Ask HN: Best biology books? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> Molecular Biology of the Cell, Molecular Biology of the Gene, Cancer (all textbooks)

The Eighth Day of Creation</comment>


Snapshots of awesome office spaces for inspiration/motivation - <AUTHOR> http://www.officesnapshots.com/

<comment><USER2> Old news for seasoned HN-ers <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=95348> <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=115990> <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=388343>

</comment><comment><USER3> Check this one out:

<http://www.fiqas.nl/Portals/0/FLASH/domain.html>

</comment><comment><USER4> I've seen Ebola quarantine facilities that looked more vibrant and visually appealing.</comment>


Pinewood Derby Instant Replay System - <AUTHOR> http://www.raisinggeeks.com/blog/2012/01/pinewood-derby-instant-replay-system/

<comment><USER2> Man, this takes me back.

When I built cars that were in our local Pinewood Derby, we had a big, expensive fancy thing that told you which car placed where. It was high, and all it did was light up lights next to 1, 2, 3 and 4. I can't even begin to imagine how much it cost.

It's pretty awesome how far we've come in just a little while. Now you can build an entire instant replay system with things you can get at common stores!

And they have an inventing merit badge now!?</comment>


Implementation of a Probabilistic Context Free Grammar Parser in JavaScript - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/digitalheir/probabilistic-earley-parser-javascript <comment><USER2> A little off topic, The author here describes the use case for this and mentions for those situations where "if you do not need probabilities attached to your parse trees, you are probably better off using nearley instead"

This lead me to wonder (and unsuccessfully answer via google-fu): What is the difference between [jison]([https://zaa.ch/jison/docs/](https://zaa.ch/jison/docs/)) and [nearley]([https://nearley.js.org](https://nearley.js.org)) and when would I use one over the other?

<comment><USER3> They use different parsing algorithms and from the sounds of it, I don't think jison supports finding all possible parsers while nearly does.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Can this be used as a computing language like lisp?</comment>


The condescending UI - <AUTHOR> http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/9/2616204/the-condescending-ui

<comment><USER2> The Condescending Author

Talks about how he feels to smart for the UI, but doesn't bother looking up the substantial body of research explaining why it's useful to any user (novice to expert).

It's 2011. I thought HCI had some respect. Stuff like this seriously makes my throat clench a little bit.

Half the complaints cover things that help your subconscious have a better idea of what's going on, from z-order to spatial changes in windows. The other half cover adding more useful context to a window. Without the dressing, the address book is a list pane and a few text boxes. If it and other windows (say, iTunes) were plain controls-in-windows, you'll have to spend extra time figuring out which one is which.

But, this story isn't about UIs. He's building himself as a curmudgeon character (have a look at the author page). It's a new sort of mid-level ludditery. BeOS? Haiku? Fucking really? There are at _least_ a half-dozen changes you can make to a stock ubuntu config (mostly turning off unity) fit that mold today. But it's not about getting somewhere he prefers, it's about complaining.

<comment><USER3> He even models his appearance on the late Paul Harvey.

<http://img.timeinc.net/time/daily/2009/0903/harvey_0301.jpg>

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I feel like I am completely opposite of this dude. He hates dropshadows around windows. He hates the minimize-to-dock effect in OSX, saying it "wastes time". I just hit the minimize button and it took all of _one second_ \- one second in which my hindbrain was given a strong visual cue that _I am switching out of one context_. I use it regularly and I've never stopped to think about it.

I mean, a lot of the stuff he's saying feels "condescending"? It's all stuff that has preferences. You can change the size of icons. I mostly navigate my Mac's filesystem in the 3-column view.

He's bemoaning the fact that the OSX menu fades out when you leave it versus the System 3ish menus that just popped in and out. And honestly I can't say I notice the fade consciously either - but subconsciously I _like_ it. It's instantly responsive when I ask for it, and it's got a nice slow visual effect as I'm done with it.

But then again, for all that I'm an artist with a bent towards minimalism, the OSX address book really doesn't bug me either. I quit using the iPad's calendar - but that's because it had a design directly taken from the revised OSX one, with that unusable-on-tablets row of tiny buttons for changing weeks. I really don't _see_ supposed horrid UI sins like Calendar's torn page, it's just chrome that's vanished into the background.

He basically seems to be saying that all modern polish is crap and we should be happy with the looks that were pretty much required back in the 90s due to limitations. He disses new experiments like Metro as well, but really doesn't manage to articulate what his dream UI would be. Besides "oh god I wish I could use BeOS". Which looks... god, I feel like I'm using my Amiga when I look at that screenshot. Which I loved at the time but I've moved _on_.

<comment><USER5> Where do you draw the line when it comes to distracting details in UI? Is the level of detail in current Apple products perfect? Should they move towards more skeuomorphic designs or more typographical designs?

<comment><USER4> Honestly I am not a fan of the skeuomorphic stuff - that way lies the hundreds of ugly-ass mp3 player skins that look like some little physical device sitting on your desktop - but the Apple stuff has been relatively inoffensive. The version of iCal that I ditched is the one on the iPad, because it requires me to poke at tiny buttons on the bottom of the screen to go to next/previous month/day/week instead of just doing a nice easy swipe like every other iPad app trains me to do. (Or even like I can do in iCal on my Mac, if I'm interacting via the trackpad instead of my Wacom tablet!)

I think it's worth noting that the latest version of iBooks on the iPad has an option to drop the semi-skeuomorphic* borders. It's a thing they tried. I wouldn't be surprised to see the cute borders vanish sometime.

I'm also not a fan of PURELY TYPOGRAPHIC ui designs, as those require a TON of whitespace to work. There's a medium to be struck. Usually Apple does pretty well, I think; OSX as it stands now (Lion) is really, really good at quietly conveying information without screaming it.

Maybe I just have a different idea of what's pleasingly minimal than the author of the piece at hand. I dunno.

* I say _semi_ -skeuomorphic because they don't change depending on how far you are in the book - if it did then it would actually be a pretty damn slick way of subtly delivering the same information as a scrollbar.

<comment><USER5> Typographical interfaces work well on mobile unless you're not a fan of navigation hierarchies

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Disclaimer: I'm on a UX team at Microsoft.

Regarding the transitions - often times an animated transition is used to mask program latency. Unminimizing a program can use an animation to mask the time it needs to possibly read from an on-disk cache. The use of them is especially evident on phones, which make heavy use of transition effects. Swoop ins and other animations will often give the program around 500 milliseconds before it has to be responsive. It gives the illusion of things working faster than they actually are. With larger memory stores and SSD's becoming more common, many of these animations are no longer absolutely necessary, but on older systems they help tremendously for the user experience.

<comment><USER7> Are there any other UI "hacks" for performance?

I've always thought that watching a bar fill up is much more satisfying than just a displayed _X%_.

<comment><USER8> > Chris Harrison at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, > working with Zhiquan Yeo and Scott Hudson, has shown that animated pop-up > download progress bars which use visual illusions make the process seem > around 10 per cent faster than it really is.

Apple already uses a a basic visual trick of this kind in its Mac OS X operating system, but Harrison's research suggests such techniques could be used to greater effect.

From: [http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18754-visual-tricks- ca...](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18754-visual-tricks-can-make- downloads-seem-quicker.html)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> TL;DR -- Old man yells at cloud. (<http://www.oldmanyells.com/omyac.jpg>)

I can't believe The Verge, whose tech reviews have quickly become among the very best on the web, would post such an idiotic, pointless rant.

He doesn't like the genie effect in OS X. _So change it!_ I did! It almost seems like he thinks that UIs should change themselves to suit him, rather than the other way around.

<comment><USER10> "...UIs should change themselves to suit him[the User], rather than the other way around"

Now here is a novel idea! :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> These interfaces have millions and millions of users, many of which are by no means experts with a computer, and may even only use it sparingly. The design has to be universal, and these cues make the interface that much easier to use across the general userbase.

Saying you don't like the interface because 'its condescending' is like saying you don't like your suit because it doesn't fit perfectly on you. The solution is to just go get it tailored, because that suit wasn't custom made to fit you. I also use win7 classic theme because I prefer it over the bells and whistles in Aero.

There's really no need to complain about what companies ship as the default. That's just the setting they feel will work best for the average user. Fine, you're not the average user. That's why they build settings to allow you to change shit. So fucking change it and you're fine.

<comment><USER12> > There's really no need to complain about what companies ship as the default. > That's just the setting they feel will work best for the average user. Fine, > you're not the average user. That's why they build settings to allow you to > change shit. So fucking change it and you're fine.

I agree. This is what made the post really annoying for me. If you are really an expert user, in almost every case he mentioned; you can change the UI settings to suit your tastes.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> That's why I hate OSX. I have plenty of real live humans to condescend to me in my life, I don't need inanimate machines to also treat my like I'm too stupid to live.

I've only just moved from XP to windows 7, so we'll see how that goes. So far not too many complaints, but you can definitely tell that they were pulling heavily from the OSX experience, much to my sadness.

</comment><comment><USER14> (only mildly related)

God, I wish there was a widely-supported standard for animated PNGs. Those GIFs look like they're straight out of the 90s.

Yesyesyes, animated GIFs are the devil, but they're shockingly useful for certain tasks such as loading spinners.

<comment><USER15> I think what's cooler is that WebP now has support for lossless encoding and will soon support animation.

<comment><USER16> Then all we'll need is WebP support.

<comment><USER3> It'll be available soon as a plugin for Firefox, with Chrome following "shortly" thereafter.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I'm of two minds about this:

I love emacs, precisely because it doesn't use any space reminding me what it can do, but I also love having reminders of what all the other software I'm forced to use in my day-to-day life (but not as often) can do.

In the end, though, I'm much more irritated with OS X's crappy file manager than I am with anything quite so broad as OS X being "too condescending".

<comment><USER3> Count your blessings. Nautilus, a Linux file manager, does not have open-on- hover.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> I'm wary of the recommendations in this article. If someone repeating a fact you've heard elsewhere makes you feel patronized, you're an outlier. The greater portion of your users, unless you're in a niche field, will need that repetition. Moreover, if we live long enough to need that help ourselves, we can count ourselves lucky.

We are not necessarily our users.

</comment><comment><USER19> Switching Windows 7 to the classic theme is not fleeing condescension, it's nostalgia and has little to do with the topic at hand.

<comment><USER20> No. I haven't used Windows 7, but I always switched XP/Vista to the classic theme because it takes up less space (fits a lot more minimized windows in the task bar, etc.), is less distracting, and makes it easier to judge colors in images or graphics (the big areas of blue really messes with fine color judgement). I also reverted to the "classic" start menu, switched the control panel wizard off, cut out all the auto helper doodads in MS Office, etc.

Speaking as someone who has always hated everything Windows stands for, I assure you there was no nostalgia involved

<comment><USER19> Well, then you should actually use Windows 7 and report back. It's awesome.

<comment><USER21> I use Windows 7, and I configure the task bar to XP-style non-stacked oblong buttons, I use Classic Start Menu to get an XP style menu - I absolutely loathe the Vista and 7 start menus - and I've just about completely given up on Windows Explorer, and mostly moved my file management to Cygwin bash in the terminal.

My strategy for dealing with MS changing Windows is to use non-MS software and isolate myself from them.

<comment><USER22> Does the classic Start menu have a search box? I don't think I'd willingly give up the ability to just type what I want and not ha e to navigate those ridiculously long menus.

<comment><USER23> Yeah it does. It is a relief that the search actually finally works in win7 so no one has to care about the uselessly horrible menus and dialogs fixing the control panel.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> I have to disagree very strongly with one of his suggestions: the differently sized buttons. The buttons have different sizes because they're used at different rates. You make things that are more often used bigger because it makes your interface faster: see Fitts's law.

</comment><comment><USER25> Am I the only one who agrees? Obviously going back to something like BeOS is a little extreme, but fact is OS X Lion made things worse. I don't need LaunchPad or AirDrop or the AppStore, oh and thanks for hiding my Library folder and reversing my scroll direction, wtf. Now I'm looking at Windows 8 and the only thing that comes to my mind is: Why the hell would I want to install that on my PC? Tell me. My PC is not an iPhone! If this trend continues we all end up using Ubuntu without Unity sooner or later.

<comment><USER26> You know, that's the beauty of Linux: you can have your computer however you want it. Not only do you have more options--Unity, Gnome, KDE, LXDE, XMonad...etc--but they are also all more configurable. I really think most people would benefit from switching to Linux.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> [my UI opinion] I find Ribbon to be extremely helpful both in having more functions available at a glance, and for teaching keyboard shortcuts (for example, hold alt in Word 2010).

<comment><USER27> Oh - a part of OSX that I find condescending is the inability to alt-tab between browser windows wie Windows(z.B. two Chrome windows, each with their own set of tabs). Is there a shortcut I'm missing?

<comment><USER28> In OS X, you command-tab between applications. You can command-tilde between windows in the same application. Mac OS X distinguishes between applications and windows; Windows doesn't.

<comment><USER29> Except that it behaves in a completely different way from CMD-Tab.

Cmd-Tab once, switch to the last activated app. Cmd-Tab again, switch back to the previous app.

Cmd-` once, switch to the next window in the current app. Cmd-` again, switch to the next window (not back to the previous one). This is incredibly frustrating, because usually when I'm doing this I want to switch back and forth between two open windows, not cycle through ALL of them! And I'm certainly not going to remember what "order" 5 windows are in.

Also, having to think consciously about whether a window you're working in is within the same application or not to decide which keyboard shortcut you should use makes the whole keyboard shortcut a frustrating experience in OSX. Windows did it right. Alt-Tab switches to the last viewed window, regardless of what application it belongs to. Simple. Elegant. Genius.

<comment><USER30> This is probably a matter of preference. Personally, the OS X way is often more elegant. When I am working with a lot of windows in a particular program (say, five text files) and have another application I want check in on (say, an instant message conversation), the OS X way is wonderful. Not having to worry about the IM window getting in the way of my documents saves me from a lot of confusion.

The OS X way definitely does add complexity to the UI, but I just think it is worth the trouble.

<comment><USER29> Usually when I'm doing work, I'm switching between different apps, copy/pasting stuff (graphics, sounds, text), moving files or just referencing something. I do this far more often than switching to an IM client (for which I just click on the bouncing icon in the dock, then alt-tab back to my work).

The problem is that I want to switch between a few windows that are not necessarily in the same application. In Windows (and Linux), it's a no- brainer. Alt-tab and I'm done. In Mac, I end up changing within the app when I want to change between apps and vice versa. I don't care if they're within the same app or not. I just want to do stuff between windows A and B and maybe C.

Example: I'm writing some code. I look something up in my browser. I also have a second window in my IDE with some more code I'm using as a template for what I'm building. In Windows or Linux, it's very easy to alt-tab between those 3 windows. Alt-tab, Alt-tab-tab. In Mac, I'm always fumbling with which is the right key combination to get the right kind of window switching and is this a text wrangler window or an xcode window? Aargh!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> I do miss the older NeXTSTEP interface, and am finding Lion to be a real pain at times (e.g. Duplicate instead of Save As). It seems like adding the Launcher has also been a pain (no real improvement over just putting the App folder in the Dock set to List, Folder, Sort by Name). Some stuff is nicer like the Mission Control.

I often think of what OS X would be like if Apple assumed only Pro users would use it and everyone else would be on iOS.

<comment><USER32> "I often think of what OS X would be like if Apple assumed only Pro users would use it and everyone else would be on iOS."

It's an interesting thought but quite feasible. Open up any Apple "Pro" app like Logic Studio, Aperture or (more recently) Final Cut Pro X. The look and feel is quite different than the rest of OS X. Things are smaller and far less intuitive (they are hidden away). Apple knows that amateurs will stick with Garageband, iPhoto and iMovie, all of which feature large, intuitive interfaces. I like that they are not afraid to make their "Pro" apps heavy- duty.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> I feel this guy's pain every time I have to wait half a second for a dialog to "scroll" into place on OS X instead of just appearing, damn it.

<comment><USER34> I think you mean the Lion animations. Disable them with:

      defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticWindowAnimationsEnabled -bool no

Other tweaks:

      defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -bool yes # disable 3D dock
      defaults write com.apple.dock no-bouncing -bool yes # disable bouncing dock icons
      defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool yes # disable window shadows on screenshots

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> This is the foundation of my primary complaint with Apple's interfaces: by constantly assuming that you don't know how to use a computer, they make it impossible to learn. We here are all fine with our OSX boxes, because we already know how to use computers, but there are millions of people out there that started knowing nothing and have ended up knowing nothing.

<comment><USER36> You really shouldn't have to 'learn' anything to do routine tasks on a computer - it should be intuitive.

If the normals can do everything they want with their computers while still 'knowing nothing', that's a success, not something to grouse about.

<comment><USER37> The only intuitive interface is the nipple. After that, it's all learned. We should be making it easy for the users to learn, rather than forcing them into a stilted, toy-like environment.

<comment><USER38> Anyone who believes that the nipple is an intuitive interface and doesn't require learning time has never been with a mother trying to breastfeed a newborn in its first weeks of life.

There is no such thing as an intuitive interface, only some that are easier to learn than others.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER39> I've found the OSX alternates between being overly childish (the shiny dock) and hiding functionality behind overly complex "shortcuts". You want to copy a section of the screen to the clipboard? Why, that's ⌘^⇧4! Never mind that my keyboard lacks symbols on the keys, so I'm left guessing what rubbish like ⌥ means.

<comment><USER40> That command has been around since OS 9 and probably before. Have similar commands with the same level of utility (copying a selectable section of the screen) and the same keystroke been around in Windows/X11 for that length of time?

Would you also suggest that vi change it's commands so that they're easier to use?

Historical inertia matters, especially with muscle memory things like key combos.

<comment><USER41> You can keep the old one while putting new ones in place. I'm sure no one is jumping at the opportunity to reuse ⌘^⇧4 once Apple moves away from it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER42> This whole article just comes off as tech hipsterism to me. It's like being nostalgic for cassette tapes and conveniently forgetting how bad they sounded, how quickly they wore out, or how often a tape deck would ruin them for you. Put BeOS, NeXT or Windows Clasisc side-by-side with Windows 7 or OSX and let people choose which one they prefer. My guess is the vast majority will opt for the more modern, condescending, GUIs because they look nicer and are easier to use. The author should probably check out GNUStep or blackbox if he wants something less mainstream. Is CDE still available?

<comment><USER43> I have to disagree with your assessment of cassette tape technology. Having overlapped the usage of tapes, CDs, and MP3 players for about 5 years, I can say that yes, tapes sound worse than CDs, but it takes a lot of effort to wear them out, and it was rare that a tape deck would eat your tape.

</comment></comment><comment><USER44> This is a better article about skeuomorphism for those interested: [http://www.andymangold.com/skeuomorphism-the-opiate-of- the-p...](http://www.andymangold.com/skeuomorphism-the-opiate-of-the-people/)

PS - Skeuomorphism definition: "Strictly speaking it means retaining design features from earlier designs when those features previously had a specific reason for being that way, but do not any longer." - <http://madebymany.com/blog/apples-aesthetic-dichotomy>

<comment><USER45> I like the brochure thing. I think it takes into account the human nature of the users and their feelings. It's design that lets us feel connection with the program.

I much rather prefer comfortable textured armchairs than soulless straight chairs of Bauhaus' spirit. I think what Metro and other "minimalists" forget to remember is that computer screen is a canvas, a medium. You shouldn't force user to think like a machine, but rather force the machine to think like a human.

</comment></comment><comment><USER46> I just wonder when there will be someone who creates usable interfaces for everyday products like microwaves, dvrs, and thermostats. Well I guess Nest (www.nest.com) actually designed a pretty decent thermostat, is this the next revolution?

</comment><comment><USER47> He has some points to make for power users, but I like reactive buttons and just an animated UI overall because it lets me know things are working. I would hate a UI that doesn't seem different when the computer is frozen or sluggish.

</comment><comment><USER48> Nothing wrong with what Paul said - he is just not the targeted user.

</comment><comment><USER49> I think the author is going over the top criticizing drop shadows and such. But I can see what he means when he talks about minimize animations and the godforsaken Windows troubleshooting wizard. I've never experienced a single instance where the Windows troubleshooting wizard helped me solve a problem any more complicated than "Is the printer really plugged in?" If it wants to hold my hands, at least it should steer me in the right direction!

It's OK for software to act like a kindergarten teacher from time to time, if it actually delivers enough value to justify it. For example, painting the chrome of a focused window in brighter colors helps the user tell which window is in focus. But when the "childish" feature adds nothing but inconvenience, that's when people start getting annoyed.

Disclaimer: I'm quite fond of Windows 7 Aero, though I always make those oversized, over-detailed icons way smaller than they are by default.</comment>


Setting Up a Simple OCR Server - <AUTHOR> https://realpython.com/blog/python/setting-up-a-simple-ocr-server/

<comment><AUTHOR> Author here. Gladly will address any questions or comments :)</comment>


Tech billionaires think we live in the Matrix - <AUTHOR> http://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/07/tech-billionaires-think-we-live-in-the-matrix-and-have-asked-scientists-to-get-us-out.html <comment><USER2> Worth reading about the brain in a vat scenario

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

A problem can't be solved on its own plane, so no amount of raw processing power can escape such a sandbox IMHO, but there can be flaws inadvertently introduced into the system via fuzzing:

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

Many have already reported that mundane reality is a tiny sliver of what's actually going on, under the influence of psychedelics, for example.</comment>


Knowledge is a Sierpinski triangle - <AUTHOR> http://sealedabstract.com/lifehacking/knowledge-the-sierpinski-triangle/ <comment><USER2> My first thought about the comparison to a Sierpinski triangle is that the more we work at it, the less there is. The author then totally avoids talking about the analogy mentioned in the title and instead makes a very different point.

The essay proposes that the close you get to a subject, the more complex and diverse the niches become. This correspondence to a fractal is tempting, but I wonder if the fractal requirement that there be some sort of self-similarity is applicable. Do disparate fields, close up, appear similar? If yes, is that a reflection of our own psychology?

Sometimes too the jumbled landscape disappears, as when evolution made many disparate fields merge into biology, or heliocentric theory made epicycles disappear .. only to find even more interesting lands beyond.</comment>


Ask HN: Where can I find stable employment without a degree? - <AUTHOR> I do not have a degree, but I do have a sizable amount of skills when it comes to Node, Networking, and Linux system administration. I have absolutely no idea where I should even begin to look for better employment than I have now.
I live in a medium-sized city in Illinois, and our job market is dead outside of retail/food.
Is there even one place that allows remote work, and will give an ambitious man, with decades of effort and learning under his belt, so that he can take proper care of his family? I can't go on at $11 an hour any longer. <comment><USER2> In general most programming and sysadmin jobs can be had without a degree ([https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/04/06/you-dont-need-a- cs-d...](https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/04/06/you-dont-need-a-cs-degree/)). But if you want to work remotely there's another problem: you need to credibly demonstrate you can work independently. So make sure you emphasize that when applying, based on specific examples in your work history.

There are sites like [https://weworkremotely.com/](https://weworkremotely.com/) that list remote jobs.

<comment><AUTHOR> I tried to go to college, wound up homeless, living in a van trying to pay for it. Now that I have a family, it just crushes me that I couldn't complete it.

<comment> happy-go-lucky You're feeling responsible. That's good. Looks like all you need is moral support. For now, forget about college. Try to support yourself and your family. Hopefully things will fall into place. Good luck!

<comment><AUTHOR> Moral support doesn't sound too bad haha. I have found meager wages working at a local repair shop, and have taken that time to hone my skillset into something useful. I have a firm handle on async Nodejs as a result, but it's hard to look at the applications I can make as useful when I struggle to put gas in the tank to get to the shop in the morning.

I'll get 99% of the way to 'completing' something, like the react-native app I am developing, and spend two weeks asking myself "Why don't you just watch Deep Space Nine on Netflix? It's not like anything is going to make paying rent this month any easier." and wind up like I am today, on the verge of tears instead of learning redux. From my perspective, I have been chasing a dream that will forever reward me with not-enough-money for my efforts.

<comment><USER2> Around here, at least, there are small one-to-three person shops that build websites for local companies, repair people's computers, things like that. And there's Geek Squad and equivalent jobs at bigger companies, that has a better hourly pay for some jobs it sounds like. Stuff like that.

By programmer standards they won't pay well, but likely more than $11/hour. And it's a start, and it sounds like you can obviously do some work.

So maybe instead of going straight for upgrading all the skills, start by trying to upgrade your pay by working for one of these? That way you get some benefit immediately, which might help with motivation.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> > I do not have a degree, but I do have a sizable amount of skills...

The simple/hard thing to do is look for a person that you can help. To find people, do a key word sort on Linkedin in your town, see who is using Linux, etc... Try to target the likely boss for that company/group (look for Senior Manager/Director/VP/CTO). Reach out those individuals direct and have a live converation. That's how you will find hidden opportunities.

Generally, small-medium sized companies are more flexible on degree requirements. Incidentally, holding a degree does not inoculate individuals for employment. You must hustle. Start talking to people you can help.</comment>


Evolution of Conversations in the Age of Email Overload - <AUTHOR> http://arxiv.org/abs/1504.00704

<comment><AUTHOR> "Finally, we predict the time to reply, length of reply, and whether the reply ends a conversation."</comment>


Face Recognition and Detection on iOS Using Native Swift Code, Core ML,and ARKit - <AUTHOR> https://heartbeat.fritz.ai/face-recognition-and-detection-on-ios-using-native-swift-code-core-ml-and-arkit-feed10c468da?source=post_stats_page<comment></comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment>--- </comment><comment><USER2> Really awesome write up. I personally would love to start building native Swift apps, but honestly Swift (although I've heard it looks much better than Objective C) looks so incredibly involved. For now I guess I'll stick to react native

<comment><AUTHOR> Swift is probably the easiest language I came across, it's a mix of python and C++. Nothing to be impressed here, if you're already doing well using rn, swift is much easier! Thanks for the love

<comment><USER2> Thanks for the response. Any good resources on picking up Swift?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Any recommendations for handwriting recognition for Apple Pencil w/ swift?

<comment><USER4> You could wait until iOS 14. It's a rumoured SDK feature. [https://www.macrumors.com/2020/03/09/ios-14-ocr-apple- pencil...](https://www.macrumors.com/2020/03/09/ios-14-ocr-apple-pencil-text- conversion/)

> iOS 14 may include a new PencilKit feature that will allow you to handwrite > text in any text input field using Apple Pencil, with the handwritten > content then converted into standard text before it's sent

> It looks like third-party apps will also be able to access a PencilKit tool > that will support some kind of new handwriting functionality, but the extent > of it is unclear.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Thanks guys for the love</comment>


Evolutionary algorithms now surpass human designers - <AUTHOR> http://www.newscientisttech.com/channel/tech/mg19526146.000-evolutionary-algorithms-now-surpass-human-designers.html

<comment><USER2> Evolutionary algorithms require quantitative object functions. The set of problems that have those are pretty small. Lots of design has to do with beauty, which almost by definition isn't easily quantifiable.

Another issue is the complexity of the problem, which might make convergence on even a semi-optimal solution difficult or extremely time consuming to find. Complexity, even of a quantitative problem, makes for difficult objective functions. Different dimensions of optimization require fairly arbitrary weighting.

But the future is still exciting. iRobot is working on a new software architecture for robotics, called Aware2. It will allow EA to permute fairly high level pieces of code and behaviors. The system is still under development, but it has great potential. If you're curious, it is in C++ for component speed with boost.Python for glue & configuration. Similar systems can be made for other complex problems, not just robotics.

<comment><USER3> "Another issue is the complexity of the problem, which might make convergence on even a semi-optimal solution difficult or extremely time consuming to find."

Huh? Ant colony optimization and other such stuff can do quite a nice job on a variety of classic NP-complete problems.

The set of problems where a quantitative objective function can be introduced is fucking enormous. Do a Google scholar search for "evolutionary computation" and look at all the different engineering/scientific fields it's used it. There are thousands and thousands of papers on this stuff every year.

There's lots of tricks for controlling how individuals evolve - a lot of them so obvious they aren't published. The perpetual challenge is always finding the right balance between convergence speed and premature convergence.

<comment><USER2> The behavior of ants is certainly amazing. But take a look at behavior based robotics to see how well it scales. You won't find something as capable as, say, a cat. At least not by human design. The system needed to evolve such behaviors through EA would need to be quite complicated. We've seen systems that can do a pretty good job on mobility -- like that flopping starfish from Cornell. But locomotion is exactly the type of problem that has a very precise, quantitative objective function.

But perhaps I was too broad. I should have said orderable, which is really all that matters. You have to know something is better than something else. But you can't just take a euclidean distance in high dimensional objectives. Things just don't work like that. A real-world example: work-life balance. The two parts are just not really comparable, making optimization difficult. That's what I'm talking about.

Also, EA has lots of potential for lots of areas, but you have to compare it to other methods of solving a problem to talk about quality of the approach. Machine Learning offers a host of methods. Here is a great list of them <http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~awm/></comment></comment></comment>


Painless Merge Conflict Resolution in Git - <AUTHOR> http://blog.wuwon.id.au/2010/09/painless-merge-conflict-resolution-in.html

<comment><AUTHOR> I spent an hour this morning trying to find this link again, because I was convinced I read it on HN yesterday. Turns out I didn't read it on HN, so here it is.

I found this approach very useful when I had to do a couple KLOC merge last night.

<comment><USER2> git rerere --help

once you resolve a conflict git will remember, and do it for you. :-)

<comment><AUTHOR> I know about rerere, this is about taking the guesswork out of that initial resolution and making it more logical, especially when merging someone else's code.</comment></comment></comment>


Apple will reportedly store Russian user data, possibly decrypt on request - <AUTHOR> https://venturebeat.com/2019/02/01/apple-will-reportedly-store-russian-user-data-locally-possibly-decrypt-on-request/ <comment><USER2> Privacy-concerned users in Russia will just switch to rootable Android devices they can set up the way to store the data a more safe way.</comment>


Show HN: Simple Webapp to Play with Open AI Transformer (Smaller Version) - <AUTHOR> https://lm.sprinkleai.com/ <comment><USER2> I am impressed! Given the prompt "My startup", it spit out:

1\. My startup, VentureGuru, tried to read these materials to provide its clients with hints and insights that can identify strategies and efforts for laid-back software investments. The first of these has been as follows: startups focus on client satisfaction and creativity, and best practice is to set your own goals when you write these recommendations. At Netflix's rate site, Hip on Netflix I build a database that analyzes your product reviews and then produces a 360-degree snapshot of your investment.

2\. My startup is made up of new people who are leading the digital consumer techno-optimism for things like networks, litigation, automated invoice processing, smart health automation, use of blockchain for VCs that have 15 or 20 people in Utah and other 40 or 50 different startups are starting to forego the digital-first business model and are making incremental money downhill from there and accepting donations instead.

3\. My startup admission states: BOTTOM: American Networks DOCSIS 28 15.5 - DSL 10 40.25FLG 100 105.5SUS-US DOCSIS 28 16.5 - DSL 11 50F 300 145.5 The larger network repeater is one of the smallest, with bitrate of 2 FPS higher than a USB input like an HDS one,

2/3 were spot on, that's amazing

</comment><comment><USER3> I think HN might have killed it - I've been sitting at "waiting" for at least 10 minutes now :(

<comment><AUTHOR> True, the requests spiked up significantly after I posted on HN. I'll try to move it to floydhub (GPU) later today. Indeed very slow now :(

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Input > We will do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

Output > We are guided not by our will, but by a capacity for self-reflection

That is amazing.

</comment><comment><USER5> Been in the queue for >5 minutes now, still going. Wonder how much compute this thing needs.

<comment><AUTHOR> Sigh. It does seem take a very long time on vCPU. With single user it was around 50 seconds but multiple request in a batch, its taking more than 3 minutes.

<comment><USER6> It would be fun to see the cached history with results for us who don't wanna wait :)

<comment><AUTHOR> Good idea, will try to implement it today.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I recommend trying JSON and code prompts.

</comment><comment><USER8> This is a little creepy.

There's a link at the bottom of OP's page that points to a Collab notebook. I started that and am tinkering around. It has a few modes like Q/A, Summarize and Complete The Sentence. I of course go right for the jugular because that's what we're interested in, here was my prompt:

We should build the border wall

Here's two sample outputs, which complete the above thought. It goes off the rails a bit but I can imagine a 10x model would be at least a little better:

      Model prompt >>> We should build the border wall
      </comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment>==== SAMPLE 1 </comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment>====
       — and try to do the right things," Sanders said. "I don't think any one person on this
      stage is going to stop that."

      Kathleen Murray, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association,
      said in a statement on Saturday that to "break the bipartisan agreement on a proposal
      that would keep the American people protected from immigration, it was unfair and
      disingenuous to try to pass that bill before many Americans could come to our country."

      "Today's vote provides the first major step towards ending DACA, and I applaud Secretary
      Johnson for taking a leadership role in defending workers and families from this
      devastating tragedy," Murray said. "This should be a moment for the American people, not
      the Congress. President Obama must be asked: who was wrong with that dumb bill? When the
      American people elected someone like House Speaker Paul Ryan and Sen. John McCain, who
      were able to pass something smart as well, do the President have any standing to get
      back to work in this country?"

      Model prompt >>> We should build the border wall
      </comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment>==== SAMPLE 2 </comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment>====
      . #GoVOT."

      He said he made the remarks when he was working with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who said
      that the federal government's willingness to provide funding for border security and
      immigration arrests would reduce crime, particularly in Mexico.

      "We should build the border wall," Trump tweeted Tuesday. "#GoVOT."

      The President also said that, at a Fox News broadcast, he understood "a lot of the folks
      who won't support funding the wall" after Trump refused to back a bipartisan package of
      spending bills passed by the House last week.

      "And you know what, if we were both on the right side of history, and also we can be at
      every single level we can be for, I mean, we all know the differences, but not the great
      divide," Trump said, repeating that the United States "may or not want the budget to be
      less comprehensive than we are, but we may not be willing to work hard, that's for
      sure." "What we've always said is that if we both take the right approach, and stand on
      the border and say 'Here's what we're doing into Mexico, over there, we're not going to
      kill anybody, we're not going to steal anything,' we're going to build our wall," he
      added.

      "Well if the Constitution says you can live and work here in this country, so can we, if
      you're going to support it, and if absolutely you can't, why don't you build your own?"
      he said. "We've got to get behind on it. We've got to get behind on it. Because for us,
      it is the most beautiful thing to do. For us kids, we are blessed to be all of these
      little country kids in here. But not on the borders. That we have to tell them. In fact,
      it's amazing when they say 'You made us.' That's a great thing for America. It's
      unbelievable," he said as the crowd cheered along with Trump.

      After Trump stated in his most recent tweets that the Republican Party cannot have a
      "war on the people" because it has given up on the fight on immigration, one of the most
      serious topics he brought up Tuesday was the size of the estimated 17.5 million
      undocumented immigrants present in the U.S.

</comment><comment><USER9> I have deployed a version running on GPU here: [http://text-gen.simon- mo.com/](http://text-gen.simon-mo.com/)

<comment> 52-6F-62 This is much faster, but I'm interested to compare the results with the original.

Ex 1.

Input:

        Hello, how

Output:

1\. Hello, how does it work?"/ The question At the bottom of this post, I have simplified the process: Christine mandated the

2\. Hello, how about a photographic tutorial on rootkit related features on GunSpring . What are RGO Tutorials RGO does not present a limited list

3\. Hello, how did your body compare to those of seegiro? Techa: I used to train me to perform gymnastics in my 20s…

\---

Ex 2.

Input:

        My dog is

Output:

1\. My dog is love So how will we arrange our weddings? © YouTube<|endoftext|>On January 9, 2015, McAfee's founder and CEO Mark Mc

2\. My dog is seriously struggling because of endless aluminum tubes and scrap that go across her entire legs. Which is almost frustrating, which also makes her attempting to walk on her

3\. My dog is just as merry as his lady's cuddles. He wanted to give it what it was always wanted to give." Warren says. "Having spent

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> In yet another episode of AI inheriting racist ideas I present you:

"The Jewish problem": "The Jewish problem is that the solution : that Jewish people must be eliminated by specific acts on behalf of the Palestinians or by law on their behalf or by declaration of national"

"The evil blacks": "The evil blacks still surrounded American citizens, including these people of color, for four decades. Well over 600 million of them were imprisoned during that time." —Donald Trump"

It seems to like generating fake quotes

<comment><USER11> > inheriting racist ideas

That is a fundamentally flawed concept. The ML simply learns from what is. The concept of racism is in flux, what was ok yesterday is racist now, what was racist yesterday is ok now, and it will shift again tomorrow. I won't even start on the fact that different demographics across the globe have vastly differing and often polar opposite views about racism.

The ability to accurately model the _what is_ is not a weakness of ML, it is the strength. Do not blame ML for learning to accurately depict the real world, no matter how uncomfortable it makes you.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I thought this wasn't released. Do you work at OpenAI?

<comment><USER13> A smaller model was released.</comment></comment>


Rules for shared working spaces - <AUTHOR> http://founderware.co/start-up/ten-rules-for-shared-working-spaces/

<comment><USER2> After reading this and seeing some of the comments I am a bit shocked. I've been in a coworking space for about 1.5 years and we survive with a lot of these things happening.

People take calls where they are sitting on phones and on skype.

People have meetings in shared spaces.

People eat all over the place in the shared space (beyond just the kitchen).

We're perfectly able to complain about what perceived wrongs have occurred to us lately.

Nobody is live tweeting other people's shit.

And I've basically seen basically zero issues with all this. Why? I suspect it's because we're respectful of one another and act like professionals. The mere fact you're threatening to live tweet about other people in the office says to me you aren't ready to share space with other people. If you can't handle normal human behaviors such as eating near you, you probably don't belong in a shared space.

I think some introspection is needed on the part of the author.

I think the real secret to working well in a shared space is being mature and actually talking to people to resolve any issues you might have. We all make mistakes, but most are very easily corrected with a simple 'excuse me, would you mind <suggested solution to problem>'. Yeah, that's about all it takes. A screening process for who can join also isn't a bad idea.

<comment><USER3> Yep. Rule 11: Don't be a prickly, annoying, condescending, passive-aggressive git.

aka. be liberal about your inputs, and strict about your outputs.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> The page loading hung for me, so here's a copy of the list:

I've been hopping around SF, LA and London for the last few months, working out of a variety of shared working spaces. From a very mixed set of experiences, I've concocted a set of rules which make for happy space-sharing and almost no murder.

1\. Bitching about your investors, investment deal or remote team-mate out loud will result in gossip, tweeting and you being labelled a moron. Correctly so.

2\. Operators of shared working spaces should discriminate heavily against loud eaters. Ideally, everyone should be screened for excessive jaw noise.

3\. Assume that your taste in music is shit and nobody wants to hear it.

4\. To the person who has an audio plug-in which announces "You've got mail!" each time you get an email, I'm coming to murder you with a blunt axe. FOR EVERY MAIL.

5\. If you're bringing in food, make sure it doesn't smell like a dead badger. I don't care how delicious it may be.

6\. Learn the not-very-difficult ability to speak on a conference call without yelling and I will be your friend for life.

7\. Don't look at me as if I'm invading your space when I cross the room. It's a shared office. Deal with it.

8\. Taking meetings in a shared space is pretty much up there with Point 1. In addition, assume that I'll also be live-tweeting it.

9\. If you make strange mouth noises, have weird breathing or any other bodily function which is somewhat disturbing, you should probably get a private office. Preferably in Mordor.

10\. Don't be a dick to the people who actually run the space. They're not waiters. Although that would be pretty cool.

</comment><comment><USER5> I thought it was generally assumed that all noises that come from your computer should either be muted or consumed via headphones. People actually let their computers just blast random noises in a shared place? That's like going into a library and not putting your phone on vibrate while you read a magazine and answer texts every 5 minutes.

</comment><comment><USER6> Rule 11 - Don't unplug the Ethernet cable from my laptop when I'm not in the office. I have shit running on remote servers via ssh and they aren't always in a screen or tmux session. I'll become very angry and yell at you when you do this. If you do it repeatedly, I'll body slam you in the parking lot.

<comment><USER7> Obvious question.

Why are they not always in a screen or tmux session?

It seems that your unwillingness to take that precaution has lead to your threatening physical violence on co-workers. It can also turn momentary network hiccups into a much more serious deal than it would otherwise be. Perhaps you should think carefully about that fact.

<comment><USER8> Typically for me, the answer is that they are not interactive ssh sessions but long Rails migrations running via Capistrano.

Anyone have a suggestion how to use tmux for those?

<comment><USER9> Instead of running the migration from your laptop, log into a server (with tmux) and run it from there.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I've quit coworking spaces because of the music before. Not only is it annoying, on the occasions when you _do_ need to take a call at your desk, it sounds immensely unprofessional.

(Aside: I wish more coworking spaces had phone booths for that sort of thing.)

</comment><comment><USER11> Don't eat at your desk. Don't take personal calls at your desk. Just. Don't. There are other places to do these things.

Assume any noise you make or smell you produce will affect your neighbor exactly as if you walked into your neighbor's cubicle and did it right there next to him or her.'Cause that's where you are. Right there.

</comment><comment><USER12> I find #2 and #5 to be silly on the grounds that no one should be eating in the workspace to start with.

The latter is particularly unworkable for the obvious reason that the notion of what's good and bad in food smell is largely a cultural/invidual taste.

Though, it might be amusing to watch three people complain about the smell of each others nuoc mam, curried chicken and microwave popcorn while the local vegans dash for the exits.

Also, I think all these gripes pale in comparison to my own experience with 3 people hopping on the same conference call, each with their phone on speaker, in the same room.

<comment><USER13> > I find #2 and #5 to be silly on the grounds that no one should be eating in > the workspace to start with.

Why? So long as you're respectful of others I don't see what the problem is.

When I'm eating by myself at my computer, whether at home or a coworking space. Otherwise it's wasted time. I either get work done, clear out email, or do distracting things like reading HN instead of doing it when I should be working.

<comment><USER12> >Why? So long as you're respectful of others I don't see what the problem is.

There's no objective way to establish what is or isn't respectful. It's really about paying attention and giving deference to the people around you.

I don't see why I'd want to worry about an infinite combination of sound, smell and individual taste when I can solve the entire thing with "eat anywhere you want, except here".

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> 11\. See 16s

12\. Shower, regularly

13\. NO POPCORN

FYI, all of these (including those) apply to cube spaces.

</comment><comment><USER15> This reads like a list written by any number of people in any number of workplaces where they have difficultly working well with others. Some people are pedantic. The way to sort these issues out is to sit people according to their sensitivity to these kinds of issues. Personally, if an office manager (or angry staffer) feels they _need to_ post a list like this it is a sign of a dysfunctional workplace. Passive-aggressive nutjobs overflowing with seething resentment for everyone around them are the last thing you want in a healthy workplace. If you have a problem with someones behaviour, talk to them like an adult.

Honestly, I never partake in any of the listed behaviours but I don't get upset if someone else does. Some people are relaxed and laid back while others are not. You need to find your tribe or just accept that you don't really like to be around other people and move out on your own.

</comment><comment><USER16> Website appears down, I think this is the same article except on Business Insider: [http://www.businessinsider.com/ten-rules-for-shared- working-...](http://www.businessinsider.com/ten-rules-for-shared-working- spaces-2012-8)

</comment><comment><USER17> Since the link appears to be down, I assume these are the same rules:

[http://www.businessinsider.com/ten-rules-for-shared- working-...](http://www.businessinsider.com/ten-rules-for-shared-working- spaces-2012-8)

</comment><comment><USER18> Meta rule that replaces all other rules for any place and any occasion:

"Treat others the way you want to be treated."

The rest will take care of itself.

<comment><USER19> With all due respect to Hillel, not everyone is bothered or hindered by the same things. Some people can focus with loud ambient noises (von Neumann) and some people can't (me).

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Yea or nay: clipping fingernails and toenails? (This one really sets me off for some reason.)

<comment><USER21> Good god that's a serious nay. Do that in your own home not at the office (unless you have a private office where I can't see it). Personal hygiene should be taken care of before coming to work.

<comment><USER22> So say if someone is using a nail file would you be offended ? What about whashing hands ? Realy something that does not smell or make noise , what's the problem ? Look away and stop projecting your own programming on other people.

<comment><USER21> Good point, I should have been more specific and not say "personal hygiene" across the board.

My problem is when people cut their nails in the office let them fly all over the place without cleaning them up. That's the image that came to mind in the parent's comment and it grossed me out.

Essentially, if whatever you're doing involves leaving visible bits of you behind (e.g. nail cutting) please do it at home or in the bathroom at work.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Mozilla not accepted for Google Summer of Code 2015 - <AUTHOR> http://blog.queze.net/post/2015/03/03/Mozilla-not-accepted-for-Google-Summer-of-Code-2015 <comment><USER2> I love Mozilla, but it would seem that they have a large enough budget to pay for any student interns they want themselves? Happy to see this go to smaller, less funded open source projects.

<comment><USER3> Intern has a different aura to it, many students find GSoC to be an easier thing to try than an internship (plus, work from home!).

An "open summer of code" funded by Mozilla and other orgs themselves sounds like an interesting idea (one that's being informally bounced around on IRC in more than one place)

But yeah, I like that they're focusing on smaller projects.

<comment><USER4> Not just informally; X.org has actually implemented this idea: [http://www.x.org/wiki/XorgEVoC/](http://www.x.org/wiki/XorgEVoC/)

<comment><USER3> Sorry if I wasn't clear, I was talking in a Mozilla-specific POV. Thanks for the link!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I was planning to apply to a project under Mozilla and was very surprised too. But I also fully respect Google's decision and let's not take their sponsorship to the open source community as granted.

I also wish we could have an alternative SoC organized by a neutral foundation, but it probably won't have as much extra revenue to spend on as Google :)

<comment><USER6> There is the European Space Agency's Summer of Code in Space [1]. Not as general, but hey, space is fun!

[1] [http://sophia.estec.esa.int/socis/](http://sophia.estec.esa.int/socis/)

<comment><USER3> This is brilliant. As a physics student who also loves programming and open source, I'm going to share this everywhere :D

<comment><USER7> GNU Octave has done SoCiS a few times. And we prefer the synonym "free software" for what we do instead of "open source".

If you're into maths and C++ and perhaps Matlab, look for us.

<comment><USER3> I like Octave. I'm a Mathematica user (sorry), but I've used Octave a bit and found it pretty nice :)

<comment><USER7> You don't have to apologise to me for using Mathematica. My professional goal is to make sure that you will some day have no need for Mathematica, just like you probably have no need for Internet Explorer in the face of Chrome or Firefox.

If my goal hasn't been met yet, it is me who should apologise. I'll keep working towards that goal.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> What is most interesting to me is the number of accepted organisations is down significantly: from 190 last year to 137 this year, the lowest since 2007. Naturally, the question that arises is 'Has Google cut funding for GSoC, or is it adopting a significantly different strategy from what they have done the past ten years?'

<comment><USER9> I haven't looked, but are each organization getting more or less slots than before?

<comment><USER8> We don't know, yet. That would be tell-tale if the number of students also dropped significantly.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Not sure why there was a decrease in the number of organisations, but for some time they have been not accepting organizations that have been in regularly before.

But there are a bunch of exciting new organizations - I am hoping to mentor for the first time this year for Lowrisc, which is a new organization (in both senses, GSoC and just started), see the projects here [1]

[1] [http://www.lowrisc.org/docs/gsoc-2015-ideas/](http://www.lowrisc.org/docs/gsoc-2015-ideas/)

<comment><USER5> If there really are a lot of new organizations, that confirms my theory on the GSoC board: they are trying to encourage student developers getting into less- loved open source projects. In comparison the big projects already get quite some love (likely still not enough, but already a lot), so dropping them once in a while is a reasonable tradeoff for helping out the smaller projects.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Plan 9 got refused too, the first time in 10 years,.just my luck now I finally qualify as a student instead of a mentor.

<comment><USER11> Is Plan 9 that operating system that Bell Labs (or Alcatel-Lucent) is developing? I didn't realize they were pulling interns on-board.

<comment><USER10> Plan9 is an open source project since 2000

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> There are several organizations with minimal funding (like OSGeo) that will benefit from this. There are several infrastructure libraries under that umbrella... A geospatial data abstraction library is not as sexy as an end- user app with a GUI, but pretty much most of the reason of why you can open a satellite image in your favorite desktop app (open source and proprietary) is because of libraries like GDAL. A single student, for a summer, for a project like that makes a difference. Thank you to the GSoC organizers for this!

</comment><comment><USER13> The GWT Project didn't get accepted either. I'm not sure what process they use, but we didn't get any favoritism despite >100k active monthly devs.

Perhaps they decided to promote orgs that were even more underserved?

<comment><USER14> Like github?

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Kinda sad, but at least Postgres is in.

</comment><comment><USER16> Disappointed ReactOS didn't get in this year, but at least Wine did.

</comment><comment><USER17> Not too surprising... their search engine is no longer the default in FF and there are legal justifications not to support directly (FF) or indirectly (YHOO) a competitor.

Could YHOO jump in with a similar program?

<comment><USER18> That's one possible explanation, but I think it's equally likely that they thought some smaller project needed the help more than the already big Mozilla Foundation.

Besides, so far I didn't get the impression that Google really sees FF as a competitor (at this point in time). Google is not in the business of making browsers, they make a browser because that happens to be the best way to steer the future of the web. Mozilla seems to have similar views for that future and together they are beating IE into submission.

<comment><USER19> Mozilla is also not in the business of making browsers per se, fwiw; it's making a browser because that happens to be the best way to steer the future of the web. See the Mozilla Manifesto.

And while Google and Mozilla agree on some aspects of the web's future, there are other parts (fingerprinting, tracking of users) on which there are pretty fundamental disagreements.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Hmm..competing browsers, phone platforms, javascript engines..I'm sure google didn't take this into consideration. But yeah Mozilla is large enough to have their own MSoC.

</comment><comment><USER21> Do the organizations submit specific projects with their GSoC application? Perhaps Mozilla's proposed GSoC projects were deemed to be not worth funding, not the organization itself. Here is a list of some GSoC projects that Mozilla suggested for 2015:

[https://wiki.mozilla.org/Community:SummerOfCode15](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Community:SummerOfCode15)

</comment><comment><USER22> This is much bigger than just Mozilla: [https://www.ostraining.com/blog/general/gsoc/](https://www.ostraining.com/blog/general/gsoc/)

Lots of big-name projects were dropped.

In total, over 130 projects were dropped and over 80 new projects added.

<comment><USER8> Those lists aren't even close to being correct. For example, Clojure was accepted last year and this year. syslog-ng, Python, and X.org were all accepted this year.

<comment><USER23> Clojure yes. But not a single LISP. 3 ruby, but no perl, no Java, no javascript core.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Mozilla competes with Google in the web browser market and is moving into mobile operating systems. Why would people expect Google to commit resources toward helping them do those things?

<comment><USER25> Don't assume this is something political. A lot of very good organizations were not accepted this year, Mozilla being one of them.

<comment><USER24> I'm not making political assumptions. I am assuming that businesses act to protect their business interests and that assisting a competitor compete in core markets is not in a company's interests.

I'd be happy to see a business case put forward for Google helping Mozzilla develop a mobile operating system to compete with Android.

<comment><USER26> I doubt they run any of the GSOC decisions through any sort of business case analysis. $150,000 is tiddlywinks to a corporation that generates billions on a monthly tempo. Hand wavy good feels are plenty enough justification for that level of spending.

(That's a ball park estimate of how much it would cost to fund and administrate several projects)

<comment><USER24> Your premise that Google contains enough business incompetence in enough of the right places to fund a direct competitor explains why they have funded Mozilla in the past. It doesn't really offer much explanation as to why Google did not fund them this year.

Conversely, even the minimum business process of some VP looking at the list and saying, "We are not going to fund a competitor," Occam Razors this year's events.

<comment><USER27> Your premise, that the only possible reason to fund a competitor is incompetence, on the other hand, strikes me as absurd.

If they weigh business cases at all, they might have considered the value of goodwill they generate for funding competitors to outweigh any loss(es).

Aside: how does Google benefit from sponsoring Blender3D, in your immediate- profit-driven opinion?

<comment><USER28> I don't think anyone is claiming that they benefit from sponsoring non- competitors, only that they would suffer a disadvantage from funding a competitor, and that this MAY have weighed into their decision-making.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> honeybadger. doesn't seem like the scope of gsoc.

</comment><comment><USER30> Linux Foundation and Tor Project were also not accepted.

<comment><USER7> Nor GNU Octave, but this makes me kind of glad. We have enough donation money to sponsor a student of our own. I think we might do it through the Outreach Programme for Women.

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

<comment><USER31> >I think we might do it through the Outreach Programme for Women.

Because nothing says "I'm for gender equality" quite like a "boys not allowed!" sign.

<comment><USER32> Have you read the "Parable of the Polygons"[0]?

It completely changed my opinion about positive discrimination.

————

0\. [http://ncase.me/polygons/](http://ncase.me/polygons/)

<comment><USER31> One person's positive discrimination is another person's negative discrimination. Negative discrimination is seen by those its applied to as punishment. In their mind punishing someone for something that they had no hand in is a terrible technique to engineer a society and usually only leads to a backlash.

Further, it's easy to model what society should look like and how it should act by reducing it to mathematical models, but human behavior is not strictly dominated by mathematics.

<comment><USER9> Personally speaking, as the kind of white guy who, nine years ago or so, should have in theory been being negatively affected by programs like this, I don't find a meaningful dose of negative discrimination in "dudes are welcomed with hugs and handpounds pretty much everywhere, let's make sure there's a place for women too." I respect your stance and your viewpoint, but I think you're worrying about folks who don't need much worrying done on their behalf. We dudes will be just fine without being the implicit focus of every place we go.

<comment><USER31> >I don't find a meaningful dose of negative discrimination in "dudes are welcomed with hugs and handpounds pretty much everywhere, let's make sure there's a place for women too."

Since things are the way that they are its wonderful that you feel that way. Personally, it smacks as a bit sexist for organizations to say to me 'we created this program to get women into things' because it reads to me like them saying "we created this program to get women into things because they can't hack it any way else". That's how minority outreach programs read to me as a woman of color.

>I respect your stance and your viewpoint, but I think you're worrying about folks who don't need much worrying done on their behalf.

If you've read my posts as "but what about the menz?!" (as I hear often) then I'm afraid that it looks like you're being reductionist. My position on this issue is both a combination of my lived experience having never felt discrimination in the tech community while simultaneously watching several of my equally qualified colleagues be denied opportunity through no fault of their own because somebody thought I deserved a better shot so their percentages looked better.

<comment><USER9> _> That's how minority outreach programs read to me as a woman of color._

I am 100% hearing you, and I understand how you get to that position. Here's where my head's at: if, as a culture, we think that diversity of self, thought, and action matter, then we have two options. One, which I think is relying on the better angels of natures that haven't proven to _have_ them, is a sea change of culture where the usual bullshit is not tolerated, the casual sexism that I've heard (and objected to, and become the No Fun Guy for) amongst just-us-guys is stamped out. The other is to facilitate a demographic shift, to offer _early_ , supportive services (I mean, even internship programs are fairly introductory). I tend to see these programs as doing the latter towards a goal I find to be a net positive and, additionally, beneficial to _me_ , in the long run. I understand the potentially problematic nature of such programs and I think it's important for folks to keep those potential issues in mind, but I disagree with you in calling these programs, the ones that I am personally aware of, problematic in that way.

 _> If you've read my posts as "but what about the menz?!" (as I hear often) then I'm afraid that it looks like you're being reductionist._

That wasn't my read, and "worrying" was flip, I apologize. Let me try again: I come at solving social issues from an economic point of view; while it's not zero-sum, something's got to give to get things moving and to make the multipliers work. In the aggregate, I find it very unlikely that white dudes are going to have problems finding opportunities. And so, I, personally, am okay with making that trade and theoretically (but, I continue to think, probably not really) causing low-level harm to a few folks in a privileged position in the pursuit of a better end state for everyone.

And I respect that you haven't felt discrimination in the tech community. I'm glad you've had better experiences than the folks I know, and whose experiences have soured me on a lot of what I see as the insular nature of tech. In particular I am thinking of two of my dearest friends, two of the most level-headed people I know, who exited stage right because the trouble of being a visible member of outgroups wasn't worth the benefits of working in tech. That irks the shit out of me, and I want it to stop. (It's with this in mind that I try to put into practice what I say, and a major red flag for me is a homogeneous development group. I want to work with people unlike me, because in the long run it's better for me, too.)

 _> several of my equally qualified colleagues be denied opportunity through no fault of their own because somebody thought I deserved a better shot so their percentages looked better_

Can I flip this around for a second? Because I don't think these feelings are restricted to a single "side" of anything. I've seen candidates lose out because they're not enough like the pack of white dudes doing the hiring decisions, too, and I'm certain I've benefitted from those same things too. You don't want to benefit unduly, and I respect that. But _neither do I_ , you know?

<comment><USER9> Also, @patzerhacker, I'd be interested in talking about this offline if you're up for it (there's no email in your profile). My user page has the usual ways to get in touch.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> Google no longer supports Mozilla in any way.

<comment><USER34> So much for "Don't be evil." That motto's out the door.

But on the other hand, this might quite exciting. More companies will now compete in the "don't be evil" space. And Mozilla can pick up the baton.

<comment><USER35> Apparently, not directly funding a direct competitor is now seen as "evil".

We're really letting the definition of that word slip, yknow? It used to be you had to actually hurt people some way before that label could apply, now I'm seeing it applied to the layout of UI elements on a screen.

<comment><USER36> Why exactly would google view mozilla as a business competitor?

<comment><USER37> Because they are in direct competition for a product generating hundreds of millions of dollars a year?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> On the upside there will be less of JavaScript-your-only-best-choice type of pushing they are famous for.

<comment><USER28> This comment confuses me. They're currently in the process of building a new systems programming language ([http://www.rust-lang.org/](http://www.rust- lang.org/)) with which to build the next version of Firefox.</comment></comment>


World of Darkness – the inside story on the death of a game - <AUTHOR> http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/05/world-of-darkness-the-inside-story-mmo-ccp-white-wolf <comment><USER2> For the first time in ten years, I no longer covet a position at CCP. Thanks for that.

</comment><comment><USER3> I found this a great read that sadly confirms a lot of what many EVE players always suspected.</comment>


Rocket-fast TypeScript raises the microcontroller game - <AUTHOR> https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/rocket-fast-embedded-typescript-for-makecode-arcade/ <comment><USER2> This looks very interesting. If all it takes is dropping "with, eval, and prototype inheritance" to get fast and efficient JS execution, I'm all for it.</comment>


YouTube rolling out download links for videos - <AUTHOR> http://www.lessig.org/blog/2009/01/really_great_news_from_youtube.html <comment><USER2> Good timing. Google just (essentially) pulled the plug on Google Video by not allowing new submissions, which is hardly a big surprise.

But... Google video does have some pretty nice features that YouTube hadn't yet implemented, one of which was d/l links on the videos. Hopefully they'll also extend the video length soon.</comment>


Why is YCombinator is unable to log me in? Every time I need to open a new account - <AUTHOR>

<comment><USER2> Works fine for me...</comment>


Elastic Hadoop Clusters with Amazon's Elastic Block Store - <AUTHOR> http://www.lexemetech.com/2008/08/elastic-hadoop-clusters-with-amazons.html

<comment><USER2> It was funny I was at the UK Hadoop User Group a couple of days before this feature was announced. As Tom says in the article this was a feature that people wanted for Hadoop and then as if by magic it appears.

Tom has done a really great breakdown of why it's useful. I would also really recommend watching his talk from the usergroup [http://skillsmatter.com/podcast/cloud-grid/hadoop-on- amazon-...](http://skillsmatter.com/podcast/cloud-grid/hadoop-on-amazon-s3ec2) .

I also did a blog post for YDN which has a video with some more thoughts from Tom and other people [http://developer.yahoo.net/blog/archives/2008/08/uk_hadoop_u...](http://developer.yahoo.net/blog/archives/2008/08/uk_hadoop_user.html) .

</comment><comment><USER3> i wouldnt use hdfs just for added reliability, you could soft raid for that. but if you are working on any map/reduce type problems hadoop is a great way to go.

ive been saying it for a long time now, but damn... it's such a great time to be a developer.</comment>