there will be blowback for Kickstarter. Given the large amount of money involved here, it would be a good idea for them to clarify the legal context in which donations take place. I find it surprising that they don't have any stated policy about donations exceeding the requested amount - though given the usual difficulty faced by artists begging for money, they probably haven't had to confront it seriously before. Most projects that overshoot their target do so by a fraction, not multiples.

Incidentally, Kickstarter's own rules do not allow a project creator to halt the project early, so even if Diaspora want to shut off the flow of donations, they can't.

Disclosure: I kicked them some $ too.

<comment><USER5> as to 1) Yes, agreed fully, a trust is the way to go. Grellas would be awesome.

2) Kickstarter will likely learn as much from this particular event as anybody (including the diaspora team), they have seen their model validated in a way that you can only dream of when you run a service like that with a ton of free publicity to boot. If diaspora is only marginally successful that would be enough, but they should be careful to show their independence from the project.

I'm going to watch this very closely in the next couple of months, it is imo the biggest story in the year to date with respect to start-up financing.

I sincerely wish those kids the best of luck, they'll need it. Their biggest problems will be that they will be sitting on a significant sum of money and that alone will attract all kinds of sharks, which is not good when you're a goldfish.

I've suggested they apply to YC, that's one of the ways in which they could get the expertise they need in order to at least make it to a launch of sorts. They'll be in dire need of people they can trust.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This is going to be the most overhyped and underwhelming web project ever. This entire group looks like they have vaporware written all over them.

<comment><USER9> Is anyone else mildly depressed by the inequality between money raised and reality here?

It's great that these guys are raising money, I'm all for it. They should take what they can get. But, what about all the brilliant open source projects out there, that people are actually enjoying and using today, not sponsored by large organizations that accept donations from the community. I'm willing to bet that _none_ of them have raised even close to this much money. It saddens me that society is more willing to financially support a statement than something actually useful and real.

Perhaps this turn of events was destined to happen eventually and these lucky guys hit the media jackpot. I still can't be happy about it.

<comment><USER10> Is it great that these guys are raising money?

I don't know them, but if the issue is a major fundraising effort to replace Facebook, I would think that selecting teams to implement the new system would need some serious due diligence.

Should someone raise money? Absolutely. Is it these guys? I honestly do not know. More information is needed...

<comment><USER11> The fact that more information is needed makes me lean towards the "no" side of the house.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I wouldn't give them a dime, at this point. They don't even have a proof of concept, and giving them more money than they ask for is certainly counter- productive.

</comment><comment><USER13> To the naysayers, even if they don't deliver, this undoubtedly proves there is place for a facebook competitor.

And lots of people with money to back it up.

To facebook, you just jumped the shark. Perhaps you will never die, but your days are counted as king of the social web.

<comment><USER14> All this proves is that a bunch of nerds got caught up in an open source telethon and gave some money. I highly doubt anyone at Facebook gives a damn... especially if they've watched the "pitch" video in which these guys come off like a bunch of 18 year old goofballs.

<comment><USER5> Enough people are pledging different stuff besides just money to give them a serious amount of resources to use, all it takes is for one or two experienced systems architects from the big G, skype or some other project to hop on board and they're going to get a lot more legs. Diasporas biggest negative asset at this point is the egos of the founders, judging by their videos. But then again, who wasn't cocky at 18.

They're by no means a contender right now in the eyes of the tech world, but if I were Zuckerberg I'd take notice of what happens when you fuck people over often enough and what kind of grass roots resistance can materialize out of thin air.

There seems to be a limit to consumer patience when it comes to things like this and that makes me happy.

All FB has to do to take the wind out of diaspora's sails is to announce they got the message and that they'll default all privacy settings to 'opt-in' from now on and apologize.

I doubt that will happen though.

<comment><USER15> This is the second time in this thread (which I am kicking myself for reading) that someone has intimated that Diaspora is just a couple of Google developers away from being big.

No.

If Facebook was 2, 10, or 100 top-caliber Google engineers away from a serious challenge, Google would already be seriously challenging Facebook. Google is a CS-hiring force of nature.

<comment><USER5> Diaspora at this point in time is a signal, not a contender.

I think facebook, for the next couple of years is unassailable, but they should definitely take note.

The facebook brand has been damaged in the last couple of weeks, and the hype around diaspora is damaging it further.

That's the only way in which this will have effect. If they pull it off though (even if they just ship) I'll tip my hat to them.

<comment><USER15> You didn't address my comment at all; you just repeated the same point you've been making everywhere else about Facebook.

<comment><USER5> I re-read your comment and I don't see where you pick up that diaspora is a couple of google developers away from being big.

They are going to get more 'legs' is not the same as being big. The only thing that I try to convey there is that if they would get a couple of high profile people on board is that the project will gain a lot of legitimacy in the eyes of the the press and the blogs and that will give them yet another round of exposure.

I did not at all mean to imply that they would be 'big' because of that, there are far too many factors against them to even give them a fighting chance. If they play all their cards right they might be a niche player, if there is some kind of act-of-god then they might get a lot bigger. But taking on facebook at this stage is like taking on google or microsoft.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> This seems like a great opportunity for Google to "donate" some senior talent to the project, blow this up into a fully functioning platform (optionally backed up on Google's servers), and one-punch KO Facebook.

<comment><USER17> _and one-punch KO Facebook_

Wha?

A bunch of geeks living in the echo chamber are pissed about a privacy issue, so they all cruise over to a geeky website, and toss in $20 of their geek- inflated disposable income, to a vaporware project whose popularity is mostly due to politics. Meanwhile, in the time it took me to write this, ten million people logged in to Facebook.

Methinks a little perspective is in order here.

<comment><USER5> Exactly. All this amounts to at this stage is a signal to facebook. A powerful signal, absolutely. But not by any stretch of the imagination a threat.

 _If_ they deliver somewhere in the fall and _if_ it starts to draw significant traffic and _if_ they don't have a big security breach themselves, and _if_ there is no falling out between the four founders _then_ they might be a contender.

But that's a lot of ifs.

<comment><USER18> I was just wondering is the 100k worth the powerful signal.

<comment><USER5> > I was just wondering is the 100k worth the powerful signal.

Don't you mean the opposite?

<comment><USER18> No I don't. Not many people care about there privacy (otherwise facebook would have been bust). And even if they had pledged 200% or 300% that would have been enough to send a strong signal but 1088% of pledging is just not right.

There could have been so much more done with the other 80k. So many other things need money.

<comment><USER5> Ah, I get you now, sorry.

I don't know if it is not 'right', the signal function would have been just as strong if they would have set their original goal at $100K and people would have sent them that much $.

In some ways the $amount is a value that collapses a number of underlying elements to a single number, the amount of frustration around facebook privacy, the people that simply wish these kids luck and there are a number of people that hate facebook enough to put up a substantial amount of $.

Which portion of that $100K ($109K already, $4500 per _hour_ right now) comes from the 'signal' portion is hard to tell.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> If they keep this up they'll cross a million bucks in the next 18 days.

I'd start to feel a little uncomfortable if I were them by now, $10K is fine, but a million is a serious responsibility, even if it was gathered as small change. The surprising thing to me is how many people pledge fairly large amounts.

<comment><USER19> I think that once the NYT article falls out of view, it'll slow down considerably.

<comment><USER5> Their current funding success will generate another round of publicity, that's already happening. Everybody loves to hate facebook so you can just about cue the next round of blog posts and press coverage.

edit: it looks like that was on the money:

<http://news.google.com/news/search?q=diaspora+facebook>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Success is all about incentives. In this case, by the end the kids probably end up with $100K-200K each. Perhaps the biggest incentive for them will be not to be those guys who got a jackload of money from donations and never delivered. Google remembers forever.

</comment><comment><USER20> One thing I'd require in this donation model that they provide an online "billing" statement that shows (at least roughly) what they spent the money on.

</comment><comment><USER21> Related to the whole Facebook fiasco, I just found this. I wonder how credible it is - that information is hard to verify. Basically, Zuckerburg allegedly IM'd his friend, and called early Facebook adopters "dumb f __ks" for trusting him with their information.

[http://www.businessinsider.com/well-these-new-zuckerberg- ims...](http://www.businessinsider.com/well-these-new-zuckerberg-ims-wont- help-facebooks-privacy-problems-2010-5)

<comment><USER5> If it's true one more reason to be very wary what you put in writng, even if it is just an IM message.

<comment><USER19> Yeah what a dumb fk

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> What programming experience do the Diaspora guys have?

<comment><USER5> At their age? Not a whole lot. But then again, Zuckerberg was about that age when he built the first version of facebook.

It's not rocketscience. The problem is, there is facebook now.

And that sets the bar pretty high. Going up against the proverbial 800 pound gorilla makes for a great story but it will probably end in some squashed egos. The book rights will be worth something though :)

Just like duck-duck-go isn't going to overtake google tomorrow though, they might find a niche they can exploit.

Facebook exiles most likely.

<comment><USER23> What they are proposing is significantly more difficult than what Facebook initially wrote. Facebook, at one point, was just another web app with a nice story for bootstrapping new users via the college networks. These guys are trying to build a distributed, secure, encrypted network on which to build social networking functionality. If they do it correctly it could be the basis for a whole lot more. And even if they don't work it out entirely as long as they release the source code it is a step in the right direction and others can continue to work on it or something similar.

<comment><USER5> Yes, but if they hire say cperciva or someone with credentials and experience like that I can see that part as 'solvable'.

The technology is doable, after all, skype was built by two guys on top of a library created to distribute mp3s.

If you look at the top of the pledge page they write "Decentralize the web", they do not specifically mention facebook, so they seem to be aware of the fact that this could be the basis for a whole lot more.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Colour me unimpressed. Show me the code!

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Source for "and all of Kickstarter's records" bit:

<http://twitter.com/waxpancake/status/13922920432>

</comment><comment><USER25> I am happy they are getting this much money, but what is more interesting is to find out who is behind these guys. Who had the connection to the NYtimes, why did the story get picked up. They went from 0 to 3,000 followers in 1 day on twitter. <http://twitter.com/joindiaspora> I have done some analysis kickstarter fundraisers, and why some fundraisers go viral and others don't. here is a quick example, same subject but only one was able to raise money <http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/search?term=obama>

</comment><comment><USER26> I was personally going to donate to this project, but unfortunately, there seems to be little evidence that these guys actually are competent coders (not even code samples from their uni). So I fear that people are paying money simply because they hate Facebook, and that it may be mostly wasted.

I'd love to see this happen, but I do feel that there is a high risk that the end product may be garbage. So I urge people who want to donate to learn more about the boys first (a computer science degree doesn't necessarily guarantee that they even know basics such as proper multithreading or have ever touched sockets).

</comment><comment><USER19> I'm all excited about this too, but does anybody even know these kids? Is anybody out there vouching for so much as their ability to program? 10k is a nice thing to risk at them, but 100k is pushing it in my opinion. 100k towards "a decentralized social network" sounds good, but 100k towards one particular decentralized social network sounds like trouble. At least it'll be open source so somebody else can take it and fix it if they screw up.

On the other hand, perhaps this money is useful for the market signal in itself, that this sort of thing is in demand.

</comment><comment><USER27> While I haven't followed this story all that closely, what makes people so confident that _this_ particular project will have legs?

From a quick glance at the description of their effort, I wonder whether this will really be viable. My mom doesn't use FB for any other reason than that it's the most convenient way to send messages and pictures to friends. For her to move to anything else, it has to be easier. Try explaining to your mother- in-law that she needs to install a node.

<comment><USER13> You don't have to "install" a node. You just use one provided by wordpress, posterous, tumblr, et al.

If you are a geek, then you roll your own.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> I'll be interested to see if, by the end of the summer, they have a working project and the turn-key hosting solution.

If they get this working, it'll be interesting to see what the adoption rates are. There might be some people with cash interested in using software such as this, but it still doesn't seem to have a draw beyond those with a deep knowledge of tech.

For instance, I'd wager that most Facebook users don't know what GPG is or care if it is being used or not.

</comment><comment><USER29> With 10K , we hope to see something, with 100K, we expect to see something, with 1M, we better damn well get something.

</comment><comment><USER30> This has reinvigorated my interest in Kickstarter. I lost interest when I wasn't able to set a high enough goal (some sort of field validation bug) for my first attempt to post a project.

Maybe I'll try something less ambitious this time around?

</comment><comment><USER31> I doubt this will hurt Facebook. I don't believe regular users on the whole care about privacy. Especially if you compare the value of Facebook (all my friends, photos, events, chat) vs privacy cost.

One interesting implementation they could strive for is rather than expecting users to host their own server, ask them for an AWS key and use that - <USER3> way Amazon handles all billing, uptime, etc.

Also the name blows, and they're self professed nerds - generally terrible at making a user experience for regular users.

</comment><comment><USER32> I see a lot of people worry about if they fail. I think in the community there are a lot of people here to make it a success, and I think at this point that showing a little opportunism would be good right now. Identify ways you can help that can create a win-win for both you and diaspora. Don't say you miss the party for this one.

</comment><comment><USER33> I'm entertaining myself with the notion that a great deal of this money is from Zuck himself, funneled in via small amounts in a fiendish Xanatos Gambit[1] to make the inevitable flameout more spectacular.

1 - <http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/XanatosGambit>

</comment><comment> loup-vaillant Do someone know why they chose the name "Diaspora"? As far as I know, this word is heavily connoted, and may needlessly hurt some feelings. Would a more neutral name be fitter?

Also, could the name be changed at all, given the attention it already received?

</comment><comment><USER34> They went from 10K to 100k, and they're probably going to end up with even more massive amount of money in the end. I'm really interested in seeing what they're going to deliver.

</comment><comment><USER35> Too much hype and money can be dangerous. It reminds me of Cuil...

</comment><comment><USER36> So I'm wondering - should they keep this a summer project or just take a leave of absence from school and give this project their full attention?

100k is some serious seed money.

<comment><USER37> Leave of absence I'd say. 3months may be enough to build the basic infrastructure before turning it over to the open source community, but the odds of Diaspora succeeding in the long run will be significantly better if its guided by the people who created and live it as long as possible. Thinking of Linux as the model.

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> I can't help but wonder how much of the money raised for these guys is going to be spent on the rewards promised.

</comment><comment><USER39> the upshot to all this publicity is they'll get some competent advisors since they're now over their head for college frosh.

also they should probably take a year off and move somewhere other than NYC (unless proximity to help is worth the rent).

</comment><comment><USER40> Have these guys updated their plans now to reflect the new funding?

</comment><comment><USER41> $100,383 @ 10:02 AM PST.

</comment><comment><USER42> What I don't understand about Diaspora is why can't one guy just start hacking out his own "distributed Facebook" replacement today. No team needed (not at start.) No money needed. Use F/OS/OTS software, all the pieces are just laying there. Actually I wouldn't be surprised if there were already several people out there doing _exactly_ this already, but without the PR splash made by Diaspora.

Ok, maybe I've just answered my own question. It's only about the PR splash!

<comment><USER43> The money requested ($10,000) was intended as a summer sipend. I doubt that a single programmer can write the code in 3 months, while paying the bills.

In other words, $10,000 means they can work on this all summer without needing a job to support them.

</comment></comment><comment><USER44> Their github repositories are unimpressive to say the least <http://github.com/danielgrippi> <http://github.com/rsofaer> <http://github.com/maxwell>

Judging by their open source activities, they are not people I'd give $100k to.

I've seen much more impressive repositories from students.

</comment><comment><USER18> I have said it before[1] and I will say it again, this is obscene amount of money for something that not a thing that a very big portion of web is going to use and is not a profit generating startup.

[1]<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1343399>

</comment><comment><USER45> They're starting to look at some serious cash. I hope these kids use it wisely. A reasonable amount should be used for living expenses, but there's enough left over to hire a good quality graphics designer, and other contractors to help with the load.</comment>


Ask HN: Is there "security issue notification for dummies?" (I discovered a hole...now what?) - <AUTHOR>

Pardon me for this question, but I recently discovered a major security issue in OpenWebmail (it gives out full access to users' mailboxes in referrer URL), and I don't know how to handle it. How should people notify security professionals about such issues?
I notified one of the providers that uses OpenWebmail about this, and I tried to find contact information on OpenWebmail website, but couldn't.
So my question is: how people outside the security community should handle important security information? Should we disclosure it? Should we notify security experts? Websites?
Maybe I did a mistake writing about it? :-) I don't know. Please educate me.
Thank you! <comment><USER2> Generally the best approach is to contact someone who is part of the security world -- they'll both know how to approach the right people and have the credibility to get people to listen.

</comment><comment><USER3> Contact CERT - www.cert.org

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! The contact form is here: <https://forms.cert.org/VulReport/>

edit: and I've submitted the report.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: What are your favorite projects to follow on GitHub? - <AUTHOR>

<comment><USER2> <https://github.com/torvalds/linux></comment>


Two rebels take on Apple Computers. - <AUTHOR> http://www.sfweekly.com/2009-11-11/news/worms-in-the-apple/

<comment><USER2> I was on the bus this morning, found a copy of SF Weekly, and read this article. Very interesting, especially in the approach to framing the Apple "monopoly of the OSX". It will be interesting to see what the courts say.</comment>


1% of Domains Drive Over 70% of Referring Traffic - <AUTHOR> http://www.conductor.com/blog/2012/12/surprise-only-1-of-domains-drive-over-70-of-referring-traffic-data/

<comment><USER2> So typical for those internet fat cats to hog up all the referrals! What about the rest of us in the 99% trying to make an honest living?

<comment><AUTHOR> Working harder, producing better content ... still, MANY folks still have Yahoo, AOL or MSN as their homepage :-(. And of course, Google wants to be the web's only affiliate [<http://www.seobook.com/brand-vs-affiliate-vs-spam>], but will give a pass to "brands" (read: brands + cash = not spam), while labeling small sites as internet spam. Its all looking pretty dire for the common (wo)man. Business as usual, i guess.

<comment><USER3> The Internet used to be a social experiment. Now it is just a subset of economics.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Organic search drives 7 out of 10 visits?

I'm a little skeptical of that statistic.

I wish Outbrain had updated reports that I could use (I wasn't able to find any;) however, pulling from an older study from 2011, they reported Search and Social numbers that seem very different than what Conductor's study dictates. Search was at 40% and Social was at 14% for their top 150 Publishers at the time. [1] If search more than doubled in 18 months, there would be quite a bit of coverage on such a substantial gain. I've had my head down to work for a while, so maybe I missed the undoubted hype that would have surrounded such a gain?

I do believe the idea that the 'fat head' drives the majority of traffic. I'm simply questioning the accuracy of the breakdown of referring traffic sources.

[1] [http://www.outbrain.com/blog/2011/08/content-sites-refer- tra...](http://www.outbrain.com/blog/2011/08/content-sites-refer-traffic- other-content-pages-googles-share-drops.html)

</comment><comment> jp--1 This is a simple case of default settings. Not much has changed over the years. He who controls the operating system/browser controls the portal and hence the referral.

As well-known and popular as Google is as a portal, they still need to play the default settings game. Android and Chrome are Google's way of making sure google.tld is a default setting.

One could argue that in the majority of cases, those 1% of domains are not chosen by the user, but by he who controls th default settings.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Anecdotal takeaway -- "The Referrer Fat Head is Alive and Well"</comment>


The Invisible Bicycle Helmet - <AUTHOR> http://vimeo.com/43038579

<comment><AUTHOR> Watch the video first and avoid the Vimeo comments until you've seen the product unveiled.

Then after that, the product site is here: <http://www.hovding.com/en/how/>

Very clever thinking from two entrepreneurs.</comment>


Ask HN: What podcasts do you listen to regularly? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER5> Planet Money just turned 10 years old and in that time I haven't found a podcast that has been more consistently informative and entertaining.

Some recent highlights:

\- P is for Phosphorus [https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?stor...](https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=581149776)

\- How the Social Security Number Became our National Identification [https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/03/14/593620579/epis...](https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/03/14/593620579/episode-830-xxx- xx-xxxx)

\- The Poop Cartel: [https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/07/25/632444815/epis...](https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/07/25/632444815/episode-855-the- poop-cartel)

<comment><USER6> Planet Money was invaluable in understanding what was happening during the 2008 financial meltdown. They were creating new episodes nearly every other day to explain the next domino that was falling.

Since then they've done a nice pivot into using that style to explain other gears in the global economy. The series about making a T-shirt, for example, was excellent.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I've started listening to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks while riding my bike. Here's some of my favorites:

Storytelling: This American Life, Reply All, The Moth

Business / Finance: Startups For the Rest of us, The Indie Hackers Podcast, The SaaS Podcast, Planet Money

Comedy: Comedy Bang Bang, Hollywood Handbook, John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme

Science / History: The Infinite Monkey Cage, Stuff You Should Know, Hardcore History, Behind the Bastards

Philosophy / Discussion: The Knowledge Project, Think Again

I've tried listening to a lot of other podcasts, but these are the ones I keep coming back to.

I'll also listen to The Tim Ferriss Show if there's an interesting guest. He had an awesome conversation with Drew Houston recently, and there were lots of interesting stories from the early days of Dropbox.

I also really enjoyed Caliphate, but it's a mini-series that's finished.

<comment><USER8> SYSK and TIHP are awesome, +1.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Mostly german podcasts with focus on science and comedy.

English podcasts:

\- omega tau - science and engineering ([http://omegataupodcast.net/](http://omegataupodcast.net/)) now ten years old. Realy good mixed bag of topics. They interview people who know stuff or have done stuff. Last 4 topics were:

       292 – Gene Editing with CRISPR/Cas

       291 – Flying in the Papuan Bush

       289 – Music Production at Sandlane Studios

       288 – Flight Research at NASA Armstrong, Part 3: Historic

German podcasts

\- Methodisch Inkorrekt ( [https://minkorrekt.de](https://minkorrekt.de) ) Review of 4 new science papers from all research subjects

\- Kohlenpod ([https://kohlenpod.de](https://kohlenpod.de) ) Germany is closing down all black coal mines this year. This podcast releases one episode every sunday until the end of the year and discusses the history of black coal in germany. He started with the Episode 52 and count towards 0.

\- Chaos Radio Express ( [https://cre.fm](https://cre.fm) ) Weekly radio show with guests from the chaos computer club. Mostly tech related. Since this is also a public radio broadcast show, it tries to explain tech topics to non- tech people.

\- Omega tau ( its mixed german and english)

\- Kack und Sachgeschichten ([http://www.kackundsachgeschichten.de](http://www.kackundsachgeschichten.de) ) Discussing movies and series.

\- Alternativlos ( also mixed german/english depends on the guest ) ( [https://alternativlos.org/](https://alternativlos.org/) ) Politics. Not day- to-day politics but the "big pictures".

</comment><comment><USER10> Perhaps not quite what the OP is looking for, but I use podcasts mostly for music consumption. My favorite (for quite a while now) is The Anjunadeep Edition [1], which delivers a 1 hour continuously-mixed "deep" (often programming-friendly) electronic music every week. I'd be curious to hear what other music podcasts HN recommends.

[1] Here's a recent episode I enjoyed: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chn4SZWnJbc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chn4SZWnJbc)

<comment><USER11> Same same! Would love to read more music podcast recommendations. My personal pick is The Concert by the Gardner Museum. Each episode is a live performance of classical chamber music. Sadly shut down last year but there are 12 years of archives online and all episodes are still available in the feed.

<comment><USER12> Signed up after years of lurking just to ask for more classical music podcast recommendations. Thanks to your recommendation, I have listened to "The Concert" for the last couple of hours while working and it's absolutely incredible. Amazing quality, brief introductions packed with interesting bits of info and a great selection.

I have classical playlists in youtube but their quality is nowhere near this podcast's and I didn't learn anything about the genre while listening to them since it's just popular tracks passing one after the other in the background without an introduction.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> No Such Thing As A Fish - from the team who do research for the show QI

ABC Radio Nation does quite a few great shows, you'll find them at [http://abc.net.au/rn](http://abc.net.au/rn)

<comment><USER14> I absolutely love No Such Thing As A Fish. I religiously listen to and wait for every new episode.

<comment><USER15> I didn't know that was still going. They had a brief stint on TV a few years ago.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> EconTalk - interviews with social scientists about various topics. The interviewer is an economist so it's an interesting discussion between experts.

Economics detective radio - similar to EconTalk

Rationally speaking - interviews related to rational thinking.

80,000 Hours podcast - in depth interviews about the world's biggest problems and how to use your career to solve them. (Disclaimer: I used to work for them, but I genuinely love the podcast)

Feeling good podcast - by one of the pioneers of cognitive behavioural therapy, discusses mental health techniques.

</comment><comment><USER17> [2017] Ask HN: What are your favorite podcasts?

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14819798](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14819798)

</comment><comment><USER18> Jason Calacanis of course!

Startups: This Week In Startups

Startups: Mixergy [https://mixergy.com/](https://mixergy.com/)

Startups: How I built this

Startups: Rocketship

Startups: Steve Blank podcast

Startups: The SAAS podcast

Startups: Startup grind

Startups: Art of Product

Startups: Rocketship

Fantasy fiction: Podcastle

Fantasy fiction: Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Horror fiction: Psuedopod

Sci fi fiction: Clarkesworld

Sci fi fiction: Lightspeed magazine

History: History of the Crusades

History: In Our Time

History: Emperors of Rome

Science: ABC The Science Show

Life: The Moth

Life: Modern Love

Games: IGN GamesScoop

Games: Eaten By A Grue

</comment><comment><USER19> Very niche, but anyone with eye floaters may be interested in a newly published podcast that interviewed the leading researcher in the field, Dr.Sebag.

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-2-hope- happiness...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-2-hope-happiness- and-action-with-dr-sebag/id1395150706?i=1000418446302&mt=2)

Skip about 10 minutes ahead for the interview.

</comment><comment><USER20> Dan Carlin's Hardcore History - Carlin has an amazing way of telling stories, and he goes really in-depth.

Critical Role - A group of people playing Dungeons and Dragons, the episodes are long and always keep me chuckling most of the way through.

</comment><comment><USER21> I'm an "ETF Guy" so I listen to a lot of the wonky ETF and Finance-related podcasts:

\- Behind the Markets with Jeremy Schwartz

\- Invest like the Best - with O'Shaughnessy - not just finance stuff. example: Recent podcast on "Tracking" wild animals in the bush was great.

\- The Curious Investor - AQR's new Podcast on financial factors and the like

\- The Meb Faber Show - Meb Faber runs a fund and has interesting guests

\- The Monthly Dirtcast - ex-Lehman guy who started a popular daily financial newsletter. Still OK - needs help editing and more frequency.

\- Trillions - ETF-Focused Bloomberg podcast with Eric Balchunas. Trillions refers to the $5tr in ETF assets today

Other Stuff

\- 99% Invisible - interesting random stuff - well produced

\- Bowery Boys - NYC history

\- Desert Island Discs - long running radio interviews on the BBC

\- How I Built This - interviews with Entrepreneurs - highly recommended (NPR)

\- Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman

\- Pod Save America - Ex-Obama guys discussing the past week's news

\- Real Time with Bill Maher - audio of his HBO show - never actually seen the show - you miss out on some visuals but fun to listen to his ranting.

\- Wait Wait Dont Tell Me, This American Life, The Moth - 3 well-produced NPR podcasts. Wait Wait is a game show with the latest week's news - <USER2> background noise for me. This American Life has interesting stories but can get a bit slow.

\- Radiolab - the audio formatting bothers me - but they have interesting stories.

\- Freakonomics - declined in quality a bit from a few years ago - but still nice to listen to.

\- Joe Rogan Experience - Long (1-3 hour) podcasts - But Im always amazed at Joe Rogan's ability to connect with guests. I like his interview style, the cadence of his questions and how he gets people to open up. See Elon Musk's latest interview - also on Youtube.

Edit & Request for Podcasts (RFP): I note that either a lot of podcasts - <USER3> at least the ones I get recommended to me - tend to be "left-leaning" politically. I'm on the lookout for more right-leaning podcasts that balance this out a bit. I see one comment below suggesting "Left Right & Centre" may help... Other ideas?

<comment><USER22> > _I 'm on the lookout for more right-leaning podcasts that balance this out a > bit...Other ideas?_

If you want news, politics and culture from a perspective that is libertarianish and/or right-wing-ish, try:

* The Fifth Column - An editor of Reason Magazine + friends discuss news once a week

* Penn's Sunday School - Libertarian/atheist/skeptic magician Penn Jillette + comedian friends discuss news

* Coffee with Scott Adams - Will amusingly discuss from a "persuasion" frame why whatever Trump just did/said is, like, totally awesome and you just didn't get it :-)

* The Ben Shapiro Show - A very-Jewish conservative anti-abortion pro-Israel take on the news

* Honey Badger Radio - Outrage from a female-led Mens Rights Activist / anti-feminist perspective.

(To balance that last one: if you want outrage from an explicitly PRO-feminist perspective try Feminist Frequency. )

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> \- Dan Carlin's Hardcore History(there are like 2 episodes a year, but usually amazing) \- Freakonomics \- Software Engineering Radio \- Joe Rogan Experience(selected, but as it is released every day I can say that I do this regularly \- Revolutions Podcast \- Tim Ferris Show

</comment><comment><USER24> 1\. Acquired[0] - very good coverage on recent tech acquisitions + IPOs

2\. Knowledge Project podcast[1]

3\. Amp Hour[2] - I worked with Chris Gammell previously at a tech startup in Chicago. Pretty cool dude.

[0] - [http://www.acquired.fm/](http://www.acquired.fm/)

[1] - [https://fs.blog/the-knowledge-project/](https://fs.blog/the-knowledge- project/)

[2] - [https://theamphour.com/](https://theamphour.com/)

</comment><comment><USER25> Malicious Life [https://malicious.life](https://malicious.life)

—-A bit of a history lesson in viruses, malware, and cyber crime. From Morris through CryptoLocker and now Target.

Darknet Diaries [https://darknetdiaries.com/](https://darknetdiaries.com/)

—-Similar vein to ML, this one gets you into either specific events, people, or times.

Risky Business [https://risky.biz](https://risky.biz)

—-Weekly current affairs and news show dedicated to CyberSecurity. If this is your field, or next to your field, it's worth listening to the news episodes at least (the numbered episodes).

ISC StormCast [https://isc.sans.edu/podcast.html](https://isc.sans.edu/podcast.html)

—-A quick (5 min) daily cyber security podcast. If Risky.biz tickled your fancy, this one is worth the add too.

</comment><comment><USER26> Philosophize This! is really an incredible take on older and more modern philosophy. Stephen West is a great story teller and every episode is very well curated and researched.

Couples Therapy with Candice and Casey I've never been a fan of talk shows, but they manage to talk about all aspects of life and relationships.

</comment><comment><USER27> Maybe late to the party, but since I didn't see it mentioned, I would recommend the podcast The Last Podcast on the Left [1]. Three guys research true crime and bizarre stuff such as cults [2] and serial killers [3]. They tell the facts and their person take with a good dose of humour.

[1] [https://www.lastpodcastontheleft.com/](https://www.lastpodcastontheleft.com/)

[2] [https://m.soundcloud.com/lastpodcastontheleft/episode-300-jo...](https://m.soundcloud.com/lastpodcastontheleft/episode-300-jonestown- part-i)

[3] [https://m.soundcloud.com/lastpodcastontheleft/episode-317-de...](https://m.soundcloud.com/lastpodcastontheleft/episode-317-dennis- nilsen-part)

<comment><USER28> I'll have to check that out. Along the same lines are Lore and Criminal.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> 'How I Built This'. Everything else that my wife and I have tried listening to is either extremely dull or frustratingly conversational.

<comment><USER30> What is it about the conversation that you find frustrating when listening to those types of podcasts?

<comment><USER18> It annoys me when I have gone to the trouble to hear about a specific topic only to have the hosts chat for the first 8 minutes about their personal lives or about stuff that is completely off topic. Focus would be appreciated.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> Tech

      - Dotnet Rocks
      - Coding Blocks
      - Coder Radio
      - Talk Python To Me
      - SE Daily
      - Full Stack Radio
      - Vanilla JS Podcast
      - JS Jabber
      - The Changelog
      - Syntax
      - Python Bytes

General

      - Hidden Brain

</comment><comment><USER32> Active Podcasts:

\- Dan Carlin's Hardcore Histories & Hardcore History Addendum

\- The Art of Manliness (i.e., everything I wish I knew as a teen, not specifically for men, mostly author interviews)

\- History Extra Podcast (focussed on British history)

\- Stoic Meditations

\- The British History Podcast

\- The Economist: Babbage (science news)

\- Mike Duncan's Revolutions (deep dives on select revolutions since 1600)

\- The World in Time / Lapham's Quarterly (great author interviews)

"Finished" podcasts:

\- Mike Duncan's The History of Rome

\- Lars Brownworth's Norman Centuries

\- Lars Brownworth's 12 Byzantine Emperors

\- Jamie Redfern's Hannibal and the Punic Wars

\- Jamie Redfern's The History of Alexander the Great

\- Tony Cocks' Binge Thinking History

\- The Ancient World

\- The History of the World in 100 Objects

</comment><comment><USER33> Lots of politics, with a smattering of pop culture and design.

"Why Is This Happening?" from Chris Hayes is the most insightful hour I spend listening to a podcast each week. — [https://art19.com/shows/why-is-this- happening-with-chris-hay...](https://art19.com/shows/why-is-this-happening- with-chris-hayes)

Pod Save America, Lovett or Leave It, Keep It, Pod Save the People, and Hysteria from Crooked Media. [https://crooked.com](https://crooked.com). "a sane conversation about politics."

99% Invisible — interesting, usually esoteric design-centric podcast. [https://99percentinvisible.org](https://99percentinvisible.org)

Pop Culture Happy Hour — Three NPR hosts who genuinely like each other and popular media yak about whatever's inspiring them this week. [https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510282/pop-culture-happy- hour](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510282/pop-culture-happy-hour)

Stay Tuned with Preet Bharara — Always insightful and thoughtful look at current events through a law and justice lens [https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/preetbharara](https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/preetbharara)

</comment><comment><USER34> The Indicator and Planet Money are both great. They do a good job of explaining economic subjects from the yield curve to farming insurance for Africa in a fun/digestible way.

</comment><comment><USER35> Until about 6 weeks ago I commuted an hour one-way so I filled my two hours with podcasts. In the past weeks I haven't been as avid a listener. Regardless, I spent five years tweaking my list for my taste.

\- SANS Internet Stormcast [https://isc.sans.edu/podcast.html](https://isc.sans.edu/podcast.html)

\- NPR Up First [https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510318/up- first](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510318/up-first)

\- The CyberWire [https://thecyberwire.com/](https://thecyberwire.com/)

\- Daily Tech Headlines [http://www.dailytechnewsshow.com/category/headlines/](http://www.dailytechnewsshow.com/category/headlines/)

\- NPR The Indicator [https://www.npr.org/sections/money/567724614/the- indicator](https://www.npr.org/sections/money/567724614/the-indicator)

\- Casefile [https://casefilepodcast.com/](https://casefilepodcast.com/)

\- Historical Figures [https://www.parcast.com/history/](https://www.parcast.com/history/)

\- Serial Killers [https://www.parcast.com/serial/](https://www.parcast.com/serial/)

</comment><comment><USER36> If you speak spanish and want a fun podcast about tech insights, pop culture, philosophy and overthought analysis on simple things I love listening to Robot: [https://revistaelrobot.com](https://revistaelrobot.com) It's fun, entertaining, they have over 170 episodes and more than 3 years running on a weekly basis. Really enjoyable.

<comment><USER37> IDK. I have listen to each of the 172 episodes so far several times each... yes, there are enjoyable moments, but some of the hosts are weird and a little politically incorrect. Just my opinion.

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> Security now with Steve Gibson [http://feeds.twit.tv/sn](http://feeds.twit.tv/sn)

Software Engineering Daily [https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/feed/podcast](https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/feed/podcast) via @PodcastAddict

</comment><comment><USER39> I listen to a lot of technology podcasts, but my absolute favorite is "Coding Blocks". The hosts have such a good synergy with each other. They often read a few chapters of a book before an episode and then discuss their interpretations and personal experiences, which I find to be a great format.

</comment><comment> m-localhost The podcast I'm looking most forward to is The David Feldman Show [1] His guests are comedians (the brilliant Aaron Berg) and politicians/activists (left). He asks good questions, talks about current events and I learned a lot about American politics. As a counterweight, I'm listening to Joe Walsh (Teaparty guy) and his neolithic point of view (back to the good ol' days). His anti trump rants are sometimes good and it's super cringey when some real conspiracy theorists are calling in and he has to cut them off. But I barely make it through a whole episode, because it's just too much repetition.

[1] [https://davidfeldmanshow.com/](https://davidfeldmanshow.com/)

</comment><comment><USER40> I recent started listening to The Greatest Generation, a comedy podcast where two guys watch the whole of Star Trek: TNG in order (later they tackle DS9). They have a lot of fun riffing off it, especially the really bad early episodes, but there's also interesting discussion about the show's politics, whether it still holds up, etc. It's highly enjoyable, especially if you're of the age group who grew up with the show in the 80s and 90s.

[https://www.maximumfun.org/shows/greatest- generation](https://www.maximumfun.org/shows/greatest-generation)

</comment><comment><USER41> * Pod Save America - "Four former aides to President Obama — Jon Favreau, Dan Pfeiffer, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor — are joined by journalists, politicians, comedians, and activists for a freewheeling conversation about politics, the press and the challenges posed by the Trump presidency."

* 99% Invisible - "Design is everywhere in our lives, perhaps most importantly in the places where we've just stopped noticing. 99% Invisible is a weekly exploration of the process and power of design and architecture." \- Roman Mars' voice and production is amazing, and I find the subject matter fascinating.

* Planet Money - "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, "Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy." Now imagine that's actually a fun evening." \- Often interesting looks at economic aspects of society.

* The Adventure Zone - "Justin, Travis and Griffin McElroy from My Brother, My Brother and Me have recruited their dad Clint for a campaign of high adventure." \- They're playing D&D with their dad. It hooked me.

</comment><comment><USER42> Chapo Trap House - It's ok to make fun of politics. It is a ridiculous spectacle. - [https://soundcloud.com/chapo-trap- house](https://soundcloud.com/chapo-trap-house)

<comment> m-localhost I like to listen to them when they make fun about Cernovich, Q and the Alt- right, but sometimes it's just too specific about people I've never heard of.

</comment></comment><comment><USER43> "The New Yorker: Fiction"

Hundreds of short stories from past decades of the magazine, selected and read by contemporary authors. Moderated by Deborah Triesman, whose speaking voice is as musical as any I've ever heard.

</comment><comment><USER44> I listen to 4:

[0] Giant Bombcast and Beastcast (Premium)

[1] Colin's Last Stand (Side Quest, KnockBack, Sacred Symbols, and Fireside Chats)

[2] Retronauts

[3] 8-4 Play

\---

[0] [https://www.giantbomb.com/podcasts/](https://www.giantbomb.com/podcasts/)

[1] [https://www.patreon.com/colinslaststand](https://www.patreon.com/colinslaststand)

[2] [https://archive.org/details/Retronauts1-100](https://archive.org/details/Retronauts1-100)

[3] [http://8-4.jp](http://8-4.jp)

</comment><comment><USER45> Jocko Podcast (leadership, war, self improvement)

Conversations With Tyler (Politics, Books, Economics)

Masters in Business (Ritholtz, finance and econ)

Invest like the Best (Patrick Oshaugnessey, finance, econ, crypto)

a16z podcast (tech, vc)

This Week In Startups (Jason Calacanus, tech, vc)

The Knowledge Project (Shane Parrish, learning and investing)

Tim Ferriss (fitness, self improvement, business)

Joe Rogan Experience (nature, hunting, fitness)

Planet Money (NPR, stories about finance and econ)

Revisionist History (Gladwell, lots of great stories)

Hockey:

The Full 60 (Craig Custance)

TSN OverDrive

Spittin Chicklets

YouTube Channels:

How to Start a Startup (Sam Altman)

Talks At Google

Local:

Toronto Mike'd Podcast (Mike Boone, TO-based radio and TV personalities talk about the city and their careers)

</comment><comment><USER46> Ologies with Alie Ward is a personal favourite (Alie interviews a different ologist each week).

Philosophers in Space takes a sci-fi tv show or movie and examines the philosophical ideas behind it.

Download This Show by the ABC (Australia) is a great listen about tech news.

Citation Needed is great but only for those who like their comedy loud and offensive.

Rocket Ranch is NASA's podcast and is nicely geeky.

Also Stephen Fry's Great Leap Years is fascinating and funny.

Apart from that, +1 for Reply All, Darknet Diaries, Hardcore History and Syntax

</comment><comment><USER47> I dislike most tech podcasts, except the great

NLP Highlights Podcast

which interviews researchers about recent papers they have written

I also listen to a bunch of politics podcasts

The Weeds

Erza Klein Show

538 politics podcasts

Gimme Shelter: The California Housing Crisis Podcast

<comment><USER48> The Weeds is so good!

Also listen to a bunch of the Crooked Media podcasts, Pod Save the World, The Wilderness.

<comment><USER47> 3 episodes a week now, baby!

Is Pod Save the World better than Pod Save America? I gave the later a try and didn't like it at all.

Oh, also, 1A on NPR is pretty good too, I don't listen to it too much these days, since it's a bit hit or miss, but it was the first podcast I really got into :)

<comment><USER48> I find I only have bandwidth for 1-2 of the Crooked pods a week. PSA is good, PSW is for when a topic catches my eye. Hysteria is really good. LIOLI is sublime.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER49> Skeptoid: Debunking Conspiracy Theories Planet Money: Monetary news Economist:Babbage: Economics news The Reboot Podcast: Personal development Startup: Podcast about startups Useless Information: Neat show about history Stuff you missed in history class: Another history show Reply All: Internet related news I Should Be Writing: Show about aspiring writers Ditch Diggers: Show for writers

</comment><comment><USER50> \- The Dollop -- Comedic American History

\- Omnnibus -- Pop culture minutiae with that guy who's good at Jeopardy

\- Mission to Zyxx -- Improve scifi comedy

Occasionals/not currently airing: \- Mystery Show -- solves a mystery they can't google while being very spunky

\- Revisionist History -- Uses history to make a point

\- Alice Isn't Dead -- Hard to describe. Best listened to in a car at night

\- Darknet Diarier -- Old hacking stories

\- Hardcore History -- Very long engaging history stories

</comment><comment><USER51> Infinite Monkey Cage, Material World, History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps, Thinking Allowed, The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry.

</comment><comment><USER52> Youtube sucks because you cannot turn the phone screen off and listen only the audio. But I use "youtube-dl -x" to extract audio in my home server. I listen many "podcasts" in various languages this way.

Joe Rogan is my favourite, best of those should be in Netflix. When properly translated they would have worldwide audience, like the one with Elon Musk.

<comment><USER53> On Android I use Firefox with [1] and [2] for YouTube; the former lets me turn the screen off without letting YouTube know that the screen is turned off.

On my laptop, I use youtube-dl when I want to keep a personal copy, and mpv/vlc (which automatically using youtube-dl internally) when I just want to play something once.

\----

1: [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/video- backgro...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/video-background- play-fix/)

2: [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock- origin...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/)

<comment><USER54> > On Android I use Firefox with [1] and [2] for YouTube; the former lets me > turn the screen off without letting YouTube know that the screen is turned > off.

The problem is even if the screen is off, youtube still sends the video data to your phone. It would be nice if youtube gave us an option of "audio only" streaming so only the audio is sent. Currently the only work around is downloading the audio using youtube-dl.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER55> Wittertainment. The BBC's flagship film review show from two grumpy old docs. It has enough of a dedicated listenership to have earned a fan made wiki of all the in jokes.

[http://www.witterpedia.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page](http://www.witterpedia.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page)

</comment><comment><USER56> Command Line Heroes: [https://www.redhat.com/en/command-line- heroes](https://www.redhat.com/en/command-line-heroes)

Podcast by RedHat on tech history, systems, open source, cloud...

Very well produced (like, really well produced) but few episodes.

Season 2 is airing right now on what looks like a biweekly schedule.

</comment><comment><USER57> Hello Internet

Cortex

No Dumb Questions

The Anthropocene Reviewed

Showmakers

I like the 'two dudes talking' genre, mostly

<comment><USER58> Hey Tim, glad to see we like the same podcasts.

Have checked out any other relay.fm podcasts like Reconcilable Differences or Under the Radar?

</comment></comment><comment><USER59> Late to the game, but I recently started listening to The Dollop where 2 comedians tell stories from American history to each other.

I wasn't sure how much I was going to enjoy it and the hosts may not be to everyone's taste but the stories they tell are so gripping I just have to keep listening to more episodes.

</comment><comment><USER60> Dear Hank and John - a comedy podcast about death, and all the news from AFC Wimbledon and Mars! [https://www.patreon.com/dearhankandjohn](https://www.patreon.com/dearhankandjohn) Recently became a part of the WNYC network

The Daily

99% Invisible

Indie Hackers Podcast

How I Built This

Syntax

All Points North - English podcast about Finland

</comment><comment><USER61> Brett Goldstein's podcast, Films to be Buried With.

Someone's review: [https://overhillsandfaraway.com/2018/09/19/films-to-be- burie...](https://overhillsandfaraway.com/2018/09/19/films-to-be-buried-with/)

</comment><comment><USER62> The Skeptics Guide to the Universe: critical thinking, science news, pseudoscience debunking, and more.

</comment><comment><USER63> I see many of my favorites are already recommended, but these relatively niche ones are also amazing

For language/ culture: A way with words; If you speak Spanish: Radio Ambulante, Gag Ortega; Comedy: Beef and Dairy podcast, CBB; New: Where do we begin (real therapy session recording)

</comment><comment><USER64> [https://thewestwingweekly.com/](https://thewestwingweekly.com/)

[https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-google](https://twit.tv/shows/this-week- in-google)

The only two without fail.

</comment><comment><USER65> Darknet Diaries, it's a 40-60 minute podcast that has a new episode 1-2 times a a month. It's interviews and storytelling intermingled. The stories are very interesting and it's usually an interview with a person who has been involved with a hack of some kind.

<comment> antonio-ramadas Here is the link for the ones interested: Darknet Diaries — [https://darknetdiaries.com](https://darknetdiaries.com)

I discovered it here on HN. I recommend it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER66> InfoSec news: risky.biz

Startups: Masters of Scale

Startups: a16z

Startup History: How I built this.

Comedy: Nothing beats the old episodes of the Bugle for a laugh.

</comment><comment><USER67> The Tim Ferriss Show. He deconstructs world class performers and shares some of the unique characteristics and habits that make these people successful in their industry. A recent episode (episode #334) features Drew Houston, co- founder of Dropbox.

</comment><comment><USER68> German: [https://www.heise.de/developer/artikel/Episode-1-Ueber- den-E...](https://www.heise.de/developer/artikel/Episode-1-Ueber-den-Einsatz- von-Patterns-353072.html)

</comment><comment><USER69> I tried Tech podcasts but cannot find one that suits my groove. I listen to Magic the Gathering and Wreslting Podcasts mainly.

I also listen to Freakonomics and some of the wisecrack ones too but mainly my drive to work is Wrassling or Gaming podcasts.

</comment><comment><USER70> Someone on here recommended Jocko podcast[1] and I love it, totally not the kind of thing I'd normally listen to but very motivating.

[1] [http://jockopodcast.com/](http://jockopodcast.com/)

</comment><comment><USER71> Philosophize This! (But beware of extreme postmodernism in later episodes)

The Productivity Show

Found My Fitness

</comment><comment><USER72> Beyond what's already mentioned

Master of business - interviews with people and ideas that shape markets, investing and business. Some episodes are facinating to listen

Israel story - excellent Israeli version if this American Life

</comment><comment><USER73> I cycle out shows pretty fast but these are the ones that remain in my playlist:

* Trashfuture: A British politics podcast about the future is trash. Insightful, if a little madcap at times.

* Boonta Vista: Australian politics. The main host has an _amazing_ radio voice.

* Citations Needed: Politics, helps analyse the media and its tropes to give you a better handle on issues and how to engage with them.

* Previously in Europe: European politics, often takes time to highlight issues and countries that do not get much mass media play.

* Revolutions: History podcast - really well constructed nuggets breaking down revolutions throughout history. I personally fled to this after getting exhausted by Hardcore History.

* Shift-F1: A formula 1 podcast. Both hosts are passionate and also have different levels of knowledge about the sport and history which engenders good discussion. The schedule is super disrupted right now due to on one of the hosts having a baby.

* The Irish Passport: Irish politics- more a series of investigative essays than "What is on this week???", very good and earnest topics and coverage.

* The Bugle: Political Satire. What John Oliver did before he got big. Andy Zaltzmann is an amazing satirist, and should be more widely appreciated. Warning: Puns

* Waypoint Radio: Video games from a set of interesting voices. Can be very Marmite due to how blinkered the hosts can be on some topics/ with certain people.

* 99% Invisible: See other comments!

And finally: * Chapo Trap House: Political comedy. You know what this is.

* Reel Politik: Like Chapo, but recorded by angry young Brits. Awful sound quality, sometimes a golden nugget hidden within. Somehow gets some amazing guests. Listening to this gets you targeted by the Daily Mail, probably.

</comment><comment><USER74> In ranked order,

1\. On the Media (WNYC)

2\. Behind the News with Doug Henwood

3\. Talking Politics [https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/](https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/)

3\. The Dig by Daniel Denvir

4\. Chaosradio

edit: formatting

</comment><comment><USER75> Here's the log of podcasts I've listened to: [https://j11g.com/podcasts.html](https://j11g.com/podcasts.html)

</comment><comment><USER76> Diapers off [http://www.diapersoff.com](http://www.diapersoff.com)

About men growing up, dating, gender wars, comedy, business, etc.

</comment><comment><USER77> Like many people mentioned, nothing can beat Planet Money. I tried to find something similar to it, and 99% Invisible is also good, albeit not as perfect.

</comment><comment><USER78> Tech:

\- AppStories

\- The Menu Bar

\- The Talk Show with John Gruber

\- Alternativlos (German)

\- Netzpolitik.org (German)

Science:

\- Science(ish)

\- Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe

\- Die 3 Formeltiere (German)

\- Forschergeist (German)

\- Methodisch Incorrekt (German)

Popculture/Comedy/Video games:

\- A Storm of Spoilers

\- Dice Funk

\- The Jimquisition (Podqusition mainly)

There's also a bunch of Harry Potter related ones

</comment><comment><USER79> Entrepreneur On Fire - [https://eofire.com](https://eofire.com)

Short and sweet interviews with various entrepreneurs.

</comment><comment><USER80> Stay tuned with preet barat Lawfare journal The daily

</comment><comment><USER81> Tim Ferris interviews so many interesting people.

a16z podcast. They always have very well thought out and interesting things to say for the startup space.

</comment><comment><USER82> \- The Ground Up Show

\- The Minimalists

\- Levar Burton Reads

I want to, but I don't have time for more podcasts. They distract me a lot so I only listen when I take a walk or commute.

</comment><comment><USER83> Soft skills engineering.

[https://twitter.com/softskillseng](https://twitter.com/softskillseng)

</comment><comment><USER84> Opening Arguments. It's a law podcast that's packed full of information about current events and is very accessible.

</comment><comment><USER85> Language / words: The Allusionist and BBC's Word of Mouth Science: In Our Time, Inside Science and the Science Hour

</comment><comment><USER86> Risky Biz infosec podcast - [https://risky.biz/](https://risky.biz/)

<comment><USER87> Despite not working in infosec I tune into risky busisness (risky.biz) every week, it's a good round-up of the week without the overreaction you sometimes get from twitter and here in the immediate aftermath of a big leak or vuln.

</comment></comment><comment><USER88> Here are my favourites:

Digital Analytics Power Hour

The Indie Hackers Podcast

Startups for the Rest of Us

The Side Hustle Project

Empire Flippers Podcast

Double your Freelancing

Ditching Hourly

Side Hustle School (great byte sized audio content)

The Consulting Pipeline Podcast

</comment><comment><USER89> Hello from the magic tavern - if you like D&D then you'll fall in love with this.

Welcome To Night Vale - bizarre and compelling

</comment><comment><USER90> Wonderly! American history tellers is absolutely fascinating. Also Atlanta Monster is f'in gripping.

</comment><comment><USER91> Hello Internet-for general entertainment, Cortex-for general entertainment and some workflow insight

</comment><comment><USER92> 99% Invisible, Planet Money are good.

</comment><comment><USER93> If your looking for some human connections, I would recommend Folk Stories: [http://folkstories.org](http://folkstories.org). It's a podcast focused on dialogue with interesting people - like an audio version of "Humans of New York" (disclaimer: I'm the host)

This is inspired by other podcasts that I follow, mainly "Tim Ferris Show", "Waking Up with Sam Harris" and "Fresh Air"

</comment><comment><USER94> The Tom Woods Show [1] - A 30-minute show each weekday. Tom is Harvard/Columbia trained historian, amateur economist and libertarian philosopher. 1,250 episodes. The usual format is interview with a prominent thinker and/or doer.

Contra Krugman [2] - A weekly show where Tom Woods and economist Bob Murphy teach economics by analyzing an generally refuting Paul Krugman's New York Times column.

Part of the Problem [3] - A long-form semi-weekly(ish) talk show featuring comedian Dave Smith. Dave discusses current events and issues from a his libertarian perspective.

Dangerous History Podcast [4] - An irregular show that dives deep into various topics and episodes in history. Approaching 200 episodes.

[1] [https://tomwoods.com/podcasts](https://tomwoods.com/podcasts)

[2] [https://contrakrugman.com/](https://contrakrugman.com/)

[3] [https://gasdigitalnetwork.com/gdn-show-channels/part-of- the-...](https://gasdigitalnetwork.com/gdn-show-channels/part-of-the-problem/)

[4] [http://profcj.org/list-episodes](http://profcj.org/list-episodes)

</comment><comment><USER95> \- Open Apple (about retrocomputing with the apple ][)

\- ATP (accidental tech podcast)

\- Dan Carlin's Hardcore History

</comment><comment><USER96> Liftoff! Bi-weekly summary of space news. NASA, SpaceX, ESA, science, exoplanets, ...

</comment><comment><USER97> Is there a way to create a wiki of this list of suggestions and comments?

<comment><USER98> This is one of several questions that get asked repeatedly, and would be ideal for a HN wiki.

</comment></comment><comment><USER99> \- Mixergy.

\- Planet Money.

\- Jordan Harbinger show (he was doing Arts of Charm in the past).

\- 20 minutes VC - Harry Stebbings.

</comment><comment><USER100> > IRL: Online Life Is Real Life

> The Tim Ferriss Show

> Recode Decode

> The Success Series Podcast

> Freakonomics

> Song Exploder

</comment><comment><USER101> Steal this show

</comment><comment><USER102> Can't go wrong with StarTalk :)

</comment><comment><USER103> Jocko Podcast - never missed one.

</comment><comment><USER104> accidental tech podcast beautiful anonymous

these two are my favorite for a long time.

</comment><comment><USER105> Desert Island Discs

</comment><comment><USER106> I listen to mostly political, comedy, and political comedy podcasts:

* Doug Loves Movies

* FiveThirtyEight Politics

* Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4 (for The Now Show)

* MSNBC Rachel Maddow

* My Brother, My Brother and Me

* News Quiz Extra

* No Such Thing as a Fish

* Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast

* What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law

* Why Is This Happening? with Chris Hayes

<comment><USER33> _Con Law_ is a great podcast. I'm always amused by Roman Mars's description of Elizabeth Joh. Also, _WITH_ consistency blows me away. Last week's episode with Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman made me say "holy shit!" out loud at least twice.

</comment></comment><comment><USER107> Dotnetrocks (though it starts to be less about .net and more about whatever service Microsoft is marketing, but the geekout shows are fantastic)

Dan Carlin hardcore history

Sam Harris, Jordan Peterson (philosophy/politics)

Twit.tv (mostly for Leo Laporte)

</comment><comment><USER108>
      - <USER4>
      - Waking Up, with Sam Harris
      - On the Media
      - LSE Talks

The London School of Economics is one of the few prestigious schools who doesn't hoard their speaker series events.

</comment><comment><USER109> Waking up with Sam Harris, has some really interesting guests from a wide range of fields. Some Philosophy, Science, and Politics.

Cum Town is the funniest thing I've listened to in my entire life.

</comment><comment><USER110> Uhh Yeah Dude

</comment><comment><USER111> samharris.org

</comment><comment><USER112> \- Opening Arguments

\- 99% Invisible

\- Invisibilia

\- This American Life

\- StartUp

\- Serial

\- Hidden Brain

\- All the President's Lawyers

\- Radio Lab

\- Science Friday

</comment><comment><USER113> Dang, really enjoying reading all these great recommendations; my podcast load is going to be growing (again)!

My personal faves out of my 100+ subs are below. All should be available through a typical podcatcher app. Tried to mark some as NSFW but probably missed some. Some of these are extremely well-known but the question didn't specify "hidden gems".

Part-Time Genius - General interesting stuff

James O'Brien's Mystery Hour - BBC radio program. People call in with questions and answers to (generally) interesting questions.

Stuff You Should Know - Interesting general topics

Irish and Celtic Music Podcast - Best celtic music podcast around IMO

Behind the Bastards - Profiles of evil or otherwise undesirable people/entities in history (NSFW)

Crazy Genius - Interesting topics, sponsored by The Atlantic

In Our Time - BBC 4 science show (very high quality IMO)

Business Wars - Multi-part series regarding company vs. company stories (Blockbuster vs. Netflix and Nintendo vs. Sega are my faves)

Something You Should Know - General info, tends toward self-help and lifehacks

Curiosity Podcast - Curiosity is one of my favorite apps (interesting topics every day) and these are short episodes

Freakonomics Radio - From the same author of Freakonomics

The Changelog - Tech stuff; recent episodes include "Segment's transition back to a monorepo" and "Istio service mesh and microservices"

Ear Hustle - Interviews with death row inmates; oddly fascinating (NSFW)

Linux Unplugged - Linux stuff

Lexicon Valley - Interesting stories about language

We Hate Movies - Riffing on bad movies; I especially like it when they blast movies I actually like (NSFW)

Skeptoid - Stories for skeptics (of general antiscience etc)

More or Less: Behind the Statistics - BBC4 radio podcast, insight behind hard data

Linux Action Show - Linux stuff

Internet History Podcast - Really more of a 'tech history' podcast; recent eps include "History of Google", "The Epic Fall of Digg", and interviews with folks like CmdrTaco (Slashdot)

Oh No Ross and Carrie - One of my absolute favorites. They investigate pseudoscience and other stuff from the inside out. My absolute favorite series by them is their 9-parter on Scientology. If you're a Scientologist, ignore this recommendation.

Skeptic's Guide to the Universe - Pushing back on the pseudoscience

This Week in Enterprise Tech - Tech podcast; recent eps include "Bullying Black Hat" and "Unikernels and the Death of the Security Patch"

StarTalk - Neil Degrasse Tyson (usually) and occasionally Bill Nye

Mysterious Universe - OK, I generally consider myself mostly rational but can't deny I enjoy listening to "out there" stuff. This is one of the "out there" podcasts with two Australians

How Did This Get Made? - Funny podcast about bad movies (NSFW)

Thirty Twenty Ten - These guys provide a "this day in history" from 30/20/10 years ago. Typically covers pop culture, video games, etc.

Science Vs. - Another very well done science podcast FLOSS Weekly - Free and open source topics

DogCast Radio - Dog stuff

The Curious Case of Rutherford and Fry - ANOTHER well-done science podcast from BBC Radio

Foot Stompin Free Scottish Music - Free Scottish music. If it's not Scottish, it's crap!

Late Night Last Week - Condenses all of the late night comedians. Host is kind of preachy and annoying, come for the content though (NSFW)

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History - Best history podcast on the planet

Seincast - Going through every Seinfeld episode; they've concluded their run now. Breaks down the minutia and trivia from each episode, each scene.

The Weirdest Thing I learned this Week

Disgraceland - Pods about wild musicians

Hello From The Magic Tavern - Guy falls through a dimensional portal in a Burger King to the magical land of Foon. Radio-play style, I find this hilarious and well done.

Artificial Intelligence - Recent interviews with Christof Koch, Ray Kurzeil

Eddie Trunk Podcast - Interviews rock/metal musicians

Awkward Human Survival Guide - NSFW, adult topics

NPR Shows, BBC Shows

</comment><comment><USER114> Lore

IRL

KEXP Song Of The Day

Science Vs

Syntax

freeCodeCamp Podcast

egghead.io dev Chats

ycombinator

</comment><comment><USER115> Tigerbelly

</comment><comment><USER116> \- a16z

\- Exponent

\- Slate Money

\- Planet Money

\- Goldman Sachs

\- Hidden Brain

</comment><comment><USER117> red scare (female russian immigrant socialists in new york critique metoo and other neoliberal stuff in a sexy manner)

</comment><comment><USER118> (Brit here)

Politics/Economics/Sociology/Philosophy: * Rationally Speaking - Ran by the New York Skeptics society, just fantastic show about rationally thinking about economics, politics, society, etc.

* The Guardian's Brexit Means... - all things brexit

* Radiolab Presents: More Perfect - one my favourite podcast series ever; about the supreme court, from how it was made to landmark precedence-setting cases in civil rights.

* Presidential - A history of US presidents, ran over the 44 weeks leading up to the 2016 US election, each week a new president.

* The Ezra Klein Show - Long-form US politics interview show ran by the founder of VOX

* Vox's The Weeds - US politics panel discussion show, which gets "into the weeds" of US policy-making

* The Reith Lectures - A BBC4 lecture series about humanity, society and politics

* The Guardian UK: Politics weekly - self explanatory

* Left Right & Centre - US politics show that has commentators "from across the politcal spectrum"

* Week in Westminster - BBC westminster politics show

* Common Sense with Dan Carlin - Fantastic long-form show released once a month by a historian, who tries to put modern politics in a historical perspective.

* Pienaar's Politics - BBC 5 live's (UK) politics show with professional cheeky git John Pienaar

* The New Statesman Podcast - UK Politics (and other stuff) from Helen Lewis and Stephen Bush (+ guests)

* Freakonomics - Fantastic podcast about all things economics

* The Moral Maze - BBC Radio 4 debate show about the moral philosophy of current issues. Highly recommended.

* The good fight: Yacsha Mounk on how to prevent populism and democratic backsliding

* Worldly - Vox's foreign affairs podcast

* Waking Up - Sam Harris' Long-form interview podcast

Tech and business:

* StartUp Podcast - Start Up culture and business

* Reply All - Fun about the internet and technology

* Note to Self - Technology show about "being human" in our technological age

* IRL - Tech podcast made by Mozilla

Other: * Intelligence Squared U.S. Debates - great debates on whatever's current

* Intelligence Squared - Original and UK version of the US one (i.e. has less adverts and less annoying hosts)

* The Briefing Room - Fantastic BBC4 program that investigates the facts and details "behind the biggest news stories"

* 99% Invisible - Show by Roman Mars about all the design that is hidden in our lives

* Revisionist History - Podcast by Malcolm Gladwell going back and reinterpreting something that happened historically, trying to understand it and revise any commonplace perspectives

* The Guardian's Long Reads - Long-form articles from the Guardian in audio form

* Dan Carlin's Hardcore History - Fantastic book-length miniseries about major historical events and eras.

* Analysis - Great BBC program about analysis of current issues

* Heavyweight - entertaining and touching human stories

* Radiolab - all round radio show wunderkind

* Today Explained - Vox's daily news podcast

</comment><comment><USER119> \- Dan Carlin's Hardcore History

\- Waking Up with Sam Harris

</comment><comment><USER120> * Ajahn Amaro Talks

* Hardcore History

* Indie Hackers

* Joe Rogan Experience

* Waking Up - Sam Harris

* Tangentally Speaking

* Your Moms House

</comment><comment><USER121> Joe Rogan Experience [0]. I love that he sits down with people and actually has long in-depth conversations with them. Here's a few interesting ones:

* Let's start with his Elon Musk discussion [1]. It came out 2 weeks ago and it already has 14m views. They basically discuss a bunch of his ideas along with things such as AI and the future of humanity. It's fascinating to get a peek into the kind of person he is.

* His discussion with Matthew Walker has been one of the most enlightening ones for me [2]. He's a sleep expert, and in the podcast they go over different myths relating to that. There was recently a HN post [3] where some people were quoting him and his book.

* Another big favorite of mine was his discussion with Paul Stamets [4], a mycologist (i.e. a mushroom expert). They discuss some of the effects of different kinds of mushrooms, including psilocybin mushrooms (colloquially known as magic mushrooms).

* I loved his discussion with Gary Johnson [5], the Libertarian Party's presidential candidate for 2016. How many other presidential candidates would you imagine would be willing to sit down and answer hard-hitting questions for +2 hours? He also had a discussion with Larry Sharpe [6], the Libertarian Party's candidate for governor of New York in 2018. Full disclosure: I recently joined the Libertarian Party. Listening to these podcasts pushed me to learn more about their movement.

* He had a discussion with Mikhaila Peterson [7], the daughter of Jordan Peterson, which many might find interesting. She had been suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and other medical issues all her life, and switching to a carnivore diet made all the symptoms go away

[0] [http://podcasts.joerogan.net/](http://podcasts.joerogan.net/)

[1] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycPr5-27vSI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycPr5-27vSI)

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

[3] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18050090](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18050090)

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

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

[6] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSmggQZno6w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSmggQZno6w)

[7] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF_7688Zk6s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF_7688Zk6s)

<comment><USER52> Netflix should take best of Joe Rogan podcasts in the repertoire. When properly translated, they have worldwide audience. Joe Rogan standups are actually of lesser value, because they mostly deal with domestic issues in America.

</comment></comment><comment><USER122> "Waking Up, with Sam Harris" is excellent</comment>


Spawned Shelter: best articles, videos and books for learning Erlang - <AUTHOR> http://spawnedshelter.com/ <comment><USER2> WOW! this site contains all about Erlang. Excellent work! Thanks!</comment>


Show HN: Pouces – alternate input method for iPhone - <AUTHOR> http://itunes.com/app/pouces <comment><USER2> Interesting, how did you decide on which letters go where on the radial menus and is there any predictive aspect to it?

<comment><AUTHOR> I wanted to get the most popular letters in a convenient swipe gesture or in the middle regions to be accessible from both thumbs. Another data I looked at is bigram frequency to have sequential input from both thumbs. For example "the" is using the left, right and then left finger again.

There is no predictive method, maybe in the future.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> A short demo video would be nice. Now I have to read and imagine how that will work. Too much effort...

<comment><USER4> Ha! I routinely dismiss posts that make me view a video. I have no time for that.

<comment><USER3> Me too. But in this case looking at a video of a few seconds would be much more clearifying then reading a text, looking at pictures and trying to imaging how useful / efficient this will be.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is a pretty cool UI!</comment>


Agile Git Workflow - <AUTHOR> http://geewax.org/2009/11/21/agile-git-workflow.html

<comment><USER2> I have to completely disagree with rebasing the feature branch onto the mainline branch. That is bad idea. Here is what they are doing:

       1.  Branch off of master to work on the feature
       2. Work, work, work, commit, commit, commit
       3. Pull down any updates to master
       4. Rebase and squash the feature branch to master's HEAD
       5. Merge the feature branch back to master
       6. Push up to the shared repository

Their Rational for Step 6:

"When you're ready to share this feature with the rest of your team, they probably won't care about all your interim commits (for example, you added and then changed feature.py). We can package up all the commits into one big commit (sort of like the one big patch against master you used before) by using git's rebase command."

Some of the history that was used in developing the feature may be useful for someone else trying to a) figure out how the code works or b) trying to fix a bug in the program. By chunking the development of the feature into on patch you eliminate the nuances which would have helped later on.

Even beyond the development concerns, version control systems have great power to model your actual development process. Not just the one that is on paper, but the one that produces the code which ships. By eliminating history of development you loose the ability to discover this useful information. So don't rebase your feature branch merge into the mainline.

<comment><USER3> I disagree with your disagreement. Rebasing/squashing can really help clean up the development history and actually make it a ton more useful as a historical reference.

Like all things in programming, discretion is key and obviously it can be overdone, but anecdotally, I've found that it makes the history so much more useful to lump related changesets together.

In short, categoricals like "don't do it, you'll lose history" don't really hold much water for me. _Of course_ it can be over done. But done right, it really is a great feature of git and a god-send on larger projects (check out the actual git source log for an example).

<comment><USER4> I would have to second this. I will almost always squash (or split) commits in a branch before review to have it merged back into the master branch. I try to have each commit do a specific individual task. While adding docs to the api could be a separate function (just because you did it last) I would rather have that squashed so in two years when you are looking at the new function you see the api docs that go with it. This doesn't mean everything should be in 1 commit and it also doesn't mean 30 commits. Common sense plays a big role here.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Can someone translate this into Mercurial? Thanks.</comment>


Linux Anti Debugging Technique - <AUTHOR> https://seblau.github.io/posts/linux-anti-debugging <comment><USER2> Surely there is a way to change ptrace() in the kernel underneath to make none of this stuff matter.</comment>