Clampdown on cold call companies unveiled by government - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31616523 <comment><USER2> My method is as follows:

\- I don't have a landline phone

\- If someone calls my mobile and they aren't in my address book, I just don't answer.

\- If that number is withheld I especially don't answer

\- If they leave a message I will listen to it and respond if necessary

\- If the number is not whitheld but not in my phone book, I google it, and if it is a legitimate business, it will usually show a match on the company website. If I need to I'll call them back e.g. today I had the estate agent ring, but I didn't have their number saved so I didn't answer. I rang them back once I had googled their number

<comment><USER3> This is my method, too. The only problem I have is that it seems about half the companies who cold call sales leads use some software that spoofs a local exchange, and I _do_ generally answer the phone -- even when it's not one of my known contacts -- when it originates from my home area code. Not doing so risks missing calls from contractors, schools, kids' friends, my friends, etc.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> The US Do Not Call list seemed pretty good at cutting the number of cold calls substantially. The remaining cold calls are clearly illegal (in the US). This situation seems vaguely like the Tragedy of the Commons to me. I've decided to listen all the way through the recording speech - these evil psychos can only have a finite number of interactive response units, so monopolizing one of the for as long as possible cuts down on the number of calls they can make. I also attempt to engage the human operators for as long as possible. The evil psychos making these calls clearly have a smallish number of human operators. Wasting their time is even more important. I've actually been able to transport my cell phone to the restroom and flush the toilet in a human operato's ear several time.

No, I don't think that the human operators deserve civility, manners or any kind of polite treatment. They know that what they do is at best marginally legal, and very probably illegal, yet the keep doing it. They've violated the social contract, not me. They can suffer through whatever they can tolerate.

<comment><USER5> I have been there, but I decided that the human operators were still human. So now rather than turning rage-monster at them, I take up their time trying to persuade them that they deserve a better job, that they don't have to waste their lives working as a criminal who lies to people for a living.

<comment><USER4> They're still human, but they also resist all attempts at my communicating anything other than "I'm a dope, and I'm falling for your scam." I've tried asking to be put on no-call lists, asking to be referred to supervisors, and telling them to quit before they're indicted. I mostly got instant hang ups. A few times, I got laughter. Now, I waste their time. I keep an expired Visa- brand gift card in my wallet so I can give them a credit card number that passes cursory checks.

Everyone should be wasting "Anne from Cardholder Services" time. The victim of the tragedy should be their commons, not ours. They are the lawbreakers, they are the deliberate bad actors.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> _ring ring_

"Hello?"

[recording plays:] "Due to a change to the rules introduced by the government, you may be entitled to compensation for nuisance calls"

(stolen from [https://twitter.com/rablivingstone/status/570496682829451264](https://twitter.com/rablivingstone/status/570496682829451264))

</comment><comment><USER7> I had a call from someone claiming to be investigating nuisance calls, as we get a lot of nuisance calls I was quite happy to chat to them - then I realised they were actually selling a service that claims to cut down on nuisance calls... so I gave up at that point.

</comment><comment><USER8> The Do Not Call database in the US has never been effective because the type of company making these spammy calls doesn't care if they are breaking the law. There is no enforcement effort to track them down.

<comment><USER9> Do you remember what things were like before the Do Not Call database? We would get one or more marketing calls a day on our home phone (landline). These days, maybe once a month.

<comment><USER8> I've been on it for years as well as the DNC database for caregivers of elderly patients with diminished capacity and I receive more than 5 calls per day.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> It seems as though at least for smart phones this could be easily solved through technological means similar to those used for screening email, something along the lines of a spam classification system.

I envision my phone having a white list of known good numbers, which would be allowed to cause my phone to ring like it does now; a black list of known bad numbers, which would be immediately dropped; and a catch-all handler for all other numbers, which would send the call to voice mail for easy manual classification into either of the other categories.

<comment><USER11> Why go for the technical option is the legal one is far more effective?

In my country hospitals (and so on call) from an "unknown" number. So blocking that is a bit dangerous. There's a general "do not cold call" list and if you get a cold call while being on that the company behind it can get a hefty fine per call that they make.

There's an government organization which checks if companies abide to this (and a few other things). They seem to enjoy going after companies and fining them. Which is probably why I don't get any cold calls.

Note: Obviously there are all kinds of rules, etc. E.g. once you add yourself to the cold call list, there's 6 week grace period (as companies are allowed to only update their do-not-call list every so often). Though at the same time, even if you're not on the country's do not call list you can still ask to be put on the list for the company calling you. It is mandatory for a company to do that. Else the company will get a fine. There's different rules for companies which have or had a business relationship with you.

<comment><USER10> While this will vary from country to country, at least here in the US there are several situations where the legal means are not more effective. The main one is scammers who just don't care, either because they're running a "hit and run" type of operation or because they're operating from overseas. Then there are classes of phone calls which are (again, at least in the US) exempt from the legal "do not call" rules: politicians making campaign calls, and survey firms, which the politicians use to determine who to bother calling. It's a nice loophole that they've constructed for themselves. Luckily it's only a problem for a few month every other year.

<comment><USER5> The US regulators are working hard at it, but it's a challenging problem. The robocalls I all get now are very good at masking where they are from; the humans you talk to know not to give away the name or location of the company.

For those interested in learning more, the FTC had a robocall summit a few years back and they recorded the webcast: [http://www.ftc.gov/news- events/events-calendar/2012/10/roboc...](http://www.ftc.gov/news- events/events-calendar/2012/10/robocalls-all-rage-ftc-summit)

There was a lot of good technical detail on why it's now hard to track these people down.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> This article does not mention the Telephone Preference Service. It's a useful step to take.

The article doesn't mention the fact that most mobile providers in the UK have free numbers that you can forward spam texts to.

There's also a problem with a gap in the law that allows "genuine market researcher" to contact you to -- this loophole is used by some companies as lead generation.

<comment><USER13> I belong to the TPS, and I still get a dozen cold calls a day. When I ask where they got my details from they simply say it came up on their system. When I ask for their details they hang up. When I call 1471 it's an unlisted number.

Currently there is no viable way to prevent these calls, or to get off their lists.

<comment> mike-cardwell Block withheld numbers?

<comment><USER14> That's what I did. Went from 1-2 nuisance calls per day (I mainly work from home) to none at all. It's just a shame BT charge money for this service.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Is the only real solution to only accept calls from a phone number whitelist?

The regulatory problem I can't work out how to solve is that of foreign companies attempting to scam people, e.g. the variations on "I'm calling from Microsoft, your computer has a virus..."

If you can only take action against companies based in your country, what's the next step?

</comment><comment><USER16> So when does a "customer development call" become a cold call? As a small startup trying to talk to potential customers how does this affect me? All these books on startups talk about picking up the phone and talking to people.

<comment><USER17> Did you have a prior relationship with these people? Did they somehow indicate they would be involved in your marketing actions?

No? Then it's probably a cold call and you're just annoying people.

<comment><USER18> _No? Then it 's probably a cold call and you're just annoying people._

Sorry but this is naiive. Cold calling works, and not because you are bugging people. You know that "prior relationship" you mention? Well it has to start somewhere and a call is as good as any.

<comment><USER5> If your definition of "works" is "is rewarding for the perp", then sure all sorts of things "work". Theft, fraud, and extortion, for example, all work wonderfully well -- for the mafia. Our laws are mainly about things that "work", because if they didn't work, people wouldn't do them enough to matter.

Your mistake is not accounting for the negative externalities. Cold calling and spam both can "work" for the sending party because it lets them find the very small proportion of people who they can sucker into whatever they're pushing. But they impose costs upon other people too, and for them spamming and cold calling definitely doesn't work. Which is why we took the time to outlaw both of them in the US.

<comment><USER18> _sucker into whatever they 're pushing_

This is the same "If you build it they will come" logic that doom so many startups. The reality is that even if you have a perfect solution to someone's problem you still have to go sell it to them. Uber started with cold calls, so did many other successful startups. It's the lowest barrier to entry there is.

Lets also differentiate between b2b cold calls which is what I have in mind mostly, and b2c cold calling. I think the latter is probably magnitudes less effective and more "sleazy" than the former and there are better ways of targeting advertising at individual consumers at this point.

<comment><USER5> It is the same logic only if you believe there is no possible way to sell people other than cold calls. Otherwise it is _different_ logic. But hey, nice straw man. Maybe you'll feel better if you attack it some more?

Your point that cold calling works is repetitive, and was previously addressed.

And of course you believe that the thing you did/want to do is less sleazy. All people doing sleazy things believe that whatever they're doing is in fact ok, or at least justifiable. That's what we humans are really good at: justifying our own particular bullshit.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> We don't have a legitimate direct marketing industry. We just have a direct marketing lobby, hence the verbiage appeasing them.

</comment><comment><USER20> Is it election time already?</comment>


Startup/tech meetups in Seattle & Portland? - <AUTHOR>

Hi all,<p>I'm flying into Seattle on the 9th and will be in-between Seattle and Portland until mid-February. Any fun startup/technology meetups or events going on? I've never been to the area for very long, so interested in checking out the startup community. <comment><USER2> Hey there, pre-welcome to Seattle! Seattle has a pretty active startup community, and most of the events are quite well captured on Startup Seattle's calendar: [http://startupseattle.com/events/](http://startupseattle.com/events/)

Otherwise, let me know when you're in town, I'd be glad to show a fellow hacker newser around ;).

<comment><AUTHOR> Great thanks, I'll let you know when I'm around!

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> There are tons of meetups in Seattle! Check out meetup.com and we also have Beer && Code at Substantial if you are a developer.

FYI: The Seattle Tech meetup isn't really about tech it's a sales pitch type thing. Some people like it I personally would never go back.

<comment><AUTHOR> Awesome, thanks a ton!

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> As @samiur1204 mentioned, that's a great place to find events. For info on what's happening in Portland, I suggest hitting up @adron on Twitter.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> For Portland you should check out Calagator: [http://calagator.org/](http://calagator.org/)

<comment><AUTHOR> Will do, thanks!</comment></comment>


How the Internet will (one day) transform government - <AUTHOR> http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/clay_shirky_how_the_internet_will_one_day_transform_government.html

<comment><AUTHOR> I love how Clay thinks society should implement git-like concepts into how we interact. Could it actually work?

<comment><USER2> I think that it stands a better chance to get started on a local level. Not just with Git, can you imagine a MINT style presentation of city or township budgets? Only a handful of people provide input on budgets because of the difficulty of getting their minds around it. People complain how the money is spent or not spent after the fact. Radical transparency is the key.</comment></comment>


Pixel Qi vs iPad - <AUTHOR> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NotK4TVQ-6E YouTube video demonstrates the comparison of Pixel Qi screen and the iPad in broad sunlight.<p>Why hasn't Apple picked on this screen technology yet? <comment><USER2> Fun demo. Not really surprising, of course.

Anyone know when the Pixel Qi DIY kits will hit? Last I heard it was "end of Q2..."

</comment><comment><USER3> I'm really hoping that Nvidia sorts out the supply issues with Tegra 2 and Notion Ink Adam sees the light of the day some time this year</comment>


How NASA launched its web infrastructure into the cloud - <AUTHOR> https://gigaom.com/2014/12/19/how-nasa-launched-its-web-infrastructure-into-the-cloud/

<comment><USER2> This might be of interest as well: [http://hanselminutes.com/439/space-and- the-next-it-decade-wi...](http://hanselminutes.com/439/space-and-the-next-it- decade-with-tom-soderstrom-from-jpl)</comment>


Why do Volvox spin? - <AUTHOR> http://williewong.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/why-do-volvox-spin/

<comment><USER2> This is Mark Tilden's BEAM robotics (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BEAM_robotics>) in the real world.</comment>


Rejection - <AUTHOR> http://blog.latentflip.com/post/29820876915/rejection

<comment><USER2> My feeling is like that of astrojams', though I wouldn't like to say what particular part of your upbringing or culture leads you to have such a (to me) weird desire to praise the mundane and unremarkable.

By your own observation, Alex succumbed to social pressure to overcome his fear of heights. He topped off the event with some damage-limiting self- deprecation. All of that's normal. It wasn't especially brave or ingenious or anything. Maybe now he's made the jump he'll be less worried about it next time. Maybe he won't.

Frankly, if you'd gone over and congratulated him, you'd either have embarrassed him (because his dive was so terrible that some well-meaning weirdo felt the need to encourage him) or weirded him out (because seriously, who goes around complimenting strangers?). In the meantime, you're lying (it's not like his dive was actually impressive) and fostering an environment where people get praised for every meagre personal triumph. Please don't do that.

<comment><USER3> I've responded to astrojams' comment already, but I'd guess his fear/concern about his first jump from the 1 meter diving board is about on a par with my fear of diving from the 3 meter board (something I've yet to do).

If, when I eventually do dive from the 3 meter and join the queue to go again, someone turns round and gives me a high-five, I don't think I would be particularly weirded out or embarrassed. And I don't think it would stop me from seeking my full potential in the future because my meagre personal triumph had been rewarded in some small way.

But hey, maybe I am just weird and sheltered. _shrugs_

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I too have missed opportunities to encourage people when they needed it. I'm more forthright now, quicker to laud others for trying, but I still wince when I think of those instances.

The post is well written and the analogy seems appropriate btw. Rejection Therapy has a post on the secret fear hacks of high divers and the golden rule is to never balk: [http://rejectiontherapy.com/fear-hacks-of-world-class- high-d...](http://rejectiontherapy.com/fear-hacks-of-world-class-high-divers/)

Alex never balked either. Good for him. Great blog post too.

<comment><USER3> Thanks! That link will definitely help me as I move up to the 3 meter board (which scares the crap out of me!).

<comment><USER5> I dove for 9 years, through college, and the trick I always found is to just do it as much as you can. The more time you spend at 3 meter (or 10 meter) the less fear you have. As an example, went to a practice about a year ago after not diving for 3 years and it took me a lot of time bouncing the board to get comfortable throwing dives again.

Spending time higher up also makes coming down to a lower height that much better. Train on 10M for a full day and then come back down to 3M and it seems like nothing. Was a good strategy to break your fear. One of my coaches (from Hungary) her father was her coach and used to dangle her and the other new recruits from the platform at a young age to break their fears. Not a strategy I would use with my kids, but worked for her (a 1988 Olympian.)

<comment><USER6> >(a 1988 Olympian.)

In that case the strategy worked really well. You should seriously consider it for your kids :-)

<comment><USER7> Dangling kids over things did not go as well for Michael Jackson. This may not be the best idea...

<comment><USER6> 'Tough love' is a normal part of any physical training (Military , sport, you name it). It prepares pupils for the tougher things they are going to encounter in the real world.

As for Michael Jackson, I don't think it was any different than a lot of guys who throw babies up in the air and catch them on their way down. Gives me a mini heart attack every time I see one.

Babies love that stuff though.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Whilst I appreciate the encouraging words, this is an incredibly cheesy and highly unrealistic analogy.

Again, I get the authors point however the delivery is terrible. The kids post-dive reaction is unrealistic, the kids pre-dive fear is unrealistic. I accept it's just an analogy but the story bothers me.

Maybe it's people like me the author is targeting.

<comment><USER9> Your opinions are valid, though I would like to point out that I (for instance) felt the pre-dive fear was not at all unrealistic, and so it may be that our opinions are divided based on our personalities / life-experience.

But never the less, if that is his pre-dive emotion, who are you to discount his fear? other than perhaps someone with the benefit of hindsight? (I pressume you to be older than 16).

I like it, and you're welcome to your opinion (obviously), just thought I'd share my opinion of yours.

<comment><USER8> Granted, everyone thinks differently.

The subject is a 16 year old male.

Pre-dive his fear would primarily be the height and significant impact on landing. They are primal fears that significantly override one of rejection.

Post-dive, how likely is it that a 16 year old would surface and shout 'I failed'? Realistically, they may think like that but they wouldn't vocalise it. They would sheepishly swim off to a corner out of sight.

<comment><USER3> Hi, author here. Clearly a lot of this post is my analysis of what was going on in the boys head, which I can only hypothesise about from my own experiences, but the events in the story are pretty much as they happened yesterday, rather than a created analogy. And his first words were certainly "I failed!".

Thanks for everyone's comments. Appreciated!

<comment><USER10> Completely believable to me and a very astute set of observations.

I've been there. I know exactly the difference you describe between justifiable fear (the unknown physical consequences of diving off a board for the first time) vs. the far more powerful irrational fears (mind reading that everybody is looking at you and laughing at how awkward you appear, especially the cute girl over there that you are quite attracted to, and how disappointed she's going to be if you mess up the dive; maximising the importance of your dive performance in your mind because you believe she wants somebody perfect, whereas for all you know she thinks it's cute, etc.).

I especially enjoyed your conclusion - it's one I reached before, myself. Socially awkward people who eventually develop out of their behaviour have a great gift - they can recognize and empathize with other socially awkward people far better than the natural extroverts and, through their words of encouragement and empathy, share the gift of self-confidence.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Great read. and well writ. I feel that it perfectly sums up what a lot of people go though, myself included. If only we all had the guts to go and congratulate people when they attempt something, and urge them to keep trying. Instead of the oft scathing "constructive criticism" we tend to give, if we even bother doing more than just silent acknowledgement.

</comment><comment><USER11> Excellent story. This resonates with me very strongly.

Social freedom is an amazing trait to have, which you can (I certainly did and continue to) learn.

Some of my friends think I am crazy. I think I am socially free.

How your inner monologue runs when in social situations, or even walking to the shops for milk, greatly affects how you act.

As a hetro man, a classic example is nervousness in approaching a girl on the street you see walk by to find out if you like each other enough for a date or more. Thoughts like "your not allowed to (talk/stop/interrupt/greet) her on the street" and other limiting beliefs that prevent you from taking risks and grabbing life with such amazing force, all because of social conditioning and worrying about what other people will think of you, sucks.

Changing how you think, and instead becoming excited at the chance you could be bringing an amazing person into your life is much better.

When you realize that thought process exists and work to change it, in my experience, amazing adventure happens.

This applies to every aspect of life, from how you treat others, family, relationships, and work.

Changes to how you think let you not only take opportunities, but make them.

<comment><USER12> Responded over here: <http://kerr.io/rejection-done-right/>

I think you grew up sheltered and have expectations that are not in line with reality.

<comment><USER3> Perhaps I did, it's hard for me to say, but I'd estimate my views on reality are pretty well average for a white, not-rich, not-poor, twenty-something in Scotland.

My intention wasn't to question why everyone didn't woop and holler at his "mundane achievement". The point, if any, I was trying to make was more that I, Alex, and perhaps others, can hold ourselves back from doing things we want to do for fear of failure and rejection. And that learning to get over that fear could be beneficial.

Indeed, if I had any idea that this post was going to end up on Hacker News, rather than just as an unread scrawl on my blog, written over coffee on a Monday morning, perhaps I wouldn't have had the guts to write it at all.

The closing thought about the high-five was less a question to the world, and more a thought to myself that had I been the one diving off the board, worrying about being rejected (consciously or subconsciously), that it would have been pretty awesome to 16-year old me if some random dude had given me a high-five.

It's entirely possible though that poor writing and or structure didn't do a good job of conveying my points. Next time I'll spend a bit more time planning :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Ignoring the metaphor for a while, if I'm 16 years old and a smiling guy comes up at me after a dive to tell me that I did a good job, I'm not sure if I'd feel so encouraged. At 12, maybe. At 22, sure. But at 16 years old? No way. Get away from me, old man.

<comment><USER3> You might have a point, though I hope there a few more years in me yet before I hit true old man status (I am 25).</comment></comment>


North Korea sets up own time zone in rebuke to 'wicked Japanese imperialists' - <AUTHOR> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/11789072/North-Korea-sets-up-own-time-zone-in-rebuke-to-wicked-Japanese-imperialists.html

<comment><USER2> This is a really popular story:

North Korea creates its own timezone (usatoday.com) 1 comment - [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10023140](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10023140)

North Korea sets clocks back 30 minutes creating its own time zone (cnn.com) 0 comments - [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10021680](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10021680)

North Korea to Move 30 Minutes Backward to Create Its Own Time Zone (nytimes.com) 0 comments - [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10023315](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10023315)

North Korea making their own time zone (cnn.com) 0 comments - [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10024994](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10024994)

North Korea's new time zone to break from 'imperialism' (bbc.com) 1 comment - [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10021332](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10021332)

North Korea sets up own time zone in rebuke to 'wicked Japanese imperialists' (telegraph.co.uk) 0 comments - [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10025075](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10025075)

North Korea has a new time zone (wsj.com) 0 comments - [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10023950](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10023950)

North Korea turns back clocks to create new time zone (bloomberg.com) 0 comments - [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10023594](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10023594)</comment>


Ask HN: Blekko - what happened on Day 0? - <AUTHOR>

OK - so I have a relatively obscure website/blog. On a good day I have 10 or so weirdos lurking around it.
And yet, it seems Blekko has included it in its crawl of the web. Clearly Blekko could not have 'bootstrapped' the google crawl index (for ex by getting results of N pages for queries) - so the question then, I wonder is how they started, on day 1 to build the index. And how did they get to my site (because clearly I did not submit it)? How would you go about building Google in your backyard? <comment><USER2> Blekko allows you to walk back the link chain so you can answer this question yourself. To see sites that link to your site (according to blekko) type into the search box:

<http://penisenvy.com> /links

where 'penisenvy.com' is the name of your site.

<comment><AUTHOR> ha! that is pretty cool. thanks

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Did you update any DNS records at the same time maybe?

</comment><comment><USER4> Maybe the oldfashioned way; by putting a bunch of spiders out there? Don't forget they've been working on the index for a while now.</comment>


Ask HN: Why is everyone updating their privacy policies now? - <AUTHOR> I've gotten email notifications from 6-8 tech companies recently about privacy policy updates. Is this just them getting ahead of GDPR, or related to the Facebook fiasco, both?<p>The emails invariably describe what they changed in the equivalent of "bug fixes and performance improvements" but no real details. <comment><USER2> GDPR. It comes into effect in less than a month; it's high time to shake out the bugs.

</comment><comment><USER3> Cover their asses from the facebook fallout.</comment>


Ask HN: For how much money would you be willing to leave your job? - <AUTHOR>

<comment><USER2> For someone with almost five years of professional experience as a Web Developer I think I'm paid a low salary in the UK. I reckon I'm paid well at my company, but I believe I could get better elsewhere.

It would probably be 20-25% for me to quit right now and join in a month. However, a lot of this will depend on who is offering the money, and the quality of the job I'll be walking into.

Let's say Company X offer me a 20% increase on my salary, but developers at Company X are stressed out and work tons of extra hours, I'd flat out decline. If Company Y come along, offer me 5% more money than I am currently paid, but have a much more relaxed atmosphere then I would probably take it.

I've had a few offers from companies that would bump my salary up about 25%, but I know people that have worked for these companies, and they have awful reputations for treating their developers like shit.

<comment><AUTHOR> Interesting. Is there a number that would make all the ugliness of the new company be irrelevant?

<comment><USER2> I'd like to say no, but in reality everyone has a price. I imagine it'll vary, based on your current situation, and just how bad the job could be. I imagine a lot of people take on jobs they know they'll hate because the money is much better than they'd get elsewhere.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I'm asking for a 20% increase. (but I was really lowballed in salary negotiations for my current position)

<comment><USER4> I think 20% is a good general-case job-hopping goal number. You'd expect a 5% raise in a good company every year, maybe 10% on a promotion. You want more than that to change domains/workplaces. Plus you want to cover the small chance that the new place will end up having a bad work environment, commute, culture, etc, so you aim higher.

But if you were lowballed at your current job, aim for the top of the range! Look up your position on glassdoor.com and see what you're really worth. Information is ammunition!

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> For an ok place, $125k. For a cool place $115k. If there's the expectation of off-hours support, add at least $10k. That said, I'm actively looking. I suppose the numbers would be higher if I weren't.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Especially for the people out there looking for opportunities, do you have a clear number in mind?

</comment><comment><USER6> 50k euro</comment>


Ask HN: place to get small jobs for a developer - <AUTHOR>

Is there a go to place to get small jobs that are doable in a weekend or so. I found weekendhacker, but all the jobs there are posted essentially as an exchange of services, which is not something I'm interested. Is there something similar? <comment><USER2> <http://www.scriptlance.com/> <http://www.freelancer.com/></comment>


OCaml's 20th Anniversary - <AUTHOR> https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list/2015-09/msg00079.html <comment><USER2> Congratulations to my friends Xavier Leroy and Damien Doligez, as well as to all the other contributors to OCaml.

For those interested in learning OCaml from a MOOC, there is one starting soon (next month). You can already register here: [https://www.france-universite- numerique-mooc.fr/courses/pari...](https://www.france-universite-numerique- mooc.fr/courses/parisdiderot/56002/session01/about)

Note: the MOOC is delivered on a French MOOC platform but will be in english.

<comment><USER3> Just in case, there's also a MOOC held by C.Queinnec (Author of Lisp in small pieces):

[http://programmation-recursive.net/](http://programmation-recursive.net/)

Warning: seems like this one is in french though, so only if you're curious enough about it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I got really excited reading the 1995 email as an announcement that INRIA was releasing a new SML-based language. The association I can't get out of my head is: SML is to C as OCaml is to C++. This is backed (to some degree) even in this email:

      > ... in 20 years, the language picked up many language
      features that were open research problems in 1995, such as objects and
      classes with type inference, polymorphic variants, first-class polymorphism,
      and first-class modules.

SML is a much simpler language and I think a solid SML kernel with a good (read: modern, web-friendly) standard library targeting LLVM or the JVM could be a real winner for commercial use.

<comment><USER5> I agree. OCaml is really cool in many respects, and I like it a lot—but the only thing SML really needs is a modern Basis library that is applicable to today's standard use-cases.

I use SML for the JonPRL proof assistant, and I couldn't be happier. Some things would be a bit easier in OCaml, but to be honest, I love the fact that my code will continue to work without modification for decades, due to the simple fact that SML is a language frozen in time.

<comment><USER6> > due to the simple fact that SML is a language frozen in time

Unfreeze it, all the extant MLs fall short in one way or another. A modern SML with none of the syntactic cruft of OCaml; the lazy evaluation of Haskell and its non-existent module system; the nutured nature of F# ... that would be ML joy, maybe Rosenberg's 1ML will make that a reality.

We're in the middle ages of computer science language-wise.

<comment><USER7> Heck, even use HaMLet to bootstrap it.

Hamlet is a portable SML implementation written in SML.

[http://www.mpi-sws.org/~rossberg/hamlet/](http://www.mpi- sws.org/~rossberg/hamlet/)

(Not unlike SICL, which is a portable Common Lisp for R&D [https://github.com/robert-strandh/SICL](https://github.com/robert- strandh/SICL))

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> One of the biggest problems now is the lack of the Windows support for Opam[1].

I hope that will be solved in the near future. Because currently Microsoft trying to take the niche with their F#.

[1] [https://github.com/ocaml/opam/issues/246](https://github.com/ocaml/opam/issues/246)

</comment><comment><USER9> I know Clojure, looking to learn a statically typed functional language. Narrowed it down to Haskell and OCaml (are there others I should know about?).

I still am unsure what OCaml is good for. Ex., Ruby is good for webdev with Rails, Python is good as a general purpose language, Clojure is good for async and quick iteration/integrating with Java code, C is good for OS work, C++ is good for native applications.

Is OCaml general purpose? Can I use it for NLP? Statistics? Numpy-like n-d array math? Writing a compiler?

<comment> nv-vn OCaml is super general purpose. You can write low-ish level code (there have been 2 kernels partially written in it) as well as higher level stuff (web servers/scripts on the pages using tools like js_of_ocaml, Coq, etc.). Where it really stands out it compilers and static analyzers (+ other similar things). Facebook uses it for a few of their compilers and static analyzers, the Rust compiler was originally written in OCaml before being ported to Rust, the Haxe compiler and VM are in OCaml as well. The OCaml compiler comes with lexer and parser generators and a lot of other libraries exist for it too (such as an official LLVM binding). I'm not sure how great it is for NLP, but I'd assume it's not bad for it. Here is a list of companies that use it: [https://ocaml.org/learn/companies.html](https://ocaml.org/learn/companies.html).</comment></comment>


Wanted: Multi-author analytics for Wordpress - <AUTHOR> http://www.arghyle.com/2008/12/07/wanted-multi-author-analytics-for-wordpress/

<comment><USER2> Agreesies.

I've been fighting with the leading analytics packages and hosted tools for a bit, and while I do think stats packages have come a long way, they feel like fancied-up versions of questions we were asking/answering _way_ before content management systems, blogs, multiple authors, social software, categories, etc.

We've moved beyond "hits," but we're still stuck in pageviews, visitors, return visitors, etc.

All of these things are _great_ to know, but are very ad-buyer centric... Even if you don't care about ads/ad buyers, stats are very geared not to the publisher, but the person comparing your site's traffic, to some other site's traffic. There is a place for this, but I think we need a wave of programs that are just for the publisher... and I hate to suggest a fragmentation, but they probably need to be more aware of different content management systems (WordPress, Drupal, etc.)

I am aware of and excited about the promise of open-source Piwik, but its primary goal seems to emulate Google Analytics.

About 3 years ago, Performancing had a tool called Pmetrics that was awesome. It didn't think about URL's, it thought of _content._ Then they changed the whole thing, kept the name, but now it's a 3rd party whitebox software that is pretty friendly (I still recommend it), but nowhere near as cool as it used to be.

(Does anybody know what happened to that original software?)</comment>


Bitbucket Offline - <AUTHOR> http://status.bitbucket.org/ <comment><USER2> The bottom of the page says "Powered by statuspage.io." That's a good idea for a small SaaS! Unfortunately www.statuspage.io is down too! I also am getting occasional blank pages at status.bitbucket.org (looks like the page refreshes itself automatically), so I guess they are being overwhelmed with traffic at the moment.

Edit: Ironically status.statuspage.io says their (own) site is operational.

<comment><USER3> Ironic indeed. Must suck to be statuspage.io right now.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> And they are using Go!

[http://paste.ubuntu.com/6330220/](http://paste.ubuntu.com/6330220/)

[https://gist.github.com/gavruk/7233261](https://gist.github.com/gavruk/7233261)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Pulls & Commits are fully offline now getting 503 on pulls.

Updates on Status page:

Identified - The errors are a result of some routine file system maintenance that affected our front-end machines. We are resolving the issue on each machine and will keep this page updated with our progress. We hope to have everything back in working order very shortly. 14:04 UTC

Investigating - We're experiencing slow loading times and outages for some customers loading the site pages or cloning. We're looking into it and will update once we have more information. 13:58 UTC

Though I am having issues pushing and pulling which doesn't cover cloning or the UI.

<comment><USER5> It's a bit pedantic, but since BitBucket supports Hg and Git, commits are always local. In this case, pushes are offline.

<comment><USER6> He probably means commits done directly through the bitbucket web interface. You can edit files directly on the website to create commits.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Bitbucket twitter account claims it was a result of routine file maintenance and it has been resolved, but they will continue to monitor: [https://twitter.com/bitbucket](https://twitter.com/bitbucket)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Seems to be working off and on but very slowly. Web UI appears to be offline with 500 skull and crossbones.

</comment><comment><USER2> The status page says git-over-ssh is operational, but I can't push to repos with ssh URLs.

</comment><comment><USER3> Has gone up and down for me the last 30 minutes. But it's fully down now.

</comment><comment><USER7> How long has it been down?

edit: so it looks like it went down between 9:30 and 10 am EST.

<comment><AUTHOR> I just noticed it about 10 min ago, when I tried to commit. Made other commits this morning so I would say anywhere from 10-30 min.

<comment><USER8> made successful commit 40 min ago.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Yeah, down here since around 10 minutes ago, did commits before that.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Pull & Push restored for me.

<comment><AUTHOR> Seems to be up and down still...</comment></comment>


The golden asteroid that could make everyone on Earth a billionaire - <AUTHOR> https://www.rt.com/business/462703-golden-asteroid-everyone-billionaire/ <comment><USER2> If gold isn't scarce, it becomes valueless. So, no. Everyone on Earth will not be a billionaire.</comment>


Swift Asserts - <AUTHOR> https://www.mikeash.com/pyblog/friday-qa-2016-03-04-swift-asserts.html <comment><USER2> I'm sooo happy to see prominent developers advocating for leaving sanity checks (via precondition) on in released builds! Love the article, but love that recommendation more.

<comment><USER3> The common wisdom of only having them be active in debug builds baffles me.

Sometimes the argument is from performance. I can buy that.

But the most frequent argument I see is basically, "maybe it'll still work." Basically, it's rude to crash the app on purpose and lose the user's work when maybe, _maybe_ , if you keep on going from an assertion failure the program will still work somehow.

Sure. And maybe you'll crash strangely. And maybe you'll corrupt the user's data, ruining _all_ of their work, not just whatever you didn't save.

What really drives me nuts is that, on the Mac, _Apple codifies this crazy idea._ The NSAssert macro throws an exception on failure, and uncaught exceptions on the main thread get caught by a handler in the event loop which _logs the exception and continues running the app!_

<comment><USER4> Reminds me of Objective C happily calling a nil ptr, Apple wants to be generous and not pester you by terminating your app :-)

<comment><USER3> That's not really the same. Messaging nil is not necessarily an error. Making it an error is just an arbitrary language choice. Messaging nil in Objective-C isn't an uncaught error, but an explicitly allowed action with fully defined results.

One could certainly argue that making nil messaging an error is better, but either way it's a different sort of reasoning.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Super helpful. I hadn't thought of that use case for @autoclosure but that makes a ton of sense.</comment>


Tesla's Musk hints of battery capacity jump ahead of industry event - <AUTHOR> https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-batteries/teslas-musk-hints-of-battery-capacity-jump-ahead-of-industry-event-idUSKBN25L0MC <comment><USER2> Just airplanes? Go straight for electric rockets! :)</comment>


Why googling "2 * -2" does not show any results? - <AUTHOR> When you search "2 * -2" without quotes, Google results hang for a few seconds and only calculator is shown. Is this a bug?<p>If you try any other number it works fine, like "2 * -5" <comment><USER2> Maybe because "-foo" means "search for documents that do _not_ contain foo", so queries like "foo -foo" never match anything:

[https://www.google.com/search?q=foo+-foo](https://www.google.com/search?q=foo+-foo)</comment>


Why There Aren't More Googles - <AUTHOR> Paul Graham wrote an essay : "Why There Aren't More Googles" --- http://www.paulgraham.com/googles.html.
In it, he referenced an essay by Umar Haque who wrote on the same issue. The link is in the first line of the essay.
I clicked it, but it gave an error message : https://hbr.org/error/page-not-found
Anyone knows where I can find a working link to this essay ? <comment><USER2> There's an excellent site called 'archive.org', which has the quite honorable and noble goal of "universal access to all knowledge", which includes archiving the web.

They have been crawling the web for almost 20 years, and in this case they archived that URL several times in April of 2008. Here's a URL for one of those crawls: [https://web.archive.org/web/20080428142826/http://discussion...](https://web.archive.org/web/20080428142826/http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/haque/2008/04/i_agree_and_i.html)

You really should explore what the Internet Archive offers. See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Archive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Archive) . The various presentations by Jason Scott, 'rogue archivist' are also entertaining, and give an idea of the spirit behind the Internet Archive, textfiles.com, and similar efforts.

<comment><AUTHOR> Cool! Thanks for the link ...

It's a genuinely interesting question (at least to me) what the "next Google" is going to look like. Is there space to build a search engine that surpasses Google (given how fast and powerful Google already is) ?

Not sure if I am just imagining things , but it seems like Google has slowed down a little in recent years. When I type terms in the search bar nowadays (using a Mac laptop) and click the search button, it seems like there is a short (but barely perceptible) pause before the result is displayed. And Gmail seems to have slowed down quite abit too --- is it because Gmail is slow or I have a huge inbox? I seem to recall a time when Google was first launched, everything you did on it was virtually instantaneous. (Or am i just speculating and imagining things after reading this essay?)

Maybe the "next Google" won't be a search engine at all, but some kind of quantum computer skynet system that basically connects everyone on the planet instantaneously through thought processes or a futuristic 3d holographic hardware laptop that displays your screen and keyboard as floating 3d holograms that appear in front of your face , which you can manipulate with your fingers ..

THAT would be really cool lol !

<comment><USER3> I think search is broken. People receive millions of results without meaning while they only read through the first 10-15 titles.

I believe there still is opportunity for new players. You don't need to deliver millions of results, just the 15 links that are really valuable and rich.

<comment><USER4> But if the first 10-15 are valuable and rich and the rest don't slow you down or disadvantage you, isn't it the same thing.

<comment><AUTHOR> Precisely ... does it matter whether you have millions of results as long as the first few results gives you the answers you want ?

<comment><USER4> Yes I agree. The real question is, would removing the extra 10 million results give you a distinct advantage? I don't feel it would.

<comment><AUTHOR> Google does have one weakness though ... As Paul Graham mentioned , Gmail has grown painfully slow and inbox wasn't meant to be used as a messaging protocol ... Inbox was meant to be a to-do list, not a messaging protocol. Perhaps a new and more elegant email system would prove to be a very successful startup</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Performance Matters (Strangeloop 2019) - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-TLSBdHe1A <comment><AUTHOR> > [Emery Berger] and his collaborators have created a number of influential > software systems including Hoard, a fast and scalable memory manager that > accelerates multithreaded applications (used by companies including British > Telecom, Cisco, Crédit Suisse, Reuters, Royal Bank of Canada, SAP, and Tata, > and on which the Mac OS X memory manager is based); DieHard, an error- > avoiding memory manager that directly influenced the design of the Windows 7 > Fault-Tolerant Heap; and DieHarder, a secure memory manager that was an > inspiration for hardening changes made to the Windows 8 heap.</comment>


Calculate how much fencing you'll need via Google Maps - <AUTHOR> http://www.onlinefencecalculator.com/

<comment><USER2> What about topography?

<comment><USER3> The idea is to just create a fence around your yard so the earths curvature or topography shouldn't matter, Although if your "yard" is like 80 acres I suppose that would be an issue... however if you have 80 acres of property, you might consider hiring someone LOL</comment></comment>


GopherCon Singapore 2018 Videos - <AUTHOR> https://engineers.sg/organization/gopherconsg <comment><USER2> I thought his talk was refreshing. We may put bucket these 11 things as a cliche of the silicon valley startup, but sometimes I wish my company (revenue 50+ Billion $) would adopt some of these principles. That's a distant dream unfortunately.

The question I have is - how can we figure out a way to run a company that is very large and also abide by these agile, dextrous principles? Is it that the solution doesn't exist? I have heard somewhere between 50-500 people where the company becomes very beauracratic and impossible to run efficiently. Or is there a specific kind of leadership that is needed?

<comment><USER3> Is this in reference to Ajey Gore's talk? There's a couple of videos on the page.

<comment><USER2> Yes, he is talking about 11 principles that "nobody talks about but should."

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Videos in chronological order: [https://engineers.sg/conference/gopherconsg-2018](https://engineers.sg/conference/gopherconsg-2018)

</comment><comment><USER4> Ups (opening keynote) and downs (closing keynote), and interesting ones in the middle. It's hard to unsee the "2nd - 4TH".

</comment><comment><USER5> When I saw GopherCon I thought it was talking about Gopher: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_(protocol)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_\(protocol\)).</comment>


Neutrino experiment affirms faster-than-light claim - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.nature.com/news/2011/11/neutrino_experiment_affirms_fa.html <comment><USER3> To be precise, this latest experiment only ruled out one possible source of error (namely, bias in the detection of arriving neutrinos causing it to preferentially detect neutrinos at the forefront of the pulse). This doesn't affirm that the neutrinos actually exceeded light-speed.

But it is an important step towards understanding what's happening, and it's great that the OPERA group were able to put together this followup experiment so quickly.

<comment><USER4> > This doesn't affirm that the neutrinos actually exceeded light-speed.

You might be thinking of "confirm". This certainly is an example of the OPERA group _affirming_ their results.

> Affirm. v. 1. State as a fact; assert strongly and publicly. 2. _Declare > one's support for; uphold or defend_.

<comment><USER5> Take a look at definition 1 in your post.

<comment><USER6> The way English works, not all of the dictionary definitions for a word need to apply to any particular usage.

<comment><USER7> I think all dictionaries work in this way, not just English ones

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I wrote to the lead author asking them to release the source code of the software that they used for the data analysis. I have yet to receive a reply, but it's pretty important to eliminate a programming error from this.

For example, there were small errors in the Met Office's climate change software that I detected. The scientific papers were correct, but the translation into code was not. This could have happened here and it would be better if they released the code.

[http://blog.jgc.org/2010/02/something-odd-in- crutem3-station...](http://blog.jgc.org/2010/02/something-odd-in- crutem3-station-errors.html)

<comment><USER9> I find it very strange that the source code is not routinely released in these circumstances. What possible reason is there for not doing so? The code and the ideas within have no direct commercial value, surely?

At the very least it should be as available as the papers themselves.

<comment><USER10> Biology researchers don't get to reuse the other guy's mice, why should they reuse their code? As long as the paper describes the algorithms used, anyone should be able to duplicate the work using their own preferred implementation.

Also, a lot of the code may well be specific to the apparatus used, which may be unique to a lab, consisting of custom-built hardware.

<comment><USER11> Mouse can't be perfectly copied. Code can.

If biologists could copy mice from other experiment to give them their own drugs and compare results, they would surely do this along with using their own mice.

The more ways to compare experiments, the more sure we will be about results.

I understand cleaning up code is a lot of work, so don't do it, just release it as it is. I know it will be ugly, will include obscenity, etc. If somebody need it, it will do the rest of work.

<comment><USER10> "The more ways to compare experiments, the more sure we will be about results."

No. The more exactly you duplicate the original experiment, the more likely you duplicate any confounding issues. If someone observes something through a telescope, it's best to verify it through a different telescope somewhere else, to exclude the possibility of an optical quirk of the first telescope.

<comment><USER11> Some people will run the same code on the same data. They will get the same results, but so what.

Some other people will run the same code on different data (maybe from simulation, or when checking their own theory). They will get some other results, or the same.

Some people will recreate experiment from scratch, and get code B and data B.

Some people will run code A on data B. Some people will run code B on data A.

Now we can't do that. The code is already written, it's waste to hide it, it's not like publishing code prohibit other people from writing their own code.

That's how you check for errors - by changing as little as possible and observing results.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> The last thing I heard about this was that the results could be explained by the researchers overlooking the relativistic motion of the GPS clocks, and when corrected for it, the results were actually another confirmation of special relativity. See <http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/27260/>

That said, a brief search turned up this paper ( <https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~ebunn/vanelburg.pdf> ) which argues that that explanation is faulty (i.e., the paper made a mistake, and when corrected, the original researchers' results stand).

(Disclaimer: although I once read a book on this stuff, I shouldn't be confused with an expert, and I have no idea who's right and who's wrong. But it is exciting.)

<comment><USER13> I seem to remember when that theory was discussed, it was explained that GPS clocks already take into account relativistic motion. Or something like that, don't quote me, I'm not a physicist.

<comment><USER14> I am a physicist and GPS indeed takes relativistic effects into account. GPS would not just be slightly wrong if it didn't: it would be entirely worthless. See for example [1].

[1] [http://www.astronomy.ohio- state.edu/~pogge/Ast162/Unit5/gps....](http://www.astronomy.ohio- state.edu/~pogge/Ast162/Unit5/gps.html)

<comment><USER15> Fun fact: When designing the original system there was disbelief amongst some involved that the relativistic effects were either real or relevant so they built in a switch to be able to remotely disable those parts of the calculations. They never did disable them.

<comment><USER16> Actually, that gose down as the funnest fact that I've learned for at least a month, so thank you.

<comment><USER15> I don't remember for sure but I think I learned that from one of these lectures...

"Particle Physics for Non-Physicists: A Tour of the Microcosmos"

[http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.asp...](http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=1247)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I seriously cannot wait for the MINOS experiment :)

</comment><comment><USER18> If quantum entanglement "pissed off" Einstein, I can only imagine his reaction to this.

<comment> loup-vaillant If I recall correctly, Einstein was pissed of by the so called "spooky action at a distance", namely non-local interaction. Note however that a many-world interpretation gets rid of that.

Now we have neutrinos that may travel faster than light. That would throw Special Relativity out the window, sure, but not the locality principle: those neutrino do not show _infinite_ speed, unlike quantum entanglement under the Copenhagen interpretation.

<comment><USER18> He was also upset that it appeared to violate relativity.

To his deathbed he believed in his alternate explanation that the particles were set opposite "at birth" and initiated that way until observation (if I understand that correctly).

So now we have at least TWO phenomena that appear to be "faster than light" - so get cracking scientists (and engineers) on a practical application for communications to probes that are light-hours or light-years away.

<comment><USER19> I think generally the current theory is that quantum entanglement doesn't allow you to transmit information faster than the speed of light as you can't choose which state your local particle collapses into (although there's some disagreement about whether communication could be achieved with groups of entangled particles) <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-communication_theorem> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster-than-light> (Quantum mechanics section)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Putting my tester's cap on, would it be feasible to have OPERA repeat the experiment with photons, instead of neutrinos? Presumably, if that experiment showed that photons travel faster than light (i.e., light travels faster than light), it would prove that there had to be an error in the experiment.

</comment><comment><USER21> Will this widen the gap between relativity and quantum mechanics? or will it actually help in finally resolving the disconnect between these two greatest and well tested theories? Particles defying general relativity is well known, but defying special relativity? I can see it going both ways.

<comment><USER22> On the offchance that it turns out to be really true, it will certainly point us in the direction of _some_ interesting new physics, so it'll be a step in the right direction.

I'm still trying to keep my expectations down for now, though.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> I have very basic physic knowledge, and little time. I'm quite interested, however, to know how they synchronized their timers since the Neutrino speed is faster than light. Anyone has a short explanation or an article for that?

<comment><USER24> Roughly, they used gps signals to synchronize two accurate clocks, one each at the source and the destination.

For what it's worth, this part of the first paper is pretty accessible - <USER2> least, as to how they did it - it's more difficult to poke holes in how accurate it was :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> It's more likely they found a particle that travels back in time than a particle that goes faster than light.

<comment><USER26> I think that's the same thing.

<comment><USER9> Yep. Relativity says they are exactly the same thing.

<comment><USER25> AFAIK the special relativity says than traveling faster than light will make you go back in time, but if a particle goes back in time it does not mean it goes faster than light.

<comment><USER9> Fair point, I may have over-egged it a bit with "exactly."

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I am hoping against hope...

</comment><comment><USER27> So we're left with what, GPS errors? I've gone through their experimental setup and the timing looks foolproof. The only options left in my mind are

1) The distance between the labs is smaller than they think

2) Tachyonic neutrinos (not likely)

<comment><USER28> Neil deGrasse Tyson claims that another possibility is that of a new particle moving backwards through time.

Not that I understand that.

He said it in his recent "Ask me anything" session on reddit.

<comment><USER21> Well that's exactly what will happen when anything moves faster than light, it will travel backwards in time. The real question is where is it getting infinite energy to break the light barrier? or are neutrinos the only particles with mass that will not be dragged by the Higgs field?

<comment><USER28> He said a _new_ particle though. So something other than the neutrinos themselves, I suppose?

<comment><USER21> It was a neutrino that was discovered moving faster than light at CERN, that is what I was referring to. Tyson also mentioned that it is likely a special type of neutrino already moving faster than light is the one being observed (tachyons). What they think we are seeing is a particle that has been moving faster than light but never accelerated to reach that speed, it has been moving at that velocity all the way since before the beginning of time itself.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> What is the difference between neutrinos and regular light photons? Do Neutrinos also exhibit the wave particle duality? Does this mean Albert Einstein was wrong, after all these years of assuming his "biggest blunder" was right?

<comment><USER30> Photons are spin one, and mediate the electromagnetic interaction. They have zero mass and propagate at _c_.

There are actually three types of neutrino (and they spontaneously change from one type to another), they are all spin-one-half, and they interact with other matter only via the weak nuclear force, which has a much smaller effective distance than the electromagnetic force, so they don't interact very often. They have non-zero mass, but it is so small that we don't actually know what it is.

Everything in the universe exhibits the wave-particle duality.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> The worst kinds of bugs are the ones that only happen in production, when you have some crazy set up with a load balancer, a CDN and/or Varnish, and a few app servers, high traffic, middle of the day, and a bunch of executives hovering. I have seen a crazy bug that happened only on one of the identical app servers. Turns out SVN export didn't perform correctly (still don't know why), and one of the files was messed up. That was not easy to find.

I have seen Apache ignore updated PHP files, and serving old code, which should never happen. This a real bitch to debug.

<comment><USER32> I think you posted in the wrong comment thread...

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> I wonder if us realizing speed of light isn't the cosmic limit for everything are like us again at realizing Earth isn't flat.</comment>


A collection of fraud detection research papers - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/benedekrozemberczki/awesome-fraud-detection-papers <comment><AUTHOR> A curated list of papers about fraud detection from the following conferences:

        Network Science

            ASONAM

        Natural Language Processing

            ACL

        Data Mining

            KDD

            ICDM

            SDM

            WWW

        Artificial Intelligence

            AAAI

            AISTATS

            IJCAI

            UAI

</comment><comment><USER2> Thanks!</comment>


Bootstrap is revolutionary because it's DaaS [Design as a Service] and it's free - <AUTHOR>

well... I spent 4h protyping a website with Twitter Bootstrap, and it looked like a 1yr old startup's website with substantial funding and a full time designer. <comment><USER2> Yes, I tried that too and it's quite cool.</comment>


California Promises to Fight EPA Plan on Car Standards - <AUTHOR> https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/california-promises-to-fight-epa-plan-on-car-standards/ <comment><USER2> I wonder if this has real case law behind it. I'm not a lawyer but have done a bunch of HIPAA training and one of the key elements of that federal program is that where states are more restrictive with privacy and security, this takes precedence.

More restrictive emissions laws are to protect individuals and task corporations to be better, so it seems good to let states enact their own more restrictive rules.

<comment><USER3> There is an example I am aware of that was in my history book (but that I am having trouble finding now). States would set conflicting sizes for tractor trailer mudflaps in what seemed to be a de facto attempt to regulate trade between states. This was found to be a violation of the interstate commerce clause.

The actions California takes may be considered similar, especially (as someone below mentioned) if previously acceptable cars are not grandfathered in. There is also probably a good case to be made if California law has an effect, intended or not, on non-Californian states.

There is also a federal rule (good faith and something) that states must, in general, recognize the licenses of other states (marriage, drivers, etc; but notably not concealed carry, which I think will be tested again).

Personally, on the one hand I am for states rights and the environment and very much do not like how the interstate commerce clause is used. On the other, a lack of agreeable regulation is detrimental to the states (and having one state force that regulation does not seem fair).

<comment><USER2> Oh cool! That's an interesting point. Of course things are always more nuanced than they seem on the surface, thanks for sharing this.

<comment><USER3> See also [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_Faith_and_Credit_Clause](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_Faith_and_Credit_Clause) and look at my other comment in the parent's chain.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> This is just one of many examples of congress delegating it's law making duty to the executive -- normally so it can avoid any responsibility for it's actions. If the policy is not popular they blame the executive, the policy is successful they point to their delegation of power.

Hopefully, we'll see congress take back the reigns more and if anything delegate things to the states and instead of the executive.

The common excuse is that the expertise lies in the executive so they should control the rules. This can be easily answered by allowing the executive to draft the rules, but to have congress involved whenever they're changed.

</comment><comment><USER5> Two related discussions:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21008146](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21008146)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20998870](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20998870)

</comment><comment><USER6> How much does this matter if automakers are putting out electric cars and trucks that are more reliable than their gasoline cousins? People will buy the vehicle that provides the best value, won't they?

<comment><USER7> Any drop in gas prices is typically followed by an increase in purchases of gas inefficient vehicles.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I think it makes sense to limit how much impact one large state can have on the whole country. It sounds very much like California overstepping the government's authority to regulate interstate trade.

I know people in this case will want to support California because this has to do with emission standards. But look no further than the countless items that now print "Known to California to cause cancer" for another impact.

California is so large that it can practically dictate terms for the rest of the U.S. I do not believe that's a good thing, and I believe eventually there'll come a case that will make that abundantly clear, if it's not already.

<comment><USER9> Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.

These are the states that mirror California's emissions standards.

We're not talking about one state. We're talking about the entire west coast of the US and the lion's share of the eastern seaboard.

<comment><USER10> And about 2/3rds of the population

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> it is just genius - Trump is going to solve the CA homeless crisis by bringing smog back to make the CA cities streets impossible to stay at for any prolonged amount of time.

<comment><USER12> six-dimensional chess at its highest levels.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I could see it playing out like this:

Obama, 2009: CA, you can keep setting your own standards.

CA: Great! OK car companies, by 2025 we want you to hit these numbers.

Car companies: Will do.

Trump, 2019: JK. You only have to meet the federal standards.

Some car companies: Awesome, thanks!

Next president, 2020: What, that's insane. CA, you can keep setting your own standards.

CA: Great. OK car companies, the 2025 targets are still in place.

Some car companies: _surprised pikachu_

I think any manufacturer who doesn't stick with California's standard, even if they're temporarily allowed to ignore it, is absolutely crazy. Higher standards seem absolutely inevitable, and I think it's corporate suicide to trust that the EPA will remained weakened and toothless.

<comment><USER14> Those who dont will have a cheaper car. This will either please investors (more profit) or help beat the competition in sales.

<comment><USER15> A cheaper car to buy, not a cheaper car to own

<comment><USER16> Fewer/simpler emissions systems would mean cheaper maintenance, no?

<comment><USER15> Usually cars meet emissions standards by increasing their MPG, so you'd pay less for gas.

<comment><USER17> Dieselgate was manufacturers meeting performance and MPG figures at the expense of increased pollution. A lot of pollution does not trend directly with CO2.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> If California loses this fight, the next step is to just impose a 100% (or more) sales tax on any car that doesn't meet whatever standards it wants. Sales taxation is firmly established as state authority and the federal government could go pound sand.

<comment><USER19> People would just make the purchase out-of-state.

They're already doing this to avoid steep sales taxes on cars. Some people even keep their vehicle registered out-of-state to avoid registration fees as well.

<comment><USER18> I don't know about California, but in Washington state when you register a car that was previously registered in another state, you have to provide proof that you paid sales tax on it, and you have to pay a use tax if you can't do that. Presumably CA would just apply an identical use tax to cars purchased in any state without their standard.

Now, sure, some people could dodge the system, but they don't really matter: the point is to make it inconvenient enough for automakers that they only produce vehicles meeting the CA standard.

<comment><USER20> It's similar in CA. If you register a car from out of state, California still gets a cut. And California typically doesn't let you register cars from elsewhere that don't meet CA emissions standards (aka cars that have an "EPA" sticker under the hood but not a "CARB" one)

<comment><USER21> Not true. You can register cars purchased out of state, that are non-carb compliant.

See exemptions page: [https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/brochures/fast...](https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/brochures/fast_facts/ffvr29)

<comment><USER20> Most of the exceptions are pretty big life events (divorce, death of a relative, military PCS). That why I said "typically" in my comment, it's not something you can really do at-will</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Backpack & Reddit - examples of "frictionless" user interfaces - <AUTHOR> http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000866.html <comment><USER2> As frictionless as reddit is, yc news takes this further.

The farthest I've seen this taken is in web apps which let you fully use them, but only complete some of the actions you've performed when you finally sign up. This is the model that I will likely use on my next app.</comment>


Salesforce embraces standards with new Lightning Web Components - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@ccoenraets/salesforce-embraces-standards-with-new-lightning-web-components-ddbff8f0669b <comment><USER2> Great to see a big company adopting web standards.

</comment><comment><USER3> ES6 -- great!!!

<comment><USER4> ES7+ :)</comment></comment>


The Coffin Makers of Kabul - La-ang https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/10/coffin-makers-kabul-171010054223999.html <comment> La-ang 2017, yet still relevant seeing the stagnating state of security in Afghanistan.</comment>


Idea to development as a teen (angel and funding) - <AUTHOR>

Background: 	I'm 15 years old, and I'm am semi-fluent web developer and designer. More importantly, however, I'm an aspiring entrepreneur. I have coded and created several of my own ideas from conception into late stage development, and am comfortable coding, managing projects, and working with a team.
Info: 	I have this idea, that I thing is huge, and everyone that I've told it to things it has massive potential, but right now, I'm not sure what I should do. To develop this idea, I believe its important that I have capital, and a team of people working on it, rather than just myself. Finding co-founders at my age is challenging to say the least, and I cannot afford to pay people from my own fund because I do not have one.
I have heard and fully understand that an idea is nothing without an excellent execution, so I am almost positive that seeking capital is the only way for ME to make this a successful venture.
After talking to mentors and friends of mine, I have started to draft a business plan, but I'm still skeptical as to whether or not that is the correct course of action. I thought I'd reach out to an angel investor or at least to someone who could help me obtain some kind of capital. 	 	One mentor warned me that my idea, because it's almost not possible to patent this idea (especially because of my age), approaching an angel can result in catastrophe, if only because they can "steal" the idea and develop it themselves. Is this a real issue?
Anyway, enough background. My question is, what do I do to make this as successful as possible and actually get this idea into development?
Sub-questions: How do I contact an angel?
Should I create a business plan first?
Should I create an excellent elevator pitch? How do I get a meeting?
How do I get someone to take my seriously?
Is there any angels you can put me in contact with?
Any other suggestions? <comment><USER2> You could start small, reiterate and improve. Bootstrap/family-fund it with some money.

If they say that it's not possible to patent this idea (I don't see how age should stop you, I don't believe there's an age restriction on applications), it sounds like going the reiteration route is better.

Supporting glimcat's statement; there's also a lot of 'status' or reputation that investors love. It is presumed a large amount of Color's large investment was due to being backed by veteran entrepreneurs in addition to a 'cool idea'.

I also disagree that 'ideas' get stolen all the time. PG(?) or someone said that reputable VCs will not steal your idea. Their reputation is more important than your idea.

Your ideas, may however be copied. Even Hipmunk, backed by Reddit's former staff is somewhat in trouble if Google search copies their features. But, the great thing about ideas being stolen is validation. Those people went through the expense and you can see your idea for what it is.

Google Search wasn't first, Facebook Social Network wasn't first, maybe your first competitor will follow you and outperform you. Also something to consider.

<comment><AUTHOR> I can't do this without a team though, and that sucks because I don't live in a place or age group where finding people who are down to commit to working on this project for a good portion of their time for only equity. The only way for me to make a team is to hire them, and without funding that is also impossible.

I'm not so much worried about getting my idea stolen as getting this into development.

<comment><USER3> 3 people working on a project for 3 months is the same as 1 person working on a project for a year. Why do you need a team again?

<comment><AUTHOR> I disagree, especially if its a range of talent. No one can be excellent at 3 different things, only one field.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Angels are likely to want to see a prototype, market research, and some proof of traction if possible. Particularly since you're abnormally young.

Ideas get stolen all the time, but it's statistically unlikely (if you find that reassuring).

</comment><comment><USER5> Honest Answer: Nobody is going to fund a 15-year-old for a lot of reasons. Don't waste your time going down that path when you can get started on your own. If that won't work, your idea won't work.

Maybe, possibly, you can prove me wrong. But the odds are terrible.

<comment><AUTHOR> Devil's advocate win. I think your right, nobody is going to fund a 15 year for a lot reasons. I'll just have to find a reason that beats all the odds against me. :)

Fully though, I understand, but I'm still going to try my best. Hey, the worst that happens is they say no.

<comment><USER5> Absolutely - I'm the last person to say you can't do something. What I will do is suggest that you find a different route that allows you a higher chance of success. You're a few years away from being realistically fundable. Put your effort into getting there. Don't jump ahead - this is a LONG road.

You do have advantages - food, shelter, free time, support, enthusiasm, a lack of experience to cloud your thoughts. Use them.

A common mistake you'll see over and over again in business that people tend to focus on what isn't working. Don't do that. Focus your efforts where you are strong, not where you are weak. And right now, your fundability is very, very weak.

Best of luck!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Since you're 15 years old I assume you have free rent and free food. What else do you need money for? Would it take you so long to build this on your own that you'd lose time to market?

<comment><AUTHOR> Money would be for creating a team of more talented individuals than myself (specifically in Node.js + server admin and design) and of course for hardware and infrastructure costs.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: programming and children - where do you find the time to code? - <AUTHOR>

I now have kids and am finding it very hard to get any time outside of working hours to program.  It's actually getting hard to remember when I ever would have had time.<p>If you are a programmer with kids who writes code at home, can you please say what times of day/week do you write code, and for about how many hours a week. <comment><USER3> For the first 18 months of my daughter's life, I worked on an iMac in the corner of my living room primarily after she'd gone to sleep. The deal was that I'd be the night owl (though I always have been) and would work right through to 6am or so when she woke up. Then I'd get her up and my wife would take over. I'd then sleep till 1pm or so. It worked well and my wife pretty much got 8 hours a night all the way through.

Now, though, I got an office a few miles away from home. It costs more than my mortgage but it has paid dividends. I still work at night but my daughter is now a solid sleeper (tempting fate there..!) and my wife is OK to get up with her in the morning. Having an office without any worries of childcare is working out marvellously and it's more than paying for itself.

</comment><comment><USER4> For the first couple of years with my daughter, I coded on the weekends. I timed it for one of her naps, because she had a pretty solid routine - <USER2> sleep 2hours awake during the day time. I timed everything though, and limited myself to 30 minutes at a time to make sure I got to my share of the chores and got enough rest myself.

If you plan carefully, you can be very productive - try something like the pomodoro technique to make sure you aren't just faffing about. Evenings after work I found it better just to enjoy time with my family and get some exercise and rest.

</comment><comment><USER5> I don't have a stay at home job or startup (yet), but I usually use the morning (6am-9am) and after bedtime (after 9pm, usually until midnight) to do any programming. Luckily, my kid does pretty well with bedtime and nap time, so it's rare that I get interrupted by her.

Since I do have a day job, I try to come home and spend solid time with my wife and kid before she goes to bed. After that, I do my best to claim it as alone time. The wife is really understanding, which really helps.

</comment><comment><USER6> When I had a day job, it was after the kid went to sleep (9-midnight(ish)). Now that I work on my startup full time, I usually code in the mornings till noon and also from 9-midnight(ish)</comment>


Ask HN: Service to add 'getting started' wizard to your web app - <AUTHOR>

I saw a post on HN a while ago which highlighted a service that allows you to easily add a wizard overlay for your web app.<p>Can anyone remember the name of the service? <comment><USER2> I'm using joyride by ZURB. It's cool, you should check it out.

[http://www.zurb.com/playground/jquery-joyride-feature- tour-p...](http://www.zurb.com/playground/jquery-joyride-feature-tour-plugin)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you! Not only is that a viable option for us, I was also able to find the original HN post:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4407915>

Turns out it was called <http://tourmyapp.com>

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> There's also Taurus: <http://taurus.io>.

Pretty slick, but I haven't actually played with the ZURB product.

Edit: Having looked at the ZURB solution, the Taurus solution is a LOT easier to use, but Joyride might be more comprehensive, for now. Taurus is moving ahead very quickly, but is also not free.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks Taurus looks good, pricing is pretty reasonable though I'd like to see at least some sort of analytics or A/B split testing features.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> it was tourmyapp.com we had posted it on HN a couple of months back :)</comment>


Shadershop – programming GPU shaders by direct manipulation - <AUTHOR> http://tobyschachman.com/Shadershop

<comment><USER2> It's a shame that education focuses so much on the symbolic representation rather than the visual (at least here in Germany). My girlfriend is a teacher at a school that has digital whiteboards in every classroom. But according to her, the biggest advantage for her colleagues is that it needn't be cleaned manually.

I'd argue that even the pupils that have a problem with the symbolic representation would probably understand the visual concept. The next problem is to convert visual understanding into grades.

</comment><comment><USER3> Ctrl + 1 - 4 in the demo loads the examples from the post.

<comment><USER4> Yes, and the little gear shows the cool part.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is SO cool... I could watch these videos for hours. Do you know when you will release the others?

</comment><comment><USER6> Submitted a few pull requests, hopefully they get accepted!

Definitely a very cool tool.

</comment><comment><USER7> this is gem</comment>


MinoMonsters (YC W11) Hits 1.5M Players, Gets A Little More Funding - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/20/after-radical-changes-yc-backed-minomonsters-hits-1-5m-players-gets-a-little-more-funding/ <comment><USER2> Something doesn't make sense here. If they're profitable and making millions, why are they raising more bridge funding at the last round's valuation and taking on more dilution?

<comment><USER3> Because they're not profitable and not making millions.

1) 19 reviews in the App Store. 2) It's free

Money doesn't grow on trees unfortunately.

<comment><USER4> 1) We have 9,516 Ratings in the US, 19 for a small bug fix we submitted yesterday. (<http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/minomonsters/id477750637?mt=8>)

2) We're a free-to-play iOS game, our revenue is through in-app purchases.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I know it has nothing to do with the funding, but I found the new version of the game somewhat buggy (although the graphics are AMAZING). In 10 minutes, I stumbled upon two issues: first, trying to visit a friend _always_ crashes the game. Second (and more disturbing): visiting the "team" tab and clicking the "i" icon levels up the monster automatically - I clicked it a dozen times, tried restarting the app and it still worked. As a result, I have a level 41 monster without even having fought anything...

</comment><comment><USER6> I encourage anyone who's doubtful about MinoMonsters to download it and give the iPhone to their kid, niece/nephew, little sibling, etc.

It's one of the few truly great (and great-looking) iOS games.

</comment><comment><USER7> Hey author, Pokemon had unique and interesting personalities too! Remember Cubones who wore the skulls of their dead mothers?

Tell me that wasn't interesting and unique. I don't see it in the wild, let me tell you that.

</comment><comment><USER8> Is it just me, or has YC has become shit off-late? No offense, I think the game is great, but worth funding for? I doubt, I mean not from YC ofcourse. What happened to true innovation at YC? This is just plain embarrassing for YC, ofcourse. But really, great game guys, keep it going though..

<comment><USER9> It's you. You don't grasp that the combination of

(a) the fact that good startup ideas have to look like bad ideas initially and

(b) that the optimal way to grow a startup is to launch something as small as possible as fast as possible

together mean that most startups look bad initially.

I wouldn't say _just_ you though, because there are a lot of people who don't grasp this.

<comment><USER10> > I wouldn't say just you though, because there are a lot of people who don't > grasp this.

I think it comes down to a difference between those who see the now and those who see 3-10 years out. If they came to you and said "we've got this awesome game, and we plan to stop there", you wouldn't fund them; that's what most people see. I have no idea what trick they have up their sleeve or if they'll sink or swim, but if it's a YC company, you can assume they have a grand plan (even if it's wrong in the end) to be a Big Thing (TM). That most people don't see it is probably a good thing.</comment></comment></comment>


3 Reasons Why Wanna-Be Entrepreneurs Never Start Their Own Businesses - <AUTHOR> http://blog.yeabiz.com/2007/05/02/3-reasons-why-wanna-be-entrepreneurs-never-start-their-own-businesses/ <comment><USER2> This article makes a point about not needing a great idea to start your startup upon. This is a point that PG also makes a lot, but it still seems really important to me. I tend to think that the lower the barrier to entry, the more interesting of an idea you need to be successful. Maybe the key is in specialization.</comment>


Predict new Human behaviour based on available behaviour dataset - <AUTHOR> Predict new Human behaviour based on available behaviour dataset <comment><USER2> This links to nothing</comment>


Ask HN: What should I built (email privacy) - <AUTHOR> I originally wanted to build an email client fully in the browser, but realized I can't do TCP connections (for IMAP) directly inside the browser.
I came up with a few alternative:
"Hosted" version:
Hosted service that runs IMAP on a back-end, and roughly "proxies" IMAP over a WebSocket. This is the best for the user, because no download/setup, just a web page. This also enabled easy push notification (IDLE process on back-end -> push notifications). It would make it very easy adapt to mobile too.
Con: the service must store/see email credentials for the users, and all their data being ran through a service they don't control. Although it wouldn't actually store any email data or use it in anyway, I don't think everyone is comfortable with this idea.
"Desktop"/bridge version:
A program that you run on your computer, which acts as the bridge between your browser and the IMAP server. Like the hosted one, but directly on your computer. This would mean the users have full control over their data.
Con: must be downloaded/installed on desktop/server. This could also be prepackaged with the actual interface inside an Electron-type of application, basically a normal desktop email client.
Mobile version:
With Flutter, TCP connections are possible, making it so an app could be made.
My problem with mobile is that this client would be focused for "busy people", and mobile isn't the best way to manage emails. Push notifications are essential and could be unreliable since it wouldn't be using a third-party to use Google/Apple's push notifications, but would instead run as a background process.
The first version is the best for users, but the worse for privacy. It is the one I would like to do, plus offering users to self-host, so if they are very privacy-concerned, can still use the client with maximal privacy.
What does HN think is the best to make, from a user and company standpoint? <comment><USER2> [https://www.nylas.com/](https://www.nylas.com/) provides a hosted "IMAP proxy" service, with an OAuth-authenticated client-side-only API that you could use without running servers yourself. It's also an extremely easy-to-use API compared to raw IMAP.

<comment><AUTHOR> Basically this. I could either use this or make it myself. Are people comfortable using this?

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Instead of addressing privacy in just email, we are addressing the full picture in the context of a parallel digital ecosystem called ByStar.

See [http://www.by-star.net](http://www.by-star.net)

The Libre-Halaal By* (ByStar) Digital Ecosystem

A Unified and Non-Proprietary Model For Autonomous Internet Services A Moral Alterantive To The Proprietary American Digital Ecosystem For Preservation Of The Individual's Autonomy and Privacy

Narrated presentation format is at: [http://www.by- star.net/PLPC/180054](http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180054)</comment>


Ask HN: How can I keep my employees happy? - <AUTHOR> I'm a first time CEO and right now I have 3 software engineers working for me. As a software engineer, what makes you happy at work? What makes you get excited about going to work every day? And what do you really wish your boss knew? <comment><USER2> A few things to think about. Having been a founder and currently a CTO, I find most software people are actually not that hard to keep happy, but it is easy to piss them off or create problems unnecessarily.

1\. Be transparent with them. The day will come you have to override a technical decision for a business reason, tell them the truth be direct, honest & transparent.

2\. Provide them with feedback regularly. It should be honest feedback but recognize that even when things are broken it takes a lot of energy so show them that respect.

3\. Highlight & publicly praise people for doing things above and beyond. Don't expect it, and even people that say they don't like it, appreciate it in the end. This is because a lot of times it isn't for them, it is so the rest of the team sees it and appreciates them and sees they can get the same.

4\. Don't micromanage their tasks. Set goals and hold them accountable, but don't be the PHB ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointy- haired_Boss](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointy-haired_Boss)).

5\. Pay a good wage and provide solid benefits for people. You don't need to supply crazy benefits, give good pay with fair benefits.

There are a ton more things I could add, but these are common things I see people make lots of preventable mistakes and cause culture and team problems.

</comment><comment><USER3> I would say that helping employees feel like they are making a difference with their work is important . It's very easy to feel like work is just a paycheck. Once people get to a point that work is a just a paycheck then the quality of work and happiness falls. Also help with work life balance. It's very common for new and young employees to give their all to new jobs they like but that leads to burn out which is bad for all involved. And eventually leads to bad job performance and having to fire them or they quit. As a CEO be very clear and constantly reinforce what your company culture is and what your goals as company are.

You drive the company and your employees are the force to get you where you need to go.

Also be careful with buying their loyalty via ever increasing benefits. This leads to a cycle of being disappointed with what you have and wanting more, no matter how much you get.

</comment><comment><USER4> In my opinion, I would ask them first. Each company builds it's own culture and your team is small enough that you can customize perks for them.</comment>


How to be Productive Infographic - <AUTHOR> http://www.entrepreneur.com/dbimages/article/1386958356-get-done-35-habits-most-productive-people-infographic.jpg

<comment><USER2> Don't spend too much time on HN? :-)</comment>


WeWork hit by rise in unpaid rent - <AUTHOR> https://www.ft.com/content/78dbfb03-f47d-41f3-9bf6-6696e5ef626b <comment><AUTHOR> > Thousands of tenant companies halt payments or try to break leases as > coronavirus empties offices

> The company has been overwhelmed by the volume of calls and emails from > businesses big and small that have moved to preserve their own cash as the > coronavirus pandemic brings economic activity to a standstill, according to > people involved in the matter.

> The group's occupancy rate fell to roughly 64 per cent at the start of > April, down from 79 per cent at the end of September. One person cautioned > that the drop did not yet account for the full economic fallout of the > crisis and the surge of cancellations the company was still girded for.

> WeWork has offered rent holidays to keep some clients and renegotiated > monthly terms for others in an effort to retain as many of its more than > 662,000 members as possible.

> However, many companies have decided against negotiating with WeWork and > have either removed their credit card information from its payment system or > declined to wire rent for the month, one of the people added, with lost > income running into millions of dollars at least.

> Royal Caribbean, the cruise ship operator, was among the companies in recent > days to notify WeWork that it would stop paying rent for the space it leases > in Miami. The group, which suspended its global fleet in March, told the > Financial Times on Monday that it was taking "decisive actions to protect > the company's financial and liquidity positions".

> One employee said the company had taken its time to process termination > requests and was attempting to "fight for every penny" as customers sought > to cancel their leases.

> "Adam sold us on changing the world," the employee said. "Sandeep has turned > us into collection agents."</comment>