Giistr – Search, filter and help on GitHub issues - <AUTHOR> https://giistr.com <comment><USER2> This is a great idea, but I'm having a really hard time reading the page: The label filters are low-contrast, the project names are separated enough from their issues that it makes scanning the homepage difficult, and the bright blue on pure white bg actually hurts my eyes. I'm not necessarily advocating for a night mode, but definitely some more contrast and visual grouping.

<comment><USER3> I'll do my usual plug and mention that Chrome DevTools (which I write the docs for) can help with contrast ratio (CR).

Inspect CR of a single node with color picker: [https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2018/01/devtools#c...](https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2018/01/devtools#contrast)

Run an audit and check the accessibility category to find all nodes with insufficient CR: [https://developers.google.com/web/tools/lighthouse/#devtools](https://developers.google.com/web/tools/lighthouse/#devtools)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> My problem is the opposite: there is so much project I could contribute to, but there is very little time to do so.

<comment><USER5> Exactly. Although, maybe this tool will help attract other people to my projects?

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Couldnt get it to load but it would be nice if it was not just limited to github. I have a few issues on my project on gitlab labeled good first issue.

<comment><USER7> Out of curiosity, is that a common label? The site isn't great on mobile, so I'm unsure if that's in the integration or just an example you gave.

<comment><USER8> i'm not sure if it's a default label but a huge amount of projects use it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> This is great but I think there is another GitHub search issue that needs to be addressed, perhaps by a third party because GitHub doesn't seem to perceive it as a priority.

And that is deduplication of identical assets matching with my search terms. I should be able to at the very least check a box and have files with the same checksum be deduped from results.

</comment><comment><USER10> Unfortunately, the layout is broken on my phone. Great idea though!

<comment><USER11> I'm unable to see anything at all even after enabling scripts/xhr in uMatrix. Usually disabling tracking protection and fingerprinting in Firefox would fix this, but as far as I'm concerned, the site is broken.

<comment><USER12> There was a comment (now apparently deleted) about the site not working if you don't have any repos starred on GitHub. That's not really obvious if you're just trying it out.

<comment><USER11> I saw a completely white page on my desktop. The site renders on my phone, so now at least I know what we're talking about.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> What is this site's USP that distinguishes it from [https://www.codetriage.com/](https://www.codetriage.com/)?

</comment><comment><USER14> Long term, it would be interesting to build an ML system that could suggest different projects for you to work on, based on your GitHub repos, stars, LinkedIn, etc.

</comment><comment><USER15> I thought my screen was cracked for a second....

</comment><comment> J-Kuhn Doesn't work for me. I have CraftBukket stared, and that repo was taken down by a DCMA request.

Now the site is broken for me.

</comment><comment><USER16> Not working, it says limited to 5000 requests.</comment>


Facebook tracks you on Android (even if you don't have a Facebook account) - <AUTHOR> https://hackernoon.com/how-facebook-tracks-you-on-android-even-if-you-dont-have-a-facebook-account-pv2u3zt4 <comment><USER2> Here's what you can do:

1\. Install 'NoRoot Firewall' from the Play Store: [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.greyshirts...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.greyshirts.firewall) (unfortunately it is not available on FDroid, maybe somebody can suggest a FOSS alternative please).

2\. Set it to block all traffic to Facebook with two pre-filters:

        *.facebook.com:*
        facebook.com:*

There are probably more domains that can be added to this list, please suggest them.

3\. Enable the firewall, use your apps and notice which ones contact Facebook in the 'Access Log' section.

4\. And the most important part, do something about it. Either complain to the app developer/business or remove the app from your phone and never install it again. This is also the most difficult part as it requires you to put in the effort, or sacrifice some convenience, but if you are unwilling to stand up for your own principles then who will?

5\. Spread the word, teach others how to do the same, and make the world a better place (just don't be pushy, nobody likes that). Try to lead by example, don't make others do something you haven't tried yourself, and explain the tradeoffs as unbiased as you can possible be, you'll get more credibility this way.

6\. Long term, maybe vote for politicians that propose legislation to make such practices illegal? It's the only thing I can think of that has the potential to improve the situation for everyone. Otherwise companies will follow the money, and there is a lot of money to be made from surveillance in the advertising industry, plus free analitycs tools save time since businesses want the functionality, without needing to develop it themselves.

EDIT: formatting

<comment> hdrujvw-4579 what i use: *.facebook.com:443

note that this may cause delays with whatsapp in sending/receiving messages. it also sometimes delays placing/receiving calls. you can temporarily disable noRootFirewall for critical times. I don't know how whatsapp uses the facebook domain. It clearly needs the facebook domain to work optimally, but it is not critical.

<comment><USER3> Last year parts of fbs service went down. What's interesting is that WhatsApp, Instagram and Fb all broke in the same way in that people were unable to send or receive photos.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> As for the browser suggestions: it forgets to mention _uBlock Origin_ and _uMatrix_. As far as I know you can block everything with _uMatrix_.

[https://getublockorigin.com](https://getublockorigin.com), [https://github.com/gorhill/uMatrix](https://github.com/gorhill/uMatrix)

</comment><comment><USER5> > Facebook is able to track you because Android developers of 3rd party apps > (example: Indeed Job Search) implement Facebook's Software Development Kit > (SDK).

Shadow profiling isn't new and Facebook has been doing this for years. Perhaps for those who are seriously on the brink of 'tinfoilism' of avoiding these creatures who just can't stop tracking us, we need a Ad-blocker-like component that blocks the FBSDK embedded in other apps and is enabled OS-wide. (Like a Privacy Firewall)

uBlock Origin has done this for Firefox, Safari and Chrome, we an equivalent for these apps. Facebook will stop at nothing to connect everything even if you don't have an account.

<comment><USER6> Discounting someone's complaint because "This isn't new" isn't helpful. It doesn't need to be new to be a problem - Writing an article about it to raise awareness is a good idea.

Calling this tinfoilism is also not constructive. The author points out that data is being shared, in ways that even people who try to be privacy conscious may not be aware of, or have good ways to stop.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> A question to the HN crowd reporting with app development: what are the benefits of using the Facebook SDK? Do you consider these outweigh the privacy concerns?

To everyone else: be sure to watch the CCC presentation by Privacy International

</comment><comment><USER8> Would this not also affect iOS?

<comment><USER7> The problem is not really related to the OS but the libraries used in the apps.

Android is often used in research since it is easier to analyse an open system but I suspect the same issues are also found in iOS apps.

There are of course some differences. For example it is (was) easier for apps to run in the background on Android. It is also easier to detect and block them.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> > her religion is Muslim

If the author(s) lurks here: her religion is Islam.

<comment><USER10> At least in my language, Muslim & Islam have been used interchangeably; like Muslim Religion v/s Islam Religion like Christianity Religion, in Punjabi from India. Muslim person is called Musalmaan, like Christian Person.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Would you prefer reading or watching a video about any subject/topic? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> Video is good for concepts that need visualizations, though a good blog post with animations or illustrations can work too. Video is required hands on demonstrations, like how to fix something on a car.

But videos showing somebody write code or commands is infuriating. There's no need for that. A blog post with code examples would be much better.

<comment><USER3> I'll second this. The trend of recording videos or podcasts instead of writing blogs and/or articles is both infuriating and concerning.

Videos, podcasts and audiobooks have attracted a much larger viewership than anybody anticipated. Reading and reading comprehension are on the wane. More and more, I see the label "post-literate" applied to Gen Z and it worries me.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Reading, by far. I'm getting sick of every single thing being videofied. It seems like an "attention hack". Wife has been feeling the same too.

<comment><AUTHOR> Same! Thanks for sharing what your wife feels. I don't know if it'll be weird to say, but this is my favorite part of the thread :p

<comment><USER4> It isn't weird;) Wife and I have many conversations about how knowledge absorption is becoming bare media consumption. Listening at her, not as geeky as me, raising her concerns about it, was truly delightful:)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Probably a combination of all three. Maybe with a video guide and text guide on the same page, with the latter also using images and short video clips to illustrate points too.

Video on its own is too slow, and often annoying to wade through if I need to find a particular point. Text on its own can be too vague, and can make it difficult to understand lengthy series of instructions if pictures and videos aren't included (a common problem with text based video game walkthroughs).

</comment><comment><USER6> For complex subjects I prefer reading.

I find that programming made me absorb and create content non-linearly. I write a bit of code here, and then there, and then change a little thing in the first bit...

I read like that. I read the book from start to end but I'm constantly going back to back material. (Or sometimes googling stuff.)

In a video, the "pause-rewind" loop is not so easy.

Also, I can't skim a video.

</comment><comment><USER7> For most CS related content I prefer reading up, but there are particular domains which can't be captured by reading for example - fitness, analysis of movies, learning to play an instrument.

</comment><comment><USER8> Reading, unless the video enhance the knowledge transfer.

Videos can help us understand about complex concept like quantum computing, 3D graphics, the social impacts of a tech talk.

Most of the time videos are only people typing on their screen. Reading is more effective in this case, since it is faster and less opiniated.

</comment><comment><USER9> Reading, easily.

The way my mind works, when I'm learning something, nothing beats reading about it. Audio and video alone is almost totally worthless to me.

<comment><AUTHOR> Same. If you're not learning, say a story. Would you prefer a documentary about it or reading it?

<comment><USER9> Reading it, by a longshot.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> For tying knots, video. For everything else, reading.

</comment><comment><USER11> My favourite is a combination. Text for most things and images, or short videos to demonstrate topics that are hard to describe.

</comment><comment><USER12> Reading.

Nothing irritates me more than google pimping me spammy videos as an answers on simple questions.

Videos forces you to consume information slowly in a sync manner. Videos are good for sense-rich entertainment.

Information is perfectly and efficently can be (and always were) delivered at text.

<comment><AUTHOR> Same. I'll be surprised if more people prefer video form of content.

<comment><USER3> > I'll be surprised if more people prefer video form of content.

Not so much video as audio. I work for a company that provides digital lending services for libraries. Guess what type of content is by far the most popular? Audiobooks. It's not even close. Most of the "videoification" of blog posts I see on youtube are basically just podcasts with somebody talking into a video camera instead of a microphone.

<comment><USER12> I saw Youtube "educational" video from a low life marketing guy recorded himself speaking to camera and teaching others how to record videos of them scrolling PPT slides with affiliate links and make money out of it

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Reading, any time. I 'll watch an interview. but i m struggling not to doze off watching a lecture on something.

</comment><comment><USER14> I would never want to be exclusive to one or the other. It completely depends on the topic and my current understanding of it.

Videos are great for soft skills or crash courses, but reading is necessary for the fine details.

<comment><AUTHOR> Not courses only (or learning purpose), but generally. Say would you prefer consuming content in the form of reading or prefer watching something online?

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> I prefer annotated diagrams ["cartoons"]

and blowup/cutaway illustrations

i like to include animated gifs where time permits.

</comment><comment><USER16> Reading. No patience for videos, even at 2x speed.

</comment><comment><USER17> Reading, please.

</comment><comment><USER18> Reading is usually more attractive in my opinion.</comment>


Ask HN: Do you make your apps database agnostic? - <AUTHOR> I used all mainstream relational databases so far. While they all follow SQL standards to some level there are vendor differences and extensions on many features.
It seems to me that need for database agnosticism makes sense for specific types of apps, mostly those to be used in general context and by random stakeholders. However, this is typically not the case for majority of projects which are tailored to specific customers and imposing agnosticism on those may very well lead to inelegant and unoptimized code, not to mention constant mental overhead in trying to achieve SQL standard and extra development if support for multiple vendors is desired.
It looks to me that premature agnosticism is similar to premature optimization - there is no need to do it unless your app really fit a specific niche. DB frameworks may make this easier to some extent, but this is also not universal solution since most of those are several times slower then direct database access and thus may not be acceptable, not to mention the overhead of learning to use and troubleshoot it.
What are your thoughts on it ? <comment><USER2> As a 25 year career DBA, moving to a DB agnostic methodology has merits as it allows very re-usable code, however the downside is that you never get to realise the strengths a particular DB technology can offer in terms of performance. Wriing in ORMS and high-level frameworks may be good for making your product very adaptable but don't expect your product to be lightning fast when it's performance pounded and tested. I've worked on performance testing DB techs and seen what happens when a vendor tries make a "one-size fits all" solution, it quickly loses scalability. If raw performance is your goal, don't even try to be agnostic, tweak every last advantage you need. When you have a trading app that's making thousands of upserts a minute you need every bit of help you can get in your app. If simply allowing data storage is all you need, then agnostic may be right for you. However to throw a curve ball in, buying raw processing power is dirt cheap these days, and you'll get something by throwing more CPU and memory at a problem, but your scalability will tail of at somepoint and you have to decide if that platau point is acceptable.

</comment><comment><USER3> Unless there is a very specific and valid reason I never try to make applications database agnostic, but my designs usually are to some degree. I do like to avoid features when I know they are non-standard and other options/designs exist which are more standard. In the past on projects that has meant we wrote a bit more code a few times but it has paid off every time. At least what I have found generally is features which have no common analog in other systems are originally added for an Enterprise client and so the stability, integration and support are much less friendly to work with, so avoiding them is just smart IMO. Of course, once those features hit mainstream and other systems mimic them then obviously things change.

But in most cases we used "special" features where they just made life easier, better or both, a good example of this is back when SQLServer released CDC, we used it heavily for a system we built. Yet, not all competitive DB systems had a direct analog to it at the time. More common examples are some of the stored procedure functions available in SQLServer that weren't in other systems that we used regularly. Any of those could have made a DB porting job a pain in the ass.

Overall though, almost every system I have ever had input on or control over architecture we have hidden the database behind either an API or data layer of some sort that made the application ignorant to how data was stored, accessed and where it was located. The idea behind this isn't that I think switching databases is a normal thing, but more so we could change data location, structure etc all without affecting application design. I've been doing that since the early 90's, it was something I was just ingrained with because when I started writing code all our data was stored in flat files and so our code was the database, so isolation was critical to not affect consumers.</comment>


Win a Battle Axe and $3,000 in Wufoo's API Contest - <AUTHOR> http://wufoo.com/2010/08/02/win-a-real-battle-axe-in-the-wufoo-api-contest/

<comment><USER2> This made my day. I love it that we funded a company that gives away battle axes.

<comment><USER3> It is cool. I once ran OpenGLForums.com and when the movie Blade was really popular, I ran a contest to make a 3D movie programmatically about Blade and the winner would win the sword (or a replica, rather) from the movie. Unfortunately, it turns out shipping a weapon is much more difficult than it appears, especially overseas. I ended up just sending the guy the value of the sword and kept it for myself.

Regardless, this is a cool contest and has a cool prize.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> From the rules and judging page

> This contest is open to United States residents only.

Why do this? Surely the aim is to make something cool. Why limit to the US ? Wufoo is not limited to the USA only so why apply this to the comp ?

People in other countries also understand REST you know !

<comment><USER5> For what it's worth, after a history of scams there are now a lot of regulations in the US around contests and lotteries. I've see "US residents only" in fine print before, and I wouldn't be surprised if they would risk legal or tax problems if they let anyone else participate.

<comment><AUTHOR> For what it's worth, here's a bit more information. There are tax and legal reasons.

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

"Because of their potential for abuse, sweepstakes are heavily regulated in many countries. The U.S., Canada, and individual U.S. states all have laws covering sweepstakes, resulting in special rules depending on where the entrant lives. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission exercises some authority over sweepstakes promotion and sweepstakes scams in the United States."

While this isn't a sweepstakes, the same comission also oversees rules and laws about contests and have equally annoying restrictions. Obviously, we would love the talent and potential of the international community to work on this.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I love how Wufoo takes a really boring-sounding task, making forms, and manages to act downright _giddy_ about it.

<comment><USER7> The fact that there is a market for point solutions like this always amazes me -- but we needed one ourselves in the early days, when we wanted to run a customer survey but were too busy building the product to write one.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> If you like to program and own medieval weaponry, this one's for you. Best of luck to everyone!

</comment><comment><USER8> If you were to make an iPhone app, let's say to facilitate the mobile entry in a cool way, would you still own the app after the contest? I assume it's all just whatever you want to do with it? and they just pick a winner?

or are you submitting to them "for keeps" ?

<comment><USER9> The terms of the contest say you get to keep it:

"The code from all submitted entries remains entirely under the ownership of the submitter. The exception is wrapper libraries which we require to be open source and permission given to us to put up on our GitHub repository."

<comment><USER8> ah, thanks.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Apparently the rest of the world doesn't deserve battle axes. I would have loved to enter. Totally need a battle axe.

</comment><comment><USER9> I'm so making Wufoo-Foo</comment>


Symmetries: The Beauty in Physics - <AUTHOR> http://devdude.me/blog/physSymmetries <comment><USER2> Is it possible to explain Noether's principle for momentum (translation invariance) or energy (time invariance) without going into Lagrangian/Hamiltonian mechanics?

I really like Noether's principle, but every time I try to explain the symmetry --> conserved quantity implication using only Newtonian principles I fail to get anywhere. I'd love to hear an explanation from first principles that would work for high school students.

<comment><USER3> Here's my attempt:

Suppose a system evolves such that it moves forward from coordinate "c" to "c+dc" in time "dt". Since "c+dc" is similar to "c" (due to a symmetry along the coordinate) the system's behavior must be repeated in the next dt interval, since different coordinate values have equivalent physics.

If we imagine a wave/wavefunction with this property, the most reasonable way to implement this is if the wave has a periodic form such as "exp(i * c * B)" such that on moving along coordinate "c", the wave retains the same form up to an overall phase, which is physically unobservable.

This is the same as saying that there is a conjugate quantity "B" that remains constant during the evolution.

\--

More loosely: unless there is some form of generalized force along a coordinate (eg: friction), a system with conjugate quantity B keeps moving on an on with the same value of quantity B, since the only way to change its value would be to do something non-symmetric to it at different locations in the coordinate.

<comment><USER4> As a layman, this sounds very much like Newton's first law: An object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

<comment><USER3> Yes, that allusion was deliberate on my part. Newton's first law is a manifestation of the symmetry principle when position "x" is the coordinate under consideration.

Force is proportional to gradient(Potential) so any asymmetry in the way the Potential depends on the position produces a Force which changes the Momentum. So, Momentum is the conserved quantity corresponding to the symmetry that all positions are equivalent.

<comment><USER4> Thank you, this is a very helpful explanation.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> [http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/615017-symmetry-is-only-a- pr...](http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/615017-symmetry-is-only-a-property-of- dead-things-did-you)</comment>


Show HN: Wagyu – Rust library for generating cryptocurrency wallets - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/ArgusHQ/wagyu/ <comment><USER2> Not that familiar with Rust, but should the key generators perhaps take CryptoRng rather than Rng in their signatures, to prevent footgunning by users of the crate?

[https://github.com/ArgusHQ/wagyu/blob/6b723d5c2c90ac87bcb44e...](https://github.com/ArgusHQ/wagyu/blob/6b723d5c2c90ac87bcb44efe987276f90f94e2a2/bitcoin/src/private_key.rs#L28)

The CLI does use StdRng which is a CryptoRng, so no real problems.

<comment><USER3> Yes, that would be better!

However, they seem to be using `XorShiftRng` in their tests, which is no cryptographically secure, so they can't use `CryptoRng` over `Rng` in their API without resorting to compile-time magic. I think they should just use `StdRng`, which is cryptographically secure and quite fast.

<comment> Ar-Curunir It's useful to have a seed able Rng when running tests in cryptographic use cases, as it allows you to reproducibly debug failures. I guess that's why they're using XorShiftRng. There are definitely cryptographically safe SeedableRngs; maybe they should use those?

<comment><USER3> Yes, I would recommend to use `rand_chacha::ChaCha20Rng`, which is equivalent to `rand::rngs::StdRng`, but is guaranteed to be value stable.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Maybe not super relevant, but since I cannot contribute anything else to the discussion, here it goes:

That logo is certainly lacking more marbling.

<comment><USER5> Spot on. I recently cooked a piece of wagyu and you just cannot ignore the marbling.

Also irrelevant I know.

<comment><USER6> I guess Wagyu is just a type of cow and that it's perfectly possible to buy low quality Wagyu beef without crazy marbling ?

<comment><USER5> I did a visit to a farm[1] here in Spain and, according to them, the wagyu race is genetically predisposed to develop marbling due to an adaptation to combat extreme cold during the Japanese winters.

From their blog[2] and using Google translate:

 _It is believed that wagyu cows have that level of fat for a matter of survival. In Japan the winters are cold and the grasses are not especially rich in vitamin A. It is estimated that at some point in the evolution they achieved the ability to increase their own intramuscular fat production, which today is the characteristic of this race_

[1] [https://www.fincasantarosalia.com](https://www.fincasantarosalia.com)

[2] [https://www.fincasantarosalia.com/wagyu-o- kobe/#Tipos_de_wag...](https://www.fincasantarosalia.com/wagyu-o- kobe/#Tipos_de_wagyu)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This seems as good a place as any to ask: why is Rust so popular with cryptocurrency enthusiasts?

I currently do consulting for a well-known company in the cryptocurrency space, and since I have done, I've noticed that Rust's adoption in this industry is far, far higher than anywhere else. I regularly get inquiries to do work in Rust there, but basically nowhere else.

<comment><USER8> When you are writing software that you just _know_ is going to be used to store and manage money as its primary purpose, that means there are direct monetary benefits to people who can find exploits in your software: it isn't "maybe some government wants this" but "with an exploit I can directly steal a hundred million dollars and I would likely be unable to be caught". That makes you paranoid about getting the security correct.

<comment><USER9> So why rust then? Rust does not have a specification and it is currently still under heavy development, with many changes to the language expected to come out in the years to come. As many have put it before me, all of rust is technically undefined behavior. Change my mind -- I like the language, but I prefer those that have specifications and have multiple implementations so that the behavior is verified.

<comment><USER10> > ...all of rust is undefined behavior

Do you have any links or an explanation that elaborates on this?

<comment><USER11> There's no spec. A more accurate statement might be "all of Rust is implementation-defined behavior".

<comment><USER12> There is a spec, just not a formal fixed in time one. There's only one reference implementation so that might as well be taken as the de-facto spec.

<comment><USER11> That's what I said. What's your point?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> 1\. why the name?

2\. "Wagyu is a lightweight". i beg to differ.

<comment><USER14> I agree, wagyu beef is typically more expensive and richer in flavour than regular beef. The _lightweight_ analogy doesn't really match that... Maybe there's another reason for the name

<comment><USER15> The company is called Argus, which is very similar to Angus. I guess that could explain the relation to beef

<comment><USER16> Should've called this thing Vagyu, Magyu or some such then.

The existing name is weird and not fitting at all though, that's for sure.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> sidenote:

one thing I find tricky about cryptocurrencies is that payment processors have snazzy interfaces for accepting crypto, but the similar interfaces don't seem to be available for open-source non-intermediary payment flows.

payment flows seem to be almost non-existent.

Its like "here just accept bitcoin" \- when I really want to accept Monero - and there is almost no out of the box solution that rotates addresses for you, gives users a countdown and address solution, listens for transactions of the correct amount to that address to automatically update the payment site etc

<comment><USER18> There's no actual market for that. In theory, if people were using cryptocurrency to buy stuff and they believed in the "be your own bank" philosophy there would be a market, but none of that really exists.

<comment><USER17> Yeah, you'd think and thats the easy answer. The free open-source solutions slowly trickle out, but it just could be so much further along.

And yes, the abscense of merchants seriously trying to accept crypto, and the abscence of people seriously trying to spend it does it make a self-fulfilling prophecy.

but fixing these other problems of lack of free library will go a long way to fixing the speculator conundrum

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Weird name. Wagyu translates as "Japanese (wa) Beef (gyu)"

</comment><comment><USER20> Any idea why he named it "Wagyu"? Am just curious! :D

</comment><comment><USER21> I hope air gapped transaction signing is on the roadmap!

</comment><comment><USER17> Ledger hardware wallet supports Monero, what needs to happen for Wagyu to support that case?

</comment><comment><USER22> Rust is cool but these lib names are like "Contemporary Conformist" memes.

</comment><comment><USER23> are vegans allowed to use this library?

<comment><USER24> lol

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> I have a beef with the title of this library...</comment>


Show HN: Visualizing 'Silhouettes' of Programming Languages - <AUTHOR> http://lelandbatey.com/projects/code_silhouette/ <comment><USER2> Neat. I saw something like this recently in game form: Codeshapes [http://teropa.info/codeshapes/](http://teropa.info/codeshapes/)

<comment><USER3> I'm getting the shape of a lot of license headers, from which I'm supposed to guess the language.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Interesting project, but these silhouettes reflect the programmer's coding style not anything specific to the languages themselves.

<comment><USER5> The interesting thing here would be seeing some form of aggregation of various projects to see what effects the language does have on style. Would love to see something that shows the effect of e.g. Python's whitespace or Go's boilerplate.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> What immediately strikes me is Python's consistently high density compared to the other languages. This is something I've noticed before with well-written Python code; one can write powerful code in very compact blocks/paragraphs/stanzas/insert-metaphor-of-your-choosing.

Of course, take this with a grain of salt. This is a bit of an apples to oranges comparison, given it's just one file from one repo for each language.

</comment><comment><USER7> It's striking how easily you can see the repetition most languages force on you. PHP's sawtooth silhouette is especially interesting.

<comment><USER4> These silhouettes reflect the programmer's coding style not anything specific to the languages themselves...

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> This is fun and interesting, but I don't think it says much about the various _languages_. Each of these languages can be formatted in a variety of styles.

As one example, Rust, and especially Servo, began with a recommended (or mandated) style with a heavy use of column alignment for things like function arguments. Like this code from rustfmt:

        let mut rewrites = try_opt!(subexpr_list.iter()
                                                .rev()
                                                .map(|e| {
                                                    rewrite_chain_expr(e,
                                                                       total_span,
                                                                       context,
                                                                       max_width,
                                                                       indent)
                                                })
                                                .collect::<Option<Vec<_>>>());

But the Rust example in the silhouette page doesn't follow this style at all. Instead, it uses a purely indentation-based style with little or no use of column alignment. From looking at the latest Rust coding style document, it seems that the Rust community may be moving away from this aligned style to an indented style. (Anyone who is more tuned into Rust style, feel free to set me straight.)

If the code above were written in an indented style it might look more like this:

        let mut rewrites = try_opt!(
            subexpr_list
                .iter()
                .rev()
                .map( |e| {
                    rewrite_chain_expr( e, total_span, context, max_width, indent )
                })
                .collect::<Option<Vec<_>>>()
        );

Same language, same code, but a very different silhouette.

Similarly, the last time I looked at the Oculus SDK, its C++ and C# code used a column alignment style, and I think some other projects like OpenCV use column alignment too.

Many other C++ and C# projects eschew alignment in favor of indentation, though.

This kind of choice in styles is available in all the languages being compared. Yes, even in Python. The Python example uses column alignment here and there, but it would be just as "Pythonic" to use indentation in those places.

So I don't think this is really comparing programming languages, it's just taking a single example for each language, where other projects in the same language may have very different silhouettes.

<comment><USER9> im working on a auto formatting tool ... is there anyone here that enforce column alignment or have it in their style guide ?

<comment><USER10> For Rust? Are you aware of rustfmt?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I think this might be more effective if there was some kind of emphasis on lines which contain nothing but tokens used to end control structures, such as } or });

Frankly, as is, I think that javascript looks more crisp and sane than it really is (although, as another commenter points out, jQuery might not be the best choice for the current style norms).

Also, the Python choice, while a very cool project, is very atypical of Python style. I suggest using one of the more complex modules from Twisted.

</comment><comment><USER12> When I looked at this, my immediate reaction was how awful long the files are. A programming language's community should encourage smaller files that do one thing.

<comment><USER9> i like large files, it makes it so much easier to read the code, figure out what it does, find stuff, and refactor. i like it when the entire program is just one file, except for the modules source. i hate when there are 10000 files all containing 5-10 imports and then just one or two lines of logic. or worse; include files within include files several levels deep that all touch global variables. my idea of good abstractions is to only lift out code that has no couplings and no shared logic with the program, like modules that can be reused by other people in other programs.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Something that bugs me is, in languages that have a wrapping `namespace foo { ... }` sort of construct, the contents of that block being indented.

If, in a typical file, after the preamble at the top, you're giving _ALL_ of the subsequent lines a minimum of 1 indent to the right... then what's the point of that 1 leading indent?

Just hug the left side. You don't need a constant visual reinforcement that you're a good kid who namespaces their declarations.

</comment><comment><USER14> The fractal dimension of each one would be nice.

<comment><USER15> For people who don't know about fractal dimensions, might I suggest this[0] video

[0] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB9n2gHsHN4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB9n2gHsHN4)

</comment></comment><comment> d--b What's most striking is that there is not a lot of differences between the languages. C and Python are somewhat denser and php tends to be more spread out. But that's about it.

I guess that reflects that humans break code in a way that looks the way they're used to.

Purely functional languages probably diverge significantly from these shapes.

<comment><USER16> It's a _very_ selective dataset, this doesn't show much. The idea's cool though

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> I would be curious to see some functional languages examples, like scheme, Haskell and OCaml, for example.

<comment><USER18> Yeah, was thinking the same for Erlang since it incentivizes terse sections of hoisted functions.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Shameless plug: a "Silhouette" (minimap) generator for command line: [https://github.com/dpc/text-minimap](https://github.com/dpc/text-minimap)

</comment><comment><USER20> @lelandbatey: to see a difference that really pops, I suggest adding a common lisp or scheme silhouette, and a prolog one. Hell, if you can find a copy of gorilla.bas, do that too.

</comment><comment><USER21> Wait,Java has actually the shortest silhouette?

<comment><USER22> It's not as if they generated some "average" code to make an apples to apples comparison, they arbitrarily grabbed files with very different purposes based on length.

So really all this does is show that different code with different purposes has different shapes. AKA, pointless. You would have to do this across huge numbers of files and average them out to have anything actually interesting to look at.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> jQuery is hardly a good benchmark for current js style. You'll find completely different shapes in other libraries.

<comment><USER7> JS is the new C++. It's several different languages depending on which subset you use: jQuery style, pyramid callbacks, promises, async/await, etc.

<comment><USER9> always _name your anonymous functions_. that way it will be easier to break them out of the pyramid, make them testable, and easier to debug.

<comment><USER10> ... and it will also make them not anonymous functions :)

<comment><USER9> A named "anonymous" function (lets call it lamda function to make it less confusing) is still a lamda function, but with a name ... It can not be called from elsewhere. So you get all the benefits from lamda functions! There's no advantage to _not_ naming variables.

      var fs = require("fs");
      fs.readFile("somefile.txt", function readSomeFile(err, text) {
        if(err) throw err;
        else console.log(data);
      }</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


How Raganwald Lost His Crown - <AUTHOR> http://braythwayt.com/2017/12/29/crown.html <comment><USER2> Binaries almost never form from stars "wandering" and "encountering" other stars. Current scientific understanding is that almost all stars are formed as binaries in the first place.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you!

[https://github.com/raganwald/braythwayt.com/commit/113f94686...](https://github.com/raganwald/braythwayt.com/commit/113f94686d94d8ff1dc1978c7a6b20ded19397de)

From Wikipedia: _While it is not impossible that some binaries might be created through gravitational capture between two single stars, given the very low likelihood of such an event (three objects are actually required, as conservation of energy rules out a single gravitating body capturing another) and the high number of binaries, this cannot be the primary formation process. Also, the observation of binaries consisting of pre main-sequence stars, supports the theory that binaries are already formed during star formation. Fragmentation of the molecular cloud during the formation of protostars is an acceptable explanation for the formation of a binary or multiple star system._

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Thought: Isaac Newton was an alchemist. He was looking for the secret, most especially, of transmuting base elements into gold.

Instead, he discovered the law of gravity.

Which, as expressed in neutron star formation and collisions, is what transmutes base elements into gold.

Score one for the alchemists.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Disclosure: A rare self-post. I'd be very grateful for any and all corrections to the story, as I am far from an expert is astrophysics, geology, or pretty- much anything else.

<comment><USER4> Small typo: "Neutron stars to not hang, fixed in space"

I'm guessing that it should be "do not"

<comment><USER5> Probably another typo: "planet our side" -> "planet our size"?

Also, this is a beautiful piece of writing! I love it.

<comment><AUTHOR> [https://github.com/raganwald/braythwayt.com/commit/981362fad...](https://github.com/raganwald/braythwayt.com/commit/981362fad28c8b664d2e07ca6d2bf58ab53dd374)

Thank you or sharing your appreciation. I will treasure that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> > Hark to the lesson of this story: Everything has an explanation.

Great writing. But the lesson is wrong. It has been proven that certain things which are true can never have an explanation: Godels incompleteness theorem.

[https://www.wikiwand.com/simple/G%C3%B6del%27s_incompletenes...](https://www.wikiwand.com/simple/G%C3%B6del%27s_incompleteness_theorems)

<comment><AUTHOR> I do not think Incompleteness speaks to the question of whether things that happen in our Universe have explanations. It speaks to formal mathematical systems that have a property of self-reference.

If we are to debate whether the conclusion of my parable is true, I would tend more towards considering the possibility that many things in our Universe may simply be axiomatic, there is no explanation for them, they just are. Uncertainty may be one of those things.

Another line of investigation would be to consider whether some things do have explanations, but we have missed the opportunity to gather the evidence to understand them, therefore we will never understand them. Likewise, the Universe is finite, it will die, and we may never discover all of the explanations.

If something has an explanation, but there is no way for us to discover it, in what sense does it have an explanation?

<comment><USER6> The incompleteness theorem does not only apply to mathematical systems. It applies to all formal systems in the realm of logic. If we assume that all of reality can be reduced to a formal logical system then the incompleteness theorems apply. Thus even non-axiomatic concepts may be unexplainable.

However, you bring up a good point. Explanations rely on evidence and evidence must be observed. Additionally, the tools which we employ to observe evidence are imperfect. What does this mean?

It means in the world of logic only some things can't be proven, but in the world of science (aka reality as we know it): Nothing can be proven. Nothing can be fully explained because additional evidence can always be observed in a later point in time that disproves an explanation. As Einstein once said:

"The scientific theorist is not to be envied. For Nature, or more precisely experiment, is an inexorable and not very friendly judge of his work. It never says "Yes" to a theory. In the most favorable cases it says "Maybe," and in the great majority of cases simply "No." If an experiment agrees with a theory it means for the latter "Maybe," and if it does not agree it means "No." Probably every theory will someday experience its "No"—most theories, soon after conception."

or Karl Popper who put the concept simply:

"...no matter how many instances of white swans we may have observed, this does not explain the conclusion that all swans are white."

In short, no amount of evidence or explanation can justify any statement.

Interestingly though, it takes only one observed black swan to disprove a statement. Hence the role of falsifiability in the scientific method.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> A proper shaggy dog story if I've ever read one! Entertaining and interesting along the way, and the ending snuck up on me.

Thanks for a good read :)

</comment><comment><USER8> > I might have lifted my Apple Watch and said "Hey Siri, record a note." If I > was using the Apple Neutron Star Edition Apple WatchOS, it would have had to > correct for time dilation between time at my waist and time at my shoulder.

Would it, really? Using a back-of-the-envelope calculation using a formula pulled from Wikipedia[1], and assuming:

1\. The Apple Watch needs to stay within 50 milliseconds as Apple advertises

2\. The neutron star is around two solar masses and has a radius of 10 km, and isn't spinning faster than 1,000 times a second

3\. The distance between your waist and shoulder is about a meter

it should take a couple hundred seconds before Apple Watch drifts out of sync. Should be long enough for Siri to record your note :)

[1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_time_dilation#Ou...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_time_dilation#Outside_a_non- rotating_sphere)

<comment><USER9> > should take a couple hundred seconds before Apple Watch drifts out of sync. > Should be long enough for Siri to record your note :)

I wouldn't be so sure. First of all, siri is pretty slow already in the best of times. Second, the watch doesn't do the recognition onboard; it sends the audio (or some processed version, I don't know) to your phone. And a neutron Star, especially a spinning one with lots of junk around it, we be generation an _ENORMOUS_ amount of RF interference. I can definitely see it getting out of sync.

Then again it (and you) are not really rated for neutron sta4 conditions and the tidal forces would definitely tear you apart; just moving your arm would distort the watch, 7nless perhaps you purchased the extra expensive ceramic version.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> What a thoroughly enjoyable yarn which took me on a journey from the periodic table, star formation, islands of stability and a good old Wikipedia vortex.</comment>


Amazon Kindle book lending quietly goes live - <AUTHOR> http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_200549320_receive?nodeId=200549320

<comment><USER3> I have recently observed that buying and using ebooks is like being put into a time machine and being forced to re-live the early days of digital music downloads. Do we seriously have to re-learn all those lessons in every single industry that starts to shift to digital content?

<comment><USER4> I have found pirating and using ebooks to be perfectly reasonable as there are no hurdles to jump over and there is no possibility that your books will disappear from your Kindle without your permission. In fact, as far as Amazon is concerned, I've never put anything on my Kindle. My main problem is that many books I want to read cannot be found in this form for as much as a year after they are published.

<comment><USER5> Anyone know why it takes so long? Shouldn't it be possible to crack the DRM on Kindle (or other) ebooks and pirate them? I thought the reason it was so hard to pirate books in the past was because they had to be scanned (and preferably OCRed).

<comment><USER6> Kindle was cracked at least a year ago.

I haven't actually used it, but from what I read it's not a crypto flaw allowing the data to be extracted, but more analogous to the "analog hole". The existence of on-screen readers allows software to be written that walks through the book a page at a time, and rips the content in that way.

<comment><USER7> It's a bit cleaner than that -- it gets the decryption key from the reader with the Windows debugging APIs, and then removes the DRM. You're left with the original ebook.

<comment><USER5> Ah, that's good to hear. Using the analog hole leaves you with a pretty poor copy of most digital files.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> It's really too bad that Amazon dropped the ball on this. You get to loan a book once, and the recipient only gets two weeks to read it. What a ridiculous implementation of such a great concept.

One of the major things that's kept me away from eBooks is that I can't share them with friends. In the office, we often pass a book around from person to person when we like it, and online lending should be just as simple and straightforward. Instead, we get a restrictive and janky process. Well played Amazon.

<comment><USER9> I'm toying with the idea of getting another Kindle just to user borrowed books from friends.

1\. Give them my "Lending Kindle"

2\. Have them register it against their account

3\. Download the book(s) I want to borrow

4\. Turn off wireless

5\. They can deregister my Kindle right away and I take my good old time reading the books I borrowed.

<comment><USER10> In fact, you don't need to turn off wireless. You can even deregister from the device's Settings menu and it'll keep your downloaded books. (Even if those span multiple accounts!)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> _If_ it really is the case that you can only let an acquaintance read the book once - for a total of 14 days - it's not _lending_ ; it's a friggin' _coupon_.

It reminds me of StarCraft 2's Guest Passes that let players have StarCraft 2 for x amount of days or play it y amount of hours, whichever is exhausted first. Except that there is a finite number of people you can give the passes.

They should really reframe the feature so it doesn't become a parody of lending. Think of all the jokes that are bound to follow from this.

Lending is one of _the_ biggest advantages of owning physical media. This obviously does not solve that problem. Come to think of it, it almost exacerbates it. I had sort of forgot about the problem, but now it's out there, and I know Amazon is likely to be a bad place to get books from if I want to hang on to a sliver of hope that lending will be possible.

In my mind, they should have put the "lending" feature on ice and see if anything better came along; it makes them look bad and their competitors better by comparison. iBooks already supports highlighting and highlight sync, which is one of my most important features, believe it or not.

 __ __*

Added: I was just reminded of the time we had to use Adobe Flash in college. The university couldn't care less about the students, so we were just told to _get it_. This, to the righteous paragon that is yours truly, meant getting the trial. Unfortunately for my like-minded friends and I, the trial period barely lasted the entire duration of the course, and woe unto the good student who installed it early to test it out and play around with it. At the very least, it was going to expire before the oral exams.

In Amazon's case, this means that textbooks will be rendered completely useless in terms of lending. It would have been an interesting market, but I'm sure the textbook mafia doesn't mind. Used books is supposedly its biggest threat according to another Hacker News thread.

Should Apple manage to twist the arm of the publishers, I wonder how the synced highlighting would work, seeing that your copy is removed after the lending duration, should they use the same model. They obviously can't prevent you from lending textbooks and allow other book categories, so the road is fraught with challenges. None of these have been solved very well by Amazon, though.

</comment><comment><USER12> A lot of people are speculating if Amazon came up with these terms or not.

From everything I can find (esp. this article - [http://gizmodo.com/5388168/dont-get-too-excited-about-the- no...](http://gizmodo.com/5388168/dont-get-too-excited-about-the-nooks- lending-feature)) the restrictions on Kindle lending are _identical_ to the ones the Nook has (at least when it rolled out).

The B&N site for Nook currently states:

Exclusive LendMe™ Technology NOOK's exclusive LendMe™ technology lets you share favorite books with friends. LendMe™ books can be lent for up to 14 days. Just choose the book you want to share and send it to your friend's NOOK, computer, or handheld device enabled with NOOK software.

It sounds like the publishers are the ones setting the terms.

<comment><USER13> Doesn't matter to customers though - most will not do this research themselves (as evidenced by comments in this thread).

Companies like Amazon basically are caught between a rock and a hard place. Either implement the sub-par experience which is what publishers let them (the Nook experience) and have customers complain about your draconian DRM - <USER2> don't implement it and have customers complain about not having the features of the Nook.

Considering the Kindle is the market leader in this space, I'm not sure it was the right choice to follow Nook into this space with a sub-par experience. Now the feature and it's limitations are more highly visible, and DRM is front and center on people's minds again.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> And as usual, people outside of the United States get a sub-par experience.

"At this time, Kindle book lending can only be initiated by customers residing in the United States. If a loan is initiated to a customer outside the United States, the borrower may not be able to accept the loan if the title is not available in their country due to publisher geographical rights."

I'm confident ebooks will become DRM-free in the near future, and when that happens we won't have to worry about all of these nonsensical limitations.

</comment><comment><USER15> (1) Can someone, perhaps an Amazon employee, clarify if "loan once" means exactly what it says? Can we only loan a kindle book to one person one time only? The book cannot be loaned again to anyone? Or cannot be loaned again to the same person?

(2) As an early adopter of Kindle, It's particularly sad that, as I peruse my Kindle collection, the vast majority of our books are not loanable. I can't say that I'm surprised. But I am annoyed by it. This is perhaps a large factor in the soft launch of the loaning feature.

</comment><comment><USER16> Is Amazon really to blame for the less than ideal lending system? Or is it the book publishers that are responsible for the rules of the lending system?

<comment><USER9> Considering that it's the exact same identical terms as the B&N Nook lending feature, I think that it's the book publishers who are responsible.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> The sad part of the only lend once restriction that seems to be prevalent is that the most likely side effect of the 14 day loan is using it to get your friends or family hooked on a series.

I just sent my sister a trial loan for the first book in a series I enjoyed and think she will, and I don't really forsee her calling or emailing me to ask for the second book. If she likes it she'll just buy it herself and keep reading.

Being able to loan the book out repeatedly for a good series is likely to generate a LOT of sales for the publishers. But most of them likely don't or won't see that.

<comment><USER9> At some point, Kindles are going to get cheap enough (~$50) that I'm not going to mind lending one out indiscriminately. I'll just load one up with the ebook I want to lend and then let my friend borrow it for however long it takes him to read it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> I think the concept of lending someone an ebook is ridiculous and is a serious detriment to an increasingly digital society.

I want to be able to give my books away. Same as I can with a physical book. But the idiotic idea that I'm somehow licensing the digital version prevents that. When I'm done with an ebook it has zero value to me. These publishers are saving money selling ebooks and then taking away what rights consumers used to have.

If I license content for my kindle I am not a book owner.

</comment><comment><USER18> Wow, a lot of comments about taking and reading without actually paying. I expect that at slashdot, but I guess I expected more from Hacker News readers.

Some of us write books and do expect to be remunerated for them. If you do not like the system, or the price, then do not purchase them. If you want to read something, then give a little back to the author. What makes you think that your work deserves pay and someone else's doesn't?

</comment><comment><USER19> Can you really loan out a book just once in its lifetime? Or just once every 14 days?

<comment><USER12> It looks like it depends on the book. The publishers get to set that restriction. If I recall, the same obnoxious restriction was enabled on Nook lending as well.

Hopefully this will lighten as time goes by and the publishers stop being so short sighted. I think they're worried about the loopholes involved such as the turning off wireless with another poster already confirmed works.

<comment><USER9> Can you point out somewhere that it says the number of lends is set by the publisher? I only saw that the publisher's were in charge of whether it was lendable or not, and not the individual terms of the lend.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> I've just purchased multiple Kindle devices over the years and loan a physical device to someone who wants something to read at my house, on a trip, etc. I usually travel with an iPhone 4, iPad, Kindle DX, and MBP17, so it's pretty easy to loan the iPad or the DX to someone for a day or two. (especially useful when on a diving trip, since a lot of people don't seem to bring computers at all, wtf?)

I really wish iOS had a "guest mode" so I could easily restrict access to my personal information, browser cookies, etc. As it is, the DX is my preferred device to loan, or "I'll make you an account on my laptop."

</comment><comment><USER20> There is of course the classic GNU/FSF essay: <http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html>

</comment><comment><USER9> I think that it's ridiculous that the lent book is unavailable to the original purchaser while it's loaned out. That completely defeats the purpose of an e-book.

Edit: Do the downvoters disagree on the benefits of having a book in electronic form? Or do they think that the restrictions are not unreasonable/ridiculous?

<comment><USER21> How would you suggest that book sellers handle lending.

Note the word "sellers" - they don't make any money from lending, just from selling.

They're really scared that they'll sell one copy and everyone will read that copy (or copies of it).

Note - "they should make less money" isn't an answer.

<comment><USER22> > Note - "they should make less money" isn't an answer.

They should make more money isn't a very good answer, either.

eBooks are massively cheaper to distribute, yet we see a minimal discount. Add in the fact that they're limiting lending to once per book when I can lend a physical book infinitely many times and you're looking at higher profits for eBooks than normal books.

<comment><USER23> "eBooks are massively cheaper to distribute, yet we see a minimal discount. "

Because distribution is a small amount of the cost of production.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Given that i have read this on just about every tech site, did it really go live, quietly?

</comment><comment><USER25> I think the idea of 'buying' an ebook is a ridiculous concept in itself.

I think it would be more sensible to employ a model where books are provided via a rental service.

Charge for the service, not the IP.

<comment><USER26> If your ebook reader is a Sony, Nook, Literati or Kobo you can lend ebooks from hundreds of North American public libraries: <http://www.overdrive.com>

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> Amazon, please make a digital bookshelf or digital public library so people can borrow e-books without asking me and I can take them back whenever I want.

</comment><comment><USER28> Piracy is good for the customer.

A pirated ebook has none of this restrictions. It's simply a better product.

<comment><USER29> Restrictions like requiring payment?

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> I wish I had read a bit more before I went on a lending spree :( I wonder if I can de-lend a book ...

</comment><comment><USER31> Amazon already has the infrastructure in place to allow people to sell physical books secondhand

And now you can lend a kindle book and it becomes unavailable to you for the duration of the loan.

So everything is in place to allow a secondhand market for kindle books.

Although isn't Audible an Amazon company (shudder)

</comment><comment><USER26> As a Sony eReader owner I find all of this pathetic: all my ebooks are either (unlocked) epub or pdf. "Sharing" is an irrelevant concept for me.

But I must confess that, as a programmer, I feel envy for the Kindle owners that can program & hack their devices.</comment>


IT failure closes London airspace - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30454240

<comment><USER2> The military helicopters are still flying over Greenwich in their standard routine.</comment>


Silicon Valley Shuttle Drivers Vote to Join Union - <AUTHOR> http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/28/silicon-valley-shuttle-drivers-vote-to-join-union/?_r=0

<comment><USER2> can you please try sharing this post on my website [http://linkrr.co/index.html](http://linkrr.co/index.html)</comment>


The Dart Team Welcomes TypeScript - <AUTHOR> http://news.dartlang.org/2012/10/the-dart-team-welcomes-typescript.html

<comment><USER2> Wonder if there would be any performance gains to be had from targeting Typescript at Dart VM? :)

<comment><USER3> There might be some interesting things that could be done with TypeScript<->Dart interop. If you look at TypeScript as a way to add types to existing JS code, Dart might be able to use that type information to create interfaces for JS objects.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I think it's really nice of them... having Google say something nice about something Microsoft did is not taken for granted, and feels more like just talented people aknowledging the work of other talented people.

<comment><USER5> Agree, very classy. I think everyone involved has had enough of the Javascript stalemate and is ready to move on.</comment></comment>