The "Full Stack Professor" Who Left Academia for the Internet - <AUTHOR> https://grantnissly.com/the-full-stack-professor-who-left-academia-for-the-internet/ <comment><USER2> It seems that the (summary?) blog on somebody else's infrastructure has been overwhelmed. So, I tracked down the professor, Justin Murphy, and what seems to be a series of blog posts[1] about his transition from academia to online teaching.

[1] [https://theotherlifenow.com/tag/jumping- ship/](https://theotherlifenow.com/tag/jumping-ship/)

<comment><USER3> Sorry about that! My site went down, but it's back up now. And yes, that's Justin's blog.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> As a business model it is quite interesting. I don't think the spin of being an alternative to university is fitting though. It's either a service where you take classes for fun. I can see that working if marketed to the right people. Or it is a service where you take classes to improve your skills. I can see that working too. Lots of people in tech especially want to make the switch from DevOps to SWE to Data Science to Quant ...etc

As for the whole "professor" thing. A professor does research and a big part of the appeal of taking their (graduate) classes is to be able to have a glimpse of the research they do and maybe get an opportunity to work with them. This seems to be missing here. I am not saying this to downplay the idea. I actually like the concept.

<comment><USER5> Justin here, thanks for your interest. ;-) On the point of professors attracting grad students interested in seeing and participating in the prof's work... That's true and it is a major element of what I'm doing. Many of the people who take my courses do so to stimulate/improve some kind of personal creative or intellectual project; I write books and such alongside the courses, and we occasionally discuss strategy, tactics, workflows, etc. So it is very similar to the working relationships I had with grad students in the university. The only difference is now my students aren't hoping to land academic jobs, they just want to do meaningful work and make their dent on the world through the internet.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I think "Full Stack Academic/Educator" is maybe better title in this case? A professor is only one part of a large ecosystem and has a very specific role within academia. When I read "Full Stack Professor" I thought it would be about a professor who is well-versed at grant writing, research leadership, mentorship, and research lab setup/management.

</comment><comment><USER7> A professor also does research, the article seems to only be talking about providing courses online. Where is the full stack?

Maybe I missed it in the article.

<comment><USER5> Yep I write books too. I've only published one short one since leaving academia a year ago — in part because right now I'm hustling hard on the business model and infrastructure — but I expect that within a few years I'll be doing research for about 75% of my time, as "top of funnel" work that brings people into the courses and the rest. This is a well known business model, the only thing I'm doing that's new is making the "top of funnel" content legit disinterested research at a professional level (instead of an instrumental value proposition, e.g. take my course to earn X more dollars).

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Site is down

</comment><comment><USER6> The subject's google scholar page: [https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1dhhMPkAAAAJ&hl=en](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1dhhMPkAAAAJ&hl=en)

I wasn't able to find which school he had held his professorship though.

<comment><USER9> The subject's actual webpage is here [https://theotherlifenow.com/tag/jumping- ship/](https://theotherlifenow.com/tag/jumping-ship/) Thank you otoburb for this link.

Third paragraph down in the first section lists "University of Southampton".</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Most Hacker Culture in the Northwest - <AUTHOR>

I currently live in the Midwest, and the entrepreneurial and hacker culture is practically non existent out here.  I'm looking to move to possibly either Portland or Seattle, but I wanted some input on where would be a good area, maybe with some near by universities.  I know all about Microsoft and Amazon etc. in those areas, but what about the culture?<p>Your thoughts? <comment><USER2> _"... I currently live in the Midwest, and the entrepreneurial and hacker culture is practically non existent out here ..."_

Midwest of where?

"Hacker culture in the northwest" - northwest of where? To me north west is the Kimberleys ~ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley_region_of_Western_Aus...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley_region_of_Western_Australia) inhabited for 40,000 years but hardly a hacker hotspot.

But you raise a good point. In _"Founders at Work"_ , Evan Williams faced the same problem moving from Nebraska, west to Cal. (Ch8, p111) ~ [http://www.scribd.com/doc/7753680/Founders-at-Work- Stories-o...](http://www.scribd.com/doc/7753680/Founders-at-Work-Stories-of- Startups) The move meant he worked at O'Reilly which turned out passed a word on to some people who Williams raised money from. Connections.

So your geography problem is not yours alone. I live at the _"artichoke end of the Startup world"_ and what bought this home to me was a visit by the creator of Majordomo (his first Perl program), Brent Chapman ~ <http://www.greatcircle.com/gca/staff/brent.html> at a local Perl Monger meeting while he was doing his MBA in Melbourne. The key point Chapman made about the difference b/w Silicon Valley and other Hacker hotspots was the ability to get things done, faster. Want a high speed connection? Next day, done. Need some legal work on IP? There is a higher concentration of people specialised and able to do the job. Proximity to connections translates to speed.

 _"... but what about the culture? ..."_

Read this article ~ <http://www.paulgraham.com/cities.html> and see what signals Portland and Seattle send off.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you for the quick reply.

I'm from Lawrence Kansas. It's the home of the Django web framework, but that doesn't really show. I go to the University here, but no one in engineering here has much ambition.

By Northwest, I mean Oregon and Washington area. I think I'll be a million times better off if I'm at least in a large city, and I'm leaning towards Seattle.

Thanks for the article and the advice

<comment><USER2> _"... I'm from Lawrence Kansas. It's the home of the Django web framework, but that doesn't really show. I go to the University here, but no one in engineering here has much ambition ..."_

I often wonder if open-source products developed for the web, are they immune to geography. Companies are another thing. You need a certain amount of infrastructure to get things to work and take-off: employees, finance etc. So you are asking the right questions.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I am a couple hours east of Portland, but I don't think you can go wrong with either. You'll definitely find a larger number of hackers, startups, and larger tech cos in Seattle.

I've been to both plenty and both seem to have a good culture. If I had to pick one, it would probably be Seattle.

</comment><comment><USER4> Seattle. I just passed my five year anniversary of moving here from the Midwest (Minneapolis, to be specific), and still love it. It's warmer, and has great beer and coffee.

</comment><comment><USER5> Portland was home to the last Ubuntu conference, and there's quite a few other meets there.

</comment><comment><USER6> I once looked into Oregon and was despondent to see that there is not much work there.</comment>


Ask HN: A stranger on FB earns money making himself fake - <AUTHOR>

It's already 2 weeks, a stranger on Facebook wrote in his info that he is the Project Manager of my company, and collects our costumers from our FB fanpage by messaging them, giving them a false bank account number. He got already 2 of our costumers' money. We reported him, but nothing happens. DOES ANYONE HAVE AN IDEA WHAT CAN WE DO?! <comment><USER2> Use <http://www.facebook.com/help> to report it. Report it as a Bug and as Feedback. Someone will eventually get back to you.

<comment><AUTHOR> thanks for the tip

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> The problem is, on his profile info, the "Project Manager of our Company" is clickable and when you click it, it goes to our FB fanpage. It means, everyone can write any company name, and select it if there is a fanpage of this company. And noone controls it if it is true or not. There is even no accepting question for FanPage owners if he fake is or not.

When someone have a clickable info with logo it looks very professional and true.

<comment><USER3> >when you click it, it goes to our FB fanpage

Have you put a big warning on your FB fanpage about the imposter?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes we have, but we discovered him too late

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Get your friends, family and customers to also report them. Someone impersonated my dad once and I got the account banned by getting lots of people to report it.

<comment><AUTHOR> we reported 50-60 people, yet no results

<comment><USER4> Have you called him out and alerted users publicly on your Facebook fan page? You really need to warn more people from getting cheated.

<comment><AUTHOR> yes of course.Actually all our costumers are informed about him, but he still have in his info tab our company's name.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Pay a lawyer to write an email to FB.

<comment><AUTHOR> from Germany?!

<comment><USER5> Yes. You see when you get lawyers involved it communicates, "I'm serious." Until this point, you're just another person complaining about something like putting up an ugly picture of you.</comment></comment></comment>


How the term 'computer bug' was coined. - <AUTHOR> http://www.omg-facts.com/view/Facts/24975 <comment><USER2> This is not how the term was coined. It was precisely because it was already in use that they found it so amusing when the cause of a bug was an actual bug.

I suspect the usage originated with the metaphor of "ironing the bugs out" of something, which is presumably a reference to ironing some sort of bugs out of clothing.

<comment><USER3> Google Books has a reference from 1914: [http://books.google.com/books?id=dEXnAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22the%...](http://books.google.com/books?id=dEXnAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22the%20bugs%20out%22&pg=PA13#v=onepage&q=%22the%20bugs%20out%22&f=false)

(It's a little ambiguous as to whether or not it refers to actual bugs, but I think the surrounding context makes it unlikely.)

There's also a great reference in a 1915 issue of Automotive Industries:

"Harry Grant drove some of the bugs out of his six-cylinder motor since last week when his best time was 91 miles per hour and covered a lap at a 96-mile an hour clip this afternoon. Haupt's Duesenberg has more speed than it had last ..."

Which you can kinda see at: [http://books.google.com/books?ei=1mZGTaePHoW0sAPl4t2vCg&...](http://books.google.com/books?ei=1mZGTaePHoW0sAPl4t2vCg&ct=result&id=UM4qAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22the+bugs+out%22+-stevenson&q=%22the+bugs+out%22#search_anchor) but Google's restrictions prevent the actual quote from being viewed in context.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> The first and only bug and not a feature.</comment>


Ask HN: Trading system design question – need ideas - <AUTHOR> Hi,
Consider this situation:
---
You are building a trade engine and you currently are limited by the number of trades and orders per second you can do because of the database write limit. To speed things up, you proceed to hold data in memory but since data in a trade engine is incredibly sensitive (real money trades) how do you handle a server going down and the data in memory getting lost? The system is running on AWS using Elasticsearch, DB is postgres, with background processing is done via sidekiq.
---
Any ideas on how to better design this?
Thank you. <comment><USER2> Yes. Replicate to another in memory instance. The network speed is much higher than disk IO. Look at volt db (I think).

I would also be thinking about kafka to record your trades and not postgres. Have another service feed the db from the event stream.

</comment><comment><USER3> A startup I once worked at (in the days before AWS or cloud) literally faced this exact same problem - it was making a trade engine, trades had to be durable, and they came in at a rate faster than the disk rotated, so it was physically impossible to write them out and verify them fast enough. We solved it with an i-RAM, a battery-backed RAM disk with its own UPS. Worked pretty nicely at the time, but it was for the pre-AWS era and the i-RAM's manufacturer has since stopped manufacturing them.

Today I would use streetcat1's in-memory replication solution, but don't be afraid to think out of the box or consider hardware-based solutions.</comment>


Ask HN: Voice and video with non-technical friends and family (repost) - <AUTHOR> I'd really like to get friends and family off Facebook, but one of the things they use it for is calling people, both voice and video.
So I'm looking for a replacement. Ideally whatever we use would run on both phones and laptops/desktops, preferably with a light-weight client. We would need audio, video, and screen-sharing would be useful. Ideally it would be P2P, and not controlled by a single entity.
Privacy is a concern as a general principle, and I'd like to be able to avoid joining another "community".
My betting is that such a thing doesn't exist, but I'd be interested to know what trade-offs people think are available and accessible for non-technical people. Matrix was one option, but I've heard that some people find it difficult to impossible to get audio and video working. Another option might be Tox, so I'd be interested in hearing of people's experience with that.
But all comments, suggestions, and thoughts welcome. Thanks.
<comment>==
This is a repost to try to catch a different HN demographic.  The previous discussion is easy to find, but it would be useful to get fresh opinions and feedback.  My thanks to those who respond last time, and in advance to any who respond this time. </comment><comment><USER2> I'm trying to find a better solution for my wife's family than Apple's FaceTime. It does okay with just two participants, but beyond two, it starts failing miserably. I know it's not a network problem, because I've had Chime video conferences with fifteen or more participants, and that's worked fine. My wife has done zoom meetings with large numbers of people, and her problem is that when she does that from her iPad, the video angle makes her look bad, and we haven't gotten it to work at all on her laptop.

So, I'm interested in finding a solution that is cross-platform (including mobile devices) and doesn't require downloading an app. P2P would be a bonus, as would end-to-end encryption. But this is just for personal use, and I can make sure we are on VPN, so those two features would be a bonus.

Not FaceTime. Not zoom. Not Google. Not Chime.

I've looked at Jitsi Meet, but it doesn't support iOS in the browser, although that is on the roadmap.

Anything else?</comment>


The Halo headband wants to make you smarter by shocking your brain - <AUTHOR> http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/30/5668086/halo-neuroscience-brain-stimulation-funding-andreessen <comment><USER2> This is big VCs and big scientists getting involved what you have previously only heard about in DIY forums...</comment>


Launching a mobile/web service - <AUTHOR>

any of you smartie pants got tips on how to market a .com to generate interest? <comment><USER2> Great way to ask for tips. Tip #1: Use market friend language and tone

<comment><USER2> friendly _</comment></comment>


Interview with Paul Stamatiou, Georgia Tech Graduate and founder of Skribit - <AUTHOR> http://yourhiddenpotential.co.uk/2009/12/14/my-100th-interview-paul-stamatiou-a-georgia-tech-graduate-talks-about-his-start-up-skribit-a-website-that-helps-bloggers-cure-writers-block/

<comment><USER2> Interesting:

 _Who is your favourite young tech entrepreneur at the moment and why?

That would have to be Daniel Brusilovsky. Daniel has done everything from work for Qik to write for TechCrunch and he's just 17._

This interview's old, but that would be the TechCrunch possible-extortionist. I knew he did the Teens in Tech conference, but I didn't realize he was that intense. In fact, I don't think he actually is an entrepreneur; I don't think he's actually started any companies or anything, just been in the environment.

</comment><comment><USER3> i'm not quite sure an interview about me is HN-worthy so I am not upvoting this. dont want to give the impression that i had anything to do with posting this here

<comment><USER4> This article about you is relevant and interesting to me (particularly as my site is based on a freemium model, too). Even if you had submitted this yourself, I'd still be upvoting it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Does anyone know what kind of revenue Skribit is getting these days? It would be interesting to know how the business has done in the last year or so since he's graduated and worked on it full time.

<comment><USER3> Not ramen profitable (yet). Right now the only thing people can pay for are Pro accounts - that's not how we plan on making real money. There are 3 other rev streams that are part of our bigger picture that we haven't yet started building - still working on our core product, making and keeping users happy. Those 3 streams in part rely on a large user base so we're not entirely in the wrong focusing on our freemium stuff right now.</comment></comment>


Show HN: Stereoscopic, full 360 VR from one camera - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzNk-qGZAJI <comment><AUTHOR> Author here -- this was shot with a single Richo Theta S on a rotating Fairburn multiplate on a selfie stick. Positioning was entirely manual, but used software to correct and compensate. There are a few vertical disparities (and a nice rip/seam in one area of the imagery) in this, but I'm curious what HN community thinks of the quality. Best to view with Google Cardboard, Oculus Rift, etc.</comment>


Ask HN: How to speed up wifi? - <AUTHOR>

I live in an apartment complex, and have FIOS. I get great speed when wired, but it's like 20% lan speed when using wifi. I'm assuming the literally 50+ wifi signals have something to do with it. Would getting a new router and switching the spectrum do the trick? Any suggestions? <comment><USER2> A new router might help, but it might not. It's tough to know exactly what's going on in your complex without being able to get more data on what the local RF environment is like. Something must be interfering with your network, but that could be other wireless networks, or cordless landline phones, or microwave ovens, or the walls, or any number of other things.

In terms of general tips, Jeremy1026's is good. Find the least-used channel in your area and switch to it. If you can find a block of three consecutive low- traffic channels, that's even better: pick the one in the middle. Again going back to Jeremy1026, 4 is often a good choice in the US, and you can also try 8 or 9 if 4 doesn't work out. But if you've got a lot of savvy people in your area looking for a good channel, you may need to look deeper.

Many routers can perform something they usually call a "Wireless Site Survey" to help you find a relatively unused channel. At least in Linux, you can also use the iw family of commands, though there's a lot of output to sift through. I don't know what's out there for Windows in this regard, but there's got to be something.

</comment><comment><USER3> Try to find an open (or less used) channel. If you need to stay on 2.4ghz mode I like to use Channel 4, since most (US based) routers default to 1, 6, or 11. If you can use 5ghz mode you will have even less noise on your signal which will further increase speed.</comment>


Ask HN: Is a distcc style plugin for professional workgroups an idea whose time has come? - <AUTHOR>

I've been thinking about an idea for a startup for the past few days, but I have my own startup to concentrate on, so I have no time to do it. I'll offer it here for comments and if someone else chooses to do it, all to the good.
It occurs to me that in recent months, dual and quad core CPUs are now becoming more or less the default choice for new workstations. Typically, they'll also come with 2 or more GB of RAM. While I don't have load averages to back this up, it's my guess that the average developers CPU sits almost idle about 95% of the time. When they're writing code, browsing documentation, using the source control system or bug tracker or just at lunch or chatting idly.
This means that in a typical team consisting of some 10 or 12 developers, and supporting staff such as managers, architects, integration coordinators, etc. etc. You have thousands of processor cycles a second going to waste. Typically, all these workstations will be networked together on a single wired LAN segment that's considerably underutilised.
I think it'd be great if someone makes a decent distcc style plugin for some common dev environments like VC++, or Java/Eclipse. The plugin ought to advertise itself via zeroconf networking, and automatically utilise as much spare capacity on the network as can be found. The plugin should be smart about avoiding the user noticing that other users are compiling software on their machine. Locking itself to a single processor is a good start, and refusing jobs if the user on the local machine is compiling code or doing some other processor intensive activity.
Does this sound like a good idea to anyone else? In some of my past jobs, something like this would have saved me whole hours a week. <comment><USER2> Mac OS X has this baked into Xcode, as well as general grid computing capabilities. This implemented with distcc and Bonjour (zeroconf), and Xgrid, respectively.

Linux, too, can implement this.

Operating systems as far back was Windows' arguable predecessor OpenVMS have distributed batch capabilities with clustering and with distributed batch queues, and you can toss build-related jobs into queues. Nowhere near distcc, but it works.

If nobody's already gotten traction with this distributed environment within the Visual tools over on Microsoft Windows, well, have at. Microsoft and its related business decisions would centrally affect your future here. Ignore, buy, trump, etc.

</comment><comment><USER3> Two things to read about:

1\. Electric Cloud (which is a company I started) that does parallel compilation (amongst other things) for mostly very large teams.

2\. Xoreax which does something like your idea. Typically for smaller teams.

</comment><comment><USER4> _The plugin should be smart about avoiding the user noticing that other users are compiling software on their machine. Locking itself to a single processor is a good start, and refusing jobs if the user on the local machine is compiling code or doing some other processor intensive activity._

The plugin should do this? How about letting the OS do it, that's the whole point of an OS after all :) Just nice down the distcc thing and let the OS do the rest. (Hint: the OS' algorithm is probably better than the one you proposed, so why reimplement it?)

</comment><comment><USER5> I've never used it, but I hear that IncrediBuild does exactly that:

<http://www.xoreax.com/main.htm></comment>


Ask HN: Accept Funding from your Direct competitor? - <AUTHOR> Just a hypothetical question, would you accept funding, say from Facebook if you were designing a Social Network against it. Or Funding from Google if you were making next generation Search Engine. <comment><USER2> Depends on what your goal is for the company. Such a funding offer would be a pretty good signal that if you do well an acquisition would be on the table.</comment>


Two Vortex Rings Colliding in Slow Motion [video] - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVbdbVhzcM4 <comment><USER2> I used to notice something similar in college.

 _cough_ We were smoking a lot of... various things. I had setup a chill room that didn't have any air conditioning (so it was actually very hot; a hot box if you will). Just a small room where smoke would accumulate.

At any rate, I got very good at blowing smoke rings. In the still room, you could blow a smoke ring and it would expand for about a minute before dissipating. The more substantial rings would do something really crazy. They'd spawn a new, smaller ring, but going the opposite direction. I believe this was only the case if the ring was blown upward.

I don't know if this is related to the Two Vortex Ring Collision experiment, but it was definitely fun to watch!

<comment><USER3> Vaping and youtube has taken smoke ring blowing to new level [https://youtu.be/zVXR7xttUeo](https://youtu.be/zVXR7xttUeo)

<comment><USER4> I don't see any reason why this shouldn't be an Olympic sport.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> There's also 12 hours of footage of all of the stages of the experiment on his second channel: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm9l8-qngjM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm9l8-qngjM)

</comment><comment><USER5> The reason for the secondary rings, and the explanation for their outward travel, is a straightforward application of potential flow, namely that lines of vorticity induce rotational motion that falls off at 1/r. As the rings approach each other, they induce outward motion, and any instability or imperfections in the rings cause closer points between the two rings to induce more motion. With a bit of mental squinting, you can see how the primary rings would pinch off to form the secondaries. A similar thing can happen to passenger jet contrails, causing paired contrails to form a string of rings. Conspiracy enthusiasts point to these as evidence for "Aurora" or other exotic propulsion schemes, but they're really just a rolled out version of the phenomenon in Dustin's tank.

This comment would have been better with a whiteboard.

<comment><USER6> > This comment would have been better with a whiteboard.

Actually, I think you nailed it. I'm no physicist, but you made the mechanism behind it very clear and intuitive :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Herein lies a lot of the difficulty in doing experimental fluid mechanics. My own PhD ended up conprising a few minutes worth of data after years testing and retesting.

That said, I wonder if such an experiment would be better with PIV or even Schlieren as there would be no need to refill the tank each time.

</comment><comment><USER8> The uncut video made it sound like a motivation for replicating the research was to see if the number of secondary vortices were a function of the velocity; however, it's not clear if that was ever determined.

Hopefully these videos and the specially built machine helps additional scientists to study this effect and come up with more answers and conclusions about what's going on here, as it still seems largely shrouded in mystery.

</comment><comment><USER9> Destin is an incredible dude! Humble, kind, and really smart

<comment><USER10> Him and his family are truly role models for how I want to be when I grow up. Easily one of my favorite creators.

I mean, look at this! [https://twitter.com/smartereveryday/status/10084779939482828...](https://twitter.com/smartereveryday/status/1008477993948282880)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Congratulations, Destin! Amazing story, amazing result, amazing video. Three years is a long time. Thanks for sticking with it.

</comment><comment><USER12> wow there was a beautiful video. I like at the beginning how he explains how difficult it was to actually create this experiment, so I could understand how important this actually was. Also that it hasn't been done in like 40 years or whatever.

</comment><comment><USER13> 3 years is a long time. I appreciate that people like this exist.

<comment><USER14> I second this. Really great!

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Can this be recreated accurately using something like blender?

<comment><USER16> I think something like Ansys would be more suitable.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Implications of this?

</comment><comment><USER18> Thanks for the reminder that the internet is good.</comment>


Bicycle Technology (1973) [pdf] - <AUTHOR> http://veterancycleclublibrary.org.uk/ncl/pics/Bicycle%20Technology%20Scientific%20American%20March%201973%20(V-CC%20Library).pdf <comment><USER2> > The thin-walled tube of circular cross section is a most efficient > structural member; it can resist tension or compression, bending, torsion, > or the combination of stresses that are exerted on the frame of a vehicle. > Although for bending in a particular plane an I-section joist may be more > efficient, if bending load can be applied in any plane, then the thin tube > is to be preferred. It is for this reason that tubes are used as a strut or > compression member in which failure could occur by elastic instability, or > bowing. For torsion there is no better section, hence the tube is the > typical main transmission shaft of an automobile. The stem of the bamboo > plant is an excellent example of the properties of a hollow tube ...

I notice that many current bikes have flattened, non-tubular frame components. Why? Style? New materials? I would assume, knowing little about it, that the tube shape would generally retain its advantages regardless of the material. But perhaps the new material doesn't form tubes well?

<comment><USER3> I think the answer is aluminum. Note that I'm not an engineer, just a physicist. As I understand it, aluminum has different mechanical properties such as strength to weight ratio, and how it behaves when flexed. So it may require a different design approach to produce a strong but light frame. At the same time, it's easy to hydroform aluminum (blow it out into a mold using high pressure fluid), so you can in fact design a wider variety of shapes at a tolerable cost. And if you're going to engineer the shapes of the tubes, then why not make it look cool too.

I own one aluminum bike, relatively low end and not super lightweight... but it does look cool. ;-)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Closely related (and even briefly shown in the video) to the description of a computer as a bicycle for the mind: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqxWlvJ35yk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqxWlvJ35yk)

<comment><USER5> I don't really care for that metaphor, while it does make sense at a base level, I feel like it doesn't quite fit. A bicycle is (once constructed) entirely man powered - it only goes as well as we are able to power it.

The computer is more of a car for our minds - they run on electricity/gas, take minor low effort inputs from us, and transform them into massively larger outputs not due to simple mechanical laws, but because of a secondary source of impetus. There isn't that 1:1 input/output that a bike has.

<comment><USER6> Not only that, but a bicycle is something that feels like part of your own body when you're using it. If you think too hard about the positions of everything you'll probably ride worse. A computer on the other hand is something that requires careful thought to get the most out of it.

The real bicycle for the mind is pencil and paper.

<comment><USER7> That's a good analogy. Pencil (or pen) and paper go at human speed, like a bicycle, and have no artificial constraints (glyphs available for writing, for example).

I still use notebooks for some things. You can draw in a notebook (and yes, I know you can draw on a computer, but in many ways it is more involved). The link between thought and recording is much tighter than on a computer.

It would be interesting to look at how our tools shape and limit our thinking.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER2> Does anyone know the source for this? I found a Scientific American article and an Amazon listing for an out-of-print book published by Scientific American (perhaps just a copy of the article).

[https://www.scientificamerican.com/magazine/sa/1973/03-01/#a...](https://www.scientificamerican.com/magazine/sa/1973/03-01/#article- bicycle-technology)

[https://www.amazon.com/Bicycle-technology-S-S- Wilson/dp/B000...](https://www.amazon.com/Bicycle-technology-S-S- Wilson/dp/B00071F638)

EDIT: The URL includes 'Scientific American March 1973', which matches my first link. EDIT2: So I think that must be the source.

<comment><USER8> I don't know what you're looking for. Your own research has brought you to a page from which you can purchase a digital copy of the whole magazine for $8. What do you want, a printed copy?

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Hub gears still seem like witchcraft.

<comment><USER10> rohloff has a 14 speed hub

<comment><USER11> I've seen those on Amazon, but it seems like they just sell the hub and brake disc. Are you supposed to DIY the rest of the wheel or is the average bike shop able to build it for you?

<comment><USER12> In short: yes.

Slightly longer version: Find a _good_ bike shop to do it for you. The wheels on a bicycle are about the only truly challenging thing to work on (short of suspension components or the headset bearings that are pressed into the frame), and about the only things that you can irretrievably screw up. A shop that builds more than a couple wheels a year will probably do a better job than the average bike shop.

If you're curious about what building a wheel involves, a good resource is The Bicycle Wheel, by Jobst Brandt [0]. Mind you he still that the bottom spokes of a wheel are in compression (which is demonstrably false; see Mavic's linear pull spokes, which literally cannot be in compression or the wheel would fall apart). Sheldon Brown's website is useful too.

[0][https://www.amazon.com/Bicycle-Wheel-3rd-Jobst- Brandt/dp/096...](https://www.amazon.com/Bicycle-Wheel-3rd-Jobst- Brandt/dp/0960723668)

<comment><USER13> > Mind you he still that the bottom spokes of a wheel are in compression

I think you might want to read pages 7–8 again: "Wires must be tensioned to prevent their buckling under load. With tension, wires can support compression loads up to the point where they become slack. The same loads that increase compression in wooden spokes, reduce tension in wires. As in algebra, where negative and positive numbers are combined to give algebraic sums, in spokes tension and compression are the negative and positive forces whose sums depends on built-in spoke tension and the carried load."

So the bottom spokes can support a compressive load because this is smaller than their unloaded tension.

<comment><USER12> Yeah, I should have anticipated stirring up a debate with somebody who has read the book more recently than 10 years ago. I should have avoided mentioning it; the book as a whole contains a great deal of practical information.

Anyhow, I think we are fundamentally in agreement that all of the spokes in the wheel are in tension at all times. I am not an engineer, but I did run this bit by an engineer. He was in agreement that the fact that the bottom spokes are under less tension does not mean they are supporting the load via compression.

At best, the passage is a bit misleading; none of the spokes on a bicycle wheel are ever in compression (or as Brandt rightly claims, they would buckle). Claiming that the reduced tension (again, correct) supports a "compression load" is misleading.

Sorry I can't stick around for further discussion; I'll check back later.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER2> The bicycle was, arguably, a bit too late. Imagine how cities would be constructed today if bicycles (with modern functionality and affordability) had predated cars by 50 years.

Imagine people trading in their horses for bicycles, for much easier care, less pollution, much smaller and flexible (it seems to me) alternatives. Imagine the variety of bikes people would come up with, lacking alternatives: Personal transport, of course, but also cargo, long-haul, rough terrain, tandem/triple/etc when more power is needed, rickshaws, etc.; with bikes already being the established 'first mover', would we use cars for as many purposes as we do today? Imagine how cities would be constructed, providing for bikes first, with the car fitting in later - from roads to locations of retail and transit.

For some things you still may have needed horses, such as pulling heavy loads. Also, I wonder if the terrain and roads would have suited bicycles (cobblestones and muddy roads probably aren't so great to ride on) and, if not, if people would have invested in the infrastructure; beware the modern myopic perspective about cities - back then almost everyone lived in rural areas. Finally, in some less economically developed parts of the world bicycles did become immensely popular before cars, IIRC; I wonder how these issues played out there.

<comment><USER8> _Imagine people trading in their horses for bicycles, for much easier care, less pollution, much smaller and flexible (it seems to me) alternatives._

You've just copy-and-pasted Columbia's ad text from the late 1800s. The problem was not that bicycles were too late, but that bicycles were out of reach for the common working man for quite a while. Multi-speed, shaft-drive bicycles with pneumatic tires were available in the 1890s. They were also priced like Teslas.

Source: have been a member of the U. S. counterpart to the Veterans Bicycle Club (where this article came from) since I was a kid.

<comment><USER14> >The problem was not that bicycles were too late, but that bicycles were out of reach for the common working man for quite a while.

What's the difference?

<comment><USER8> There were tons of bicycle manufacturers, so the bicycle wasn't "late", there were plenty of them. The difference is that they were luxury items.

"The problem with the airplane was that it was late..." No, we've had airplanes since 1903. The problem is that I can't afford, even as an upper middle class software engineer, to keep one in the air.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Visualize Data Structures in VS Code - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/hediet/vscode-debug-visualizer/tree/master/extension <comment><USER2> This reminds me a bit of `ddd` [0] which has been around ~forever. It really helped me visualize some object relationships in ThoughtTreasure [1] back in school.

A main difference seems to be you have to tell vscode-debug-visualizer how/what to show in the code, whereas with ddd you either point-and-click or else run gdb/ddd commands like `graph display _variablename_`. I guess you could probably script the latter, but I like how vscode-debug-visualizer reifies what you're visualizing into the code itself instead of into a debugging session.

[0] [https://www.gnu.org/software/ddd/](https://www.gnu.org/software/ddd/) [1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThoughtTreasure](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThoughtTreasure)

<comment><USER3> I too enjoyed using ddd back in the day. A few weeks ago I needed to visualize a complicated data structure in a Rust program that I'm working on and sadly it completely failed ([http://db48x.net/reposurgeon/Screenshot%20from%202020-08-04%...](http://db48x.net/reposurgeon/Screenshot%20from%202020-08-04%2003-28-58.png)). I spent some time trying to figure out how it was supposed to work (my guess is that GDB's pretty-printer is getting in the way), but didn't have much luck. I think we're going to have to reimplement some of this stuff. I ended up writing some code to dump the data structure out to graphviz. ([http://db48x.net/reposurgeon/pathmap-diagrams/generated- path...](http://db48x.net/reposurgeon/pathmap-diagrams/generated-pathmap- after.svg))

<comment><AUTHOR> Then this extension might be able to help you! You can visualize graphviz dot data that is stored in a rust string.

<comment><USER3> I don't really need an editor extension in order to visualize graphviz data; I already have graphviz.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> All visualizations (i.e. json ~> ui transformers) are available as standalone library too. A playground can be found at [1]. The entire project is open source and can be easily extended!

[1] [https://hediet.github.io/visualization/](https://hediet.github.io/visualization/)

</comment><comment><USER4> Here's my modest plea to authors of extensions like this: please consider creating a "standalone" version, too. The AST viewer in the GIF is a good example of a tool that doesn't need the whole VSCode framework around it; it can be implemented in a single "ASTViewer.html" that can be double clicked or dragged and dropped into the user's browser, which is probably already open.

EDIT: I see comments from the author below, where there's some version of this tool online, but it goes for other authors, too, and the ability to run it from a truly standalone, single-file viewer.

<comment><USER5> > Here's my modest plea to authors of extensions like this

Not trying to be snarky or anything but... the source code is available. If there's something that you really need, please consider contributing. That goes for any open-source project.

<comment><USER4> For what it's worth, I wasn't going to respond, but the more I read back this reply, the more it chafes—maybe because I've bristled about similar replies in the past and I've tried many times to write a blog post about what I see happening here. It reminds me of a different but commonplace phenomenon that has led to the case where I no longer bother filing bugs against projects who host their bugtracker on GitHub because of the high-ish likelihood that it will get a reply in the form of a comment responding solely to an imagined subtext in my message—where the subtext is that my bug report is actually a support request. I attribute this to the bugtrackers in many projects being run so poorly that folks are even allowed to file support requests there (which is frustratingly common on GitHub) and that maybe because the reply originates from someone who lives in a world where all communication happens through subtext.

So intentional snarkiness or not, there's something in your comment that just doesn't comport with mine and the message in it. If I were directly addressing the author of this tool and, say, asking that it be changed or repackaged to solve some problem for me, then your reply would be on-target. But I'm not even using this extension, and that's not what my comment was. It was not a support request. Besides what I wrote, there was no subtext to be found, but if a person insisted on trying to root out some latent meaning from the words, then let it have been an observation about current approaches to modularity or the principle of least authority or the principle of least power.

[https://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/Principles.html](https://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/Principles.html)

<comment><USER5> [Edited - point taken ]

I apologize for having jumped the gun here. I guess your reply was appropriate for a 'Show HN' thread, since these threads are feedback requests.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Not sure how often I'll use this in day-to-day coding. Just don't find myself encountering that many of these types of issues on a daily basis.

However, I am 100% for sure going to break this out when it comes time to do Advent of Code this year. Always spend tons of times debugging code where this will be awesome.

<comment><AUTHOR> Advent of Code really might be a great use-case for this extension!

Anyways, I think the table, the plain text and the planned text-diff visualizer might be handy for day-to-day debugging, as they fix some issues with the watch window in VS Code (mainly displaying multiline-strings and lists of homogeneous objects or just being able to update the watched expression with a shortcut).

<comment><USER7> I'm both excited and saddened by the fact that AoC is getting close! Time flies...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Great, but I feel those eye candies with e.g. growing and reshaping lists will get old fast. What would be more useful for work in the long run is a rather tacit - not distracting - hint of what's going on, unambiguous but not trying to switch attention.

If you're fast stepping through code trying to confirm it working or finding a bug, you're going to be annoyed by the time it takes the visualization to finish on each step.

<comment><USER9> That is an emphasis of the approach I was taking here: [http://symbolflux.com/projects/avd](http://symbolflux.com/projects/avd)

Using it feels very different from a traditional debugger where you need to control every step: it's often sufficient to just observe passively and note when incorrect patterns surface.

<comment><USER3> That's really well done; I wish I had that in the program I'm working on. I ended up traversing my data structure and making a graphviz file, then doing it again after the manipulation I was testing in order to verify that it worked correctly. That works, but it really doesn't scale very well. Plus, the being able to see the individual steps of the algorithm would make it much more clear and obvious.

As an example, [http://db48x.net/reposurgeon/pathmap-diagrams/generated- path...](http://db48x.net/reposurgeon/pathmap-diagrams/generated-pathmap- after.svg) is one of the graphs I generated.

Have you published the server and the protocol anywhere? I'd use it even though I would have to write the client side myself. For my project it would even be desirable to write the client side twice; I'm porting a program from one language to another, and it would be amazing to be able to compare the implementations visually.

<comment><USER9> I am thinking about publishing the source etc soon. I have a mailing list for the project here. I've never actually sent anything out on it but I will announce the open sourcing there if you are interested. More info at [http://symbolflux.com/luciditystory.html](http://symbolflux.com/luciditystory.html)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I'm a bit late to the party here, but I need to say that posts like this are why I keep coming back to hacker news.

Automatic visualization of data is such a powerful and underutilized tool in many disciplines, especially ours. A picture is worth 1000 words, and the same could be said for many styles of graphics.

I often find myself writing adhoc/bespoke visualizations for complex data, and the change in perspective can make an intractable problem almost easy, especially for more visual thinkers (so much so that I often wonder why I needed a graphic in the first place?!). To have this right in the debugger is an order of magnitude improvement and I'm excited about this tool, and I hope I find some time soon to learn it.

I know tools with aspects of this exist (ddd, etc..), but since vscode is my current editor of choice, I'm quite excited about this. Great job!

</comment><comment><USER11> Offtopic: There was a compiler a decade ago named "Orange" or something with Orange? Orange-cpp Orange c++ or something similar for C++ that I've been trying to find that visualized data structures. I can't find it, I may be forgetting the correct citrus. Does anyone remember?

<comment><USER12> It might be the LEMON library ( [https://lemon.cs.elte.hu/trac/lemon](https://lemon.cs.elte.hu/trac/lemon) ), it does have some options to export graphs to Postscript.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I am using vscodium instead of vscode so the "Install" link on the marketplace page doesn't work and searching for the extension doesn't show it. Any ideas on how I can install this?

<comment><USER14> According to the build script [https://github.com/hediet/vscode-debug- visualizer/blob/maste...](https://github.com/hediet/vscode-debug- visualizer/blob/master/extension/package.json#L96) it'd be

        yarn run package

and then

        codium --install-extension $PWD/whatever.vsix

so long as you have [https://github.com/microsoft/vscode- vsce](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-vsce) in your PATH

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Wow, this seems like a great tool to help teach basic data structures. I'll be excited to try this out with my son.

</comment><comment><USER16> Can't wait to try this!

Also see Glamorous Toolkit [0] where visualization is a core part of the development process.

[0] [https://gtoolkit.com](https://gtoolkit.com)

</comment><comment><USER17> This is amazing !! So much better than looking variable in the watch. Please add ruby support to this

<comment><AUTHOR> Ruby might work out of the box if it can produce JSON strings that are not obfuscated by the debug adapter in vscode!

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> This looks extremely helpful for when one is digging deep into nested structures, I'm definitely going to have to give it a go. Looking forward to the C# support too.

</comment><comment><USER19> I was just saying today how I wish I could have a graphical representation of things like hashmaps and collections while I'm debugging!

Then this pops up on front page!

</comment><comment><USER20> This would be amazing in Python when working with dataframes.

<comment><AUTHOR> What are dataframes?

<comment><USER21> Think of dataframes (from Pandas library) as excel tables on steroids.

Underneath dataframes are a collection of Numpy arrays with ton of extra methods on top.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Interesting to see that decent-sized list of languages without Ruby in it. Is there some technical limitation preventing ruby support?

<comment><AUTHOR> It should work out of the box, but nobody confirmed yet that it works with ruby ;)

<comment><USER23> In ruby if you have the right json schema set up it works. I'm not sure I completely grok yet how the data extractors would work on the ruby side yet though.

[https://i.imgur.com/84mgPdF.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/84mgPdF.jpg)

<comment><AUTHOR> Data Extractors usually need support from the extension. But you can configure how to construct the expression that is sent to the debugger to be evaluated. By default, it is `x => x`, but you could do `x => extract_json(x)`.

<comment><USER23> Thanks, that works. I can put something simple in my settings.json like this

      "debugVisualizer.debugAdapterConfigurations": {
        "Ruby": {
          "expressionTemplate": "DataExtractor.to_table(${expr})",
        }
       },

..and something simple in the debugee like this..

      table_example =
        {"id"=> "1", "label"=> "One"},
        {"id"=> "2", "label"=> "Two"},
        {"id"=> "3", "label"=> "Three"}

      # Quick hash to visual table helper
      class DataExtractor
        def self.to_table(hash)
          meta_hash = {
            "kind" => {"table"=> true},
            "rows"=> hash
          }
          meta_hash.to_json
        end
      end

..and we get a decent hash or ActiveRecord visualizer. Thanks for the hint.

<comment><AUTHOR> Data Extractors would also allow to offer alternative extraction options (like how visualization data should be constructed from the given value). The user can then select an alternative data extractor.

The `expressionTemplate` does not allow to do that yet.

If somebody is interested in implementing data extractors for Ruby, I can offer help!

<comment><USER24> Can you point us to where the existing extractors are implemented in the codebase?

<comment><AUTHOR> In case of javascript, the data extractor runtime is injected into the debuggee at [1]. You can find the data extractor runtime implementation at [2].

[1] [https://github.com/hediet/vscode-debug- visualizer/blob/c420f...](https://github.com/hediet/vscode-debug- visualizer/blob/c420ff7f6f42a55ee3692016df3ffd7a5d29402b/extension/src/EvaluationWatchService/EvaluationEngine/JsEvaluationEngine.ts#L126) [2] [https://github.com/hediet/vscode-debug- visualizer/blob/maste...](https://github.com/hediet/vscode-debug- visualizer/blob/master/data-extraction/src/js/api/DataExtractorApiImpl.ts)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> This is cool, could definitely be useful for working with complex data structures. Does anyone know if there's a Light Table-like ([http://lighttable.com/](http://lighttable.com/)) plugin for VS Code?

<comment><AUTHOR> It's not coming close, but a step towards light table: [https://github.com/hediet/vscode-realtime- debugging](https://github.com/hediet/vscode-realtime-debugging)

Also, there is [https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=WallabyJ...](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=WallabyJs.quokka- vscode).

I myself want to explore further ideas in that direction. I think more interactive debugging/development with smaller feedback loops really increases productivity.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> Fantastic work. This looks immediately useful. I'm often inspecting data structures with D3, but the ability to do this on the server side is a game changer. Can't wait to try it out.

</comment><comment><USER27> I have a very large json structure that generates a Media Live channel in AWS. When I want add/change something it's almost impossible. I can see this tool helping me.

</comment><comment><USER28> This is such a good idea. Why is it 2020 and programming tools don't give us this sort of visual insight into data structures?

<comment><USER29> Look up smalltalk if you want to see what was possible in the 80s.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> did everyone abandon sublime text? Doesn't seem like a lot of people are writing plugins for it.

</comment><comment> node-bayarea This is SO COOL! Keep up the great work!

</comment><comment><USER31> Powershell support would be nice.</comment>


Sort CSS declarations with this npm package - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/Siilwyn/css-declaration-sorter <comment><AUTHOR> Released this package some time ago, now I'm searching for ways to improve it. If anybody knows a good documented order that I can include don't hesitate to suggest it. Also any other kind of feedback is more than welcome!</comment>


Did a Rave Review Really Shut Down Portland Burger Bar Stanich's? - <AUTHOR> https://www.wweek.com/news/2018/11/28/did-a-rave-review-really-shut-down-portland-burger-bar-stanichs-maybe-it-was-the-owners-legal-troubles/ <comment><USER2> The essay being referenced was on HN's front a couple weeks ago (610 upvotes, 391 comments): [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18469658](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18469658)

Backgrounding -- and finding something problematic on someone who you've profiled and liked is definitely one of the least fun things I've done as a reporter. Regardless of the merit of the person's claims/denials, it must genuinely suck to have talked to a reporter for what was initially intended to be a positive recognition (e.g. "proud local owner of 'Best Burger Bar in America'". Only to find out that your previously private legal problems -- i.e. known only to your personal network -- are going to be mentioned in the mass media. Even if the mention is minimal -- i.e. doesn't change the main focus of the story -- the subject of the story might wish they had never been picked as a story idea.

That said, when you fail to mention a glaring problem at all -- well, it's not the crime, it's the coverup. I would've understood if the original author had found out about the legal problems and decided not to write a followup at all. I can believe that he wasn't truly aware of how serious the burger bar owner's legal history is, and didn't want to pry if it was the kind of crime that didn't make normal headlines. But when you write a self-indulgent graf like this --

> _And that fact is the thing I can't quite get past. That a decision I made > for a list I put on the internet has impacted a family business and forever > altered its future. That I have changed family dynamics and relationships. > And it could very easily happen again._

\-- you owe it to your readers to make sure that you've done a thorough vetting. It's true that owner that owners of well-reviewed establishments are thrown into a world of stress -- this has been true since the "golden age " of newspapers and print critics. But for someone to have suddenly and inexplicably shut down, it's also possible there's more to the story than what the owner would like to publicly claim.

<comment> mewse-hn The previous article seemed to be as objective as the reporter could make it, describing his personal sense of guilt but also the people around him who tried to convince him it wasn't entirely his fault.

He did allude to the family problems that the restaurant owner was going through, and that they contributed to the failure of the restaurant. He probably felt that airing those problems publicly would merely do more damage to the business he felt responsible for damaging in the first place. This new article says the original author didn't know about the legal entanglement so that could have used vetting.

This all seems to be related but separate to the main question from the original article: how responsible are food critics to the businesses they write about? Even if the business would eventually fail on its own, is accelerating the downfall an ethical wrong? This is the interesting part of the conversation that should be examined with these articles

<comment><USER2> It definitely was a set of unfortunate circumstances for the author. If he was told about the messy divorce, it would have been standard procedure to get the ex-wife's side of things, especially since she had been a manager at the bar for nearly 2 decades. But I'm assuming she's dead, if she had stage 4 breast cancer in 2014. And that might have led the author understandably to think that "messy divorce", and drinking problems, was as problematic as it got.

I completely agree with you that the author still had a good point. I think his article is particularly resonant today, with the growing fear and resentment of social media oversharing, online harassment and doxxing, and even data retention (e.g. "Right to be forgotten").

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> > Stanich and his wife divorced, citing "irreconcilable differences," in 2016. > He agreed to give her a family home in Tempe, Ariz., $400,000 in a lump sum > and $8,000 a month in support payments—and custody of the family dog, Rambo.

a house, 400k, 8k every month, and the dog. Jesus.

<comment><USER4> That's almost exactly my terms. In my case, not so much as a harsh word between us--ex just decided she deserved it, and that's the way the law works. My current gross doesn't even cover alimony. (And alimony isn't deductible while you're unemployed, nor can you make qualified withdrawals from retirement accounts to pay for it.)

Still pretty happy to be rid of her. Be careful out there...

<comment><USER5> I don't get it. Assuming she didn't work, wouldn't it be half your income averaged over the past few years? Meaning, regardless of what she thinks she deserves, isn't there a standard calculation used, ie half?

<comment><USER6> Three options:

1) OP is just straight up lying

2) OP basically just blindly signed whatever was put in front of him

3) OP doesn't have much income but has a large net worth and payments were structured as monthly payments instead of a lump sum.

Edit: Please note I'm just listing possibilities. I'm not calling OP a liar, just that it is possible he is lying. Or that he is sitting on millions in investments.

<comment><USER4> Sympathies. I might have written that myself ten years ago. Godspeed.

(Never hit a million, and falling fast these days.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The Probation / Parole system, and the "correctional" institution in the US is a national disaster. The idea to prevent an adult, an elderly adult at that, from engaging in lawful activities like drinking alcohol as terms of probation is ludicrous. This man's life spiraled out of control for one reason.. the punitive nature of law enforcement and correctional institutions. What should be regarded as a health condition and treated as such (alcoholism) is instead used as a tool to further humiliate and demoralize this individual. It's not even safe to cold-turkey quit alcohol for an alcoholic because of the possibility of Grand Mal Seizures.

<comment><USER2> His charge of reckless driving was in 2017. In 2014, he received probation after pleading no contest to choking his terminally ill wife, whom in 2016 he divorced. And then got a contempt-of-court charge for not meeting the terms of the divorce settlement.

What does the probation/parole system have to do with his particular issues?

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Pretty gross to be airing this dirty laundry in a public article.

<comment><USER9> That dirty laundry is public record, unfortunately.

<comment><USER10> A further reminder that just because something is technically public does not make it necessarily okay to broadcast it. We have a real problem in our modern world dealing with all the data out there and how it should be protected, or not. Used to be it didn't matter much because you'd have to go down to the courthouse to get detailed information. Now it's being data mined, collected, aggregated with 100s of other sources, and sold. Yuck.

<comment><USER11> Maybe there's a very good reason why crimes and our court systems are public? Such as, so that people who choke their wife who is dying from cancer can be avoided and shunned by moral, law abiding persons.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Clear case of Betteridge's Law: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headline...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines)</comment>


Show HN: Specs – A Better Dashboard for ECS - <AUTHOR> https://segment.com/blog/releasing-specs/ <comment><USER2> This looks nice but i'm sad that there is a need for it. AWS gets most things right, but they really failed with the ECS design in my opinion. The fact that the paradigms and interface are so clunky out of the box is really disappointing. The sloppy way that you have to launch instances into the fleet.. The whole "task" and "service" concept...

It's a crowded space but my bet is with k8s. Not to mention no lock-in.</comment>


Stephen Wolfram got $5-10M in PPP loan? - <AUTHOR> https://www.news-gazette.com/coronavirus/list-196-local-businesses-nonprofits-to-receive-more-than-350-000-in-ppp-loans/article_2ae541db-c771-53a5-b786-8d4fe7a318a4.html <comment><AUTHOR> On their own website they claim to have 700 employees? Isn't the definition of a small business less than 500? And how is Mathematica and Wolfram|Alpha affected by a pandemic?

<comment><USER2> Academia dropping site licences due to reduced student count, lab usage count per PC, etc?</comment></comment>


Why you should support Mac OS X and Linux - <AUTHOR> http://blog.wolfire.com/2008/12/why-you-should-support-mac-os-x-and-linux/ <comment><USER2> This would be great, except that it's impossible to "support Linux". You can support Debian, or Gentoo, or CentOS, or Slackware, or one of the many other linux distributions; but the fact that your code works on one distribution doesn't necessarily mean that it will work on another.

I'm dealing with this with tarsnap right now -- I know the code works on FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, OS X, and OpenSolaris; but for Linux all I can say is that it works on Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Slackware, Gentoo, and RedHat. Does it work on SUSE, Mandriva, Xandros, MontaVista, or Linspire? I don't know. (But if anyone here runs any of those, I'd be happy to hear from you.)

Yes, I could install N different distributions of linux and test them all; but testing on N different distributions is much more work than testing on 1, and many people simply won't have the time.

<comment><USER3> In my experience, Linux platform compatibility boils down to a few things:

\- architecture (usually i686 or x86_64)

\- availability of the right library versions in /usr/lib (however, you can combat this by "shipping" the versions you need with your app)

\- (rarely) kernel version

\- (even more rarely) glibc version

In other words, most of the time, if it's an Intel binary, it seems to work pretty well.

If a particular Linux distribution seems necessary, it usually just means that one of the above features of that distribution is important.

<comment><USER4> It's getting to the point now that you might as well distribute your app in the form of a VM image.

<comment><USER5> I'm curious as to why that isn't more common, although you get a similar compatibility issue with your choice of vmware, xen or virtualbox; and there is some overhead; but yes, it sounds like a good idea to me.

<http://www.rpath.org/> does something like that for server side software, and I know vmware supports that model.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> In much shorter form: _Don't ignore the preferences of trend-setters and early adopters._

<comment><USER2> Well put. This is one of the reasons why Tarsnap supports BSD, linux, and OS X, but not Windows -- people who run Windows are generally not trend-setters or early adopters... nor are people likely to take the advice of Windows users where security is concerned.

<comment><USER7> Watch your hubris and bigotry.

Windows is a far larger market, so early adopters and trend setters aren't as loud as they might be in an empty room, but that doesn't mean there are less of them. Instead, they tend to be visible only in niches of the PC market, rather than simply the Mac niche or FOSS niche.

Also, I recommend that you moderate your intake of propaganda re Windows security too. Windows is the big target, and has by far the largest number of suckers (i.e. unsophisticated users). That doesn't make it inherently insecure, or savvy users of it incompetent.

<comment><USER8> 'Also, I recommend that you moderate your intake of propaganda re Windows security too. Windows is the big target, and has by far the largest number of suckers (i.e. unsophisticated users). That doesn't make it inherently insecure, or savvy users of it incompetent.'

Windows Vista was the first Windows consumer OS to ship with a firewall enabled, and that by default used limited privilege accounts that prompted to elevate privileges when needed.

When did Linux and OS X have those features?

Vista was the first Windows OS to ship without inbuilt, unfixable windows- smashing vulnerabilities. Did Linux or OS X ever have an equivalent unfixable vulnerability baked into the display server?

How long has the idea of all software being digitally signed been in the Windows world?

How long has the idea of 'it's compromised, game over, reinstall and re-apply non-executable data if you think that's not compromised too' been around in the Windows world? Or do people still use 'anti-virus' software as a line of defense, when it's already too late?

Which current consumer version of Windows has mandatory access control ala SELinux or AppArmor?

Which version of Windows has chroots? Process jails?

How large is the 'Windows Hyper V appliance' based on Server Core 2008 compared to VMware ESX3i?

Which OS requires users close all their application, stop executing their kernel, and restart everything for simple, non-kernel updates?

With your answers to the above in mind, do you think you should perhaps limit your own intake of propaganda regarding Windows security?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> This is the model that brought fame and fortune to Bungie.

"The team focused on the Macintosh platform, not Windows-based personal computers, because the Mac market was more open and Jones had been raised on the platform."

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungie#Founding>

They had a clear and open field making quality games exclusively for the Mac platform, and this brought them a devoted following and a steady flow of profits. They later branched out into Windows, and of course Microsoft bought them out so they would focus predominantly on the XBox.

So, while ignoring Windows indefinitely may not be a great strategy, ignoring it at first can be.

</comment><comment><USER10> This was nice, pretty much straight to the point. At Dropbox we've noticed disproportionately more Mac/Linux users (relative to the "worldwide norm" or whatever that means, which is pretty standard). More importantly, we've definitely noticed disproportionately more vocal Mac/Linux users. We started as Mac and Windows but "investing" in a Linux (ok, Ubuntu/Nautilus to be specific, but it tends to work in most distributions and can work without Nautilus) client has certainly been worthwhile.

</comment><comment><USER11> I would have been perfectly content with "Because Microsoft is evil".

<comment><USER12> It's interesting how they used to be the anti-IBM company too. Die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain.

<comment><USER13> And now IBM is one of the biggest linux supporters. If MS ever loses its walled garden, you'll see it preaching standards & open protocols loud as anyone else.</comment></comment></comment>


The Google Drive app for PC and Mac is being shut down in March - <AUTHOR> https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/7/16267624/google-drive-desktop-app-shutdown <comment><USER2> That title is very click-baity. Yes, it's being shutdown, but it's also being replaced by "Backup and Sync" which does basically the same thing. I've been using it for a while now and don't even realize I'm not running the old Google Drive app.

<comment><USER3> Agreed - I switched to "Backup and Sync" a few weeks ago, and it's effectively the same.

<comment><USER4> I kind of hate it. Lots of nagging notifications and it has a bug where it'll render a little 120x40px window in the top right of my screen and have to restart the app to get rid of it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The bigger news is that they announced GA of their Dropbox Project Infinite competitor today. [https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2017/09/drive-file- stre...](https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2017/09/drive-file-stream-from- google.html?m=1)

Could a launch bug have caused this morning's Google Drive outage?

</comment><comment><USER6> I find it weird that Google doesn't release linux version, considering that majority of their employees use linux (Goobuntu to be precise). There's even a rumor that they have such an app for internal usage, so why not share it with the world?</comment>


Why I Quit Academia - <AUTHOR> https://aardvark-lily-k2lz.squarespace.com/transcripts/archives/quit-academia <comment><USER2> " None of us in this seminar were able to mount any plausible arguments against Nozick, not because he's correct, but because we had so little experience arguing against anything that far right."

Author discovered a PhD thesis topic worth writing, perhaps without knowing it.

Overall, the article gives the impression the author correctly realized academia grinds up cogs in the wheel; but didn't have the desire/ability to tilt against the system (eg not be a cog), and so quit. Fair enough, but not really worth reading about.

<comment> notsag-hn It is worth reading for people that are in the same situation feeling there's something wrong with them just for not fitting in a certain academic environment. There's bullshit everywhere, but when you're not experienced enough to have seen that by yourself you are likely to think you're the problem, so it's good somebody points that out, even if the actual cogs say it's not worth the read.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Interesting to see how some sections of academia is dumbing down the future generations: "Anyway, the low point of this guy's endless, beginningless, argument-free impromptu lectures came when he baldly asserted that the poetry of Milton had a direct influence on the workings of ISIS. Yes, this would be John Milton, the 17th century English poet, and ISIS, the contemporary Syrian terrorist organization. And what evidence did the professor adduce in support of this outrageous claim? None whatso-fucking-ever. And the other grad students in the room just sat there nodding knowingly, taking notes like a bunch of sycophants. No one raised their hand, no one said, "Excuse me professor, but what in Jesus' name are you fucking talking about?" I didn't even say anything. I had no spine!"

</comment><comment><USER4> For context: this should be named "Why I quit academia", it is the transcript of a by now un-published YouTube video by YouTuber Contrapoints [https://www.contrapoints.com/transcripts](https://www.contrapoints.com/transcripts)

who now does (very insightful) video essays on YouTube.

</comment><comment><USER5> Uber driver? Well, the pay, benefits, and power there must be more or less comparable to what an adjunct gets...

<comment><USER6> And I suppose cleaning the occasional strawberry dachary puke is less onerous than cleaning up a whole swath of term papers.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Boy am I happy I figured this out in my first undergraduate year of studying philosophy.

</comment><comment><USER8> I like ContraPoints, but...

        > You have to go to YouTube for the
        > real entertainment, and also, frankly, for the
        > real debate.

My take is that academics came to consensus on some debates, and moved on. If it's a far left consensus, well, they're the experts. History shows us we should be wary about pressuring academia to conform to popular opinion (astronomy and Catholicism, academia and Nazism, academia and the USSR)

We could as easily apply her complaint to Science; the "real entertainment" and "real debate" about whether Earth is flat also happens on Youtube.

<comment><USER9> I don't think that ContraPoints of all people meant hard right reactionaries when she wrote about real debates on YouTube.

Now where can I find this far left consensus? The closest I've been able to find is a soft left toothless socialism, the tepid centrism of FDR cheerleaders, and the soft right wing stance of the modern liberal, seeking a more inclusive-looking, more profitable status quo. I'd love to find like- minded leftists!

<comment><USER8>
        > where can I find this far left consensus?

Most academics today are opposed to racism, classism and fascism. Those positions, which were up for debate not a century ago, are essentially first principles now (outside of social media).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> The copywriting example is amazing indeed.</comment>


Lolmythesis Tumblr: College students summarize their thesis in one sentence - <AUTHOR> http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/12/31/lolmythesis_tumblr_college_students_summarize_their_thesis_in_one_sentence.html

<comment><USER2> I feel like I'm only posting the same comment over and over, but if media outlets have all decided to stop using informative headlines, can we at least continue to do so here?

Perhaps something like "Harvard student creates tumblr full of one-sentence theses summaries" might be better.

<comment><AUTHOR> I'd love to, but having re-read the FAQ several times it appears to be the case that you should put in the original title. If I'm wrong, let me know. I think someone should make the FAQ a lot clearer.

<comment><USER2> I know navigating things like the FAQ can be tricky. They encourage removing "gratuitous adjectives" and rewording linkbait, but knowing what qualifies as what can be hard.

In my opinion, the given title could be considered linkbait, only because it doesn't really tell you what it is, only that it's the "saddest" and "greatest" thing ever.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yep, I don't like the title that much either, but Lolmythesis sounds pretty descriptive, and that's about what the page is saying. Borderline case if what you say is true! Anyway, I ha thought HN policy on this is reasonably strict for some reason I forget, and although I'm far from certain on this topic, I don't feel like angering Gods I don't comprehend. Maybe it's time for yet another tiresome FAQ trip!

EDIT: [http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html) misleading or linkbait? Well by current standards, it's hardly UpBuzzNovaGawkworthy, I suppose. It's sad though, because some great stories have terrible headlines and they don't get traction here because we're apes and fall for that stuff despite ourselves.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Since the parent article is mainly a set of quotes from the underlying site/twitter feed:

[http://lolmythesis.com/](http://lolmythesis.com/)

or

[https://twitter.com/lolmythesis](https://twitter.com/lolmythesis)

I'd recommend just going to the underlying source.</comment>


Deploying Stuff With Git - <AUTHOR> http://babyl.dyndns.org/techblog/entry/git-deployment

<comment><USER2> Or, if you don't want to spend all day configuring your deployments, you can use a tool like <http://beanstalkapp.com> to host and deploy your code. We deploy via FTP/SFTP to multiple servers/environments with a single click, and coming soon we'll be allowing you to run SSH commands as deployments, making complex operations super easy & repeatable.</comment>


Trust upholds complaint about BBC homepage clock - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.co.uk/ariel/22767402 <comment><USER2> People surprised by the 100 days requirement have presumably never seen the type of infrastructure required by a top-100 website or had to deal with user- time issues.

Having an independent clock means turning off caching, which is a big deal when you're serving millions of page requests.

Not to mention having to deal with timezone issues, daylight saving, latency, etc. This stuff is hard.

<comment><USER3> Just add some javascript to load the time from a different server after the cached version is rendered. Build a simple service in node.js, ruby or java to return a json datetime, use that as the endpoint to load the time from. This is not rocket science and should not take 3 months to build, even with all the caching involved.

Edit: I just checked the headers that are sent along with any request to bbc.co.uk, and the response already includes the current datetime. So basically they don't even need to implement a time server anymore, but just do an Ajax request to document.location, and read the Date header on the result, to get the accurate time. They can just upscale their servers a bit to handle the extra requests (or implement an empty-response URL). Why would this take 100 days again?

Edit2: Sample code here: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5825319>

<comment><USER4> This is the BBC, not some startup in a garage with a couple of EC2 instances. It's the busiest website in europe, and it's publicly funded. If they just threw up external node services whenever they felt like it there would be chaos.

For example, whenever there's a major news story they see traffic spikes that would make you weep.

Internally on the other hand, where the stakes aren't so high, they make heavy use of rails, node, go and all that cool stuff. They know what they're doing.

Check out this list of some of their machines, from part of their monitoring system which is for some reason left open: <http://support.bbc.co.uk/support/rrd>

Here's is some data about their peering: <http://support.bbc.co.uk/support/peering/>

Yeah that's right. Peering.

EDIT: you're right that they could probably implement this quite easily, but the point is they can't just throw up an agile solution at the scale of the BBC, even if it seems safe.

<comment><USER3> The point is that this could be solved by a solution that is completely external to their current infrastructure, meaning they don't even have to mess with any integration or legacy code. Agile in this case seems perfectly suitable because they can easily have a fallback when the server doesn't respond to a "time"-request, that falls back to the current state (i.e. use client-side time). So we've got the perfect storm of no integration with current systems, tiny overhead on requests (it's basically an ECHO server), unimportant feature and easy fallback.

In fact I have an enterprise plan to sell them that does exactly this if they would like to externalise this problem.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Ignoring the issue whether a clock on a website is even remotely useful, this:

> The corporation also added that it would take around '100 staffing days to > make the changes involved in switching to an independent clock'.

strikes me as at least slightly odd. Shouldn't such a change be implementable by sending a 'starting time' with the initial request and then count using JS?

I'm one of these why-does-your-field-even-have-its-own-journal-guys, but this doesn't look particularly difficult to me.

<comment><USER6> It still wouldn't work if the users clock, say, ticked at double speed or not at all.

<comment> martin-adams Still wouldn't work if their monitor was off. Is such a thing a real concern?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> "The corporation also added that it would take around '100 staffing days to make the changes involved in switching to an independent clock'."

I'd like to see how they're going to implement that without relying on the user's time settings in some way.

Sure, they could get the system timezone offset, but that's not really any more safe than using the system clock.

GeoIP lookup? Surely location services won't fly because of the scary browser message.

Any other ideas?

<comment><USER8> Just set it up to the on-load time in UTC. It's the BBC after all, put it in London time and say so somewhere in the footer.

<comment><USER9> But London time isn't UTC! We're BST at the moment, and GMT in the Winter.

<comment><USER10> But we _could_ stay on UTC all year. Why force everyone to get up one hour earlier in summer? If people want to get up, they can do it themselves. Leave the rest of us in peace.

<comment><USER9> Even then, and with my pedant's hat on, GMT !== UTC - they can vary.

<comment><USER8> Goddamn adjustment milliseconds being all annoying.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> That clock means a lot to those of us in the UK of a certain age - it does create an emotional link to the website by being there.

<comment><USER11> Yeah, that clock is more than just an inaccurate way of telling the time, it's an iconic image from the BBC's history.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> '100 staffing days' to make the change? That erodes more trust than the 'factual accuracy' of a decorative clock.

</comment><comment><USER13> "A member of the public complained that the clock on the homepage merely reproduces the time stored on an individual computer's internal system, whether it's accurate or not."

Problem exists between computer and chair. Some people need to get a life.

</comment><comment><USER14> How does this 'undermine trust'? If you're basing your scheduling based exactly on that clock expecting the exact time in London, then you are doing something wrong.

<comment> martin-adams Often when we switch from GMT to BST (one hour ahead) I have to Google the time in the UK (because of Apple's trouble in the past with daylight savings, I can't trust my phone).

It would be reasonable to expect someone to go to the BBC homepage and see what the current time is after the daylight savings switch, and wrong to find the time was incorrect due to their PC not being configured correctly.

<comment><USER14> Ah, that's a good point actually

</comment></comment></comment><comment> martin-adams 100 days to display a server generated clock rather than a client side one.

<comment><USER15> But they don't really have to display a server generated clock, just pre-seed the client clock with the current server time in order to account for the offset. If they want to be really sure, they can re-set the offset regularly using AJAX. There's no need to reimplement the whole clock.

<comment><USER16> You can't "just" pre-seed with the current server time, since there is latency between the server sending it and the client receiving it.

<comment><USER17> I don't think the clock has to be accurate to the ms. The latency between client and server will almost always be < 1 second. They can probably get away with time being accurate to ~1minute

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Wait... 100 staffing days? How is that even remotely possible?

<comment><USER19> If you put 100 people into a small room, it will take them 24 hours to solve this problem. With less people, or a bigger room, it can be done faster, simply because having more than enough oxygen and space for your limbs helps a great deal with the process.

At least I _think_ that's what it means...

<comment><USER19> Haha, what's the downmod for? Because it was a bad joke, because it was a joke period, or because it actually went over the head of someone? HN, go out more.

<comment><USER20> IMHO, because we shouldn't have snarky jokes here. This isn't /.

<comment><USER19> Is that from the posting guidelines or just random snobbery? Anyway, unlimited unaccountable anonymous downmoderation is exactly that, a snarky joke that never ends. And in that respect, slashdot is dancing circles around HN. Respect your elders, how about that :P</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Steve Jobs, BMW & eBay - <AUTHOR> http://blog.adamnash.com/2011/10/10/steve-jobs-bmw-ebay/ <comment><USER2> > Apple so easily could have gone the way of SGI, the way of Sun. Instead, it > literally shapes the future of the industry. All because in 1997 Steve was > able to offer a simple and compelling reason for Apple to exist. A purpose. > And it's a purpose that managed to aggregate some of the most talented > people in the world to do some of their best work. Again and again.

Isn't it survivorship bias?

</comment><comment><USER3> Interesting anecdote; I wonder if there is any software which people "lust after" or if that's something reserved for physical products.

<comment><USER4> I would say that much of the lust for Apple is because of their software. If the Mac, iPhone, iPad, etc. ran Linux or Windows or some other commodity system, I feel the hardware would have much less appeal.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I don't see how eBay is a fair comparison because its competitive advantage is its strong network effect and established ratings/community. Imagine if management was satisfied with only 2% market share..

<comment><USER6> I agree there is a network effect to get critical mass, and certainly a winner-take all game in auctions. But eBay lost its essence a long time ago as they absorbed too many MBAs and let them rather than the technologists run the show. The description in the OP of the process eBay went through was enough to know the reinvention would be a failure. It was.

<comment><USER5> _"I told them about Steve's speech to the Rhapsody team, and asked: 'Does eBay want BMW market share, or Toyota market share?' At the time, eBay was more than 20% of all e-commerce, and all plans oriented towards growing that market share."_

Where does MBA's versus engineers ever come up? Jobs' speech is about creating a competitive advantage by building a premium product and focusing on a specific user - something eBay doesn't have the freedom to do.

<comment><USER6> It doesn't - but the comparison is about quality of the product versus market share and money. The MBAs put the 2nd first, the engineers the first.

During the 2000s eBay increasingly focussed their business on the largest sellers, helping push the site from a many to many business to a more traditional fixed price eCommerce business. Along the way they forgot about the awesomeness of their tiny auction customers who liked the fun of both placing auctions and buying goods, and as a result the site 'lost it' for many. The right customer for eBay was not the big merchants but the masses.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Having a market share as large as Toyota's doesn't mean that you can't make great products. Who says they have to be related? It seems to happen in practice, but I can't figure out any good reasons.

<comment><USER8> Apple seems to have proved your point, but they seem exceptional in that respect. Typical reasons are that the broader you make the audience, the more you have to dial down exceptional features for cost, scale and broad appeal.

<comment><USER9> One of the key things I feel like I learn from Steve Jobs is that while he may have been niche-focused at one time, he seems to me to have either intuited, or rapidly learned, that actually there's a very broad audience that values high-quality products. It's easy to forget that the "cheaper is better" pessimistic view of consumers is very strong, and that can become very cynical in a product company.

Deciding to trust the good judgment of your customers and put faith in your ability to appeal to their sense of value, rather than simply their cost- watching ability, is a brave and bold move. I think it is awesome that it turns out to pay off.

<comment><USER10> His genius move was turning Apple's engineering talent to making sub-$1000 products _that were not personal computers_ and therefore _had profit margins comparable to the Mac's_.

PC manufacturers went with the strategy of "we used to be able to sell a machine with these features for $1000, and now that components are cheaper, we can sell it for $800"... and then they got into a price war that destroyed one another's margins.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I dont see why a great product cant have a great market share which seems to be an implication. Google search was one example. I am sure there have been other examples.

I am sure there are many lessons to be learnt from Steve Jobs, but I think we should be careful in not making everything he said or did as a lesson to learn!

</comment><comment><USER12> This is quite different from the "Fuck Michael Dell" story posted by Gruber. Did Jobs in fact never say that?

<comment><USER13> They were two separate meetings. From the article:

" ... I actually did attend the meeting that John describes in his blog post. However, as a full time engineer on WebObjects, I also had the opportunity to attend a different all hands that Steve Jobs called ... "

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Strange that he picked BMW for his example. He seems to be more of a Mercedes guy.

<comment><USER15> Steve actually drove a Mercedes SL55 AMG: [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/10/steve- jobs-...](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/10/steve-jobs- mercedes-benz-license-plates.html)

<comment><USER16> The article mentions that he drove with no license plate. But I always wondered if he possessed the plate and never attached it, keeping it inside the car just in case.

<comment><USER17> New cars in California don't come with plates, so it's not uncommon to see cars without any plates at all, especially in the Bay Area. You get temporary plates in the mail and are responsible for affixing them yourself. As long as your registration is current, your taxes are paid, and you have insurance, getting caught without the plates is a small fine.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Here it is 14 years later. The thing about that meeting, that strikes me, is that this is what Apple always was. Steve wasn't bringing a purpose to Apple, he was reminding Apple employees of Apple's purpose. Apple still has that purpose.

Every product cycle you see the blogs and the pundits speculating on what Apple will do, and exclaiming what Apple should do. Just today I saw an article along the lines of "now that Steve's dead, here's the four things that Apple MUST DO!" None of these people get it, and that's why they are always wrong.. and then after the fact, rather than learn from their errors, they start spinning _why_ the iPhone 5 wasn't announced. Anyone paying attention knows the tick-tock pattern Apple is following.

People seem to think that apple has become microsoft-- some monolithic entity, focused on having a monopoly and controlling everything.

I can assure you, controlling everything is the last thing Apple wants. Apple is not proprietary. Hell, Mac OS X is the most popular open sourced operating system on the planet. The Safari web browser is just a thin shell around webkit. Apple could have kept both closed and innovated on them, instead they innovate on them and give them away (and yet so called "open source" fans actually complain about this.)

What Apple does care about-- the singular purpose that drives them to make the decisions they make-- is the best user experience for their customers.

IF you ever wonder why Apple did or didn't do something, that's why.

And that didn't go away with Steve's passing. Even in the years when Steve wasn't there, and the company suffered from bad management, they still operated in the Apple way, just not so effectively. Now they have great management, and though Steve is no longer there, it's a lot easier to keep to their purpose...

Maybe this is the real reason Apple accumulated so much cash. It will be a long time, and likely never, in a situation where outside investors and wall street can dictate the CEO position, and so Apple can operate without fear that people who don't get it can undermine its mission.

The real question, though, is why do so few people get it? There's nothing really secret about all this... but I'm unaware of a single other company that operates in this manner.

<comment><USER19> "Apple could have kept both closed and innovated on them"

Webkit is based on GPL code from KDE, so Apple had no choice but to release the source.

<comment><USER20> They didn't have to start <http://webkit.org> and run it as a public open source project. They did far more than simply comply with the GPL.

<comment><USER21> After a big PR scandal.

Originally they just threw useless code patches back at KHTML to minimally comply with the license (LGPL, iirc).

<comment><USER18> There was no scandal and only GPL "enthusiasts" would be mad at someone for _complying_ with the license... only not in the _style_ they might want. Reality is, they're just bigots who hate Apple and are looking for any excuse to bash them. Really, you're not fooling anyone.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> If I were at ebay, I would go for Toyota market share, maybe the reason they have stumbled is because of your thoughts on how a business should be run.

<comment><USER8> The point was that you can't follow a BMW product strategy and expect Toyota market share. You can go for either, just not both.</comment></comment>


Are Business Schools Failing Women? - <AUTHOR> http://dirtymba.com/are-business-schools-failing-women/

<comment><USER2> Women make up 60% of all Swedish university students. Are (Swedish) universities failing men?

<comment><AUTHOR> That would be an interesting comparison to look at (Swedes vs. US). Do you have any more information on the reasons for the high level of Sweden?</comment></comment>