Ask HN: Fed up with the narcissism - <AUTHOR> Hey HN,
I'm on here seeking some advice in my job. I work on a software team that is so freakin' narcissistic it's unbelievable. For the past 2 months I've felt like I'm ready to scream at the first person who crosses me.
I honestly could not care less how other people write code. I've been doing this for so long, I know that any given stylistic or architectural decision will cause me no more than 5 minutes difference in the time it takes to read a piece of code. Yet at this company, every senior dev or tech lead has their 2 cents about your work, and won't take no for an answer. This has burned me so completely out to the point where I don't even care anymore.
My wife says I should just start telling people to leave me alone, because I've clearly got a lot of bottled up anger. But I know that kind of thing would definitely get me fired for being "closed minded" or "unwilling to learn" or some other bull-crap. And the truth is, I need the job.
All the non-programmers like the product team, testers and managers are fine and wonderful people. I have no issues with them.
I'm not on here to complain so please don't understand me that way. I'm here to find a solution to a problem that is really troubling me.
Thanks! <comment><USER2> As a person that works maintaining code, I think coding style does have significant impact in a project health, and I personally also emphasize it.

Some people belittle the importance of coding style, e.g: the tabs vs spaces war, etc. But some guidelines do have a lot of impact in readability, e.g: guidelines for identifiers, for statement length, function length, cyclomatic complexity, nesting, asynchronous operations, error handling, etc... and all have an objective practical purpose.

Now, to receive feedback:

\- Ask the person to focus on the perceived issue. If the person moves on to a personal level, ask the person to keep the conversation strictly technical and constructive.

\- Taking notes will help keeping the conversation professional. Later on you can count what topics appeared more frequently, and rank the issues according to their frequency.

\- Get specific and actionable feedback. What specifically needs to be addressed and how? Ask for examples, try to understand what the person is trying to say.

\- Do not be dismissive. This will only redirect all the negative feedback for you to other people, like your peers, your manager, technical stakeholders, etc. You can, however, based on your professional opinion, empirical evidence and facts, refute an idea, always providing a technical justification.

Before upfront rejecting feedback, give their advice a try, form your own opinion and share your thoughts.

<comment><AUTHOR> I think you're making the assumption that the feedback I'm getting is valid and reasonable, and not just pointless nitpicking and technical oneupmanship. I was willing to give my co-workers the benefit of the doubt for a long time but I'm past that point now.

I'm starting to think this behavior is normal in the industry, and it's making me not even interested in being a programmer anymore.

<comment><USER2> \- Can you provide an example of what the "nitpicking" feedback is?

\- Is their feedback consistent? Given the same code, will they provide the same feedback? If the answer is no, then it's not random.

\- When other developers submit code having the same elements being frowned upon, do they receive the same feedback? If the answer is no, it's not a personal thing against you.

\- Is it based on documented guidelines? If the answer is no, ask them to document it.

\- Do you test your work and stand behind your work? Or other people have to test it for you? If the answer is no, don't give others a excuse to criticize your deliverables. Test your code, stand by your work.

I am trying to understand your situation. Sometimes it is easier to believe that others are wrong or ill-intentioned than accepting there's room for improvement in your work.

But sometimes, people are passive aggressive and use any opportunity they have to cause you harm. Sometimes people seek to be perceived as more important and use these instances to establish a relative rank. I find both practices unacceptable and unsustainable.

Sometimes it's all of the above. Let's find out what it is.

If you are dismissing guidelines, you are basically disrespecting the organization. If you disagree with them, start a discussion/proposal to have them changed rather than ignore them. In your proposal, present viable alternatives and a reason of why they're better.

I've personally been in both ends of the feedback process. Some people will just not take feedback at all, and take things personally, when you are just trying to improve code metrics and reducing incidents.

<comment><AUTHOR> I recently was asked by three different people on the team to refactor the same code in 3 different ways, one after the other. There were no defects associated with this work, yet it was so urgent that I had to stop the feature I was working immediately and do it. It took a week to satisfy everyone and I was exasperated and engulfed in merge conflicts by the end.

I don't think it is specifically directed at me. I think it's just the culture. I've seen them do it to others, i.e. someone will go on vacation and they'll take that opportunity to refactor their work.

Objective things like metrics and syntax rules, I don't have a problem with. I'm talking about matters of opinion here. Things like architecture, as in, "I would have done it this way instead because DRY and SOLID and loose coupling, etc." Principles which can be used to justify practically any change.

I feel like they associate being nitpicky and obsessive with producing high quality code, so the most nitpicky people are seen as having the highest personal standards. They don't consider it might be a form of egomania.

<comment><USER2> The first thing you describe is a requirement analysis problem. Gather the requirements from the stakeholders, get them to reach consensus, then start your work. There are books on software engineering, with chapters dedicated to requirement analysis. You can review them to gather some useful ideas on how to proceed in these cases.

If they disagree with each other, hold themselves accountable for being inconsistent by having them talk to each other. Organize a meeting.

You have already expressed your opinion about nitpicky/egomaniacs/etc... enough. This way of addressing the problem is not helping you. Approach the problem in technical terms. If you are going to prevail in any way, it will be by defending your work in technical terms, not by dismissing the problem or name-calling people.

I asked you to provide concrete code examples of what they want to try to understand if it's actually nitpicky or not.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey, thanks for the discussion, kind internet stranger. You are making me think more clearly.

Should every other programmer on a project be considered a stakeholder? Or does trying to please everyone become a futile endeavour, at some point?

I guess what I'm saying is I literally don't care about the technical upsides and downsides of writing code a certain way anymore. There was once a time where I searched for objective truth in software design, but no more. So it's impossible for me to discuss those topics without sounding like an ass. Does that make me a mediocre programmer?

A lot of these same people have admitted to me personally that I do high quality work. I feel like that should be enough. I shouldn't have to defend every line of code like it's a PhD thesis.

Am I wrong?

<comment><USER2> I am afraid you are wrong. Requirement analysis is step #0 in the SDLC. You are failing to capture non functional requirements and moving a technical discussion to a interpersonal level. Until you understand that you will be stuck.

In this thread for example. I have proposed different rational courses of action that you dismissed without providing a reason. This communicational style will certainly bring you issues at the time of capturing requirements for your deliverables.

Ignoring requirements from technical stakeholders will only reinforce the idea that you need more feedback and more mentoring, or that you just need to be let go.

<comment><AUTHOR> Okay, well, at least I know that now. Thanks again.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Upverter now has Import and Export - <AUTHOR> http://blog.upverter.com/import-and-export-upverter-open-json-file-for

<comment><USER2> That is a very cool tool. Not to complain too much, but the first design I tried was a simple differential amp (current source, diff pair, current mirror), and the lack of a "mirror part" control ended up making for pretty sloppy layout (although the auto-route to avoid labels stuff is pretty neat).

Good job!

<comment><USER3> Hi Tony, is this your circuit <http://upverter.com/tonyarkles/fc405a95ad5ac85c/basic-amp/> ? I see the Q1/Q2 current mirror. The rest doesn't look quite finished here, but perhaps I'm not seeing the right revision. Curious to know if you were trying to draw it from memory/intuition, or trying to put an existing schematic into the tool?

<comment><USER2> Hi! Yes, that's the one. It certainly isn't finished, and yes, I was drawing it from memory just to get a feel for the tool.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Very NICE! I've heard about you guys but never tried...yet!

A question if I may: Any particular reason for calling yourselves a hardware company? Wouldn't electronics be more appropriate and familiar to the people checking you out?

<comment><USER5> Electronics and hardware are the same thing. I'm a hardware engineer and I design electronics. The term hardware could also be used to describe things like nuts and bolts but but that isn't a common usage in engineering.

<comment><USER4> So is the guy I'm working with but he is a couple of layers above the transistors...more into FPGA/Systems/Logic CAD.

I understand your point; only wondering why use 'hardware' and not 'electronics' - from a business development perspective. Perhaps it points to future plans.

<comment><USER6> We _real_ hardware people don't take too kindly to FPGA types declaring themselves to be hardware people. They're really only initializing a stinkin' big pile of look-up tables anyway.

You get to be hardware when you use a soldering iron :P

<comment><USER4> Gett there...slowly but surely!!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Thanks for adding these features, I know a lot of people were requesting them.

Does this mean your version control system will soon be exporting and importing, too?

<comment><AUTHOR> we are working on it, are you looking for export of previous version of full file, or the exporting of the diffs?</comment></comment>


On-demand shipping startup Shyp is shutting down - <AUTHOR> https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/27/on-demand-shipping-startup-shyp-is-shutting-down/ <comment><USER2> And this is one of the best shut-down notes I've seen. It discusses the problems and choices made candidly.

[https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-cant-wait-you-see-what- we-d...](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-cant-wait-you-see-what-we-do-next- kevin-gibbon/)

<comment><USER3> Seconded. What a breath of fresh air. He has both candidly admitted his mistakes, and apologized.</comment></comment>


Marco Arment's Journey From Bagel Jockey to Publishing Pioneer - <AUTHOR> http://www.fastcompany.com/1697767/innovation-agents-marco-arment-founder-instapaper <comment><USER2> What really comes out in the interview is his focus on not only the details, but the _important_ details, while avoiding anything that will add friction to his processes, like dealing with cumbersome content agreements or VC funding.

"Those small details and experiences are the reason why people like luxury cars. They are full of those little delights. You can do the same thing with any business. With a Web and iPhone app, I try to find new and tiny ways to delight my customers."

Simple delights indeed.

</comment><comment><USER3> Is the article accurate about Marco adding a $4.99 a month Pro subscription? I hadn't heard of this before - and plenty of us have already paid for the iPhone/iPad app.

Is this a change of plan for Instapaper or just misreporting by FastCompany?

<comment><USER4> Most probably misreprorting. Pro is a flat rate of $4.99

<comment><USER5> He rolled out a monthly payment package a few weeks ago

<comment><USER3> Ah, yes, but it is $1 a month rather than $4.99 as the article reported:

<http://www.instapaper.com/subscription> <http://blog.instapaper.com/post/1256471940>

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Marco is one of the most consistently insightful thinkers out there. Glad to see him getting recognized like this.</comment>


Ask HN: Which startups with traction eventually lost out to slower behemoths? - <AUTHOR>

When talking about startups, I always hear, "What happens when Google wants to offer this product? That tiny startup will get crushed." But how often does this actually happen?<p>In which cases has a startup with a solid product and increasing traction gone bankrupt after Google/Microsoft/Facebook/etc finally entered the market with a competing product? <comment><USER2> We are in a great position to witness an almost perfect experiment.

Dropbox vs Google Drive.

It's especially great because Dropbox is the best kind of startup, and Google is the best kind of big company.

<comment><USER3> Some experiment. Dropbox and Google Drive are two of the buggiest, slowest, highest CPU using pieces of software I've used in a long time.

As for startups Dropbox has all this money and has done almost nothing with it. The product is almost identical to version 1.0. Yet you have companies like Evernote truly innovating with far less money. See Evernote 5:

<http://evernote.com/evernote/whats_new/mac/>

Google needs to stop being so evil (privacy and anti-competitive practices) before they will be the best kind of big company again.

<comment><USER4> I think the worst thing that Google ever did was associate their company with "don't be evil" because everytime their name comes up someone will start speaking about how X action of theirs is 'evil'.

I understand you may not agree with everything they do, but that doesn't make it 'evil'.

Evil has to be more.</comment></comment></comment>


How we found that the Linux nios2 memset() implementation had a bug - <AUTHOR> http://free-electrons.com/blog/how-we-found-that-the-linux-nios2-memset-implementation-had-a-bug/ <comment><USER3> _We were quite surprised to find a bug in some common code for the NIOS II architecture: we were assuming it would have already been tested on enough platforms and with enough compilers /situations to not have such issues._

I'm betting on the vast majority of memset() uses being to zero memory, so it might've not been tested much with other fill patterns.

Compared to MSVC, I've found GCC's inline-assembler feature a huge pain to use correctly and the few times it was needed, I decided to use a separate file with pure Asm instead (also with Intel syntax) and link that in. Supposedly it's more powerful, but having to essentially understand part of the register allocation process just to use it is a big turn-off. In contrast, MSVC "just works" \--- the syntax is far more pleasant and it seems to know automatically what gets modified by the code you added.

I think basic operations like these, bulk fill and copy, are best performed be specific instructions that the hardware can do in the best way for the implementation. The nios2 memset() is over two dozen instructions, most of which are just shuffling bits around. Intel did this right with REP MOVSB/STOSB.

<comment><USER4> There was exactly this bug in Android for a long time - memset always cleared the memory to zero. I can't find a good link to this, but try maybe [https://review.source.android.com/#patch,sidebyside,14699,1,...](https://review.source.android.com/#patch,sidebyside,14699,1,libc/memset.c), not that Firefox will let me connect to check.

As for the rules for VC++, they are conservative - <USER2> [https://msdn.microsoft.com/en- us/library/k1a8ss06.aspx](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en- us/library/k1a8ss06.aspx). In general, you're right that it's much nicer to use than the shit gcc foists on you, but these conservative rules are symptomatic of its reluctance to integrate C and asm very well.

That's one problem gcc doesn't have - my complaint isn't that you can, just that it makes you do it the hard way. But that's totally unnecessary... a few years ago I used CodeWarrior for PowerPC. It was very pleasant, and did a good job of making it easy to have C and asm coexist. You allocated registers by declaring variables as `register', and the compiler would figure out how to put them somewhere sensible on entry to each asm block, and spill the ones that were modified, if that even proved necessary. You could leave one asm block having just modified a register variable, assert that it had done what you expected, then start another one, along the lines of:

        register int fred=0;
        asm addi fred,1
        assert(fred==1);
        asm addi fred,1

I wish VC++ would do something like that; you can sort-of do it, but it's impossible to request that a given value goes somewhere in particular (register, frame relative, etc.) and this can stymie you sometimes. But they decided to remove inline assembly language altogether for x64, so that's one way of solving the problem. Still nicer than what gcc does.

<comment><USER5> I don't have any need to type inline Assembly in the type of work I do, but used to back in the MS-DOS days.

The inline Assembly syntax of PC compilers always felt natural and easy to remember.

Every time I look at gcc inline Assembly, I get this feeling it is impossible to get right without having the manual page always open.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Here's another horrid gcc inline asm bug: [http://robertoconcerto.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/my-hardest- bug...](http://robertoconcerto.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/my-hardest-bug.html)

As a general rule, to which the usual caveats for general rules apply, when it comes to gcc-style inline asm, just say no. Demand more from your tools.

<comment><USER6> Personally I don't find inline-asm with gcc to be all that bad. It is definitely a very nice way of accessing other-wise inaccessible CPU instructions - and those tend to be generally trivial to implement (IE. Single asm instruction, along with some input and output operands). I admit that on the rare occasion that I do use it, I almost always go reread the documentation. But still, the compiled end result is tons better then having to call a completely separate function in your code every time you just want to use one single CPU instruction.

That said, for longer pieces of code, I definitely avoid inline-asm and just use a separate assembly file. There's no debating it's a cleaner solution when you have more then one or a few lines of assembly. And really, besides those obscure CPU instructions, your written assembly is usually not much different, then the stuff generated from some C code. It's worth using C wherever it's viable.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7>
      >  Stores in %4 the initial pattern shifted left by 8 bytes.

Shouldn't that be 8 _bits_?

Very interesting write up

</comment><comment><USER8> It's been my experience that it's easy to write GCC inline asm that works the first few times you use it, but subtly breaks depending on what the optimizer does with the code around it. Those input/output/clobber arguments can be tricky to get right and wrongness can be hard to spot.

<comment><USER9> Yeah, and as one of the comments to that blog post says, for bit twiddling operations like this, modern compilers are good enough to generate the optimal assembler the vast majority of the time: If you write the equivalent C code

        uint32 fill16 = (fill << 8) | fill;
        uint32 fill32 = (fill16 << 16) | fill16;

(copied from the comment, so hopefully correct!) you get the benefit of a) not having to fiddle with abstruse register allocation semantics but b) you're letting gcc use its register allocator to set things up optimally based on the surrounding optimised code.

My own experience with writing memset / memcpy equivalents 10 years ago on x86 was that gcc did a better job of it. Don't try and outsmart the compiler for this kind of common case unless you know the compiler generates inefficient code - compiler writers have generally got there before you.

<comment><USER10> No compiler (MSVC, gcc, icc) outputs the "bts" instruction for operations like: bitfield[val / 32] = val % 32; which could implicitly perform the modulo.

Using the intrinsic provided significant performance improvements, and we got still more when the rest of the inner loop was rewritten purely in assembly.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Isn't this exactly the kind of function that you would want thoroughly covered with unit tests?

<comment><USER7> Altera's software quality isn't exactly shining. Lots of unresolved bugs, badly documented compiler macros, ...</comment></comment>


Signups increased by 60% after actually removing the signup form - <AUTHOR> http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/signup-conversion-rate-ab-testing/

<comment><USER2> It's not very surprising. The original page was not very good.

The form was too prominent. It shadowed the product description.

Furthermore, putting it on the left made the conversation/narrative backwards. You first convince people to sign up, then present the form, not the other way around.

The second design corrects both of these mistakes, but correcting them without removing the form would probably have improved the conversion rate as well.

<comment><USER3> I agree. This reminds me of the book _Why we Buy_ , about the buying habits of retail shoppers. When shoppers walk into a store, there needs to be a threshold where they can acquaint themselves with the surroundings. Anything that is too close to the entrance gets ignored by most shoppers as they walk in. Sites with sign-ups on the front page feel that way to me. I haven't had a chance to see what the product or service even is yet, and they're already pushing me to register. I like a little front matter before making a decision.

<comment><AUTHOR> Interesting analogy. And this is what veteran internet marketers keep doing with the never ending sales page (for parrot training kind of ebooks). Have you noticed how they have call to action at the end of the page and never at the top?

<comment><USER4> Actually, they repeat the call to action many times throughout the page, in the long sales letter format.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, but it is never at the top (before making a case for call to action).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Spamming sites looking to harvest emails look a lot like the first in terms of presenting a form. That's the first thing I notice on the first page. The act of clicking on the button means the user as committed some effort towards signing up and is more likely to continue whereas on the main page even if they have chosen to start the form they haven't quiet committed in the same way.

</comment><comment><USER6> This reminds me of "Sign Up Forms Must Die" article by Luke Wroblewski (<http://www.alistapart.com/articles/signupforms/> with some additional resources here: <http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1219>)

</comment><comment> mike-cardwell Maybe it was because the "100% FREE Ecommerce Website" title was much larger and prominent in the non-form version.

<comment><USER7> Yep, also not quite the same verbage. I would put most of the weight on the change to this headline, as well as its better styling with the whole website

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> After reading some number of such stories I come to conclusion that you should tweak your user interface until you discover drop in signups (or other important parameters).

Basically it amounts to manually perform hill descent algorithm. ;)

<comment><AUTHOR> But that will only be optimizing for local optimum. What you need is a shake- up from time to time and that means testing radically different ideas!

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I think the reason for this is our innate hatred for signing up for things(work). Putting this right in front of you may make it easier and quicker to get to the function, but: "uhg another form"

</comment><comment><USER10> Provides no competition to the back arrow. Made me stare at the form, and flick my eyes around vaguely for any mention of purpose or benefit. Very poorly done originally.

</comment><comment><USER11> The original was very off putting, it almost looked like a magazine subscription flyer. I can see why the revised version performed so much better.

</comment><comment><USER12> Could it be a statistical fluke? I'm very skeptical about reading too much into A/B results without variance/confidence interval estimates.

<comment><AUTHOR> It wasn't a fluke -- variation was statistically significant better than control (we never publish results otherwise). Clients are never happy to see their actual conversion rates and variance, etc. published in the real world, that's why I choose not to write about those figures.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I can't say this with any authority, but looking at it, having the sign up form in the beginning is not good. They might have better results with an embedded signup if the signup form is at the end of the page.

Also the background of the signup form is a terrible dark blue color, what's the color of the signup form on its own page?

<comment><AUTHOR> It's white. Here is the form which appears after you click on Signup page: <https://secure.vendio.com/ecommerce/litelogin/hosted_store></comment></comment>


WhatsApp: Heap Corruption in RTP Processing - <AUTHOR> https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=1654 <comment><USER2> Seems like the version currently in the Play Store (2.18.293) is still vulnerable as it was released on Sep 24th.</comment>


Light pollution is key 'bringer of insect apocalypse' - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/22/light-pollution-insect-apocalypse <comment><USER2> I don't buy it. Sure, I agree it can be a factor, but a key factor?

Why I am skeptical: There are many places where there is no light, especially in the countryside or in the forest. Lights have been with us 60+ years, and the insect apocalypse has only been observed in past 20. There is also apocalypse of other species, such as earthworms, also caused by lights?

<comment><USER3> > There are many places where there is no light, especially in the countryside > or in the forest.

The nearest place on land where darksitefinder[1] shows grey (not even black) is across the continent from me, >1000 kilometers in any direction. There are some blue (medium) spots in France and northern Germany (320km in opposing directions) but that's it. I've visited the one in mid-France once and had the fortune of having a clear sky. My lifetime falling star count went from zero to "I lost count at some point" in about an hour and a half. The milky way looks absolutely amazing from there. On the horizon, lights were still visible from a nearby town though. I don't think I've ever seen real darkness outside.

Whenever I go on holiday, I'm actively looking for ways to get back to a blue spot, let alone a grey one. Maybe I should rent a seaworthy boat at some point and go overnight (not sure how much preparation that would take, I've only heard of sea dangers from fiction, no clue if an inexperienced person can just do that with a decent rental boat these days).

Anyway, the point of the reply: I'm not sure that the darkness required for insect life is the same as "I can't see a bright, direct light source right now".

[1] [http://darksitefinder.com/maps/world.html#6/48.487/9.646](http://darksitefinder.com/maps/world.html#6/48.487/9.646)

<comment><USER4> > Maybe I should rent a seaworthy boat at some point and go overnight (not > sure how much preparation that would take, I've only heard of sea dangers > from fiction, no clue if an inexperienced person can just do that with a > decent rental boat these days).

From my experience living in the Caribbeans, you shouldn't do that alone or inexperienced to begin with, I'd recommend hiring a skipper to take you and a few friends for a couple days, and mention you want to ride by night to see the stars. Prefer a moonless night, or close enough.

I truly realized what the galaxy was, sailing at night. It's a sight that you never forget indeed. Whenever I think of times before the modern era, when everyone could see that at night... so many stars, such wonder just above... kinda makes you glimpse at a very different perspective. Maybe more 'magical', less about us people and animals and more about the cosmos in its entirety... I don't know. It's humbling and inspiring. These glorious first sights of our galaxy stayed with me to this day, some 25 years later.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Chronic semi-permanent light at night (street lights, signage, lights from businesses like hotels, porch lights, and notably NOT car lights or other transitory light) is generally unpleasant right? I feel like at best it's an annoyance, and at worst, it's something messing with biologicial cycles.

Are there any interesting innovations out there addressing this? Like motion strengthened* street lights? I would be tickled pink to have a Navi-esque drone lighting up my way when I need it rather than having everything lit all the time.

*edited from "activated"

<comment><USER6> A hotel nearby replaced all their exterior lighting (several hundred CFLs) with omni-directional LED clusters ~ 6000K. They make the place look like a prison courtyard, and they are painful to walk near after dark (too bright, too harsh).

I would think, that as a species we'd all recognize the color temperature of a nice campfire to be comforting and likeable, but I'm honestly surprised some people like these 6000K+ LEDs.

<comment><USER7> City streets look nicer under higher temperature light. This can be easily experienced by walking from a sodium lamp street to a 4000K LED one to a 6000K one, since even today very few cities are completely converted to LEDs.

There are reasons to use low temperature lamps, but aesthetics is not one of them.

<comment><USER8> Low-pressure sodium lights are almost single-wavelength amber. They have a negative color rendering index, while incandescents and sunlight are 100, and most white LEDs are around 70. LEDs can be had in the high 90s at a cost to efficiency.

LED and CFL screw-in bulbs for household lighting come in a variety of color temperatures, but people usually go for 2700K-3000K. It does seem to me that people prefer warmer light for many applications.

My preference for always-on outdoor lighting is none, followed by dim, warm, and shrouded.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Spent a bit of time in Fiji. A thing that struck me instantly was how well fed the frogs were and how little effort they had to put in to get food. At dusk they just go near little ground lights and eat every bug that would come near them. It's a perverse ecological system.

</comment><comment><USER10> Paris' emblematic Place de la Nation was just rethought, with several car lanes removed, larger green and pedestrian areas, and relevant to this article, no lights.

As far as I know, it's now one of the darkest places of Paris, I hope it's on purpose.

<comment><USER11> Is it safe at night for humans?

<comment><USER12> Yes. Lack of light is perfectly safe for humans although we tend to get a little depressed with pro longed periods of darkness.

<comment><USER13> He may have meant, criminality wise. Public lightening is, and has been, a major factor against criminality. Public sodium-based lightening is too week anyway for depression.

One way to ensure security for pedestrians with lowest consumption, is the "light carpet". Only the feet are enlighted, with low spotlights. Consumes little, lets you see where you walk, but in case of theft, doesn't allow you to see the criminal's face. I don't know whether this is what they chose for Place de la Nation.

<comment><USER14> > Public lightening is, and has been, a major factor against criminality

That's highly debatable (sure, it may feel safer): [https://www.darksky.org/light-pollution/lighting-crime- and-s...](https://www.darksky.org/light-pollution/lighting-crime-and-safety/)

In any case, I don't there is much point in keeping the lights on throughout the entire night, but it might be beneficial to (especially during winter months at higher latitudes) light busy areas in cities for part of the evening.

<comment><USER15> There was an article I stumbled across a while back written by someone who was fed up with the amount of crime that occurred just outside his window in an urban neighborhood.

His window just happened to be at the darkest part on the street where shady business could be done in the shadows. Drug deals, prostitution, etc. He'd overhear all of it because of the lack of light on the street by his window.

I don't remember exactly what the solution was but it involved getting the area lighted somehow.

Surely it didn't prevent the crimes from happening, just relocating it elsewhere.

But that's the point. As long as the paths people stick to at night are well- lit, they can avoid the dark shadows where crime is more likely occurring. If you leave entire blocks darkened, you make those blocks less safe. Stumbling upon a crime in-progress is a good way to get killed just for being a witness.

<comment><USER14> Would be interesting to read that article.

Crime is a problem indeed, but I still feel like adding more lighting in hopes of solving this is not really the solution, and like you say, just moving the problem around.

I think lighting very busy areas (think railway stations, main streets in cities) is a good idea in general, but how many areas are really busy at night? And most people aren't outside in the middle of the night or early morning, so most lights could probably be shutdown after the evening is over?

<comment><USER15> Wish I could find it, I tried briefly but failed miserably. Was kind of hoping someone would recognize it from my comment and be able to provide a link as I wouldn't mind re-reading it myself.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> That isn't the insect apocalyse. The insect apocalyse is in a decade or so when insects overcome what it is we are producing to beat them down.

</comment><comment><USER17> Context: Sweden.

I spend october-april in a city. I very rarely see any animals at all here, including insects. (Sometimes we get confused rabbits here.)

I spend april-october in a house in the countryside. There's so little light- pollution that I've considered buying one of those fancy motorized telescopes.

I get lots of insects there, including lots of beautiful butterflies.

<comment><USER18> _I 've considered buying one of those fancy motorized telescopes._

To completely change the subject: With very dark skies, a non-motorize dobsonian would be a better choice. For the price, you'll get a larger aperture scope which will provide better views. And the dark skies make it easy to star hop to find what you want to see.

From my house near Louisville, KY, it's too difficult to see a lot of stars, making a "goto" scope much more useful. I simply can't find the stars to hop to visually even though I have a really good idea where they are.

<comment><USER17> Thanks for the insight!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Hmmmm I'm very skeptical. Insects evolve quickly. We been having artificial light for like a long time. I can't imagine the insects would not have evolved to it by now.

<comment><USER20> Yes, evolution is happening: [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/moths-in- cities-d...](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/moths-in-cities-don-t- flock-to-bright-lights/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> As a factor it seems believable, as THE factor it seems more likely that there's a big funder looking for a strawman...

Which industry does have an immense and known responsibility for insect deaths? Maybe the industry producing insecticides that are hugely profitable but at risk of global bans?

I'd not at all be surprised if this is an elaborate way to sow legal doubt on the anti-insecticide / organic agriculture efforts.

<comment><USER22> Nowhere in the article do they claim that it's THE factor, just a key factor in combination with "habitat loss, chemical pollution, invasive species, and climate change" (3rd paragraph).

<comment><USER23> I think that's exactly how contemporary disinformation campaigns work. Say its almost totally pesticides, the win for them is muddling it into 'numerous causes.' There's so much money involved in some of these issues that stakeholders can spend millions (billions if you own fossil fuel reserves) just to move the needle slightly.

<comment><USER24> Yeah usually 80 percent of any problem is just one factor. In this case that's clearly pesticides and the discussion of more potential causes is a benefit to the producers.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> >LED lights also offer hope as they can be easily tuned to avoid harmful colours ...

Can they? Most white LEDs emit blue light into a phosphor. You are always going to end up with a definite blue spike in the spectrum.

<comment><USER26> There exist white LEDs that instead use a deep violet emitter which they're able to much more effectively filter out, eliminating the high frequency spike.

Good luck finding them in products though.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: What to do with ultra tight API terms? - <AUTHOR>

I'm thinking about mashing up (old term I know) two services but I ran into a roadblock when I came across Yelp's ToS.  The lawyers drew this thing up so tight I can't figure out any legitimate use of their API and have come across seemingly conflicting clauses.  Take a look, its good for a laugh http://www.yelp.com/developers/getting_started/api_terms.<p>My question is, what have your experiences been with approaching companies about their API terms?  Is there a good way to approach it?  Obviously my biggest fear is spending the time to develop the service only to have them shut it done. <comment><USER2> I "love" clause 6D:

"You agree that you will not, and will not assist or enable others to: use the API on behalf of any third party;"

So in other words, no one can use the API except to get Yelp information about themselves.

What a fucking joke.

<comment><USER3> The spirit of that is most likely: "You won't resell or grant your access to the API to other people, or allow someone else to to resell or grant access to the API."

Not generally the content you're getting from the API (although you wouldn't be selling or providing that to others, either, you'd be creating some derivative of it).

<comment><USER2> Well that may be YOUR spirit but for YELP'S spirit I have to rely on the language in the TOS.

I say this as a developer building a product in which yelp's reviews are directly useful.

<comment><USER3> Which is why it behooves you to contact them and get clarification, exception, etc. The same rules don't apply to everyone equally if you can make the right case. Simply displaying their content is not likely to get a pass, but having a way to brand it well and drive new content creation often will.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Use APIs in ways that add value to the provider (i.e. you're paying them or adding value for their users). If it's in their interest to keep you alive then then they're most likely to keep the API going.

</comment><comment><USER5> Sometimes the terms might be more restrictive than is actually enforced. Doesn't really help with your fear, but if you avoid undermining them in every way you can, it's probably less likely that they'll try to cut you off. Having a backup plan (Google Local API?) probably isn't a bad idea, though.

</comment><comment><USER3> Contacting them is your best option. Find some one to talk to, explain what you'd like to do, and how the terms restrict you, and see if you can't find a way to have an exception, clarification, or some other way around it.</comment>


Ask HN: Good online games - <AUTHOR>

I am looking for some interesting, fun web based games. to play a maximum of 10 min ~ 15 min everyday. <comment><USER2> How about DEFCONlike game:

Single player: [http://gtanczyk.warsztat.io/Dupocracy/game/index.html?loopba...](http://gtanczyk.warsztat.io/Dupocracy/game/index.html?loopback)

Multi player: [http://gtanczyk.warsztat.io/Dupocracy/game/index.html](http://gtanczyk.warsztat.io/Dupocracy/game/index.html)

Source: [https://github.com/gtanczyk/Dupocracy](https://github.com/gtanczyk/Dupocracy)

</comment><comment><USER3> If you're a Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire fan, the GoT Ascent game for it is pretty fun, particularly if you're only playing <= 15 minutes each day. I burnt out after blowing through most of the chapters they had ready as soon as they launched, and before the PvP and other features were further developed.

[http://gota.disruptorbeam.com/users/login](http://gota.disruptorbeam.com/users/login)

</comment><comment><USER4> [http://www.lichess.org](http://www.lichess.org)

</comment><comment> antonio-R I like [http://www.ogame.org/](http://www.ogame.org/)

</comment><comment><USER5> [http://bombermine.com/](http://bombermine.com/)</comment>


Try out Pod Clod. It's a game I made. Do you find it addicting? - <AUTHOR> http://dormitem.com/games/podclod

<comment><USER2> Aiming is too irritating to fine tune.

Don't use 0xff0000 and 0x00ff00, they're painfully programmer-y.

</comment><comment><USER3> It's not addicting. It is frustrating for many reasons. The aim is not obvious. There is no obvious logic and strategy in play. Don't know how to protect, don't know what to do in fact. Maybe adding a beginner level where we learn the working principle of the game and the basic strategy one can use.

The apparent logic of the game is too basic. Tower of defense is more interesting because the options are obvious and there are many way to try and explore.

However a more addicting game would involve randomness in patterns to deal with. Thus even if we manage to understand the strategy, it will have to adapt to the terrain pattern. This requires learning and repeated tries, which makes it addicting. Tetris is such kind of game. Very simple but introduces some randomness.

</comment><comment><USER4> I liked it but the most frustrating part was aiming the pod. Why not have 32 or so different directions you can aim?

or, if you want to make the aiming very digital in nature, could you have the eight directions be fixed? it seemed to change based on the first direction I aimed.

<comment><USER5> The fun part of the game for me was the strategy of where to place and where to aim, not actual aiming itself.

Therefore how about having eight directions to aim, and the pods placed on a grid? Then you have to think about pods getting in each others way, and you can try and set up chains of the enemy's pods to be clever.

Also, the computer is too quick and accurate at placing pods. Make him a bit slower and stupider...

<comment><USER6> Agreed. The computer is perfect with his aim...the only time I did reasonably well was when the computer put his pod behind his base and was shooting himself (of course, eventually one of my pods starting shooting him and took it out of play, and the game ended soon after).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The music was really quite irritating. Aiming was very hard to get right. Gave up.

</comment><comment><USER8> It seems like a cool game, but it became unplayable once there were around 20 pods on the screen.

</comment><comment><USER9> Aiming the pods is quite fiddly.

<comment><AUTHOR> That's part of the challenge!

<comment><USER6> No. It's frustrating, and makes me feel like I can't control the pods. I gave up after three runs through...I couldn't aim the bastards, so the game sucked.

It would be addicting, if I felt like I could control my elements within the game...as it is, I feel like the deck is stacked against me. Computer games that cheat aren't fun. ;-)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Very interesting. Kinda frustrating. The imprecise aiming and awkward click, click, click-in-tiny-zone-to-aim placement is not the most fun part of the game. (I suggest a real click-drag then on release, one more click to aim, with a larger aiming zone around the turret.)

Might want to add in some additional 'rescue' or defensive moves (walls?) to prolong the game.

But very unique, could prove really popular.</comment>


We hid the 'demo' button. Our signups quadrupled. - <AUTHOR> http://teslachat.tumblr.com/post/59767541777/we-hid-the-demo-button <comment><USER2> First, congrats for asking the question, "Did we do something wrong?" Getting more sign-ups is laudable, but are they qualified signups that are improving metrics you care about? Removing the demo, you're potentially removing an important lead-qualifier for your traffic.

The real test is "which cohort achieves higher [metric you care about]?" For example, let's say you care about revenue. Does the "demo button present" cohort generate more or less revenue than the "demo button absent" cohort?

What do your analytics say about that?

</comment><comment><USER3> I'll tell you exactly what the problem is. The page for the demo does not have a very eye catching way to get the user to signup. There is just one sign labelled 'complete signup' at the top right side, which is very easy to miss.

Now, here's the major issue. I'm assuming whenever someone joins the demo page, he/she gets a random guest number and can chat. Then when the person leaves, his session stays logged in for some time, and then is removed.

The problem is that when people try to learn more about your product, and try to go to the home page, the logged in session takes them back to the chat room. It happened to me multiple times where I closed all windows, and went back to tesla.im, it would take me to the chat room, so there was no way to read more about what you guys were offering, and since the signup button in the chat room is easy to miss, most people leave.

If they do try, like in my case, to go back to the homepage to see more about the product, then they are continuously forwarded to the chat room, which is horrible considering people are have very short attention spans.

So maybe fix that and try again?

<comment><AUTHOR> You will need to logout even if you are a demo user. Please see this image: [https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9098858/tesla%20logout.p...](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9098858/tesla%20logout.png)

<comment><USER3> Aha! see, I didn't even notice that! For the purpose of the demo, can the logout button be a bit more pronounced? Or don't redirect traffic from the home page to the chat room even if a user is logged in.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> I understand some users are confused. You will need to logout even if you are a demo user. Please see this image: [https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9098858/tesla%20logout.p...](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9098858/tesla%20logout.png)

</comment><comment><USER4> Before hiding the demo button: How many users who tried the demo created an account?

After hiding the demo button: How many users who created an account still use the service a week later?

Your signups might have quadrupled, but did the number of active users quadruple, or do you now just have a bunch of dead accounts?

</comment><comment><USER5> Well for one, once you've hit the demo button, you can't actually get out of it without signing up. I wanted to re-read what your app was about after hitting the demo link quickly and now I can't.

</comment><comment><USER6> You must have done some A/B testing for this. However i suggest you focus on just one metric that really works for you.

</comment><comment><USER7> Your app is free right? Why would you need a demo button for a free app?

<comment><USER8> Possibly because people like to try things out before going through the work of creating an account.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> So, you have just made the demo harder. :)</comment>


Python Entry Points Explained - <AUTHOR> http://amir.rachum.com/blog/2017/07/28/python-entry-points/ <comment><USER2> I highly recommend reading Stevedore package's excellent documentation [1] to see practical examples of how entry points can be used as a plugin manager in applications.

[1] - [https://docs.openstack.org/stevedore/latest/index.html](https://docs.openstack.org/stevedore/latest/index.html)

</comment><comment><USER3> Entry points are excellent at making your scripts start slooooooooow.

Compare

      $ time python -m pyflakes /dev/null

      real	0m0.225s
      user	0m0.103s
      sys	0m0.008s

with

      $ time pyflakes /dev/null

      real	0m2.468s
      user	0m1.738s
      sys	0m0.055s

<comment><USER4> I did not get as dramatic of results as you.

      # python3 -m venv example
      # source example/bin/activate
      (example) # pip install pyflakes
      Collecting pyflakes
        Downloading pyflakes-1.5.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl (225kB)
          100% || 225kB 892kB/s
      Installing collected packages: pyflakes
      Successfully installed pyflakes-1.5.0
      (example) # time for i in {00..99}; do python -m pyflakes /dev/null; done
      real    0m7.167s
      user    0m6.407s
      sys 0m0.750s
      (example) # time for i in {00..99}; do pyflakes /dev/null; done

      real    0m7.661s
      user    0m6.894s
      sys 0m0.753s

<comment><USER3> I guess it gets worse when you have more stuff installed in the environment.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Way too much ink wasted on cuteness and too little on explanation.

I got stumped at:

 _" In particular, the magic happens in get_sneks. The call to pkg_resources.iter_entry_points('snek_types') iterates over all the entry points that were registered under the name "snek_types". So, external packages can define an entry point called "snek_types" in their setup.py, and snek will dynamically load it at runtime."_

Wait. What entry points were registered under the name "snek_types"? Where were they regeistered as such? I think I must be missing something, or maybe that registration was hidden somewhere among all the fancy snakes. Can someone help explain this in a clearer way?

<comment><USER6> "Snek Pro Solutions" distributes a package (pip installed) called cute-snek. In the cute-snek setup.py it has:

        entry_points={
            'snek_types': [
                'cute = cute_snek:cute_snek',
            ],
        }

The main snek codebase has:

        for entry_point in pkg_resources.iter_entry_points('snek_types'):
            sneks[entry_point.name] = entry_point.load()

pkg_resources.iter_entry_points() iterates through all the snek_types an end user has installed on their system. When the end user does `pip install snek` they will only have the built-in sneks, when they also do `pip install cute- snek` the will have the "cute" snek installed, allowing them to run `snek --type cute` to see it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> What is the actual value of entry points over just marking a script +x and putting somewhere on the path? All I see is a bunch of added complexity.

<comment><USER8> Answering this question was pretty much the entire point of the article. I felt that each section gave a concrete example of a situation where the solution in the previous section fell short and then introducing some new complexity to handle it.</comment></comment>


A week with a Rails Security Strategy: More security, new habits - <AUTHOR> https://www.airpair.com/ruby-on-rails/posts/a-week-with-a-rails-security-strategy

<comment><USER2> I didn't even know there was such a thing as "Ruby on Rails Security".

<comment><USER2> To the people downvoting me:

\- [http://www.cvedetails.com/product/22568/Rubyonrails-Ruby- On-...](http://www.cvedetails.com/product/22568/Rubyonrails-Ruby-On- Rails.html?vendor_id=12043)

\- [http://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability- list/vendor_id-12043...](http://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability- list/vendor_id-12043/product_id-22568/Rubyonrails-Ruby-On-Rails.html)

<comment><USER3> It's a complicated platform, but on the whole has a very good track record.

Picking on it for having vulnerabilities without providing something in the way of a comparison is not very meaningful.

<comment> trimble-alum It's imporant to pick out vulnerabilities and deficiencies compared to other projects to get them addressed, rather than only say nice things. However, the core issue is that people raising them are usually ignored until there's an embarrassing hack or demonstration (Homakov).

For example, all new gem releases should be signed and `HighSecurity` should be the policy but it's taken years to get very little progress. Changing to that policy would prevent entire classes of attacks, attacks that could subtly inject code into all sorts of apps in difficult-to-find ways. Large projects are still shipping unsigned gems, unsigned commits and unsigned tags. If RubyGems were hacked, progress might move slightly faster.

<comment><USER3> Rubygems has been lagging behind other packagers like Apt, RPM, NPM, and even newer things like Rust's Cargo. It's woefully overdue for an update.

That being said, there's great services like GemCanary ([https://gemcanary.com/](https://gemcanary.com/)) that will read your Gemfile and produce a list of vulnerable packages for you automatically. It'll even email you alerts when there's problems.

The security story in Rails might not be perfect, but at least there's reporting and tools.

Keep pushing for signed packages, though. Long overdue.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Vetting a startup (or two): The systematic birth of WPEngine - <AUTHOR> http://blog.asmartbear.com/vetting-startup-ideas.html <comment><USER2> I feel you on that story about pricing analytics. People ask me why I don't productize A/Bingo and pitch it to my blog readers. This is a big reason why: "A/B testing made you thousands last year? Wow, great, I'll pay $9 a month for that. $19?!?!? Stop breaking my balls, man!" (I give similar advice to startups asking about marketing analytics software: startups make poor customers, figure out a way to help the VP of Marketing somewhere and they're immune to price.)

</comment><comment><USER3> This is why I cringe every time I hear someone say "Ideas are worthless - it's all about execution."

Coming up with a worthwhile idea is hard work, and that work has value. As someone who has executed a bad idea to death, I've come to appreciate how much you have to get right _before you start_ in order to be successful.

<comment><USER4> I'd argue that this story supports the "idea is worthless" hypothesis.

Your idea is the initial problem you want to solve or new feature you came up with you'd love to make a product around.

The business model is built upon that initial idea, but it is part of the execution. The idea itself is worthless, the business model built on the idea (or lack of one) is valuable.

That might seem like splitting hairs, but I gaurentee most ideas don't translate directly to a business model without a whole lot of work. And that work is part of the execution. If you don't do that work (and get stuck building on a bad business model), you still have an idea, you just didn't do the proper execution.

<comment><USER3> I was defining "idea" as "what you have before you start coding".

I don't think we disagree.

<comment><USER5> If you have a defined, detailed, iterated, field-tested business model before you start coding, then you have more than just an idea, by definition.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Like the post said it, the key lies in having a killer feature that users are willingly to pay for, then yes it could be right time to start the biz. At the same time, users requirements/expectations evolute with time, last year killer feature might not be this year's.

I think the ability to communicate with users to understand what they want and how & why your biz is relevant to them is critical.

</comment><comment><USER7> Great point in this article. I've ran into this a couple times with startups, where the idea solves a problem and would help clients financially, yet it just doesn't work out. You really do have to pry into those potential customers to get them to put their money where their mouth is and if they don't happily do so then you're wasting your time. Made a note of this on my blog: <http://doorty.com/vetting-a-startup>

</comment><comment><USER8> Did you try turning the value proposition of the marketing tool on its head by pitching it to print publishers desperate to offer evidence of the effectiveness of print advertising to their advertisers (as the advertisers shift their ad spend towards analytics-supported online services)?

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I bet he could sell analytics as a premium add-on to customers of WPEngine.</comment>


Review: Enchantments of Mammon: How Capitalism Became the Religion of Modernity - <AUTHOR> http://bostonreview.net/class-inequality-philosophy-religion/james-g-chappel-bad-romance <comment><USER2> It's not a religion, because it is not based on faith. It consistently delivers results whether its practitioners believe in it or not.

<comment><USER3> The faith part comes from interpreting the economic results of capitalism. Do you accept it as a useful economic system given all the problems you see with it? Are you willing to entertain the possibility of alternatives? If not, why?

<comment><USER4> It takes a lot of faith to overlook the many impending environmental disasters.

Many also cling to the false dichotomy between capitalism and "soviet russia / north korea / venezuela"

<comment><USER2> > It takes a lot of faith to overlook the many impending environmental > disasters.

Capitalism is the only hope of fending off environmental disaster, because it is the only system capable of producing the surplus needed to deal with it. When people are starving, they lose all interest in anything but their next meal, regardless of how they get it.

For example, the US was the first to clean up its waterways, and this is because the surplus generated by capitalism made it fairly easy.

<comment><USER5> You're crediting capitalism with solving the very problems it created.

<comment><USER2> All human societies produce pollution, going back to the very beginning. In fact, archaeologists love to study ancient trash heaps.

<comment><USER4> The amount of pollution per person varies wildly. Some societies were perfectly sustainable.

Among the most capitalistic and consumerist societies (e.g. US) the pollution is staggering.

See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspicuous_consumption](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspicuous_consumption)</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


N Guilty Men (1997) - <AUTHOR> http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/guilty.htm <comment><USER2> It would be nice to live in a society when the certainty of someone having committed a crime directly relates to the justice system's proclamation of guilt.

Instead, for most Americans, for whom a competent lawyer is outside of the range of reasonable cost, we only get public defenders. A prosecutor's career is built on the back of successful convictions, whether just or not, while a public defender's career is built on the number of cases they can speedily close. For both, the most advantageous and therefore most common resolution is a guilty plea bargain.

"N Guilty Men" philosophical debates are too far above today's justice system for serious consideration.

<comment><USER3> > It would be nice to live in a society when the certainty of someone having > committed a crime directly relates to the justice system's proclamation of > guilt.

Such a great distillation of the national shame of the United States. Agreed!

> "N Guilty Men" philosophical debates are too far above today's justice > system for serious consideration.

I do not concur. I think that this is exactly the kind of thinking that we need to motivate ourselves to replace the current "criminal justice" system in full.

<comment><USER4> Exactly. If N is found to be low, then your society is in trouble.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is the kind of reasoning that doesn't get thought about very often. Much like debates on how much a human life is worth, people look at you as heartless for even considering the question, but with limited resources, it's more heartless not to. If you want to save the most lives, you need to determine how to do the most good.

Questions like this one inform standards of evidence, burdens of proof, and many other factors of the justice system. Any potential change to the justice system will potentially change 'n'.

For instance, criminal law uses "beyond a reasonable doubt", while civil law uses the lower standard "preponderance of the evidence", precisely because 'n' is lower when talking about money than when talking about jail time.

<comment><USER6> Civil law is symmetric: party a vs party b. If the rules were biased, it would be profitable to commit civil crime or to make false claims. Criminal law is far more asymmetric -- the government never goes to jail, and citizens can never press their own charges.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> "To be on the safe side, criminals who go to D.C. to violate federal law should run for public office." \- Best thing I've read today

</comment><comment><USER8> Excellent piece - I think my favourite is the advice to criminals section: "Criminals, therefore, are advised to go to New Mexico (n = 99) or Oklahoma (n = 100)."

<comment><USER9> I particularly like the reasoning they use to determine that N > 1/54 for involuntarily committing people in California.

[http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/guilty.htm#T187](http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/guilty.htm#T187) [http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/guilty.htm#187](http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/guilty.htm#187)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Thanks so much for posting this. I read it so many years ago and have frequently wanted to refer back to it, but didn't remember the title. Very grateful.

</comment><comment><USER11> In all these discussions pitting innocent men getting imprisoned vs guilty men going free, one factor rarely ever comes up: innocent men (and women and children) who fall victim to crime.

IMO, one of the most valuable roles of the justice system is to be a deterrent. _" If you commit a crime, you will be put in jail, so don't even think about it."_ If you've ever witnessed schoolyard bullying in action, that's exactly what every single day in adult life would also look like, if not for the justice system. By deterring would-be-criminals, it keeps innocent people safe, without even having to send the would-be-criminals to jail.

Except that it isn't a perfect deterrent. Crime is still a major factor in society. To give just one example, 20% of women in America experience sexual assault at some point in their lives. And then there's robbery, assault, manslaughter, homicide... Some crimes are committed by those who're mentally unstable, or in the heat of the moment. But the vast majority are committed by criminals who are fully aware of what they are doing. People who would never do it if they knew for sure they would go to jail, but think they have a good enough chance of getting away with it. They either think they won't get caught by the police, or even if they did get fingered, they can find some loophole or weakness in the prosecution's case that would enable them to beat the rap. And the likelihood of the latter really comes down to how high the burden of proof is. A guilty person is much more likely to get convicted in a legal system where "n = 5", as opposed to "n = 10."

Psychology studies show that punishments are most effective as deterrents when they are consistent, immediate and guaranteed. The greater the variance, the better the chances of someone getting away with it, the less powerful the deterrent effect will be. Which means you're going to have more victims of crime. More victims of assault, kidnappings, rape and murder.

Which is really what the trade off should be all about. _" It's better that N innocent people fall victim to crime, than for 1 innocent person to go to jail."_ Now what would your answer for N be?

<comment><USER12> Still n >> 1\. An individual is able to exercise judgment to avoid becoming a victim of crime, and in fact most crime prevention is distributed in this manner. But if the government arbitrarily decides to make you its victim, it's basically impossible to avoid. Furthermore when the government is the assailant, there's little chance of post-hoc justice.

<comment><USER11> If you're going to say that crime victims can exercise judgement to avoid becoming victims, the exact same thing can be said for a defendant in criminal court. _" If you didn't go out at night, if you didn't keep the wrong friends, if you stayed home with your family who can serve as your alibi, you wouldn't be charged with this crime."_ Saying that potential crime victims should limit how they live their lives, but potential defendants shouldn't have to, is a double standard.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Is this figure supposed to be independent of the level of crime and punishment?

As in

* better to let ten shoplifting schoolboys go than to give one a slap on the wrist; and

* better to let ten serial killers go than to execute an innocent person?

<comment><USER9> This is addressed somewhat in the essay. For example, it mentions that God and Roman emperor Trajan limit the maxim to capital punishment, but Blackstone considers his version to apply to all forms of punishment.

[http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/guilty.htm#T37](http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/guilty.htm#T37)

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> If a criminal is free, perhaps they can be reformed. If an innocent is convicted, they will suffer as a criminal.</comment>


A Week with the New Macbook Pro with Touch Pad - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@housecor/a-week-with-the-new-macbook-pro-with-touch-pad-126eebb89ac <comment><USER3> I've had my MBP 2016 with Touch Bar since Tuesday. Some additional thoughts for anybody who cares:

Re: the speakers.

I was watching something on Netflix on my chest lying on my back (you know the position) and the speakers were so good they _almost_ sounded like surround sound.

I had to turn the sound off because I was convinced somebody had walked in to the room behind me. Seriously good speakers.

The keyboard is also excellent, if not a bit noisy for my fat fingers but it doesn't bother me.

Touch bar - meh. It's good when it works but it's not life changing. When more apps (I'm looking at you spotify) get on board I expect I'll use it more. It definitely doesn't detract from the experience.

Battery life is a real bug bear of mine. I come from a MacBook Air 2013 model and could _easily_ get 6+ hours even if I was using Chrome heavily. Now my average run time is closer to 4 hours. Those two hours make all the difference.

The trackpad in my opinion is not too large. Having said that I was happy with the size of the previous track pad, I don't know why they increased the size but it hasn't lessened the track pad experience.

Finger print to login and siri a touch bar click away is neat, I hope to use siri more now.

</comment><comment><USER4> Re: battery life. VSCode (and the underlying Electron shell) is likely to blame. I can get 10 hours on my 2015 MBP if I'm just tooling around in Safari and Emacs. Having anything Electron based (or Chrome) drops that to about 6. It's somehow more power hungry than MS Office, which is saying a lot.

<comment><USER5> Yep. I tried Atom for a little while last year until I tried using it while running on battery. It dramatically reduced how long I could run on a charge (15-inch Mid 2012 MBP).

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Very true about the speakers -- I never cared either, until now. They're so good. Also true about the trackpad -- not a big problem, but it does sometimes move my cursor when typing, and there's just no need for it to be this huge.

As for the keyboard, I've been using mine (sans Touch Bar) at home for four weeks now, and it's _great_. It took a while to adjust, but now when I use my Air at work, the keyboard just feels so... suboptimal. It really is a pleasure to use. (In contrast to the Macbook keyboard, which was terrible.)

<comment><USER7> Totally agree with this - that was my main divergence from the article. I have a late 2013 15" rMBP and when I go back to it the (physical in addition to normal-size) trackpad is like an old friend, but the keyboard feels unbearably mushy.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> The author is confused over terminology. The control strip above the keyboard is called the Touch Bar. The main pointer input device is the Trackpad. Neither is called Touch Pad.

<comment><USER9> Normal users literally don't care. It was invented as touchpad so touch pad it is, no matter what Apple wants users to call it now. Don't see a point get butt hurt about that.

<comment><USER10> He isn't a normal user. He's someone who claims to be a software architect and Microsoft MVP -- yet doesn't know/can't care enough to use the correct terminology when he's writing a blog post from his "developer's point of view"?

<comment><USER11> I'm a developer, and I still call things by the first thing I heard them called.

I don't think he's obligated to use the "proper" terminology unless he was a software _engineer_ /sarcasm.

Snarkiness aside though, I really don't think using the original term decreases his credibility at all.

<comment><USER12> Yeah. I mean: one could even make the argument that Apple is the one that often insists on using "creative" terminology for marketing reasons, and there is no reason to be sympathetic to them; I also remember this device being called a "touch pad" a long time ago--the device which had "track" was the "trackpoint" from IBM--but I also remember the device had always been stalled different things by different people.

In the article for this device, which Wikipedia canonically calls a "touchpad", we see comments on its terminology and the only place in the history section where the device is called a "trackpad" is jarring and happens to be in a sentence about Apple (where I would argue it should be corrected).

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchpad](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchpad)

"""Apple Inc introduced touchpads to the modern laptop in the PowerBook series in 1994, using Cirque's GlidePoint technology;[8] later PowerBooks and MacBooks would use Apple-developed trackpads."""

"""As touchpads began to be introduced in laptops in the 1990s, there was often confusion as to what the product should be called. No consistent term was used, and references varied, such as: glidepoint, touch sensitive input device, touchpad, trackpad, and pointing device.[9][10][11]"""

"""Apple's PowerBook 500 series was its first laptop to carry such a device,[citation needed] which Apple refers to as a "trackpad"."""

<comment><USER13> You've pretty much made the opposite point you intended to. What the author is calling the 'touchpad', isn't the trackpad - it's the touch bar.

This is precisely the confusion that's causing people to raise eyebrows at the term.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I am using the 13" (maximum possible configuration) for a couple of days now. So far:

\- At first, the keyboard felt very different, but now I really enjoy working with it and the may Air's keyboard feels like a toy

\- Screen and speakers are gorgeous

\- USB-C is nice given you have all the adapters you need

\- I find the TouchBar actually useful for some things, e.g. easier formatting in Keynote

But it looks like, there are still some bugs:

\- The first adapter I plugged in caused a kernel panic

\- After reboot, the login screen is hardly usable. Very slow and looks weird sometimes

\- Three finger drag works only from time to time

Edit:

Two things I forgot:

\- the media controls in the expandable bar simply do not work - <USER2> happens when they are pressed

\- in Safari, the TouchBar allows to play/pause and advance HTML5 videos. I took a photo of it: [http://i.imgur.com/pbYdhMi.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/pbYdhMi.jpg)

<comment><USER15> I'm surprised people are getting theirs so quickly. I ordered the 13" max spec on the day of announcement and it only shipped today - and should arrive in 2 weeks time. What gives?

<comment><USER14> I ordered 30mins after the keynote and paid with PayPal. Location: Germany.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> It's great to read some informed comments about this wonderful new laptop by someone who has actually used it. I disagree with his opinion about the size of the touchpad, but that's a matter of personal preference.

<comment><USER17> > Needless to say, for a nearly $3,000 machine, this list is hard to accept. > So much so that I'm seriously considering returning the machine.

It seems, "wonderful", wouldn't be the author's word of choice to describe this new laptop. I kind of share his point of view, as we've just order a new set of 2013 MBP at work. Those are great machines and I will probably buy the next one if Apple starts making laptops for developers again. Otherwise, it will be Lenovo or Dell xps.

<comment><USER16> Well, I bought one and I think it's wonderful. My other laptop is a 15" 2013 Retina MBP. The new model is an improvement in almost every respect. Also, the space gray case is stunning.

FYI, I'm planning to sell my old one. Let me know if you're interested.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> > I chose the maxed out "standard" model for $2,799 at the local Apple store: > 15" i7/2.7/16gb/512gb

I might be nit picking, but maxed out normally means you've picked the very best config (2.9/2T/Radeon 460), not that you picked one of the standard configuration.

PS: Also, they are selling better configuration than the author's at local Apple stores, no need to order necessarily online.

<comment><USER19> I was using an Apple store employee's term. He claimed the "standard" configurations listed on the website are what we should typically expect in the store initially. Later, they'll stock popular customizations. FWIW, I've been unable to find a single "non-standard" machine in stock at a store in my cursory checks.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> I got a maxxed out 13 inch (touch bar) a couple of days ago, and I hate the new keyboard (I never got used to the shallow keyboard on the 12", after having one for almost a year).

The Touch Bar is also pretty much a useless gimmick.

Besides that it's a neat machine, though I think Apple is getting close to what is worth paying the Apple tax for (inconsistent product lineup: no USB-C on the iPhone 7, no USB-C on the external trackpads/keyboards, etc). My employer paid for my machine, I do not think I would have spent my own money on this.

</comment><comment><USER21> I have the new 13 inch model and one of my main frustrations is that if I apply pressure to the area just the the side of the track pad, it prevents two finder scrolling from working. Basically if I rest my palm to the right of the trackpad, it interferes with the track pad movement. This isn't a palm detection issue because I'm definitely resting my hand to the right of the track pad, and I think it's a result of the pressure from the weight of my hand.

Wondering if anyone else is seeing this?

</comment><comment><USER22> Having used one for a few days I have found that while disk I/O is an impressive gain on the already amazing speeds in the previous model the CPU gains are minimal and disappointing. And the GPU is already dated. It has a lovely screen and better speakers but I had hoped for a greater increase in CPU and GPU performance.

Also the keyboard just isn't as good.

</comment><comment><USER23> Anybody had any issues with the keyboard? I've heard rumors of some ergonomic issues and it worries me.

<comment><USER16> The keyboard on my 2013 MBP had too much play in the keys, and the new keyboard is better in that respect. In general, I'm not fussy about keyboards -- I usually adapt to a new one quickly. I'd recommend that you try out the new keyboard at an Apple Store and decide for yourself.

<comment><USER24> I had a fiddle around with one yesterday and compared to my 2011 Air they keyboard is far more crisp and, as you said, reliable.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> an overall experience after reading: the new model seems only has 2 real pros: brighter screen and faster ssd... Damn, such a pity.

</comment><comment><USER26> What does the Touch Bar look like with Boot Camp?

<comment><USER27> It has the normal function keys by default, and the hot keys when you hold fn.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> I don't know much about the new MBP specs, but I was a little surprised to read this:

 _This taxed the system hard and it was very hot, with fans running_

I was under the impression that these didn't have fans.

<comment><USER29> Definitely have fans. The design video[1] has a segment at 2:30 about thermal management.

1 - [http://images.apple.com/media/us/macbook- pro/2016/b4a9efaa_6...](http://images.apple.com/media/us/macbook- pro/2016/b4a9efaa_6fe5_4075_a9d0_8e4592d6146c/films/design/macbook-pro-design- tft-cc-us-20161026_1536x640h.mp4)</comment></comment>


Britain has a duty to help Hong Kong out of this dark moment - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/14/britain-hong-kong-china-power-extradition-chris-patten <comment><USER2> I found this odd.

Britain is having a hard time being allowed to self-govern itself away from the EU.

Hong Kong is supposed to self-govern itself independently from China.

It seems like they are both fighting for the same thing, however as Britain is not technically independent from the EU until Brexit is confirmed, why should they be obligated to help HK from China when they need to worry about their own problems first?

I know it is selfish, however if you cannot take care of yourself first you cannot take care of someone else in my opinion.

<comment><AUTHOR> For the simple reason they are the other signatory to the international agreement China is breaching. China's word is worthless if they won't stick by a legally binding arrangement they freely entered, and entered as the party with most leverage.

What does Brexit have to do with that? Nothing. Governments have multiple department and often do multiple things at a time. That's not exactly revolutionary.</comment></comment>


Silicon Valley Is a Big Fat Lie - <AUTHOR> http://www.gq.com/news-politics/201506/silicon-valley-is-a-lie

<comment><USER2> The cake is a lie.</comment>


Why We're Underestimating American Collapse - <AUTHOR> https://eand.co/why-were-underestimating-american-collapse-be04d9e55235 <comment><USER2> The school shooting thing is strange. Here's a summary of school-related shootings so far in 2018.[1] The most common event is bullets fired at a school or school bus without any clear target. Five of those. One suicide by a non-student near a closed school. One case of bad gun handling during gun training. Two students shooting other students. One frat party shooting.

This thing of just randomly shooting at schools is new. Even in states with a lot of guns.

[1] [https://thinkprogress.org/school- shootings-2018-e139b247474e...](https://thinkprogress.org/school- shootings-2018-e139b247474e/)

<comment><USER3> Hah, I guess this is what is called normalisation. Gawd,in both, where I come from (a ^developing^ country) and where I live (a European ^first world^ country), a gun at a school (let alone a shooting) would qualify for national news.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Given the increase in fractured heterogeneity and the fall of Christianity in the USA, or at least adherence to its teaching and participation (i.e. census stats disregarded), it's not hard to see how people feel socially isolated and free of any debt to any form of "community".

Coupled with a media (traditional tv, print, modern online) whose purpose seems to be purely to exacerbate divisions and perceived social tensions; giving voice to only the most radical on any spectrum on any issue all in the name of getting clicks to sell ads to; it's again not hard to see how groups are drastically losing empathy and support for one another.

America has become a model of how not to approach the goal of creating and supporting a healthy society. One would hope that lessons would be learned from it, but it seems that Western Europe is gung-ho to follow almost every footstep.

As people in tech, there should be no doubt of the contribution we've made, or leadership provided, to the above.

<comment><USER5> > the fall of Christianity in the USA, or at least adherence to its teaching > and participation (i.e. census stats disregarded)

Two questions:

1) How are you measuring that if not via the census?

2) Given the Wikipedia list of "Importance of religion by country" places the USA nowhere near the top or bottom of the list, and that nations which are less religious than the USA include socially aware and stable nations such as Canada, Switzerland, Germany, and all of the Scandinavian nations, why would declining religiosity be a cause or effect of national collapse?

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I am increasingly hearing that the US is in a state of impending collapse from a variety of sources, and I always ask, well if it is, how much time do we have? In the absence of any method for accurate forecasting, I defer to J. Richard Gott [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Richard_Gott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Richard_Gott). According to his method, which he used successfully to predict when the Berlin Wall would come down, the US probably has about 800 years left, based on a 75% chance it has lived about a quarter of its life.

<comment><USER7> You aren't applying that method correctly.

The method is just making the assumption that you are observing a entity at a point in its lifetime that is randomly distributed with a uniform distribution. So there is a 75% chance that you are in the middle 75% of its lifetime (i.e. somewhere from 12.5% to 87.5% through its lifetime) and there is a 95% chance that you are in the middle 95% (somewhere from 2.5% to 97.5% through the lifetime).

The US is currently 242 years old, so the 75% confidence interval for its total lifespan is 276-1,936 years for an expected end date of 2052-3712. The 95% confidence interval end dates are 2024-11,456.

Applying it in reverse, the chance of it collapsing within my expected lifetime is 18%. That's not exactly comforting.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Anyone writing opioid epidemics only happen in the US is either poorly informed or is intellectually dishonest. I assume the second here, since this reads like contemporary agitprop.

<comment><USER9> This WaPo article[1] has references to UN data sources and says: "United Nations data provide one important benchmark against which to judge how much more or less opioid consumption might be appropriate for a given country. And what it finds about the United States is jaw-dropping: Even when the list is restricted to the top 25 heaviest consuming countries, the United States outpaces them all in opioid use."

So it's within reason for the article to say "[US] people abuse opioids en masse unlike anywhere else in the world"

[1] [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/03/15/ameri...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/03/15/americans- use-far-more-opioids-than-anyone-else-in-the-world/?utm_term=.d9785f5d743e)

<comment><USER10> It's some quirk of how the US handles painkiller prescriptions right? Or something like that. Most opioid addicts in the USA got addicted via their doctor's prescriptions, if I recall correctly.

I found the article to be interesting but the weakest part by far was where he mentioned declining life expectancy as to do with the lack of public health care, and thus unique the USA _except for the UK_. But wait, the UK has an entirely nationalised healthcare system, it's the literal opposite of the USA. So if the UK is seeing the same thing, that suggests it can't be due to the funding mechanism used. It's more likely that we've hit some sort of life expectancy peak in the most highly developed western nations and if the UK and USA go first, it's very likely that other countries aren't far behind.

<comment><USER11> > It's more likely that we've hit some sort of life expectancy peak in the > most highly developed western nations and if the UK and USA go first, it's > very likely that other countries aren't far behind.

Except that the US hasn't reached the peak—life expectancy in other nations is up to 5-10 years higher (depending on gender).

<comment><USER10> Yeah, but wasn't the highest in Cuba or something like that? There are clearly other tradeoffs involved - probably diet related. If you can eat what you want because you're a rich country, the exact way the health system is run is probably not that big of a deal in comparison.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Be wary of anything that seems to suggest that social _pathology_ or social _evil_ must lead, or must even tend to lead, to social _collapse_. Civilisation can roll from strength to strength, serene and happy and proud in itself, while (sometimes even _because_ ) the marginal, unloved, non-compliant or just unlucky are crushed pitilessly and unceasingly beneath its wheels. In fact that's the normal state of affairs. Providing examples from US history is left as an exercise for the reader: and that's not to suggest that the US is very much, or perhaps even at all, exceptional in its historical level of social brutality.

</comment><comment><USER13> This article is so full of fear mongering language, yet it makes some salient points. I wish the same article existed that was stripped of the hyperbole.

Example:

> what I mean by "social pathologies of collapse": a new, bizarre, terrible > disease striking society.

<comment><USER14> I don't think such an article would have the same meaning. The whole point of the article is that this is something you (Americans) should take seriously as an existential threat.

<comment><USER13> Motivating people with fear is as old as the bible, so I guess it's par for the course.

<comment><USER11> Older, even. "Hey Gorbb! There's a sabre-toothed tiger coming up behind you, you'd better start running!"

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> At the moment people would rather collapse with America than prosper somewhere else

<comment><USER16> People would rather HODL their investments in retirement, networking, and social constructs than uproot and jump into the deep end of another nation which presumably has its own pitfalls just waiting to trap naive gaijin.

<comment><USER3> Here's your big reveal, the choice between uprooting oneself from where you've lived all your life versus sticking it out in the hope that things would get better existed through _all_ generations, including your grandparents and mine... Irrespective of where they were. The US simply had one extra generation of a buffer where Americans didn't have to really think hard and long about these matters... But trust me, the risk assessment you allude to, that was real and hard for every immigrant, irrespective of the country of origin.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> The article's format and tone remind me of a US high-school speech and debate "radio" speech: [http://www.msdlonline.org/radio- broadcasting.html](http://www.msdlonline.org/radio-broadcasting.html). Not good or bad per se, just a familiar style.

</comment><comment><USER18> "Why we're writting click-bait article titles that assume an extreme minority- held premise."

</comment><comment><USER19> TL;DR: America is failing as a state because it is not a good European welfare state. School shootings, lack of public investment, lack of nationalized healthcare, opioid crises, income inequality, extreme capitalism, oligarchy. We need more Europe, less America in order to save America.

EDIT: Here [1] is more by the author on how making America more like Europe is the key to solving all of America's problems.

1\. [https://eand.co/the-american-dream-is-over-this-is-the- age-o...](https://eand.co/the-american-dream-is-over-this-is-the-age-of-the- european-dream-71c668bef945)

<comment><USER20> I didn't get that at all. The author doesn't mention Europe in this article, except for noting that the UK in the only other country with a declining life expectancy.

Asia and Africa are mentioned, a couple times, as examples of places that don't suffer from the same problems as America.

<comment><USER19> You must be new to the author, but check out his other articles, nearly every article is written the same way. And plenty of them mention Europe.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I don't like that this is a semi-paywalled article.

</comment><comment><USER22> I do not ever comment, but this article is rife with misconceptions. A specific example would be:

* How did America's elderly end up cheated of dignity? After all, even desperately poor countries have "informal social support systems" — otherwise known as families and communities. But in America, there is the catastrophic collapse of social bonds. Extreme capitalism has blown apart American society so totally that people cannot even care for one another as much as they do in places like Pakistan and Nigeria.*

Any honest examination of the destruction of the social family unit easily shows that this was not due to capitalism, but progressive and socialist legislation that encouraged disintegration of the family units.

Three of the largest 'capitalism endorsed' holidays in the USA are Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter (though Easter in the last few decades has decreased significantly in its importance and stature).

If anything, capitalism's endorsement of these holidays brings families CLOSER together, than they normally exist during the rest of the year. Left policies and statements about 'patriarchal structures' and why they need to be disassembled have contributed far more to family unit disintegration than capitalism.

Edit: Not to belabor the point either, but referencing Pakistan and Nigeria in this quote shows the authors bias. Both of these countries are great examples where patriarchy is absolutely thriving, strong familial bonds, led by men in those nations, with a subjugated women class.

<comment><USER23> _> Any honest examination of the destruction of the social family unit easily shows that this was not due to capitalism, but progressive and socialist legislation that encouraged disintegration of the family units._

Can you give concrete examples of legislation that "encouraged disintegration of the family units"?

 _> If anything, capitalism's endorsement of these holidays brings families CLOSER together, than they normally exist during the rest of the year_

How so? Would Christmas have faded in significance if it weren't "endorsed" by capitalism"?

 _> Left policies and statements about 'patriarchal structures' and why they need to be disassembled have contributed far more to family unit disintegration than capitalism._

The canonical American nuclear family unit doesn't even include multi- generational housing.

<comment><USER22> >Can you give concrete examples of legislation that "encouraged disintegration of the family units"?

Absolutely. I am not going to link to any analysis right now, but take a look at the requirements placed on familiy units for welfare consumption, WIC, etc. In order to obtain the optimal amount of benefit, the family unit must already be in a disintegrated state, eg non-married, non-cohabitating, with offspring present. This encourages an anti-marriage, anti-stable family pattern.

>The canonical American nuclear family unit doesn't even include multi- generational housing.

This is where you will need to link me to concrete proof of anything having to do with the 'canonical American nuclear family'. This appears to be a statement that is clearly subjective from family to family.

<comment><USER24> > This encourages an anti-marriage, anti-stable family pattern.

Welfare state is _not_ "let's financially encourage the disintegration of families". It's "let's help individuals that suffer from the lack of a family support system".

People on unemployment benefits still look for a job, because they value their dignity over money. Similarly, most people want to be loved and cared, and wouldn't destroy their own family over a (meager, by the way) monetary gain.

<comment><USER23> _> Welfare state is not "let's financially encourage the disintegration of families". It's "let's help individuals that suffer from the lack of a family support system"._

In policy, outcomes are at least as important as intentions. The question is whether welfare has this effect, not whether the original/current proponents of welfare _intend_ for this effect.

There's the kernel of a reasonable idea here [1]. Unfortunately for your parent post, even the studies most favorable to this conclusion find only a modest effect and cite factors like relationship quality and access to decent paying jobs as much better predictors of marriage success.

 _> People on unemployment benefits still look for a job, because they value their dignity over money._

Even the studies that are used to justify your parent post's viewpoint ultimately conclude that this is true for the vast majority of people. Interestingly, those studies also find that the _poorer_ you are, the _less_ likely you are to consider loss of welfare benefits when making a decision about marriage.

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

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> Let's use some bigger, current metrics to measure whether or not US is collapse or not, instead of some random stats about shooting, or observations about US collapse.

1.) US GDP is 19.73 trillion in 4th quarter 2017, best in the world. [https://www.thebalance.com/u-s-gdp-5-latest-statistics- and-h...](https://www.thebalance.com/u-s-gdp-5-latest-statistics-and-how-to- use-them-3306041) second best is EU, at 17.1 trillion.

2.) US GDP per capita is $57,000, pretty impressive considering it has a population of 330+ million people and growing. compare that with $8000 for China.

3.) US ranked 3rd in GDP per hours worked, pretty productive for such a big nation [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_\(PPP\)_per_hour_worked)

4.) Dollar is still the hegemony

5.) US military is the biggest in the world, and has the most combat experiences. It has provoked many wars over the years, some good (toppling dictators, preventing communisms from spreading, advocating democracies), as well as some bad (instilling instabilities in regions)

6.) US innovation is everywhere, in tech (internet, hardware, software), finance, entertainment (games, tv, movies, music), lifestyle, education, services, etc

7.) there's a bigger upper middle class than ever, lower middle class has shrank . [http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/21/news/economy/upper-middle- cl...](http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/21/news/economy/upper-middle- class/index.html)

8.) With tariffs punishing China, Apple/Amazon investments of billions into american cities, and fines levied on China for unfair tech transfers, US will revive manufacturing and economies in middle America

<comment><USER23> America is the most powerful and impressive developed country in the world, attached to a vast and profoundly depressing failed developed state.

C.f. SF Bay and rural Oklahoma.</comment></comment>


Y Combinator News: Better than Digg and Reddit? (video also included) - <AUTHOR> http://www.centernetworks.com/y-combinator-startup-news-a-better-digg-reddit-netscape-w-video <comment><USER2> News.YC isn't trying to compete with Digg and Reddit. Really; the last thing I need is to have to manage servers with that kind of traffic. The goal here is just to be the watercooler of the startup world. That is a quite small world, tens of thousands at most. I'd much rather this site had really good comments than huge volumes of traffic.

<comment><USER3> It was scary to me how quickly I've stopped going to reddit. So much for being addicted.

<comment><USER4> I used to read reddit, never commented/submitted anything, however. Reddit, these days, is full of things I have absolutely no interest in. n.yc is perfectly aligned with my interests. I hope it doesn't degenerate into another reddit.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> news.yc takes the bulk of my web browsing (hard to believe, right?) and reddit is still great for non-startup buzz. I'll peek at digg every so often but the quality of top submissions seem to keep dropping.

The reviewer at CenterNetworks is right on with his observation on the quality of referral traffic. The users of news.yc are less prone to be the visit- quickscroll-exit types that inhabit a lot of social news sites.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> This is a very positive review of what's going on here. The video is pretty interesting too.

<comment><USER6> Their videos are not very good (I apologize ahead of time if it's your web site.) But, they are the best (and only) I've seen. I think it's a good trend.

<comment> allen-cn Hi - Allen here from CN (I made the video) - can you help me understand what you don't like about it? I know the part at the beginning where I say my name is a bit off but I try to do pretty good screencasts. As soon as I can sign some more advertisers, I am going to try to buy better video equipment. But please let me know so I can try to improve as much as possible! --- Allen

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Hey, cool for us. Thanks PG--we're building a nice spot here.

</comment><comment><USER8> A video about which social news sites are the best to post spam on. Nice.</comment>