Books Warren Buffett thinks you should read - <AUTHOR> http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/21-books-warren-buffett-thinks-you-should-read-20161103-gshv25.html <comment><USER3> Some of the books look interesting.

I am, however, dubious about Jack Welch as a role model. Steve Ballmer's adoption of Welch's employee performance system did more damage to Microsoft than any other single policy I can think of.

So, for one book at least, "meh" with a couple levels of indirection. Some of the others are on my list, though.

(I thought that _The Making of the President_ by Theodore White was really good. It's helpful to remind ourselves that politics has always been a crappy scene, and that we shouldn't expect things to be automatically any better today than they were 50 years ago).

<comment><USER4> Hopefully people are intelligent enough to know not to take any advice, no matter if it comes from a book or a person, too literally.

I read Welch's books and it was inspiring. Doesn't mean I ran back to my employees and enforced everything I read.

BTW I agree that some of the management styles were proven harmful. You can say the same about Andy Grove's management though. Times changed, society evolved. Still very helpful to know what was tried and what worked at what time

<comment><USER5> I remember reading the Welch book and finding it terrible. It seemed to me mainly a litany of great things he did and great people he hired. No real insight, just an egotist full of himself. Maybe am I just too low on the totem pole to appreciate his way of thinking?

<comment><USER6> I had the same feeling about that book.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> A bit disappointed that pretty much all of them seem to be investment/finance related (with 2 being general history).

I would expected to see much more general philosophy books on that list.

</comment><comment><USER8> I don't really see the benefit to reading books on investing. For the middle to upper middle class, it's extremely straightforward. Avoid taxes wherever legally possible. Invest in index funds and bonds w/ low fees. Don't panic when there's a downturn.

<comment><USER9> What's the fun in that ;) And how am I going to make any money with my investment books and advice?

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> 1000 pages a day? Maybe, in the course of a long day, I can read 200 or 250 pages of straightforward narrative fiction or history. I would have doubts about a financial adviser who told me that he read six hundred pages a day.

</comment><comment><USER11> Is there a way to get Poor Charlie's Almanack in electronic format? I looked for it on Amazon, but no luck.

<comment><USER12> Not available in electronic format, unfortunately. It's very well illustrated though.

I read it, twice in fact, and can vouch it is a very, very good book. It's basically a collection of charlie munger's speeches and writings. An example of one such speech is here: [https://old.ycombinator.com/munger.html](https://old.ycombinator.com/munger.html)

If you like that, you'd probably like "Seeking Wisdom" which is part of the same publishing house. (And not sure if this matters, but it's a favorite of Nassim Taleb's as well).

[https://www.poorcharliesalmanack.com/orderform_2016.php](https://www.poorcharliesalmanack.com/orderform_2016.php)

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Some people are so poor, all they have is money.

</comment><comment><USER14> Why is there not a single work of fiction or poetry in that list? Surely Mr. Buffett think you should read more than just business books.

<comment><USER15> Maybe he doesn't consider himself a qualified authority in areas outside his primary domain.

Since he wouldn't ask a poet where to invest, maybe he feels it would take too much hubris to offer his advice on poetry.

On the other hand if you want other CEOs describing their favorite books, often fiction they've enjoyed, valuewalk has some:

[http://www.valuewalk.com/2014/09/warren-buffett-favorite- boo...](http://www.valuewalk.com/2014/09/warren-buffett-favorite-books/)

e.g.:

Oprah - To Kill a Mockingbird

Zuckerberg - <USER2>

Bezos - Remains of the Day

Tillerson - Atlas Shrugged</comment></comment>


How to Subvert Democracy: Montesinos in Peru - <AUTHOR> http://fsi.stanford.edu/publications/how_to_subvert_democracy_montesinos_in_peru/ <comment><AUTHOR> "The size of the bribes indicates how much Montesinos was willing to pay to buy off those who could have checked his power. The typical bribe paid to a television-channel owner was about a hundred times larger than that paid to a politician..."

Very interesting analysis, it measures the perceived power of the different political actors.

<comment><USER2> I'd guess that the reason their bribes were higher isn't because they had more power, but because they had more money. If a politician is making 50k, a 10k bribe would be significant. That same 10k is a drop in the bucket for a tv station owner with millions.

<comment><USER3> That analysis is partly true, but it is not the main reason. In Peru at the time, whoever controlled the media controlled the thoughts of the people. The politicians have always had a disconnect with the people, and as such, had never carried true political weight from their voters. Ironically, the government was so corrupt, that the job of the media was to provide the checks and balances because they did carry more political weight than any single politician. The main political media venues that were the most serious, had the most integrity and stood against the government were in 1) printed form and 2) not free. In a country that had (still has) high illiteracy rates and where most of their population is below the poverty line, this was a problem. TV is free, and although some people could not read, they most certainly had a TV. Let me disclose that being the son of a politician that had to escape Per because of Montesino's henchman and being lucky to still be alive after a "little" failed bomb incident and various other things, I am glad that son-of- a-bitch is rotting in a prison.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> The sad thing is that Fujimori (who was Montesinos president and partner in crime) almost got a free pass out of prison a month ago by getting his daughter elected. Luckily half of Peruvians still have some kind of memory (I live in Peru) and voted for her opponent.

</comment><comment><USER5> With guns, we are citizens. Without them, we are targets/subjects.

Peruvians should learn from [https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Gun_politics_...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Switzerland)

</comment><comment><USER6> In the US the corruptors don't have to bribe the Media. They OWN the media. And they are working to own and control the Internet. (See ATT/T-Mobile merger for the next step)

</comment><comment><USER7> Is this relevant now with the spread of the Internet? As long as a government does not filter or censor the Internet, no single entity can control information and the news.

<comment><USER8> Italy seems a very recent example (well, media was bought rather than bribed).</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Document management - <AUTHOR> Hey guys, I'm a lawyer and I find difficult to manage my files. Not the organization of the files management, but the problem is relate one case to another. I have everything in my head, so when I have a case "X" I can easily relate to cases "Y" and "Z" and start working from them, or even discard that and start from case "D" or zero. In the beginning/end of the case.
But with my new associates they don't have "my mind" as database and struggle to start the jobs and they do the job from scratch,  searching in the legal systems without knowing most of the job is already done in our files.
I use Dropbox and MSword to store and make the documents (check example below).my Dropbox files: dp/client_name(client_number)/PI.docx (the name is always the same depending of the process phase) I use Google Sheets to organize the process but it's imitated to 2 fields (subject and description) so you must read the document to know if it's realated;
I use Atlassian for Knowledge Database, but only general rules, not specific cases or files.
I do not use management systems and I don't want to use.
I would like a solution inside Dropbox, Windows or Google Sheets, with my current files, automated. But if it's not possible I upload/server. As alternative, to manually sort them, I can imagine a tree style and hashtags to help finding them:
/subject: labor_law[+]
    /house_working [+]
       /starting
         Case001.docx #labor_law; #home_working; #company; #details1; #details2; #details3;
         Case002.docx #
         Case003.docx
       /hearing
       /appeal
         Apeal001.docx #court_x #appeal_favorable #especific_case_arguments
       /case_studies
    /accidents
       /starting
   /contracts
       /
   /other
I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but I made a huge effort to find a a solution but I coudn't, I love hackernews, read everyday, I'm sure there's an easy solution out there that I cannot see. Thanks! <comment> c-smile Check my Sciter Notes application ([https://notes.sciter.com](https://notes.sciter.com)).

Essentially it is a personal database and management system for your documents. You can store there all your documents in different thematic notebooks. Assigning keywords to your document you can make hierarchies and cross-links between different documents.

Notes stored in HTML format so you can copy paste info there as from as to MS Word/Excel, Google Docs, etc.

As publish those documents on sites if needed (another my app [https://html- notepad.com](https://html-notepad.com) may help with that).

The document database can be stored as on your hard drive as on DropBox as on other Drives.

</comment><comment><USER2> I really appreciate your candor and open question. I have similar issues organizing my clients for a professional services business (think editing resumes, creating LinkedIn Profiles, interview coaching, etc.) The timing and short/long duration of engagements makes it tough to manage and I have to do a lot more in MS Word since that is what employers / headhunters demand. Using Trello and Box for now but think there are better solutions.

</comment><comment><USER3> Hi! We built something that can help you :) you can check it out here: [https://usefyi.com](https://usefyi.com)

</comment><comment><USER4> Something like Wikipedia?</comment>


Ask HN: Smartphone app that tracks coronavirus risk from past contacts? - <AUTHOR> A smartphone application that gives each user an identity (like an email address, or one specific to the app) and shares their identity with people in close proximity. Distance is estimated through signal strength or something.
The ad-hoc communications would be similar to the AirDrop system that can transfer files between nearby Apple devices when enabled.
History of contacts would be tracked. If someone is infected with coronavirus, they can tell the app this, and it would send a message to everyone with recent contact with the person, based on an estimate of time of infection and how long they have been contagious.
Is there an app that can do this already? Is anyone working on one? Should it be developed, if it hasn't already?
Of course it wouldn't help for people who are too poor to have a smartphone, like me, but most people do have one. It also wouldn't help much to p̶r̶e̶v̶e̶n̶t̶ predict (prevention is from early self-isolation or treatment) infection from someone who has already left the vicinity, unless there was a (much more involved and centralized) process of tracking physical locations, possibly including moving public transport. <comment><AUTHOR> For those interested, Singapore has this. [https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/coronavirus- singapore...](https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/coronavirus-singapore- develops-smartphone-app-for-efficient-contact-tracing)</comment>


America Needs Plasma from Covid-19 Survivors Now - <AUTHOR> https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/03/plasma-blood-covid-19-survivors/609007/ <comment><USER2> So - what are they going to pay? There was a big hoo-hah when Gilead priced their Hep C cure at 100 kUSD - a steep price tag but still less than a liver transplant. Are they really going to offer plasma donors tens of thousands per plasma donation because the alternative - a patient taking up more time in intensive care would be even more costly?</comment>


Ask HN: Is Entrepreneurship WRONG for me? - <AUTHOR> I've been doing a lot of thinking lately.  When I look around at the successful entrepreneurs, I feel like most of them never really intended to be a business owner.  They never set out with THAT goal.  Instead, becoming a business owner appears to have been a side-effect of pursuing something that they were intrinsically interested in.
To that end, it would seem as though I am not a good candidate for entrepreneurship.  I am deliberately searching for, and trying to start, a business of some kind.  It's the business that is my goal, instead of the side effect.  I wonder more and more, if I have it completely backwards, and if I truly have a snowballs chance in hell of starting a company, as a result.
I know there are many founders on HN, so I would love to get some perspective from you all (or anyone else).  Am I crazy?  Should I abandon my direct efforts and instead let the wind blow where it may? <comment><USER2> I actually disagree. Most entrepreneurs DO actually want independence first! To be their own boss, first. This crap about passion and purpose is a way gets pushed heavily in the software circles. Most people don't love owning gas stations, or moving companies, or slogging at a restaurant. They own them because they can control then, grow them, have autonomy, and feed their families. A true entrepreneur will work 80 hrs to avoid working 40 as a 9 to 5. Jobs are death to you if you're an entrepreneur. The monotony, the security, the predictability aren't what true entrepreneurs want. To them, managing their own time, resources, and experience is more important than money, and more important than "changing the world". The "change the world" mantra, IMHO, is a way to entice certain individuals to try to produce 100x companies.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hmm... I think I understand what you're saying. I'm not sure I perfectly align with those motivators. My top reasons for wanting to start my own company:

1\. Wealth / Retirement 2\. Product ownership 3\. Autonomy

After just writing those out, it's clear that what I really want is FREEDOM. I realize that's WHY I want to be a business owner. Because what I really want, is the FREEDOM to do what I want.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Always wanted to be a business owner. Played with spreadsheets many times. Started a couple of ideas, never shared them with anyone, never launched. Started something with a friend, made $1,000, stopped there.

Took 10-15 years. Found the right business opportunity. The job itself did not look that interesting, but played on my strengths/skills, and looked like a serious business that could make money. Got it going. Liked being on my own. Liked growing the business, servicing my clients. Found the core part of the business annoying, the tech part interesting.

Still going at it, many years later. Very happy since, very happy now.

Don't abandon your direct efforts, let the wind blow where it may. Not incompatible.

<comment><AUTHOR> Interesting. I appreciate the response. I take from it, that although I may be currently treading water, and not really finding any success from direct effort, that given enough time, and continued applied effort, something may arise.

Finding that balance is perhaps the hard part. I don't want to let me lack of owning a business now, be a source of unhappiness. Yet, if I let myself become complacent, I may struggle to ever start a business.

<comment><USER3> Yes, yes, and yes. In my case, i met someone with the idea i believed in. So talk to people, make it known you want to try something.

I had money in the bank to live 12 months without salary, because i always wanted to start my own business, and money helps.

When the opportunity arised, i was ready. It worked out, i got lucky. If it did not, my reasoning was that 12 months later, i would get a better job because of the experience and lessons learned.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Why would it be wrong for you? Your goal is to start a business. This is your passion and something that interests you.

On the contrary, I know so many people that are not that interested in owning a business. They stumble on some sort of idea, but end up failing because they aren't willing to sacrifice and put the work into actually running it.

A business is tough. If you aren't interested in it, you won't make it in the long-run.

<comment><AUTHOR> I worry that it's wrong for me because at the end of the day, the business is a means to an end. I desire the freedom, to work on my own projects, build my own things. Starting a business, seems like a way to have your job be something that actually interests you (and rewards you).

Sadly, what interests me is constantly in flux. It's hard to form a business around ideas that are fleeting.</comment></comment>


Gandi.net will contribute $1 per inbound transfer to EFF until Jan 15th - <AUTHOR> https://www.gandi.net/news/en/2011-12-29/539-gandi_supports_the_eff/

<comment><USER2> I am a huge fan of Gandi. Yes, they are slightly more expensive than other services, but I find their user interface not just good, but really quite amazing.

One simple but obvious feature they have is the ability to create DNS presets and apply those for new domains, it's really useful. (other people probably offer this)

Gandi also has fantastic support; it is slightly sad that they do not have a telephone number, but I get the vibe that Gandi is a real technology company and they believe they can offer premium support with support email. I agree, but I'd still like a telephone number for burning issues.

My only real complaint is that they have an unbelievably stupid login system where you log in not with a username, nor with an email address, but with an entirely random username. Mine is: PC5669-GANDI. It's infuriating if you ever need to use Gandi on a different computer. Why they saw it suitable to put _their company name_ at the end of every login is puzzling.

Honestly though, its a minor criticism, and I love their "no bullshit" policy: <http://www.gandi.net/no-bullshit>

In my experience it is true.

<comment><USER3> I'm not certain, but I have a feeling this is some crazy French law. The other French company I work with on a regular basis (OVH) do this also.

<comment><USER4> This is called a NIC handle : <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NIC_handle>

This is not some crazy French law; Gandi has been in the registrar business for quite a long time and OVH loves standards :-)

<comment><USER3> Good spot, thanks :) Never even occurred to me it would be registrar related, as I don't use OVH as a registrar - they must apply the same standard to all their customers.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Gandi.net has revocation polices similar to GoDaddy where they can impose their own morality at revoking your domain.

<comment><USER6> Worth noting that Gandi is not a US company and has no telephone number to call in case you need real, live support.

<comment><USER7> Gandi might not have a US number for support but they are incorporated in the US.

The owner and publisher of this website is Gandi SAS, a simplified joint-stock company registered under French law with a capital of 37,000 Euros.

Registered with the Paris RCS – French Trade Registry - under number 423 093 459. Intracommunal VAT number FR81423093459

Headquarters: 63-65 boulevard Massena, Paris (75013), France Telephone: +33.(1)126.96.36.199 Fax: +33.(1)126.96.36.199

US office: Gandi US Inc. 124 Lakefront Drive Hunt Valley, MD 21030 Fax: +1.410-449-4499

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Ahhhh, I just transferred three domains there a couple of days ago! Sorry EFF! If I'd known they were going to do this, I'd have waited.

Guess I'll just have to donate directly...

</comment><comment><USER9> Don't they have a term whereby they can take your domain if they want to (or rather, decide they could make more money that way)? ISTR that was why I avoided Gandi.net last time I bought a domain.

<comment><USER10> Hmm, yeah, you're right: [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/05/googlesharing_cert_r...](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/05/googlesharing_cert_revoked/)

Revoked SSL based on trademark and Whois information.

Although the article does provide an update which says:

The reason for the certificate being revoked was because of the inaccurate whois data. Certificates really are a seal of trust, but that cannot be based on falsified whois data. It was right to revoke the certificate for this reason, but not without being in contact with the customer. We have reviewed and changed our processes to rectify this.

<comment><USER11> BULLSHIT. I repeat: BULLSHIT!

Mr. Marlinspike bought a SSL certificate from Gandi by giving them wrong personal information. When Gandi revoked the certificate, the support guys first wrongly communicated that it was probaly due to a trademark dispute, but it was actually just about the wrong whois information.[1]

Ok, miscommunications happen, but what really irks me about Mr. Marlinspike is that he later went on to complain about how companies did not do enough to verify the whois information for SSL certificates.[2] Which was, as we know, the reason why his SSL certificate was revoked.

What do we learn from this: Give correct whois information and your domain will be fine. For trademark disputes there is the UDRP process[3] which not just Gandi but also most other registrars (including namecheap) have agreed to.

1: [http://www.gandibar.net/post/2010/04/06/TheRegistercouk- comm...](http://www.gandibar.net/post/2010/04/06/TheRegistercouk-comments-on- gandi-s-removal-of-SSL-certificate-for-googlesharingnet)

2: [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/11/state_of_ssl_analysi...](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/11/state_of_ssl_analysis/print.html)

3: <http://www.icann.org/en/udrp/udrp.htm>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I've been using gandi for a long time and they've always been good to me. I like their "no bullshit" philosophy and their respect for my rights as a domain owner.

</comment><comment><USER13> Can anybody tell me how to transfer domains + DNS to Gandi without downtime?

I'm pretty sure the right way to go about it is to move DNS _first_ , but it seems Gandi does not support this (unlike Namecheap).

My DNS is hosted with the current registrar which, shall we say, is not terribly pleased with people leaving. So I would not put it past them to cut off my DNS service.

</comment><comment><USER14> I use gandi.net for all my domains. A tiny bit pricier than namecheap, but excellent service and management.

<comment><USER15> Me too, been using gandi for many years. It isn't the cheapest, but the service has always been great, and they would never be on the wrong side of something like SOPA.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> I've used Gandi for two years now, and my advice can be summed in one word: avoid. Absolutely atrocious, horrible support. No live chat. No phone number. And it took them THREE full days and two "reminder" emails to respond to me on a system critical issue. This is not acceptable - and it quite frankly goes against their "slogan." On the flip side, I've found Namecheap support and value to be far greater. So I support them wholeheartedly.

</comment><comment><USER10> I previously supported GoDaddy because they were based out of the US and had local US support.

Same reason I recently switched to NameCheap during the whole 'GoDaddy supports SOPA' affair.

Gandi.net headquarters is based out of Paris, France (although they do have a US office).

One thing to bear in mind.

<comment><USER17> You have to keep in mind that the location of the registar doesn't matter since SOPA lets the US government go directly to Verisign.

<comment><USER18> Verisign is still vulnerable to alternative DNS regimes.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Few days I tried to move my GoDaddy domain to Gandi.net, and GoDaddy denied my request because apparently the domain is registered privately. Why should I expose my name just to transfer?

<comment><USER11> You should have asked yourself that question before you registered at Godaddy. If you do not want your name to be associated with your domain, you are now locked in forever. To be honest, I don't even know if other registrars do it any different. (I only know that Nearlyfreespeech.net does not lock you in that way, but not about others like namecheap.)

Gandi.net does not offer full whois privacy by the way, so your name will always be revealed.

<comment><USER20> Note though that it is just your name and not other associated information.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> On a related note, does anybody here use Gandi's VPS services? The pricing seems interesting but I don't know how reliable they are.

<comment><USER22> I used them for a while and performance was better than Linode (I used baltimore datacentre) but what made me stop was the lack of automatic billing.

After that I switched to slicehost who's equivalent VM performs even better however I don't think you can sign up for that anymore now they've been assimilated by Rackspace.

Didn't have any unscheduled downtime over 6 months on Gandi.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> If only they were doing this a few days ago when I transfered a handfull...

</comment><comment><USER24> At $15 for a .com, they're almost double what I'd pay at either Namecheap or Name.com.

I couldn't find it easily, but are there better prices for transfers?

<comment><USER25> How is such a small amount of money even a concern for most tech companies and people? This is an honest question.

<comment><USER26> I don't like mentality like you represent in this post, not everyone who buys domains is a funded tech company or anything like that. In the end if a company is offering the same service at a lower price why would you not go with that one? What makes you think Gandi.net is worth more than Namecheap? They seem to offer the same service and ethics as Gandi. And the difference is a take out meal where I live, I'll take the sandwich and domain if you give me the choice.

<comment><USER27> I don't like the mentality you represent in this post, not everyone who buys domains has the time to haggle over $5. The time saved not worrying about $5 could be used to get a take out meal where I live. ;)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> and if you're a programmer we will donate $5 if you solve our programming puzzle on <http://fightsopa.org>

</comment><comment><USER29> I like gandi.net, but struggled and failed to justify using them for domains at work.

The third word on their site is an expletive. This made it too difficult to justify in a Powerpoint presentation.

<comment><USER30> Don't put their slogan on a Powerpoint presentation then. Also, your corporate culture could use some lightening up (you may not have the power to do this, just saying.)</comment></comment>


Why Zenduty is a great alternative to Opsgenie, Pagerduty, & VictorOps - <AUTHOR> https://blog.zenduty.com/blog/2020/03/18/5-reasons-why-Zenduty-is-a-better-alternative-to-Pagerduty-,-VictorOps-,-and-Opsgenie <comment><USER2> Why do companies hide the link to [domain].com like this? Sign-Up doesn't take you anywhere special, just to the .com domain.

I was looking for the link to the site to see what it was and that wasn't made very obvious.

(Similar issue with email newsletters -- LINK TO YOUR SITE).</comment>


Vancouver entrepreneurs hope airplane baggage allowance sharing business - <AUTHOR> http://www.theprovince.com/news/vancouver/Vancouver+entrepreneurs+hope+airplane+baggage+allowance/11223926/story.html

<comment><USER2> I wonder what the long term impact is. Currently, they calculate the price for baggage knowing that not everyone uses the full allowance. So price reflects average utilization, rather than direct cost per piece. If that utilization goes up, do you think price will go up as well? If so, would that mean the opportunity disappears?</comment>


Show HN: Gitly.io – high performance Git service with a 10s installation time - alex-m https://gitly.io <comment> alex-m Hi,

Gitly is my side project I've been working on for a couple of months. It is an open source repository manager with a focus on performance, ease of use, and productivity (especially for larger projects).

It's still in an early alpha stage, a lot of features are missing. The source code and the ability to self-host will be available within a month.

There's GitHub, Bitbucket, GitLab, gogs. Why create another solution? Gitly has been designed to be very fast and ridiculously easy to maintain. It is much faster than all of the above. It also offers a couple of unique features.

You can self-host gitly in 10 seconds. It has no dependencies, and doesn't require a database or a web server. Updates are automatic and seamless. It's easier to set up than gitweb! At the same time gitly is going to have the same features GitHub/GitLab offer, and even more.

How fast is gitly? Every single page takes less than 0.5s to load, no matter how big the project is. There are no JS libraries used (in fact, there's barely any JS at all), so the client side performance is great.

You can host your repositories on gitly.io, and it offers the same high performance. Cloning the entire Spring framework on gitly.io takes 11 seconds. On GitLab.com it took 7 minutes and 50 seconds. Of course GitLab.com is massive. However, the way gitly was built, performance will always be this good: it can be scaled horizontally very easily. And if you host it locally, the cheapest 256 MB instance should be enough for most users.

Gitly works great with large projects. I successfully tested it with a 10 year old repository with 4 million lines of code. Bitbucket took almost an hour to cache. Gogs crashed, and I didn't manage to install GitLab to test it locally after trying for 2 hours.

Many of the unique features are to improve productivity and help understand the code base better, which is very useful for large projects.

One of them is called "top files". It shows the largest files in any directory of the repository on one page with detailed language stats. Here's how it looks like for the Spring framework:

[https://examples.gitly.io/java-spring-framework/top- files/ma...](https://examples.gitly.io/java-spring-framework/top- files/master/spring-core/src/main)

Another unique feature is language stats. Gitly displays detailed language stats for every single directory. This can give a better picture of the structure of the project.

One of my favorite features is the search. Unlike all other search engines, the one in gitly will search exactly what you asked for: character by character.

For example, if you are a Rust developer, and you need to search for the following declaration:

fn next(&mut self) -> Option<Self::Item> {

You type it, and you only get the results you are interested in:

[https://examples.gitly.io/rust- alacritty/search?q=fn%20next(...](https://examples.gitly.io/rust- alacritty/search?q=fn%20next\(%26mut%20self\)%20-%3E%20Option%3CSelf%3A%3AItem%3E%20%7B)

Gitly also has discussions, which is like a simple forum where you can discuss the project, ask questions and so on. Mailing lists will be integrated as well.

Like most other solutions, gitly has a Trello-like issues board, and you can import all your Trello boards.

It's still an alpha. There are a couple of rough edges (e.g. markdown support is not great). Here are the missing critical features that will be implemented within the next two weeks:

\- Forking, pull requests, code review. \- User profile (password change, SSH keys etc) \- SSH support (only HTTPS for now, making SSH authorization secure takes time)

Some of the upcoming functionality I'm excited about: \- Go to definition support for most popular languages \- Issues as part of the repository, so that it's possible to manage them locally \- Pull request interface that would make Linus happy \- Search in commit history \- A way to organize a large amount of repositories

Thanks for your time, looking forward to your feedback.</comment>


Ask HN: Move to the UK to start a startup as EU citizen? - <AUTHOR> As per the title, before brexit, London was easily the best place to go in Europe to start a startup (VC landscape, availability of talent, general feeling towards new enterprises).
How do you think Brexit has impacted that, in practical terms?
As an EU citizen, would you still move to London to start a business, if not, what's the next best place?
some reference material I have been reading on the matter:
0: https://venturebeat.com/2017/10/31/london-continues-to-dominate-europes-tech-scene-despite-brexit/ 1: http://www.cityam.com/278258/londons-tech-scene-pulls-record-gbp25bn-2017-venture 2: https://www.politico.eu/article/tech-brexodus/ <comment><USER2> I'm at at an accelerator in Canary Wharf, London (mainly fintech focused) and despite initial concern straight after Brexit the attitude is very buoyant. There's also been good news recently about the transition period [1] which gives everyone more time to work out the details.

Yeah, rent is high – residential and commercial – but it's a truly fantastic city to live in. I moved to London from Manchester 5 years ago – I love that city too but it's a different world from a business and startup perspective (and climate!).

[1] [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk- politics-43456502](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43456502)

</comment><comment><USER3> I'd really consider Barcelona and here are a few reasons why:

* Compact and easy to travel around

* Ton of engineers looking for interesting startups, engineering quality is higher than the average in the UK.

* Beautiful city, easy to attract talent.

* Engineering salaries are much cheaper so less money needed to start hiring.

* Lots of awesome co-working,meetups and cafes to work in, goes hand in hand with being easier to travel around.

* I've lived in the city on 12k euros before and still had a very comfortable life, gives you more runway!

Reasons that Barcelona isn't suitable:

* The legal system and bureaucracy is much more complex and slow which can result in a lot of costs.

* If you start as a sole trader equivalent here you have to pay around 250 euros a month regardless of whether you turn a profit (or even bill anything) which is just maddening.

* Transient population, there are a lot of folks that move here from all over the world and move on again after a year or two. It can be harder to start,keep and maintain professional relationships.

* The official languages are not English, they are Catalan and Spanish. Everyone is bilingual but it does bring challenges in communication, learning two languages and also can be trickier targeting the US/UK market for example (whilst developers here will have English sufficient to work in if needed copywriters/marketers won't always have the native level needed).

* As with most major European cities there are direct flights to London/Madrid/Berlin/Paris/Milan/Rome/Prague/USA etc

</comment><comment><USER4> As someone who lives in the UK not even I would move to London; it is the economic hub of the UK but with that comes huge rent and high competition to find office space.

Look at other cities like Cambridge, Manchester, Norwich; all of which would open their arms to new startups.

Brexit will make all this extremely awkward no matter where you choose without access to the open market and new immigration laws that will come into place.

<comment><USER5> >and high competition to find office space

This is less of an issue in recent years. I've not really struggled to find suitable, affordable office space. There are tons of co-working spaces like WeWork et al popping up that also offer private office space.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> London is a great city, and I think that if you could offer most people the opportunity to own a house (or even rent) near their work for a reasonable price, they'd jump at the chance.

The problem with London is that it's simply too expensive, and as such it's tricky to land experienced developers. It's also an expensive place to set up shop, due to high cost of office space and higher salaries expected.

If you're looking to move to the UK I'd look into another city. Bristol is probably the biggest tech hub for startups outside of London, and even though house/rent prices are skyrocketing in recent years the tech scene is growing at a crazy rate. It's also growing at a crazy rate, due to Londoners choosing to leave the capital to settle down. Finally, there's a handful of solid VC's in the area. Manchester has also had a lot of success in recent years, probably thanks to MediaCity.

<comment><USER7> Pretty sure Manchester is second to London.

<comment><USER6> Maybe a while ago, and I guess it's down to what sector you ask, some will say neither.

Bristol has been touted as the second city for a lot of agencies, so a number of large contracts now go through the city. Outside of large businesses and hardware/microprocessors, the startup culture is thriving, and there have been a few successful exits to large companies (i.e. Twitter, Microsoft).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I'm no expert, but it seems like a risky proposition when agreements on future relations with the continent and any reciprocal rights of abode haven't been defined yet.

</comment><comment><USER9> Go to Germany. Better ROI for hiring tech, gonna stay in the EU, also cheap Ltd equivalent (UG).

</comment><comment><USER5> VC landscape - Yep, it's great but it's not unrivalled. Berlin and the Nordic regions are rapidly improving.

Availability of talent - Lots of talent sure but there's also an enormous amount of competition for said talent which means freelancing is abundant and salaries and rates are rapidly increasing.

</comment><comment><USER10> Where are you customers? I'd go there.

I'd also consider if you want to accept payments, wether it's going to be EUR or GBP, that could be another layer of unnecessary complexity at the beginning.

For taxes I think Ireland (or Switzerland) are the best places. For startup community and social life I'd go to Berlin or Barcelona.

<comment><USER11> >Where are you customers? I'd go there.

Probably the best advice in this whole thread.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> You might need a visa for you and your employees in the future. It's quite likely that Berlin is replacing London as the tech hub (I personally would place a startup in Berlin now, if I could choose, no doubt)

</comment><comment><USER13> I don't agree with the premise.

It is very hard to imagine the EU completely blocking the UK from the common market.

On the other hand there is no shortage of extreme idiocy displayed by Brussels the last 10-15 years.

It's a bit like asking if you should invest in bitcoin.

<comment><USER14> Well, it takes two to tango. This is not so much about the EU blocking the UK from the common market (there are clear rules for access to that market after all) but the UK not wanting to be part of that market anymore.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Vital information: [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/status-of-eu-nationals-in-the- uk...](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/status-of-eu-nationals-in-the-uk-what-you- need-to-know)

</comment><comment><USER16> Call me naive, but as a EU citizen I believe there is way less uncertainty with the UK than there is for the euro-zone.

Yeah, maybe it's gonna be ugly for a few years while the UK recovers its independence, but eventually they will essentially go back to functioning just like 90% of the countries on earth. In the mean time, with the situation in Greece, Italy, Eastern Europe getting pretty nasty, who knows what's gonna happen in the EU in the next 5 to 10 years?

<comment><USER3> The UK is not regaining independence, it was never lost.

I think it is naive to assume that in the current political climate with huge actors (US/China/Russia/India) and the potential for trade wars that the UK will come out better from this especially with their previous privileged position.

<comment><USER16> They are regaining full autonomy and won't need to comply with directives coming from Brussels if you prefer.

There are plenty of countries way smaller than the UK that do just fine on their own, and don't feel the need to merge with their neighbors. There are pros and cons to forming alliances with other nations, but 1) they don't need to be as involved and permanent as the EU, 2) they don't need to be primarily based on geography.

<comment><USER15> As various people have pointed out, as a matter of realpolitic the UK will have very little choice in complying with most directives because the alternative of maintaining two markets or not shipping to the EU are infeasible. The requirement of not having a hard border in Ireland which the UK has already conceded means that _Northern Ireland_ will almost certainly have to follow EU directives.

e.g. [https://medium.com/@gordonguthrie/no-deal-wont- happen-e185f9...](https://medium.com/@gordonguthrie/no-deal-wont- happen-e185f9b0185)

Realistically the options are "disaster Brexit" (fail to make other trade arrangements, lose NI and Gibraltar, huge airline losses, shutdown of nuclear reactors run by EDF, etc) or "pointless Brexit" (everything remains roughly the same, except the UK loses its vote)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I'd wait till the dust around Brexit settles. There's really no way to tell before the final deal is agreed upon.

<comment><USER17> The transition period will probably end in December 2020 - that's a long time to wait and see!

<comment><USER14> Yes, that's the problem with Brexit, isn't it? No one seems to have an actual plan of how it's supposed to be in the end.

Moving to and founding a company in a country that might expel you in a few years if you're not a citizen seems a bit risky to me.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> London has insane rent.

<comment><USER19> I worked in one of the London's financial centres (Canary Wharf) until 2013 for Morgan Stanley. I lived back then in East London (Leyton) and it was a 30 minute door to door commute. I bought a house there in 2000 for £185,000. In 2015 I sold it for £550,000. You can see both sales (number 47) on [http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house- prices/detail.html?country=...](http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house- prices/detail.html?country=england&locationIdentifier=POSTCODE%5E269825&searchLocation=E10+6QB&referrer=landingPage) I moved to Boston (Uk, Lincolnshire) where £315,000 bought a 2 bed house plus annex plus almost 2 acres land. Rentals in East London back then were £1400 a month for two bed property, around £2,200 in West London. In Boston for the same they were £500 a month. I couldn't afford to move back to London now.</comment></comment>


Germany and France find compromise for 'upload filter' of new EU copyright law - <AUTHOR> https://www.politico.eu/pro/germany-and-france-find-common-ground-on-copyright/ <comment><AUTHOR> Original document: [https://www.politico.eu/wp- content/uploads/2019/02/Mandate-R...](https://www.politico.eu/wp- content/uploads/2019/02/Mandate-Romania-February-8.pdf)

The compromise includes a new paragraph Article 13(4aa), which includes that businesses with all of the following properties

\- turnover of less than 10 million Euro

\- service available less than 3 years

\- average monthly unique visitors (based on last calendar year) less than 5 million

should only be subject to notice and take down obligations.</comment>


78% of Facebeook users think spam is a problem on the site. - <AUTHOR> http://www.f-secure.com/en_US/about-us/pressroom/news/2010/fs_news_24112010_eng_1.html

<comment><USER2> The problem here is the definition of 'Spam'. The things that are showing up on these pages aren't really Spam. They're something that one of their friends has allowed to be posted, probably because they get (or expect to get) some benefit from it.

The problem is that there is no easy way to block most of it. Things you can't block:

Posts from apps you haven't seen before/don't use.

'is friends with' posts.

'likes X product' posts.

'is a fan of' posts.

Becky has a new friend? I don't care! She likes vaporware cream? I don't care! She likes Steven Seagal? I don't care! She plays the new Spiderbots Deluxe game? I don't care!

(Actually, I admit, I care about the last one. Even though I just made it up.)

</comment><comment><USER3> So 22% of facebook users either have no "friends" or welcome any interaction, regardless of its source?</comment>


Psychonauts 2 - <AUTHOR> https://www.fig.co/campaigns/psychonauts-2 <comment><USER2> Context: Psychonauts 2 was just announced as a legitimate surprise at The Game Awards.

Meta-Context: Double Fine has had terrible, terrible luck with crowdfunding and funds in their previous ventures (there is actually a _documentary_ explicitly about that: [http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/10/broken-ages- making-of-...](http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/10/broken-ages-making-of- documentary-may-be-double-fines-most-enduring-legacy/)), which may explain why they are trying an experimental crowdfunding platform.

<comment><USER3> Your comment makes it sound like the documentary is an expose of mismanagement. It's not; it was put together on purpose _by Double Fine_ to show how difficult game development can be, and to show what happens with the money people pledged... which is a heck of a lot more than I've seen from many other Kickstarted projects.

<comment><USER2> Fair. Edited comment.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Broken Age (the previous Kickstarter from Double Fine) was an horrible game (especially the second act - and it was super late and way over budget in the end) so it hardly proves that direct funding is a good idea in the first place.

<comment><USER5> [http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/broken-age-act-2/critic- re...](http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/broken-age-act-2/critic-reviews)

Act 2 scored 90% in IGN, 80% in Edge... I'd like to make an "especially horrible" game like this some day.

Also I hope they never stop taking risks and I hope gamers will continue to enable that instead of demanding safe bets.

<comment><USER4> Look at actual user reviews. Most people said it was really a poor act 2 after a good act 1. I dont know what else to tell you.

<comment><USER5> In user reviews there are 35 negative reviews out of 123 ratings. Not "especially horrible" by any means either.

If you look at the comments on the metacritic "user reviews" page, there are a lot of people disappointed that the game wasn't sufficiently like the classic LucasArts point-n-click adventures.

You get the feeling that the most vocal users didn't review the game on its own merits. It ended up being very casual, which means the target audience isn't well represented by commenters on gaming web sites.

<comment><USER4> Ok I don't think you are giving it a fair summary. Users who did not like it actually very objectively pointed out that the Act 2 rehashed a lot of the same sets and characters and did not introduce much new elements in the story - in other words, it felt rushed and empty following a promising Act 1. Which it probably was.

<comment><USER5> The positive critic reviews acknowledged these aspects of the game too, but still gave good reviews if not quite as glowing as Act 1. Eg "While I wish that Double Fine kept taking me to new and surprising settings, Act 2 makes the absolute most of each screen of its world. It's an adventure that I loved seeing through to the end. "

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I bought Hack n Slash because it was supposed to be some hackable, easily moddable adventure game, but it was terrible. To my knowledge, no one really modded it either. The in-game condition statement crystals were way more confusing than any if or for statement. Kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. Their latest games haven't been very good IMHO. Hope they don't destroy Psychonauts.

</comment><comment><USER7> Way back when before the Broken Age Kickstarter and before Microsoft bought Minecraft Notch half-jokingly tweeted an offer to personally fund a sequel to Psychonaughts. In interviews Tim Schafer (head of Double Fine) mentioned that that wasn't very realistic as a proper sequel would cost around $13 million.

It's interesting that in the news reports about this latest announcement state that crowd funding will be used alongside outside private investment.

It makes me wonder if this fig campaign is mainly about generating buzz (for both fig and Psychonauts 2) and as a way to prove public interest in order to unlock the aforementioned outside investment.

[http://kotaku.com/5885525/bankrolling-psychonauts-2-was- just...](http://kotaku.com/5885525/bankrolling-psychonauts-2-was-just-a-semi- joke-says-notch)

</comment><comment><USER8> Loved the first game, but the Double Fine kickaster has been slightly controversial, I wonder if this one will be able to get as much support.

</comment><comment><USER9> It seems that this time around fig is taking unaccredited investments, which is interesting.

Double Fine is hit and miss, but at least they are trying to be original, and they have a good reputation in a pretty shady industry. I'll support them.

</comment><comment><USER10> Let's hope it won't be released in two episodes, like Broken Age.

<comment><USER11> Let's hope it's not a huge disappointment like broken age :(

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> This is going up like crazy -- 100 sales in a few minutes. Why?

</comment><comment><USER13> Looks cool, but 3.3 million dollars is really a lot!

<comment><USER2> $3.3 million was the same final budget for Broken Age, the previous crowdfunded game. Apparently, it was very obvious that funds ran out mid- development. (haven't played the game yet)

<comment><USER14> Yea as much as I'd love a new psychonauts game, I have some trust issues after kickstarting some money to Broken Age.

<comment><USER11> I dunno, I backed broken age and got _months_ of entertainment (such as it is) from the vlog updates, followed by a beautiful but ultimately flawed game.

Isn't that way Kickstarter is all about? Boundless optimism, unrelenting hype, followed by an uneasy sense of disappointment?

Full disclosure: I backed ouya too. I even played on it once or twice before consigning it to The Shelf of Regret, alongside the Atari jaguar and the PIs I could never be bothered to do anything useful with.

<comment><USER14> I backed ouya too! I actually enjoyed it a lot as a developer testing my own prototypes, but definitely not as much as end user though.

I was exceptionally pleased by shovel knight though. [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yachtclubgames/shovel-k...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yachtclubgames/shovel- knight)</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Top 10 books for CTO's full of advice, inspiration and laughs - <AUTHOR> https://buttercms.com/blog/top-10-books-every-cto-should-read <comment><USER2> I can highly recommend "Don't Make Me Think!" to all software engineers regardless of their specialization.

<comment><AUTHOR> Agreed. I really enjoyed that one as well, helps put great perspective on the software we build.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Read books by people who have done something akin to what you are trying to do, or failing that, have been successful at doing properly hard things.

Unless you are in the business of writing self help books I'm not sure reading the books of people whose sole success is writing self help books is what you need.</comment>


Teaching thousands of students to program on Udacity with App Engine - <AUTHOR> http://blog.udacity.com/2012/10/teaching-thousands-of-students-to.html <comment><USER2> great post, isn't it?</comment>


Ask HN: Do you keep an engineering notebook? - <AUTHOR> I'm a software developer wondering about starting to keep an engineering journal/notebook and curious about other peoples' experiences and practices. If you keep one, have you found it useful? How often and what do you put in it? What format/tools do you use? <comment><USER2> I spent the first decade or so of my career not taking any notes at all. Constantly, I was forgetting little things after meetings, spacing out on information after a week or a month or whatever. Now I keep a notebook on my desk at all times and I write with a pen. I constantly write down what I am doing, what I am working on, what I am thinking, the gist of conversations that I have throughout the day, and more. More information is always better. I find that writing in pen is better than pencil because I am not tempted to try to fix when I spell a word wrong or make some other kind of error, and I find that physically writing things out with a writing utensil is much easier for me to maintain verbal conversations vs typing the notes out with a keyboard.

It seems to me that the notebooks create their own value, and you have to start somewhere to begin seeing the value. Then you will find that value and you will accelerate your usage of note taking.

Notebooks can be a really incredible tool - if someone asks me what happened on the first Tuesday in May, I can flip through my notebooks and figure it out. If I wonder what the heck I was thinking as I was writing a PR, I can check the date of the PR and find my notes. I've never once regretted taking a notes and now I will likely never stop.

<comment><USER3> Interesting. Do you organise it in some way? Or just write everything at the next empty line?

<comment><USER2> I start a new page each new day if I was in the middle of the previous page, and I write the date at the top of each new page. Other than that it's essentially stream of conscious and that tends to work well for me

<comment><USER4> I do the same. Plus:

* use a spiral-bound notebook and keep my pen tucked in the spiral binding so it never gets lost (I actually use a Pentel 0.9mm clutch pencil, and think I've lost two pencils in 25 years)

* buy my own notebook, different from the standard one everyone else has, so I can find it easily (I've never lost one)

* draw boxes to highlight To Do items or deliverables from others

* every meeting starts with its name and the people present (initials for colleagues, full names for those more distant)

* every few pages, bring forward old To Dos in a list in the top right margin

* start work notes from the front, personal notes made while at work from the back

<comment><USER3> Honest question: How long have you been maintaining this kind of thing? I tried something this detailed a few times in the past and at most was able to carry this on for about two months. Painfully.

<comment><USER4> I should also have mentioned the notebook format is A5, not A4/letter. It is small enough to carry everywhere. If I have a few A4 printouts, I normally fold them in half and tuck them inside the front cover. Inside the back cover I always have a few sheets of blank paper, for sketching ideas on with colleagues.

This is the specific notebook I use: [https://www.viking- direct.co.uk/en/office-depot-wirebound-no...](https://www.viking- direct.co.uk/en/office-depot-wirebound-notebook-navy-blue-ruled-micro- perforated-a5-p-2355730). I tried Moleskin etc but they aren't as convenient for carrying my pen, aren't as expandable for carrying extra papers, and are 3 times more expensive.

I've been doing this since my first full-time job, so around 26 years. If you carry it with you everywhere at work, and open it at the start of every meeting, it quickly becomes automatic.

The key I think is only having one place where you write stuff down. That makes it automatically an append-only log :) The rest is optional. I have occasionally tried keeping notes electronically, but was never able to maintain it consistently for more than a few days, and found myself wanting to write different types of notes in different places.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> About a year ago, I did an experiment where I wrote down everything I learned while coding for one month [0]. Ever since, I have been keeping an engineering notebook by jotting down new lessons. The main things I found were:

\- Attention is cheap. The amount of attention we devote to 'learning' is not directly proportional to the amount we actually learn.

\- We need to get into the habit of recognizing new information, and capturing them while doing engineering task. Otherwise our everyday learning escapes us.

\- Being productive does not make us learn more. They are correlated but productivity does not cause learning. In my most productive days, I did not learn more than normal days. I 'measured' learning by looking at the number of notes I took per day in that month.

In short, I found that I was not learning as much as I thought because I did not pay attention to capturing new information. Therefore the most important thing for an engineering notebook is a way of instantly capturing new information without effort.

[0] - [https://dnote.io/blog/writing-everything-i-learn-coding- for-...](https://dnote.io/blog/writing-everything-i-learn-coding-for-a-month/)

</comment><comment><USER6> Possibly off topic but after years of trying I'm finally on a good streak at 750Words [1]. What's really changed the game for me is filling out my entry in vim. I used to be bummed with copy pasta entries because I couldn't see my typing speed and distractions ya know just lotsa words / minute but it's worth it with how good it feels to bust out entries in vim with often shift downs like a type writer dinging along without a whim.

g ctrl-g

I always carry little notebooks that are for songwriting, general notes, grocery lists, and anything else that comes to mind.

Drawing notebooks, books full of notes on non-fiction books and videos, clipboards with graph+plain paper, voice memos, and a huge amount of random note apps and websites.

For collaborative projects I usually write a markdown file while I'm doing something worth documenting. Easier distribution to team members.

Interested to try a physical notebook for a personal project though. A progress dairy of sorts.

÷}

[1]: [https://750words.com](https://750words.com)

</comment><comment><USER7> I use Boostnote[0] (not affiliated, just a happy user), it's a simple to use note keeping application that supports Markdown.

Keeping an (almost) daily journal of stuff that hangs me up has helped me immensely. You know the type of problems that take 12 hours of debugging just to find out it's something trivial? Write that down, it's sure to come up in the future and our memory isn't great at all.

[0]: [https://github.com/BoostIO/Boostnote](https://github.com/BoostIO/Boostnote)

</comment><comment><USER8> I kept one in the lab and the habit has stuck with me.

There's good advice in this comment page but I will add two things I haven't seen:

1 - If this is your personal notebook (not a lab book that is the property of your company and will be archived by them when you leave), don't be selective: write _anything_ of interest in, including shopping lists or whatnot.

This has two benefits. One is that personal stuff (e.g. order those flowers for your sweetie) won't be taking up "space" in your head while you're actually working on stuff. (This theory is part of the GTD movement by the way)

The other is that if you use this system in your whole life you'll hone it more appropriately to your needs, and won't ever have to decide "is this worth writing down?"

2 - review it daily, either before going to bed or first thing in the morning. Mainly just review what you wrote down the day before; older stuff becomes reference. Before you go to sleep offers the possibility of your brain chewing over some stuff while you sleep; doing it first thing in the morning pages in the state from yesterday. So whatever works for you.

</comment><comment><USER9> I keep a Rubber Ducking notebook. I rubber duck every day. So amazing how much it creates _momentum_ and _progress_.

I just write it down, typos and all. Just write it out, anything, I even right the next step repeatedly when I am procrastinating. e.g.

Test out X, just do it, do it now. Okay, do it. Go do it already.

It works!

[https://www.elijahlynn.net/blog/2019-01-04-write-it- out](https://www.elijahlynn.net/blog/2019-01-04-write-it-out)

</comment><comment><USER10> I think it's a good habit, but making it habitual (e.g., daily) is something I'm still working on. :-)

I found this document a good start at ideas of what to include in your notes:

[https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/mindworks/Capstone%20Design/...](https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/mindworks/Capstone%20Design/Project%20Guides/Logbook_Handout.pdf)

</comment><comment><USER11> Yes, I have an engineering notebook. It's actually a system that consists of both a public codex and a private digital note taking system.

The public codex contains lessons learned and other such things which are publicly shared so that others may learn as well.

The private digital note taking system is less formal and more ad hoc and is thus probably more akin to what you have in mind. It contains semi formal documentation on both engineering processes used and noted properties of physical phenomena (which software is included in) that should be noted to simply remember things.

Both of the note taking systems are _very_ useful as one of the primary purposes is to, again, simply remember things.

The public codex as a notebook mechanism is not used as often as its private digital notebook counterpart, namely because it requires more energy to add new entries given its formal presentation requirements. The private digital notebook, in contrast, doesn't have such stringency and so creating new entries is easier. Also note that it's digital because my physical notebook has run out of available writing space :)

</comment><comment><USER12> I've never done it but I was just thinking about starting this morning after reading someones journal they kept while making their first Atari 2600 game [1]. Having the thought process, trials, failures and successes documented like that seems so valuable. I can forget the "why" of things I've done in just a matter of days, making me question my own sanity the next time I look back at some code or design choice.

I was thinking of starting with simple daily stream-of-consciousness text files. Anything more complicated might deter me from even starting the practice.

[1] [https://www.mickmuze.com/notebook/the-atari-video- computer-s...](https://www.mickmuze.com/notebook/the-atari-video-computer- system-2600/)

</comment><comment><USER13> Do you use one?

I keep one on dead tree media in chronological order. It gets used at least once per week as if it were a lab notebook, for note taking during debugging firmware or hardware prototypes, less so during initial development for roughing out architecture and doing first pass state diagrams. As for utility it's indispensable when trying to recreate something like test bed setups months later. In the old days it would have been useful evidence in patent litigation.

Those days $DAY_JOB bought us high quality and very pleasant to use pricey half-bound (each page bound in front of a perforated copy sheet to tear out) and page numbered engineering notebooks. That's no longer the case with the new first to file regime.

</comment><comment><USER14> I have a few Emacs org-mode[0] files in a git repository. I have one for work, one for personal projects, and one for home stuff. Works great for me.

I often take notes during meetings. The trick is to maintain eye contact with whoever you're speaking to so they know you're paying attention to them, not working on something else.

Sometimes I'll just bring a notebook and my pen, but I will generally put those notes into my org file afterwards.

I also track every project I work on in org-mode, with lots of TODO entries. Without it I have a pretty hard time staying on track.

[0] [https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/OrgMode](https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/OrgMode)

<comment><USER15> How in this day and age does orgmode work without a laptop. It is such a powerful system but useless when you are not in front of your laptop. I have struggled with this for years. I love org mode but I can't stand it's 80s usecase of must be used on my desktop/laptop. Would be great if orgmoders can share examples of how they use it without laptop. Yes there is beorg but it is nowhere near what orgmode offers and being tied to a laptop is just not very current with the times.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> I've maintained a personal one for over 20 years of different designs and architectures etc. Sometimes I'll save code snips when they were particularly creative, but pretty rare. In general it is more for me to reference designs and help me be creative on solving new problems. One of the interesting things is looking back and seeing designs/solutions that were popular 20 years ago are still going strong, or in some cases are being sold under a new name as the greatest thing ever to exist and being totally new. I think that is fair of any industry though, so it isn't knocking anyone/thing, just kinda fun to see.

A lot of my notes are about particularly interesting problems or things that didn't work as much as things that did. This way I can try and not repeat mistakes or at least see why it went wrong and what might be different now. BTW I do this using an everyday spiral notebook (5 subject) to hand write things down and then over time I transfer them into a 3 ring binder I keep. I also keep the old notebooks which I usually date and write what I was doing then. The 3 ring binder is where I keep the stuff that seems more important and isn't just my quick notes, it will be sketched designs, written notes as well as the occasional code snip printed. I know I am evil but I also keep some important pdf's I have printed in there because frankly it is easier to keep track of then the electronic document over 20 years.

I also keep notes for each company I work at/with, generally I do those in some repository for the company (it is the companies not mine). This is nice because it gives others, not just me, some historical information on why things are and what we were discussing or other thoughts we might have had while doing design discussions. Today I use Quip for a lot of that for company specific notes, and honestly it helps for on-boarding too.

A few years back I started using OneNote as well for my personal notes, this has worked pretty well but I still handwrite a ton of stuff because I find people banging on a keyboard in a meeting hiding behind their laptop to be rude & distracting, so I won't do it. But I have been moving even some of my handwritten stuff into OneNote and/or Apple Notes, which I started playing with recently as well. What I like about both of them is they sync to multiple devices so I don't have to go digging as much.

</comment><comment><USER17> I use a sketchbook for any development and design sketches, as well as meeting notes and information from conversations.

I try not to bring my computer to meetings so I'm not distracted. I prefer to write things down with pencil because I'm the type of person who needs to erase things all the time, and by crossing things out with pen, things get messy, and my OCD flares up.

For everything else, I keep my life in a variety org org-mode files.

</comment><comment><USER18> I came across [https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/General_Engineering_Introducti...](https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/General_Engineering_Introduction/Notebooks/) and have experimented with a few related things, not to any great success so far.</comment>


Simple mongodb backup script - <AUTHOR> http://shatsar.tumblr.com/post/2777439004/simple-mongo-db-backup-script

<comment><USER2> Why not use <https://github.com/micahwedemeyer/automongobackup> ?

<comment><USER3> I'm not a bash expert, but I ended up adding "set -e" to the beginning of this one, and tweaked it a bit to do what I needed (eg: scp to remote backup site).

Drop a line if you want a copy!</comment></comment>


A man dies after his e-cigarette explodes in his face - <AUTHOR> https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/05/health/exploding-vape-pen-death-trnd/index.html <comment><USER2> The bad part about articles like this one is that you aren't given enough information to know if the user of the device was using a branded proprietary vape pen, a standard vape pen, or if they were using a modified or custom vaping device (aka box mod).

The latter devices are in general where the danger lies. These devices are typically poorly designed electronically, allowing for great amounts of current to flow thru the heating coil, mainly in order to produce larger amounts of vapor - creating monster clouds, etc.

Many have little to no current regulation at all; you are lucky to find one that uses any kind of real current regulator (perhaps an LM117 with a bypass power transistor or MOSFET). Most are little more than a switch shorting the coil directly to the battery; maybe with a potentiometer thrown in as a voltage divider.

They put enormous stress on the LiPO cell(s) used in the device, and these cells are sometimes the cheapest ones that can be bought - overruns or ones that didn't pass inspection, get re-bought in the business, then repackaged and sold on with "white label" style branding. Far cheaper than the name brand cells, often marked up with erroneous current handling capabilities far exceeding what they can really do.

All of that leads to a perfect storm, where they are stressed beyond their capability, and they enter into an "avalanche mode" of self-destruction, heating up and chemically reacting in a matter of seconds or less to swell, catch fire, and explode.

Instead of acknowledging this - which any box modder knows about and likely assumes such risk - these articles seem to conflate the hobbyist level devices with that of the standard and branded vape pen devices by known manufacturers. To what end, I am not certain, though I could speculate.

Follow the money as usual and you'd probably find out the truth.

<comment><USER3> It's mentioned that a cup holder melted. Sounds like an unsecured bottom button on a tube mechanical mod</comment></comment>


Personal Tags - tagging your content with a unique string - <AUTHOR> http://id-o.de/2010/01/14/personal-tags-aggregate-everything/

<comment><USER2> Just use your own name. There is no functional difference.

There is another Joel McCracken somewhere, a principal of some school somewhere. However, my full name, "Joel Nathan McCracken", has not been taken. I've been thinking about beginning to use it in various places.

edit: one issue with this approach (or any similar approach, for that matter) is that it isn't easy to find the spot on the page where your name appears. A user would have to cmd+f your tag to figure out what you said, if they are interested. A better approach might be adding a link to the tag, but there are problems with that too -- places don't/shouldn't allow html content in their comments.

In any case, its a good issue to bring up.

</comment><comment><USER3> I toyed with the idea of doing something like this ages ago, but decided against it. I felt it would become something akin to signing things, and it's open to the equivalent of forgery. What's to stop someone from creating content you don't agree with, and then putting your tag on it?

To partially offset that you could create a page under your control that has a link to every page with a verified personal tag. Use Google alerts to send you the links automatically, and anything you don't recognise, check it out. Have an "I refute ..." or "Name and Shame" section to highlight those occurences that are not legitimate.

<comment><USER4> "What's to stop someone from creating content you don't agree with, and then putting your tag on it?"

You could digitally sign it using secure private key (and if you want to be really secure store the private key on a secure hardware device). Use a X509 cert from a well known CA and pretty much anyone can check whether you wrote it or not.

I'm saying this is a good idea though....

Damn - now I have to go and work out how I would implement this....

<comment><USER4> The trick would be to have a nice combination of a tag (which is always the same) and a digital signature that binds your tag to the content.

<comment><USER5> You could also make it your username when you have to sign up for something.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This reminds me of blackhat SEO techniques! (see <http://www.nigritudeultramarines.com/>), nevertheless +1 very neat idea!

</comment><comment><USER7> I agree!

{241C6C98-C3BA-4C22-A91C-1811B79DB6E8}

Seriously, can you imagine everyone doing that in every comment here, for example? It would get annoying real quick.

<comment><AUTHOR> I agree, but it's pretty easy to get all my comments out of HN anyway, because I have a dedicated account here. It's more useful for distributed content on sites where I just post one or two comments.

In a second step it would be pretty simple for HN or any other site to just give me a field to enter my personal tag and add it to every comment (maybe in grey behind the username).

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> A small overhead for a small gain. Neat idea.

If this idea catches on, you will have to watch out for spam though.

</comment><comment><USER9> There's no need for it to be a random string. For instance, #ptgavinb gets 0 google hits.

</comment><comment><USER10> what about having a keyboard-listener on your machine who saves every input you make?</comment>


Amazon is increasing the cost of annual Prime memberships from $99 to $119 - <AUTHOR> https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/26/17287528/amazon-prime-annual-membership-cost-increase-price-hike <comment><USER2> Amazon keeps giving me Prime for free, probably because I never use it. I've probably gotten the equivalent of 2 years of Prime free.

<comment><USER3> Are you a student?

<comment><USER2> You're right, they did give me Prime Student. Not a student though.</comment></comment></comment>


The power of two random choices - <AUTHOR> https://brooker.co.za/blog/2012/01/17/two-random.html <comment><AUTHOR> Thought people might find the pick-2 idea here [1] interesting enough to read about in other situations (such as load balancing)

[1] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14147226](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14147226)</comment>


Ask HN: What should I practice programming if I need to be Offline? - <AUTHOR> I have spare time that I'm encouraged to improve my abilities.
The problem I'm running into, my network blocks fetch/post requests(through a complicated proxy). I cannot run a node.js server for the same reason.
I really enjoyed playing with python, but it seems most usecase is crawling which I cannot do. I can play with excel macros, python, and probably most software. The problem comes into accessing the internet.
Any suggestions how I can spend my time practicing? <comment><USER2> It really depends on what your goal to learn is: number crunching, web development, database access, etc. However, I'd say stick with Python because it has an expansive standard library, and pretty good documentation which can be downloaded for offline use [1].

If you'd like to learn a RDBMS, SQLite comes bundled with Python and SQLite also has documentation available for download [2] (see Documentation section).

Another option would be to buy a programming language book. Those typically have guided chapters, and many have an emphasis such as general programming, text analysis, etc.

[1]: [https://docs.python.org/3/download.html](https://docs.python.org/3/download.html)

[2]: [https://www.sqlite.org/download.html](https://www.sqlite.org/download.html)

<comment><AUTHOR> Currently I'm doing full stack React Native js w/ redux, php7 w/ larvel to mysql.

I'm open to anything that will help myself grow, even fun logic. I can try SQLlite, but wont that require emulating a database?

I should clarify, I can read stuff online, I just cant use things like fetch or post.

But basically looking for any practice that is useful.

<comment><USER2> SQLite is a proper SQL database that can be written to file, or held in memory. Since you have access to MySQL, I'd just stick with that because it has more features.</comment></comment></comment>


11.3M pageviews without the growth hacking bullshit - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/swlh/how-we-got-11-3-million-pageviews-without-the-growth-hacking-bullshit-5e0456dcbe3 <comment><USER2> good stuff! Really interesting article, first time in a long while that I actually finished a 10+ minute medium article / OR wasn't able because medium added their paywall</comment>


Ask HN: How do you develop applications that target Kubernetes in production? - <AUTHOR> I'm aware of the various options for developing in Kubernetes such as Draft, Telepresence, and Skaffold. I'm interested in learning more about the different options for developers who don't have access to a Kubernetes environment during development. How do you develop your application that eventually runs in Kubernetes when you do not have access to Kubernetes? <comment><USER2> As bockris said, you can stand up minikube locally. Or if you download Docker for Desktop, they now have the option of a built-in local K8's.

Kubernetes shouldn't necessarily be a 'target'. You can write any app, and if you make it deployable via a Docker container via a Docker image (a Dockerfile; plenty of info on that on the web), then it should be deployable to K8's.

</comment><comment><USER3> Do you mean applications? Making sure they are easily containerized and follow 12 factor guidelines is all you really need imo You should be able to run minikube on whatever dev machine you are already using.</comment>


Why You Don't Have to Quit Your Job to Get Started (But Not Having a Life Helps) - <AUTHOR> http://wearecontrast.com/2015/04/why-you-dont-have-to-quit-your-job-to-get-started-but-not-having-a-life-helps/

<comment><USER2> Sensible advice which I should've taken before quitting my six figure city salary :(

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> If anyone has any thoughts on the post I'd love to hear them.</comment>


ASK: is there a github for 3d objects? - <AUTHOR>

is there a github(version control) for 3d objects? <comment><USER2> Not sure exactly what you're looking for. But is STL file viewing on GitHub relevant? [https://github.com/blog/1465-stl-file- viewing](https://github.com/blog/1465-stl-file-viewing)

</comment><comment><USER3> I know that 3ds (the company behind catia [http://www.3ds.com/products/catia/welcome/](http://www.3ds.com/products/catia/welcome/)) has an online platform where you can download and upload designs.

I can't find the name any more though.

What kind of 3d objects are you searching for exactly?

<comment><USER3> Here it is, I found it!

[http://www.3dvia.com/search/](http://www.3dvia.com/search/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Why not just use GitHub? What format are your models in? GitHub supports STL viewing in browser. While STLs don't carry as much data as you may want, that may be a start.</comment>


Ford's Road to Full Autonomy - <AUTHOR> https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fords-road-full-autonomy-mark-fields <comment><AUTHOR> Secondary to the content I was surprised that something like this was posted to LinkedIn.</comment>


The Debut of Beme, a Social App That Aims for Authenticity - <AUTHOR> http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/the-debut-of-beme-a-social-app-that-aims-for-authenticity/

<comment><USER2> Great idea, and more of what we need with technology. I hope it takes off. Another great reason to ditch Facebook.</comment>


Show HN: SnapConfig Open Sourced - <AUTHOR>

SnapConfig http://www.SnapConfig.com has been open sourced. I developed this to manage all kinds of configuration files and it has worked for me flawlessly for that purpose in several projects. I think now is the time to put an end to commercial aspect of this project :).. if you use it I'll appreciate an email as to where it helped you.<p>https://bitbucket.org/sajzm/snapconfig/overview <comment><USER2> Nice! I'd eliminate the reflection, I was rather confused when I saw a reversed screen. At least add a transparency gradient to it (let me know if you need help). Also, are you selling it while giving away the source code for free, or just haven't updated the site yet?

<comment><AUTHOR> thanks don't know how to add transparency gradient. haven't really thought about whether I should keep selling it doesn't cost me anything to keep the site up, though I may add a link on it somewhere mentioning source code being available.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> easy to click: <http://www.snapconfig.com/></comment>


Which iPhone app(s) did you make? - <AUTHOR>

Include any app(s) in which you had some role in development (i.e., not just coding, but art, music, etc.). <comment><USER2> I wrote StockPlay, a stock trading simulation. I open-sourced the foundation code, take a look if you're interested in developing your own application.

Engine: <http://github.com/costan/zergsupport/> Game: <http://istockplay.com>

</comment><comment><USER3> I made an app called "Recall". It's a simple Simon-style game. I made it not to make millions, but as sort of a full-stack "hello world", from design to implementation to submitting to the app store to the first update.

I'll probably do some more stuff with it, but I'm already designing my second app.

</comment><comment><USER4> I made Reid (<http://www.minionapps.com/reid_tutorial.html>) which is a document reader optimized for both low-vision users and speed readers.

I also had a hand in the other Minion apps: Pat (a sequence game), rePete (a Simon-style game) and Penny (an interest/future-value calculator). The early apps were little more than "hello world" experimentation with various parts of the SDK, but we're actively developing Reid and some others.

</comment><comment><USER5> SimplyTweet. A Twitter client. Other than the soundtrack for the screencast, a few stock icons and some available libraries/code, I made the graphics (which explains the quality), with suggestions from the better half and did all the coding.</comment>


The Revenge of the Hackers - <AUTHOR> http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-revenge.html

<comment><USER2> _It was as though for years I'd been sorting through piles of disconnected car parts -- only to be suddenly confronted with those same parts assembled into a gleaming red Ferrari, door open, keys swinging from the lock and engine gently purring with a promise of power..._

Great imagery. Thanks for sharing the link.

</comment><comment><USER3> I vote for not crap - I enjoyed reading this.

</comment><comment><USER4> Stop posting this crap. Please.

<comment><USER5> It seem that he may have an antagonism with ESR or he thinks ESR lack hacker creds. In his previous comment about ESR, he said that ESR isn't a great coder and that he only contributed minor code.

As for me, he wrote the FAQ on how to become a hacker. He wrote the _Cathedral and the Bazaar_. He's a mentor, the old wise elder who introduce a culture's customs and ways of thinking.

How many hackers in the world have that kind of role of seriously influencing the intellectual trajectory of 13 year olds? Linus, Stallman, etc, doesn't seem to literally mint hackers from google search.

 _ESR_ does. Say what you will about Eric Raymond being boastful, a minor code contributor, an anarchistic gun trotting nutcase and what not.

I say he created hackers and people who respect hackers more than Linus and Stallman and many old longbeads will ever do.

<comment><USER4> And this needs to be posted to HN WHY?</comment></comment></comment>


The Most Expensive Cities in the world to Live - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/03/10/the-most-expensive-cities-in-the-world-to-live/ <comment><USER2> "One important caveat: The index includes the cost of household goods, clothing, food and transportation, but it doesn't include the cost of shelter. This is a huge household cost, of course, which may make the ranking less meaningful. In any event, this helps explain why some expensive U.S. cities, namely San Francisco, don't rank higher in the index."

"_may_" make the ranking less meaningful?? Practically meaningless would be more accurate.

<comment><USER3> I.e. an index of:

"The most expensive cities in which to hold down a job, while living out of your car in a free parking lot."</comment></comment>


Samsung to put its voice assistant Bixby in all devices by 2020 - <AUTHOR> https://www.google.com/amp/www.cityam.com/269405/samsung-put-its-voice-assistant-bixby-all-devices-2020/amp <comment><USER2> Rerouts to cityam.com</comment>


Foxconn Electronics calls extraordinary shareholders meeting on 31st January - <AUTHOR> http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20180119PD209.html <comment><AUTHOR> Seems that mainland listing is all, but confirmed</comment>


New in Campfire: Conference calling - <AUTHOR> http://productblog.37signals.com/products/2010/03/new-in-campfire-conference-calling.html

<comment><USER2> Huh. They're just copying the Telephone app from 73 prime numbers:

<http://73primenumbers.com/phone.html>

<comment><USER3> I'm sure Skype is much better to do the same...</comment></comment>


Show HN: DropClicks – A clear the screen game (PWA built with react) - <AUTHOR> https://dropclicks.net/ <comment><AUTHOR> Hi all, thanks for trying the game! The goal is to clear the screen of squares before the time runs out. If you think you are stuck you may use the buttons at the bottom to rotate or scramble the puzzle. 12 levels in total, I'll let you figure out the scoring mechanics. I would love to hear your high scores (current high score I know of is my sister with 249,906).

Built with react, which was overall a nice experience. Repo is here [https://github.com/danab/DropClicks/](https://github.com/danab/DropClicks/), any code feedback would be lovely!</comment>


Ask HN: What privacy respecting (non-targeted) ad exchanges are there? - <AUTHOR> Google AdSense, Amazon, Media.net etc. all seem to run targeted ads, ones that set web beacons or cookies to follow users around and target advertising based on their browsing habits.
Is there an ad exchange that displays non-targeted banner or text advertisements? Maybe one where the site operator can declare the content area of the site to provide meaningful categories for ads to be drawn from (or explicitly set the ad categories desired from some choices)?
The only thing I'm aware of is Brave.com, a browser that blocks ads by default and allows micropayments directly to publishers.
This is nice but requires users to switch their browser, a big ask. Can anyone recommend me privacy respecting ad exchanges instead? It would be fine if the ad exchange monitored what ads perform well on the site and adjusted accordingly - I'm concerned about advertising that tracks users. <comment><USER2> How much traffic do you drive per month? There are exchanges / SSPs that would do an integration with you but that is going to require scale.

Pretty much any SSP is going to ask you for a minimum of pageurl or app-level data in order to prevent fraud on their end.

I'm sure you already know, but you are going to take a big hit on eCPMs as a lot of advertiser money is connected to behavioral segments (and thus cookie / device id data).

Is your site general focused or do you have a specific niche? Some specific niches (eg targeting programmers) will be able to pull in significantly more through direct sponsorships and/or ad networks specializing in your vertical.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, no traffic site doesn't exist yet. Just trying to wrap my head around what's out there.

I'd imagine traffic to be really low, say < 5000 impressions per month, and in the academic/niche space.

Do you think Amazon affiliate links, say to books the site's visitors might be interested in, would be a better bet?

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> It's invite-only, but Carbon might fit what you're looking for: [https://carbonads.net/](https://carbonads.net/)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, I see they're related to BuySellAds. Do you know a minimum number of monthly impressions required to join Carbon as a Publisher?

Does anyone have experience with Carbon or BuySellAds they can share?</comment></comment>


Bret Victor: A Personal Note about "Media for Thinking the Unthinkable" - <AUTHOR> http://worrydream.com/#!/MediaForThinkingTheUnthinkable/note.html

<comment><USER2> Significant discussion: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5781072></comment>