Some Thoughts on the Federated Social Networks - <AUTHOR> http://www.25hoursaday.com/weblog/2011/03/23/SomeThoughtsOnTheFederatedSocialNetworks.aspx.aspx

<comment><USER2> _yet hear virtually nothing about Diaspora or Status.Net being used in similar ways to impact the lives of millions of people._

It's because all this software isn't done yet, is severely underfunded, undermanned, outnumbered and outgunned by the proprietary systems.

That isn't stopping any of us from pushing forward, but when the runaway success of our crowd (Diaspora) raised only $200k, to expect that we can immediately compete with the likes of Facebook or Twitter is simply unrealistic. I know we're all doing our best, most of us are volunteers with little to no funding, and we're up against some of the top engineers in the world with billions in venture capital.

But we're all still plugging away. Open source is nothing if not tenacious.

<comment><USER3> Why were blogs replaced by Facebook and Twitter? Because you get more comments on Facebook and Twitter. It has nothing to do with funding.

<comment><USER2> What evidence do you have that blogs were replaced by Facebook and Twitter (and not simply augmented by them)?

<comment><USER3> Lots of anecdotal evidence of people no longer posting things on their blog but on these services instead. Been going on for years now.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I think the author is missing a connection between the two arguments that he talks about.

Open Source isn't just about self-hosting, but about being able to choose your provider. And the ability to freely choose your provider is dependent on the services on different providers being interoperable.

Also, without a strong Open Source movement, there's no incentive for the closed platforms to interoperate. If anything, there's only disincentives.

As I see it, the only big player with the necessary clout/infrastructure and Open Source credentials and incentives to make the necessary changes is Google.</comment>


Having music on YouTube prevents piracy, says Google - <AUTHOR> https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3009945/having-music-on-youtube-prevents-piracy-says-google <comment><USER2> In other news, scientists have deduced that if you make downloading legal, there won't be any illegal downloading anymore!

<comment><AUTHOR> kinda obvious.</comment></comment>


Critique of Herbalife as a Pyramid Scheme - <AUTHOR> http://factsaboutherbalife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Who-wants-to-be-a-Millionaire.pdf

<comment><USER2> At first, I thought this was just exposing the Herbalife multi-level marketing scam. This has been around for decades, and I remember reading about it years ago. The premise is that "distributors" are tricked into thinking they can get rich by reselling weight-loss and other supplements, and paid for recruiting others. But there's actually no market to be found, so they just get stuck paying a bunch for some unsellable inventory. The presentation argues that this is violating laws.

But then I checked out the root web page of the domain, <http://factsaboutherbalife.com>, I found a far more interesting story. A popup there says, among other things, that:

> Pershing Square currently maintains a substantial short position in the > common stock of Herbalife Ltd. ("Herbalife").

So Pershing Square Capital Management, LP found a large company built on fraud, shorted its stock, then set up a web page and presentation to encourage prosecution. Now _that's_ more interesting!

<comment><USER3> That is actually pretty interesting.

However, that info is also in the linked PDF, on page 2:

 _"Pershing Square currently has a short position in Herbalife Ltd. ('Herbalife') common stock. We do not own any options on Herbalife common stock.

Pershing Square will profit if the trading price of Herbalife common stock declines and will lose money if the trading price of common stock of Herbalife increases."_</comment></comment>


What the Internet is doing to our brains (2008) - <AUTHOR> https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/?single_page=true <comment><USER2> I think we retain knowledge when we put it to use it regularly. With Google, Wikipedia, YouTube, etc. you can quickly access information, but the retention part is still all on us.

Pre-Internet when I had a question, I'm wondering if the fact that we have accessed more information through Google but our total capacity for retention has stayed the same makes us feel like we're dumber. If we can retain 200 things a year, before we'd retain 10% of all information accessed because we weren't bombarded with as much, but now we retain about 1% or less because we're getting hot with so much info whenever we want. But the quantity of retained information is still constant (or maybe increasing), it just feels like more information is skipping through the cracks because of the volume.

<comment><USER3> Even a specialist in a small research field gifted with great memory has little chance to know and retain everything except most basics and what they're doing right now.

The usual trick was to know in which book or paper to find what, or at least which author. Search engines have made this part much easier.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> It's definitely giving a voice to milquetoast, unqualified and unexamining journalism.

<comment><USER3> Autor just got bored of reading and writing same mush every day and cannot focus anymore.

I guess it is time to retire or change the vocation.

Alternatively, they could take the time and reacquaintce with actually good writing.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Unplugging makes a big difference. I think what the author is going through is the brains ability to adjust to it's environment.

It's not dissimilar to being in an active social setting for a period. The brain reworks itself for better smalltalk, extroversion, glib remarks... when you find yourself suddenly alone, there are pangs of loneliness until you accept the downtime. Longer & deeper thoughts are possible after the adjustment.

This even happens more quickly to us nightowls. You essentially rent out your brain during the day (for social reasons, empathy, etc) but when night arrives (and you're alone), the brain is free for your _own_ thoughts.

Funny thing about the easy access to information making us dumber. I see parallels here to the handheld calculator. When I was in school, decades ago... I refused to use a handheld calculator even though they were allowed for math calculations. Not really sure if it made any difference in the middle to longterm...

</comment><comment><USER6> Thanks for posting this. I experience the same problem as the author. Heck, I didn't even finish the article! :)

</comment><comment><USER7> The reason I often don't finish articles is because there's too much fluff and "story telling". Just go straight to the point and give me the facts with the context so I can understand the information. I don't need to be told a grand story.

</comment><comment><USER8> Funny. Ten years later, and I recognized it was an older article I'd read before within a sentence or two. That said, without re-reading it, I have no recollection of its conclusion.</comment>


Eliminating racial and gender discrimination - <AUTHOR>

I think personalized DNA sequencing is the way to go.  When applying for a job, include your DNA sequence as part of the application.<p>You could take this even further by providing real-time DNA comparisons (at least on genes that you care about) with people who are nearby.  Such analysis could give you some guidance as to whether you should start a conversation with a stranger say. <comment><USER2> Nobody's pointing out the fallacy that DNA is just the start of how a person actually is? Even if there were genes that were easily identifiable for beauty, personality, intelligence, leadership or anything else you cared about, there's no guarantee that potential would have been fulfilled.

<comment><AUTHOR> Of course, effort is required as well. But at least you can use this approach to prune out candidates where that potential is lacking.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Yeah, that's a great idea. Nobody's gonna stare at the hot chick's boobs when they've got her DNA on file! Totally scalable idea, amichall.

Well, maybe in your world it is. See, in the real world, people don't give a crap about your dna. What matters is that you are a lazy black or a slut or whatever other stereotype they want to put on you.

Profiling on DNA would just give another thing to discriminate against. Go watch Gattaca sometime, kthx.

<comment><AUTHOR> Discrimination is a form of probabilistic reasoning in the presence of incomplete knowledge. Provide more information about the individual and discrimination will go away eventually. Companies aim to maximize their profits and it is in their best interest to hire the best people.

<comment><USER3> Companies aim to do many things, because they are a gestalt entity. In many companies, the higher-ups aim to perpetuate an 'old-boy' network, rewarding their friends with high-paying cushy jobs. They are actually aiming to discriminate, amichall.

In addition, nobody is going to sit down, go through someone's DNA sequence, and say "oh, now I have more knowledge about John Freeman. I am going to discard my prejudices against black people because I have a sequence of letters in front of me! Rational thought is so great!"

No, you eliminate discrimination through education and confrontation. Each generation that mixes with other groups will discriminate less than the one that came before.

In conclusion, you, sir, are either severely misinformed about the world or an idiot. Or both.

<comment><AUTHOR> If hiring the best people means the difference between your company succeeding or failing, then maybe you will put aside your prejudices and hire the best candidate for a job.

As for going through a DNA sequence, obviously you would have software to look for patterns that are beneficial to your company. The check would be automated and quick.

And please, no need for ad hominem attacks.

<comment><USER3> That's not an ad hominem attack. I wasn't saying your argument is wrong because you don't know how the world works. I was saying your argument is wrong because of X, Y, and Z, and incidentally you don't know how the world works.

Your responses continue to show that you don't know how the world works. You aren't going to find DNA patterns that are beneficial to your company. Identical twins with identical DNA can have incredibly different personalities. Humans share 94% of our DNA with chimpanzees, amichall.

In conclusion, please go watch Gattaca and then go join the real world for a bit.

<comment><USER4> _That's not an ad hominem attack._

Technically, perhaps, but it was name-calling. I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't do that.

<comment><USER5> You have to get extremely technical to claim that "either severely misinformed about the world or an idiot" is not an ad-hominem attack. Perhaps a compiler could not prove that the ad-hominem is reachable, but all us humans see it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Watch Gattaca to see this idea in action.

<comment><AUTHOR> Gattaca is fiction.

<comment><USER7> Let's keep it that way.</comment></comment></comment>


The man who sold the Eiffel Tower. Twice. - <AUTHOR> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Lustig <comment><USER2> He only successfully sold it once, according to the article.</comment>


Red Herring awards: a scam? - <AUTHOR> http://www.techinasia.com/red-herring-awards-scam/

<comment><USER2> > When I attended the first time to present, I found a nearly empty room with > five or six people and another entrepreneur presenting on stage. Next up, > was me. Before I started, I just asked, "Who were the actual Red Herring > judges?" No one raised their hands. Since it was only five others, I asked > who they were with. They were all entrepreneurs waiting to present next. We > then realized, there were NO judges and NO "esteemed panel."

I expected the "conference" to be lackluster and crappy, but I didn't expect that they would literally not even bother setting anything up for the awards. Amazing.

<comment><USER3> That's what I found weird.

>... a nearly empty room with five or six people and another entrepreneur presenting on stage. Next up, was me.

Why was the first person even on the stage talking? There had to be an MC.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> TIL that Red Herring still exists. As an aside, the blog that's the source for this article (<http://www.techinasia.com/>) is a fantastic English language source for what's going on in the Asian tech startup scene. Lots of coverage of big companies like Sina Weibo, Baidu, Renren, etc. Also coverage of smaller stuff. There's a lot of innovation happening in Asia, particularly in China, and this is one of the few English language sources doing detailed reporting that I know of.

</comment><comment><USER5> I'm amused by the irony of the name "Red Herring". Perhaps the idiom isn't familiar to non-native English speakers?

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_herring>

<comment><USER6> Red Herring used to be a major tech magazine back in the day

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Herring_(magazine)>

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Back in the late nineties a variation on this was for the scammer to call and say you'd be featured on some cable business show hosted by a big shot ex- politician. When they called me it was Casper Weinberger, but I remember hearing about other names too. The catch was that you had to pay the production costs of $15-25k.

More info: <http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-954-461-2100/2>

This is also a common charity tactic. They throw a big dinner party honoring some rich guy, then shake down all his friends to pay for tables at dinner.

<comment><USER8> I've been there. We had a new person in the office who didn't believe that such scams could exist, so for the lulz they were assigned to deal with the person. They could say whatever they wanted as long as they didn't agree to pay.

The salesguy ended up _screaming_ at our person who was just playing dumb.

It's also the "Who's Who" scam, where they print your name in a book of important people and sell you the book, or the "You Won A Poetry Content" that Dave Barry had so much fun with. [http://www.miamiherald.com/2007/07/22/165002/poetic- license-...](http://www.miamiherald.com/2007/07/22/165002/poetic-license-with- no-rhyme-or.html)

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> They contacted me before saying if I'm willing to pay for the $3,000, I will get the top 100 award. It's a joke. But there are still so many companies willing to pay them every year in Asia. So sad.

</comment><comment><USER10> The Red Herring magazine and brand was bought years ago. The brand was whored out to promote Dasar conferences. If you want some sad entertainment, read through any Valleywag/Gawker articles about working at Red Herring. Sad thing is all the stories are easily verifiable - just talk to any ex-employee.

</comment><comment><USER11> I used to work in a "multi-award winning" agency. They would pay extortionate amounts to win these awards given by people with absolutely no credibility in the industry. It wasn't an award, so much as an endorsement. The sad thing is, it used to work, clients lapped it up.

</comment><comment><USER12> I heard this about the Webby Awards as well...

<https://www.google.com/search?q=webby+awards+scam>

</comment><comment><USER13> Why would anyone pay $3000 to attend a conference to receive an award, which in reality amounts to nothing?

Your users don't care about some stupid online award they've never heard of. If the investors you're talking to care about it then it's time to find new investors.

<comment><USER14> Ego most likely.

<comment><USER15> It's not even ego, it's external validation. You're not sure you're doing it right and then someone says you are. Powerful.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> The name isn't enough of a clue?

<comment><USER17> Red Herring was actually a legitimate tech magazine at one time. It is brushed upon slightly at the beginning of the article.

If you goto the Wikipedia article, the names line up.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Herring_(magazine)>

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Hmm. I recently saw a company advertize their Red Herring award, and my scam- sense was tingling. I did a little looking and decided the whole thing was a bit of a scam, but targeted at me, the potential impressee.

I never considered the possibility of the company itself having been scammed.

</comment><comment><USER19> JD Power isn't much better. Supposedly they really do select based on quality, but it's setup so you have to pay MASSIVE fees if you ever want to acknowledge publicly that you've won.

</comment><comment><USER20> I googled "web awards" and all the top links required you to pay a "participation fee".

</comment><comment><USER21> For what it's worth the US stage this year was a pretty professional production. Just viewing the pitches was worth the money. Notably, many of those that pitched -- including some competitors of ours, did not receive the award.</comment>


Paul Graham Gets Vague when Boston needs analysis - <AUTHOR> http://buzzboston.wordpress.com/2007/10/16/paul-graham-gets-vague-when-boston-needs-analysis/ <comment><USER2> I think PG and this group are too focused on Web 2.0 companies. So all his talk of superiority of the valley ecosystem is probably right in the consumer- web space. Boston stills kicks ass for enterprise software and biotech.Unfortunately you can't build those with college dropouts.

<comment><USER3> What hacker wants to touch "enterprise" software with a 10 foot pole?

Beyond that, "enterprise" and "startup" - at least to my mind - don't have a large intersection. If I want something enterprisey, I want it from a big, established IBM type company who will be there 10 years from now, and still be interested in my business.

<comment><USER2> And you think the people who started VMWare, ITA software, Akamai & Ab Initio were dumb, stupid, second-rate hackers? Obviously by your definition these were never a startup because people would have bought stuff from IBM anyway.

Like a lot of other people in this group you are confusing web startups with startups.

Here is a list of Boston area Enterprise startups that went public this year: Airvana, Starent Networks, Bladelogic, Netezza, AcmePacket . They could not have done so without real customers and real revenue (not traffic, not unique visitors).

<comment><USER3> I think we have slightly different concepts of what "enterprise" is, actually, which is ok, since it's hardly a term with a precise definition. I'd tend to think of companies like VMWare as something else, though. Enterprise to me means SAP, Oracle, IBM, and that kind of thing.

Do you think the people who run IBM or GE are stupid? Probably not... What they are not, however, is "hackers". That's a vague term too, so I guess debating it is meaningless, but please don't put words in my mouth with regards to "stupid people". There are plenty of smart people whose footsteps I wouldn't wish to tread.

As to why PG is focused on web companies, I think it's pretty natural, given his background and what YC does in terms of investment (15K doesn't get you a lot if you're building something capital intensive). Lots of us are also interested in this idea of startups becoming more widely possible, which also means we're interested, once again, in low capital requirements.

So, yeah, there's other stuff out there, but for most of us, the web is where the action is at.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> _"I would like to caveat this section myself and ask the readers a question of even Paul himself should he notice this article, does the more aggressive investor demand a larger percentage of the business for the same amount of investment dollars offered by a less aggressive investor?"_

In Silicon Valley, you'll get more offers from investors for funding since the investors are more aggressive, and as a result, you're more likely to get a fair market price for equity in your company. More importantly, the quality of the investors in Silicon Valley is likely higher since they have more experience with them and have more connections that could help your company in the future.

I don't think there's any way to compare investors in Silicon Valley with those in other areas without the Silicon Valley investors coming out on top.

<comment><USER5> I think that "aggressive" is being misinterpreted. SV VCs have a greater tolerance for risk, at least technology risk.

It seems quite reasonable that riskier investments should have greater potential reward. (Otherwise, why take on the additional risk?)

<comment><USER4> That's what I mean by "aggressive" as well. Since they're more likely to make risky investments, you'll get more offers from VCs.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> It sounds like he is asking PG to do his own homework for him.

<comment><USER7> Or maybe I know my limits and minute level of influence compared to PG,

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> great link bait</comment>


Show HN: Hire A Jerk – Pay us to be jerks to you if you don't finish your tasks - <AUTHOR> https://hireajerk.wordpress.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> OP here. This is just a simple Wordpress landing page to gauge interest.

Any thoughts on this service? I can't decide if it's a terrible jokey idea or something that may actually be helpful for people.

<comment><USER2> Seen 100 times here and elsewhere, for various price (usually quite smaller than this), I don't think any of them ever took off, mostly because people refuse to pay for such a service. While ultimately, when you pay (way more) for a personal trainer, it's the same thing, it's more defundable psychologically. This is like asking people they are lazy fucks who need to spend 50$ to be reminded / forced to do stuff.</comment></comment>


'I am mine': This is what Alzheimer's is like at 41 (2018) - <AUTHOR> https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/i-am-mine-this-is-what-alzheimers-is-like-at-41/ <comment><AUTHOR> A previous article about Jo posted years ago on HN: [https://site.macleans.ca/longform/alzheimers/index.html](https://site.macleans.ca/longform/alzheimers/index.html) and the Jo's final story in the series [https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/they-came-to- celebrate-j...](https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/they-came-to-celebrate-jo- he-would-have-loved-it/)</comment>


Trump to announce U.S. will exit Paris climate deal - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-to-announce-us-will-exit-paris-climate-deal/2017/06/01/fbcb0196-46da-11e7-bcde-624ad94170ab_story.html <comment><USER2>
        liberal tears > diplomacy and leadership

I don't know how many years of this I can take.

<comment><USER3> What do you mean?

<comment><USER4> I think he's referring to the polarization of America's parties, where there's now a sizable group on both sides who'd rather see the other side upset than their own side happy.

<comment><USER5> I don't think the extremists from either side will ever see the irony over fighting to keep liberty from one another.

Michio Kaku was right about human kind destroying itself. He just overestimated on the time it was take. It's not only the terrorist who don't want a type 1 civilization.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NPC47qMJVg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NPC47qMJVg)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Seems a poor choice for a guy who owns a bunch of property on a low-lying coastal island.

</comment><comment><USER7> An opportunity for China to demonstrate some world leadership and take advantage of some diplomatic opportunities to push their international good- guy agenda; be interesting to see where they go with this.

</comment><comment><USER8> This is in part a way for Trump to pursue his goal of reviving the American coal industry.

Coal is a 19th century technology. At its peak it was used for heating, steel- making, electricity, and transportation with trains and steam boats.

In the 20th century it got replaced by diesel for transportation, greatly reduced for steel-making with the continuous casting process, and gradually replaced in heating by natural gas and electricity. More recently it is getting replaced in electricity generation by natural gas and renewables.

You know, if you want your economy to be strong, you need to keep up with new technologies, instead of trying to hang on as long as possible to old, obsolete ones.

</comment><comment><USER9> How, specifically, will exiting this deal help?

<comment><USER10> How will staying in it help? Seems like none of the countries who have signed implemented anything. More like a feel good measure more than anything.</comment></comment>


Welcome to "Learning by Shipping" - <AUTHOR> http://blog.learningbyshipping.com/2013/01/03/hello-world/ <comment><AUTHOR> Also, since it's not immediately obvious: this is Steven Sinofsky's new blog. Sinofsky was the guy in charge of Windows who just left Microsoft a few weeks ago.

<comment><USER3> _I'm super excited to see how this experiment goes._

Yes, must be him all right.

<comment><USER4> Uhm. Seems like an unnecessary attack, especially with him having a HN account (only 1 comment but still) and you being a former Apple engineer.

<comment><USER5> I don't think that was an attack; Sinofsky says "super excited" a lot.

<comment><USER4> Oh ok. I misinterpreted.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Like the spirit of the blog. I'd love to see the following: 1\. Common misconceptions about planning code 2\. Real-life examples of how our pre- shipping hypotheses are often wrong 3\. How to be smarter about optimizing post the initial feedback

All the best with the blog

</comment><comment><USER7> Make sure to fix "learningbyshipping.com" (Without the blog.)

</comment><comment><USER8> What's with the giant OM symbol on the blog. Just curious.

Is transcendental wisdom being elucidated?

Not snarky here, just genuinely curious since its rare to see in this context.

<comment><USER9> theblogdoctor - your account is dead

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Looking forward to Steven Sinofsky's new blog. "Learning by Shipping" - <USER2> true. Love the title.</comment>


Apple's new Swift Playgrounds need a sandbox - <AUTHOR> http://9to5mac.com/community/apples-new-playgrounds-need-a-sandbox-typing-a-malicious-script-could-wipe-your-hard-drive/

<comment><USER2> As someone has commented in the article most REPL environments are not sandboxed so I wouldn't consider this a requirement.

But yes, don't download and blindly run random Swift scripts...</comment>


'Dislike' button coming to Facebook - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34264624 <comment><USER2> My first question is this ...

* [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10222963](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10222963)

* [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10222663](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10222663)

* [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10222899](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10222899)

* [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10223054](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10223054)

* [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10223160](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10223160)

* [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10223480](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10223480)

* [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10223523](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10223523)

* [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10223535](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10223535)

... when is Hacker News going to get a "Yes; we know!" button? (-:

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks JdeBP. You raised a very valid point.

I have submitted a separate discussion thread on this

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10225569](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10225569)

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> It took more than 5 years of complaining by millions of users.

[http://www.fsf.org/facebook/mark-zuckerberg-is-time- magazine...](http://www.fsf.org/facebook/mark-zuckerberg-is-time-magazines- person-of-the-year-wheres-the-dislike-button)

</comment><comment><USER3> This is some really stupid decision! Even more stupid than adding the stickers! All that we've seen going wrong here and over at reddit with the community-destroying negative voting is coming to Facebook - let the flame wars begin! Trolls are gonna love it, too! Instead, what they had to do is copy Slack's emoji reactions - the most brilliant thing they could've done to improve feedback. Or at least copy BuzzFeed's original reaction approach for the lazy majority.

<comment><USER3> So, I was right, I guess: [http://techcrunch.com/2015/09/17/emoji- button/](http://techcrunch.com/2015/09/17/emoji-button/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> > Instead, it will be for times when clicking "like" on "sad" posts felt > insensitive.

Of course, the most important part was the last sentence of the article.

Calling it the "hug" button would work better than "dislike".

<comment><USER5> Zuckerberg knows that the dislike button would many people stop from posting their trash. Perhaps the will just rename the like button to whatever fits the context best based on the posted event (probably needs to be categorized).

<comment><AUTHOR> Having opposites (Like/Dislike, Up/Down) is natural and Facebook tried to create behaviour which is not natural. I think this is a great proof that Businesses have to adapt to the users and not the other way around.

<comment><USER6> I disagree, dichotomies aren't always the natural way to do things. Facebook was never meant to be a discussion space like Reddit, it's an echo chamber where you can share things with people who will only acknowledge when they enjoy it. Some people might dislike that facet, but it's something unique that sites like Facebook and Twitter always provided. It makes people feel good about themselves.

Few people post a news article to facebook because they want a healthy debate on it, they do it because they want to get general agreement from their friends and family. The people who go on and start arguments in the comments are pretty universally hated in my experience. Nobody likes scrolling through the news feed and seeing drama drama drama.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: What to learn over the summer? - <AUTHOR> Continuing to look for ideas on what to advise my university-bound kid (going for CS) to focus on learning over the summer.  The idea is to provide him with a way to have access to work above minimum wage by investing the summer coding.
In the context of a young person starting out, which of the various full stack technologies would provide the most opportunities and earning potential (part time/gig type work)?
I use Python/Django but not sure this would be the best given the stated goals.  From a CS perspective it would probably be best for him to get really good at Python.  Maybe that's reason enough to take that path?
Is there a nice (and reasonably lucrative) Wordpress-centric work ecosystem out there?  Would that be a good thing to focus on rather than traditional full stack development?  Or is WP development dominated by offshore programmers? <comment><USER2> The standard advice given to incoming CS students at my university who ask how they should prepare over the summer is typically "don't do any studying at all", in the sense that it is rare to have so much free time and it is nice to enjoy it before going into the constant school-internship cycle for four years. Of course, this is a personal choice, but I regret not keeping this more in mind before I started college.

</comment><comment><USER3> Perhaps turn it around a bit and give him a goal such as create a small online business and let him/her choose the tools.

So then he gets the full stack technology wise but also a look at the startup stack i.e. Marketing, Traffic, Sales, Saas and customer support.</comment>


What Did the Continents Look Like Millions of Years Ago? - <AUTHOR> http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/09/what-did-the-continents-look-like-millions-of-years-ago/279892/

<comment><USER2> For those interested in learning more about geology, I highly recommend John McPhee's _Annals of a Former World_ [1]. It won a Pulitzer in 1999. Through a series of 5 books written between 1978 and 1998, McPhee weaves together the geological development of North America with highly detailed and beautifully written portraits of the geologists that study various sections of the continent. It touches on both basics of geology and highly detailed accounts of geological events in North America as they were understood at the time.

[1] [http://www.amazon.com/Annals-Former-World-John- McPhee/dp/037...](http://www.amazon.com/Annals-Former-World-John- McPhee/dp/0374518734)

<comment><USER3> Thanks for that. I read and very much enjoyed the essays collected in _The Control of Nature_ and never thought to look for more by the same author.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> What I liked best about this article, besides the link to the site where the maps are displayed by their creator, was the detailed discussion of how we find out what the geography of North America was millions of years ago, and how radically different it was at times. It was also interesting to learn that petroleum exploration is one of the big interests of people who pay for the maps to be produced.

</comment><comment><USER5> Even in 1500 years, the shape of some coastal areas has changed significantly. See for example the Low Countries in 500 CE and now.

Then: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frankish_Empire_481_to_814...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frankish_Empire_481_to_814-en.svg) (Look at the part labeled 'Frisia')

Now: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Benelux_location_map.svg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Benelux_location_map.svg)

<comment><USER6> Also there was Doggerland[1] -- a huge connector between Britain and the mainland.

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

(Incidentally, I found out about Doggerland from a genetic test that told me my paternal line probably came from Doggerland).

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Nice views of the Iapetus Ocean closing leading to mountain building (orogeny) and then the Atlantic opening up along a slightly different line taking parts that used to be attached to the other side of the Iapetus (e.g. Scotland) across to the Eastern side of the Atlantic.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iapetus_Ocean](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iapetus_Ocean)

</comment><comment><USER8> California was an island only a few hundred years ago, not millions.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:California_island_Vinckebo...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:California_island_Vinckeboons5.jpg)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_California](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_California)

:)

<comment><USER9> From the link: "The Island of California refers to a long-held European misconception, dating from the 16th century, that California was not part of mainland North America but rather a large island "

<comment><USER10> I believe tnuc's smiley face denoted sarcasm.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> You may have heard about one big supercontinent - Pangaea. Did you know there were probably earlier supercontinents ? Nuna, Rodinia, Proto-Laurasia, Proto- Gondwana.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangaea#Formation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangaea#Formation)

</comment><comment><USER12> In the series that shows present day earth going backwards, why when the ice age is shown only the ice sheet at the North pole is enlarged? Shouldn't the ice sheet at the South pole increase in size as well?

<comment><USER13> It does; you can see ice over the tip of South America. Note that the ice in the southern hemisphere extends about as far from the pole as that in the northern hemisphere. There's just a lot less ice in the southern hemisphere because there's less land at those latitudes.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Google the expanding earth animation, it will blow your mind.

<comment><USER5> That[1] was interesting, but apparently, the theory is not widely accepted as fact.

"The scientific community finds that significant evidence contradicts the Expanding Earth theory, and that evidence used in support of it is better explained by plate tectonics" [2]

[1] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kL7qDeI05U](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kL7qDeI05U)

[2] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expanding_Earth#Scientific_cons...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expanding_Earth#Scientific_consensus)

<comment><USER14> Sure, but it makes far more sense than that pangea theory, kinda like ether theory from back then.

The smaller earth -> lighter gravity -> larger insects are able to support their huge body without skeleton, and larger living beings in general

In short it keeps on making more sense the more you think about it.

Plus the speculation of mass being generated in the core of the Earth is just sexy.</comment></comment></comment>


How Ansible Took Down Our Servers - <AUTHOR> https://www.heartsucker.com/blog/how-ansible-took-down-our-servers <comment><USER2> In the olden days, before AWS, you'd just log into your console as root and fix it.

Now there's no console.

</comment><comment><USER3> I love a good ansible horror story. That said, why you delete the directory recursively? Why not just push the intended state and be done with it. This could happen with any configuration tool if you do a recursive delete. If you have some files you don't want just have a task that says you don't want the file to be there. Full disclosure I love ansible and use it all the time

<comment><AUTHOR> In a previous version of ansible, the user module would error out if it couldn't delete the home directory, so this was added as pre-remove-user step to prevent errors. In theory we could have pushed an empty authorized_keys, but it's so simple (if not erroneous) to say "If the user is gone, remove their home."

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I'm thinking this would have solved it:

path: "/home/{{ item|default('doesnotexist/') }}"

But yeah, one would do that on test machines first, say: Vagrant on your local machine at least.

It may also make sense to create a user with it's home in a different place, for "just in case" purposes. Or even just use something like freeipa for all accounts.

<comment><AUTHOR> That would have solved it. For me the problem was that somehow Ansible took an non-existent value, looped over that, and then applied that value as the variable inside the loop.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Why didn't he test his script on a dev server before blasting every server in production?!

<comment><AUTHOR> #moveFastAndBreakThings ?</comment></comment>


Ask HN: What's the most annoying website you are forced use? - <AUTHOR>

Basically, what is the most annoying/hard to use site you haven't found a replacement for?
Maybe you are a design purist and you can't stand eBay's clutter, but there aren't any decent alternatives, so you are "forced" to use it.
Or in my case, I have to use a royal headache of "websites" for school. <comment><USER2> <https://adcenter.microsoft.com/> Requires Windows. Total wtf.

</comment><comment><USER3> I really hate having to use Blackboard. I much prefer it when my profs just throw their files in a directory and let Apache serve them, than making me having to go through that mess…

</comment><comment><USER4> Not that I've had to directly use it, but a friend of mine was showing me their university's new student center portal called SOLUS, and it's awful. It's impossible to find anything on it, and yet it's the only way to change courses, check marks, etc. It's sort of like a router interface, but harder to use and swamped with more information. The worst part, of course, is how much money it must've cost to transition this year.

</comment><comment><USER5> Amazon.

Its product pages provide way too much information upon arrival. And its typography is quite excessive.

<comment><USER6> Do you mean there's too much information or it's presented in a cluttered way? How would you improve it?

<comment><USER7> I feel the same way about amazon, I love it and hate it. I think the information provided is great, but it's just presented in a cluttered way. They could possibly group the info in tabs. A great example would be overstock.com, they give tons of info and its just a lot more easier on the eyes.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> \- Moodle.

\- My college's proprietary academic tools. (For checking grades, signing up for credits, etc)

\- Banking sites (usually require you to install stupid addons, that either won't run on Mac OS X, or require outdated browser/java versions)

</comment><comment><USER9> Theres one work related site which requires IE to properly work (it can limp through with Safari, and doesn't with other browsers). That is the most annoying.

</comment><comment><USER2> ctools.umich.edu

wolverineaccess.umich.edu is a close second.

Almost every embedded job listing service is awful. <http://www.nacelink.com/> is similarly bad.

</comment><comment><USER10> PeopleSoft, variously re-named by universities to something dumb and cutesy.

</comment><comment><USER11> iTunes Connect.

</comment><comment><USER12> PNC Virtual Wallet. The Flash interface is really irritating.

</comment><comment><USER13> paypal.com

</comment><comment><USER14> Most (New Zealand) Government websites.

</comment><comment><USER15> Jobmine at University of Waterloo

</comment><comment><USER16> Craigslist

<comment><USER17> I like CL with a few caveats. I've just finished 6 weeks of apartment hunting and I want a way to kill overposts with the click of a button (ie. if it has been posted daily for the past month then I want to see only ONE post). Likewise I want a way to filter out the idiots who post apartments outside of the city in which I live. And I would really like there to be an anonymous feedback loop to the original posters (not a throwaway email account) to tell them why I'm not prepared to pay $1500 per month for their one bedroom apartment.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Facebook.

<comment><USER14> ... enunciate please?

<comment><USER19> You must mean "elaborate"? "Enunciate" refers to spoken clarity, i.e. pronunciation of each syllable.

<comment><USER14> whoops! thanks for correcting me. :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> GoDaddy.

<comment><USER20> I moved all of my domains and SSL certs last year.

I feel much better.

<comment><USER21> Where did you go? Does it include hosting / email?

<comment><USER22> I put all my domains on <http://www.namecheap.com?aff=18181>

(Disclaimer, that's my affiliate link)</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Comma Separated Vulnerabilities - <AUTHOR> https://www.contextis.com/resources/blog/comma-separated-vulnerabilities/ <comment><USER2> The really infuriating thing about this report is the message these terrible applications give to users. "Links to other files?" And the inquiry about whether those "links" should be "updated?" That's a ridiculous, terrible, message to express "remote code execution." Just as bad is "automatic update of links."

The hell? If I were reading this (as a sophisticated user who isn't a security expert), I'd just assume there was some kind of weird document embedding thing going on. Not that "link to other file" meant "RUN ARBITRARY APPLICATIONS AND PROBABLY EXECUTE ARBITRARY CODE."

Even the warning about "To access this data Excel needs to start another application" is incredibly deceptive. The data in a CSV is perfectly damn accessible without Excel opening anything else. It ought to say "to execute the commands embedded in this data, Excel needs to start another application," so that people bloody well know that they're not just _viewing data_ but they're actually _doing something._

Horrible, horrible, horrible communication.

<comment><USER3> > It ought to say "to execute the commands embedded in this data, Excel needs > to start another application," so that people bloody well know that they're > not just viewing data but they're actually doing something.

That's an astute observation.

Somewhat related:

Awhile back I remember seeing a demo of some Mozilla tech that would let one rotate a web page and then view a 3d "stack" of all the DOM elements. A bit like each layer was made up of different colors of lego blocks.

Is there some similar visualization tool to help distinguish data from code?

For example, imagine I want to use some scissors to clip some daisies on a hilltop. I eyeball the daisies I want. When I pick up the scissors they snap a picture of the daisies and cut 1000ft below until they split into the bedrock. Consequently, a demon's fiery arm shoots out the hole holding my scissors, violently cuts the daisies, then picks them up and offers them to me as a low, rumbling voice announces: "Daisies."

Now I don't know about anyone else, but I think that experience would make me a wee bit cautious about picking flowers. Or at least more than I would be merely by reading a man page.

Edit: I guess to be sensible, the demon's arm would need to recede back into the bedrock and heal the split.

<comment><USER4> 3D stack of DOM elements wasn't just a tech demo, it was actually part of the devtools. Removed because no one reimplemented it in a way that's compatible with multiprocess Firefox [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1086492](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1086492)

<comment><USER5> An amazing feature which was moved to a still accessible extension. Sadly I can't remember the name right now but I found it very recently. Makes understanding HTML nesting rapidly apparent.

<comment><USER6> Is this it? [https://addons.mozilla.org/en- US/firefox/addon/tilt/](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tilt/)

<comment><USER4> Yes. (And it does not work with e10s.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> re: "Spreadsheet software could take steps to mitigate some of these attacks, but preventing formula injection is ultimately the responsibility of every application that generates spreadsheets containing user-supplied content."

Whoah, that's putting the blame in the wrong place. Spreadsheets shouldn't look for formulas at all in plain csv files. That's not what they're for.

<comment><USER8> Exactly. Putting junk apostrophes in CSV files just means that when I import CSV files into my database I now need to figure out if the apostrophe was supposed to be there or was inserted by the exporting software.

Spreadsheet software should import formulas as plain text formatted cells, and have an optional checkbox to "also import formulas" for people who are trying to interchange spreadsheets they created.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I've found that spreadsheet software, notably Excel, tends to be "over- helpful" in trying to determine the format of the data it's reading in, no doubt in an attempt to help the less-knowledgeable user; anyone who has ever had it mangle imported data by e.g. guessing that "02-04" should somehow be a date will be familiar with this.

It should not be surprising then, that this type of guessing behaviour could lead to exploitable vulnerabilities.

<comment><USER10> Or, what to think of the sheer idiocy of Excel blindly throwing away integers it deems too large, replacing them by floats...

<comment><USER11> FWIW, if the imported data comes from a web app, which presumably generates it with JavaScript, the damage is already done...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> All these features (like DDE) should be disabled by default, and should only be possible to be enabled by means of an obscure and hidden menu item that nobody can find.

</comment><comment><USER13> Was just reading a vulnerability disclosure of an example of this at Hackerone last night (for Hackerone).

[https://hackerone.com/reports/72785](https://hackerone.com/reports/72785)

They cited this link in their report.

</comment><comment><USER14> You mean to say that, whenever I load a CSV file into LibreOffice, anything that looks like code gets executed? Excuse me one moment while I patch that program with rm -rf.

Thank goodness that A. W. and K. got this right 35 years ago, interpreting data inputs as numbers and strings. Pity about the regression.

</comment><comment><USER15> This probably should have a "(2014)" on the end of the title.

<comment><USER16> Anyone know the current state of these vulnerabilities? The post says it was updated in April 2016.

<comment><USER17> They still exist and (as far as I know) there are no plans to do anything about them. We (thankfully) were alerted to this issue by HackerOne before it was an issue, but this remains an absurdly easy attack vector...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Just implemented a CSV importer/exporter for a big release and this document came in super helpful.

Are there any CSV exploits that can't be solved by just prefixing fields that start with "=", "+", "-", and "@" with an apostrophe?

<comment><USER19> You might consider prefixing other fields with an apostrophe to avoid them being misinterpreted as numbers or dates.

Unfortunately, even if you put an apostrophe on everything, problems remain:

\- the apostrophes are non-standard and assure all other CSV-handling tools get the wrong, apostrophe-prefixed values

\- Excel itself doesn't escape fields on output, so if someone loads your exported file into Excel, saves it and reloads it, the exploits come back

Excel is a quite frighteningly terrible tool for handling CSV.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Old as me, this stuff is. Little consideration, security was for windows programmers when DDE was made. Exploits leveraging stuff from Windows 3.1, I see often.</comment>


Why Evolution should be the default Linux email client(2017) - <AUTHOR> https://www.techrepublic.com/article/why-evolution-should-be-the-default-linux-email-client/?ftag=COS-05-10aaa0g&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=597916bd04d3011bfc3334dd&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter <comment><USER2> I really wanted to like Evolution, but I could never get it working on arch linux with i3 with gmail. Worked great back when I was using Gnome though. Thunderbird didn't have this problem for me.</comment>


Are we burning out on Facebook? - <AUTHOR> http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9179047/Are_we_burning_out_on_Facebook_

<comment><AUTHOR> _The social networking site only picked up 320,800 new users in the U.S. in June, according to Inside Facebook. That might sound like a lot -- until you compare it with the number of new U.S. users the site grabbed in May: 7.8 million._

Wow. What could have caused a decline like this? The end of the school year? The ongoing privacy brouhaha? Twitter?

<comment><USER2> Most likely the end of the school year.

As much as I'd like to imagine that Facebook is dying (it has truly horrific usability), I don't think it's going away any time soon.

<comment><USER3> Usability on facebook is "truly horrific" ...? lol..

<comment><USER4> Actually I'd like a discussion on this. Are you kidding? I personally think fb usability is terrible as well. The thing is, I can see how thats likely intentional. It is obvious fb wants you to do certain things like share all your crap with friends all the time everywhere and anywhere. So everything that has to do with updates, pics, and the wall, well thats beautifully and easily within reach. But anything else....good luck.

To be clear, I don't use fb, but I opened an account so that I can learn the api and make some page apps. The documentation is old, sporadic, a pain to find, and ...broken. Locating simple things like where my pages are seems to take me forever!! I just have a hard time finding anything on fb that doesn't have to do with status updates and "the wall".

Course I am hardly an "average user" and half a billion people seem to think its good, right? right?

Any thoughts on this?

<comment><USER5> The funny thing is, Facebook had great usability compared to what it replaced for many people—Myspace—when its functionality was only comparable to what Myspace offered.

As Facebook attempted to integrate itself into more of its users' lifestyles, though, its UI became unfit for the depth of social functionality it had to control.

<comment><USER6> Most interestingly, from my personal observations, US users under the age of 18 prefer the "uncontrolled" nature of Myspace versus the structured "social institution" feel of Facebook.

Also, as Facebook's users become more familiar with its workings (social, not technical), it becomes quite apparent that there are limitations to having all relationships equal.

This is truly where Facebook fails. I have friends, I have a best friend, I have acquaintances (both business and social), and I have people I don't like, I may have some enemies, too.

But in the realm of Facebook, all these people are my friends, and I have no way to differentiate that within the Facebook platform. I do not believe it is the UI that is the problem, but the underlying architecture of it's "social functionality".

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Aren't we at the point where we stop counting Facebook registrations as a metric?

Particularly in a discussion on if we are burnt out! You're only going to sign-up once, so burn-out isn't measured by registrations.

Here are there visitor metrics [http://siteanalytics.compete.com/facebook.com+google.com+bin...](http://siteanalytics.compete.com/facebook.com+google.com+bing.com/)

Doesn't look like they are having any problems. Note google & bing are flat, facebook continues to rise.

<comment><USER8> No, we aren't at the point where we can stop counting Facebook registrations.

That point is when Facebook has convincingly shown the ability to hold _and_ monetize its users. Since it hasn't reached that point, registrations is the main thing that makes it hot. If it were to start shrinking before it was monetizing, it would be in serious trouble.

Google doesn't need to grow faster than the Internet. Facebook does.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Any financial analyst knows you need to look at year-on-year ("YoY") growth rates for monthly data to eliminate the impact of seasonality. For example, retail sales for a store might fall off sharply in January compared to the preceding December, simply because lots of people were shopping in December for Christmas presents.

So instead of comparing June 2010 to May 2010, you compare May 2010 vs. May 2009 to June 2010 vs. June 2009. So you could say something like, "Facebook registrations were up 30% YoY in May 2010, but were up only 2% YoY in June 2010. Actually, at this point, YoY growth rates might even be negative (i.e., Facebook may have signed up more users in June 2009 than it did in June 2010).

Month-on-month (MoM) comparisons can be interesting, but you need to put them in context to determine if seasonality is affecting the results.

At any rate, the number of new registrations, by definition, says absolutely nothing about whether users are getting burned out on Facebook. You'd need a metric like average time spent on the site per user per month to say something about that.

</comment><comment><USER9> Meanwhile, it sure seems like Computerworld has it in for Facebook. Here's the latest articles listed in its "Facebook Watch" sidebar:

# Are we burning out on Facebook?

# Web abuzz on talk of Google Facebook killer

# Book about Facebook's beginnings may dim spotlight on privacy

# Facebook CTO: Don't forget Facebook is for sharing

# Facebook dev move won't stop rogue apps, say researchers

# Facebook 'likejacking' attacks continue with flesh appeal

# Is there a replacement for Facebook?

# Facebook CEO says mistakes made, privacy changes coming

# More than half of Facebook users may quit site, poll finds

# Social networks may be sharing your info with advertisers

</comment><comment><USER10> The story is interesting, but then my inner Gruber was channeled when I read this:

 _"Yes, people could be getting burned out," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group._

and remembered that Enderle is a jackass. I don't necessarily remember why Enderle is a jackass, but Gruber says so, so whatever he's in agreement with should be treated with extreme skepticism.

I think I read too much Gruber.

</comment><comment><USER11> Status updates among my facebook friends have gone way down since the last facebook privacy flap.

Perhaps facebook's reputation is starting to precede it.

(Though more people I am acquainted with continue to join. They just don't update much or at all.)

</comment><comment><USER12> Guess I was ahead of the curve. Was burnt out on facebook the first time I tried it. :)

</comment><comment><USER13> Doesn't this happen every summer?

</comment><comment><USER14> I can't wait. Burn, baby, burn!

<comment><USER14> Ha ha. This has to be the biggest community of uptight nerds on the entire Internet.

<comment><USER14> No, I'm serious. I have 190 points. Please go ahead and downvote all of my posts until it reaches zero.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask YC: any hackers in Japan? - <AUTHOR>

I will be in Japan until the 12th of April, and I am wondering if we should have a hacker meetup?  I will email you my itinerary if you send me a private message. <comment><USER2> There is no private message feature here (and I like it that way). Put your email in your profile if you want people to contact you.</comment>


Khan Academy is patenting A/B Testing - <AUTHOR> http://news.slashdot.org/story/16/01/01/1859257/khan-academy-seeks-patent-on-education-ab-testing <comment><USER2> SO basically controlled experiments to gauge the effectiveness of educational programming. There's no way that this hasn't been done before. I mean really... And if it truly hasn't... that would be even more depressing.</comment>


Steve Jobs talks consultants, hiring, and leaving Apple 1992 - <AUTHOR> http://mitsloan.mit.edu/newsroom/articles/steve-jobs-talks-consultants-hiring-and-leaving-apple-in-unearthed-1992-talk/ <comment><AUTHOR> Here is the full YouTube video. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk-9Fd2mEnI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk-9Fd2mEnI)</comment>


Thoughts on a YC bubble - <AUTHOR> http://sanketfirodiya.posterous.com/y-combinator-bubble-or-not Have we entered another tech bubble of overzealous founders who are trying to build things which the world simply does not need? <comment><USER2> I think any advantage of actual connections, especially network ones, make all the difference and YC has an extensive network of connections.</comment>


Unlock A Door With A Secret Knock - <AUTHOR> http://grathio.com/2009/11/secret-knock-detecting-door-lock.html <comment><USER2> I had a variant of this ...

I was working for Radio Shack in Australia in 1979 and we had a TRS-80 on display. It was running a fairly standard demo, but we needed to be able to unlock it to run live demos for prospective customers. So we needed a password.

Problem was, there were always a few kids around who would "shoulder surf" (although I didn't know the term back then) and then unlock the machine when we weren't watching.

So I hacked the password mechanism so it required not only the right password, but the right rhythm. When it got a correct password it then analysed the rhythm, and only unlocked the machine if they were both right.

A later variant (unnecessary, as the first was never hacked) was to required a failed login first, where the failure was the right password but wrong rhythm. As I say, that was never deployed, but I now see similarities between that and "port knocking" ( <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_knocking> )

I did have a third phase ready to be implemented, but the first was enough by itself.

</comment><comment><USER3> I love how, this being Hacker News, everyone is tearing the security flaws and so on apart.. while not grokking the obvious... guys, he _implemented a secret knock_! How cool is that!

<comment><USER4> [http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-knockage.h...](http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-knockage.html)

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I see complaints about security here, but you are missing the point, which is a secret passageway.

As we usually see in movies secret passages often have very unsecured ways of entrance (turning a wine bottle in Young Frankenstein). However using a knock for a secret passage would much less easy to stumble upon.

If you haven't noticed I've been thinking a lot about secret passages recently.

<comment><USER6> That's security through obscurity! Which we all know is bad. ;)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Very cool, but sadly not too practical (very vulnerable to shoulder surf attacks, and it's not that hard to tell that there's something funny about the knock).

<comment><USER8> I think a sufficiently long knock (just like a sufficiently long password) would still be almost impossible to crack. If you go on for 15 seconds, who's going to be able to get it right? Not that this makes it practical. I'm just saying. It's only if the knock is really short that this is a problem. If you knock out 30 seconds of a song (assuming it's obscure enough that no one will be able to determine the song), there's no way anyone who doesn't know what song it is will be able to reproduce the knocks.

<comment><USER9> Hopefully there are no musicians nearby. One with a good enough ear can easily memorize a 15 second-long toneless rhythm :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> The rhythm is called "Shave and a Haircut"! I didn't know anyone who knew this. I'm impressed.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shave_and_a_Haircut>

<comment><USER11> You don't know anyone who's seen _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_?

No toon can resist the ol' "Shave and a Haircut" trick!

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I setup a knock sensor on my door too! His solution is much cleaner though. You can all learn my oh-so secret knock for it at <http://varenhor.st/idoor>

</comment><comment><USER13> Reminds me a little of Willie Wonka's musical lock.

<comment><USER14> I thought of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" especially given the default secret knock.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Not very practical. If we want to avoid carrying key with us, then fingerprint lock would be more convenient and secure.

<comment><USER16> There's a big problem with fingerprint readers. If I steal your fingerprint then unlike a password you can't change it.

<comment><USER17> Yes I can. Nine times, no less! ;)</comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Don't just go on dates, get feedback and learn from them - <AUTHOR> https://www.producthunt.com/posts/date-helper <comment><USER2> I can't think of a better way to not go on a second date than to send someone a link to a feedback form rather than just talk to them.

<comment><USER3> I agree. However, there must be people on both sides of the date that think this is a good tool. If so, then they may be a match made in heaven.</comment></comment>


Show HN: rtwatch. Watch videos with friends via WebRTC, perfectly synchronized - Sean-Der https://github.com/pion/rtwatch <comment> Sean-Der Excited to share this project I wrote! This would be the perfect way to watch a movie with someone else over a long distance. Every time you pause it stops the server sending out the latest frame.

This is fundamentally different than something like Watch2Gether where you are downloading an already existing file from a CDN. In that case you are just depending on the client side to keep things in sync, with rtwatch there is no way for users to buffer or skip ahead in the video!

<comment><AUTHOR> Cool project! I made something very similar called cowatch.video

Also utilizes WebRTC

<comment> Sean-Der That is awesome. So much easier to use than rtwatch since you are doing everything client side! I really want to extend the 'co-watch' idea and make it so people can review/annotate videos could make editing a lot easier maybe.

What were the biggest hurdles you hit with implementing? Any issues with not being able to control the media pipeline in the browser?

<comment><AUTHOR> I guess there are tradeoffs by doing it client side vs server side like your project. Like you said there's no control of the media pipeline so encoding and preprocessing the video is not possible so only video formats supported by the browser are supported.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER2> Congrats on making something that you are able to share.

> Only the current audio/video frame is being sent to the viewers, there is no > way they can download/cache the videos either for future usage.

In the end, if the video ends up at the viewer there is a way to capture it.

</comment><comment><USER3> >If someone pauses it pauses for everyone, and no one can and no one fast forward only their video.

It doesn't say who paused the video or give someone the ability to kick out the person who paused?

<comment> Sean-Der It doesn't do that currently, but I will add it to the issues! I think it is a great idea. Right now it assumes only good actors :)

Someone also asked for chat which I think could go a long way to making it more fun to use/less chance of people doing annoying things.

<comment><USER3> Not necessarily only good actors, I lived in an era where technology was more unreliable then it was today.

It'd be pretty bad if a single software bug froze everyone's video. Please don't assume default installation.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: What is your holiday side project? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> Same as always, Fogbeam Labs stuff. At this very moment specifically, I'm working on our enterprise search product. But I'm also allocating some time over the holiday break to focus on some automated abductive inference stuff that I've been working with.

</comment><comment><USER3> This isn't holiday-specific, but over the next week I'll be knocking out more features that are currently missing from my VR web browser app for iOS and Android: [https://www.viewport.org](https://www.viewport.org)

</comment><comment><USER4> Build an app using R-shiny</comment>


Trump administration aims to roll back rule on coal ash disposal - <AUTHOR> https://www.npr.org/2019/11/04/776174139/trump-administration-proposes-relaxing-rules-on-waste-from-coal-plants <comment><USER2> Yeah, it needs to all be delivered exclusively to Mar-a-lago, so that they can kick everyone's ash.

</comment><comment><USER3> Counterintuitively, the rule was in effect during more of the Trump administration than the Obama administration.</comment>


Ask HN: Is there an Emacs plugin for live web development? - <AUTHOR>

Currently use Emacs a lot at work and one thing that would speed things up for me is a live preview of my work, or semi-live where I can refresh with an Emacs shortcut.<p>Any suggestions would be appreciated. I did try skewer but the HTML side of things is very limited. <comment><USER2> Not Emacs specific - [https://github.com/webpack/docs/wiki/hot-module- replacement-...](https://github.com/webpack/docs/wiki/hot-module-replacement- with-webpack) Emacs- wise there's several plugins that build on top of [http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/MozRepl](http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/MozRepl) to provide that sort of functionality.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks :) I did find Kite for Chrome too, it's just finding out how to edit the DOM as text and that'd give me everything I need. Will check this out too, thank you!</comment></comment>


A Lost European Culture, Pulled From Obscurity  - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/science/01arch.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss <comment><USER2> And "lost" here means "unknown to the editors of NY Times". I remember studying about the Cucuteni culture in the 5th grade.

Here is a link with more info on it: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucuteni- Trypillian_culture>

<comment><USER3> This reminds me of some of the truly hilarious anthropological expeditions from Time magazine to chronicle an obscure religious sect call "Christians." (Among many other excellent pieces of religious reporting over the years, they had an article about the 25 most influential evangelicals in America. Which included Catholics -- including at least one Catholic _priest_ wearing a Roman collar in the photograph they used.)

Edit: For benefit of our international readers: this is sort of like including a Golden Retriever (dog breed) in the lineup of 25 beautiful cats.

<comment><USER4> I'm confused by your comments here. Are you claiming that Roman Catholics aren't Christians? Or are you claiming that Roman Catholics are never evangelicals?

Certainly a Golden Retriever is never a cat - about that I am not confused.

<comment><USER5> Evangelicals are Protestants. "Protestant" is basically a blanket term for "not Catholic". We're pretty different across the board from Evangelicals, who are by and large turbo-fundamentalists. In 12 years of Catholic schooling, for instance, I was specifically and repeatedly taught that the world was _not_ 10,000 years old, and that people did _not_ ride dinosaurs.

This is my guess as to what Patrick meant.

<comment><USER4> Ah, I've learned something. I always thought "Evangelicals" were simply Christians (or indeed, others) who practised Evangelism. However, from what you say a particular sub-class of Christians have decided to take the name and make it their own. That makes sense, and matches what I've now double-checked.

Thank you. I'll read some more to avoid any further confusions.

<comment><USER5> Evangelism : Evangelical :: Islam : Islamism.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Amazon DynamoDB encrypts all customer data at rest - <AUTHOR> https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2018/11/amazon-dynamodb-encrypts-all-customer-data-at-rest/ <comment><USER2> So much cloud encryption is a total checkbox. As a security professional I sometimes don't have a clear threat model that the magic crypto is meant for.

<comment><USER3> Yeah i'm confused as to the threat model. It isn't like they ship hard drives around.

It is like taping the key above the door lock. Access control to the door is the important part.

<comment><USER4> With encryption at rest, you can basically make sure data can only be accessed from the main interface. Otherwise there are multiple ways to let data leak, e.g., sys admins, decommissioned disks, or other tools.

<comment><USER5> Sys admins would have access regardless if they were evil enough.

<comment><USER6> It's entirely feasible to mitigate a lot of that insider risk. You have to pick the convenience/risk reduction trade off, though. For example, it may make sense to disallow any unilateral access, and only allow signed, reviewed code to run. There doesn't have to be a single entity with universal root.

In such an environment, encryption at rest can come in handy because it mitigates some of the physical attack vectors.

<comment><USER5> It definitely helps for physical attack vectors.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> In AWS' HIPAA compliance docs they recommend not relying on their managed encryption services as they currently protect you from a legal standpoint but may not in the future (at least for RDS). Is AWS altering those guidelines and now going to say their encryption is good enough?

<comment><USER8> Isn't this true in general? This protects against someone walking into the datacenter and stealing a harddrive (which is Amazon's responsibility anyway).

If you want to be sure the data is encrypted, store encrypted values/blobs/files/etc is generally Amazon's stance (for instance, for S3). For S3 they call this "client side encryption".

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I might be missing something, but wasn't this (=> encryption at rest) the case always, and why this post only now?

Also, the cautionary note, as given [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerg...](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerguide/encryption.howitworks.html)

"You should ensure you have configured the SDK to reuse connections. Otherwise you will experience latencies from DynamoDB having to re-establish new KMS cache entries for each DynamoDB operation, and potentially have to face higher KMS and Cloudtrail costs. For example, to do this using the Node.js SDK, you can create a new https agent with keepAlive turned on. "

<comment><USER10> That data is encrypted in-flight

<comment><USER11> we call that in-transit.

at-rest, in-transit, in-use

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I guess I assumed all data at AWS was encrypted at rest. Disturbing if not. Compare:

[https://cloud.google.com/security/encryption-at- rest/default...](https://cloud.google.com/security/encryption-at-rest/default- encryption/)

</comment><comment><USER13> How to do range query if the sort/range keys are encrypted?

[https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/APIReferen...](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/APIReference/API_Query.html)

<comment><USER14> well, the term is at rest. so an index in memory is probably not encrypted, just as they decrypt the data to be send over the wire (also encrypted, e.g. via HTTPS, which I think the SDK uses under the hood).

this isn't a big deal since sensitive/user data usually is a terrible choice for a key. (you get hot spots.) but i'm sure there's someone out there using SSNs as a key...

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> So how do they do aggregations then?

<comment><USER16> They don't; DynamoDB is a partitioned document store. You can query for a range of a sorted key but it just gives you the documents in that range. And I'm a little fuzzy on KMS but I believe the entire table is encrypted with one key, so if they could do SUM(x) GROUP BY y if they wanted to take the scaling hit.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Odd this only happened now...</comment>


Socialists Are Beating Jeff Bezos in Seattle (Again) - <AUTHOR> https://www.thenation.com/article/economy/bezos-seattle-amazon-tax/ <comment><AUTHOR> Since someone went ahead with the obligatory "they're gonna leave Seattle" comment I will respond to that. They might try (although they're extremely invested and this is a relatively small tax). But if you think every city should lower their taxes and living standard, to maximize short-term profits and therefore incentives for companies to move to or stay there, where does that leave you? The logical endpoint is racing to the bottom in a bidding war for corporate for-profit investment that most residents can't use. Or, in other words, recreating the off-shoring, re-shoring, and hollowing out of communities that has happened for decades in search of labor cost arbitrage. It's unsustainable and unhealthy. The political momentum to tax the ultra- wealthy can spread much faster than they can pack up and move. It's time to do that.

<comment><USER2> The problem they're going to have is not whether or not Amazon leaves Seattle. It is that existing or new corporations that may fall into this tax category will not move to Seattle because of it.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Yesterday, the council had the final vote and passed a big business tax 7-2. It will tax large companies, with Amazon as by far the biggest payer, about $240m/year, to pay for COVID relief and affordable housing.

This article is written by Kshama Sawant, a member of the city council. She, Tammy Morales (councilmember), and socialist orgs and unions organized the Tax Amazon movement over the last 7 months, to tax similarly large companies at $500m/year to fund social housing, COVID relief, Green New Deal retrofitting. Last week, after months of stonewalling by the city council on every aspect of that legislation, Tax Amazon announced they had 30k signatures, enough to put it on the ballot. The following day, in clear response to the pressure, the council voted 7-2 in their budget committee for this competing, smaller legislation, authored by a Democrat, Teresa Mosqueda. Tomorrow, all interested volunteers can go to a Tax Amazon action conference where they will vote on whether or not to continue with the ballot measure in light of this passing.

Big tech has led to an almost never before seen concentration of wealth and the political fallout is only beginning.</comment>


The Fukushima accident was preventable - <AUTHOR> http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/373/2053/20140379 <comment><AUTHOR> It's a long read, here's a link to an article that summarizes some of the study's findings.

[http://news.usc.edu/86362/fukushima-disaster-was- preventable...](http://news.usc.edu/86362/fukushima-disaster-was-preventable- new-study-finds/)</comment>


Making all the decisions yourself - <AUTHOR> http://swombat.com/2011/7/13/taylor-drucker <comment><USER2> There is a third way: making major decisions in cooperation, supervising without micromanaging, and delegating responsibility to partners.

OK, there's a continuum. The point is, people who try to frame the world in binary choices are often justifying their preferred method rather than experimenting.</comment>