Building an Awesome Sound System - <AUTHOR> http://www.entertainingcode.com/archives/building-an-awesome-sound-system/ <comment><USER2> It's interesting how things change. "My" awesome sound system was a Dynaco 400W in front, Hafler 200W in back, 6 Large Advents split 4/2, and the usual assortment of Audiophile Grade B equipment generating and controlling sound. If I was in the back of the house, I merely turned it up...

Now, the talk is networking, syncing, ... Hopefully, people keep in mind things like "overdriven amps clip", speaker headroom, etc. Underneath all the neat technology, there's still sound that has to come out with good dynamic range, clarity, etc.</comment>


Ask HN: Anyone compared expected deaths by Covid Vs those by recession? - <AUTHOR> I am sorry to sound callous, but reading all the news around I got quite concerned on the economic consequences of the recession and measures being taken.
So I was trying to determine how many people will be saved by Covid with the steep measures taken vs how many people might be pushed to death due to downstream economic consequences...
Quick search on google scholar didn't give me too many leads on clear metrics on change of death rate with recession or unemployment. Some studies even said last recession lowered death rate in Europe.
Anyone who deals with such stats here have any insights? <comment><USER2> Something to consider is that dying of pneumonia and dying indirectly of economic hardship are very different experiences. At some point we have to ask ourselves the awkward question of how many pneumonia deaths equal how many hardship deaths.

Another point could be that there are countermeasures to recession-related human suffering as well. Economy is obviously fragile, but maybe we could orient towards becoming more resilient to its inevitable crashes, instead of going to austere ends to not disturb it?</comment>


LeEco will not acquire TV maker Vizio as planned - <AUTHOR> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-10/chinese-giant-leeco-ends-plan-to-acquire-u-s-tv-maker-vizio <comment><USER2> There are going to be some fascinating stories from inside LeEco once it all falls apart. My guess is it was originally just supposed to be a shell to evade Chinese capital controls, but Jia started believing his own hype and the whole thing spun out of control.

</comment><comment><USER3> Related FTC Fine on Vizio for $2.2 Million in Feb 2017: [https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press- releases/2017/02/vizio...](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press- releases/2017/02/vizio-pay-22-million-ftc-state-new-jersey-settle-charges-it)

</comment><comment><USER4> lol this co is DONE</comment>


Billions of air pollution particles found in hearts of city dwellers - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/12/billions-of-air-pollution-particles-found-in-hearts-of-city-dwellers <comment><AUTHOR> Original paper

[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001393511...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935119303640)

Combustion- and friction-derived magnetic air pollution nanoparticles in human hearts</comment>


Tomahawk - a new music player that combines iTunes, Spotify, etc libraries - <AUTHOR> http://www.tomahawk-player.org/index.html

<comment><USER2> In addition to the desktop software, there is also a new web experience that acts as a universal, and embeddable, player for virtually any song.

[http://blog.tomahawk-player.org/post/25996507498/whats- the-b...](http://blog.tomahawk-player.org/post/25996507498/whats-the-big-idea)</comment>


How to Avoid Liquefying Your Jellyfish - <AUTHOR> http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/14/how-to-avoid-liquefying-your-jellyfish/

<comment><USER2> I always figured people didn't keep jellyfish because it wasn't popular for whatever reason, not because of technological limitations; that's quite interesting. Jellyfish are more problematic than their chill demeanor suggests.

<comment><USER3> Having been stung my many jellyfish in my youth "chill" is not the adjective I think of first.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Definitely should add a video of one of these jellyfish aquariums on jellyfishart.com

</comment><comment><USER5> Sweet! I just registered JellyfishSecrets.com

</comment><comment><USER6> They are expensive though... 5 grand for the nice one.

</comment><comment><USER7> That is overkill. Three things suck in water in a saltwater tank: filtration pumps, circulation pumps, and protein skimmers. A strong current would just be mean in a jellyfish tank, so the circulation pumps are out. The remaining two are needed to remove waste and add oxygen. The best solution for this would be a sump. Basically the tank is a allowed to overflow into another tank hidden below. This 2nd tank holds filtration media, the skimmer, and a pump to run the water backup. See the link below for a diagram. If you make the overflow lip long and screened, and you don't refill the tank too quickly, the suction would be minimal and any jellyfish would be safe. In other words, this article is a giant load of Bull Shit.

<comment><USER8> I thought your comment was good up until the last sentence. Just because there's (arguably) a better way to do it doesn't mean the article is bullshit.</comment></comment>


AMD sued over number of cores in FX processors - <AUTHOR> https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/01/22/judge_green_lights_amd_core_lawsuit/ <comment><USER2> I have an FX8320 and am very interested in this case. When I bought mine they marketed it as having the potential to unlock cores (almost lottery like) with certain motherboards.</comment>


Show HN: Simpsum – The Simplest One-Click Lorem Ipsum Generator - <AUTHOR> https://toolbelt.pixelapse.com/ipsum

<comment><USER2> www.littleipsum.com - Not quite as flexible but is actually one-click as it's in the menu bar.

</comment><comment><USER3> i think we've had enough of this.</comment>


Bertrand Russell - <AUTHOR> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell <comment><USER2> One of my favourites is his "The Conquest of Happiness". A very good commonsense approach to life. Some quotes at [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Conquest_of_Happiness](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Conquest_of_Happiness)

</comment><comment><USER3> The graphic novel[1] of his biography, _Logicomix,_ is terrific, informative, and has great art. Highly recommended.

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

<comment><USER4> > Logicomix, is terrific, informative, and has great art.

I strongly disagree. Logicomix is informative in the same way a Hollywood biopic on Alan Turing is. Logicomix' point of view is that everyone that worked on the foundations of logic went mad. And the narrative sometimes bends the facts so that they better fit the model. IMO, reader have to be cautious with everything they learn from this source.

It's been a few years since I've read it and discussed it with co-workers at university, but I remember a few examples. The comics depicts a violent crisis of Frege, a moment a pure madness and antisemitic rage...that never existed. Frege was a very polite professor, with a Jewish PhD student, and it was a complete surprise to discover after his death that in his last years he secretly wrote vitriolic diatribes. They also "cheated" with Cantor's mental health. The depiction of Russel's child years is very far from the truth — at the time, I read a few chapters of Russel's memoirs to check on this.

IMO, Logicomix went too far in order to seduce a large audience. Yet I could forgive the historical lies if there was good mathematics in the book. But when they tried to explain the barber's paradox, they could not even write it correctly. They show Cantor's hotel, but do not try to explain what infinity is.

tl;dr Historical lies and no mathematical content, and even a wrong paradox, Logicomix has stretched "popularization" too far.

<comment><USER3> I get your point and it's been years since I read it, but I think the main takeaway was about Russel's personality and his own struggle with trying to find some kind of absolute truth.

It's common in fictionalized accounts in art to see deviations from reality and I think that's ok. When Disney's Pocahontas came out there were complaints about its lack of accuracy, too. As one snarky radio commentator put it, "Yes, and the animals didn't sing and dance quite as much in real life, either." Logicomix _is_ a comic book, after all, and not a historical treatise or a math book.</comment></comment></comment>


July 8th Gezipark Turkish Police Fires with Tear Gas and Water Canons - Page 1 - <AUTHOR> http://www.wikileaks-forum.com/index.php?topic=20328.0#.UdsH99RoxHA.hackernews <comment><USER2> related:

[http://occupygezipics.tumblr.com/](http://occupygezipics.tumblr.com/)

[http://www.livestream.com/revoltistanbul](http://www.livestream.com/revoltistanbul)</comment>


12 Lessons Learned While Marketing "The 4-Hour Body" - <AUTHOR> http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2011/03/10/12-lessons-learned-while-marketing-the-4-hour-body/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+timferriss+%28The+Blog+of+Author+Tim+Ferriss%29 <comment><USER2> The big lesson here seems to be 'get someone else to do all the work', including writing the lessons learned article.

<comment><AUTHOR> It's persistent hustling. Great example of business development, making use of leverage. It'd be interesting to see how big his 3rd title will be.

<comment><USER3> Exactly, say what you like about him or his books, but he's got me buying and reading both times, held my interest all the way through and left me /feeling/ like I know more.

4HWW got me handing over work far far more, and really got me thinking about how best to use my time to drive my projects forward.

4HB pointed out what I was doing wrong, and so far I've lost a stone and gone from 22% BF to 18% in a month without exercise (yet).

Maybe not everything he says will be directly applicable to your day job, but it's a great guide to selling books ;)</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: How do you limit liablity in a company as a minority stake holder? - <AUTHOR>

Ok, so I have a life long friend who is starting his own business and needs some help (website, biz setup, basic accounting, etc) and wants to give me a small percentage of the company in exchange.
Really, I would do it for free, so I'm not worried about getting anything from him financially for my time... if things work out and I see a return so be it.
My concern is, as lets say a 10% owner/share holder, with two other partners what liabilities do I have? I will not be involved in day-to-day operations and at 10% have very little legal input as to what they do as a company. (Although I would server in an advisory roll)
If things were to go south how do I protect myself?  I own my own business (which is my livelihood) and don't want any thing that they do affecting what I am able to do with my business.  Really I am looking to protect myself from a worst-case scenario.
Any help would be appreciated. <comment><USER2> As a stockholder in a corporation (but not an officer or member of the board of directors) your liability is limited to your investment. In a partnership you have unlimited liability for work related activities of your partners. In a C Corp, S Corp, or LLC your liability is limited to your investment as long as you are not an officer or director. The worst case scenario is that you lose whatever money you have given your friend in exchange for the equity.

I am not an attorney, this is not legal advice.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks!

That pretty much what I was thinking... but its good to get some confirmation.</comment></comment>


Show HN: Put Dat – upload and share datasets - <AUTHOR> https://www.putdat.com/ <comment><USER2> Nice work putdat! I've seen a few of these lately and then I don't see them again. I feel like there has to be some sort of long term tactic employed so that you don't get run down seeking out and putting up data all by yourself. Right now I don't see any reason to upload my own datasets. For instance, could you require that in order to download unlimited data, they need to upload at least one data set? Just throwing it out there.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! Anyone is free to use Put Dat without creating an account. Once a dataset is uploaded, it can be downloaded as a file or accessed programmatically (e.g. for web-based visualizations). Each dataset is indexed to allow quick previews of content as well as slicing and dicing. We also enrich the dataset with metadata such as column stats in order to help users get an even better idea of what's inside, which is particularly useful when dealing with millions of rows.</comment></comment>


Warning about OpBeat: If you signed up for the free beta, prepare to be billed - <AUTHOR>

So I signed up to OpBeat to try it out during beta many months ago.  We ended up not using it.  We never entered in any credit card information as it was just a free beta.
But just today I got an invoice for $70 from OpBeat, and they have said by billing info is out of date (because I of course never entered any.)  They have started to charge Beta Users who didn't explicitly close their accounts, whether or not you use it.
So be sure to close your accounts over at OpBeat if you don't want to get charged.  I apparently already owe them $70 for just signing up for the beta, with no refunds according to their user agreement, you likely owe them something as well too if you signed up. <comment><USER2> Hi Ben,

Our invoicing system is automatic. Sorry for the slow response over Christmas.

I'm deleting your account right now. Disregard the invoice.

Edit: For the record, we e-mailed you "Opbeat launching out of Beta (action needed)" on 21st of Nov.

/Ron

<comment><AUTHOR> > Edit: For the record, we e-mailed you "Opbeat launching out of Beta (action > needed)" on 21st of Nov.

You mean you emailed me to tell me you were going to automatically upgrade me to a paying account unless I explicitly cancelled my account?

You know how many emails I get from services I signed up for and never used again. No one else I've dealt with has tried to pull this type of crap.

Your terms of service did not state that this was possible -- that you automatically upgrade accounts, from free to paying without explicit permission.</comment></comment>


Stadia launch dev: Game makers are worried "Google is just going to cancel it" - <AUTHOR> https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/11/stadia-launch-dev-the-biggest-concern-with-stadia-is-that-it-might-not-exist/ <comment><USER2> > The Pixelbook had a wired Internet connection that I was told was running at > "about 25 Mbps" (Google wouldn't let me run a speed test to confirm the > connection quality).

> In response to concerns that Stadia streaming might quickly eat up some > users' Internet data caps, a Google representative told Ars that gameplay > streams won't always require the "recommended" Mbps rates Google quotes for > that level of video quality. A 4K, 60fps stream, for instance, would not use > 35Mbps of data at all times, he said.

> The 60fps animation didn't noticeably stutter for the entire demo, and the > apparent resolution didn't dip below 1080p either (though a Google > representative said Stadia will sometimes lower that resolution briefly to > maintain a smooth frame rate if and when bandwidth dips).

I could inject my own opinion into why I don't think Google Stadia will be a good thing for users, but I feel like these direct quotes from a senior editor at Arstechnica are more telling. They plan to get around data caps through degrading the game assets, and they are extremely sheepish to let anyone actually dig into the logistical limitations of the system.

[1]: [https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/06/stadias-e3-doom- etern...](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/06/stadias-e3-doom-eternal-demo- made-me-a-cloud-gaming-believer/)

<comment> m-p-3 > They plan to get around data caps through degrading the game assets

What could Google do in this case, avoid degrading the game assets and let the user go over their data caps?

They're simply doing what they can to avoid being blamed for overage fees, which isn't really their fault but the ISPs.

<comment><USER2> IDK what they could do, I'm just penalizing them for such an egregious difference between Stadia marketing and Stadia the actual product. People expect startups and mom and pop shops to lie about their engineering, not big G.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> In the past 14 days, Google has injected itself into banking, healthcare, and gaming. Where does it end?

<comment><USER4> Anti-trust regulation, presumably. On another note, isn't that why Alphabet was created, to separate Google the search engine from all the random non- search efforts?</comment></comment>


The dark side of Apple: one man's monologue of misery - <AUTHOR> http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/the-dark-side-of-apple-one-mans-monologue-of-misery-20110930-1l0hg.html <comment><USER2> Present day business is like Egypt.. waiting to be toppled over.</comment>


Open ZFS User Conference - <AUTHOR> http://zfs.datto.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> 3 more speakers added to the schedule</comment>


Priced Android Applications Coming Within Weeks - <AUTHOR> http://martin.drashkov.com/2008/12/priced-android-applications-coming.html

<comment><USER2> Does anyone know how much the developer G1s work out to for us Europeans? <http://code.google.com/intl/de-AT/android/dev-devices.html> only mentions the $399 US price - I suspect if they ship them from the US, I'd have to pay customs and more for shipping, etc.

$25 to sign up as a developer just to obtain this information seems a little harsh.

<comment><USER3> I suspect you might find the exact details in an Android forum. But yes, you'll have to pay customs, taxes and tariffs to ship the Android dev phone outside the US. Also, how well the phone will work depends largely on what carrier and data plan you're trying to use. Again, HN is probably not the place for this, but here are the specs for the phone. This is the only additional information you'd see after paying the $25 for a developer account.

==Development Platform Features==

SIM unlocked - Put any SIM in the device -- Hardware unlocked - Rebuild the Android operating system, and load it onto the device -- Test out your apps on real hardware before publishing them to the world --

==Software Features==

Real web browsing -- Customizable home screen -- One-touch Google™ Search -- Android Market -- Google Maps™ -- Gmail™ -- YouTube™ -- Google Calendar™ -- Google Talk™ -- SMS and MMS -- Music player --

==Hardware Features==

Touch screen -- Trackball -- 3.2 Megapixel camera with auto focus -- Wi-Fi -- Bluetooth v2.0 -- Handsfree profile v1.5 -- Headset profile v1.0 -- 3G WCDMA (1700/2100 MHz) -- Quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) -- GPS-enabled -- QWERTY slider keyboard -- Includes 1GB MicroSD card (Can be replaced with up to 16GB card) -- Included in the box -- HTC Android Dev Phone 1 -- USB Cable -- AC Adapter (with US plug) -- Stereo Hands-Free Headset -- Battery -- Getting Starting Guide -- 1G Micro SD Card (inserted into Device) --</comment></comment>


Programming microcontroller devices the hard way - <AUTHOR> http://blog.thisisnotrocketscience.nl/programming-microcontroller-devices-the-hard-way/

<comment><USER2> I worked with a guy, in about 2000(?), who wanted to play with Atmel microcontrollers, he broke his leg badly and was out of commission for a while. He didn't have any programming tools, just the manual and a library of components. He built the base board and used switches and logic to programme it. He used that first Atmel device to build an ISP for another device, he built it so that he could write applications on his Psion PDA in assembly. He build an assembler and compiler for his PDA!

</comment><comment><USER3> * >> The Arduino "IDE" barely beats notepad.exe in functionality and project management.*

You say that like it's a _bad_ thing.</comment>


Zuckerberg Faces Anger Over Facebook Executive's Kavanaugh Support - <AUTHOR> https://www.wsj.com/articles/zuckerberg-seeks-to-quell-employee-anger-over-facebook-executives-appearance-at-kavanaugh-hearing-1538687361 <comment><USER2> I don't understand this. Kavanaugh hasnt been proven to be guilty. There are credible allegations which demand a further investigation as is being conducted by the FBI. Beyond that apart from his clumsiness at the testimony there isnt much going on against him. If these people are so data driven how come they choose to believe things for which we have no evidence. You may mock him for losing his cool but thats just about it. Anything beyond that is questionable and shouldnt be taken as the truth.

<comment><USER3> Ford's testimony appeared credible. However, there is no contemporaneous corroboration, even from her long-time friend who not only didn't corroborate it, she refuted that she had even met Kavanaugh.

Ramirez, Swetnik allegations are not credible. They too have no corroboration.

While I've seen plenty of people decry Rachel Mitchell's letter to the Republican Senators as "political", I have yet to see anyone refute the content of that letter. ([https://www.axios.com/brett-kavanaugh-rachel- mitchell-prosec...](https://www.axios.com/brett-kavanaugh-rachel-mitchell- prosecutor-memo-2c3233cc-1d42-416b-af04-02700aa9a711.html))

There isn't an honest prosecutor who could get an indictment, let alone a conviction.

<comment><USER4> >Ford's testimony appeared credible

Did you even watch it?

<comment><USER3> yes. the entire thing.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Why is there so much political activism inside tech companies? Shouldn't this person actually do something wrong at his job before the mob goes after him? How long before you can't be an executive if you hunt, or eat meat?

<comment><USER6> People being good at their jobs isn't the only thing that matters if you're working under their direction. Especially if they're also a large part of the company's public image.

If people are uncomfortable with their CEO eating meat then they should be free to ask about it and voice their opinions. If the CEO wants to change anything because of that is entirely up to him/her, just like how people are free to resign if they feel strongly enough about it.

<comment><USER7> >>If people are uncomfortable with their CEO eating meat then they should be free to ask about it and voice their opinions.

But really, who would be that obnoxious?

<comment><USER8> Is this sarcasm or have you never met vegans?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> There are probably a good number of Republican voters hired at Facebook. Most of those employees will be supporting Kavanaugh's nomination. There are obviously many Democrat voters employed at Facebook who won't be supporting Kavanaugh. Anyone who finds either of these two facts unacceptable should immediately walk away from their jobs or be terminated. The only alternative is to accept that there is effectively a civil war happening, one side must be cleared out, and pick a side. To me that is just insanity.

<comment><USER10> I don't think anybody in the tech industry has the balls to come out as a Republican. The backlash would be awful. Thank God votes are secret, still.

<comment><USER11> Speaking as a non-american: People don't want to come out as Republican because of how corrupt Republican representation has become.

Republicans used to be respectable. There's still a few respectable figures in Congress and the Senate but even they have to follow the abhorrently partisanship, otherwise they aren't getting reelected.

The republican base has turned on its head and has been massively radicalized.

So if you "come out" as a republican, today, in this climate, then you're outright saying you agree with this radicalization. (Regardless of whether you do agree)

I know a lot of republicans who _don 't_ agree with it and, right now, there isn't really a party for them. So they still call themselves republicans and either lie to themselves to deal with their choice (or ignore the bad news), or they fall into the constant propaganda. I've seen several end up converting to Democrats (or at least strongly consider it).

Theory: I suspect the US, after all these decades, is _finally_ correcting back towards a less right-shifted spectrum. As the current GOP moves to the extreme-right, non-extremists shift left and, if they end up democrats, there will probably be a split of the "Liberal" party and the "Democratic" party. This would mirror the more European models.

<comment><USER12> Everything you said could also be said about the Democrats, except the safe to come out as a Democrat because they control all of the media, tech companies, and generally hold power in the West.

<comment><USER11> Even as you sit with an extreme-right president and near-state-sanctioned hard-right media, you claim that "Democrats are in control".

And why exactly do you claim that? How is it relevant? I'm answering a completely different question, about "coming out" as republican.

<comment><USER12> > _Even as you sit with an extreme-right president and near-state-sanctioned > hard-right media, you claim that "Democrats are in control"._

The press and Trump are basically at war with one another. I can't see how you can claim they're both hard right. All the mainstream press (aside from Fox) endorsed Clinton.

<comment><USER11> Fox isn't just "any" media, it's state media. Your president watches it religiously and they have an immense influence over what he says.

He has chosen to go to war with the press. To shut out reporters from the press corps. To viciously and regularly attack various media.

You are slowly approaching a Russian-like regime where, if an outlet is not to the president's liking, it gets shut out entirely. It's blatant, and most republicans refuse to acknowledge it (all the while claiming they're pro free speech etc).

Will you personally also be OK with that when it happens, since "well at least the democrats won't be in control anymore"?

I'm scared for your country. Seeing the effect of propaganda after-the-fact in countries like Russia, North Korea, China, and many other dictatorships... it's one thing. Seeing it happen live, that's just out of this world for me.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> It's interesting to see that today's business culture is essentially the opposite of "professional", in the sense of "not-personal." These kinds of conflicts are inevitable when you start mixing personal and professional value systems.

I would not be surprised to see a return to a strict professional/ personal divide in the near future.

<comment><USER14> I agree with your assessment and prognosis, and look forward to employers and employees being held to somewhat higher standard of mutual tolerance (even if begrudging) and cooperation, and generally keeping it business-first while on the clock. If one wishes to protest or take other political action, sure, take a day off and head to D.C. or other visible public space.

A throw-away thought: business attire used to be a clear distinction between the time in official capacity, and the private time. With that mostly gone in tech, and given the 24/7 cellphone, email & IM connection, the distinction between workplace and personal doesn't feel all that clear.

That being said, there exists an idea that "the personal is political"[1]; politics supposedly permeate all of one's life. It is further expanded to claim that anybody who is able to avoid mixing politics with daily activities, or able to avoid strongly siding with a political, is benefiting from the current power structure (aka _" the system"_), and further reinforces said _system_ by staying passive. I think there's a _small_ grain of truth to it, but when becomes an overriding concern and disruptive to teamwork[2] or family & social life[3], something went very wrong.

\--

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

[2] as in people asking for firing of _others_ , or refusing to work with with or mentor _others_

[3] recently a "Divorce your Republican husbands." tweet made rounds. Not linking it as it feels too incendiary for HN.

<comment><USER15> If the personal is political then we have no refuge from politics. And the only people that say this are the type that want only their specific brands of politics to dominate public and private life.

<comment><USER16> If you're a persecuted minority you don't get time out from being persecuted. If your school's teachers need food stamps to survive you don't have a 'refuge from politics'. If you get sick and can't afford health care you don't have the luxury of 'avoiding politics'.

People's politics have consequences, and they should own them.

<comment><USER12> No. Living a content life and focusing on your own problems is not political. "The personal is political" _is_ a hyper partisan statement and anyone not on the extreme left would reject this idea wholesale.

What this concept implicitly states is that if you're happy and 100% of the human population is not living at your socioeconomic level, then you're making a political statement. It's pure BS.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I don't know much about Kaplan but after this I have respect for him. It couldn't have been easy to support his friend knowing full well all of Facebook's employees are going to try to crucify him after.</comment>


Niche dating site ideas? - <AUTHOR>

So after being mentioned on here a while ago, I've been trying to think of some good ideas and niches for dating sites that have thriving (quality over quantity) online communities and presences as well as a decent amount of overlap between men and women.<p>Even better, anything confined to specific locales and cities? <comment><USER2> Adult virgins and those keen to date them.

Many people are shy/embarrassed about their (our) chaste status and being able to jump that hurdle before you even meet could be a big plus.

It could be seen as trawling the shallow end of the genepool, but many people believe this of dating sites in general.

</comment><comment><USER3> Music? It's a reasonable indicator of lifestyle choice (so good chance of bringing compatible people together), not male dominated and it could be _multiple_ niches (adding up to something on a much bigger scale).

</comment><comment><USER4> The thing I don't get with all dating sites is they all seem to be exactly the same - mediocre design, some plugged in dating script. I can't tell if this means there's room in the marketplace if you did it the right way or if it's just totally over-saturated.

</comment><comment><USER5> A dating site that caters to atheists and agnostics.

</comment><comment><USER6> Hmm:

Dancers: (per city) They've probably seen each other at clubs. Should at least peak people's curiosity.

Geek/gaming: Gender's pretty even in online gaming these days. God knows they could use the help :-)

Specific sports: Martial arts, running, bicycling, etc. Gives people more to talk about than usual. E.g. Okinawan Karate or Trek bicycles.

</comment><comment><USER4> World of Warcraft would probably be a good one, even if the ratio of males to females is higher than 1 to 1.

</comment><comment><USER4> hmmm...I think the problem with the big niches is they tend to be either heavily female or heavily male.

My friend I came up with the idea of a dating site based on what your fashion sense is - t-shirts/casual personalities being more compatible.

<comment><USER7> With this type of thing heavily female is not a problem -- if you get the women, the men will come. It's why OKCupid's design is pink.

The ratio of active, real men:women for online dating is 10:1 or sometimes 100:1. So targeting heavily female niches is fine. The men will find it.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, that's actually a really good point. I can't think of any good examples though where this would work. Like if you go to Borders and look at their magazine racks, there are tons of specific niches that cater to mostly, if not all, female (there are like 8 different magazines on knitting), but I'm having trouble seeing how you could apply it in the dating realm.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> considering my surroundings are 99% web-savvy hipsters (i'd call myself a hickster), i'd suggest "bars, bands and blogs" or "bars, bands, and bookmarks"

</comment><comment><USER9> my favourite favourite idea was a dating site that focussed on stuff you /didn't/ like.</comment>


Ask HN: How can I convert a series of blog posts into an e-book? - <AUTHOR> I have some blog(not mine) that I want convert into e-books, but I could not find any tools for this. epub, mobi or pdf format would be great. <comment><USER2> Pandoc[1] is the tool you need. Extremely simple to use, even more if you start with posts written in markdown, and you can generate any format known to man.

[1] [https://pandoc.org/](https://pandoc.org/)

</comment><comment><USER3> I had a similar problem and I built this [https://github.com/alexadam/save-as- ebook](https://github.com/alexadam/save-as-ebook) You can add web pages as chapters and it generates an .epub

</comment><comment><USER4> I dont know how much of this you want to do yourself, but i would copy the text into a docx file and convert that to mobi using e.g. calibre. Or are you looking to automate it? I'd probably use a python library for making epubs in that case.

</comment><comment><USER5> I'm about to deploy a new version of eink.news.

We create a new ebook every few hours or days depending on the blog cadency.

It does exactly what you want although we just support HN and IH(indiehackers) for the moment.

You can contribute and create a new parser for the blogs you are interested in. The parsing modules are open source :)

</comment><comment><USER6> I remember someone launching pg2epub.com here on HN. Maybe reach out to the guy who did it and see if he is willing to give out the code? I clip all of the good articles to Evernote (via their web-clipper) maybe you can do the same and then export it out to PDF. Hope this helps!

</comment><comment><USER7> If you want any help with graphics or images for your ebooks my company, Design Butler™ can help.

We offer Unlimited Graphic Design for a flat rate of $379 USD/mo.

Go here to see what types of design jobs we can handle for you:

[https://www.designbutler.co/faq.php](https://www.designbutler.co/faq.php)

Feel free to get in touch with me personally, would be glad to help!

Dan H. Founder, Design Butler™</comment>


Show HN: Codebanca – A Newsletter Webapp for Developers - <AUTHOR> https://app.codebanca.com <comment><AUTHOR> Consume tech, dev and startup newsletters without pollute the email inbox. This application is like podcast, but for newsletters. Read your favorites newsletters and use web push notification to help you keeping up-to-date into a minimalist webapp.</comment>


Generate your document site in 3 seconds - <AUTHOR> https://fine.sh/ <comment><USER2> It's funny that this README just assumes you have Node installed. Not having ever used it before, I had no idea what "npx" was or did. A "requirements" or "dependencies" section on the homepage would be nice, as would a comparison to other static site generators.

<comment><USER3> It is explained in the next paragraph what "npx" is:

> Yep. cool? "npx" allows you to run a temporary package, which will be > deleted right after each use. Use this command to try and experience how > Fine works. Doesn't hurt to try, huh?

<comment><USER4> It's not a satisfactory explanation for the layman, because it still assumes that you know that a package refers to something on npm, and that npx itself is a part of Node/npm.

All it would really need to say is that it requires a recent version of Node.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I have read this a couple of times, and I still have no idea what it is telling me or doing. What am I missing?

<comment><USER6> The key is to invent a new term for an existing entity. Here the author tries to introduce the term "document site" for static websites.

<comment><USER7> hehe, I guess it's translated from Chinese

<comment><USER8> The Chinese version does use the literal equivalent 文档站点. However, the usual term used by Chinese developers for static sites appears to be 静态网站 (see e.g. the entry in Baidu's encyclopedia [https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%9D%99%E6%80%81%E7%BD%91%E7%...](https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%9D%99%E6%80%81%E7%BD%91%E7%AB%99/2776875) )

Maybe the author was simply unaware that static site generators exist because all they wanted to do was upload _documents_.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Sounds just like Infogami used to be. You know what infogami turned into? A small public database. 99% of the traffic we got was to a single page which was just a config file for a popular Firefox add on.

</comment><comment><USER10> This is the same basic idea as Surge [1] by the looks of it. IIRC, it requires Node as well.

[1] [https://surge.sh/](https://surge.sh/)

<comment><USER11> Also, this is very similar to ZEIT Now[1]

[1]: [https://zeit.co/now](https://zeit.co/now)

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> "fine.sh can be used ONLY to distribute contents without implications in any kind for financial gains.

fine.sh reserves the right to remove illegal or inappropriate contents without prior warnings to its users and assist authorities on any necessary investigation."

</comment><comment><USER7> I'm surprised coffeescript is still used for new projects [https://github.com/just-fine/fine.sh-cli](https://github.com/just- fine/fine.sh-cli)

<comment><USER13> Javascript with fewer {} is nice.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> So to be clear, this site takes an MD file and publishes it to one of its fine paths as an HTML file?

<comment><USER15> Apparently... seems like some kind of malware seed that somehow made it past the moderators. Read the entire site and the description is entirely useless.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Why is it named fine.sh? It's not a shell script. I was kind of interested until I read npx. (Then looked it up and found out it's some node thing). Now I'm disappointed. It's just misleading.

<comment><USER10> .sh is Saint Helena's country code tld, so it doesn't _need_ to have anything to do with shell scripting. It's not like the site is fine.bash or something...

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> I'm making a project similar to this called NanoCD: [https://github.com/tkjef/nanocd](https://github.com/tkjef/nanocd)

except can be used with any SSG or plain static sites on S3, GCS or Spaces (from digitalocean).

The dependencies are noted clearly in the README. ;)

</comment><comment><USER18> > 中文 / Chinese

Why?

</comment><comment><USER19> Suggestion: in your example, clearly show what you're inputting (including contents of the input file/folder), then in the end, clearly show what is outputted with a link to the output file.

</comment><comment><USER20> Doesn't surge already do this?

</comment><comment><USER21> All things considered 3 seconds isn't impressive.

My site is fully loaded and functional in the browser in 1.6s according to [https://www.webpagetest.org/](https://www.webpagetest.org/) and its a giant web app with more than 1.5mb of JavaScript application code.

As far as actually generating documentation my documentation is dynamically built into various formats from a data object and written to file in about 3ms.

<comment><USER22> This builds & deploys your site on a public custom domain name in '3s'.</comment></comment>


Fix Mac OS X Yosemite - <AUTHOR> https://fix-macosx.com/

<comment><AUTHOR> with all the discussion about privacy it's interesting to see the things that OS companies are embedding in their next generation releases..

Is anyone auditing Win8? (Win10 or whatever is next)?</comment>


Trump invites tech leaders to roundtable next week - <AUTHOR> http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/12/06/trump-invites-tech-leaders-roundtable/95042516/ <comment><USER2> This is the third article submitted about the story, yet it keeps getting flagged.

Political stories _with a strong tech component_ don't fall under the ban, yet people are using it as an excuse.

</comment><comment><USER3> What a strange coincidence that HN banned political discussion for a week yesterday.

<comment><USER4> I noticed you said that in another place too and replied there: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13125358](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13125358).

This is randomness doing its usual thing and looking like narrative rather than randomness. Not only do we have no idea whatever of anybody famous's schedule (or care, really), the odds that _some_ "what a strange coincidence" event would come up this week are surely not that small.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is both amusing and slightly terrifying.

I think he'll be in mending bridges mode. He needs SV if he is serious about reform.

On the other hand the Media had their Red Wedding.

"It was like a fucking firing squad," one source said of the encounter.

I wonder what it's like to be shouted at by somebody with access to nuclear weapons.</comment>


Strategies for Increasing Profitability - <AUTHOR> http://www.shopify.com/blog/6657676-stop-obsessing-over-revenue-3-proven-strategies-for-increasing-profitability

<comment><USER2> So many of the clients I work with in ecommerce get their knickers in a twist about profit per order, glad to see that this is getting some attention. It's also probably in the top 5 reasons why people abandon their ecommerce ideas in the first place.

<comment><USER3> Yep! If businesses would worry less about the cost of providing world-class support and do a better job of testing to identify the most profitable price points then everyone wins - customers and business owner.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Knowing the pricing for your industry is very, very important. Most consumers use price as a proxy for value, and perceive an expensive product as more valuable than a less expensive alternative.

</comment><comment><USER5> Very nice</comment>


Ask HN: Tesla Autopilot in Snow/Rain? - <AUTHOR> I've been borrowing a Tesla Model S (w/o autopilot enabled) for a couple of weeks and the weather has been dark, raining and today it was snowing.
Every day has the car complained of sensors/cameras not working due to dirt in front of the sensors. It doesn't matter if I clean them before I head out, it takes a couple of kilometers before they are warning again. They do add salt a lot on the roads to prevent ice, which makes it very dirty on the roads here.
Today, when there was snow. It warned again, same this time, a lot of dirt due to slush. And it was also black ice, which was really hard to spot myself (looks like dry road).
So to my question; How would the Tesla (or any other autopilot enabled vehicle) work on autopilot in these cases?
I mean, if the on-board computer doesn't get good input, it must be very hard to take decisions? <comment><USER2> How do humans operate in those conditions? Reducing speed and watching carefully: if anything, sensors need to move to a position where they are better shielded, eg. some can go behind a windshield, exactly where human eyes sit.

Or they could be in a better self-cleaning container (a la windshield wipers and xenon headlights).

<comment><AUTHOR> True, but is this working today? Or will the autopilot not be able to be used while driving in these conditions? Hence, it's basically requires perfect conditions?

<comment><USER3> Sssh, don't provoke the technooptimists. You'll be branded a Luddite for being doubleplusungood to their favorite toy, which is Obviously And Self-Evidently Level 5 Autonomous La La La I Can't Hear Your Bug Reports. /s

In other words, yes, current "autonomous driving" is actually "smarter autopilot for perfect weather." Wonder why they're all testing in US states that rarely see snow or rain...probably just a coincidence.</comment></comment></comment>


On Being an Engineering Manager - <AUTHOR> https://nickmchardy.com/2019/02/on-being-an-engineering-manager.html <comment><USER2> I don't know if you're looking for advice, but:

It seems like you aren't a manager, but rather a junior director who doesn't know it yet.

13 people across 4 initiatives is too much to directly manage effectively. Find someone to lead each one, and make them team leads.

Meet twice weekly with your leads, once to plan, once to problem-solve.

Move your HR/career-oriented 1:1s to every-other-week. If any of your team leads are good with people, delegate your 1:1s.

You only need a half hour for recurring meetings.

Delegate more.

<comment><USER3> As an engineering manager, this sounds like almost every startup I interview at.

It's almost always the CTO directly managing ~15 engineers. The CTO is always a man. He's always hiring a manager only because he doesn't have time for the 1:1s anymore. He never believes in hierarchies. The engineering team is flat, he tells me. They don't need teams, no siree. He's only interviewing me, he assures, because 1:1s aren't a good use of his time anymore.

Don't worry, he assures me, he'll still take care of all the architectural decisions. And he might even manage half of the team still, he hasn't decided.

That's usually about the time I nope right out of the interview.

<comment><USER4> Superb insight about 1:1s. They are an essential team process, which the manager alone is responsible for. They can't be delegated; a manager cannot establish and maintain a direct, personal relationship through a proxy. That's just not how human beings work.

In my experience, the desire to "delegate" 1:1s typically signals that team is raising truthful (and deeply troubling) problems, which the executive does not want to think about. Rather than think, they rationalize: claiming that consistently and privately listening to their subordinates is "not a good use of my time", "drama-filled", "not relevant to the tech", "isn't that what HR is for?" or some easy excuse. Whatever helps them coast until they jump ship next year.

Good on you for avoiding that mess, and for not playing along with their softheaded pretense.

<comment><USER5> It's also commonly a signal of an executive-by-default vs. an executive-by- experience.

The traditional path to leadership roles generally involve a stepped process from a role that's fully an individual contributor to one that has virtually no IC component. It's progressive enough that by the time you've stepped up to another level of management you've already grown accustomed to what you needed to let go of and what you needed to shift focus to, while having someone above you to essentially provide integration and regression testing as you acclimate to your new role.

A CTO-by-default skips that and goes from IC to "executive level authority and autonomy". They're not only managing people all of a sudden, but architecting teams and org structures. With little or no prior experience to lean on.

So they nope out of it - avoid org structure planning (and ensuing uncomfortable decisions) by keeping it all flat, bring in a people manager as a short term solution to the problem they created with keeping up with everyone, while also avoiding some of the messier side of people management. And seek comfort in the familiar work of system architecture and (maybe) keep directly managing the parts of the team that are the most capable of self- management and aren't as uncomfortable to manage.

Still a mess to be avoided, just as you said. But a mess that's rooted more in inexperience and discomfort than in arrogance and hubris.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I actually think for most of us, after some point, switching to engineering manager track is often far easier to continue leveling up in. Most good companies have an equivalent tech track, but unless the stars are aligned and you're blessed with a supportive manager AND the right project that align with your talents, its going to take a much longer time progressing.

Of course in both tracks, it's no longer only about your own contributions and impact to the team, but that your contributions and impact now translate to everyone else you work with so that they're able to improve their own contributions and impact. Or in another way, is what you're doing helping everyone else do better?! So even though that sounds straight forward, showing that at performance review time can actually be really challenging if you're in a tech role vs. a people management role.

I've heard the complaint that some of us shouldn't be EMs, but I'm a firm believer that if it's something you enjoy, you can absolutely learn how to be a great EM. I would only consider sticking with the tech track if you enjoy the tech work more.

<comment><USER7> "I actually think for most of us, after some point, switching to engineering manager track is often far easier to continue leveling up in. Most good companies have an equivalent tech track, but unless the stars are aligned and you're blessed with a supportive manager AND the right project that align with your talents, its going to take a much longer time progressing. "

That's a really important point. In theory my company has a technical track but it's freakishly difficult to move up on it. On the other hand I see a lot of mediocre managers moving up higher on the pay scale all the time.

<comment><USER8> My company has a tech track but NO developers are on it. It's basically designed so that nobody can ever qualify for it. As far as I can see it's purely there to entice developers and then push the blame back on them when they inevitably have to turn into managers - "look, you COULD have been on the tech track if you tried harder, you made the choice to progress on the management track."

<comment><USER7> I think one thing is that in a lot of companies there still is the belief that your pay is determined by the number of people you have under you and that a manager always has to make more than than the people they manage.

<comment><USER9> That's usually the right economics. If you want to make money as an older person, management is the way up.

Very few companies hire engineers above 40. It's the unfortunate reality of our industry.

<comment><USER8> Surely it's insane economics for the company though. My management skills must be almost useless (and I'm considered an ok manager) compared to my dev skills. I can't understand what's in it for the company to make EVERYONE into crap managers AND pay them more AND make them unhappy AND ensure that only inexperienced juniors have time to actually do work. Just don't get it. But every company wants to do it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> There are some trade offs when you go into management (from experience):

Upsides:

\+ Your reports will treat you with respect

\+ You will get more opportunities to travel

\+ You will likely get much more visibility in the organization

\+ You will get the opportunity to engage in team building activities and have fun

\+ You can set the standards and direction of the group

Downsides:

\- You will have to learn the art of politics to deal with your peers

\- You need to be much more cautious about your communication and actions

\- You have a target on your back and so you need to learn how to block

\- You will likely have to spend more money on corporate travel & activities than your used to

\- You have to have the maturity to deal with 'wasteful' activities that are part of management

One of the biggest problems with people being asked to be a manager is whether or not the organization is asking for a real "manager" or a "leader". This is a particular problem with technical staff being promoted to management.

Managers by definition are there to set everyone straight. Define the rules. Make the process repeatable. Make sure no one is out of line.

However, many companies are not really seeking this from technical staff. What they really want are "leaders". If people are asking you as a manager to set the technical direction or lead and train the engineers or give presentations at conferences, they're not asking for a traditional "manager". Ultimately, if you seek to be a traditional manager (in this type of environment) you're doomed to fail.

Great people managers are really a type of coach. They give pep talks, they throw events, they motivate, recruit the best talent, etc. Think of your high school football coach.

In this style of management you're going to be graded on retention, motivation, drive, energy, etc. etc. If this isn't you, you better think twice about moving from engineering.

If this organization is really looking for an Architect or Principal Engineer that will dive the direction and strategy for their technology, they let them know that.

<comment><USER11> Are there any good books or resources that comes to your mind for better understanding what you've described?

<comment><USER10> There are a number of good books on both leadership and management. Harvard Business Review has a lot of smaller books on leadership and management like this one:

[https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Become-Leaders-Michael- Watki...](https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Become-Leaders-Michael- Watkins/dp/1633693023/ref=pd_sim_14_4/138-1293681-0303815?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1633693023&pd_rd_r=e469ed4b-3378-11e9-9126-7b5e4f5c8ab6&pd_rd_w=X9T67&pd_rd_wg=Tgwv3&pf_rd_p=90485860-83e9-4fd9-b838-b28a9b7fda30&pf_rd_r=X680EBCR0AAGSCYY3DW9&psc=1&refRID=X680EBCR0AAGSCYY3DW9)

One of the challenges though in management is understanding what the business wants from you. Once you understand that you can be effective (and pick the right books to read)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> When I was a junior programmer (about 25 years ago), I thought it would be great to be a programming manager.

One day, a senior programmer told me he'd been a manager for a while. I was surprised-- I figured it was a step down to go back to coding. I asked him why he went back to programming.

His reply: "When you are a programmer, you have a boss above you that gives you tasks. When you are a manager, there is a boss above you and several people below you that bring you tasks. They nip at you from the top, and they nip at you from the bottom."

It made sense to me.

</comment><comment><USER13> I manage a team that do what could broadly be described as data science, here is one thing I feel unsure about and I'd like others' opinion on:

How much should I tell my team about what's going on above me? If my manager tells me about a customer meeting where they request a demo with certain broad requirements by a certain deadline. Should I go into the details of the overall business goal of the client and the exact deadline for the final demo? Or should I just delegate specific subtasks and keep the information structure within my team somewhat modular/encapsualted?

<comment><USER14> I have, over the years, gravitated towards telling everyone in my teams as much as I possibly can at all times. I use top-down information sharing like your scenarios as a chance to connect my teams (which tend to be infrastructure and futher from the core business) to the business and their needs.

Any system of information sharing that requires me to remember what and with whom I shared specific bits of compartmentalized information is ultimately doomed to fail. You'll forget who knows what and eventually screw up and then you look like a manipulative middle-manager for withholding information.

Unless there's a clear reason not to share (layoffs, acquisitions, etc.), I share.

<comment><USER15> Amen. Work without context is demoralising and can lead to micro decisions that don't align with the macro context of the business you're in.

<comment><USER16> But if you don't share context you can always blame it on the fact that there was a misunderstanding or that you had so much to do, that you couldn't blablabla.

And who is gonna challenge a manager and say that it's his job to prevent misunderstandings by sharing information?

The blame game is a great asset when you need to hide incompetence and you are afraid of judgement.

<comment><USER17> Nobody will be able to officialy blame you, but everyone will hate you privately.

If you thrive in such an environment, more power to you.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Great read. More people need to realize that moving into a people manager role is NOT a requirement for career advancement. If you feel that is the case at your company, and you are more passionate about coding or architecture, you should really consider switching jobs. There are a ton of companies out there that will value a great IC over an average manager.

If you are at a smaller company, push for them to formalize a career ladder which has parallel tracks for manager and IC roles going all the way up till C-level execs.

<comment><USER19> > More people need to realize that moving into a people manager role is NOT a > requirement for career advancement.

It kinda is though. At any reasonably level of comp you care to name there's someone playing sports making that amount of money. Nonetheless it is entirely reasonable to say that playing sports isn't a great path for career advancement. Same thing with tech IC. Sure, there's someone, somewhere making $1MM/year as an IC, but there's a heck of lot more people with reports at making that. Same thing is true at $750k and $500k.

Maybe at $300k it isn't? And yes, to be sure, that's a ton of money. But given how hard it is to advance from there, can you really expect to sit there for 20+ years? How many organizations are there around that don't have some kind (possibly unofficial) up or out rule?

<comment><USER20> > How many organizations are there around that don't have some kind (possibly > unofficial) up or out rule?

They don't push out the person that wrote all that business critical COBOL spaghetti. It's not all that hard to code yourself into job security. Digging into someone else's technical debt and stewarding it along for years 13-28 of its life is easy too.

<comment><USER21> "I'm gonna code me a minivan."

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Managing developers is weird. I have a unique perspective on this matter as I am a senior developer at one company and a managing principle at another.

As a senior developer I am deeply introverted and I am skilled at my craft because I can go into these fugue states of deep focus blocking out everything else. I don't need to be concerned with the world outside my team, and often not so concerned with my teammates. As an individual contributor your success is largely determined by the quality and frequency of your contributions.

As a manager you need to be more concerned with what is going on outside the team than within. You are the interface and diplomat between the team and everything else. You are interfacing externally outside the team so that your team doesn't have to and so that you are the single funnel of priority and direction.

As a manager you are largely done writing code. Use your experience writing code to set the proper tone and direction when your developers hit a wall. Guide them into the proper direction for resolution and provide them with resources they likely aren't even aware of. That is you, the manager, providing a vague solution to a code problem without having to write any code.

Your coding experience allows you to set business standards (not code standards) that determines acceptable contributions and enforce those standards. Code standards tend to be highly subjective and are often completely vane or superfluous. By ensuring the standards exist outside of code, such as execution speed or statement count, the standards are likely to be objective and uniformly applied. You should automate this enforcement as much as possible and grant exceptions only with careful deliberate consideration.

Setting high standards is a defensive action against future stupidity. Even as a manager there is still much in the world you do not control. Strong leaders are proactive in shielding their team from stupidity as much as possible. Perhaps the strongest and most enduring form of stupidity defense is CYA (cover your ass). High standards of deliverables is proactive CYA.

If standards are set high members of your team will complain. It will happen. Accept it and own it. Managers without a strong development background or weak soft skills may find it easier to keep the team happy. That is bad. Remember who your team works for. They work for you, not the other way around. If you are quick to cave on product quality its like sharks smelling the blood in the water. Smart managers will spin this as the company's product is merely a tool to advance the team members personal development and competence of their craft. If after sufficient time, patience, and training are exhausted and a teammate still cannot accept the high standards transfer them off the team. Incompetence is a drag on everybody.

The most common reason why product quality slips is because either the business is setting unreasonable delivery timelines or because your team lacks confidence. The second is far more common than the former since, as the manager, you can often negotiate more realistic external delivery terms. An inexperienced team is not a reason to release shit back to the business. That is the opposite of CYA.

Fortunately your team will make this foolishness clear to you by advocating for _easy_. If you ever hear your team advocating solutions or alternatives because of _easy_ or _hard_ take a long hard pause and reevaluate what they are really saying. When they advocate for easy it might sound something like: "We should use framework X because it makes things easy and then we can deliver twice as fast!" What that really says is something like: "We are slow to make decisions and our jobs are challenging!" In that case the problem is insecurity/anxiety and the framework is a bandage over a much larger wound. Always remember the name of the game is high quality output so that you put your CYA immediately up front. The _easy_ option your team advocates is likely to shred every ounce of CYA both now and in the future.

One way think of your place in the world, as a manager, is that the group is worth more than an individual but the product your team supports is worth more than you or your team. Your entire team can be laid off and that product will continue to live.

</comment><comment><USER23> Thanks for sharing :)

</comment><comment><USER24> If you're having 1:1s each fortnight, you probably won't even need 30mins. In practice, schedule for 30mins but in reality it rarely takes that much time so don't fret about losing so much time.

</comment><comment><USER25> nice write up. Thanks!

</comment><comment><USER26> Hopefully you won't subject your workers to scrum; it is evil. Refer to [https://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2015/06/06/why-agile- an...](https://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2015/06/06/why-agile-and- especially-scrum-are-terrible/)

<comment><USER27> I would take everything that mchurch says with a grain of salt.

<comment><USER26> Granted it's an opinion, but if you've been through as much scrum as I have, especially if you're a senior developer, you'd know it's a true article.</comment></comment></comment>


How Microsoft will ride Android hardware to save Windows Phone - <AUTHOR> http://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-reusing-android-hardware-to-save-windows-phone/?part=propeller&subj=news&tag=link

<comment><USER2> Without a comprehensive fix for mobile devices that includes a massive overhaul of UI and APIs to separate mobile devices from legacy Windows, it ain't gonna work.

Microsoft made the wrong decision back when it made Windows their mobile device strategy. Small measures like this won't even make a blip in the rather bad and getting worse numbers.</comment>


TensorFlow 2.0 is coming - <AUTHOR> https://groups.google.com/a/tensorflow.org/d/topic/announce/qXfsxr2sF-0/discussion <comment><USER2> > Since the open-source release in 2015, TensorFlow has become the world's > most widely adopted machine learning framework

I'd wager that non-trivial (non-tutorial?) usage of scikit-learn is significantly higher.

<comment><USER3> 'computation graph framework' isn't as sexy, I guess

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> The #1 thing I would love to see in future versions of Tensorflow is a better C API, with documented support for gradients, which are essentially for porting Tensorflow to other languages.

As someone who is not very familiar with Python, I found it very difficult to port code over, and so I've mostly paused my porting effort for the time.

Other than that, I quite like Tensorflow, and intend to use it more and more as time goes along.

<comment><USER5> Amen, especially for the training side. Python and C++ leave a lot to be desired. Extrapolating from this quote:

> Support for more platforms and languages, and improved compatibility and > parity between these components via standardization on exchange formats and > alignment of APIs

I hope that means a solid C API, but it might also mean higher level e.g. protobuf/grpc or something.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I feel like I can see the fingerprints of pytorch on the direction TF leadership is choosing to go. "Eager execution" and "easier to learn and apply" are where pytorch steals market share from TF, resulting in moving towards a more "dynamic" graph model.

<comment><USER7> The pytorch graph model is not as dynamic as you think it is, because batches. All batch elements must be processed by the exact same code trace, limiting per element dynamism. The dynamic aspect of pytorch is an implementation detail for delivering autograd over a trace of tensor operations.

What pytorch does very well is to play nice python/numpy semantics, especially via broadcasting[0]. There is very little cognitive overhead between a pytorch program and its equivalent python/numpy representation.

What tensorflow does very well is to execute computational graphs on a wide variety of backends. One gpu, many gpus, distributed gpus, servers, mobile, browsers. The recently announced autograph[1] merges the clarity of python/numpy coding style with tensorflow execution engine, offering autograd via compile-time abstract interpretation over all possible traces.

[0] [https://docs.scipy.org/doc/numpy/user/basics.broadcasting.ht...](https://docs.scipy.org/doc/numpy/user/basics.broadcasting.html)

[1] [https://www.tensorflow.org/guide/autograph](https://www.tensorflow.org/guide/autograph)

<comment><USER8> Multi GPU in PyTorch is usually just a few lines of code. Can't be any easier. Wrap model in DataParallel and enjoy life. Last time I touched TF, things were pretty gnarly for this frequent use case. Don't know how it is now.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> The removal of contrib is surprising but probably necessary. It will be interesting to see which projects get integrated vs removed. I'll be watching bayesflow and keras.

<comment><USER9> Isn't bayesflow already a separate project (i.e. tensorflow-probability[1])?

[1] [https://github.com/tensorflow/probability](https://github.com/tensorflow/probability)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> AMD Graphics card support please?

<comment><USER11> We are (well, AMD is) working on it. It's all being done in the open; there are PRs you can follow. You can even help out if you're so inclined.

It's not going to be simple or fast, but it's coming...

(I work on XLA, a compiler for TensorFlow, and I've been working closely with AMD on the TF/XLA -> AMDGPU port. My team also works on CUDA support in clang, and we've been reviewing AMD's patches to support HIP in upstream clang.)

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I wonder what new language bindings they will support. I have experimented with saving Keras models, converting to Racket Scheme, and writing a runtime. It would be way better to have it officially supported.

Haskell support has worked OK for a while. The languages I would most like to see supported are common implementations of Common Lisp like SBCL and Clozure. I think there is some future for hybrid connectionist and symbolic AI and it would thrill me to have Common Lisp support for TensorFlow.

<comment><USER13> On a related note, there's a Clojure API for MXNet (another major deep learning framework).

[https://mxnet.incubator.apache.org/api/clojure/index.html](https://mxnet.incubator.apache.org/api/clojure/index.html)

<comment><USER12> Thanks, that looks very good. Unfortunately Clojure and I don't really click. I have about two years professional experience with Clojure but except for my site [http://Cookingspace.com](http://Cookingspace.com) I don't much use Clojure for personal projects. I prefer Common Lisp. For functional programming, I would substitute Haskell for Clojure except my Haskell skills are so-so.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Any chance of being able to build models in Go (instead of just running them) in Tensorflow 2.0?

</comment><comment><USER15> I just hope that it's easier to build from source. We need to support multiple TF versions, and since we have shared storage, we don't install relative to system root, we install relative to a TF-version-specific root path (like /software/open/tensorflow/2.0). That's been fairly annoying to do on CentOS.

<comment><USER16> Is Python virtualenv not an option?

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Meanwhile, TF (or pytorch) never managed to get into debian :(.

<comment><USER18> You'd be perpetually 50 releases out of date if it did.

<comment><USER17> As I follow unstable, I couldn't care less about the final releases.</comment></comment></comment>


A Microkernel Written in Rust: Porting the Unix-Like Redox OS to Armv8 [pdf] - <AUTHOR> https://fosdem.org/2019/schedule/event/microkernel_written_in_rust/attachments/slides/3258/export/events/attachments/microkernel_written_in_rust/slides/3258/FOSDEM_2019___A_microkernel_written_in_Rust.pdf <comment><USER2> The fosdem page about the talk is there [1]. I can not find the video recording on the corresponding room page [2]. I hope it has been recorded and will be added, I'm really interested to listen and watch the talk.

[1] [https://fosdem.org/2019/schedule/event/microkernel_written_i...](https://fosdem.org/2019/schedule/event/microkernel_written_in_rust/)

[2] [https://video.fosdem.org/2019/AW1.121/](https://video.fosdem.org/2019/AW1.121/)

<comment><USER3> Seems it's pending review: [https://review.video.fosdem.org/overview](https://review.video.fosdem.org/overview)

Per here: [https://video.fosdem.org/2019/README.txt](https://video.fosdem.org/2019/README.txt)

Someone should reach out to the speaker so he can review it and get it released.

<comment><USER2> Awesome, thanks for the links. I didn't knew about the reviews, and on the phone it was fastidious to search for more :) I'll have a look tomorrow, and if nobody will have reported here to have contacted him, I'll try to do it myself.

<comment><USER4> I've contacted the speaker. In the meantime, the recording is available at [https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Y3iEWKGwfEvFaLjwra59-u5jQI...](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Y3iEWKGwfEvFaLjwra59-u5jQIer-077).

<comment><USER2> Awesome :) Thanks a lot!!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I've had a look through the PDF but can't seem to find a reference to how much of the micro-kernel is written in unsafe Rust.

I guess I want to know how useful Rust's safety really is if the kernel doesn't use it much.</comment>


Trying to find a blog series on company strategy - <AUTHOR> Ok, So a few months ago I ran across a series of blog posts on somebodies personal blog on how they approached technology strategy. For the life of me I cant find it now. And I cant remember the blog. Googling has been to no avail because there is a lot of content out there.
The pertinent parts of the first couple of posts were about building a map of your strategy that took into account the competitive environment, had references to Sun Tzu etc, and really dived into what makes a good map from a cartographic POV. It then mapped products along a maturity scale with each piece in the product along the x axis being graded from "magic" to "utility". The maps got pretty complex, but I found it a really good strategy.
If anybody can point me at these articles (as Im sure someone has come across them before, Im pretty sure I might have got the link from here) I would be really grateful.
Thanks! <comment><AUTHOR> Found it! just in case somebody else is yelling into the void

[https://medium.com/wardleymaps/on-being- lost-2ef5f05eb1ec](https://medium.com/wardleymaps/on-being-lost-2ef5f05eb1ec)</comment>


SourceHut December 2019 developments and updates - <AUTHOR> https://sourcehut.org/blog/2019-12-15-whats-cooking-december-2019/ <comment><USER2> I've got to say, this project is really gaining steam.

I hope they release a docker container for it, as that would make deployment much easier (now that they have debian packages, maybe I'll give it a shot myself).</comment>


"Too much thermal paste" – Benchmark of thermal paste application and quantity - <AUTHOR> https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3346-thermal-paste-application-benchmark-too-much-thermal-paste <comment><USER2> and if you got nothing else, mayonnaise will do [https://www.hardwaresecrets.com/thermal-compound-roundup- jan...](https://www.hardwaresecrets.com/thermal-compound-roundup- january-2012/5/) (somewhere at 35 in the graph at the bottom)</comment>


An Online Education Breakthrough? A Master's Degree for a Mere $7,000 - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/29/upshot/an-online-education-breakthrough-a-masters-degree-for-a-mere-7000.html <comment><USER2> Anyone have an experience with this as a student?</comment>


locked Tomato Products - Adulteration with Drosophila Fly Eggs and Maggots  - <AUTHOR> http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/ComplianceManuals/CompliancePolicyGuidanceManual/ucm074642.htm

<comment><USER2> This is a pretty old guidance last updated 11/29/05\. And this is not a guideline for what is "Allowed" but is a "represents the criteria for direct reference seizure".

Regardless 10 bucks says if you grow your own the rate is going to be much higher. Gardening is not a sterile environment.

</comment><comment><USER3> I'm not sure about the current title: "FDA approves 20 or more fly eggs per 100 grams in tomato sauce". Maybe I'm reading it wrong but aren't these guidelines for what the FDA can _seize_?

<comment><AUTHOR> fixed

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> There are also directive for insect fragments and rodent hairs in flour.

[http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/ComplianceManuals/CompliancePolicyG...](http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/ComplianceManuals/CompliancePolicyGuidanceManual/ucm074610.htm)

I always point those at vegans, then laugh. Also anyone thinking he's too good for insects is badly mistaken...

[http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/but-not- simpler/2013/06/...](http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/but-not- simpler/2013/06/05/i-hate-to-break-it-to-you-but-you-already-eat-bugs/)

</comment><comment><USER5> There's the oddest bit of cognitive dissonance whenever I see people upset by food purity guidelines.

"I don't want chemicals or GMOs keeping insects off my food"

"I don't want insects in my food"

You can't have it both ways. Anyone who wants their food sterile and devoid of contaminants must then accept that it is covered in, or made entirely of chemicals. You just don't get it both ways.

</comment><comment><USER6> > NOTE: Drosophila maggots 2 mm, or less in length shall be considered > equivalent to fly eggs, for the purpose of this guide.

<comment><USER7> 2mm thank GOD we have standards. But I have to wonder what are the 2.1mm maggots counted as? Oh well gotta go time for LUNCH!

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Growing my own just got a heap more attractive. It might not stop eggs, but I'm not going to have maggots slip through!

</comment><comment><USER9> I wonder how organic/non-organic affect the average number of fly eggs? I would assume that non-organic tomatoes would have less fly eggs and maggots, but I'm not educated in the subject.

</comment><comment><USER10> Thats great news! I was worried that the 2 more more maggots per 100 grams wouldn't have any friends.

</comment><comment><USER11> I'd like to see what the actual average is.

</comment><comment><USER12> That's why they call it meat sauce</comment>


The text on the TextEdit icon - <AUTHOR> http://i.imgur.com/zElmXu4.png

<comment><USER2> I'm sure it's been there a while, but I just noticed it recently as well. Cute.</comment>


How can I teach a bright person, with no programming experience, how to program? - <AUTHOR> http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/96504/how-can-i-teach-a-bright-person-with-no-programming-experience-how-to-program

<comment><USER2> Have you seen this article from The Atlantic?

"How I Failed, Failed, and Finally Succeeded at Learning How to Code"

[http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/06/how-i-...](http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/06/how- i-failed-failed-and-finally-succeeded-at-learning-how-to-code/239855/)

The author praises the use of Project Euler as a way to stay interested in the "instructional exercises" needed to learn a language.</comment>


Verizon launches femtocell (home cell tower) for all comers - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2009/01/verizon-launches-femtocell-for-all-comers.ars <comment><USER2> They've done their research on the price point. Basically if this eliminates the need for a land line ($10 month + equipment), you pay for the cost over the two years of a contract. You save them bandwidth and the need to erect new towers. And they still take your minutes.

Anyone know if one of the carriers allows a similar device that doesn't charge minutes?</comment>