Python Fire: a library for automatically generating command line interfaces - <AUTHOR> https://opensource.googleblog.com/2017/03/python-fire-command-line.html?m=1 <comment><USER2> Convenient. I especially like that it has a completion-helper.

The docs seem to go to great lengths to _not_ state this clearly, but it works fine on bare functions too:

      example.py:
        import fire

        def test(a="yes"):
          print "a: " + a

        fire.Fire(test)

      cli:
        $ python example.py
        a: yes
        $ python example.py no
        a: no
        $ python example.py --a maybe
        a: maybe

</comment><comment><USER3> I wonder whose problems this solves.

I have a handful of scripts with miniscule CLI handling (usually len(sys.argv) is enough) - so it's 3 loc instead of 5?

Then I have a moderate amount of scripts where using click or optparse makes sense. Just looked up one tool, there's exactly 12 lines (including import, ignoring linebreaks) to handle 6 different CLI args. I could use fire. Less code, more "magic", less self-documenting excplicit code

Then there's this application with 15 @click.option() lines (don't ask, ran out of sensible single-char argument shorthands). Yes, it has an ugly main() with 15 keyword arguments, but I'd also have that with fire I guess. but here at least it's explicit again.

TLDR: Sounds absolutely nice on first skim, but I don't see why I would ever use this. Have I been writing so many CLI apps in python already that I exhibit stockholm syndrome towards click AND optparse? :)

<comment><USER4> I've lately come to know and respect argparse. Click is nice and great, but can present an unnecessary burden if your script uses (intentionally or not) no other dependencies outside the standard library. And optparse is deprecated in Python 3.

<comment><USER3> Oh yes, I'm strictly a Python 2 user (I know, I know).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Some libraries just seem obvious in retrospect. This looks very cool. I've had a lot of success using click for command line programs in the past. Fire looks like it'd replace click for the majority of simple cli programs I write.

</comment><comment><USER6> Looks pretty good. But if you're going to open source it, you might as well make it a proper Python project and conform to style guides (Google's own for one). This one has all the tests in the same directory as other files instead of a 'tests' directory, it's missing requirements.txt and method names start with upper case.

</comment><comment><USER7> Looks great! Very intuitive. This is something I could actually see myself using instead of argparse; and being able to generate a CLI from a third party object is amazing!

</comment><comment><USER8> Looks fantastic. Argparse isn't hard to use, but it's a lot of boilerplate. I'll be happy not to have to deal with it again.

<comment><USER9> You may want to give a try to docopt</comment></comment>


Ask HN: What's the best way to look for an apartment? - <AUTHOR>

I am looking for a new apartment. I have been browsing different sites but I haven't found a good site. Most sites are clunky, very busy, overloaded with advertisements and non-relevant listings, etc. I have the impression that apartment discovery is a hot idea that's oft explored by startups, but I can't find a good solution. Any suggestions? <comment><USER2> Craigslist, phone calls, a camera, and enough cash to secure a lease. Depending on how picky you are, finding the listings isn't the bottleneck, it's going and visiting 30 different places.

Sometimes walking around outside in the area you want to live in works. Sometimes asking friends on or off of Facebook works.

<comment><USER3> I agree! If your friends don't know of any openings, Craigslist might be your best bet. I recommend setting up multiple viewings (at least 4) in the same day. That way, as you walk or travel from place to place you not only get a vibe of the neighborhood, but you might run across other for rent signs. If you have the time, I suggest you stay the night in the neighborhood you're considering to make sure it's not too loud/busy,etc. At least check a crime map!

Sometimes there are city-specific rental sites. If you're in San Francisco, this might help: <http://rentsfnow.com>

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> When I was searching for apartments last year, I spent a lot of time on the internet looking for places. Then when I went out driving around to actually go see them, I noticed apartment buildings all over the place that I had never seen online.

I would definitely suggest just going out for a drive in the area you want to live and looking for places that way. Unfortunately, I found that this technique doesn't work nearly as well when you're trying to rent a house.

</comment><comment><USER5> Depends on the market. Some places in the US, realtor.com will have fairly comprehensive listings. In others, it's a dud. Real estate firms which specialize in property management can also provide a lot of options on their sites.

The issue is that the data are typically fragmented and often proprietary and aggregation websites are focused on a revenue stream from the listing agent rather than the renter.

</comment><comment><USER6> Padmapper was a good solution that integrated everything but then Craigslist sued them, not sure on that part anymore.

Craigslist is still ultimately king but if you want to be comprehensive, you might need to check a few different places. Local newspaper websites are good too.

</comment><comment><USER7> <http://www.onradpad.com/>

</comment><comment><USER8> apartmentguide.com and apartmentratings.com have been all I've ever neede. But if you want to disrupt, knock yourself out.</comment>


Show HN: CoinPatrol - bitcoin price alerts via text/SMS and email notifications - <AUTHOR> http://www.coinpatrol.com

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey everyone,

I made this little tool a few days ago to help me keep track of the bitcoin/USD price since it has been so volatile. I was going to wait a few more days and polish up the site before making a HN post, but given how bitcoin is tanking hard right now I think it's an appropriate time to release.

Currently it supports alerts based on fixed $ movements and % change of price over time. Let me know what you guys think and if there are any features that I should add!

<comment><USER2> Charge a dollar for it, in Bitcoin. People who love btc go crazy when they can pay with it, and I think they would like it a lot more than if it were free.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Cool idea (I was almost going to make something similar myself!) but there's a couple of catches for me:

* Your tracked prices are only in USD, whereas I buy/sell in AUD via CoinJar.com.

* Apparently you're only supporting SMS within US/Canada as well? Might be good to make that clear before the signup.

* You have a competitor called BitcoinReminder.com who track several different currencies, a few more exchanges, and even offer alerts via Jabber / IM (as well as Email & SMS). Their site isn't as cleanly designed as yours though, and it's a paid service (whereas it seems yours is free for the moment). They've just signed up their 2000th user after 2.5 years, which might give an idea of market size.

But it's a neat idea & a good name for it too!

<comment><USER4> Hey,

I'm the creator of www.BitcoinReminder.com.

Nice site - and nice to see a new competitor :) Really nice layout!

And yeah, you are right. It's hard to earn money with it. Our service had been for free for a long time.. But without earning money, its hard to pay the server costs (beside earning something for your life..).

But in the meantime its getting better and better.. :)

Good luck! :)

Btw: We implemented a new type of reminders, feel free to try it :P

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Any reason the number of alerts are capped at 3, as opposed to say 5 or 10? Are paid accounts with unlimited alerts in the works?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah that's the plan. I'm currently limiting the accounts because I'm fronting all the costs myself.

Apparently it can cost up to 10c to send an international SMS :( which is why I only have SMS open to US/Canada for now.

<comment><USER6> Any chance you could support LTC?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah that's on my list of planned features

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I think it is very nice - I'm a fan of this.</comment>


Show HN: 5 Minute Meditation – A simple, text-based guided meditation - <AUTHOR> https://5minutemeditation.com/ <comment><USER2> Nice and simple. I like it a lot. I would recommend adding Apple's web-app- capable stuff so that when people save it to their home screen, it doesn't distract them with the navigation bar at the top.</comment>


Show HN: Artistic Maps of Over 4,000 U.S. Cities - <AUTHOR> https://www.projectjefferson.com/ <comment><USER3> I don't really understand the use of tribal names for the various styles. Does 'shoshone' really associate with 'garish'?

When using tribal or other demographic names, I'm always reminded of the argument once put against the Jeep Cherokee: there's no such thing as a Ford Caucasian or a Honda Negro. And for fairly obvious reasons. Or, if instead the names were European demonyms, you'd still have people asking why that colour scheme goes with that name. If it was 'French' instead of 'Shoshone', people would ask "why is this garish scheme associated with them?". If it was 'Czech' instead of 'Blackfeet', people would be asking why the nighttime colours are associated with that demographic.

As far as I can tell - and I could be quite wrong here - the demonyms used have nothing to do with the associated schemes, and are just 'friendly names'. I'd find a different naming scheme, where the names semantically matched the colours. For example, Bannock is proposed as a tribute to Warhol, so call it something like 'Warhol' (though maybe that exact name might also run you into copyright issues... Perhaps 'Soupcan'?)

Also, the reason for the colour scheme should be the first paragraph in the associated blurbs, not the third. The other two paragraphs are boilerplate and inherently less interesting when you're looking through the series.

</comment><comment><USER4> My first guess would be that this is using OSM data, but I didn't see any mention of that on the site and didn't see any OSM copyright notices on the images. Could one of the creators explain where the map data comes from?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yup, totally OSM data. Going to add attribution to them in our Our Story section right now. Totally missed that, but happy to give credit where credit is due. Thanks!

<comment><USER5> [http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Legal_FAQ#3a._I_would_lik...](http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Legal_FAQ#3a._I_would_like_to_use_OpenStreetMap_maps._How_should_I_credit_you.3F)

\---

Our requested attribution is "© OpenStreetMap contributors". You must also make it clear that the data is available under the Open Database Licence. This can be achieved by providing a "License" or "Terms" link which links to www.openstreetmap.org/copyright or www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl.

... This credit needs to appear in a place reasonable to the medium you are utilising. In other words, you should expect to credit OpenStreetMap in the same way and with the same prominence as would be expected by any other map supplier.

... For a printed map, the credit should appear beside the map if that is where other such credits appear, and/or in the "acknowledgements" section of the publication (often at the start of a book or magazine).

\---

EDIT: looks like this only applies to OSM maps, not data. What's the difference between a "Produced Work" and a "Derivative Database"?

<comment><USER6> Produced Work is an output that uses but does not alter the OSM data. So you can use an OSM database with your own data overlaid on top. These lovely paper prints would be a produced work. One basically does not change the OSM data, you just produce things with it.

Derived database is where you adapt the OSM data with your own data, or perform some kind of manipulation of the data For example, vector simplification or calculating the road lengths and adding that into the data, or merging addresses from one dataset with the polygons from OSM.

<comment><USER5> Thanks for the explanation.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I'm in your target audience -- I used to have a wall size Thomas Brothers map of LA on my wall, and I have a large map of Southern CA geography there now. But:

Why is are most of the color schemes so garish? Did you run these by a designer? I'd think that many of the LA posters (Blackfeet, crow, Shoshone, Pawnee, even Bannock) are so garish as to be unusable in most rooms.

Why is the water the same color as the border?

And, you need deeper zoom (at least in selected areas), or I can't see what I'm getting. Within the preview, some indication of the scale of the shown features within a print of a given size would be useful.

<comment><AUTHOR> To each their own, I suppose. Our goal was create designs that were bold and bordering on the abstract, rather than to create traditional maps. I'd say maps are one of the more ubiquitous pieces of art, but rarely are cause for any attention. We wanted to create art anchored in people's identities -- not just another standard map of Paris.

I think what I'm getting at is that you _probably_ aren't in our target audience for these current designs. That's totally okay... Perhaps one of our future designs will suit your fancy.

<comment><USER8> Rather than the deeper zoom the OP suggested, I would suggest a link to a full-screen lightbox of the map image. On a 1080p monitor, the map box only takes up 20% of the screen real estate.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Hey there,

I'm one of the two creators of Project Jefferson. We'll do a full run down of the tech we used to do this some time this week, but I'm 100% willing to chat about anything to do with the project.

We started working on this just a couple weeks ago and are super excited to ship it tonight. If anything breaks or looks wonky, please drop me a line. :)

Cheers, Sean

<comment><USER9> I can't help thinking it's a bit tasteless, and at best arbitrary, to name your maps of New York, a territory brutally taken from the Lenape by the Dutch, after (unrelated) Native American populations.

See: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kieft%27s_War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kieft%27s_War)

Edit: I see now it's the color schemes for every map, in which case I'd say it's perhaps a bit tasteless to name the colors of maps of colonial cities after exterminated peoples.

Otherwise, really lovely project.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for your comment.

We were on the fence with the naming of the maps, but decided to roll with the potential misunderstanding of what they represent. We were really interested in playing into themes of American exploration for this project. We settled on Project Jefferson as the name of the project, in honor of Jefferson's commissioning of the Louis and Clark expedition. We named our map themes after the tribes found during their journey, in homage to the shared identity of the land.

<comment><USER10> "We named our map themes after the tribes found during their journey, in homage to the shared identity of the land."

\- I don't understand what you mean here. For the NYC "Sioux" map you mean that there were Sioux tribes in the NYC area? I am sure that is not true. It doesn't feel like "homage to the shared identity". For me it really strikes falsely

<comment><USER11> >> We named our map themes after the tribes found during their journey

> For the NYC "Sioux" map you mean that there were Sioux tribes in the NYC > area?

I don't think Louis & Clark did much exploring in the NYC area...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Wouldn't it be copyright infringement if the printed maps don't attribute OSM?

<comment><USER13> [http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright](http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright)

This seems to indicate that yes, OSM must be attributed in print.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I'm not understanding how the cities are chosen. For example, Madison, WI (home of a Big 10 university where probably more than a few folks here went to school) is non-existent, but Fitchburg, Middleton, and Sun Prairie, three suburbs of Madison _are_ included. Madison is the second largest city in the state. Just for giggles, I looked up Michigan, and the second largest city (Grand Rapids) is represented even though it's a smaller city than Madison.

That's a somewhat random example from me searching for cities folks here might know, but it's certainly odd.

<comment><AUTHOR> Really good question. We started with a list of the 5,000 highest population cities in the U.S and tried to generate maps of as many of them as possible. We are using Open Street Maps data as our source, which is generally pretty amazing but didn't provide the data in the format that we needed it for every city. There were a good couple hundred cities that we wanted to generate but didn't. We hand generated binding boxes for a good number of very large cities, but didn't do it for all of the missing ones.

If you'd like, we can make one for Madison!

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Here is a similar remix of OSM, that allows you to zoom in and pan, export as .jpg, or embed - for free: [http://maps.stamen.com/#watercolor/12/42.3318/-83.0503](http://maps.stamen.com/#watercolor/12/42.3318/-83.0503)

<comment><AUTHOR> Good find! We ran across this while building Project Jefferson. It's a pretty cool project.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> I typed in 'Eugene, Oregon' into the search thing and it didn't find it. The map does exist though.

I actually find having lots of nicely done details is what I like in a map. The super-detailed USGS quads, for instance, are very nice.

I'm also not wild about the native american names, I think they might be a distraction for a lot of people. Maybe you could go with US regions or something.... "northwest", "southwest", something like that? Or states?

</comment><comment><USER17> Clever project that shows how access to data, normally behind massive paywalls, can be used for really creative projects that otherwise wouldn't exist.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Your search feature doesn't handle "St. Louis" type searches.

Searching for "St." anything returns nil, but searching for "Paul" returns "St. Paul" and others.

Otherwise it's an interesting exercise.

</comment><comment><USER19> I was surprised to see the city I live in (because it's small - <USER2> 7100) but I guess 4000 cities is a lot, googling shows people estimating 20k cities total in the US.

</comment><comment><USER20> Interesting concept, but it needs curation from people who live in the places it purports to map. Perhaps it's just my familiarity with the state, but there is a lot of dubious stuff in the results for New York and it gives a "this is completely automated and maybe not as useful as it could be" vibe.

Some background: by law, every part of New York state except New York city is under at least three levels of government: state, county, and town/city. Many places have four: a village or city within a town (there's even the case of hamlets, which are like villages but do not have their own governments). Frequently, a town will have a village with the same name as the town within its borders, but other villages and hamlets as well.

It appears (with one exception that I found, noted below) that villages are being treated as cities for map generation, but this is problematic in New York for two reasons:

1\. Long Island, being right next to New York City, is incredibly densely populated. All of Nassau County could arguably be considered a single urban core, never mind its constituent towns (and the villages that make up those towns). Hempstead winds up being overrepresented because it looks like every single one of its villages makes it into the list. Hempstead itself shows up, but only the village of the same name that appears within its town.

2\. Upstate, there are a lot of towns that have villages within them that have the same name. Unless specifically qualified with "the village of," I've found that people are usually referring to the town. I've found that's the case even when referring to a village that doesn't have a corresponding town of the same name, but happens to be the main center of that town.

For example, I grew up near a village called Washingtonville. I would say I'm from Washingtonville even though my house wasn't technically within the bounds of the village: it was in its town, Blooming Grove. If I'm looking for a map of Washingtonville, I would expect to see not just the comparatively tiny area incorporated as "the Village of Washingtonville", but its surrounding area as well. To make matters more confusing, there is a hamlet of Blooming Grove within the town of Blooming Grove as well, but nobody cares about it: I couldn't name 3 people would would ever want a map of the hamlet of Blooming Grove.

Another example is Wallkill, which is even more confusing. There's a town of Wallkill in Orange County: within it, there's the city of Middletown. If you're from there, you're going to say you're from Middletown unless speaking to someone from the area who could tell the two apart. There's also a _hamlet_ of Wallkill in another county, part of a different town. If someone says they're from Wallkill, they're probably talking about the hamlet, not the town. You'd say you're from Wallkill (and not the town in which it resides, Shawangunk) because... well, I don't know. That's the way it's always been.

Which brings me to the exception I mentioned earlier. Check out the listing for Monroe, NY: [https://www.projectjefferson.com/?city=1804311](https://www.projectjefferson.com/?city=1804311)

Three entities in New York share this name: a town in Orange county, a village within that town, and a county 300 miles northwest of the town that encompasses the city of Rochester and its suburbs. (There is no city of Monroe in New York.) The site shows a map for the county. Presumably, the list being worked off is actually referring to the town, which has a population of ~39,000 and not its village, which only has a population of ~6,000.

Part in parcel with Monroe and the confusing town/village distinction, Kiryas Joel is listed ([https://www.projectjefferson.com/?city=175464](https://www.projectjefferson.com/?city=175464)). Kiryas Joel is a village within the town of Monroe comprising of about half its population. Even though it's massive, if you're from Kiryas Joel, you say you're from Kiryas Joel. But if you're from anywhere else within the town of Monroe, you say you're from Monroe. This is for cultural reasons: Kiryas Joel is a very insulated village consisting of mainly people of the Hassidic Jewish faith. If you're not Hassidic, you wouldn't self-identify with it even though it's the largest village within the town.

This was long, but hopefully it demonstrates some of the perils of taking an automated-only approach to this type of mapping.

<comment><AUTHOR> Mark, you are incredible. I think you've hit the nail on the head in terms of certain locales needing more TLC. I think we can get away with the fully- automated approach for most of the maps, but there are certain regions where this approach more or less falls apart.

The one thing we say -- and mean quite seriously -- is that we are willing to generate maps of wherever you most desire. We've already begun the process of rendering custom areas for customers, all requested through the contact form of the site. I think we'll slowly refine maps of certain areas as time goes on. We wanted to cast the net wide and fast, but I think we can hone in from here on out.

Thanks for your thoughts Mark!

<comment><USER21> Some cities require a larger footprint. For example, Atlanta should include the entire I-285 Perimeter.

<comment><USER22> Also, cities that are longer east-west than north-south should be in landscape, instead of portrait, orientation. Berkeley, CA and Cambridge, MA are examples. (And the San Francisco print should probably be a square.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> It is unfortunate that the name of your project honors a slave owner.</comment>


CoreOS is Linux for Massive Server Deployments - <AUTHOR> https://coreos.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> Best cluster solution by ALex Polvi and Brandon Philips.</comment>


Ask HN: Startup Disaster Recovery - <AUTHOR>

Our company is in the process of raising a round, and one of our investors has asked us to put in place some disaster recovery procedures before investing. What DR procedures do you have in place for your company?<p>Some background: * I am sole coder * All code is on GitHub * App is deployed to Heroku * Domain names are on NetworkSolutions <comment><USER2> Very 'interesting' they asking you this. Specially when it looks you are just starting.

I run a credit card company on AWS, our website runs on a single, small aws instance, but the POS/Financial servers are setup this way:

\- 8 multi-az oracle rds instances, 4 of them are slaves. It means we have 16 servers where 8 are manually standing by and 8 are on rds multi-az system. The 4 slaves are set to be used to recover from a data tampering event, not aws outages.

\- Some dozens of app servers on the same region of each database. We use a custom tcp/ip server I built in java almost a decade ago. We are thinking about migrating to apache Mina.

My personal tips:

\- Why are you paying the heroku premium? Build you own aws servers, put nginx and set cheap instances behind it. Let capistrano be your heroku.

\- Use some dynamic dns service, I would recommend dynect. Avoid amazon Route 53.

\- Use multi-az, set up the same database in another region (continent)

\- Get out of us-east

Build the very same setting into another region, create scripts to load the slave country's database if possible.

If your database is too fancy or large:

Shard or distribute.

(Edit) Almost forgot: ALWAYS have fresh as possible, offline backups of everything. Oracle is god when it comes to making this easy.

<comment><AUTHOR> Maybe I've worded this incorrectly, but they're basically saying, "What happens if you get hit by a bus?" My co-founder has access to one of our three projects, but no one else has access to Heroku, GitHub, etc.

Also, the Heroku vs EC2 is another can of worms. Heroku is the better decision for where we are now.

<comment><USER2> Incorporation agreements must have outlines on how to deal with such events. Other than that, you need someone to replace you in case something happens to you. That person should have the same access and info than you.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Few thoughts:

\- Don't worry about code backups, assuming you have the following: 1\. Local copy 2\. Local backups 3\. GitHub 4\. GitHub's own backups 5\. Copy on Heroku 6\. Heroku's backups (?) 7\. Any server backups

That's a hell of a lot of backups.

\- Make sure you can time how fast you can provision a new server and restore backups. When you actually have to, it'll give you some peace of mind knowing that your backups can be restored, and that you can reliably guess how long it'll take.

\- Make sure your domains are "Locked" in NetworkSolutions, which prevents transfer-out requests. I'm still mixed on whois privacy, but you're probably okay using it with NetworkSolutions.

\- I've also struggled with figuring out what to do if I can't run the business suddenly. For your domain, you can register it for several years or set it up on auto-renew, so that's not really an issue. As far as GitHub/Heroku, ... that's a tough question.</comment>


Ask HN: How to Study Mathematics? - <AUTHOR> For context, I am a university student just finished my first year, studying mathematics and a mostly unrelated humanities subject. That said, general advice in the topic is probably welcome for other readers. I was drawn to mathematics from a young age; however, in recent years my attention has been taken by my other subject. That said, I don't regret taking the course at all and I enjoy it, although some topics I prefer to others.
My institution gives a very significant incentive to those who excel academically in their early years. I would beat myself up if I did not use the unique opportunity of vast free time this summer to advantage myself in this regard.
My question is essentially for those who have experience studying the subject at university level, or self-studying to an approximately equivalent degree, with emphasis on the pure and problem-solving end over the applied. What strategies, resources, and tips would you advise for learners?
Also, I understand that this type of question is asked fairly regularly. Due to the nature of this forum, much has been said about approaching applications of mathematics for those in other disciplines or for the purpose of self-study. But I think that most would agree that from the outset, pure mathematics and abstract problem skills appear arcane from university-level on. <comment><USER3> For my own part, it was all about finding the right book. I enjoyed my degree in pure maths, and after finishing I really missed studying so I tried out dozens of books. Eventually, I hit upon Calculus by Spivak. This book fundamentally changed me and I solved every problem in it fastidiously - <USER2> was just so well made, funny in parts, it had cliffhangers, and the problems were just amazing, linking together over chapters like characters in a novel. For the first time, I was solving problems just for fun and I was improving much faster than I did during my degree. I wrote all my solutions in LaTeX so I had an organised body of work to look back on and watch grow, adding to the satisfaction (I lose paper; pdf is better for me).

So my advice: find a great book, make notes and expand on what the author is saying with diagrams or additional lines of working, focus on solving problems, do it out of love.

<comment><USER4> Spivak was great, I remember it fondly from my university years.

Is there any kind of crowdsourced "canonical" list of great books? Ideally something that does not bring 5 answers per question to the table. For example, what is the Spivak of discrete mathematics? Of statistics? What is Spivak for multivariate calculus?

<comment><USER3> I would love to know the answer to your question. On the one hand, it's too subjective to answer, one student's Spivak is another's Apostol; on the other hand, certain books just seem special in an almost objective way and rise above the scores of other books on the subject.

There is this: [https://mathblog.com/mathematics- books/](https://mathblog.com/mathematics-books/) which looks like a pretty well curated list

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Maybe some history of mathematics, to give you some perspective on it all? Something I wish I'd known when I did my degree, Norman Wildberger has a great course:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW8Cy6WrO94&list=PL55C7C8378...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW8Cy6WrO94&list=PL55C7C83781CF4316)

Visual Group Theory, by Nathan Carter is a book you can get something from no matter your level of maths, imho.

If you know some linear algebra, Gilbert Strang's course on YouTube may be interesting - [https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-06-linear- algebra...](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-06-linear-algebra- spring-2010/)

</comment><comment><USER6> Currently finishing my junior year of undergrad in math. I'd give different advice to a casual enthusiast than I would a full-time math student, but here are some tips that have helped me:

\- Reread everything. The first time, only read definitions and theorems; proceed steadily and focus on high-level ideas. The second time, try to recall definitions and focus on details of theorems. The third time, try to recall definitions and recall proofs of key theorems; work on memorization and fluency. The fourth time, try to modify the conditions of theorems and see what changes. If you are struggling with reading, get as far as you can and then go around again - it gets easier every time. Take as much time as you can afford before reading the same section again to let the material sink in.

\- Do lots of problems - start with trivial examples and slowly scale up the difficulty. Lock down the basics before moving on to harder problems. Ask for recommendations for books that have particularly good problems.

\- Practice proving theorems and claims. If you have a question while reading, make a conjecture and try to prove it formally. It took me too long to realize that understanding abstract math is not the same as being able to do proofs and formalize intuition. Following along while reading doesn't mean you can quickly or easily prove facts about the material, and the proof is what counts in the end. Knowing why something is true is not helpful if you cannot formalize it.

\- Hone intuition. Proving things is just performing a (directed) graph search on a set of facts with a well-defined start and end goal. Having good internal heuristics will help the search proceed quickly, in the right direction, while avoiding dead-ends; the only way to develop this sense is by practice.

</comment><comment><USER7> The single most important thing IMHO is to get the basics right

For context, I have a PhD in theoretical computer science and a master in mathematics. I've been teaching mathematics for several years ranging from high school to university.

The biggest problem for students, especially at the university level, is that they don't have the basics down. If you are not fluid in fractions and manipulating equations, you can't focus on the important part of learning induction proofs. This is just one example, but the return on investment on getting the basics down is huge.

For each new subject, you need to take the prerequisites serious. If you can't read a new definition and focus only on the new part, you should go back. The is of course very time consuming if you are missing a lot of prerequisites but if you want to get good, this is the way.

A well planned program will do this for you to some degree but the reason most people struggle is that they don't take prerequisites seriously or simple haven't learned them probably. You should be able to solve exercises in each prerequisite subject to a fairly good degree before tackling the next.

For anybody starting or doing university level mathematics I suggest your start refreshing pre-uni. Make sure you have fractions, linear and quadratic equations, exponentiation and logorithms and basic properties of functions are really down. If you have time, it can be very beneficial for pure mathematics to start out with some formal logic and natural deduction to really understand the way mathematicians reason in proofs and definitions.

Finally, ask all the stupid questions. Nobody, except yourself maybe, care if you misunderstood a basic point and got something wrong because of it. If "you just don't get" something, there is a high chance you missed something. If you don't understand the answer, same thing applies. Mathematics should be, if done properly, straight forward.

<comment><USER8> What online coursework do you recommend for getting the basics / fundamentals down? Is Khan Academy sufficient for this?

<comment><USER7> Khan Academy is not bad if you like their style of presentation, but as another comment noted, the number of exercises is too few. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a good recourse with focus on exercises, so I tend to create them myself for courses I teach. If you (or any other for that matter) are interested, I can upload a work sheet somewhere.

There properly are tons of sites providing work sheets, but the focus then tends to be on K-12 education and they are often to simple IMO.

For university the importing thing is often manipulating say fractions rather then "calculating" with fractions.

Tangentially, would there be any interest in a service providing this? Pay say 2$ or something and get 50 exercises in the basics with an eye towards university with sample solution? That space is properly swamped but maybe there is a niche? I often think that there is room for textbooks of this short but then again, that market is also swamped with big publishers.

<comment><USER9> I am interested in this. Do you have a website / would you mind posting your contact info?

I think there is absolutely a niche: students (or graduates) who have some experience with undergraduate-level math courses but that need to improve their fundamentals. Most US universities give credit for "Advanced Placement" courses taken in high school, even though these courses are rarely taught to university standards. I skipped the intro calculus sequence at my school, and since the proof-based math courses are usually fairly self-contained, I never got a chance to address the gaps in my fundamentals. I've now found myself in this somewhat awkward position where I can e.g. explain to you what sequential compactness means but can't solve for the roots of a third-degree polynomial.

It doesn't make sense to read a high-school level textbook, and books on competition math are either too hard or the focus is more on exposing you to hard problems rather than teaching fundamentals. There needs to be something which reviews fundamentals in a rigorous way.

<comment><USER7> I've added an e-mail to my profile.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> 1\. Find pens and paper. 2\. Find a quiet place. 3\. Find a book with lots and lots of exercises suitable for your level. 1/3 easy ones, 1/3 medium ones and 1/3 hard ones could be a good mix. The more motivated you are, the more harder ones you want. 4\. Solve exercises. 5\. Repeat step 4 forever. Also don't bring any electronic devices with you because they are distracting. If you don't, you'll be much more efficient. And 3-4 hours/day is more than enough to learn whatever you want if you study efficiently.

</comment><comment><USER11> The standard advice is to get the assigned books (or highly recommended books) for each of the courses in your coming semester and work through them early. You can support them with other resources but you'll save yourself a lot of time by using them as your main guide - especially for higher level math. The hard choice is how to study from the books. The only general tip I can give you is to not get too caught up in the early chapters. It's better to do a fast first pass then come back to it later.

</comment><comment><USER12> if it's something you're self-studying, don't be afraid to put something down and pick it up later. There are topics and materials that I completely failed to understand the first time I encountered them, but months or years later they were easy to understand.

Of course, if your goal is to get good grades in specific courses which have exams on specific dates, then this isn't very useful advice.

Some other advice:

\- don't underestimate the value of memorization when it comes to definitions and important theorems.

\- do lots of practice problems which are like those on the exams (obviously)

\- as much as possible, find peers to study with and talk with. it's easy to fool yourself into thinking you understand something, but when you try to talk about it with a real person, the holes in your knowledge are revealed pretty quickly.

\- if you can't do that, try to explain the concepts and ideas you're learning to an imaginary friend.

\- you might be able to find lecture notes or slides online from the actual versions of classes taught at your institution.

I agree you should ask the professors for materials to look at, or at least try to focus on the materials and courses actually taught at your institution. This is the path of least resistance and will probably make it easier to stay motivated too.

<comment><AUTHOR> The end goal is of course, a grade; however I will have to take supplementary exams. Although past papers are available, there is a degree of 'aptitude testing' involved which is strictly mathematical but still difficult to prepare for directly. Nevertheless practice problems are good for that and I will be doing a lot.

You are right, the advice to skip/quickly pass the first chapters [thank you lurker137] is good. I think this is something I have known subconsciously but I will try to keep aware. Same for those who have suggested seeking further material.

> as much as possible, find peers to study with and talk with

This is good advice. Thank you.

<comment><USER13> In terms of aptitude testing, going through some books like "How to Prove It" and working on rigorous proofs-based material (perhaps an introductory analysis book with lots of diagrams) will be helpful. As will brushing up on geometry-lots of people memorize a lot of geometry in middle school/high school, do well in their class, and forget it. Geometric concepts continue to appear throughout math and having a deep grasp of them is super helpful for your first "rigorous" math classes, where the secret to finishing a proof often lies in visualizing or drawing it correctly.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Few high-level advices, in arbitrary order.

1\. Don't panic. If you don't understand everything immediately, that's normal. Try second or third time - and even fourth and fifth. Not necessarily immediately - take some time.

2\. Try different books - for different people different explanations "click" differently.

3\. Math is often understood better a few months after you studied the material. In many courses you don't have time to internalize new concepts in real time - but after some pause you feel better adjusted to them.

4\. When you see a math expression, read it aloud, for better understanding. The goal is to force you to actually pay attention to every feature of the math notation used. Even reading this once helps. After reading a few times, you may start to see patterns and understandable pieces of the expression.

5\. Scientists sometimes need quite a bit of time to understand what their peers - even in close areas - write in their papers. Reading one paper, even not too long, for the whole week to get a good understanding could be normal.

</comment><comment><USER15> I wrote about my journey learning mathematics for the last ~6 years quite recently actually! Might be of interest to you as well: [https://www.neilwithdata.com/mathematics-self- learner](https://www.neilwithdata.com/mathematics-self-learner)

</comment><comment><USER16> Obtain Terrence Tao's Analysis I book and start from scratch, there's an ongoing workshop for this [https://learnaifromscratch.github.io/math.html](https://learnaifromscratch.github.io/math.html)

However you should probably ask professors at your school what you should be doing in your free time, since they are the one's who will be determining said significant incentive so probably have a better idea what you should be doing than any of us.

</comment><comment><USER17> Do what the professors tell you: buy (or download for free) the books, do all the practice exercises and proofs, go to office hours, listen to the professor in class and don't write everything they write, just the key stuff, and get together with other students to go over the harder problems.

That'll get you through the courses, and your level of effort and capabilities will determine how much you learn. Forget about grades, if you just do your best you'll get the best grade you can.

</comment><comment><USER18> Some practices and advice that I gained from my time doing a PhD in mathematics:

1\. Find a time of day to read and work on problems that works for you and make it interruption-free. For me it was up at 6AM and working until 9 or 10AM with no phone or laptop. If you can do longer or fit in another session, go for it.

2\. I found that I process new material in the background, so either going to the gym or taking a long walk gave my mind the break and mental space to process what it had just ingested.

3\. In mathematics, it's common to present the most terse, stripped-down version of a result which can rob it of the background and context. I found it was often helpful to find the author's previous work, PhD thesis or talks in order to understand how they got to their result.

4\. Don't be afraid to get a little side-tracked or obsessed with something that's not directly related to what you're currently working on. Part of training to be a mathematician is learning the ability to hold seemingly unrelated concepts in your head for long periods of time until the connection becomes apparent. Learn to love difficult things!

</comment><comment><USER19> Feedback.

You can try to do math on your own, but you'll have a high chance of failing. You need to get feedback.

Just like you can't learn a foreign language without interacting with the speakers of that language, it's very hard to learn math without speaking with people who know math.

So, by all means, find good books, good youtube videos (you can't go wrong with 3blue1brown), Khan academy, all those will help. But if you don't get feedback from people, it's easy to think you make solid progress when you actually don't. It's easy to not know what direction to pursue among hundreds of options.

How do you get feedback? If you can afford it, just pay for it. Nowadays there should be various online services that offer math tutoring. Get in touch with them, and tell them you'd like to go through Calculus 1, or Ordinary Differential Equations, for example. With a competent tutor, you can learn calculus in, let's say, 3 weeks, on your own, you could spend 3 months and still have serious gaps.

Edit: Because of feedback, it's actually easier to get good at programming than at math. In programming, you write programs, if they run and product the result you expect, that's great, if they don't, you realize right away you made a mistake.

So, if you can find a little coding project that forces you to learn math, you can get valuable math feedback by seeing that the program runs as expected. Ray tracing comes to mind. Maybe building an n-body simulator could be a fun exercise too. The phenomenal book "Turtle Geometry" teaches you math in this way, it asks you to write and run (and play with) various programs to produce quite some pretty pictures. You could go through it, and write all those programs in Python rather than Logo (Python has a turtle package embedded). With that book you can really learn a ton of math, including some Riemannian geometry.

</comment><comment><USER20> A few things that helped me during my studies as a math major:

\- get a small-ish whiteboard; one that you can fit in a larger bag. Do problems on that whiteboard first, then work them out on paper for submission once you have either solved the problem or know you are on the right track. It's way easier to wipe the whiteboard clean to start over than it is to erase your pencil work.

\- invest in a quality mechanical pencil and a separate eraser.

-work at least 3 extra problems beyond what was assigned for each category of problem

\- don't memorize anything that you can derive quickly - memorize the derivation. Use your scratch paper to derive whatever you need, when you need it, instead of fretting over memorizing the right formulas, etc.

\- read up on the topic of lecture, before lecture, so that you can listen to the meta-information and ask questions during lecture instead of scrambling to follow the topic.

\- make a notebook of techniques and tricks of the trade

\- definitions are everything.

</comment><comment><USER21> I recently bought Alex in numberlansld. Quite an interesting book. Also try What is mathematics? The book helped Einstein to grasp math concepts.

<comment><USER22> Could you tell me details about 'What is mathematics' book ? Which book specifically & Who's the author ?

<comment><USER23> The authors of "What is Mathematics" are Richard Courant and Herbert Robbins. This one is good as well: "Mathematics: Its Content, Methods and Meaning" by Aleksandrov, Kolmogorov and Lavrent'ev (Dover publications). It's a big book covering a wide amount of topics.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Learn from the countless of people who went before you. Read the book, A Mind For Numbers by Dr. Barbara Oakley.

</comment><comment><USER13> This depends super heavily on the math courses you've already taken.</comment>


Show HN: Node-android – Run Node.js on Android - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/getICO/node-android <comment><USER2> Serious question: what sorts of things would a person do with this?

Not throwing rocks, this is a question based in my own ignorance. I know what Node is, but I don't use it and I'm not an Android dev. Thanks!

<comment><USER3> What I'd do is running a full blown database application on the device. Couchbase Lite can do that as an example - replicate to a Couchbase server and allow offline access to data and indices. If your server part is Node.js based you should be able to have the whole thing running offline on devices.

Why? I'm Swiss. We drive a lot of trains and they enter a lot of tunnels. Or on the plane. Or on a mountain. Imagine you can just keep on editing all your business data and sync the delta once you get a connection.

<comment><USER4> You may be interested in a new way to develop web applications that I have been developing. An entire site is represented in JSON, and pages are built by Javascript in the browser. This greatly reduces server calls, making it much faster as well as largely working offline.

The site is in late alpha: [https://www.sparational.com/](https://www.sparational.com/)

(If you goto the Login screen and enter an unused username and password, it will create an account for you.)

<comment><USER5> On my phone, it just says application error

<comment><USER4> Which browser? I've tested on desktop Chrome, mobile Chrome, and mobile Firefox.

IE and Edge aren't currently supported, and might never be.

<comment><USER5> I tried Firefox Focus, Firefox Mobile, and Chrome. Just tested again and it's working now though. Looks interesting!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> If the purpose is to just run JavaScript code on Android outside of a browser context, React Native and NativeScript have been doing this for a while.

If the purpose is to run JavaScript functions as background services this is somewhat implemented via Service Workers in Progressive Web Apps.

I don't think there is any way (currently) to register a JavaScript function/library as an always-on server process. I don't see why this would be unsafe or particularly undesirable unless there is something computationally intensive happening.

</comment><comment><USER7> This is cool, but Termux gives you this and more.

</comment><comment><USER8> This looks like a NodeJS implementation written in Java (I'm guessing from a dead-push to make Java's JS VM capable of running NodeJS APIs - and note that its compatible with Node 0.10.x - very oldish) Still would likely fill a niche where previously not possible.

</comment><comment><USER9> "Run Node.js on Android by rewrite Node.js in Java"

It also hasn't been meaningfully updated in two years. I don't think that this is really useable.

</comment><comment><USER10> I was able to get Node running on both Android and iOS using this library: [https://github.com/janeasystems/nodejs- mobile](https://github.com/janeasystems/nodejs-mobile)

Here's the writeup:

[https://medium.com/@tuffluver/control-an-industrial-robot- wi...](https://medium.com/@tuffluver/control-an-industrial-robot-with-your- iphone-or-android-88b5dd300ee1)

</comment><comment><USER11> Very nice! I've been playing with [https://github.com/janeasystems/nodejs- mobile](https://github.com/janeasystems/nodejs-mobile) to get the Dat project to run on Android and iOS. This might be another way to do the same thing on Android!

<comment><USER12> Your linked project makes a lot more sense since it is a native NDK port instead of a complete rewrite/re-implementation in another programming language.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> termux (on android) has nodejs

      $ apt search nodejs
      nodejs/stable 8.11.2 arm
        Platform built on Chrome's JavaScript runtime for easily building fast, scalable network applications

disclaimer: I haven't used it

</comment><comment><USER14> Great hack, but what does it give me that Node under Termux doesn't?

<comment><USER15> You could probably packages a Node.JS app with this and release it as an Android app. I think this project need some examples.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> I'm probably being blind here, but why would you need to re-write node.js in Java in order to be able to run it under Android? Why couldn't this be achieved through JNI (or similar)?

</comment><comment><USER17> I used an old Android phone with Linux Deploy to run Node with MongoDB around 3 years ago. Now Termux allows to do basically the same.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> the initial purpose is to run http over udp with nodejs on Android for p2p web service. I have spent years of effort on it, but I feel tired now. anyone interested in it, can fork and continue on it. thanks.

</comment><comment><USER18> Do we have one for iOS?

I would like to run my own web servers in Cordova!!

<comment><USER19> [https://github.com/janeasystems/nodejs- mobile](https://github.com/janeasystems/nodejs-mobile) Is the most promising project right now! Secure Scuttle Butt is using it to get running on mobile.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Why link to a fork?

</comment><comment><USER21> Now we just need android phones with 32gb of ram.</comment>


AEG report warns rival Inglewood NFL stadium presents terrorist threat - <AUTHOR> http://www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-nfl-stadium-gamesmanship-20150228-story.html

<comment><USER3> I wish journalism would just stop trying to present themselves as non biased mediums which only act as conduits but are afraid to "lead the witness". Strop trying to be impartial, ask pointed questions when people answer. Use follow up questions.

They try to pretend to be fair by allowing people to make any claim without having to face criticism. And to be sure they do this with progressive ideas as well as conservative ideas and outrageous ideas. Please call people out when they are being idiots. Don't just standby and say we'll let the audience decide. Sometimes you have to take the bull by the horns.

Here unscrupulous anti-competitive behavior needs to be checked and these people pilloried for using terrorism as a knee jerk weapon against competition.

<comment><AUTHOR> Inspired by this tweet[0], I'd originally submitted this story as the more pointed "Ex-Homeland Security chief hired to suggest competitor's stadium is a terrorism target" or something to that effect. It was changed by the moderator, probably because the article itself didn't go nearly as far. But what other conclusion can one draw from the facts? I suspect most of votes were for the original submission title.

[0] [https://twitter.com/AdamMinter/status/571549778389049344](https://twitter.com/AdamMinter/status/571549778389049344)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I like that "it will be a terrorist threat" can now be used to stop absolutely anything and everything from being built/done.

That new bridge? nope - terrorist threat.

Elementary school? - na.

New car manufacturing plant? nope.

Hospital? uh uh. The bad guys will get it.

</comment><comment><USER5> The Department of Homeland Security is increasingly a transmogrifier of mediocre bureaucrats, allowing them to morph into 'security consultants' when they retire.

</comment><comment><USER6> No doubt Tom Ridge's company ScareCo can sell you a pair of sticks - <USER2> incredibly expensive pair of sticks - that when knocked together repel super- terrists from your new stadium.</comment>


White House adviser Navarro says China trade deal is 'over' - <AUTHOR> https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-china-navarro/white-house-adviser-navarro-says-china-trade-deal-is-over-idUSKBN23U02Q <comment><USER2> >He said the "turning point" came when the United States learned about the spreading coronavirus only after a Chinese delegation had left Washington following the signing of the Phase 1 deal on Jan. 15.

Were there no other sources of information?

Are we to believe the White House is entirely in the dark about things unless an delegation tells them?

</comment><comment><USER3> It's not over. We are way too coupled to have one side or the other quit. I consider this a negotiation ploy. We'll here this for a bit and before the election there will be a magical breakthrough that will hike the republican chances for election wins.

It's over; until they get a better deal before the election.</comment>


Show HN: Laguna – See what your friends are trading and make bets - <AUTHOR> https://withlaguna.com/ <comment><USER2> Show? It's just a signup form.

</comment><comment><USER3> seeing what others are trading isnt an edge. this is simply market volume

<comment><USER4> I think "and make bets" is the key here.

<comment><USER2> Gonna make tendies!</comment></comment></comment>


Why are we building new walls to divide us? - <AUTHOR> http://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2013/nov/walls?CMP=fb_us#intro

<comment><USER2> Because of politicians...</comment>


Ask HN: What Happened to Larry Page? - <AUTHOR> I can't find any news about him since he left Google. <comment><USER4> My guess, which is just a guess, is that the founders got tired of Google Search and advertising and Android and mobile hardware and privacy issues and regulatory issues so much that the "don't be evil" motto was glaring at their faces and made them uncomfortable enough to step aside and let others run the show (or run things into the ground). This must have allowed them to enjoy their riches in relative peace.

Sometimes the things you create grow way beyond your capacity to handle and become soul crushing endeavors that bear little resemblance to the early years of adventure, fulfillment and satisfaction in serving others, and the wise thing to do would be to step aside and preserve your sanity and peace of mind.

<comment><USER5> Last paragraph is the reason why I don't have kids

<comment><USER6> I entered into parenthood with similar trepidation, but my fears turned out to be unjustified. It definitely means having _different_ experiences, but it's waaaay more fun than I thought it would be.

<comment><USER7> There is nothing from evolutionary point of view more important than having children. It would be highly unusual if nature didn't make that experience overall speaking as one of best things in life.

<comment><USER8> And yet, all the studies of people with children show that they make you less happy, while they are around, although more happy later in later, presumably once they have moved out. Years of relief built up I guess (just kidding, more likely the benefits of having an extended close family when you are older).

Speaking for myself, I know that I would hate to have my freedom taken away by having children. I also know that my sister, who has a four year old and a one year old, has been miserable and exhausted for much of the last four years.

<comment><USER9> Happiness is overrated. Like picking a food to eat because it's sweeter.

If you could choose between a future where your happiness doubled but one of your loved ones died, or the unadjusted future, which would you prefer?

<comment><USER8> Moral framings like this are pointless. That's a scenario that's never going to happen, so why worry about it? Instead, we have a real question to ask:

Which of these would you choose?

A. Have children and be less happy, more stressed, and have less money and less free time for your a ~25 year stretch somewhere between ages 20 and 60.

B. Don't have children, be less happy, poorer, much busier, and more stressed during those years, but potentially more happy in your old age.

<comment><USER9> The point is the realization that happiness is not the most essential thing in thing. My hypothetical is meant to be similar to the choice between two futures, one, where you have one more loved one and maybe less happiness, and the other where you have one fewer loved one and maybe more happiness - i.e the choice to have a child or not.

Happiness is a kind of short term thing. Life has better things to offer in my view.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> He has two "flying car" startups that he is working on: [https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/19/17586878/larry-page- flyin...](https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/19/17586878/larry-page-flying-car- opener-kitty-hawk-cora)

Considering the relative secrecy that he is building these companies in, I'd guess he has other companies going as well.

<comment><USER11> Wondering for almost two years after this news we haven't seen a single flying car demo from these companies. Of course Larry Page's money is a good financial support but Elon Musk has repeatedly rejected the VTOL idea, it can pummel populated areas.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> He's in the Caribbean a lot of the time and seemingly spent a lot of time there when he still had the CEO title. I didn't see him much around google in those days (not that we move in the same circles, so this is purely anecdotal).

One of my friends lives on the same block and said a little while ago that he never sees him any more (they aren't friends so it's a "see the neighbors" kind of thing, also not something authoritative).

</comment><comment><USER13> Maybe he's one of the regulars here on HN using an anonymous handle, taking part in these conversations without anyone judging him or his actions.

Well-known people have used pseudonyms for ages to preserve their privacy (for instance, when staying in hotels) or sometimes to manipulate public opinion -- writing letters to the editor under various names and personalities was a favorite tactic of Ben Franklin, even to the newspapers he owned!

More recently, Mitt Romney's alt Twitter account "Pierre Delecto" was uncovered after he gave away too many clues: [https://slate.com/news-and- politics/2019/10/mitt-romney-has-...](https://slate.com/news-and- politics/2019/10/mitt-romney-has-a-secret-twitter-account-and-it-sure-looks- like-its-this-one.html)

</comment><comment><USER14> Retired, I presume. Sometimes people just want to spend time with their kids and not have to work all the time. And I'm sure he talks to Sundar Pichai all the time, Alphabet/Google was his baby afterall.

<comment><USER15> May I ask? In English: "I presume" means that "I have no data and am speculating". I that correct?

If that is correct, why would you give an answer?

My query should not imply any criticism - just that I don't understand. Could you explain to an (Sincerely, From: obvious problematic person, who does want to learn)

<comment><USER16> If we restricted discussion forums to only people who had any idea what they were talking about, you could fit all of internet discourse onto a floppy disk.

<comment><USER15> Well played. Still - sometimes I would like to rank answers somehow, like: 1) I was there, 2) My best friend was there, 3) I have a PhD in that theory, 4) I built something from theoretical blocks, 5) My friends and I got high in college, and thought about building something, 6) ....

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> His paralyzed vocal cords make public speeches hard.

He is still Alphabet board member and employee. His interest has always been futurism and moon-shot projects.

<comment><USER18> My feeling is that the paralyzed vocal cords are more an effect of the root cause.

I think Larry did not like anymore most of what he had to do in his role and created so much stress to him that his body ended up helping him to get out of that role.

From what I heard on some videos Larry and Sergey were still actively involved in the creation of new things in Google X etc. They are engineers and they love to build and create new ambitious things. But if you are high in the management of a big public company that is not your role anymore.

I think they hoped the creation of Alphabet would have given them the opportunity to go back to work on new products with an impact for good in the world instead of having to keep focussing on the dull and stressful management of Google itself.

But in the end they probably realized that it was not the case and they left.

I know they do angel investing. I guess that with their experience and money, it is more effective to help younger enterpronurs to make the world a better place.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Building his Ex Machina home assistant. Watch your inbox closely and you can win the contest to visit his compound.

<comment><USER20> Rumor has it Larry Page has already uploaded himself to the cloud, leaving behind his abandoned, lifeless husk inside a closet in a Google data center somewhere.

<comment><USER21> Huge if true

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Having had a high profile in a much smaller community, it can be nice to be forgotten for a while :)

</comment><comment><USER23> He got sick with an incurable disease which makes him sound like a 80 year old chain smoker, I heard he got a lot less active since then. I bet it made him realize how little money and power can actually do for him so he is focusing more on stuff that matters in his life.

</comment><comment><USER24> He's still a board member, and if I remember correctly he moved over to the Moonshot factory (X).

</comment><comment><USER13> He used Google+ _a lot_.

Somewhere there's an archive of his old posts.

<comment><USER25> Oh? What happened to the originals?

<comment><USER26> Google+ died.

<comment><USER11> Facebook and Instagram killed it!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> I wondered why he doesn't have a personal website and saw that Sergey Brin, Tim Cook, and Elon Musk don't either. Ended up at gatesnotes.com and signing up for Bill Gates' mailing list.

<comment><USER28> Probably because its a lot of work and risk. With such a high profile, controversial points quickly become a lot of trouble. Also, there's a lot of overhead with running and securing the site. So, why bother if you don't have anything interesting to say on there? They are big enough to have Wikipedia host their CV.

<comment><USER29> > there's a lot of overhead with running and securing the site

Not really. Especially not if you have Google at your disposal.

<comment><USER28> It's surely possible, I don't meant to suggest otherwise . But still - <USER2> bother when you have nothing to say?

A personal website tends to serve as either self promotion or to voice your opinion. I don't think he needs promotion, so unless he wants to start blogging, it's only risk and timesink with no upsides.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> He's someone that can ensure that there is no news about him.

</comment><comment><USER31> Wasn't there was some sort of metoo thing that happened with Page, Brin, and Schmidt right before they all stepped down?

</comment><comment><USER32> No idea about Page, but I do remember walking by Sergey Brin in a microkitchen about two years ago when I was at Google. He was evidently playing around with Tensorflow in Colab. I actually didn't know it was him when I walked by, someone told me who it was after I left the room.

</comment><comment><USER33> "I can't find any news about him since he left Google." Not even Google can find him.

<comment><USER34> Hah, creating your own search engine has its advantages doesn't it.

Or if you don't own Google, you can just claim something related to the search term to hide what you want to hide: [https://www.wired.co.uk/article/boris- johnson-model-google-n...](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/boris-johnson- model-google-news)

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> Hanging out with his neighbor Richard Branson I imagine.

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

</comment><comment><USER36> Must be busy checking server logs[1]

[1] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9138814](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9138814)

</comment><comment><USER37> He's reading this at the moment since it hit the top of HN, but for the last few hours it was all about Animal Crossing.

</comment><comment><USER38> So many cans of worms

</comment><comment><USER39> It was clear years ago that neither he nor Brin were interested running Google day-to-day anymore. I'm actually surprised that every billionaire doesn't do the same after reaching a certain point of success.

Like..is calling the shots at Facebook really that big a deal that Zuckerberg spends his life being dragged from one mess to another, put in front of Congress every other week, criticized across the political spectrum (which is an achievement in itself)? Does he really not want to take his $110B and do...literally whatever he wants in peace for the rest of his life? Or is it just that he cannot bring himself to trust anyone enough to hand over the reins of Facebook?

<comment><USER40> He's still relatively young, and likely realises the near absolute power he holds over one of the largest companies in the world is not something he can get back once he gives it up. Also Gates, to put it in very uncharitable terms, has shown that it doesn't matter if you're seen as a hated, greedy CEO as long as you do enough philanthropy later in life.

<comment><USER41> What would Bill Gates have to do to finally shed his reputation as a business man?

Honestly, Gates seems like a pretty good guy from interviews he's given and he's doing something good with his money.

<comment><USER42> When you're as rich as Gates and Buffet you not only have a teams of people managing your money, you also have teams of people dedicated to managing your image.

So yes - Gates seems like a pretty good guy. And he'll have paid a lot of money to create that impression.

Zuckerberg doesn't seem to be running the usual PR operation - <USER3> because he's too young to be bothered, and possibly because he doesn't really care much.

Likewise Bezos. But you can be sure that if/when they turn to philanthropy, they'll consider the option of a similarly wholesome transformation and proceed if it seems likely to provide extra social leverage.

The alternative will be managed media invisibility, which is also an option at that level.

<comment><USER43> That's pretty cynical. Giving away your entire fortune to charity and convincing others to do the same isn't just PR, it's a genuine effort to make the world a better place. He was a cutthroat businessman and made millions at the expense of other businessmen, many of whom would've done the same to him if they could. I don't think being a hardass in the board room disqualifies you from being a generous and caring person in your private life.

<comment><USER44> > I don't think being a hardass in the board room disqualifies you from being > a generous and caring person in your private life.

No, but it also doesn't somehow wipe away the actions he took to make that money.

He didn't just attack other businesses, he attacked open source, and would have destroyed it if he could have.

By all means, you can think whatever you like about the man. Gates has done some pretty slimy shit. Being nice now is nice, and I applaud him for it, but nobody is obligated to develop amnesia.

Further, there is no obligation to politely applaud the rich person picking and choosing who should benefit from their largesse. Nor in noticing the massive PR campaigns that go along with it.

He's buying what he wants with his money.

<comment><USER41> > _He didn 't just attack other businesses, he attacked open source, and would > have destroyed it if he could have. By all means, you can think whatever you > like about the man. Gates has done some pretty slimy shit. Being nice now is > nice, and I applaud him for it, but nobody is obligated to develop amnesia._

I'm not asking you to forget what he did as a business man. But people grow by integrating new information and changing their minds. And Gates seems to be progressing in the right direction.

But all of you anti-Gates people are hell bent on defining him by his actions as the head of Microsoft. And being cynical about his motivations.

I'm grateful that he's changed his ways and is making a positive contribution to the world. He really does seem to try and understand the issues he wants to tackle and not just hire people to do it for him.

<comment><USER44> > I'm grateful

Herein lies our difference of opinion. I consider it a positive thing that he's changed and grown. But grateful? Wealth-worship is gross and I'm not his dependent.

Again, he's buying what he wants to buy with his money.

<comment><USER45> Exactly right. He won the money game, he couldn't feed his ego with that anymore. Now he is feeding his ego with philanthropy. He literally couldn't spend it all on himself. So he sprinkles it around with his name attached. People don't cheer when I give pocket change to the homeless, yet it is a similar percentage of my net worth.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER46> It's funny how Larry Page very much seems to like his privacy these days... after taking it from everyone else.

<comment><USER47> Larry didn't take it from anyone. We gave it to him. He just monetized it.

<comment><USER48> You cannot give something away without realizing it. Google's collection of shadow data on people is not "Given" to them. Most people don't know when and how they collect it. I didn't "Give" Google data any more than I gave data to the guy who drove by my car and collected the plate number when I went to the store a few weeks ago.

<comment><USER49> Alternatively, data could be considered not to exist until it is collected. In this way Larry is neither stealing it nor are you giving it. I personally find this interpretation more compelling. Otherwise you'd get weird conclusions, like Darwin stealing evolution from nature, rather than being the creator of the idea and the data that supports it.

<comment><USER48> We're off in the weeds now.

The point here is that there was no agreement about this... or even knowledge about the collection of data. There was unilateral action on the part of Google/ Facebook to secretly create data collection points all over our lives.

The person I replied to suggested we volunteered this information to Google. Which is almost entirely untrue. Most people Google and Facebook track have zero knowledge they are being tracked.

<comment><USER50> I don't want to blame "most people". But had they read the agreements (!) and understood them (!!) they were told they were being tracked.

So I blame the people a bit, but I blame a media culture that didn't make it clear, and an educational system that prevented them from understanding what was happening.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER51> Notch is said to be a deeply unhappy person, or at least he was a few years ago. He also made a hard right-wing turn.

[https://money.cnn.com/2015/08/31/technology/minecraft- creato...](https://money.cnn.com/2015/08/31/technology/minecraft-creator- tweets/index.html)

[https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/04/online-conduct- leaves...](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/04/online-conduct-leaves- markus-notch-persson-out-of-minecraft-10th-anniversary/)

<comment><USER52> >He also made a hard right-wing turn.

Is that problematic in and of itself?

<comment><USER53> He still believes in the QAnon and PizzaGate conspiracy. That is kind of "problematic".

<comment><USER54> Unfortunately this doesn't seem as unfounded as I had initially thought: [https://web.archive.org/web/20200118060902if_/https://twitte...](https://web.archive.org/web/20200118060902if_/https://twitter.com/notch/status/901192994971410433)

Yet I couldn't clearly claim that he does on the basis of this, as it's just confusing to me, no sure whether that's his flavor of irony. Do you have some more evidence to prove that he believes these things? I had previously seen him as weird and provocative, but not definitely right-wing.

<comment><USER55> [https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Notch](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Notch)</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Do you use ElasticSearch to store logs? Or something else? - <AUTHOR> My name is Lucas Galton (I'm french, pardon my English), I work as a consultant. Some clients have asked me to deploy ElasticSearch clusters in order to store and search their logs. But, as much as I love Kibana and Grafana, I find them lacking when you just want to browse and see your logs in context.
I decided to start a side project solving this problem, but I ask myself some questions.
What I would like to know is: - Do you have the same issue ? Did you find a solution ? - Do you use another system to store the logs ? If yes, do you still face this problem ?
I will post a comment with a link to my project for those interested. <comment><AUTHOR> Take a look at [https://logvue.xonoko.com/](https://logvue.xonoko.com/) if you want to know more about the project. Send me an email if you are interested or you have any question, or even better any critics !</comment>


Show HN: Cheateo, create your own bots - <AUTHOR> http://www.cheateo.com <comment><AUTHOR> We are mainly looking for feedbacks or recommendations. If you want to give a try, the free plan is available!</comment>


DIY rifles are untraceable and completely legal - <AUTHOR> http://keyetv.com/news/local/diy-assault-rifles-are-untraceable-and-completely-legal <comment><USER2> In US, the receiver of the firearm is _legally_ the firearm -- everything else is just boring bits of metal that you can buy without any sort of legal encumberments. Anyone can buy a chunk of 7075 aluminium that looks like an AR-15 lower receiver but, critically, has enough milling not-yet-done such that the ATF has blessed it to not be a firearm. Some time with a proper jig and a drill press can convert it into a working lower receiver! You don't even need a CNC.

But you don't even to buy such an "80% lower receiver" to do this -- you can just make your own lower receiver out of most anything (it need not stand firearm chamber pressures, unlike the bolt carrier / bolt and barrel, which are much harder to DIY), up to and including _wood_.

Murders done with rifles are quite rare (an overwhelming majority of murder is done with handguns, per FBI's Uniform Crime Report) so the disproportionate focus on the evils of such "ghost guns" / "DIY rifles" is baffling.

<comment><USER3> Time for some career politicians and grassroots campaigners to drum up a witch hunt to "regulate 3D printers" so that nobody out there can make a receiver without a permit ^.^

<comment><USER4> They've been doing that for quite some time. Do a search for "Ghost Gun" and have a laugh at California's politicians.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Of course, no one wants to put guns in the hands of bad guys.

This seems like a problem which can't be regulated away without severely impacting other industries (ie preventing production 3d printing machines which could produce these firearms).

Even with plans being illegal, it seems that where there is a will, there will be a way, even if it's through a black market or trial and error.

If that's the case does regulation make sense? Is there a more viable alternative?

<comment><USER6> It's funny the article should mention Austin, since there was just a mass stabbing there ( [https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2017/05/01/multiple- pe...](https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2017/05/01/multiple-people- stabbed-ut-austin-campus) ).

Rifles are on the order of 20% as likely to be used to commit a murder as knives ( [https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in- the-u.s.-...](https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in- the-u.s.-2013/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/expanded- homicide/expanded_homicide_data_table_8_murder_victims_by_weapon_2009-2013.xls) ).

~

Regulating what people can build in their own homes is not a good idea, nor is saying "this set of machine blueprints is legal to possess, while this other is not". The hacking community has known this for a long time ( [https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to- read.html](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html) ).

<comment><USER7> You're more likely to be beaten to death with fists than killed by a rifle. The whole thing is emotion-based manipulation.

<comment><USER8> Exactly, and this is why fists need to be highly regulated by the government. I propose mandating that everyone have their hands surgically altered so that they're unable to make fists, and can only close their fingers partway.

<comment><USER9> You just have to store your fists separately and each fitted with a fist lock unless you're at a punching range.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I'm shocked that the US Government can track firearms in the first place as it undermines the purpose of the second amendment.

<comment><USER11> To enable state militias?

<comment><USER4> to ensure the security of a free state

<comment><USER12> And 'round and 'round we'll go until eternity!

Does the militia clause limit the right of ordinary American citizens to own firearms? Is every citizen a potential militia member?

[http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/so-you-think- you...](http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/so-you-think-you-know-the- second-amendment)

<comment><USER4> > Does the militia clause limit the right of ordinary American citizens to own > firearms?

No. This is a question of basic English grammar - to read it any other way one has to be trying to confirm their agenda.

> Is every citizen a potential militia member?

Yes. I could go out an join a militia today if I so desired. So could you.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> You haven't had your mind blown until you've read Cody Wilson's "Come And Take It" [1]. Equally infuriating for the right and the left, and very very hard to rebut.

[1] [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CO34MBI](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CO34MBI)

<comment><USER14> I went to university with him in a rather liberal sub-program within the curriculum. You should see all the squirming and uncomfortableness he has created among the professors. Their claim is to teach free thinking and they just love to bring in past students who are successful and/or controversial like authors of books on how gender is just a social construct. But you can bet they haven't asked Cody to come present to the students.</comment></comment>


Sen. Ted Cruz wants minimum H-1B wage of $110,000 - <AUTHOR> http://www.computerworld.com/article/3014365/it-careers/sen-ted-cruz-wants-minimum-h-1b-wage-of-110-000.html <comment><USER2> This will never see the light of day. Sen. Hatch and Co. will see to it.

Due to the way campaign financing works, any senators or congressmen which vote for this bill will face a reduction in campaign finance funding during the next election cycle.

The only way to get meaningful policies through the legislative process is to fix campaign finance first. Until this happens, legislators will continue to be corrupted by those with large amounts of money.

<comment><USER3> No what needs to be fixed is the need for money to pay for advertising. Remove this need and politicians won't be wasting their time raising money.

<comment><USER2> Advertising costs are not relevant if only money from the government can be used for campaigns, everyone gets the same amount, and there are severe per- person limits on private money donations, (no corporate or trade association donations allowed)

The only snag I see is the procedure used to determine who gets the government money.

<comment><USER3> The problem with trying to restrict the supply of money without removing the demand is that it is very hard to police. There is also the citizen's united ruling from the supreme court that makes it unconstitutional to restrict political advertising.

Much better to remove the need for advertising rather than try to police where the money comes from. Of course doing this is not easy, but it is the only solution that will work.

<comment><USER2> So maybe we need a few constitutional amendments to resolve the issue.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> If you look at the database, you'll see that H1Bs are awarded to non tech people too - like cooks, researchers, etc. A lot of foreign chef's are brought over on H1Bs to run or train a staff. Here's one for a thai restaurant in NYC, salary $30K. [http://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=POK+POK+NY+LLC&job=COOK&cit...](http://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=POK+POK+NY+LLC&job=COOK&city=&year=ALL)

</comment><comment><USER4> This seems strange. First a 'minimum wage' seems to be against what Republicans stand for. Second, its pandering to a group that can't vote in US elections. Third, established industry will be against this.

<comment><USER5> My guess is that a high minimum wage would incentivize employers to hire citizens instead of new immigrants. There are plenty of anti-immigrant Republicans, as Donald Trump and his current base have illustrated.

<comment><USER6> Exactly. This panders to their anti-immigration base. If it were a serious proposition, then he would have at least tied the salary to some percentage of the median salary for the job being applied for.

That said, it's still weird because it'll likely piss off the large donors. I understand that he's trying to take some of Trump's base using Trump's tactics, but the only reason that Trump gets away with it is because he's financing his own campaign and couldn't care less about fundraising.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The example of lost US jobs, given in the article, is actually about off- shoring. Not related to H1-B at all. Lets get that under control first.

Secondly, the process I went through back in the 70s, the position should be advertised for some length of time and if there is a qualified US applicant that person should be hired instead.</comment>


Show HN: To read books again, read one page every day - <AUTHOR> http://www.readonepage.com/ <comment><USER2> I must say that this approach works. At least for me. I try to read at least 30 pages each day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are great occasions for this.

<comment><AUTHOR> It works for me, too. The inspiration was from this TED talk: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQMbvJNRpLE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQMbvJNRpLE).

The idea of marginal adjustment is both simple and powerful.</comment></comment>