Ask HN: What are your HNs for other domains? - <AUTHOR>

What are the Hacker-News for other domains? <comment><USER2> Newmogul

<http://newmogul.com/>

for business. It has exactly the same user interface as Hacker News.

<comment><USER3> It's the same platform as HN?

<comment><USER4> Yes. The HN source is available in the arc distribution.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Academic Hacker News: it's like reddit.com/r/compsci

<http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~ad/news/>

<comment><USER6> Thanks for sharing the link, I have submitted it.

<comment><USER5> Thanks for submitting the link, the content there is very interesting.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I use Fluther for Q&A. It has a respectful and smart community, just like this one.

<http://www.fluther.com>

</comment><comment><USER8> I started (what I hope will be) an HN for design a few days ago: <http://reddit.com/r/designthought/>

Existing design link sites are very low level and amateur. I'm trying to create a place for design links with substance.

<comment><USER9> I don't think subreddits count.

<comment><USER8> I don't see why they shouldn't.

<comment><USER10> Because they're on Reddit, which is diluted.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Journalism/News Industry

<http://www.jstartup.com>

</comment><comment><USER12> i just use HN for everything. Its a lot more relevant.

There isn't really a HN for "business, management" yet(I don't count the few forums with a few hundred users). I also don't really count newmogul, since a) they too have only a few hundred users and b) most of them are on HN anyways.

And if some time in a future a site will emerge like that, for business owners to post and discuss, most of the content won't really be relevant anyways, since most users will be the brick & mortar/services types(grocery store owners, dentists etc), which face quiet a different set of problems from the web startup world.

<comment><USER13> Yeah, but what a resource of new product ideas that would be. I for one would love it!!!

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> As I commented previously, we should consider the formation of sub-HNs:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=506181>

<comment><USER15> You could always setup your own (the Arc source is available) - I have a feeling branching out like reddit could dilate the quality here (not that there's that much wrong with reddit (in comparison to places like digg), but it's just different).

<comment><USER16> There is often a strong desire to sub-categorize online communities, but the result often ends up just fragmenting the group and diluting anything interesting.

I work in games, and as a result of that (and as a result of it being a hobby of mine as well) end up reading a lot of gaming forums.

The gaming forums which have split themselves organizationally into sub-forums like "First Person Discussion" "RTS Discussion" "Mod-maker and homebrew discussion" "retro discussion!" etc, etc, tend to lack in-depth discussion and long-term vitality, and instead focus almost entirely on surface level discussion.

The most interesting gaming forums, the ones which end up being the most full of life, and have a sense of solidity and community and "place," are the ones which just have just one forum, usually called something like "Gaming Discussion." Within that forum, since it's the only place there to talk, unofficial (but well-regarded) rules tend to form and the community tends to self-regulate.

In places where the community comes pre-segmented by the administration (eg into sub-forums or sub-sections of a site) the assumption seems to be that if you're posting content which vaguely fits within one of the pre-defined sub- sections, you're in the clear regardless of how useless your new thread is. This results in 8 billion threads with titles like "anyone played [game x]?" (often with a single sentence post within, saying something like "i havent but my friend says its lame. thoughts?"), or "fans of [genre x] team up and post here!" (even though that is implied, since you're making this post in the [genre x] sub-forum).

In the less stratified, single "Gaming Discussion" forum layouts, however, the community itself is responsible for segmenting and organizing the conversation in the only way they can -- through the actual threads they create. This significantly raises the implied quality requirements for any new thread (as anything deemed "throwaway" or "quick" like "who is a fan of this?" should either be left unsaid, or should be relegated to a single post inside a larger conversation) and tends to result in a forum filled with fewer new threads, each containing deeper, more thought-out discussion, versus the heaps and heaps of shallow threads that you get in a more stratified gaming forum community.

When there is only one place to post, and the responsibility for segmenting the content therefore falls on the community (by creating new threads), the threshold to propose a new sub-discussion area (a new thread) gets raised far higher, and as a result people post longer within pre-existing threads, causing the discussion to actually last long enough to get beyond the surface level comments which plague more pre-stratified and pre-moderated discussions, and that style of conversation eventually seeps back up to the top and carries into the beginnings of the next new thread.

Look at the forums on the gaming meganews site gamespot.com for instance, which is stratified down not just to different genres, but to a sub-forum for _each individual game_ (and is considered a wasteland, consisting of nearly entirely "when is this game coming out?" and "I liked this lol" threads), versus the single-forum communities at www.neogaf.com and the Something Awful gaming forum (which are both stable enough to be populated with fans and developers and press alike all on the same board, and are both frequently visited as sources of news and interesting discussion by all of those groups).

Of course, these _are_ gaming forums I'm talking about, so there is always going to be _significantly_ more idiocy than something like Hacker News. So, to the untrained eye I'd imagine even NeoGAF or the Something Awful forums may look like a wasteland devoid of content, but (with a little investigation) relative to the rest of the gaming community/discussion landscape, their content and vitality speak for themselves.

<comment><USER10> What are some interesting forums that you go to?

<comment><USER16> Re: games? I tend to mostly lurk on two of the bigger ones - www.neogaf.com and the www.somethingawful.com games forums, though I also sometimes read the more industry-focused www.quartertothree.com and www.thechaosengine.com forums.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> A bit of Ask HN/stackoverflow for startups: <http://www.chuwe.com>

This is my startup of course, just for full disclosure.

</comment><comment><USER18> I built a clone for .NET programmers and launched it right before MIX <http://managedassembly.com>

Explanation for why it was needed: <http://john-sheehan.com/blog/introducing- managedassemblycom/>

</comment><comment><USER19> DZone - Programming links

<http://dzone.com/links/>

</comment><comment><USER20> I have often wanted to set up a HN for the humanities.

<comment><USER21> What is stopping you?

<comment><USER20> aswanson, absolutely nothing. Similarly, nothing has stopped me from writing that book I've planned for two years; but, unfortunately, what I intend and what I do are distinct.

abe-epton, it's unfortunate that they do not allow comments.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> RubyFlow ( <http://www.rubyflow.com/> ) is _vaguely_ similar in spirit in the Ruby sphere (no voting though).

</comment><comment><USER23> I used Slinkset to set up an HN for moms/parents at <http://www.bababase.com>.

</comment><comment><USER24> Are you asking what HN's users have created as far as news aggregators go?

<http://www.gibsonandlily.com> is mine.

Its moderated, but I feel like it has a pretty good, pretty tight-knit community :)

</comment><comment><USER25> This brings to mind an add-on question. Have any Slinksets become important hubs on any domain? I haven't really seen any with a sufficient number of comments & points to "qualify" as HNs. Strange considering how well it works.

</comment><comment><USER26> <http://socialpreneur.slinkset.com/> is worth a look</comment>


Angular.js directives will break on minification unless you do it like this - <AUTHOR> http://teambrandid.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/your-angular-js-directives-will-break-when-minified-this-is-how-you-write-directives-likeaboss/

<comment><USER2> There's a better way. Anywhere Angular expects a function it will take an array as well. The array can be the usual list of dependencies and a function.

Here's a working version: <http://jsbin.com/onevaz/1/>

For what it's worth, I agree that the docs need to reflect this.

</comment><comment><USER3> Can someone explain why this is broken by minification? I'm not seeing it. Something about the parameter names ($scope, $attrs, $element) being re- written by the minifier? Does Angular require them to be named in a certain way?

<comment><USER2> This page <http://docs.angularjs.org/guide/di> is a good starting point.

Angular makes extensive use of dependency injection. The unit of DI in Angular is called a provider. A provider is a function that can be injected and takes it's dependencies as arguments. The function then performs a provider role specific action when invoked.

The specific problem here is when the developer relies on Angular to infer dependencies. Angular does this by converting a function reference to a string which returns the full source of the function. It then parses the function parameter names and resolves those as dependencies.

The canonical example of this is an Angular controller (which is one of the provider roles).

      someModule.controller('ControllerName', function($scope, $http) {
        $http.get('/something').
          success(function(response) {
            $scope.someProperty = response.data;
          };
      });

A minimizer changes the above to something more like this:

      someModule.controller('ControllerName', function(a, b) {
        b.get('/something').
          success(function(c) {
            a.someProperty = c.data;
          };
      });

When angular parses that it sees a symbol named 'a' and tries to resolve that as a dependency.

As I mentioned elsewhere, everywhere Angular takes a function as a provider it also takes an array. The array is expected to be a list of dependency named and a function. I've found that the DRYest way to declare a provider is like this:

      someModule.controller('ControllerName', ['$scope', '$http', function($scope, $http) {
        $http.get('/something').
          success(function(response) {
            $scope.someProperty = response.data;
          };
       }]);

Because minifiers don't dare touch strings, the dependency declaration is not modified. The minified code would look something like this:

      someModule.controller('ControllerName', ['$scope', '$http', function(a, b) {
        b.get('/something').
          success(function(c) {
            a.someProperty = c.data;
          };
       }]);

The order of the dependency declarations matters of course because they will be passed to the function and bound to those variables.

Probably a longer answer than you were expecting but I hope it helps. :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Minification is overrated anyway.

1\. After gzipping, which is done transparently by almost every server/client, the payload size savings from minification really aren't all that compelling. 2\. Minification makes debugging your production code harder (digging through minified source) or more laborious (working with a source map). 3\. Obfuscating your code runs antithetical to the open nature of the web</comment>


How to delete duplicate files - <AUTHOR> http://www.moleskinsoft.com Are you tired of starting up your iPod and starting your playlist to find the same song playing over and over caused by duplicate files in your Itunes library or in windows media player? Here are a few tips to help. <comment><USER2> Here's an OSX tool I like that does something similar: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=89078></comment>


Prepare for the U.S. and China to Decouple - <AUTHOR> https://hbr.org/2020/06/prepare-for-the-u-s-and-china-to-decouple <comment><AUTHOR> TL;DR summary:

Harvard Business Review with four suggestions for U.S. companies:

1/Reduce Hong Kong presence

2/Relocate supply chains to politically safer countries

3/Reevaluate relationships with Chinese companies, universities

4/Factor in geopolitical investment risk.

<comment><USER2> This is not a serious suggestion nor a serious article.

For example, it propose Mexico is somehow geopolitically safe country to move anything into, when in reality it is a failed state [1]. The authors are completely, utterly, deluded.

Not surprised it is in the Harvard Business Review. Utterly decoupled from reality.

> [1] > [https://twitter.com/punished_lui/status/1276627125555081217](https://twitter.com/punished_lui/status/1276627125555081217)</comment></comment>


So About That Whole Tech-Eating-Jobs Thing - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2015/07/04/so-about-that-whole-tech-eating-jobs-thing/ <comment><USER2> Corporations used to hire typists that could use a typewriter to type up copies of letters and memos. They'd have a room of 100 typists all typing away all day for 8+ hours a day for five days a week.

That is until the Word Processor and Laser Printer caught on and then they only needed 1 person to press 100 copies on the Word Processor after typing up the letter and memo. Learning how a PC works and how a Word Processor works requires a higher level skill than a typewriter.

I used to work for a law firm IT department. I was given a series of tasks to automate forms into electric forms that were ASP web based and use Crystal Reports to export to RTF, PDF, XLS format etc. I did my job and the people who used to do the reports by hand got fired. They got replaced with an web app that worked 24/7 for free and stores data on a MS-SQL Server database.

I felt really bad that what I wrote had cost jobs.

Consider web sites that work 24/7 selling items, they put retail stores to be closed and people who work those retail jobs to be fired. Macy's closed down stores near my house and fired people, and my wife orders her dresses from macys.com instead of going to a store now.

Now you might say you need to learn some IT skills to service and support websites and technical issues, but they offshore that work to India and China for cheaper labor. Anything needed on US soil they can hire H1B Visa Workers for cheaper than US citizens to work those jobs. So yes jobs are being created, but some of those jobs goes to foreign workers who can work for a lower cost of labor.

Yes we need a basic income and support it by taxing corporations who use automated programs, AI, and robots to do the jobs that human beings used to do. Also tax the companies that use foreign labor to save on costs. It is because those companies cost native jobs when they do that.

Unemployment only counts those on unemployment insurance, not those who lost unemployment insurance because it ran out or those who ended up on welfare or disability because they couldn't find work.

We have a lot of qualified IT workers with student loan debt who cannot find a job in this country. But they are refused to be hired for silly reasons, or considered overqualified to hire H1b Visa Workers instead.

<comment><USER3> how do you tax based on the use of automated programs, AI and robots? Robots are sort of the easiest, maybe you tax their purchase? Or some kind of yearly 'property' tax on them. What is a robot though? A fax machine? A dish washer?

Taxing automated programs and AI doesn't make any sense to me. You mention that they should be taxed on jobs they've replaced. But what if those jobs never excited in the first place? Should google pay taxes based on how many people it would take to browse the entire internet all the time and track the changes in websites they find?

I'm not completely opposed to the idea of some kind of tax, but I just don't see how it can be reasonably framed. Do you have any specific ideas?

<comment><USER4> Current taxation (e.g. income tax) should be completely fine. The government needs money to redistribute to people who are not doing well financially for any reason. But there is no particular reason to be more generous to people whose poverty is due to technological advancement. As you say, having a job at a given time is a very poor rationale for deserving that job in the future.

We know that technological growth increases the total amount of wealth to go around. If it didn't, companies wouldn't adopt new technologies. The only problem is when technology widens wealth disparities, which is what taxation is there fore in the first place.

<comment><USER5> Taxing income only hurts those who do have jobs. The solution is a Land Value Tax.

<comment><USER4> But tax has to hurt someone, and having a job is the least discriminatory way to assign this. Income is a measure of how fast your wealth is growing, and so by taking a proportion of your income, the government takes a proportion of your wealth.

I don't have time to argue (just like you probably don't have time to present a full argument for your side) but the Land Value Tax is based on outdated and wrong economics. Unfortunately because land value tax is so far from the mainstream, there is very little work in mainstream economics directly critiquing the land value tax.

I can only summarize the reasons for it as follows

\- Economic theory suggests that the most efficient tax is income tax, because income tax is the least discriminatory.

\- Some people like Piketty also recommend a wealth tax, and I agree that a wealth tax might also be useful.

\- A land tax would immediately impact the price of all land, since that land will have to pay tax in the future. Therefore the people who bear the impact of the land tax, is whoever owns land when the tax is introduced. That doesn't seem reasonable or fair.

<comment><USER6> Only taxes on produced factors can distort the incentive to produce.

As Land by definition is all that is not produced by human effort, a 100% tax on its rental value cannot therefore lower aggregate wealth and welfare.

Indeed, by putting owner occupiers on the same economic footing as renters, Land is only ever occupied by the Capitalist able to put it to its highest productive use.

So, unlike damaging taxes on income and capital, a LVT actually raises economic output.

Fundamentally, this is because shared land rent is the only fair way of paying for the services we share.

Not only is taxation of income/capital theft, but so is occupation of valuable Land without compensating those excluded.

Also, occupying valuable land is by choice. So, a LVT aligns incentives because it is paid by choice, unlike taxes on income/capital which distort incentives because they are based on coercion.

Any changes to the tax system produces one off winners and losers. This is not legitimate argument against change . Else we'd still suffer institutions like slavery.

Hope this helps.

<comment><USER4> _Hope this helps._

Was that intended to convey that you are speaking authoritatively and I'm uninformed? If so, what is the basis for your authority on this topic? The vast majority of economists recommend income, consumption or value-added taxes, not land value taxes.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> What I don't understand is where robots will get their jobs if nobody can afford the stuff that they make. Consumption by poor and middle class people is needed in order to spur development of the technologies that the rich enjoy. If there are only 1000 people who can afford an iPhone, or to drive cars on roads, there will be no way to finance the development of iPhones (plus infrastructure) or roads. This could be the Medieval economy, where the rich were really barely richer than the poor by today's standards. If the rich want sustainable wealth, in the long run, they have to figure out how to maintain consumption by the poor, either by coming up with new labor-intensive occupations, or providing basic income.

<comment><USER8> The whole driver of an economy is creation of value. Handing someone a basic income does not create any value, it just transfers it. It's unsustainable.

<comment><USER9> Counterpoint:

The whole driver of an economy is the transfer of value.

(See, it's easy to say vapid things and not back them up.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Society-wide, technology is a human output multiplier. Over time, people without jobs will find or create new jobs, and overall output increases. The question is not "how many jobs does technology destroy," but "how nimbly will this new resource of human time be harnessed?"</comment>


Good design causes brain to pay more attention to news stories - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/pr/wp/2015/10/27/study-good-design-causes-the-brain-to-pay-more-attention-to-news-stories/ <comment><USER2> That's why Medium is such a joy.</comment>


Ancient Grains Show Paleolithic Diet Was More Than Meat - <AUTHOR> http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/10/revised-paleolithic-diet/

<comment><USER2> Nothing new in that sense (diet was more than meat). Of course hunter gatherers also gathered, and used whatever food was available to them. In the source study [[http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/10/08/1006993107.full...](http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/10/08/1006993107.full.pdf+html)] the discuss nine different plants that were found ground to flour, while they use the term "grain" all over the place, only one is actually a seed and it's not wheat, others are mostly roots. Nothing wrong with that.

Here's another [<http://www.springerlink.com/content/n2871q7u63170045/>] that uses isotope data to state "evidence indicates that animal, not plant, protein was the dominant protein source for all of the humans measured". Doesn't negate use of plants, just that they were not a "dominant" source of protein. And really, before mechanical processes, how much grinding and collecting of grains did one have to do for one meal? If there's no other source of food, yeah sure, but otherwise, the payoff is a lot bigger for hunting, or nuts, and fruit, maybe even honey.</comment>


Public losing faith in science - <AUTHOR> http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/1700ab46-1dbc-11df-9e98-00144feab49a.html

<comment><USER2> I believe the article is about american public? Well... American public has always been skeptical about science. I doubt Europeans' faith in science has anyhow changed, at least because faith in science and trust to scientists is not same thing.</comment>


'Shark Tank' star Kevin O'Leary expects employees to work on vacation: '100% - <AUTHOR> https://www.marketwatch.com/story/shark-tank-star-kevin-oleary-expects-employees-to-work-on-vacation-100-2019-08-01?siteid=rss&rss=1 <comment><USER2> If this guy's employees work 365 days a year, he benefits. I wonder, does he believe in extra compensation for those who go "above and beyond"? Or is he deluded into thinking his business is the most important thing for everyone?

Every "Go go go!" CEO I have worked for that expects >100% input for absolutely no more than 100% compensation. I have had the good fortune to have alternatives and not work for that executive mindset for very long.

PS: Bonuses don't count. They are not direct compensation, and in my experience, more of a gamble.</comment>


Stephen Fry on the History of the Smartphone - <AUTHOR> http://www.stephenfry.com/2012/04/03/four-and-half-years-on/

<comment><USER2> Wow, that was an unreadable rambling mess. I can't believe that guy makes his living as a writer.

<comment><USER3> He's the stupid person's idea of a clever person. A one-dimensional actor who has played "very smug man" for so long that everyone's forgotten that he's not actually accomplished anything worth being smug about... And Hugh Laurie was always the talent in their double-act.

<comment><USER4> _he's not actually accomplished anything worth being smug about... And Hugh Laurie was always the talent in their double-act._

Stephen Fry has accomplished plenty, and (not to talk the man down) I suspect has done a lot more that will stand the test of time than Laurie has. A few to start:

Last Chance To See (documentary about endangered animals)

Stephen Fry in America

The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive

Fry's Planet Word

I suspect they will all be of more interest to historians in 100 years time than multiple seasons of House.

<comment><USER3> In all of which he merely rehashes the one role he knows how to play, Jeeves the butler. He's about as talented as Jade Goody.

<comment><USER4> Why of course, you're right. In, for example, The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive, where Stephen Fry discusses his personal experiences with bipolar disorder and interviews other sufferers, he is _obviously_ just lazily rehashing his General Melchett character from Blackadder. That, presumably, is the reason the documentary won an Emmy.

I agree that Fry fanboyism is rampant sometimes, but you can't deny that he has done worthwhile things.

<comment><USER3> I can see that it is from the hysterical downvoting ;-)

<comment><USER5> I downvoted you because, IMO, you crossed the line from criticism into mindless abuse - especially with the JG comment.

I'd be critical of him; he can be pompous, he has too high an opinion of himself, he does tend to have a "character".

But what he has done, career wise, is not as merit less as you claim. Perhaps he has more varied exposure here in the UK than elsewhere.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I really like Stephen Fry, but that was an awful jumble of thoughts. I read all the way to the end, but I don't really know what the conclusion was.

</comment><comment><USER7> Single page version: [http://www.stephenfry.com/2012/04/03/four-and-half- years-on/...](http://www.stephenfry.com/2012/04/03/four-and-half-years- on/single-page/)

Has it really been such a short time? It feels more like a decade.

</comment><comment><USER8> Um. What was the point that? (and I read all of it)

</comment><comment><USER9> TIL Stephen Fry is a true techno geek, who knew? I prefer his rants on religion frankly, I can get this stuff elsewhere.

<comment><USER6> It seems like everyone in the UK is hilarious, dry and staunchly opposed to religion. I love it.

<comment><USER10> We're not opposed to religion we just try to practice tolerance for believers and non-believers. It is only faux-devout Americans and fundamentalist Muslims (who have more in common than either would care to admit) who see non-belief as "staunch opposition"</comment></comment></comment>


Introducing Relate – GraphQL client, data agnostic, connector on top of Redux - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/relax/relate <comment><AUTHOR> Hey everyone!

I've been working on a new lib called Relate, started as some experimentation, ended up scaling to a full lib :)

The concept is simple, a simpler and data agnostic Relay on top of Redux. I think the end result is quite interesting.

Already made some docs for it: [http://relax.github.io/relate/](http://relax.github.io/relate/)

Would love to get some feedback and opinions about it.

Cheers!</comment>


Nation of Reason: Coming Out of the Religious Closet Together (on Atheism) - <AUTHOR> http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2016/03/nation-of-reason-coming-out-of.html <comment> RipSnow57-1958 It is truly good that no warranties are implied as one would be necessary if we were to take this "Looooonnnggg," post seriously. According to records, religious warfare accounts for about 2-4 million deaths in the world since any records were kept. Hitler, Stalin and Mao managed better than that in each week. Let's do enter the corridors of Lucretius and find ourselves to be the arbiters of human worth as Pol Pot did. Delightful.

<comment><USER2> It is wonderful that Ben Fathi is so loving of humankind that he would take the time to write such a 'loooong' post as you worded it when the author could have used that time to do so many other things. I believe there are a few misunderstandings in this writing that could use a little light. To conserve time, I will stick to the first paragraph.

Christians have a much more sophisticated view of the universe than the author must realize. Also, there are some flawed thoughts held by the author concerning history as it is recorded. The idea that during the Middle Ages Christians destroyed scientific progress is not supported by historical research. Since you mention the scientific method, Roger Bacon, a Franciscan friar and the father of the modern scientific method existed during this time period. Comparing what is going on now with the followers of Mohammed to the Crusades unfortunate shows the author should spend some time studying both. As for the creation of a global community based on logic, reason, science, and compassion you have just described the the life of powerful follower of Jesus.

<comment><AUTHOR> How exactly does the existence of a single person (Bacon) negate any of the arguments about atrocities in the Middle Ages?

If you are nit picking between Islam and Christianity, I am afraid you missed the point.

<comment><USER2> I thought one point of the essay was to express your belief that humanity needs to create a new 'community that is based on logic, reason, science, and compassion.' My point is those qualities already exist in the church I attend.

Bacon was silly on my part.

Another point I found in the opening paragraph places the blame of many conflicts in the world on Christian beliefs. If you see someone killing another in the name of Christ then they taking teaching from a confused source.

From my perspective the quality of life for us is ever increasing. The cause behind these improvements can be found within the influence religious doctrines have held on the minds of each successive generation. If our human nature is naturally so good how do we explain all the suffering we subject each other to everyday?

<comment><AUTHOR> My main thesis is that we needed religion, God, the threat of eternal damnation in hell, and the promise of bliss in heaven for all these centuries because the population was illiterate. They needed to be told stories to get the message across, to scare them into behaving themselves.

I said several times in the article that I agree with all the moral teachings of all religions - which, by the way, are almost identical in all religions.

My main point is that we no longer need the "stories" in each religion because the vast majority of the population is literate now. The stories are what cause religions to attack each other. "My God is better than yours", "My prophet is right, yours is wrong". Those stories are no longer relevant or necessary. Instead, they cause strife and bloodshed.

Nowhere in the article do I single out Christianity as the only problem. All religions have this problem equally - because they are based on two thousand year old stories.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> RipSnow57-1958 If one is to create such a "Manifesto," one should not beg so many questions.

<comment><AUTHOR> Once again we differ. Any manifesto that doesn't beg a thousand questions is not worth the paper it's written on.

<comment><USER3> I prefer to avoid the expression "beg the question" it's misused so often that you can't guess reliably which meaning the speaker intended, (or which meaning the reader will assume).</comment></comment></comment>


Angular 2 Material demo – run the official showcase using the Angular 2 CLI - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyorwh3rdr8 <comment><AUTHOR> how to install the official showcase of Angular 2 material, see the Angular 2 CLI hot reloading in action, learn the Portals functionality and why Angular 2 Material is more than a widget framework.</comment>


IGNOR: Image-Guided Neural Object Rendering - <AUTHOR> http://niessnerlab.org/projects/thies2018ignor.html <comment><AUTHOR> Someone posted the youtube video so I added the paper.</comment>


Show HN: I Implemented Automatic UV Mapping - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/Erkaman/auto_uv_map <comment><AUTHOR> Hello, I am the author. This is a reference implementation of automatic UV mapping using Harmonic Mapping. Because the existing literature on this topic is so hard to understand, it took me quite a while to figure out how to implement this. Because of that, I thought I'd publish a reference implementation of this technique, so that other who want to do automatic UV mapping don't have to go through all the pain that I did. To my knowledge, this is the first readable reference implementation of Harmonic Mapping. If you search quite a bit, you can find other implementations of Harmonic Mapping, but they are messy, poorly commented, and hard to understand. In difference to these, my implementation aims to be readable, and easy to integrate into other projects. Hopefully, I have achieved this goal.

But unfortunately, if you try and read the source code of my implementation, you may find that it is hard to understand why it actually works. Unless you grasp the underlying mathematics, it is probably difficult to understand the code. That is why I am currently working on writing an article that explains the underlying mathematics. I shall publish that article here once it is done. Until then, please be patient.

<comment><USER2> Thank you for taking the time to share your work!</comment></comment>


Is This the Cloud OS You Wanted? - <AUTHOR> http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/is_this_the_cloud_os_you_wanted.php

<comment><USER2> I'm so sick of people marketing a collection of user-level application being implemented as web applications as an "Operating System". It's absurd. Even in this article the author betrays this absurdity by claiming "you can switch over to Windows or whatever OS may be running". So this machine is actually running two operating systems? What?!

Also, this isn't even a Cloud OS! This appears to be a user-level program (a browser) that is just provides linkage to other user-level programs (Google Docs, etc.). A Cloud OS is (as far as I understand it) some OS that is specialized to provide _support_ the cloud from the server perspective.

Maybe I'm wrong, I can barely keep up with the buzz words.</comment>


LinkedIn, Thanks For The Product Validation - <AUTHOR> http://blog.zerply.com/post/32218203426/linkedin-thanks-for-the-product-validation

<comment><USER2> I'm not seeing it ... I think endorsements are a pretty obvious function of a business social network and while there are a few similarities, the way LinkedIn implemented its features is in alignment with the rest of their site.

I'll state right now that I have been using LinkedIn for a long time (and have never heard of Zerply), but the OP seems a bit disingenuous since it's pretty obvious he's working there. How about ignoring LinkedIn (who's probably ignoring you or at least too busy to bother) and focus on delighting your customers?

 _EDIT_ \- I just noticed that one of the other posts on your site is titled "Forget The Competition" ... here's the link if you'd like to read it: [http://blog.zerply.com/post/27334086592/forget-the- competiti...](http://blog.zerply.com/post/27334086592/forget-the-competition). The good news is that I think your site has potential and would sign up if enough of my cohorts were there. Let's see what happens!

<comment><AUTHOR> Whats so disingenuous? I could easily of got someone else to post this for me if that was my aim. Im just sharing on HN what I've already shared on our blog and twitter. Not hiding anything here, I work for Zerply. As for LinkedIn they have around 30 members of their core team logging into our site regularly, and have blatantly copied one of our core features and its copy. Do we care? Not really, as you said they are huge we are relatively small. Do we try to keep people honest, and at the same time boast of how proud we are to inspire the big boys, sure... why not =) Tomorrow we go back to building a kick ass product and forget about it, until next time.

<comment><AUTHOR> R.E EDIT - Yeah its a good blog post that, I wrote it =) To be honest I'm just having a play with this news to get some reaction, I'm sure LI won't even bat an eye lid to it.

But good to hear that you see potential in our product, I'm sure your 'cohorts' will find their way on to Zerply sooner or later :p

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> It's the risk we run when playing in this arena. Lots of space for imitation/theft -> plausible deniability -> lean & favoritism for the "big boy". Fear of this happening used to cripple me and my efforts in the past.

At least in this case there's plenty of press that "endorsements" was on Zerply first.

<comment><AUTHOR> I wouldn't let that fear put you off if you have an idea your really passionate about. At the end of the day the success or failure of a startup/idea is in its execution and not exclusivity.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Zerply is pretty cool. It needs more templates though (even premium ones). Why is it so slow to release more?

Again, I really like Zerply and highly recommend it for creatives.

<comment><AUTHOR> It has been a while since our last release, but a bunch of new themes are in the pipeline.</comment></comment>


Startup School 2014 Recap and Videos - <AUTHOR> http://blog.ycombinator.com/startup-school-2014-recap-and-videos

<comment><USER3> Thanks to Nick Sivo for turning these around so fast. I think it takes YouTube awhile to add automated closed captions to the videos (couple of days if I remember last time). Because they're not great, we're also in the process of having them transcribed, which takes a bit longer, but will be more accurate. That'll probably be done in a week or so. Thanks everyone for watching!

</comment><comment><USER4> >WhatsApp charged users $0.99/month, and was self-funded.

Is this accurate? I remember being charged $0.99/year back when they started out. And the first year was free.

<comment><USER5> I don't think it was ever $0.99/month. I believe it was initially free, then ~$0.99 for life and now one year free then 0.99/yr

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Thanks to the YC crew, speakers, and attendees for putting together an inspiring event!

Startup School TLDR; "Focus on product"

</comment><comment><USER7> Really enjoyed Danae Ringelmann's presentation. My synopsis:

1\. Product - why are you building it 2\. People - culture 3\. Journey - <USER2> are you coming from and where are you going

</comment><comment><USER8> Thought I'd share two quotes I enjoyed from Kevin Systrom's interview:

"Every little experience you have, you may not give credit, but it turns out is super important for being foundational in your startup going forward. Each and every little experience adds up."

"It turns just surround yourself by great people where you can learn the most and great things will happen."

</comment><comment><USER9> All the other Startup School videos from other locations are equally worth watching: [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcefcZRL2oaA_uBNeo5UOWg/pla...](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcefcZRL2oaA_uBNeo5UOWg/playlists)

</comment><comment><USER10> Thanks again for such an inspiring event. Sharing the playlist with some friends.

</comment><comment><USER11> I really enjoyed the Groupon Talk, and learning that WhatsApp charged to slow down development.

</comment><comment><USER12> Anyone have access to the slides? Can't seem to find them.</comment>


Ask HN: Best office chair for home office work? - <AUTHOR> I'm looking for an office chair that I can spend 6-10 hours a day in. Looking to spend under $500 if possible but I am open to suggestions. I really wish there was a service that I could test out an office chair for two weeks and return if it doesn't not perform as expected. <comment><USER3> I'll go against the conventional wisdom and stress on _not_ trusting recommendations; instead, test chairs on your on as much as you can.

Bodies vary too wildly to work on the basis of other people's experience. Also, the price is not an indicator of quality _at all_.

I have experience with a "famous high-priced high-recommended" model mentioned here, and the experience was bad (sadly, the first 10 minutes of testing felt good). I don't say that it's bad or good; it just doesn't work with my body shape.

I had another experience with another "recommended last-posture-technology" chair, and it was exhausting to use.

Ended up on a 250$ chair that feels much better than the 1500$+ one.

<comment><USER4> > _test chairs on your on as much as you can_

This is the correct answer. I spent 8 hours researching, trying out (i.e. testing) 25-30 chairs since for over a year I worked completely remote from my home office. You really need to sit in them for a good 15-20 min before you can get a real sense of what is comfortable and what will cause your body issues (and every body is different).

In the end I chose a used Herman Miller Embody off of Craigslist. It was about 75% off, in like-new condition, and fit my body perfectly. The only way I came to that conclusion was from trying out so many chairs and feeling what was nice and what wasn't.

In addition, I'd also stress ergonomics and good posture in addition to comfort. Comfort can't be the only signal or else you could get a chair that rewards bad posture and make you feel good now, but way worse after years of poor posture.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Go second-hand. If you've had a good experience sitting on a particular chair in the past, consider one of those.

I'd sat in Aerons in workplaces, so I bought a second-hand one on Craiglist for about 50% of list price. It's still going strong 5 years later.

Be aware of the options. Aerons come with one of two forms of back brace (or neither) and in three sizes, for instance.

<comment><USER6> I can also second that: a 2nd hand Herman Miller Aeron that you've tested before making the purchase; one of the damn best investments you can make.

Have had mine for 6+ years now and it's outlived pretty much everything in my home office, save for a Dell U2713HM, which is still such a nice allrounder (27" 1440p IPS).

<comment> o-__-o I would recommend the Dell P2415Q as a great allround monitor today. IPS panel, 4k, and displayport daisy-chaining support.

<comment><USER6> Oooh, at $429 from Dell, that's a nice 27" 4K at a nice price.

<comment><USER7> The P2415Q is a 24" monitor.

Also, I would recommend ignoring Dell's dual-monitor stand for these monitors (Dell MDS14 Dual Monitor Stand). It doesn't allow for the monitors to be angled inward very much at all, so the monitors are mostly parallel with each other.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> One of the under appreciated aspects of chair buying, in my opinion of course, is what you weigh. Generally the materials and construction which expect to flex and conform do so within a set of limits that the chair designer had but may not have put into the spec. You can both be too light for a chair and too heavy. That is why actually sitting in the chair is something you might want to spend some time doing if you can.

I use a $200 mesh back chair that I got from Wayfair back in the day, it works well for me. I tried it at a chair retailer in SF and decided to get one. I've found the Herman Miller chairs too stiff at times, but given the adjustability I admit I have not sat down on a chair and spent the 30 - 45 minutes of "tuning" that such an exercise takes using the manual.

When I was at Google I took their "ergo eval" which at the time did an ergonomics check for chair, mouse, keyboard, and monitor height. They recommended a Steel Case chair which I used, and it was comfortable, but it wasn't specially more comfortable than my cheap chair as far as I can tell.

<comment><USER9> I really agree with factoring weight (and size) into the choice, which can ruin an otherwise great chair.

While I like Herman Miller (especially Embody), I am really opinionated about chairs. After trying zillions, I think those chairs that are quite firm and promote active seating and position variety are the best ones.

There is a quite famous Norwegian designer, Peter Opsvik, who has designed a few great chairs for Håg and Varier: Capisco, Gravity, Actulum, etc. All his ideas are well explained in a book [1]. Basic models are relatively affordable.

Aside from the Scandinavian chairs from Opsvik, Aeris produces some nice active seating chairs and stools. Other alternatives are mentioned in this mega review [2].

Very recently, Ikea has released a stool that follows the same active seating principles [3]. Quality and price are superb.

[1] [https://www.aeris.de/en/](https://www.aeris.de/en/)

[2] [https://www.nerdgranny.com/review-ergonomic- chairs/](https://www.nerdgranny.com/review-ergonomic-chairs/)

[3] [https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/trollberget-active-sit-stand- su...](https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/trollberget-active-sit-stand-support- glose-black-40388259/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Steelcase Leap is an amazing chair, but more than $500 (or at least it was when I bought mine). I tried a bunch when I finally decided to upgrade from the $200 Staples chairs that wear out in a year and found this one the most comfortable by far. Have used it for a few years now with absolutely no complaints.

<comment><USER11> Steelcase furniture can be bought at pennies on the dollar at office space auctions.

In fact in many places companies hold "clearing sales" to clear the office space from any furniture due to the high costs of disposing of the furnishings when their tenancy ends or when they sale the building.

I bought a Steelcase workstation desk complex that costs around £3000 in the UK for £257 at an auction such as that.

<comment><USER12> How do you find those auctions? Is there a website with a schedule of them?

<comment><USER11> Google for your local area, there are like 100's of these sites in the UK in fact there are sites that charge you money just to send you a list of bankruptcy, police, customs seizures etc. auctions.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Stools. Yes, Backless stools, particularly those made for desk usage. Paired with a standing mat and sit/stand setup (either via sit/stand desk or some adjustable desktopper like the ergodesktop Kangaroo) stools can be easily thrown under the desk and hidden away if your home office doubles for exercise or breakfast room use.

My bookmarked list of stools:

The Swopper - [http://swopperusa.com/](http://swopperusa.com/) \- Expensive. Use this regularly and it's been nice.

ErgoErgo - [http://ergoergo.com/](http://ergoergo.com/) \- Usually ~100 and found at places like The Container Store. Pair with a Muji cushion or any round cushion.

Topstar Sitness - [https://www.topstar.de/en/swivel-chairs-seating- furniture/si...](https://www.topstar.de/en/swivel-chairs-seating- furniture/sitness-office/sitness-20) \- don't own this one but looked neat. They also sell a simpler ball stool called the Sitness Alpine.

Turnstone Buoy - [https://myturnstone.com/products/chairs-and- stools/buoy/](https://myturnstone.com/products/chairs-and-stools/buoy/) \- don't own but looks decent too.

<comment><USER14> I use drum thrones for the same reason: [https://www.guitarcenter.com/ROC-N- SOC/Nitro-Throne.gc](https://www.guitarcenter.com/ROC-N-SOC/Nitro-Throne.gc)

<comment><USER15> I do the same. For me it's the DWCP3100.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I have owned / used extensively pretty much what I would say are all the chairs you would want to sit in if you want to maintain back and neck / mitigate back pain:

1\. Steelcase leap: my first not-crap chair, bought from an office closing used for like $300, great chair.

2\. Steelcase Gesture: decided I wanted to "upgrade" after bringing steelcase to office. Went with a sale online and actually didn't like it much and returned it, but some people love it. This was also way worth it — the store I used had free returns, paid nothing to try the chair for a month.

3\. Herman Miller Embody — went to this after the gesture and use this as at- home work chair. It's awesome. I don't know if I like it more than leap. Leap makes you sit up right, like it holds you in the position you want to sit in in order to not screw up your back. Embody is super supportive leaning back but feel like it's less so sitting upright, but I also game in it, so as an all around at home chair i think it works.

4\. Herman Miller Aeron — currently using at work, was super psyched I didn't have to be the guy with their special chair at the new job. It's — also a great chair! I think it's similar to the leap, moreso than researching to death might make it seem. You sit upright in it, if you try to slouch the chair makes you feel it, so you sit back up right and then it supports you correctly again.

If you want to get in on cheaper end, I'd check out craigslist / fb marketplace because you can get a barely-used leap or aeron for 250-350 and the chair is going to be great for a decade. Unless you're a savant these chairs are very equitable with maybe slight preference differences. If you want more stability with warranty / want to buy new / hit a bonus and want to have fun with some of it, online shops you can do risk-free, try one for a month and exchange for a different one if you don't love it.

<comment><USER17> I use the Steelcase Gesture and I would definitely try before buying. The single thing most of my guests dislike is the tilt of the seat. If I had to do it again I'd probably go with another Leap or the Humanscale Freedom.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> The Steelcase Leap is my personal favorite office chair of all time, but it retails for around $1,000.00. You can sometimes find them for cheaper if a company gets liquidated and is offloading their old equipment.

<comment><USER19> I regularly find refurbished liquidated Steelcase Leap v2 chairs in the Bay Area for between $250-350. Find a set of gel wheels on Amazon for $25 to replace the plastic casters and you've got a great chair. There's actually a used chair store right next to YC HQ in Mountain View.

That said, these days I slightly prefer the much cheaper Ikea Markus with the arm rests removed and angled at approx 135 deg.

<comment><USER20> +1 for Markus. I bought it as a chair to tide me over my senior year of college. Still using it right now.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Depending on where you live, trying out an office chair for a while might be an option. I found a local office furniture store that sold Herman Miller (not a big box retailer, but one who sells to bigger companies), and was able to give them a credit card number and a drivers license and they let me borrow a few chairs to try out. I tried the Aeron for a week and then the Embody for a week. I ended up buying the Embody. I paid a little more than $500, I think it was more like $750. Totally worth it though, I expect to still be sitting in it in 20 years.

A note on the Aerons that lots of people have recommended: they come in three different sizes, something most people don't realize since corporate buyers usually just buy the medium size. If your frame is larger or smaller than average (speaking of height here, not weight) then one of the other sizes might fit you better.

I can't recommend the Embody enough though. I can sit in that chair for 10+ hours and not feel it. It's an amazing chair.

<comment><USER22> True about the 3 sizes of Aerons. I'm 6'3, and find the vanilla Aeron (size "B") to work. If I was 6'4, I might feel differently, though, because I use it at its max adjustment.

<comment><USER21> Also worth pointing out that height recommendations are just a guideline and two people who are the same height might fit differently in the same chair. I'm the same height as you but I'm all leg. The larger Aeron fit me better.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> In response to this post I looked to find out when the Steelcase Leap chair was introduced (1999) and found a few interesting things about it:

It was designed by IDEO.

Bruce Sterling writes about ergo chairs in Wired during the height of the dot com boom ninteen years ago this month. [https://www.wired.com/2000/07/chairs/](https://www.wired.com/2000/07/chairs/)

"The chair was developed over four years, cost $35 million to design, and resulted in 11 academic studies and 23 patents."

David Pogue reviews the Steelcase Gesture in the NY Times and discusses its predecessor the Leap: [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/technology/personaltech/a...](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/technology/personaltech/a-good- office-chair-not-so-different-from-others.html)

</comment><comment><USER24> The company I work at has Aerons, and so I've sat in a lot of them over the past twenty years or so. They're moderately comfortable, but ALL of them (yup, all) have broken in some nigh-impossible-to-repair way. Typically, the control that controls the angle of the seat breaks, and then it's at some crazy uncomfortable angle, and I have to find a new one.

I should point out that I'm not heavy at all, nor am I hard on chairs!

Looked this problem up on YouTube, and found that in some cases, it's an easy fix, but not mine.

<comment><USER25> I had a tilt-mech-ish problem with my Aeron when it was just past its ninth birthday. I don't know about warranty policies on current sales, but my Aeron came with a 10 year warranty. My local H-M dealer dispatched a service tech to my house who replaced the broken bits and a bunch of other worn parts at no cost to me. The chair is now almost 20 years old and all of the fiddly bits still work. I replaced the (torn) mid-back brace a year or so ago at a cost of something like $75. That seemed like a lot until I pondered how long and well that chair has served me.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> It has always been very difficult for me to find a chair that isn't a complete disaster either for my lower back pain or for my shoulder problems.

After trying a very large number of very expensive spaceship shaped chairs (Herman Miller, etc) I'm now pretty happy with IKEA's Alefjäll swivel chair:

[https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/alefjaell-office-chair-glose- bl...](https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/alefjaell-office-chair-glose- black-30367460/)

What this chair has going for it is that you can lower the backrest so that you can lean back over it. That takes a bit of weight off the lower back and leaves the shoulders free.

There are a lot of cheap, flimsy office chairs that can do the same, but they mostly don't have armrests and are generally too small.

The Alefjäll is very un-IKEA-like in that it has a very solid, even heavy, feel about it.

</comment><comment><USER27> Exercise ball. It's the only thing that makes me sit upright (my idea of correct is straightish back, relaxed shoulders) and it permits a great deal of hip fidgeting.

</comment><comment><USER28> After going through a whole sequence of fancy office chairs, an exercise ball, a kneeling chair, and their odd ilk, I find my old (purchased in 1983) teak dining chair with arms and a wooden back and woven natural cord seat is the most comfortable for long stretches (4-5 hours).

<comment><USER29> My body hurts just reading this comment.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> The best chair I ever used was a kneeling chair. It encourages proper posture in a way that no other chair I've seen does.

Beware, there's a huge spectrum of quality for this (or any other) type of chair. Kneeling chairs were also some of the worst chairs I've ever sat on. "Kneeling" is one feature which chair designers can use to make a great chair, but it's not a magic feature that makes any chair design great.

<comment><USER31> That leads me to ask ... what's the best kneeling chair that you've used?

<comment><USER9> Varier Balans is very good.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> Did anyone ever figure out a way to work laid back? I read a while ago some research concluding that semi laying on your back is better than this typical ergonomic bolt upright position, but you would probably have to mount your screen at an angle and attach your keyboard to some tilted surface. If I remember correctly, a 135 degree angle was mentioned, but it's been a while. I'm wondering if anyone tried it and what their experience is.

</comment><comment><USER33> Autonomous has a bunch of ergonomic office chairs that don't cost an arm and leg: [https://www.autonomous.ai/office- chairs](https://www.autonomous.ai/office-chairs)

I got the Ergochair 2 from their original kickstarter campaign for around $200 and it's still going strong. It's not perfect (the armrest doesn't lock in place, headrest isn't as adjustible as I'd like, and the cushion had a weird smell for a while that has mostly gone away now, but not entirely), but the small imperfections to me weren't a big enough annoyance to justify upgrading to some of the alternatives that were generally $500+.

In the time since I got their original Ergochair 2 it looks like they've introduced a few more, including the Myochair for <$150 that also includes a legrest. I'd definitely give that a try if I were shopping for a new chair. As far as I'm concerned these are probably the best deals in office chairs, and you have very little to lose since they offer a 30-day trial.

</comment><comment><USER34> I bought a Herman Miller Aeron off eBay a few years ago while I was working remote. Until then I'd been experiencing pretty regular circulation and back issues (and I'm a relatively healthy person under 35). Now I have no pain and no circulation problems.

I ended up taking the Aeron to work when I took another office job, and bought a second-hand Steelcase Leap V2 for home. I like them both for different reasons. The Aeron is more comfortable over long sessions (which is why it is still at the office), but the Leap is still plenty comfortable and, to me, is more adjustable.

My only complaint about the Aeron is the front lip prevents me from _ever_ folding one of my legs under the other (sitting on my ankle, basically). The lip makes that particular position painful (and probably I should not be sitting that way, but not being able to is a bit limiting).

EDIT: Also seriously, go find a dealer near you and try some out. You'll know pretty quickly whether you want to spend 8 hours in the chair or not.

</comment><comment><USER35> I'm personally a big fan of the Ikea Markus. Have tried much more expensive chairs and for some reason I prefer it.

<comment><USER36> I have the Ikea Markus at home and it's been fine, especially for a $200 chair. I use a Herman-Miller Aeron in my work office that I got when I was having back problems, and like it a lot ... but I've found the Markus to be a good solution given the cost disparity. I don't feel like I need to spend $1000 for my home office.

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> Standing desk, no chair. Whenever I feel like sitting down, I lock my workstation and walk away to do other stuff: house chores, manage personal finances, hang out with my daughter, etc.

By the time I'm done doing the other things and am ready to continue work, my desire to sit down has passed, and I can resume use of my standing desk.

</comment><comment><USER38> You can get the Aeron's on Ebay for under $500. After owning one for a while they are nice. Quality is decent but I think they're overrated for their "new" price. As with many popular things, you can search for the word followed by "sucks" to find plenty of legit complaints. The pressure under your thighs is the one I find the most annoying.

That said, I'm overall happy with my used one I own. I appreciate that it's popular enough that I can replace arm rests when they get worn out.

I have it paired with the Autonomous.ai standing desk frame, a cheap Amazon desktop & a cheap standing mat. I like this because sitting for 6-10 hours a day isn't ideal for me, but I understand for some people standing isn't an option.

I enjoy my setup more than any office one I've ever been in.

<comment><USER39> If you have pressure under your thighs, you might need some kind of footrest - it solved my problem entirely with my Aeron.

</comment></comment><comment><USER40> After years of back pain and trying tons of different chairs, I've found that swimming and yoga make more of a difference than chair choice.

</comment><comment><USER41> I have a Secret Lab Titan which I'm happy with. It's very comfortable and has good lower back support.

[https://secretlab.co/collections/titan- series](https://secretlab.co/collections/titan-series)

<comment><USER42> I'll second this! I bought the Titan about 6 months ago and it's been amazing. I can use it for long work and gaming sessions and stay totally comfortable without any back or leg pain like I used to have with a previous chair. The lumbar support is also adjustable which is great.

</comment></comment><comment><USER43> Aerons

But you might also find dining chairs with good cushions & back support which don't have wheels to be a better choice because your body isn't swaying nor will you move about your place every now & then & re-center.

</comment><comment><USER44> I have a Laura Davidson chair (clone of the Herman Miller Sayl)

[https://www.lauradavidsondirect.com/products/bowery- manageme...](https://www.lauradavidsondirect.com/products/bowery-management- chair-white-grey)

Some things are definitely not to the standard of the original (armrests) but the lumbar support and adjustments as well as the general fit are excellent for what I paid (~$200).

I had an armrest break and they sent me a new one the same day. And speaking to your request, they give you a 60 day trial.

I would buy another if I needed one. I spend 6+ hours in it regularly.

</comment><comment><USER45> Over the years I've tried a leap, gesture, HON exposure, aeron, and embody... and after all of it still find I vastly prefer a $70 Ikea Millberget to all of them [https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00331707/](https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00331707/) \- the cheap material starts to flake after about 2 yrs of use so I'll just buy one every two years I guess.

I guess the lesson is that every body is different and you gotta find what works for you

</comment><comment><USER46> We've been using this as our standard issue chair for the past 6 years or so. We haven't had any issues at all and no complaints from 40+ people including myself. I don't think you can do much better for a new chair under $200.00

Lorell High-Back Chair Mesh Black Fabric Seat [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000Q5XTE8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_LH...](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000Q5XTE8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_LHriDbS13Y73J).

</comment><comment><USER47> I've worked remotely for 16 years, and I've had the same Aeron chair the entire time. It has been comfortable, and I like how the mesh is breathable. My only complaint is that the mesh allows dust through to the pod below the chair (where the adjustment stuff lives), and it is very difficult to clean because its hard to access.

</comment><comment><USER48> The high end office chair companies will usually offer a try before buy deal.

The Aeron chairs by Herman Miller are popular in some re-insurance companies. I have used the Mirra 2 chair, but prefer the Aeron.

The Aeron, unless purchased used, probably won't fit in your budget, but breaking the budget on such an important item as this will probably be of value.

<comment><USER49> Embody is their newer model

<comment><USER50> +1 for the Embody, I love mine.

Try to get it on sale or something though, its stupid overpriced.

<comment><USER51> Agreed, I love my embody. Got it for $500 on craigslist in the bay area.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER52> I like the Humanscale Freedom. Wouldn't swap mine for anything.

<comment><USER53> I've got a Humanscale Freedom as-well. It's a great chair. Bought one for home after using one at my previous employer. Support has been amazing as-well. They've swapped out the gel seat once and the arm rests once due to regular wear-and-tear. This is on what's now a 14 year old chair.

For those recommending the Aeron - I've got one at my current job. What I don't like is that occasionally I like to sit with my leg folded under my body - fully acknowledge it's bad form, etc. but with the Aeron this is impossible due to the rigid plastic sides. For me, it's a deal-breaker for a chair I buy myself.

</comment></comment><comment><USER54> I had Aerons for years, and finally got rid of my last one for an Embody. I definitely think the Embody is an upgrade from an Aeron. At least for me, the mesh was uncomfortable and I prefer the fabric of the Embody. I also really like the fact that it's taller and supports more of my back.

We picked up 2 Embodys used for less than the price of one new one. The only negative was we had to drive from Austin to Houston and back (around a 6-hour round trip.) This was still worth it, because we saved almost $2K vs. buying new. One of the Embodys had a broken piece that doesn't affect functionality, so we got a true deal.

The place that we went also had Steelcase Leap chairs, Aerons, and many more high-end chairs and furniture. We found it via craigslist originally. I would definitely suggest finding the places like this vs. buying online.

</comment><comment><USER55> > Looking to spend under $500 if possible but I am open to suggestions.

That's a small budget for purchasing a new chair. Around $800 is where you start finding a better durability and a fuller complement of adjustments than a mediocre $200 Office Depot chair. If you avoid chairs with foam-cushioned seat pans it's reasonable to expect a Big Name $800+ chair to effectively last forever (usually they have 10+ year warranties). I sold my Aeron after at least 40,000 hours use and after a thorough cleaning it was indistinguishable from new.

As others have said, try to find an office furniture supply company that will let you trial a few chairs. Avoid foam if you don't want to be replacing / refurbishing seat pans every 1-3 years.

</comment><comment><USER56> I've been happy with my Ikea Markus. It was maybe $150 in the as-is section.

I've sat in Herman Miller Aerons at work for many years, and sitting on this all day while working remote has been great. No issues. I've had it 4 years now and still going strong. I've been quite happy esp considering the cost savings compared to the more "pro" brands.

Not specific to this chair, but I unscrewed the arm rests and find that it helps my posture a lot. With the arm rests attached I tended to lean on one side or the other and would type from an angle that strained my forearms and wrists. Took them off and the pain went away shortly after.

Also I keep the recliner disabled/locked (back stays in upright position) again, to help avoid my common sources of bad posture.

</comment><comment><USER57> I got a few Aeron chairs in the dot bomb from friends who helped clear out offices of failed companies. This was in about 2002-2003. I've used one every day since and it is both perfectly comfortable for full day sitting and has held up beautifully.

</comment><comment><USER58> I bought this one - [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MRZ02TL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MRZ02TL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

It's good. The qualities I look for are - armrests, lumbar support. I also use a pillow for extra back support.

My next one would be a Herman Miller. Once I stayed at Hilton for few days. Really enjoyed working from a HM chair.

On a side note - I'd say - get a standing desk. Sitting is one of the main root causes of a lot of injuries.

I had a co-worker who was using an exercise ball instead of a chair. Give it a try. It will force you to sit straight.

</comment><comment><USER59> I picked up an Ikea Markus, under $200 at the time, because of its strong showing on a Lifehacker poll [1] and it was the budget pick on Wirecutter [2], though it's since been superseded. I still like my Markus, but if we're shopping, I'd look at Wirecutter for ideas and advice.

[1] [https://lifehacker.com/five-best-office- chairs-30776066](https://lifehacker.com/five-best-office-chairs-30776066)

[2] [https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-office- chair/](https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-office-chair/)

<comment><USER45> The hon is pretty good, but the way the back tilts isn't super comfortable to me, and also the arm rests are a very hard plastic. I put padding on the top of the arms, but then the height of the padding combined with the fact that you can't lower the arm rests quite enough means that they sit a bit too high for me.

Nitpicking, and for the price it's not bad

</comment></comment><comment><USER60> Second handed Aeron. Also, no matter how good the chair is, you'll need to take breaks, get up and walk around every now and then. We're animals that require motion. Our bodies have simply not evolved to be sitting for long periods of time.

Finally, your chair is not the only component in being comfortable. I recently discovered that my knee pain was because my setup wasn't fined-tuned to my height. This website[1] helped me to tweak my setup and now the knee pain is gone.

[1]: [http://www.computingcomfort.org/create2.asp](http://www.computingcomfort.org/create2.asp)

</comment><comment><USER61> Let me throw this out there: When I switched to working from home, I found that I sat a lot longer at a time than when I was in an office. No trips for lunch or the "water cooler" or meetings for that matter. It started to affect my body negatively.

I invested a few hundred dollars in a monitor arm that could allow me to sit and stand, and then just got an old bed table I could set on my desk when I was in standing mode. It made a world of difference. Now I can switch around during the day so I'm not in one position too long.

A good chair is important, but so it standing and walking around.

</comment><comment><USER62> I've used an Aeron the past several years, and it has been fine; however, I've found it quite deficient for meditation sits (~1hour at a time): my legs sort of buckle inward, and the mesh doesn't give enough support for the alert and upright posture I want to avoid dullness during sits.

Has anyone tried the Gokhale chair, designed by the woman who wrote "8 steps to a pain free back"? ([https://shop.gokhalemethod.com/products/gokhale-pain- free-ch...](https://shop.gokhalemethod.com/products/gokhale-pain-free-chair))

<comment><USER63> The only thing that works for me is a zafu, zabuton and the Burmese position. If you need a chair, I'd suggest sitting on the front edge of the seat, with the height raised so that your thighs are below the horizontal. A thin buckwheat cushion on a hard chair will probably provide the best stability.

</comment></comment><comment><USER64> You cannot go wrong with most Herman Miller chairs. I originally started researching chairs because I have was having severe back pain. After several doctors appointments I found the cause, my old Ikea chair. I ended up going with the Mirra 2 and fell in love with it. It completely solved my back pain within two months. The price can be off-putting so I recommend checking out Design Within Reach's outlets (owned by Herman Miller) where you can get Aeron's and Mirra 2's for half off. Hope this helps.

</comment><comment><USER65> I fell in love with Capisco by HÅG. It's a tad expensive but it's very well made. I have one at home and one at the office and they are both like new after five years of daily use.

<comment> jacques-noris The Capisco is great, but I also like the more conventional H04 from HÅG: classic, timeless look, great build quality, but what I like most is their concept of balanced movement. The chair allows your body to move a lot and this helps to reduce strain. I tried an Aeon, but the H4 was much better for my back. It's not cheap at 1000 Euro, but you can get them quite cheap used (I only paid 100 Euro).

</comment></comment><comment><USER66> I have an Aeron at home - great chair. I have very bad lower back issues (arthritic deterioration due to significant vitamin D and nutritional deficiency; I have cystic fibrosis) and can't sit on any kind of surface for long. I can sit in the Aeron for 8 hours plus with no issues. My new one was $1200 but I bought one at a used furniture store for the office - <USER2> can't tell the difference. Pretty sure I spent around $400-500.

</comment><comment><USER67> I bought a $700 chair on Amazon and returned it after a week. Then I found this and it has been great for the past 3 years:

[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0049UCECE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0049UCECE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

It is $200, sturdy and adjustable. I am 6 foot and 200 pounds.

</comment><comment><USER68> I feel like chairs are like shoes where garbage chairs / shoes ... most everyone will not like.

However, beyond pure garbage, like shoes, it then depends a great deal on your body.

I use an Aeron for work, love it. At home (I often work from home) I have a chair from Ikea that cost less than $100 ... love it.

If you don't want to spend a lot go on the look out for second hand office furniture. You an save a ton.

</comment><comment><USER69> It's not in your budget but the best office chair i have ever used is the Hag Capisco

[https://www.fully.com/hag-capisco-chair.html](https://www.fully.com/hag- capisco-chair.html)

They have a cheaper version called the capisco puls but I wouldn't sit in it for 10 hours that one is meant to be for sitting for shorter stints between standing.

<comment><USER70> I agree - the capisco is the best chair I've ever sat in. However I find the cheaper capisco puls comfortable enough to sit in for 10 hours when I work from home. Much more comfortable than the steelcase gesture I use at work, or the Aeron and Sayl chairs from Herman Miller I've used at past jobs.

</comment></comment><comment><USER71> A Lazy Boy recliner, a hospital bedside table and a bookcase as a unit, is perfect if you don't have to get up and down much.

</comment><comment><USER72> Standing desk + bicycle underneath for ~4 hours a day is what's working for me. Biked ~46 hrs since last Sunday.

Standing otherwise.

</comment><comment><USER73> A proper Vitra such as the Vitra EA119 is my recommendation. Your future you will thank you.

Photo: [https://encrypted- tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSpaUvl...](https://encrypted- tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSpaUvld_PyxvHukBy9vwYJXL2aMfGszOUzItcvsC9n4fHujkxXXo9XhO1y)

</comment><comment><USER74> I really enjoy my Swopper ([http://www.swopperusa.com/swopper- classic-1/](http://www.swopperusa.com/swopper-classic-1/)). Especially because I tend to take a break if I'm not willing to sit in it any longer. Helped me a lot with my back pain.

</comment><comment><USER75> I use a DXRacer King series and work remotely. I've tried multiple Herman Miller models and steelcase models and returned them within the 30 day period.

I thought the $1500 chairs would be more comfortable, but they were awful for me. The $500 gamer chair is leagues ahead of the others for me.

Try as many as you can.

</comment><comment><USER76> [https://www.neseda.com/en/](https://www.neseda.com/en/)

For me the best! A Chair re-invented by true IT&Health hackers (freaks) for themselves. I Got one, has tooo many features for me to use :) but I love it.

</comment><comment><USER76> [https://www.neseda.com/en/](https://www.neseda.com/en/)

For me the best! Chair re-invented by true IT&Health hackers (freaks) for themselves. I Got one, has tooo many features for me to use :) but I love it.

</comment><comment><USER77> I've always found I prefer a nice dining chair or barstool to any of the expensive office chairs. I'm guessing this is a very individual thing, though, so best advice is to try as many different seating arrangements as you can.

</comment><comment><USER78> I use a steelcase leap v2, great chair. Picked it up for about $250 used a few years ago.

However, I recently bought 3 aerons, for about $90 each. Figured I'd sell 2 of the aerons and keep 1 aeron and the leap for myself for two different offices.

</comment><comment><USER79> I bought my wife an Embody for her home office but I've tried it a couple of times and didn't like it.

I use a Herman Miller Sayl. Not because it's cheaper, but because I prefer it over the Embody, but it is way cheaper.

</comment><comment><USER80> I have a DX racer that I use when I work from home. I've been satisfied with it

</comment><comment><USER81> Unlike a lot of people on HN, I don't like Herman Miller Aeron that was a gift from my parents & brother for my birthday few years ago. I find it to be very unforgettable to sit in it for a long time.

</comment><comment><USER82> Many areas have office liquidator types of places where you can get almost new Steelcase Leaps for $200-400. I got one for $250, it retired my Aeron, I find it to be much much better.

</comment><comment><USER83> I recommend going somewhere where you can try them out. You're probably going to have to go second hand with your budget anyway. I found that I did not like the popular chairs.

</comment><comment><USER84> I'm sitting on a Mira right now and I have a Mira at work. I used to have an Aeron at work also so I would recommend either one.

I have used Steelcase chairs and those are great too.

</comment><comment><USER85> Chadwick. By the guy that designed the Aeron. It's less body-encasing than the Aeron, made to move around a little, your back does a little more work.

It's great.

</comment><comment><USER86> I got a Staples Hyken chair and couldn't be happier.

<comment><USER87> I second this for home. Great value, but not quite as nice as the Aaeron or Leap I've used at work.

</comment></comment><comment><USER88> I have been using the same Aeron chair since 2005 to program. My back never hurts.

I would highly recommend getting one, even a used one that is in good condition

</comment><comment><USER89> Perhaps an uncomfortable chair would be actually better, because it will nudge you in the direction of taking breaks more? I think office chairs are a rabbit hole just like mechanical keyboards are. Many people will be comfortable with the cheap option, while others will tell you you're risking your health by not going for the highend option.

<comment><USER90> I understand what you are saying, but that's optimising for the 10% of time you aren't using the chair.

In the software world I would have to question the wiseness of that decision. But I wouldn't erase from the whiteboard without a discussion.

Listening to your body when it tells you to move is a very wise thing to do indeed, but it should never be relied upon to guide your behaviour. Because you will eventually just put up with it. And you neck, back, shoulders will suffer.

</comment></comment><comment><USER91> herman miller embody. more in the $1,000 range though. herman miller aeron is a good budget choice, can be in the $500 range.

</comment><comment><USER92> > I really wish there was a service that I could test out an office chair for > two weeks and return if it doesn't not perform as expected.

It's called Amazon.

</comment><comment><USER93> Second-hand Aeron. Hands down.

</comment><comment><USER94> Eames aluminum group

</comment><comment><USER95> Aeron

</comment><comment><USER96> Herman Miller Aeron, spring for the headrest and soft wheels.</comment>


The Birkana hexadecimal number symbols - <AUTHOR> http://yawar.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-birkana-hexadecimal-number-symbols.html <comment> david-given Fun fact: you can count to hexadecimal on the fingers of one hand.

The way it works is that each of your four fingers has four well-defined places on them: the three joints, plus the tip. You use your thumb to point at one of these. The first finger represents 1-4, the second 5-8, the third 9-12, the fourth 13-16. You count up and down by moving your thumb.

Also, because you use the thumb of the same hand for pointing, you can count two different hexadecimal numbers if you use both hands --- which means you can count to 256.

(I don't know anybody limber enough to do this with their toes.)

As a special bonus: if you point to the fleshy pads of the fingers instead of the joints, you can use the same system for base 12.

<comment><USER2> Counting in binary gets you even further. If each finger is one bit, you can easily count to 2^10-1 == 1023. I frequently use this to keep track of running totals over 10.

<comment><USER3> This method is impractical to use due to the way the human hand works. Representing numbers where the middle and ring fingers are in different positions is tricky, and using this method for counting quickly is nearly impossible because it requires the simultaneous movement of multiple fingers up and down.

The method of counting on finger creases, on the other hand, is entirely practical, and I've known people who have used it for more than 50 years.

<comment><USER4> There is quite some variation in the way the human hand works. I can move my middle and ring fingers completely independently, but when I stretch my left middle finger, my left pinky tries to extend, too. I can prevent this by pressing its tip against my palm.

Except for this difficulty, simultaneously moving multiple fingers is no problem for me. For binary counting you just need to flip a group of fingers inward and extend the next one. There are instruments that require more difficult movement patterns to play.

I just timed myself repeatedly counting to 32 as fast as possible on my left hand, and I averaged at 13 seconds. That seems entirely practical to me.

<comment><USER3> Now try counting to 32 using the creases method. You'll beat that time without any practice. I can count on my creases faster than I can count in my head, and it requires little mental effort, which is why you would use an external counter in the first place.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The bibi-binary notation is somewhat similar (16 === 2^2^2). It was patented in 1968 by Bobby Lapointe, a French variety singer, but didn't get much traction AFAICT. Bibi-binary also has a custom pronunciation for hex digits.

The article is in French[0], but the main illustration that describes the system is self-explanatory[1].

0\. [https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syst%C3%A8me_Bibi- binaire](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syst%C3%A8me_Bibi-binaire)

1\. [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Table_de...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Table_de_correspondance_entre_le_Bibinaire_et_les_autres_notations.svg)

<comment><USER6> I just translated the article to English; see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibi- binary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibi-binary) .

<comment><USER7> Thanks a lot! :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> It could also interestingly be mixed with reflected binary code [1] with only one segment changing between two successive values.

> Theoretically, the Unicode Consortium could decide to add the Birkana > symbols to the Unicode specification and some enterprising font designer > could come up with a set for general use.

There are already some runes encoded in unicode, but most of the symbols of the birkana system does not match any existing historical runes though.

Yet, there is something in unicode that is somehow visually close [2]: braille patterns (2 columns of 4 rows of dots). But sadly the braille dots are not ordered in the same way because it was extended from 6 bits (from top to bottom : left column 123, right column 456) to 8 bits (from top to bottom : left column 1237, right column 4568).

\--

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

[2] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille_Patterns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille_Patterns)

</comment><comment><USER9> What I find the neatest is that it's not just showing hexadecimals, but the binary representation at the same time. In the Birkana symbol for 9 it's very easy to recognize the binary 1001: it has the top and bottom 'bits' set.

It also made me aware that I never thought about the symbols we use for numbers. Our digits 0 through 9 suddenly seem very arbitrary, looking at Birkana. Though ten digits are more difficult than sixteen to represent this way, they could certainly have had logic in them.

<comment><AUTHOR> As for the logic behind our decimal digits, there was an explanation going around for it, but at best it's probably reaching very hard. I'll let you decide: [http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=49183](http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=49183)

<comment><USER10> The actual logic is a bit more benign.

Once upon a time, the digit for 0 was a dot, the digit for 1 was (close to) ι, the digit for 2 was (close to) μ, the digit for 3 was close to w with a leading descender like μ has. The digit for 4 might have been closer to a + sign that eventually morphed to look more like a backwards 2. It was the number of vertical lines which encoded 1, 2, or 3; with 4 and 5 and 6 there was more need to come up with more-abstract symbols.

In Arabic these first 4 digits have actually survived relatively unmolested, ٠ - ١ - ٢ - ٣, while the backwards 2 for 4 started hooking down to become a ٤ and some other stuff happened with the next 5 digits.

In English the digits for 2, 3, and 4 all rotated about 90 degrees counterclockwise while the tail disappeared for the 3 and the 4 didn't close up on the top until relatively late.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Huh, you could use a double-sided version of this for a byte.

<comment><USER12> I like it! Comes with a built-in eternal holy war over whether 0x16 goes top left or bottom left.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> The geomantic figures ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomantic_figures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomantic_figures)) can also represent 4 bit values. Unfortunately they aren't in unicode either. The Ba gua ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagua](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagua)) are, but can only represent 3 bits per symbol.

<comment><USER14> The Tài Xuán Jīng symbols are, however. A subset can be used like:

𝌆𝌇𝌉𝌊𝌏𝌐𝌒𝌓𝌡𝌢𝌤𝌥𝌪𝌫𝌭𝌮

So Unicode has Bagua (3 bits), Tài Xuán Jīng (4 trits), and I Ching (6 bits, but incomplete).

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> That's just binary? I find hex notation much easier to use and to communicate verbally.

<comment><USER16> There are 16 symbols, so it's hexadecimal.

The symbols themselves neatly match the binary representation of 4 bits, so you can look at the numbers and see them as binary numbers in groups of four if you wish.

These would be great hexadecimal symbols for programmers.

<comment><USER17> I get what the parent is saying, though. It's just binary digits on a weird looking vertical number line. Each part of the "digit" may as well be a zero or a 1, because that's all it represents. Position tells us what the value is, 2^0, 2^1, 2^2, or 2^3, no need for different symbols. And while we're at it, let's write it left-to-right MSB first, because that's how other numbers work, and it fits on a line nicely, like so: 0101.

</comment></comment></comment><comment> todd-davies > AMONG number systems, the hexadecimal system of counting (or 'radix') has a > special place in the hearts of programmers, being closely related to binary, > the fundamental number system used by all modern computers.

Could somebody explain how hexadecimal is more closely related to binary than any other base is? My only conclusion is that one hexadecimal digit is equivalent four binary digits.

<comment><USER18> Bases in 2^n can be easily converted between, as you can consider each group/symbol independently when converting.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> I think there is a problem with this notation - it is not self aligning. Meaning that if you hand wrote these you could then easily mis-read the values. It would probably be okay in printed form or if you were using lined paper, using the ruled line as a centre point.

<comment><USER20> Can you provide an example that could be misread?

I think its quite easy to judge whether a downwards accent starts at the top of the line or at the middle, similarly for the upwards accent if it starts at the middle or at the bottom.

<comment><USER19> I may have made a mistake in assuming that the vertical line, because it was drawn in a different weight, was not part of the symbol. Without the line 1 & 4, 2 & 8 and 3 & 12 would rely on the vertical relationship with other symbols.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> It somewhat reminds me of this: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bruce_Martin_hexadecimal_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bruce_Martin_hexadecimal_notation_proposal.png)

I've also seen various notation for writing numbers in hex used by some reversers/crackers/demosceners mostly from Eastern European countries, who probably used hex enough to develop something similar to a stylised form of 0-F but distinctly different from those letters/numbers for easier reading and writing. (This was when home computers were still relatively new, and it was usual to make great amounts of handwritten material when working with them.)

</comment><comment><USER22> I had reinvented these symbols, without knowing Birkana, for one of my hobby alphabets at high school. I had given a lot of thought with my high-schooler leisure time and haven't been able find more simple system with enough data capacity. I think readability suffers from similarity though.

They also look like some symbols from Old Turkic alphabet, If I recall correctly it was my source of inspiration: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Turkic_alphabet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Turkic_alphabet)

</comment><comment><USER23> I like the 12480 script [http://www.omniglot.com/conscripts/12480.htm](http://www.omniglot.com/conscripts/12480.htm)

</comment><comment><USER24> it would be nice, just generally, not to introduce another character which is just a plain vertical line, even if 99.9% of the time it is identifiable by context</comment>


High Priority Free Software Projects - <AUTHOR> http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/priority.html <comment><USER2> Umm .. why does this list only contain clones of commercial softwares? I would rather say that high priority projects are the linux kernel, git, myriad python and ruby interpreters etc which are widely used and do contain some design innovations.

<comment><USER3> I also feel it a bit disappointing that there were so many "replacements" on this list.

How about something completely original? How about we start racing the commercial sector to a worthwhile goal like computer vision, or decent speech recognition. Anything more inspiring than a "Skype replacement" will do fine.

We just need a few more things where the open source version is the dominate player, instead of a clunky, half working "free replacement" for commercial software that wasn't very good to begin with.

<comment><USER4> True. Octave is on the list. As mentioned in the Reddit thread though: <http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/priority.html> A lot of companies need to use Matlab because of the large codebase out there that is written in MatLab.

While Octave is good numpy/scipy/matplotlib are also free (in both meanings of the word) and great software. There is also Sage.

So get started writing machine learning libraries in Python!</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: An employee at a competitor signs up to your site. What do you do? - <AUTHOR> Background: The first competitor in this space started back in 2012. I had a look at their product last year and thought I could do better.
For the last year, my product has been a sub-set of their features with a better UI/UX (in my opinion anyway!). I recently started to differentiate though and released a feature they don't have and am working on releasing other new/differentiated features.
Other background: They're definitely the biggest in this space, but recently, they've been losing a lot of customers to a different competitor that started in 2014, but they don't seem to have copied any of the differentiated features that competitor has released (yet).
Today, I saw that someone from their company signed up to my site. They only have ~10 employees, so they definitely know I exist now.
Is there anything that you would do in this situation, or just keep moving along? <comment><USER2> Just keep moving. Worry about releasing your features and being a better solution not that they are looking at what you already have done.

I had a mentor that told me to tell everyone about what I am doing and not hide things. His point was that if you aren't moving fast enough and in the right direction competition isn't what will kill you, you will just die. The more time you worry about a competitor the more time they have to catch up, so the moral is always focus on product. That doesn't mean you don't do a competitive analysis at some points, just that you don't waste time worrying about what they are doing, you find the right path and execute on what the market needs/wants, not what others are doing.

<comment><USER3> Also if you think keeping public features secret is a method of security, then you need to find other methods.

This employee could be considering leaving their current job. That company might also be considering trying to acquire you.</comment></comment>


Nerd-Fonts – Patched Fonts for Vim - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts <comment><USER2> It appears to be several popular programming fonts with a bunch of extra glyphs added. Does Vim require special font support, because I'm having a hard time figuring out the point of this.

Is this for people who like to put icons into code comments?

<comment><USER3> Buried at the bottom of the README is the Rationale:

> Originally created for use with vim-devicons vim plugin to add glyphs > (icons) as labels for files based on the filetype extension or entire path

<comment><USER4> Thanks, has been refactored to make things more clear from the top

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> No Misc-Fixed in the list? That's what first comes to mind when I think of a "nerd font":

[https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs- fonts.html](https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs-fonts.html)

</comment><comment><USER6> A reminder to those writing open source READMEs: People coming to your project have probably never heard of it before. Tell us what this is and why, don't bury the lede.

<comment><USER4> Good point, while in my mind I thought I did do that I have now fixed/improved it to make it more obvious.

Thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I confess I do run vim-airline and tmuxline so I am not entirely innocent when it comes to adding custom fonts to machines for my terminal. It makes them look a little bit nicer, doesn't cost much effort or screen space and doesn't degrade too badly.

For my eyes, vim-devicons looks like a crazy amount of icons for any console app. Can't say I am a fan but as always it is great to see diversity and tool makers making tools for every need.

</comment><comment><USER8> I think we all look at this and think that it has crossed some line. But I also have to admit that I find myself lusting for one glyph or another, so I can't say where to draw it.

All of which means: amazing job.

</comment><comment><USER9> What advantage does this solution have over having a custom font configuration on Linux with fallback support for a font with unique unicode glyph support? In my case, I have Google's Noto font as my main font and have Font Awesome and Emoji One as my fallback fonts and it seems to cover everything.

What exactly do these patched fonts do or add?

<comment><USER10> they work in more places

e.g. other operating systems

<comment><USER9> I'm genuinely curious, do you have any idea how other OSs handle fonts? Does OSX have something similar to Linux's X11's font configuration? What about Windows?

<comment><USER10> if I'm not mistaken, windows can handle fallback fonts, but it requires a fair bit of manual working to do

[https://msdn.microsoft.com/en- us/library/windows/desktop/dd3...](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en- us/library/windows/desktop/dd374105\(v=vs.85\).aspx)

so in most cases, it is unsupported, and in situations where it is supported, it is usually not exposed as an option

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Awesome,it is a hard work

</comment><comment><USER12> Getting a real brogrammer vibe from this

<comment><USER13> Says ps4fanboy?

<comment><USER14> Perhaps the statement was meant as a positive exclamation?</comment></comment></comment>


The Largest Discovered Structure in the Universe Contradicts Big-Bang Theory - <AUTHOR> http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2013/11/the-largest-discovered-structure-in-the-universe-contradicts-big-bang-theory-cosmology-weekend-featu.html <comment><USER2> Common sense contradicts big bang theory.</comment>


Exploring Google's New Android Architecture Guidelines - <AUTHOR> https://underthehood.myob.com/exploring-googles-new-android-architecture-guidelines/ <comment><USER2> It's a good thing Google is providing high level app architecture frameworks and related classes. Writing non-trivial apps requires strong architecture, but using thrid party libraries to accelerate development of high level app architecture leads to every shop having an idiosyncratic development approach.

I am ambivalent about Google providing an ORM framework. While many coders are very used to an ORM, Android's ContentProvider, Cursor, and Adapter classes make it easy to do without ORM. But this approach is very Android-specific. It can be hard to "transliterate" code to this approach.</comment>