Ask HN: Libertarian thoughts on poverty/monopoly power? - <AUTHOR> I am sympathetic to many libertarians ideas; however, I have a hard time getting past a few thoughts.
For instance, if we adopted a libertarian alternative for the reduction of our government and the freeing our our markets we might be - in aggregate - a wealthier country, many people would end up in abject poverty because they cannot acquire an sustaining income (for whatever reason). For instance, the argument I hear against the minimum wage is that it suppresses the number of jobs available (i.e. If a worker can only provide $5/hr worth of production for their employer, but there is an $10/hr minimum wage, then the employer will not hire that person at 10/hr and so that person doesn't get a job. Alternatively, they could have a job if the minimum wage was removed and the employer was able to hire them at 5/hr. Ok, sure - 5/hr is better than 0/hr. Now, if a person can only pull in a 5/hr - or 2/hr - wage that subsequently leaves them unable to access healthcare, education, nutritious foods, etc. in a free marketplace, then what is the libertarian answer to their poverty (or the inevitable social costs of their poverty)? Leave them to die on the streets?
Likewise, how does libertarian thought confront monopoly power? Ostensibly, our government is designed to distribute certain rights and powers to all citizens. If we eliminate those rights and powers, what protects me - as a relatively poor and uninfluential human being - from being exploited by my more powerful businessman, landowner, etc.? It seems to put too much faith in everyday people to act morally - or if not morally, at least altruistically. In a libertarian environment, what is preventing a monopoly from wielding private power (rather than taking advantage of public power e.g. regulatory capture) to secure or maintain their position?
I'm genuinely trying to understand this political/ethical worldview. <comment><USER2> As you do that, try also to understand the political/ethical worldview of libertarian ideas with respect to unions. Because I don't understand it.

With a strong union, there is no need for a minimum wage, as in the Nordic countries - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage#Collective_bargai...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage#Collective_bargaining) .

Many of the accounts I've seen about libertarian views of unions in the US are because the laws can give a union the monopoly right to negotiate on behalf of everyone covered by the union, even if not a union member.

However, that analysis always seems incomplete - the unions are also prohibited from many practices (including those legal in other countries) which, under a free market, they should have.

Why shouldn't a union be able to negotiate a closed shop arrangement with an employer? It seems little different than, say, McDonald's making a deal with Coke to only provide Coke products, and requiring that all its franchisee go in on the deal.

</comment><comment><USER3> Hayek famously supported universal income, which some of his modern followers ignore or argue against. You may find an answer by looking into his ideas: [https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/why-did-hayek- support...](https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/why-did-hayek-support- basic-income)

</comment><comment><USER4> If you're genuinely trying to understand, read Friedman's "Capitalism and Freedom" as a starting point.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism_and_Freedom#Chapter...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism_and_Freedom#Chapter_summaries)

<comment><USER2> The Wikipedia link you give summarized chapter vii "Capitalism and Discrimination" starting with:

> In a capitalist society, Friedman argues, it costs money to discriminate, > and it is very difficult, given the impersonal nature of market > transactions.

I've become rather jaded concerning models of human behaviors as made by economists without input from anthropology or experimental psychology.

The colonial empires of Europe followed a standard model of setting up different classes of people, with the Europeans at top, then a small social group to run the local systems, followed by the rest of the population. This is how a small number of British people were able to control India, for example.

Discrimination was built into the system, to the immense profit of Britain.

Similarly, in the US South, the rich white slaveholders convinced the poor white slaveholders that it was better to be white, and poor, than to be black. This continued after the treasonous South was defeated during the Civil War - the desire for white supremacy among the (white) dominant population was "worth" the costs of discrimination.

Since I didn't want to base my opinion solely on a summary on Wikipedia, I read through the relevant chapter at [http://circuloliberal.org/livros/capitalismo-e- liberdade.pdf](http://circuloliberal.org/livros/capitalismo-e-liberdade.pdf) . On p93 I see something outright wrong:

"As noted in chapter i, the purchaser of bread does not know whether it was made from wheat grown by a white man or a Negro, by a Christian or a Jew."

If there's a market for that, then that information will be made available. Why do I know that? Because similar things already exist. Consider [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pas_Yisroel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pas_Yisroel) "Pas Yisroel or Pat Yisrael (Hebrew: פת ישראל lit:"Bread of an Israelite") products are grain-products that were cooked or baked with the participation of an observant Jew" and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalav_Yisrael](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalav_Yisrael) "Cholov Yisroel, is a Halachic term which refers to all dairy products, including cheese and non-fat dry milk powder, which derive from milk that has been milked under the supervision of a religiously observant Jew."

What I don't understand is, didn't Friedman, son of moderately observant Jews, know this?

"A businessman or an entrepreneur who expresses preferences in his business activities that are not related to productive efficiency is at a disadvantage compared to other individuals who do not."

Here's what happens. I decided to allow both black and whites to eat at my restaurant. This angers the local white population, who call me names, threaten me, and should I not back down, torch my business.

If I integrate I have a 5% change of making 10% more money, and a 95% chance of losing everything. (Numbers pulled from my butt.) And the police who might otherwise help protect my property are part of the white power structure.

What do you think I'll do? Hint: I'm no Medgar Evers.

Economically speaking, the switching costs can be too high to reach a more profitable state.

The idea that we should not have laws to prevent racial discrimination because that sort of discrimination cannot be distinguished from a personal taste preference of one singer over another is crazy talk - now. We have 54 years of experience with the the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and followup laws, to show how such a framework can work.

"He may simply be transmitting the tastes of the community."

So what?

I think it is fine to use the coercive power of the state to oppose a community which discriminates on the basis of skin color.

If libertarianism necessarily implies that such laws should not exist, then I can see why it's mostly white men who support libertarian beliefs.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Does 'hackable' have a positive or a negative meaning nowadays? - <AUTHOR>

(for laymen)<p>http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hackable <comment><USER2> There's only one correct answer: it depends.

Edit: Possible meanings:

\- This device sucks in terms of security. An attacker can compromise it and do stuff with it.

\- This device sucks in terms of security. I can compromise it and do cool stuff with it.

\- This device gives users the possibility to gain root permissions and do cool stuff with it.</comment>


Need your honest opinion about my new landing page - <AUTHOR> http://promo.myleisureapp.com/getitfirst/

<comment><USER3> Check out landerapp.com. They have a template in the style you want and it is better color synchronized. Please take care of the grammar and the spellings though.

</comment><comment> at-fates-hands Just a few points. .

1 - You need a better color palette. The easy way to choose a color palette is to use one color, with different shades or tones. If you want an easy way to create a decent palette, head over to [https://color.adobe.com/create/color- wheel/](https://color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel/) and hit "Explore" then type in a color like "Red" and see what pops up. I would probably look for something with red since its the color you're using for your company logo and then softer tones for the background colors. Also, red goes much better with black then the blue/purple background you're using.

2 - Spacing - give your text a little more room to breathe. Give more space between your callout "You're the Chosen One!" and the text below it. Also give more space around the text in the body so its not so close to the edge of the container.

3 - Remove this text, "Fill out the info below and we will contact you soon." This text contradicts your next sentence about hurrying up and filling out the registration. By removing this text, you keep the sense of urgency to your pitch.

4 - Spelling and Grammar. Make sure to double check your spelling. Nothing kills enthusiasm like seeing misspelled words. This how I would rephrase your pitch, with just some basic punctuation and changing a few words:

The app which will completely change the world of leisure is coming soon. You have a chance to be among the first users to download it, and test it. Hurry up, registration is almost closed!

Note: Your text in the dropdown, "Selelct" is spelled wrong as well - <USER2> be "Select"

Hopefully this helps a little bit.

Otherwise, it was a good job for a first run.</comment>


Searching for 'VK' shows only a single result on DuckduckGo. Why? - <AUTHOR> https://duckduckgo.com/?q=vk <comment><USER2> Google forgets so much, and has a tendency to bias results, while DuckDuckGo is so incompetent at times. Add the walled gardens that can't be searched unless you are part of them, and we have a worst search experience today than over a decade ago.

I am confident that the amount of data that needs to be indexed plays a huge factor too. It just isn't as easy as it used to be.

<comment><USER3> One of my issues with instagram is it cant be searched other then using hashtags. Those are just really crappy key words. So many artists put their art on there and its just sucked into a blackhole of pictures to never be seen again. It's impossible to search and find anything specific or anything that occurred more then a few hours ago

<comment><AUTHOR> Instagram is just AI. Take what the AI gives you.

There is no sorting. Nothing. The comments are ranked by the AI, the posts are ranked by the AI, the explore section is ranked by the AI.You can't sort by time or likes.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Manually changing region to Russia gives many more results.

[https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=VK&kl=ru- ru&ia=web](https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=VK&kl=ru-ru&ia=web)

Might be a partnership with Yandex to not show russian results outside Russia? Because they use Yandex in Russia.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/duckduckgo/comments/a7nl1v/duckduck...](https://www.reddit.com/r/duckduckgo/comments/a7nl1v/duckduckgos_relationship_to_yandex/ec50ai7?context=3)

<comment><USER4> > Might be a partnership with Yandex to not show russian results outside > Russia?

Quite the opposite.

My search results from DDG over the past year or so have been infested with Russian sites, articles and even twitter account titles of English language accounts, despite not living there and not having any preference for Russian in any browsers settings or regions and never issuing a single query in Russian.

<comment><USER5> "infested" is a little much, don't you think? I can sympathise with frustration on having results that don't match your language preferences, but "infested"? Come on.

<comment><USER6> I understand the discomfort, but people have been describing a page of bad search results as "infested" for a long time.

Perhaps it was intended as a slight against Russians, but I'd ask you to assume good faith.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Clicking the images tab probably explains why. There are _many_ pictures of very young girls in various states of undress.

<comment><USER8> What the hell? Serious wtf. Can anyone explain this?

BTW, NSFW warning!

<comment><USER9> It's unfortunately not uncommon for such images to appear on the Russian internet. The Youtube thumbnails are possibly things that were linked to from VK communities. Or maybe there are links in the content somewhere.

If I go on Yandex and search "img " and then a bunch of random numbers, I get almost all pictures of young women, and many pictures of underage girls in provocative poses.

This sort of thing does happen. A few months ago, people discovered similar results on Google Images(!) by searching "TV television and film". The results were being pulled from a 4chan archive of the board with that name.

I don't think it's related to the "VK" web results problem though. If you search "VK," or "VK!" or VK with any punctuation, all the web results come up as expected.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> DuckDuckGo isn't the best search engine. I really want it to be. I use it a by default and I use it often. However, especially when I'm searching for products/things to buy I end up on google search. DuckDuckGo is more like old school search, think Altavista - tons of results but not much useful.

<comment><USER11> Maybe it's because Google has very little data on me, but I find Google to be horrible in 2020. It's degraded considerably over the years to the point that I don't even try Google if DDG doesn't return anything useful. It's especially useless if I'm trying to buy something. If I search for a service business using my hometown, it'll return results from businesses everywhere other than my hometown.

<comment><USER12> Same boat here. More often than not DDG has substantially more useful results than Google does.

Sometimes Google is better though, especially when I'm looking for something specific (an article I know I read or a video I know I watched, etc)

<comment><USER13> Heh, I don't even know how google feels, much like I don't know how ransomware and heroin feels. We don't really have to try everything in life, do we?

<comment><USER14> Congratulations on your moral superiority

<comment><USER13> Hygiene is important for me on its own, unrelated to other people.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> One thing that rocked me to the core and changed my stance on privacy recently is how child porn/abuse/trafficking/grooming/etc is simply swept under the rug by the Tech Giants. Safe Harbor laws have been used to push the problem elsewhere, and the issue is accruing exponentially. These images are absolutely everywhere; Facebook removes millions every year from their platform. And these are just the ones posted in plain sight.

No idea what the solution might be, or if it's even possible to be solved. It's a depressing topic, and you have to have really good opsec to do any journalism on the matter without landing in serious legal trouble.

[https://samharris.org/podcasts/213-worst- epidemic/](https://samharris.org/podcasts/213-worst-epidemic/)

<comment><USER16> I really think Sam had the wool pulled over his eyes by Gabriel Dance. Around 17 minutes into the podcast, Dance says that he's been investigating tech companies for years and goes into issues with ad targeting, Twitter bots, etc. Then when he's relating the story about getting a tip, he effectively admits that he's pursuing this because he wants to make tech companies look bad. This explains why he always quotes absolute numbers (instead of percentages of all images/video shared), and why he never says what fraction of that content is teens sexting. It also explains why he avoids suggesting concrete solutions to the problem: there aren't any good ones.

The only solution to the problem of child pornography is backdoors in all encryption. Facebook must be able to scan the messages you write. Apple must be able to scan the photos you take. AWS must be able to scan your servers. The US Government must be able to intercept your communications and decrypt your devices. If there is any consumer device with real encryption, it will be used by perverts, sadists, revolutionaries, psychopaths, and a few weird principled nerds. And the problem of child pornography will still exist, except now the government will be able to spy on everyone's private communications and use that to exert much more control over them.

<comment><USER15> It's been a few weeks since I listened to the podcast, but I thought Dance explicitly mentioned how sad it was for Facebook to get a bad rep for releasing those numbers when such transparency is a positive thing. It shows that they're at least trying to get it off their platform. And if more people knew the numbers, this issue would finally become too large of an elephant to ignore.

And he did offer one concrete solution: platforms with easy discoverability (in other words, easy to masquerade as and target teens) may not need end-to- end encryption. Let FB and such run their algorithms on those messages. And it may be safe to assume three letter agencies are listening in. End-to-end encryption still serves its purpose for whistleblowing, privacy, and fair democracy; it'll just be found elsewhere, like Signal and such.

This still isn't an ideal solution. I personally think it's an unwinnable battle. Easily duplicated instantaneous secure multimedia communication is ridiculously revolutionary.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Quoting it yields the expected result: [https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22vk%22&ia=web](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22vk%22&ia=web)

Compare with Bing (where DDG gets its search results from) [https://www.bing.com/search?q=vk](https://www.bing.com/search?q=vk)

<comment><USER18> Note that Bing is only one of their sources: [https://help.duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help- pages/results/so...](https://help.duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help- pages/results/sources/)

<comment><USER19> >We also of course have more traditional links in the search results, which we also source from multiple partners, though most commonly from Bing (and none from Google).

It's mostly just Bing.

<comment><USER18> Kind of, they have their own crawler (DuckDuckBot) and I'm not sure if that changed, but they used to source at least from Yahoo and Yandex. [0]

Although yes, its usually Bing.

[0] [https://web.archive.org/web/20180203071252/https://duck.co/h...](https://web.archive.org/web/20180203071252/https://duck.co/help/results/sources)

<comment><USER19> That crawler is only used for Instant Answers for specific queries, not the standard 10 search result links. Yahoo has also been powered by Bing for a long time now as well.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> !vk is one of DDG Bangs. This may have something to do with it.

[https://duckduckgo.com/bang?q=vk](https://duckduckgo.com/bang?q=vk)

<comment><AUTHOR> !yt is also a bang for Youtube.

Searching YT gives results [https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=yt](https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=yt)

<comment><USER21> Prob someone at ddg wrote an if statement for yt and not for vk...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Well that's weird. Searching vkontakte gives a lot of results (in the realm of what you would expect). Maybe it's a command or something else is happening with that query?

<comment><AUTHOR> [https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=VK&kl=ru- ru&ia=web](https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=VK&kl=ru-ru&ia=web)

Searching by putting region=Russia gives more results

<comment><USER23> These results are not in the language I have my browser set to, so maybe it is filtering based on language.

<comment><USER24> No if you change the language to Russian, it still shows the single result in English. Changing region is the only way around it.

<comment><USER25> That's not correct. You can show the proper results without setting the region. Do this by adding an empty token that doesn't get stripped, "[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=vk+%22%22"](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=vk+%22%22"). That also shows the results list.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Has it been fixed or something? I see lots of results. I'm in NZ.

<comment><USER27> Also in NZ and as you say lots of results but almost entirely related to the Russian social network 'vk'. Using mojeek, as suggested upthread, gives a much more diverse set of results. Which leaves the question why does NZ get a different set of results than some other places ?

<comment><USER28> The mystery goes deeper...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> This was also posted to the DDG subreddit a few days back, with little response:

[https://old.reddit.com/r/duckduckgo/comments/i6ktu4/search_a...](https://old.reddit.com/r/duckduckgo/comments/i6ktu4/search_about_vk_social_network_returns_only/)

</comment><comment><USER30> Mojeek with a smaller index displays alternatives: [https://www.mojeek.com/search?q=vk](https://www.mojeek.com/search?q=vk)

I appreciate it's a smaller index and smaller player but it's providing the true results for that query.

Disclaimer: I work for Mojeek

</comment><comment><USER31> vk is the abbreviation for vulkan... I would think these should start showing up eventually too. [https://devdocs.io/vulkan/](https://devdocs.io/vulkan/)

</comment><comment><USER32> The images returned by the search look quite dodgy.

<comment><USER33> The images returned on DuckDuckGo are, in general, really dodgy. While debugging a web-server of mine, I recently found that various constant strings of file servers return similarly `dodgy' results, like for example "Index of /" [0].

[0]: [https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22Index+of+%2F%22&iax=images&ia=i...](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22Index+of+%2F%22&iax=images&ia=images)

<comment><USER34> is this region/area dependent? I just see pictures of people, nothing sexual if that's what you mean.

<comment><USER33> It shouldn't be, perhaps you have `Safe Search' turned on? (It is by default)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> I get loads of results, both related to VKontakte and other things (e.g. a "Roland VK-8 and VK-77 Combo Organ"), "Vaartkapoen", etc.

I live in Sweden, maybe the VK-limiting filter is set on US search results?

<comment><USER36> It seems to have been fixed, I refreshed the tab I had open when this first popped up on hn (that had empty results) and the results look normal now (US).

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> My main problem with ddg is that it's much slower than Bing to load the results. Bing is just so much snappier than even Google for me. I wonder if there's something wrong with my internet.

<comment><AUTHOR> Not just for you. Bing is very fast. MS wants people to use it.

It is the page that loads the fastest for me..

Not that DDG, google is slow. Bing is just fast

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> I think this post should be tagged NSFW in some way.

</comment><comment><USER39> A couple months ago, this was happening for every search. Maybe this is similar.

</comment><comment><USER40> Is anyone still even using VK?

</comment><comment><USER41> I'm surprised the VK (Vodka Kick?) alcopop doesn't show up.

</comment><comment><USER42> Maybe search bots hosted in Ukraine? It's banned there and you can't resolve the host. Images come from another provider.

They voluntary banned to be available in Ukraine?

</comment><comment><USER43> 13:24 UTC, tons of results.

</comment><comment><USER44> I've been trying to use duckduckgo for almost a year, but I can't really justify it. I've even gotten used to just adding !g at the end of each search. It has terrible results for anything non english and pretty bad latency where in asia it seems.

Does anyone have a recommendation for another search engine that does decently well in terms of privacy and also supports chinese results?

<comment><USER45> Startpage.com is the one I use day to day (I work at the company that owns it). They use straight Google results through a proxy in their own data centers, it's anonymized before it hits anything

<comment><USER46> what kind of a deal do they have with Google? why would Google agree to this?

<comment><USER47> I'm also very interested in the details. According to their website they are paying Google to provide them with the results. But the revenue streams to startpage are not provided on their homepage (or at least I haven't found them yet).

Edit: [https://support.startpage.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Artic...](https://support.startpage.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/180/20/how- can-startpage-be-free-how-do-you-make-money) This gives additional information. Apparently they are showing ads that are only related to the search terms. I guess they are showing more ads than Google? Otherwise this wouldn't really make sense. Or maybe individualized advertisements in the search results aren't that much of a big money-maker for Google (!)

<comment><USER45> It's the same amount of ads. The hyper targeting Google does is incredibly profitable because of the scale they operate at. If you make the click through rate of an ad even 0.1% better over billions of searches it more than pays for the R&D of an engineering team.

Really the only way to compete against Google from a feature perspective is the privacy angle. You're sacrificing better click through rates to target a market that cares about privacy. Making something private requires a lot less engineering and product power than hyper optimizing tracking. By definition if you're not doing any tracking you don't need to employee people to set up tracking systems.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER48> Well, it works much better if you spell out what you're searching for in this case. Try it?

Voight-Kampff

<comment><USER8> There's a lot more things VK is an abbreviation for. Why aren't they showing up?

</comment></comment><comment><USER49> Monopoly?

</comment><comment> mr-ron Ive been using DDG as a default search for a while now. My conclusion is that the results are just NOT as good as Google's. I find myself using Google searches for time sensitive or mission critical searches, which totally defeats the purpose of a search engine.

As an example, I was playing around with Phaser and found that DDG just does not surface the entire Phaser documentation or forums correctly, and had to switch my default browser search for when I was putting time there.

I want to want to support DDG, but the lack of quality around searches makes it difficult.

<comment><USER50> I think you can prepend your search on DDG with !g and it'll search google for you, without leaking your info to google.

<comment> just-ok You can use !s for StartPage for the "Google can't see my queries" layer.

<comment><AUTHOR> I don't believe startpage. Either they are lying to users about the Google results, or google is lying to them.

Search for '5vh9ld'. It is reddit post's URL.

[https://startpage.com/do/metasearch.pl?query=5vh9ld](https://startpage.com/do/metasearch.pl?query=5vh9ld)

[https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=5vh9ld](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=5vh9ld)

<comment><USER51> 5/7 google results are spam that should have been removed. I wonder if the 0/7 on start page is that sort of spam filtering run amuck.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER52> In other weird search results if you search for 4chan with tor you get wikipedia and news results. If you search without tor you get the real website and in general more relevant results.

</comment><comment><USER53> DDG's raison d'etre is to position itself as the Gutmensch of search engines but when it comes to providing peace of mind that I'm getting the best and most relevant results, there's a reason why my grandmother hasn't heard of it.

</comment><comment><USER54> Moved on from DDG long ago (currently it's mostly Qwant for me).

</comment><comment><USER55> What were you expecting?

<comment><USER56> Something more similar to the Google or Bing search results for "VK"?

<comment><USER55> Change region to Russia. There are lots of results.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER57> As unpopular as it might be, but DDG is just a very bad search engine, and always has been. Bing really is the best at the moment IMO.

<comment><AUTHOR> DDG is bing+others.

<comment><USER58> Some of the web scrape data is from Bing, but they don't use Bing's ranking.</comment></comment></comment>


Data Analysis and Visualization Using R (2014) - <AUTHOR> http://varianceexplained.org/RData/ <comment><USER2> These tutorials are from 2014. While they provide a good overview of R syntax, a lot has been added to the R-verse such as dplyr, which the author primarily used for his Trump Tweets blog post yesterday.

If you are interested in learning R, you may want to read the R for Data Science book ([http://r4ds.had.co.nz/](http://r4ds.had.co.nz/)) book by dplyr (and ggplot2) author Hadley Wickham.

Relatedly, I have my own (slightly more complicated) notebooks using R/dplyr/ggplot2, open-sourced on GitHub, if you want further examples of real- world analysis with publically-available data along the lines of the Trump Tweet analysis:

Processing Stack Overflow Developer data: [https://github.com/minimaxir/stack- overflow-survey/blob/mast...](https://github.com/minimaxir/stack-overflow- survey/blob/master/stack_overflow_dev_survey.ipynb)

Identifying related Reddit Subreddits: [https://github.com/minimaxir/subreddit- related/blob/master/f...](https://github.com/minimaxir/subreddit- related/blob/master/find_related_subreddits.ipynb)

Determining correlation between genders of lead actors of movies on box office revenue: [https://github.com/minimaxir/movie- gender/blob/master/movie_...](https://github.com/minimaxir/movie- gender/blob/master/movie_gender.ipynb)

<comment><USER3> Course author here; I agree about most of the lessons being outdated in the last two years, and that R for Data Science is a great modern source.

I'm working with DataCamp to develop an R course that covers dplyr, tidyr, and other newer additions to the R language.

<comment><USER2> Good to hear! :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I love R, but I have two problems with it that I would like suggestions to deal with.

1\. Debugging seems way more primitive than in other languages; I get cryptic messages and really struggle to pinpoint what is happening. Debugging in (free) shiny is even harder, the page says connection closed and I have to guess what has happened.

2) Code structure. R is simply fantastic in REPL and/or RStudio mode for digging around in data, but longer programs remind me of COBOL (yes, I have programmed in COBOL) longer programs written by other people remind me of the need to drink alcohol. Creating good code with R is vastly harder than Julia, in Julia the challenge is not to create working clean code - that's natural, the challenge is to create the best code that it's ever possible to have. In R the challenge (for me) is to make it work and not make a plate of spaghetti.

<comment><USER5> Sounds like you need some Visual Studio in your life.

And you probably need to be more assertive.

[https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/assertive/index.html](https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/assertive/index.html)

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

(and you do use testhat for unit testing, right?)

Additionally you want to write more modular code. There is lots of infrastructure around that in R, but people just don't use it often enough because a lot of them aren't programmers.

mlr provides very convenient infrastructure for building data mining pipelines where you can fuse steps with each other.

[http://mlr-org.github.io/mlr-tutorial/release/html/](http://mlr- org.github.io/mlr-tutorial/release/html/)

For non-model building activities, i.e. inference or exploratory analysis, mason is a great way to do it.

[https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/mason/vignettes/spec...](https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/mason/vignettes/specifics.html)

<comment><USER4> I use r-studio but not sure what visual studio will bring - will investigate.

<comment><USER5> Project management and develops tools.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Considering how R has exploded in recent years, I'm sure a more recent article could have been found. That being said, R is amazing, easily the best language/software for any sort of data analysis. And bonus points for easy Fortran/C++ interop, as well as easy multicore/cluster computing. Oh, and a shout out to RStudio, which is also amazing.

</comment><comment><USER7> I want to thank everyone for those links. I am learning R at the moment and I am finding them immensely helpful

</comment><comment><USER8> Since this link is from 2014, it doesn't mention rBokeh, which is a very powerful interactive viz library for R: [http://hafen.github.io/rbokeh/](http://hafen.github.io/rbokeh/)

</comment><comment><USER9> How good is the support for R when data is large and does not fit in memory?

<comment><USER5> plenty of options, depending on what you need.

<comment><USER9> I guess one has options in every language including Python. Does something make R stand out over Python for Big Data?

<comment><USER5> Everything that makes it stand over Python for small data.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I use R multiple hours every day, I love it, I love the ecosystem, but I can't help thinking that it's showing its age. It does a great job on static analysis and visualization of smaller (< 1 gigabyte) data sets, but is seriously challenged by anything significantly larger, and is unfit for purpose if the data is changing rapidly (eg streaming). I unfortunately am slowly coming to the conclusion that Spark and Flink style tools are where data science will be at in a few years time, and while I know you can use R as a layer on top of these, I think other aspects of R also hold you back, paradoxically, things like the excellent base and ggplot graphics, which are rightly lauded as excellent, but are very low-dimensional in a world where tensors increasingly rule. I think R will remain hugely relevant for a long time, and is, what I tell people, like Excel^2, but it's getting to point where the world is moving on and it will struggle if it's not rewritten from the ground up with a much faster, multicore, threaded, distributed implementation.

<comment><USER11> I genuinely think these type of thoughts come from having extensive experience as a programmer, that can consider building out systems that might reach the performance ceiling of R. For 99% of people multicore/distributed architecture will never even be a consideration. But I'm with you, in that having these things from a system engineers perspective would be incredible. There are other implementations of R out there (not just R GNU): Hadley Wickham's discusses them in Advanced R somewhere.</comment></comment>


Urban Plight: Vanishing Upward Mobility - <AUTHOR> http://american.com/archive/2010/august/urban-plight-vanishing-upward-mobility

<comment><USER3> I was talking to my goddaughter at her 21st birthday family gather in South West London a couple of weeks back. She, and her boyfriend, have already resigned themselves to never being able to buy their own home -- barring a lottery win, or some such, or via inheriting at some point.

I'd already bought my first house at 21, in that same area, and I'd say my income, adjusted, was comparable to one of theirs.

To be this young, and left with little hope, is a brutal wake-up call. Oh, it could be worse, but it could be, much more easily, so much better.

<comment><USER4> So why don't they move to some part of the UK that has cheaper housing if they really want to own a house?

Place like Edinburgh, where I am, don't exactly seem to be suffering that badly in the economic downturn and there _is_ affordable property here - <USER2> not be that fancy, or in a great neighborhood but you have to start somewhere.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Housing supply is constrained everywhere that has planning and zoning. There are slums everywhere that doesn't. No matter where you draw the line for "acceptable" housing, some people cant afford it.

<comment><USER6> Huston is a counterexample at least to some extent (there are some regulations): <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston,_Texas#Cityscape>

<comment><USER5> Cities like Houston, Dallas, and Indianapolis have low prices because there are no geographic constraints, so building restrictions can't screw it up too much. Houston's minimum street widths and parking requirements serve restrict building almost as much as zoning.

<comment><USER6> Yeah, I've wondered about that while living in the Boston area for a dozen years. It would also seem to apply strongly to the SF Bay area and a bit less so to NYC.

But what about, say, the D.C. area? Chesapeake Bay isn't so big, then again there are limited number of bridges in certain critical areas (e.g. north of Chain Bridge).

What about other cities less constrained by large lakes, bays or the sea? Rivers are frequently going to be an issue since in olden times they were a major asset for a city.

<comment><USER5> DC: has strong growth controls in MD+VA, it's big enough that traffic becomes a meaningful constraint (Atlanta has this problem now as well), and it has one of the strongest most recession-proof economics in the country, so prices are still high.

I'm having trouble finding the list, but I can't think of a single expensive metro area (in the US) that isn't constrained by water, mountains, growth control laws, or all of the above. Rivers are generally not a problem because federal road funding and near-universal car ownership make it easy to distribute growth on both sides of a river. It is a problem when that river is a state boundary as well (which is often).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Well, I'm living in vancouver and I noticed we were mentioned in the article. I'm currently renting at around 900$/month. I was looking around town at housing and even a small place costs around 2,2M. I think the average price in the entire city is around 730K$. Considering the median income for family is around 66k$, that doesn't give much hope.

</comment><comment><USER8> At the extremes, it's beginning to sound like cities (or parts of them) are becoming centers for the wealthy and connected, the "creative class", while the poorer neighborhoods and burbs are used to house workers to service them. Those who can live in the city basically pay some form of subsidized rent to the rich.

Perhaps serfdom isn't so far gone after all. We've just renamed it.

(overly dramatic, yes, but I was struck at how much it sounds like things are drifting backwards in more ways than just income)</comment>


JavaScript in Space - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@richmans/javascript-in-space-7855a7ecf81b <comment><AUTHOR> A javascript autopilot for the Spacex ISS docking simulator</comment>


The Old Republic Consular Double-Bladed Lightsaber - <AUTHOR> http://www.slothfurnace.com/sabers/TORConsular_01.html

<comment><USER2> That is just... My god... New levels of cool! There aren't even words, I hope your wife appreciates all the hard work you've obviously put in to this, I wish my girlfriend would make things this cool for me.</comment>


Guido van Rossum : Python Regrets (2002) - <AUTHOR> http://www.python.org/doc/essays/ppt/regrets/PythonRegrets.pdf

<comment><USER2> Is map and fold really that bad in Python?</comment>


Zip Codes Are Not Polygons (2001) - <AUTHOR> https://web.archive.org/web/20080723211144/http://www.manifold.net/cases/zip_codes/zip_codes.html <comment><USER2> Oh, man, this gave me some serious flashbacks to when I used to work with ZIP code data on a regular basis. Besides the issues mentioned here, the following are also true:

* ZIP codes can map to a single building: [https://convene.com/catalyst/buildings-new-york-city-own-zip...](https://convene.com/catalyst/buildings-new-york-city-own-zip-code/)

* Conversely, the largest ZIP code in the country (89049, coincidentally, also in Nevada) encompasses an area of about 10,000 square miles: [https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/07/01/197623129...](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/07/01/197623129/the-zip-code-turns-50-today-here-are-9-that-stand-out)

* ZIP codes can map to more than one state or county: [https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/53918/determining-wh...](https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/53918/determining-which-us-zipcodes-map-to-more-than-one-state-or-more-than-one-city)

* ZIP codes can, and do change: [https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33488.pdf](https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33488.pdf)

As a result, ZIP codes are not the most useful method to use when referring to a geographic area, unless, that is, you happen to be a USPS carrier attempting to deliver a letter or package. Unfortunately, like Social Security numbers, ZIP codes have been shoehorned into all sorts of places where they don't really work ( _e.g._ statistical surveys, to give an idea where someone lives).

It's a mess. My advice is that if you're looking to use ZIP codes for pretty much anything besides mailing stuff, don't do it, unless you know what you're doing. Even if you know what you're doing, think really, really hard before using a ZIP code for something it's not actually intended for.

<comment><USER3> If we count ZIP+4 codes, my garage has its own ZIP code. It's a single car garage (but platted on a distinct tract from the house). In a village in the desert southwest, I guess they had extras numbers.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Sales tax, ZIP code crosses county line, one county has a sales tax surcharge, the other doesn't.

Not ZIP precisely, but even the "City" causes problems. The address is the name of the post office that delivers your mail, not the municipality where the address is located.

</comment><comment><USER5> Great little article. Straight to the point, easy to understand and with a good message.

Kinda a shame that it is hidden away in an archive.</comment>


Ask HN: Should I quit my dev job at a startup? - <AUTHOR> Throwaway for obvious reasons.
I was hired as a lead engineer two years ago(remote).
At the time the PO  was amazing, had both our and the company's interest at heart and everything was great.
Around January this year the PO left abruptly and a new guy came in who has zero clue about tech, management or social interactions, but talks his way into everything because he has the advantage of being in the office.
Ever since the PO change, the company started doing shady things - kept other tech project hidden from the dev team, outsources work to previous developers who screwed up and left the company at an awful state, don't consult us on how should we architect the process and questions everything we do. Now, being remote, we lose on a lot of communication, whether it's small talk or something big, but no one is making effort to keep us in the loop either. As a lead, shouldn't I be the part of the decision process or the dev process? I feel betrayed.
Due to us pushing on a deadline and breaking it they said they'd like to pause with the tech development until we get to the states in October (h1b). The worst part is they brought on another developer without my approval/interview or a formal intro meeting on Friday. That's just bad.
My work was also previously audited by a former team lead at Amazon and eBay, and the guy had zero remarks (don't know why the whole audit was made).
October is coming fast and I have yet to see a formal offer letter and whether that letter will hold any equity on it as it was promised originally.
I'm unsure whether I should go. There's been a lot of red flags and the management process is awful and I'm afraid it will get worse.
I'm afraid that I won't be able to find a remote gig that pays around 100-120k while allowing me to continue to be in Europe.
Is there anyway I can find out about the offer letter from the immigration lawyer or find docs online?
Should I quit or stick through? <comment><USER2> Start looking for something elsewhere, but stick around until you either find something better and/or know what's what where you're at. There's nothing wrong with looking in the meantime.

</comment><comment><USER3> I'd stay and see how it plays out. Maybe write an email to the founders with your concerns, but be very polite, and make sure you have the evidence for your claims.</comment>


Why did Apple help police shutdown KAT, but not a terrorist? - <AUTHOR> Apparently Apple gave up information that helped to the capture of Artem Vaulin, the guy behind KAT. However apple put up big stink about helping decrypt a phone. Given KAT hurts iTunes it gave apple a much larger incentive to help the cops, but it seems quite hypocritical of Apple. <comment><USER2> Thought experiment: let's say that Apple doesn't know what the suspect in a law enforcement investigation is suspected of. If the request is between revealing the identity of a user from a particular IP address (which is probably easy for them to determine), or giving away (essentially) a master key to decrypt all iPhones, which would it comply with? I think it would have complied with revealing the identity of a user pretty much every time, even if the suspect was a terrorist, but not necessarily to give away the master key for all iPhones even if the suspect was an intellectual property pirate.

</comment><comment><USER3> Because the two requests are fundamentally different. As far as I am aware, other than helping decrypt the phone, I believe Apple did handover any other information they had on the terrorist.[0]

I believe when it came to decrypting a phone, that is a line they decided they could not cross because of what it would require. I believe, had Artem had an encrypted phone and Apple were asked to decrypt it they would refuse again. It's about what is being asked of them, not about the severity of the crime or situation.

So it is only hypocritical if they help decrypt Artem's phone and not the terrorist's phone and only if Artem's phone requires the same level of work to decrypt. Additionally, the factor of iTunes being affected by the crime having any effect on their willingness to assist law enforcement is pure speculation

-

[0] [http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/02/apple-we-tried- to...](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/02/apple-we-tried-to-help-fbi- terror-probe-but-someone-changed-icloud-password/)

"After days of working with the FBI, Apple proposed one final attempt to recover roughly six weeks of data that was locked on the phone." / "With a legal court order, Apple can and does turn over iCloud data."

</comment><comment><USER4> It probably is, but iTunes data is not encrypted by the user. So if it is encrypted at all, Apple can decrypt it, and it can and will give that data to the police, as it has in the past as well.

</comment><comment><USER5> Its disappointing as it shows that their ethics and bottom-line are to some degree intertwined</comment>


Earth's CO2 levels just crossed a really scary threshold – and it's permanent - <AUTHOR> http://www.sciencealert.com/earth-s-co2-levels-just-permanently-crossed-a-really-scary-threshold <comment><USER2> The phrase: "It's permanent" lacks vision.

It's altogether reasonable to imagine a technology that can and will remove greenhouse gases from our atmosphere, soil, and water.

In fact, there are research efforts underway to this effect as I write these words. This doom and gloom attitude is very likely exacerbating the root cause of what ails our understanding of how to combat the issue.

Perhaps if a more hopeful, unified understanding of what we as a society are doing (!) was spread by modern media, we could then determine what steps to take in order to fix said issue.

Let's remember that: yes, 400 ppm sucks, and yes, climate change is a problem because of greenhouse gas emissions, but also let us remember that we have scientific understanding to relegate the negative aspects and effects if and WHEN we decide to work on these issues with a more focused mindset rather than the aforementioned doom and gloom.

Would it not be more effective to focus on what is possible via concerted efforts rather than what those who benefit from click-throughs do to enjoy larger ad revenue?</comment>


Trent Reznor's original Quake soundtrack re-issued on vinyl - <AUTHOR> https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1306279981459308546 <comment><USER2> I didn't find any liner notes when following the link. Am I misunderstanding something?

<comment><USER3> I too am confused. But then there is this:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24495244](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24495244)

I read this earlier and couldn't find a date on it. Frankly it felt like it was written many years ago. But maybe instead it was just written for a context I was not aware of at the time.</comment></comment>


Kalman Filter via a Simple and Intuitive Derivation [pdf] - <AUTHOR> https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rmf25/papers/Understanding%20the%20Basis%20of%20the%20Kalman%20Filter.pdf <comment><USER2> Maybe it's just because I'm not the target audience for this paper, but I'm finding this very tough going. I'm a PhD student in a mathematical field (operations research) but have only the faintest idea about Kalman filters - something about updating beliefs based on noisy measurements in a way that feels intuitively similar to Bayes' Rule. I'm not a tutor intending to teach Kalman filters to anyone in the near future, fair, but I should have the mathematical background to get through this. Not sure why it feels like a slog. Maybe it's because the measurement and prediction and update equations appear before any intuition about what a Kalman filter is, what the stages of the algorithm are, etc.?

Edit: all the way through now. Certainly this would be much more useful as an intro to Kalman filters (rather than an introduction to introducing Kalman filters) had some intuition been given.

<comment><USER3> Here's the intuitive explanation I usually use.

Sequential Bayesian Filtering is how you apply repeated evidence to a moving target. There are three steps:

1\. Predict: Using some Markov process, move your prior distribution forward in time so it's compatible with your new evidence. (Intuitively, everything becomes less certain as it's free to move around. Mathematically, doing this with continuous probabilities tends to mean an incredibly gross integral.)

2\. Update: Using Bayes' Rule, update your probabilities with the new evidence. (Intuitively, this bunches the distribution back up. If the predict/update don't vary in time/quality, this tends to asymptotically reach some sort of balance. Mathematically, this tends to also be gross.)

3\. Notreallyastep: Recycle your results as the priors in step 1 next time. (Note this means your result needs to be in the same format as your old priors if you don't want to re-solve all the math every update.)

If you get around the gross math by doing everything in finite space and brute forcing it (integrals become summations), you get a hidden Markov model.

If you get around the gross math by dingo a Monte-Carlo approximation, you get a particle filter.

If you assume your priors are normal, your evidence is normal, and your update function fits in a matrix multiplication, then you're in luck: all of the math works out so your result is also normal. That's a Kalman Filter.

<comment><USER4> Further to this, here's a very simple application of a Kalman filter which plots a graph (in Python):

[https://github.com/dougszumski/KalmanFilter](https://github.com/dougszumski/KalmanFilter)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I've worked with all the different types of Kalman Filters over the past decade, and one lesson I've learned is that there is no way to make it simple and intuitive. It requires extensive background knowledge in math and stats, and even then, it's very difficult for intelligent people to keep track of all the moving parts. Papers like this one are an exercise in futility.

<comment><USER6> KF is essentially a symbolic unrolling of a LU decomposition. There is a graphical algorithm which makes all the minutae trivial [1].

[1] [https://arxiv.org/pdf/1508.00952.pdf](https://arxiv.org/pdf/1508.00952.pdf)

<comment><USER6> > "'We have a new theorem--that mathematicians can only prove trivial > theorems, because every theorem that's proved is trivial.'" \- Richard > Feynman

Sigh.

KF is essentially solving a QP with equality constraints (Boyd's course is a good place for details), which can be solved exactly with a single decomposition of the KKT system - picking an ordering is all that matters for complexity.

This is essentially the principle on which all of Sparse Linear algebra and Graphical models work. There is nothing special about the structure of KF, nor in LQR, nor in their non-linear generalizations.

One can symbolically unroll Schur complements multiple times to make block-LU appear opaque and sophisticated, but it really is not (this of course is not to say this is done deliberately). KF can also derived from the Bayes' network model, but extending this to non-linear forms like EKF, and to things which are not first-order becomes rather troublesome (or impossible).

I'd have appreciated a post asking for details rather than infantile derision.

<comment><USER7> I'm sorry that you can't take a joke. Personally, I found it funny that you're blessed with the requisite mathematical knowledge and perspective to be able to view the details as 'trivial minutiae'.

I did spend 5 minutes perusing the paper you linked, and couldn't make heads or tails of it. For myself and all other mere mortals unfamiliar with this mathematical machinery, I can assure you that details are far from trivial.

Thanks for taking your time to explain.

<comment><USER8> Well, it's a mathematical paper. I skimmed it, and although it's not my field (well, I wonder what my field is now that I work as machine learning engineer, but it used to be dynamical systems in Banach spaces) it seems pretty much readable given a mathematical background in research.

I can assure you, this is way more readable than many other papers. I can totally understand the "minutiae" comment there.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Another classic paper is _The Poor Man 's Explanation To Kalman Filtering_ : [http://digi.physic.ut.ee/mw/images/d/d5/Poormankalman.pdf](http://digi.physic.ut.ee/mw/images/d/d5/Poormankalman.pdf)

</comment><comment><USER10> Understanding what the Kalman filter does and how it does it can be intuitive. Understanding that it can all be done efficiently with matrix operations: also intuitive. Getting a good intuition for the specific update equations? Still beats me. I'm a quant/statistician, I focus on filtering. I've implemented this a dozen time and I still have to look these equations every time.

<comment><USER11> 100% agree. One useful exercise (once you understand all the algebra) is to show that when your measurement noise is extremely small, your estimate is just your current observation. Then show that when your dynamics noise is small, your estimate is just your prior prediction.

Easy enough in one dimension, surprisingly hard in several dimensions.

Even after all that, could I explain what the Kalman gain is to a ten year old? Not a chance.

<comment><USER10> Bonus points, give an intuitive explanation for why it is the dual of an LQR control problem.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> My favorite explanation of Kalman filters is this tutorial in Python: [https://github.com/rlabbe/Kalman-and-Bayesian-Filters-in- Pyt...](https://github.com/rlabbe/Kalman-and-Bayesian-Filters-in-Python)

It's geared towards software engineers and doesn't assume much math background. Highly recommend.

</comment><comment><USER13> My preferred explanation for Kalman filters is sec. 1.5 of Maybeck's " _Stochastic Models, Estimation, and Control_ ".

[https://www.cs.unc.edu/~welch/kalman/media/pdf/maybeck_ch1.p...](https://www.cs.unc.edu/~welch/kalman/media/pdf/maybeck_ch1.pdf)

</comment><comment><USER14> There's another explanation of Kalman filters here: [http://www.bzarg.com/p/how-a-kalman-filter-works-in- pictures...](http://www.bzarg.com/p/how-a-kalman-filter-works-in-pictures/)

</comment><comment><USER15> I echo the sentiments of Kolbe. There really is no way to make a Kalman filter simple or intuitive. What I have found helps though, is to write one yourself based on the math before using the libraries you find.

Write one, print out every intermediate value to see how the matrix changes. It will be not-quite-correct, but it will give you insights to how exactly a kalman filter works

</comment><comment><USER16> I've encountered a few different attempts at "simple explanations" of the Kalman filter, but what I really want is a "simple explanation of _implementing_ a Kalman filter".

Anyone know of attempts at that? (Or applying one to a real situation?)

<comment><USER6> Perhaps this will help ? [https://akssri.github.io/blog/Kalman- Filtering.html](https://akssri.github.io/blog/Kalman-Filtering.html)</comment></comment>


Ask HN:  deferred compensation structures, pre-funded startup - <AUTHOR>

I am in the pre-funded prototype development stage of my product and have been making some very useful connections with people who are interested in contributing to the effort  (UX, design, code, biz dev) for deferred compensation.
The part I want to think through carefully is how to protect both myself and the collaborators in this equation -- without writing formal legal contracts etc. It seems that getting into legal costs would put the cart before the horse at this stage. We're building the proof of concept.
My thoughts have been to write a brief statement of understanding that simply gets iterated/emailed/signed back and forth describing the timings, expectations and compensations. Not a formal legal doc, but at least concretizes and marks the basic understandings.
But I am trying to think through the compensation part. How does one structure something before one has an established biz structure? ....
* Equity.
* Placing a monetary value on hours spent to be compensated at time of investment and or revenue.
* The possibility of key role/involvement in the funded phase of the product.
It's more straightforward when there's simply a local-fulltime-team being built -- all agree on a division of equity and off you go. But I am talking about working with people in smaller time-chunks, and in scenarios where being a part of the ongoing team may not even be desired, or an option; for example a collaborator is half way around the globe and creates a set of visual themes.
It's great to be able to collaborate like this ...but how can we set this up so that when things do take off there are no messy situations, just coolness and excitement all around.
Appreciate any experiences, resources, ideas. <comment><USER2> I have written an ominous-sounding article (entitled "Mistakes Founders Make - Ill-Documented Relationships") that describes some of the risks here. (<http://www.grellas.com/faq_business_startup_009.html>)

For the venture: the IP developed by the loosely-affiliated team will belong to its individual members and not to the venture. Solution: need simple work- for-hire agreements (promise of future equity alone is OK as the "consideration").

For the individuals: getting stiffed on the promised equity.

By all means, do document this at least informally with a founder's term sheet.

By no means should you attach a money value to the services performed. If you do, and it gets audited, you will all have tax problems (generally, your services would constitute immediately taxable compensation even though all you would get is a piece of paper for it at the end). Keep all discussion on this framed solely as "x will get _% of equity in exchange for [whatever]" but without reference of any kind of money value.

Do remember to describe the attributes to be associated with any equity (e.g., "100% immediately vested," or "20% immediately vested with balance to vest ratably over 48 months subject to repurchase by company at cost upon any termination of holder's service relationship with the company" or whatever fits your team's expectations).

This kind of situation is inherently nebulous and can easily lead to problems with a far-flung team.

Best advice: keep everything on a short leash. That way, if someone gets burned, hurt will be minimized.

When trust is established, and company seems viable, get it documented legally ASAP.

<comment><AUTHOR> very good info.

this is extremely helpful as is your article.

"Do remember to describe the attributes to be associated with any equity (e.g., "100% immediately vested," or "20% immediately vested with balance to vest ratably over 48 months subject to repurchase by company at cost upon any termination of holder's service relationship with the company" or whatever fits your team's expectations)."

this part i will need to research a bit to fully grok. it's great though to have a starting point here.

<comment><USER2> I didn't intend anything fancy by this statement.

If someone is doing a piece of the development by which they will get, e.g., 1% of the company (whether in stock or in options exercisable at a nominal price), and if this is fully earned once that piece is done, then the language would say that he gets that piece (without strings and without vesting requirements).

If others, however, will be true founders once the company is formed, will get larger equity pieces, and will anticipate earning out their larger equity pieces over time, then this needs to be specified so that it is not simply assumed that someone's 20% piece, for example, is fully earned at inception simply because that was the size of the equity grant promised as a founder's percentage. In such cases, the general terms of the vesting should be described as well as the size of the stock piece.

This is just another way of saying that, even when put into a term sheet, the terms should be clear on what is to be granted and, if there are to be vesting conditions attached to the grant, they should be made clear (normal vesting for founders is at a rate of 1/48th per month over 48 months, i.e., four years, but there is no rule about this and it can be anything the founders agree to, e.g., 1/36th/mo over 36 months or even no vesting at all).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I apologize for the spam, but I just was finishing a blog post about how you can use our site (<http://FairSoftware.net>) and its Software Bill of Rights as a free insurance between founders before they incorporate.

If you want true 0 cost, legally-enforceable system, you can register your project there, have everyone agree to the equity split. Then, everyone starts vesting their shares over time. That sort of takes care of 90% of the issues you'll face. When you become successful, you can just go your own route, incorporate, raise angel money, etc... but at least you put in place a recorded, auditable trail of what the equity is supposed to be among founders.

You can change the equity split later if everyone agrees, but if some founders become unfriendly, you have an insurance and can still legally use their contribution even if they never talk to you again :-)

<comment><AUTHOR> I'll definitely take a look.. thx.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> IANAL so beware what I say.

Question: how legal savvy are you? You can write or find generic no-frills stuff yourself that can do in a pinch for small shares. Your "brief statement of understanding" is helpful - you can simply formalize that more.

I don't think you should/need to put a "monetary value on hours spent" - you're giving shares of equity and both parties agree to the deal. What else is there to say?

Words of advice:

* Vest whenever possible

* Give them as little as you can now so that you can attract them later to come on full-time (if that's what you want)

Good luck!

</comment><comment><USER5> People working for equity - WHAT? I tried to find mobile phone developers / gui artists / server side programmers to do that and got laughed out of town! If there are people out there that want to be a part of a startup mobile/web app please reply. I'm in Vancouver BC. Thanks.

Newman, maybe you could instigate a webspace to connect idea types with coder types who are interested in working on a startup - even part time. Thanks.

<comment><USER6> "idea types"

This is why you "got laughed out of town." Why in the world, if I'm a coder- type, would I want to give even 1% of the benefit of my work to an "idea type"? There are plenty of people with great ideas _and_ skills to make them happen, and the best part is, there's reason to believe that being the sort of person who can put execute on ideas makes you come up with better _ideas_ as well.

<comment><USER7> While I generally agree that an idea is not worth the paper used to write it down, there is also a certain level of domain expertise that a coder will lack which an "idea person" can supply if they have the right sort of experience. You may be a rails "rock star", but if you don't know dick about the widget* supply business then your widget management app is not going to go anywhere.

*I do hate how useless wen plugins have appropriated a nice generic term...

<comment><USER6> Absolutely right. Still, I'd be wary of bringing on an "idea person" to a lean start-up if they didn't also have business contacts within the widget supply business that could be leveraged into sales, or skills to otherwise contribute to the product.

Also, I don't think it's all about coders. Depending on the business, there are lots of other day-to-day productive roles that need to be filled. But it's incredibly rare that I would describe any of them as "idea person".</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: My First Interview as the Interviewer - <AUTHOR> After many "fun" interviewee experiences, the tables have turned. Not only am I the interviewer: I'm also crafting the  process. After contemplating my gripes from past interviews, creating a do-at-your-own-pace code project for candidates to complete just felt right. I'm also doing resume-blind reviews, which has proven assumption shattering. Now for the questions:<p>- Have any of you had failures/success with a similar approach?<p>- What are the risks of this approach? Any horror stories?<p>- What are the best next steps to take with candidates? Is there any value to live coding?<p>- Do you think the project is too much? (https://github.com/AthletesResearchInstitute/warmup) I worry that it's a bit long.<p>- What's a reasonable time frame to decide on a candidate after they've submitted a project?<p>- Any general advice for a first timer? <comment><USER2> > Any general advice for a first timer?

1) Build a scorecard. Be clear on what it is that you need/want this person to do the next 12-36 months.

2) Basic screening criteria- Can they do the job? Will they do job? Can you live with them?

Know that there is a wooing aspect to this process. The candidate is also checking you and your company out for potential fit. It's likely they are talking to other employers. Pay close attention to their interests. (BTW, Do read their resume & bio beforehand). You might imagine these people as your peers, quite possibly even smarter and more capable than you. Show professional courtesy. If your market is hyper-competitive, same day decision cycles are often the norm.

<comment><AUTHOR> Honestly, there have been amazing candidates that I would have probably written off had I seen their resumes alone, so looking at the code first affords the chance to judge them based on merit before being biased by the glitz and glam on a resume. I highly recommend this approach.

<comment><USER2> Right -- Don't judge a book by it's cover. Turns out most people are lousy resume writers. But often there's a subtle sign to dig deeper. You can find those hidden diamonds during a quick 15-30 minute Skype/Phone screen.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I did a code project as a test once. Mostly out of desperation to find a job quickly. And it taught me to refuse and ignore any work-at-home tests, no matter what they are. Either you look me in the eye and we talk like men about software development. Or you play alone with your tests and quizzes until you find someone desperate enough to care.

Why I don't do code tests:

\- Artificial problems with artificial constraints. I have to understand some weird context you dreamed up and figure out a solution that matches your expectations. Give me real world problems. I don't work in la la land.

\- Solving your test takes at least a couple of hours. I can send three more resumes in that time. Or I can start hacking together a side project to compete with your company. I don't waste my time and neither should you.

\- Skewed expectations. Your test is prepared in advance. And because you already know the solution, it seems easy. But it's not. Want a real test? Let's try one you haven't seen before side by side. We'll see then if I'm good and if you are as competent as you think you are. But if I figure it out before you do, I expect a salary higher than yours. Not so fun anymore, is it.

\- Skilled people don't need tests to determine skill. They assume it's there and look for potential problems. If I built at least one side-project and you can see it, don't treat me like someone that can't code. If I have 7 years experience, don't test my coding skills like I'm a graduate. Because the 3-5 guys that hired me before you did that already. And they found me good enough to hire.

Show respect to your candidates. Treat them like they are as good as they claim, and look for discrepancies subtly. Don't assume everyone is an incompetent liar. And definitely don't test the living shit out of them just to prove yourself right or wrong.

<comment><AUTHOR> I agree with you that it would be insulting to pass this on to an industry veteran, and I wouldn't send this to someone who had that kind of resume. A lot of the candidates we've had so far have only been coding for a few years, so I think it's a fair ask, especially from people who don't have a portfolio at all.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I really like your example project. It's good that you go into detail about some of the calculations, which could trick people up otherwise.

As for the interview, just try to be relaxed and friendly to the interviewee-- you want them to fail on their own merits, not because they got stressed out or anxious.

</comment><comment><USER5> Your project is a very strong filter, both positively and negatively:

1\. it will select coders who are very familiar with that exact same stack, and find your test trivial (good)

2\. it will also select bad coders desperate for a job, who will google to death to eventually come to a solution, even though you would never hire those people (bad)

3\. it eliminates good coders who have better things to do than fiddle with installing a different stack, etc. (bad)

Overall, as long as you get enough people from the first category, you win. If it turns out that you are having problems convincing people to take your test, think about category 3 again...

<comment><AUTHOR> As a quest for the best fit, that was the intent: we need someone who can hit the ground running. I figured we could always try broader interview method if this didn't work out.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> _Do you think the project is too much?_

I think "fix whatever you think is wrong with the code" makes it so because it moves it out of the realm of objective answers and into open-ended apple polishing. It also has the "interview smell" of a game of 'gotcha': a candidate may worry that if they miss some hidden trick, they automatically fail.

But what you [hopefully?] want is people who make changes based on evidence. People who refactor based on profiling or muddy code not because a yak has five o'clock shadow.

Good luck.

<comment><AUTHOR> Very true. I'm going to remove that line.

<comment><USER6> 'Anything else would you change and if so why?' would make a good interview question.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Does the sample project have comprehensive test coverage already? My Rails foo is...well it's not foo...but I don't see much in the way of unit or integration tests.

If I am correct, there are two problems. One is that the problem is more time consuming than it should be. The second is that skipping tests for a Rails project is contrary to convention. That probably looks like a red flag to some of the class of people you hope to attract.

<comment><AUTHOR> Nope. I thought about it, but I felt that writing a spec would impose a design, so it's up to the candidate to add tests if they choose. I actually didn't expect anyone to do that, but some (to my surprise) did.

<comment><USER6> Having some design constraints would provide more standardization. It would also provide interview questions.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This doesn't mention a time estimate anywhere. As an interview candidate it might be nice to have an idea of how much time I'm committing to with this project. Even if it is a wide range.

<comment><AUTHOR> I had a time range in an earlier draft and dropped it once I realized how skewed my perception was as the author. A broad of a time range didn't seem very useful either.</comment></comment>


"Lawmakers press Facebook over Chinese data sharing" (Reuters) - <AUTHOR> https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-privacy-congress/lawmakers-press-facebook-over-chinese-data-sharing-idUSKCN1J21OE <comment><USER2> Personally I'd like to see the full list of those 60 companies.

<comment><USER3> Personally I'd like to see lawmakers do more than make noise. They actually have power to do something about this, but they seem content just going on public witch hunts to show their constituents that "they care" without actually caring.

<comment><USER4> In much the same way that they bought off most of the Valley in the Instagram acquisition, Facebook bought off most of congress via contributions and that is now paying off.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> As much as I dislike Facebook, this feels more part the US' general anti- Chinese bigotry than anything else. Why are Chinese companies being singled out here?

<comment><USER6> Because the state-owned Chinese ODMs/OEMs have a comprehensive history of installing malware/spyware on devices branded for internal (Chinese consumer/commercial) consumption, and when the same devices are exported they may still have this malware/spyware.

The US insists on ensuring these devices are free of Chinese malware/spyware and this includes complete technical specifications (which also includes source code). The Chinese always tell them to pound sand and either buy their products or don't.

It should be noted that these devices are guaranteed to find their way around the world (usually via consumers bringing it on their person or exported to other regional markets) and they are frequently used (by multiple parties) for corporate data exfiltration. Then again the US intelligence agencies regularly practice this around the world as a matter of policy, utilizing their relationships with global cargo services to ensure their own malware/spyware finds its way around the globe.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I fail to see what this can accomplish. A legislative body without the institutional will to enforce its wishes upon businesses is useless, and with the libertarian view being predominant this is nothing more than theater. It doesn't apparently even matter that corporations — Facebook in this case — are profiting on the backs of American citizens.

But a profit was made, therefore the ruling capitalist class will excuse and justify it.

</comment><comment><USER8> Is this treason yet?</comment>


Facebook Launches Internet.org App and Free Access to 38 Websites in India - <AUTHOR> http://fossbytes.com/facebook-launches-internet-org-app-india-free-access-websites/

<comment><USER2> I think this is a major set back for net neutrality. I like the idea of giving free internet access to people that need it, but who gets to decided what sites are accessible? And what is the process if I want my website or service added to the list? Tiered internet is not the solution.</comment>


How I made 6 figures with Google Adsense in 10 days - <AUTHOR> http://ariejan.net/2007/03/20/how-i-made-6-figures-with-google-adsense-in-10-days/ <comment><USER2> How does the Steve Martin bit go? "How to become a millionaire: first, get a million dollars..."

Anyway, I'm not a big fan of these sort of made-for-Digg articles written by SEO people looking for positive google juice.

</comment><comment><USER3> Alternate title: "How to start a pyramid scheme in 10 days"

</comment><comment><USER4> Remarkably honest. Usually these kinds of 'opportunities' hold back the key information: that they making their money by selling you the opportunity.

</comment><comment><USER5> It would be nice to be able to downvote this kind of submission.

</comment><comment><USER6> shennanigans!!!</comment>


Hacking Videos - <AUTHOR> http://www.catonmat.net/blog/shmoocon-hacking-videos/ <comment><USER2> Thanks for submitting! I'd like to clarify the title of the submission and say that these videos are from Shmoocon hacker convention 2006, 2007 and 2008.

I'd also like to add a link to Defcon 15 Hacker Conference (held in previous year 2007):

[http://www.catonmat.net/blog/videos-from-defcon-15-hacker- co...](http://www.catonmat.net/blog/videos-from-defcon-15-hacker-conference/)

Thanks again! :)

Peter</comment>


Aerofex's Aero-X Hoverbike - <AUTHOR> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OapWfmPGiuU

<comment><USER2> insects aren't going to be happy about this.</comment>


What We Don't Talk about When We Talk about Russian Hacking - <AUTHOR> https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n01/jackson-lears/what-we-dont-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-russian-hacking <comment><USER2> I want to ask you a serious question, OP. Have you looked for the underlying facts behind the Russian hack claims yourself? Have you done your own research? Have you familiarized yourself with Russian & Soviet historical precedent, to see whether what's being claimed is actually characteristic of Russia's historical style? Have you listened to or read any of the congressional testimonies, or looked into their background sources? Have you examined any of the academic reports, public policy think tank reports, cybersecurity reports, and/or programming & data analysis work done on the publicly available data - several of which have been shared right here on HN? Have you done ANY of these things to come to your own conclusion - even just one?

Given that this piece characterizes the entire argument of Russian active measures activities as a "religion" devoid of empirical evidence, leaves out a _lot_ of important details regarding the Manafort and Papadopolous indictments which are publicly available in court documents, and generalizes over the merits & technical details of the analytical work products of Crowdstrike et al. on the one hand and VIPS on the other, and given the fact that this article resonated with you enough to share it, I get the disquieting impression that you have not done such background research.

If so, why hold the position that everyone around you is accepting this issue on unreasonable blind faith without any empirical evidence, when you yourself have not examined any of the supporting evidence? Why define the data and the legitimacy of that view out of existence like that?

Please tell and show me that my perception is mistaken here. I really want it to be.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Report mentioned in the story: [https://democraticautopsy.org/wp- content/uploads/Autopsy-The...](https://democraticautopsy.org/wp- content/uploads/Autopsy-The-Democratic-Party-In-Crisis.pdf)</comment>


Why do people call themselves entrepreneurs? - <AUTHOR> http://blog.jasonshah.org/post/34036099028/why-do-people-call-themselves-entrepreneurs <comment><USER2> I get frustrated when people call themselves "entrepreneurs" but have taken limited risks or made limited sacrifices. Come to me when you have literally had to make the moral decision between paying yourself more vs. hiring someone else, giving an employee a bonus vs. buying yourself some shiny things (your right to do so, but there's a societal impact for boh during a recession with people out of work) - the list goes on. In particular there's also the kind of strength of a character that "real" entrepreneurs have to have when dealing with the isolation of living in a world filled with blue pill poppers when entrepreneurs have swallowed on the jagged red pill of reality probably from the time they could walk.

I also get frustrated with people who spend VC money in a wanton fashion yet don't risk a dime of their own yet call themselves "entrepreneurs". Nej, you are a "wantrepreneur"...

</comment><comment><USER3> I think a lot of it has to do with a sense that they need to use this title in order to gain legitimacy in the startup community. I met lots of people calling themselves entrepreneurs who have never started a business and I meet lots of people who call themselves founders of entities that don't require anything more than an organizer. It is all because saying you are a consultant or a financial analyst or a marketing coordinator is not sexy or interesting. Instead of figuring out what they want to be and working towards it, they dress themselves up with a title and act the part. I know there is this whole fake-it-til-you-make-it thing, but sometimes it is all just bullshit.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Insecurity and legitimacy is all I could come up with in my first pass. Anyone else have ideas on why everyone wants to call themselves entrepreneurs these days?

Maybe there's nothing wrong with it, but it seems like an annoying misappropriation.</comment>


None of us are ninjas. Nor are we rock stars. - <AUTHOR> http://floate.com.au/2013/03/no-ninjas-here/ <comment><USER2> I thought the point of language like that was tasking on the part of the non- developer, as in inflating someone's ego enough to get them to work for you. Or to use a more salacious comparison, pimping.

In my youth it wasn't "rock star", though, it was "guru". As in "Joe, I heard you're the data comm guru... do all this stuff for me for free and without complaint. Because you're the guru. And you wouldn't want to lose that reputation, now would you?"</comment>


2020 Habit Tracker Template (Free) - <AUTHOR> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pGGjaMCYppJ6VWtxVBY40j6-6X299AGDufVqRtl-fQk/edit <comment><USER2> If you like this sort of this, then I strongly recommed the Loop Habit Tracker app for Android users: [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.isoron.uha...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.isoron.uhabits)

It's relatively easy to use, nicely designed, open source, and best of all, doesn't do any shady cloud stuff or require any questionable permissions. If you want separate backups, you can export the data as a CSV or a SQLite dump.

(I'm not affiliated with the app in any way other than being a happy user.)

<comment><AUTHOR> Looks awesome!

Here's the repo btw: [https://github.com/iSoron/uhabits/](https://github.com/iSoron/uhabits/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I make a lot of my own worksheets. Mostly to print out and keep me on track for the day, week, month, etc.

The worksheets are mostly based on highly recommended books for productivity. Like GTD, Principles, ONE Thing, OTT and many others.

I fill out the worksheets by hand. I archive the majority of the completed worksheets. And information that needs to be searchable gets transcribed into accompanying spreadsheets or documents.

The worksheets have been critical for maintaining my current projects without wasting time. They are great at helping me maintain strategies I've worked hard to acquire. They can also help teach these strategies.

I've been considering publishing these worksheets as I have dozens of them.

What would make you interested in using worksheets?

<comment><AUTHOR> That's a nice system you got in place for you there. Those worksheets of yours may be useful to someone out there. I'd consider bundling them together and selling them at a low price. Or just offer some for free to see if there's some interest, just like I shared this one.

Of course I imagine yours to be quite more elaborate and thought out probably; this one was put together in just a few minutes for a very specific and narrow purpose.

PS: ONE Thing is a great book.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> While I love these productivity tools -- if I might call a habit tracker that -- as much as the next person, I know myself well enough to know why it won't work for me: the effort of entering in the data.

I have found that if it doesn't automatically extract the data, it will be hard to stick to as soon as I travel, or even experience a minor disruption in my schedule.

However, we have a bunch of gadgets: get the reading from my kindle, get the exercise from my fitbit, get the coding from github etc.

Why do I have to enter this stuff?

(Consider this a free idea for the HN community to exploit as you best see fit).

Edit: you might be able to do this with an IFTTT/Zapier type service hooked up to Google sheets.

<comment><AUTHOR> That would be interesting to see... it's a good point you make for the effort of entering the data BUT if you look at it from another perspective, actually entering the data is a way of showing and telling yourself 'look, you did it, you're doing great'. Otherwise it ends up being a dull dashboard you sometimes look at and maybe analyze. Which method is better it depends on the person I believe.

<comment><USER4> Good point. I wonder if one way around that is to have the output be your screen saver on your devices. It would be automatically update regularly without human intervention.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> The permissions could have been better set before sharing this.

<comment><AUTHOR> I wanted to allow edditing the actual habits and the days for people to draw and stuff but I didn't notice you can't give specific permissions to tab creation so yeah... now it's read only.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Non HTML View - [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pGGjaMCYppJ6VWtxVBY4...](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pGGjaMCYppJ6VWtxVBY40j6-6X299AGDufVqRtl- fQk/edit#gid=1670061003)</comment>