Ask HN: If JavaScript could talk to databases - <AUTHOR>

If JavaScript (or a JS framework) could talk to databases, would we need server-side languages/frameworks at all? <comment><USER2> So you want to give clients direct access to your database?

</comment><comment><USER3> Yes, for offline processing.

<comment><AUTHOR> But that could be done without a web-specific framework right? Say I had JavaScript on the client side send me a computation request to do something massive, say on a grid - I will probably run that using C/C++/Java there and return the result to JavaScript.

My point is, do we really need something to generate HTML at all at what we usually call the "server"-side?

<comment><USER3> "Generating HTML" on server side is done in some predictable time, while you can't make any assumptions about your users computer/OS performance thus the user experience will be random. It means problems and many lines of javascript code to solve them.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> You can accomplish this, after a sort, using databases like CouchDB and Mongodb.

While its entirely possible to write a pure client/database web application, you are going to run into security issues. You are inherently opening up your database to the outside world, and javascript clients are inherently un- trustworthy from a security angle.

If I were designing such a platform, I would segment actions into "safe" and "non-safe" areas. Safe areas would be client/database actions that are ok for the javascript client to access externally. Non-safe areas, such as account creation and editing, financial interactions, etc, would need a middle-tier server-side application layer. The middle-tier would need to act as a proxy that handles validation of database requests, etc.

</comment><comment><USER5> Yes. For one, you don't let the intertubes (clients) all talk to your database.

Second, there are tons of other stuff that we do on the server side besides talking to databases. E.g image processing, task queues, etc.

And lastly, Javascript is not the most elegant of languages. No much benefit of using it in the server side, besides the mythical "so we can share code", as if server and client side do the same stuff (with the exception of input validation).

<comment><AUTHOR> Direct client access to a database as being the most prominent concern raised here (which to me was the main concern as well) - I will need to think about it.

Say we magically got rid of the security problem (thus eliminating a middle tier - and I admit it'd be some pretty mean magic), then could your second point could be addressed by this: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4518443> ?

Regarding your third point, I agree it's not the most elegant of languages - but if some language which _is_ elegant could run on browsers and _had_ database access capabilities, would one use that instead of having a middle tier to generate "pages"? (as things stand, much of the middleware these days generates and receives JSON/XML and data anyway - can we do away with generating that initial HTML totally?)

<comment><USER6> Your original point was that we might not need server-side languages or frameworks at all. "The grid" is still a server - it's just not one you control directly. I don't think we'll ever get away from servers because there are definite advantages available by having computation centralized - you can have more powerful hardware available, you don't need to worry about outdated versions of code running, etc.

More broadly, though - there's nothing specific to a language that allows or disallows communication with a database. That's really the realm of a library or a driver to interact with the database (an external service) through some established protocol. People have written databases with JS hooks before, but it's just not common, likely because of the security problem.</comment></comment></comment>


Facebook open sources its servers and data centers - <AUTHOR> http://gigaom.com/cloud/facebook-open-sources-its-servers-and-data-centers/
<comment><USER2> This is a strategic attack on Google. A proliferation of scalable data centers hurts Google a lot more than Facebook by enabling Google's competitors. Cheap computation matters much more to search engines than social networking sites.

<comment><USER3> Because Google could never benefit from Facebook's designs too? Google does a lot of things bespoke, but now they have a model to compare with that is using more off-the-shelf tech. That can only help them in the buy-vs-build decision process.

I think you're going overboard in thinking that everything the big players do is about killing the other guy. Sometimes they just want to reduce costs. If you decide that part of your infrastructure isn't strategic to own, it always makes sense to be open.

<comment><USER4> I'd say that efficient data servers are one of google's core competencies. Google does not benefit from having that commoditized.

<comment><USER3> I just don't like the phrasing. "We did a thing that Google does not substantially benefit from" == "We attacked Google" ?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Get all the CAD files and other specifications here: <http://opencompute.org>

<comment><USER6> Any idea on how much would it cost to produce a small quantity of those boards? At which scale does it starts to make sense to use a custom made motherboard instead of a off-the-shelf PC?

<comment><USER5> HP, Dell and other vendors are already showing off hardware built to the new specifications: <http://instagr.am/p/C66FU/>

<comment><USER7> Your link does not support your assertion. It's just a picture without a caption.

<comment><USER8> With a source fairly prominently displayed at the bottom. Follow along if you absolutely must know more:

        1. Navigate to twitter.com/scobleizer.
        2. Observe first tweet.

<http://twitter.com/Scobleizer/status/56062315665178624>

That said, I lost all interest in the image due to the dumb focus effect.

<comment><USER9> ditto on the focus effect. reduces the value of the photo.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> say what you want about Facebook but I give them props for open sourcing so much code to the community. Cassandra, Thrift, Scribe,Hive, etc...

<comment><USER11> "Please take a look, tell us what we did wrong and join us in working together to make every data center more efficient."

Mad Props.

<comment><USER12> Indeed. This is how I want to see society. Sharing knowledge for the greater good. Probably the reason I'm not a fan of detriments of this such as software patents and Apple in general.

<comment><USER13> Apple has open sourced a lot of their projects. Check it out: <http://opensource.apple.com/> <http://developer.apple.com/opensource/>

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Link to an article in James Hamilton's blog with actual pdfs of various designs: [http://perspectives.mvdirona.com/2011/04/07/OpenComputeProje...](http://perspectives.mvdirona.com/2011/04/07/OpenComputeProject.aspx)

<comment><USER15> As much as I like James and his commentary, I have this thing about primary sources: <http://opencompute.org/>

</comment></comment><comment><USER16>
      Sorry ARM.

Have ARM actually done more than announce that they will be moving into servers? If they have then I missed the announcement. Either way, seems like a fairly stupid dig at ARM, can't really expect companies like Facebook to have moved onto ARM servers this quickly, even if it is the direction they intend to go in.

<comment><USER15> This "sorry ARM" stuff is mostly just the media's need to turn every story into a horse race. But there is some technical detail here: Facebook said they're not ever willing to use 32-bit and ARM won't have 64-bit for years. Also notice that Facebook's servers are "conventional" 2-socket with lots of DIMM slots, not 1-socket "microservers".

<comment><USER17> Fwiw, Freescale has a 64bit ppc processor now... Either way though, until you're able to just drop an ARM processor into a "commodity" motherboard, it won't really see widespread use, aside from cell phones, and other mobile devices. There is also the fact that ARM processors all seem to have the graphics card embedded in the chip.

<comment><USER18> Current ARM SoCs have all been built for embedded applications, which is why they integrate things like GPUs and radios.

The next-generation high end ARM core, the Cortex A15, will be the first one that's intended to be suitable for server use: they've added virtualization support, PAE for up to 1TB of RAM, and cache coherency to their bus to support SMP. The server-oriented implementations will be quad-core 2.5Ghz chips, of which you would be able to put at least 4 on a motherboard like this. When they start hitting the market next year, they'll probably all but kill the market for Intel Atom-based servers.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> I'd be very interested in hearing from someone with more experience in running their own hardware what portions (if any) of what Facebook has announced today is applicable at the small scale of say having a couple of co-located racks in some datacenter. Maybe the base server designs?

<comment><USER20> I can give you an interesting data point: our power bill is only about $600/mo (2.5KWh), our bandwidth bill is about $3,500/mo (1.2Gbps). So power is a smaller consideration.

<comment><USER21> If you are in the USA, you are overpaying for bandwidth by about $700/month or so.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> I don't get the AC PSUs on the servers (<http://opencompute.org/servers/>). Any reason why those are being used when each 6-rack group has a UPS (and batteries) connected to them? Going DC would get rid of the inverter on the UPS out and the 200 or so PSUs on each server.

<comment><USER11> The UPS doesn't need an inverter - the PSUs have a DC in.

<comment><USER22> But they are supposed to use the AC input when not running off the UPS. I wonder why that would be a good idea.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> One thing I've found interesting: The decision to have batteries not per server like Google, or per data centre, but per group of racks.

<comment><USER24> Pretty standard in telecoms. Never quite understood why Google went per server.

<comment><USER23> Their claims were that the efficiency was that great, and that it's acceptable to pay the extra few dollars in motherboard manufacture to build it in.

<comment><USER24> I guess in their instance the lifetime of the server was never likely to be eclipsed by that of the battery. In telco, 15-20yrs of operation is not uncommon, so a single set of replaceable/easily service batteries is important.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> This is a great talent acquisition play.

</comment><comment><USER26> I'm sure they've done a lot of tests, but running servers in an environment with 65% humidity just doesn't sound good for them.

<comment><USER27> > In August 2008, Intel conducted a 10-month study to assess the effectiveness > of using only outside air to cool a data center. The temperature range was > 64°F to 92°F. Humidity varied from 4% to over 90% and changed rapidly at > times. No increase in server failure was observed.

[http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=power_mgt.datacenter_e...](http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=power_mgt.datacenter_efficiency_inlet_temp)

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> What are the chances of these being commercially available anytime soon? Is a single consumer (even if it's facebook-sized) enough to jumpstart a B2C supply chain? It's hard to see this catching on with anyone not building green field unless it can come in at least on-par with a Dell/HP/Supermicro quote.

</comment><comment><USER11> Ethernet-powered LED lighting :D

<comment><USER29> I found that interesting too, thought it was a joke at first.

The only details I was able to dig up are in the Data Center specs [1], and they're pretty brief:

> Energy-efficient LED lighting is used throughout the data center interior. / > Innovative power over Ethernet LED lighting system. / Each fixture has an > occupancy sensor with manual override. / Programmable alerts via flashing > LEDs.

I wondered what the justification for PoE lighting could possibly be, sounds like all the lighting is also functional as instrumentation.

Anyone know more?

[1] [http://opencompute.org/specs/Open_Compute_Project_Data_Cente...](http://opencompute.org/specs/Open_Compute_Project_Data_Center_v1.0.pdf)

<comment><USER30> A couple of guesses. They probably have a lot more cat5/cat6 around than 3-conductor 12 gauge copper wire (not sure if it is cheaper by the foot).

Also, the network switches can output the PoE, so maybe it is easier to wire into/from the racks or overhead than a seperate AC line with conduit.

Labor installation and material costs may be less.

Also, since it is DC, and not an AC lighting source, interference may be less (just a guess).

And as you mentioned, the lighting as instrumentation.

<comment><USER31> All true. Right now 14/3 Romex costs about 3x more than Cat5. Copper is expensive!

LED lamps use DC power. The LED lamps that you can buy that screw into a standard Edison socket contain electronics to convert the AC line voltage into DC. This is inefficient -- generates heat and wastes power (though still not nearly as much as a traditional incandescent bulb).

By using power over Ethernet for their lighting, the datacenter can use cheaper, cooler, more efficient bulbs, and save a lot of money on the wiring too.

I can definitely foresee a future where new construction includes wiring for both line voltage AC and also low voltage DC. It could eliminate all the bulky transformers scattered around a typical house and save energy and money.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> Ah, economies of scale, is there anything you can't improve?

</comment><comment><USER33> Not sure how many startups built their own servers anymore, this event seems like a response to the Greenpeace accusations of Facebook's environmental responsibility or wherever.

Edit: I agree it's a good thing, it's just that hosting a press event rather than just making the announcement through a blog post suggests other motives as well.

<comment><USER34> This is true. However, the services that startups use to host their servers (Amazon Web Services, Rackspace, etc.) could adopt these practices in new datacenters because the specs are open. This could lower costs for the startups that use these services, and be good for the environment.

Seems like everyone wins.

<comment><USER35> Any large scale service already adopted such practices, may be not to the same degree. All large players buy custom hardware with specific tweaks to be more energy (read cost) efficient.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> Shall we expect Google, Amazon, Microsoft et. al. to start posting their energy efficiency stats from tomorrow?

<comment><USER15> Way ahead of you: [http://www.google.com/corporate/datacenter/efficiency- measur...](http://www.google.com/corporate/datacenter/efficiency- measurements.html)

<comment><USER37> Looked through Google's numbers but they don't seem to be directly comparable to Facebook's. Anyone know how far apart they are?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> Wow.

</comment><comment><USER39> Facebooks attempts at openness make me wonder what they are trying to hide... misdirection?

<comment><USER40> Are you serious? Facebook open sources so much of their code.

Check <http://developers.facebook.com/opensource/></comment></comment>


Porting a XNA CPC emulator to Linux in under 90s - <AUTHOR> https://plus.google.com/+flibitijibibo/posts/Yo9R1m9BQdm

<comment><USER2> This is the first time I am hearing about FNA and I follow the MonoGame developments - thanks for posting!

How is the accuracy of porting is achieved? Is this the clean room kind of development?

<comment><AUTHOR> FNA was forked from MonoGame by flibitijibibo. While MonoGame uses OpenTK for desktop platforms and supports additional platforms with platform-specific APIs, FNA has been streamlined (support for all mobile / console platforms has been removed) and it simply uses SDL2.

OpenTK was until recently an unmaintained C# project. SDL2 on the other hand is a very robust C library, it's been used to ship many commercial games on Steam on all desktop platforms. On top of that, flibitijibibo is being paid to port many XNA games so he's had time to inspect, clean up and improve almost all aspects of the framework in a more methodical fashion that MonoGame's organic development style.</comment></comment>


China's social credit system has blocked people from taking 11M flights - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessinsider.com/china-social-credit-system-blocked-people-taking-flights-train-trips-2018-5 <comment><USER2> Wonder if there's a way to get off these lists?</comment>


'Pokémon Quest' Becomes a Top 5 Mobile App in Under a Day - <AUTHOR> https://sludgefeed.com/pokemon-quest-becomes-top-5-app-in-a-day/ <comment><USER2> This is unsurprising and not hugely newsworthy. The Pokémon franchise is enormous - any game they release will instantly go to the top of any lists. This is especially true because these top lists aren't about "most downloaded ever" \- they are generally about download velocity, meaning most daily/monthly etc. downloads. The more useful metric is how many people actually continue to play the game beyond downloading it.</comment>


Why Skee-Ball Doesn't Change - <AUTHOR> http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/11/why-skee-ball-doesnt-change/509117/?single_page=true <comment><USER2> But something did change, at least where I went.

When I was a kid, I remember the ball effortlessly glided off the launch ramp into the air for the holes. Sometimes I would roll as hard as I could just to see how high it would go (into the top net and ricochet down into the scoring holes).

I recently went back and the launch ramp is like a speed bump now. The balls no longer smoothly roll and launch into the air. Instead they smack hard into the bump and lose most of their momentum and barely make it to the holes.

I can't for the life of me figure out how to actually get the ball in the highest value holes any more. The harder I roll it, the harder is smacks into the bump and it goes nowhere near the holes. Don't roll that hard, and it barely makes it over the bump.

I really hate the change and I stopped playing. It is no fun anymore.

<comment><USER3> I thought it was just me. I guess this is to make it difficult to rack up points, making it more a game of chance than skill?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I was a carny in 1968, handing out prize tickets to Skee-ball players. The owners disallowed "banking" (bouncing the ball off a side) because it improved player accuracy too much.

I could not believe how much people were willing to spend to win a prize of lesser value.

<comment><USER5> I've played skee-ball quite frequently and done well using this banking method (as taught to me by my grandfather!). But I'm not sure why it's better. Do you know what makes it easier when banking as compared to rolling the ball straight?

<comment><USER6> I assume it's the same reason that basket-ball players bounce shots off the back-board more often than they go for the swish...

[https://www.wired.com/2011/07/st_cheatsci_basketball/](https://www.wired.com/2011/07/st_cheatsci_basketball/)

[https://hiphopandhoops.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/bank-it- stud...](https://hiphopandhoops.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/bank-it-study- reveals-that-using-the-backboard-can-increase-free-throw-shooting-by-20/)

A quick look shows some interesting starting points that goes with my "gut" about basketball and banking off the backboard.

I don't see any similar articles relating the two (banking Basketballs and banking Skeet Balls), but I bet there's some sweet spot that you aim for and get better with practice.

<comment><USER7> Shooting basketballs off the glass is something of a lost art, at least outside of point-blank layup range. Not too many people bother to invest the effort to learn the geometry to bank shots from each particular spot on the floor, compared to shooting for the rim, where your aim point and mechanics are pretty much always the same.

It's rare enough nowadays that it was something of a signature move for players like Tim Duncan.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This article is wrong about skee ball being "pure" unlike other carnival games that are skewed against the customer. It is just as easily and often manipulated by proprietors just like any other carnival game. The collars around the holes can be taller and/or narrower, the angle of the ramp can be manipulated, the weight of the balls, the amount of points for each hole, the return and price, etc.

It is fun to play once in a while, I'll usually do a few rounds every time I go to Cedar Point. But it is subject to the same machinations as all the other carnival games.

<comment><USER9> I haven't seen evidence that manipulating skee-ball machines is a common practice by owners, and I've played at a lot of places. Several of the modifications you mention aren't easy to make. (At least, I can say that's true when it comes to the official machines made by Skee-Ball Inc -- I usually avoid the knock-offs so I don't have much experience with those.)

I was saddened to learn that the company was acquired by a rival earlier this year and relocated production from the Philly suburbs (where it had been over 100 years) to Wisconsin. Strangely, no mention of any of this in the article.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> It didn't used to have the 100 point holes on the sides. The 50 in the middle was the highest.</comment>


『Const [Store, SetStore] = UseStore()』One Shot React State Management - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/ryota-murakami/muriatic <comment><AUTHOR> Hey React Dev forks! In those days, We have New Context API and Hooks such as useState(), useContext(). How do you Management Data today?</comment>


'Plastic recycling is a myth': what really happens to your rubbish - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/17/plastic-recycling-myth-what-really-happens-your-rubbish <comment><USER2> "Lie" might be a more appropriate word than "myth".

The packaging/garbage manufacturing industry needs people to believe in recycling, otherwise they'll start asking "why the heck is the packaging industry spewing an infinite, never ending flow of garbage?". So far they have hidden behind the lie of recycling so people feel like it's not actually the problem it is.

The only true solution is a small range of standardised returnable/washable/reusable containers - this is a huge business opportunity for whoever really nails it. Reusable/returnable containers for food, for e-commerce goods shipping, and also reusable containers just for buying stuff off the supermarket shelves. Think of the size of the market for a true solution for that.

Why, for example, does Amazon not have a standard set of shipping box sizes which it not only delivers, but re-collects via the same logistics network?

<comment><USER3> >> Why, for example, does Amazon not have a standard set of shipping box sizes which it not only delivers, but re-collects via the same logistics network?

It tried this with plastic bins. Customers just kept the bins. Enforce return by fining customers who don't return bins? What if they say they were stolen off their porch?

You have a huge chain of custody problem here.

<comment><USER2> >> You have a huge chain of custody problem here.

So things will be awesome when the problem is solved.

It's usually money that solves problems.

Amazon customers want environmentally friendly shipping. So they pay the extra $5 deposit, which Amazon gives back when the container is returned.

Those who don't want to return the container have paid for it.

Then of course other companies and industries must become greener because customers demand it. And Amazon already has a solution in place for reusable/returnable shipping containers, so it becomes an even bigger win for Amazon when it sells reusable/returnable shipping container service end to end and manages all the chain of ownership stuff and absorbs the complexity and risk.

As I say, it's a HUGE problem, so a huge win for whichever company implements what I've already set out above. Just needs to happen that's all.

In the future, look for the option "Add $5 for shipping box return collection" on your favorite ecommerce site.

And look to Uber to expand to "UberEnvironment" \- their container collection service where they pay people to collect containers and return them to cleaning/reuse centers.

There are so many, many, many delivery startups out there - they'll be able to expand not only to sending stuff to homes but collecting stuff (containers) from homes.

<comment><USER3> >> Amazon customers want environmentally friendly shipping.

Citation needed. They want it without the burden of...

>>> So they pay the extra $5 deposit

I highly doubt a large percentage of Amazon customers want environmentally friendly shipping that they have to pay a deposit for and mind a chain of custody.

As I noted, Amazon literally already tried this and it didn't work. So, yeah, it's a problem. And eventually someone will fix it. But you act like Amazon hasn't tried it, and you're ignoring all the chain of custody issues with a deposit system that requires shipping rather than a customer-returns method that worked decades years ago when people shopped locally only.

People on HN are pretty out of touch with the every day person, I think. These ideas sound really good to medium-high net worth individuals, but the average consumer on Amazon is not in that group and really does not care about the environment all that much if it is going to potentially hurt their pocketbook.

<comment><USER4> I don't think it really matters how big the actual market it, what matters is being known for having such solutions. Even if the majority of customers don't have the service, as long as they know it exists, they'll prefer Amazon vs competitors because they'll feel like they're supporting a company that cares.

Personally, I think it would be great if these reusable packages optionally came in a package that has a digital lock that can only be unlocked through the app (i.e. public key crypto over Bluetooth/NFC). This would make them look like the secure option as well as the green option. It can even operate at a loss and probably still be beneficial by driving more purchases their way.

<comment><USER5> That wouldn't work. Either Amazon has to ship sturdy containers for the lock to be of any use, or thieves would just break it apart with tools.

There's a reason why safes need to be bolted to the floor; a safe that's not bolted can just be taken away and opened somewhere else with appropriate tools.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> The largest recycling center in California, with almost 300 locations, actually just closed last week:

 _"With the continued reduction in State fees, the depressed pricing of recycled aluminum and PET plastic, and the rise in operating costs resulting from minimum wage increases and required health and workers compensation insurance, the Company has concluded that operation of these recycling centers and supporting operations is no longer sustainable,"_

[https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/08/05/californias- largest-r...](https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/08/05/californias-largest- recycling-center-business-closes-shuttering-300-redemption-centers/)

</comment><comment><USER7> You never need to use another plastic bottle, single-use cup, fork, or bag again for the rest of your life.

Try this challenge: go for a week without using those things. However far you make it, I bet you'll find it easier and rewarding than you expect. The goal doesn't have to be to fix all the world's problems by yourself overnight, just a new experience. It will probably lead to institutional and government change faster than not acting and it costs nothing anyway.

Everyone I know who has tried has continued because they enjoyed the experience.

If you live in Flint or some place similarly polluted and need the bottles you can still do the experiment.

<comment><USER8> In my previous workplace, all my food, drinks, coffee, water was in disposable packaging. That is 230 food boxes, 690 coffee cups, 230 porridge bowls and lids, 460 plastic wrappers, plus plastic cutlery, etc. All up 2000 items of disposable plastic per year.

At my new office, it is 100% reusable. Even my lunchtime salads are put in the reusable plastic bowl I bring from the office to the cafe.

As you say, making the switch is surprising easy, and also satisfying.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> In New Zealand it is easy to see the effects after countries stopped accepting our rubbish.

We have a few landfill, but they are slowly piling up now. And NZ has always been popular for its green landscapes.

So now the gov, councils, and local businesses started prohibiting some types of plastics.

But it is still at early stages. Supermarkets have banned single use plastic bags, but pretty much everthing you buy still has plastic that goes to the landfill.

Recycling here is also different from latin america. In latam normally you have multiple recycling bins... one for glass, one for plastic, one for paper, etc.

Here we have a single container for plastic. Some times you find multiple bins, but that's still rare.

In my company, there is one huge bin for cardboard only downstairs. One for paper (but only for confidential docs to be properly destroyed), and the bins in the kitchen areas, where you are supposed to throw only milk packages.

I looked around where I could dispose oil, and a restaurant owner told me to just dump in the sink. He said there is a company that goes around the CBD collecting used oil, but only from businesses that pay for that.

There is a place that collects electronics waste. But the collection places and dates are sparse, and I see a lot getting dumped in the normal waste.

We still have a long way to go. At least the council here reports on landfills and is doing their part trying to promote green ideas [https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/building-and- consents/ty...](https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/building-and- consents/types-resource-consents/earthworks/Pages/landfills.aspx)

</comment><comment><USER10> Are we anywhere near running out of landfill space? Are modern landfills bad for the environment at all? It doesn't seem like it.

I think environmentalism is misguided when it works on the principle of "everything that sounds good for the environment is equally important, we don't need to pay attention to whether it works". Global warming is a real danger. Running out of landfill space is not. Stop pretending like you are helping the environment when you do symbolic but unimportant things like using paper straws or reusable grocery bags. Take all the money spent on ineffective things like paper recycling and disallowing plastic bags, and put it towards the technologies that can really help, like cheaper solar power, cheaper wind power, cheaper batteries, and carbon sequestration.

<comment><USER11> > I think environmentalism is misguided when it works on the principle of > "everything that sounds good for the environment is equally important, we > don't need to pay attention to whether it works".

It's a rather good thing, then, that just about nobody advocates or implements that strategy.

Your examples happen to be of small effect (but also rather low cost) ideas that are just being amplified by detractors because they play well among a certain segment of the population.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> > The present dumping ground of choice is Malaysia.

Use of the term "dumping" makes me seriously question the article's storyline. Plastic garbage is not "dumped" in Malaysia, it is _sold_ to buyers in Malaysia. If you wanted to dump it it would be much cheaper to do so at source.

Ref: [https://discardstudies.com/2019/05/06/adam-minter-how- things...](https://discardstudies.com/2019/05/06/adam-minter-how-things-flow/)

<comment><USER13> > Plastic garbage is not "dumped" in Malaysia, it is sold to buyers in > Malaysia.

It is sold to some businesses in Malaysia who will then dump it. This is how they make quick money.

<comment><USER12> Ok, please explain why in the world businesses in Malaysia would _buy_ garbage just to dump it? That doesn't make ecomonic sense.

In fact (prior to the ban at least) there was a huge industry in China recycling plastics. It's not pretty stuff, but let's not pretend people were buying plastics just to throw them out. Look up the story of We'nan County for example.

From what I've heard the buyers in China have just moved to other places like Malaysia to continue the same business. They are _buying_ plastics to recycle them and make money off that. It's nasty stuff but it is economically motivated.

<comment><USER13> Because it is an opportunity for quick arbitrage - you get paid to accept trash shipment, you pretend to process it (on paper) and then you simply incinerate or dump trash.

In a country like Malaysia or Thailand with lax regulation, corruption and poor enviroment standards it is an opportunity for some and problem for all.

[https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-malaysia- plastic-20...](https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-malaysia- plastic-2018-story.html)

> Some attributed it to the periodic air pollution Malaysia suffers when > farmers burn crops in neighboring Indonesia. But Pua, a chemist, knew > better. Over the next several weeks, she and a few others traced the smell > to a growing number of factories that had cropped up on the outskirts of the > town of 30,000 and were taking in truckloads of plastic.

Some of the crude facilities were tucked into oil palm plantations or surrounded by walls of tin sheets. Others made no effort to evade notice.

> Driving home from dinner one evening in June, Pua saw smoke rising from a > large plant right along the highway — and was hit with that same noxious > odor.

"They were doing it every day," she said. "We felt helpless."

> In July, after months of ignoring her complaints, local officials shut down > 34 illegal recycling plants in Kuala Langat, prompting a national outcry > that resulted in a three-month pause on new plastic waste imports. About > 17,000 metric tons of waste was seized, but is too contaminated to be > recycled. Most of it is likely to end up in a landfill.

<comment><USER12> > you get paid to accept trash shipment

Why would anyone pay someone to accept a trash shipment? Why wouldn't you just dump it at source?

> you get paid to accept trash shipment, you pretend to process it (on paper) > and then you simply incinerate or dump trash.

Nowhere in the article does it mention this, what reference do you have for this actually happening?

AFAICT the article doesn't have anything establishing that the plastic being "dumped" is being anything other than imported to be _recycled_. It's dirty, polluting recycling, but that's beside the point I'm trying to make. There is an economic incentive; the article even mentions how profitable plastic recycling can be.

<comment><USER14> > Why would anyone pay someone to accept a trash shipment? Why wouldn't you > just dump it at source?

Because it's either illegal or expensive to do so at the source.

<comment><USER12> Do you have any source for that claim?

Here's a quote for landfill rates: $40/ton. Do the math yourself, plastics aren't heavy. Much cheaper than sending it in a container across the world. Unless somebody is _paying_ at the other end, of course.

[http://riverbend.wm.com/landfill- rates/index.jsp](http://riverbend.wm.com/landfill-rates/index.jsp)

<comment><USER14> Sure. Here's an example.

[https://www.journalnow.com/news/local/starting-today-it- is-i...](https://www.journalnow.com/news/local/starting-today-it-is-illegal- not-to-recycle-plastic- bottles/article_585d86c7-1dec-5794-91c6-d5416ae51785.html)

> The law was passed in 2005, but it didn't take effect until today. It adds > plastic bottles and two other items -- wooden pallets and oil filters -- to > a long list of items that are already banned from the state's landfills. > Among the items already banned are aluminum cans and tires.

<comment><USER12> This is one regulation in one state. Do you think that even impacts things like dirty diapers, one of the items that was strewn over the news? Of course not.

If you're thinking people are paying ~ $1,200/container to ship plastics to Malaysia without anyone paying on the other end, it would have to be pretty darn hard to throw stuff out in the U.S. And clearly it's not.

The stuff in the news is fraud, the same as if you ordered something from Amazon, paid for it, and you didn't get what you paid for.

<comment><USER14> It's an example, as requested. Similar laws are common all over the country and world. I'm not going to keep playing the goalpost move game.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Related and recent:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20549804](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20549804)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20433851](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20433851)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19889365](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19889365)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19399543](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19399543)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19346342](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19346342)

More at [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20550947](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20550947)

</comment><comment><USER16> You can convert it to oil instead of burning(which releases dioxins/heavy metals and other chemicals). [http://www.plastic2oil.com](http://www.plastic2oil.com) [https://www.instructables.com/id/Waste-Plastic-to- Fuel/](https://www.instructables.com/id/Waste-Plastic-to-Fuel/) [https://permaculturenews.org/2014/03/21/home-scale- conversio...](https://permaculturenews.org/2014/03/21/home-scale-conversion- plastics-oil/) [https://plastics.americanchemistry.com/Plastics-to- Oil/](https://plastics.americanchemistry.com/Plastics-to-Oil/) [https://www.sciencealert.com/holy-crap-watch-this-guy- turn-p...](https://www.sciencealert.com/holy-crap-watch-this-guy-turn-plastic- back-into-oil)

</comment><comment><USER17> I worked at a company that introduced recycling program and we had three bins: trash, recyclables and food

We were all trying to abide by the program and go "green".

One day we stuck around late and noticed the cleaning guy come in take the three bins and empty the onto the same trash container

We asked him and he said they only had one type of trash containers we downstairs so everything went into the same one

<comment><USER18> This is how Warsaw, capital of Poland, EU member works. Recycling bins are mandatory per EU policy, garbage trucks load all three bins into the same bed and dump it into the same landfill, city pays EU fine. Everyone is happy because

\- people get to pretend they care

\- collecting is cheaper than using 3x the number of vehicles

\- its cheaper than actually doing something sensible with segregated garbage.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Citizens are not producing kgs of plastics a day! Companies are! Lets just start a movement to start unboxing everything in plastic after the purchase counter and before exit and leave supermarkets to deal with the plastics... then they'll take note. I've seen tens of inventions covering biological clear plastic alternatives, now we just need to make the companies apply them...

</comment><comment><USER13> > Illegal shipments of Australian waste used as fuel to make tofu in Indonesia

[https://youtu.be/S_rFC54Bxjc](https://youtu.be/S_rFC54Bxjc)

</comment><comment><USER20> I am not sure how much a return to glass would cost consumers. Taxing plastic might be required, unless someone can come up with a market based solution.

</comment><comment><USER21> 2 days ago, the recycling truck in my neighborhood picked up the trash bin of my neighbor in the same truck as the recycling (the neighbor put his trash bin out too late)... I'm pretty sure it all goes in the same place.</comment>


MuchQuestion, a Bitcoin enabled QA - <AUTHOR> http://muchquestion.com

<comment><USER2> Great idea!

I found a little typo on the front page: "It's also you who decides whether an answer deserves a pay (money paid don't automatically go to the first answer)."

should be: "It's also you who decides whether an answer deserves to be paid (money paid doesn't automatically go to the first answer)."

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you, fixed that.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Seems like dogecoin would be a better fit.

</comment><comment><USER4> Oh man, did this start as a Dogecoin thing and you switched currencies?

<comment><AUTHOR> Actually no. We just wanted a cool name that was related to cryptocurrencies, but not necessarily had bitcoin or coin in it.

<comment><USER5> Thank you for that. At some point it got quite confusing to tell if some *coin announcement was a new altcoin or a service for one of the existing currencies.</comment></comment></comment>


Tomato Can Blues - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/tomato-can-blues/?hp

<comment><USER2> Read it all the way through, when I typically give these sort of things 3 seconds before hitting the back button. The art caught my attention initially, but the writing and story are quite compelling. Still not sure if it's fiction or a style of in-depth human interest documentary writing. Either way, well done.

<comment><USER3> Seems to be nonfiction: [http://deadspin.com/supposedly-dead-mm%20a-fighter- robs-gun-...](http://deadspin.com/supposedly-dead-mm%20a-fighter-robs-gun- store-from-beyond-458495007)

<comment><USER4> Indeed it is non-fiction. Somebody really is that dumb.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The animations are an interesting illustrative technique, but tying them to the scroll event doesn't work well. I'm on a fairly powerful desktop running chrome and its all very jerky.</comment>


A rolling robot that transforms into a helicopter - robert-boehnke http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=3292

<comment><AUTHOR> When does a remote control car/copter become a robot? A robot infers a degree of autonomy in my book. I also agree with the wheel design above.

</comment><comment><USER2> I don't get it. Why not just make a helicopter with wheels?

(Also, how do we know it can transition back to ground mode? :) )

</comment><comment><USER3> So we're working on practical transformer bots now?

</comment><comment><USER4> $20,000 and he slams into the floor. Ouch.

</comment><comment><USER5> Wonderful :)</comment>


MuseScore 4: Moving from notation software to composition software - <AUTHOR> https://musescore.org/en/MuseScore4 <comment><USER2> I've long been impressed with the progress that MuseScore is making and this seems like a huge jump forward.

> Under the design direction of Martin Keary, we are making significant > improvements to the interaction models and interface of MuseScore 4

For those interested, Martin Keary (aka Tantacrul on YouTube) creates these very impressive YouTube videos of reviews of music notation software. His reviews are usually very scathing, but an honest critique.

After his video reviewing MuseScore, the MuseScore team spent a lot of time addressing the issues he pointed out and eventually hired him!

<comment><USER3> Does anybody knows other youtuber, talks, blog, that criticize real-world user interface? Is a fascinating topic

<comment><USER4> Although it may not really fit what you're looking for, there was a one-hour video linked here a few days ago that critiziced the entire modern desktop GUI landscape.

Video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AItTqnTsVjA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AItTqnTsVjA)

Discussion: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23480002](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23480002)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Exciting news! This feels like a Blender 2.8-style project.

What's funny about this is that a composer/music YouTuber/UX designer called Tantacrul meticulously roasted MuseScore's UI on YouTube, and the MuseScore team ended up hiring him, leading to this project.

The video in question: [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4hZxo96x48A](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4hZxo96x48A)

<comment><USER6> His series of videos on composer software is a pretty entertaining look at confusing GUI choices.

I wish there was more critical videos of popular software's GUIs.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> As an occasional user of MuseScore (which I like a lot), I'd be weary of them going down the DAW path. They really should focus on music notation.

There are already more DAWs than needed, some free, some inexpensive, and most of them pretty good.

It's unlikely a MuseScore DAW will bring anything new to the scene, whereas on the music notation front they occupy a unique and very strong position (their competitors being either outrageously expensive or not good).

My two cents.

<comment><USER8> It doesn't need to be "a DAW", it just needs to be "the parts of a DAW that lets you make the sheet music sound good". If they pull that off, which to date literally no one has, then I couldn't care less if it wasn't suitable for general music production without the sheet music side in the slightest. Need to be try to be FL Studio, or Ableton, or Logic Pro, or Cubase, or Avid Pro, or Studio One, or Reaper, or... Do what they don't, because they're not going to.

If MuseScore will let me use Spitfire's BBC Symphony Orchestra and gives me DAW-style control over how my sheet music renders to audio with the finesse that score alone doesn't allow for, then that would be something we've never been able to do, and it's about time someone did it.

<comment><USER9> I've long been a fan of PreSonus's Notion (and I say that as someone who has a lot of experience with Sibelius, Finale, and Dorico). It's one of the few products out there that pays attention to the "parts of a DAW that let you make sheet music sound good," and I (personally) find the UI easier to use than most. I won't say it's the best thing out there if you need beautifully engraved parts for a large orchestral work and you need super high levels of organization, but I love it for composing.

I do agree, though, that no scoring program really let's you have the level of control over the way sheet music is rendered at the level that Spitfire or VSL allow. There's always some kind of disconnect, and I always end up tinkering with things in a full-fledge DAW in the end.

<comment><USER10> PreSonus Notion user here and quite agreed it's excellent. I just wish they'd rev it more frequently.

<comment><USER9> No kidding! I'm always worried they've forgotten about it entirely.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Open source music notation is a thankless job - notation is _hard_ , and when you're composing, you run into corner cases pretty quickly.

I'm personally a big fan of lilypond because I'm also a programmer (and I also like LaTeX, which has a similar model), and I love that with lilypond I get both superior output, and source files that I can track with git, which is great when I have different versions of some of my works - I can actually compile them.

Here's a sample of a simple full-orchestra film cue I notated with lilypond which made me appreciate how easy it was to override default behavior: [https://github.com/tunesmith/TheForgivingSea/blob/master/1M2...](https://github.com/tunesmith/TheForgivingSea/blob/master/1M2/pdf/1M2.pdf)

Browsing the git repo above shows how scores and parts can be structured - from the same codebase, that repo can generate the parts for the individual orchestral instruments, similar to how many other notation packages can, except with lilypond I have total control. And it's the only notation solution I've tried that makes me comfortable that I'll have decades of compatibility - I can't even open most of my old Finale/Sibelius scores from college since I stopped paying for upgrades. Many composers also believe that Lilypond has the best engraving quality of all notation software.

But lilypond's been stuck on MusicXML support for years, and with pretty poor sound output options. On the other hand, sound output isn't a major priority for me, I usually use a sequencer or a piano to sketch out ideas, and I think there's something of an impedance mismatch between notation and sequencing anyway.

For MuseScore to go in this direction implies that they must be thinking they're already nailing the notation side. I'll try it out at some point to see if the UI ease-of-use makes up for the other things it loses - maybe I can use it for lead sheets - but I kind of doubt they're moving in a direction to be able to support serious composers.

<comment><USER12> > For MuseScore to go in this direction implies that they must be thinking > they're already nailing the notation side.

They're not. There's still a lot of work to do. It's passable, but it's not 100% yet.

When you're scoring with Lilypond, what front end do you use ? And does that frontend have midi in / out ? I don't really care what the internal sounds are, but when I'm scoring/writing I like to be at my piano, and being able to play back chord voicings/rhythms is helpful.

<comment><USER11> I personally use Frescobaldi - it works well for my flow. Apparently it has some midi input support, but I haven't tried that myself. Midi output/generation has also existed in lilypond for a while.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I've lost a lot of faith in MuseScore over the last couple of years. Their UX still has some major warts over Finale that haven't improved, and they completely screwed over their users by encouraging them to upload their compositions to MuseScore's cloud library and then cutting off free access to the cloud library. They ginned up as much content as they could from users and then announced this huge change in access a few months later.

I've lost a lot of faith in this business model because early users get screwed the hardest and as time goes by, it's harder and harder to justify using this app. Why is it that these projects so often promise the world early on only to continuously chip away at their own promises and undermine the faith of the community that gave them business to begin with?

<comment><USER14> That does sound awful. Did they allow a grace period for people to download/migrate their stuff off the platform?

<comment><USER15> They did. OP also neglected to mention that this was forced by the music industry threatening to sue them into oblivion if they didn't put it behind a pay wall.

<comment><USER16> Musescore did have separate listings for PD or CC-licensed compositions, vs. "no copyright is intended, wink wink" ones. They could have allowed access to the ones that were properly licensed.

<comment><USER15> Except that people would often select the wrong license as it's a human controlled process.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I feel they are on the wrong path.

Musescore has significant UX issues and things have been getting worse with each release. Instead of adding new complex functions that are already done better by others they should try to fix the basic things first.

<comment><USER18> What are some of the UX problems you're thinking of? Personally I've been pretty happy with it so far. (My main point of comparison is Sibelius, which I used until I went all-Linux three or four years ago.)

<comment><USER19> Oh there are some. Some of them have been fixed in MS3

The one that's almost a show-stopper to me and I realized it only recently: if you insert notes (between existing notes), it won't move the existing notes to the right, but it will instead create this "long" bar with more notes than your time signature.

Really

<comment><USER20> There are so many weird things like that, but the one that infuriates me the most is the inability to move notes left and right. The answer is to cut and paste, which - if you have already written out multiple bars but realize one note is in the wrong place or you're a quarter note off - becomes an exercise in frustration.

I recommended this software to someone, and my first words were: "This is a powerful program, but it has got a steep learning curve. It feels like it was designed and written by a programmer who also plays music"

The answer from this person two weeks later: "You were totally right. Very frustrating."

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> they actually hired the person behind this video (tantacrul):

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hZxo96x48A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hZxo96x48A)

It criticize the user interface and experience of various music application. I find it very entertaining yet still informative

</comment><comment><USER21> I find this move a bit weird to be honest. It seems like they are targeting the wrong users. People interested in writing sheet music usually do not need a DAW. And if they do, they probably already have one.

Also, instead of focusing on polishing their product core (writing sheet music) they are diluting their efforts.

<comment><USER22> They are probably seeing the writing on the wall.... people who use computers to compose music (which is probably 90% of musicians under 40) don't tend to use sheet music except as an output format, and even that is declining along with the need for real musicians playing instruments.

Pianoroll notation and all the things that tend to come with that just lend themselves to computers.

In many ways this is like CAD transitioning away from fractional notation to decimal. Fractions suck when using anything measured or derived, as they give you a tradeoff between accuracy and readability, that isn't the case with decimals. (i.e. is 19/64 bigger or smaller than 9/32? Meanwhile it's quite obvious that .296 is bigger than .281) With fractions, and traditional music notation, quantization is an important and annoying part of the process.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> This actually represents a major and fundamental philosophical shift in the sense that it takes Musescore from being a tool of representation to a tool of creation. I may be overinterpreting this of course, but I am reading a lot into how this might be following (or bucking) a general trend in internet/tech/wider culture that could be characterised as favouring mediums and platforms of consumption over ones of curation… yet alone creation.

</comment><comment><USER24> Does MuseScore have feature parity with Finale wrt notation? Essentially:

Speedy Entry or its equivalent (keypad-entry ftw)

An escape hatch for the user to paint their way out of all western notational edge cases (splayed stems, chord clusters, crazy slurs, etc.)

If it doesn't have the first then you lose all the copyists (gotta go fast).

If you don't have the second then you don't get the contractors engraving Henle editions (because control over the score isn't fine-grained enough).

Edit: I initially wrote "reliable escape hatch" but removed reliable-- at least when I was using it, many of Finale's workaround tools were buggy. Stuff like dragging a shape and the shape drifts away from the pointer the further you drag it from the origin. But you could power through the bugs and eventually get exactly what you want and print it out.

<comment><USER25> Just use Dorico and have support for all of that stuff in actual notation...

[https://steinberg.help/dorico/v2/en/dorico/topics/notation_r...](https://steinberg.help/dorico/v2/en/dorico/topics/notation_reference/notation_reference_stems_altered_unisons_split_stems_c.html)

[https://steinberg.help/dorico_pro/v3/en/dorico/topics/notati...](https://steinberg.help/dorico_pro/v3/en/dorico/topics/notation_reference/notation_reference_slurs_segments_c.html?hl=slur)

<comment><USER24> What about the escape hatch for things not listed there? For example, I didn't see clusters, or [one of probably 20 other things I could list one of which almost certainly requires an escape hatch]

<comment><USER25> Clusters are easily created as a custom notehead. This gives you full control over exact design and placement.

As for the rest, well, without knowing what your items are, I can't really respond - but Dorico is AMAZINGLY capable.

Irrational time signatures? Any crazy/arbitrary/arbitrarily nested tuplets you care to dream up? True open/unmearsured time signatures? Arbitrary microtonal systems? Multiple simultaneous time signatures? All out of the box.

But of course it supports the ultimate escape hatch... you can import SVG or export the entire score as SVG.

<comment><USER26> > you can import SVG

That sounded too amazing to be true, and doesn't seem to be. Typo? [https://doricosoftware.com/import_and_export.html](https://doricosoftware.com/import_and_export.html) (imports MusicXML and MIDI)

<comment><USER25> No, it's totally true:

[https://steinberg.help/dorico/v1/en/dorico/topics/engrave_mo...](https://steinberg.help/dorico/v1/en/dorico/topics/engrave_mode/engrave_mode_graphics_frames_r.html)

Here's a quick sample I just whipped up with the IETF logo.

[https://i.imgur.com/KON2dOm.png](https://i.imgur.com/KON2dOm.png)

Note how it's imported and used as true vector data - even when zoomed way in everything stays crisp - nothing is rasterized.

<comment><USER26> Oh, okay, it imports SVGs just as graphics elements? I was jumping to the conclusion it meant interpreting as notes that become an editable part of the score.

<comment><USER25> There are custom editors for just about everything (note heads, playing techniques, lines...$

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> For those that are not afraid of using a DSL to generate scores, Lilypond is great.

Much like using graphviz to generate workflows, you can just hop in an editor and start typing out your score, creating reusable chunks along the way. There is also a decent live-reload style editor called Frescobaldi.

<comment><USER16> I assume you mean Lilypond. It's great, but the interop with MusicXML format (the closest thing to a standard when it comes to machine-readable sheet music - and also supported by MuseScore) could use some improvement.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> I'm mostly just impressed by how many improvements they've made to their UI since hiring Tantacrul.

</comment><comment><USER29> "the first step in achieving this expanded focus", haha I know this one, the "expanded focus".

I hope they can pull it off, MuseScore 3 is amazing!

</comment><comment><USER30> Holy moly! As a big user of midi (I'm trying to make music for embedded platforms) the sequencer is a KILLER feature.

I've used LMMS in the past as I still find it much easier to compose with a sequencer than an actual music sheet but the major flaw is it's midi export not exporting the instruments meaning I have to touch it up in Aria Maestosa.

Ps. The musescore soundfont is probably the highest quality open source one out there, not a single instrument sounds wrong. It's my goto soundfont for composing

</comment><comment><USER31> Oh man, I could have really used the sequencer when I took my music composition classes in college. Finale and Sibelius are not conducive to actually writing music.

</comment><comment><USER32> The thing the most frustrates me about Musescore is the core dev-teams irrational refusal to add scroll-bars to the score panel (even as an option). Requests in the past have always been met with a "you are doing it wrong" response [https://musescore.org/en/node/268908](https://musescore.org/en/node/268908)

Has new input on the design changed this approach?

</comment><comment><USER33> Want to add that they really need to revamp their note entry process, which is very unpleasant and inefficient, and necessarily involves a lot of backtracking and redundancy. I hope this is included in the next version.

</comment><comment><USER34> I've used MuseScore on and off, mostly because it's UI frustrates me and gets in the way. It's powerful, but it needs a way to make simple notation easy. If they're truly going to make it better for casual users, I'm all for it.

</comment><comment><USER35> Exciting times. I appreciate the team's work on creating such high quality software. It doesn't feel like some random open source software. But it's always a work in progress, at the same time.

<comment><USER36> Every application is a work in progress. They either improve continuously or in point releases, step by step.

We were using musescore for our sheet music while I was playing in a symphony orchestra and, it was very capable back then. It was missing some very niche things (like Turkish Music Coma notation which divides a note to 9!) but, it was vastly usable.

I'm glad they didn't stop and moving forward. It's a very nice piece of software.

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> Sounds very promising for me as a man who cannot read musical notation at all. :-)

I am looking for some software which will do something like MIDI -> notation transformation.

PS: Sibelius crashed!

<comment><USER26> If you already play an instrument or sing, learning the fundamentals of music notation will take less than an hour, and practice makes it fluid. Following scores along to music or repeatedly puzzling out how to play pieces from the notation is what makes it automatic, and happens over time, just like any other skill. You start kind of laboriously with counting lines to see what note it is, and quickly become able to recognise notes directly.

Most notation programs can import MIDI, including MuseScore.

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> I just checked out the product site, this seems extensive and impressive. How do you make money?

</comment><comment><USER39> > We have moved to the new code style.

Finally.

</comment><comment><USER40> I've been working on an IDE for music composition [http://ngrid.io](http://ngrid.io). I'll release it soon.

<comment><USER41> Any hints as to what to expect? Signed up, but the tease is always fun :)</comment></comment>


Opioids are no better than standard painkillers for longterm back and joint pain - <AUTHOR> https://discover.dc.nihr.ac.uk/content/signal-000610/opioid-drugs-are-no-better-than-standard-painkillers-for-long-term-back-and-joint-pain <comment><USER2> Uhhhh. False? Source: me with chronic, severe back pain for the last 18 years.</comment>


US Park Police: It was a 'mistake' to say no tear gas was used in Lafayette Sq - <AUTHOR> https://www.vox.com/2020/6/5/21281604/lafayette-square-white-house-tear-gas-protest <comment><USER2> It was a mistake to use it to begin with.

</comment><comment><USER3> It wasn't a mistake! It's just another example of police abusing their power and then lying to cover their ass.</comment>


The most useless app in existence has an update - <AUTHOR> https://www.reddit.com/r/MaterialDesign/comments/amzk11/the_most_useless_app_in_existence_has_an_update/ <comment><USER2> As a side note the definition of "most useless app in existence", needs to be intended with an accent on "in existence" as the "most useless app" (now unfortunately discontinued) remains (IMHO) NaDa (since 2003):

[https://web.archive.org/web/20161112122853/http://www.bernar...](https://web.archive.org/web/20161112122853/http://www.bernardbelanger.com/computing/NaDa/index.php)</comment>


No matter what the boss says about flextime, get to work early - <AUTHOR> http://qz.com/209513/no-matter-what-the-boss-says-about-flextime-get-to-work-early/

<comment><USER2> Depends on who your boss is, and how much they value real productivity vs. time spent at your desk.</comment>


A free visual guide to CSS - <AUTHOR> http://cssreference.io/ <comment><USER2> [https://css-tricks.com/snippets/css/a-guide-to-flexbox/](https://css- tricks.com/snippets/css/a-guide-to-flexbox/)

The site you posted is awesome. Thought I'd share this FlexBox gem, too. I found that link in the React docs (I think?) and it's always been a nice go-to when I forget syntax.</comment>


10 Reasons Gen Xers Are Unhappy at Work - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/may2008/ca20080515_250308.htm <comment><USER2> This article has lots of generalizations but no data from surveys or other research to back it up.

<comment><USER3> I have to agree, while some of it is interesting, much of it has fortune- cookie like application.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Replace "Gen Xers" with "Humans" and "Work" with "Enterprises" and you've got something.

Start your own business.

</comment><comment><USER5> I think a lot of people here are actually Gen Y.

<comment><USER6> It would be neat to see some demographics to verify that.

<comment><USER7> Who needs demographics when you've got fluffy stats like the article uses? Just spout of vague generalized assumptions about the feelings and supposed actions of multiple demographic groups. Stop when you've reach your 1000 word retainer.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I'm so glad this was posted on YC. Thank you! I'm glad this place is featuring the exact same links as reddit, digg, slashdot, etc. Woohoo copycats!</comment>


Django-mediagenerator - <AUTHOR> http://www.allbuttonspressed.com/projects/django-mediagenerator <comment><USER2> Also check out this comparison of features: <http://djangopackages.com/grids/g/asset-managers/>

</comment><comment><USER3> I much prefer django-compressor (<https://github.com/mintchaos/django_compressor>) and similar apps which allow the template designer - instead of a developer - to define the asset files.

Just wrap your stylesheet definitions in {% compress css %}{% endcompress %} (same for JS) and they get merged, minified, and updated automatically. No need to go into the settings.py to add a stylesheet.

<comment><USER4> Do you really want to say that designers are incapable of adding a little string to a settings file? You could easily move the media-related settings into a separate file, so there's really no confusion, at all.

There are several reasons why assets should be configured in the settings. The most important ones: (1) This is the only way to support sandboxes like App Engine. (2) This makes advanced features like HTML5 manifest support possible, at all (you have to know all generated assets in advance). (3) Assets are pre- generated, so when deploying a new version your users don't have to wait for yuicompressor and other stuff (e.g. upload to S3) to finish.

The only advantage of the template-based approach is that it's more "familiar". However, that approach has too many limitations and disadvantages. That's why we went with settings-based asset definitions.</comment></comment>


Hi. I'm Tim. I'm a single cell in society's body. U.S. society, to be specific - <AUTHOR> https://waitbutwhy.com/2019/08/story-intro.html <comment><USER2> Chapter 1 cribs a lot of ideas from Dawkins' _The Selfish Gene_ , does this guy cite it anywhere?

<comment><USER3> Not sure, but it's not like he's claiming academic privilege.

I see more EO Wilson in what follows than Dawkin's anyway... We're all in a big ant colony, even if we don't realize it day to day, etc.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I remember this from here: [http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/SUPORGLI.html](http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/SUPORGLI.html)</comment>


Show HN: [Colearn] Find people to learn with you - <AUTHOR> https://colearn.co <comment><AUTHOR> Hi everyone, We are trying to solve problem of learning by creating a platform for finding people to learn with you. We are looking for feedback and constructive criticism? I have written here why this is an important problem [https://hackernoon.com/find-people-to-learn-with-colearn- bbf...](https://hackernoon.com/find-people-to-learn-with-colearn- bbfa6b7f7570#.4olo1yl9u) Thanks.

</comment><comment><USER2> Nice idea, would be even better if you could filter based on location. This to me is even more important than subject matter.

<comment><AUTHOR> You mean people near you(like in your city?)? or people in similar timezone?

<comment><USER2> I meant people near me -- either in my city or somewhere within an hour away. I struggle to find people around my area to socially code with.

Meetup.com already provides a way to filter events by location, but the problem is, people need to pay to register events, plus sometimes you are looking for just one or two other people and dont need a whole group.

<comment><AUTHOR> We don't have an android or IOS app yet. This is more easier to build with the app. We will definitely think about it when we build the app. Thanks for the suggestion.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Terminal sharing using your browser - <AUTHOR> https://nutty.io

<comment><USER2> Watching the demo is like watching TwitchPlaysPokemon, except it's HN/NuttyPlaysLinux. They've already done rm -rf / on the demo that I was watching.

<comment><USER3> I think the conclusion is that you can't trust random internet users with a terminal.

<comment><USER2> Now I really want to go make a TwitchPlaysLinux stream. Would need a goal for them to accomplish...

<comment><USER4> TwitchInstallsArchLinux?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Posted previously by the same user, who appears to be the developer:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6571735](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6571735)

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, I re-did the whole thing and giving it another shot.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> It's interesting to see the 3 different groups of people

1) People trying to break the system

2) People trying to use the system

3) Griefers

I get the lolz and all that but I don't see holding down ^C for two minutes all that imaginative. Right now the demo stays up for a few minutes until someone starts a fork bomb... for whatever reason... frustrating, I had a nethack game going for awhile too!

<comment><AUTHOR> yeah ... I think we can expect all kinds of people here :-) You can just install nutty and check it out.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> cool! I had to get 5 interns spun up on a few dev environments last summer and this definitely would have made it easier. I can also see this being useful for sharing output like logs or errors.

I'm sure as the developer you've thought of a lot more applications for nutty (great url btw), what sort of things do you see it being useful for?

<comment><AUTHOR> It will be useful for any situation where you want to quickly share your terminal. Have you used tmux/screen tools? Nutty will be useful in similar situations where tmux/screen is used but nutty works even if the peer is behind firewall. Plus you can use webrtc when sharing terminals using nutty as it runs in the browser.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> This is pretty useful. I think it should only be readable by default. Why the need to sign-in to make it read-only?

<comment><AUTHOR> If you think making it R/O by default makes sense ... let me think about it. I need to fix "Why the need to sign-in to make it read-only"</comment></comment>


Ask HN: How to sponsor a nearly free fax service? - <AUTHOR> I think most of us have had the odd and frustrating experience where we are forced to submit a document of some kind to some stone-aged entity via fax. With the advent of programmable fax, you can now send a 5-page fax for less than $0.10 USD, almost anywhere in the world.
I'm writing a hassle-free fax as a service application for that one time per year that you're reduced to returning to [1995 to use a fax.](http://dilbert.com/search_results?terms=1995)
I don't want to make money on it, just break even. How can I employ this in such a way that prevents abuse (someone programmatically hitting the app for their own fax service) without having to charge a user an exorbitant fee to cover CC transaction costs? I'm not willing to fund it with adverts, I hate that. Ideas? <comment><USER2> One idea would be to cooperate with a rural LEC. For example some of the rural iowa guys make $0.04 cent per minute when people call their phone numbers (cabs billing).

You would promote free inbound fax numbers and do a revenue share with the rural lec. You could easily do free inbound fax service for all of your customers because most Rlecs do not agree to bill and keep tarrifs.

So... you run your fax service where you get 1 free minute outbound for every 10 inbound faxes.

      Then your average outbound fax costs would be 1/10th less.  So if you did a 60/40 revenue split with the RLEC, you would be able to offer free outbound faxes on a "ratio".

The FCC is probably going to close this loop hole in the next 20 years. They have been playing cat and mouse with this for years.

</comment><comment><USER3> I dunno, I've never had a problem with faxzero the one or two times a year I have to send something by fax, honestly. I'm just not sure what a new player in the "fax by web" field would be able to do. I'm not trying to naysay what you're doing, I'm just saying that solid competitors already exist and work well for a lot of users already.

<comment><AUTHOR> You make a good point. I personally found fax zero to be a PITA, but I think that this itch I've scratched might not really scale.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> "without having to charge a user an exorbitant fee to cover CC transaction costs?"

PayPal charges 5% + 5 pence per transaction if you transactions are all small. Look up 'paypal micropayments'.

</comment><comment><USER5> as a user I've paid for service such as this. if i were you i would charge from the start and another option add some patreon</comment>


Facebook Engineering Puzzles - <AUTHOR> http://www.facebook.com/careers/puzzles.php <comment><USER2> I've never understood the use of puzzles and tests for hiring. I'm notoriously bad at them, but I consider myself to be a very solid programmer, with 13 years professional web development experience, and a major open source project under my belt.

I think one of the reasons I don't do well on these is because my brain doesn't seem to work well for hypotheticals. I need real world use cases or else it's exceedingly difficult for me to work out a solution for a problem that is too abstract.

Maybe I'm unique amongst other programmers with my level of experience. It's possible that other programmers love doing puzzles like this, but I tend to get discouraged if I'm looking at a company, and they use tests and puzzles to gauge my capabilities.

Especially (and I wouldn't accuse Facebook of this, but it happens much too often), if those tests and puzzles are substitutes for looking at the massive amounts of code I've written.

<comment><USER3> The Facebook puzzles are pretty easy. That being said, I hate puzzles too. I think it's pretty degrading to ask a well-established researcher/engineer to do that kind of stuff. On interviews I typically ask people to give a talk about their previous projects in detail. A lot of nuances arise during these talks that allow you to quite easily judge the level of the candidate.

<comment><USER4> Why is it degrading? I would think it would be perfectly acceptable for companies to ensure that their new hires (experienced or not) pass their basic heuristics. This comes in the form of tests, resume checks, social compatibility, etc.

(I ask this from the perspective of a young, inexperienced developer.. so excuse the thoughtlessness!)

<comment><USER3> I don't know... I would personally feel a bit weird asking, for example, an experienced compiler developer with a CS PhD to reverse a linked list, or words in a string, or something like that.

<comment><USER5> So get them to solve something more difficult than reversing a linked list. A good programmer will enjoy a good puzzle, especially if it is new to them.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Facebook seems to be following the same trajectory that Google did. I remember ~10 years ago Google used to put out such puzzles; if you solved them, your chances of getting hired at El Goog went up significantly.

In another, say, 5 years, expect to hear about Facebook giving out massive retention bonuses to top engineers who are defecting en masse to a hot new startup... :-D

<comment> wh-uws Its the circle of (extraordinarily successful startup) life.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Here is why the puzzles can be very effective, especially for a company in no hurry to hire:

1) The people who submit them are most likely interested in your company, took the time to solve the problem, and have a mind that works well. That already saves a lot of time screening people you wouldn't want for those top positions.

2) It attracts other smart people because you wouldn't refer puzzles to stupid people -- notice how we posted it on Hacker News. On a similar note, if you google for Node.js like I did, you'll find a sponsored result from Meebo offering you to apply to their "secret jobs!" -- because not just anyone searches for Node.js, but rather people who are interested in the new technology, which they are probably using or looking into.

3) Psychology -- people feel like they want something they worked towards. They committed time to facebook, so they will take it more seriously, and when someone from facebook talks to them, and asks them about their background AFTER solving the puzzle, they will feel a sense of accomplishment and engage back.

4) Notice how many of these puzzles have specified the exact outputs. They can screen the initial applicants with an automated test suite to see how well they did. Cheapest first round candidate evaluation ever :)

5) The puzzles are hopefully related to the kinds of architectural and social challenges they actually have to solve at facebook, so this prepares the candidate for that kind of thinking. If the candidate doesn't like thinking in this way, perhaps it's better to find out as early as possible, and before even SPEAKING to the candidate is pretty early!

If anything I would definitely set this kind of thing up for the top (architectural, etc.) development positions at facebook. They were recently named the best place to work at in 2010, so they can afford to do this.

</comment><comment><USER8> I contacted the like a little guys and they sent me back 2 puzzles before they would even speak to me. The first one was dead simple and took about 14 seconds to write the code and another 7 for it to run and give me the answer.

"A 7 digit number consists of 7 distinct digits (from 0..9 ofcourse); The product of the first 3 digits = product of central 3 digits = product of last 3 digits; Find the middle digit."

"Middle Number: 2" "Set: 1892463" "Common Products: 72"

The next question I did not understand; I just figured I was not smart enough because I have no college and I am just a hacker that makes shit not a "software eng.". I sent it to a friend of mine that teaches Econ. at a top college and he said he had no idea what they were even asking. (see question below)

Given a list of N line segments on the X axis: (x1[i], x2[i]) where i = 1 to N; And then a list of M queries. Each query inputs one x-coordinate and you need to output the number of line segments that overlap this point. Assume M & N are very large. (So O(M*N) is really bad.)

I asked for clarification and got none so I guess they figured i was just too stupid to respond to which is cool but it made me wonder if when people talk about programmers that cant program do they mean people that cant answer these types of questions? I spent 5 or 10 min or it and gave up. But even though I didn't answer this I can code like a MF and if this question had been a programming challenge I think I could have done it.

My point is that companes should really think before sending out stuff like that to potential developers because they might pass up on some really good talent. I am not saying that I am very talented but I do know how to code and build cool products. I made digest.io and it uses clojure, ML, MapReduce to learn about your diet and help manage digestive conditions and it has paying customers that are happy. I made that and it works well so im not a rookie but I still have no idea what that 2nd question is asking.

BTW: Even though i hate these puzzles the FB puzzles are simple and I have always been able to complete them quickly.

<comment><USER9> They probably didn't answer because if you need clarification on the question, you have no hope of producing the answer. And incidentally it IS a programming challenge. (Which is why the econ prof had no clue.)

You have a collection of N intervals. And a collection of M points (which they call queries). For a given interval and point, that point can be in the interval or not. For each point you are supposed to find out how many intervals it is inside of. And you're supposed to make the code fairly efficient.

From the way you've written it, the intervals look like open intervals. So x1[i] is not in the i'th interval. That is a minor but significant detail, and I expect their test data to check it.

The naive solution is to write a function that takes an interval and a point, and says whether that point is in that interval. Then you just loop over all points and intervals. This works, but the number of times you run that comparison is N * M. Which, if N and M are large, is going to be painfully slow. In fact there is a notation to discuss how slow, and that notation would say O(N * M). They don't want any variant on this solution.

The solution they are probably looking for is O((N + M) * log(N)). One solution is to try to first find and put into sorted form all of the intervals where the answer is going to be constant across the interval, and then do a binary search for each point to find what interval it falls into (and therefore what the answer is for that point).

My guess as to their thinking is that anyone who can't figure out something like this won't have any clue when they cause scalability problems. This matters for larger sites.

If you don't understand any of what I just said, that's a hole in your background. To fix it go off and learn about little-o, big-O, and some basic algorithms. A short list of algorithms to learn could include quicksort, merge sort, hashing, binary search and how a BTree works. That combination will solve most problems pretty easily.

<comment><USER10> From the explanation you just gave I sovled it in 7 minutes but i guess thats no challenge since you did all the thinking and I just had to code it. But I see what you mean; i feel like I should have known that and will definitely go look into the things you suggested.

\--Thanks

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Here are some challenges from Quora, the Q&A site:

<http://www.quora.com/challenges>

</comment><comment><USER12> I really like these puzzles. After you get through the first few trivial ones. The submission process is a little frustrating in that you have no idea if your code failed because it's wrong or because it simply took too long.

Taking too long is a real problem with a few of the puzzles (eg breathalyzer). If you read the comment threads there are some astoundingly fast solutions out there. My C breathalyzer solution was pretty quick but I was running it on an Ubuntu VM running inside Windows 7 and that did impact performance (particularly I/O). I've been meaning to run it on a real Ubuntu setup but haven't gotten around to it.

Anyway it all became moot as I ended up getting a job at Google but I did find it an interesting exercise.

</comment><comment><USER13> Meh, perhaps I've grown crotchety, but I'm not jumping through hoops for you (theoretical employer), sorry. I can solve puzzles just fine, but I'd rather spend the holidays implementing new PostgreSQL driver.

</comment><comment><USER14> I'm confused, what exactly do they mean by this bit, "If you compressed your solution, any Makefile/build.xml files (and the executable file itself) need to be uncompressed and/or built into the same root directory as the compressed archive itself or your submission will result in a build error."

Are they saying that the archive shouldn't have any directories in it period or that it should all be in one directory?

<comment><USER15> Sounds like neither. A prebuilt binary (or the makefile and resultant binary) should be at the top level. You could have other files in subdirectories if you liked.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Is it considered a deal breaker if interviewees are unable to solve such puzzles during interviews?

<comment><USER17> The puzzles posed in interviews at Facebook (and at Google) have a lot less B.S. It's more geared toward data structures/algorithms. Failing to solve these puzzles is a deal breaker.

here's a kind of medium example from Fog Creek: given a list of elements in lexicographical order (i.e. ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']), find the nth permutation

I'll add that they'll give you a certain amount of guidance if you require it, but beyond a certain point they're just helping you to make it less awkward.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> There is also Facebook Hackercup on the way: <http://www.facebook.com/hackercup>

<comment><USER18> Why have I been downvoted? Facebook suggests to practice with the puzzles linked by OP before registering for Hackercup, so these are very well connected.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Uh, maybe I'm just failing the first puzzle, but how do you submit these?

<comment><USER16>
      Submissions should be sent via email to the address: {0xFACEB00C>>2 in email@example.com

(Its right there, below the list of all puzzles.)

<comment><USER19> Ah, missed that, thank you.

The email address is also listed on the fan page.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Bah! No Lua :(</comment>


My Friend Had Achor In MVP For Too Long - <AUTHOR> https://justruky.xyz/2016/katha-mvp-too-long/ <comment><USER2> Anchor's market penetration comes from their ability to get users, press, and search results. Katha may have the same idea, an equally good cross-platform app, and a year head start, but that doesn't mean _anything_ if the team couldn't get the word out.

Most tech founders hate this, but your ability to market your business is considerably more important than your product at the beginning. You can build the most amazing app in the world but if you can't get people to hear about it your startup will fail. Conversely, you can build something very average, but if you can get it in front of millions you'll probably succeed.

All that said though, didn't AudioBoo do sound-based social media years before both of these apps? It was quite popular for a while.

<comment><AUTHOR> Agreed and I think as the startup arena gets more and more popular and competitive I guess it increases the need for marketing more and more.

I think today one has to spend more money on marketing than few years before and it will be more increased few years from now. I guess It's only going to increase.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I can guarantee you that in one year neither you nor your friends who are working on it will think it was "once in a lifetime" idea--not because it's a trivial idea, but simply because there's so much opportunity out there and people who can come up with a good idea can and will come up with another good idea. Also, Anchor is hardly a success, it's just an illusion because they're getting lots of PR. PR does not mean it will be a success. Which means your friends should keep working on it if they're passionate about it.

</comment><comment><USER4> I am attempting right now to overtake people who have put out an ordinary MVP.

I am hoping to surprise them and leave them in the dust.

</comment><comment><USER5> Hardly a "once in a lifetime idea", is it?

<comment><USER2> All the best ideas seem obvious after the fact. This Venn diagram demonstrates where you should aim for: [http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5303c34eecad04401e8...](http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5303c34eecad04401e83389e-1421-833/dixonyc02.jpg)

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> The title should say _Anchor_.

<comment><AUTHOR> I edited the title of my post but HN is now not allowing me to edit the post, so I can't change it sorry :(

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Your title seems misspelled.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks and fixed :)</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Computer Vision Syndrome - <AUTHOR> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_vision_syndrome
This is something I have been struggling with for a long time. The symptoms I have are dry eyes (which I dont notice much) and double vision (which can be extreme). If I forget to follow basic prevention tips for a few days, my eyes cannot focus on anything further than 10 feet from me, and the doubling distance is huge.
Beyond following the 20/20/20 rule, which helps a little:
- Are there specific monitors that anyone can recommend that reduce eye strain?
- Another option I was thinking of was buying a 60" monitor to mount on my wall so I can sit as far from the monitor as possible.
- What other tips have helped you reduce eye strain while working on a computer? <comment><USER2> What has helped me tremendously was upgrading ambient lighting. Position your workplace so that you get plenty of outside light, if possible, and set up downward facing soft lights in your room. The better the ambient light around your screen, the lower the contrast between your screen and everything else you're looking at. For me, it usually also means lower screen brightness, which might help you as well.</comment>


Misconstruing Salary with Professional Advancement - <AUTHOR> http://baus.net/misconstruing-salary/

<comment><USER2> Goes nicely with the advice to keep your burn rate low so that you can more easily take advantage of opportunities that don't pay as much (upfront at least).</comment>


Keyword Suggestions Scraping with Ruby & Typhoeus - <AUTHOR> http://www.jakeaustwick.com/keyword-suggestions-scraping-with-ruby-and-typhoeus

<comment><USER2> Thanks for the HN post, appreciate it.</comment>


The End of the 268 Teledildonics Patent - <AUTHOR> https://www.metafetish.com/2018/08/16/the-end-of-the-268-teledildonics-patent/ <comment><USER2> Not sure what I just read, but yeah, patent parking sucks.</comment>


How Pixelmator is moving to the Mac Apps store - <AUTHOR> http://www.pixelmator.com/transition/

<comment><USER2> >P.S. Even if you decide not to move to the Mac App Store we will continue to provide free Pixelmator 1.X updates til version 2.0.

A little less sensationalization next time

<comment><AUTHOR> I've updated the headline to be less sensationalistic. They're not 'forcing' you to upgrade, they're just forcing you to buy it through the mac app store if you want to upgrade, and strongly suggestion you re-buy the app now if you don't want to pay full price when the new version comes out.</comment></comment>