ANNE Stack – Angular JS, Node, Neo4J and Express - <AUTHOR> http://www.42id.com/articles/anne-stack-angular-js-node-neo4j-and-express/ <comment><USER2> Mentally I've classified stacks into the same category as turn-key: not worth bothering with. ANNE might be a good choice for the types of problems you face, or your specific workflow. As for the rest of us? We probably have our own unique stacks.

The concept of stacks died alongside the last relevant stack: LAMP.

It is a nice article on Neo4J, but there is virtually nothing on why you would use node, express or angular. Most likely because practically anything else could take their place.

<comment><USER3> Yes.

Even if the stack is what you would use anyway, the stack could use different versions of the parts you would use.

<comment><USER2> Stacks were absolutely great back in the day, when getting getting all the moving parts required some legwork. I remember the LAMP installer for Windows - I was up-and-running and making a PHP app in minutes. One of the most usable pieces of software to come out of the open source community, it was great.

These days those moving parts are usually an "npm install", "go install" or "apt get" away. Meaning that this:

> different versions

Becomes significantly more important than having a single install bundle.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Eugh, Neo4J. Before you start using a graph database, ask yourself, what proportion of my queries are going to require complex graph traversals? If the answer isn't 'a metric shitton', then you might do better in choosing a more traditional datastore.

<comment><USER5> I could not disagree more. Neo4j has got to be the most intuitive, simplistic database structure on earth. The php client is amazingly optimized, even for super small datasets, it murders sql. The graph visiualizer is beautiful and extremely helpful. I might even argue that it has better documentation than SQL because it's all in one place with instructional videos and tutorials. If you live in silicon valley, you can go to their office for "office hours" and they give you pizza and beer and teach you how to use it. It so simple and easy to use a child could do it.

<comment><USER6> Simple and easy is not really what I'm looking for in a database. I mean sure those are nice, but they are orthogonal to the important issues, which I'll loosely classify as power. A lot of people flocked to MongoDB based on the promise of ease-of-use plus scalability, but then realized there's no free lunch, and actually learning SQL was a small price to pay for the power of modern RDBMSes. They partied hard with their schema-less designs, pushing code faster than anyone ever thought possible, right up until they learned the purpose and value of data integrity.

This is not to say that Neo4j is just an overhyped fad DB, but saying that the structure is "intuitive [and] simplistic" is not confidence inspiring.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I'm convinced people are learning and inventing new components just so they can invent new stackronyms. I'm starting a new project using Angular, Node, and for some reason I can't quite put my finger on, a combination of Apache and Lighttpd.

edit: Actually, I realized this needs a storage component, and obviously that would be LevelDB, so I could lose Lighttpd, which was redundant anyway.

<comment><USER8> Ah yes, the ANAL stack. It's really nice, if you can talk your boss into allowing it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> said before, saying it again - I still like backbone + underscore templates better than AngularJS. When written using standard JS patterns I find that stack easier to work with, coupled with whatever (usually either Django or Loopback) on the backend.

<comment><USER10> tens of thousands of apps have been developed with Backbone,that's not an issue.But tens of thousands of app have been developed with jQuery only too,you understand what i'm getting to.

<comment><USER11> That people have managed well enough for years without monolithic frameworks?

<comment><USER10> then let's talk about management cost of these projects doing well enough.It's never good enough.

<comment><USER9> that doesn't mean its because of the chosen framework. i would love to see actual breakdowns of productivity on a similar project performed by a single team, once with angular once with Product B, by a dev team who is equally capable in Angular as they are Product B.

<comment><USER10> The difference between project A with angular and project A without angular is that project A team without angular would need to develop its own framework, its own coding style,conventions,... been there done that.

<comment><USER9> I would just say "framework" instead of Angular.

That said, it seems the real issues that frame works solve are those of teams who are unable or unwilling to establish their own set of coding standards and thus fall back on using some other team of dev's coding standards.

I'm not saying that's a bad thing - I'm all for frameworks on the backend, and like I said above, I'm for (loose) frameworks on the frontend (backbone + underscore).

I don't mind standards, but I'm against Angular becoming the standard because its not very good.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Hey can we not just make up stacks that spell things?

Believe it or not, each one of these components are choices you should make an independent educated decision about, and then make sure that those educated decisions integrate well. Integration with best-in-class solutions is A criterion, but not the only one.

Like, can you imagine someone using a stack like this to build a to-do list app, just because?

Also, what I'm seeing is someone lumping one of the best graph databases I've seen in with some utter schlock technologies just to force a catchy analogy to a separate anagram.

</comment><comment><USER13> Node: yes

Express: yes

Neo4J: why not

Angular: rather not

<comment><USER14> Not trolling, but I am rather curious. Why Angular: Why not ?

<comment><USER10> why angular? because once you understand the framework it's totally RAD. You can build complex applications in a matter of hours , and you don't even have to think about the app architecture , everything has to be in a certain place. AngularJS comes with a lot of battery included and for every task there is an angular module.

Why not angular ? hmm i'd say , the angular team fucked up with version 2.x announcement. I personally don't like this atScript/Typescript thing ,It's no longer safe to begin an angular project that will have to be maintained for years as devs don't really know if angular 1.x will still be maintained by Google 2,3,4,5 years from now.

With 1.x if you were into jQuery plugins, you could easily include them into any angular project which makes development really easy. You don't need to write classes or stuff like that, just write a function , put a bit of markup into the HTML and voila, you have a functional angularJS app.

I'm still using angularjs because it's just the best MVC framework out there.React isn't a framework but a view engine. React doesn't solve any architectural problem other than the view.

<comment><USER15> 'React doesn't solve any architectural problem other than the view'

Fair enough. But, when coupled with a flux implementation (like Reflux) and a router (like React Router), what do you find missing in the React toolkit?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> This is your brain. This is drugs. This is your brain on drugs.

Any questions?</comment>


Teens have always gone where identity isn't - <AUTHOR> http://whoo.ps/2013/03/04/teens-go-where-identity-isnt

<comment><USER2> A'int that the truth!</comment>


Ask HN: Single Letter Last Name or First Name - <AUTHOR> Hi all, Question is : Can i request for Web RFC to ensure nameing first and last to have minimum as 1 letter than 2?<p>Reaso : See below. I am from southern part of India where we use to give names in School like "V F Myself" which is basically V for Village , F for Father and followed by my Name. So name like P N Giri was the name written in school certificate and with absemse of birth certificate school certificate forms as basic validation artifact of name and birth date. Now until about Year 2000 we did not have any issue as most websites either not used validation in names or it hand written forms and registers. Now after coming in contact with west we had to that name to Giri N otherwise US people will call me Hello N (huh!!) which was also ok. But the issue most of the websites now dont accept my last name as single letter which N so my face Giri Ns (S for space) i have option of expanding the name but 1. i dont like it blooks like alien name to be 2. all proofs including my bank passbook , school certificate and other have N.Giri as name.  (I heard from a friend in thailand who had issue it name X and he change to Xe or something) <comment><USER2> It's sad that people who implement computer systems keep on assuming that they can somehow "validate" names:

[http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods- programmers-b...](http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers- believe-about-names)

</comment><comment><USER3> I'm with you, but why stop at one character? Why not zero. My entire legal name is a single word. Is it my first name? My last name? Where it matters, I use it as a last name, for consistent sorting and searching. I attempt to use nothing for the first name, and I rarely succeed. Once in awhile I'll use Name Name, like Amorymeltzer's professor.

If there was a group dedicated to this issue, they might call themselves the Harry S Truman society. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman#Early_life_and...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman#Early_life_and_career)

<comment><USER2> _" The 'S' [in 'Harry S Truman'] did not stand for anything, a common practice among the Scots-Irish ..."_

Neither of my parents (who were born in central Europe) had a middle name at all. The fact that middle names are optional (can be zero characters long) does seem to be recognized by people who create forms asking for full names. I never provide mine, and nobody complains.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I had a professor with this problem, his solution? Duplicate it: "P N Giri" becomes "Giri Giri"</comment>


Ask HN: How to decide on Enterprise pricing - <AUTHOR> I have a saas app in the $12-$29/month  range.
I've been approached by a large enterprise org for pricing on a private server instance. The company is very large, in the hundreds of millions revenue per year.
I know it's a 'how long is a piece of string?' type question, but I was wondering if you had some advice with regard to pricing.
I would be providing a managed private server for this org. My raw costs for server and data would run about $100/month.
Thanks. <comment><USER2> This is a complete over-simplification, but...

I'd start by thinking about how much your product is worth to the company. How much money will it save/make them? Don't just look at the functionality that you provide, but also at risk reduction. Charging based on value is called value pricing ( [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value- based_pricing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-based_pricing) ). You'll want to charge less than what your customer has to gain (otherwise they won't buy). This is the number you should be working from (using out-of-pocket costs to determine pricing is called time and materials pricing and is a great way to go broke [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_and_materials](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_and_materials)).

Your original app pricing has little to do with what you can charge enterprise customers, because the product that you're offering is different. Yes, your old pricing will act as a bit of a psychological anchor, but if they've contacted you for a custom plan, they are probably willing to spend quite a bit.

Source: I write a blog on the subject of product pricing (and wrote a book specifically about software pricing - [http://taprun.com/pricing/](http://taprun.com/pricing/) ).

</comment><comment><USER3> Pricing is a complicated topic (or can be), and I don't claim to have mastered it myself. In fact, I'll freely admit that I'm still struggling to figure out all of the details of our pricing model for Fogbeam. There are literally dozens (or more) books written specifically on pricing, so don't feel bad if it all seems challenging.

That said, here are some thoughts based on my own experience and research.

Keep the model as simple as possible (but no simpler?). Nobody wants a complicated pricing model with per-core charges mixed with CAL (client access license) charges, mixed with varying discounts and floating license servers and blah, blah, blah.

The challenge, of course, is how to balance having a simple pricing model, with your desire to charge companies based on the value you provide them. That is, a larger company with more users is (presumably) getting more value from your software and should pay more. So charging per user is a valid option, but it's not the only one. You could charge based on the customer's revenue, or scale the pricing based on the hardware (physical or virtual) required to run the software for their needs.

There's some really interesting stuff in Douglas Hubbard's work on "Applied Information Economics", although I don't really have time to try and explain it all here. But the key of his approach is to try and actually quantify the value of an information system by figuring out a way to measure the factors the system will impact, and then figure out the economic value of improving those factors. That's a little bit of an over simplification, but it's an interesting approach built on calibrated estimation, monte carlo simulations, and elements of modern portfolio theory.

I'd recommend reading the book _How to Measure Anything_ by Hubbard, and/or read the Wikipedia article on AIE[1] and see if you can think of a way to apply this with your customer(s). Ideally, if you get them to buy into the model you create, you have _very_ solid footing for establishing the price of your software, since you can actually put a number to the value it adds.

There's probably a heck of a lot more to be said about all this, but it's bedtime here. :-)

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

</comment><comment><USER4> I would setup enterprise private server pricing tiers on your website so you can scale the price based on their use/data. And you can just send them a link to sign up and recommend a plan that would fit their needs initially. They might be less likely to try to negotiate if it looks like standard pricing.

This way you can show private server instance pricing on your site and allow the price to scale up based on use/data so you don't make less if they are using it more and you can scale up the price as they use it more.

Maybe show three tiers and have the last tier be variable based on their users/data or other relevant item.

If you're just looking for a price my initial thought is go for $999/mo.

</comment><comment><USER5> Don't forget, no matter what you quote them, procurement will want to bring the price down 40-50%, just because that's what they do...

<comment><USER6> Also don't forget, if a budget line owner wants this product they don't care what procurement negotiated down, just that they got their tool.

For me the big questions are; 1) what are the user numbers. If they have 1,000+ people going on the app I'd discount the app price reasonably and maybe throw in the dedicated server. If they have 15 people using the app I'd hold the price, charge for the dedicated server. And 2) Would this be a almost guaranteed springboard for future deals?

Do you have much alternate competition? If it's not a tender bid type scenario I'd in my limited information be inclined to set initial pricing at appstore levels (or a small bulk discount) plus a dedicated server fee. They'll likely comeback and say they want a discount, but if not great. You may as well start high unless there is the chance they will walk and not return without an initial discount. If they don't like it then you can ask them how much, and you've anchored the expectation of full price.

If relevant I'd also put on the initial offer some X hours of customisation work type offer @ full price. It's better to do this as you might roll the work into the wider app, so it's possibly 'free' anyway. It gives you another negotiation lever if they look to discount as you can take this away. It's something to make them feel like a win, plus it will look as a higher perceived value than the cost to you if the agreed hours are set right.

There's always a bazillion variables. I know nothing. Good luck.</comment></comment>


Phonon heat transfer across a vacuum through quantum fluctuations - <AUTHOR> https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1800-4 <comment><USER2> >>> phonon coupling across a vacuum

Massive. Quantum fluctuations of vacuum energy seem to hint that the structure of spacetime holds within it the "potential" for particles to exist. And that alone is enough for them to eventually come into being, given long enough time scales.

>>> paves the way for the exploitation of quantum vacuum in energy transport at the nanoscale

I think that exploitation is very much still theoretical. But the estimated "payout" of, say, having programmatic control over radioactive decay is infinite.

Devices that can actually interact and measure properties of quantum vacuum seem to be an excellent starting point ;)

Correlations detected in a quantum vacuum

[https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01083-z](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01083-z)</comment>


Why Norway Is Satisfied with Breivik's Sentence - <AUTHOR> http://world.time.com/2012/08/27/why-norway-is-satisfied-with-breiviks-sentence/?xid=rss-topstories&utm_source=pulsenews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+%28TIME%3A+Top+Stories%29

<comment><AUTHOR> For every 100,000 inhabitants in the US there are 743 people in prison[1]. In Norway the figure is 73[2]. California spends 9.4% of its budget on prisons[3], which is more than what is spent on higher education (7.1%)[4].

In Norway prison time can almost be seen as a holiday[5]; time to think about life; time to reconsider your options in life. In California, it's the same, but the options are mostly criminal.

In Denmark, Sweden and Finland, the average reoffend rate is 30 per cent[6]. In Norway it is 20 per cent[6]. In California the corresponding figure is 65.1% [6][7].

I think it is time for a reform: [http://www.laprogressive.com/prison- industrial-complex-calif...](http://www.laprogressive.com/prison-industrial- complex-california/)

[1] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_Sta...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States)

[2] [http://www.prisonstudies.org/info/worldbrief/wpb_stats.php?a...](http://www.prisonstudies.org/info/worldbrief/wpb_stats.php?area=all&category=wb_poprate)

[3] [http://www.laprogressive.com/prison-industrial-complex- calif...](http://www.laprogressive.com/prison-industrial-complex-california/)

[4] [http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/StateAgencyBudgets/6013/agency.htm...](http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/StateAgencyBudgets/6013/agency.html)

[5] [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1384308/Norw...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1384308/Norways- controversial-cushy-prison-experiment--catch-UK.html)

[6] [http://www.whatthefolly.com/2012/01/03/californias- recidivis...](http://www.whatthefolly.com/2012/01/03/californias-recidivism- rate-drops-but-remains-one-of-the-nations-highest/)

[7] [http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Adult_Research_Branch/Research_Docume...](http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Adult_Research_Branch/Research_Documents/ARB_FY_0607_Recidivism_Report_\(11-23-11\).pdf)

</comment><comment><USER2> "That's how it should work. That's staying true to our principles and the best evidence that he hasn't changed society."

These are the words I was happy to hear.</comment>


Why will karma based reputation system work? - <AUTHOR>

What drives a karma based reputation system<p>1. Is it the competition to get more karma points and thus self feel superior to others 2. or the desire to have extra previleges and rights than others <comment><USER2> Risk and reward. Superuser/stackexchange is a much better example of it working well.</comment>


Tech Billionaire Backing Trump Suggests Silicon Valley Is Out of Touch - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/technology/peter-thiel-on-donald-trump-media-silicon-valley.html <comment><USER2> What a great quote...

 _"I always have a somewhat schizophrenic view of politics," he said. "It's a horrible business, incredibly destructive. A lot of it is like trench warfare on the Western Front — crazy amounts of carnage and nothing ever changes."_</comment>


How Will The App Store For Mac Do? - <AUTHOR>

Will it totally change the way Mac users do apps? Will it be a total flop? Will enough developers use it? Do developers even want to use it?<p>What do you think? <comment><USER2> I think it will do exactly what it is intended to do. Get people to write about Apple, and keep developers working on $3.00 iOS apps in hopes of striking it rich over the next several months instead of moving to Android or WP7.</comment>


Fake Craigslist ads a big headache - <AUTHOR> http://redtape.msnbc.com/2008/04/fake-craigslist.html#posts

<comment><USER2> It's maybe time for Craigslist to grow up and start charging fees, at least for big-ticket items. Their anti-profit approach to business is annoying because it only moves the profits from where it could go (craigslist) to another place (all the people selling things). If you think greed is evil, shifting it around in a zero-sum way isn't doing any good.

<comment><USER3> Charging is not the holy grail of spam detection. There are services that should remain always free. CL can't (or shouldn't) charge for posting in categories where the user is not going to perform any economic activity. Charging an amount (no matter how small) in categories such as Personals or Missed Connections (besides not making sense at all) will decrease the amount of legit postings, ruining the quantity and quality of the service. By turning into a pay-per-post site CL could become something like ebay (a pure commercial "I sell you my collection of Russian dolls") + job postings site. That is, trust me, out of question.

Those non-commercial categories are the ones which are receiving far more fake postings, so the problem on the commercial categories could be considered closed. In non-commercial world, there are several measures being taken care of, such backend data analysis (the most obvious choice) and phone authentication for posting on a small set of categories (such Erotic Services).</comment></comment>


If someone is better, kick him - <AUTHOR> http://m3roving.com/if-someone-is-better-kick-him/

<comment><USER2> This is a case where your app became popular and it made someone jealous.</comment>


Weebly [W07] hiring a System Administrator - Top 100 Quantcast network - <AUTHOR>

Weebly is hiring a System Administrator to help run our global network across multiple datacenters. We're looking for someone who loves infrastructure and is insanely passionate about uptime.
You'll be instrumental in running a network that is:
One of the largest 100 networks in the US (according to Quantcast); receives many hundred million pageviews per month, from tens of millions of unique visitors; managed by you and our CTO, all the way from the BGP peers to the individual app servers; datacenter redundant in near real-time
You must:
Share on-call responsibility; have a car; be familiar with datacenter operations and best practices; know your way around a LAMP stack; have a solid understanding of the Linux operating system; be able to use performance analysis to fine-tune systems; have a strong understanding of Linux security, system hardening, and vulnerability assessment; be very familiar with networking concepts and troubleshooting
Your responsibilities will include:
Managing a large number of servers (100+) across multiple datacenters; handling physical server installation, cabling, and inventory; building and maintaining a stable dev environment for package testing and deployment; supporting the mail infrastructure (sendmail, pmta); supporting and expanding our internal monitoring infrastructure (cacti, nagios, etc.); performing routine security audits; applying security updates at regular intervals
Ideally, you'll:
Be able to solve problems quickly and automate processes; be able to get a lot done; be willing to work hard for a huge upside; contribute to a fun working environment; be willing to learn new skills
You'll be able to:
Have a meaningful impact on the company's future, and share in the rewards accordingly; run a network that impacts tens of millions of people; work in a fun, fast paced start-up environment; be on a smart team that gets a lot done
Perks:
- Competitive salary
- Stock options
- Employer-paid health care
- Employer match of retirement contribution up to the maximum allowed by law
- Company credit card
- Multiple large monitors, Aeron chair
- Free food, drinks & snacks at the office (including all lunches & dinners)
- Gym membership
- Only 1 meeting per week
Must be willing to relocate to or near San Francisco, CA.
To apply, send your resume, recent projects, and anything else interesting about you to email@example.com. <comment><AUTHOR> We're trying it a bit differently this time by posting a job listing with commenting abilities (as opposed to the usual YC listing that points to a jobs page, no comments).

Feel free to ask us any questions here!

</comment><comment><USER2> Why did you decide to host your own servers instead of going dedicated or cloud?

<comment><AUTHOR> We ended up hosting ourselves for a couple reasons:

\- We found it pretty necessary to control our network end-to-end in order to manage uptime properly, as well as protect against attacks.

\- We see pretty significant economies of scale in terms of purchasing our own machines vs. renting someone else's. Our infrastructure is lean and mean and not super processor-intensive, so we don't have huge spikes up and down (they generally just go up and stay there).

\- We get to do cool stuff like IP anycasting and datacenter failover, which just wouldn't be possible if we were hosted in the cloud.

Long story short, it ends up we had the knowledge and expertise to build our own "cloud" and do so cost-effectively.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> If I didn't have my own startup this one of the very few job postings I'd apply to. I've observed Weebly from a distance for a long time and always thought they were one of the best companies to come out of YC.

</comment><comment><USER4> Also they throw a killer holiday party...

</comment><comment><USER5> Too bad you require a relocation. I could so rock this, but I refuse to live in California anymore.

<comment><AUTHOR> For what reasons?

Taxes and high living expenses suck, but if you're making enough money (which you absolutely would be in this position) the Bay Area is actually a really nice place to live.

<comment><USER5> I live on 20 acres in Oregon with fiber to the house, my quality of life here is MUCH higher.

I also live in a state that hasn't yet tried to turn me into a criminal because I owned an object that was purchased legally.

The fact that the bay area also lives at the expense of the valley (stealing water). That and the general regulatory environment pisses me off (I consider myself an Anarcho-capitalist).

I've spent approximately 5 years of my life in the bay area, and grew up in California. I've been gone for 10 years now and I refuse to move back until property values drop to 1999 levels (adjusted for inflation), the state has the ability to live with in its means, and also a complete 180 on certain laws.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> If only i'd be in US :|</comment>


Ask HN: How to find hackathons/tech events in your locality easily? - <AUTHOR> I am a developer looking for some challenges and open to network with people and make good connections, and I haven't found any good websites that connects people like me, or a list of hackathons/tech events I can attend to. Can someone help me or give ideas what I can do in my situation ? <comment><USER2> Have you tried meetup.com and [http://lanyrd.com/](http://lanyrd.com/) ?</comment>


The Cyberpunk Sensibility - <AUTHOR> http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2016/10/27/the-cyberpunk-sensibility/ <comment><USER2> Good article. I've also found that the lens of cyberpunk is a useful perspective to view many of the themes in modern day society. Increasingly the social implications are out weighing the questions of technological feasibility!

I think it would be interesting if the author (who is quite good) would go past a reflective approach and look more into the (near)future: I think some of these themes are only going to become more pressing. AI, autonomous (killer) drones, plutocracy , VR, megacorps, etc. When does the lens of cyberpunk become mirrorshades?</comment>


Ask HN: What are your (non-hn-related) hobbies? - <AUTHOR> Inspired by a recent thread suggesting recommendations on things not having to do with your interests and expanding your horizons, I ask:
What are your hobbies and interests?
And I don't just mean things directly related to HN.
edit: Hm, if you want to share these hobbies and introduce others, perhaps include your geographical location? <comment><USER2> Beer, shooting pool, foreign languages, extensive traveling (~30 countries) and just having a good time. Hate to exaggerate this, but I prefer having fun to everything else in life. Anyone else a creature of comfort? At some point I would like to own a blues bar and design my own award winning steaks and burgers (someone, please, clone Madam's Organ.)

Things I _hate_. Video games, television, nightclubs with loud "divas" and greasy men (the type where they vomit on each other's fake Luis Vuittons after 2AM; we go to gay clubs just because the crowd is both so much more civil, and far happier and fun, plus the music is so much better), IT books, things marketed at me, hyper-excited "startup" people.

<comment><USER3> Upvoted for beer & foreign languages, but at the risk of starting One Of Those Debates; why the video game hate?

<comment><USER2> Two reasons:

1) I am a knowledge-whore. I like to think that after doing something for a substantial time, I will come out of it having learned something. I would consider film culturally enriching, mostly because I watch fringe, independent or foreign films; For some reason, I have a very high opinion of filmmakers as artists. However, I can't say the same about video games or their artistic or cultural merit. I am unable to consider them substantial in that regard.

2) I like to _share_ and talk about my experiences. I can talk about movies, I can recommend albums, I will even take the time to scribble directions and notes on someone's pristine travel book and tell them where to go. But I can't do the same with video games. There is no particular instance that I can think about and reference later; either because the games are dynamically generated, or because the gamer demographic are just not the people that I tend to socialize with, so I don't identify with them.

Bonus:

3) I like realism. Along with video games, I don't tolerate Anime, Fantasy Fiction, or any other type of "geek" entertainment. I was offered two DVDs by my neighbor; The Dark Knight and The Quiet American; I took the later. Hard to explain, really.

P.S. I am a hopeless Soduku addict and play 30 minutes when I wake up in the morning, and 30 minutes before I go to bed. In fact, that's what I use my phone for 90% of the time.

<comment><USER4> So you hate video games for the same reason theatergoers hate the cinema at the turn of the century. You hate the current offering rather than the medium itself.

<comment><USER5> Video games suck up lots of time and leave you with nothing when you're done. Two hours spent bickering on IRC or Hacker News at least teaches you things. I'm not sure if that's exactly what mahmud said, but that's my reasoning, and I thought his was close to mine.

<comment><USER4> So you don't watch movies, either? Or read books? Two hours of time in which you learn nothing?

<comment><USER5> I definitely watch movies and read book, but I feel like I come away from them with something, unlike with video games.

I get that some people do feel like they get something out of playing video games, and I'm not indicting them.

<comment><USER4> It's a matter of playing the right games. I tend to play shorter arthouse games. Braid, Blueberry Garden, Everyday Shooter, and its kin.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Knitting and crocheting and everything fiber-arts related. I love it because it seems tedious or stupid to a lot of people who don't know how to knit, but I get a lot of satisfaction out of creating fun things for my friends and family and myself (see [http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/432735303/Photo_on_2009-0...](http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/432735303/Photo_on_2009-09-23_at_19.15__2.jpg) for one ;) ) and I also enjoy using my tech background to convince people on Ravelry (a super big social networking site for knitters etc.) that knitting and designing patterns can be a lot like coding (cause some of them are super intimidated by tech, bah).

I also loooooove playing the piano. And making ice cream from scratch, for the interesting combinations and flavors you can make. And like a lot of other HNers are mentioning, learning foreign languages, even though I don't necessarily get a chance to practice speaking them much :( Snowboarding too, despite living in sunny LA. I wish I could get started with indoor rock climbing here as well, but I haven't really found anywhere good for that near where I live.

</comment><comment><USER3> I highly recommend fencing. It's a spectacular workout, and the three different weapons provide unique experiences, one of which will certainly cater to your intellect or personality. Foil is highly strategic, épée is much less rules-oriented and the most like a "real" duel of the three, and sabre is extremely fast-paced.

The only downside is that competing can get expensive, but the exposure to so many different fencing styles is worth it. All three weapons are fun and intellectually stimulating to study, and the community is universally supportive. I think it's an excellent "hackers' game."

My other hobbies: drawing & painting, writing & reading (always reading), finding new music to listen to, video games, and poker (another great game with deep strategy behind it).

<comment><USER7> I fenced in school and enjoyed it, but as for being a workout I was always bothered by how it's so asymmetrical. I'm right handed and so it didn't work my left arm nearly as much.

<comment><USER8> >>asymmetrical

You can say the same about tennis... I wouldn't worry. You can also try "period" fencing (look up "SCA"). The rules are different: if you are "wounded" on the right arm, you have to switch to the left. There is also two- handed fencing (longsword).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Cycling is all I have time for, outside of programming (which _is_ also a hobby) and family life. I used to like to go salsa dancing with my wife, but the baby is a bit of a hindrance to going out:-/ I also love to go out for drinks (spritz!) in the piazzas here - I would miss that a great deal if I ever went back to the US.

</comment><comment><USER10> Rugby. Any adversity you encounter in day-to-day startup operations doesn't seem as bad as when it's compared with getting pummeled by Aussie and UK ex- pats.

<comment><USER11> league, or union?

<comment><USER10> Union. To my knowledge it's all there is in the Vancouver area.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Beach volleyball (doubles) was my obsession this summer. I spent 10-15 hours per week at the beach. It helped me to be more social (I made a lot of new friends), got in better shape, got a _tan_ (that's something new to me), and everyone I know kept asking if I did something to my hair because sun gave me natural highlights.

But yeah, doubles volleyball played by the proper rules (no-spin sets, no open hand dinks, no setting on one, no setting over the net) is so much more fun than "gorilla ball" (where it doesn't matter how you hit it, as long as the ball stays in the air), as one of the other guys affectionately calls it.

Oh, and I'm from Milwaukee, Wisconsin (play at Bradford Beach), so this unfortunately can't be a year-long hobby (at least _Beach_ volleyball can't be). Given my obsession over this, I'd seriously consider moving somewhere nice like Florida just to play BV year-long.

</comment><comment><USER13> It used to mostly be playing, trading, collecting, teaching, and admiring guitar. And audio production. I owned a boutique guitar store (high-end, appointment only) on the side, and I still own a recording studio and mobile unit. I find that my _formal_ business interests are now crowding everything else out because I simply enjoy it more. I was so into guitar (interest, time, and money-wise) for so long that I'm trying to force myself to give it a rest. [Well, to be fair, I also had some paralysis for a while that helped slow me down.] I haven't taught in a while, no longer play out, and the studio is professionally managed and run by others now...so it has become too difficult to justify to the wife why I need $750,000 worth of guitars to entertain myself. She thinks one guitar and one amp should suffice. Philistine! ;)

</comment><comment><USER14> Learning, teaching, writing, bicycling, amateurish photography (snapshots, honestly), dorking with Lego stuff, cooking, camping.

Of course, I got to do almost all of that at once this summer, when I led a group of 11 cyclists to a lake about 30 miles outside of town. All of us had packed up with our camping gear on our bicycles, and very few the participants had done anything like it before. I taught them about what kinds of stuff to bring, and all that. I cooked on a makeshift camp stove. We all camped overnight and rode home the next morning after cooking our various breakfast items. I took lots of photos and wrote about it. As it was only my second time "backpacking with my bicycle" I also learned a few things myself.

Basically, it was everything that I love doing that doesn't directly involve programming, soldering or Lego.

</comment><comment><USER15> Sailing and skiing. I have really gotten into sailing recently, especially racing. There is so much beauty, skill, and thinking in the sport.

I am a huge f1 fan. I either go to a meetup to watch the race (normally at 7am). Normally in addition I download a British feed of Friday practice 1 and 2 (speedtv only shows p2), Saturday p3, and qualifying. F1 has a lot of political intrigue, tactics and technology.

I'm not into a lot of traditional geek hobbies. I could care less about comics, sci-fi, or video games. Comics and sci-fi have just never done much for me, I just couldn't get into them. I enjoy video games when I play them, but they are just too much of a time sink, so I stay away. The first person shooters seem to require a large amount of skill and practice, when I play them I fell hopelessly lost.

<comment><AUTHOR> Where do you sail? I have been looking to get into it. My goal was to help out on current races and get into it that way. (I hear people need all the help they can get and will let you come along for free). I'm near Baltimore so there are a few active sailing clubs around here.

<comment><USER15> I sail at the Manhattan Sailing Club. <http://myc.org> membership is reasonable, about the same cost as a gym membership.

Racing is even cheaper if you know what you are doing. The words you are looking for is "rail meat". When the boat is going upwind it heels over, you need people on the uphill side of the boat on the rail. Being rail meat require very little knowledge. I would try to go out on days with unpleasant weather, fewer people show up. Rosh Hashanah was the first time I got out on Long Island sound (the boat had a very hard time finding crew that Saturday).

Try the Annapolis races, I'm not sure of where they meet, but you could probably get out on Wednesday nights and Saturdays.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I listen to excessive amounts of music. Just today I've gone through an old dreampop favorite ("Treasure" by the Cocteau Twins), gave a neoclassical album a try, listened to both an intense breakcore album and a darker classical album by a guy called Venetian Snares, and now I'm listening to the Kronos Quartet playing African pieces. There's a chance I'll be writing music with a few people in the near future, and I hate songwriting with a fixed genre in mind, so right now I'm browsing furiously.

I also read and watch movies and TV when I can find things I enjoy. I'm rewatching The Wire right now, since it's hard to find new enjoyable shows. I'm trying to get into cooking and fashion: That's my goal for this year. And I'm thinking about giving a rave or two a try later this month.

</comment><comment><USER16> Mostly: books, music, my fiancée, COD4 on a tactical server (no blind fire and jumping around).

Wish I had something cool to write about here ("rebuilding pre-1950s motorcycles"), but in fact, "books" includes so many things that it's enough to keep me occupied.

</comment><comment><USER17> Gardening! Stick plant in ground, just add water, and magic happens. It's great!

<comment><USER18> There's a lot of hackery you can do if you like gardening as well. It's a constant battle of fine-tuning.

I've changed my watering schedules no less than 20 times this summer to try to get optimal moisture levels. I also do everything organically, so it's a little more challenging to take care of ants when you can't just shake on some Amdro (the solution is nematodes btw).

There is no limit to how easy or how complex you want to make things. I've made watering helpers with some drip line, bamboo and a 1 gallon milk container for long weekends when I was starting plants out, or planted hot peppers around some plants that one of my dogs insisted on tasting all the time.

It really is a lot of fun and way more hacker friendly than you might expect at first.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Brewing beer and working on sub-$1000 BMWs and Porsches.

<comment><USER20> where can i find a sub 1000 porsche?

<comment><USER21> On craigslist, you can sometimes find cars that are in dire need of repair and as such need hauled away. For example for 1k flat:

1975 porsche 914 2.0 partially dissaembled, has rust issues, complete car with rebuildable motor and transaxel, many new parts also has origanal fuel injection system intact.

<http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/cto/1407277633.html>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> I volunteer with my local fire dept.

Also, I keep fish (both fresh and salt), and practice Tae Kwon Do.

<comment><AUTHOR> Wow, cool. What sorts of work do you do as a volunteer? How much time do you usually dedicate?

<comment><USER22> I'm a Firefighter/EMT.

Time commitment is a minimum of 24 hours per week, but that's not "active" time. For most of it I'm home sleeping, but respond if the pager goes off. We also have several cubicles at the station, with access to power, internet, a printer, a coffee machine, etc, so I'll generally work there if I'm looking to get out of the house for a while.

There is certainly some time involved in training, etc... That probably averages out to an hour or two per week. Occasionally specific classes will take more time (I just finished an advanced rope rescue course that was spread over two weekends).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Japanese - studying Kanji and grammar (still at basic to low-intermediate level), but have over 2k Kanji down and can read manga. Goals are flency (and yell at my kids in Japanese :).

Video Games - I only play on the Nintendo DS, and at that not often, but I do enjoy it and wish I had more time, but the aforementioned hobby takes almost all my free time.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> And I guess I can start: mine are rock climbing, flying single engine planes (hoping to get into gliders) which is currently on break, and neuroscience (at an extremely amateur level). If anyone wants to get an introduction to climbing and are in the DC, Philly or NY area, I'd love to show you the ropes (har har).

<comment><USER23> > ...show you the ropes

Along those lines, Shibari. It's a great way to meet girls.

<comment><USER24> If you don't know what Shibari is, don't try looking it up on Wikipedia at work. Do it when you get home.

<comment><USER25> To save me the hours and hours of curiosity, does someone want to give a brief and work-safe summary of what this particular activity is?

<comment><USER23> Artfully tying people up. It's sometimes associated with nudity, which is probably why people have added disclaimers; although I can't imagine a workplace that'd penalize a simple google search for it while allowing HN.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Roller skating! (Until 5 weeks ago that is - I was skating backwards fast round a corner on one leg and believe I hit a bearing that was on the rink - ouch broken hip).

Photography, building Lego models, Playing the piano, Watching old movies, and most of all playing with the kids.

</comment><comment><USER27> I play poker and I cook. I love the extra money I win at playing a fun card game, and I love to invite people over for dinner parties. Somehow, I wish my hobbies had a bit more synergy! :)

I also enjoy reading quite a bit.

</comment><comment><USER28> Documentary photography. It is in large part about social skills: getting access, asking questions, talking people in, negotiating through police fences etc. Something totally opposite to my dayjob.

<comment><AUTHOR> Do you do this for yourself or for a second employer? Is it mostly social engineering or just being very steadfast? I'd love to know more about it.

<comment><USER28> Aside for a short stint with an agency in 2006, I do everything for myself. Photojournalism is a tough area, with opportunities shrinking, and (if you can afford it) it is best to do the work which genuinely interests you than pick up marginal assignments. Remember, old press is dying, new one is not anywhere in sight :)

One thing to distinguish is long-term, documentary work and current events. The latter is basically reportage, the bread and butter of news agencies and newspapers. On the former though, you can choose your ground and take your time.

I start a project with pulling all information I can from the web: saves time on the ground. Names, history, maps, prior works in this area. If necessary finding the initial contacts. Over there, it's approaching people, asking questions (not necessarily identifying yourself as a photographer), you can get a lot of context just from casual chit-chat. Good thing is that most people love being heard, so give them all attention you can. Start a neutral conversation, listen, nod, let them pour out: very few people are generous listeners, so your attention will be appreciated and you can ask the questions you want afterward.

In case of hot events, various police and security troops are a major challenge and great test of your social skills. There it's best if you can start small, attending fenced but calm events, just to get the gist of unspoken rules, protocols and routines. Obviously you can't generalize this worldwide, but. Be attentive, observe police, observe protesters or other people interacting with law enforcement, see how much can work with them. Read faces, in case of militias face is a good indicator how much problem you are going to have with a given person. If he looks like a scumbag he probably is. There are weak points in most of cordons and often ways to sneak past fences. It is best if you stay calm, neutral, and project confidence; especially confident, you can pull nearly Jedi-like tricks with it. Do not insist on eye contact but do not avoid it either. Don't smile, it shows your weakness and reduces your chances to successfully communicating with people in power dramatically.

It may sound hard but the skills build up quickly once you start doing.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> Mountain biking :)

Trying to train 3-4 times per week (after work) for races coming up in the spring. Getting hard without daylight on my side. Gonna have to buy a light soon. Or adjust my work hours.

<comment><USER14> Check out Candlepower forums. There are guys there inspiring me to built an LED kilo-lumen beast for my winter commuter bike. I'm sure you could build something to suit your singletrack fetish. :)

<comment><USER30> Man, 256 lumens ought to be enough for anybody.

<comment><USER14> I had a DiNotte 200L (200 Lumens) and it barely cut it. I mean, the optics might have something to do with it... throwing photon from hither to yon without a really good focused area on the road. I'd outrun my light (going too fast to stop in time for a hazard exposed by my light) at maybe 12 MPH on a clear night on the dark backroads. I can see maybe 500-600 lumens being sufficient, but 256 doesn't seem like enough to me.

<comment><USER31> You're right -- the optics are _everything_. The flashlight fetishists love round symmetrical beams, which is exactly what you don't want in a headlight.

You want to focus almost all of the light at the horizon, with some spill below and a sharp cutoff above. Anything else is wasted. See: <http://peterwhitecycles.com/plight.asp>

<comment><USER14> I agree. It's just hard to find good headlight-worthy optics for DIY LED or Halogen lights. You always have to buy the whole package, always for $too.much from someone like Peter White, or the local bike shop.

Even my "good" headlight (15W, ~300 lumens by my guess) is just a stupid 6V MR11 bulb with a clear waterproof lens in a waterproof housing. No optics. It's just a farking accent light that can be bolted to a bike. Über lame.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> Photography, Philosophy, Cooking, Travelling, Driving, Lockpicking, Tennis

(fun fact: my current start-up was put in to gear because of my photo addiction and a few unsolved problems the field had)

</comment><comment><USER33> Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu.

Learning the warrior mindset you need in the ring will change your perspective on a lot of things in life. And it will keep you in excellent shape, minus injuries.

<comment><USER34> Seconded. I spent a couple years training Muay Thai before getting bitten by the BJJ bug. I'm trying to fit in more standup again now, but I still try to spend at least an hour every weekday on the mats.

Having a very physical hobby keeps me grounded in reality after spending most of the day thinking about philosophy or writing or coding (I'm a student). There's a lot of pretty direct feedback about your improvement over time, too, which I find can be lacking in more intellectual pursuits.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> Lindy hop, it's wicked fun! I've been going once a week for a few months now and did a half day workshop last weekend.

<http://www.swingland.com/>

And I do a bit of drumming, although have been a bit lazy lately. Mostly my hobbies have revolved around music. I enjoy hiking too but haven't been out too much recently. Tried surfing for the first time recently. I was crap at it but it was still good fun. Must go back.

</comment><comment><USER36> Basketball - Active hobby of choice. Will play this until my body stops me.

Finance - Learning to actually make money in the market (equities and equity options).

Eating out with friends - Trying different types of food is great, but the company is the best part.

Traveling - Not a frequent flier or anything but trying to make it to Japan this next year.

Learning Mandarin - Trying to learn my "mother tongue." That side of my brain seems to be dysfunctional, so this is one area I need a lot more work.

</comment><comment><USER37> I enjoy various sorts of hands-on projects when I need a break for the tech world:

Woodworking - building furniture, etc.

Fixing up old pinball machines

Working on the house, minor remodeling sorts of projects

</comment><comment><USER38> Playing Go. I love playing all kinds of one-on-one competitive games, but Go's freedom of style and near perfectly fair grounds keeps pulling me back in.

<comment><USER39> I heard this is a wonderful game, I've been meaning to take it up.

</comment></comment><comment><USER40> If beer counts as a hobby (drinking it) then count me in there.. But more seriously I take cooking pretty seriously as well as fly fishing and running.

</comment><comment><USER5> Cooking. I mostly suck at it, but that's part of why I like it. I'm doing a lot of charcuterie-style stuff lately, and a lot of playing with sous vide.

</comment><comment><USER41> I am a total finance and economics nerd after being a programmer. I find something really interesting about markets, derivatives, et al.

<comment><USER21> do you build micro-economy models?

</comment></comment><comment><USER42> Aircraft modelling. Particularly the executive jets. Time passes by in a whirl. Either that or Microsoft Flight Simulator.

</comment><comment><USER11> I do a small amount of pen and paper roleplaying, and the odd bit of computer gaming. Mostly though, I'm a political economy nerd. I read a lot of industrial economics, and a pile of political/current affairs stuff. The Phoenix, the Village, the Economist, as well as a reasonable amount of more textbook type stuff.

</comment><comment><USER43> Bowling. If I had to pick only one thing to do it would be this. My goal is to be competitive on the PBA Tour. I'm averaging 220 right now, but that needs to be closer to 235-240 to be competitive.

My other big hobby is music. <http://thesixtyone.com/abledanger>

</comment><comment><USER44> Winemaking, electronics (somewhat HN related since I sometimes sell what I make and do consulting), machining metal, raising chickens, gardening, various forms of art, learning to play flute.

I guess baking could count as a hobby since I do enjoy it quite a bit, but the primary driver is hunger, not passing the time :-)

</comment><comment><USER45> Rock climbing, mountaineering, backpacking, SCUBA, sailing, aviation, traveling, snowboarding, having fun!

<comment><AUTHOR> Whoa, I share every one of those except scuba (Trying to get into sailing now). Where are you physically?

Edit: based on posts, I guess Seattle.

Haha and objc dev also.

<comment><USER45> Yeah in Seattle area atm, thinking about moving to San Francisco though. Where are you located?

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm in Baltimore area and in Philly and NY areas often enough. I too have similar aspirations to make it out to the bay area eventually with gf. I was just in Lake Tahoe area (and SF) for climbing last week.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER46> Ice hockey. (Hey, I'm a Minnesotan!) Besides that, I like baking, photography (especially sports photography), cycling, and making a really good cup of tea. Sailing was great when I lived in California, and snowboarding will be fun once there's some snow on the ground.

</comment><comment><USER47> I play Warhammer, ride bikes, and code things that are totally different than what my startup does.

</comment><comment><USER48> Playing with my son, windsurfing and playing electric guitar. I like to do many more things, but I don't always find the time or the place. I like chess, drawing, billiards, foosball, karate, reading, net games and going out on weekends (or everyday in the summer).

</comment><comment><USER49> Snowboarding, hiking, cycling, basement dance parties, photography, making random videos, this american life on NPR, watching geeked out documentaries like helvetica, and getting up on my wife... not necessarily in that order. Oh, and eating, I love eating.

<comment><USER50> Really, you're a snowboarder?

</comment></comment><comment><USER51> I write poems and short stories, listen to music (largely indie rock, classic rock, and old folk), bake, and do a little sewing (working on narwal costumes for my baby twins). Then there's python!

Alas, my hobbies are mostly on hold until the babies get bigger.

</comment><comment><USER52> Geocaching & OpenStreetMap are two of my favourite hobbies I recommend to anyone here.

<comment><USER53> Another geocacher here :D

I recommend it to everybody too! www.geocaching.com

</comment></comment><comment><USER54> Paragliding and ultramarathon running. This year I took part in one of the hardest adventure races in the world, the Red Bull X-Alps. <http://www.redbullxalps.com/> I'm GBR2.

</comment><comment><USER55> Jazz piano, frisbee, running, super smash brothers, age of empires. [des moines]

</comment><comment><USER56> Argentine Tango

</comment><comment><USER57> Violin, speculative fiction writing, bare-running, whiskey. [NYC]

</comment><comment><USER58> Thinking, argument, negotiation, strategy games, pacing, stretching, cycling, reading, writing, wandering, exploring places, metaphorical bomb defusal [NH]

</comment><comment><USER59> Scuba. San Jose, but I just returned from the Galapagos.

</comment><comment><USER60> Snowboarding, Snowmobiling, Video Games, Soccer, and I guess I could say "Drinking" is a hobby but I more mean drunken socializing with my friends.

</comment><comment><USER61> Learning Portuguese, studying physics for fun/knowledge, learning how to build an auto engine, and training for private pilot's certificate.

<comment><AUTHOR> How far long are you on your license (and physics for that matter)? I took my break earlier this year right before stage 1 check, hoping to return soon.

<comment><USER61> Just started the "instrument rating" section in the following book: Microsoft Flight Simulator X For Pilots Real World Training

Excellent book that should end up saving me lots of actual flying time in preparation for the certification test.

As for physics, I'm re-taking the first calc-based physics course (online) at UNC Charlotte this fall. Just enjoying studying the basics again. I'll probably take 1-2 classes per semester until I can get a degree in it. May go for masters, not sure yet.

<comment><USER62> FWIW, there isn't much instrument training for your private certificate. You basically just need to be able to understand VOR navigation, manage attitude and speed, and navigate based on instructions from the tower using your instruments.

They pretty much want to give you the skills needed to get help and get back on the ground if you find yourself in a bad situation. And to not overreact and stall or spin yourself into the ground because you didn't trust the instruments.

With that said, there isn't such a thing as knowing too much about flying. But if your aircraft isn't IFR equipped (and lots of rentals aren't), you won't be able to practice much more than the above.

<comment><AUTHOR> Re: never stopping to learn, when I was meeting people at my local flying club, the 89-year old Chief Flight Instructor Emeritus welcomed me and showed me around. We were chatting about flying, and the man's been flying for literally 70 years starting when he was 17 for agriculture. He said he felt it was a great thing to spend a life doing and kept referring to himself as being "still a student".

He was unfortunately killed in a car accident a few months later, but his humility left an impact on me.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER63> Watching anime; playing Touhou and racing games.

</comment><comment><USER64> Hoppy Beer and Golf (preferably together)

</comment><comment><USER65> Weightlifting, beer, cooking, baseball

</comment><comment><USER66> fishing, free diving, building bicycles, cycling, tramping (hiking, not standing on corners waiting for a 'ride'), music (keys/bass), reading, gardening, family, travel, cooking, eating.

I'd like to do more drawing, but I can't say I actually do it very often.

</comment><comment><USER67> Miniature Wargaming. Jazz Guitar.

</comment><comment><USER68> Film making and film direction.

</comment><comment><USER69> Bridge, boggle, and foosball. Things that are both hacker and beer friendly.

<comment><USER70> I'd like to give a plug for playing bridge. It is the best card game there is. Texas Hold 'Em : Checkers :: Bridge : Chess.

It can be a sociable game and yet it can also be a game that holds you interest as you try to achieve perfection.

To anyone who wants to get started there is a bit of learning curve. There are good guides online, computer games to help practice with (Bridge Baron is good and is even available for the iPhone), and there are local clubs that would love to see you come out (check out ACBL).

(Boggle and foosball also rock.)

</comment></comment><comment><USER71> music, books and girls occupy most of my time

</comment><comment><USER72> Kiteboarding, snowboarding, beach volleyball.

</comment><comment><USER73> Music production and photography, mostly.

<comment><AUTHOR> What kind of music?

</comment></comment><comment><USER74> Photography and boardgames.

</comment><comment><USER75> flying kites, riding bikes

<comment><USER76> Love kites too!

</comment></comment><comment><USER77> coaching girls volleyball</comment>


Russian and Chinese Bombers Enter South Korea ADIZ - <AUTHOR> https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-24/russian-chinese-joint-air-patrol-debuts-in-north-asia/11340466 <comment><USER2> An ADIZ is NOT the same thing as a country's internationally recognised airspace. Many ADIZs overlap - who is the 'owner' there?

This is a media beat-up. Be fearful if it makes you feel better.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> > ... hundreds of warning shots from South Korean jets.</comment>


Ask HN: I want to make a web app: What problem do you need solved? - <AUTHOR>

I want to make a web app so am interested to hear what problems you'd like me to try and solve :) <comment><USER2> I'd love to have an app that would tell me what's happening near me right now. It would filter out everything except the topics/events that I'm interested in. With the app, if I find I have some time available, I would know what options I have available.

</comment><comment><USER3> Too big question.

<comment><AUTHOR> it depends on how you frame it. I just want to know the problem(s) that you find infuriating or lacking in your day to day that could be solved with a web based app.

It's different for everyone of course. I have just finished a contract and am looking for something fun to make while I take a few months off - so I'm interested in anything and everything :)</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Mac, iPhone and iPad Backup? - <AUTHOR> I'm probably asking for too much, but I'd like to see if I really do.
I want to have a backup system that is preferably free and at most a fixed price. I'm willing to buy a Raspberry Pi with an external HDD, if that is what's needed.
So far I saw the following options for Mac: Time Machine, Arq, BackupPC and Borg. Though, I wonder whether BackupPC is actually encrypted.
What I wonder even more is if there's a backup option that allows me to also backup my iphone and ipad, preferably with the same program. I haven't looked into it yet.
What are your backup solutions concerning a household that only eats the forbidden fruit? <comment><USER2> Back the iPhone and iPad to the Mac via iTunes. Backup the Mac encrypted to any available NAS or USB drive with Time Machine. For offsite, backup Mac to Backblaze for $50/yr.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the advice, I didn't know you could backup the iPhone and iPad via iTunes as I really haven't looked into it yet.

I wish that it could just all happen automagically in the background via some app that was available on all three platforms.

Or if the iPhone and iPad were more open that I could simply write a script with some open source tools.

<comment><USER2> Yeah, some things can sync over the network but it is not the backup. One can suppose that such would compete with iCloud. My approach has been since I have to change the iPhone and iPad anyway, might as well charge them from the computer which will then automatically back them up.</comment></comment></comment>


Syriza's covert plot during crisis talks to return to drachma – FT.com - <AUTHOR> http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2a0a1d94-3201-11e5-8873-775ba7c2ea3d.html?siteedition=intl#axzz3gyULA1Wr <comment><USER2> There are many approaches to their current situation. We will see how the greeks will decide. I might try something new. Simply tell the world I won't pay my debts. Starting from the zero without bankrupcy.. Is there somebody to lend the greeks money for the new beginning? Sure there are many investors who would lend them even if they know that the greeks are not reliable partner. There is just too many money on the world..

</comment><comment><USER3> Unfortunality for FT, this article is sub-FOX NEWS quality.

It's based on Greek sources who are bullshitting FT with propaganda meant for internal consumption, but who isn't even believable in Greece.

It's a "Obama doesn't have a birth certificate" level thing...

</comment><comment><USER4> FT recently has been using Greek "kathimerini" so its probably another hoax.

</comment><comment><USER5> It's also paywalled...</comment>


How the FCC can justify regulating U.S. internet - <AUTHOR> http://www.networkworld.com/article/2846459/opensource-subnet/how-the-fcc-can-justify-regulating-u-s-internet.html

<comment><AUTHOR> An ugly word – regulation – but it made the internet fast and inexpensive in South Korea and elsewhere. Now ranked No. 17 in the world and sinking, the U.S. needs a remedy.

Understanding the background of net neutrality, which is often described as tearfully boring, isn't the exclusive domain of policy analysts and regulators. Here's the short form version, explaining the tall poles holding up the tent of net neutrality.[http://goo.gl/tudwWe](http://goo.gl/tudwWe)</comment>


Ask HN: Recovering an audio disk ripped in an unknown format - <AUTHOR> Hello HN,
Wondering if some experts can help me.
Years ago, I went to a car audiophile meetup somewhere in North London and while there, I've heard a very interesting set of songs on a CD while listening to one of the guys setup. I took down his details, later got in touch and asked him clone the CD and post it to me for a few, so I could have it for myself. When it arrived, I thought I should rip the CD in case I loose it, was it was great selection of songs to benchmark audio system quality in general. I have a recollection saying it was one of the European Mobile Music Association (EMMA) test disks, but I don't think it's likely because those usually have a lot of chatter explaining judges which test chapter they are currently on.
Anyways, six-seven years later, I got a new stereo at home, and I thought it would be great to see what that set of songs sounds like on the new system.
I dug up the image file in my Google Drive, which claims to be in MDF format, tried to mount it, and to my disappointment it did not work. Tried renaming it to .iso, .bin, .cue, .nrg, yet none of these seem to work.
I don't recall exactly what I used to rip it, but I suspect it was Nero Burning ROM or something alike.
The only recollection I have is that one of the songs on the CD (number 2 or 3) was Club For Five - Brothers in Arms (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g55JlxWYo8Q)
This is where I am looking for  experts help, perhaps someone who knows about audio encoding enough can recover the songs on the disk image.
Disk image available at:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8u8uTexrWiSSjJYX1gxTllEamM/view?usp=sharing <comment><USER3> A quick look in a hex-editor shows a familiar little-endian 16-bit PCM format, with 2352 byte chunks of data with 96 bytes of non-PCM data repeating - <USER2> is characteristic of raw Mode-2 CD digital audio with sub-channel data.

I think .MDF files started with the Alcohol 120% program and are typically the raw data from a CD/DVD, with the track information in a corresponding .MDS file.

Not sure of a free/open program to directly convert to a familiar format, so I made this C program:

      #include <unistd.h>
      #include <string.h>
      #define BLOCK_SIZE 2448
      #define DATA_SIZE 2352
      int main() {
        char buf[BLOCK_SIZE];
        ssize_t count;
        while (1) {
          count = read(0, buf, BLOCK_SIZE);
          if (count > 0) {
            write(1, buf, DATA_SIZE);
          } else break;
        }
        return 0;
      }

compile and converted to raw CDDA audio with:

      cc -o convert convert.c
      ./convert < "Audio Disk.mdf" > out.cdda

Then use 'sox' (open source audio processing program) to convert CDDA to .wav :

      sox -c 2 -b 16 -r 44100 --endian little out.cdda out.wav

I'm not sure if the track length information is recoverable.

Update: mdf2iso seems to work fine also to convert the .mdf to raw .cdda format: mdf2iso "Audio Disk.mdf" out.cdda

<comment><USER4> You are just reading blocks of 2448 bytes and writing blocks of 2352 bytes. Does this just remove some kind of "footer"/crc/whatever?

<comment><USER3> Yes, in the .mdf format there is usually subchannel information after every sector. In Red Book (CDDA) Mode 2, this is 2352 bytes of audio data followed by 96 bytes of subchannel data, so this is just skipping the subchannel data.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Most formats include some kind of header. Try to look at the first 8-16 bytes of the file, and hope that Google can find a site about them.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, first few hundred bytes are all zeroes.

<comment><USER4> First 8 non zero bytes?

Last 8 bytes? (IIRC the .zip file has the "header" at the end. I doubt this is a .zip file, but a small amount of formats have the header at the end.)

Have you tried listening to the file as a raw wave? (perhaps with 1/2/4 bytes per sample and 1/2 channels)</comment></comment></comment>


Best Paper Awards in Computer Science (since 1996) - <AUTHOR> http://jeffhuang.com/best_paper_awards.html

<comment><USER2> It is interesting to see Microsoft Research as the top institution for best papers, beating all universities and 11 ranks higher than the next company (IBM Research).

</comment><comment><USER3> <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4261954>

</comment><comment><USER4> Excellent idea - I love it. Execution? Not so much. Maybe a little bit of design?

But, still, I really like it. Thanks a lot.</comment>


Ask HN: What do you think of an account sharing platform? - <AUTHOR> I don't want to waste another weekend to build a product no one need that is why I'm asking for advice here. I'm trying to build an account sharing platform like "Together Price", which lets users find others why want to buy the same online courses or join the family plan.
Target users:
- Users who find the courses/accounts are too expensive, they can find someone to split the bill and learn together.
- Users who want to find people to join family plans (Like Switch family plan).
Problems:
- Legal problems. Some online courses platform don't want users to share their accounts (Like Leetcode).
- Cheating problems. One of the users (admin) has all authority of the account (When he/she creates the account he/she may fill a backup email to reset the password anytime). The platform may ask the user to auth its third-party account (Github/twitter) before being an admin.
How do you think about this idea? Any comments are welcome :D <comment> Lorenz-Kraft The legal implications seem to be a deal breaker. Even if you don't earn any money, you are most likely to receive a cease and desist letter and have to pay. Even if its a fun project, its not funny anymore if you have to pay your entire life.</comment>