Eleven people across UK arrested for racist comments on Twitter - <AUTHOR> http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/05/british_man_charged_with_making_anti-religious_comments_on_facebook.html

<comment><USER2> For some cultural context: two people recently murdered a soldier, and waited until police came to arrest them. While waiting they spoke to people, some of whom filmed their statements.

Here's some BBC links (<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22644057>)

(<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22664835>)

Some of the arrests were before two competing groups held demonstrations in the same town. The English Defence League (hateful moronic racist thugs) and Anti-Facist something or other (a rag-tag bag of anarchists, tin pot trots, students, and anti-facists) were both holding demonstrations.

Police are perhaps a bit antsy because both groups have had problems with violence, and this is exacerbated when they demonstrate at the same time.

US citizens may not like our laws, but we -on the whole- do. It is a weird cultural difference between the UK and US.

<comment><USER3> Agreed, I was quite surprised (as someone from the UK) at the point of view expressed in this article. It does highlight how different our cultures are in some respects.

Most people in the UK would support this action - the police are arresting people who have made hateful, racist or threatening comments. Why is that bad?

<comment><USER4> I think the author of the article is probably someone an average person might consider an "activist" or the like, but I (an American) also feel like the report is alarming. It sounds like the kind of thing you'd expect from Saudi Arabia, rather than a democratic society.

I suppose in the US we are more in the all-or-nothing camp when it comes to free speech (at least idealistically).

Edit: _Most people in the UK would support this action - the police are arresting people who have made hateful, racist or threatening comments. Why is that bad?_

The concern is that what is perfectly fine one day (and really truly legitimate) can be "bad" the next. Better not to have a category of "bad" speech at all. Otherwise you may be at whim of political fashion.

<comment><USER3> Free speech in the UK (and the rest of the EU) is governed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which you can read here: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_10_of_the_European_Con...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_10_of_the_European_Convention_on_Human_Rights)

Basically, part 1 says "you have free expression", while part 2 says "unless that expression could seriously damage people's lives". Works for us.

<comment><USER4> I think part 2 of the Article is what people worry could easily be abused, especially when you include wording like "for the protection of health or _morals_ ". "Morals" in particular being something that is subject to very wide interpretation.

Viewing from the lens of an another American political issue: separation of church and state, an aspect of freedom of religion. There are people in the US who strongly believe that we should have state sanctioned prayer in schools _and_ feel this doesn't conflict with religious freedom. What they fail to take into account is that at some point their children could be in the school holding prayers for Not_Their_Religion. The point being that separation of church and state is the only policy that protects everyone's religious freedom. Analogously, you can argue that allowing all speech is the only way to protect everyone's freedom of speech.

I really am not an expert on this. This is more of a dorm-room, after-hours student discussion level of understanding on my part and likely more a cultural reflection than a strong reflection of legal foundations, etc.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> It's happened quite a lot in the last few years, e.g. following the collapse of a black football player, Fabrice Muamba.[1]

You have to consider the different context at play here; the UK has never had a history of "fundamentalist" (for want of a better word) free speech like there is in the US. There are plenty of laws on the books, from sending malicious communications to inciting racial hatred, that prevent speech that would be entirely legal in the US.

I think that's something that's reflected (either a cause or an effect, I'm not sure which) in public opinion, too; there's certainly no widespread outcry here at these types of arrest. The only recent case I can think of where the ruling was against free speech and where public opinion was significantly against the ruling was the Robin Hood Airport tweet, where someone tweeted an obviously incredible threat to blow up an airport.[2]

[1]: [http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/27/student-jailed- fabr...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/27/student-jailed-fabrice- muamba-tweets)

[2]: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19009344>

<comment><USER6> Interestingly the biggest recent tweet/speech-related outcry I remember in the UK was a case of _US_ authorities not seeing the funny side: [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2093796/Emily- Buntin...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2093796/Emily-Bunting- Leigh-Van-Bryan-UK-tourists-arrested-destroy-America-Twitter-jokes.html)

<comment><USER7> Yeah, this article's blinkered, hyperbolic and frankly smug tone is pretty amusing when you take things like the above into context.

He even sticks a "literally Hitler!" on the end for good measure.

<comment><AUTHOR> I apologize for posting blogspam but I refuse to post the DailyMail on HN.

Either way the mods took this article off the frontpage.

As a side note, the border security do not operate under the same laws as the US courts/police. It's a grey area where they can arbitrarily deny you for looking at them the wrong way. Free speech doesn't apply at border crossings. In addition noone was arrested domestically. Not the best analogy.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> There is absolutely no context given in the article. In particular, we don't know what these tweets actually said. In general, free speech is quite well protected here (UK), but it is an offence to incite violence. The tweets and Facebook posts could conceivably have been threats of violence against individuals (groups, etc.), in which case it's no different to making that kind of threat in public in any other forum, i.e., illegal.

<comment><AUTHOR> It said in the article what they are getting charged with:

> The Malicious Communications Act 1988 is a British Act of Parliament that > makes it illegal in England and Wales to "send or deliver letters or other > articles for the purpose of causing distress or anxiety". It also applies to > electronic communications.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malicious_Communications_Act_19...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malicious_Communications_Act_1988)

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I stopped reading at the opening sentence: _"Because it just wouldn't do to upset the sensibilities of those who might wish to cut your head off."_

This is implying guilt (or intention) on the part of the recipients of these racist messages, and seems to imply that it's OK to 'upset' (re: profile and aggravate) people if you think they're likely to cut your head off based only on their race or religion. Which is pretty low.

</comment><comment><USER10> That article has very little context.

I don't know if this received much coverage in the US but these arrests are for comments made in the aftermath of a murder of a British army cadet in broad daylight [1] the other day that has been called a terrorist attack. There has been a significant rise in racial aggression since the incident and that needs to be brought under control [2].

1\. <http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22630303> 2\. <http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22664835>

</comment><comment><USER11> I'm not sure how known this is, but in 2011 UK had a couple of days long riots in a number of cities. It was not justified in any way in my opinion - just a lot of people who took their general problems to the street and started destroying shops, cars, houses, attacking police. (that's the tldr, check wiki link for the details) With that kind of response to the social network comments, I think police is trying to prevent another such event aimed at a specific group.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_England_riots>

Social networks were used quite a lot during that time to pass messages about the police locations and various events.

</comment><comment><USER12> Disgusting. Thankfully I live in the United States.

<comment><USER2> Because US law enforcement would never stiffle anyone's freedom of speech, even if that was a ridiculous jokey comment?

([http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/01/30/u-k- touri...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/01/30/u-k-tourists- deported-due-to-tweet-about-destroying-america/))

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> >Do they even arrest Muslims for anti-religious speech?

Good question. I'd actually like to know the answer to this.

<comment><USER14> Absolutely, we've banned several Islamic fundamentalist organsations including, Al-Muhajiroun and Islam4UK. Both were proscribed under the UK's Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Re arrests, I get why they're doing it - it's a bit tense to be a muslim in UK these days.

<comment><USER13> I wonder if chopping the heads off British soldiers in broad London daylight has anything to do with it?

<comment><USER16> HOW DARE YOU mock Islam like that! We are a religion of peace and love!!

Off with your head!

<comment><USER15> Kefka, stop with the hate comments already. It's not helping anyone.

<comment><USER16> My "hate" comments are directly related to those "hate" actions, like killing and maiming. Lest alone, shrouding words as "hate" words are poisoning, because it tries to defang legitimate criticism to "Oh lol, he's just a racist".

And I do wish for a peaceful earth, full of multitudes of genetically different peoples, following different faiths and paths. And I'd like to be able to go up and ask them about that. However, we're not there, and tribal groups take hold instead. The best I can do is to highlight when a certain tribe acts up, whether that be the Catholic church, England, USA, UN, Islamic countries.. It matters not who does evil, but that it is called out (and stopped if possible).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> As much as I would support an RFC to finally let us deliver facepunch-over-IP, this sort of punishment for online comments is horrifying.

If the US had similar laws--well, I don't think it'd bode well for any of us.

<comment><USER16> And here I am, in agreement with cricizing (read religious hateful comments) against Islam.

After having looked at governments that are Islamic states, and the way they treat fellow people (religious and nonreligious), they deserve to be critically looked at. In Saudi Arabia, women who are raped are then killed for "being a whore". Little girls are trapped in a burning building because they didnt have their headscarves.

And then there's the whole Sharia Law. Many Imams want Sharia installed in every western state possible. They do similar tricks as the Domionionists do here (right wing Christian extremists).

If they could conduct the affairs of their own people and those innocents around them better (try humanely), then I'd not be writing this. Since they won't, I shall be vocal.</comment></comment>


Creating haptic feedback in iOS 13 - <AUTHOR> https://exyte.com/blog/creating-haptic-feedback-with-core-haptics <comment><USER2> I wrote an app to visually create Core Haptics, videos here: www.haptrix.com, I found working with the API to slow to experiment with.

</comment><comment><USER3> Haptics on iPhone are one of the best "quality of life" improvements of the last few years. It's seamless and immediate feedback that yes, you pressed the button/flipped the switch/etc.

Second on that list is the vastly improved audio, especially the immersion and stereo feel of it.

Third is the standardization to WKWebView + content blockers.

I'll stop now

</comment><comment><USER4> On paper I dislike the idea of haptics but in practise, used sparingly, especially in a flashcard app I've been using lately it feels really satisfying to answer a card correctly and get that physical feedback.

<comment><USER5> The devil's in the details with haptic feedback. It _can_ be good, but many implementations are bad.

Apple's implementation on the Magic Trackpad, for example, is incredibly effective. On iPhone, it's...fine but not great (it's not usually a net negative, at least).

One of the worst I've ever seen was on an early Verizon "iPhone killer" back around 2008. The whole phone just vibrated — it wasn't positional at all, the motor started up too slowly so it felt mushy, and it was used far too often.

<comment><USER6> > Apple's implementation on the Magic Trackpad, for example, is incredibly > effective.

Not really, it just feels like a much mushier clickpad.

<comment><USER3> What trackpad are you used to? How much clicker does it get compared to for example a MacBook Pro trackpad?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Brawl Stars is an example of a game that does haptic feedback really well. It has multiple on-screen control sticks and uses the "click" to let you know you've returned the stick to neutral.

</comment><comment><USER8> Somewhere along the way 'haptic feedback' went from meaning 'tactile/touch- based feedback' to 'vibrations'. It seemed less limiting under the earlier definition.

<comment> amiga-workbench It's frustrating, because with linear actuators you can provide many different textures and feelings to the user. It's a shame mobile devices aren't taking that approach and running with it.

My Nokia N9 had some pretty interesting patterns when using things like clock widgets.</comment></comment>


How T.H. Huxley helped me teach my students how to write - <AUTHOR> http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ockhamsrazor/stories/2009/2708509.htm

<comment><AUTHOR> _"... It is an unfortunate aspect of teaching science that our students do not believe that writing is a skill that they need to acquire. Some of them even chose to do science at University because they prefer to memorise factual material. Many of them have told me that I should not care about their grammar and spelling, because I teach science, not English.

But English is not like other school subjects: it is the condition of academic life. In the past, my senior students eventually came to terms with this after years of writing essays, but the commencing students, especially the ones straight out of high school, completely rejected this notion.

However, these days, youngsters have a passion for writing that Huxley shares. They have a flair for correspondence. It is a condition of their social life. The emails and texts and messages that they send each day may rival the number of words Huxley wrote daily with his quill. There is only a difference of quality.

So I had this bright idea: I would get my students to write a letter to T.H. Huxley in response to his 1880 book and tell him what was really going on in the nucleus of the cells of the crayfish. They had to be polite and use 'proper English' so that T.H. would understand them, and they had to understand meiosis, but since it was in their textbook and had been covered by lectures, this should not have been difficult.

And then I had another idea: instead of covering their letters with red ink (which they would ignore), I would write them a letter back. And because Huxley did not know he was marking students' essays, he did not give them a grade. They could tell from the letter whether he liked their letter or not. Either he dismissed their letter as a hoax by local schoolchildren (which was likely if their grammar and spelling was below par) or he engaged with them as a fellow scientist. ..."_

This is very subtle way of scolding those who don't quite rise to the level expected. Way more subtle than a "RS", red marks or grades. Click the _"Show Transcript"_ to read the full article.

<comment><USER2> Wasn't there research published recently that showed that not only were people writing more (via email and texts) but they were writing better too and in particular they were good at _kairos_ , which means students today should be better at varying their tone for different audiences (like imaginary 19th Century correspondents) than we were as kids.

There's an overview here: [http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-09/st_thomps...](http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-09/st_thompson)

Though I'm impressed with the creativity of both the assignment and the "marking" scheme.</comment></comment>


Show HN: TradesViz – An advanced trades management and analysis platform - <AUTHOR> https://tradesviz.com <comment><AUTHOR> Hi all!

I just launched my second product (first was: [https://mapsofmind.com](https://mapsofmind.com)) - TradesViz: An complete trade logging and analysis platform.

The goal of TradesViz is to assist regular traders to manage and analyze their trades very easily. Most current platforms are either too expensive for beginners or are very limited in what you can do so I tried to address a lot of those pain points while adding features which many traders wished they had in their trade logging platform - one of those features being very flexible charting for any trade on TradesViz.

I'd really appreciate any feedback, opinions! :)

I've also written a few posts on how some features on TradesViz work here: [https://www.tradesviz.com/blog/](https://www.tradesviz.com/blog/)</comment>


Intel, Mobileye, and Smiling Curves - <AUTHOR> https://stratechery.com/2017/intel-mobileye-and-smiling-curves/ <comment><USER2> How is the structure of self-driving cars like servers? (As stated in the article.)</comment>


7 JavaScript hacks for ES6 hipsters - <AUTHOR> https://hackernoon.com/javascript-hacks-for-es6-hipsters-67d633ce8ace <comment><USER2> Why are these "hipster hacks"? They're really important language features everyone should be using.

Side note: has anybody ever had to actually swap variables in production code? I thought it was just a fizzbuzz interview question.

<comment><USER3> > has anybody ever had to actually swap variables in production code?

I did that today to swap the content of two plain objects without altering the references.

It was in Lua but I'll probably to that in JS too tomorrow.

</comment></comment><comment> ix-hispana The ...thing still feels like magic to me.

The rest are pretty common, I would not consider reduce() or passing an object to a function instead of separate arguments hipster hacks at all. "Options" objects are ubiquitous in corporate SDKs like AWS and Azure. They are the opposite of hipster.

<comment><AUTHOR> Options indeed was always a common use case but made the function declaration less verbose. Now we can have the best of both worlds</comment></comment>


iTerm2 Version 3 Now in Beta - <AUTHOR> https://iterm2.com/version3.html <comment><USER3> (author here). I pushed out a promotion today to let users know about the new version before auto-updating everyone. It breaks backward compatibility with applescript, so it'll be a rough upgrade for some folks.

I'd love to hear any thoughts on how to make this less painful.

My first experiment with in-app advertising (promoting the beta version through a popup dialog) has gone well, with a 31% click-through rate, and of those 25% downloaded the beta.

<comment><USER4> You know iTerm is a tool I use so often that I've taken its existence for granted. Thank you for all your hard work over the years. You've made a beautiful piece of software.

<comment><USER5> Agreed... It's a really nice, smooth experience... ConEmu is close, but not quite the same in Windows, and I haven't seen anything that even compares in Linux.

<comment><USER6> I'm a Linux user, and I use iTerm when I'm on a Mac and ConEmu on Windows. Are there some features I'm missing out on?

<comment><USER7> Did you try [http://cmder.net](http://cmder.net) ?

<comment><USER6> ConEmu + Clink... and it looks so pretty. Thanks, will give it a go!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Great app. This announcement reminded me that I use it every day & hadn't donated yet, so I did. $10USD won't be retirement money, but at least have a beer & tip your bartender:)

<comment><USER9> I'm jumping on the donation train too. Great piece of software, and really impressive update.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I'm _sure_ I'm missing iTerm2's big appeal, but every time I try to use it, I find myself going back to Terminal.app, which I find more responsive and just as featureful, especially when combined with zsh and a windowing manager. That's probably just because I'm familiar with it and I didn't come from tmux or anything similar, but I keep hoping I'll be "enlightened" at some point and realize the error of my ways ;)

<comment><AUTHOR> [https://medium.com/@xanderdunn/iterm2-vs- terminal-c06976f106...](https://medium.com/@xanderdunn/iterm2-vs- terminal-c06976f106ef#.3x1ip0m3q)

<comment><USER11> > Customizability ends up being pretty important for serious developers who > are always in the terminal.

Ironically, I would say customizability ends up being pretty important for serious developers attempting to avoid working. I can't say my terminal itself—as opposed to the shell—requires any serious modifications at all. (I rewire the left option key and color schemes, and that's about it.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I just donated $25. iTerm is an amazing piece of software and I honestly can't imagine living without it.

</comment><comment><USER13> Iterm2 was one of those things I was not expecting to miss so much when I switched to a Linux desktop. There's something about the look and feel of text that I'm used too. Don't get me wrong, there's good terminals for Linux, but I think iterm2 was the best. I'd gladly pay for a Linux port.

<comment><USER14> > There's something about the look and feel of text that I'm used too.

Yeah, font rendering is great out of the box on OS X. However, you can also get that on Linux, using Infinality. Check it out. :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> I love iTerm2, I keep up with the "current" beta versions, using them all day in production.

I would love it if they'd make a "dark" titlebar version of the window chrome. My setup currently has windows without any titlebar at all (thanks to iTerm for that feature!), but it makes rearranging windows challenging.

I look forward to trying out the newer features!

<comment><USER16> You can change the colour of the title bar in iTerm with an ansi code! I have different colours for all of my servers: [http://i.imgur.com/mdF3XBz.png](http://i.imgur.com/mdF3XBz.png)

This will give you a title bar with RGB values 20, 20, 20:

printf -- $'\033]6;1;bg;red;brightness;20\a\033]6;1;bg;green;brightness;20\a\033]6;1;bg;blue;brightness;20\a'

Documentation: [https://iterm2.com/documentation-escape- codes.html](https://iterm2.com/documentation-escape-codes.html)

<comment><USER17> How are you doing this in your servers? Adding it to your shell profiles on said servers?

<comment><USER16> It's in my .zlogin or .zshrc on my servers, and it's in my PS1 on my home computer, so when I exit the servers it resets nicely.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> One of the best mac apps in existence but holy jeebus is the naming a mess:

\- It's called iTerm2 Version 3 now, rather than iTerm3 \- It's called iTerm2 Version 3 now, but the actual app version is 2.9

<comment><USER3> The app's name is iTerm2. Version numbers have to increase lexicographically, so the version 3 beta is called 2.9. I'm open to suggestions :)

<comment><USER19> In SemVer [1], it's prescribed that the first number is for breaking changes, the second number for new features, and the third number for fixes. So this would be v3.0.0.

It also allows you to add a suffix though for beta-type versions, so the beta would be v3.0.0-beta, or v3.0.0-rc1, etc.

[1] [http://semver.org/](http://semver.org/)

<comment><USER20> SemVer works great for libraries, but it falls apart for actual software IMO. How would you define a "breaking change" in a software ? Would it be a complete redesign ? Or maybe a feature removal (Does that ever happen ?)

Versions are supposed to convey meaning over how much has changed to the app between two versions. iTerm got soooooo many new features in this new version, anything smaller than a major bump would feel out of place.

I do agree the actual version should be v3.0.0-beta1 tho ^^.

<comment><USER21> > SemVer works great for libraries, but it falls apart for actual software IMO

SemVer is for APIs. From the spec:

> 1\. Software using Semantic Versioning MUST declare a public API.

<comment><USER22> Yes, the public API for a library that the developer interfaces with. Not a web APi.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I'm sure if you're reading these comments, iTerm is the program you use the most on the Mac.

Give George a donation through the Donate button on his site ([https://iterm2.com/](https://iterm2.com/)) to let him know how much we care about this tool. Takes 10 seconds if you have PayPal.

</comment><comment><USER24> I played with iTerm2 for a while (coming from Linux) because I was told I had to have it. I switched back to Terminal.app after my last clean install because I didn't really see what I was getting.

For someone who tmuxes for tabs and splits, what am I missing?

<comment><USER25> It's very short, but you can checkout my post on vim + [iTerm]([http://arianv.com/post/My-First-Month-with- Vim/](http://arianv.com/post/My-First-Month-with-Vim/))

Basically, I really love the fullscreen keybinding, hotkeys, colors and search ( though the default terminal already has this I think)

<comment><USER24> Appreciate it!

So, the show/hide feature seems to be the one really interesting thing to me. We're both vimmers and it sounds like we have similar workflows. What's killing me right now, is that coming from Debian I always had 5 desktops setup on Alt+1-5. I've got the same thing on Command+1-5 now, but if I force Terminal.app to fullscreen in OSX in the Desktop 1 spot, it's no longer available via Alt+1, since it spins up it's own, new desktop called 'Terminal'. It kills me.

In your post, are you saying that you can have a fullscreen iTerm2 window transposable to _any_ of your desktops with the show/hide hotkey? Because this would push me over the fence.

BTW, I dig the CSS triangle inversions you're using for your ribbon up top.

<comment><USER25> Hey!

I'm not sure if I fully understand your query, so let me know if I'm off the mark:

The answer is iTerm is incredibly configurable! iTerm can run on it's own 'fullscreen' window (Lion Style, you know, like say, full screen chrome) OR it can use a transparent fullscreen that basically just fills the current screen you are in, not creating a new 'desktop/space' (the gif on my blog post shows this).

APART from that you can also configure iTerm to show up on all desktops - i.e. I'll have documentation on desktop 1 and the actual site on desktop 2 and I can bring up the same terminal window with `alt space`.

So I do think that the answer to your question is YES!

That's probably the awesome thing about iTerm. There's no "super big killer feature" but it just provides enough options that whatever workflow you have/want, it most likely can support it.

And nice to meet a fellow vimmer! Thanks for the appreciating the CSS ribbons too :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> iTerm is OSX' killer app.

Couldn't find anything similar on Windows. I used MobaXTerm which is ok but never feels as polished and slick as iTerm. Especially iTerm's own fullscreen mode which allows to quickly alt-tab is great.

<comment><USER27> OSX-only apps that I absolutely love and consider must-haves:

Free: Iterm2 Spectacles Sip

Not free: Dash Textmate (I use it as the equivalent of Windows' Notepad.exe) Transmit Sketch Paw

If anyone has any other suggestions for things that they consider must-haves, I'd love to know about them so I can try them out!

<comment><USER28> thanks for the tip on spectacles. I've been using sizeup for the same functionality for years bit it looks like spectacles does the same thing for free. How does paw compare to postman?

<comment><USER29> Thanks for the mention! What makes Paw different is dynamic values which lets you access/parse data from previous responses and compute anything you want. It's a simple way to do visual programming for your API testing. Also today we're introducing full encryption for users credentials. Also, Paw is a native Mac app, and we love the look and feel it has. (disclaimer: I'm Paw's founder)

<comment><USER27> Paw is great, use it nearly every day at work :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Another suggestion: how about simply calling it "iTerm". This can be version 3. I know "iTerm2" was a fork of the defunct original iTerm. But now that you're pushing through to v3, in kind of makes sense to reclaim the title.

</comment><comment><USER30> So if I'm running iTerm2 Test release 2.9.date (current 2.9.20160206), does that mean I'm running the v3 beta?

Its version names are confusing.

<comment><USER31> Yes, the current beta's version number is 2.9.20160206 as linked on [https://iterm2.com/version3.html](https://iterm2.com/version3.html)

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> Is there a way to make a previously hidden iTerm window show without also bringing any other iTerm windows to the front?

I'm looking to replace TotalTerminal with iTerm (since TT doesn't work on El Capitan without making OS X less secure), and tried using a function key to hide/show a small iTerm window, but while that does work, the problem is that when it shows the small window, it also shows my regular large iTerm window as well (which I have always running) and the times when I want to show the small iTerm window I don't want the large iTerm window obscuring what's behind it.

Not sure if I explained that well, but that's what I'm hoping to find a way how to do: basically have a small, TotalTerminal-like iTerm2 window that pops up when I hit a certain keyboard shortcut, without also bringing up any other iTerm2 windows that I may have running in the background.

I'm also open to suggestions for other TotalTerminal replacements that work on El Capitan.

<comment><USER33> Yes, they have had a visor feature for a long time actually. I'm not on my mac right now and i'm not 100% sure if this link is accurate anymore. But it's under the keyboard shortcuts or profile settings. It is not enabled by default, and you can create a new hotkey profile with more transparency or whatever,

[http://fokkezb.nl/2014/10/29/using-iterm2s-improved- visor/](http://fokkezb.nl/2014/10/29/using-iterm2s-improved-visor/)

<comment><USER34> That brings other iTerm windows to the foreground.

There is a ticket to fix this, but it's bound by limitations from how OSX does app switching (according to the ticket).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> I have used iterm for a long time and I would like to donate to your project. I make all my donations with Patreon, would be great if you could add support for that, if it's not too much trouble. [https://www.patreon.com/](https://www.patreon.com/)

<comment><USER3> Any other open source projects using it? Curious how they set the rewards and objectives.

<comment><USER35> I made a donation anyway with paypal, much appreciate your work. Also checkout funding from Travis foundation and DuckDuckGo. If you need help with traffic to your site, let me know, I work at a CDN. [http://foundation.travis- ci.org/grants/](http://foundation.travis-ci.org/grants/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> > Undo closing sessions, tabs, and windows. If you close a session by > accident, you get five seconds to hit Cmd-Z to undo it.

Does that mean my session is not really closed until 5 seconds after I "closed" it?

<comment><USER37> Yes.

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> > Session Restoration allows your jobs to keep running after iTerm2 upgrades, > is force-quit, or crashes. It's like tmux without tmux!

Anyone know how this works? From my basic (possibly incorrect) understanding, iTerm currently spawns a bash shell for each tab which in turn has its own children for its processes; so killing iTerm would kill all of its children. Does it use a separate daemon process to spawn children now?

<comment><USER39> [https://iterm2.com/restoration.html](https://iterm2.com/restoration.html)

<comment><USER38> Thank you. It's actually more involved than i thought it would be on the client side, but a good use of the OS' functionality.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Can we configure iTerm2 v3 now with a simple file? It's _so difficult_ to programmatically create profiles, setup typefaces and colors.

<comment><USER3> [https://www.iterm2.com/dynamic-profiles.html](https://www.iterm2.com/dynamic- profiles.html)

<comment><USER23> Thanks! Can't wait to try it out. Downloading now.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER40> > iTerm2 has been updated for the modern Mac OS X "flat" look and is > stunningly beautiful.

It does look very polished! Just two things:

When you choose "No title bar", the rounded corners and drop shadows all disappear so it looks a bit too "sharp".

And it would be really great if you can add an option to specify internal padding, similar to urxvt's internalBorder.

Great work and thanks again!

</comment><comment><USER41> Didn't know you can ls and then cmd+click to open a folder/file. And alt+click positions the cursor. Nice touches.

<comment><USER42> Try cmd or right-clicking the path in the window title bar. Should pop open a menu with the CWD path and all parents that you can then click to open in a finder. Apparently this works in other Mac apps as well. I had no idea for many years.

[https://www.safaribooksonline.com/library/view/os-x- yosemite...](https://www.safaribooksonline.com/library/view/os-x- yosemite/9781491948484/ch01s02.html) under "Title Bar" section. Also has some other hidden tricks. As cool as this stuff is and as useful as it is, it's not discoverable at all.

</comment></comment><comment><USER43> You guys deserve all the best. Will make the donation soon... (student here) I have never came across terminal app that is working with you... urxvt and many other on Linux were always working against me. This one was drag and drop and it works.

</comment><comment><USER44> This is fantastic. I love the new look, and the font rendering seems to be even nicer than before.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah the difference is noticeable: [http://dp.hanlon.io/2k2n3G190l2e](http://dp.hanlon.io/2k2n3G190l2e)

<comment><USER45> What color theme is that?

<comment><AUTHOR> A blend of Solarized and Intellij Darcula:

[https://github.com/rickhanlonii/Solarized- Darcula](https://github.com/rickhanlonii/Solarized-Darcula)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER46> I have been a long time Visor/TotalTerminal user and wanted to try iTerm2 on 10.11 but was concerned with its use of the Sparkle updater framework. I could find no sign through all of my research if confirm if updates are performed through https instead of http and I declined to install it. I also couldn't find a way to contact the anyone to ask, so I'm glad you posted. So? What does it use? Don't you think this may be worth noting on the announcement or changelog?

<comment><USER3> Yep, https. Look at the last two URLs at the very end of the file:

[https://github.com/gnachman/iTerm2/blob/master/plists/releas...](https://github.com/gnachman/iTerm2/blob/master/plists/release- iTerm2.plist)

Likewise, all HTTPS here:

[http://iterm2.com/appcasts/testing3.xml](http://iterm2.com/appcasts/testing3.xml)

If you're on Mac OS 10.11, we don't disable app transport security, so the OS prevents us from making HTTP requests at all.

<comment><USER46> OK. Thanks.

And what about the risk of parsing file:// and ftp:// and other protocols inside the WebView component What assurances can you give that there is not security flaw on the server that allows replacing XML file?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER47> I'm late to the thread but just wanted to say THANK YOU for all the hard work in general; and especially now for this:

"iTerm2 can change your profile (for example, affecting the color of your terminal) when you ssh to a remote host, when you run sudo, or even depending on your current directory."

Like many people, I use profiles mostly to have different colors for different hosts. This will make my workflow a little easier and a lot more consistent Every. Single. Day.

Köszönöm!

</comment><comment><USER48> There are a lot of people expressing their love for the tool but until now I fail to see why. "Love" is not a good enough reason for me to exchange a seemingly good enough standard tool with something else. Also the situations in which I want to optimize the Terminal are few. Right now I can only think about copy&paste and as far as I can tell that is solved in the standard terminal already.

</comment><comment><USER49> I've been trying iTerm on and off (sometimes using it for months) but always went back to the Terminal.

So far, this release seems it will finally make me switch.

<comment><USER50> What was your justification for going back? This is the first I've heard anyone say they went back to Terminal, so I'm pretty curious.

<comment><USER49> Generally found it slower (dealing with text etc), some term behaviors were incompatible, etc.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER51> Is there a screenshot for the new version...?

</comment><comment><USER52> Undo closed window is sweet. Nice work.

</comment><comment><USER53> Amazing work. This app has so many features that I think go unnoticed to many. I recommend going through all of the tips of the day (iTerm2 -> Show Tip of the Day) and perusing the various preferences available in the app.

I donated a while back and will be donating again tonight.

</comment><comment><USER54> Thank you for all the hard work of the iterm2 team.

I've used this application for years now and without it, I would be useless.

I do 99% of my development within it, so it really is a super important tool for me and I'm very very excited to see it's continued improvement.

</comment><comment><USER55> A quick and dirty one-liner to pull the newest xkcd:

[https://gist.github.com/jgworks/5c7bd0f731210133ebd4](https://gist.github.com/jgworks/5c7bd0f731210133ebd4)

</comment><comment><USER56> Thank you so much for your hard work. It's default terminal for me.

</comment><comment><USER57> One of my favorite new features has got to be true color support.

</comment><comment><USER58> I just donated but do you ever consider charging? I think most here would pay. iTerm2 really is the best option and provides a lot of value to developers who make money using it.

<comment><USER3> Accepting donations is about as far as I'd go with trying to monetize free software. If I were looking for a lifestyle business I might take a try at selling support for it or selling some kind of related SaaS.

<comment><USER59> Can you atleast show-up a popup for donation? I've been using iTerm2 for couple of years, just realized and donated. A pop-up would remind many people like me I guess :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER60> Zsh shell via iTerm2, coupled with prezto or Oh my Zsh == Nirvana.

<comment><USER61> I'm going to look like a huge noob but is Zsh what makes terminals look cool? I see Oh my Zsh on Github and it has a lot of stars, how do I get started with it on my Mac?

<comment><USER50> It does more than just look cool! For me, I personally prefer the completion abilities that zsh enables, but there is a whole suite of capabilities - <USER2> said, yes, it also can look really cool!

There's an installer script off github. Just follow those instructions and that's all you'll need (assuming you already installed zsh). If you haven't, you can install it with Homebrew using `brew install zsh`.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER62> It would be great having little video's of each new feature. For example with the automatic profile switching, or the marks/shell integration features.

</comment><comment><USER63> Awesome - I've almost forgotten Terminal.app exists these days. Shell integration is super exciting, I can see myself using that a whole lot in the coming months.

</comment><comment> iso-8859-1 There is already the need for standardization on inline images, as notty uses another approach than iTerm2, which uses another approach than Terminology.

<comment><USER64> xterm can do inline graphics too, in the form of Sixel for raster graphics and ReGIS for vector graphics. At least those are sort of standard, in that they were used by real terminals and there are real specs for them.

The annoying thing is, even if terminals standardized on one protocol, none of them set $TERM or use terminfo properly. So there's no good way for programs to actually _use_ these features, because you don't know if you're running in a terminal that supports them, or which escape codes to send to make use of them.

<comment><USER65> > none of them set $TERM or use terminfo properly.

There's a reason for this, and it's because a lot of things assume certain values for $TERM and completely go to shit when it's something else. In addition, who actually _sets_ $TERM is an open question depending on the architecture of the system you are talking to (and the manner in which you logged in).

Beyond that, the architecture of terminfo is a disincentive to creating new terminals, because you have to get terminfo right _everywhere_. Yes, one could package a terminfo supplement for iTerm2 and distribute it, but it's a serious bummer to have to apt-get/yum/dnf/emerge on every box you handle just because you like a different terminal emulator. But xterm is already there, so the easy path is to identify as xterm and handle xterm and lie occasionally (like with features like these). And that's how it's going to be. Forever. Because machines are now disposable, and now we're handling tens of thousands of them over our careers, and well-manicured terminfo databases on a few machines in the lab are a relic of the old sysadmin lifestyle.

This isn't old-vs-new NIH, to be clear, it's just that what we call a "server" has gradually evolved, and stateful databases like terminfo represent older ways of addressing systems that nobody really feels like maintaining anymore. Terminals are now much smarter than the average VT100, and it's high time for a terminal to identify its capabilities with a new protocol that doesn't require server-side state. But nobody is working on that, to my knowledge, because the "Unix way" creates an even stronger disincentive to evolve the manner in which we think about Unix lest we disrespect the past. (See systemd.)

<comment><USER66> > Terminals are now much smarter than the average VT100, and it's high time > for a terminal to identify its capabilities with a new protocol that doesn't > require server-side state. But nobody is working on that, to my knowledge, > because the "Unix way" creates an even stronger disincentive to evolve the > manner in which we think about Unix lest we disrespect the past.

How would you write a terminal protocol that could support `vim` with a stateless server?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER67> I started using Mac since September - Iterm2 saved from the horrible Mac Terminal.. But why is there no option to rename Tabs ?

<comment><USER68> iTerm2 is full of surprises. Double click the tab and you can rename the session.

</comment></comment><comment> a-b I'm waiting for mutt and weechat to adopt a new iTerm2 inline images feature. That would be epic!

</comment><comment><USER69> Kudos for the changelog starting with a very succinct summary + link, then expanding what changed :)

</comment><comment><USER70> Issue: On mobile the hamburger menu isn't expanding

Android, Samsung S4, Chrome V. 48.0.2564.96

<comment><USER3> I've passed this on to our web folks. Thanks for letting me know!

</comment></comment><comment><USER71> I freaking love it, especially tabs and fonts, thank you for the hard work man.

</comment><comment><USER72> Why is it not called iTerm3?

</comment><comment><USER73> great app, i've been using it for a while (i also use terminator on linux). together with homebrew and fish it makes the osx command line experience fantastic!

</comment><comment><USER74> that is the one thing i miss from osx .. i had all kinds of triggers on screen , specially colouring ip addresses , and urls and guids .. hope it comes to linux one day.

<comment><USER75> It's been >5y since I used KDE, but iirc the default terminal there had regexp you could set to trigger any action you wanted. And links were automatically clickable.

Can anyone running KDE confirm?

<comment><USER76> I doubt this is helpful, but I tried to find a Linux terminal that was as customizable as iterm2. Konsole was the closest thing I could find. It has a UI to configure many aspects of the terminal. Unfortunately, I'm drawing a blank on triggers at the moment. I still think iterm2 is way better but konsole is really really customizable.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER77> iterm is the best terminal i have found. well done!

ps. people should run iterm, and then press cmd-/ to see something fun! ive seen them change a few times.

</comment><comment><USER78> Loving it so far! Thanks for all your hard work.

</comment><comment><USER79> Love iTerm2, upgraded and donated :)

</comment><comment><USER80> the linked filename says v2.9?

<comment><USER81> The version also says Build 2.9.20160206 when you do About iTerm.</comment></comment>


Earth Station: The Afterlife of Technology at the End of the World - <AUTHOR> http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/02/earth-station-the-afterlife-of-technology-at-the-end-of-the-world/252454/

<comment><USER2> I posted another 50 photos of the Jamesburg Earth Station on Facebook, too, if you want the full tour of your future doomsday lair: [https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.317161924993793.71...](https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.317161924993793.71401.316697875040198&type=3)</comment>


Ask HN: Do you keep a journal/diary? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> I don't keep any sort of "this is what I did today" journal. A combination of email, calendar, slack history, and asana basically covers that.

I do keep notebooks that I write in whenever I need to work out my emotional state, but that's not necessarily daily.

I've recently begun a habit of journaling (in the "this is what's on my mind and distracting me from actual work" sense - writing it down seems to get it off my mind for a few hours) and meditating every morning as a focus-enhancing habit, and that's been pretty effective.

<comment><USER3> Same here. I carry a pocket notebook to jot down ideas and non-work to-dos. Writing it down lets me clear it out of my head and get back to work. Then, whenever I have some downtime waiting in line or whatnot I can go over old ideas and explore them or cross them out.

Been doing this for about a year, and I've noticed that writing down every idea does seem to have increased the generation rate of new ideas -- but that's not a bad problem :)

Two other benefits from carrying a notebook:

1) I've never been good at placing events in time, so noting significant events and the date helps me retain a life timeline of sorts. If particularly inspired I might note a thought or feeling about the event, but never more than a sentence. This is the closest I get to journaling.

2) Jotting down a note on paper appears to be more socially acceptable than taking notes on a phone. Typing on my phone has the appearance of ignoring the other person, and giving an explanation can derail the conversation. A notebook is self-explanatory.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I've tried to keep journals as computer files, but I can't just flip through them like you do with a notebook. So I have adopted a hybrid approach. I keep a journal for ideas that are evolving and to capture ideas without going off on tangents. Once ideas are firmed up I write documentation for the project. The commit logs give me a record of progress, etc.

</comment><comment><USER5> Saving emails does much the same thing at zero additional cost.

(Of course, if you save work emails and have to leave them behind if you change jobs, that can defeat the purpose.)</comment>


Tim Cook needs to take responsibility for Apple's battery scandal - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessinsider.com/tim-cook-needs-to-take-responsibility-for-apple-iphone-battery-scandal-2017-12 <comment><USER2> I understand why people are upset, but not why they are quite so upset. Apple always felt like the company that you went to when you wanted good UX. Unlike Android, they twist all the knobs for you, making tradeoffs like this so you don't have to care.

Of course, making battery degradation more clear would have been nice, along with some UI element explaining the impact as it gets worse.</comment>


22M people have filed jobless claims in one month - <AUTHOR> https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/another-5-million-people-filed-jobless-claims-last-week-bringing-n1185056 <comment><USER2> _The $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package, known as the CARES Act, is another reason there have been more claims. The fiscal package expanded eligibility for unemployment insurance. Part-time workers are allowed to file, and so are contractors. Some states have waived job-search requirements.

Policymakers hope the labor market will rebound as quickly as it has fallen, and that employers who have laid off workers will decide to rehire them._

This is what I am seeing locally. It is much easier for small businesses to lay people off so they can immediately replace income with unemployment benefits. The alternative is to apply for the small business loans and that is complicated, reportedly difficult to obtain.

</comment><comment><USER3> Many of us in high tech need to be mindful that our own revenues and jobs will be threatened by all of this. Both b2b and consumer is drying up for a lot of companies. No one is expecting a v-shaped recovery anymore either.</comment>


Focus on building your company as much as you do on your product - <AUTHOR> http://colin.getbarley.com/blog/2579/focus-on-building-your-company-as-much

<comment><AUTHOR> If anyone has anything to add, I'd be happy to discuss.</comment>


An iPad 2 production line is being setup in Brazil - <AUTHOR> http://ipadwatcher.com/2011/04/09/an-ipad-2-production-line-is-being-setup-in-brazil/ <comment><USER2> Not relevant to the subject topic, but what a poorly written piece, it was posititvely annoying reading it.

      This facility which is already producing computers and other electronic products for HP and Sony.

      With Apple selling iPads just about as they can manufacture them

      the 8th richest person on the planet aaccording to Forbes

      stating that components where already being shipped

      it should drive down the price of the iPad in Brazil by a large  factor

Sorry, just really bugs me.

</comment><comment><USER3> What makes this story interesting to me is that as the standard of living rises in China it's only a matter of time until factories that are elsewhere undercut them with cheaper labor costs.

<comment><AUTHOR> Interestingly, labor costs in Brazil are much higher than in China. The fiscal incentives for locally assembled equipment make all the difference in the pricing for sales to the domestic market, though.

Brazil is currently the 5th largest market for personal computers in the World and has thus attracted many Japonese, Taiwanese and Korean manufacturers that now have factories in the country.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Can one user be part of two applications? - <AUTHOR>

If I am working on two apps since I am a developer can I be part of two applications with different co-founders? <comment><USER2> > Can one user be part of two applications?

> If I am working on two apps since I am a developer can I be part of two > applications with different co-founders?

1\. Based on the above, I have to ask -- is your question posed as a user or as a developer?

2\. Applications don't have co-founders, companies do.

If you mean companies, and if you mean as a developer, and in general, if the companies are in non-competing lines of work and both know about your association with the other, then yes. Otherwise no.

<comment><USER3> I think the OP is probably talking about the YC application.</comment></comment>


Turf war: Detroit Mower Gang competes in 12-hour playground cleanup - <AUTHOR> https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2020/05/16/turf-war-detroit-mower-gang-competes-playground-cleanup/5201499002/ <comment><USER2> Detroit, the city with the most violent crime per capita in the US, has also now been ravaged by covid-19. Most of the residential neighborhoods in Detroit are fucking terrifying for ADULTS. These guys are cutting grass in public parks so poor kids have something to do. They should be applauded because poor kids will have a place to run around and laugh for the first time in months because of volunteers.

I have seen some comments here complaining about wildlife not having a place to live close to humans.

You know what else thrives in high grass? Ticks and rats. And if a lot is abandoned too long in Detroit there's a good chance it'll accumulate dead bodies.

Screw your wildlife.

<comment><USER3> Is any of this based on experience or just what you've heard? Because we have a friend rehabbing a large space downtown and while it sounds like things are weird, they don't sound scary.

<comment><USER2> I have lived near Detroit for almost 1/2 a century. Downtown is one of the pockets that are nice. Detroit has nice pockets, the stuff in between is where you don't want your car to quit on you.

Detroit is a big city; like 140 square miles. The vast majority of that land are neighborhoods that are high crime. It's been that way for a long time. It is changing slowly but mostly around the afore mentioned pockets.

<comment><USER4> To be honest you sound like someone who lives in Sterling Heights that still thinks Detroit is dangerous, when it hasn't been that way in a long time. My wife and I regularly run around one of these "scary" neighborhoods (where we live) even at night in summer and we haven't been hassled in any shape or form for years.

Just my anecdata though.

<comment><USER2> I have been to hundreds of events in Detroit. I know the type you are talking about, I am not them, I love Detroit.

The unfortunate truth is there are 20,000 cities in the US and in 2018 Detroit ranked #3 for murder. Detroit has more murders than New York, Los Angeles and Chicago combined. You live in a dangerous city and it's not because I said so.

My guess is you guys are new to the city and you live in a nice pocket. That's great for the city, thank you. I used to 'run around' the city in the 80s when it was twice as violent and I too was never harassed because I too could afford to live and play in the nice areas.

I'm not talking about me and you.

<comment><USER5> Detroit absolutely doesn't have more homicides than Chicago, and I have no idea how you could have come to believe that. Detroit hasn't had more than 400 homicides in a year since 2007. Chicago hasn't had under 500 homicides per year since 2014 (over 800 in 2016), and we (I'm a homicide researcher in Chicago who grew up in Detroit, btw) haven't had fewer than 400 homicides per year since the 1960's.

If you meant per-capita, Detroit does have more homicides per capita than Chicago, LA, or NYC, but combining per-capita numbers doesn't really make sense/is misleading.

<comment><USER6> I have no opinion on Detroit or crime rates in general. Just want to disagree that combining per-capita numbers is in some way misleading. Makes perfect sense for me and that is how I read the parent's comment -- combined and per- capita. Meant to illustrate the degree of the problem compared to other cities.

<comment><USER7> Adding per capita numbers makes absolutely no sense at all. None whatsoever.

<comment><USER6> It works the same way as any other time a sentence like "A has a greater value in X than B, C and D combined" appears \-- to illustrate that A is significantly larger compared to its siblings in the set and its usually meant to be a surprising fact. X can be a total, per capita or some other rate or whatever, it will depend on the context, as long as it's the same, it doesn't the affect the intent of the sentence.

To expand it further. I assume you don't consider below being misleading somehow:

Mary gets paid 90k per annum -- which is more than what both Jane and Jill receive per annum combined. It's the same principle.

<comment><USER6> I guess I see now where confusion point seems for other people.

> If it's per capita, can't you just list every city that has a lower per- > capita rate and claim that it is higher than all of them "combined"?

I can't, since that would be wrong, that basically not how I ever read and understand that sentence(if it has "combined" in it), I am not a native english speaker so I'm maybe wrong on this.

Mary gets paid 90k per annum, this is more than what Jane and Jill get per annum _combined_. I read it as: Mary's per annum (90k) > Jane's per annum + Jill's per annum

Mary gets paid 90k per annum, this is more than what Jane and Jill get per annum. I read it as two separate comparisons: Mary's per annum (90k) > Jane's per annum, Mary's per annum (90k) > Jill's per annum

<comment><USER8> Salary per annum combines additively, that's fine. £10/yr + £20/yr = £30/yr, easy.

When you add 2 annual salaries you're not increasing the number of years that the salary is paid over.

Death rate per capita does not combine additively, that makes no sense. What would it even mean? 0.1 deaths per capita + 0.2 deaths per capita is not equal to 0.3 deaths per capita because the denominator changes.

<comment><USER9> Why does the denominator change? You're looking at deaths per 100,000 population, and the 100,000 doesn't change for each city.

You're doing very simple fraction addition: 1/100,000 + 5/100,000 = 6/100,000

<comment><USER8> The denominator changes because when you look at 2 cities together you don't just add the deaths (numerator), you also add the entire population (denominator).

If there are 100,000 people in city 1, with 5 deaths, and 100,000 people in city 2, with 10 deaths, then we have:

city 1: 5 deaths per 100,000

city 2: 10 deaths per 100,000

Adding them together, we don't get 15 deaths per 100,000! We get 15 deaths per 200,000 (because they each have 100k residents) = 7.5 deaths per 100,000.

I feel like I'm missing the joke here.

EDIT: I mean, yeah, literally, if you add the fractions together, you get what you wrote. But that's not a meaningful way to combine death rates.

<comment><USER9> Sorry, yes, you're right. I'm being dumb.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Awesome. The Gang could have shirts printed up:

"I fought the lawn, and the lawn won."

</comment><comment><USER11> I don't get it. Why do they call it "gang"?

I first thought it was some Detroit mafia families competing to clean up playgrounds.

<comment><USER12> Probably for the fun of potentially making that mistake, or just because it sounds cooler. Slightly relevant is that they're operating unsanctioned on public property, which is gang-related behavior if you squint real hard.

But I had the same mistake; I thought somehow a business consortium had spawned based on mowing rights/contracts, from the title

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> | 10 other abandoned playgrounds in the city. | "No one owns this particular park, it just fell through the cracks," said Tom Nardone

Reading the article left me wondering about the actual status of this park, and how many others are in the same state.

</comment><comment><USER14> My kind of gang

</comment><comment><USER15> Cleanup is great. Mowing lawns instead of letting them grown removes one of the last remaining habitats for animals living close to humans.

<comment><USER16> Well they're parks where people play, but on the bright side, if you're really interested in conservation in the area there's a listing on Zillow here: [https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/Shay-Lake-Rd-Kingston- MI-...](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/Shay-Lake-Rd-Kingston- MI-48760/119495276_zpid/)

1.3 acres for $6k where you can cultivate whatever plants/habitat you want.

<comment><AUTHOR> Kingston is quite a ways North of Detroit in Michigan's 'thumb' region, lots of great farmland just North of there.

You can buy large acreage in the city of Detroit pretty inexpensively. The city itself will sell you individual house lots for $100.

<comment><USER17> > The city itself will sell you individual house lots for $100.

Sounds like a great opportunity for all the wildlife proponents in this thread to do their share and create a natural reserve where they believe there should be one. That's far more productive than criticizing volunteers for mowig a lawn.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Mowers are lame. Lawns are lame. Let flowers grow, let insects thrive. Let the birds and the bees live their rich lives.

<comment><USER19> Mowers are great. Lawns are great.

<comment><USER20> Lawns are lame monocultures, but if a lawn exists it should be mowed.

<comment><USER21> People don't have lawns because they are intensely interested in farming. They do it because they want a large, flat, soft area outside their house. You can't play badminton with bushes and flowers in the way.

<comment><USER22> That works up to a certain size. Beyond that it's just an anachronistic emulation of an aristocratic manor house with wealth displayed by all the hard working servants cutting an immaculate lawn by scythe.

<comment><USER21> That's ridiculous.

Having people cook for you used to be reserved for rich people. Are you emulating slave owning aristocrats when you go to a restaurant?

<comment><USER23> To some degree, that's probably the case.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Improvisation: Automating Music Composition and Melody Generation - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/ArmenAg/Improvisation <comment><USER2> Owner Here: First of all Id like to apologize for the lack of UI (not really big on UI) but if this becomes popular enough Ill look into doing it. To run existing UI you will need some midi files to play around with. First set the FinalUIBase as the startup project. Run the application. Load up (or create a neural network). Next create the statistical model and the fine tune your genetic parameters and run the search. Once the search is complete the ListBox on the right should fill up with items. Press on the items to hear the melodies composed (higher on the list = higher rated by neural network). Would love to hear some feedback! and feel free to email me any questions.

<comment><USER3> It would be great to hear some of the compositions. Did I miss where there were posted?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This reminds me of work by David Cope called Emily Howell: [http://artsites.ucsc.edu/faculty/cope/Emily- howell.htm](http://artsites.ucsc.edu/faculty/cope/Emily-howell.htm)

There is no source code that I could find on that project, so I'm looking forward to checking Improvisation's code out and reading the paper.

<comment><USER5> David Cope runs a workshop every summer at UC Santa Cruz, where he and several colleagues teach about algorithmic composition.

[http://arts.ucsc.edu/programs/WACM](http://arts.ucsc.edu/programs/WACM)

I went to this last summer, and it was pretty awesome. I did stuff in Clojure using Overtone; everyone else used a dialect of Common Lisp to generate MIDI files. I took off on this Overtone tangent because I had prior programming experience and a lot of curiousity about Clojure; most of the other people there were musicians, not programmers.

btw, these musicians were writing fairly sophisticated software in Lisp within two weeks of first being introduced to programming at all. :-)

You can see my own code from that experience here:

[https://github.com/gilesbowkett/markov-bass- lines](https://github.com/gilesbowkett/markov-bass-lines)

[https://github.com/gilesbowkett/clojure- circles](https://github.com/gilesbowkett/clojure-circles)

Caveat: my Clojure's a bit rough, and not properly idiomatic.

Another, very unfortunate caveat: there was an extremely inappropriate remark from Dr. Cope which, in my opinion, alienated a pair of Indian programmers, the only people there with any programming experience at all, other than myself. After Dr. Cope made this remark, both of them were gone the next day.

Also, I have to say, Emily Howell is mostly a probabilistic beat-slicer which works against sheet music. Like almost all artificial intelligence, as far as I can tell, she is much more artificial than intelligent. Her previous incarnation, iirc, only sliced up Bach measures into new measures, although this had the interesting side effect of re-creating several measures of Mozart, who apparently was a huge Bach fan.

Oh also - I'm pretty sure Cope put a ton of source code in one of his books. You can find them on Amazon and use "search inside" to find out which books have code. Be prepared for a little heavy lifting, though, if you're not familiar with Lisp.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> It is not immediately clear to me how to run the programme, unfortunately. I'm not experience with Visual Studio, so perhaps I am missing something obvious.

</comment><comment><USER7> any examples of music composed?

<comment><USER8> Yes, I'd really like to hear what it does.

<comment><USER2> I haven't really saved any music. But you should try the code out for yourself! Pretty impressive for a computer!

<comment><USER9> It takes at most 5 minutes for you to make some sort of recording and share it. Why would I spend potentially hours gathering MIDI files and setting up a development environment without at least a small sample of what to expect?

Edit: better yet, just set it up as a web service.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Does anyone know anything comparable to this that isn't Virtual Studio / runs on linux?

<comment><USER2> OP here. You could try using mono to run it on Linux. [http://www.mono- project.com/](http://www.mono-project.com/)</comment></comment>


Ask HN: is this the way to submit new thread of "Ask HN" section?  - <AUTHOR>

<comment><USER2> Yes. It'd be great if you posted a more substantial question next time.</comment>


Watsi.org: Dealing with donation fraud - <AUTHOR> http://blog.watsi.org/donation-fraud/ <comment><USER2> This was actually a pretty good read on dealing with card fraud, though most of it will be familiar to anyone dealing with e-commerce. I hadn't considered that charities would be a target for card testers, but it makes sense.

For related reading, there's the blog post of when Candy Japan was targeted by card testing fraudsters:

[https://www.candyjapan.com/behind-the-scenes/how-i-got- credi...](https://www.candyjapan.com/behind-the-scenes/how-i-got-credit-card- fraud-somewhat-under-control)

</comment><comment><USER3> This is a mostly terrible read on how to prevent fraud. As someone who has worked with Target and Michael's with their breaches, as well as someone who was that guy carding your sites...

> Our first line of defense is our payment processing provider, Stripe. They > help by blocking cases where there is an expired credit card, wrong security > code, or some other egregious mistake.

How is validating a CVV (everyone but Amazon does it) combating fraud? It's not. When you buy a card from a shop, you're given the option to sort by cards with the CVV or not. This isn't 1999. Don't get me started about Stripe's anti-fraud, either, because it's shit.

> Since adding reCAPTCHAs to our checkout flow in May 2016, disputed charges > have decreased by 85%.

Okay, great, that'll stop the bots. Most of the time, though, carders will check against a site for a one-off transaction manually so they can go ahead and use the card.

> Requiring donors to enter zip codes had no effect on the amount of fraud,

I would have guessed this would have had an effect. A valid billing address on cards these days is rarely required, though it's common to see a zip code validated.

> Our manual review starts by reviewing the email associated with the > donation.

This is good. Hell, check for their social media accounts and see if they reside where the request IP is from.

> An address that looks like something a cat made up by stepping on a keyboard > is a good clue that something may be off (hello, firstname.lastname@example.com!).

This is bad. Anyone could enter firstname.lastname@example.com ... it's not like you're going to require someone to confirm their email address to take their money.

> Stripe displays the IP address for each donation, so we can see if a credit > card from South Africa is being used in France. Stripe also tells us how > long somebody spent on the site and if any previous charges were disputed as > fraud.

This is okay, but do you really think that someone who _really_ wants to validate a credit card isn't going to use a SOCKS5 that's not on a blacklist? It's trivial and inexpensive, and you might as well with card prices approaching $10 for a good BIN.

> As a final line of defense, we use Mailgun to verify whether our transaction > emails are being sent to a real account and if they are being opened.

This is good, but some carders have a hoard of emails waiting to be used.

... if anyone wants to talk shop or has problems with fraud, my email is in my profile.

<comment><USER4> > Hell, check for their social media accounts and see if they reside where the > request IP is from.

Not to sidetrack from your whole thoughtful response, but be careful not to assume that everyone has social media.

There is life outside Facebook.

<comment><USER3> Of course there is; my folks don't have Facebook. But it's one of those points of data that, if you can confirm, should increase the confidence of a valid transaction.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Here is my experience handling fraud in a very similar situation:

1) Checking the transactions manually only works if you have a very low transaction volume and you have to somehow delay the booking which is not always possible or desired

2) You can code rules like "asdf@" is likely fraud, or every email that doesnt contain a firstname (from a list of common firstnames) increases the fraud- score. But this rules list gets really long really fast and is almost always reactive (latest fraudster used a throw-away email, lets add a check for those).

3) You can use machine learning to convert inputs (name, email, amount, etc) to output (fraud score). That does work reasonably well and limits the amount of coding you have to so (see 2.)

4) The most important thing I learned: The type of fraudster who checks 100 cards with $5 transactions doesn't care (or maybe even notice) if 85% of those transactions/checks fail. He'll try again with the next batch and check the rest elsewhere. So you need to implement a system that bans the fraudster on the first try (or as soon as possible) and doesn't let him try again (unless he changes so many variables that it becomes to much work to outplay your system).

I found a way to do 4. and we haven't seen much fraud since then.</comment>


Ask HN: Would you eat insects? - <AUTHOR> After the cricket bars company raised significant capital I started thinking, why won't most people eat insects? <comment><USER2> For the curious, a coffee-table book, a cookbook, and a memoir:

[http://www.amazon.com/Man-Eating-Bugs-Science- Insects/dp/098...](http://www.amazon.com/Man-Eating-Bugs-Science- Insects/dp/0984074414)

[http://www.amazon.com/The-Eat-Bug-Cookbook- Revised/dp/160774...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Eat-Bug-Cookbook- Revised/dp/1607744368/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=052BARS4594SSB7FYV2D)

[http://www.amazon.com/Edible-Adventure-Eating-Insects- Planet...](http://www.amazon.com/Edible-Adventure-Eating-Insects- Planet/dp/0544114353/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=052BARS4594SSB7FYV2D)

</comment><comment><USER3> Why will most Westerners eat cow, but not horse? Cultural norms.

Me - I'll try anything once, more or less. I've eaten worms, scorpions, and ants at various points in my life - you really need them in quantity to make it worthwhile as a dining experience. But I've also eaten zebra, crocodile, kangaroo, moose, and a lot of people would balk at those. Thinking about it, I'd have no issues eating cat but would be more reluctant to eat dog. Insects? No problems, and given their much higher ratio of protein and efficient growth (compared to most domestic livestock), I hope they become more 'normal' in the future.

</comment><comment><USER4> In the last year I have noticed more news articles about this subject. Why this is, I don't know.

Nope. Nope, nope, nope. I will not eat insects or worms because they are associated with disease and death and it makes me want to throw up. There's nothing wrong with that, it's a natural instinct. You might argue that native Australians eat grubs etc, but they are/were living in one of the harshest environments on Earth, at the limits of survival. You will eat anything to survive.

A mostly vegetarian or vegan diet with occasional meat can supply all the nutrients one needs, without the vomit-inducing associations.

Let that be the end of it.

<comment><USER5> > I will not eat insects or worms because they are associated with disease and > death

Do most people associate them with this? I certainly don't.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> No idea myself. I've eaten insects a couple of times, and it didn't seem like a big deal.

Now, spiders on the other hand, _hell_ no, I'd rather starve.</comment>


Show HN: Namestormy.com simply find a domain names using word maps and thesaurus - <AUTHOR> http://namestormy.com/ <comment><USER2> In mobile, it's not intuitive that adding synonyms populates them below. I found myself pushing it several times and thought it was broken.</comment>


A Quick Reminder Why Bitcoin Was Invented in the First Place - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/founder-playbook/a-quick-reminder-why-bitcoin-was-invented-in-the-first-place-f9ae7430bc17? <comment><USER2> Duplicate, most extensive discussion (3 comments) at [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15267437](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15267437)</comment>


Coding hardware with Ruby + Phidgets - <AUTHOR> http://blog.crowdint.com/2013/01/22/coding-hardware-with-ruby-phidgets.html?utm_source=blogpost&utm_medium=ynews&utm_campaign=rubyphidgets

<comment><USER2> This is really cool. I know of Raspberry Pi and Ardiuno, but I've never heard of Phidgets before. The Ruby library looks simple to use.

<comment><USER3> Yes, that was a reason that I liked about Phidgets, they have a nice and mature ruby library, the only 'drawback' that I found is that the hardware isn't open source.</comment></comment>


Rcon: a lightweight resource virtualization tool for Linux processes - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/matsumoto-r/rcon <comment><USER2> Shameless plug: I needed to run multiple instances of a binary while limiting the memory footprint (memory + swap) for each instance, so I wrote a launcher that achieves this by placing the process in its own cgroup.

May be useful as a "production" example of libcgroup usage.

[https://github.com/geokat/cgfy/blob/master/cgfy.c](https://github.com/geokat/cgfy/blob/master/cgfy.c)

<comment><AUTHOR> It's useful! Thank you for your example.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> My knee jerk was to assume that this was a reinvention of cgexec.

You had me at "limiting already running process to cpu 30%".

My poor laptop has never loved a feature so much as this.

ありがとう, Matsumoto-san.

<comment><AUTHOR> you are welcome!!

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Besides that this is a very cool little tool I think it's also notable for being written in MRuby. MRuby is a dialect or Ruby designed for embedded devices, but can be used for system tools as well. The biggest difference is that MRuby is compiled, so you end up with a static binary like this project.

The language is still the dynamic dispatching dream that is Ruby, so it might not be the fastest language, but it is a nice alternative for Go for system tools.

</comment><comment><USER5> Thanks Mats! I've been looking for something like this for a while.

<comment><AUTHOR> Enjoy yourself!!

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> See also MBox[1] and the HN discussion[2]

[1] [https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/archive/mbox/](https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/archive/mbox/)

[2] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7214419](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7214419)</comment>


Network Solutions Down? - <AUTHOR> http://www.networksolutions.com/

<comment><AUTHOR> Confirmed with tech support - Network Solutions (DNS) is down - sigh.</comment>


Film Question: Cyber-Attack in 1 line of code? - <AUTHOR> Hi, I am a filmmaker with only a rudimentary understanding of cybersecurity, and I have an unusual technical question for some research I am doing for a script. I apologise in advance if I sound like a complete newbie...
Is there a line of code (say 8 numerical digits or so) that could, in theory, cause significant damage to a government or military infrastructure?
For example, a line of code or a passkey that could disable a fighter jet, cause a military satellite blackout, shut-down powerplants, etc.
I am working on a project that deals with a cyber vulnerability being leaked in a line of code, but I would like to have something that's at least semi-realistic and not yet-another 'Hollywood hacker' cliche.
What is actually 'theoretically' possible in a line of digits?
Open to all suggestions! Thanks <comment><USER2> Check the classic fork bomb :(){ :|: & };:. [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork_bomb](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork_bomb)

<comment><USER3> or on windows just %0|%0

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> The only vulnerability that would fit this description would be a password that would allow someone access to a system. But a password once leaked could easily be changed.</comment>


The U.S. Can No Longer Hide from Its Deep Poverty Problem - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/24/opinion/poverty-united-states.html?action=click&contentCollection=Business%20Day&module=Trending&version=Full&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article&mtrref=www.reddit.com&assetType=opinion <comment><USER2> Of course the US can and will continue to hide from its extreme poverty. There's not nearly enough attention for any serious action to take place. It's already well known to those who care, and unknown or forgotten by those who don't particularly care.

The few articles I've seen lately and over the years about how expensive it is to be poor don't even begin to reach the critical mass needed to take even the smallest token action.

I appreciate the topic and _I_ care, but the headline is nonsense. The situation will continue and likely it will worsen.</comment>


Ask HN: Looking for feedback on our first animated explainer video! - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvNtfOw_xeQ <comment><USER2> Focus more on Zeroqode's templates and less on bubble. You are throwing a lot of things at people in a short amount of time.

Get them to check out Zeroqode first, then let them learn you are powered by bubble when they visit your site.

</comment><comment><USER3> Beautiful. Just a thing, the background music sounds too louder than the voice.</comment>


Twitter Rooms: a product design proposal for Twitter - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@danielrakh/twitter-rooms-e6f34e843e9a <comment><USER2> Hey author of the article here. Thanks for posting. Would love to hear everyone's thoughts!</comment>


Ask HN: Designing while commuting - <AUTHOR>

Does anyone work on designing code while commuting?  I could think of maybe using a voice recorder.  What other tools or tips would you suggest? <comment><USER2> If you can then travel by public transport then you can draw and write. Otherwise yes, voice recorder.

</comment><comment><USER3> Why? If you spend all day designing and writing code, why not view your commute as an opportunity to relax/read a book/listen to music/whatever you want to do that's different from your day-to-day work? Future you will thank you for it.

<comment><USER4> Awful lot of assumptions from 3 sentences.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I suggest using commuting time as thinking time. Open a book or a PDF and read. It seems what commuting time is designed for because of the focus.

</comment><comment><USER6> When I commuted by train, my iPad was very valuable: you can do a lot of work on it.

AC</comment>


Caduceus (a.k.a. "Tensor"/"Double-Helix") Coil - <AUTHOR> https://uncletaz.com/library/scimath/cadcoil.html <comment><AUTHOR> Excerpt:

"One radio amateur found that with two such coils, one used as a transmitter and the other as a receiver, the second would not pick up the signal from the first unless they were precisely aligned for the signal to be transmitted the alignment had to be as critical as that of a laser beam."

Now... I'm not saying that Caduceus Coils work or do not.

I'm saying, I haven't tested them -- so I do not know.

But if they work, IF they work for the purpose of sending and receiving RF -- but in tightly focused laser-like "beams" (but of RF energy), then these might be perfect (assuming one could handle the precision alignment necessary) for setting up P2P packet radio networks...

Now, P2P packet radio networks already exist, but they are currently based on hertzian waves (aka, Inverse Square Law RF propagation, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse- square_law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law)).

If they could instead be based on links where the RF was focused in a tight beam, like a laser beam, instead of broadcast out into all directions of space at the same time, the potential benefits would include:

-Not interfering with other rf sources / receivers, even though the frequency might be exactly the same (remember, you have to be _exactly_ in the path of the tightly focused laser-like RF beam for there to be interference)

-Use of less energy, much less, to get a signal across a specific distance... the energy would not decrease as the square root of the distance (remember, laser beams have travelled to the moon and back with not much beam widening, relative to the great distance...).

-At certain frequencies, it might be possible to directly go through objects... That means that at a certain frequency, a path from point A to point B which does not appear clear -- might in fact be functionally clear to send/recieve RF in this tight beam...

-If the above point is true, it might be possible to send such rf beams through the earth to communicate with distant continents (although, obtaining the precise positioning would be very difficult the longer the distance...)

But if it could be done... think of the possibilities for communication, both terrestrial and possibly with points in space (well, once you got the exact positioning bugs worked out that is...<g>)</comment>


Ask HN: Thoughts about company I work for in times of Covid-19 - <AUTHOR> TLDR:
I work at a dev shop as a PM and found out a family member of mine (I live with him) has turned positive for Covid-19..
We have few amount of helping hands and although I'm working remotely and they are aware of the situation I'm getting the same amount of assignments (or even more..)
Is it just my paranoia or is the company a little bit toxic in these type of situations?
Been thinking about leaving the company for a few months <comment><USER2> DO NOT QUIT.

The world economy is in a severe recession, about to be a depression.</comment>


How We Do Deployment - <AUTHOR> http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2016/05/stack-overflow-how-we-do-deployment-2016-edition/ <comment><USER2> HN post from author: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11620890](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11620890)

<comment><USER3> Oh, good find. We'll treat the current post as a dupe and put the author's submission in the second-chance pool (described at [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10705926](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10705926) and the other links there).

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Actual article: [https://nickcraver.com/blog/2016/05/03/stack-overflow-how- we...](https://nickcraver.com/blog/2016/05/03/stack-overflow-how-we-do- deployment-2016-edition/)</comment>


Google's 20th Birthday Shows an American Dystopia - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/futuresin/googles-20th-birthday-shows-an-american-dystopia-14bd6b9d1f78 <comment><USER2> TL;DR Google blocked blockchain and ICO Ads, a huge chunk of which were scams, and the author works in that industry, feels wronged, and this is somehow just as bad as Chinese censorship.

I'm pretty sure there are ripped off people who were scammed and blame Google for allowing the ads in the first place.</comment>


Comparison of S3 and Rackspace/Mosso Cloud Files - <AUTHOR> http://blog.mosso.com/2009/02/a-quantitative-comparison-of-rackspace-and-amazon-cloud-storage-solutions/

<comment><USER3> The comparisons they use are quite contrived. For example, Mosso charges $0.01 for every 500 PUT requests (vs. Amazon's $0.01 for every 1,000 PUTs). However, Mosso gives you free PUTs if the file is over 100K so they made the tests to have a 150K filesize meaning that they have no request charges. Whether that's true of your application is another story.

Likewise, the test is 1TB of incoming bandwidth and 100GB of outgoing bandwidth. Now, Amazon easily trumps Mosso on outgoing bandwidth charges - <USER2> Mosso is offering free incoming bandwidth __until the end of the month __. Seems a little unfair to be creating a comparison on a situation that will exist for another 19 days.

I should also note that Mosso seems to measure in Gigabytes instead of Gibibytes. Why? Well, they're storing 5TB which would be 5120GB, but they've calculated their pricing based on 5000GB as being 5TB (5000 * 0.15 + 100 * 0.22 = 722). So, you're actually getting less storage. It's not that important in the small range, but when you're talking about terrabytes of storage it sure as hell becomes important. It means that each terrabyte used on their system is over 90GB short. Now, Amazon might be using the same logic there so I should pull back.

Really, it's cheap to do a comparison using pricing that's going to go up in under a month from when you wrote the comparison.

<comment><USER4> Hey mdasen -

Thanks for digging into the details. Please allow me to clarify a couple of things...

1\. Average File Size - You have nailed the difference in request fee pricing but failed to point out that 2 of the 5 scenarios show an avg file size of 75KB. In fact, scenarios 1 and 2 are exactly the same with the exception of file size and were included to specifically highlight the difference in pricing both above and below the 100KB threshold. Also, in some instances, a smaller avg file size results in Amazon costs being even MORE expensive. For example, take a look at scenario #5 and set the average file size to 50KB. The savings with Rack INCREASE from $3,116.97 to $3,525.70. That's because Amazon charges CDN and origin fetch request fees, neither of which Rack/Mosso does. The point of the calculator was to make something that is difficult to compare more quantitative. Your assumption that file sizes over 100KB would always benefit Rackspace is a good example of why the calc was created. As scenario 5 shows, that's not always the case. We tried not to pull any punches and make the scenarios reasonable and fair (I'm an architect and don't particularly care for hyped up marketing). We believe in complete transparency which is also why we make the calculator available. We encourage anyone and everyone to run their own scenarios. If there are errors in the calc, that is another story and we welcome feedback so we can fix any that exist. We recognize we won't be cheaper in EVERY case, but at least people will have the data they need to make an informed decision.

2\. Incoming Bandwidth Charges - You are correct that incoming BW is temporarily free. I can't speak in great detail here but we won't simply be introducing an incoming BW charge. Instead, we'll be making some broader cloud pricing changes that will also impact Files BW pricing. That's still a bit of a moving target but I have a newer version of the calc that includes these changes and it doesn't change the fundamental result. When the new pricing is released, we will be releasing a new version of the calculator. Again, full transparency. We thought about waiting until the pricing changes go into affect before releasing this analysis, but since there isn't a fundamental difference, we wanted to get the analysis out now. That said, even with the EXISTING pricing, adding in an incoming BW charge doesn't really change the result. For example, on the "Pricing" tab of the workbook, change the 0 to .10 for "BW in" under Cloud Files. We're still less expensive on all scenarios (with support) and less expensive (or roughly the same) on 4 of the 5 scenarios without support.

3\. Gigabytes vs. Gibibytes - We measure in increments of 1024, not 1000 and the pricing breakpoints (see the Pricing tab) are the same. The amount of storage and bandwidth used is an input to the calculator so any number can be entered. We probably should have used 5120 instead of 5000, etc, etc. so your point is well taken. I'll update that for the next version.

Again, thanks for digging in. In general, we expect some degree of skepticism (as there SHOULD be when any company produces their own comparative analysis) but we felt there was a very quantifiable message that wasn't being told. We have tried to be as fair and transparent as we could be in the analysis and we don't necessarily want you to take our word for it. We encourage any and all to look at the cost and performance for yourself. If we've made a mistake, let us know so we can fix it.

If it would be of use, don't hesitate to e-mail me directly at erik[dot]carlin[at]rackspace.com.

Regards, Erik Carlin

<comment><AUTHOR> It's unfortunate that HN has gotten so busy lately that your reply won't be seen by more people. Thankyou for taking the time here to clarify the argument.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Mosso thinks that Mosso is better than the competition? I'm shocked.

<comment><USER6> The data itself seems pretty objective...

<comment><USER7> that may be, but the wording suggests serious bias: "cloud files saves you" is not the kind of language you'd expect in an objective review.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Is there a more objective comparison of these services somewhere ?

Well, at least they didn't do the usual, pay someone else to come up with an 'impartial review'.

<comment><USER8> They both have nice pricing calculators:

<http://calculator.s3.amazonaws.com/calc5.html>

<http://www.mosso.com/pricingfiles.jsp>

Just tack in your values and see for yourself.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Impressive latency results for static files.

Too bad that's not what I do. Post another ad when the on-demand instances are available and priced hourly.

<comment><USER10> The CDN latency test may be flawed. They accessed an 8K file once every 5 minutes, but CDNs are designed for large files that are frequently accessed. Amazon's high latency may be due to cache misses that would not occur if the traffic was heavier.</comment></comment>


Need a suggestion for a name for a JS framework - <AUTHOR>

Hey,
I have built this Event Driven JS framework over Twitter Flight. It has support for more tighter models, with event triggering on changes etc. I was not able to think of a good name. Could you suggest something? <comment><USER2> Tight Flight

</comment><comment><USER3> Ticket.js ?

</comment><comment><USER4> Drivent.js</comment>