New bounds checking ISA extension from Intel - <AUTHOR> http://software.intel.com/en-us/intel-isa-extensions#pid-16080-1495

<comment><AUTHOR> Some commentary at RWT: [http://www.realworldtech.com/forum/?threadid=135174&curposti...](http://www.realworldtech.com/forum/?threadid=135174&curpostid=135274)

Seems like they make a big effort to keep pre-MPX (compiled) code interoperable with the new bounds checked pointers.</comment>


Oracle announces more new Java 9 features - <AUTHOR> http://jaxenter.com/new-java-9-features-announced-112654.html

<comment><AUTHOR> If Oracle managed to ship a JDK9 with a new modularity system, and a modularized JDK split internally in modules, multiple profiles for embedded and desktop based on this module system, the release would already be huge.

This long-term fix for the classpath would be a big step forward for the Java platform, and I hope it comes out as soon as possible because it will still take time after it for application servers to adopt it and third party libraries to provide modules for their code.

Some language features would be nice too, like support for null pointer prevention, auto-casts, etc.

What would you like to see in Java 9?</comment>


Show HN: The 11K Club - our marketing stunt to help young people find work - <AUTHOR> http://www.11kclub.com

<comment><USER2> First impressions upon landing:

I have no idea what this site is. The 'about us' link in the bottom left is hidden enough to make it annoying (if this wasn't from HN, I probably would have closed the tab). When I do visit the 'About' page, it's a wall of text.

Your call-to-action of 'Apply to Join' should be far more apparent. (Assuming that is the CTA?)

Your tag line of 'The 11K Club - A Giant Space Ark Spreading the Seeds of Humanity Across the Galaxy. Join Us on Our Journey.' is bad for two reasons: 1) It's at the bottom of the page! 2) Sounds extremely pretentious -- far too grandoise. It also doesn't say what you do in any way.

<comment><USER3> Hi, co-founder here. Thanks for the feedback.

We take your points about the volume of text. But this isn't the marketing stunt - the stunt has already taken place. We got 13,300 people to sign up to a site that they knew nothing about. We admitted some of those people today. The idea of the site is a community of people who help each other. They initially help young people find employment and accumulate karma in doing so. They then use their karma to barter help for themselves from the clubs members.

It's a big experiment and won't be to everyones taste. I appreciate the 'journey' page is quite long and detailed but it'll give you an idea as to what we set out to do.

The tagline was from a member - it was his reason for wanting to join something he knew nothing about. But again, we take your point and we'll look to test it a little more.

Thanks for the feedback though, it is appreciated and we'll look to make things a little clearer for those visiting the site for the first time.</comment></comment>


Parallel Computing: Why the Future Is Non-Algorithmic - <AUTHOR> http://rebelscience.blogspot.com/2008/05/parallel-computing-why-future-is-non.html

<comment><USER2> _A thread is an algorithm, i.e., a one-dimensional sequence of operations to be executed one at a time._

Well, it's too bad that none of these pesky algorithms can be logically decomposed into independent processes and run all at once. Like, say, every matrix multiplication ever done by a multi-pipelined GPU in the past 20 years.

This is really the worst sort of trolling. Every time I looked up from studying today, I feel like I read something after which I was stupider than before. I mean, just look at what's become of my grammar, if nothing else...

<comment><USER3> He clearly doesn't even know what an algorithm is, yet is pontificates madly about how they preclude parallel code. I guess he doesn't think that distributed ray-tracing involves pesky things like "algorithms" either, eh? Naw, ray-tracing is an algorithm if you run it in a single thread, but it's not an algorithm when running in parallel... at least according to his logic.

I've found that bad engineers detest threads, but good ones like them when they're appropriate for the task at hand. This is further evidence of that.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Does Mapou == Louis Savain? <http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=Mapou>

<comment><USER5> And jobeemar == Louis Savain too? <http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=jobeemar>

<comment><USER5> Actually, naa, don't think so. Not enough "LOL"'s in his comments.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I'm not sure I understand this, but it appears to me that the consequence would be a reversal of defaults. Now we assume that a sequence of commands is the default and parallelism has to be explicit. He proposes to make parallelism the default and sequence explicit.

My question would be, is parallelism really the more frequent case? I mean if we take all the instructions in a program and analyse which ones are just accidentially sequential and which ones have to be sequential to be correct, would we have more parallel pairs or more squential pairs of instructions?

I believe we have more sequential pairs and that it'd be very cumbersome to default to parallelism. But there may be special cases where defaulting to parallelism is beneficial.

<comment><USER7> There has been some genuine research work in this area, with pretty much the ideas that you're suggesting. Google for data-flow computer architecture for a low-level take on the idea at the instruction level. (This guy seems to be talking about some similar concepts in places, but it's difficult to tell beneath the incoherence.)

There's also a bunch of work been done (with pure-functional computations or languages, for example, as well as some weirder research work with imperative languages), examining the writing of programs with automatic parallelism, with sequential ordering only when explicitly requested.

 _However_ , there's a big difference between actual work and the stuff this guy is spouting.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Who keeps posting these links to rebelscience? It's just gibberish.

</comment><comment><USER9> yes, that blog is the work of a troll. what he's talking about has merit though, intentionally or not.

<comment><USER10> The blog post is full of hand-waving and the mindset that "if you think this you must be stupid".

I'm extremely wary of anyone promoting the next silver bullet for writing software. The Project COSA, <http://www.rebelscience.org/Cosas/COSA.htm>, that the author mentions sounds very complex, and I have no idea how using such a system would simplify writing code.

<comment><USER4> Louis Savain's "arguments", which he likes to claim "over people's heads", are mostly just examples of the Argument from Intimidation fallacy. Ie, "only an idiot would disagree with this". (Complete with overly complicated and inadequately labeled diagrams, to try to make you feel stupid, so that you'll more susceptible to this tactic.) I don't buy it for a second. I've built logic circuits. I've written assembly code. He hates computer languages because he's full of shit; there's no polite way to put it.

Greater parallelism in hardware is a fine goal. But it's madness to write programs for processors. If humans can't read it, then your program is crap. There are no exceptions.

We have these many processors. The task is not to make parallelism fit on a single chip. The task is to develop practices and languages that allow humans to write code for other humans, in such a way that programs also incidentally take advantage of the many (threaded, algorithmic) von Neuman machines that we have wired together in modern computers.

In just a few years, 8 or 16 (or more!) cores won't be a big deal. When you have 50 single-threaded cores, you have a different kind of computer than what we're used to today. We already have languages that take advantage of these features pretty well. They're not hugely popular yet, but they're also not being taught at universities, and we're not yet at a point where they're terribly necessary.

The COSA project is imaginary yak shaving of the worst sort. If he was half the hacker he claimed to be, he'd be writing programs instead of crackpot papers. Where is all the useful error-free software that COSA makes it so easy to create? Where's the web server he built with it, or the word processor? Hell, I'd be impressed with a 4-function calculator! Show me the goods, and I'll take it seriously. I'll even join the beta and play around with the stuff.

Until then, in my view, Savain is on par with the muttering bum at the bus stop.

<comment><USER11> Exactly - thanks - you saved me making virtually the same points. This guy really should make use of a dictionary and look up terms such as "Algorithm" - he might learn some stuff.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> This picture the OP includes reminds me of TimeCube:

[http://bp3.blogger.com/_BXJTG_K68fU/SB6ibLP3ExI/AAAAAAAAAE0/...](http://bp3.blogger.com/_BXJTG_K68fU/SB6ibLP3ExI/AAAAAAAAAE0/t9l-kpWEuXk/s400/ScreenHunter_03+May.+05+00.41.gif)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> You Turing worshippers are so full of hate. You sound like somebody just blasphemed against your two-bit god. LOL. Too bad for you that the parallel programming crisis is about to bring Turing down from his pedestal. Then you'll shut the hell up. I have a wide grin on my face just thinking about it.

Money always talks and no chicken-shit cult of propeller heads can stop that. LOL.

<comment><USER13> I logged in just to mod you down, due to the dull sadness I feel at your apparent sense of obligation to spew such bile.

This blog post is full of misconceptions and appears to be written by an individual who has not sufficiently delved into algorithms, parallel computing, or operations research. Similar problem has been around for decades, such as controlling the flow of tasks on parallel factory assembly lines. Guess what helps us find near-optimal flows? That's right: algorithms.</comment></comment>


People who destroy entrepreneurial value are the scum of the earth - <AUTHOR> http://ryanwaggoner.com/2010/10/people-who-destroy-entrepreneurial-value-are-the-scum-of-the-earth/ <comment><USER2> There will always be hustlers a-plenty ready to exploit entrepreneurs.

A few examples from my years working in Silicon Valley from the legal side (where, unfortunately, a lot of this crops up):

In the days when founders were generally less informed than they are today, I would often see them fall prey to "consultants" who would promise to open doors to funding and the like in exchange for a significant equity stake in their venture, only to show themselves to be nothing but B.S.ers.

I have seen lower-tier VCs who cared not a whit about their reputations take control, fire the founders and do a 100 to 1 reverse stock split in exchange for modest additional funding, reducing the entire equity holdings of the founders to less than 1% of the company in one fell swoop.

I have seen founders sell in acquisitions, take their full compensation in the form equity in the acquirer that had to vest over 4 years but without acceleration protection in the event of termination without cause, be told that "we wouldn't do this unless we wanted you to succeed," and then get fired within a few months as the acquiring company took years' worth of work from them for what amounted to a pittance.

I have seen a young founder build up incredible value in a new venture and, after a few years of devoting everything to it and building nice revenues, take in a "partner" who was a "player" in Silicon Valley, only to have that person maneuver him down from an initial 100% ownership stake to 50% to 5% and, finally, when a $30M buyout is about to happen, grant to himself massive amounts of additional stock (all for bogus reasons) to put the original founder under 1% right on the eve of the acquisition.

I could go on and on but the lesson in all of these is that entrepreneurs should always be vigilant to ensure that the deals they do are prudent and do not expose them to this sort of exploitation - it can come at you from all sides.

Very nice piece, by the way, Ryan - I find your posts consistently insightful.

<comment><USER3> _I have seen lower-tier VCs who cared not a whit about their reputations take control, fire the founders and do a 100 to 1 reverse stock split in exchange for modest additional funding_

So... why was additional funding needed? Why were the founders not able to get it on their own?

 _I have seen a young founder build up incredible value in a new venture_

How incredible? Maybe the partner believed the founder's estimate to be literally that...

I don't want to defend the company described in the OP, but overconfidence is endemic to the startup culture. There's plenty of companies out there with nothing more than a clever gimmick, or worse yet, an imitation of someone else's clever gimmick, and that are destined to vaporize the carefully collected funds of their investors. Is it wrong to act decisively to turn such companies around? Or to collect whatever "value" remains when the end is nigh?

It's easy to criticize the VC guys, and they certainly can act badly at times, but every entrepreneur thinks their company is the best thing in the world - or acts like they do - and can be a little blind about these things.

<comment><USER4> > _every entrepreneur thinks their company is the best thing in the world_

Nevertheless, it is their company.

<comment><USER3> After they have received an investment it is _not_ their company, but a company that belongs to both them and their investors. Indeed, unless those investors are individuals, they have a fiduciary responsibility to act when the company is being mismanaged.

<comment><USER5> Just because you legally can, doesn't make it right.

There is no good excuse for maximizing your profits by suddenly changing the ownership structure of the company to your direct financial benefit. Doing so is wrong.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Is this Generational Equity (<http://www.genequityco.com/Conferences.aspx>)?

PS: Ryan, is putting a big HN submit button and begging for an upvote a little too much, or is it how "the games needs to be played"?

edit: more stuff from the disclaimer from Generational Equity seminar, that I really hate (of course it's in small print). See how well it matches the post:

 _Generational Equity does accept clients or customers that may later prove to be unviable or unmarketable_

 _Please be advised that no particular buyer has expressed a specific interest in your business._

 _Generational Equity does not conduct a detailed or sophisticated screening process for its potential customers_

 _Only after a customer relationship is established can Generational Equity assist in identifying the value of your business_

If you read between the lines, it says, in plain English: you must pay us first, then we'll tell you that no one wants to acquire your company, but hey, we told you so, despite our sales pitch to the contrary.

<comment><USER7> Confirming it here would probably open him up to just as many potential legal pitfalls.

<comment><USER8> I'd expect a sly wink of a response that would serve as cover.

Something like, "I've seen that website before, but I can't comment on whether they're the ones who contacted me."

<comment><USER6> GW Equity is a master at SEO optimization, I'm really impressed. If you google "Generational Equity scam", then you find plenty of juicy stuff. But if you had just googled their name, Google shows you 3 pages of links that are all variations on their name, obviously designed to obfuscate good results. Really, it's worth a look. Where can I report SEO abuse to Google?

Read for instance: [http://www.acquisitionadvisors.com/ma- blog/2009/03/another-b...](http://www.acquisitionadvisors.com/ma- blog/2009/03/another-business-seller-feels-scammed/)

<comment><USER9> Google's suggestions sure seem to paint a clear picture though.. Shame the suggestions are at the bottom and not the top in this case:

      Searches related to Generational Equity
        generational equity scam
        generational equity named runner
        generational equity rip off
        generational equity blog
        generational equity complaints
        generational equity m&a

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I'd be curious who actually gets taken by scams like this.

I know 2 kinds of people who own businesses, those who worked their butts off for years building them themselves and those who inherited them from their parents. I've noticed a disproportionate number of the inheritors who have taken family money that took 40 years to amass and have lost it in a year or two. Founders and builders that I know seem to be much more wary of "get rich" scams. They know what it takes to be successful; they've already done it themselves.

Ryan, I'm guessing that you questioned this because you built your own. But would you have been more receptive if you had inherited Daddy's business and wanted out to "live the good life"? Just wondering.

<comment><USER11> Entrepreneurs of all stripes can get taken by scams like this. Often times they are not "scams" per se, just very overpriced services. Like agile programmering groups charging $200/hr and delivering worse code than the in- house teams. I've worked for four boot-strapped-then-venture-funded startups and ALL of the founders at these startups have fallen for something like this at one point. It's pretty easy to fall for this. Startups are very frustrating and stressful, so when your in-house guys are telling you it's going to take 4 months to do something and some external guys are telling you it's only going to take them 1, you WANT to believe the external guys. And hey, they have the balls to ask for $200/hr, so they must be able to pull it off, right?

There are also legitimate scams, like life coaching or various overpriced seminars or "consulting" from "strategists." I won't comment on these as there seems to be a strong internet entrepreneurial contingent who thinks this stuff is very valuable. I'm also pretty sure my founder friends who have paid out the nose for stuff like this would claim it was worth the money, so I don't really know what to say, here.

<comment><USER12> Are you really saying that all coaching/life coaching is a scam?

<comment><USER11> No, if you include actual sports coaches. But life coaches, yes.

<comment><USER13> What is your rationale for including life coaches, but excluding sport coaches?

<comment><USER14> Sport coaches are more operational managers, tacticians and physical trainers who have authority over a team than the pure teacher types that life coaches are. You also don't directly pay him money, or are getting paid.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Sadly I have often seen the type of people mentioned in the article as the one considered "entrepreneurs" and are often the ones saying we need more entrepreneurs. When I was a teen, its all I saw and developed a strong aversion with all things related "entrepreneurs", it just seemed like a moral license to screw people and not care.

If it creates that perception for other people growing up, they really do a disservice to the world!

</comment><comment><USER16> I think adwords & blogging and other actually effective forms of advertising are upping the amount of pressure on people who sell worthless things. I get called almost every day with someone who tries to sound like a customer to keep me on the phone long enough to sell me something. There's an air of desperation where we're finding out that some companies who were profitable before the recession are not actually adding value when you need to justify their services.

</comment><comment><USER17> name of the business is? jason at calacanis dot com if you don't want it public.

</comment><comment><USER18> OK, I'll be the contrarian here but although their pricing/compensation structure is off for a small entrepreneur, I don't see anything morally wrong with the concept of this type of business.

There are many business owners who want to sell for a variety of reasons -- divorce, need a large amount of cash, tired of running the business, etc...

Almost every entrepreneur has a "price" at which he'd be willing to sell. If this consulting business changed around their pricing scheme and took a percent cut of a successful sale, where everything was transparent, there are many people who would find value in this.

For a smalltime entrepreneur, of course it doesn't make sense to drop $30k on the HOPE that these guys find a buyer. However, if your company is making $1M in profit per year, it may well be worth MORE than $30k upfront to hire well- connected brokers to get multiple parties to bid up a purchase price for your company.

</comment><comment><USER19> > I'd be curious who actually gets taken by scams like this.

Theory of multiple intelligences suggests, that, when working in the right context, the ability for building strong & profitable businesses does not necessitate the "intelligence" of strong BS-filter. This is why you have a lawyer friend, a strong peer group of entrepreneurs, and that guy full of cynicism, whom you still listen with half an ear. Or if you don't, you _should_.

</comment><comment><USER20> There area lot of "incubators" that do pretty much exactly this... but the seminar never ends, and the list of services they can charge for doesn't either.

</comment><comment><USER21> s/entrepreneurial//

</comment><comment><USER22> Would say, scum of the scum :-) Can you disclose the nationality of the guy who called you?

</comment><comment><USER23> If you enter into a contract, knowing the details, that's your responsibility. They are not 'scum' for making the offer. And the people who take them up on it are not necessarily 'stupid'. Obviously, some of their clients are very happy.

At this point, you don't even have any proof that they have unhappy clients.

<comment><AUTHOR> _If you enter into a contract, knowing the details, that's your responsibility. They are not 'scum' for making the offer._

Your second statement doesn't follow logically from your first. They can be "scum" even if I'm responsible for my actions. Perhaps we just have different perspectives, but I believe that if you spend your time trying to rip off people who don't know any better, you're destroying value. The fact that they agree to it doesn't absolve you of any responsibility. If I sell a car with a critical defect that I fail to disclose to the buyer under the assumption that it's their responsibility to get the car checked before they buy, I've done something wrong. I wouldn't want someone to do that to me, and it's not right for me to do it to them.

Further, it's not at all obvious that some of their clients are very happy, but the collection of blog posts, magazine exposés, BBB complaints, and lawsuits is sufficient evidence for me that they definitely have unhappy clients.

EDIT: I don't have any proof of this, but from the conversation I had and the research I did, I highly doubt that the people forking over $32k have "all the details". This sounds to me exactly like any other high-pressure exploitative sales seminar.</comment></comment>


Steam will not support Ubuntu 19.10 - <AUTHOR> https://mobile.twitter.com/Plagman2/status/1142262103106973698 <comment><AUTHOR> I guess Steam is not the problem but all the 32bit games and apps are.</comment>


The Lost Civilization of Dial-Up Bulletin Board Systems - <AUTHOR> https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/11/the-lost-civilization-of-dial-up-bulletin-board-systems/506465/?single_page=true <comment><USER2> [dupe] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12876822](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12876822)</comment>


New cfdisk - <AUTHOR> http://karelzak.blogspot.com/2014/06/new-cfdisk-util-linux-v225.html

<comment><USER2> Is this different from the libparted version? [http://www.gnu.org/software/fdisk/](http://www.gnu.org/software/fdisk/)

</comment><comment><USER3> Sounds like too many big changes for a minor version bump.

<comment><USER4> That's because it is bundled with util-linux. You can call it a drawback of bundling several unrelated utilities together.</comment></comment>


Samsung is hoping to rekindle Note brand name next year - <AUTHOR> https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/24/samsung-is-hoping-to-rekindle-note-brand-name-next-year/ <comment><USER2> The use of Rekindle is ... interesting.</comment>


On Seeking Truth - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@taylorphillips/a-tapestry-of-truth-d2f1aeff6991

<comment><USER2> I read the first four paragraphs and thought, "How vapid. Did someone train a Markov chain with platitudes?" It's amusing how close I was to the truth.

Actual truth-seeking is hard and typically boring. It involves learning about human cognitive biases, then training oneself to recognize and correct for them. The whole process is not very fun, but its fruits are useful.</comment>


Major Usenet Provider Shuts Down Following Court Order - <AUTHOR> http://torrentfreak.com/major-usenet-provider-shuts-down-following-court-order-111106/

<comment><USER2> Usenet is the internet. The internet is no longer compatible with European law.

<comment><USER3> To be exact, Usenet was already there before the Internet.

<comment><USER4> To be correct, Usenet was there before the World Wide Web, not the Internet.

<comment><USER5> To be even more correct, Usenet was, in fact, there before the Internet. It predates TCP/IP by two years, and originally ran over dialup UUCP connections.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Sounds like all these providers should move to the US. The laws here are much more favorable for them.

Who would have that the DMCA was so helpful?

<comment><USER7> Looks like E-PARASITE (nee PROTECT-IP) may fix that oversight.</comment></comment>


What would it Look like with all the planets between the earth and the moon? - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEoqv0PAAT8 <comment><USER2> Wow, I definitely thought of the moon as being way closer than that

<comment><USER3> _" Earth's moon ... is over one quarter the size of Earth in diameter. No other planet has a moon this large in proportion to the size of the planet."_

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This is gorgeous, particularly the shadow chases across the disk of Jupiter. But I can't help wondering what the xkcd What If? version would look like...</comment>


OpenBSD Is Now My Workstation - <AUTHOR> https://sogubsys.com/openbsd-is-now-my-workstation-operating-system/ <comment><USER2> For years I lived in FreeBSD world - servers and laptops. I was fighting the good fight and rationalised that having to only remember one location for network services was a win.

Then I took a second look. I realised that I was spending waaayy too much time getting the laptop usable (usually wifi) and not going enough using it

I bailed for ubuntu and I cannot remember where the network confit is and hate the GUI but I have stopped caring and I just do my work

Sometimes I feel dirty.

<comment><USER3> I switched from Linux to OpenBSD, then to FreeBSD as my primary OS on my laptop, which involved a bit more set-up time than I was accustomed to with Linux, previously. Eventually I grew tired of the manual setup for so many things and bailed for Debian Sid.

It feels like a nice middle-ground. Most things work out of the box, but I still get to tinker and scratch that itch.

<comment><USER4> I went the same route. Arch -> Void -> FreeBSD -> OpenBSD -> Debian Stretch (no desktop, just xorg + i3).

I love it. No more random updates breaking things like in Arch. I can install things relatively smoothly and get them running quickly. If I really do need the latest version of something I can still install from source. Etc.

I just want to work on things, not configure things endlessly and deal with random bugs :-)

<comment><USER3> That is _exactly_ how I feel.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I hate the fact that Thinkpads are the laptops with the best OpenBSD support.

I dislike Thinkpads for two reasons:

\- They're made by Lenovo. A couple of years ago, Lenovo bundled malware in the BIOS of their laptops [superfish incident]. For that reason, I won't ever again buy a single product from them, since I can't trust them.

\- They're ugly. I find most current laptops ugly, so this may be _my_ fault, and by itself it wouldn't be enough of a reason not to buy one. But still.

<comment><USER6> For what it's worth, the Superfish and LSE BIOS scandals didn't apply to ThinkPads. I think Lenovo understands that they have too many serious business and gov clients using ThinkPads to risk doing something silly like that to their professional-grade ThinkPad brand.

<comment><USER7> > For what it's worth

Not much in my book. The problem isn't Superfish, the problem is leadership that allowed it.

<comment><USER8> ThinkPad is under rather different leadership from Lenovo's consumer division that had the Superfish debacle on IdeaPads and the like. Sure, they are part of one corporation at the very top, but you don't have to go very far down the org chart before they split into separate teams and leadership.

ThinkPad is from the old IBM teams in Raleigh and Yamato. Lenovo made their own laptops before buying IBM's personal computer division, and that line (and its management) became IdeaPad.

If you're troubled by leadership that would allow Superfish (as I am), buy a ThinkPad, not an IdeaPad.

Previous discussion:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20240533](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20240533)

<comment><USER5> I shouldn't have to learn about the internal structure of a company in order to buy a laptop without malware.

Maybe Lenovo should have thought about their internal structure and their brand reputation before installing malware on their laptops, or maybe not (because they don't care about clients like me, they care about the 90% of bosses that buy bulks of Thinkpads and don't know what firmware is). But anyway, it wasn't a rogue engineer who did it, it was Lenovo, and in my eyes: Lenovo ships malware.

<comment><USER8> Of course it's up to you to decide what computer to buy or not to buy, based on whatever criteria you see fit.

But I don't think you're doing yourself a favor by ruling out ThinkPads just because of a boneheaded decision that Lenovo's consumer division made a few years ago. ThinkPad and IdeaPad really are two separate organizations under one corporate umbrella.

Superfish was not something handed down from on high, it was the bright idea of the consumer group. The ThinkPad team would never go along with something like that; it's not in their DNA and it would destroy their business. Their bread and butter isn't you and me, it's large organizations with IT and security departments who deploy hundreds of ThinkPads at a time and look very closely at the software on them.

Only offering food for thought, it's cool with me whether you buy ThinkPads or something else. :-)

<comment><USER9> Personally, I agree with the op. If we want to send a message that malware in our BIOSs is absolutely unacceptable, it makes zero sense to give Lenovo any business.

<comment><USER8> I don't see how boycotting ThinkPads sends a message that BIOS malware is unacceptable. ThinkPads never had that, and never would.

Anyway, I don't usually buy or not buy a computer to send a message. I buy one because it meets my business and personal needs. I've been using ThinkPads for over 20 years, and they have served me very well.

You may choose differently, and of course that's fine.

<comment><USER7> > I don't see how boycotting ThinkPads sends a message that BIOS malware is > unacceptable

It sends a message to other manufacturers: add malware at your own peril. I frankly consider it unethical to buy or recommend products from companies, like Lenovo, who demonstrated anti-consumer behavior because it perpetuates bad behavior as companies think consumers will forget or forgive them.

> ThinkPads never had that, and never would.

That is speculative. I can't know that whatever harmful and irrational environment that led to Superfish in IdeaPad won't affect ThinkPads in the future. Even in the most generous understanding where IdeaPad is a different, physically separate branch of the company, and Superfish was an act of incompetence and not outright malice I can't be expected to keep up with the insider intrigue of the company to notice any changes that could negatively affect me. More importantly, leadership is still responsible for setting irrational environment that lead to Superfish, whatever that environment was. This is a multi-billion dollar company, there is no excuse for such incompetence.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I like openbsd. I like their attitude (even if many don't) I like what they've given to the UNIX-likes, and what they strip away due to complexity (removal of Bluetooth) or lack of decent UX (wpa_supplicant), or just potential issues (removal of Hyperthreading)

I know it's probably controversial to mention it; but I'm also glad they didn't buy into the code of conduct saga that waved over FreeBSD and eventually Linux.

I've used the OS as a daily driver, it certainly was nice, albeit slow. I would go back if I could avoid some of the Linux/MacOS stuff I really need. I still use it on personal servers and I still really love it.

I send them €50/mo but I don't feel like it's enough. I wish they had more resources to bring things like AC Wi-Fi to the fold. Truly impressive work to all involved.

<comment><USER11> I don't think there are many who send €50/mo, kudos to you! Few of their corporate users give much back at all.

I used OpenBSD as my workstation a decade ago and also ran it on a firewall box. However, upgrading the system every six months is tedious: basically, you manually download the files, overwrite the kernel and userland core, and then do a three way merge of /etc. Plus there's a bit of manual work required to deleted unused files and account for moved files:

[https://www.openbsd.org/faq/upgrade65.html](https://www.openbsd.org/faq/upgrade65.html)

After that, you still have to upgrade the ports tree (which has gotten easier).

Note that skipping upgrades is not supported.

Security updates between the six month upgrades are handled by monitoring the security list and downloading and applying patches as instructed.

If you are running a bunch of identical servers professionally, it's not much of a burden, but it is if you are upgrading one workstation and a firewall box. I got tight on time and went back to Debian/apt.

Does anyone here know how to do this more efficiently?

(It is a really nice system, and the man pages are superb.)

<comment> yjftsjthsd-h Somewhat like sibling comment, I'd be really tempted to put /home on its own filesystem, control/configure everything else with Ansible (or Chef or Puppet or [...]), and just do a fresh install every 6 months. For bonus points, automate the install part with an autoinstall file. Keep in mind, there's setup cost here; it's easy for me to say because I'm already controlling my system with Ansible, but if you're just getting started it's harder.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I've been using OpenBSD since 3.8.

OpenBSD is a great system because it makes sense. If you want to find out how something works. You go to the manual page. A lot of questions about the Operating system can be found on the FAQ.

Much like Arch Linux, I don't find myself needing to Google around forums trying to find a solution. I go to the docs and 99% of the time I will find the solution.

The reasons for using it aren't really that exciting. It is a basic system that works well.

</comment><comment><USER13> He literally can't do his job on this OS... He runs his critical workloads (Linux virtual machines) on another laptop with Linux installed.

<comment><USER14> But he can. I have no idea why he dismissed vmd.

<comment><AUTHOR> I need to run Windows workstation and server VMs, too. (In the screenshot, I show Windows).

Additionally, the Linux VM cons with vmd are off-putting, but I'll be getting them working. I even saw a blog post about running docker containers on linux on vmd. So, I'm going to try that out soon :D

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I tried openbsd in my thinkpad x220. IDK if the processor only make a huge difference (mine being core i3 2.1ghz), but what I saw was a slow system experience, opening firefox for the first time (after boot) took a decade. I would experience slugishness everytime I closed a tab. And I was using cwm which is supposed to be even more lightweight than xfce4. I'm upgrading my motherboard to have the same processor as the author, maybe I will give another shot.

<comment><USER16> Were you using a traditional spinning rust hard drive? OpenBSD is basically unusable without an SSD because of the filesystem they use.

<comment><USER17> I think you need to enable Soft Updates: [https://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq14.html#SoftUpdates](https://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq14.html#SoftUpdates) I don't know why it is not done by default, running without soft updates feels like using a filesystem without a journal.

<comment><AUTHOR> Indeed, it was recommended by several people that I add that and noatime. That's active on my mount points.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I have Linux-on-the-Windows-Desktop. WSL, that is. For my use case, it's fucking amazing. I've come full circle.

I switched from Windows to Linux in 1999. I switched from Linux to Mac in 2003.

I've used Linux natively, it turned into a hack-fest. I spent more time trying to get things working, than getting ACTUAL work done. Using the Linux platform for development is fantastic.

It's when you want to do non-dev related productivity stuff that it got frustrating for me. You had to have workarounds galore. Or you had to have Wine, or you had to have a full Windows VM (when $APP didn't have a good nix-y equivalent).

macOS _was_ great when the computer hardware was prioritized. Then at some point, Apple shifted focus. It _was_ all about a cohesive experience, and integration galore. Then it shifted. Now it's all about iOS/iPadOS/watchOS/tvOS. macOS and its hardware have largely taken a back seat. See the MacBook Pro 2016-.

When Apple releases the 2019 MBP and it _IMMEDIATELY_ goes onto the keyboard repair program... you know that in spite of all lip service to the contrary, that Apple gives no fucks about the Apple computer, like they do their gravy train products.

I needed an environment that'd let me still target Linux development, but stay-the-eff-out-of-my-way for productivity stuff. Windows it is. I know that's not what HNer's wanna hear, but the cultural shift at MS and using MS for a dev platform... it's been surprising, and amazing. Not what I'd expected in a million years. #flyingpigs #flameon

Anyone else experience a similar evolution?

<comment><USER19> I've made the same transitions from win to Linux to Mac and for the same reasons. I'm going back to Linux though.

I've used windows professionally all that time and Windows 10 is the least productive it's ever been, for me anyway. It's just such a horrible experience and I don't know exactly why that is. I didn't even mind CMD and powershell and it's not that I dislike Microsoft. I recently traded my personal g-suite in for a Office365 essentials plan, and I'm rather happy with it, but I just can't get on the right food of Windows 10. I wish I could, the Surface Books are genuinely the modern MacBook Pro, but Ubuntu is just a better experience.

Of course there is still a few quirks, the only one that's really bothered me is the lack of a Linux One Drive client, which should frankly tell you how little Microsoft has really changed. They don't intend to be good for Linux, they want Linux to be good for them.

<comment><USER18> To discount the sweeping changes in the company culture because they haven't yet worked on what you want them to, don't you think that's a little short- sighted?

I wanted Microsoft to release a new terminal. It took 2 years. Now that it's out, I want it to support panes. There's only so much they can do at once.

I wanted a good consistent UI experience for Linux. It's been decades and that still hasn't happened. The groups maintaining KDE and Gnome can hardly agree _among themselves_ much less with the userbase.

At this point, I'm more inclined to believe that Microsoft will get things done faster, than the Linux community will.

I'm not slamming Linux, either. Just being realistic after many years/attempts of being user. Better to have a stable and consistent base to work from. If you ask me, that's why so many folks who target Linux for development do it from a non-Linux platform. It makes for a much less frustrating experience.

<comment><USER19> We've worked with Microsoft for decades and I personally really like them as an enterprise partner, but I'm just not seeing those sweeping cultural changes you are.

They've certainly opened up, they've even open sourced .Net with core. It works with Linux, but it works better if you feed it security through Active Directoy, monitor it with Application insights and deploy it in Azure. There is now a CLI, VSC and Visual Studio for Mac, but Visual Studio for Windows is still light years better. And that's really the general story. They've opened up, but I see it much more as Microsoft understanding the market again than a "new" Microsoft. I'm fine with it, it's certainly nice to have better products, but I do think it's the same old story of getting the most out of your environment if you buy all of it from Microsoft. I'm perfectly fine with that by the way, they are a company after all, and if they can make better products than they did before then cool!

I don't personally think Windows 10 is a better product though. I find it to be one of the most frustrating OSes I've ever had to use, aWd that's why I'm not going windows -> Linux -> Mac -> Windows like you are. I think Ubuntu is a much better experience than Windows 10, but then, I happen to actually really like gnome.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> >Speed is Stellar

>Speed is not a concern for me.

Is he saying that speed isn't a concern for him _in general_? If so, why mention that the speed is stellar, then? Or is he saying that the system is so light in general that he doesn't suspect speed will become a problem down the line?

<comment><AUTHOR> You're right, my mistake in communication there.

Speed is not a concern for me because it is fast for everything I use the laptop for. I didn't hit snags where things were slow.

I'll update the post later for clarity. Thank you for pointing it out.

<comment><USER21> Great stuff. Also a big fan of OpenBSD, but what put me off eventually is lack of VMs, Wine and... speed. On Thinkpad T410 (ancient) it was noticeably slower than FreeBSD almost on any task, especially video playback in the browser. Not really related to the file system use. Perhaps, the effect is not as pronounced on CPUs of these days. Software selection was also a little claustrophobic.

I'm now using FreeBSD as my main machine for almost a year - really happy with the outcome, but even there some areas, like neural networks for example, are difficult. (But Keras and Theano are there!)

In many aspects OpenBSD was amazing. It needed very little tinkering with to get running properly, configs and ps ax were super-clean. Amazing environment.

<comment><USER17> There is some work done about VMs: [https://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq16.html](https://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq16.html)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> OpenBSD will download your wifi firmware during first boot (post-install) if there is a configured internet connection (i.e. ethernet).

<comment><USER23> A lot of Linux distros just ship a lot of this firmware, not expecting to be litigated against for it; and it seems to work out.

<comment><USER24> c.f. Debian, which has a policy to exclude non-free firmware from its installation media.

The onus is on the user to themselves supply the firmware.

[https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch06s04.html.en](https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch06s04.html.en)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> So, you are giving up what seems like your 2 most important apps (Evernote and VMs) just so you can run X operating system on a laptop?

Excuse me, but this just doesn't make any sense. Applications are the reason we use computers, not OSs, and to have to make such sacrifices is IMHO just silly. The whole OS holy-war thing seems so played out to me...its 2019 just use whatever works..no one care really.

Add to that the apparent political nature of the openbsd "manifesto" and guidelines and I'll just say that I, personally, am not a fan of mixing politics and OSs.

<comment><AUTHOR> I understand what you're saying but I fear you may be misunderstanding my intentions and opinions. I feel you may be injecting your own issues with things into my blog post. Please allow me explain.

The importance of having a secure and correct OS is most important to me (I feel OpenBSD is most appropriate and interesting here). I feel the value of OpenBSD outweighs the lose of two applications. I'm not part of an OS war, I frankly don't care what anyone uses. I just posted about about my experience on my blog (blogging is a new/rare thing for me and I am proud of the post, it took hours to do) and frankly didn't expect the post to HN to do anything (I posted on a whim, a coworker next to me loves the site) :)

I intended to migrate off of Evernote at some point, it is a tough band-aid to pull off after getting used to it for 10 years. Not having native VirtualBox on the machine is definitely a dislike, but isn't the end of the world. I only need it for labs. NetBSD can apparently run in vmm, too, just have to pass a boot option for the serial console (but I haven't tried it).

For Evernote, I had to ask myself what I'm actually using Evernote for. I'm solely using it for having minimally rich text and website scrapes stored in notebooks, and all notes being searchable. And I want it available wherever I am. I don't use OSR, non-text notes, pro features, related notes, etc. So, I question why I'm still paying for it, entrusting a vendor with all my data, and dealing with non-standard clients outside of windows/mac. Doing something just because I've always done is a terrible pattern. Time to re-evaluate and fix. That's what I did, and now I have an extremely portable and flexible solution that doesn't cost me anything but time, which I'm OK with.

I make a living with Linux for high traffic web applications, I use NetBSD and Linux for my personal servers, and OpenBSD for my workstation. I enjoy operating systems and I'm comfortable in all of them. Each one has their own character, their own quirks and pros and cons. One size fits all, for me, is a fool's game. No matter what you choose, there's some price to be paid for what you get.

And to be crystal clear: I'm not trying to change hearts and minds, or influence others, or be part of some cool kids club. Ultimately, I'm selfish with my hobbies, which this is, and so I do what solely is interesting to me. If I was able to help others, that's great and I'm happy for that, but I have no expectations.

Thank you. I hope we can be on the same page now, and I hope I was not too verbose. Be well.

An update to the article too about VMs: Note that for VMs I'm now using Oracle (non-distro provided) Virtualbox with their VRDP active, which is RDP for the VM instance and not the VM OS itself, so can RDP to the VMs on the network much better than libvirt. So, it is good enough. VirtualBox is mainly for intensive labs or monkeying with NetBSD kernel development, which 99% of the time I'd do at home.

<comment><USER26> screw the evernote, use org-mode

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> I bought a used Thinkpad to use OpenBSD.

The default installation is good and the internals are easy to understand. It's not as complicated as Linux. The security etho is what brought me to OpenBSD and the simplicity and easy to understand how everything works made me love it even more.

The only reason why I haven't use it much after a few months is because I needed RStudio. I wanted to settle for tmux+vim workflow for R but I've been busy with other stuff.

</comment><comment><USER28> Thanks for sharing this!

I run OpenBSD on my refurbished T430, and have very similar experiences.

Glad you have moved on from Evernote to something local and parse-able!

</comment><comment><USER29> > vmd is cool tech, for sure, but it isn't that useful to me. It is best if > you want to run OpenBSD virtual machines or gimped Linux virtual machines.

The use of "gimped" is poor choice of words. It would be better if the author described specifically what fell short for them.

<comment><AUTHOR> From [https://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq16.html](https://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq16.html)

The following features are available:

        serial console access to the virtual machines
        tap(4) interfaces
        per-VM user/group ownership
        privilege separation
        raw, qcow2 and qcow2-derived images
        dumping and restoring of guest system memory
        virtual switch management
        pausing and unpausing VMs

The following features are not available at this time:

        graphics
        snapshots
        guest SMP support
        hardware passthrough
        live migration across hosts
        live hardware change

Supported guest operating systems are currently limited to OpenBSD and Linux. As there is no VGA support yet, the guest OS must support serial console.

<comment><USER30> One thing I've been meaning to try doing (and probably will indeed try doing on my "workhorse" laptop at home, which is currently insufficiently used) is experiment with running X clients from a vmd-managed Linux VM, plus perhaps figuring out a way to stream audio in/out of the VM (and - as icing on the cake - video in).

If I can get reasonably decent graphics, sound, and webcam support (in order of importance), I'd be able to return to running OpenBSD on my work laptop (I'm currently unable to do so because there are a couple apps I use daily for work that don't run on OpenBSD).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> > Update: The core dumps are due to buggy programs. OpenBSD malloc is not as > forgiving to blatant programming errors as other implementations of malloc > available on other Operating Systems.

What is the difference/error?

<comment><USER30> OpenBSD's malloc is much more strict for security reasons. A crash sucks, but it's infinitely preferable to an undetected bug that leaks data.

Heartbleed was famously possible even when using OpenSSL on OpenBSD because OpenSSL (if I understand right) used its own custom allocator instead of the system malloc, thus bypassing the various attack mitigations OpenBSD's malloc provides (and that would have prevented Heartbleed from affecting OpenBSD systems). This (among other instances of similar behavior) is what prompted the OpenBSD folks to fork OpenSSL into libressl.

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> There are trade-offs involved in choosing OpenBSD for a "Work"station, and the post covers some: lack of packages/no proper package manager (requires recompiling with patches from source), no Docker/VMs/VirtualBox/Wine, etc. Other are lack of drivers, etc. None of these issues are incompatible with an Operating System design (or not really), they mostly just need extra work.

However, the blog post mentions that "for them" performance isn't an issue. This should not be interpreted as performance being good. OpenBSD performance can only be described with data: [https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=8-linux-...](https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=8-linux- bsd)

Even for something that the OpenBSD devs themselves are doing all the time, compiling stuff, OpenBSD is ~20x slower than Linux. 2x slower would be horrible. I really have no words to describe 20x slower performance. If you are a dev working with a compiled language, imagine a 20x perf hit on compile- times. Imagine having to patch LLVM/Clang on OpenBSD by recompiling it from source. "Apocalyptically horrible", "worst in class", do not even make justice for how slow OpenBSD is.

<comment><USER33> > requires recompiling with patches from source

I don't think that's true. There's pkg_add and syspatch and those are preferred methods for upgrading your system. You can recompile things from source and I think that it's an awesome feature for hacker, who wants to tinker with sources of some package, but that's not the only way.

<comment><USER32> Between distro releases, if you want to apply security patches, you need to recompile from source, because there are no binary releases.

</comment></comment></comment><comment> user00012-ab This article is what is wrong with bsd/linux. You have to write an article about all the things you did to get your desktop to just work like any normal desktop works out of the box.

In a normal world, the article should read "I installed bsd, and just used my computer to do something useful."

<comment><AUTHOR> There's more to it. It isn't a "Use OpenBSD, everything else sucks", it was simply "I used OpenBSD on a Thinkpad T420 and let me tell you about it".

I also posted about that I tried Linux (Ubuntu), FreeBSD, and OpenBSD on the laptop before deciding on OpenBSD. It wasn't made out of stubbornness.

It was simply the right choice for me for that laptop. And I shared my experience getting it up to a state I was used to with my previous Linux workstation (that this laptop replaced).

<comment><USER34> But given the amount of steps I do think repeatedly stating how simple and easy things were makes me think your bar is quite low. Compare installation to macOS, it's a million time so more complicated. If you need a FAQ to configure your system and get wifi working, you're doing it wrong.

(I also have installed OpenBSD before and found the whole process actually quite complicated and documentation insufficient. YMMV)

<comment><AUTHOR> That may be true, my bar may be low. I started with early BSD and Linux in 1996, and have been happy with minimal, cheap, and command line ever since.

My experience or expectations others may not share. I didn't truly consider that when writing the blog post.

The stuff I complain about is probably less than 5% of the entire experience. So, almost all the time OpenBSD is out of my way and I go about doing what I did with a Linux workstation.

It is mostly web browser and terminals for me, with random apps here and there like gimp or something.

I'm learning kernel and assembly programming and penetration testing, so my use case probably differs from the average user experience, I'd guess.

I'm just a geek enjoying geeking out :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> I am attached to Ubuntu because of apt, my development stack (python, numpy, scipy, matplotlib, and so on), and i3 as window manager. I would like to give it a try, but I am not sure if these applications are available in OpenBSD.

<comment><USER36> Apt isn't available for OpenBSD, but the rest of the apps you listed are: [https://cdn.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/6.5/packages/amd64/](https://cdn.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/6.5/packages/amd64/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> Excerpt:

"Speed is Stellar

The speed of the system is stellar. I feel like it is faster than the Linux and FreeBSD installations, but I don't have proof of it. I suspect there is less bloat to weight things down and the hardware support for Thinkpads is super in OpenBSD."

One of the hallmarks of a good Operating System...

</comment><comment><USER38> Less 'mainstream' OS's seem more viable to me right now, because pretty much every bit of software I use these days runs in either a terminal or a browser. With termux I feel like I could use just an android phone if I had to.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Thanks to everyone for sharing their opinions, feedback, and help! I truly appreciate it and was not expecting my blog post to explode like it did.

I am grateful for your kindness and hope you have a great time hacking away :)

</comment><comment><USER39> BSD OS's are very appealing to me given the infiltration of systemd on linux. I'm very excited to be deploying FreeBSD on my homelab network.

</comment><comment><USER40> Does anyone know the status of Bluetooth on OpenBSD? I believe it does not ship Bluez by default?

<comment><USER29> It was removed [1] and there aren't plans to bring it back as far as I'm aware. Though you may be surprised in that you can get away without Bluetooth support for some things, e.g. [2].

[1] [https://marc.info/?l=openbsd- cvs&m=140511572108715&w=2](https://marc.info/?l=openbsd- cvs&m=140511572108715&w=2)

[2] [https://xosc.org/bluetooth.html](https://xosc.org/bluetooth.html)

</comment></comment><comment><USER41> I wish BSD systems had better support for hardware.

</comment><comment><USER42> surely "my workstation is now openbsd".

fwiw, didn't mention anything at all that would make me budge from linux...

<comment><AUTHOR> That's OK, I was posting about my experience without intentions to change hearts and minds of others.

I'm just a geek playing around, ya know.</comment></comment>


Excellent talk about what motivates us (Dan Pink at RSA) - <AUTHOR> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc&feature=player_embedded#! <comment><USER2> everything else is irrelevant, the key lie with autonomy, mastery and purpose. have these values in your workplace and startup, it will really people to work.</comment>


Media Temple 93% off – use coupon "WC2014" - <AUTHOR> http://www.mediatemple.net/#a_aid=520a9cb5953b9

<comment><USER2> I have never heard of this hoster. Anyone familiar? 15 years in service?</comment>


/r/economics   FAQ: Basic Income - <AUTHOR> https://www.reddit.com/r/Economics/wiki/faq_basicincome <comment><AUTHOR> The link at the bottom from one of the bureau members is also good read: [https://www.reddit.com/r/badeconomics/comments/2twaoe/is_a_b...](https://www.reddit.com/r/badeconomics/comments/2twaoe/is_a_basic_income_badeconomics_no_not_really_but/)

<comment><USER2> Yeah it's good to read arguments against Basic Income, however I still find it a really good idea.

The tricky part is to calculate the actual amount, guess wrong on this number and the state could spiral into economic chaos in no time. Surely it'll stabilize but if the number is accurately predicted, the transition could go by theoretically unnoticed.</comment></comment>


Non-programmer leading a tech start up,why not? - <AUTHOR>

Programmers always tell me that a non-programmer can't lead a tech company.
While in school, it is very difficult to find a partners/programmers who are willing to believe in your idea and take commit to it, even harder if you are in business..(I found programmers dislike business kids, ALOOT.)
I am a non-programming guy, had an idea and started looking for partners 4 months ago.
First round: I contacted probably around 30 computer engineering students around Waterloo through clubs and friends. 12 replied, 7 wrote polite rejections and 5 agreed to eat chicken wings with me (yes.. I could only offer chicken wings to people). Of course my pitch wasn't polished, then I got rejected by all 5 of them politely.
Second round: Contacted 16, 5 replied, 2 came to eat wings and I finally convinced one. Then, we started building and hacking, then realized we need more help since all of us are still in school. (I started learning Django and bunch other stuff 7 hours a day from 11pm to 6am. Then sleep from 6 to 11:30)
Third round: I only contacted 7 and successfully recruited 2.
I pitched to different developers total of 34 times so far. Spent roughly 320 bucks on wings, I only scheduled dates when there were wing nights...so the bills were around $15, cuz I would just get a drink.
In conclusion, As non-programmer student entrepreneur, I learned. 1. You get used to rejections a lot quicker, so thicker skin.
                                                                  2. You refine your idea a lot more through constant bashing/questioning from developers since you
                                                                     are such a tech amateur .
                                                                  3. You appreciate and respect your partners a lot more.
                                                                  4. It is not a race, if a slow walker gets to destination, he is still a winner.
Now, we became a small team of 5, just bunch of ordinary kids trying to accomplish extraordinary things. I don't qualify as the "crazy smart guy" at all, but a snail like me will find the snail way to build a product and company. <comment><USER2> Leading a tech company and starting one are two entirely different things.

Sounds like what you are trying to do is start one. The issues of a non- technical person starting a tech company are many and have been discussed here before.

If you're starting a software company and you can't contribute to writing the software then you are bringing very, very little to the table in the beginning. Your theoretical business skills won't matter much until you have a product. And you can't do much to contribute to that.

<comment><AUTHOR> There are definitively many issues, but all are solvable. Contributions don't just go by lines of code you write. If you are the non-technical guy, you have every reason in the world to keep your developers as motivated and driven as possible, do every non-technical related jobs possible. Even just simple networking and getting connected, there are plenty of ways for the non-tech guy to get involved, just depends how creative and persistent you can be.

<comment><USER2> I applaud your persistence and motivation. I really do. I'm merely saying you have to be realistic about your contributions and expectations of others. True, the non-technical person can handle sales, billing and all of the administrative stuff that is still important. You didn't mention if your devs are being paid salaries or if it's an equity deal. If it's equity, then I certainly hope they are getting a significant chunk of it because without them to build the product, you don't have a company at all. You just have an idea, and that alone is worthless.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Why don't you just learn to program? It is not that difficult and in a startup everyone needs to code. Engineers learn business skills all the time but it is strange that the reverse is not true.

<comment><AUTHOR> You are right, and like I said in the post, I try putting in 6-7 hours everyday if I can.</comment></comment>


That Olympics Logo - <AUTHOR> http://thetooth.co.uk/entertainment/that-olympics-logo/ <comment><USER2> This fails to mention the other point about that logo.

Once you have seen Lisa Simpson on her knees, to the right, satisfying a man on the left, you cannot 'unsee' it.

<comment><USER3> I was genuinely surprised that this wasn't once mentioned in the article especially given the title.

<comment><USER4> It's fairly well hidden, but it's there: "I received an email from a young woman who pointed out that the logo is clearly a schematic diagram of fellatio, with the Olympic rings being the curly hair of one party."

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I can't speak for the others, but the Vancouver logo was representative of a totem as a fair bit of the brand of the Vancouver Olympics was celebrating various Canadian native communities.

I think the real upset is that the others are simple, but professional. IMO this one looks more like a bunch of cut out pieces of construction paper or a little more like grunge/graffiti. Maybe I'm missing a deeper meaning to the logo, but I think that a lot of people are if there is one.

<comment><USER6> It was representing an inukshuk - native eskimo culture that is about as far from Vancouver as Mexio is. Culturally it would have made as much sense to have an easer island statue.

<comment><USER7> No matter where the inukshuk originates from this one, [http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?q=1600+Beach+Ave%2c+Va...](http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?q=1600+Beach+Ave%2c+Vancouver%2c+British+Columbia%2c+Canada&mkt=en- GB&FORM=BYFD) / <http://www.seethewestend.com/inukshuk/inukshuk.htm>, seems pretty close to Vancouver to me.

<comment><USER6> Those were erected as tourist things by hotel chains.

There is Cleopatra's needle in the centre of London - but it wouldn't make sense to have the pyramids and Sphinx as the symbol for London 2012.

<comment><USER7> >Those were erected as tourist things by hotel chains.

The second link says you are (at least partly) wrong.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I agree that the London Olympics logo is merely typically bad, rather than unusually bad. So the question is: why are Olympic logos always so bad? I suppose it's just a matter of having too many people involved.

What's really interesting is that the logo for the _bid_ is almost always much better than the logo for the actual games; for instance all the logos of the bidding cities for 2012:

[http://logoblink.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/olympic- logo...](http://logoblink.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/olympic-logos.png)

are actually pretty good.

Another example: Sydney 2000. If you look up the logo of the bid, it's pretty attractive, just the outline of the Sydney Opera House in the Olympic colours. But by the time they created a logo for the actual games, they took that logo, reversed it, and added some boomerangs (gotta get an Aboriginal influence in there!) plus a picture of a running man (sorry, person) in order to get something entirely too complicated and just plain ugly.

<comment><USER9> I take exception to your assertion that Olympic logos are typically bad. The Munich '72 logo might evoke nothing more than a 'meh' if it's all alone but its applications were absolutely stunning [1]. The takeaway might be that it's best to design a solid logo that offends no one and put all the elaboration and quirkiness [2] into the rest of the identity.

[1] Poster: <http://www.flickr.com/photos/insect54/2307407256/> – Tickets: <http://www.flickr.com/photos/realnotreal/3509806052/>

[2] 'Waldi' is the weird but funny mascot of the 1972 Olympics: <http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcosdopico/575561156/>

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> The logo is pants, but have you seen the mascots? I'm not even going to find a link they're so excruciatingly excremental.

Personally, I loved Vancouver's, but think Barcelona's a work of genius; joy and athleticism in two brush strokes and a blob. Maravillosa.

<comment><USER11> I might have bad taste as well, but as someone totally ignorant of art:

Barcelona, Nagano, Sydney, Seoul and Vancouver's logos all look equally good (and bland and generic, but that's ok) to me.

I agree that the Barcelona one is the best of the bunch.

The London one is missing the Olympic colours, and it looks awful to me.</comment></comment>


CSS Can Do This... And It's Terrifying - <AUTHOR> https://www.aaron-powell.com/posts/2019-08-14-css-can-do-this-and-its-terrifying/ <comment><USER2> once I was rewriting SHA1 hashing into SASS (not really css but it was surprisingly stupid and funny) ... just quit before finish because something else more interesting popup</comment>


The future of Firefox's Javascript execution engine - <AUTHOR> http://hacks.mozilla.org/2010/03/a-quick-note-on-javascript-engine-components/

<comment><USER2> As has been pointed out here many times (e.g. <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1132721>), Firefox's performance problems have to do with DOM and rendering, not JS execution. They continue to pour effort into optimizing the wrong thing, perhaps because that's where the benchmarks and bloggy coolness are. The old joke comes to mind about the drunk looking for his car keys under the street lamp, instead of where he dropped them, "because the light's better here"...

</comment><comment><USER3> It's interesting that they're taking from Apple's Nitro (formerly SquirrelFish) rather than from Chrome's V8. If both Javascript engines are open source, and Chrome is generally regarded as the fastest (beating out Safari by at least a hair in most cases), I wonder what factors made them choose to adopt from Apple over Google?

<comment><USER4> Perhaps because V8's engine translates directly from code to assembly with no intermediate bytecode. It seems like it would make it more difficult to integrate tracing with that system.

<comment><USER5> Having an intermediate bytecode also makes it easier to support more architectures in a reasonably consistent manner: for architectures where you don't have a bytecode->asm compiler, you can fall back on interpreting the bytecode (as TraceMonkey currently does).

With V8, the direct targeting of architecture-specific asm means you have no support at all on architectures that V8 doesn't yet target--- or you'd have to support them through a different Javascript stack entirely, like falling back to TraceMonkey, which would be harder to keep consistent.

Of course, Mozilla could go the Chrome route and drop support for everything except x86, x86-64, and ARM. But for the moment at least, they appear interested in keeping at least the Linux version available on PowerPC, SPARC, and other architectures.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> They are probably under more pressure now that Opera has come out with a fast Javascript engine in 10.50.</comment>


Ask Pg / HN Community: Problem with HN submission/comments ... OR is it me? - <AUTHOR>

I dont know whether this is a known problem (bug)? OR is it me doing something wrong? --- but this has happened quite a few times and every time i end up signing up for the new user account so that i can again participate on HN.<p>Problem: After couple of months of opening an account i suddenly realize that my news submission/comments is not going thru - i can see my submission/comments when i'm logged-in but in reality it doesn't appear for the rest of the community, it comes to my notice when i logout and see that my stuff doesn't appear at all and that's the reason my karma doesn't move (up or down) .. and then i have to sign up for the new account ... I love HN but this is bugging me a lot - pls tell me its not me :) <comment><USER2> I've been facing a weird issue as well.

If I submit a URL, it gets submitted normally. But if I submit a question or a topic to initiate discussion, it does not get submitted. The page goes to <http://news.ycombinator.com/r> which is just a blank page with no error message at all.

Also, there is no support/help link anywhere for HN so I could not report it as a bug either :(

</comment><comment><USER3> I'm not sure what kind of stuff the submitter has been submitting, but I've often thought that this would be a fantastic way to discourage undesirable contributors. Kudos to Paul if he implemented it intentionally, as it sounds like it would have worked, to some extent.

</comment><comment><USER4> I've been here almost 2 years, never seen the case that you're describing.

Are you sure it's not an odd browser/caching issue?

Are you submitting insanely stupid topics, or making wholly pointless comments regularly?

<comment><USER5> Line number three is the most likely culprit, I'd imagine. Not that there's anything wrong with this particular post, but it does seem like there are certain user accounts that have all their submissions [dead]-ed instantly. Like... spammer and troll accounts, for example.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> What account names were you submitting under?

</comment><comment><USER7> This sound like a "shadow ban" to me.</comment>


Wayland McWayface (a tutorial compositor) on the JVM using jextract - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/markehammons/Wayland-McWayface_JVM-edition <comment><USER2> Nice :) sorry the tutorials don't go much further. You should check out tinywl too.

<comment><USER3> Someone reposted this from my reddit posts so I just saw your comment. Like I mentioned on reddit, my next step is to make the code more scalaish (I kept it very c-like to allow it to be more easily compared to the original tutorials).

I've starred your tinywl gist and I'll work on adding features from that into the project to get stuff like the mouse cursor working, etc.

Thanks

<comment><USER2> tinywl is now tracked in the wlroots tree and receiving conservative updates to follow wlroots API changes:

[https://github.com/swaywm/wlroots/tree/master/tinywl](https://github.com/swaywm/wlroots/tree/master/tinywl)

Good luck!</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Give me recommendations to improve jsonip.com - <AUTHOR>

Hey folks. I wrote http://jsonip.com a while back and lots of folks seem to find it useful. So I'd like to ask for your tips on how it might be made better to be more useful for you.
As a quick primer, jsonip.com returns your ip as either a json object, or wrapped in a jsonp callback.
Usage:
http://jsonip.com => {"ip":"your ip"}
http://jsonip.com/cb/ => cb({"ip":"your ip"});
http://jsonip.com/randomgurgltyfurt/ => randomgurgltyfurt({"ip":"your ip"}); <comment><USER2> How about

<http://jsonip.com/myurl/write/>

and

<http://jsonip.com/myurl/read/>

So I can monitor IP changes of my machines while I'm away?

</comment><comment><USER3> Return geoip information. For example:

      {
          "ip": 126.96.36.199,
          "geo": {
              "latitude": 86.783273,
              "longitude": 92.106578,
              "accuracy": 24000
          }
      }

</comment><comment><USER4> Use a standard jsonp paramter format so that we can use it with jQuery.ajax : jsonip.com/jsonp/?callback=xxx

</comment><comment><USER5> yes, hook it into geoip, (something like maxmind)</comment>


Should cofounders live together when first starting a company? - <AUTHOR>

Curious if it is typical to live with your cofounder. I have been living with mine (in a college dorm) and I notice it increases the amount of time we discuss and innovate on our idea. <comment><USER2> yes, living together gives you the ability to learn very fast if you're able to work together. If you can work and live together for a month without killing each other, then you have a decent chance of accomplishing something.

I went through this personal experience. Lived with the person for a month and I decided to go it solo because I realized it was better that way.</comment>


Crypto Exchange Founder Dies with Only Password - <AUTHOR> https://gizmodo.com/crypto-exchange-says-it-cant-repay-190-million-to-clie-1832309454 <comment><USER2> [https://hn.algolia.com/?query=dies%20-explodes%20-Everest%20...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=dies%20-explodes%20-Everest%20-Wright%20-Adams%20-Eating&sort=byDate&prefix=false&page=0&dateRange=pastWeek&type=story)</comment>


Implementing a Fast Research Compiler in Rust - <AUTHOR> http://dawn.cs.stanford.edu/blog/weld.html <comment><USER2> Sneaking in FP by the back door! The main features they mention are classic FP techniques: pattern matching and (block your ears, children) monads. Interesting they didn't talk about memory management till towards the end.

</comment><comment><USER3> It's interesting how your experience with Rust mirror our experience with Scala for spatial.

<comment><USER4> Could you please point to yours, project or write-up? I am very interested in learning your experience. Thank you!</comment></comment>


Retrospective: Stuff I built in 2018 - <AUTHOR> https://dvt.name/2019/01/06/retrospective-stuff-2018/ <comment><USER2> Proud of you, big brother! Not releasing is an unfounded transgression in our software world. You build for the intrinsic joy of building, and that is why I have always looked up to you.</comment>


Think twice about down-modding for strong language? - <AUTHOR>

A lot of people are getting down-modded for using the word "rape" to refer to how they feel about certain cyber events.  There is legitimate room to disagree on that kind of use of that word.  Here is a 1993 Village Voice article on the issue that blurs the on-line/off-line distinction (warning, a bit nasty): http://www.juliandibbell.com/texts/bungle_vv.html . <comment><USER2> It seems to be getting to be quite a problem: people projecting their blue-law cultural values onto the community, and quite vociferously sure of the rightness of doing that.</comment>


DuckDuckGo implements HTTPS Everywhere - <AUTHOR> http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2010/09/duckduckgo-implements-https-everywhere.html

<comment><USER2> "rubbish. I thought maybe it would "quack" whilst searching, but it does nothing (other than find what I'm looking for)."

My wife's reaction to duckduckgo.

Just wanted to get it out there for posterity :)

<comment><USER3> I think the name is the only thing that is wrong with DDG.

Another thing, I personally don't feel quite right about using a search engine that relies quite heavily on other search engines to give results. From what I understand DDG is not a search engine in the same sense Google or Bing is a search engine (pls correct me if I am wrong).

<comment><USER4> It's a hybrid engine. I do my own crawling and indexing in addition to relying on external APIs. For the APIs I use, I've built a lot of relevancy and other logic on top of them so they often don't look the same as if you'd query them directly.

I started out exclusively with my own stuff, and then started using BOSS when it came out so I could focus on what I think are my value-adds. Now I use a bunch of stuff (including my own). My approach is to just be a better search engine. If an API does something awesome, e.g. WolframAlpha or embed.ly, I figure why not use it.

<comment><USER3> Do you think in the future you might exclusively use your own index and not be depended on others?

Let's say hypothetically tomorrow, all the search API you rely on, decides to cut you off, what then? How good is your own index by itself?

Just to be clear, I am not dissing on you, it takes a lot of gutso to take on search engine market alone, I applaud you for that, I don't see myself having that much guts to do it. I am trying to be realist about the meta-hybrid- search engine.

<comment><USER4> I treat the deep Web search APIs as essentially commodities of the link graph. I was able to seamlessly switch between BOSS and Bing without anyone noticing. And there are several others I can use as well. So I don't feel much danger here. And now that BOSS is going to charge, I feel even less danger because it is turning into a real product.

My index is not usable in this fashion. I've re-purposed it mainly for 0-click and for spam removal.

Frankly though, I don't see why this comes up so much. Infospace is a public company that relies on other indexes pretty much exclusively. In other verticals, people routinely use more exclusive platforms, e.g. Twitter or Facebook or banking stuff.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I tried DDG for a week as my search engine. The search result quality was definitely on par with Google, the two biggest factors for switching back :

1) Google's "Did you mean?" appears to be a bit smarter and corrected more of my obscure searches than DDG. Wish I had recorded a couple of concrete examples to pass on, but they escape me at the moment.

2) Speed. Google returns results faster (at least on the days I was using DDG). Apparently my brain is use to sub-second search results because anything longer than that can feel like an eternity.

<comment><USER4> Thx. Recently I've made a lot of improvements to #1. Of course, specific examples are always super helpful to improve it further.

#2 varies a lot depending on location and network. Unfortunately I still don't have a lot of geographically distributed servers.

<comment><USER6> For me at least, #2 seems most often to have something to do with fetching the results themselves, rather than the network between me and DDG delaying the initial pageload. The results _page_ will load very quickly (the header/sidebar, sometimes the zero-click results or disambiguation results), but then there's a very noticeable delay before the regular results get AJAX- loaded.

(It is true that the the better DDG is at getting me the zero-click kinds of results, the less of a problem this is.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> DDG is currently my main search engine. I've tried it for a few days a couple times in the past, but now I'm trying to give it more time - at least a couple weeks - to see if it grows enough on me to replace Google.

I'm finding myself using the "!g" command a lot to double-check results on Google, and I'm definitely noticing the speed difference with Google. But overall, I'd say that it's almost on par with Google for my searches.

Some things that would make me like it more:

-A bit more speed.

-A way in the settings to decide between using Yahoo News or Google News (that link in the sidebar on the right), same thing for images (google images or bing images) and maps.

-Some way to highlight the most likely or most popular result when the disambiguation page is very long (maybe just subtly point out which result is clicked on more often?).

-A way to personalize the DDG homepage with a couple of personal links (for those who use it as a browser homepage -- you could add a link to GMail or whatever, so that it even more seamlessly replaces Google).

I can see some pros and cons to all these suggestions (except more speed), but I figured I'd just throw them out there.

<comment><USER4> Thx for the ideas--some really good stuff in here. Some quick responses to your 1-4.

#1 always working on more speed--it's been a priority and will continue to be so.

#2 planning on ditching that sidebar. Check out <http://duck.co/topic/new-ddg- header> \-- would love your thoughts.

#3 this is definitely needed and in process. It's half implemented now but is hit or miss for sure.

#4 many people have requested different variations of this, e.g. as far as iGoogle, but a few links would be cool.

<comment><USER7> #2 I might be missing something, but is there a way to do a quick image or news or map search with that new format without the sidebar? If there is, I couldn't find it quickly.

<comment><USER4> Yup, the new format (idea) would have a drop down right next to the search button where you would be able to select maps or images (just not in that prototype). You could still of course also precede or end your search with !m or !i for maps or images. What do you think?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> DuckDuckGo is absolutely awesome. The only annoyance is that it completely sucks at non-english searches, but for programming related stuff it's really cool.

</comment><comment><USER9> I continue to be impressed both by DDG's search results and by its dedication to privacy and security. Seems like a great way to celebrate their 2nd anniversary.</comment>


Major iOS Hackers Spotted At DEFCON'19 In Las Vegas - <AUTHOR> http://www.chiphazard.com/2011/08/06/ios-jailbreakers-hackers-spotted-def-con-19-las-vegas/

<comment><USER2> _"You are gravely mistaken if you take hackers as downright nerds. Actually some of our favourite and insanely popular iOS hackers and jailbreakers were spotted at DEF CON 19 in Las Vegas. Doesn't make sense for a couple of nerds to be hanging out in Sin City, does it? As we said, don't ever take a hacker for a nerd."_

Uhhh, what? I don't think showing up in Las Vegas is some kind of magical badge of anti-nerdness. Especially you, long-blonde-hair.

In other news, the overloading of the word "Hacker" makes headlines like this very hard to interpret without reading the article.

</comment><comment><USER3> Thanks for spamming HN with this (your?) blog, by the way. Your submission history says it all.

It's remarkable how little was said in the blog post.

<comment><USER4> This blog is nothing but link bait. The article has no substance, but manages to include "DEF CON" 13 times in 250 words.

Wish I could down vote.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Upvoted because my boss is in the picture.</comment>


Admin Dashboard Template Built on Tailwind CSS - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/moesaid/cleopatra <comment><USER2> Would never normally be interested in JAD [Just another Dashboard] But great to see an example using Tailwind. No heavy JS framework either.</comment>


Ask HN: How do you organize your ideas? - <AUTHOR> As per title, I would like to get rid of the plain text files that I use to keep track of project ideas, plans, etc...
I've tried org-mode, but I don't think I am an Emacs person... I'd like some Wiki-like software, but most of them need a web server to run, I'd prefer something which has a native Mac application.
I've been using Evernote for a while, but still I am not really impressed.
What do you use for organizing your ideas? <comment><USER2> I use notion.so (in the past I used evernote and simplenote via nv mac client).

Notion is better because it's hierarchical (as opposed to "a bundle of independent documents" model of evernote/simplenote and pretty much everything else. And it has many unique features, like simple spreadsheets, trello-like boards, todo lists, dates and reminders and all of it presented in a cohesive UI.

You can see example of my notes at [https://blog.kowalczyk.info/article/9a07ca64c0c14dc09e8bd134...](https://blog.kowalczyk.info/article/9a07ca64c0c14dc09e8bd134b348678d/business- of-software-and-other.html)

They are published on my website but the content is stored in notion (9a07ca64c0c14dc09e8bd134b348678d is the id of a page in notion).

In fact, all of my website is re-published from content stored in Notion. I also keep private notes there but ability to publish non-private notes on the web is a nice bonus.

To do that I wrote a Go library to access data from notion ([https://github.com/kjk/notionapi](https://github.com/kjk/notionapi)) and wrote a Go program to convert it to HTML and publish on Netlify ([https://github.com/kjk/blog](https://github.com/kjk/blog)).

Notion would be a great note-taking, organizational tool even without my custom hacks.

</comment><comment><USER3> Zim Wiki is great for this. Even has a web server built in if you want to go that route.

QOwnNotes is good, as well as many editors like Notable or Joplin.

If you want to use a wiki like dokuwiki or pmwiki, you can run a webserver on localhost like this: php -S localhost:8001

You don't need a web server like Apache if you want to run a wiki on your local machine. All the options I've listed above store your data as plain text files and you can therefore use version control.

<comment><USER4> > If you want to use a wiki like dokuwiki or pmwiki, you can run a webserver > on localhost like this: php -S localhost:8001

That's a really nifty idea!

(Also second dokuwiki, it is probably the most useful and least annoying wiki I know of.)

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I use an iPad app called Stretchpaper. Basically an infinite-zoom drawing surface. Disclosure I'm the dev. There's no Mac app though. [http://stretchpaper.com](http://stretchpaper.com)

</comment><comment><USER6> [https://www.zettlr.com/](https://www.zettlr.com/)

</comment><comment><USER4> OneNote (and structured in bullet journal way).</comment>


Stats Zone v5 released – the first genuine "second screen" football app - <AUTHOR> http://tiki-taka.co/post/145627936102/stats-zone-guide-part-iii-second-screen <comment><AUTHOR> There's a month of football ahead with Euro 2016 - having this app will make it more interesting for some of you ;)</comment>


US government status page - <AUTHOR> http://usgovernment.statuspage.io

<comment><USER2> [http://usgovernment.statuspage.io/incidents/0knqk2v79yn7](http://usgovernment.statuspage.io/incidents/0knqk2v79yn7)

"In order to route funding to where it is most needed at this time, the War on Drugs has been downgraded to "Slight Disagreement On Drugs". Policy is still being crafted, but we can tell you that the halls of the The US Capitol building smell more interesting than normal tonight."

</comment><comment><USER3> "Nuclear Missile Launches Department - Degraded Performance" \- have they laid off the dude who carries around the "football"?

<comment><USER4> I think it might be a joke based on half-life.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Mattress Tag Illegal Removal Response Team: operational!

(dang it! I thought it was finally safe to tear off the darn thing!)

</comment><comment><USER6> The very first entry is "Senate Whisky Stocking Department" \- interesting !!

<comment><USER7> Very interesting since it's usually spelled _whiskey_ in the US. Clearly that department is run from Canada or some other country lol.

<comment> mkr-hn It's NORAD-based.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Seems more accurate than both the Apple and the Amazon AWS status pages so far.

</comment><comment><USER9> Thank god at least the SWSD is operational!

</comment><comment><USER10> I just peed a little.</comment>


Pentagon Scientists Use 'Time Hole' to Make Events Disappear - <AUTHOR> http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/01/time-hole/

<comment><USER2> Title bait, at its worst.

What they created is a convoluted (if somewhat cool) way of retarding light from reaching the observer, thusly masking the event. There's no "time shift" or anything of that sort involved.

Imagine I record an event and then replay it for you in a monitor, with a 20 second delay. Does that mean I 'erased' 20 seconds from history, or that I 'masked' the event? Nope.

</comment><comment><USER3> As expected, crazy hyperbole of an interesting scientific discovery that will have totally different applications.

</comment><comment><USER4> "According to Cornell scientists, it'd take a machine 18,600 miles long to produce a time mask that lasts a single second."</comment>


How to encrypt power transmission line? - <AUTHOR> Is it possible to encrypt power line in such a way so that only the people who are authorized can use the power to light a bulb even if they've physical access to the line. <comment><USER2> Can you encrypt gasoline, so that only authorized people can burn it? This question does not make sense. Electrical power is not information. It can't be encrypted.

You can have power switches that only switch on when a valid key is presented, but with physical access you can always bypass a switch.</comment>


Silicon Valley Cannot Be Trusted with Our History - <AUTHOR> https://www.buzzfeed.com/evanhill/silicon-valley-cant-be-trusted-with-our-history <comment><AUTHOR> triggering event: disappearance from YouTube--due to new automated curation retroactively applied--of Syrian Civil War footage.

"In the summer of 2017, observers of the Syrian civil war realized that YouTube was removing dozens of channels and tens of thousands of videos documenting the conflict. The deletions occurred after YouTube announced that it had deployed "cutting-edge machine learning technology...to identify and remove violent extremism and terrorism-related content." But the machines went too far."</comment>